Speaker 1: Malik Books has all the knowledge you want, my league,
Speaker 1: but has all the knowledge you need chat.
Speaker 2: They have all the books that the whole wild world
Speaker 2: one of breed Malague Books. Welcome, Welcome, Welcome to Malik's Bookshelf,
Speaker 2: bringing a world together with books, culture and community. Hi,
Speaker 2: my name is Malik, your host of Malik's Bookshelf. WHOA
Speaker 2: you know I'm the hype Man of books. That's right,
Speaker 2: this is Malik, the hype Man of books. I'm passionate.
Speaker 2: I love what I do and I do it with
Speaker 2: a passion. So I've been nicknamed the hype Man of books.
Speaker 2: So hey, this particular episode is going to be Black
Speaker 2: to the Future. I was on a panel and that
Speaker 2: was the title of the conversation, black to the Future.
Speaker 2: Now on this conversation took place back in Black History
Speaker 2: Month in February.
Speaker 3: But nevertheless, I.
Speaker 2: Need to feature this episode, this conversation a planel. I
Speaker 2: was on there with a represented from Snapchat, a couple
Speaker 2: other community.
Speaker 3: Panelists.
Speaker 2: I don't remember the names, but they're listed on this
Speaker 2: particular episode in the introduction. But the community that hosted this, well,
Speaker 2: the Foundation in Los Session is the host of this
Speaker 2: is called California Community Foundation calfun dot or. They're located
Speaker 2: downtown Los Angeles. A prolific polantary organization. This foundation helps education,
Speaker 2: helps homeless, sheltered housing, They help in social justice, all
Speaker 2: kinds of things they do.
Speaker 3: They got their hands in a lot of things.
Speaker 2: Well anyway, but Leek, the heype man of books, was
Speaker 2: invited as a panelist and it was called Black to
Speaker 2: the Future, and I had a wonderful time. I just
Speaker 2: talked about what I thought about the future of Los
Speaker 2: Angeles and community and so it was a wonderful, wonderful
Speaker 2: panel and I'm on to feature that on this episode.
Speaker 3: And guess what I got paid.
Speaker 2: That's right, I received the honorarium to one of my
Speaker 2: favorite nonprofit organizations, the Cresader Praise Scott Scholarship Fund, that
Speaker 2: promotes education and scholarship to freshmen and in the college.
Speaker 2: So I donated my honorarium to the Crusader Praise Scott
Speaker 2: Scholarship Fund. Thank you, California Community Foundation c c F.
Speaker 2: Thank you appreciate you considering Elik Books to be on
Speaker 2: a panel with so many other activists having a conversation
Speaker 2: about Black to the Future. Hey, I got paid during
Speaker 2: Black History Month on a few honor rivers, I received
Speaker 2: paid to hear Melik the hype Man of Bucks. Hey you,
Speaker 2: So I'm just grateful, appreciative, and I'm just really getting
Speaker 2: paid to speak my heart and my thoughts.
Speaker 3: So thank you. I hope to do more. I'm looking
Speaker 3: for more invites.
Speaker 2: So if you want the hype Man of books, give
Speaker 2: me a call three two three five one three five
Speaker 2: three five eight. Now that's a direct number to get
Speaker 2: straight direct to the hype Man of books, Malik the
Speaker 2: hype Man of Books. Or you could just email me
Speaker 2: at Malik at malikbooks dot com. That's right, Malik at
Speaker 2: malikbooks dot com. If you look at Malik the hype
Speaker 2: Man of Books, give me a jingle, give me an
Speaker 2: email reach out. I'm available, So enjoy this episode. Block
Speaker 2: to the Future.
Speaker 4: We've invited four Afro futurists to come and speak to
Speaker 4: the future of the black community. We have Jason Cocket
Speaker 4: from Staffing, So I'm gonna ask them to come on
Speaker 4: up and uh NBC it right here because I'm gonna
Speaker 4: do a quick transition.
Speaker 3: Malik Muhammad from Malik Books.
Speaker 5: You can give them around them a ball.
Speaker 6: You haven't learned that a lot of.
Speaker 3: Work work restauranting for the new Foundation.
Speaker 4: And Kristen, we are moderator today, so I am happy
Speaker 4: to turn it over.
Speaker 6: To christ Thank you all so much for being here.
Speaker 7: I see everybody's plates are getting empty.
Speaker 6: I'm sure everybody is enjoying the food.
Speaker 3: I wanna just give it up again before the uh CCF.
Speaker 6: I believe African Diaspora k UH committee.
Speaker 3: It's an amazing petram.
Speaker 8: I will say, I've done a lot of things like
Speaker 8: this and I haven't had uh. I haven't seen so
Speaker 8: much thought going to just not only just the food,
Speaker 8: but the opening presentation.
Speaker 6: We've got food, we've got music. The energy is flowing.
Speaker 7: So today we're really here to have a conversation and
Speaker 7: beat in conversation.
Speaker 5: Our goal is that this is flow.
Speaker 3: Is kind of like we're family at this point.
Speaker 8: We're breaking bread, we're eating together, so I hope that
Speaker 8: we can just jump into it. I will hear from
Speaker 8: our esteem panelists today, so I'm excited for them to
Speaker 8: tell you all about their perspectives on Black.
Speaker 3: La from where they sit.
Speaker 7: And then we're gonna hear from you all, really hear
Speaker 7: from you on any questions that you have for the panel,
Speaker 7: and then we will be on our way for the
Speaker 7: evening or the the rest of the day.
Speaker 3: Y'all still have to work.
Speaker 5: Right, I know, I I know what the food it
Speaker 5: might be.
Speaker 3: A little hard. You don't have to like go take
Speaker 3: a walk.
Speaker 5: Around, shake shake it off.
Speaker 6: But I hope everyone's feeling really nursed and full.
Speaker 3: So thank you all again. We're gonna go ahead and
Speaker 3: jump into it.
Speaker 8: You know, I think we want to start with just
Speaker 8: talking about what is the state of black la And
Speaker 8: when I sat with this question, you know, immediately my
Speaker 8: brain wanted to go to statistics about, well, how much
Speaker 8: how many folks are still black folks are still in
Speaker 8: Los Angeles right, how have the numbers dwindled over the
Speaker 8: years and over the decade at this point. How many
Speaker 8: black folks are sleeping on the streets in Los Angeles today,
Speaker 8: how many black folks are experiencing prosperity and opportunity, how
Speaker 8: many black folks.
Speaker 3: Are still living in some of our little wealthier, middle.
Speaker 8: Class neighborhoods in black Los Angeles like View Park and
Speaker 8: Winter Hills.
Speaker 3: And I wanted to do all, you know, come with
Speaker 3: all these statistics, but I figured.
Speaker 8: It would be really an opportunity to share a little
Speaker 8: bit about who I am and how I got here
Speaker 8: and how that really helps to tell the story of
Speaker 8: Black LA. So I'm Christine Gordon, a current principle with
Speaker 8: Gloom Strategies.
Speaker 6: We're a creative social impact company.
Speaker 8: But that's not really where my story starts. I am
Speaker 8: a fourth generation Angelino. My family, originally my paternal side
Speaker 8: of my family, came to Los Angeles in the early
Speaker 8: nineteen hundreds at a time where there were black folks
Speaker 8: starting to move to Los Angeles, but they weren't massive
Speaker 8: in numbers, but they were massive in influence and power.
Speaker 6: This is really a time period in Black LA where they.
Speaker 7: Start to put their foot down, they start to buy
Speaker 7: real estate, and we hear stories about the matriarch of Black.
Speaker 3: Los Angeles, Bibby Mason.
Speaker 8: Right, a black woman who was able to get her
Speaker 8: freedom and to be able to buy real estate, and
Speaker 8: what we know today is downtown Los Angeles.
Speaker 3: And Beverly Hills.
Speaker 8: I was LAUSD educated and I never heard that story
Speaker 8: until I was an adult.
Speaker 3: So that's just a another note for a different day.
Speaker 3: But I say that to say that that was a really.
Speaker 7: Pivotal time in Los Angeles for black folks who were
Speaker 7: fleeing the South, fleeing really oppressive conditions, coming and seeking better,
Speaker 7: seeking the Sunshine State, seeking something different, and they dared
Speaker 7: to dream, they dared to see something different than what.
Speaker 8: Was in front of them. And when they got here,
Speaker 8: they did their best to prosper. And at that time,
Speaker 8: interesting enough, because.
Speaker 7: They were smaller in numbers, folks kind of let them
Speaker 7: do their thing right. They weren't intimidated by that, they
Speaker 7: weren't worried. Of course, you know, racism is ever present
Speaker 7: in this country.
Speaker 3: It is always around the corner.
Speaker 6: But they were really able to establish some.
Speaker 8: Of the key institutions that still are thriving in Black
Speaker 8: la today.
Speaker 3: My family during the second.
Speaker 7: Wave of the Great Migration, so I was with my
Speaker 7: great great grandparents. My great grandparents on my maternal.
Speaker 8: Side came from Mississippi in the nineteen fifties, around the
Speaker 8: same time a lot of black folks were moving, fleeing the.
Speaker 7: South, and when we know it is a great migration.
Speaker 3: And when they came, one of my aunts came first.
Speaker 8: She established herself and she bought this property off of
Speaker 8: Central Ad and sixtieth Street, and that's important because at
Speaker 8: that time that was one of the only places in
Speaker 8: the city that black.
Speaker 3: Folks could live.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 6: We had racial restrictive covenant still in.
Speaker 8: Place at that time, and so where we could be
Speaker 8: and where we could move freely.
Speaker 3: Was dictated by laws and policies.
Speaker 8: And when she came, she's established herself and she bought
Speaker 8: this kind of house in the front.
Speaker 3: She had this house in the back.
Speaker 8: And my family established what they called the Sunshine Club.
Speaker 3: And I learned this story a few years ago. The
Speaker 3: Sunshine Club was a pulled.
Speaker 8: Fund that my great grandparents and their cousins and all
Speaker 8: the members of the church put money into to send
Speaker 8: money back to folks down south so.
Speaker 6: They could come to la and establish themselves.
Speaker 8: And that was pivotal because you could come, you would come,
Speaker 8: you would stay in the back end Myrtle's house off
Speaker 8: sixtieth in.
Speaker 5: Central, get what you.
Speaker 3: Need, get the job that.
Speaker 8: You need, get on your feet, get a little money
Speaker 8: in your pocket, and then.
Speaker 7: Go off and be able to buy or get your
Speaker 7: own apartment.
Speaker 9: Right.
Speaker 7: So really an effort of collective community and shared resources.
Speaker 3: Being able to help folks establish themselves.
Speaker 5: And that story is very similar to our Latino brothers.
Speaker 8: And sistrits who are also fleeing violence in places as
Speaker 8: they come here to LA as well. And so I
Speaker 8: think there's always opportunities for intersection how our stories reach
Speaker 8: each other. But they did that, and what we now
Speaker 8: know today is the Crenshaw.
Speaker 3: District and community.
Speaker 8: My family moved, well, they're still in off of Central Avenue,
Speaker 8: but really established themselves and what is the Crenshaw District
Speaker 8: today which is currently really considered the heart of black
Speaker 8: Los Angeles. And that was because racial restrictive covenants were
Speaker 8: lifted and they were able to choose to list somewhere
Speaker 8: else right, And that's kind of where folks decides to populate.
Speaker 8: I say that to say really that since then, I've
Speaker 8: grown up in that community. I went to Lulu Washington
Speaker 8: Dan's School in that community, went to Amazing Grace Conservator Conservatory,
Speaker 8: which is.
Speaker 3: An acting school in that community.
Speaker 8: I went to LAUSD Schools and by high school, my
Speaker 8: parents were like.
Speaker 3: We're not doing that.
Speaker 6: You're going to a private Catholic school.
Speaker 7: But who I am today and who I sit before
Speaker 7: you today is really at the work of both my ancestors,
Speaker 7: my grandparents, my parents, but more pop importantly, in political
Speaker 7: and social environment in Black Los Angeles that nurtured.
Speaker 6: And allowed Black folks to come.
Speaker 8: And fight to make a place for themselves in the city.
Speaker 8: And so I don't sit here with accolades just because
Speaker 8: I'm so awesome.
Speaker 6: I sit here because I have people who have cared
Speaker 6: about being in the community that has nurtured me.
Speaker 7: And institutions that have been able to stand up for
Speaker 7: decades to water and nurture a generation of Angelinos who
Speaker 7: now get to show up today and talk about what
Speaker 7: the future.
Speaker 3: Of Black Los Angeles is going to be.
Speaker 8: And when I think about Black Los Angeles today, to me,
Speaker 8: the story feels the same.
Speaker 6: A lot of opportunity and a lot of restrictions, a
Speaker 6: lot of parting, a lot of barriers in the way.
Speaker 7: And when I think about that Sunshine Club, there were
Speaker 7: still so many things that allow black folks to be
Speaker 7: able to kind of lean on one another for more
Speaker 7: assistants or social fabrics who are a lot tighter.
Speaker 3: There were institutions that.
Speaker 8: Were supporting us, and now today things are only getting harder. Right,
Speaker 8: there's still a lot of opportunity to We're in Los Angeles, right,
Speaker 8: there's always a way to fit to figure it out.
Speaker 8: But when I talk to some of my friends, a
Speaker 8: lot of them are moving, a lot of them are
Speaker 8: going back South because it's too expensive. It's becoming so Burningsome.
Speaker 8: One of my grandaunts has moved to Las Vegas.
Speaker 3: And that's great.
Speaker 6: Her rid is cheaper for her church is not there,
Speaker 6: her health care is not here.
Speaker 8: She comes back to go to Kaiser just on a
Speaker 8: plane almost on a weekly basis.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 8: And so when I think about the state of Black
Speaker 8: Alley today, I housing is the first thing that I
Speaker 8: think about, and not just vote for folks who are
Speaker 8: currently housing struggling to be housed, but the amount of
Speaker 8: folks who are sleeping on.
Speaker 6: Our streets every night. And so I think we have
Speaker 6: a a lot of.
Speaker 8: Again opportunity though to lean on one another and be
Speaker 8: able to use our institutions, our resources, and our dollars.
Speaker 6: To strengthen and build a network for black Los Angeles.
Speaker 8: But it is gonna take all of us, right, and
Speaker 8: it has and as history has shown, it has taken
Speaker 8: all of us. So with that being said, I wanna
Speaker 8: really lean into our panelists and talk about from where
Speaker 8: you sit, what is it going to take right to
Speaker 8: really ensure Black Los Angeles can continue to thrive the
Speaker 8: way that it has. And Miss Tammy, I loves to
Speaker 8: start with you as we talk about you know, really
Speaker 8: for philanthropy.
Speaker 3: What is the role that philanthropy plays and allowing Black
Speaker 3: los Angeles to continue to blossom?
Speaker 5: Thank you Christian.
Speaker 7: When I think of black Los Angeles, I'm a product
Speaker 7: of Los Angeles many ways. Our family came to the fifties,
Speaker 7: my mom on the second generation, my mother and father.
Speaker 7: My mom is from Nashville, Tennessee, and my dad is
Speaker 7: from Birmingham, Alabama. So yes, the food was dealished and
Speaker 7: I did have the hot sauce on it.
Speaker 5: That's where I'm from.
Speaker 7: I went right in and made myself back home and
Speaker 7: then you have everything was very good. So what I've
Speaker 7: done over the years is really step back and take
Speaker 7: a look at how my brothers and sisters were raised
Speaker 7: in Los Angeles, and I was through community and it
Speaker 7: was through family. Do you remember, well, some of you
Speaker 7: guys are too young to know this, but if you
Speaker 7: got in trouble on your way home from school, you
Speaker 7: got in trouble by every neighbor in the neighborhood until
Speaker 7: you made into your house. Because we treated the community
Speaker 7: as a village, and we were able. I went to
Speaker 7: ninety seventh Elementary s UH School in ninety seventh Street
Speaker 7: Elementary School, eighty seventh Street School, and then from there
Speaker 7: we moved to Pumpton. So I've always been an Ella
Speaker 7: County resident. Even though I work in Orange County Community Foundation,
Speaker 7: I'm still a La County resident.
Speaker 5: I can't leave us, I can't go too far away.
Speaker 7: But one of the things that I think stands out
Speaker 7: for me when I think about where we are in
Speaker 7: Black Los Angeles is it's gonna be a blend and
Speaker 7: we have to be ready for it because there's so
Speaker 7: many different demographics and ethnic backgrounds here in California.
Speaker 5: Now, we can't just say that there's a Black Los.
Speaker 7: Angeles and I think of the LATINX, the Asian White,
Speaker 7: the other demographics, because we're all starting to blend into
Speaker 7: one community. But what we have to watch out for,
Speaker 7: because I've noticed that this is a great mixed crowd.
Speaker 7: When you're engaging and when you're working with African American people,
Speaker 7: we have to remember now that the village is all
Speaker 7: of us.
Speaker 5: And when you see that someone's not.
Speaker 7: Getting the same access and opportunity because now you'll see
Speaker 7: it up close, because you're now in wounded communities. You
Speaker 7: have to be ready to stand in and step up
Speaker 7: and be allies. So what I see for Black Los
Speaker 7: Angeles is not just us stepping up and continue to
Speaker 7: push for equality, but I see a lot of allies
Speaker 7: that are going to be neighbors, church members, s, classmates,
Speaker 7: you name it, social club. I don't know if many
Speaker 7: of you guys ever go over to uh golf. There's
Speaker 7: the new what is it sky?
Speaker 5: What is it the sky? Is it the sky called
Speaker 5: top God, new top Dog.
Speaker 7: Everybody's in one place, and so we have to figure
Speaker 7: out how do we collectively continue to help the African
Speaker 7: American community.
Speaker 5: Rise just to a place where we have.
Speaker 3: Same equal access opportunity.
Speaker 7: And so the village to me is different to the
Speaker 7: village is now all of us in this together, But
Speaker 7: we can't take the eye off of those that are
Speaker 7: not given the same opportunity to access. So we're gonna
Speaker 7: be a lot of allies to help us.
Speaker 10: My name is Bleek Cloud and founder and co owner
Speaker 10: of Bleak Books.
Speaker 3: We should give being here to speak in to thank
Speaker 3: the organization or inviten me too.
Speaker 6: This.
Speaker 10: I never saw myself doing these types of things, but I'm.
Speaker 3: Very grateful and thankful and appreciative.
Speaker 10: You know, growing up as we all at one point
Speaker 10: or with children and then we grow up to adults.
Speaker 10: But I had oobia, I had speech impatterment, I had
Speaker 10: a lot of fear.
Speaker 11: And what I've.
Speaker 10: Noticed is that in order to grow, you have to
Speaker 10: challenge through those fears, whatever they might be. And that's
Speaker 10: what I've done. So that's why having this platform, they
Speaker 10: would speaking about believe books, something I've been doing since
Speaker 10: nineteen ninety. I've been serving the community with books, and
Speaker 10: I consider myself a book activist because I've impacted so
Speaker 10: many people over these decades. I've had women and men
Speaker 10: my age when I was came out of college. Now
Speaker 10: it's to you citizens. I've had children five six years
Speaker 10: old come to me as an adult now and appreciate
Speaker 10: being in a place where we represented images that reflected
Speaker 10: our community.
Speaker 3: Because identity is very important.
Speaker 10: You know, we're talking about you know, Los Angeles and
Speaker 10: and and and it's important because my bookstores in Los Angeles,
Speaker 10: we have several bookstores, one in the ball Else crunch
Speaker 10: Up Mall, one in of Fox Hills Mall. Now it's
Speaker 10: Westfield Coche City Wall. But I get this one question
Speaker 10: all the time.
Speaker 3: They say what made you get into the book business?
Speaker 3: And I always say the same thing.
Speaker 10: I had a degree from USC but I didn't have
Speaker 10: a knowledge yourself. It is very important identity what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: You have to love yourself first.
Speaker 10: You know when kids look at a picture, when you
Speaker 10: look at a picture, you first look for yourself.
Speaker 3: What happens when you don't see yourself?
Speaker 10: When we talk about the future, right, and has to
Speaker 10: see all of us right.
Speaker 3: I grew up watching a lot of movies, and I
Speaker 3: didn't see a.
Speaker 10: Lot of us in those movies as a black man,
Speaker 10: you know, I didn't see a future. I want to
Speaker 10: start tracking went all over the universe, and I didn't
Speaker 10: see all they old black people in the universe.
Speaker 3: I damage you can't not neither, and I lost star track.
Speaker 1: But at that time, when I was younger, I didn't
Speaker 1: even think about that.
Speaker 3: But our youth is one other percent of our future,
Speaker 3: and it's.
Speaker 1: Our job to impact them because we got the pastor
Speaker 1: torch open to them.
Speaker 3: We gotta make the new future leaders of tomorrow.
Speaker 5: So I miss that.
Speaker 3: Milie books. It's to use books, and you see, books
Speaker 3: is just a part of art. Art is a.
Speaker 1: Part of culture, and these are mediums that we have
Speaker 1: to use to reach the master of the people.
Speaker 10: But in the process you cannot lose your identity.
Speaker 3: I was told by.
Speaker 10: A wise man like God made us in the tribes,
Speaker 10: not that we might fight each other, but to.
Speaker 3: Know each other. It's great. It's in all of our culture.
Speaker 10: And the way we recognize each other is by understanding
Speaker 10: each other's culture.
Speaker 3: You have to eat culture. It's like this.
Speaker 1: You go and I like to watch Discovery because I
Speaker 1: watched them animal channels, and I watched the animals, and
Speaker 1: I see how they.
Speaker 3: Move during the summer all together.
Speaker 1: Look the cows, the deers, the buffalo, I mean, the giraffes,
Speaker 1: the zebras.
Speaker 3: They move thousands of miles together, but yet several.
Speaker 10: And what I mean by that is that they keep
Speaker 10: their identity, they keep their.
Speaker 1: Culture, but they move as one. And we have to
Speaker 1: learn to do that as a people, something that.
Speaker 10: We haven't done, and we gotta do better because the
Speaker 10: future is at state.
Speaker 3: We cannot drown out our culture just to blend in
Speaker 3: with everybody.
Speaker 1: There is beauty in black culture, there's blue beauty in
Speaker 1: Latino culture, there's beauty in Asian culture.
Speaker 3: There's beauty and white culture. For far too long, society
Speaker 3: puts us to lose ourselves. That does not work. You
Speaker 3: got to know yourself to be yourself. A line in
Speaker 3: the zup is not a line like in the jungle.
Speaker 3: An elephant in the soup is not the elephant up.
Speaker 1: You put that line in the and and and in
Speaker 1: the circus, out in the jungle, out in the foot,
Speaker 1: and and and.
Speaker 3: The samar it will die.
Speaker 10: It won't die defeat itself because it has no identity.
Speaker 10: You got to know yourself and that doesn't knock somebody
Speaker 10: else to be yourself. Put too much money, too much
Speaker 10: interest is put on trying to create a blending society.
Speaker 3: When you lose yourself, you can't.
Speaker 11: You gotta be you.
Speaker 3: They man in books. Why because books of us.
Speaker 1: Now writing the story history and there are different stories.
Speaker 3: I've been doing this since nineteen ninety as a book out.
Speaker 10: I've seen the evolution of the industry and our voice
Speaker 10: was selected on them shelves, and that's in every community.
Speaker 10: But it's time that we elevate our voice, and it's
Speaker 10: time that we you know, because.
Speaker 3: American history is a melting pot.
Speaker 11: You have this country.
Speaker 10: Greatness is in everyone's contribution. And even though we might
Speaker 10: have started out slavery, look where we are now. Look
Speaker 10: how what we overcome now And that's why it's important
Speaker 10: that all of these stories be told and elevated.
Speaker 1: And it's all we talk about black to the future.
Speaker 1: And there's many ways that you can impact our identity,
Speaker 1: our image, our culture and move society in the right direction,
Speaker 1: because yes, we got to do it together, but don't
Speaker 1: lose your identity.
Speaker 12: Thank you, thank you, and I think you all you
Speaker 12: all have both just touch touched on the multiculturalness of Los.
Speaker 8: Angeles, and I think that's what makes Los Angeles a really.
Speaker 3: Special place in a really rich space.
Speaker 8: And at the same time, how do we each honor
Speaker 8: each other's identities, our stories, our cultures.
Speaker 3: And I think in many ways that's again.
Speaker 8: That's what makes Los Angeles the great city that it is,
Speaker 8: is being able to have so many different cultures and.
Speaker 6: Identities blend in one place.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 6: You talked a little bit as well about the role.
Speaker 3: Of books as a way to kind.
Speaker 7: Of help the help us no our identity, but really
Speaker 7: as a tool for the future, right, and so books
Speaker 7: is at analogy of culture and art. We also have
Speaker 7: technology that continues to shift and emerge and evolve. And so, Jason,
Speaker 7: from where you sit, can you talk a little bit
Speaker 7: about the role of technology and helping us really be
Speaker 7: black to the future and what it means for for
Speaker 7: where you sit?
Speaker 11: I can, but I I don't wanna believe to talk
Speaker 11: to him.
Speaker 3: Started off here and.
Speaker 13: He's like, hey, come, I did it with I. I
Speaker 13: was here for the ride, and thank you was what tamm.
Speaker 13: It really is a pleasure to be here and join
Speaker 13: you all in this panel. My name is Jason Crockett.
Speaker 13: I will get snap Ink the parent company of Snapchat
Speaker 13: if you're not familiar. We're a mobile communication device based
Speaker 13: in Santa Monica, And so you know, I think I can.
Speaker 13: I'll try to piggyback on a lot of what was
Speaker 13: just said from the last two speakers, this idea of
Speaker 13: both maintaining identity but celebrating everyone's collective identity and then
Speaker 13: also how we are being able to share ourselves in
Speaker 13: our identities, because I think that is something that tech
Speaker 13: has the power to do well. It doesn't mean we
Speaker 13: always have enabled that well, but we have the power to.
Speaker 13: So I think that where technology is going, people want immersive,
Speaker 13: engaging experiences with far less friction, so fewer devices. So
Speaker 13: I think of this question of how can tech enable
Speaker 13: this conversation in two ways. One I look at it
Speaker 13: from the standpoint of tech as a tool, and then
Speaker 13: I look at.
Speaker 11: It as tech as industry as a tool.
Speaker 13: Technology and technologists have an absolute unequippal responsibility to make
Speaker 13: sure that people have access to increased technologies. And underline
Speaker 13: all of that is a fight for broadband and quality
Speaker 13: access to high speed Internet. So I think that for
Speaker 13: technology companies is incumbent upon them to join that conversation
Speaker 13: and join that fight, and that's something that CCF has
Speaker 13: actually been at the forefront.
Speaker 11: Of and as a leader. It's not the industry's job
Speaker 11: to lead that.
Speaker 13: Organizations like CCF are well positioned to be the advocates
Speaker 13: for that sort of change. But it is incumbent upon
Speaker 13: technology companies who are, at the end of the day,
Speaker 13: the beneficiaries of access, to be supporting increased access to quality,
Speaker 13: high speed broadband, high speed, reliable internet across all communities.
Speaker 13: And the work that folks like shaming England and Jared
Speaker 13: have done to raise the profile of this conversation so
Speaker 13: many others uncovering the fact that people are paying more
Speaker 13: in historically black communities or crabby Wi Fi that isn't
Speaker 13: actually reliable.
Speaker 11: That's incredibly important work.
Speaker 3: Can we need more of.
Speaker 11: It as an industry?
Speaker 13: I think that it is important for us to continue
Speaker 13: to put increased pressure on tech companies to actually live
Speaker 13: up to a lot of what they promised during the
Speaker 13: last three, four or five years when it comes to
Speaker 13: exposing underrepresented communities to increased opportunities in tech, expanding.
Speaker 11: The aperture of the ambition window.
Speaker 3: What are positions?
Speaker 11: What a job? So, what do the future of careers
Speaker 11: look like?
Speaker 13: So we can ensure that those careers are actually being
Speaker 13: accessible to people that will indeed have the greatest impact
Speaker 13: in shaping the future of how technology is utilized. Essentially,
Speaker 13: how are we working with young black and brown communities
Speaker 13: to make sure that they see themselves not just as
Speaker 13: consumers but as creators in the.
Speaker 11: Coming tech ecosystem.
Speaker 13: For us as a company, we are beyond just Snapchat
Speaker 13: and how y'all notes that app with the ghost.
Speaker 11: And you know, the disappear investments. That's only a part
Speaker 11: of it.
Speaker 13: We're one of several companies, many companies working in the
Speaker 13: space of experiential technology, bringing tech to the world and
Speaker 13: experiencing it in the world. And now I think like
Speaker 13: you have virtual reality, which is kind of one component
Speaker 13: of that.
Speaker 11: We really are bullish on.
Speaker 13: Augmented reality, and that's where the storytelling piece comes in.
Speaker 11: How can we utilize.
Speaker 13: Technology to reach girl audiences and tell stories, including historical
Speaker 13: historical accounts of what has happened in the world around them,
Speaker 13: in the places where those things took place, where those
Speaker 13: events took place. And so for us, we've launched a
Speaker 13: number of initiatives using augmented reality. One celebrating the legacy
Speaker 13: of Biddy Mason, who so many people share that story
Speaker 13: of not having a clue that there was this phenomenal
Speaker 13: black woman at this time shortly after slavery, who became
Speaker 13: a millionaire in real estate. That's the story that all
Speaker 13: Angelino's black, white, and green, every Angelino should know, and
Speaker 13: so few do, and so we've used augmented reality to
Speaker 13: tell that story throughout Los Angeles.
Speaker 11: We used AR to tell the story.
Speaker 13: Of Natasha Harlan's because that was such an important cultural
Speaker 13: moment for so many different ethnicities and races, and it's
Speaker 13: just not taught in schools. So we created an entire
Speaker 13: augmented reality experience celebrating her legacy but also educating people.
Speaker 11: On that experience.
Speaker 13: In Santa Monica, there was an entire boulevard Broadway that
Speaker 13: was home to black and brown entrepreneurs and creatives before
Speaker 13: the expansion of the Tin Freeway, and when the ten
Speaker 13: Freeway expanded, it completely erased the history of these people
Speaker 13: and their contributions. We used augmented reality to bring that
Speaker 13: story to life on that street so that people on
Speaker 13: location could learn what existed there fifty sixty years ago.
Speaker 13: So I think technology is really one of the many
Speaker 13: tools that can help augment absolutely not replace. We need books,
Speaker 13: we need traditional education, and we need to find additional
Speaker 13: ways to double down on those messages and those educational
Speaker 13: moments and technologies is really the key to enabling that.
Speaker 13: So I will turn it over.
Speaker 1: So I saw the times like sec happens when you
Speaker 1: get your little leagues, the promserat or anything. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: lie to you the black radical traditional day. So I'm
Speaker 1: also gonna say, as I pick up my phone, I
Speaker 1: appreciate you.
Speaker 11: Reddit.
Speaker 1: At some point, probably about one fifteen, one twenty, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna have to walk off the stage because we're actually
Speaker 1: performing right now at the conventions in her But let's
Speaker 1: get into it.
Speaker 3: I canstrive for brevity.
Speaker 1: My name is Pete White. And it's interesting when I
Speaker 1: when I listen to all the stories, particularly the Bitty
Speaker 1: Mason story, I think the thing that people have to
Speaker 1: remember about Betty Mason, and this is important when we
Speaker 1: when I when I give my little talk about black futurism,
Speaker 1: the Bitty Mason story is incredibly important.
Speaker 3: Because she didn't just show up in Los Angeles.
Speaker 5: She walked.
Speaker 1: She walked to Los Angeles behind her quote unquote master.
Speaker 3: She was a midwife.
Speaker 1: And then when she got to Los Angeles after walking
Speaker 1: from Oklahoma, she sued her master for her freedom because
Speaker 1: Bitty Mason knew that California was in quasi free state.
Speaker 3: And then after Bitty Mason did all of these things,
Speaker 3: she started the very first credit.
Speaker 1: System here in Los Angeles, the first rescue missions, the
Speaker 1: first some of the first general stores, because Bitty Mason,
Speaker 1: up from slavery, knew that it was important to.
Speaker 3: Take care of one to nothing Betty Mason would then
Speaker 3: go on to be one of the co founders of
Speaker 3: the African American Methodist Church.
Speaker 1: Right, And so what I say when we talk about
Speaker 1: Bitty Mason put some respect on it. First second, is
Speaker 1: crazy that with all of the things that Btty Mason
Speaker 1: has done, the best that Los Angeles could do was
Speaker 1: to give.
Speaker 3: Her a little small wall behind a parking lot on
Speaker 3: Spring Street. We can do better. Why do I say
Speaker 3: these things.
Speaker 1: I think it's important, particularly when we think about black
Speaker 1: Los Angeles, not not think about Los Angeles and not
Speaker 1: think about the.
Speaker 3: Founding of Los Angeles.
Speaker 1: Forty six families founded Los Angeles, half.
Speaker 3: Of whom we're black, up out of Mexico. Right.
Speaker 1: And so also when we think about internationality and we
Speaker 1: think about oftentimes.
Speaker 3: We'll say, well there is no this without that.
Speaker 1: Well there ain't gonna have There's no Los Angeles without
Speaker 1: black or brown people, without our labor, without our coming here,
Speaker 1: without our standing life.
Speaker 3: The problem is, because I'm also.
Speaker 1: A product out of a LA unified school district, is
Speaker 1: none of these things are taught to us in school.
Speaker 1: And and oftentimes I'm an organizer, I'm an I guess
Speaker 1: I'm an.
Speaker 3: Artist, and an organizer.
Speaker 1: But when I bring these stories to community, to your point,
Speaker 1: community immediately gets it right. When someone brings the story
Speaker 1: right in an authentic way, someone from community right, the
Speaker 1: stories move forward the Los Angeles that I do. My
Speaker 1: family also got here.
Speaker 3: He's in the fifties.
Speaker 1: My family actually landed in Brownsville. Anyone in here know
Speaker 1: where Brownsville is at Regianna. If you know where Brownsville,
Speaker 1: all right.
Speaker 3: So raising up, let's do that. Brownsville.
Speaker 1: Brownsville is a little Tokio, right, That's where the first
Speaker 1: that's where the African American Methist Church was born as well. However,
Speaker 1: as African Americans were fleeing the South. My family comes
Speaker 1: from Louisiana, both Monroe, Louisiana and Alexandria, Louisiana. And then
Speaker 1: I got some folks from New Orleans. The interesting thing
Speaker 1: about Monroe, Louisiana, that's where hue P. Newton is from.
Speaker 1: And so you know, our cousins moved here, or my my,
Speaker 1: my parents' cousins moved here, and we found ourselves in
Speaker 1: Little Tokyo. First Little Tokyo because African Americans fleeing the South,
Speaker 1: fleeing oppression, at the same time that internment was happening
Speaker 1: in Little Tokyo. So for five years appeared in five
Speaker 1: years when the Japanese community was in turn, African Americans
Speaker 1: many landed in lid of Tokyo and that community was
Speaker 1: called Bronzeville during that period. And then we made our
Speaker 1: way down to Central Avenue. And then of course, like you,
Speaker 1: we went from Hooper. I went from Hooper in twenty
Speaker 1: seven right.
Speaker 3: To the West Side.
Speaker 6: Right.
Speaker 3: Why are these.
Speaker 1: Stories important because these stories also lay in parallel with
Speaker 1: political decisions that were made.
Speaker 3: Like when I think about.
Speaker 1: Slaughson for folks, if you're from Los Angeles and.
Speaker 3: If you go down Alabeda or if you go.
Speaker 1: Down Slawson, well two years two years ago, you would
Speaker 1: see all of these old manufacturing plants, empty warehouses where
Speaker 1: those were where people African American folks used to work
Speaker 1: Bethlehem steel, firestone, rubber. Right with the industrialization, all of
Speaker 1: those factories, all of those plants closed, and it began
Speaker 1: a real hard time for working class black folks shortly thereafter.
Speaker 1: So you know, the industrialized, the industrial zation. Try and
Speaker 1: get those words out this morning, that's happening. But there's
Speaker 1: other decisions that are happening. The War on drug which
Speaker 1: was really the war on the black community, also took
Speaker 1: effect right after d industrialization.
Speaker 3: And if you scratch your head, you're like, damn, that
Speaker 3: shit sounds.
Speaker 1: Like a plan, because it was right, It had to
Speaker 1: be a plan. And then we went from three prisons
Speaker 1: to twenty two prisons.
Speaker 3: You gotta fill the prisons up somewhere.
Speaker 1: We gotta get folks, We gotta you know, we have
Speaker 1: to keep those small town industries going.
Speaker 3: And then welfare reform and then houselessness in the black community.
Speaker 1: Right, and so oftentimes when folks look at houselessness in LA,
Speaker 1: the dominant narrative has always been you houseless because you
Speaker 1: didn't try hard enough. You're houseless because you really houseless
Speaker 1: just because you didn't want anything better. Picture that, think
Speaker 1: about a downinant narrative that leads to policy. Right, that's
Speaker 1: like you just didn't want to try it hard enough.
Speaker 1: And then you think about what the after American community
Speaker 1: has done is built Los Angeles, right, So that's a
Speaker 1: whole lot of trying.
Speaker 3: And then this idea of.
Speaker 1: Substance abuse, Like, wait a second, if substance abuse is
Speaker 1: a thing that creates houselessness.
Speaker 3: Wouldn't the whole of the.
Speaker 1: United States be houseless because we are the most substance.
Speaker 11: Abuse community in the world.
Speaker 1: And then the last thing, mental illness is the thing
Speaker 1: that we've all been taught off and told is, wow,
Speaker 1: homelessness exists because they closed down the mental health institutions.
Speaker 3: And they tell you, they tell you.
Speaker 11: That Reagan did that.
Speaker 3: They were like as covenor, Reagan shut.
Speaker 1: Down all of the institutions. But that's a lie, of course,
Speaker 1: because the institutions were shut down and shuddered in nineteen
Speaker 1: fifty and so well before nineteen fifty nineteen sixties, so
Speaker 1: well before Reagan was around, the mental health hospitals were
Speaker 1: already shuddered. What Reagan was responsible for doing was simply
Speaker 1: not simply.
Speaker 3: This is not a simply situation.
Speaker 1: But we're moving community based funding to community mental health clinics.
Speaker 9: Right.
Speaker 1: Why are these things important? These things are important. I'm
Speaker 1: just watching that little big thing.
Speaker 3: It's like an option. I saw you moving. I was like,
Speaker 3: it's out of my time because I can't pull up
Speaker 3: right now.
Speaker 1: But these narratives are the stories are important, and the
Speaker 1: narratives are important because the things that we've been Tart
Speaker 1: actually faults.
Speaker 3: These things are untrue, and these are the.
Speaker 1: Things that divide us, right, these are the things that
Speaker 1: they used to divide the Black community and our elements, right,
Speaker 1: and it's important for us to interrogate those lies, particularly
Speaker 1: not just in February like this, the twenty eight day,
Speaker 1: the shortest month, when every day, because every day is
Speaker 1: Black history, every day.
Speaker 3: Is around history in the city of Los Angeles. I'm
Speaker 3: living at my time.
Speaker 1: I'm passing it back over because I'm trying to get
Speaker 1: out of here.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Pete.
Speaker 7: It's a wealth of uh imformation has been shared already
Speaker 7: on this stage as well as I think so many
Speaker 7: of our stories are connected because really in the back
Speaker 7: or backdrop of all of this, to PE's point, it's
Speaker 7: constantly policy and decisions and choices that are.
Speaker 8: Influencing the movement of folks, influencing the conditions of folks.
Speaker 3: And when we've heard on this stage.
Speaker 8: Today, it's also just the complexity of many of the
Speaker 8: issues that are in the black community and.
Speaker 3: The nuances that exist in.
Speaker 8: How we solve them and how we everybody in this room,
Speaker 8: everybody outside of this room really comes together to.
Speaker 3: Play a pivotal role in that.
Speaker 7: So I just wanna kind of maybe do like a
Speaker 7: lightning round really quickly from where you sit in your position,
Speaker 7: what do you think if there's one or two things
Speaker 7: that are really pivotal in how we talk.
Speaker 3: About everybody coming together?
Speaker 8: Right, So it's always easy to say, you know, we
Speaker 8: just gotta work together, We've got to put our differences aside,
Speaker 8: or we we got to bring our identities into a
Speaker 8: room and we can all get in the room.
Speaker 3: And I mean I used to.
Speaker 5: Work in city hall, right, so we will all be
Speaker 5: in a.
Speaker 7: Room in the city council chambers. Everybody's there, but sometimes
Speaker 7: you're not really sure what's getting done right, like what
Speaker 7: is actually moving the needle forward? And so I would
Speaker 7: love to just hear from you all, you know one
Speaker 7: of two things that you think specifically from where Houston,
Speaker 7: are really pivotal and how we continue to move forward
Speaker 7: from where we are today and into the future of
Speaker 7: black Los Angeles.
Speaker 6: So I'll start with me, Tammy from the lens of
Speaker 6: philanthromy game.
Speaker 5: Absolutely, thank you, Thank you Christos. Really quickly.
Speaker 7: When I think about where we need to go and
Speaker 7: how we should all come together, it is through philanthropy.
Speaker 7: On Juneteenth, twenty twenty, the Orangetown Community Foundation. We said
Speaker 7: up what was called the African American Alliance Fund, and
Speaker 7: we did that because of we just standing in front
Speaker 7: of the television watching all of the unrest that was
Speaker 7: happening as a result. And I always say their names, Aubrey,
Speaker 7: Brehanna Taylor, and George Floyd. We saw that with our
Speaker 7: own eyes. The world saw it. Everyone saw it, and
Speaker 7: we all reacted to it. But then on what's next?
Speaker 7: So I stood in front of my television and it
Speaker 7: was also COVID. You guys see, you know I wasn't
Speaker 7: messing around out there. I know you remember, but it
Speaker 7: was COVID out there, and people are out there, you know,
Speaker 7: really protesting and pushing. As a blanthepist. I said, well,
Speaker 7: I know what I can do. I'm gonna personally set
Speaker 7: up a fun for African Americans by an African American.
Speaker 7: Went to my boss and said, Shelley, who is the best.
Speaker 5: I am here before you because.
Speaker 7: She saw something that me have made me a leader
Speaker 7: of her organization. I'm here because of Shelley. So whenever
Speaker 7: I speak about this fun, I speak to Shelley an
Speaker 7: give a little choked up about it because she didn't
Speaker 7: have to see me. But what she said was, Kenny,
Speaker 7: we don't have what's called a fun just for African Americans.
Speaker 7: Say guess what is your twenty year anniversary? Now you do,
Speaker 7: I'm gonna take twenty five thousand dollars of my own
Speaker 7: personal resources instead of what we will call the African
Speaker 7: American Allignance Fund and recently called the Alliance Fund short,
Speaker 7: thank you, thank you. The reason we called it the
Speaker 7: Alliance Fund is because we all everybody saw it, didn't
Speaker 7: you guys see it?
Speaker 5: Was there anybody in the room who did not see it?
Speaker 5: And also everybody wanted to health.
Speaker 7: So we set up a fun and it focused on
Speaker 7: five things that really put African Americans at a disadvantage. Education, health,
Speaker 7: A lot of African Americans lost their lives during COVID
Speaker 7: because they had underlying helth conditions. Civic engagement. We just
Speaker 7: heard about all the laws and the policies that need
Speaker 7: to be changed in.
Speaker 5: Order for us to have that same through our.
Speaker 7: Opportunity human services for granteds.
Speaker 5: That's our catch all. You guys know how we can
Speaker 5: put everything in human service.
Speaker 7: There's something we can't fund underneath that, so you have health,
Speaker 7: human services. And then the last one was economic business development.
Speaker 7: We want access to the same level of banking for
Speaker 7: loans and everything else that others have, and we're not
Speaker 7: getting that.
Speaker 3: We're not getting home loans, we're not getting those things.
Speaker 7: So I wanted to set up a fund in partnership
Speaker 7: with my colleague CEO, Shelley hass and we set up
Speaker 7: the fund and it has since raised about one point
Speaker 7: five million in three years. It started off as a
Speaker 7: black thing, but it really is at everybody thing. It's
Speaker 7: an ally thing. And with that, when you have the
Speaker 7: course to spend up. Oh and by the way, did
Speaker 7: I mention that there's only two percent African Americans in
Speaker 7: Orange County? And yes I did set it up. I
Speaker 7: did not care because after Americans are in Orange County,
Speaker 7: but we're in surrounding community. So that African American Alliance
Speaker 7: Fund is everywhere. I can fund anything in California, across
Speaker 7: the nation, around the world because.
Speaker 5: I set it up with my own money. Right, you
Speaker 5: put your money and you get saved.
Speaker 13: Right.
Speaker 5: You don't how we tell our kids you get paid
Speaker 5: to say.
Speaker 3: Maybe not paying.
Speaker 7: So that's that's what's happening because of doing that, We've
Speaker 7: also received a state fund of that uh one point
Speaker 7: five million for stop the hate. Even though African Americans
Speaker 7: are only two percent of Orange County. Guess whose numbers
Speaker 7: are the heights and hate crimes in Orange County African Americans.
Speaker 7: So we also received four four hundred and fifty thousand
Speaker 7: from the state to help us with the hate that
Speaker 7: is happening in Orange County. So when we think about
Speaker 7: coming together, this is how we come together. My ball said,
Speaker 7: what are you doing all the way over in this
Speaker 7: Caligorie Community Foundation.
Speaker 5: There's cause they need me, cause we all reading this together.
Speaker 7: So if I shared my story, maybe my story can
Speaker 7: become their story.
Speaker 5: No right, I'm still.
Speaker 7: And we go out of order a little bit, so
Speaker 7: you get here from mister White before you've got a joke.
Speaker 6: But I would do wanna say really quickly.
Speaker 3: I mean, you brought up, you.
Speaker 7: Know, twenty twenty and the years at twenty twenty plus
Speaker 7: child pandemic, economic crisis, political uprisings, and response to continuing
Speaker 7: to see the killing of.
Speaker 3: Black folks live stream on.
Speaker 8: Our owns, and I think you know it wasn't There's
Speaker 8: never just one twenty twenty, it was twenty fifteen.
Speaker 6: At some point, it's nineteen sixty five.
Speaker 7: It's there's always these moments in history, and not just
Speaker 7: moments in history, but honestly, as a black person, almost
Speaker 7: every day where you're living under the threat of some
Speaker 7: form of violence, something that is literally like, okay, you're
Speaker 7: constantly battling the day to day ways that systemic racism
Speaker 7: shows up. Right, And in twenty twenty, the world decided
Speaker 7: the world tuned in in the ways they had tuned
Speaker 7: in before.
Speaker 3: But we're also seeing the world tuning out. Right.
Speaker 8: We're seeing a lot of especially and I'll get to tech,
Speaker 8: but you know, some some tech kind of came you know,
Speaker 8: the practice sector was a lot quicker.
Speaker 3: They came out.
Speaker 6: They're like, Okay, we're gonna do this, this, this, this, this.
Speaker 7: And even just we're in twenty twenty four and just
Speaker 7: hearing from different folks, all this fun.
Speaker 6: Thing is running out. Oh they're not doing this anymore.
Speaker 9: Oh.
Speaker 6: This program lasted for two years because.
Speaker 7: Sometimes people treat equity and justice as a trend and
Speaker 7: it was never supposed to be that.
Speaker 6: Right, So in the work that we all do and
Speaker 6: that you all do.
Speaker 8: In philanthropy even you know, you leverage twenty a flashpoint
Speaker 8: to go and to get some of the stuff.
Speaker 3: You might not have been able to get before.
Speaker 8: But the momentum has to be sustained. And how we
Speaker 8: continue to do the work.
Speaker 3: We can't just say all.
Speaker 6: Right, well that that passed.
Speaker 3: We're really clear, let's move on and go back to
Speaker 3: business as usual.
Speaker 8: We have to continually build upon And so I just
Speaker 8: wanted to put that note out there, and Pete, before
Speaker 8: you have to jump, I would love to hear from
Speaker 8: you from your standpoint on political and social organizing. What
Speaker 8: is the one thing we can really bolster again on
Speaker 8: right now to try to like he's giving me the
Speaker 8: face because he knows more than one thing, but.
Speaker 3: Let's try to no, no, no no. And I think
Speaker 3: the mic went off, but I don't even I don't
Speaker 3: even need the mic.
Speaker 11: At all at all.
Speaker 5: So here it is, right.
Speaker 1: So I remember the first question, and I thought the
Speaker 1: first question was wrong question. So I routed something and
Speaker 1: I thought I was gonna deliver two days from now, might.
Speaker 3: Touch on some of what you just said.
Speaker 6: You'll let that.
Speaker 5: Can we do that?
Speaker 3: Help we come hard? Can we do?
Speaker 7: We got it?
Speaker 3: So? So I don't.
Speaker 1: I'm mentioned in this idea of the Black radical tradition. Right,
Speaker 1: it's a tradition. And it's funny when we think about
Speaker 1: particularly right now, you see you hear this thing called
Speaker 1: mutual aid, and we're like, hell, that's a new thing.
Speaker 3: That's not new, that's not black folks have organized whatever. Right,
Speaker 3: when you.
Speaker 1: Think about the Black radical tradition, we're talking about sort
Speaker 1: of all of the pieces of.
Speaker 3: The Black community coming together.
Speaker 1: And when I say this, this is not to mean
Speaker 1: that because it's funny and this isn't oftentimes that in
Speaker 1: every other community. But someone believes that all black people
Speaker 1: have to think exactly a lot of right.
Speaker 3: And that's not true.
Speaker 1: Right, we come from a tradition where we're able to
Speaker 1: bring a variety of perspectives together for the benefit of
Speaker 1: the Black community. And so I just wanted to just
Speaker 1: to come of remarks that I just wrote about the
Speaker 1: Black it's sort of the Black radical tradition, Black futurism,
Speaker 1: and intersectionality. It's something that we don't bring together, that
Speaker 1: means to be brought together.
Speaker 7: And so.
Speaker 1: I want to talk about the profound intersections of the
Speaker 1: Black radical tradition, Black futurism and intersectionality and conversions of
Speaker 1: ideologies that shape our understanding of liberation, resistance, and collective imagination.
Speaker 1: Collective imagination is so important. The Black radical tradition, rooted
Speaker 1: in centuries of struggle against oppression.
Speaker 3: Embodies the spirit of resistance that has.
Speaker 1: Defined the Black experience from the abolitionist movements to.
Speaker 3: The Black Power era and beyond.
Speaker 1: The Black radical tradition has been a guiding force in
Speaker 1: challenging systems of white supremacy, colonialism.
Speaker 3: And capitalism.
Speaker 1: It centers the voices and experiences of those most marginalized,
Speaker 1: advocating for transformer, transformative change and the dismantling of oppressive structures.
Speaker 1: In tandem with the Black radical tradition, Black futurism invites
Speaker 1: us to transcend the constraints of the present and envision
Speaker 1: futures that define the limitations of our current reality.
Speaker 3: This is where culture and all these things demand. Drawing
Speaker 3: from afrofuturists.
Speaker 1: Studies and speculative fiction, Black futurism celebrates the creativity, resilience,
Speaker 1: and innovation in Black cultures while imagining worlds where liberation is.
Speaker 3: Not only possible, but inevitable.
Speaker 1: It challenges dominant narratives and invites us to reimagine our
Speaker 1: relationship to technology, nature, community, and empowering us to shape
Speaker 1: our own destinies.
Speaker 3: Of the heart of both black radical tradition and black.
Speaker 1: Futurism lies intersectionality, a framework pioneered by black feminalists like
Speaker 1: Klie Crenshaw. Intersectionality recognizes the complex interplay of intersection identities
Speaker 1: such as race, gender, class, sexuality, and ability, and how
Speaker 1: they shape individuals' experiences of oppression and privilege. It acknowledges
Speaker 1: that struggles for justice are interconnected and cannot be addressed
Speaker 1: in isolation. By centering intersectionality, we under the diverse experiences
Speaker 1: and perspectives within our communities and work towards holistic, inclusive
Speaker 1: forms of liberation of almost there. Intersectionality compels us to
Speaker 1: confront the ways in which systems of power intersect and
Speaker 1: compound oppression for marginalized communities. It calls us to recognize
Speaker 1: the unique struggles faced by black women, LGBTQ plus individuals, disabled.
Speaker 3: Persons, and others at the margins of society.
Speaker 1: By enhancing or embracing intersectionality, we acknowledge the inherent dignity
Speaker 1: and humanity of all people and strive for justice that
Speaker 1: leaves no one behind. As we navigate the complexities of
Speaker 1: our time, it is imparative that we helphold the principles
Speaker 1: of the Black racal tradition, black futurism and intersectionality. And closing,
Speaker 1: let us see the words of Ourey Lord who declare,
Speaker 1: I am not free, while any woman is unfree, even
Speaker 1: when her shackles are very different from my own. M
Speaker 1: whom And I was just saying, I'm I'm gonna.
Speaker 3: Make it out when you black cowur do you have
Speaker 3: a role? But thank you, thank you, thank you everyone
Speaker 3: for having me, and thank you for having.
Speaker 5: This uh account rank you so really quickly.
Speaker 10: Actually wanna do a quick time check cause I know
Speaker 10: we wanted to do question and answers.
Speaker 3: Are we okay to I gotta describe to kill that
Speaker 3: a just yi of r if you.
Speaker 5: Has or not okay?
Speaker 3: Excellent?
Speaker 6: Thank you.
Speaker 8: So he really left us off on a high note,
Speaker 8: not just about intersectionality.
Speaker 3: But again black futurism in the future.
Speaker 5: And how we dreamed, how we dare to.
Speaker 3: See different from what is in front of us.
Speaker 7: And so if you each can share, and I'll start
Speaker 7: with Jason and Lee, what is your vision for the
Speaker 7: future of black Los Angeles as we talk about the
Speaker 7: theme of Black to the Future.
Speaker 11: Yeah, I'm happy to so.
Speaker 13: I think, you know, there's this conversation going on nationwide
Speaker 13: about loneliness and the lack of connectivity, and I think
Speaker 13: that technology has a role to play.
Speaker 11: It is not the thing that will solve this though.
Speaker 13: So I think technology is as a as a mechanism
Speaker 13: to bring community together inclusively of everyone, to help build
Speaker 13: more community, but we also need more space for that
Speaker 13: community to be actualized into the life inan person. That
Speaker 13: human connectivity is so vital and so important. There should
Speaker 13: not be a person that feels only but you know,
Speaker 13: the future that I would want my greatest ambition is
Speaker 13: there's not a black person here who feels like there
Speaker 13: is not a Black community in Los Angeles. I think
Speaker 13: projects like I know you're working on Destination Cridshaw are
Speaker 13: an incredible example of what we need more of places
Speaker 13: that bring Los Angeles together inclusively to uplift the Black
Speaker 13: experience and celebrate Black history in meaningful and intentional ways.
Speaker 13: And then the other thing that I would say, completely
Speaker 13: outside of tech, but just as a human being, as
Speaker 13: an Angelino. We cannot talk seriously about the Black experience
Speaker 13: and the Black future without talking about homelessness.
Speaker 11: I know you mentioned being a person who likes the numbers,
Speaker 11: I need to you know, Black population is about.
Speaker 13: Ten percent of LA County and upwards of thirty percent
Speaker 13: of the homeless population last number I saw October twenty
Speaker 13: owiny three.
Speaker 11: So that is just we cannot be serious unless.
Speaker 13: We are addressing that specific issue and we look at
Speaker 13: the root of black homelessness. We cannot divorce that from
Speaker 13: mass incarceration and it's legacy and impact on the Black community,
Speaker 13: and people who experience that are x percentage higher to
Speaker 13: experience homelessness, public incarcetriction.
Speaker 7: Absolutely hear of the future of black Clos's angels.
Speaker 1: Well, I like everybody just to imagine all the issues,
Speaker 1: all the problems in the center of this room and
Speaker 1: a it'll be stacked up like a man.
Speaker 3: And the question we gotta ask is how do we
Speaker 3: walk up all these issues to get to the top.
Speaker 1: Now, that's gonna take imagination, because that's a four to
Speaker 1: five novel of problems.
Speaker 3: And so that's the situation we're in.
Speaker 10: We got a lot of issues, and we can talk
Speaker 10: this whole all day about them. But the key is
Speaker 10: how imaginative we compete to go through those problems and
Speaker 10: solve 'em.
Speaker 3: We gotta come up with solutions.
Speaker 10: Because we are ren trusted with the future generation.
Speaker 3: And what I see is like.
Speaker 1: Elite books. You know, we started our selling books, but
Speaker 1: that's time went on, we evolved, We went into outreach.
Speaker 1: I'm probably say like twenty twenty three, we were.
Speaker 10: Able to raise over thirty thousand dollars through partnerships and give.
Speaker 3: Our old ten thousand books to what to do.
Speaker 1: And that was in significant to us because we in
Speaker 1: LA is not deserved and so we gave our books
Speaker 1: that gave representation to families and children, from children to
Speaker 1: teens to youth, whatever you And that was a problem
Speaker 1: moment because we.
Speaker 3: Have to help each other.
Speaker 13: And so my.
Speaker 3: Thinking is that it's gonna take all of us to
Speaker 3: come up with ideas and.
Speaker 10: To imagine the future, because not one person is gonna
Speaker 10: have the idea. And or why this man always told
Speaker 10: me this too, is that like think about this, like
Speaker 10: we all thinking right now. Right when you walked into
Speaker 10: this building, you wasn't thinking about all the steps you took.
Speaker 3: How you was walking down here where you were gonna sit.
Speaker 10: The reality is that you thought about coming to this floor.
Speaker 10: That's what you thought before you got here. Because thought
Speaker 10: is in the future.
Speaker 1: We gotta think about the future, because thought is the
Speaker 1: most powerful force in the universe.
Speaker 3: Got the speed of.
Speaker 10: Light because thought trials twenty four billion miles per second.
Speaker 3: All the gifts that we have in our brain.
Speaker 10: Is calculating right now, everything I'm saying, everything you looking,
Speaker 10: it is calculating bangs and pieces of information and a
Speaker 10: second affronction of a second. So we gotta think our
Speaker 10: way out of this. But that's the greatest gift we
Speaker 10: always giving.
Speaker 1: That's what separates us from every living organism in this world.
Speaker 10: We got something that's a gift we can think and
Speaker 10: we can imagine, and that's the future. Let's imagine it together.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 8: And I really appreciate the metaphor of that mountain, of
Speaker 8: all the problems and the issues cause along with the
Speaker 8: imagination to get creative about how we climb up that mountain.
Speaker 8: We're gonna need perseverance, We're gonna stay in power.
Speaker 3: We're gonna need breast breaks, We're gonna.
Speaker 6: Need to be able to lean on each other.
Speaker 3: To get up that mountain.
Speaker 8: So I think that again that's something to continue to
Speaker 8: keep in mind.
Speaker 3: As we do this work. We can imagine we.
Speaker 7: Can design the best programs, we can have the best.
Speaker 3: Initiatives, but our ability to be able to.
Speaker 7: Continue to sustain them, to manage them, to know.
Speaker 8: When we need to maybe adjusting to pivot. It's really
Speaker 8: pivotal in getting up that mountain.
Speaker 7: Thank you all right, So our final panelists, this is Tammy.
Speaker 7: If you would like to share with your vision because
Speaker 7: the future of.
Speaker 6: Los Angeles is and really bring us home.
Speaker 7: I thought I did that. Yeah, I be if it's
Speaker 7: out of respect for running the community poundations, we.
Speaker 5: Gotta get back to work. I'm really not turtle facing.
Speaker 11: I'm one hundred facing.
Speaker 7: So I'm helping all these fines and here I said,
Speaker 7: if you offer plan to people can always reach out.
Speaker 5: To me any time.
Speaker 7: It's a pleasure to be here that you were. Thank
Speaker 7: you off for being here today, thank you for taking
Speaker 7: the time. I hope you are leaving with your I
Speaker 7: know your bellies are pull hopefully your souls are fat.
Speaker 7: Hopefully you're feeling inspired, you're feeling motivated again. I think
Speaker 7: we can share information for each of our panelists.
Speaker 6: You need to reach out to them in the future.
Speaker 8: But thank you off for taking time out of the
Speaker 8: day to be here.
Speaker 3: And to show up into being a community.
Speaker 9: Well let's give it up to his battle the lead
Speaker 9: and all your brother beef out of come.
Speaker 3: In and out. You're gonna see I'm on TV soon.
Speaker 9: He's in at something very important camera storing something very important,
Speaker 9: representing l A.
Speaker 14: Representing I l A can and rubbers. I need the
Speaker 14: issue of the unhoused as p only can. So it
Speaker 14: was so great that he made the time to be here.
Speaker 14: I want to really thank the African THEASTHA group or.
Speaker 9: Putting this together, the tradition of passing the baton of
Speaker 9: chair and BENI did a great job.
Speaker 11: Thank you every This was really.
Speaker 9: Powerful and there are three big things that I've taken away, something.
Speaker 14: That I live by and something that you're reminded us
Speaker 14: today in the league about. You have to know yourself
Speaker 14: to be yourself, and it's why we do this. This
Speaker 14: is a phenomenal tradition here at CCF where our communities
Speaker 14: within a community come together on a regular basis to
Speaker 14: share their story, to share about their experience, their culture,
Speaker 14: their love.
Speaker 3: For this place, and it's grounded.
Speaker 15: On that very idea that you have to know who
Speaker 15: you are, you have to be proud of who you are.
Speaker 15: You have to know your own history and both the
Speaker 15: pain and the joy of who.
Speaker 3: You are to be able to be who you are.
Speaker 14: And so thank you so much really for reminding us
Speaker 14: of that important message.
Speaker 2: Thanks for listening to Maleak's Bookshelf, where topics on the
Speaker 2: shelf are books, culture, and community. Be sure to subscribe
Speaker 2: and leave me a review. Check out my Instagram at
Speaker 2: Maleak Books. See you next time.