1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:05,040 Speaker 1: Hi, everyone, Sophia Bush here. Welcome to work in Progress, 2 00:00:05,400 --> 00:00:08,240 Speaker 1: where I talked to people who inspire me about how 3 00:00:08,280 --> 00:00:10,160 Speaker 1: they got to where they are and where they think 4 00:00:10,200 --> 00:00:25,759 Speaker 1: they're still going. Good day Whip Smarty's Today, we're going 5 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:31,280 Speaker 1: to depart from her normal schedule and we're actually going 6 00:00:31,360 --> 00:00:35,800 Speaker 1: to re air a podcast that came out last year. 7 00:00:37,080 --> 00:00:40,240 Speaker 1: Back in August of twenty nineteen, I was lucky enough 8 00:00:40,280 --> 00:00:44,280 Speaker 1: to interview Dr Molina Abdullah. She is a recognized expert 9 00:00:44,360 --> 00:00:47,920 Speaker 1: on race, gender, class, and social movements. She was a 10 00:00:47,920 --> 00:00:50,880 Speaker 1: founding member of Black Lives Matter and continues to serve 11 00:00:50,920 --> 00:00:54,240 Speaker 1: as a Los Angeles chapter leader. She is a womanist, 12 00:00:54,320 --> 00:00:59,160 Speaker 1: a scholar and activist, a mother, and a friend. She 13 00:00:59,360 --> 00:01:02,080 Speaker 1: is an incredible author, and she is a person that 14 00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:06,520 Speaker 1: I learned an incredible amount from in terms of how 15 00:01:06,560 --> 00:01:10,160 Speaker 1: to show up disparity in the system and what we 16 00:01:10,240 --> 00:01:14,400 Speaker 1: can all do about it. In the wake of continued 17 00:01:14,480 --> 00:01:21,080 Speaker 1: police brutality, in the wake of understanding that police brutality 18 00:01:21,160 --> 00:01:24,960 Speaker 1: is a public health crisis, and in the wake of 19 00:01:25,520 --> 00:01:28,759 Speaker 1: horrific videos like that of the death of am On Hereby, 20 00:01:29,520 --> 00:01:33,280 Speaker 1: the murder of George Floyd, and in our understanding that 21 00:01:33,360 --> 00:01:37,720 Speaker 1: Brianna Taylor, an E m T first responder caring for 22 00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:42,560 Speaker 1: COVID patients, was executed by police in her apartment. We 23 00:01:42,640 --> 00:01:46,319 Speaker 1: have work to do, we have things to confront. I 24 00:01:46,400 --> 00:01:49,440 Speaker 1: say we because I am including myself as a white woman, 25 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:53,640 Speaker 1: and my hope is that all of you will join 26 00:01:53,760 --> 00:01:56,160 Speaker 1: us today to listen to this episode as we re 27 00:01:56,320 --> 00:01:59,520 Speaker 1: air it with no ads, just because we know it 28 00:01:59,600 --> 00:02:03,080 Speaker 1: is the right thing to do. You won't hear from sponsors. 29 00:02:03,120 --> 00:02:05,640 Speaker 1: You will just hear from Dr Abdulah as she answers 30 00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:08,600 Speaker 1: my questions, and there are questions that I imagine many 31 00:02:08,639 --> 00:02:14,240 Speaker 1: of you have as well. So please show up, listen up, 32 00:02:14,840 --> 00:02:17,360 Speaker 1: and learn from the experts how we can all speak 33 00:02:17,440 --> 00:02:21,800 Speaker 1: up because people are dying and it's our job to 34 00:02:21,800 --> 00:02:24,760 Speaker 1: do something about it. I really appreciate all of you, 35 00:02:24,840 --> 00:02:27,760 Speaker 1: and I hope you enjoyed this conversation with Dr Molena Abdellah. 36 00:02:33,120 --> 00:02:35,480 Speaker 1: So I want to jump right into something that we 37 00:02:35,480 --> 00:02:39,120 Speaker 1: were talking about before I realized I should have pushed record. 38 00:02:40,120 --> 00:02:44,400 Speaker 1: There's an article in the Land magazine and they wrote 39 00:02:44,480 --> 00:02:48,239 Speaker 1: that you have quote become the scourge of the l 40 00:02:48,320 --> 00:02:51,160 Speaker 1: A p D. A co founder of the Los Angeles 41 00:02:51,240 --> 00:02:53,240 Speaker 1: Chapter of Black Lives Matter and a member of the 42 00:02:53,240 --> 00:02:57,440 Speaker 1: group's national leadership team. You are perhaps the most vocal, visible, 43 00:02:57,480 --> 00:02:59,799 Speaker 1: and effective critic of law enforcement in all of Los 44 00:02:59,800 --> 00:03:02,440 Speaker 1: Ange to us, for the past four years, you have 45 00:03:02,560 --> 00:03:05,120 Speaker 1: organized the grieving families of people killed by the police 46 00:03:05,240 --> 00:03:08,280 Speaker 1: or who died in police custody into a formidable group 47 00:03:08,320 --> 00:03:11,000 Speaker 1: of advocates seeking deep changes to policing in l A. 48 00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:15,000 Speaker 1: And to me, that reads as a very high compliment 49 00:03:15,560 --> 00:03:19,400 Speaker 1: me too, Like I was like, how the word score 50 00:03:19,520 --> 00:03:23,640 Speaker 1: just so charged? But does it feel kind of like 51 00:03:23,680 --> 00:03:26,880 Speaker 1: a badge of honor at this point? Absolutely? Absolutely when 52 00:03:26,880 --> 00:03:29,600 Speaker 1: we think about what l A p D is. You know, 53 00:03:30,200 --> 00:03:32,600 Speaker 1: I love the idea that I'm one of the most 54 00:03:32,680 --> 00:03:36,440 Speaker 1: vocal critics. Right, they need to be criticized, they need 55 00:03:36,440 --> 00:03:39,520 Speaker 1: to be transformed, and that only comes by lifting our 56 00:03:39,600 --> 00:03:42,920 Speaker 1: voices and doing work to do that. So yeah, yeah, 57 00:03:42,960 --> 00:03:47,240 Speaker 1: that's a that's a high enner. Yeah, and prep for 58 00:03:47,360 --> 00:03:53,440 Speaker 1: this going through and looking at the stats of the 59 00:03:53,560 --> 00:03:55,320 Speaker 1: number of people who die at the hands of the 60 00:03:55,320 --> 00:03:57,440 Speaker 1: police in this city and how it's higher than in 61 00:03:57,480 --> 00:04:00,160 Speaker 1: cities like Chicago, It's higher than in cities like New York. 62 00:04:00,160 --> 00:04:03,520 Speaker 1: It's it's something that I don't know that everyone is 63 00:04:03,560 --> 00:04:07,200 Speaker 1: really aware of what what a kind of crisis for 64 00:04:07,360 --> 00:04:12,119 Speaker 1: the citizenry of l A. This problem is. And it's 65 00:04:12,120 --> 00:04:16,200 Speaker 1: an interesting topic to discuss because what I realized is 66 00:04:16,240 --> 00:04:20,800 Speaker 1: that so often in circles like our overlapping circles were 67 00:04:20,880 --> 00:04:25,880 Speaker 1: analyzing the problem of a system, and in other circles 68 00:04:26,279 --> 00:04:30,120 Speaker 1: where this topic comes up, people really feel personally attacked. 69 00:04:30,960 --> 00:04:33,320 Speaker 1: It turns into while my uncle's a cop and is 70 00:04:33,320 --> 00:04:35,560 Speaker 1: a good guy, or you know, there's a lot of 71 00:04:35,560 --> 00:04:38,520 Speaker 1: people who sacrifice to to be in uniform, whether it's 72 00:04:38,520 --> 00:04:41,640 Speaker 1: in the police force or military service or whatever. And 73 00:04:42,440 --> 00:04:47,040 Speaker 1: I'm curious because of your level of expertise at looking 74 00:04:47,080 --> 00:04:51,840 Speaker 1: at the brokenness of a system and the historical problems 75 00:04:51,920 --> 00:04:55,000 Speaker 1: of a system that have been passed down to modern 76 00:04:55,080 --> 00:04:58,000 Speaker 1: day that I think so many people aren't aware of. 77 00:04:58,120 --> 00:04:59,840 Speaker 1: And I want to get into that with you too. 78 00:05:01,120 --> 00:05:05,440 Speaker 1: How do you get people to analyze the system and 79 00:05:05,520 --> 00:05:09,240 Speaker 1: what the system does to even the quote good guys 80 00:05:09,279 --> 00:05:13,359 Speaker 1: who volunteer, who gets swept up in it? That's a 81 00:05:13,440 --> 00:05:18,400 Speaker 1: huge question. Um. I think number one, we start with 82 00:05:18,440 --> 00:05:22,120 Speaker 1: the people who are most directly impacted. And so for 83 00:05:22,200 --> 00:05:24,880 Speaker 1: Black Lives Matter, you know, um, A lot of people 84 00:05:24,920 --> 00:05:27,359 Speaker 1: think that, like the term black lives matter is meant 85 00:05:27,440 --> 00:05:30,760 Speaker 1: for non black folks to see our humanity, but it's not. 86 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:34,200 Speaker 1: It's black lives matter is a rallying cry. It's for 87 00:05:34,320 --> 00:05:38,040 Speaker 1: black people to understand our own power. And black people, 88 00:05:38,839 --> 00:05:43,280 Speaker 1: I don't think any black person I know is in 89 00:05:43,320 --> 00:05:47,680 Speaker 1: any way um duped into believing that the police are 90 00:05:47,680 --> 00:05:51,640 Speaker 1: here to protect and serve us. Right, So I think 91 00:05:52,120 --> 00:05:55,120 Speaker 1: getting people to stand up, getting my people to stand 92 00:05:55,200 --> 00:05:59,000 Speaker 1: up first, right, is hugely important. Right. So there's not 93 00:05:59,080 --> 00:06:00,960 Speaker 1: a whole lot of convince thing that needs to be 94 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:04,280 Speaker 1: done other than you know, policing as we know it 95 00:06:04,320 --> 00:06:08,200 Speaker 1: hasn't always been and so that means it can be changed, right, 96 00:06:08,440 --> 00:06:11,839 Speaker 1: Policing that as we know it is a system that 97 00:06:12,200 --> 00:06:15,280 Speaker 1: somebody invented, and we're people who can disrupt that. And 98 00:06:15,360 --> 00:06:18,720 Speaker 1: so I think that that's the biggest part is recognizing 99 00:06:18,720 --> 00:06:22,800 Speaker 1: our own power. We're talking about systems and structures and institutions. 100 00:06:23,440 --> 00:06:27,320 Speaker 1: But I think for black people in regular neighborhoods like 101 00:06:27,360 --> 00:06:30,120 Speaker 1: I live in the Crenshaw District, right, black people in 102 00:06:30,160 --> 00:06:34,400 Speaker 1: my neighborhood, it's not we don't have to think about 103 00:06:34,560 --> 00:06:39,440 Speaker 1: structures and institutions and systems in like some theoretical way. 104 00:06:40,120 --> 00:06:43,440 Speaker 1: You know what it means when UM, the current l 105 00:06:43,480 --> 00:06:47,160 Speaker 1: a p D Chief Michael Morris, says he wants police 106 00:06:47,200 --> 00:06:50,000 Speaker 1: on every street corner, at every bus stop, at every 107 00:06:50,080 --> 00:06:53,960 Speaker 1: church pew and every bar stool, and we know that's 108 00:06:53,960 --> 00:06:57,359 Speaker 1: a bad thing. Like when you see UM now on 109 00:06:57,480 --> 00:07:00,400 Speaker 1: Crenshaw you usually see UM. You're starting to see like 110 00:07:00,680 --> 00:07:03,760 Speaker 1: two officers per bus stop just standing there, like with 111 00:07:03,800 --> 00:07:07,080 Speaker 1: their hands on their belts. That feels like an occupation. 112 00:07:07,120 --> 00:07:10,360 Speaker 1: It does not make us feel safe. And so we 113 00:07:10,400 --> 00:07:12,960 Speaker 1: don't have to explain the system to other black people 114 00:07:13,000 --> 00:07:16,320 Speaker 1: because we all feel the same thing. And that's not 115 00:07:16,400 --> 00:07:20,880 Speaker 1: to essentialize us, but I think that our collective experiences 116 00:07:21,120 --> 00:07:24,120 Speaker 1: with police, you know, tell us and inform us. And 117 00:07:24,160 --> 00:07:26,600 Speaker 1: I think that kind of wisdom and that kind of 118 00:07:26,640 --> 00:07:31,320 Speaker 1: expertise is the most valuable. Yeah. Wow, I'm just I'm 119 00:07:31,400 --> 00:07:34,560 Speaker 1: just thinking. I find that I sit when I when 120 00:07:34,560 --> 00:07:37,480 Speaker 1: I hear you speak, and I ingest and then I'm like, 121 00:07:37,720 --> 00:07:40,120 Speaker 1: there's gonna be all this air in this interview and 122 00:07:40,240 --> 00:07:42,320 Speaker 1: my editor is going to be like, why isn't she talking? 123 00:07:42,400 --> 00:07:46,880 Speaker 1: But because I can't, so can we walk back? I'd 124 00:07:46,960 --> 00:07:52,160 Speaker 1: like to know about how the mission as Black Lives 125 00:07:52,160 --> 00:07:55,280 Speaker 1: Matter and Black Lives Matter l A began because you 126 00:07:55,440 --> 00:07:59,240 Speaker 1: have been an advocate, You are an organizer, You are 127 00:07:59,440 --> 00:08:02,880 Speaker 1: a professor, sir, you are an academic, and I'm a 128 00:08:02,920 --> 00:08:08,880 Speaker 1: mama and your yes two wonderful kids, and your face 129 00:08:08,960 --> 00:08:11,520 Speaker 1: lights up on you talk, and I have so much 130 00:08:11,560 --> 00:08:14,600 Speaker 1: fun when I read profiles of you. There's always like 131 00:08:14,640 --> 00:08:16,280 Speaker 1: a mention of what the kids are up to, and 132 00:08:16,320 --> 00:08:19,400 Speaker 1: I love it because I feel like I'm I'm getting 133 00:08:19,400 --> 00:08:24,480 Speaker 1: the picture painted. But I'm curious how this all began, 134 00:08:24,640 --> 00:08:27,120 Speaker 1: because you know, I became aware of you already as 135 00:08:27,160 --> 00:08:29,960 Speaker 1: this leader in the movement and as an advocate and 136 00:08:29,960 --> 00:08:33,280 Speaker 1: and for people listening. We finally got to meet years 137 00:08:33,320 --> 00:08:37,760 Speaker 1: ago at the l A Women's March and they were like, Hey, 138 00:08:37,800 --> 00:08:41,160 Speaker 1: you're going to introduce Molina Abdullah and I was like what. 139 00:08:42,080 --> 00:08:45,439 Speaker 1: And I remember when I was like what, I was 140 00:08:45,480 --> 00:08:48,400 Speaker 1: just so cool, and I remember running up to you 141 00:08:48,440 --> 00:08:51,920 Speaker 1: and being like, Hey, this is crazy. I want to 142 00:08:51,920 --> 00:08:53,800 Speaker 1: talk to you about everything that you do and figure 143 00:08:53,800 --> 00:08:56,959 Speaker 1: out how to how to be there, you know, supporting 144 00:08:57,000 --> 00:08:59,800 Speaker 1: and anything. Can I just run you through my remarks 145 00:08:59,800 --> 00:09:02,520 Speaker 1: really quick because I want to make sure they're okay 146 00:09:02,559 --> 00:09:05,920 Speaker 1: to you, and oh, you were so generous. I just 147 00:09:06,080 --> 00:09:08,120 Speaker 1: was like, you know, there are all these things I 148 00:09:08,120 --> 00:09:10,960 Speaker 1: feel like it's really important to say, and and it 149 00:09:11,080 --> 00:09:14,960 Speaker 1: is an interesting thing as as an activist in my 150 00:09:15,040 --> 00:09:19,160 Speaker 1: own space and an advocate to try to figure out 151 00:09:19,240 --> 00:09:26,079 Speaker 1: how to be a proper supporter and ally for my 152 00:09:26,160 --> 00:09:30,320 Speaker 1: neighbors and for communities of color, and and also not 153 00:09:30,400 --> 00:09:32,960 Speaker 1: to be a basic white girl who says the wrong thing. 154 00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:36,280 Speaker 1: I'm just like, I don't know, So I asked you 155 00:09:36,760 --> 00:09:39,360 Speaker 1: all of the questions and and you are so lovely 156 00:09:39,400 --> 00:09:41,160 Speaker 1: and gave me the confidence to walk up on that 157 00:09:41,240 --> 00:09:43,360 Speaker 1: stage and just be like, the only reason that we're 158 00:09:43,400 --> 00:09:45,520 Speaker 1: here and the only reason there's been any progress has 159 00:09:45,520 --> 00:09:47,880 Speaker 1: been because of black women, and if we don't start 160 00:09:47,920 --> 00:09:51,480 Speaker 1: following them the way we should have always been, we're stupid. 161 00:09:51,640 --> 00:09:54,080 Speaker 1: I didn't use those words exactly, but that's the truth. 162 00:09:54,640 --> 00:09:57,800 Speaker 1: And and then you came up on stage, you know, 163 00:09:57,880 --> 00:10:00,440 Speaker 1: with a whole crew in your family, and you gave 164 00:10:00,480 --> 00:10:05,640 Speaker 1: the most rousing speech and it was amazing, and um, yeah, 165 00:10:05,679 --> 00:10:09,560 Speaker 1: I just I feel like we've been teammates for a 166 00:10:09,600 --> 00:10:13,080 Speaker 1: long time now. So that's that's where you and I 167 00:10:13,240 --> 00:10:21,480 Speaker 1: first connected. And you are this incredible icon in the community, 168 00:10:22,320 --> 00:10:27,640 Speaker 1: and I'm wondering how from the inception of Black Lives 169 00:10:27,720 --> 00:10:31,840 Speaker 1: Matter to speaking to set thousand people in the streets 170 00:10:31,840 --> 00:10:34,360 Speaker 1: of the Women's March, how does that all get started 171 00:10:34,400 --> 00:10:37,679 Speaker 1: for people who don't know the story. So I don't 172 00:10:37,679 --> 00:10:42,920 Speaker 1: think I'm an icon. I appreciate that. I mean you are, ma'am. 173 00:10:42,960 --> 00:10:45,760 Speaker 1: I mean I'm just like even when you said you 174 00:10:45,800 --> 00:10:50,600 Speaker 1: know expertise in this, I'm not like, I'm just I 175 00:10:50,720 --> 00:10:53,920 Speaker 1: am just a mam, right. I am just I have 176 00:10:54,080 --> 00:10:57,120 Speaker 1: three children, and I have a million spirit children, right, 177 00:10:57,640 --> 00:11:00,200 Speaker 1: and I'm a community member, and I'm my mama's water 178 00:11:00,400 --> 00:11:06,080 Speaker 1: and my grandmother's granddaughter, and you know, my grandfather thought 179 00:11:06,120 --> 00:11:08,720 Speaker 1: I could walk on water, and so all of that 180 00:11:08,880 --> 00:11:15,520 Speaker 1: is in me, and I feel, I believe, I know 181 00:11:16,280 --> 00:11:19,679 Speaker 1: that it's I use a term called sacred duty, right, 182 00:11:19,760 --> 00:11:25,360 Speaker 1: it's our sacred duty to not simply sit by as 183 00:11:25,400 --> 00:11:30,280 Speaker 1: our people are oppressed and degraded and killed. And so 184 00:11:31,160 --> 00:11:33,520 Speaker 1: I have a loud mouth, and my mother taught me, like, 185 00:11:33,840 --> 00:11:36,600 Speaker 1: never be quiet, right, never just sit there and take 186 00:11:36,640 --> 00:11:39,640 Speaker 1: it right. And you know, that's one of the things 187 00:11:39,640 --> 00:11:42,320 Speaker 1: I really appreciated about our meeting is you know, I 188 00:11:42,320 --> 00:11:45,440 Speaker 1: don't watch a lot of TV, right, so I knew 189 00:11:45,440 --> 00:11:47,960 Speaker 1: your name, but I didn't. I don't really you know, 190 00:11:48,160 --> 00:11:51,440 Speaker 1: watch TV, right. But what I loved about you is 191 00:11:51,559 --> 00:11:56,920 Speaker 1: one the authenticity with which you approached me, but two 192 00:11:57,040 --> 00:12:00,840 Speaker 1: that it wasn't a one time thing, that it was well, 193 00:12:00,880 --> 00:12:03,600 Speaker 1: how can we What can I do? How can I 194 00:12:03,760 --> 00:12:08,160 Speaker 1: use my platform? What what feels good in terms of 195 00:12:08,160 --> 00:12:10,400 Speaker 1: what I share? And I know, like we have a 196 00:12:10,400 --> 00:12:13,320 Speaker 1: whole bunch of friends in common, and everybody you know 197 00:12:13,480 --> 00:12:16,520 Speaker 1: kind of reports back on their work with you, And 198 00:12:16,559 --> 00:12:19,880 Speaker 1: I just think it's um really powerful and beautiful When 199 00:12:19,880 --> 00:12:23,680 Speaker 1: people say, I feel like you've never said these words, 200 00:12:23,720 --> 00:12:26,760 Speaker 1: but I feel like you've said that. It's also my 201 00:12:26,880 --> 00:12:29,520 Speaker 1: sacred duty. It's my duty, you know, one of the 202 00:12:29,600 --> 00:12:31,960 Speaker 1: chances we use in Black Lives matters. It is our 203 00:12:32,040 --> 00:12:34,720 Speaker 1: duty to fight for freedom. It is our duty to win. 204 00:12:35,400 --> 00:12:37,679 Speaker 1: We must love and protect one another. We have nothing 205 00:12:37,720 --> 00:12:40,280 Speaker 1: to lose with our chains. And I feel like you've 206 00:12:40,320 --> 00:12:43,720 Speaker 1: embraced that, this idea that we can't just accept the 207 00:12:43,760 --> 00:12:48,200 Speaker 1: world as it's handed to us, and as those who 208 00:12:48,280 --> 00:12:53,200 Speaker 1: are in it for greed and greater power and kind 209 00:12:53,200 --> 00:12:56,959 Speaker 1: of the hoarding of resources. It's expense of everyone else. Right, 210 00:12:57,120 --> 00:12:59,480 Speaker 1: they don't get to decide how the world is going 211 00:12:59,520 --> 00:13:02,120 Speaker 1: to move. We get to decide how the world is 212 00:13:02,120 --> 00:13:04,840 Speaker 1: going to move. And so I love that you've stepped 213 00:13:04,880 --> 00:13:07,880 Speaker 1: into that. And you know, I like the term teammates, 214 00:13:07,920 --> 00:13:12,040 Speaker 1: that we're teammates in this work. That's so kind. Thank you. 215 00:13:12,679 --> 00:13:15,520 Speaker 1: Really like that, just that my chest feels like it's 216 00:13:15,520 --> 00:13:21,360 Speaker 1: going to explode. And I do, I do identify so 217 00:13:21,440 --> 00:13:24,920 Speaker 1: deeply with that term sacred duty. And I think about 218 00:13:25,120 --> 00:13:29,000 Speaker 1: how the fuel I talked to my friend Glennon all 219 00:13:29,080 --> 00:13:32,400 Speaker 1: the time, we talk about sacred rage. That like that 220 00:13:32,640 --> 00:13:36,440 Speaker 1: fire in you that refuses to be quiet in the 221 00:13:36,520 --> 00:13:40,959 Speaker 1: face of injustice is sacred rage. That is a fuel 222 00:13:40,960 --> 00:13:44,240 Speaker 1: source that never runs out. And I think we have 223 00:13:44,520 --> 00:13:48,080 Speaker 1: to press towards the things that like that for us. 224 00:13:48,600 --> 00:13:53,679 Speaker 1: And it is not okay whether we're talking about the 225 00:13:53,720 --> 00:13:57,760 Speaker 1: hoarding of resources, or disparities and healthcare, or the disparate 226 00:13:57,800 --> 00:14:02,560 Speaker 1: experiences of different community these and those experiences being based 227 00:14:02,600 --> 00:14:06,040 Speaker 1: solely on what those communities look like. This is this 228 00:14:06,120 --> 00:14:09,680 Speaker 1: is not okay. How could any of us not be enraged? 229 00:14:09,800 --> 00:14:11,800 Speaker 1: You know, none of us is free until all of 230 00:14:11,880 --> 00:14:15,800 Speaker 1: us are free. The the the ugly intertwining of the 231 00:14:15,840 --> 00:14:18,400 Speaker 1: oppression of communities of color and the oppression of women 232 00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:22,440 Speaker 1: that you know, we even in the most conservative circles 233 00:14:22,480 --> 00:14:27,640 Speaker 1: in America, you hear people criticizing, um, you know, communities 234 00:14:27,680 --> 00:14:31,920 Speaker 1: around the globe that they view to be threatening or 235 00:14:31,960 --> 00:14:34,440 Speaker 1: you know that that they say, well, terrorists come from X, 236 00:14:34,440 --> 00:14:36,000 Speaker 1: and it's like, well, what do they have in common? 237 00:14:36,320 --> 00:14:40,360 Speaker 1: They oppress poor people and women, They destroy education systems 238 00:14:40,440 --> 00:14:43,880 Speaker 1: so that they can promote fundamentalist ideology that is dangerous 239 00:14:43,880 --> 00:14:48,960 Speaker 1: and inherently patriarchal. Hello, look in the mirror, sir, do 240 00:14:49,000 --> 00:14:52,040 Speaker 1: you not see that you're doing that here in in 241 00:14:52,080 --> 00:14:54,120 Speaker 1: ways that are unique to our own country and our 242 00:14:54,120 --> 00:14:57,560 Speaker 1: own experience. And it is it's our duty to stand 243 00:14:57,600 --> 00:15:02,080 Speaker 1: for each other, absolutely absolutely, So how does it start? 244 00:15:02,160 --> 00:15:05,480 Speaker 1: How does this stand start? In l A Because you 245 00:15:05,520 --> 00:15:08,920 Speaker 1: were among the original group of organizers who formed Black 246 00:15:08,960 --> 00:15:14,880 Speaker 1: Lives Matter and back in what is the landscape? What happens? 247 00:15:15,520 --> 00:15:18,720 Speaker 1: And and what did your life look like at the time? Yeah, so, 248 00:15:18,800 --> 00:15:23,480 Speaker 1: I mean I've always been one who's not not quiet, right, Um. 249 00:15:23,520 --> 00:15:26,240 Speaker 1: But I've also never been a real joiner, Like I 250 00:15:26,280 --> 00:15:30,160 Speaker 1: don't like joining organizations, right, Um. I always feel like 251 00:15:30,200 --> 00:15:33,080 Speaker 1: the deeper you get into something, but more like the 252 00:15:33,200 --> 00:15:36,200 Speaker 1: drama kind of unfolds. And so I just prefer to 253 00:15:36,360 --> 00:15:38,440 Speaker 1: kind of move and I would be a part of 254 00:15:38,480 --> 00:15:43,840 Speaker 1: different movements, but not really deep. And Um, July thirteenth, 255 00:15:43,880 --> 00:15:47,720 Speaker 1: two thousand thirteen, that's the day George Zimmerman was acquitted 256 00:15:47,760 --> 00:15:53,000 Speaker 1: in the murder of Trayvon Martin. And Um, tray Von 257 00:15:53,360 --> 00:15:56,480 Speaker 1: was not the first black boy to be killed by, 258 00:15:56,640 --> 00:15:59,480 Speaker 1: you know, a white supremacist or want to be white 259 00:15:59,480 --> 00:16:03,600 Speaker 1: supremaciy this because Zimmerman is also this kind of complicated 260 00:16:03,680 --> 00:16:07,120 Speaker 1: character right where he's at want to be cop, he's 261 00:16:07,120 --> 00:16:09,880 Speaker 1: a want to be neighborhood watchman, he's a want to 262 00:16:09,920 --> 00:16:13,440 Speaker 1: be white guy. He's really none of those things, right, 263 00:16:14,040 --> 00:16:18,040 Speaker 1: but he's kind of exhibiting, like drawing power from his 264 00:16:18,200 --> 00:16:23,480 Speaker 1: proximity to it, right. And so the murder of Trayvon, 265 00:16:25,240 --> 00:16:28,960 Speaker 1: in many ways, it's like the murder of Emmett Till, Right. 266 00:16:29,040 --> 00:16:32,200 Speaker 1: Emmett Till was not the first black boy to be lynched, right, 267 00:16:33,080 --> 00:16:36,640 Speaker 1: but there was something special about Emmett's story, and there 268 00:16:36,720 --> 00:16:40,320 Speaker 1: was the power of his mother, maybe Till, who decided 269 00:16:40,360 --> 00:16:43,640 Speaker 1: to give him an open casket funeral and let the 270 00:16:43,640 --> 00:16:46,840 Speaker 1: world see the horror that her fourteen year old son 271 00:16:46,920 --> 00:16:51,880 Speaker 1: had endured. Right, And with Trayvon, there was something about 272 00:16:52,120 --> 00:16:55,400 Speaker 1: his spirit, like I imagine the spirit of Emmett, right 273 00:16:56,440 --> 00:17:01,840 Speaker 1: that it resonated like it resonated at us. And you 274 00:17:01,880 --> 00:17:06,800 Speaker 1: know when they would show Trayvon's face on the news, um, 275 00:17:06,840 --> 00:17:09,879 Speaker 1: you know, Barack Obama said. President Obama said, if I 276 00:17:09,920 --> 00:17:13,000 Speaker 1: had a son, he looked like Trayvon, And I had 277 00:17:13,040 --> 00:17:17,280 Speaker 1: a son, and my son actually looks like Trayvon, right, 278 00:17:17,400 --> 00:17:23,160 Speaker 1: like not exactly but very feeling wise, right, like same 279 00:17:24,240 --> 00:17:29,840 Speaker 1: kind of shiny face, same um, sparkling eyes, right, same 280 00:17:30,560 --> 00:17:37,560 Speaker 1: innocence and also kind of butting. Um. I kind of like, um, 281 00:17:37,600 --> 00:17:43,240 Speaker 1: a little naughtiness in my children, right, just like life, 282 00:17:43,280 --> 00:17:47,280 Speaker 1: like life in their face. Right. Well, mischief is so 283 00:17:47,359 --> 00:17:50,439 Speaker 1: good for kids. Yeah, that's the word. The thing that 284 00:17:50,560 --> 00:17:53,960 Speaker 1: makes us investigative. It's the thing that makes us challenge systems. 285 00:17:54,000 --> 00:17:57,359 Speaker 1: It's the reason that movements are born, because we go 286 00:17:57,480 --> 00:18:00,679 Speaker 1: doesn't really have to go like that, right. You know. 287 00:18:00,880 --> 00:18:03,200 Speaker 1: It's like the eight year old that wants to take 288 00:18:03,200 --> 00:18:04,879 Speaker 1: a toy apart to figure out how to put it 289 00:18:04,920 --> 00:18:09,840 Speaker 1: together could become the next great engineer or the next 290 00:18:09,880 --> 00:18:13,440 Speaker 1: great social activists because they want to take it apart 291 00:18:13,480 --> 00:18:16,000 Speaker 1: and put it back together better. And in the meantime 292 00:18:16,000 --> 00:18:21,000 Speaker 1: they're frustrating their mother's right. It's like, you know, I joke, 293 00:18:21,119 --> 00:18:22,520 Speaker 1: I used to be a nanny and I was like, 294 00:18:22,560 --> 00:18:24,439 Speaker 1: I nanny for the best kids in the world, and 295 00:18:24,440 --> 00:18:28,480 Speaker 1: they were also like tiny terrorists. They were at moments 296 00:18:28,520 --> 00:18:30,679 Speaker 1: I was like, where did my sweet little children go? 297 00:18:30,760 --> 00:18:33,280 Speaker 1: You're evil? And then they come back to you because 298 00:18:33,600 --> 00:18:37,720 Speaker 1: their kids, right, And that's what I feel like we 299 00:18:37,800 --> 00:18:40,560 Speaker 1: got with Treyvon. He was a seventeen year old child. 300 00:18:41,240 --> 00:18:43,280 Speaker 1: I don't like when they call him a young man. 301 00:18:43,440 --> 00:18:46,960 Speaker 1: He was a child, right, Um, seventeen year old child 302 00:18:47,160 --> 00:18:50,760 Speaker 1: doing exactly what he should have been doing, and his 303 00:18:50,880 --> 00:18:55,639 Speaker 1: life was stolen. And then the state gets behind Zimmerman 304 00:18:56,680 --> 00:18:59,200 Speaker 1: and says he had the right to steal the life 305 00:18:59,200 --> 00:19:05,639 Speaker 1: of this boy who was ours. And I remember July 306 00:19:06,480 --> 00:19:12,920 Speaker 1: two thousand and thirteen was a Saturday, and um, we 307 00:19:12,920 --> 00:19:15,320 Speaker 1: were watching we were glued to the TV, and then 308 00:19:15,400 --> 00:19:19,240 Speaker 1: California was becoming evening, so it means it was nighttime 309 00:19:19,240 --> 00:19:22,040 Speaker 1: in Florida, right, and everybody on the news, all the 310 00:19:22,280 --> 00:19:25,600 Speaker 1: newscasters are going, well, the verdict is not going to 311 00:19:25,680 --> 00:19:29,040 Speaker 1: come in today. It probably won't come until Monday. And 312 00:19:29,119 --> 00:19:32,320 Speaker 1: so I left the house. I went to CarMax. I 313 00:19:32,359 --> 00:19:34,320 Speaker 1: was trying to get a new car because my family 314 00:19:34,359 --> 00:19:39,680 Speaker 1: was getting bigger. And I remember going into CarMax and 315 00:19:39,920 --> 00:19:42,919 Speaker 1: almost as soon as I got there, my brother called 316 00:19:43,040 --> 00:19:45,040 Speaker 1: and he goes, where are you at? I tell him, 317 00:19:45,160 --> 00:19:47,000 Speaker 1: and he goes, we'll sit down because you're not gonna 318 00:19:47,040 --> 00:19:52,280 Speaker 1: like it. And he said he got off and they're 319 00:19:52,320 --> 00:19:58,000 Speaker 1: giving him his gun back. And like, even when, and 320 00:19:58,080 --> 00:19:59,919 Speaker 1: I don't know if it's like the events of the 321 00:20:00,119 --> 00:20:04,400 Speaker 1: last week, but even when, when I hear that second 322 00:20:04,480 --> 00:20:07,639 Speaker 1: part it the gun, they're giving him his gun back, 323 00:20:08,640 --> 00:20:12,480 Speaker 1: just like hit me and I felt this fog kind 324 00:20:12,480 --> 00:20:16,879 Speaker 1: of overtake me and grab my kids, get him in 325 00:20:16,880 --> 00:20:18,919 Speaker 1: the car, and I go home. We didn't buy a 326 00:20:18,920 --> 00:20:25,200 Speaker 1: car um And at the time, my son was three, 327 00:20:26,680 --> 00:20:29,520 Speaker 1: and you know, my other kids are a little older, 328 00:20:29,560 --> 00:20:32,080 Speaker 1: and I'm getting them all together, and I did what 329 00:20:32,240 --> 00:20:35,400 Speaker 1: like mothers have to do. I'm a single mom, so 330 00:20:36,160 --> 00:20:39,280 Speaker 1: cook dinner, bathed my son, put them all to bed, 331 00:20:39,359 --> 00:20:41,280 Speaker 1: and then I found somebody to sit with him, and 332 00:20:41,320 --> 00:20:44,359 Speaker 1: I had these other moms come over to my house, 333 00:20:44,400 --> 00:20:48,000 Speaker 1: and we kind of sat and we talked and decided 334 00:20:48,080 --> 00:20:52,440 Speaker 1: to go out. And there's a park in the Crunchhaw 335 00:20:52,520 --> 00:20:56,200 Speaker 1: district of Los Angeles, Lamart Park, which is like, um, 336 00:20:56,240 --> 00:21:00,280 Speaker 1: the cultural center of black l a terrible lee and 337 00:21:00,320 --> 00:21:02,040 Speaker 1: I hope we can get to this. They've put up 338 00:21:02,040 --> 00:21:05,120 Speaker 1: a fence around it now so you can't get into 339 00:21:05,200 --> 00:21:08,760 Speaker 1: the park anymore, but at all at all, even during 340 00:21:08,800 --> 00:21:11,800 Speaker 1: the day, nope. UM. So that I think has a 341 00:21:11,800 --> 00:21:15,680 Speaker 1: lot to do with the genter the neighborhood that's undergoing gentrification. 342 00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:18,240 Speaker 1: And there were houseless folks who slept in the park, 343 00:21:19,119 --> 00:21:21,560 Speaker 1: so they're trying to keep the houseless folks out. But 344 00:21:21,640 --> 00:21:24,320 Speaker 1: I also think about like Black Lives Matter was birthed 345 00:21:24,400 --> 00:21:28,120 Speaker 1: there right, Like every protest you can think of began 346 00:21:28,359 --> 00:21:30,679 Speaker 1: in that park. So we didn't need a tweet, we 347 00:21:30,720 --> 00:21:33,280 Speaker 1: didn't need a text, we didn't need nobody to call us. 348 00:21:33,359 --> 00:21:35,520 Speaker 1: We knew where black people were going. We go there 349 00:21:35,520 --> 00:21:37,480 Speaker 1: for a rage, but we also go there. That's where 350 00:21:37,520 --> 00:21:40,640 Speaker 1: we went to celebrate the election of Barack Obama, right, 351 00:21:41,080 --> 00:21:45,800 Speaker 1: And so they fenced off the park. But on July thirteenth, 352 00:21:45,800 --> 00:21:48,000 Speaker 1: two thousand and thirteen, the park was open and we 353 00:21:48,080 --> 00:21:50,840 Speaker 1: knew that's where to go, and that's where we went. 354 00:21:51,080 --> 00:21:54,800 Speaker 1: And there were you know, easily a thousand people milling 355 00:21:54,840 --> 00:21:58,840 Speaker 1: around in the park, some crying, some upset, some giving 356 00:21:58,920 --> 00:22:03,600 Speaker 1: like impromptu beaches. And um, I always tell people like 357 00:22:03,640 --> 00:22:06,840 Speaker 1: who are becoming activists that the first investment you need 358 00:22:06,880 --> 00:22:10,080 Speaker 1: to make is in a bullhorn. Right. There's a power 359 00:22:10,200 --> 00:22:15,119 Speaker 1: that comes whoever has the bullhorn gets to dictate the action, right, 360 00:22:15,720 --> 00:22:18,399 Speaker 1: And so I had the bullhorn, and I remember there 361 00:22:18,480 --> 00:22:21,040 Speaker 1: was this young sister there who I was talking to 362 00:22:21,080 --> 00:22:23,200 Speaker 1: when this was her first time kind of coming out, 363 00:22:24,200 --> 00:22:27,400 Speaker 1: and um, she said to me, because we were all 364 00:22:27,440 --> 00:22:31,280 Speaker 1: talking to each other, um, well I don't want to 365 00:22:31,280 --> 00:22:33,280 Speaker 1: be in this park. And me and the other moms 366 00:22:33,280 --> 00:22:35,040 Speaker 1: are like, well, what do you want to do? And 367 00:22:35,160 --> 00:22:37,439 Speaker 1: she said, well, I want to march. So I grabbed 368 00:22:37,440 --> 00:22:40,760 Speaker 1: the bullhorn and I go we all march, right, and 369 00:22:40,800 --> 00:22:43,320 Speaker 1: so everybody starts coming together and then there's this kind 370 00:22:43,320 --> 00:22:46,480 Speaker 1: of this back and forth which I think is really important, 371 00:22:46,880 --> 00:22:50,639 Speaker 1: where some people were trying to march south down Crenshaw, 372 00:22:50,760 --> 00:22:54,600 Speaker 1: which if you go south it gets blacker and poorer. Right, 373 00:22:55,280 --> 00:23:00,600 Speaker 1: if you go north, you actually start marching towards Wilshire right, 374 00:23:00,720 --> 00:23:03,840 Speaker 1: which is wider and more affluent. Yeah, you might right 375 00:23:03,920 --> 00:23:08,199 Speaker 1: into Hancock Park, right exactly. And so I'm like, we 376 00:23:08,320 --> 00:23:11,639 Speaker 1: are not marching south because if you think about like 377 00:23:11,680 --> 00:23:14,320 Speaker 1: what happened in ninety two, they don't care if you 378 00:23:14,400 --> 00:23:20,679 Speaker 1: march south right, that's whatever, right. So I remember yelling 379 00:23:20,760 --> 00:23:23,240 Speaker 1: on the bullhorn. I felt like we were running for freedom. 380 00:23:23,240 --> 00:23:27,200 Speaker 1: I was like, go north right, and so we all 381 00:23:27,240 --> 00:23:32,840 Speaker 1: start marching north of Crenshaw and um. We were kind 382 00:23:32,840 --> 00:23:36,800 Speaker 1: of in the streets like that, intuitively for about three days, 383 00:23:37,800 --> 00:23:40,760 Speaker 1: and on the third day of protest, we had this 384 00:23:41,160 --> 00:23:44,760 Speaker 1: group like we just called it like Black Community Organizers space, 385 00:23:44,800 --> 00:23:47,600 Speaker 1: and then we're about maybe fifteen of us. One of 386 00:23:47,640 --> 00:23:50,440 Speaker 1: them was Patrise Colors, and I was in that space 387 00:23:50,480 --> 00:23:53,399 Speaker 1: as well, and so we had become really friends and 388 00:23:53,440 --> 00:23:58,360 Speaker 1: comrades in that space. And Patrice had been in conversation 389 00:23:58,480 --> 00:24:01,920 Speaker 1: with Alicia Garza, who didn't know at that time, and 390 00:24:02,119 --> 00:24:07,560 Speaker 1: opal toemtdie and Alicia hit put this letter online and 391 00:24:07,640 --> 00:24:10,879 Speaker 1: she signed it black Lives Matter. And so while we 392 00:24:10,880 --> 00:24:13,600 Speaker 1: were doing this intuitive work, they were talking about how 393 00:24:13,600 --> 00:24:16,359 Speaker 1: to build a movement, not a moment. So on the 394 00:24:16,440 --> 00:24:19,439 Speaker 1: third day of protest, I remember exactly where I was. 395 00:24:19,560 --> 00:24:22,320 Speaker 1: I was. It was the first freeway shut down of 396 00:24:22,400 --> 00:24:25,959 Speaker 1: the Black Lives Matter era, right, So we were marching 397 00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:30,000 Speaker 1: north of Crenshaw, and these boys, probably younger than Trayvon, 398 00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:35,160 Speaker 1: decided we had basically adopted a philosophy this is why 399 00:24:35,200 --> 00:24:40,600 Speaker 1: the northern pattern was important of disrupting spaces of white affluence. Right, 400 00:24:40,640 --> 00:24:43,680 Speaker 1: So we're not going to disrupt South l A. We're 401 00:24:43,720 --> 00:24:46,480 Speaker 1: gonna disrupt the spaces that we see as responsible for 402 00:24:46,480 --> 00:24:49,040 Speaker 1: the murder of Trey Ba. And so there were these 403 00:24:49,080 --> 00:24:52,479 Speaker 1: boys and I remember seeing their eyes dart back and 404 00:24:52,520 --> 00:24:56,000 Speaker 1: forth to each other, and they launched onto the off 405 00:24:56,119 --> 00:25:00,040 Speaker 1: ramp of the ten freeway, and all these thousands of 406 00:25:00,160 --> 00:25:04,359 Speaker 1: people followed them. Right. And my oldest daughter, who's a 407 00:25:04,600 --> 00:25:06,960 Speaker 1: hell of an organizer in her own right, she was 408 00:25:07,040 --> 00:25:10,280 Speaker 1: eight at the time, and she's um, maybe she was nine. 409 00:25:10,480 --> 00:25:12,800 Speaker 1: She's fifteen now, so we're six years old, so she 410 00:25:12,880 --> 00:25:16,359 Speaker 1: must have been nine. She goes, come on, Mama, let's 411 00:25:16,359 --> 00:25:19,600 Speaker 1: get on the freeway. And I have like my three 412 00:25:19,680 --> 00:25:22,960 Speaker 1: year old son and a stroller. And I'm a courageous mom, 413 00:25:23,040 --> 00:25:25,320 Speaker 1: but I'm not crazy, right, So I'm like, we ain't 414 00:25:25,320 --> 00:25:27,560 Speaker 1: getting on the freeway. And so we stood at the 415 00:25:27,640 --> 00:25:30,119 Speaker 1: overpass and I took some pictures that wound up like 416 00:25:30,200 --> 00:25:33,800 Speaker 1: going viral. And right after I took the pictures, I 417 00:25:33,840 --> 00:25:37,480 Speaker 1: get this text and it originated with Patrese and it 418 00:25:37,640 --> 00:25:41,119 Speaker 1: said to meet, and it said meet at nine pm 419 00:25:41,160 --> 00:25:45,040 Speaker 1: at Saint Almost Village, right, which is this black artist community. 420 00:25:45,240 --> 00:25:48,600 Speaker 1: And so we did, and it was the third night, 421 00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:53,679 Speaker 1: and we gathered in this beautiful artist village that is 422 00:25:53,760 --> 00:25:56,920 Speaker 1: set up um like an African village, with this space 423 00:25:57,000 --> 00:25:59,760 Speaker 1: in the center, and we circled up and then we're 424 00:25:59,760 --> 00:26:03,240 Speaker 1: about thirty of us, including some of the mama's, including 425 00:26:03,280 --> 00:26:05,520 Speaker 1: a bunch of my students who had called out into 426 00:26:05,560 --> 00:26:09,520 Speaker 1: the streets, and then a bunch of Patrice's beautiful artists 427 00:26:09,600 --> 00:26:14,480 Speaker 1: and organizer friends, and we committed to building a movement, 428 00:26:14,520 --> 00:26:17,719 Speaker 1: not a moment now. At the time, we didn't know 429 00:26:17,840 --> 00:26:21,720 Speaker 1: what that meant, right, but it was a commitment that 430 00:26:21,760 --> 00:26:24,119 Speaker 1: we made, like from our souls. And it felt like 431 00:26:24,800 --> 00:26:27,280 Speaker 1: because we were under the you know, it was dark 432 00:26:27,280 --> 00:26:30,639 Speaker 1: and the stars and imagine the moon was full. I 433 00:26:30,680 --> 00:26:32,879 Speaker 1: don't know that for sure, but in my memory it 434 00:26:32,960 --> 00:26:36,440 Speaker 1: feels like it right, Like it also felt you felt 435 00:26:36,480 --> 00:26:41,720 Speaker 1: this ancestral presence, right and that was the birth of 436 00:26:41,760 --> 00:26:46,600 Speaker 1: Black Lives Matter, and from that day forward we continued 437 00:26:46,840 --> 00:26:49,760 Speaker 1: to organize UM. I think it took us two or 438 00:26:49,800 --> 00:26:54,560 Speaker 1: three days to UM organized the first planned march of 439 00:26:54,960 --> 00:26:57,920 Speaker 1: Black Lives Matter, which we did it in Beverly Hills. 440 00:26:57,960 --> 00:27:01,320 Speaker 1: We marched down will Shire from Lassie and again will 441 00:27:01,359 --> 00:27:04,600 Speaker 1: Share all the way down to Rodeo and will Share 442 00:27:04,680 --> 00:27:08,280 Speaker 1: and those folks thought they were like, what's happening like 443 00:27:08,400 --> 00:27:12,840 Speaker 1: in fact, they were uttering those words what's going on? Right? 444 00:27:14,000 --> 00:27:17,720 Speaker 1: We UM shut down that pretty woman mall and did 445 00:27:17,760 --> 00:27:19,840 Speaker 1: a lot of work and that was it. Yeah, that 446 00:27:19,960 --> 00:27:25,119 Speaker 1: was the birth of it. When you talk about this 447 00:27:27,800 --> 00:27:30,639 Speaker 1: intuitive knowing that you have to go north, that you 448 00:27:30,680 --> 00:27:35,640 Speaker 1: have to disrupt these affluent white spaces to make a statement, 449 00:27:35,920 --> 00:27:39,239 Speaker 1: because it's not the community south on Crunshot, it's not 450 00:27:39,280 --> 00:27:44,320 Speaker 1: the community that is suffering from the death of their 451 00:27:44,440 --> 00:27:48,840 Speaker 1: sons at greater numbers than the communities you disrupted that 452 00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:53,359 Speaker 1: needed to be disrupted. I know that there will be 453 00:27:53,440 --> 00:27:58,959 Speaker 1: some people who hear this and wonder what that means, 454 00:27:59,040 --> 00:28:02,560 Speaker 1: who say, you know, some people who will wonder what 455 00:28:02,600 --> 00:28:04,840 Speaker 1: that means, and who might say, you know, there were 456 00:28:04,840 --> 00:28:07,800 Speaker 1: people driving down will Shore that day going what's going on? Like, 457 00:28:07,960 --> 00:28:11,720 Speaker 1: tell us what's happening? Who would assume I have nothing 458 00:28:11,720 --> 00:28:14,679 Speaker 1: to do with that? You know, I don't support what 459 00:28:14,800 --> 00:28:18,679 Speaker 1: happened with Trayvon's killing. I don't think that George Zimmerman 460 00:28:18,720 --> 00:28:22,840 Speaker 1: should have been given his gun back. How How to 461 00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:26,160 Speaker 1: people who might not understand what you mean by that? 462 00:28:26,320 --> 00:28:33,320 Speaker 1: Do you educate on disrupting that system and how that 463 00:28:33,440 --> 00:28:38,040 Speaker 1: system even a community on Lasianaga and Wiltshire, how their 464 00:28:38,080 --> 00:28:43,640 Speaker 1: system is supporting the system that let George'szimmerman off. Yeah, 465 00:28:43,680 --> 00:28:46,680 Speaker 1: so a couple of things. One, most of you are responsible, 466 00:28:46,960 --> 00:28:49,280 Speaker 1: right if we think about, like the majority of white 467 00:28:49,280 --> 00:28:53,880 Speaker 1: people voted for Trump, Right, so you're responsible. All of 468 00:28:53,880 --> 00:28:56,880 Speaker 1: this that's going on is your fault, right, And so 469 00:28:56,960 --> 00:29:00,960 Speaker 1: there is a direct responsibility. Right. But even if you go, well, 470 00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:04,160 Speaker 1: I didn't vote for Trump, right, you know I give 471 00:29:04,560 --> 00:29:11,720 Speaker 1: money to Black Lives Matter, Right, there's still a responsibility. Well. One, 472 00:29:12,240 --> 00:29:17,280 Speaker 1: there is a the weight of blackness in this country 473 00:29:17,480 --> 00:29:22,120 Speaker 1: is not something that can just be borne by black people. Right. 474 00:29:22,240 --> 00:29:29,200 Speaker 1: So the philosophy of disrupting white affluent spaces is about 475 00:29:29,280 --> 00:29:33,280 Speaker 1: the fact that I say, I'm not scared of anything, 476 00:29:33,320 --> 00:29:37,200 Speaker 1: and I'm not right, But I'll say that I'm very 477 00:29:37,280 --> 00:29:44,200 Speaker 1: anxious about my son, and specifically my son, but you know, 478 00:29:44,280 --> 00:29:48,360 Speaker 1: I'm concerned for all my children, but specifically my son 479 00:29:48,920 --> 00:29:52,320 Speaker 1: who's now nine, who I'm starting to see his shoulders 480 00:29:52,360 --> 00:29:56,080 Speaker 1: get brought right. And he was talking to me today 481 00:29:56,120 --> 00:29:59,000 Speaker 1: and I was like, his voice is a little deeper, 482 00:29:59,200 --> 00:30:02,600 Speaker 1: like he's not going through puberty yet, but he's growing 483 00:30:02,960 --> 00:30:06,480 Speaker 1: into he's not a baby, right, And I feel like 484 00:30:07,080 --> 00:30:10,960 Speaker 1: as he continues to grow, the target on his back 485 00:30:11,080 --> 00:30:14,720 Speaker 1: gets bigger. And I don't know white moms who feel 486 00:30:14,760 --> 00:30:17,320 Speaker 1: that about their sons, and so it can't just be 487 00:30:17,440 --> 00:30:20,520 Speaker 1: a weight that I carry, right. I need you to 488 00:30:20,600 --> 00:30:24,040 Speaker 1: care as much as I care, and so you will 489 00:30:24,120 --> 00:30:27,920 Speaker 1: never know what it's like to be a black mom. However, 490 00:30:28,880 --> 00:30:34,520 Speaker 1: as long as these kinds of injustices happen in our communities, 491 00:30:35,080 --> 00:30:38,400 Speaker 1: you don't get to just go and quietly eat brunch, right. 492 00:30:38,520 --> 00:30:42,360 Speaker 1: You don't get to just go to Disneyland or go 493 00:30:42,440 --> 00:30:46,480 Speaker 1: to the grove we like disrupting the grove, right, or 494 00:30:46,560 --> 00:30:50,000 Speaker 1: you know, have your meal quietly and say I'm not responsible, 495 00:30:50,120 --> 00:30:55,360 Speaker 1: because you are responsible. And you know, part of what 496 00:30:55,640 --> 00:31:01,080 Speaker 1: they're experiencing is a white privilege. That just comes from whiteness, 497 00:31:01,120 --> 00:31:03,760 Speaker 1: even if you didn't ask for it, right, and so 498 00:31:03,840 --> 00:31:08,160 Speaker 1: it becomes your responsibility. I think, who is that who 499 00:31:08,200 --> 00:31:14,920 Speaker 1: said that? Gillibrand right when she said it's white people, 500 00:31:14,960 --> 00:31:19,120 Speaker 1: and specifically she talked about white suburban moms. Right, So 501 00:31:19,640 --> 00:31:23,320 Speaker 1: it's not just black people's responsibility to handle racism, right, 502 00:31:23,920 --> 00:31:28,560 Speaker 1: it's your responsibility. You built this racist system, right and 503 00:31:28,600 --> 00:31:32,239 Speaker 1: if you didn't personally, so what you're still benefiting from it. 504 00:31:32,480 --> 00:31:36,040 Speaker 1: And I think that the benefit and this idea that 505 00:31:36,080 --> 00:31:39,520 Speaker 1: you can divest from what's personal and what isn't, especially 506 00:31:39,800 --> 00:31:45,160 Speaker 1: for white people, is dangerous and needs to be analyzed 507 00:31:45,840 --> 00:31:50,360 Speaker 1: because I loved what Gillibrand said. She just got frank 508 00:31:50,400 --> 00:31:52,480 Speaker 1: and she said, Look, I'm not saying your lives haven't 509 00:31:52,480 --> 00:31:54,240 Speaker 1: been hard. If you live in one of those rural 510 00:31:54,240 --> 00:31:58,960 Speaker 1: communities that has lost its hospital, whose jobs have shut down, 511 00:31:59,280 --> 00:32:02,280 Speaker 1: whether it's the steel plant or the coal mine or whatever, 512 00:32:02,320 --> 00:32:05,760 Speaker 1: those people are struggling, no question and need help. But 513 00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:08,480 Speaker 1: none of their struggle is because of the color of 514 00:32:08,520 --> 00:32:10,880 Speaker 1: their skin. It is not one of the things that 515 00:32:10,920 --> 00:32:12,720 Speaker 1: has made their life harder. It is not one of 516 00:32:12,720 --> 00:32:15,040 Speaker 1: the things that makes moms afraid to send their sons 517 00:32:15,080 --> 00:32:17,240 Speaker 1: to school. It is not one of the things that 518 00:32:17,280 --> 00:32:20,040 Speaker 1: means that a black boy buying a baby gun at 519 00:32:20,040 --> 00:32:22,880 Speaker 1: Walmart gets shot in the back by a police officer, 520 00:32:23,200 --> 00:32:25,640 Speaker 1: and a white boy with an assault rifle at Walmart 521 00:32:25,680 --> 00:32:29,400 Speaker 1: who murders twenty people gets taken peacefully. This is this 522 00:32:29,480 --> 00:32:33,239 Speaker 1: is crazy and and these are just facts. And I 523 00:32:33,280 --> 00:32:35,240 Speaker 1: think if we can start to look at the facts 524 00:32:35,360 --> 00:32:41,040 Speaker 1: and not have this like weird base reaction of like, 525 00:32:41,160 --> 00:32:42,600 Speaker 1: but I'm a good person, I have nothing to do 526 00:32:42,640 --> 00:32:45,080 Speaker 1: with that. It's like if you're if that's your response, 527 00:32:45,360 --> 00:32:49,200 Speaker 1: then there's something in you that you're worried about where 528 00:32:49,240 --> 00:32:53,520 Speaker 1: you have some sort of fear that you are quote 529 00:32:53,560 --> 00:32:57,120 Speaker 1: unquote worse than you claim to be or whatever. And 530 00:32:57,600 --> 00:33:01,640 Speaker 1: one of the things when we talk about the beneficiaries 531 00:33:01,680 --> 00:33:05,160 Speaker 1: of the system that I would love to unpack with 532 00:33:05,280 --> 00:33:10,280 Speaker 1: you is the generational inheritance of the system, because I 533 00:33:10,320 --> 00:33:14,880 Speaker 1: think and I blame the degradation of our education system 534 00:33:14,920 --> 00:33:17,000 Speaker 1: for a lot of this. You know, while we were 535 00:33:17,000 --> 00:33:19,480 Speaker 1: trying to make progress with civil rights and and and 536 00:33:19,520 --> 00:33:21,920 Speaker 1: the women's rights movement, and you know, Gloria and Dorothy 537 00:33:21,960 --> 00:33:24,280 Speaker 1: were like speaking and marching and doing all the things. 538 00:33:25,200 --> 00:33:28,040 Speaker 1: The GOP has been going after the education system for 539 00:33:28,080 --> 00:33:30,840 Speaker 1: a long time. They've taken civics out of schools, They've 540 00:33:30,880 --> 00:33:34,720 Speaker 1: let schools become religious and teach you know, sex said 541 00:33:34,720 --> 00:33:36,600 Speaker 1: that isn't based on fact. I mean things that are 542 00:33:36,680 --> 00:33:40,160 Speaker 1: dangerous to the public health of a population. And when 543 00:33:40,200 --> 00:33:43,479 Speaker 1: we lose our history, we make the same mistakes. And 544 00:33:43,560 --> 00:33:49,080 Speaker 1: so for me, diving into what is historical inheritance look 545 00:33:49,160 --> 00:33:51,960 Speaker 1: like what wealth was allowed to be created for white 546 00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:54,960 Speaker 1: people as landowners, as people who were able to get mortgages. 547 00:33:55,160 --> 00:33:58,840 Speaker 1: Where were mortgage lenders redlining, what communities couldn't be lent 548 00:33:58,920 --> 00:34:04,120 Speaker 1: to what after you know, the Great Migration and the populace, 549 00:34:04,600 --> 00:34:08,240 Speaker 1: the populations of black people moving further into the north. 550 00:34:08,239 --> 00:34:11,120 Speaker 1: Where white people ignorantly think, well, then they were just free, 551 00:34:11,160 --> 00:34:14,080 Speaker 1: It's like, no, they weren't. They were pushed into ghettos, 552 00:34:14,120 --> 00:34:17,880 Speaker 1: they were denied any sort of services, any sort of healthcare, 553 00:34:17,960 --> 00:34:23,880 Speaker 1: any sort of safety. Long after what we consider freedom 554 00:34:24,000 --> 00:34:28,160 Speaker 1: to mean. And when you look at the generational denial 555 00:34:28,400 --> 00:34:32,719 Speaker 1: of wealth versus the generational support of wealth creation, and 556 00:34:32,800 --> 00:34:36,440 Speaker 1: when you look at the generational inheritance of the energy 557 00:34:36,480 --> 00:34:41,320 Speaker 1: of the police system, which I've learned through conversation. Most 558 00:34:41,400 --> 00:34:44,840 Speaker 1: people who look like me don't know that the police 559 00:34:44,880 --> 00:34:50,600 Speaker 1: system literally comes from the system of slave catchers. People 560 00:34:50,680 --> 00:34:54,600 Speaker 1: don't know that slave catchers became police, and that and 561 00:34:54,719 --> 00:34:59,840 Speaker 1: that that horrific part of American history laid the path 562 00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:03,319 Speaker 1: earn for a modern system that people go, well, that's 563 00:35:03,320 --> 00:35:10,200 Speaker 1: not possible, but there's generational behavior in that system that 564 00:35:10,440 --> 00:35:13,240 Speaker 1: is proven. I don't care what side of the line 565 00:35:13,280 --> 00:35:17,239 Speaker 1: you fall on here, the data proves it's dangerous for 566 00:35:17,440 --> 00:35:20,480 Speaker 1: communities of color to have interactions with the police. Right. 567 00:35:20,880 --> 00:35:22,879 Speaker 1: In fact, the data says, if you want to keep 568 00:35:22,920 --> 00:35:27,759 Speaker 1: black people safe from police violence, the most important thing 569 00:35:27,840 --> 00:35:31,560 Speaker 1: you can do is to limit the interactions. It's the 570 00:35:31,680 --> 00:35:36,080 Speaker 1: number of interactions. It's not implicit bias training, it's not 571 00:35:36,719 --> 00:35:41,960 Speaker 1: uh community policing, it's not the diversity of the officers. 572 00:35:42,360 --> 00:35:46,520 Speaker 1: It's Black people just should not have interactions with the police, 573 00:35:46,520 --> 00:35:48,520 Speaker 1: and that's how we stay safe from them. And it's 574 00:35:48,560 --> 00:35:53,319 Speaker 1: interesting to me the diversity of officers doesn't affect the 575 00:35:53,320 --> 00:35:57,680 Speaker 1: outcomes for communities of color. Even officers of color are 576 00:35:57,800 --> 00:36:00,960 Speaker 1: dangerous to communities of color. What do we do with 577 00:36:01,000 --> 00:36:07,120 Speaker 1: all this? How do we unpack some of this generational reality? 578 00:36:07,160 --> 00:36:12,319 Speaker 1: To educate people on how to change the modern day system. Right. Well, 579 00:36:12,520 --> 00:36:15,440 Speaker 1: I think it's one really important that we have the 580 00:36:15,480 --> 00:36:21,840 Speaker 1: conversation about, you know, generational inheritance. Right. And I always 581 00:36:21,920 --> 00:36:24,880 Speaker 1: feel like so by training, I'm a political scientist, right, 582 00:36:24,920 --> 00:36:27,400 Speaker 1: So like these debates and all this stuff is like 583 00:36:27,680 --> 00:36:30,799 Speaker 1: great for me. I love tuning into this stuff, right, 584 00:36:31,280 --> 00:36:35,239 Speaker 1: But I'm having problems keeping up with twenty candidates, right. 585 00:36:36,080 --> 00:36:39,480 Speaker 1: And at first I was going to get these people 586 00:36:39,480 --> 00:36:42,960 Speaker 1: off the stage. Who are these people? Right? But this 587 00:36:43,040 --> 00:36:47,000 Speaker 1: is the first time ever that I've had candidates who 588 00:36:47,000 --> 00:36:51,160 Speaker 1: really inspired me, Right, I've had I've heard candidates who 589 00:36:51,200 --> 00:36:54,960 Speaker 1: are talking about things that are really important, right, not 590 00:36:55,080 --> 00:36:58,359 Speaker 1: just the nuances of a health care system, which I 591 00:36:58,400 --> 00:37:01,799 Speaker 1: believe in Medicare for all, Right, but I don't want 592 00:37:01,800 --> 00:37:04,360 Speaker 1: to spend it all the time talking about how that's 593 00:37:04,360 --> 00:37:07,759 Speaker 1: gonna work. Right. They're also I think it's important that 594 00:37:08,120 --> 00:37:11,920 Speaker 1: Marianne Williamson is on that stage and that she was 595 00:37:12,600 --> 00:37:16,160 Speaker 1: courageous enough to bring up what reparations look like. And 596 00:37:16,280 --> 00:37:20,160 Speaker 1: she referred to it as a debt that is owed 597 00:37:20,440 --> 00:37:23,640 Speaker 1: to black people, a debt that is old. And she's 598 00:37:23,719 --> 00:37:26,960 Speaker 1: not the first person who said this. My dissertation was 599 00:37:27,040 --> 00:37:30,640 Speaker 1: almost on reparations. But if we think about organizations like 600 00:37:30,960 --> 00:37:34,239 Speaker 1: and Cobra and people like Randall Robinson, and I know 601 00:37:34,719 --> 00:37:37,400 Speaker 1: more recently people are looking at Tony he see coats 602 00:37:37,440 --> 00:37:40,239 Speaker 1: his work. You know, they've been saying that. In fact, 603 00:37:40,360 --> 00:37:43,839 Speaker 1: Randall Robinson's book is called The Debt, Right. I think 604 00:37:43,880 --> 00:37:46,520 Speaker 1: it's really important that we have this conversation and if 605 00:37:46,560 --> 00:37:49,800 Speaker 1: we think about it's not just individuals. So this is 606 00:37:49,840 --> 00:37:52,200 Speaker 1: where a lot of white folks get nervous, right, because 607 00:37:52,239 --> 00:37:54,560 Speaker 1: they think you're gonna come take my stuff. And I 608 00:37:54,560 --> 00:37:56,480 Speaker 1: don't know if you cuss on here, but I want to. 609 00:37:58,200 --> 00:38:01,000 Speaker 1: So they think you go they say they're gonna come 610 00:38:01,040 --> 00:38:06,160 Speaker 1: take our ship, right, right, That's not what it's about, right, 611 00:38:06,200 --> 00:38:09,160 Speaker 1: It's not just about you as an individual, although you 612 00:38:09,200 --> 00:38:12,359 Speaker 1: do owe a debt, right individually, right, you owe a debt. 613 00:38:12,480 --> 00:38:15,120 Speaker 1: And so we always say in terms of the Black 614 00:38:15,200 --> 00:38:18,600 Speaker 1: freedom movement, everybody needs to be involved and they need 615 00:38:18,640 --> 00:38:21,800 Speaker 1: to be giving their voice, their body and their resources. 616 00:38:21,880 --> 00:38:25,560 Speaker 1: You do owe some resource, right, and so there is 617 00:38:25,600 --> 00:38:29,680 Speaker 1: an individual responsibility. But the bigger responsibility is that there 618 00:38:29,680 --> 00:38:33,520 Speaker 1: are entire industries that are built on the backs of 619 00:38:33,520 --> 00:38:37,359 Speaker 1: my ancestors. If we think about the insurance industry, right, 620 00:38:37,440 --> 00:38:40,360 Speaker 1: think about why do you think companies are called state 621 00:38:40,440 --> 00:38:45,000 Speaker 1: farm and farmers? Right? What is that they were ensuring 622 00:38:46,040 --> 00:38:52,000 Speaker 1: slave owners for the runaways or deaths of their property 623 00:38:52,160 --> 00:38:56,040 Speaker 1: their chattel. Right, And so State Farm I don't know 624 00:38:56,080 --> 00:38:59,640 Speaker 1: what it's worth, but it's a multibillion dollar company. They 625 00:38:59,640 --> 00:39:04,200 Speaker 1: owe us, right, This country owes us. This country is 626 00:39:04,239 --> 00:39:08,680 Speaker 1: built on stolen land of Indigenous people and stolen labor 627 00:39:08,719 --> 00:39:12,319 Speaker 1: of black people. They owe us. So when Marian Williamson says, 628 00:39:12,800 --> 00:39:15,800 Speaker 1: you know at least two hundred to five hundred billion 629 00:39:15,840 --> 00:39:18,680 Speaker 1: dollars and the debt is really in the trillions, right, 630 00:39:19,800 --> 00:39:23,240 Speaker 1: that's a conversation that we need to have um And 631 00:39:23,640 --> 00:39:26,319 Speaker 1: more than a conversation, it's something that we need to 632 00:39:26,400 --> 00:39:30,040 Speaker 1: be pushing for because it is, like she said, and 633 00:39:30,080 --> 00:39:34,359 Speaker 1: like Randall Robinson said before her, a debt that's owed well. 634 00:39:34,440 --> 00:39:36,920 Speaker 1: And and when you start to look at it as 635 00:39:36,920 --> 00:39:41,560 Speaker 1: a denial of equitable resource, it would be the same 636 00:39:41,600 --> 00:39:49,040 Speaker 1: as if today I got a job, same job, qualifications 637 00:39:49,120 --> 00:39:52,279 Speaker 1: and amount of work as as this guy over here. 638 00:39:52,840 --> 00:39:55,400 Speaker 1: So it's me and it's the guy. And over the 639 00:39:55,440 --> 00:39:59,960 Speaker 1: next twenty years, I'm held back I'm denied raises, I'm 640 00:40:00,120 --> 00:40:03,880 Speaker 1: denied promotions, I'm denied the same health benefits, and this 641 00:40:03,920 --> 00:40:09,960 Speaker 1: guy gets every single benefit, promotion, bigger package, bonus. And 642 00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:13,399 Speaker 1: we've done we've done this work. Yet I'm here and 643 00:40:13,480 --> 00:40:16,120 Speaker 1: he's advanced to here, and he's created wealth for his 644 00:40:16,239 --> 00:40:21,040 Speaker 1: family and I've been unable to create any. And it's 645 00:40:21,080 --> 00:40:27,160 Speaker 1: that same spread in a much more horrifically traumatic way, 646 00:40:27,680 --> 00:40:35,040 Speaker 1: and for generations, for right that for these communities, and 647 00:40:35,440 --> 00:40:37,200 Speaker 1: that is something that I think a lot of people 648 00:40:37,239 --> 00:40:39,280 Speaker 1: have a hard time wrapping their heads around. And people 649 00:40:39,480 --> 00:40:41,560 Speaker 1: I hear because you know, I read the good and 650 00:40:41,640 --> 00:40:43,880 Speaker 1: the bad online because I need to understand where everyone's 651 00:40:43,880 --> 00:40:46,560 Speaker 1: coming from as a bit of an amateur social scientist. 652 00:40:47,440 --> 00:40:50,359 Speaker 1: And people who don't get the reparations conversation say well, 653 00:40:50,360 --> 00:40:52,319 Speaker 1: we we have nothing to do with what happened two 654 00:40:52,360 --> 00:40:54,880 Speaker 1: hundred years ago, and it's like, but you're missing the 655 00:40:54,920 --> 00:40:57,880 Speaker 1: point that that there have been these bell curves that 656 00:40:57,920 --> 00:41:01,640 Speaker 1: have come out of what happened, and we all ignorantly 657 00:41:01,800 --> 00:41:08,080 Speaker 1: or consciously supported them and supported the ramifications, and we've 658 00:41:08,120 --> 00:41:10,720 Speaker 1: got to do something about it. We've got to even 659 00:41:10,840 --> 00:41:16,120 Speaker 1: out the system in some way to give people a 660 00:41:16,160 --> 00:41:20,239 Speaker 1: fair shake and a fighting chance. And you know when 661 00:41:20,280 --> 00:41:22,879 Speaker 1: Marianne says two to five billion, and I'm like, well, 662 00:41:22,880 --> 00:41:25,040 Speaker 1: we just gave a six hundred billion dollar surplus to 663 00:41:25,080 --> 00:41:29,400 Speaker 1: the military, so we have the money. You're just telling 664 00:41:29,400 --> 00:41:31,239 Speaker 1: me we don't have it for people, or we don't 665 00:41:31,239 --> 00:41:33,480 Speaker 1: have it for healthcare, or we don't have for schools, 666 00:41:33,680 --> 00:41:35,799 Speaker 1: we don't have it for communities and color, we don't 667 00:41:35,840 --> 00:41:39,319 Speaker 1: have it. You we have it. It's it's about what 668 00:41:39,360 --> 00:41:44,640 Speaker 1: we're investing in, and why aren't we investing in each other? Right? Well, 669 00:41:44,680 --> 00:41:48,279 Speaker 1: I think also that was a great explanation, especially as 670 00:41:48,360 --> 00:41:54,319 Speaker 1: related to how de facto slavery continued after eighteen sixty five. Right, 671 00:41:54,880 --> 00:41:58,480 Speaker 1: But if we think about from sixteen nineteen to eighteen 672 00:41:58,560 --> 00:42:02,680 Speaker 1: sixty five, or what's happened, name was the wholesale theft 673 00:42:03,120 --> 00:42:07,040 Speaker 1: of black labor, right and black people right and emmons 674 00:42:07,200 --> 00:42:13,120 Speaker 1: and human beings right. And what that means economically is 675 00:42:13,239 --> 00:42:18,279 Speaker 1: it's like you took generations of wealth. It's like if 676 00:42:18,280 --> 00:42:20,720 Speaker 1: you're a great let's say it was your great great 677 00:42:20,719 --> 00:42:25,760 Speaker 1: great great grandparents, right, they took my great great great 678 00:42:25,800 --> 00:42:30,319 Speaker 1: great grandparents stuff. They came in and robbed their house, right, 679 00:42:30,600 --> 00:42:34,240 Speaker 1: And they took everything that they had and then they died, 680 00:42:34,680 --> 00:42:37,040 Speaker 1: but they passed on everything that they had to your 681 00:42:37,040 --> 00:42:41,279 Speaker 1: great great great grandparents, and then they built the up 682 00:42:41,320 --> 00:42:44,480 Speaker 1: even more stole from my great great great grandparents, and 683 00:42:44,520 --> 00:42:47,640 Speaker 1: then they passed that on to your great great grandparents. 684 00:42:48,680 --> 00:42:52,000 Speaker 1: And then eventually you inherit it. And you say I 685 00:42:52,080 --> 00:42:54,359 Speaker 1: had nothing to do with it, No, but you still 686 00:42:54,480 --> 00:42:58,319 Speaker 1: got my stuff, right, And how it plays out now, 687 00:42:59,520 --> 00:43:02,439 Speaker 1: and this is how we can get to the gentrification piece, right, 688 00:43:02,840 --> 00:43:06,920 Speaker 1: And so I have I I live in the Crenshaw District, 689 00:43:06,960 --> 00:43:09,560 Speaker 1: which at the time I moved into, my neighborhood was 690 00:43:10,160 --> 00:43:14,759 Speaker 1: about eighty to eight five percent black. My neighborhood is 691 00:43:14,800 --> 00:43:21,840 Speaker 1: now about sixty black. And so there's these white folks 692 00:43:21,920 --> 00:43:24,520 Speaker 1: moving in and our home prices. Now, I'm telling way 693 00:43:24,520 --> 00:43:26,520 Speaker 1: too much of my business. But when I bought it, 694 00:43:26,520 --> 00:43:28,960 Speaker 1: I was married at the time, two of us with 695 00:43:29,120 --> 00:43:33,600 Speaker 1: college degrees and fairly good jobs. Where a spent every 696 00:43:33,640 --> 00:43:36,319 Speaker 1: penny we had to buy the house that was at 697 00:43:36,320 --> 00:43:39,919 Speaker 1: the time three hundred thousand dollars, right, and that's all 698 00:43:40,040 --> 00:43:42,720 Speaker 1: we got, right. We can't spend more than three hundred 699 00:43:42,719 --> 00:43:46,600 Speaker 1: thousand dollars. But we're relatively middle class black people who 700 00:43:46,640 --> 00:43:49,320 Speaker 1: did that and bought this house for three hundred thousand dollars. 701 00:43:49,760 --> 00:43:52,239 Speaker 1: The houses in my neighborhood are now going for a 702 00:43:52,280 --> 00:43:57,239 Speaker 1: million and a half. Wow. And I'm going, there's no 703 00:43:57,280 --> 00:44:00,279 Speaker 1: way even if I were still married, I wouldn't not 704 00:44:00,480 --> 00:44:04,440 Speaker 1: be able to buy this house. Right. But the white 705 00:44:04,480 --> 00:44:07,200 Speaker 1: people who are moving in, and everybody who's moving in 706 00:44:07,280 --> 00:44:11,840 Speaker 1: is white, they're not rich white people. So like, we 707 00:44:11,960 --> 00:44:14,920 Speaker 1: got a social worker and a teacher who just moved 708 00:44:14,960 --> 00:44:19,560 Speaker 1: in down the street, Right, how did you get that house? Right? 709 00:44:19,600 --> 00:44:22,640 Speaker 1: And I don't ask him that way, right, But as 710 00:44:22,760 --> 00:44:29,080 Speaker 1: our children play together, there's conversations about the father gets uh, 711 00:44:29,800 --> 00:44:33,600 Speaker 1: he gets an actual allowance. He's in his forties, he 712 00:44:33,640 --> 00:44:37,480 Speaker 1: gets allowance from his father. A bunch of these folks 713 00:44:37,719 --> 00:44:42,799 Speaker 1: are getting these, you know, help with the down payment, right, Um, 714 00:44:42,840 --> 00:44:47,160 Speaker 1: a thousand dollars a month from some relatives. Somebody died 715 00:44:47,239 --> 00:44:51,480 Speaker 1: and left them something. My family doesn't have that. And 716 00:44:51,520 --> 00:44:55,320 Speaker 1: so this is how we see kind of this wealth 717 00:44:55,640 --> 00:44:58,800 Speaker 1: disparity kind of play out, the theft of black wealth 718 00:44:59,120 --> 00:45:01,759 Speaker 1: play out in term is of gentrification. And I think 719 00:45:01,800 --> 00:45:06,160 Speaker 1: so many people when they think about wealth or inherited wealth, 720 00:45:06,719 --> 00:45:08,759 Speaker 1: assume that you have to be a Rockefeller to be 721 00:45:08,800 --> 00:45:12,000 Speaker 1: inheriting wealth. And it's like, that isn't what the conversation is. 722 00:45:12,040 --> 00:45:16,719 Speaker 1: What you're talking about when a family can offer down 723 00:45:16,760 --> 00:45:19,240 Speaker 1: payment support to their kids who are in their thirties 724 00:45:19,320 --> 00:45:24,440 Speaker 1: or forties that is afforded by this generational experience that 725 00:45:24,560 --> 00:45:28,080 Speaker 1: was offered to one community and stolen from another. Absolutely, 726 00:45:28,440 --> 00:45:31,320 Speaker 1: and we're not saying that you shouldn't take down payment 727 00:45:31,360 --> 00:45:35,839 Speaker 1: help from your but it's it should have been. Its 728 00:45:36,160 --> 00:45:43,360 Speaker 1: fairness is that we all have what our families earned. Yes, 729 00:45:43,440 --> 00:45:47,400 Speaker 1: And I think it's really important to depersonalize the reality 730 00:45:47,440 --> 00:45:51,000 Speaker 1: of it in a way because I don't get offended. 731 00:45:51,080 --> 00:45:53,480 Speaker 1: I don't feel attacked that two plus two equals for 732 00:45:54,000 --> 00:45:58,360 Speaker 1: I'm not like well said to who you know? And 733 00:45:58,360 --> 00:46:01,759 Speaker 1: and so many people who looked like me in this 734 00:46:01,800 --> 00:46:04,400 Speaker 1: conversation or like well that, but that just this is 735 00:46:04,600 --> 00:46:07,760 Speaker 1: they get so upset, and it's like, don't be upset. 736 00:46:08,280 --> 00:46:11,399 Speaker 1: Learn we have to learn our history, the good, the bad, 737 00:46:11,480 --> 00:46:14,360 Speaker 1: and the ugly, and we have to figure out how 738 00:46:14,680 --> 00:46:17,080 Speaker 1: to build a better system, because by the way, the 739 00:46:17,120 --> 00:46:19,880 Speaker 1: system that is better for you, it is also going 740 00:46:19,920 --> 00:46:23,320 Speaker 1: to be better for me. White supremacy doesn't have anything 741 00:46:23,480 --> 00:46:28,760 Speaker 1: for me either. It has nothing for me. I watched 742 00:46:28,840 --> 00:46:32,320 Speaker 1: six of white women in America vote for Donald Trump, 743 00:46:32,760 --> 00:46:35,360 Speaker 1: and I was like, you just voted for the husband 744 00:46:35,360 --> 00:46:38,200 Speaker 1: you hate, for the guy who raped you in college, 745 00:46:38,480 --> 00:46:41,160 Speaker 1: for the guy who assaulted you in the workplace, for 746 00:46:41,200 --> 00:46:43,319 Speaker 1: that piece of ship that you go to work with 747 00:46:43,360 --> 00:46:45,879 Speaker 1: every day who says disgusting ship to you about your ask. 748 00:46:46,200 --> 00:46:50,520 Speaker 1: You just voted for a man who you hate because 749 00:46:50,560 --> 00:46:57,600 Speaker 1: he feels familiar to you. For what to uphold the 750 00:46:58,200 --> 00:47:02,040 Speaker 1: reality of your ad or some other guy in your 751 00:47:02,080 --> 00:47:04,759 Speaker 1: life who told you he'd take care of you, or 752 00:47:04,800 --> 00:47:07,880 Speaker 1: that you deserved something, or I don't understand, Like you 753 00:47:08,040 --> 00:47:12,160 Speaker 1: voted so deeply against your own interests. And look, I 754 00:47:12,200 --> 00:47:14,000 Speaker 1: know that there was help. I know that there was 755 00:47:14,800 --> 00:47:18,200 Speaker 1: bought farms running and Russian interference and stoking of division. 756 00:47:18,280 --> 00:47:20,680 Speaker 1: And you know now we have the data that proves 757 00:47:20,719 --> 00:47:24,839 Speaker 1: that that the the people stoking that division online, we're 758 00:47:24,840 --> 00:47:27,560 Speaker 1: doing so from the extremes of both sides. They were 759 00:47:27,600 --> 00:47:30,640 Speaker 1: playing super conservative and super liberal, just trying to pull 760 00:47:30,719 --> 00:47:35,760 Speaker 1: us all apart. So when I come from my highest self, 761 00:47:35,800 --> 00:47:38,000 Speaker 1: I'm like, I really feel for people and I want 762 00:47:38,040 --> 00:47:41,200 Speaker 1: them to do better and when I'm like in the trenches, 763 00:47:41,239 --> 00:47:43,839 Speaker 1: I'm just like, what the funk were you thinking? You know? 764 00:47:44,040 --> 00:47:48,000 Speaker 1: And and and I really think it's important for us, 765 00:47:48,520 --> 00:47:54,120 Speaker 1: for white people, for white women especially to not feel 766 00:47:54,120 --> 00:47:57,759 Speaker 1: attacked when asked to look in the mirror, but to go, oh, 767 00:47:57,800 --> 00:48:01,879 Speaker 1: that's really interesting. I can see this thing. I can 768 00:48:01,920 --> 00:48:04,960 Speaker 1: see regardless of how complicated my life is, what I've 769 00:48:05,000 --> 00:48:07,360 Speaker 1: been through, the trauma, I carry, the assault, I survived 770 00:48:07,400 --> 00:48:10,439 Speaker 1: that whatever, because everybody's had it hard and to say, 771 00:48:10,600 --> 00:48:14,279 Speaker 1: and there's still all this stuff that exists in society 772 00:48:14,320 --> 00:48:18,080 Speaker 1: that has my back in a way that other people 773 00:48:18,120 --> 00:48:22,120 Speaker 1: aren't held. But what quote unquote has my back actually 774 00:48:22,160 --> 00:48:25,759 Speaker 1: is still aiming to destroy me. Yeah, And if we 775 00:48:25,840 --> 00:48:28,400 Speaker 1: go back to like the system of chattel slavery, the 776 00:48:28,520 --> 00:48:32,800 Speaker 1: challenge I think that's being issued is don't be the mistress. 777 00:48:33,440 --> 00:48:36,239 Speaker 1: Don't be the mistress of the house. Right. So, like 778 00:48:36,320 --> 00:48:39,880 Speaker 1: a lot of white women wanna again, it's it's this 779 00:48:40,040 --> 00:48:46,000 Speaker 1: proximity to power, right, say, I'm better off being my 780 00:48:46,120 --> 00:48:49,879 Speaker 1: husband's wife, right, And so I'm not going to dismantle 781 00:48:50,000 --> 00:48:56,160 Speaker 1: systems of oppression. But you're also being oppressed, right, And 782 00:48:56,239 --> 00:49:00,560 Speaker 1: so in order to ever be free, know, maybe you 783 00:49:00,600 --> 00:49:02,680 Speaker 1: get to wear the fancy dress and you don't have 784 00:49:02,760 --> 00:49:06,480 Speaker 1: to be the one to pick the cut, right, But 785 00:49:06,560 --> 00:49:10,120 Speaker 1: you're not free, and you're not free until you get 786 00:49:10,200 --> 00:49:14,440 Speaker 1: up from the pedestal and say I'm disrupting, I'm turning 787 00:49:14,480 --> 00:49:17,520 Speaker 1: over this whole ship. And so that's what we want 788 00:49:17,960 --> 00:49:21,320 Speaker 1: white women to do. I also think that point about 789 00:49:22,040 --> 00:49:26,640 Speaker 1: white supremacy having nothing for you, I think that's right. Like, 790 00:49:27,600 --> 00:49:30,760 Speaker 1: so what freedom looks like and I'm not a white woman, 791 00:49:30,800 --> 00:49:34,719 Speaker 1: so I can't really say from but what I imagine 792 00:49:34,840 --> 00:49:41,120 Speaker 1: freedom looks like for white women now is not having 793 00:49:41,280 --> 00:49:44,400 Speaker 1: to I think part of that kind of white people 794 00:49:44,440 --> 00:49:47,080 Speaker 1: and white women working themselves up into kind of this 795 00:49:48,280 --> 00:49:55,920 Speaker 1: guilt laden protective space right where they're saying, well it 796 00:49:56,040 --> 00:50:02,879 Speaker 1: wasn't me, right, is about not being able to imagine more. Right. 797 00:50:02,920 --> 00:50:09,320 Speaker 1: So Tony Morrison passed this morning, right, and my favorite 798 00:50:09,360 --> 00:50:15,560 Speaker 1: thing that she said is dream before you think, dream 799 00:50:15,640 --> 00:50:22,240 Speaker 1: before you think. And I think that as we freedom 800 00:50:22,320 --> 00:50:25,640 Speaker 1: has to be in imagining, it has to be a dream, right, 801 00:50:26,239 --> 00:50:29,839 Speaker 1: And we have to think about our dream about right, 802 00:50:30,239 --> 00:50:34,080 Speaker 1: what it would feel like to walk down the street 803 00:50:35,120 --> 00:50:39,640 Speaker 1: and not have people like me, women like me looking 804 00:50:39,680 --> 00:50:44,319 Speaker 1: at you and I'm gonna be straight up like the 805 00:50:44,320 --> 00:50:46,640 Speaker 1: white women who are pushing the strollers and walking their 806 00:50:46,680 --> 00:50:50,799 Speaker 1: dogs in my neighborhood, I can't stand um. Now, personally, 807 00:50:50,840 --> 00:50:52,759 Speaker 1: I might like them, but when I see them and 808 00:50:52,800 --> 00:50:58,600 Speaker 1: I don't know them, I'm angry because with that comes 809 00:50:58,640 --> 00:51:02,400 Speaker 1: phone calls on my kids. With that comes police protection. 810 00:51:02,680 --> 00:51:05,719 Speaker 1: With that comes even you bringing your dog. And I 811 00:51:05,800 --> 00:51:09,360 Speaker 1: like dogs, but I don't want your dog all of 812 00:51:09,480 --> 00:51:12,960 Speaker 1: all my kids because your dog is not a person. Right, 813 00:51:13,000 --> 00:51:16,279 Speaker 1: your dog doesn't get to take up more space on 814 00:51:16,320 --> 00:51:19,680 Speaker 1: the sidewalk than my children. And you were assuring me, 815 00:51:19,800 --> 00:51:23,840 Speaker 1: trying to assure me, oh, he's a he's a good dog, right, 816 00:51:24,200 --> 00:51:26,360 Speaker 1: you don't get to do that. And so I'm saying 817 00:51:26,360 --> 00:51:31,480 Speaker 1: all that to say I can yes that freedom for 818 00:51:31,560 --> 00:51:36,960 Speaker 1: white women means being able to walk through whatever neighborhood 819 00:51:37,000 --> 00:51:39,279 Speaker 1: you moved to with your dog and your stroller, because 820 00:51:39,280 --> 00:51:42,640 Speaker 1: there's another nothing fundamentally wrong with a dog and a 821 00:51:42,680 --> 00:51:46,880 Speaker 1: stroller without me feeling like I wish you weren't invading 822 00:51:46,880 --> 00:51:50,880 Speaker 1: my space. I wish you weren't here right, not in 823 00:51:50,920 --> 00:51:55,120 Speaker 1: the same way. Kelly light Over Nandez, I hope you've 824 00:51:55,120 --> 00:51:58,120 Speaker 1: read her book, but she she has what it called 825 00:51:58,239 --> 00:52:01,520 Speaker 1: her book called for People Listening City of Inmates, But 826 00:52:01,640 --> 00:52:04,120 Speaker 1: a lot of her work looks at the history of 827 00:52:04,120 --> 00:52:08,880 Speaker 1: settler colonialism in this country, and in City of Inmates 828 00:52:08,960 --> 00:52:11,959 Speaker 1: she talks about and I feel like, especially with these 829 00:52:12,000 --> 00:52:15,760 Speaker 1: mass shootings, right, that's the book everyone needs to read 830 00:52:16,400 --> 00:52:22,839 Speaker 1: because she talks about the strategy of elimination, right, white supremacist, 831 00:52:22,920 --> 00:52:29,279 Speaker 1: patriarchal strategy of elimination, colonial strategy of elimination. And so 832 00:52:29,360 --> 00:52:33,600 Speaker 1: when I say, you know, I wish these white dog 833 00:52:33,640 --> 00:52:36,600 Speaker 1: walkers weren't in my neighborhood, right, except the ones that 834 00:52:36,640 --> 00:52:40,719 Speaker 1: are now my friends. Right. But again, if I can 835 00:52:40,760 --> 00:52:44,000 Speaker 1: just say, that's the difference between a system and an individual. 836 00:52:44,719 --> 00:52:50,160 Speaker 1: The system you are witnessing an encroachment in what felt 837 00:52:50,200 --> 00:52:53,520 Speaker 1: like a safe space, and that feels like a signification 838 00:52:53,600 --> 00:52:56,920 Speaker 1: that oppression is coming for you in your safe space. 839 00:52:57,239 --> 00:52:59,279 Speaker 1: And every one of those women who you know, you're like, oh, 840 00:52:59,280 --> 00:53:02,560 Speaker 1: she's cool, and that's the difference, Like you and I, 841 00:53:03,840 --> 00:53:10,120 Speaker 1: but I don't know, and I don't not feel like 842 00:53:10,239 --> 00:53:14,759 Speaker 1: we're cool or we're friends. When I talk about whiteness, 843 00:53:15,080 --> 00:53:17,000 Speaker 1: we have to be able to separate the two. And 844 00:53:17,200 --> 00:53:19,560 Speaker 1: you have to and thank you for being vulnerable enough 845 00:53:20,200 --> 00:53:22,839 Speaker 1: right now to say, because a lot of people wouldn't say, like, yeah, 846 00:53:22,880 --> 00:53:26,200 Speaker 1: this thing that's happening in my neighborhood bugs me. But 847 00:53:26,719 --> 00:53:28,719 Speaker 1: I think it's so important to be able to say, 848 00:53:28,760 --> 00:53:31,440 Speaker 1: this is the thing that is triggering and and this 849 00:53:31,520 --> 00:53:33,680 Speaker 1: is what it leads to, and let's talk about what 850 00:53:33,680 --> 00:53:36,439 Speaker 1: what colonization has always looked like. And also I really 851 00:53:36,480 --> 00:53:39,719 Speaker 1: like my neighbors. Both things can be true at the 852 00:53:39,760 --> 00:53:42,160 Speaker 1: same time. And I think people who are afraid of 853 00:53:42,200 --> 00:53:45,719 Speaker 1: having these conversations, I think it's because they're gonna have 854 00:53:45,760 --> 00:53:47,640 Speaker 1: to pick a side, or it's going to turn into 855 00:53:47,640 --> 00:53:50,680 Speaker 1: a war, or they're gonna feel attacked or like you said, 856 00:53:50,680 --> 00:53:52,680 Speaker 1: like you're coming for my ship or like you're coming 857 00:53:52,719 --> 00:53:58,520 Speaker 1: for me. That isn't it. We have to almost academically 858 00:53:59,320 --> 00:54:03,000 Speaker 1: be willing to look at the we have to look 859 00:54:03,040 --> 00:54:05,000 Speaker 1: at the social experiment. We have to look at the 860 00:54:05,040 --> 00:54:07,799 Speaker 1: system and figure out how to make it better. So 861 00:54:07,920 --> 00:54:10,640 Speaker 1: that I really appreciate you sharing that thank you, thank you, 862 00:54:11,000 --> 00:54:15,239 Speaker 1: yeah yeah, and so yeah, that that sums it up, 863 00:54:15,480 --> 00:54:18,200 Speaker 1: that that feeling sums it up. And if I can 864 00:54:18,200 --> 00:54:21,600 Speaker 1: offer something because as I'm hearing you tell that story, 865 00:54:21,680 --> 00:54:26,279 Speaker 1: I'm going, oh right. What's interesting is I've never been 866 00:54:26,320 --> 00:54:28,839 Speaker 1: in any neighborhood I've ever lived in, whether it's like 867 00:54:29,000 --> 00:54:33,600 Speaker 1: all over Los Angeles, whether it was living down at 868 00:54:33,680 --> 00:54:37,719 Speaker 1: USC and being down in, you know, off of Crenshaw, 869 00:54:38,120 --> 00:54:40,960 Speaker 1: whether it was living in the South I lived all, 870 00:54:41,000 --> 00:54:44,439 Speaker 1: I lived in North Carolina, I lived in Chicago. I've 871 00:54:44,480 --> 00:54:49,200 Speaker 1: never been in a place where I felt like somebody 872 00:54:49,239 --> 00:54:53,920 Speaker 1: on the sidewalk wasn't safe. So I've always felt safe. 873 00:54:53,920 --> 00:54:55,799 Speaker 1: So I've always been the one out walking the dog, 874 00:54:55,880 --> 00:54:59,800 Speaker 1: like what's up, neighbor like because it's the neighborhood. But 875 00:55:00,239 --> 00:55:04,680 Speaker 1: that is where my privilege comes in, where someone on 876 00:55:04,719 --> 00:55:07,840 Speaker 1: the sidewalk has never posed a threat to me. Someone 877 00:55:07,880 --> 00:55:09,799 Speaker 1: on the sidewalk has never been a person who's going 878 00:55:09,840 --> 00:55:12,920 Speaker 1: to call the police on my for this, for the 879 00:55:12,920 --> 00:55:16,359 Speaker 1: sake of this argument, my hypothetical children like and so 880 00:55:17,760 --> 00:55:19,760 Speaker 1: that's not a thing I've ever had to think about. 881 00:55:20,400 --> 00:55:25,279 Speaker 1: But what I will say is, since since these conversations 882 00:55:25,280 --> 00:55:27,360 Speaker 1: have come to the forefront, since I have tried to 883 00:55:27,400 --> 00:55:29,480 Speaker 1: sit at the feet of women like you in my 884 00:55:29,520 --> 00:55:34,600 Speaker 1: community and learn how to be a better community member. 885 00:55:35,920 --> 00:55:39,560 Speaker 1: I'm very conscientious when I'm out on a walk. When 886 00:55:39,560 --> 00:55:43,360 Speaker 1: I'm out anywhere, I am so conscious of what my 887 00:55:43,480 --> 00:55:46,920 Speaker 1: interactions look like with people of color in my community. 888 00:55:47,360 --> 00:55:50,120 Speaker 1: I I I no longer have the privilege of being 889 00:55:50,200 --> 00:55:53,280 Speaker 1: the aloof person who's like on my phone and doesn't 890 00:55:53,280 --> 00:55:57,239 Speaker 1: make eye contact with people. And because I now know 891 00:55:57,520 --> 00:56:00,759 Speaker 1: from conversations like this. A friend of mine lives in 892 00:56:00,840 --> 00:56:03,719 Speaker 1: Venice and has lived there for ten years, and we 893 00:56:03,719 --> 00:56:06,480 Speaker 1: were talking about the way Venice is really gentrified, and 894 00:56:06,560 --> 00:56:09,600 Speaker 1: she said, you know the difference in our experience is 895 00:56:09,600 --> 00:56:11,560 Speaker 1: that you could walk down Abbot Kenney to go to 896 00:56:11,640 --> 00:56:14,200 Speaker 1: Jolina take Out and get a coffee in the morning, 897 00:56:14,480 --> 00:56:17,440 Speaker 1: and if nobody looked at you, nobody would look at you, 898 00:56:17,480 --> 00:56:19,560 Speaker 1: and you'd be like, everybody's tired. She's like, but if 899 00:56:19,640 --> 00:56:21,440 Speaker 1: I walk down Abbot Kenney to go to g t 900 00:56:21,560 --> 00:56:24,000 Speaker 1: A to get a coffee and none of the twelve 901 00:56:24,040 --> 00:56:27,480 Speaker 1: people I passed makes eye contact with me, I think, 902 00:56:27,920 --> 00:56:30,000 Speaker 1: is this because I'm tired? Or is this because I'm 903 00:56:30,000 --> 00:56:32,880 Speaker 1: a black woman. And when she said that to me, 904 00:56:32,920 --> 00:56:37,160 Speaker 1: I was like, Holy sh it. There are there are 905 00:56:37,280 --> 00:56:42,759 Speaker 1: just circumstances that there are hoops you jump through in 906 00:56:42,840 --> 00:56:46,360 Speaker 1: your body that I never will understand. So it is 907 00:56:46,440 --> 00:56:51,359 Speaker 1: my duty to learn and to make sure that I'm 908 00:56:51,560 --> 00:56:56,000 Speaker 1: very conscientious of who's around me and how I am 909 00:56:56,320 --> 00:57:04,080 Speaker 1: either ignorantly isolating or consciously welcoming. M I keep playing 910 00:57:04,080 --> 00:57:06,560 Speaker 1: with the idea. So one of my one of my 911 00:57:06,600 --> 00:57:11,680 Speaker 1: best friends is white. One of my best friends, Molly Um. 912 00:57:11,680 --> 00:57:15,239 Speaker 1: We always play around about, you know, how to address things. 913 00:57:15,320 --> 00:57:17,680 Speaker 1: And the reason we're so tight is because I can 914 00:57:17,720 --> 00:57:21,240 Speaker 1: just talk about, you know, ship, right, And I said, 915 00:57:21,280 --> 00:57:24,680 Speaker 1: you know what we should, right, I should write or 916 00:57:24,920 --> 00:57:29,240 Speaker 1: I should write something about like how to how to 917 00:57:29,360 --> 00:57:33,120 Speaker 1: not be a gentrifier? Right, like just basic ship. Like 918 00:57:34,280 --> 00:57:36,040 Speaker 1: when I was walking with my kids the other day 919 00:57:36,040 --> 00:57:38,560 Speaker 1: in the neighborhood, there was this white guy. This time 920 00:57:38,560 --> 00:57:41,320 Speaker 1: it was a white guy with a dog, and he 921 00:57:41,360 --> 00:57:43,640 Speaker 1: looked me in the eye and said, hey, how are 922 00:57:43,680 --> 00:57:47,640 Speaker 1: you doing? And me and my kids all went, you know, 923 00:57:47,800 --> 00:57:50,640 Speaker 1: like it was I'm sure he heard us gasp. And 924 00:57:50,680 --> 00:57:53,320 Speaker 1: I'm like, that's how to be a white neighbor not 925 00:57:53,400 --> 00:57:57,440 Speaker 1: a gentrifier, right. I didn't know him, but he saw us. 926 00:57:57,480 --> 00:58:02,480 Speaker 1: He also pulled his dog off of the sidewalk so 927 00:58:02,600 --> 00:58:05,080 Speaker 1: it didn't take up space for my children, And I 928 00:58:05,120 --> 00:58:07,560 Speaker 1: thought that was like, I'm like, he could teach a 929 00:58:07,600 --> 00:58:11,000 Speaker 1: class he needs to teach a class. I think the 930 00:58:11,080 --> 00:58:13,600 Speaker 1: point I was gonna make because I had lost track 931 00:58:13,640 --> 00:58:16,920 Speaker 1: of where I was going with this gentrification piece is 932 00:58:17,640 --> 00:58:22,760 Speaker 1: around the settler colonialism stuff that Kelly writes about in 933 00:58:22,840 --> 00:58:27,200 Speaker 1: City of Inmates, Right that when I say I wish 934 00:58:27,200 --> 00:58:31,560 Speaker 1: we just had our own space, I missed the percent 935 00:58:31,680 --> 00:58:36,440 Speaker 1: black neighborhood. Right. It's about establishing what you called like 936 00:58:36,720 --> 00:58:39,240 Speaker 1: and holding onto what you called safe space, right, a 937 00:58:39,320 --> 00:58:42,400 Speaker 1: space where I know none of my like. I remember 938 00:58:42,440 --> 00:58:44,760 Speaker 1: when I first moved in, the teenagers across the street 939 00:58:44,760 --> 00:58:50,400 Speaker 1: were happing the fence, and my natural instinct was to go, hey, 940 00:58:50,440 --> 00:58:54,240 Speaker 1: what you're doing? Why you hopping the fence? Right, somebody 941 00:58:54,320 --> 00:58:57,840 Speaker 1: else's instinct would be to call the police because young 942 00:58:57,880 --> 00:59:01,760 Speaker 1: black men are probably breaking into a how right they 943 00:59:01,800 --> 00:59:03,800 Speaker 1: turned out to be. I had just moved and didn't 944 00:59:03,800 --> 00:59:06,240 Speaker 1: know them, the kids that lived there, and they had 945 00:59:06,280 --> 00:59:09,720 Speaker 1: locked themselves out, right. So it feels safe to me 946 00:59:09,800 --> 00:59:12,400 Speaker 1: because I know that my kids, when they're half in 947 00:59:12,480 --> 00:59:14,960 Speaker 1: the fence, are going in the back door doing whatever. 948 00:59:15,400 --> 00:59:18,040 Speaker 1: The black neighbors are gonna go, do you live there? 949 00:59:18,120 --> 00:59:21,439 Speaker 1: And pot nine percent of the time they know them, 950 00:59:21,640 --> 00:59:23,600 Speaker 1: so they'll say, are you locked out? Want me to 951 00:59:23,640 --> 00:59:27,880 Speaker 1: call your mama? You know, something like that. So that's 952 00:59:28,120 --> 00:59:33,080 Speaker 1: what we're trying to establish. But when gentrifiers move into 953 00:59:33,080 --> 00:59:36,400 Speaker 1: our neighborhood. I had one neighbor who I'm tight with now, 954 00:59:37,080 --> 00:59:42,120 Speaker 1: who said, I remember driving up here and I drive 955 00:59:42,200 --> 00:59:46,240 Speaker 1: down Washington and looked down the street and I'd say, 956 00:59:46,840 --> 00:59:54,040 Speaker 1: that's a totally undiscovered neighborhoods And I'm just by who this? Yeah, 957 00:59:54,040 --> 00:59:57,520 Speaker 1: I said, who are you, Christopher Columbus, Like, what does 958 00:59:57,560 --> 01:00:01,160 Speaker 1: that mean? We lived here? What are you talking about? Undiscovered? 959 01:00:01,480 --> 01:00:07,080 Speaker 1: And so this whole idea of manifest destiny, like contemporary 960 01:00:07,120 --> 01:00:12,800 Speaker 1: manifest destiny, gentrification is really like urban colonialism, right, is 961 01:00:12,880 --> 01:00:18,080 Speaker 1: also entrenched in this settler colonial idea that I think 962 01:00:18,240 --> 01:00:22,680 Speaker 1: is tied back. I'm a little disturbed about the conversations 963 01:00:23,160 --> 01:00:26,040 Speaker 1: as they're unfolding, and I hope that we can disrupt 964 01:00:26,040 --> 01:00:31,120 Speaker 1: them somehow. Around these mass murders, the acts of white 965 01:00:31,120 --> 01:00:36,400 Speaker 1: supremacist terrorism, and them boiling it down to oh, it's 966 01:00:36,520 --> 01:00:41,120 Speaker 1: just an overwhelming sense of hate. No, they're not driven 967 01:00:41,120 --> 01:00:44,560 Speaker 1: by hate. They're driven by greed and entitlement and the 968 01:00:44,720 --> 01:00:48,360 Speaker 1: idea that white people own this country. If you read 969 01:00:48,440 --> 01:00:53,520 Speaker 1: what they're now calling the screed by the El Paso murderer. Right, 970 01:00:53,640 --> 01:00:57,400 Speaker 1: He quotes Trump over and over and over again. He 971 01:00:57,640 --> 01:01:00,360 Speaker 1: votes Trump over and over and over again. That he 972 01:01:00,520 --> 01:01:03,760 Speaker 1: also says, now, I know you're gonna say that I'm 973 01:01:03,880 --> 01:01:09,400 Speaker 1: hypocritical because when I talk about the invasion, what do 974 01:01:09,520 --> 01:01:12,960 Speaker 1: Native read the whole thing? What do Native Americans would 975 01:01:13,040 --> 01:01:18,720 Speaker 1: say that about Europeans? But I've learned my lesson from 976 01:01:18,840 --> 01:01:22,120 Speaker 1: Native Americans that you can't allow. And I don't want 977 01:01:22,120 --> 01:01:26,480 Speaker 1: to be quoting too much, but his whole idea, what 978 01:01:26,600 --> 01:01:34,760 Speaker 1: he's driven by, is articulated as settler colonial ideals. He's artical. 979 01:01:34,920 --> 01:01:39,880 Speaker 1: He's telling you, I have a settler colonial philosophy, and 980 01:01:39,920 --> 01:01:44,080 Speaker 1: that's what drove him to murder all of those twenty 981 01:01:44,080 --> 01:01:47,480 Speaker 1: two people who are now dead. Right. And so it's 982 01:01:47,520 --> 01:01:50,360 Speaker 1: really important that we understand that when we talk about 983 01:01:50,360 --> 01:01:53,680 Speaker 1: white supremacy and white supremacist violence, it's not just a 984 01:01:53,720 --> 01:01:55,919 Speaker 1: matter of thinking or feeling. And this is what you're 985 01:01:56,000 --> 01:01:58,960 Speaker 1: kind of getting to. It's not just about the individual. 986 01:01:59,640 --> 01:02:02,880 Speaker 1: It's a about the system. So if we're in a 987 01:02:03,000 --> 01:02:06,920 Speaker 1: system that's a settler colonial system that's built on stolen 988 01:02:07,000 --> 01:02:11,000 Speaker 1: land and stolen labor. It's about examining that system and 989 01:02:11,080 --> 01:02:14,120 Speaker 1: figuring out how to transform things in such a way 990 01:02:14,440 --> 01:02:18,160 Speaker 1: that essure and fairness and safety and peace and love 991 01:02:18,240 --> 01:02:21,240 Speaker 1: and all of the things that we all want. And 992 01:02:21,800 --> 01:02:24,960 Speaker 1: they're so intrinsically to I have goose bumps, literally like 993 01:02:25,080 --> 01:02:28,360 Speaker 1: running down my legs right now. And when we think 994 01:02:28,360 --> 01:02:33,240 Speaker 1: about that settler colonial mentality again, the intrinsic connection between 995 01:02:33,280 --> 01:02:36,080 Speaker 1: the impression of people of color and how it was 996 01:02:36,160 --> 01:02:38,800 Speaker 1: rooted in the oppression of indigenous people here in America, 997 01:02:38,880 --> 01:02:42,840 Speaker 1: but in the Columbus era is so deeply tied to 998 01:02:42,840 --> 01:02:45,840 Speaker 1: the oppression of women. You can read Columbus's writing, and 999 01:02:45,880 --> 01:02:49,280 Speaker 1: he talks. He talks openly about his shock that the 1000 01:02:49,360 --> 01:02:53,240 Speaker 1: Native women weren't willing to be taken as sex slaves, 1001 01:02:54,440 --> 01:02:56,760 Speaker 1: the the idea that they have the rights to the 1002 01:02:56,840 --> 01:03:00,400 Speaker 1: bodies of humans and the rights to the bodies of women. 1003 01:03:00,960 --> 01:03:04,680 Speaker 1: You know. The reason that I think the scarcity mentality 1004 01:03:04,800 --> 01:03:08,640 Speaker 1: and and the and the politics of that proximal power 1005 01:03:08,640 --> 01:03:11,880 Speaker 1: to supremacy really got to I mean, look, let's be real, 1006 01:03:11,920 --> 01:03:13,800 Speaker 1: it's gotten to white women for a long time, but 1007 01:03:14,000 --> 01:03:17,000 Speaker 1: really got to white women in the Trump election is 1008 01:03:17,040 --> 01:03:19,680 Speaker 1: because he was praying on this notion that you're about 1009 01:03:19,720 --> 01:03:22,760 Speaker 1: to have less, you're about to lose your and it's like, well, 1010 01:03:22,800 --> 01:03:25,400 Speaker 1: we've always lost at the hands of those men. You 1011 01:03:25,440 --> 01:03:28,000 Speaker 1: are the You are the reason that one in four 1012 01:03:28,040 --> 01:03:30,720 Speaker 1: women is sexually assaulted by the time she's twenty two. 1013 01:03:31,200 --> 01:03:33,520 Speaker 1: I don't know a single woman who doesn't have a story. 1014 01:03:34,520 --> 01:03:37,520 Speaker 1: Not a single woman in my life is without a 1015 01:03:37,560 --> 01:03:41,800 Speaker 1: story of an assault, and many too many to count. 1016 01:03:42,600 --> 01:03:45,360 Speaker 1: I can't name everything. And then what happens is we 1017 01:03:45,400 --> 01:03:47,320 Speaker 1: talk about it on a scale, Well, that guy wasn't 1018 01:03:47,360 --> 01:03:49,800 Speaker 1: so bad, but this one, and it's like, no, it's 1019 01:03:49,800 --> 01:03:52,400 Speaker 1: all bad. You know. So it used to be the 1020 01:03:52,480 --> 01:03:55,040 Speaker 1: norm to go to a party and get your ask grapped. 1021 01:03:55,960 --> 01:03:58,040 Speaker 1: That was like you knew you were going to get 1022 01:03:58,040 --> 01:04:01,720 Speaker 1: your ask. You were told to take it as a compliment. 1023 01:04:02,720 --> 01:04:07,200 Speaker 1: And so if we want to undo any oppression, we 1024 01:04:07,240 --> 01:04:11,640 Speaker 1: have to undo all oppression. One of the things that 1025 01:04:12,080 --> 01:04:18,320 Speaker 1: I have been so fascinated by in our conversations is 1026 01:04:18,400 --> 01:04:24,000 Speaker 1: your educating me on the difference between investing in police 1027 01:04:24,040 --> 01:04:28,560 Speaker 1: services and investing in citywide policy reform, which would take 1028 01:04:28,680 --> 01:04:32,920 Speaker 1: funding which is oddly given to the police to do 1029 01:04:33,000 --> 01:04:36,120 Speaker 1: things that aren't even their job, and that would give 1030 01:04:36,440 --> 01:04:42,280 Speaker 1: funding more to social workers, more to social programs, more, 1031 01:04:42,280 --> 01:04:45,960 Speaker 1: more funding that would actually take the if we want 1032 01:04:45,960 --> 01:04:48,640 Speaker 1: to call it the burden of too much work off 1033 01:04:48,680 --> 01:04:52,640 Speaker 1: of the police force, or just stop making them responsible 1034 01:04:52,640 --> 01:04:55,840 Speaker 1: for things that shouldn't be responsible for and actually get 1035 01:04:55,880 --> 01:04:59,400 Speaker 1: into community safety and protection. And I would love you 1036 01:04:59,440 --> 01:05:01,600 Speaker 1: to speak to that a little bit, because I think 1037 01:05:02,080 --> 01:05:04,240 Speaker 1: this stuff is really fascinating and I think that the 1038 01:05:04,360 --> 01:05:07,720 Speaker 1: listeners would be really wowed by it. So I think 1039 01:05:07,760 --> 01:05:12,160 Speaker 1: it's part of again dreaming before you think right. Dreaming 1040 01:05:12,200 --> 01:05:16,120 Speaker 1: allows us to kind of see a vision that's not 1041 01:05:16,240 --> 01:05:21,240 Speaker 1: tied to the what is, but what can be. And so, um, 1042 01:05:21,280 --> 01:05:24,120 Speaker 1: everybody wants to live in a safe community. You know, 1043 01:05:24,200 --> 01:05:26,440 Speaker 1: we've talked a lot about me being a mom. We 1044 01:05:26,480 --> 01:05:28,520 Speaker 1: want to live in a safe community. We want to 1045 01:05:28,520 --> 01:05:33,240 Speaker 1: make sure our children can walk home safely. Right, And 1046 01:05:33,640 --> 01:05:36,360 Speaker 1: as a black mother, I know my children are less 1047 01:05:36,400 --> 01:05:40,240 Speaker 1: safe when there's police around. So what does a system 1048 01:05:40,280 --> 01:05:44,919 Speaker 1: of public safety look like? And I remember, Um, when 1049 01:05:44,920 --> 01:05:47,600 Speaker 1: I first moved to Los Angeles, I lived in Lamart 1050 01:05:47,640 --> 01:05:50,760 Speaker 1: Park area and I didn't know what was happening, but 1051 01:05:50,840 --> 01:05:53,800 Speaker 1: every morning, the old people would come out and sit 1052 01:05:53,840 --> 01:05:58,040 Speaker 1: on the porch, and as I lived there, I started 1053 01:05:58,080 --> 01:06:01,680 Speaker 1: having conversations with the like I was like, Oh, everybody 1054 01:06:01,760 --> 01:06:05,040 Speaker 1: must be from Louisiana, because Louisiana in Texas, right, we 1055 01:06:05,080 --> 01:06:08,560 Speaker 1: all my grandparents sat on the porch, but not that early. 1056 01:06:09,600 --> 01:06:12,800 Speaker 1: And as I was having conversations with folks, they had 1057 01:06:12,880 --> 01:06:16,880 Speaker 1: created a system in the neighborhood where they would come 1058 01:06:16,880 --> 01:06:20,360 Speaker 1: out from seven to eight to watch the children walk 1059 01:06:20,400 --> 01:06:26,320 Speaker 1: to school. And that's public safety, right, that's public safety 1060 01:06:26,720 --> 01:06:29,920 Speaker 1: in the sense that they knew the children, right if 1061 01:06:29,960 --> 01:06:32,800 Speaker 1: the children I remember some of the kids getting told 1062 01:06:32,840 --> 01:06:36,800 Speaker 1: of getting called to the porch for cussing right as 1063 01:06:36,880 --> 01:06:40,400 Speaker 1: they were walking. I want that for my children. What 1064 01:06:40,520 --> 01:06:46,320 Speaker 1: I don't want is men with guns standing on corners, right. 1065 01:06:46,720 --> 01:06:51,400 Speaker 1: I want the grandma's and grandpa's on the porch watching 1066 01:06:51,400 --> 01:06:54,160 Speaker 1: my children get to school safely. And So if we 1067 01:06:54,240 --> 01:06:58,680 Speaker 1: think about what we've invested in what UM. Most major 1068 01:06:58,760 --> 01:07:02,680 Speaker 1: cities have invested in UM spent our tax dollars on 1069 01:07:03,160 --> 01:07:08,720 Speaker 1: their overspending on police. So are cities general fund And 1070 01:07:08,720 --> 01:07:12,280 Speaker 1: we now spend fifty of our city's general fund on 1071 01:07:12,600 --> 01:07:15,400 Speaker 1: l A p D. So all the money in the 1072 01:07:15,480 --> 01:07:19,760 Speaker 1: general fund in all of Los Angeles percent of it. 1073 01:07:19,880 --> 01:07:23,440 Speaker 1: And that's not including you know, that's not public safety overall. 1074 01:07:23,480 --> 01:07:27,520 Speaker 1: That's not fire, right, that's not straight up l a 1075 01:07:27,640 --> 01:07:31,320 Speaker 1: p D. And it doesn't include the contracts that l 1076 01:07:31,360 --> 01:07:34,520 Speaker 1: a p D gets with like the parks right, who 1077 01:07:34,560 --> 01:07:40,240 Speaker 1: give them a share of their budget to write. Why 1078 01:07:40,480 --> 01:07:45,480 Speaker 1: would we be spending of our city's general fund on 1079 01:07:45,680 --> 01:07:50,160 Speaker 1: police when we know that police actually don't make communities safe. 1080 01:07:50,200 --> 01:07:53,080 Speaker 1: There are studies that say, in fact, let me give 1081 01:07:53,120 --> 01:07:56,000 Speaker 1: a real good example. So there was a brother named 1082 01:07:56,000 --> 01:08:00,280 Speaker 1: Grashario Mack who was killed on April two, thou eight teen. 1083 01:08:00,360 --> 01:08:03,760 Speaker 1: He was inside the Baldwyn Hills Crunshaw Mall, which is 1084 01:08:03,880 --> 01:08:07,120 Speaker 1: the black mall in l A right, and at about 1085 01:08:07,160 --> 01:08:10,680 Speaker 1: five o'clock in the afternoon, he was seen inside the 1086 01:08:10,680 --> 01:08:14,720 Speaker 1: mall talking to himself and he had a kitchen knife, 1087 01:08:14,760 --> 01:08:17,120 Speaker 1: which let me lift up for the listeners. It is 1088 01:08:17,160 --> 01:08:19,800 Speaker 1: not illegal to have a kitchen knife. In fact, he 1089 01:08:19,880 --> 01:08:21,960 Speaker 1: was standing in front of t J Max where they 1090 01:08:21,960 --> 01:08:24,960 Speaker 1: sell kitchen knives, right, and so it wasn't illegal to 1091 01:08:25,000 --> 01:08:28,200 Speaker 1: have the kitchen knife. He was standing there clearly dealing 1092 01:08:28,240 --> 01:08:32,440 Speaker 1: with some kind of mental health issue. Right, Um Security 1093 01:08:32,479 --> 01:08:34,719 Speaker 1: who we've talked to in the mall said they didn't 1094 01:08:34,760 --> 01:08:36,960 Speaker 1: see him as dangerous. They just wanted him to leave 1095 01:08:37,040 --> 01:08:41,439 Speaker 1: the mall because people were uncomfortable with him there. Right, 1096 01:08:41,880 --> 01:08:47,920 Speaker 1: But he wasn't attacking anybody, threatening anybody. Somebody called one. 1097 01:08:49,200 --> 01:08:52,840 Speaker 1: The police come back, bounding up the escalators and this 1098 01:08:52,920 --> 01:08:55,839 Speaker 1: is a quote from one of the patrons, with every 1099 01:08:55,920 --> 01:09:00,320 Speaker 1: gun blazing, and they murder Gracario in the to love 1100 01:09:00,360 --> 01:09:04,679 Speaker 1: them all. They don't even bother to clear them all first. 1101 01:09:05,640 --> 01:09:08,080 Speaker 1: And then after they shot him and he was on 1102 01:09:08,120 --> 01:09:12,519 Speaker 1: the ground, they stood over him and shot him more. God, 1103 01:09:13,880 --> 01:09:18,600 Speaker 1: I'm lifting that up because someone who is having a 1104 01:09:18,720 --> 01:09:23,120 Speaker 1: mental health break should not have the police called on that. 1105 01:09:24,600 --> 01:09:27,920 Speaker 1: If we thought about the best use of city resources, 1106 01:09:28,600 --> 01:09:31,920 Speaker 1: What if we had a mental health team where when 1107 01:09:32,040 --> 01:09:35,839 Speaker 1: somebody is having a mental health it's a health issue, 1108 01:09:36,560 --> 01:09:39,760 Speaker 1: they could be dispatched. They could figure out how do 1109 01:09:39,840 --> 01:09:43,160 Speaker 1: I talk him down? Right, They could figure out what 1110 01:09:43,360 --> 01:09:47,639 Speaker 1: is he on medication? Did he take his medication? Who 1111 01:09:47,680 --> 01:09:50,680 Speaker 1: are his loved ones? Right? Who can we call in 1112 01:09:50,720 --> 01:09:55,120 Speaker 1: to give him support? Right? And I think I know 1113 01:09:55,400 --> 01:10:01,120 Speaker 1: that there's cities like Jackson, Mississippi, cities like Newark, New Jersey, 1114 01:10:01,160 --> 01:10:05,760 Speaker 1: where they're beginning to explore reallocating public dollars to investing 1115 01:10:05,800 --> 01:10:10,120 Speaker 1: them in you know, more mental health providers to investing them. 1116 01:10:10,160 --> 01:10:13,000 Speaker 1: And you know, parks don't need police in the parks, 1117 01:10:13,000 --> 01:10:15,920 Speaker 1: they need more youth workers in the parks. Right, they're 1118 01:10:15,920 --> 01:10:18,920 Speaker 1: investing them in intervention and prevention work. So even things 1119 01:10:18,920 --> 01:10:22,320 Speaker 1: that we think of traditionally as crime, right, doesn't have 1120 01:10:22,439 --> 01:10:25,760 Speaker 1: to be something that's addressed in the same kind of 1121 01:10:26,160 --> 01:10:29,800 Speaker 1: with the same kind of occupational style and style of 1122 01:10:29,840 --> 01:10:33,720 Speaker 1: confrontation that police engage. That these are people. What Um 1123 01:10:33,800 --> 01:10:37,120 Speaker 1: the mayor in Newark has done Ras Baraka is hire people, 1124 01:10:37,160 --> 01:10:41,479 Speaker 1: many of them formally incarcerated, who are from the neighborhoods 1125 01:10:41,520 --> 01:10:44,280 Speaker 1: and when something goes down in the neighborhood, they go 1126 01:10:44,360 --> 01:10:48,120 Speaker 1: and have conversations with people who respect them. Right, And 1127 01:10:48,200 --> 01:10:51,400 Speaker 1: so we need to be willing to engage in radical 1128 01:10:51,479 --> 01:10:56,880 Speaker 1: imaginings and dreaming before thinking and envisioning a world that 1129 01:10:57,040 --> 01:11:02,799 Speaker 1: actually creates safety, not just policing. Right. There's an interesting 1130 01:11:02,840 --> 01:11:07,760 Speaker 1: insight for me here, um, because again I don't lump 1131 01:11:07,840 --> 01:11:11,240 Speaker 1: the people in with the system, and I have an 1132 01:11:11,280 --> 01:11:16,400 Speaker 1: interesting purview. I believe into policing because I worked on 1133 01:11:16,439 --> 01:11:19,320 Speaker 1: a police show for almost five years of my life. 1134 01:11:19,360 --> 01:11:22,280 Speaker 1: You know, I spent a lot of time entrenched in 1135 01:11:22,280 --> 01:11:27,479 Speaker 1: that community. And I asked the officers who I was 1136 01:11:27,600 --> 01:11:30,200 Speaker 1: close to, and one of whom I am still close to, 1137 01:11:30,280 --> 01:11:32,479 Speaker 1: who I talked to about a lot of this stuff. 1138 01:11:33,040 --> 01:11:35,799 Speaker 1: We had a lot of deep conversations about their opinions 1139 01:11:35,840 --> 01:11:40,519 Speaker 1: on this and their willingness to say, oh, no, no, 1140 01:11:40,680 --> 01:11:44,679 Speaker 1: the system is broken. We love our brothers, we love 1141 01:11:44,680 --> 01:11:48,479 Speaker 1: our community. We die for each other. But something is 1142 01:11:48,600 --> 01:11:53,360 Speaker 1: changing and it's affecting everybody. And when I ask why 1143 01:11:53,439 --> 01:11:56,360 Speaker 1: does this like, I show a video of Laquon McDonald, 1144 01:11:56,360 --> 01:11:58,760 Speaker 1: I show a video of you know, any of these 1145 01:11:58,760 --> 01:12:02,520 Speaker 1: body cam footage or dash camps that come out eventually, 1146 01:12:02,520 --> 01:12:04,599 Speaker 1: because of course they don't give them to us right away. 1147 01:12:05,439 --> 01:12:08,320 Speaker 1: And I say, why does it become like this? And 1148 01:12:08,360 --> 01:12:11,760 Speaker 1: they talk about the way their training has become increasingly militarized, 1149 01:12:12,200 --> 01:12:16,360 Speaker 1: and how they're not trained to diffuse situations anymore. They're 1150 01:12:16,360 --> 01:12:18,479 Speaker 1: trained at the moment a hand is raised and there's 1151 01:12:18,520 --> 01:12:20,360 Speaker 1: something in it, they're trained to shoot, and you're trained 1152 01:12:20,360 --> 01:12:23,400 Speaker 1: to shoot to kill, not to shoot to wound. This 1153 01:12:23,479 --> 01:12:28,720 Speaker 1: is a problem, and they're not encouraged or required to 1154 01:12:28,760 --> 01:12:31,880 Speaker 1: go for mental health checkens or therapy. You you are 1155 01:12:32,080 --> 01:12:35,559 Speaker 1: you are effectively building a bomb. You are putting a 1156 01:12:35,600 --> 01:12:38,599 Speaker 1: person in a hyper realized state, telling them that every 1157 01:12:38,600 --> 01:12:40,479 Speaker 1: single person who they encounter is going to try to 1158 01:12:40,560 --> 01:12:42,160 Speaker 1: kill them, and if they do, they have to try 1159 01:12:42,200 --> 01:12:44,240 Speaker 1: to kill them first. But what does it really mean 1160 01:12:44,280 --> 01:12:47,639 Speaker 1: to try to be killed? Like the adrenaline is crazy, 1161 01:12:47,720 --> 01:12:51,160 Speaker 1: you can't hear, it's hard to see. And if one 1162 01:12:51,160 --> 01:12:55,240 Speaker 1: of those officers just charges a weapon and kill someone, 1163 01:12:56,840 --> 01:12:59,479 Speaker 1: they have no mental health requirements to process what that means. 1164 01:13:00,520 --> 01:13:04,280 Speaker 1: It gets glazed over, and then they they're told they 1165 01:13:04,280 --> 01:13:06,240 Speaker 1: did a good job, and then we wonder why it 1166 01:13:06,280 --> 01:13:10,960 Speaker 1: happens again. And I I have listened to some of 1167 01:13:10,960 --> 01:13:14,160 Speaker 1: these guys tell me what a toll has taken on them. 1168 01:13:14,240 --> 01:13:16,400 Speaker 1: Yet the system remains the same, and the system is 1169 01:13:16,479 --> 01:13:19,360 Speaker 1: killing people. And it makes me feel the same way 1170 01:13:19,400 --> 01:13:22,000 Speaker 1: when I say, like, white supremacy has nothing for me 1171 01:13:22,680 --> 01:13:27,040 Speaker 1: as a white woman. I have seen how the system 1172 01:13:27,120 --> 01:13:31,599 Speaker 1: doesn't have anything good for the people who are even 1173 01:13:31,600 --> 01:13:33,960 Speaker 1: a part of it, and I see the devastation that 1174 01:13:34,000 --> 01:13:39,679 Speaker 1: it reaks across communities across the country. And so I 1175 01:13:39,840 --> 01:13:45,080 Speaker 1: hope that being able to solely focused on the problem 1176 01:13:45,120 --> 01:13:49,920 Speaker 1: of the system can inspire all of us to try 1177 01:13:49,960 --> 01:13:52,719 Speaker 1: to make it better, can inspire us to say, yeah, 1178 01:13:52,720 --> 01:13:55,639 Speaker 1: I want more of my city dollars going to social 1179 01:13:55,640 --> 01:14:01,960 Speaker 1: work programs, going to you know, community up lift forces going. 1180 01:14:02,560 --> 01:14:06,320 Speaker 1: It doesn't need to be this. Yeah, And I think 1181 01:14:06,479 --> 01:14:08,559 Speaker 1: part of when we say this, right, when we say 1182 01:14:08,640 --> 01:14:11,880 Speaker 1: dream before you think, or when we say radical imagination, 1183 01:14:12,120 --> 01:14:14,880 Speaker 1: or people go, yeah, but how do you get to that? 1184 01:14:14,960 --> 01:14:19,680 Speaker 1: And it feels like this big, overwhelming task, right, But 1185 01:14:19,800 --> 01:14:23,320 Speaker 1: really all we're talking about is a budgeting process. Right, 1186 01:14:23,520 --> 01:14:26,679 Speaker 1: Just move some money. It's not that hard to move 1187 01:14:26,760 --> 01:14:30,080 Speaker 1: some money. Right. We have cities that are moving the money. 1188 01:14:30,360 --> 01:14:33,519 Speaker 1: Move some money. Also, you know, I define myself as 1189 01:14:33,560 --> 01:14:36,840 Speaker 1: an abolitionist, right, and people go, what does that mean? 1190 01:14:36,960 --> 01:14:44,160 Speaker 1: What a good word. But abolitionism doesn't just mean tearing 1191 01:14:44,200 --> 01:14:47,840 Speaker 1: down systems that are oppressive, right, So most people associate 1192 01:14:47,920 --> 01:14:53,000 Speaker 1: abolitionism with the end of slavery, right, abolishing slavery. I 1193 01:14:53,040 --> 01:14:58,439 Speaker 1: believe in the abolition of prisons and police. That doesn't 1194 01:14:58,479 --> 01:15:00,840 Speaker 1: mean I don't believe in public say fifty, and it 1195 01:15:00,920 --> 01:15:05,240 Speaker 1: doesn't mean that, you know, I don't prioritize that, right, 1196 01:15:05,920 --> 01:15:09,600 Speaker 1: I just think it can look very different. And I 1197 01:15:09,720 --> 01:15:13,160 Speaker 1: think that also a lot of times as abolitionists, we 1198 01:15:13,240 --> 01:15:16,960 Speaker 1: only think about the tearing down or what's illuminated as 1199 01:15:17,000 --> 01:15:21,080 Speaker 1: the tearing down, right, So we be we highlight the protests, 1200 01:15:21,120 --> 01:15:25,160 Speaker 1: and you know they want to abolish the police, yes, 1201 01:15:25,400 --> 01:15:30,720 Speaker 1: and we want to build community safety teams. We want 1202 01:15:30,720 --> 01:15:32,840 Speaker 1: to build you know, the grand maybe it could be 1203 01:15:32,840 --> 01:15:36,759 Speaker 1: the Grandma Brigade, right, And it's not that hard to do. 1204 01:15:37,160 --> 01:15:41,360 Speaker 1: And so when you think about it, like those grandparents 1205 01:15:41,560 --> 01:15:45,719 Speaker 1: were doing it, that was abolitionist work. And you didn't 1206 01:15:45,760 --> 01:15:48,679 Speaker 1: have stuff happening in the neighborhood, and so the police 1207 01:15:48,720 --> 01:15:51,800 Speaker 1: weren't there, well they were, but they were kind of 1208 01:15:51,880 --> 01:15:56,160 Speaker 1: kept at baying, right, And so we can it's not 1209 01:15:56,360 --> 01:16:02,000 Speaker 1: as overwhelming of a task as it seems. It's totally doable, right. 1210 01:16:02,600 --> 01:16:07,799 Speaker 1: I mean, if they did abolish slavery, slavery, did chattel 1211 01:16:07,880 --> 01:16:12,000 Speaker 1: slavery came to an end, If the people before us 1212 01:16:12,479 --> 01:16:15,320 Speaker 1: were able to do that, then it should be a 1213 01:16:15,360 --> 01:16:18,240 Speaker 1: relatively easy feat to say, policing as we know it 1214 01:16:18,320 --> 01:16:22,160 Speaker 1: should no longer exist. Let's establish a system of public 1215 01:16:22,200 --> 01:16:26,240 Speaker 1: safety and work towards it and see it come to 1216 01:16:26,320 --> 01:16:29,559 Speaker 1: fruition not a hundred years from now. I'm talking in 1217 01:16:29,640 --> 01:16:33,680 Speaker 1: the near future in my lifetime something I like to 1218 01:16:33,720 --> 01:16:36,360 Speaker 1: ask people at the beginning. But we just went. We went, 1219 01:16:36,720 --> 01:16:39,200 Speaker 1: and we went right in, and I skipped one of 1220 01:16:39,200 --> 01:16:42,200 Speaker 1: my favorite questions. But but I'm thinking about it now, 1221 01:16:43,120 --> 01:16:48,000 Speaker 1: thinking historically, I sit across from so many people who 1222 01:16:48,040 --> 01:16:51,360 Speaker 1: I'm so in awe of, and I'm so into of 1223 01:16:51,360 --> 01:16:53,720 Speaker 1: where you are in this moment in your life. And 1224 01:16:53,760 --> 01:16:56,839 Speaker 1: then I go, were you like this when you were little? 1225 01:16:57,280 --> 01:17:02,800 Speaker 1: I'm fascinating people were as kids? And and who were 1226 01:17:02,880 --> 01:17:07,240 Speaker 1: you as a kid? Were you? Were you always wise? 1227 01:17:07,520 --> 01:17:13,400 Speaker 1: Were you always so sensitive? We're like, who is little Molina? 1228 01:17:13,479 --> 01:17:17,519 Speaker 1: I'm so curious. Yes, I was always like this. I 1229 01:17:17,560 --> 01:17:20,080 Speaker 1: don't know that I would call myself wise now I 1230 01:17:20,920 --> 01:17:24,720 Speaker 1: hear so I was always like this. I always had 1231 01:17:24,760 --> 01:17:27,840 Speaker 1: a big mouth, right. I always was taught by my 1232 01:17:27,880 --> 01:17:32,360 Speaker 1: mom and my grandpa especially that I could do anything, 1233 01:17:32,960 --> 01:17:39,120 Speaker 1: you know. And it's like, I feel like we've spent 1234 01:17:39,160 --> 01:17:42,040 Speaker 1: a lot of time on kind of the heaviness of 1235 01:17:42,120 --> 01:17:49,120 Speaker 1: this work, and but I always found this like using 1236 01:17:49,160 --> 01:17:53,679 Speaker 1: my voice and speaking up for whatever, fun Like it's fun, 1237 01:17:54,080 --> 01:17:59,120 Speaker 1: like it gives me life, Like, No, you don't have 1238 01:17:59,200 --> 01:18:01,679 Speaker 1: to sit there and listen to this fool talking about 1239 01:18:01,720 --> 01:18:06,479 Speaker 1: crazy stuff. How the hell is Donald Trump gonna call 1240 01:18:06,520 --> 01:18:11,040 Speaker 1: Elijah Cumming as a racist? Right? Come on, man, Like, 1241 01:18:11,640 --> 01:18:13,640 Speaker 1: we don't have to sit here and listen to it 1242 01:18:13,680 --> 01:18:17,040 Speaker 1: and like just hear it. One. We need to talk 1243 01:18:17,080 --> 01:18:20,120 Speaker 1: about how ridiculous that ship is. And I know that 1244 01:18:20,200 --> 01:18:24,479 Speaker 1: we shouldn't just be laughing at it, but it's it's 1245 01:18:24,520 --> 01:18:28,200 Speaker 1: like bizarro world. No, it's truly crazy. It's like a 1246 01:18:28,240 --> 01:18:30,639 Speaker 1: person looking at you and saying the sky is yellow 1247 01:18:30,920 --> 01:18:32,760 Speaker 1: and you're like the sky is blue, and they go, 1248 01:18:33,280 --> 01:18:35,800 Speaker 1: are you blind? It's yellow? And You're like what, where? Where? 1249 01:18:35,800 --> 01:18:40,719 Speaker 1: Do where? Are we that crazy to where you're like, hello, 1250 01:18:41,120 --> 01:18:43,840 Speaker 1: are we there? We are? Are we in the same dimension? 1251 01:18:44,000 --> 01:18:48,360 Speaker 1: Like what's happening right? Right? So? I don't know. I 1252 01:18:48,400 --> 01:18:50,679 Speaker 1: think I grew up just feeling like I could always 1253 01:18:50,800 --> 01:18:55,879 Speaker 1: use my voice, always feeling like, um, I was deeply loved, 1254 01:18:56,280 --> 01:19:01,040 Speaker 1: and sometimes I talk about mothering UM. And I remember 1255 01:19:01,080 --> 01:19:04,400 Speaker 1: talking with this group of young moms and I said, 1256 01:19:04,600 --> 01:19:07,160 Speaker 1: and one of them came up to me recently and 1257 01:19:07,320 --> 01:19:10,920 Speaker 1: I said to them, none of this ship is that 1258 01:19:11,080 --> 01:19:13,920 Speaker 1: deep and they were like what, And I was like, 1259 01:19:15,120 --> 01:19:18,040 Speaker 1: even that we're having having this forum on mothering, and 1260 01:19:18,080 --> 01:19:21,240 Speaker 1: there was this one I said, I stressed myself out 1261 01:19:21,320 --> 01:19:24,439 Speaker 1: because I sent my son to school and he left 1262 01:19:24,479 --> 01:19:27,519 Speaker 1: his lunch bag in the car, and then he called 1263 01:19:27,560 --> 01:19:29,880 Speaker 1: me from school like, Mama, bring me much, But I 1264 01:19:29,920 --> 01:19:32,559 Speaker 1: couldn't get back to the school to bring him his lunch, right, 1265 01:19:33,280 --> 01:19:37,760 Speaker 1: And then I had to remember school only goes from 1266 01:19:37,760 --> 01:19:41,240 Speaker 1: eight to three. You are not gonna starve between eight 1267 01:19:41,240 --> 01:19:43,000 Speaker 1: and three. When you get home, you can have a 1268 01:19:43,040 --> 01:19:47,240 Speaker 1: peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Right, Like, none of it's 1269 01:19:47,320 --> 01:19:51,640 Speaker 1: that deep, right, Like we take on a lot of 1270 01:19:51,680 --> 01:19:55,840 Speaker 1: responsibility and act like everything is so deep. But I 1271 01:19:55,880 --> 01:19:59,080 Speaker 1: think that how I was raised and how I try 1272 01:19:59,160 --> 01:20:03,280 Speaker 1: to live just pouring love into what I care about, 1273 01:20:03,360 --> 01:20:06,240 Speaker 1: firstly my children, but also my community, the world that 1274 01:20:06,320 --> 01:20:08,920 Speaker 1: I live in poor the love in and and I'm 1275 01:20:08,920 --> 01:20:11,599 Speaker 1: gonna make mistakes, Like my son left is I didn't 1276 01:20:11,600 --> 01:20:13,760 Speaker 1: look back to see did he get his lunch? Right, 1277 01:20:14,000 --> 01:20:16,040 Speaker 1: So part of it was on me to not look bad. 1278 01:20:16,320 --> 01:20:18,840 Speaker 1: But so what, just keep it moving and you're gonna 1279 01:20:18,880 --> 01:20:22,000 Speaker 1: make a misstep and sometimes people are gonna get mad 1280 01:20:22,040 --> 01:20:24,960 Speaker 1: at you, but so so what, just keep it moving 1281 01:20:25,080 --> 01:20:29,120 Speaker 1: and living love and living your purpose. And I think 1282 01:20:29,160 --> 01:20:33,200 Speaker 1: my mom and my grandpa taught me a lot about that. 1283 01:20:34,160 --> 01:20:35,960 Speaker 1: What was it like growing up with them? Because you 1284 01:20:36,000 --> 01:20:40,120 Speaker 1: were you were in East Oakland in the seventies, But 1285 01:20:40,160 --> 01:20:44,800 Speaker 1: I'm twenty nine. What's the right I have been for 1286 01:20:44,840 --> 01:20:48,920 Speaker 1: a long what's the what's the what's the vibe like? 1287 01:20:49,040 --> 01:20:55,120 Speaker 1: What what is community like? And what's your family like? Um? 1288 01:20:55,200 --> 01:21:00,519 Speaker 1: My community was complicated, but my like, the first word 1289 01:21:00,560 --> 01:21:04,880 Speaker 1: I wanted to use was it was magical and amazing. 1290 01:21:06,120 --> 01:21:09,760 Speaker 1: And I'm saying that as someone who witnessed. I don't 1291 01:21:09,800 --> 01:21:12,840 Speaker 1: even know how many of my friends get murdered, right 1292 01:21:13,400 --> 01:21:17,120 Speaker 1: who experienced like we found a body in the dumpster 1293 01:21:17,200 --> 01:21:20,120 Speaker 1: when we were little kids? Right Like I grew up. 1294 01:21:20,479 --> 01:21:22,559 Speaker 1: I came of age during the height of the cracked 1295 01:21:22,560 --> 01:21:26,080 Speaker 1: cocaine epidemic in East Oakland, where it was really hit 1296 01:21:26,160 --> 01:21:31,639 Speaker 1: and heart And if I were to give the first word, 1297 01:21:31,720 --> 01:21:37,040 Speaker 1: it was magical. It was amazing. It was a community 1298 01:21:37,120 --> 01:21:41,720 Speaker 1: filled with love. My grandpa used to like sit on 1299 01:21:41,760 --> 01:21:44,680 Speaker 1: the front porch all day long, and we come home 1300 01:21:44,720 --> 01:21:46,880 Speaker 1: from school and sit with him on his front porch 1301 01:21:47,040 --> 01:21:50,080 Speaker 1: and eat watermelon. I know that's a terrible thing to 1302 01:21:50,120 --> 01:21:52,600 Speaker 1: say as a black person, but watermelon is delicious. I 1303 01:21:52,600 --> 01:21:55,960 Speaker 1: don't care if it's a stereotype. It's also that's like, 1304 01:21:56,120 --> 01:22:01,200 Speaker 1: that's California. We're we have produced, We're very Yes. My 1305 01:22:01,240 --> 01:22:06,040 Speaker 1: grandpa would slice open a watermelon, and he's from Louisiana, right, 1306 01:22:06,280 --> 01:22:09,200 Speaker 1: so he would slice open a watermelon and we eat 1307 01:22:09,280 --> 01:22:11,680 Speaker 1: him like out of it would be a bowl. Right, 1308 01:22:11,760 --> 01:22:14,040 Speaker 1: you turn it into a bowl and you just eat 1309 01:22:14,680 --> 01:22:17,600 Speaker 1: with eat the hall and we'd sit there and we 1310 01:22:17,600 --> 01:22:22,320 Speaker 1: would he would tell me stories and it was amazing. 1311 01:22:22,360 --> 01:22:25,000 Speaker 1: And my mother, who was a single mom and a teacher, 1312 01:22:25,960 --> 01:22:27,960 Speaker 1: she would always come home from school late, and she 1313 01:22:28,040 --> 01:22:31,080 Speaker 1: had like an old Vovo station wagon and it would 1314 01:22:31,120 --> 01:22:32,720 Speaker 1: hit the black and you could hear it like a 1315 01:22:32,720 --> 01:22:35,840 Speaker 1: black away, and all the kids in the neighborhood we 1316 01:22:35,880 --> 01:22:39,519 Speaker 1: lived in, a almost all black neighborhood, would come running 1317 01:22:39,520 --> 01:22:42,759 Speaker 1: down the street and sit on our front porch and 1318 01:22:42,920 --> 01:22:46,439 Speaker 1: they would yell it's time for school. And my mom 1319 01:22:46,439 --> 01:22:48,840 Speaker 1: would sit on that porch with them until the sun 1320 01:22:48,920 --> 01:22:51,760 Speaker 1: went down and teach all the kids in the neighborhood 1321 01:22:51,800 --> 01:22:55,400 Speaker 1: to read. And um my grandma, who I don't give 1322 01:22:55,439 --> 01:22:59,160 Speaker 1: as much credit as I should, taught me how to cook. 1323 01:22:59,240 --> 01:23:01,760 Speaker 1: So every day I never missed church, right, So we 1324 01:23:01,880 --> 01:23:04,439 Speaker 1: go to church, and my kids think they're in church 1325 01:23:04,520 --> 01:23:07,080 Speaker 1: a long time when it's like two hours, but we'd 1326 01:23:07,120 --> 01:23:09,320 Speaker 1: be there from nine o'clock in the morning to about 1327 01:23:09,360 --> 01:23:12,720 Speaker 1: two o'clock in the afternoon. We have a break and 1328 01:23:12,760 --> 01:23:15,720 Speaker 1: cook in the church basement, right, so we have hamburgers 1329 01:23:15,840 --> 01:23:20,040 Speaker 1: and coffee, I remember, and seven upcake in the church basement. 1330 01:23:20,120 --> 01:23:23,640 Speaker 1: And then we would go home after church service and 1331 01:23:23,680 --> 01:23:25,960 Speaker 1: I would be at my grandma's house and we would 1332 01:23:26,040 --> 01:23:29,200 Speaker 1: just cook and talk and look at J. C. Penny's 1333 01:23:29,360 --> 01:23:36,400 Speaker 1: magazine's catalog and it was just really beautiful. And it 1334 01:23:36,520 --> 01:23:39,320 Speaker 1: was like the entire community took care of each other 1335 01:23:39,880 --> 01:23:43,839 Speaker 1: and everybody from you know, my grandparents who were there too, 1336 01:23:44,360 --> 01:23:48,839 Speaker 1: my mom too. I remember there was a sex worker 1337 01:23:48,920 --> 01:23:52,120 Speaker 1: is what we call them now, right, who had a 1338 01:23:52,120 --> 01:23:57,240 Speaker 1: son that my brother was friends with, and she would 1339 01:23:57,280 --> 01:24:00,360 Speaker 1: come and teach us a lot, like about being a 1340 01:24:00,400 --> 01:24:03,439 Speaker 1: woman and don't let these men do and it was, 1341 01:24:04,120 --> 01:24:07,920 Speaker 1: you know, she was help. She helped raise me in 1342 01:24:07,960 --> 01:24:11,280 Speaker 1: a way, you know. And it was just a really 1343 01:24:12,240 --> 01:24:17,400 Speaker 1: beautiful community. And I think that they talk about there's 1344 01:24:17,439 --> 01:24:23,360 Speaker 1: a author named Jowanza Kunjufu who talks about when ghettos 1345 01:24:23,520 --> 01:24:27,960 Speaker 1: become slums, and that there's nothing wrong with a ghetto. 1346 01:24:28,200 --> 01:24:30,680 Speaker 1: And so I was raised in a ghetto, and I 1347 01:24:30,760 --> 01:24:33,439 Speaker 1: was raised our neighborhood was called, you know, folk Town, 1348 01:24:33,880 --> 01:24:36,400 Speaker 1: and it was what they would call a gang neighborhood. 1349 01:24:36,439 --> 01:24:40,599 Speaker 1: But they were my family. And so when I think 1350 01:24:40,600 --> 01:24:43,160 Speaker 1: about this now, and I'm sorry for talking so long, 1351 01:24:44,120 --> 01:24:47,400 Speaker 1: when I think about it now, and like the criminalization 1352 01:24:47,960 --> 01:24:50,080 Speaker 1: of the people who were killed by police and how 1353 01:24:50,120 --> 01:24:53,080 Speaker 1: they go, oh, he was a gang member, So what's 1354 01:24:53,080 --> 01:24:54,879 Speaker 1: that mean he was a gang member? Was he committing 1355 01:24:54,880 --> 01:24:58,240 Speaker 1: a crime? Right? So I think about people like Ryan 1356 01:24:58,280 --> 01:25:01,479 Speaker 1: Twiman who was twenty four years just killed last month 1357 01:25:01,560 --> 01:25:05,720 Speaker 1: by l a county sheriff's twenty four sitting in his 1358 01:25:05,840 --> 01:25:10,400 Speaker 1: car and an apartment building that's considered you know, as 1359 01:25:10,479 --> 01:25:13,200 Speaker 1: gang members in the apartment building. But he wasn't doing 1360 01:25:13,240 --> 01:25:16,040 Speaker 1: anything but sitting in the car unarmed. They snatched off 1361 01:25:16,160 --> 01:25:19,400 Speaker 1: in his back door and kill him thirty four shots 1362 01:25:19,479 --> 01:25:23,360 Speaker 1: and then go back to their cruiser, get a an 1363 01:25:23,360 --> 01:25:28,080 Speaker 1: assault weapon and continue to kill him with the assault weapon. Right, 1364 01:25:28,800 --> 01:25:32,000 Speaker 1: and then what do what does the county sheriff do? 1365 01:25:32,280 --> 01:25:35,320 Speaker 1: They say, basically, he deserved it because he was a 1366 01:25:35,400 --> 01:25:38,840 Speaker 1: gang member. I don't care that he was a so 1367 01:25:38,960 --> 01:25:41,920 Speaker 1: called gang member. When I was twenty four years old, 1368 01:25:41,960 --> 01:25:46,160 Speaker 1: you would have called me one because I lived in Fonteil, Right, 1369 01:25:46,640 --> 01:25:49,720 Speaker 1: it doesn't matter to me. For me, that neighborhood was 1370 01:25:49,800 --> 01:25:53,040 Speaker 1: love right for me, that's where my first boyfriend, Almer's Jones, 1371 01:25:53,120 --> 01:25:55,880 Speaker 1: was from, right um. For me, it was where I 1372 01:25:55,960 --> 01:25:59,880 Speaker 1: got love and support and was nurtured into becoming the 1373 01:26:00,080 --> 01:26:03,560 Speaker 1: woman that I am. Right, even I dropped out of 1374 01:26:03,720 --> 01:26:07,280 Speaker 1: traditional high school, but my neighborhood knew I shouldn't have 1375 01:26:07,320 --> 01:26:10,200 Speaker 1: dropped out of traditional high school, and everybody was like 1376 01:26:10,800 --> 01:26:14,200 Speaker 1: pushing me to go back. And like, when I come 1377 01:26:14,200 --> 01:26:16,519 Speaker 1: back now and there's a couple of people that I 1378 01:26:16,520 --> 01:26:19,160 Speaker 1: grew up with it I'm friends with now, you know, 1379 01:26:19,320 --> 01:26:22,439 Speaker 1: still friends with, and they say things like, you know, 1380 01:26:22,520 --> 01:26:26,320 Speaker 1: we weren't even supposed to be alive, you know, And 1381 01:26:27,520 --> 01:26:30,639 Speaker 1: it was my neighborhood that kept me alive, that kept 1382 01:26:30,640 --> 01:26:35,400 Speaker 1: my brother alive. My brother was crazy and you know, 1383 01:26:36,520 --> 01:26:40,400 Speaker 1: was like the other boys in the neighborhood did stuff 1384 01:26:40,439 --> 01:26:43,920 Speaker 1: that would have gotten him imprisoned these days. Right in 1385 01:26:43,960 --> 01:26:47,200 Speaker 1: the eighties and nineties, it didn't send him to prison. 1386 01:26:47,280 --> 01:26:51,200 Speaker 1: What does that mean? So I remember this one incident 1387 01:26:51,200 --> 01:26:53,679 Speaker 1: when my brother and a bunch of the boys who 1388 01:26:53,680 --> 01:26:58,360 Speaker 1: were like probably preteens, like about twelve, maybe eleven or twelve, 1389 01:26:59,080 --> 01:27:04,160 Speaker 1: had broken into an empty apartment unit in the housing 1390 01:27:04,200 --> 01:27:07,920 Speaker 1: projects that were across the street from our house, and 1391 01:27:08,320 --> 01:27:12,040 Speaker 1: they took some of the supplies and began to throw 1392 01:27:12,360 --> 01:27:16,479 Speaker 1: paint out the window. They were eleven and twelve. That 1393 01:27:16,720 --> 01:27:19,519 Speaker 1: was stupid, and they should get a whooping, right, because 1394 01:27:19,520 --> 01:27:23,000 Speaker 1: my mama whooped them, right. But and and what wound 1395 01:27:23,080 --> 01:27:27,320 Speaker 1: up happening is police did grab them and they put 1396 01:27:27,360 --> 01:27:32,160 Speaker 1: them in the back of the car and they drove 1397 01:27:32,280 --> 01:27:36,680 Speaker 1: them home because they knew my mama was gonna whoop him. 1398 01:27:36,720 --> 01:27:41,120 Speaker 1: If eleven and twelve year olds break into an apartment 1399 01:27:41,200 --> 01:27:44,720 Speaker 1: now and do what eleven and twelve year olds do, 1400 01:27:45,640 --> 01:27:50,160 Speaker 1: which is naughty, but it's not criminal, right, these kids 1401 01:27:50,200 --> 01:27:53,000 Speaker 1: would have been taken from their mothers, they would have 1402 01:27:53,000 --> 01:27:56,760 Speaker 1: been incarcerated, and they'd have to live with that process 1403 01:27:56,800 --> 01:28:00,559 Speaker 1: of criminalization for the rest of their lives. Year now 1404 01:28:00,600 --> 01:28:05,360 Speaker 1: in a system that is completely unforgiving. You know, I've 1405 01:28:05,439 --> 01:28:08,520 Speaker 1: shoplifted before. I don't think I've ever said that publicly, 1406 01:28:08,800 --> 01:28:12,479 Speaker 1: but I've shoplifted many times before. Right, I've gone to 1407 01:28:12,560 --> 01:28:16,719 Speaker 1: jail before, Right, But all of those things were things 1408 01:28:16,760 --> 01:28:18,800 Speaker 1: that you know, when I was arrested for the first 1409 01:28:18,840 --> 01:28:23,120 Speaker 1: time in Berkeley, California. My mom recently handed me, like 1410 01:28:23,240 --> 01:28:26,960 Speaker 1: my arrest record from Berkeley, and it said, like, if 1411 01:28:26,960 --> 01:28:29,160 Speaker 1: she doesn't do anything else for the next year, this 1412 01:28:29,200 --> 01:28:33,880 Speaker 1: record will be destroyed. Right. That doesn't happen anymore, right, 1413 01:28:34,400 --> 01:28:37,360 Speaker 1: And so that's what I mean when I say, like 1414 01:28:37,920 --> 01:28:40,720 Speaker 1: the system was forgiving of my brother and of me, 1415 01:28:41,840 --> 01:28:45,439 Speaker 1: but now we would have had a different fate. Well, 1416 01:28:45,439 --> 01:28:49,760 Speaker 1: and there's such a rigidity now. And and even when 1417 01:28:49,800 --> 01:28:52,320 Speaker 1: I when I hear you talk about, you know, the 1418 01:28:52,360 --> 01:28:55,720 Speaker 1: neighborhood and the boys in the neighborhood, now they would 1419 01:28:55,720 --> 01:28:59,680 Speaker 1: have been described as gang members. I wonder about what 1420 01:28:59,800 --> 01:29:02,960 Speaker 1: that means when people hear the term, because so much 1421 01:29:03,000 --> 01:29:06,679 Speaker 1: of what we know, when it hasn't been our life, 1422 01:29:07,320 --> 01:29:10,920 Speaker 1: is what we see on TV. And we think gang 1423 01:29:10,960 --> 01:29:14,360 Speaker 1: member means murderer means someone who kills someone to get 1424 01:29:14,400 --> 01:29:17,599 Speaker 1: in a gang means someone who is a drug dealer 1425 01:29:17,720 --> 01:29:22,759 Speaker 1: means and that's much more often than not not the case. 1426 01:29:24,360 --> 01:29:27,920 Speaker 1: And you know, people get identified as gang members. I 1427 01:29:27,960 --> 01:29:31,640 Speaker 1: now know from my police experience. If they're on the 1428 01:29:31,720 --> 01:29:36,080 Speaker 1: same block as a person who is confirmed in a gang, 1429 01:29:36,560 --> 01:29:38,960 Speaker 1: if they're seen at the same street corner, then all 1430 01:29:39,120 --> 01:29:42,080 Speaker 1: those kids seen with that one kid or gang members 1431 01:29:42,120 --> 01:29:45,080 Speaker 1: by association. That's how the police legally are allowed to 1432 01:29:45,080 --> 01:29:49,200 Speaker 1: identify you. Now. I know a kid who was just 1433 01:29:49,280 --> 01:29:53,240 Speaker 1: released from jail, who went to jail on an associate 1434 01:29:53,360 --> 01:29:58,800 Speaker 1: to murder charge because he was standing next to a 1435 01:29:58,840 --> 01:30:03,519 Speaker 1: guy who got shot in the in an altercation. And 1436 01:30:03,560 --> 01:30:05,320 Speaker 1: when people hear that, they go, that's not probably they 1437 01:30:05,320 --> 01:30:07,320 Speaker 1: can't do that to you, but they did this to 1438 01:30:07,400 --> 01:30:11,320 Speaker 1: this boy. And so I think a there has to 1439 01:30:11,360 --> 01:30:15,040 Speaker 1: be a reassessment with what we believe these definitions to 1440 01:30:15,160 --> 01:30:18,640 Speaker 1: mean and be. We also have to understand that nobody 1441 01:30:18,680 --> 01:30:22,800 Speaker 1: is to be equated to the worst thing they've ever done. 1442 01:30:23,520 --> 01:30:28,719 Speaker 1: And yes to all of that. And I actually think 1443 01:30:28,880 --> 01:30:32,559 Speaker 1: kids who grow up and getting neighborhoods aren't really doing 1444 01:30:32,680 --> 01:30:37,080 Speaker 1: things that are that bad. It's the white affluent kids 1445 01:30:37,720 --> 01:30:43,040 Speaker 1: do much worse and they're not criminalized for that behavior. Right. 1446 01:30:43,520 --> 01:30:47,760 Speaker 1: I think it's part of you know, it's systemic, it's intentional. 1447 01:30:47,840 --> 01:30:50,840 Speaker 1: Manning Marrable talks about that, right, like these systems were 1448 01:30:50,840 --> 01:30:55,800 Speaker 1: intentionally designed to produce these outcomes, the criminalization of black people, right, 1449 01:30:55,920 --> 01:30:58,240 Speaker 1: even the killing of black people at the hands of police. 1450 01:30:58,479 --> 01:31:02,160 Speaker 1: It's not accidental, the disparity and sentencing between cocaine and crack, 1451 01:31:02,280 --> 01:31:08,680 Speaker 1: for example, right, right, So it's all intentional. And we 1452 01:31:08,800 --> 01:31:13,599 Speaker 1: have to remember that children have the right to be children. 1453 01:31:14,120 --> 01:31:16,640 Speaker 1: So like now that I've opened up the can of 1454 01:31:16,680 --> 01:31:20,040 Speaker 1: worms about shef lifting, I won't share this with my mom. Right. 1455 01:31:21,080 --> 01:31:24,280 Speaker 1: The first time I shoplifted, I was in the sixth grade, 1456 01:31:24,920 --> 01:31:27,679 Speaker 1: and I actually was in Berkeley, and my mom had 1457 01:31:27,880 --> 01:31:33,560 Speaker 1: moved me from my neighborhood elementary school to a white 1458 01:31:33,600 --> 01:31:37,240 Speaker 1: private elementary school in Berkeley, like the super white liberal 1459 01:31:37,439 --> 01:31:40,240 Speaker 1: elementary school, and all the kids were rich, right, And 1460 01:31:40,280 --> 01:31:43,000 Speaker 1: the only two black kids I remember black girls I 1461 01:31:43,040 --> 01:31:47,680 Speaker 1: remember were me and Whoopi Goldberg's gold Whoopi Goldberg's daughter Alex, Right. 1462 01:31:49,120 --> 01:31:54,360 Speaker 1: And so these rich white girls, there was some sleepover 1463 01:31:54,640 --> 01:31:57,519 Speaker 1: wanted to go steal some stuff from this toy story 1464 01:31:57,560 --> 01:32:02,200 Speaker 1: called Mr Mops. Right, So we went into Mr Mops 1465 01:32:02,200 --> 01:32:04,400 Speaker 1: and we put a whole lot of ship in our backpacks. 1466 01:32:04,960 --> 01:32:07,599 Speaker 1: We got away with it, and then this is how 1467 01:32:07,640 --> 01:32:11,600 Speaker 1: a sixth grader's mind works. We decided we needed to 1468 01:32:11,640 --> 01:32:16,280 Speaker 1: go back, and in my mind, I'm thinking Mr. Mops 1469 01:32:16,280 --> 01:32:20,240 Speaker 1: workers see thousands of people. They'll never recognize us again 1470 01:32:20,280 --> 01:32:24,799 Speaker 1: because there's thousands of people because I'm Tannora eleven years old, 1471 01:32:25,240 --> 01:32:27,639 Speaker 1: and I don't get no they remembered that you were 1472 01:32:27,720 --> 01:32:31,599 Speaker 1: just in here an hour ago. Right, But I'm thinking Mr. 1473 01:32:31,680 --> 01:32:34,720 Speaker 1: Mops is this big toy store. Thousands of people come 1474 01:32:34,760 --> 01:32:36,919 Speaker 1: in and out, and so that's how we were grabbed 1475 01:32:37,000 --> 01:32:40,519 Speaker 1: because we were stupid enough to go back and believe it. Right, 1476 01:32:43,280 --> 01:32:47,760 Speaker 1: kids have the right to make those kinds of dumb mistakes. Right, 1477 01:32:48,400 --> 01:32:50,880 Speaker 1: not just about that I could go back and get more. 1478 01:32:50,960 --> 01:32:54,760 Speaker 1: We could go back and get more, right, but you know, 1479 01:32:55,320 --> 01:32:58,120 Speaker 1: to take things that don't belong to you, you need 1480 01:32:58,160 --> 01:33:01,439 Speaker 1: to be corrected. But it shouldn't be a criminal justice 1481 01:33:01,439 --> 01:33:04,320 Speaker 1: system that does it. And I think that this is 1482 01:33:04,360 --> 01:33:07,280 Speaker 1: the work of people like Brian Stevenson and others that 1483 01:33:07,600 --> 01:33:11,920 Speaker 1: is just incredible if you look at what's happened since 1484 01:33:11,960 --> 01:33:17,000 Speaker 1: the height of kind of mass youth incarceration um in 1485 01:33:17,040 --> 01:33:19,719 Speaker 1: the nineties, with the passage of things like Prop. Twenty 1486 01:33:19,760 --> 01:33:24,200 Speaker 1: one that gave discretion to prosecutors instead of judges about 1487 01:33:24,600 --> 01:33:28,880 Speaker 1: you know, children and how they were charged. We've seen 1488 01:33:29,080 --> 01:33:34,559 Speaker 1: a dramatic decrease in the criminalization of children, especially in 1489 01:33:34,600 --> 01:33:39,559 Speaker 1: places like California. In San Francisco, UM, there's virtually no 1490 01:33:39,720 --> 01:33:44,320 Speaker 1: children who are incarcerated, right, And it's because people are 1491 01:33:44,360 --> 01:33:48,200 Speaker 1: starting to make choices and starting to recognize especially almost 1492 01:33:48,280 --> 01:33:53,280 Speaker 1: everybody is a parent, right. Kids do dumb shit. You 1493 01:33:53,280 --> 01:33:57,080 Speaker 1: you did dumb shit, right like, so we shouldn't be 1494 01:33:57,880 --> 01:34:04,599 Speaker 1: losing lives and traumatizing further traumatizing these children for doing 1495 01:34:04,600 --> 01:34:07,840 Speaker 1: the dumb ship that they're supposed to do because they're kids, right, 1496 01:34:08,360 --> 01:34:12,160 Speaker 1: and really affords an opportunity to teach lessons. I remember, 1497 01:34:12,200 --> 01:34:14,719 Speaker 1: remember kids, I don't know, you're not really that old. 1498 01:34:14,760 --> 01:34:18,360 Speaker 1: So when I was growing up, we had fights at 1499 01:34:18,360 --> 01:34:21,639 Speaker 1: school all the damn time. Like, we were always fighting, 1500 01:34:21,640 --> 01:34:23,800 Speaker 1: and we thought we wouldn't get suspended if you waited 1501 01:34:23,920 --> 01:34:26,400 Speaker 1: till three o'clock. In fact, you wouldn't wait till three 1502 01:34:26,400 --> 01:34:29,679 Speaker 1: o'clock and fight off of school grounds. Then you could fight, 1503 01:34:30,320 --> 01:34:32,760 Speaker 1: and then somebody got beat up, and then you go 1504 01:34:32,880 --> 01:34:34,920 Speaker 1: home and if the school found out about it, you 1505 01:34:34,960 --> 01:34:37,080 Speaker 1: had to go in and write some ship, I will 1506 01:34:37,120 --> 01:34:40,879 Speaker 1: not fight anymore, you know. Oh, my god, lines, Yeah, 1507 01:34:41,040 --> 01:34:43,040 Speaker 1: when you had to write sentences on the board when 1508 01:34:43,080 --> 01:34:45,639 Speaker 1: you got in trouble. Do you know what fights are 1509 01:34:45,680 --> 01:34:50,639 Speaker 1: called at school now? Assault and battery? And I think 1510 01:34:50,680 --> 01:34:56,120 Speaker 1: that's absolutely ridiculous. Their kids, their children, right, we've all 1511 01:34:56,200 --> 01:34:58,920 Speaker 1: had fights. I hit Damon Skillern and the knows in 1512 01:34:58,960 --> 01:35:01,200 Speaker 1: the first grade because he tried to kiss me. I 1513 01:35:01,240 --> 01:35:03,519 Speaker 1: remember being in the fourth grade, and I can't think 1514 01:35:03,560 --> 01:35:05,559 Speaker 1: of what the boy's name was. He was a sixth 1515 01:35:05,560 --> 01:35:08,439 Speaker 1: grader and he hit my best friend Matt, And I 1516 01:35:08,520 --> 01:35:12,160 Speaker 1: kicked the sixth grader in the nuts great, like a 1517 01:35:12,240 --> 01:35:15,400 Speaker 1: swift kick to the nuts. He dropped. Then it was 1518 01:35:15,439 --> 01:35:17,320 Speaker 1: a whole thing where he was embarrassed because he got 1519 01:35:17,320 --> 01:35:19,519 Speaker 1: beat up by a girl. But I was like, you're 1520 01:35:19,600 --> 01:35:21,720 Speaker 1: bigger than my you know, sixth and fourth grade, like 1521 01:35:21,760 --> 01:35:24,880 Speaker 1: the boys are very differently developed. And I was just like, 1522 01:35:24,960 --> 01:35:27,519 Speaker 1: you pick on kids your own size, and the irony 1523 01:35:27,560 --> 01:35:30,240 Speaker 1: of like this tiny, scrawny little girl like standing over 1524 01:35:30,280 --> 01:35:33,160 Speaker 1: the sixth grader who was in the fetal position, screaming 1525 01:35:33,200 --> 01:35:35,599 Speaker 1: at him about how he should pick on somebody as 1526 01:35:35,640 --> 01:35:37,479 Speaker 1: big as him, and I was like half the size 1527 01:35:37,479 --> 01:35:40,440 Speaker 1: of my friend Matt. But I mean he clocked him, 1528 01:35:40,479 --> 01:35:43,160 Speaker 1: and none of us got in trouble. It was just 1529 01:35:43,320 --> 01:35:46,840 Speaker 1: like a playground thing and that was over. I got 1530 01:35:46,840 --> 01:35:48,880 Speaker 1: in trouble in fifth grade when I stolen a racer 1531 01:35:48,920 --> 01:35:51,120 Speaker 1: and that's when I had to write sentences on the board. 1532 01:35:52,720 --> 01:35:55,760 Speaker 1: Kids take stuff, they do stuff I even think about. 1533 01:35:55,760 --> 01:35:58,280 Speaker 1: You know, you're talking about your brother and his friends, 1534 01:35:58,320 --> 01:36:02,719 Speaker 1: like playing in a you know, construction space, throwing pain around. 1535 01:36:02,760 --> 01:36:06,080 Speaker 1: Like I'm an adult, and sometimes I go through construction sites. 1536 01:36:06,280 --> 01:36:09,280 Speaker 1: I'm just really curious about houses. Like I straight up 1537 01:36:09,280 --> 01:36:12,320 Speaker 1: will pull over, like in the neighborhood and be like, oh, 1538 01:36:12,360 --> 01:36:14,719 Speaker 1: and if it gates open, I'll just go wander around. 1539 01:36:14,880 --> 01:36:17,120 Speaker 1: I've never thought that I was going to get arrested 1540 01:36:17,160 --> 01:36:23,960 Speaker 1: for that. And you won't, right, you won't, right, and 1541 01:36:25,439 --> 01:36:28,240 Speaker 1: ard fight. Little white kids are not going to go 1542 01:36:28,320 --> 01:36:32,800 Speaker 1: to jail for the school yard fight, but my son will. Right. Well, 1543 01:36:32,880 --> 01:36:37,000 Speaker 1: and interesting that the way that we are policing younger 1544 01:36:37,040 --> 01:36:41,640 Speaker 1: and younger children is becoming more and more aggressive. You know, 1545 01:36:42,040 --> 01:36:45,519 Speaker 1: they wouldn't they wouldn't have. I don't think schools were 1546 01:36:45,520 --> 01:36:49,280 Speaker 1: calling it assault and I was eight, but now that's 1547 01:36:49,320 --> 01:36:53,439 Speaker 1: a thing that's crazy. Well, and this is something that's 1548 01:36:53,479 --> 01:36:58,640 Speaker 1: interesting to me. Is the disparity in whether it's potential 1549 01:36:58,720 --> 01:37:04,800 Speaker 1: or actual punishment. Because when I think about the work 1550 01:37:04,880 --> 01:37:07,640 Speaker 1: you do today, and I think about the courage that 1551 01:37:07,720 --> 01:37:10,519 Speaker 1: it requires to step outside and do it, I think 1552 01:37:10,560 --> 01:37:14,479 Speaker 1: about the difference. Again, Let's say it's you and me 1553 01:37:14,920 --> 01:37:18,080 Speaker 1: at a protest, the difference in what happens to us, 1554 01:37:18,720 --> 01:37:24,120 Speaker 1: because you were charged with assaulting a police officer, uh 1555 01:37:24,360 --> 01:37:27,040 Speaker 1: in a courtroom, and the irony that you were that 1556 01:37:27,040 --> 01:37:30,000 Speaker 1: that the man here's this So the story goes, he 1557 01:37:30,040 --> 01:37:32,720 Speaker 1: got grabbed on the arm while he was walking, you know, 1558 01:37:33,120 --> 01:37:35,720 Speaker 1: somebody out of a courtroom, so to be out of 1559 01:37:35,760 --> 01:37:38,880 Speaker 1: the police commission meeting. It was a police commission meeting, 1560 01:37:38,880 --> 01:37:41,280 Speaker 1: thank you. So the I'm like, people grabbed me by 1561 01:37:41,280 --> 01:37:43,639 Speaker 1: the arm all the time, like strangers on the street 1562 01:37:43,640 --> 01:37:45,400 Speaker 1: who are like, hey, Brooke Davis, like can I take 1563 01:37:45,400 --> 01:37:48,360 Speaker 1: a picture of you? Like it is that assault? So 1564 01:37:49,320 --> 01:37:53,000 Speaker 1: this feels ridiculous to begin with that, Like grabbing somebody 1565 01:37:53,000 --> 01:37:56,120 Speaker 1: by the arm and saying hey, like go easy on 1566 01:37:56,160 --> 01:37:59,559 Speaker 1: this kid, could be assault. But what makes it even 1567 01:37:59,600 --> 01:38:02,920 Speaker 1: crazy to me is that another woman said I'm the 1568 01:38:02,920 --> 01:38:05,400 Speaker 1: one who grabbed the officer by the arm. But she's 1569 01:38:05,400 --> 01:38:10,160 Speaker 1: a white woman, and yet the l a p D 1570 01:38:10,360 --> 01:38:13,599 Speaker 1: charged you with assault, and then they managed to drum 1571 01:38:13,720 --> 01:38:16,360 Speaker 1: up seven other charges, so they charged you with eight 1572 01:38:16,520 --> 01:38:20,840 Speaker 1: was eight misdemeanors altogether, So this could have potentially carried 1573 01:38:20,840 --> 01:38:24,439 Speaker 1: a prison sentence of a year. And that's if they 1574 01:38:24,600 --> 01:38:28,720 Speaker 1: did them as concurrent, not as consecutive. Consecutive would have 1575 01:38:28,760 --> 01:38:33,640 Speaker 1: been three and a half years. And I guess what 1576 01:38:33,640 --> 01:38:36,840 Speaker 1: what's interesting to me is that despite someone else saying no, 1577 01:38:37,000 --> 01:38:39,760 Speaker 1: I grabbed the cop, and despite every witness in the 1578 01:38:39,760 --> 01:38:42,960 Speaker 1: courtroom saying we didn't seem Alianna do that, and despite 1579 01:38:42,960 --> 01:38:46,439 Speaker 1: you saying I absolutely did not do that, they were 1580 01:38:46,560 --> 01:38:52,639 Speaker 1: pressing you. And it feels to me as an observer, 1581 01:38:52,920 --> 01:38:56,040 Speaker 1: like this is a policing of dissent, Like this is 1582 01:38:56,080 --> 01:38:59,800 Speaker 1: a policing of your voice. There are and and in 1583 01:39:00,040 --> 01:39:04,719 Speaker 1: at in that article that I got the scourge quote 1584 01:39:04,720 --> 01:39:07,920 Speaker 1: from I get real nerdy on my homework, they said 1585 01:39:07,920 --> 01:39:10,599 Speaker 1: something that I found really interesting that this has and 1586 01:39:10,600 --> 01:39:13,200 Speaker 1: and to quote this has far ranging implications for free 1587 01:39:13,240 --> 01:39:16,599 Speaker 1: speech in Los Angeles. Los Angeles is not the only 1588 01:39:16,600 --> 01:39:19,880 Speaker 1: city led effort to silence activists. The city council also 1589 01:39:19,960 --> 01:39:23,240 Speaker 1: recently created a new set of rules against public disruptions 1590 01:39:23,760 --> 01:39:26,160 Speaker 1: aimed at banning those who disrupt l A City council 1591 01:39:26,160 --> 01:39:30,800 Speaker 1: meetings from attending future meetings, which went into effect last January. 1592 01:39:31,160 --> 01:39:34,200 Speaker 1: Public disruption is a time honored activist strategy to bring 1593 01:39:34,240 --> 01:39:38,439 Speaker 1: pressure to bear on government officials and your lawyers went 1594 01:39:38,439 --> 01:39:41,879 Speaker 1: on to say publicly that the city is treating legitimate 1595 01:39:41,880 --> 01:39:45,920 Speaker 1: forms of dissent as a crime. Yes, and it is 1596 01:39:45,960 --> 01:39:50,880 Speaker 1: our right, our constitutional right to free speech and to protest. 1597 01:39:51,800 --> 01:39:54,200 Speaker 1: We are meant to hold our government accountable because it's 1598 01:39:54,200 --> 01:39:56,760 Speaker 1: meant to be a government for us. So what does 1599 01:39:56,800 --> 01:40:01,760 Speaker 1: it look like as an activist today? When when we 1600 01:40:01,840 --> 01:40:05,120 Speaker 1: think about how kids are getting treated, when we think 1601 01:40:05,120 --> 01:40:07,160 Speaker 1: about how activists are getting treated, when we think about 1602 01:40:07,200 --> 01:40:12,519 Speaker 1: disparate punishment depending on what community you fall into, how 1603 01:40:12,560 --> 01:40:14,519 Speaker 1: do you how do you? How do you get up 1604 01:40:14,560 --> 01:40:19,519 Speaker 1: every morning? Um? So that so I actually was tired 1605 01:40:19,520 --> 01:40:21,519 Speaker 1: to go on a police commission meeting, but when they 1606 01:40:21,600 --> 01:40:23,960 Speaker 1: tried to ban me from it, and you know, talk 1607 01:40:24,000 --> 01:40:28,040 Speaker 1: about all criminalized me for going, I'm I'm never missing 1608 01:40:28,080 --> 01:40:31,360 Speaker 1: another police commission meeting, right, So that's part of how 1609 01:40:31,400 --> 01:40:37,160 Speaker 1: I get up because I actually get inspiration and feel 1610 01:40:37,200 --> 01:40:40,120 Speaker 1: like I'm living in my purpose by doing this ship, right, 1611 01:40:40,160 --> 01:40:42,479 Speaker 1: Like I don't want to just sit home and watch 1612 01:40:42,560 --> 01:40:47,639 Speaker 1: TV or you know, play games or whatever. There's stuff 1613 01:40:47,680 --> 01:40:50,479 Speaker 1: that needs to be done, and I enjoy it. It's 1614 01:40:50,600 --> 01:40:54,280 Speaker 1: like UM, artists in their art, right, Like I have 1615 01:40:54,400 --> 01:40:57,400 Speaker 1: to live in it, right. So it's like artists and 1616 01:40:57,439 --> 01:41:02,120 Speaker 1: their art. Yeah, this is this is the thing that 1617 01:41:02,160 --> 01:41:06,320 Speaker 1: you make with that inner duty. Yeah, it's my purpose, right. 1618 01:41:06,439 --> 01:41:11,000 Speaker 1: I believe it's my purpose, right, sacred duty. Right. And 1619 01:41:11,360 --> 01:41:17,400 Speaker 1: what happened was absolutely the criminalization of black protests specifically right. 1620 01:41:18,160 --> 01:41:21,160 Speaker 1: And so there were other people who've been arrested before 1621 01:41:21,200 --> 01:41:24,719 Speaker 1: I was arrested in other incidents, all of them black 1622 01:41:25,439 --> 01:41:29,800 Speaker 1: white folks. UM had been arrested but not charged. So 1623 01:41:30,400 --> 01:41:32,720 Speaker 1: you know, there was one of the charges that they 1624 01:41:32,800 --> 01:41:35,479 Speaker 1: tacked on, UM was about an arrest when we did 1625 01:41:35,479 --> 01:41:40,360 Speaker 1: a disruption after a brother named Carnell Snell was murdered 1626 01:41:40,479 --> 01:41:45,280 Speaker 1: and they found his murder in policy and we began 1627 01:41:45,400 --> 01:41:49,439 Speaker 1: to chant his name, and I, along with two of 1628 01:41:49,479 --> 01:41:53,760 Speaker 1: my white comrades, white women, comrades who understand that their 1629 01:41:53,880 --> 01:41:57,719 Speaker 1: freedom is bound up with mine, right, all got arrested together. 1630 01:41:59,040 --> 01:42:01,120 Speaker 1: And you were the only one charge. I was the 1631 01:42:01,160 --> 01:42:06,240 Speaker 1: only one charge. And so they wouldn't. They did, never charged. 1632 01:42:06,960 --> 01:42:09,559 Speaker 1: Her name is Gina, who said that she's the one 1633 01:42:09,640 --> 01:42:12,960 Speaker 1: that touched the officer's arm. I did not. I'm sitting 1634 01:42:13,000 --> 01:42:16,439 Speaker 1: here until I saw there was video evidence, right until 1635 01:42:16,520 --> 01:42:19,200 Speaker 1: I saw the video and that I absolutely did not 1636 01:42:19,360 --> 01:42:23,200 Speaker 1: touch this officer. Right, I'm sitting here racking my brain, 1637 01:42:23,240 --> 01:42:25,320 Speaker 1: going did I brush him on the way out? Because 1638 01:42:25,560 --> 01:42:28,360 Speaker 1: what was happening is they were trying to escort out 1639 01:42:28,400 --> 01:42:32,280 Speaker 1: the aunt of a woman named Waukesha Wilson who had 1640 01:42:32,320 --> 01:42:37,160 Speaker 1: been killed inside l APD jail um and I wanted 1641 01:42:37,200 --> 01:42:39,839 Speaker 1: to make sure she was okay. Her name is Sheila. 1642 01:42:40,120 --> 01:42:42,040 Speaker 1: I wanted to make sure she was okay. And then 1643 01:42:42,280 --> 01:42:44,680 Speaker 1: when I got arrested too, I'm going, well, what did 1644 01:42:44,720 --> 01:42:50,040 Speaker 1: I do? You know? And so there is a deliberate 1645 01:42:50,080 --> 01:42:54,519 Speaker 1: effort I believe to not just silence protest, but silence 1646 01:42:54,640 --> 01:42:58,920 Speaker 1: black protests. Because part of what happens when you say, 1647 01:42:59,000 --> 01:43:01,680 Speaker 1: you know, why am I not following black women right 1648 01:43:02,479 --> 01:43:06,320 Speaker 1: is I think when black people engage in protest, we're 1649 01:43:06,520 --> 01:43:10,720 Speaker 1: less bound and tied to the system, and so our 1650 01:43:10,720 --> 01:43:14,440 Speaker 1: protest looks a lot more radical, you know, our protest 1651 01:43:15,040 --> 01:43:18,400 Speaker 1: um is much more far reaching in terms of what 1652 01:43:18,479 --> 01:43:22,439 Speaker 1: we want, and so silence that. And I think people 1653 01:43:22,560 --> 01:43:26,960 Speaker 1: looking at it from the outside are afraid of the 1654 01:43:27,080 --> 01:43:32,720 Speaker 1: energetic power of it because, whether they're consciously aware or not, 1655 01:43:34,080 --> 01:43:37,320 Speaker 1: in in my observation of the power of the protest 1656 01:43:37,400 --> 01:43:41,320 Speaker 1: of black women, it feels so big and to your point, 1657 01:43:41,439 --> 01:43:45,080 Speaker 1: maybe so radical, because it carries the energy of life 1658 01:43:45,080 --> 01:43:51,080 Speaker 1: and death stakes, right. And I remember that guy who 1659 01:43:51,080 --> 01:43:53,200 Speaker 1: made the sign at the first Women's march in d C. 1660 01:43:53,400 --> 01:43:54,599 Speaker 1: That was like, oh, am, I going to see all 1661 01:43:54,600 --> 01:43:56,320 Speaker 1: you all nice white ladies at the next Black Lives 1662 01:43:56,320 --> 01:44:00,519 Speaker 1: Matter protest, which I thought was amazing. And and again, 1663 01:44:00,800 --> 01:44:05,120 Speaker 1: just living in the relative privilege of this body. I 1664 01:44:05,160 --> 01:44:08,920 Speaker 1: can go to the women's march, and I can raise 1665 01:44:09,000 --> 01:44:10,880 Speaker 1: my voice, and I can be an activist, and I 1666 01:44:10,880 --> 01:44:13,639 Speaker 1: can show up in spaces and raise money for causes. 1667 01:44:13,680 --> 01:44:19,840 Speaker 1: And but I don't walk down the street feeling as 1668 01:44:19,840 --> 01:44:24,519 Speaker 1: though my life might be threatened. Very often late at night, 1669 01:44:24,560 --> 01:44:26,439 Speaker 1: I'm nervous. I walk with my keys in my hand. 1670 01:44:26,479 --> 01:44:28,679 Speaker 1: I like, don't park in certain places. That's being a woman. 1671 01:44:29,680 --> 01:44:32,920 Speaker 1: But I don't have the same experience that you or 1672 01:44:32,960 --> 01:44:38,560 Speaker 1: my girlfriend lives in Venice have on the sidewalk. And 1673 01:44:38,640 --> 01:44:45,240 Speaker 1: so I wonder if my sacred rage, when I'm out 1674 01:44:45,280 --> 01:44:49,440 Speaker 1: screaming or on a podium or you know, leading a protest, 1675 01:44:50,560 --> 01:44:54,959 Speaker 1: doesn't feel as threatening because I am inherently not as threatened. 1676 01:44:56,479 --> 01:45:00,599 Speaker 1: I also think that when you talk about kind of 1677 01:45:00,640 --> 01:45:05,000 Speaker 1: the when we've talked about like the proximity to privilege, 1678 01:45:05,160 --> 01:45:10,080 Speaker 1: So when you talk about privilege and the proximity to privilege, um, 1679 01:45:10,200 --> 01:45:14,240 Speaker 1: part of that privilege is a certain degree of protection 1680 01:45:14,479 --> 01:45:17,920 Speaker 1: of you by the system. Right. So absolutely there's the 1681 01:45:18,080 --> 01:45:23,479 Speaker 1: energy piece. But it's also like Courtney and Danny, who 1682 01:45:23,479 --> 01:45:25,720 Speaker 1: are the two white women who were arrested with me? 1683 01:45:27,080 --> 01:45:29,640 Speaker 1: You know, we brought it up, well, why are the 1684 01:45:29,680 --> 01:45:31,880 Speaker 1: two white women not being charged? Not that we want 1685 01:45:31,920 --> 01:45:35,040 Speaker 1: them charge, but why are they not being charged? Right? 1686 01:45:35,360 --> 01:45:40,839 Speaker 1: And it was really the system city attorney right, nodding 1687 01:45:40,880 --> 01:45:45,639 Speaker 1: and going, oh, they're okay, right, it's part of this there, 1688 01:45:46,200 --> 01:45:49,880 Speaker 1: but they're next to us. There are folks You're like, 1689 01:45:49,920 --> 01:45:52,200 Speaker 1: these are what these people are with me, not with you. 1690 01:45:52,680 --> 01:45:57,240 Speaker 1: We did the exact same thing, right, you know, part 1691 01:45:57,280 --> 01:46:01,160 Speaker 1: of them. Gina is sitting up going idea, I even 1692 01:46:01,200 --> 01:46:04,320 Speaker 1: at the time I was being arrested, she didn't touch you. 1693 01:46:04,479 --> 01:46:07,639 Speaker 1: I touched you. You would think at least they grab 1694 01:46:07,760 --> 01:46:12,280 Speaker 1: her too. Nope, never got grabbed, never got charged. A 1695 01:46:12,400 --> 01:46:14,599 Speaker 1: year has gone by, so they can't charge her now. 1696 01:46:15,240 --> 01:46:18,920 Speaker 1: But over and over and over again in the documents 1697 01:46:18,960 --> 01:46:22,400 Speaker 1: that were submitted, everything she's saying, she did it. So 1698 01:46:22,439 --> 01:46:25,960 Speaker 1: I think it's part of the system saying, you know, 1699 01:46:26,080 --> 01:46:30,160 Speaker 1: you might not get all of the white supremacist patriarchal benefits, 1700 01:46:30,160 --> 01:46:32,720 Speaker 1: but you're gonna get some of the white supremacists benefits. 1701 01:46:32,720 --> 01:46:37,240 Speaker 1: White woman, right, you still here, right, And I think 1702 01:46:37,280 --> 01:46:40,240 Speaker 1: that's part of what's happening, as well as the energy. 1703 01:46:40,360 --> 01:46:44,000 Speaker 1: And I think that what you are challenging in the 1704 01:46:44,200 --> 01:46:49,920 Speaker 1: system is at the root of the system itself. You know, 1705 01:46:50,040 --> 01:46:54,360 Speaker 1: you are talking about the disparity in how the system 1706 01:46:54,439 --> 01:46:56,439 Speaker 1: is applied to people of color, and you are doing 1707 01:46:56,479 --> 01:46:59,960 Speaker 1: that as a black woman, and your threat to the 1708 01:47:00,080 --> 01:47:04,719 Speaker 1: system is bigger, and you know the It's not lost 1709 01:47:04,760 --> 01:47:08,960 Speaker 1: on me that historically there has been an attempt to 1710 01:47:09,479 --> 01:47:14,760 Speaker 1: separate women who are trying to make social change with 1711 01:47:14,960 --> 01:47:17,880 Speaker 1: meaning white women trying to make social change from communities 1712 01:47:17,920 --> 01:47:20,320 Speaker 1: of color, because all that the people at the top 1713 01:47:20,360 --> 01:47:22,639 Speaker 1: want to do is bifurcate the people who are upset 1714 01:47:22,680 --> 01:47:25,479 Speaker 1: with them. So so I even wonder if it goes 1715 01:47:25,520 --> 01:47:28,080 Speaker 1: deeper in the court system where they're like, well, if 1716 01:47:28,120 --> 01:47:30,360 Speaker 1: we can make the white ladies feel protected, maybe they 1717 01:47:30,360 --> 01:47:33,639 Speaker 1: won't come to the next Black Lives Matter protest, Maybe 1718 01:47:33,640 --> 01:47:35,719 Speaker 1: they won't be at the next White People for Black 1719 01:47:35,760 --> 01:47:39,439 Speaker 1: Lives event because we gave them a pass. And whether 1720 01:47:39,479 --> 01:47:42,720 Speaker 1: that's a conscious choice or not, there is the insidious 1721 01:47:42,840 --> 01:47:47,520 Speaker 1: nature of let's separate, Like look at women's suffrage, let's separate. 1722 01:47:48,520 --> 01:47:52,640 Speaker 1: Let you know it, there has always been a desire 1723 01:47:52,920 --> 01:47:56,320 Speaker 1: by the powerful few to make sure that the more 1724 01:47:56,400 --> 01:47:59,519 Speaker 1: that the less powerful masses don't realize how much collective 1725 01:47:59,520 --> 01:48:04,920 Speaker 1: power they us together. Absolutely absolutely, And that's like, that's 1726 01:48:04,920 --> 01:48:08,400 Speaker 1: where I think that the sacred duty your when you 1727 01:48:08,439 --> 01:48:12,120 Speaker 1: talk about being a womanist, being being here for like 1728 01:48:12,160 --> 01:48:16,040 Speaker 1: a truly intersectional community of women. We have to double 1729 01:48:16,080 --> 01:48:19,759 Speaker 1: down together because I'm like, oh, I'm not gonna get duped. 1730 01:48:19,800 --> 01:48:21,200 Speaker 1: I'm not going to do the thing they did a 1731 01:48:21,240 --> 01:48:24,160 Speaker 1: hundred years ago. No no, no, no no, no, that's just 1732 01:48:24,160 --> 01:48:26,280 Speaker 1: not gonna happen. I think we need to lift up 1733 01:48:26,800 --> 01:48:29,680 Speaker 1: that there are hella white women doing it right, Like, 1734 01:48:30,320 --> 01:48:33,840 Speaker 1: so Danny and Courtney did go to jail with me, 1735 01:48:33,960 --> 01:48:36,840 Speaker 1: they did get arrested with me right, Gina is saying, 1736 01:48:37,040 --> 01:48:40,080 Speaker 1: don't arrest her, take me right. So there are women 1737 01:48:40,160 --> 01:48:44,439 Speaker 1: who are starting to see who see the rules right, 1738 01:48:44,800 --> 01:48:48,719 Speaker 1: and you know, how to spend their privilege exactly exactly. 1739 01:48:48,760 --> 01:48:51,639 Speaker 1: And I always feel like as we talk about struggle, 1740 01:48:52,439 --> 01:48:56,519 Speaker 1: we always have to uplift the hope, right, that there's 1741 01:48:56,960 --> 01:48:59,680 Speaker 1: it's a you know, Dr King talks about the beautiful, 1742 01:49:00,320 --> 01:49:03,840 Speaker 1: the beauty and the struggle, right, and so I talked 1743 01:49:03,880 --> 01:49:07,559 Speaker 1: about Molly, But I don't think I've never had as 1744 01:49:07,640 --> 01:49:13,240 Speaker 1: many white friends as I have in the struggle, like, 1745 01:49:13,840 --> 01:49:18,320 Speaker 1: because these are white people who aren't perfect, right, but 1746 01:49:18,439 --> 01:49:23,280 Speaker 1: who I trust, right. I think that for black people 1747 01:49:23,360 --> 01:49:29,960 Speaker 1: there's a massive distrust of white folks because it's it's reasonable, right, 1748 01:49:29,960 --> 01:49:34,920 Speaker 1: it's logical. But there's a few we in our meetings 1749 01:49:34,920 --> 01:49:38,240 Speaker 1: we pour something called libation, which kind of honors our 1750 01:49:38,280 --> 01:49:41,760 Speaker 1: ancestors and summons those spirits into the space. And as 1751 01:49:42,320 --> 01:49:45,519 Speaker 1: for guidance, and we always, you know this Sunday when 1752 01:49:45,520 --> 01:49:49,320 Speaker 1: we have our meeting, will absolutely call Tony Morrison, right, 1753 01:49:49,840 --> 01:49:54,240 Speaker 1: will call on those who help us move forward and 1754 01:49:55,360 --> 01:49:58,120 Speaker 1: white people and sometimes we'll lift them up, like on 1755 01:49:58,160 --> 01:50:02,200 Speaker 1: social media, or whatever um white people are are allied 1756 01:50:02,200 --> 01:50:05,840 Speaker 1: group is called White People for Black Lives. They've been 1757 01:50:05,920 --> 01:50:10,719 Speaker 1: since I think they were founded in four um they'll 1758 01:50:10,800 --> 01:50:19,719 Speaker 1: hashtag John Brown, John Brown, John Brown. Right, they're calling 1759 01:50:19,880 --> 01:50:25,400 Speaker 1: on for them the ancestor that shows them how can 1760 01:50:25,439 --> 01:50:29,040 Speaker 1: white people really be down? And we're not asking people 1761 01:50:29,120 --> 01:50:33,759 Speaker 1: to you know, literally sacrifice their lives and the lives 1762 01:50:33,800 --> 01:50:37,240 Speaker 1: of their sons. That's what John Brown did, right, But 1763 01:50:37,360 --> 01:50:42,640 Speaker 1: that he was down like that, like Mama Harriet's freedom 1764 01:50:42,720 --> 01:50:46,200 Speaker 1: means enough to him that he would give up his 1765 01:50:46,360 --> 01:50:49,880 Speaker 1: life and his son's life, right in order for us 1766 01:50:49,920 --> 01:50:53,639 Speaker 1: to be free and order. He saw his freedom as 1767 01:50:53,720 --> 01:50:56,479 Speaker 1: bound up with ours. And I think in the midst 1768 01:50:56,479 --> 01:51:00,519 Speaker 1: of struggle, right, like really engaging in this ruggle, that's 1769 01:51:00,560 --> 01:51:04,240 Speaker 1: one of the greatest beauties that racism is an absent 1770 01:51:04,360 --> 01:51:09,280 Speaker 1: from the struggle. But I trust the white people in 1771 01:51:09,320 --> 01:51:14,240 Speaker 1: the struggle to a whole different degree that I trust, 1772 01:51:14,560 --> 01:51:17,439 Speaker 1: you know, the white gentrifiers in my neighborhood, right, who 1773 01:51:17,479 --> 01:51:20,160 Speaker 1: I don't trust at all, Right, like the ones who 1774 01:51:20,240 --> 01:51:22,639 Speaker 1: are going to call the police on my kids. Right, 1775 01:51:23,320 --> 01:51:30,200 Speaker 1: I'm able to see white people differently as allies as accomplices, right, 1776 01:51:31,000 --> 01:51:36,519 Speaker 1: willing to disrupt a system that seemingly benefits them. And 1777 01:51:36,560 --> 01:51:39,879 Speaker 1: it's such a relief, isn't it. Yeah? And I always 1778 01:51:39,880 --> 01:51:43,479 Speaker 1: tell my daughter, my middle daughter, who is my free spirit, 1779 01:51:43,560 --> 01:51:50,880 Speaker 1: who I say is my greatest joy and my greatest frustration. Right, Um, 1780 01:51:50,920 --> 01:51:55,439 Speaker 1: that every moment is a new moment, right, So every 1781 01:51:55,479 --> 01:51:58,720 Speaker 1: moment is a moment to do something differently. Right. So 1782 01:51:58,840 --> 01:52:03,479 Speaker 1: even if yesterday or this morning you were something that 1783 01:52:03,560 --> 01:52:07,679 Speaker 1: you didn't like, you can change it now, right, and 1784 01:52:08,000 --> 01:52:11,080 Speaker 1: recognize that that's a process to write like change as 1785 01:52:11,160 --> 01:52:13,639 Speaker 1: much as you can. Know that. Also, you're gonna get 1786 01:52:13,680 --> 01:52:16,680 Speaker 1: called out on your ship sometimes, right, Like you're not 1787 01:52:16,720 --> 01:52:19,280 Speaker 1: gonna see everything that I see because you don't know 1788 01:52:19,320 --> 01:52:22,120 Speaker 1: what it feels like. Right, let me call you in, 1789 01:52:22,560 --> 01:52:25,400 Speaker 1: call you out right, and know that it's not personal. 1790 01:52:25,960 --> 01:52:29,599 Speaker 1: It's I need you to be better, right, I need 1791 01:52:29,640 --> 01:52:32,280 Speaker 1: you to be We're not going to be able to 1792 01:52:32,320 --> 01:52:37,200 Speaker 1: take down all this ship by ourselves, right. We need you. 1793 01:52:37,520 --> 01:52:39,680 Speaker 1: We need you to step up. We need you to 1794 01:52:40,200 --> 01:52:43,759 Speaker 1: give your voice, your body and your resources and move 1795 01:52:43,800 --> 01:52:46,599 Speaker 1: it so that we can all be free. And how 1796 01:52:46,680 --> 01:52:50,920 Speaker 1: lucky to be invited. M I really think that when 1797 01:52:51,000 --> 01:52:54,679 Speaker 1: you shift, when you look in the mirror and choose 1798 01:52:54,720 --> 01:52:58,839 Speaker 1: to shift your perspective from feeling called out to feeling 1799 01:52:58,960 --> 01:53:01,600 Speaker 1: called in, because let me tell you something like, I 1800 01:53:01,640 --> 01:53:04,200 Speaker 1: come from a fucking crazy Italian family. I have a 1801 01:53:04,200 --> 01:53:05,840 Speaker 1: whole thing where I'm like, if you ever stabbed me 1802 01:53:05,880 --> 01:53:09,320 Speaker 1: in the back, I will eviscerate your existence. Like we're done. 1803 01:53:10,000 --> 01:53:13,439 Speaker 1: I am, I am ice cold. There's no at least 1804 01:53:13,439 --> 01:53:15,280 Speaker 1: have the courage to like look me in the eye 1805 01:53:15,280 --> 01:53:18,080 Speaker 1: and give me the knife in the stomach, like let's 1806 01:53:18,080 --> 01:53:22,519 Speaker 1: have it, let's have an exchange. So and it's like, 1807 01:53:22,640 --> 01:53:25,080 Speaker 1: obviously that's on the extreme end of like going through 1808 01:53:25,080 --> 01:53:27,400 Speaker 1: the worst of the worst with people. But I think 1809 01:53:27,439 --> 01:53:31,240 Speaker 1: there's a version of that when you get into if 1810 01:53:31,280 --> 01:53:35,800 Speaker 1: you feel called out, you feel attacked. Stop looking at 1811 01:53:35,800 --> 01:53:38,880 Speaker 1: it like that, when I stop calling you out, like 1812 01:53:38,960 --> 01:53:41,360 Speaker 1: you're frozen, you're done, You're the person who stabbed me 1813 01:53:41,400 --> 01:53:44,439 Speaker 1: in the bag. You're over, You're never invited again. I 1814 01:53:44,479 --> 01:53:48,679 Speaker 1: think if we can shift this idea that the call out, 1815 01:53:49,840 --> 01:53:52,200 Speaker 1: if it's happening and you're aware of it, you're being 1816 01:53:52,240 --> 01:53:56,479 Speaker 1: called in, you are being invited. You're being invited into 1817 01:53:56,520 --> 01:53:59,080 Speaker 1: a space to learn to do better, to be better. 1818 01:54:00,880 --> 01:54:06,160 Speaker 1: Take it as a welcoming, right, absolutely, And it is 1819 01:54:06,200 --> 01:54:08,599 Speaker 1: it's funny. It's like I know there's people who are 1820 01:54:08,600 --> 01:54:11,080 Speaker 1: listening to that or like what a weird thing to say, 1821 01:54:11,160 --> 01:54:15,519 Speaker 1: but it's like I'm I just I know it to 1822 01:54:15,600 --> 01:54:18,519 Speaker 1: be true and it and it feels like it exists 1823 01:54:18,520 --> 01:54:21,000 Speaker 1: on the same vibration as that feeling of like the 1824 01:54:21,040 --> 01:54:25,639 Speaker 1: activism is the joy that that's that's the purpose, that's 1825 01:54:25,640 --> 01:54:32,640 Speaker 1: the calling. And I know that anyone who comes into 1826 01:54:32,680 --> 01:54:37,120 Speaker 1: any of these spaces that we all work in leaves 1827 01:54:37,200 --> 01:54:42,360 Speaker 1: feeling fuller, leaves feeling more connected to themselves and their purpose. Somehow, 1828 01:54:42,840 --> 01:54:45,880 Speaker 1: it's it's the thing. It's it's the thing that helps 1829 01:54:45,920 --> 01:54:48,400 Speaker 1: you stop trying to fill a hole and that makes 1830 01:54:48,440 --> 01:54:54,080 Speaker 1: you the filler. Yeah, and it's a really special place 1831 01:54:54,160 --> 01:54:58,040 Speaker 1: to be. And I'm curious on that, on that idea 1832 01:54:58,280 --> 01:55:01,280 Speaker 1: of you know, activism service call what do you what 1833 01:55:01,320 --> 01:55:06,680 Speaker 1: do you think makes an effective activist? So I think 1834 01:55:06,720 --> 01:55:11,240 Speaker 1: activism is small, right, So I define myself as an organizer, 1835 01:55:11,240 --> 01:55:14,320 Speaker 1: I keep saying, I define myself as I got many identities, right, 1836 01:55:15,120 --> 01:55:18,360 Speaker 1: And what that means for me is an activist is 1837 01:55:18,480 --> 01:55:22,240 Speaker 1: somebody who stands up and responds to something. But I 1838 01:55:22,280 --> 01:55:24,920 Speaker 1: think we need to be more than that. Right. So 1839 01:55:24,960 --> 01:55:32,720 Speaker 1: an organizer is someone who builds right, builds organization um 1840 01:55:32,800 --> 01:55:37,480 Speaker 1: and also understands that this kind of messianic leadership model 1841 01:55:37,520 --> 01:55:39,720 Speaker 1: where you're going to be an activist and give a 1842 01:55:39,760 --> 01:55:43,720 Speaker 1: great speech and everything's going to change, is flawed by 1843 01:55:43,800 --> 01:55:47,360 Speaker 1: design in order to get you to think that all 1844 01:55:47,400 --> 01:55:52,040 Speaker 1: we need is another Martin Luther King. Right, the version 1845 01:55:52,040 --> 01:55:55,240 Speaker 1: of Martin Luther King that we were fed is wrong anyway, Right, 1846 01:55:55,280 --> 01:55:58,640 Speaker 1: there were thousands of civil rights organizers, right. He just 1847 01:55:58,680 --> 01:56:02,080 Speaker 1: happened to be one of the best orators of all time. Right. 1848 01:56:02,480 --> 01:56:06,520 Speaker 1: But Mama Ella Baker was a far better organizer than him, right, 1849 01:56:06,960 --> 01:56:10,000 Speaker 1: And so we need to understand that there were all 1850 01:56:10,080 --> 01:56:13,720 Speaker 1: of these people. And so for me, I think what 1851 01:56:13,920 --> 01:56:19,600 Speaker 1: makes a good organizer is understanding that we're part of 1852 01:56:20,960 --> 01:56:24,680 Speaker 1: you are not bigger than the movement. Right. So one 1853 01:56:24,680 --> 01:56:27,560 Speaker 1: of my baba's is Hank Jones, who was one of 1854 01:56:27,600 --> 01:56:30,240 Speaker 1: the San Francisco eight of member of the Black Panther Party, 1855 01:56:30,280 --> 01:56:36,840 Speaker 1: who was criminalized and incarcerated for being an active black 1856 01:56:36,880 --> 01:56:40,480 Speaker 1: man in the sixties. Right, And he always says, in 1857 01:56:40,520 --> 01:56:44,560 Speaker 1: this movement, our job is to kill the ego. Right, 1858 01:56:44,680 --> 01:56:47,920 Speaker 1: So the greatest work we can do is to kill 1859 01:56:47,960 --> 01:56:50,640 Speaker 1: the ego. And I think that that's the greatest internal 1860 01:56:50,680 --> 01:56:56,600 Speaker 1: work that we can do. Right. A good organizer doesn't 1861 01:56:56,760 --> 01:57:01,080 Speaker 1: need to have their ego stroked. They never have to 1862 01:57:01,120 --> 01:57:05,840 Speaker 1: be thanked, they never have to be received accolades for 1863 01:57:05,880 --> 01:57:08,600 Speaker 1: the work that they do, because the work should be 1864 01:57:08,760 --> 01:57:13,720 Speaker 1: about the work, right. And so a good organizer recognizes 1865 01:57:13,800 --> 01:57:17,680 Speaker 1: that the most impactful thing that you can do is 1866 01:57:17,760 --> 01:57:24,000 Speaker 1: to create more organizers, right, So to empower people to 1867 01:57:24,120 --> 01:57:28,760 Speaker 1: not seek an asymmetrical messianic model of leadership that puts 1868 01:57:28,800 --> 01:57:33,000 Speaker 1: you at the top right leading everybody else behind you, 1869 01:57:33,080 --> 01:57:36,600 Speaker 1: but recognizes how strong we are when we all march 1870 01:57:36,760 --> 01:57:39,800 Speaker 1: arm in arm, and that you also don't know how 1871 01:57:39,840 --> 01:57:44,400 Speaker 1: to do every damn thing like I can. I'm a teacher, right, 1872 01:57:44,560 --> 01:57:48,400 Speaker 1: so I teach pretty well. Right, I'm a good writer. 1873 01:57:48,960 --> 01:57:53,120 Speaker 1: You know, I am not artistic. I don't have an 1874 01:57:53,240 --> 01:57:57,720 Speaker 1: artistic bone in my body. And we have someone else 1875 01:57:57,760 --> 01:58:02,840 Speaker 1: in the movement. For me, Lola was a brilliant playwrighting poet, right, 1876 01:58:03,800 --> 01:58:06,920 Speaker 1: who if we didn't have that team, our arts and 1877 01:58:07,000 --> 01:58:12,400 Speaker 1: culture team. When I speak or write, I feel like 1878 01:58:12,560 --> 01:58:17,200 Speaker 1: it can hit people the thinking part. But how do 1879 01:58:17,240 --> 01:58:21,560 Speaker 1: you get people to dream? I can't get people to dream. 1880 01:58:21,600 --> 01:58:25,040 Speaker 1: That's what the artists do, right, because they bypass the 1881 01:58:25,040 --> 01:58:28,360 Speaker 1: mind and get to the soul right. And then I can, 1882 01:58:28,600 --> 01:58:32,240 Speaker 1: you know, put in the thoughts right right. But I 1883 01:58:32,280 --> 01:58:36,360 Speaker 1: can write likewise, and if you needed me to draw 1884 01:58:36,400 --> 01:58:38,520 Speaker 1: a picture, I'd be like, here's a stick figure. I'm 1885 01:58:38,600 --> 01:58:43,920 Speaker 1: so sorry, but you're an artist. You're an artist. I'm 1886 01:58:43,960 --> 01:58:48,200 Speaker 1: a performer, but I can't paint. But somebody else. That's 1887 01:58:48,280 --> 01:58:53,280 Speaker 1: the point, Like a good organizer recognizes, we need performance artists, 1888 01:58:53,680 --> 01:58:56,880 Speaker 1: we need painters, we need people who can speak, we 1889 01:58:56,960 --> 01:58:59,200 Speaker 1: need people who can mobilize. We got the sister in 1890 01:58:59,240 --> 01:59:03,440 Speaker 1: Black Lives Matter, her name Jan, who she can make 1891 01:59:03,480 --> 01:59:07,160 Speaker 1: friends with any damn body right, like will be at 1892 01:59:07,160 --> 01:59:11,680 Speaker 1: a protest next thing. You know, she got everybody's life story. 1893 01:59:12,400 --> 01:59:14,920 Speaker 1: She's telling us what they go and do. These people 1894 01:59:14,920 --> 01:59:18,720 Speaker 1: are at the next meeting because Jan, that's a gift 1895 01:59:19,320 --> 01:59:22,800 Speaker 1: to be able to commune with people like that. And 1896 01:59:22,840 --> 01:59:27,680 Speaker 1: so good organizers recognize that you were, you know, one 1897 01:59:28,120 --> 01:59:32,040 Speaker 1: pin and a stained glass window, you know, and it 1898 01:59:32,160 --> 01:59:35,960 Speaker 1: takes your job is to figure out how all these 1899 01:59:36,000 --> 01:59:41,760 Speaker 1: pieces fit together to form that glass, to form that formation, 1900 01:59:41,880 --> 01:59:44,040 Speaker 1: that's gonna get us to where we need to go. 1901 01:59:44,840 --> 01:59:47,480 Speaker 1: I love that, And I think it also takes the 1902 01:59:47,480 --> 01:59:51,960 Speaker 1: pressure of participation off for people who are starting their 1903 01:59:52,040 --> 01:59:55,680 Speaker 1: journey of showing up, speaking up, standing up, because some 1904 01:59:55,720 --> 01:59:57,720 Speaker 1: people think that if they don't know how to do it, 1905 01:59:57,800 --> 02:00:02,200 Speaker 1: they shouldn't they shouldn't or or don't have permission. And 1906 02:00:02,280 --> 02:00:06,320 Speaker 1: when you talk about organizing in the community and getting 1907 02:00:06,360 --> 02:00:09,440 Speaker 1: back to that village that we evolved in as a people, 1908 02:00:11,640 --> 02:00:15,320 Speaker 1: it highlights the reality activism and social change. It's this 1909 02:00:15,400 --> 02:00:18,560 Speaker 1: is a relay race. We run on teams, we passed 1910 02:00:18,600 --> 02:00:21,600 Speaker 1: the baton. That's the only way for us to sustain 1911 02:00:21,800 --> 02:00:25,720 Speaker 1: is to do it together. Yeah, and it people often 1912 02:00:25,760 --> 02:00:29,720 Speaker 1: define describe it as a relay race, but I think 1913 02:00:29,760 --> 02:00:34,240 Speaker 1: it's kind of a modified relay. Right. So, I was 1914 02:00:34,280 --> 02:00:38,920 Speaker 1: talking to somebody about youth organizing and they were talking 1915 02:00:38,920 --> 02:00:42,400 Speaker 1: about this relay people need to pass the baton. I 1916 02:00:42,400 --> 02:00:44,840 Speaker 1: think the baton needs to be passed, but you still 1917 02:00:44,880 --> 02:00:47,640 Speaker 1: gotta keep running. Oh yeah, that's how I picture it. 1918 02:00:47,680 --> 02:00:50,200 Speaker 1: Is like running in a pack and you just passed 1919 02:00:50,280 --> 02:00:53,240 Speaker 1: the thing around. Maybe I should say it feels more like, 1920 02:00:53,800 --> 02:00:56,080 Speaker 1: I don't know, one of those Olympic torch ceremonies where 1921 02:00:56,080 --> 02:00:59,480 Speaker 1: like everybody goes together, certain people have the torch at 1922 02:00:59,480 --> 02:01:02,920 Speaker 1: different time. Right. But yeah, because if you're running alone, 1923 02:01:02,960 --> 02:01:05,960 Speaker 1: then what's the point, right, I'm not running with the 1924 02:01:06,040 --> 02:01:09,040 Speaker 1: torch and then passing it and then stopping. We still 1925 02:01:09,160 --> 02:01:13,120 Speaker 1: gotta keep going. And when we're all running, that's how 1926 02:01:13,160 --> 02:01:17,280 Speaker 1: we win. I wanna just quickly address um what you 1927 02:01:17,320 --> 02:01:20,800 Speaker 1: said about people thinking they have to have something special. 1928 02:01:21,440 --> 02:01:24,000 Speaker 1: You do have something special, right, I don't know what 1929 02:01:24,040 --> 02:01:26,440 Speaker 1: it is. Maybe you get along well with children, maybe 1930 02:01:26,480 --> 02:01:29,880 Speaker 1: you can cook, maybe you can sing. All of those 1931 02:01:29,920 --> 02:01:32,880 Speaker 1: things are That's what I mean by Mama Ella Baker 1932 02:01:32,920 --> 02:01:37,040 Speaker 1: calls it group centered leadership. Right, all of that stuff 1933 02:01:37,080 --> 02:01:39,640 Speaker 1: is valuable to the movement. Even if you just have 1934 02:01:39,800 --> 02:01:43,480 Speaker 1: good handwriting, that's your one claim. The thing. You've been 1935 02:01:43,520 --> 02:01:46,040 Speaker 1: in romes with people writing on the damn but your 1936 02:01:46,080 --> 02:01:48,680 Speaker 1: paper and you can read what they wrote. We need 1937 02:01:48,800 --> 02:01:52,880 Speaker 1: you who has the good penmanship to be the scribe. 1938 02:01:53,080 --> 02:01:56,440 Speaker 1: Even if that's all you got, Please bring it, like, 1939 02:01:57,160 --> 02:02:00,360 Speaker 1: just bring it and offer it and it's going to 1940 02:02:00,440 --> 02:02:04,240 Speaker 1: be valuable. I love that because people don't realize that 1941 02:02:04,560 --> 02:02:08,600 Speaker 1: they are exceptional. Everyone sort of thinks that like unless 1942 02:02:08,640 --> 02:02:12,000 Speaker 1: they're I don't know the great you know, world changer 1943 02:02:12,120 --> 02:02:15,160 Speaker 1: that there maybe not a value add and every single 1944 02:02:15,160 --> 02:02:19,879 Speaker 1: person is a value add. Absolutely. You said that racism 1945 02:02:19,960 --> 02:02:22,040 Speaker 1: is not simply a matter of thinking or feeling. It 1946 02:02:22,160 --> 02:02:27,640 Speaker 1: is a social hierarchy imposed to afford white people with 1947 02:02:28,000 --> 02:02:31,120 Speaker 1: unearned material and psychic beliefs. And I feel like we've 1948 02:02:31,200 --> 02:02:36,760 Speaker 1: unpacked a lot of that pretty well. But here we 1949 02:02:36,800 --> 02:02:39,840 Speaker 1: are with the president who was quoted eight times in 1950 02:02:39,880 --> 02:02:45,080 Speaker 1: a mass murderers manifesto. Right there is this assumption that 1951 02:02:45,160 --> 02:02:47,840 Speaker 1: the system punishes the people who do wrong, but we 1952 02:02:47,920 --> 02:02:52,520 Speaker 1: are talking about very disparate punishment right now. What do 1953 02:02:52,680 --> 02:02:55,760 Speaker 1: what do we do with this? What do we because 1954 02:02:55,760 --> 02:02:58,320 Speaker 1: I would wager that there's a lot of people listening 1955 02:02:58,360 --> 02:03:02,320 Speaker 1: who feel very traumatized by what Trump is doing and 1956 02:03:02,360 --> 02:03:09,360 Speaker 1: what he's bringing into this country, that his dehumanization of 1957 02:03:09,440 --> 02:03:14,800 Speaker 1: people and the effect it's having. What do you think 1958 02:03:16,320 --> 02:03:19,680 Speaker 1: people at home can do? How do how do they 1959 02:03:19,760 --> 02:03:23,880 Speaker 1: support how do they fight back against it? How do 1960 02:03:23,920 --> 02:03:28,400 Speaker 1: they support making society better? How do they support you? 1961 02:03:29,240 --> 02:03:32,240 Speaker 1: I'm curious how we turn the tide on something that 1962 02:03:32,400 --> 02:03:38,520 Speaker 1: is this insidious. Yeah, I mean, we absolutely cannot tolerate him, 1963 02:03:38,680 --> 02:03:44,120 Speaker 1: We cannot tolerate him, and you know, he's dangerous in 1964 02:03:44,240 --> 02:03:50,280 Speaker 1: terms of his rhetoric policy, and I think that the 1965 02:03:50,400 --> 02:03:54,640 Speaker 1: last week has shown us how he's spurred up white 1966 02:03:54,680 --> 02:03:59,720 Speaker 1: supremacist violence. Right. It doesn't mean that that was never 1967 02:04:00,600 --> 02:04:03,360 Speaker 1: part of this country. It's part of the founding of 1968 02:04:03,440 --> 02:04:07,960 Speaker 1: this country. But in my lifetime, we've always moved further 1969 02:04:08,080 --> 02:04:11,400 Speaker 1: and further away from it. Right. We've always seemed to 1970 02:04:11,520 --> 02:04:14,920 Speaker 1: when you talked about being pushed, right, but it's really 1971 02:04:14,960 --> 02:04:18,320 Speaker 1: two steps forward, one step back, right, So we've always 1972 02:04:18,400 --> 02:04:21,840 Speaker 1: moved forward. This is the first time I feel like 1973 02:04:22,360 --> 02:04:27,680 Speaker 1: a massive push backwards, right, a massive like uh, Sister 1974 02:04:27,800 --> 02:04:32,160 Speaker 1: Soldier had a song Slavery's back in effect, right, and 1975 02:04:32,200 --> 02:04:37,080 Speaker 1: it sounded like the super far fetched idea. But now 1976 02:04:37,120 --> 02:04:39,720 Speaker 1: when you look at what's happening right, when you look 1977 02:04:39,760 --> 02:04:43,960 Speaker 1: at you know, lacking children and cages, right, when you 1978 02:04:44,000 --> 02:04:46,720 Speaker 1: look at family separation, I think it's one of the 1979 02:04:46,720 --> 02:04:49,840 Speaker 1: reasons why you see black people so involved and what's 1980 02:04:49,840 --> 02:04:54,160 Speaker 1: happening at the border is because like there's a transgenerational 1981 02:04:54,240 --> 02:05:02,000 Speaker 1: memory of our own family separation. Right, it's just overwhelming. 1982 02:05:02,160 --> 02:05:10,760 Speaker 1: He has given complete permission for white supremacist terrorists to 1983 02:05:10,920 --> 02:05:15,600 Speaker 1: do whatever they want, And it doesn't mean that they 1984 02:05:15,640 --> 02:05:19,880 Speaker 1: weren't there, but they were being put in check. Right, 1985 02:05:21,000 --> 02:05:26,520 Speaker 1: And I think that even um racism is not just 1986 02:05:26,560 --> 02:05:29,880 Speaker 1: a matter of thinking and feeling. But I think part 1987 02:05:29,880 --> 02:05:33,520 Speaker 1: of that permission is for them to engage the lowest 1988 02:05:33,600 --> 02:05:39,320 Speaker 1: of themselves, right, to say that those kind of lower 1989 02:05:39,560 --> 02:05:48,280 Speaker 1: creature instincts of invasion of ownership of mine, right can 1990 02:05:48,320 --> 02:05:51,960 Speaker 1: be meted out in the most violent ways. Right. When 1991 02:05:51,960 --> 02:05:57,840 Speaker 1: you think about these mass shooters, right, like we've seen 1992 02:05:58,000 --> 02:06:00,840 Speaker 1: things when you go back historic le and you look 1993 02:06:00,880 --> 02:06:04,640 Speaker 1: at what they did to my people under chattel slavery, 1994 02:06:04,760 --> 02:06:08,800 Speaker 1: or what they did to my people after reconstruction during 1995 02:06:08,800 --> 02:06:12,800 Speaker 1: the height of the lynching era, right, the ideas, I 1996 02:06:12,840 --> 02:06:17,880 Speaker 1: don't even know how they brought themselves to mutilate us 1997 02:06:17,920 --> 02:06:21,360 Speaker 1: and torture us in the way that they did. But 1998 02:06:21,480 --> 02:06:27,640 Speaker 1: that's what's moving back around, right, That's what this back again? Right? Um, 1999 02:06:27,680 --> 02:06:31,040 Speaker 1: what is it great again? And he says great any again? 2000 02:06:31,560 --> 02:06:35,240 Speaker 1: That's what he's hearkening to. Right, I've never seen this 2001 02:06:35,320 --> 02:06:38,640 Speaker 1: happen before, and so I'm saying that to say, I 2002 02:06:38,720 --> 02:06:43,400 Speaker 1: don't really have the answers. One super easy one is 2003 02:06:43,440 --> 02:06:47,839 Speaker 1: he gotta go right, he gotta go. It's not radical 2004 02:06:48,000 --> 02:06:51,680 Speaker 1: to say I'm not voting, right, so some people think, oh, well, 2005 02:06:51,720 --> 02:06:55,120 Speaker 1: you know, I'm not voting. The Republicans and the Democrats 2006 02:06:55,120 --> 02:06:59,080 Speaker 1: are the same. They have they both are owned by 2007 02:06:59,120 --> 02:07:03,400 Speaker 1: corporate America. And we can't have his food in office 2008 02:07:03,440 --> 02:07:07,720 Speaker 1: no more. So he gotta go. He gotta go. Congress 2009 02:07:07,720 --> 02:07:10,760 Speaker 1: has to be courageous enough to drag his ass up 2010 02:07:10,760 --> 02:07:13,320 Speaker 1: out of there. We really can't afford to wait until 2011 02:07:13,360 --> 02:07:17,880 Speaker 1: twenty what would take office again one, We can't afford 2012 02:07:17,920 --> 02:07:21,800 Speaker 1: to wait that long. So I think this whole idea 2013 02:07:21,800 --> 02:07:25,560 Speaker 1: of impeachment, I say, a dragging like somebody, somebody just 2014 02:07:25,600 --> 02:07:29,120 Speaker 1: needs to drag him like, you know, I can't say 2015 02:07:29,160 --> 02:07:31,600 Speaker 1: too much, but he gotta go, he gotta go, like 2016 02:07:32,200 --> 02:07:36,040 Speaker 1: I would like to see him go immediately. I think 2017 02:07:36,120 --> 02:07:38,760 Speaker 1: also though, as we talk about voting, and one of 2018 02:07:38,800 --> 02:07:43,880 Speaker 1: my concerns around kind of the engagement with electoral politics, 2019 02:07:43,880 --> 02:07:47,600 Speaker 1: which I think is important, is that sometimes we allow 2020 02:07:47,760 --> 02:07:51,800 Speaker 1: systems to tell us that's our only tool. And I 2021 02:07:51,840 --> 02:07:55,400 Speaker 1: believe in voting, but I believe in what I call 2022 02:07:55,520 --> 02:08:00,560 Speaker 1: voting plus right vote yes and what else are you 2023 02:08:00,600 --> 02:08:04,240 Speaker 1: gonna do? Right? Oh? I love that voting plus right 2024 02:08:04,320 --> 02:08:07,720 Speaker 1: because you can't just vote right, you must vote right. 2025 02:08:08,040 --> 02:08:12,440 Speaker 1: What is your responsibility once every four years for fifteen minutes? No, No, 2026 02:08:12,760 --> 02:08:19,000 Speaker 1: it's day. Yes, local elections, midterm elections, every four years, 2027 02:08:19,040 --> 02:08:24,720 Speaker 1: presidential and who are you in your community every day? Absolutely? Absolutely, 2028 02:08:24,760 --> 02:08:27,600 Speaker 1: So it's not okay. You don't get to sit by 2029 02:08:27,840 --> 02:08:31,080 Speaker 1: and watch injustices happen. Right, this is a birden the 2030 02:08:31,120 --> 02:08:33,560 Speaker 1: black people bear all of the time. Right when we 2031 02:08:33,640 --> 02:08:39,040 Speaker 1: talk about like everyday racism's right, every day we're experiencing something. 2032 02:08:39,040 --> 02:08:40,960 Speaker 1: And I want to go on a whole diet tribe 2033 02:08:41,000 --> 02:08:45,080 Speaker 1: about what I just experienced at Costco. But I love 2034 02:08:45,160 --> 02:08:47,640 Speaker 1: Costco too, It's like one of my favorite places. But 2035 02:08:47,720 --> 02:08:51,200 Speaker 1: they hurt me because I want to buy some pizzas 2036 02:08:51,240 --> 02:08:55,000 Speaker 1: at Costco. I had on a Black Lives Matter T shirt. 2037 02:08:55,880 --> 02:08:58,000 Speaker 1: The guy given me my pizzas. It was supposed to 2038 02:08:58,000 --> 02:09:01,920 Speaker 1: take fifteen minutes game my pizzas away to these two 2039 02:09:01,960 --> 02:09:04,800 Speaker 1: white men who walked up behind me knowing I was waiting. 2040 02:09:05,200 --> 02:09:09,000 Speaker 1: When I confront him, he takes even longer. He decides 2041 02:09:09,040 --> 02:09:12,680 Speaker 1: he's gonna get a bee out of the dance. Sounds 2042 02:09:12,720 --> 02:09:15,560 Speaker 1: so stupid, but there was a bee trapped in the screen. 2043 02:09:16,040 --> 02:09:18,200 Speaker 1: He's going to remove the bee from the screen, and 2044 02:09:18,240 --> 02:09:21,080 Speaker 1: he can't hand me my pizzas because this is more important. 2045 02:09:21,600 --> 02:09:28,160 Speaker 1: And like I felt dumb having to call Costco and say, 2046 02:09:28,600 --> 02:09:31,840 Speaker 1: I feel like this was racism. But I know it 2047 02:09:31,920 --> 02:09:35,680 Speaker 1: was racism, right, I know it was. When you see 2048 02:09:35,720 --> 02:09:38,120 Speaker 1: that happening, one those two white men shouldn't have taken 2049 02:09:38,120 --> 02:09:41,120 Speaker 1: the damn pizzas they knew I was there before them, right, 2050 02:09:41,840 --> 02:09:44,560 Speaker 1: But you don't get to just sit there and watch 2051 02:09:44,600 --> 02:09:49,120 Speaker 1: it happen. And so the everyday things aren't always big 2052 02:09:49,160 --> 02:09:52,960 Speaker 1: things like protesting at a police Commission meeting or joining 2053 02:09:52,960 --> 02:09:55,760 Speaker 1: a march or forming a march. Right, it's also the 2054 02:09:55,840 --> 02:09:58,840 Speaker 1: little things, you know, when you see, well, why did 2055 02:09:59,400 --> 02:10:03,160 Speaker 1: the black way not get picked for the class for 2056 02:10:03,200 --> 02:10:07,080 Speaker 1: the advanced class? Right, ask those questions from wherever you are, 2057 02:10:07,160 --> 02:10:10,560 Speaker 1: whatever it is, wherever when people are on the internet 2058 02:10:10,600 --> 02:10:15,920 Speaker 1: talking about aerial can be black, you know, don't get 2059 02:10:15,960 --> 02:10:20,720 Speaker 1: me started. I was like, what is wrong with you? People, like, 2060 02:10:20,880 --> 02:10:25,840 Speaker 1: what is the matter with you? Give her the job. 2061 02:10:26,440 --> 02:10:29,840 Speaker 1: I think about things from macro to micro and making 2062 02:10:29,880 --> 02:10:32,520 Speaker 1: sure you're making calls, making sure you're donating what you can, 2063 02:10:32,640 --> 02:10:35,680 Speaker 1: making sure you're showing up where you can. If you're 2064 02:10:35,720 --> 02:10:40,440 Speaker 1: witnessing somebody getting pulled over or pulled aside by the 2065 02:10:40,440 --> 02:10:44,320 Speaker 1: police in public, just stand there. I stand around, now, Yeah, 2066 02:10:44,480 --> 02:10:46,160 Speaker 1: I stand around. I have my phone in my hand 2067 02:10:46,160 --> 02:10:47,720 Speaker 1: and I'm like, if I need to, I'll record it. 2068 02:10:48,160 --> 02:10:51,080 Speaker 1: But I just want to be there energetically. I just 2069 02:10:51,120 --> 02:10:54,560 Speaker 1: want to be there. And they hate it. The police 2070 02:10:54,640 --> 02:10:58,280 Speaker 1: hate it when you stand there. Yeah, I'm never pop 2071 02:10:58,320 --> 02:11:01,160 Speaker 1: watched and the person didn't get sent home. Yeah. No, 2072 02:11:01,240 --> 02:11:03,880 Speaker 1: they don't love it. And it's interesting because I, as 2073 02:11:03,920 --> 02:11:06,880 Speaker 1: I mentioned, you know, to be frank, like, I'm still 2074 02:11:07,000 --> 02:11:09,160 Speaker 1: very close to my technical advisor that I worked with 2075 02:11:09,160 --> 02:11:11,560 Speaker 1: in Chicago. And I tell him that and he's like, good, 2076 02:11:11,600 --> 02:11:14,440 Speaker 1: you should good. And I'm like, I like you. I 2077 02:11:14,520 --> 02:11:17,400 Speaker 1: knew I liked you for a reason. Like it's you know, 2078 02:11:17,520 --> 02:11:19,720 Speaker 1: I'm I'm up front. I'm like, I love you enough 2079 02:11:19,760 --> 02:11:23,440 Speaker 1: to challenge you. Here we are. I love this country 2080 02:11:23,560 --> 02:11:27,000 Speaker 1: enough to challenge her. James Baldwin like, I reserve the 2081 02:11:27,120 --> 02:11:31,040 Speaker 1: right to criticize her perpetually because I love her. It 2082 02:11:31,240 --> 02:11:37,200 Speaker 1: is so important and I'm curious for anybody who's listening 2083 02:11:37,240 --> 02:11:40,720 Speaker 1: to us today, who is in the l a area 2084 02:11:41,360 --> 02:11:44,720 Speaker 1: and wants to show up, wants to show up for 2085 02:11:44,800 --> 02:11:47,080 Speaker 1: Black Lives Matter, for a city council meeting for white 2086 02:11:47,080 --> 02:11:50,160 Speaker 1: people for black lives where do they start? So we 2087 02:11:50,240 --> 02:11:53,200 Speaker 1: have a website b l M l A dot org. 2088 02:11:53,360 --> 02:11:55,760 Speaker 1: And we have a website because there was a white 2089 02:11:55,760 --> 02:11:58,480 Speaker 1: ally who said we needed a website, and she donated 2090 02:11:58,520 --> 02:12:01,640 Speaker 1: money for us to build a website. So that's a victory. 2091 02:12:01,640 --> 02:12:05,000 Speaker 1: B l M l A dot org. On social media 2092 02:12:05,080 --> 02:12:08,960 Speaker 1: where BLM Los Angeles on Instagram and b l M 2093 02:12:09,080 --> 02:12:12,680 Speaker 1: l A on Twitter. And if they're listening right now, 2094 02:12:12,800 --> 02:12:15,720 Speaker 1: so that will give you everything that we're doing right 2095 02:12:15,800 --> 02:12:19,600 Speaker 1: So just follow our social media. But if you're listening 2096 02:12:19,680 --> 02:12:23,960 Speaker 1: right now, there's some things people can do right this minute. 2097 02:12:23,560 --> 02:12:27,240 Speaker 1: Right Number one, they can join our monthly meetings, which 2098 02:12:27,240 --> 02:12:31,320 Speaker 1: are every second Sunday of the month. They can join 2099 02:12:31,520 --> 02:12:34,840 Speaker 1: our weekly protest with the families of those who are 2100 02:12:34,920 --> 02:12:38,880 Speaker 1: killed by police in front of Jackie Lacey's office. Jackie 2101 02:12:38,960 --> 02:12:44,000 Speaker 1: Lacey is our district attorney. Five hundred forty people have 2102 02:12:44,160 --> 02:12:47,480 Speaker 1: been killed by police since she's been in office. She's 2103 02:12:47,480 --> 02:12:50,360 Speaker 1: been in office for six years, and she is choosing 2104 02:12:50,480 --> 02:12:54,400 Speaker 1: not to prosecute those officers. So every single Wednesday at 2105 02:12:54,440 --> 02:12:57,960 Speaker 1: four o'clock we're in front of her office. Here's a 2106 02:12:58,080 --> 02:13:01,280 Speaker 1: super easy one. UM. We try to give people sixty 2107 02:13:01,320 --> 02:13:04,920 Speaker 1: seconds for justice, something super easy that folks can do. 2108 02:13:05,160 --> 02:13:08,480 Speaker 1: I talked about the murder of Gracario Mack inside of 2109 02:13:08,520 --> 02:13:12,760 Speaker 1: the Crunshaw Baldwin Hills Mall. Those officers were ruled out 2110 02:13:12,760 --> 02:13:16,360 Speaker 1: of policy by the Police Commission and the Chief of 2111 02:13:16,400 --> 02:13:20,160 Speaker 1: Police is has decided so far that he is not 2112 02:13:20,320 --> 02:13:23,440 Speaker 1: going to fire or discipline them. And so we want 2113 02:13:23,480 --> 02:13:28,080 Speaker 1: people to sign an online petition to Chief More to 2114 02:13:28,320 --> 02:13:32,080 Speaker 1: fire those officers. And that's an easy link. It's tiny 2115 02:13:32,280 --> 02:13:35,880 Speaker 1: u r L dot com slash grocer e O g 2116 02:13:36,200 --> 02:13:38,520 Speaker 1: r E c h A r I O g r 2117 02:13:38,560 --> 02:13:41,720 Speaker 1: e c h A r I O and just sign 2118 02:13:41,800 --> 02:13:44,400 Speaker 1: and share that link. And then you can always donate 2119 02:13:44,440 --> 02:13:47,920 Speaker 1: to Black Lives Matter, show up to Police Commission meetings. 2120 02:13:47,920 --> 02:13:50,600 Speaker 1: There's a lot that you can do our young people. 2121 02:13:50,640 --> 02:13:54,000 Speaker 1: If you're a parent, we have Black Lives Matter youth 2122 02:13:54,120 --> 02:13:59,160 Speaker 1: vanguard who just want a tremendous victory. UM. For the 2123 02:13:59,240 --> 02:14:02,080 Speaker 1: last four years they've been trying to end what they 2124 02:14:02,120 --> 02:14:05,240 Speaker 1: call the random searches and schools. So in l A 2125 02:14:05,320 --> 02:14:07,640 Speaker 1: U S D They had a policy of every single 2126 02:14:07,720 --> 02:14:11,040 Speaker 1: middle in high school, every single day, they would pull 2127 02:14:11,120 --> 02:14:14,880 Speaker 1: children out of schools, usually black children, and physically search 2128 02:14:15,000 --> 02:14:18,720 Speaker 1: them for contraband. You would think contraband is things like 2129 02:14:19,320 --> 02:14:23,640 Speaker 1: guns and drugs, right, Um, in that time, they found 2130 02:14:23,960 --> 02:14:27,400 Speaker 1: zero guns. But what they were putting children on lists 2131 02:14:27,440 --> 02:14:32,640 Speaker 1: for is for having contraband items like hand sanitizer, highlighters, 2132 02:14:33,000 --> 02:14:38,640 Speaker 1: white out sharpies. What. Yes, it was terrible and the 2133 02:14:38,800 --> 02:14:43,480 Speaker 1: children kept fighting. This was a completely student led movement 2134 02:14:43,880 --> 02:14:47,160 Speaker 1: supported by the teachers from ut L A who I 2135 02:14:47,160 --> 02:14:50,880 Speaker 1: I'm so indebted to our teachers. Incredible, Oh my god. 2136 02:14:50,920 --> 02:14:53,800 Speaker 1: They went on strike not for their own raises. They 2137 02:14:53,800 --> 02:14:56,560 Speaker 1: went on strike for the conditions of my children. And 2138 02:14:56,600 --> 02:15:00,080 Speaker 1: I tear up every time I say it, because my 2139 02:15:00,200 --> 02:15:04,120 Speaker 1: daughters were searched, are searched. And they went on strike 2140 02:15:04,200 --> 02:15:07,080 Speaker 1: to end those random searches, to turn our schools into 2141 02:15:07,160 --> 02:15:11,320 Speaker 1: community schools, to bring librarians and counselors into the schools. 2142 02:15:12,040 --> 02:15:16,800 Speaker 1: And we won. And so starting this year, there was 2143 02:15:16,840 --> 02:15:21,600 Speaker 1: an end to random searches and schools and um, so 2144 02:15:21,680 --> 02:15:25,840 Speaker 1: I'm saying that to say, bring your kids, kids to 2145 02:15:25,880 --> 02:15:29,560 Speaker 1: that's what's part of the beauty of the movement people win. Yeah, 2146 02:15:29,600 --> 02:15:32,440 Speaker 1: and I mean kids like bring your four or five 2147 02:15:32,600 --> 02:15:35,800 Speaker 1: six year old. They have ideas like when we talk 2148 02:15:35,840 --> 02:15:40,200 Speaker 1: about dream before, you think they are nothing but dreamers, 2149 02:15:40,240 --> 02:15:44,880 Speaker 1: and they fill us with so much life and imagination 2150 02:15:45,040 --> 02:15:47,520 Speaker 1: and so those are things people can do. I love 2151 02:15:47,560 --> 02:15:50,000 Speaker 1: that and that makes me feel hopeful, That makes me 2152 02:15:50,040 --> 02:15:54,400 Speaker 1: us to feel like on fire with potential. Okay, So 2153 02:15:54,480 --> 02:15:57,000 Speaker 1: my last question for you, and I asked this of 2154 02:15:57,080 --> 02:16:00,600 Speaker 1: everybody because I I get to sit across from so 2155 02:16:00,600 --> 02:16:04,600 Speaker 1: many people who am in awe of and I think 2156 02:16:04,600 --> 02:16:08,200 Speaker 1: that very often, in an ever more digital world where 2157 02:16:08,200 --> 02:16:11,080 Speaker 1: we're looking at people through screens, we kind of feel 2158 02:16:11,120 --> 02:16:13,880 Speaker 1: like everybody else has it all figured out, has figured 2159 02:16:13,880 --> 02:16:15,800 Speaker 1: out how to lead, has figured out how to parent, 2160 02:16:15,920 --> 02:16:18,520 Speaker 1: has figured out how to whatever it is. They're doing 2161 02:16:18,640 --> 02:16:22,360 Speaker 1: better than we think we're doing. But in my experience, 2162 02:16:22,680 --> 02:16:25,040 Speaker 1: everybody still feels like they're trying to figure it out. 2163 02:16:25,880 --> 02:16:30,280 Speaker 1: And so I'm curious. As the podcast is called work 2164 02:16:30,280 --> 02:16:35,640 Speaker 1: in progress, what in your life right now feels like 2165 02:16:35,680 --> 02:16:43,720 Speaker 1: a work in progress to you? Oh? My god? Like everything? Um, 2166 02:16:43,760 --> 02:16:48,720 Speaker 1: I have not conquered my battle with food. I love food. 2167 02:16:49,160 --> 02:16:51,760 Speaker 1: I specifically I'm looking at these peach rings right here. 2168 02:16:51,800 --> 02:16:53,920 Speaker 1: I'm like, I want some of those. So when we 2169 02:16:53,959 --> 02:16:58,600 Speaker 1: stopped talking, I'm eating some. I have not yet figured 2170 02:16:58,640 --> 02:17:03,119 Speaker 1: out how some people buying exercise fun. I don't want 2171 02:17:03,160 --> 02:17:05,640 Speaker 1: to do that, right. I like taking walks, but I 2172 02:17:05,640 --> 02:17:08,160 Speaker 1: don't want to go to a gym. It's nasty. I 2173 02:17:08,200 --> 02:17:11,279 Speaker 1: don't want to go to a gym. I'm a terrible 2174 02:17:11,560 --> 02:17:16,480 Speaker 1: romantic partner. So I'm not in a relationship and I've 2175 02:17:16,600 --> 02:17:18,959 Speaker 1: only been in like while. I was married to my 2176 02:17:19,040 --> 02:17:23,160 Speaker 1: children's father for ten years, but that ended seven years ago. 2177 02:17:23,840 --> 02:17:29,920 Speaker 1: And astrologer actually told me, he said, um. He asked me, well, 2178 02:17:29,959 --> 02:17:32,720 Speaker 1: why are you divorced? And I said, I think i'm married. 2179 02:17:32,760 --> 02:17:35,760 Speaker 1: The I guess I married the wrong person. And he said, no, 2180 02:17:35,879 --> 02:17:39,520 Speaker 1: you married the right person. That's why you're divorced. And 2181 02:17:39,600 --> 02:17:42,800 Speaker 1: he said, I'm not intended to be in a long 2182 02:17:42,959 --> 02:17:47,960 Speaker 1: term relationship. I'm intended to have like these sometimes a year, 2183 02:17:48,320 --> 02:17:51,920 Speaker 1: sometimes three months sometimes, So I have not figured that 2184 02:17:52,000 --> 02:17:56,000 Speaker 1: out at all, and I'm starting to figure out, well, 2185 02:17:57,000 --> 02:18:01,320 Speaker 1: that's what it maybe is. He was right, right, I 2186 02:18:01,360 --> 02:18:04,360 Speaker 1: don't know. There's there's so much. I haven't figured out 2187 02:18:04,400 --> 02:18:07,119 Speaker 1: any of this ship, none of it, Like I don't 2188 02:18:07,160 --> 02:18:10,200 Speaker 1: know what freedom looks like. I can't, you know, I 2189 02:18:10,200 --> 02:18:12,600 Speaker 1: don't know what I'm supposed to be writing a book. 2190 02:18:12,640 --> 02:18:16,039 Speaker 1: I'm going on sabbatical. Haven't started the damn book because 2191 02:18:16,080 --> 02:18:18,120 Speaker 1: I start reading for the book and then get lost 2192 02:18:18,160 --> 02:18:21,280 Speaker 1: in the reading. I haven't figured out how to make 2193 02:18:21,320 --> 02:18:24,160 Speaker 1: myself meditate when Oprah and Deep I don't have those 2194 02:18:24,200 --> 02:18:28,080 Speaker 1: twenty one day meditation hard. Yeah, yeah, I mean I 2195 02:18:28,120 --> 02:18:30,600 Speaker 1: have to make myself because otherwise I would lose my mind. 2196 02:18:30,640 --> 02:18:33,400 Speaker 1: But it's like work. I haven't figured out how do 2197 02:18:33,440 --> 02:18:37,119 Speaker 1: you be an activist and keep a clean house. So yeah, 2198 02:18:37,240 --> 02:18:40,280 Speaker 1: none of it I have to say. I get. I'm 2199 02:18:40,320 --> 02:18:44,280 Speaker 1: sitting here just going yes because everything you're saying makes 2200 02:18:44,320 --> 02:18:46,840 Speaker 1: me feel relieved. You know that it isn't just me. 2201 02:18:47,080 --> 02:18:51,560 Speaker 1: It's like it's a very full plate when you want 2202 02:18:51,560 --> 02:18:54,879 Speaker 1: to have a life and dedicate your life and and 2203 02:18:54,920 --> 02:18:57,000 Speaker 1: you have kids, like I have a dog, and I 2204 02:18:57,040 --> 02:18:59,400 Speaker 1: don't know how to do it. I'm like, who knows 2205 02:18:59,440 --> 02:19:03,640 Speaker 1: how to keep the thing alive? Like what is this? 2206 02:19:04,360 --> 02:19:07,959 Speaker 1: It feels hard? And I feel like I'm always cleaning 2207 02:19:08,240 --> 02:19:11,320 Speaker 1: and there's always stuff, and I just I don't know 2208 02:19:11,440 --> 02:19:17,959 Speaker 1: the answers yet. But yeah, the the practice of self care, 2209 02:19:19,520 --> 02:19:21,520 Speaker 1: it feels like work to me. We're caring for the 2210 02:19:21,560 --> 02:19:26,160 Speaker 1: world feels like joy, absolutely, because self care is selfish care. 2211 02:19:26,400 --> 02:19:31,080 Speaker 1: But it isn't isn't selfish, It is if you don't adapt. 2212 02:19:31,080 --> 02:19:33,160 Speaker 1: So I want you to hear what you said, caring 2213 02:19:33,240 --> 02:19:35,760 Speaker 1: for the world feels like joy. All we have to 2214 02:19:35,800 --> 02:19:39,920 Speaker 1: do is create a model where we reciprocate the care 2215 02:19:39,959 --> 02:19:43,160 Speaker 1: for the world. Right. So self The reason I say 2216 02:19:43,160 --> 02:19:46,200 Speaker 1: self care is selfish care is for a couple of reasons. One, 2217 02:19:46,280 --> 02:19:48,360 Speaker 1: I feel like too many people use it as an 2218 02:19:48,360 --> 02:19:51,000 Speaker 1: excuse to shove the ship that they're supposed to be 2219 02:19:51,040 --> 02:19:54,440 Speaker 1: doing off onto my plate, right, saying that they need 2220 02:19:54,480 --> 02:19:57,400 Speaker 1: their me time or whatever. Well, that work still has 2221 02:19:57,440 --> 02:19:59,520 Speaker 1: to be carried, and I feel like it's the black 2222 02:19:59,600 --> 02:20:02,640 Speaker 1: mama's who wind up carrying it, right, black women being 2223 02:20:02,680 --> 02:20:06,440 Speaker 1: the mules of the world, zorineil Hurston right. So I'm 2224 02:20:06,440 --> 02:20:10,080 Speaker 1: mad about that. But also the selfish care. When people 2225 02:20:10,160 --> 02:20:14,039 Speaker 1: really need care, you can't just say you should take 2226 02:20:14,080 --> 02:20:18,119 Speaker 1: care of yourself. We need to take care of them, yes, 2227 02:20:18,200 --> 02:20:21,360 Speaker 1: And so I believe in a model of community care. 2228 02:20:21,640 --> 02:20:25,800 Speaker 1: I believe that there are times when we need care 2229 02:20:26,440 --> 02:20:30,440 Speaker 1: and we should all be that care for each other. Yes, 2230 02:20:30,680 --> 02:20:34,160 Speaker 1: And I want to clarify I fully agree with what 2231 02:20:34,200 --> 02:20:39,400 Speaker 1: you're saying. And what I'm learning for me anyway, is 2232 02:20:39,440 --> 02:20:44,440 Speaker 1: that personally I have I think, as so many women 2233 02:20:44,480 --> 02:20:48,160 Speaker 1: have been taught to prioritize everyone over myself. And now 2234 02:20:48,200 --> 02:20:51,280 Speaker 1: I'm like, oh no, oh, no, no self care. I 2235 02:20:51,360 --> 02:20:54,600 Speaker 1: can't think that it's selfish of me to sleep right, 2236 02:20:54,840 --> 02:20:58,760 Speaker 1: or to make time to meditate or and by the 2237 02:20:58,800 --> 02:21:01,160 Speaker 1: way I saw, I meditated every day, but I'm trying 2238 02:21:01,240 --> 02:21:03,440 Speaker 1: to get at least two more days when I do, 2239 02:21:03,480 --> 02:21:08,240 Speaker 1: then when I don't. And I'm really in this sort 2240 02:21:08,280 --> 02:21:12,840 Speaker 1: of struggle with understanding that I deserve that because if 2241 02:21:13,000 --> 02:21:15,080 Speaker 1: I if the things I needed to do to be 2242 02:21:15,160 --> 02:21:18,480 Speaker 1: a healthy person I needed to do for my child, 2243 02:21:19,120 --> 02:21:23,560 Speaker 1: they would be done, no question. And so I'm I'm 2244 02:21:23,600 --> 02:21:26,440 Speaker 1: in this stage in the last year and change where 2245 02:21:26,440 --> 02:21:29,879 Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, I have to require it for myself 2246 02:21:29,920 --> 02:21:33,800 Speaker 1: the way I would require it for my kid. And 2247 02:21:33,879 --> 02:21:37,280 Speaker 1: I think that even that is community here, because why 2248 02:21:37,320 --> 02:21:40,520 Speaker 1: are you preserving yourself like I can't die because I 2249 02:21:40,640 --> 02:21:43,760 Speaker 1: got kids in a movement? Right, yes, so you know 2250 02:21:43,879 --> 02:21:47,160 Speaker 1: I probably should scale back on the peach rings, right, 2251 02:21:47,280 --> 02:21:52,400 Speaker 1: like you know we should do some level of care. Um, 2252 02:21:52,440 --> 02:21:55,160 Speaker 1: that's the other work in progress. I never sleep like 2253 02:21:55,200 --> 02:21:59,760 Speaker 1: I sleep maybe three hours, and so that's something I'm 2254 02:21:59,800 --> 02:22:01,800 Speaker 1: trying to work on, you know. Okay, so now I 2255 02:22:01,840 --> 02:22:04,120 Speaker 1: know you see it. Work in progress. But here's a 2256 02:22:04,200 --> 02:22:08,800 Speaker 1: hack I learned. Laugh for real every day, Yes, laugh 2257 02:22:09,080 --> 02:22:14,040 Speaker 1: like my middle daughter. We be rolling like like to 2258 02:22:14,120 --> 02:22:17,920 Speaker 1: the point where tears come out, your ribs start hurting 2259 02:22:18,000 --> 02:22:22,120 Speaker 1: like that kind of laughter every single day. Find something 2260 02:22:22,160 --> 02:22:24,320 Speaker 1: that makes you do it, and then all the other 2261 02:22:24,400 --> 02:22:29,000 Speaker 1: stuff doesn't really matter. Right, So well, I love it. 2262 02:22:29,120 --> 02:22:31,520 Speaker 1: We got life, acts, we got we got some work 2263 02:22:31,600 --> 02:22:36,320 Speaker 1: to do. All right. Onward. Thank you, thank you for coming, 2264 02:22:36,360 --> 02:22:43,640 Speaker 1: Thank you for having me. This show is executive produced 2265 02:22:43,640 --> 02:22:47,959 Speaker 1: by Me, Sophia Bush, and sim Sarna. Our supervising producer 2266 02:22:48,080 --> 02:22:51,920 Speaker 1: is Alison Bresnick. Our associate producer is Cate Line. This 2267 02:22:51,959 --> 02:22:55,480 Speaker 1: episode was edited by Matt Sasaki and our music was 2268 02:22:55,480 --> 02:22:58,320 Speaker 1: written by Jack Garrett and produced by Mark Foster. This 2269 02:22:58,400 --> 02:23:00,560 Speaker 1: show is brought to you by Cloud ten and Brilliant 2270 02:23:00,560 --> 02:23:07,240 Speaker 1: Anatomy powered by Simple Cast. Mm hmmmm