Speaker 1: My League Books has all the knowledge you want. My
Speaker 1: League books has all the knowledge you need. My League books, Yeah,
Speaker 1: they have all the books that the whole wild world
Speaker 1: want to read. League Books Yo, Episode twenty six Malik's
Speaker 1: Bookshelf bringing a world together with books, culture, and community.
Speaker 1: I'm in a good mood. It's Sunday. I'm doing my
Speaker 1: production and this is a I mean a very very
Speaker 1: amazing Sunday. I've been playing gospel music all morning, grilling
Speaker 1: in the backyard, cooking pancakes, eggs, hash browns. We just
Speaker 1: feasting as a family, enjoying the Sunday is no clouds
Speaker 1: in the sky. We're playing our gossip with me. It
Speaker 1: is gossip or Sunday. I love gospel music. Gospel music,
Speaker 1: Um just touches my soul. Touched my heart. You know.
Speaker 1: I love music about God. I love inspiration music about God.
Speaker 1: That's why I like books that uplift and motivate and
Speaker 1: inspire gods from music. Just it's just it is touches
Speaker 1: my soul. Touches my heart. Just makes me think about
Speaker 1: the amazing world that we live in, the opportunities that
Speaker 1: we have don't matter what, how or how you started.
Speaker 1: The fact that the matter is, there is a God
Speaker 1: and you can overcome any and everything that you're going through.
Speaker 1: You got to reinforce your affirmation. You got to reinforce
Speaker 1: the world the way you want it. You gotta reinforce
Speaker 1: where you want to go. So you have to surround
Speaker 1: yourself with good music, affirmations, good books, good people. That's
Speaker 1: how success comes about or change. If you gotta have it,
Speaker 1: you gotta break your habit. Well, small things, big results.
Speaker 1: Just start with little things. Putting on some good music
Speaker 1: that's inspirational, reading a good book to an uplift you
Speaker 1: and make changes, putting on you know, surround yourself with
Speaker 1: our informations, waking up every day and just reading I
Speaker 1: am somebody. I want to be somebody. I am going
Speaker 1: to change a little simple things like that. Well this
Speaker 1: Gods from me. We got me on fire. I love music.
Speaker 1: Then praises God. You know, I grew up in the
Speaker 1: church every Sunday. We went to church every Sunday, and
Speaker 1: we didn't go with my mom. Guess what we couldn't
Speaker 1: do nothing, couldn't go outside, couldn't go play outside, couldn't
Speaker 1: do nothing. So hey, we all went to church and
Speaker 1: you know what my most every part about going to
Speaker 1: church was growing up. What's the music now? You know?
Speaker 1: He could you know, I'm young, you know, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: take your Spanish short. So hey, I passed out. Sometimes
Speaker 1: that church, you know, go to sleep, read reading the scriptures,
Speaker 1: go to sleep. But the minute they put on that gospel,
Speaker 1: the minute they get the doing the praise and worship partner.
Speaker 1: And this was a Baptist church. The minute they get
Speaker 1: to do the praise and worship song, Oh my God,
Speaker 1: that really spark me, move me, touch me, uplift me.
Speaker 1: I just couldn't help but feel joy, feel happiness, feel good,
Speaker 1: you know. And sometimes, you know, the music makes you sad.
Speaker 1: You know, things you're going through, things that you have
Speaker 1: to deal with, makes you sad, makes you cry, makes you,
Speaker 1: you know, feel a certain way. But we need a
Speaker 1: surrounded with music that uplifted. We've been crying too long,
Speaker 1: We've been sad too long. We need to uplift ourselves.
Speaker 1: Praise and worship songs should be just uplifting and make us.
Speaker 1: If you're gonna cry, it's good cry, it's good tears.
Speaker 1: It's good. You know, reason why you're crying, not because
Speaker 1: you're sad because you're joyful, because you're happy because you're
Speaker 1: giving God all the glory. That should be why we cry,
Speaker 1: because UM, life is too good and too short to
Speaker 1: waste it on dwelling on something that you can't change
Speaker 1: or something that you can't do nothing about. Focus on
Speaker 1: what you can do, what you will do. That's what
Speaker 1: we need to focus on, UM, because there are a
Speaker 1: lot of things that we can do to make a
Speaker 1: difference and to make a change. And I think gods
Speaker 1: from music. You know, at at Malik Books, we put
Speaker 1: on gospel music on Sundays. Uh here to day, we
Speaker 1: did a cook out, a brunch in the backyard and
Speaker 1: had our gods from music go on and we just
Speaker 1: praised God and all the goodness and glory that He
Speaker 1: gave us. And it's given us personally and in the world.
Speaker 1: We just gotta give thanks with thanks but long all
Speaker 1: praises due to God for everything and everyone. So today, UM,
Speaker 1: it's Sunday Funday, having a good time. And I hope
Speaker 1: you enjoyed this episode number twenty sets because it's called
Speaker 1: Gossipel Sunday, I'm gonna do some book reviews. I'm going
Speaker 1: to um talk about UM just different things that I
Speaker 1: think that's important. But the most important thing today is
Speaker 1: that we're gonna have a fun day. Is Gospel Sunday
Speaker 1: Fun Day. Enjoyed the episode. Hey, let me talk to
Speaker 1: you about a book that Elizabeth Ace Fiddo came out with.
Speaker 1: She has an award winning poem that she wrote over
Speaker 1: the years and won a lot of awards, and her
Speaker 1: famous most Spoken Word poem award winning off The Poet,
Speaker 1: Elizabeth Ace fiddle celebrates a beauty and meaning of natural
Speaker 1: black hair her wards Vibrate. Illustrated by the artist Andrea Pippins,
Speaker 1: This powerful book embraces all the complexity of Afro Latin,
Speaker 1: the history of pain, pride, and powerful love of that inheritance.
Speaker 1: This book I'm talking about it called Inheritance a Visual Poem.
Speaker 1: It's a beautiful book. It's beautifully visually illustrated by Andrea Pippins.
Speaker 1: Elizabeth Ace Vido, the author of her most famous work
Speaker 1: and award winning book called The Poet X, just came
Speaker 1: out with her new book card Inheritance a Visual Poem.
Speaker 1: So Hey, I'm just saying it's beautifully illustrated. It's a
Speaker 1: beautiful poem that talks about women um and their beautiful
Speaker 1: hair and all their dynamics that they have to deal
Speaker 1: with in terms of in this country and around the world,
Speaker 1: because there's so many different ways black women wear their
Speaker 1: hair and there's no one way to signify beauty because
Speaker 1: there's no one standard. So this book talks about, hey,
Speaker 1: how to love your black and beautiful hair no matter
Speaker 1: how and the style your hair, whether it's it's corn rolls,
Speaker 1: whether it's curly, whether it's straight, whether it's braided, whether
Speaker 1: it's you know, whatever. But the point is if it's
Speaker 1: wrapped up, and if it's tucked, and if it's in
Speaker 1: an eye frow, love it because guess what, it's your inheritance.
Speaker 1: So pick up the copy of Inheritance A vire's your
Speaker 1: Poem by Elizabeth Ace. Video. Sometimes we don't say this enough.
Speaker 1: I am blessed. That's right, I'm blessed, and I'm gonna
Speaker 1: tell you why. I'm blessed. And I don't care what
Speaker 1: I'm going through, I don't care what I'm dealing with.
Speaker 1: At the end of the day, I'm blessed. Life it's wonderful,
Speaker 1: life is beautiful, life is amazing, and I'm blessed. I'm
Speaker 1: blessed because I'm alive. I'm blessed because I have a family,
Speaker 1: I have children. I'm blessed because I have a home.
Speaker 1: I'm blessed because I have a book store. I'm blessed
Speaker 1: because I have a podcast, a book mobile. I'm blessed
Speaker 1: because I have a beautiful, loving wife. I'm blessed because
Speaker 1: I have friends and all walks of life. I'm blessed
Speaker 1: because I'm blessed. Things are amazing. No matter what I
Speaker 1: have to deal with, I can't lose sight, I can't
Speaker 1: forget that I am blessed. I'm blessed. I'm not the
Speaker 1: only one blessed. But so are you. Look at the
Speaker 1: amazing life that you have. Look at the amazing things
Speaker 1: that's going on in your life. I don't care what's
Speaker 1: happening in your life that is a distraction, always upsets you,
Speaker 1: or something you have to deal with. At the end
Speaker 1: of the day, you have more good in blessing than
Speaker 1: anything else. I'm blessed, and so are you. We're all
Speaker 1: blessed despite, We're all blessed despite we all didn't get
Speaker 1: here this at the same time or the same reason
Speaker 1: or the same circumstances. But you're still blessed. We bless
Speaker 1: I'm blessed. I'm blessed, and I'm loving the fact that
Speaker 1: I am aware and acknowledge that I'm blessed. It's a
Speaker 1: lot going on in this world. It's a lot happening
Speaker 1: in this world. It's a lot happen in your own life,
Speaker 1: and it's a lot happening in my own life. But
Speaker 1: I'm blessed and you're blessed. You know, we can't always
Speaker 1: be victorious. We can't always. When we can't always, you know,
Speaker 1: set out and set a goal and reach the goal.
Speaker 1: We we can't always become the very thing that we
Speaker 1: want to be. But there's always a place for us,
Speaker 1: and there's always a goal for us, even if you
Speaker 1: have to adjust it. That's what life is all about.
Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, you still bless Hey.
Speaker 1: You didn't create the water you drink, but it's an
Speaker 1: abundance of You didn't create the oxygen you breathe, but
Speaker 1: it's an abundance why because we're blasted. Listen, everything in
Speaker 1: this world came here before we were born, and when
Speaker 1: we leave, it's all gonna be here, no no matter
Speaker 1: what someone says or what someone believes, all right, none
Speaker 1: of us is more powerful than the forces that created
Speaker 1: this universe and created this earth. Water is always gonna
Speaker 1: be an oction is gonna be here. Life is gonna
Speaker 1: be here. And I don't care what some dumby downer
Speaker 1: wants to say about the excetential threat in all of
Speaker 1: this bs that is thrown out in this world, like
Speaker 1: you ain't got enough power to stop life. You ain't
Speaker 1: got man. Life is indestructible. Blessings are indestructible. There ain't
Speaker 1: no one, no one, single entity or reality or civilization
Speaker 1: is gonna stop the blessings and the abundance of life
Speaker 1: that's emanating and permeating and evolved it in this world.
Speaker 1: Life is a blessing and life is going to continue.
Speaker 1: And don't live in fear. What you need to do
Speaker 1: is challenge your fear and step into your blessing because
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, no matter what curveball
Speaker 1: we're throwing, what obstacle we gotta overcome, you are still
Speaker 1: are blessed. I'm blessed. That's right, I'm blessed, and people
Speaker 1: after me are going to be blessed. And life is
Speaker 1: going to continue, and it's going to continue to bless them,
Speaker 1: and it's going to continue to grow and magnify and
Speaker 1: elevate and rise because life is a blessing. It's the
Speaker 1: most scarce resource in the universe. Man, we are fortunate.
Speaker 1: It's a whole lot of space, but they a whole
Speaker 1: lot of life. And the life that is here is
Speaker 1: a blessing. In the life to come will continue to
Speaker 1: be a blessing. You know, the universe is vast, but
Speaker 1: there ain't a whole lot of life. So look in
Speaker 1: the mirror and tell yourself, I'm blessed because you are.
Speaker 1: I'm blessed. A new hot book on the shelf, Let
Speaker 1: Us to the Sons of Society by Shaka Singore. This
Speaker 1: book is brilliantly written. It's a book about letters written
Speaker 1: to his sons. Now, Shaka spent some time in jail
Speaker 1: for second degree I believe murder. He redeemed it. So
Speaker 1: he went on to write his first book, which is
Speaker 1: Writing My Wrongs, Life, Death and Redemption in American prison.
Speaker 1: That went on to become a New York Times bestseller.
Speaker 1: And he's a leading voice in criminal justice reform, a
Speaker 1: tech investor, and lectures all over this country at universities.
Speaker 1: He's the head of Diversity, Equity Inclusion at Triple Action.
Speaker 1: He's a former m I T Media LAPT director. He's
Speaker 1: spoken on Oprah and Trevor Nor. He's he has been
Speaker 1: a tad talk speaker. If it's an example of a
Speaker 1: story of redemption and change and metiphestation, it is Shaka
Speaker 1: sat Grey. So his new book let us to the
Speaker 1: Sons of Society, a father's invitation to love, honesty and freedom.
Speaker 1: Shaka had a son when he was in prison, and
Speaker 1: Shaka has a son when that he had to raise
Speaker 1: out of prison. So he had to raise two sons,
Speaker 1: one while he was in prison, one while he was
Speaker 1: out of prison. So this love letter has led us
Speaker 1: to his sons. It is a great book where it
Speaker 1: talks about honesty, love and freedom. It deals with subject
Speaker 1: matters that a lot of men don't typically like to
Speaker 1: talk about. You know, men are hold on to a
Speaker 1: lot of things that oftentimes are embarrassing or upsetting or
Speaker 1: just we don't want to talk about. So Shaka reveals
Speaker 1: some of those details in this book in these love
Speaker 1: letters to his sons, and as a man who has
Speaker 1: redeemed themselves in society, he's come a long way. He's
Speaker 1: an a war winning author, and he speaks all over
Speaker 1: his country about the prison and incarceration system and social justice.
Speaker 1: And this book is just a great good read for
Speaker 1: anyone who wants a success story of redemption, of change,
Speaker 1: of elevation, and anyone who wants to find a true
Speaker 1: relationship between a man and his sons or to find
Speaker 1: out how to communicate with his sons. So I definitely
Speaker 1: recommend it's a good read. Um, it's a page turner.
Speaker 1: I definitely think that it is one is not a
Speaker 1: lot of books out there in my community that talks about,
Speaker 1: you know, book subject matters like this. So pick up
Speaker 1: your copy of Letters to the Sons of Society, A
Speaker 1: father's Invitation to love, honesty and Freedom by Shaka Sere.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to Melik's Bookshelf where topics on the Shelf,
Speaker 1: our books, culture and community. Be sure to subscribe and
Speaker 1: leave me a review. Check out my instagram at Melik Books.
Speaker 1: See you next time.