Speaker 1: That's how what's good. Family is your girl to make
Speaker 1: a d. Mallory and it's your boy my son in general,
Speaker 1: and we are your host of street politicians the place
Speaker 1: with another day, another week, another tragic week. It's a
Speaker 1: lot going on that's really really tragic. We just seem
Speaker 1: to fall into these cycles of just one story after
Speaker 1: the next of things happening across the world. Um, that's
Speaker 1: just kind of crazy. So I don't know if I
Speaker 1: feel so great this week. Yeah, I mean, I think
Speaker 1: the job that we've been called to do, that we've
Speaker 1: taken on often brings forth that type of feeling. You know,
Speaker 1: we always calling notified about people either being shot, wrongfully arrested,
Speaker 1: people lost their lives, so you know, we take on
Speaker 1: a lot of that. But you're right to This week
Speaker 1: was a lot. We just attended the funeral of Jayalen Walker,
Speaker 1: you know, and you know, my condolecens goes out to
Speaker 1: his family. But you know, just to see how constantly
Speaker 1: we still faced with the same injustices and inequalities in America,
Speaker 1: it's just crazy, man. Yeah, I mean, you know, his family,
Speaker 1: they're such a conservative group of individuals who are um,
Speaker 1: you know, they they're not public people. They never in
Speaker 1: their lives expected or imagined, of course, that anything like
Speaker 1: this could happen to their loved one. And now here
Speaker 1: they are experiencing something that is so devastating. His mom
Speaker 1: and his sister Jada. Um you know, they're they're torn up,
Speaker 1: and the whole family of people whose lives have been
Speaker 1: changed forever. Nineties shots, Um is devastating. Sixty of the
Speaker 1: bullets actually hit him, about sixty and first of all,
Speaker 1: it was more than nineties shots. But um, you know,
Speaker 1: sixty of the bullets actually hit his body, and the
Speaker 1: majority of the bullets that hit him were in his torso. Um,
Speaker 1: so they were down low, which means that he got
Speaker 1: hit a lot while he was actually on the ground, um,
Speaker 1: you know. And the police their position is that they
Speaker 1: saw of shot fired, like the flash of a shot
Speaker 1: being fired while he was in the car. But they
Speaker 1: but I don't think there's anyone disputing that when he
Speaker 1: got out the car and as he's running, you can
Speaker 1: clearly see from the video that there is no gun.
Speaker 1: He is not turned towards the police, uh, pointing anything
Speaker 1: at them. Um. And so the messaging of the attorneys Robert,
Speaker 1: excuse me, Robert de Cello, Robert de Cello, uh and
Speaker 1: his team. Their message is there should have been zero shots.
Speaker 1: He was zero threat, zero shots. And I think the
Speaker 1: larger framing that we have to talk about is how
Speaker 1: police seem to be able to apprehend murder mass murderers.
Speaker 1: So at this point, this is a traffic stop that
Speaker 1: has put them in contact with Jalen Walker. A traffic
Speaker 1: stop and let's just say that he shot a shot
Speaker 1: in the car. You know, the the attorneys at this point,
Speaker 1: they're still dealing with ballistics and investigation, but I'm just
Speaker 1: gonna go with the police's worst case scenario that he
Speaker 1: shot a shot inside the car um and as a
Speaker 1: result of that, they say they felt threatened. But what
Speaker 1: I don't understand is why they don't feel threatened by
Speaker 1: individuals who shoot mass They first of all, they're looking
Speaker 1: for you. They are literally looking at it in this situation.
Speaker 1: They're not even looking for Jalen for a crime that
Speaker 1: is a dangerous crime. They're looking for him. They're pulling
Speaker 1: him over because of a traffic stop. And two officers
Speaker 1: only tasted him right, So that means that at least
Speaker 1: two people were close enough and saw that he wasn't
Speaker 1: a threat to the point that they needed deadly force.
Speaker 1: So they chased him right, and then all these other
Speaker 1: officers opened fire. But we just watched them pull over, kindly,
Speaker 1: pull over the young man or the guy who where
Speaker 1: was he at in um Chicago and Illinois and Illinois
Speaker 1: where on the fourth July perade? We watched them get
Speaker 1: him out of the car on the ground. I'm just
Speaker 1: trying to figure out when when you approached him, knowing
Speaker 1: that he just shot people at a parade? Yeah, well
Speaker 1: you didn't feel like he was a threat after he
Speaker 1: just killed People's just a common question for me. It's
Speaker 1: just like we keep having the same same dialogue, and
Speaker 1: it's because there is this notion, there's this narrative that
Speaker 1: blacks are dangerous, right, don't matter what scenario we're in,
Speaker 1: we are always seem to be a threat to their life.
Speaker 1: And it's believable because that is what this structure, this
Speaker 1: system has created, right they have they fed that to
Speaker 1: the police. You know, I've I've seen many different videos
Speaker 1: and pictures where they do target practice for black men
Speaker 1: as the you know, as the perpetrators. So this is
Speaker 1: a visual, this is a mental thing that has been
Speaker 1: passed down inside of the police structure. That has to
Speaker 1: be broken down. It has to be completely dismantled, and
Speaker 1: it has to be retraining. It has to be re
Speaker 1: you know, approach to how we we police our communities,
Speaker 1: you know, right. But you know the thing about it
Speaker 1: is that you I don't know if you can retrain
Speaker 1: that mindset. I don't know if you can retrain that mindset,
Speaker 1: because it's not just in the police department. It's systemic.
Speaker 1: It's everywhere everywhere we go, we are, we are, we
Speaker 1: are seeing everywhere. I mean, I was shopping, and I
Speaker 1: think I mentioned this before. I was shopping one day
Speaker 1: and a lady asked me, was I an entertainer? She
Speaker 1: in her mind could not imagine. She can't fathom that
Speaker 1: a black girl is in the store in Neiman marcus
Speaker 1: able to purchase whatever it is that I want. She's
Speaker 1: not she she just so in her mind it has
Speaker 1: to be entertainment. And I told her, I know, I'm
Speaker 1: not a singer, a dancer. I'm also not the wife
Speaker 1: of us, of a sports player, none of those things.
Speaker 1: And she's like, you know, and and of course once
Speaker 1: I said it, she realized what she had done, and
Speaker 1: how I was offended, not because I think any of
Speaker 1: those things are bad, because if I was an entertainer,
Speaker 1: I should also nobody should even be asking me what
Speaker 1: I do right that that's the only way that you
Speaker 1: would be able to do these things. That is different.
Speaker 1: But but what I'm what I will say is it's
Speaker 1: something to say to what Ben Crumb said, you know
Speaker 1: how we have to make it unsustainable. We have to
Speaker 1: put the value of black life to a point where
Speaker 1: it is unsustainable, right where we have to make accountability
Speaker 1: to the point where it's so many officers going to jail,
Speaker 1: the state is losing so much money that they say
Speaker 1: to theirselves, we have to restructure how we look at
Speaker 1: this right because it's not conducive anymore. Right now, if
Speaker 1: you you shoot a black man, you say you fear
Speaker 1: for your life, you're gonna destinuty for a little while,
Speaker 1: and you're back on the force. When that's no longer
Speaker 1: the reality, right when when every time you do it
Speaker 1: you're held accountable, the state is losing millions of dollars,
Speaker 1: then it's not a sustainable method. Is no longer conducive
Speaker 1: to what it is they're trying to accomplish. So that's
Speaker 1: what I would go is. You know, so I hear
Speaker 1: you say, and can't retrain, But you you can because
Speaker 1: when when when when, um, when the accountability and the
Speaker 1: consequences for taking a black life become too much for
Speaker 1: you to have to deal with, you'll figure it out.
Speaker 1: Oh no, I I agree a hundred percent that the
Speaker 1: only way to deal with it is through accountability, right
Speaker 1: like you've gotta per walk people. And then folks start
Speaker 1: saying whether I'm racist or not, I know, I can't
Speaker 1: carry out these things, um, you know, and and and
Speaker 1: get away with this. So I certainly agree with you
Speaker 1: that that's the only method or the only strategy, uh,
Speaker 1: the only only remedy. Remedy, that's the right word, that
Speaker 1: we can use to put an end or at least
Speaker 1: to significantly reduce the amount of brutality that's happening by
Speaker 1: police departments across the nation. Um. But because I don't believe,
Speaker 1: I don't think that you can retrain. However, many years
Speaker 1: where are we this, you know, beyond four hundred years?
Speaker 1: First of all, we were seeing when we were in
Speaker 1: um At, at home in the motherland in Africa, they
Speaker 1: saw us as potential to be used as cattle, as
Speaker 1: enslaved individuals. So we've always been seen as as Africans,
Speaker 1: We've all always been seen and demeaned. The way in
Speaker 1: which we were viewed was always as a servant um
Speaker 1: as was always as something dirty and bad um, something
Speaker 1: to be used. And so that has only grown over time.
Speaker 1: And as people learned that we we uh, that they
Speaker 1: that they could use their white skin to um to
Speaker 1: enslave us, they've only found new ways to be able
Speaker 1: to do that. And you can't tell me at all
Speaker 1: that the police department is not a part of it.
Speaker 1: So that's just my my personal opinion. But let's talk
Speaker 1: about some more of the news stories that's happening out here.
Speaker 1: UM in Arizona, there is speaking of policing. Here we
Speaker 1: go again. A new bill has been passed and actually
Speaker 1: I think I heard something very similar being stated by
Speaker 1: Mayor Eric Adams in New York about putting a certain
Speaker 1: amount of distance between people filming incidents um with when
Speaker 1: you know police encounters. Uh. And so now Arizona has
Speaker 1: eight feet as the distance. Now here's what I will say.
Speaker 1: I do understand that you that you can't have officers
Speaker 1: engaging and arresting somebody, and then you have people who
Speaker 1: are affiliated or not right there up on top of
Speaker 1: the police. I can completely understand how an officer is
Speaker 1: not gonna feel comfortable. Different things can happen. Somebody could
Speaker 1: grab your gun. Who knows, right, so I can I
Speaker 1: can see that. I'm not sure. I think eight feet, though,
Speaker 1: is giving them enough space to be able to find
Speaker 1: ways to sort of distract and or um what's the
Speaker 1: word to to to like to cover up whatever they're doing.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry what you're saying, manipulate. Manipulate is a real
Speaker 1: good word to use to you know, they can find
Speaker 1: a way to cover the shot, to put their back
Speaker 1: in a certain way. And what we've had up until now,
Speaker 1: these videos have given you a real, like, you know,
Speaker 1: a clear view into the incident and what's going on.
Speaker 1: So I think eight feet might actually create some distance
Speaker 1: that is not necessarily helpful for victims of police abuse.
Speaker 1: I mean, like you said, I do see the need
Speaker 1: to if you're trying to apprehend someone who is you know,
Speaker 1: accusing of crime, that you gotta every hand. You do
Speaker 1: want the police to be able to have space, you know,
Speaker 1: to make a rest and deal with situations accordinated. But
Speaker 1: we do also one people who who are able to
Speaker 1: record to make sure that it's going down right. I
Speaker 1: don't know if six ft maybe six ft probably eight
Speaker 1: feet might be a little, but I think six ft
Speaker 1: a southern but eight feet at that point, they can
Speaker 1: they can play with the distance, right, and that's what
Speaker 1: they're gonna do anyway, you could be if you eight feet,
Speaker 1: if you're exactly they're gonna walk up to you and
Speaker 1: stay back up right, they walk up to you, you
Speaker 1: still closer to them. That's what they've been doing. So
Speaker 1: you know, it's it's another tactic, you know. I don't
Speaker 1: I don't know whether it's necessarily good or bad. You know,
Speaker 1: we'll have to see how it pans out. We have
Speaker 1: to see how they utilize and how they don't utilize
Speaker 1: that they actually respect it, and see if it's something
Speaker 1: that they utilize it to where it is able to
Speaker 1: manipulate the situation to where it doesn't benefit the citizens. So,
Speaker 1: you know, I think only time will tell with that situation.
Speaker 1: But what I do like is the fact that you
Speaker 1: chemical because a lot of these officers are trying to
Speaker 1: tell you that you can't even record right now. But
Speaker 1: I'm glad that we were making insane that you can
Speaker 1: at least giving some level of acknowledgement where it's necessary
Speaker 1: that where you are legally able to do something. So
Speaker 1: we'll see our advans. Yeah, I mean, well we will see.
Speaker 1: But I think it's two things that need to happen.
Speaker 1: Number One, we have to make sure if you are
Speaker 1: living in a local district and you're listening to the
Speaker 1: sound of my voice and you're living somewhere because you know,
Speaker 1: some of us say we don't care about politics, and
Speaker 1: I don't care about that. I ain't even know politics.
Speaker 1: That's for y'all. Well, here's the political part of where
Speaker 1: your voice counts around this filming issue. Police need to
Speaker 1: have on their body cameras. I don't know many districts,
Speaker 1: are state cities or what have you that don't have
Speaker 1: body cameras as a part of their natural they're you know,
Speaker 1: their normal protocol at this point, but there probably are some,
Speaker 1: and you need to check to make sure that your
Speaker 1: city council has forced the local police department to wear
Speaker 1: body cameras. And now what we know is that oftentimes everybody,
Speaker 1: all the officers body cameras were off at the same time,
Speaker 1: or at least the one or two who have their
Speaker 1: body cameras in a particular position to get another view
Speaker 1: of the incident, their cameras that just happen to be off.
Speaker 1: So that's something that we have to be pushing that
Speaker 1: the that the the city Council needs to enforce a
Speaker 1: rule that says if an officer is caught without that
Speaker 1: body camera working and on, somebody needs to be held accountable.
Speaker 1: So if the if the officer has already reported that
Speaker 1: his camera is not working and nothing has been done
Speaker 1: to fix it, who's accountable for that? If the officer
Speaker 1: has been notorious for not turning on his camera or
Speaker 1: her camera, who's responsible for that. But there needs to
Speaker 1: be mechanisms in place to ensure that people are wearing
Speaker 1: a body cameras. The second thing is if you are
Speaker 1: a person who is filming an incident, you have to
Speaker 1: immediately let your mind click into the fact that it
Speaker 1: is not the time to be but so emotional, because
Speaker 1: what we have, What what I see is people get
Speaker 1: so emotional about what they're filming that the cameras swinging
Speaker 1: all over the place and they're yelling and screaming over
Speaker 1: the footage or whatever. If once you take that camera out,
Speaker 1: you're trying to do a job. So you have to
Speaker 1: figure out how to calm yourself to the point where
Speaker 1: you are holding the camera in place and where you
Speaker 1: also use the the the the feature that allows you
Speaker 1: to expand the view. So if they're only giving you
Speaker 1: eight feet, one of the things that brings you closer
Speaker 1: is to expand the view so you can get a
Speaker 1: little closer, which is zooming in basically on the incident.
Speaker 1: Don't zoom in too much where you can't see, but
Speaker 1: make sure you try to get as close as possible, um,
Speaker 1: you know, with your with your camera. But the only
Speaker 1: way you can do that is you have to calm
Speaker 1: your own anxiety a little. I'm you know, I'm sure
Speaker 1: it's probably already exciting that something crazy is happening, But
Speaker 1: you gotta calm your anxiety, use your camera properly, and
Speaker 1: try to stay quiet so that you can hear what's
Speaker 1: happening and so the audio is clear. Now that I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't know. I'm sure there are people
Speaker 1: out here that train folks on how to film incidents,
Speaker 1: but that information is worth goal because that that is
Speaker 1: the difference between having a very clear George Floyd video
Speaker 1: and having other videos where you really can't see what's
Speaker 1: going on. The reason why we know that um Jalen
Speaker 1: Walker didn't have a weapon on him at the time
Speaker 1: that he was shot is because of videos. So it
Speaker 1: actually does work. Now, you're right. Look like you said,
Speaker 1: there's also emotional situation. People are. You know, they traumatize,
Speaker 1: they want to get record, but they also do through
Speaker 1: the motions, so you know, human nature kicks in and
Speaker 1: they start yelling and stop I'm using that. So it's
Speaker 1: gonna figure out how do you balance that, especially just
Speaker 1: for everyday citizens who are just trying to do the
Speaker 1: best they can. Just kind of gotta get yourself in
Speaker 1: the mindset that once I say that that all of
Speaker 1: us have a job to do and that's about that's
Speaker 1: that collective power, right that is knowing that my cell
Speaker 1: phone is actually a tool to addressing police violence and
Speaker 1: other bad incidents happening in our society. And so when
Speaker 1: I have my cell phone, I can't just think of
Speaker 1: myself as just you know, I'm just I just was taping.
Speaker 1: Now we have to be like, you know what, I'm
Speaker 1: taping this and if I was taping it, if I
Speaker 1: know my video is gonna make it to ABC, CBS,
Speaker 1: you know, Rolling mar In, CNN and every Revolt and
Speaker 1: everywhere else and street politicians. So anyway, that's that. So
Speaker 1: Hunt Tobiden gives his family a lot of help, Like
Speaker 1: they go through a lot with Hunt Tobiden. He already
Speaker 1: is in some other trouble that I don't even care
Speaker 1: to know the details of it. But um, he was
Speaker 1: already in some stuff. They were already talking about something.
Speaker 1: I guess that has to do with money. I don't know,
Speaker 1: but you guys could go look it up. Um uh.
Speaker 1: And you know, it seems that because his father's president,
Speaker 1: no one is looking to uh, you know, pursue charges
Speaker 1: or whatever against him. But I've heard several times folks
Speaker 1: talking about, you know, once uh Joe Biden is no
Speaker 1: longer president, Hunter Biden is going to have some issues.
Speaker 1: But it seems like he's just kind of like a
Speaker 1: wild guy in the family. And I don't know, you know,
Speaker 1: the investigations and all of that are still unfolding. But
Speaker 1: this latest footage, which the picture of him with the
Speaker 1: two women is you know, hey, I don't know, it's
Speaker 1: he's single or is he married? I don't know. See,
Speaker 1: I don't know a lot about Hunter Biden, but you
Speaker 1: know him with two women. Hey, that's if that's his prerogative.
Speaker 1: It is what it is. It's the drugs, the crack
Speaker 1: and the arguing with the prostitute and something else that
Speaker 1: they claimed it's him in these in this audio and
Speaker 1: in some of these videos, So they're investigating that. Um.
Speaker 1: While being at the White House the other day for
Speaker 1: the signing of the UM uh, the the Safer Communities Act, UM,
Speaker 1: you know, a man jumped up in the audience and
Speaker 1: started asking questions about Hunter Biden and UM. You know
Speaker 1: he was obviously speaking out of term, doing protesting if
Speaker 1: you will, UM. And you could tell that Joe Biden
Speaker 1: kind of stopped in his tracks to really hear what
Speaker 1: the man had to say. Uh. And I think I'm
Speaker 1: sure it's pretty disturbing to have people rolling up on
Speaker 1: you talking about what's up with Hunter Biden and is
Speaker 1: he using crack and whatever else? So they got problems
Speaker 1: over there with the sun. Yeah, I mean it's obviously
Speaker 1: has he's dealing with some issues. And I think it
Speaker 1: comes back, you know, like like I've always said, I
Speaker 1: don't deal with government, and I'm don't really care about
Speaker 1: any politician. I'm not you don't care about politicians. We
Speaker 1: have great friends that are politicians, but I don't really care.
Speaker 1: I care about my friends who happened to be politicians
Speaker 1: right there there. They're good people, got into offices and
Speaker 1: they're able to do the best they can with politics
Speaker 1: does not fully allow you to be where you are.
Speaker 1: And a lot of those people in those positions of
Speaker 1: people that I would never vote for or never cared
Speaker 1: about if I didn't have to vote. Right, So when
Speaker 1: we look at the presidential situation, is what it is, right,
Speaker 1: you know, at this point, for me, I think Joe
Speaker 1: Biden is doing what he feels the best he can do.
Speaker 1: I think the destructures that already haven't been set in place,
Speaker 1: you know, make it a lot harder. You know, we're
Speaker 1: looking dissent it and spring call all those things that
Speaker 1: make it a lot harder. I do see, you know,
Speaker 1: just like you said that the bill that he passed,
Speaker 1: the Safer Communities Act, it's something that's definitely needed. He's
Speaker 1: doing a lot more executive orders that he's trying you know,
Speaker 1: they're actually trying to see to circumvent and get in
Speaker 1: front of a lot of you know, harm that's being
Speaker 1: done on the opposite end. You know what, all most
Speaker 1: people are gonna point to the ninety four Crime Bill
Speaker 1: and talk about how you talking about how people are
Speaker 1: going to jail for crack and for five years for
Speaker 1: a little piece of crack, you do five years, and
Speaker 1: how this was the bill that he had and most
Speaker 1: people are gonna talk about that, and that's something that
Speaker 1: it's going to be a part of Joe Biden's legacy. Right,
Speaker 1: So when we look at what Hunter Biden is doing
Speaker 1: right now, and that's gonna be the main thing everybody
Speaker 1: focuses on. Everybody's gonna focus on your son is out
Speaker 1: here smoking crack, you're doing all that, but he's doing
Speaker 1: five years in prison, right and and that's what that
Speaker 1: is something that it's logical, right, it's it's it is
Speaker 1: a good thing to say. People have the right to
Speaker 1: say that that you have the right to answer those questions.
Speaker 1: A lot of our kids, a lot of our brothers
Speaker 1: fathers did or doing thirty or forty years for crack, right,
Speaker 1: And Hunter Biden's around here taking films while he he
Speaker 1: has cracked you know, allegedly, and there's nothing happening to him. So,
Speaker 1: you know, Joe Biden has his own personal things he
Speaker 1: has to deal with along with what he has to
Speaker 1: do with for being president. I'm what I would say
Speaker 1: is that the Safer Communities Act, it's something that's definitely needed.
Speaker 1: It's gonna provide more resources to people in the communities
Speaker 1: who are doing the work, who are trying to end
Speaker 1: gun violence, who are violence interrupters, who are you know,
Speaker 1: trained in the escalation of violent situation in our community.
Speaker 1: So that's gonna do a lot to help. But on
Speaker 1: this situation with him and his son and that Ninty
Speaker 1: for crack Gold, he don't have to deal with that.
Speaker 1: His critics ain't gonna stop. They're never gonna stop talking
Speaker 1: about that. So you know, Joe Biden has his work
Speaker 1: cut out. I mean, here's how I see it. I
Speaker 1: think that if we're all being honest, I don't care
Speaker 1: who the hell you are, whether you are an elected official,
Speaker 1: whether you are the holiest, the pope to the preacher,
Speaker 1: the good grandmama from the community, there's always gonna be
Speaker 1: somebody in your family that keep up ship all the time.
Speaker 1: They got something going on, and you are not getting
Speaker 1: ready to go turn your your problematic niece, nephew, child, grandson,
Speaker 1: or whatever over to the authorities. You're gonna do everything
Speaker 1: you can to try to keep it quiet and try
Speaker 1: to get them help. Now, if they're killing people or
Speaker 1: you know, taking people's lives from me, I've already made
Speaker 1: it very clear to my son and other family members,
Speaker 1: do not even call me if you killed somebody, especially
Speaker 1: if it's not in self defense, or if you are
Speaker 1: physically abusing women and children. I don't play that. So
Speaker 1: if if my son is beaten and abusing women, I'm
Speaker 1: not I'm I don't think that's okay. And I've had
Speaker 1: situations where my son and his girlfriend got into a
Speaker 1: scrapping or whatever, they arguing back and forth, and I
Speaker 1: let him know. Bro, Bro, I'm telling you now, your
Speaker 1: mom is not gonna stand by you with that, okay.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, if he went to court,
Speaker 1: if there were bills that needed to be paid, or
Speaker 1: you know, if there was if I had to get
Speaker 1: a lawyer, I'm gonna still do that for my son.
Speaker 1: But I'm not going to be the person that's walking
Speaker 1: around saying, oh, he's so good and and no, not mine.
Speaker 1: I don't do that. But so my point is you're
Speaker 1: always dealing with the balance. You're always dealing with the
Speaker 1: balance because you when you love your family member. I'm
Speaker 1: just talking about if we're being honest. I'm not talking
Speaker 1: about your campaign speech. You know, I ain't talking about
Speaker 1: your campaign speech. I'm telling about if you are being honest,
Speaker 1: regardless of whether it's something that you stand a hundred
Speaker 1: percent against, a hundred percent against, you could you could
Speaker 1: be I'm alway against this. If you love your child
Speaker 1: or your family member, you will at least be there
Speaker 1: to support them in some way and try your best
Speaker 1: not to allow their indiscretion to get out into the world.
Speaker 1: That's just what we do as humans. So of course
Speaker 1: the President voted on the bill, and then guess what,
Speaker 1: every single night he probably can't sleep because you know why,
Speaker 1: you got Ray Ray over here with the same problem,
Speaker 1: old hunter be in here with the same problem that
Speaker 1: you're fighting every day, and that happens to each Now,
Speaker 1: that's not a Joe Biden problem. That's what everybody. Oh,
Speaker 1: I'm not saying. I'm not arguing, no, but I'm just saying.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying this one thing. I'm not saying people
Speaker 1: shouldn't take Joe Biden the task because because what the
Speaker 1: reason why you got to take him the task about
Speaker 1: it is because now the question is where is and
Speaker 1: where was your comp passion understanding your own situation. So
Speaker 1: I get that. I'm just talking about a larger narrative
Speaker 1: around the idea that if we're being honest, if we're
Speaker 1: being honest, we all got somebody in the house or
Speaker 1: in the yard or in the wherever that's got some
Speaker 1: ship going on, and you're trying your best not to
Speaker 1: get left, not to let the world know why you
Speaker 1: try to help them get help. The problem with that,
Speaker 1: right is if we're making laws and we're making rules,
Speaker 1: and we're making all those things, then we have to
Speaker 1: acknowledge is people's live reality, right, That's what That's what
Speaker 1: the lord, the lord that governs the people has to
Speaker 1: acknowledge the people's situations. Right. So it's easy for you
Speaker 1: to make a law that targets people when it looks
Speaker 1: like that situation is not in your own arena and
Speaker 1: your And that's what a lot of us go through, right.
Speaker 1: We understand their politicians who don't have the experiences of
Speaker 1: the majority. Right, so they're making laws and rules and
Speaker 1: signing bills that don't affect them because they don't have
Speaker 1: to deal with those circumstances. Right, So what happens with
Speaker 1: the situation like this happens and Joe Biden's son is
Speaker 1: now a drug and and abused and dealing with the
Speaker 1: same situations that he wants condemned and wanted to see.
Speaker 1: He didn't care about, you know what the upbringing was,
Speaker 1: what they went through. These people are just bad people.
Speaker 1: Right now that this is come home to you and
Speaker 1: this is the person that you raised and you've done
Speaker 1: the best you can and you you know you're well
Speaker 1: to do individual, and you're the president of the world,
Speaker 1: and your son still has the same bills and skills
Speaker 1: of the average individual and communities that you pretty much
Speaker 1: condemned for years. That that that has to start to reshape, right,
Speaker 1: what we do in legislation, reshape how we attach legislation people.
Speaker 1: It should be people around him, even Republican friends that
Speaker 1: you know that are seeing this is what this can
Speaker 1: happen to us, and then we always think it is
Speaker 1: happening to us because my sign the main that the
Speaker 1: point that's being missed. Here is some of these people
Speaker 1: making the laws as the drug addicts themselves. There, the
Speaker 1: sex addicted themselves. They are the whatever themselves, the abuser,
Speaker 1: the abortion they haven't had an abortion. Let me tell
Speaker 1: you something. Let's bring it home. In the black church.
Speaker 1: You got preachers that running around talking about how they
Speaker 1: won't marry gay people, how they don't support gay people,
Speaker 1: and they don't believe in gay marriage. They don't believe
Speaker 1: in all of this, and they sleeping with the same sex.
Speaker 1: Then their damn selves. Okay, so listen, let's talk about
Speaker 1: you know, there's some people. Okay, So I'm just saying,
Speaker 1: hypocritical hypocrites. We are all. Every single person walking the
Speaker 1: earth has some form of hypocritical uh fiber in their
Speaker 1: body and their soul, each and every one of us.
Speaker 1: We all are against everything until it hits home. And
Speaker 1: then you know, we all of a sudden understand circumstances
Speaker 1: mitigating circumstances. And I don't. And I think I think
Speaker 1: that the laws have changed in a lot of ways
Speaker 1: to deal with drugs, right, and you know, you now
Speaker 1: look at a lot of people marijuana obviously becoming legal
Speaker 1: in a lot of states. Um, you see more programs
Speaker 1: for folks who have addiction to opioids. Of course, that
Speaker 1: is only because white folks started to experience it. But
Speaker 1: there are some changes. What I would like to see,
Speaker 1: not just a change in UM in the the laws,
Speaker 1: which again I think there has been movement in that direction.
Speaker 1: But what I would like to see is Old Biden
Speaker 1: come out and talk and tell the truth. That's what
Speaker 1: I think. That would mean a whole lot to say. Damn.
Speaker 1: You know. Now, first of all, he ain't gonna incriminate
Speaker 1: his son, but once it gets to the point where
Speaker 1: the truth ship shall be spoken, I think he should
Speaker 1: tell the truth. I think so truth. You know, we'll
Speaker 1: just have to see how pins out, because like you said,
Speaker 1: ain't nobody gonna throw their child under the bus. So
Speaker 1: we're gonna see how that works. That's that on that.
Speaker 1: But I was thinking, because you know, that's what I do,
Speaker 1: I think, and and my thought of the day, I
Speaker 1: was wondering. I know, it's probably the stupidest question I've
Speaker 1: ever asked, but it really really does have to be asked.
Speaker 1: And I asked the white woman on the plane UM
Speaker 1: yesterday what she thought the answer was to this issue.
Speaker 1: She knew that I had done work with the Women's
Speaker 1: mar so she wanted to talk to me. So she
Speaker 1: I used it as an opper need to throw a
Speaker 1: good question on her, And it was, if we know
Speaker 1: that white men or white young people, unfortunately young guys,
Speaker 1: young men are shooting people, They're committing mass shoes, they are, um,
Speaker 1: you know, exhibiting some of them are exhibiting white supremacist behavior. Um,
Speaker 1: they are violent, and some of them, a lot of them,
Speaker 1: too many of them are studying these uh you know, uh,
Speaker 1: these these these racist manifestos, and and who the hell
Speaker 1: knows how many of them are out there? Why is
Speaker 1: it that law enforcement does not pull them over and
Speaker 1: search their cars just to see whether or not they
Speaker 1: have weapons. Why is it that at their schools, um,
Speaker 1: they're not being a questioned and frist And why is
Speaker 1: it that every time you see a young white boy
Speaker 1: going into a school building or picking up this brother
Speaker 1: sister or in a particular community, how come they're not
Speaker 1: being profiled? Because it would seemed to me that if
Speaker 1: what we say, if if the excuse for profiling black
Speaker 1: men is that too many of us, too many of
Speaker 1: our young black men have guns. The community shootings are
Speaker 1: out of control, and therefore we need programs like stopping
Speaker 1: frisk What is the name of the program for white
Speaker 1: supremacists eighteen nineteen twenty year old? And at what point
Speaker 1: are they going to have some type of profiling system
Speaker 1: to try to catch these dudes who are showing up
Speaker 1: at parades, grocery stores. I mean, let's think about it.
Speaker 1: The dude in um Albany, I mean, not in Albany,
Speaker 1: in Buffalo. This guy was walking around the town for
Speaker 1: several days. Imagine if while he was moving around, somebody
Speaker 1: would have stopped him and looked in his car, profiled him,
Speaker 1: checked him out, maybe they would have been able to
Speaker 1: stop to to prevent a shooting. So I know it's
Speaker 1: a dumb question. I already know people are gonna say, well,
Speaker 1: why would you ask that. I've been I've been asking
Speaker 1: stupid questions on the internet all week, and people so
Speaker 1: mad at me. They're all in the comment section, like
Speaker 1: I cannot believe that you would even ask this question.
Speaker 1: But it's just like even those of us who know
Speaker 1: what we know, sometimes even you feel like posing a
Speaker 1: question that you might have the answer to. But it's
Speaker 1: more so, it's more than getting an answer. It's more
Speaker 1: so just pointing out the lies. Right. When you ask
Speaker 1: these questions, you want them. You know that they can't
Speaker 1: really answer it, so you want to try to answer
Speaker 1: it so they can look stupid, and then they start
Speaker 1: really thinking to themself. Right, It's like it's reverse psychology.
Speaker 1: It's the way that I'm mentor kids, right, And I
Speaker 1: tell people all the time like sometimes you don't you
Speaker 1: you're yelling at screaming at somebody. They don't get the information.
Speaker 1: But when you ask some questions that when they answer them,
Speaker 1: it don't even make sense to answer that they give themselves.
Speaker 1: Then they start to really think, like, then this ship
Speaker 1: don't really make sense. Right, So if if I have
Speaker 1: a conversation, I actually kill your y'all they're shooting each other,
Speaker 1: you don't make no money, and you go to jail,
Speaker 1: you die, like where where's the benefited? And they I'm
Speaker 1: saying and they try to answer it, and the more
Speaker 1: they answer it just looks stupid and stupider. At some
Speaker 1: point the mind state starts to say, you know what,
Speaker 1: this ship don't even make sense. We were doing some
Speaker 1: ship that don't make sense. So your question is very
Speaker 1: legitimate and every time you ask somebody those questions, they're
Speaker 1: not gonna be able to give you an answer. The
Speaker 1: only thing they can say is I don't know, or
Speaker 1: they can try to ask somebody else to give them
Speaker 1: a dumber answer, and then at some point they start
Speaker 1: realizing that the ship that they're being told is just stupid,
Speaker 1: you know, So keep asking these these quote unquote dumb
Speaker 1: questions because we need dumb answers. Well, well, then there's that.
Speaker 1: That's my question. Why you're not profiling white boys between
Speaker 1: the ages of eighteen to twenty four since we know
Speaker 1: that they're the ones who are for the most part,
Speaker 1: committing mass murders. Mass shootings are happening, and the white
Speaker 1: boys are right in your community, So why don't you
Speaker 1: go sit outside their homes? Why is it that social
Speaker 1: media outlets are not scrubbing these guys accounts and shutting
Speaker 1: them down. They they got manifest those and all types
Speaker 1: of ship on the internet, And it seems like me,
Speaker 1: you are definitely targeted. My son, do you say boom
Speaker 1: and they shut you down, your live everything, So you're
Speaker 1: definitely targeted. But these these white kids, I don't know,
Speaker 1: somehow or another, they're just doing what they're doing. So anyway,
Speaker 1: long story short, I know the question is certainly rhetorical
Speaker 1: as they say, Uh, it's has a level of sarcasm,
Speaker 1: but it really isn't. It's really actually a serious question.
Speaker 1: We're being targeted. They want to profile us, and I
Speaker 1: think what black people are always saying, we don't want
Speaker 1: anybody to die. It's not that we're saying kill somebody else,
Speaker 1: but we do want to know why is it not
Speaker 1: fair and equal justice for us the way that they
Speaker 1: that way that they claim this country is supposed to
Speaker 1: be designed to do so our our guest that's coming
Speaker 1: up today. UM. You know us with our friends are
Speaker 1: good friends that we have who joined us on um
Speaker 1: Street politicians every week we have people on who are
Speaker 1: really doing incredible working. We call him our friends because
Speaker 1: you know, we work together, we cry together, we pray together,
Speaker 1: we stomped together. UM. And this brother is no different.
Speaker 1: He is doctor Chico Tillman, just known to us as Chico.
Speaker 1: We love to call brother Chico. Uh. He's the executive
Speaker 1: director of ready National Center for Safe Communities at Heartland Alliance,
Speaker 1: and he's also a White House expert on gun violence. UH.
Speaker 1: And just this week we attended the UH signing of
Speaker 1: the Communities the Safer Communities Act, which is groundbreaking UH
Speaker 1: gun violence Prevention and intervention legislation. There's still, of course,
Speaker 1: way more to be done. Let's just say that from
Speaker 1: the onset, however, a step in the right direction. And
Speaker 1: let me just say that from my perspective, and of
Speaker 1: course I'm gonna bring um A Chico into to give
Speaker 1: his perspective on all of this. I don't feel the
Speaker 1: administration has done enough at all around the issue of
Speaker 1: criminal justice and dealing with police accountability, even with the
Speaker 1: signing of the Executive Order for the George Floyd Justice
Speaker 1: and Policing Act. But we have to be fair and
Speaker 1: give credit when credit is due. We have to make
Speaker 1: sure that as activists and organizers, we are not people
Speaker 1: who are unable to speak truth to power on all forms,
Speaker 1: in all forms. And five billion dollars in a bill
Speaker 1: that will go to grassroots organizations doing gun islands work
Speaker 1: around this country is very, very significant. It is important,
Speaker 1: and it is something that we have been fighting for
Speaker 1: on the federal level for a long, long, long long time.
Speaker 1: So many have been out there doing that work, and
Speaker 1: so Chico Tillman Dr Tillman is one of those, along
Speaker 1: with Pastor Mike McBride and a number of individuals were
Speaker 1: doing that work already. Uh, you know, for the last
Speaker 1: several years, working very closely with the administration. And here
Speaker 1: it is that the bill finally was signed and now
Speaker 1: it's all gonna be about actually getting the resources on
Speaker 1: the ground. So here to talk with us today, um, Chico,
Speaker 1: and to help us break down what's in the Safer
Speaker 1: Communities Act. Um. You know, as our brother and my son,
Speaker 1: I know you want to welcome, Yes, my brother, Chico man,
Speaker 1: welcome to our show, and thank you for all the
Speaker 1: work that you do. Is you know, his groundbreaking, his
Speaker 1: monumental understanding the background, I understand it. Where you come from,
Speaker 1: how you got here. You know, you make it a
Speaker 1: lot easier for brothers like myself reacting me into society
Speaker 1: and wanted to change the direction and change the perspective
Speaker 1: and the narrative that's told about us. And so I
Speaker 1: just want to see give you your flowers right now
Speaker 1: and say that I commend you and I appreciate. First
Speaker 1: of I want to start by thanking y'all man, and
Speaker 1: I really appreciate the work until freedom does because had
Speaker 1: not had there not been an Until Freedom, there would
Speaker 1: be no Safer Communities Act. And I believe because of
Speaker 1: all of the attention you brought to the injustices throughout
Speaker 1: the United States, that we pushed and pressured this administration
Speaker 1: into action. And I'm man, I brag about y'all all
Speaker 1: the time. UM, I love y'all, and I appreciate your
Speaker 1: dedication towards this work, um and in in In regards
Speaker 1: to the administration, I think this administration is doing an
Speaker 1: amazing job because I recognized recognize their politicians and for
Speaker 1: the last thirty years, politicians ain't did nothing for us.
Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, this is the most money
Speaker 1: that's ever been dedicated specifically for black and brown communities,
Speaker 1: and that's what I'm excited about more than anything. It's
Speaker 1: two hundred and fifty million in there for violence prevention,
Speaker 1: but it's another billion for mental health. There's other money
Speaker 1: for housing, it's money for domestic violence. And sadly, it
Speaker 1: took something happened that they could identify with our pain
Speaker 1: taking place to move them to action, and that's Highland Park.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you're familiar to Meka and my
Speaker 1: side the Highland Park is one of the most wealthiest
Speaker 1: communities in the Chicago Land area, if not the wealthiest community,
Speaker 1: and for violence to strike amongst the rich and wealthy,
Speaker 1: it pushed them to act, even conservatives, to move toward
Speaker 1: a bipartisan um legislation around gun reform. Oh so, talk
Speaker 1: about something you talked about some of that money that's
Speaker 1: in the bill. Are there other things, other highlights that
Speaker 1: you know, things that you're really proud of, that you
Speaker 1: wanted to see in the bill, that you pushed for
Speaker 1: and it actually made it. I think, I think the
Speaker 1: most important thing um and even I think the money
Speaker 1: that's going directly the black and brown community, the money
Speaker 1: that could be used for advocacy. They gave us flexibility
Speaker 1: and how the money can be used, even though it's
Speaker 1: going to the d o J capacity building for grassroom
Speaker 1: organizations and to create healthy communities. That's the thing I'm
Speaker 1: most proud of. When we get into the nitty d
Speaker 1: in the nuances of what's in the bill to mitigate violence,
Speaker 1: it's a it's a small step. It's a very small step.
Speaker 1: And I have to be real with you because even
Speaker 1: though it closed the loophole for boyfriends and even though
Speaker 1: now when you're eighteen and and this is unheard of
Speaker 1: in many states, when you're eighteen with an I D
Speaker 1: without a gun from it, what they say, they're gonna
Speaker 1: look at you a little more intently. So if you
Speaker 1: if you look at it like that, it's not gonna
Speaker 1: impact our communities and the way that we think. But
Speaker 1: it's something that's that's that's the main thing, and it's
Speaker 1: an investment. The thing we're most are proud of is
Speaker 1: the investment and the access because they listen to us
Speaker 1: and for the first time, they're sending money directly to us.
Speaker 1: Mm hmmm. I think that was the first thing I
Speaker 1: pointed out. Exactly what you said, is that you said.
Speaker 1: The first thing that you said was their politicians and
Speaker 1: the expectations are very low. But when you look at
Speaker 1: how these things can positively impact our communities, when you
Speaker 1: look at what this law actually says, it gives us
Speaker 1: a little more leverage. It gives us more opportunities to
Speaker 1: provide opportunities in our communities. Because we both know that
Speaker 1: the first that poverty is violenced, and I say it
Speaker 1: all the time that wherever you see poverty, will see violence.
Speaker 1: You will see gun violence. Their most rampant where in
Speaker 1: the poorest communities. So when you look at the moneys
Speaker 1: that can be allocated to communities to you know, keep
Speaker 1: to create programs and create opportunities for these young at
Speaker 1: rich youth that you know, we have a we have
Speaker 1: an opportunity to really keep in front of it. So
Speaker 1: that's the main thing for me. But like you said,
Speaker 1: politicians of politicians, you know, and they're doing I guess
Speaker 1: when we look at this administration is probably doing the best.
Speaker 1: But what it has, you know, and nobody's gonna ever
Speaker 1: be satisfied. I'm never gonna be satisfied because they can't
Speaker 1: make up for the amount of things that we haven't
Speaker 1: been given. You know, it's not gonna happen. So me
Speaker 1: being satisfied completely, I don't even see that happening in
Speaker 1: my lifetime because it's it's so much that they gotta
Speaker 1: make up for. But like you said, this is a
Speaker 1: step in the right direction. Yeah, and I and I'll
Speaker 1: jump in and saying that we've been talking. And when
Speaker 1: I say we, I'm talking about black folks in general.
Speaker 1: I see everywhere I watch all of our brothers. ERNIEA.
Speaker 1: Leisure nineteen keys and so many financial wizes, if you will,
Speaker 1: talking about and Jay Morrison talking about how we have
Speaker 1: to do for our own how this is a time
Speaker 1: when we realize they're not gonna legislate away violence against us,
Speaker 1: they're not going to protect us in the ways in
Speaker 1: which we need to be protected because it's just way
Speaker 1: too much politics, as both of you have said, involved
Speaker 1: with that. But what we know is that if we
Speaker 1: can take our resource is our money, and do within
Speaker 1: our communities, creating the opportunities you spoke about my son
Speaker 1: and really pouring our own resources into our communities, we
Speaker 1: may be able to sustain ourselves and too in a
Speaker 1: lot of ways set up um UH, set up, set
Speaker 1: up or design different activities and ways that we are
Speaker 1: self sustainable that we don't need to be in contact
Speaker 1: with police all the time. So making our grassroots organization stronger, right,
Speaker 1: making sure we have more individuals who understand community conflict
Speaker 1: to be on the ground, but now they have a
Speaker 1: real paycheck. And then of course hoping our young people
Speaker 1: to get jobs and having pipelines that's the word I
Speaker 1: was looking for, pipelines to success UM. And the thing
Speaker 1: is we're not asking the government this two hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty million you spoke of, and the five billion dollars overall,
Speaker 1: that's not that's our money, that's our money. We as
Speaker 1: black folks spend one point four trillion dollars a year.
Speaker 1: The tax dollars from that five billion is only a
Speaker 1: small fraction of the money that we have invested in
Speaker 1: the federal government, and now we're asking for a portion
Speaker 1: of that money back so that we can be self sustainable.
Speaker 1: You know, I think that is groundbreaking. And to your point,
Speaker 1: she go, it's a whole lot of ship that's missing
Speaker 1: from the bill because the one thing that was not
Speaker 1: bipartisan is the idea that they really needed to be
Speaker 1: real serious transformation in terms of access to weapons. They
Speaker 1: have not been able to fix that, but at least
Speaker 1: they are putting the money on the ground. You talked
Speaker 1: about the d o J getting the money. That's important
Speaker 1: because in the past, the governors, we're getting the money,
Speaker 1: and then depending on who the governor is, he or
Speaker 1: she decides as he basically decides how that money gets distributed.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about that a little. Yeah. Interestingly enough, um,
Speaker 1: right after we left the White House, we knew what
Speaker 1: money was going, so what we do. We followed the money.
Speaker 1: We met with d O J and surprisingly they were
Speaker 1: really open about their ignorance to the plight and what's
Speaker 1: going on in the black community and how to support
Speaker 1: grassroom organizations, and we said, what you have to do
Speaker 1: is have intermediaries that are experts life fund peace like
Speaker 1: until Freedom, that will allocate the money to people who
Speaker 1: we know who are doing the work. I said, it's
Speaker 1: no way you can utilize a narrative on a piece
Speaker 1: of paper and continue to give money to white men
Speaker 1: groups who aren't in touch to this population that's hard
Speaker 1: to reach. And I said, we have to have intermediaries
Speaker 1: that can distribute this money, and they agreed, and we
Speaker 1: talked about some of the structural violence that continue to
Speaker 1: go on that makes it difficult for these groups to
Speaker 1: really have progress. So we do need funding at the
Speaker 1: federal level, but they have to remove the barriers so
Speaker 1: that the same white groups don't get the money because
Speaker 1: they have the infrastructure and the capacity, and still it
Speaker 1: gets skipped over us and we get the crowns because
Speaker 1: we all need them as a fiscal agent. So we
Speaker 1: say we have to find ways to get the money
Speaker 1: directly to the ground. To the people that's doing the work.
Speaker 1: So there so there's still more to do in terms
Speaker 1: of fighting to ensure that the money is directed um
Speaker 1: towards us. And you know, I've had many conversations with
Speaker 1: Past the Mike about this and of course with Erica
Speaker 1: Ford and others about this idea that the money that
Speaker 1: we gotta go beg white people for what belongs to us.
Speaker 1: We don't want to do that anymore, and that has
Speaker 1: to that's something that has to be stopped. Yeah, we
Speaker 1: appreciate and respect every town, uh USA or I think yeah,
Speaker 1: I think it's every time, every USA, but deaf every
Speaker 1: town we know that we respect them. You know, they
Speaker 1: do work um in the gun violence space and dealing
Speaker 1: with mass shootings and dealing with families and all of that,
Speaker 1: and that's important. But we do not need every town
Speaker 1: to be a filter to our community so that we
Speaker 1: can get resources. We've been taking a dollar and make
Speaker 1: what they say, fifteen cent and making it a dollar
Speaker 1: all of our lives. We know how to fund our
Speaker 1: own programs and take care of our people. And in fact,
Speaker 1: some of the guys that you need and gals that
Speaker 1: you need to get involved with this work are going
Speaker 1: to be apprehensive if they feel like there are other
Speaker 1: people involved that are sort of controlling the strings and
Speaker 1: and and making decisions about how the work is being done.
Speaker 1: You really need full autonomy to work with and for
Speaker 1: black and brown people and address our issues the only
Speaker 1: we can do. So I guess that's the next one.
Speaker 1: People say, well, what do we do now? You don't
Speaker 1: go home and say we got the money and we're done.
Speaker 1: Now we got to make sure the money gets to
Speaker 1: the community. And then we have to support individuals who
Speaker 1: have grassroots organizations out there with ensuring that they have
Speaker 1: the support they need to do the work. Two hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty million dollars is not a lot of money.
Speaker 1: It's a lot of money. And then it's not a
Speaker 1: lot of money. So now you still need volunteers, You
Speaker 1: still need other donors to leverage the money that you
Speaker 1: do receive so that they can back it up and
Speaker 1: give you more so there can be real capacity building.
Speaker 1: There are layers to this work that a lot of
Speaker 1: people don't necessarily understand, and Chico, I think that you
Speaker 1: know as we come to it at the end of
Speaker 1: this interview. I think that you um are a person
Speaker 1: who understands the complexities of all of this and that
Speaker 1: the White House benefits from having someone like you engage
Speaker 1: to help walk them through the process. Well, I just
Speaker 1: I thank you for all the work y'all doing it
Speaker 1: ever being an advocate for the voiceless people who are
Speaker 1: murdered um through police violence. I think that's that's courageous
Speaker 1: to go up against this gigantic institution. And I applaud
Speaker 1: you because I think we all have a role. I
Speaker 1: wanna I wanna if by saying this, my goal, well,
Speaker 1: my mission in life now is to make our colleagues
Speaker 1: a permanent part of the public safety plan where that
Speaker 1: we no longer are fighting for grants every year, but
Speaker 1: in the same respect that police officers are seen as
Speaker 1: first responders, that we are respected as first responders and
Speaker 1: our item line at the local, state, and federal level,
Speaker 1: and the money from philanthropy can be used for innovation
Speaker 1: as opposed to for survival. Mm hmm, that's right. You know,
Speaker 1: like I said all the time, we have to fund
Speaker 1: our communities, and we have to and really they have
Speaker 1: to really invest in what piece looks like. And with
Speaker 1: gun violence and with gunning, absence of gun violence, looks
Speaker 1: like you know, the work that we do is just
Speaker 1: it is definitely first response. You know when when we
Speaker 1: say black words is not just police violence is not
Speaker 1: just you know violence in our communities with gun violence,
Speaker 1: it's an overall and somebody has to invest in that
Speaker 1: because we know how we got to where it is. Right,
Speaker 1: So in order for you to write the wrongs and
Speaker 1: you have to reinvest in change in the culture that
Speaker 1: they created. So no, I'm with you brother. You know
Speaker 1: every they have to be, they have to be with
Speaker 1: us and they have to be partnerships in our evolution. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because that type of advantment take real commitment because now
Speaker 1: we're item lying because think about it, when the police
Speaker 1: do bad, they don't take away to fund them. In fact,
Speaker 1: they have more police. But we on this we on
Speaker 1: this short leash where if we don't produce, We got
Speaker 1: this anxiety about if we don't stop murders in thirty days,
Speaker 1: then they regret giving us funding. M Yeah, that's the data.
Speaker 1: That's the data trick bag. But we know that the
Speaker 1: data the math does math, right, it adds up. When
Speaker 1: you invest in our communities, you invest in our people
Speaker 1: because folks that gotta go to work, and that's in
Speaker 1: school and thriving and have comfortable living, uh you know, circumstances,
Speaker 1: and they have clean food, grocery store. They're not shooting
Speaker 1: and killing each other. It's folks who are living the
Speaker 1: opposite of that that we see out here on these
Speaker 1: streets and folks on You know, people don't like when
Speaker 1: I say it. They say, oh, you know, you're making excuses.
Speaker 1: I'm not making excuses, but I'm not. I'm not stupid.
Speaker 1: I understand that in my own life. You know. I
Speaker 1: was watching um Gilly Willow and Gilly and Gilly was
Speaker 1: talking about how a lot of people not even that tough,
Speaker 1: they just broken mad because once you start are getting
Speaker 1: some money, you realize that you got time to be
Speaker 1: outside shooting, fighting and carrying on, you trying to live
Speaker 1: and take care of your family. I don't know anybody,
Speaker 1: and I'm sure there's probably some knuckleheads out there that
Speaker 1: just need guidance and love and support, But I don't
Speaker 1: know anybody who's outside just wanting to be involved in
Speaker 1: violent activity for no reason and they got everything that
Speaker 1: they need, right, I don't. I don't know people like that.
Speaker 1: I know most people are folks who uh. And I'm
Speaker 1: not talking about they're getting the money on the wrong side.
Speaker 1: I'm talking about real viable income coming in from their
Speaker 1: either their entrepreneurship, their job, or whatever it is that
Speaker 1: they're doing. They are focused more so on living, trying
Speaker 1: to figure out how to vacation, trying to figure out
Speaker 1: how to raise their children, than they are being involved
Speaker 1: in violence. And I think we have a responsibility to
Speaker 1: feed that. And that's why I'm happy that the Safer
Speaker 1: Communities Act was signed, that the resources are coming and
Speaker 1: you know, again giving credit where credit is due. They
Speaker 1: Biden administration did that, and now it's time for us
Speaker 1: to push them to do more. We appreciate, um, you know,
Speaker 1: Chico for being with us. I really wanted to have
Speaker 1: somebody who's been directly involved, um, you know and getting
Speaker 1: the Community Safer Act or excuse me, I have to
Speaker 1: get it together, the Safer Communities Act to be you know,
Speaker 1: on with us today because um, people need to hear
Speaker 1: exactly what's in the bill, you know. So it's good
Speaker 1: to know that Chico is one of those that's inside
Speaker 1: fighting for us. And you know, we gotta have folks
Speaker 1: that's inside fighting for us on so many other issues,
Speaker 1: and we still gotta hold the Biden administration super duper,
Speaker 1: duper duper accountable. Sure do man, you know, like he said, Man,
Speaker 1: you said so many, so many viable things man, this administration,
Speaker 1: like the policy the politics thing they said. And I
Speaker 1: want my people to understand that politics are politics, right,
Speaker 1: We're never going to change politics. You're not gonna change
Speaker 1: politicians from doing politics. The only thing that we can
Speaker 1: do is make sure that we hold them accountable and
Speaker 1: that we continue to utilize every resource that we have
Speaker 1: that they give and not and and make it make
Speaker 1: sense for us. That's all we can do, because it's
Speaker 1: not They're not gonna stop doing politics. This is this.
Speaker 1: We live in a capitalist society. We live with money
Speaker 1: is the main thing. So we have to figure out
Speaker 1: how do we make money make sense for us. It
Speaker 1: Stop complaining about what's not happening for us, what nobody's doing,
Speaker 1: because nobody's gonna do this for us. Because the more
Speaker 1: that they keep us, they can't really keep us stupid
Speaker 1: and keep us fighting against each other and keep us
Speaker 1: poor and all that ship is the you know, the
Speaker 1: system will continue to run. It is it is when
Speaker 1: we're able to get two fifty million and get five
Speaker 1: billion dollar bills. We gotta figure out how do we
Speaker 1: invest that in our communities and our people to change
Speaker 1: our own situations and circumstances. Yeah, so in the hip
Speaker 1: hop news, I was on the internet yesterday and I
Speaker 1: saw Cardi B in a Twitter chat room and she
Speaker 1: was talking about how, you know, she did this song
Speaker 1: shake It, which is a drill song with the young
Speaker 1: boy k Flock, who was actually right now arrested for
Speaker 1: murder and fighting. You know, there's this case for murder,
Speaker 1: and she was talking about how she didn't want to
Speaker 1: do it right, and the reason why she didn't want
Speaker 1: to do it is because the song was awakened demons
Speaker 1: inside of her and she knew that just what it
Speaker 1: was just as negative, and she had moved away from that,
Speaker 1: and she just wanted to be a mother. And she
Speaker 1: was literally tears and she was talking about, you know,
Speaker 1: I feel these demons coming back, and I don't want that.
Speaker 1: I want to be a good person. I want to
Speaker 1: be a mother. And and it really spoke to me.
Speaker 1: It spoke to me because I remember having that level
Speaker 1: of an epiphany, right, I remember when I my music
Speaker 1: was so violence based, right, and it was the reality
Speaker 1: that I was dealing with. But as I started to
Speaker 1: grow and involved, and I had children, and I started
Speaker 1: when I got locked up and I was surrounded by
Speaker 1: so many people who weren't coming home and just understanding
Speaker 1: the circumstances. It was a level of evolution and growth,
Speaker 1: that maturity that comes with actually living man and I
Speaker 1: and I wanted to say a prayer for her. I
Speaker 1: wanted just to tell people that anybody who does it
Speaker 1: respect that level of growth. It's the problem. Right, I
Speaker 1: don't get That's what I don't. I don't get how
Speaker 1: anybody don't respect that level of growth. I don't. I
Speaker 1: don't get how anybody that's thirty plus it's still advocating
Speaker 1: for you to be ignorant, right, And those are the
Speaker 1: people that's that's detrimental to our growth, man, and the
Speaker 1: reason why we're not getting where we are. So I
Speaker 1: really don't understand. And it was people on there. There
Speaker 1: was all the way I want to hear that, this
Speaker 1: and that, and I know so many people who are
Speaker 1: able to profit or for that ignorance, right, who are
Speaker 1: able to benefit or for the fact that you've got
Speaker 1: thirty year old plus people still talking about ship that's
Speaker 1: demeaning and de great in our communities who haven't acknowledged. Right,
Speaker 1: And I understand entertainment is entertainment because we don't hold
Speaker 1: Robert de Niro to the same standards that we hold
Speaker 1: a rapper. Right, Robert DeNiro could do every gangster movie
Speaker 1: in the world and nobody's mad at them. They call
Speaker 1: the best actor in the world. Right. So, but we
Speaker 1: have to understand that there has to be a balance though, Right,
Speaker 1: there has to be If I'm if if my music
Speaker 1: is this, I'm gonna do some real community work. You
Speaker 1: go back to the community and say, yo, this is
Speaker 1: just entertainment. But we can't be killing ourselves. Right, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna sit down with these young artists that I know
Speaker 1: are heading down the path that's destructive, destructive to their
Speaker 1: own lives, livelihoods, and their lives and you know, just
Speaker 1: their growth. I'm gonna pull them in and trying to
Speaker 1: mentor them. So, you know, I just don't get while
Speaker 1: we we haven't reached that level of understanding, and why
Speaker 1: are we still you know, mad at people for going
Speaker 1: Why are we still want to make fun of people
Speaker 1: who are evolved into the next level that's what it's
Speaker 1: about man wisdom. It's about gaining wisdom as you get older.
Speaker 1: If you have a gain wisdom, if you're not going
Speaker 1: when did you die in you know, So that they
Speaker 1: kind of bugged me out to see some of the
Speaker 1: responses that I heard. Well, you know, I think that
Speaker 1: we gotta be honest with ourselves. What we listen to,
Speaker 1: what we watch, what we read, It feeds our souls,
Speaker 1: either in a good way or a bad way. And um,
Speaker 1: that's why we liked you know, that's why our people
Speaker 1: during the time one Dr King was really out there
Speaker 1: marching and protesting. Mahe Mahelia Jackson was singing some of
Speaker 1: the songs that gave people encouragement. You got James Brown
Speaker 1: talking about I'm Black and I'm proud even now. Some
Speaker 1: of the music that you have out there, I mean,
Speaker 1: little baby, all of these people creating music that speaks
Speaker 1: to the moment. And so if you're only speaking to
Speaker 1: violent death, rape, sex, drugs, um yes, and rape yes,
Speaker 1: because some of the stuff that some of our artists
Speaker 1: say it is it borderlines rape rape culture. Um. You know,
Speaker 1: women talking about you know, just the use of their
Speaker 1: bodies and themselves in ways that it's not good for
Speaker 1: our kids, it's not good for our development. It does
Speaker 1: harm us, and so we do have to have some responsibility.
Speaker 1: It doesn't mean that we don't like a good you know,
Speaker 1: shake it, shake it, drop it down, and get low
Speaker 1: like we could do all of that too. But if
Speaker 1: a person feels like, you know what, I really can't
Speaker 1: be involved in I can't that music is not good
Speaker 1: for me because it takes me to another place. Not
Speaker 1: to mention. Remember Cardi was saying a few months ago
Speaker 1: that being a celebrity is pretty boring because we know
Speaker 1: that Cardi is used to She's used to the ships,
Speaker 1: she's used to you know, the strip clubs, the streets,
Speaker 1: hanging doing her thing, and now trying to be a
Speaker 1: family person. And she's got to fill herself with things
Speaker 1: that keeps her mind straight and keeps her focus. And
Speaker 1: it's nothing wrong with that. All of us need that.
Speaker 1: I needed, you need it when I started getting in
Speaker 1: those moods. I gotta get that good gospel music going
Speaker 1: on to help me keep going in this work. So
Speaker 1: that's the deal. But you know, I think today was
Speaker 1: a good show. We talked about a lot of important issues,
Speaker 1: and um, we all just have to keep building, you know. Uh.
Speaker 1: I'm praying for Randy Cox, our brother who's fighting for
Speaker 1: his life UH in Connecticut, and we need to continue
Speaker 1: to lift him in his family and prayer um and
Speaker 1: also praying for the family of Jalen Walker. And then
Speaker 1: we didn't get to say as we closed today is
Speaker 1: that we will be headed on Saturday, UH to um Kentucky,
Speaker 1: well to Indiana for Teke Nicias Chappelle. There will be
Speaker 1: a modecaid leaving Indiana at twelve pm on Saturday going
Speaker 1: to Indiana to the jail where it take Easia Chappelle
Speaker 1: died after begging for help for twenty three hours. She
Speaker 1: begged for medical attention. Other incarcerated individuals begged for medical attention.
Speaker 1: She didn't get it, um, and she died in that jail. Uh.
Speaker 1: And it's the one year anniversary. This sad and so
Speaker 1: we will be there. So you know, we must make
Speaker 1: sure that we're praying for our people, praying for the good,
Speaker 1: praying for those who are suffering the bad, and that
Speaker 1: we just continue to build, and that none of us
Speaker 1: allow any of this to go silent. Right. We all
Speaker 1: have to make sure we continue to say the names
Speaker 1: of those who have been caught by the oppression that
Speaker 1: exists in our society. Much love, much love, Man, I
Speaker 1: appreciate you once again. Shout out to my boy Chico Tillman,
Speaker 1: the doctor Chico till Look him up, man, he's doing
Speaker 1: amazing work in Chicago. When you know where he's come from,
Speaker 1: we is now You'll do nothing to celebrating Man once again.
Speaker 1: Amazing show with the number one show in the world growing.
Speaker 1: We appreciate y'all. I'm not gonna always be right, Samika D.
Speaker 1: Mallory is not gonna always be wrong, but we will
Speaker 1: both always and I mean always, be authentic. Listen to
Speaker 1: Street Politicians on the Black Effect Network on I Heart
Speaker 1: Radio and catch us every single Wednesday for the video
Speaker 1: version of Street Politicians when I Women Dot Tv