Speaker 1: What's up. Family, it's your girl to make a d
Speaker 1: Mallory and it's your boy my saw in the general
Speaker 1: and we are your hosts of Street Politicians, the Place
Speaker 1: and politics. Me. We've got a great show today. There's
Speaker 1: so much content that I can't argue with you about,
Speaker 1: like the issues that I have that I'm you know,
Speaker 1: not feeling you about in your opinions. So today you
Speaker 1: you actually escaped a good one because I'm like, I
Speaker 1: don't know, I ain't feeling you on some stuff you'd
Speaker 1: be saying. I mean, that's the norm. So you know,
Speaker 1: we we ain't gonna get into our usually back and forth,
Speaker 1: you know how we usually get it in. But we're
Speaker 1: gonna talk about that a little later. Maybe next episode.
Speaker 1: I'll tear you up like I usually do. Now, Yeah, no,
Speaker 1: we I think we should have we should do a
Speaker 1: specific interview on all the things that we don't. I'll
Speaker 1: tell you up and you upper cuss now. But it's
Speaker 1: good to be on listen New Year two. I'm all
Speaker 1: about just positivity. Just clear the air, make it make
Speaker 1: it strong. Whatever we're in, let's do it and do
Speaker 1: it well. And we are, you know, really looking at
Speaker 1: how Street politicians as a brand is going to become
Speaker 1: even stronger and become even more of a cultural influence.
Speaker 1: It looks like there are you know, are folks who
Speaker 1: are invested in us rebranding UM, and you know we're
Speaker 1: thinking through what that's gonna look like. So I'm happy too.
Speaker 1: But it's still no matter what we call it, it's
Speaker 1: still gonna be me and you not agreeing on a
Speaker 1: lot of stuff. Yeah, we don't agree. That might be
Speaker 1: the we don't agree to my son don't agree because
Speaker 1: we agree. We agree a lot. We agree for the
Speaker 1: most problem, but we just don't. We come at it
Speaker 1: from two different perspectives. That's it, I think. So. So
Speaker 1: it's a lot happen in Mice. I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: you've got issues like Rikers Island in New York is
Speaker 1: a big issue. It's like it's so much for us
Speaker 1: to get back to work on Rikers Island is an issue.
Speaker 1: Voting rights is still an issue. No just George Floyd,
Speaker 1: justice and police and act. I mean, there are so
Speaker 1: many different things happening. And I think one of the
Speaker 1: things that we as a as a as a as
Speaker 1: a social justice movement, we have to take a step
Speaker 1: back and look at how we're approaching all of that.
Speaker 1: And so today we're talking a lot about racism in
Speaker 1: America is still a real things. Two don't think that
Speaker 1: or we left that in twenty one that we had
Speaker 1: some convictions. We know we're still in a society and
Speaker 1: a time where racism is alive and well, and we're
Speaker 1: starting to really talk about what steps do we need
Speaker 1: to take, like aggressive steps to gather our people and
Speaker 1: begin to educate ourselves and do more collectively um to
Speaker 1: make a change. So I'm all, I'm really really optimistic
Speaker 1: and excited. There's an energy about this new time that
Speaker 1: we're in that even though it still might be a
Speaker 1: little difficult, I think we're actually people. I hear it,
Speaker 1: and I see the energy within my friends, within our friends,
Speaker 1: the people we work with, where folks are like, let's go,
Speaker 1: let's go, let's go. Yeah. I think we we we
Speaker 1: had a lot of rest, you know, everybody's been resting
Speaker 1: throughout the holidays, and I think people realize we've got
Speaker 1: to get back to work. Like you said, there's so
Speaker 1: many different issues going on out here. Man. My main
Speaker 1: thing is just this violence in the streets that you know,
Speaker 1: a week ago fourteen fifteen young teenagers just got swept
Speaker 1: up in indictments from everything from murder too, bracketeer and
Speaker 1: all these things. And I really do not want to
Speaker 1: continue to see these young boys just throwing their lives away, man.
Speaker 1: So that's really what this world Card Black Murder thing
Speaker 1: is really a focus on minds, man, because I really
Speaker 1: think that we have to impact, and in order to impact,
Speaker 1: we have to really go to our community is to
Speaker 1: sit down and iron out and pull the weeds back
Speaker 1: and and be able to have hard conversations and be
Speaker 1: able to tell how the kids cuts us out and
Speaker 1: and come back even after they cuts us out, and
Speaker 1: not to be like, you know what, they don't listen
Speaker 1: like we we can't. We don't have the right or
Speaker 1: the opportunity to sit back and just allowed us continue
Speaker 1: to go on like it is. So you know, that's
Speaker 1: where I really want to focus on. Whether it's so
Speaker 1: much so much? It's so much, and um, I think
Speaker 1: we should really be thinking about interviewing some of the
Speaker 1: district attorneys from across the country that are dealing with
Speaker 1: this gun violence issue, and a lot of them are
Speaker 1: trying not to prosecute certain low level offenses so that
Speaker 1: they and and but also shifting these young people into
Speaker 1: programs so that they can deal with at risk youth.
Speaker 1: So all of that, you know, and how we work unconventional,
Speaker 1: non traditional ways and methods of saving our young people
Speaker 1: is so important and not and you know, I know
Speaker 1: that that's what boycott Black Murder is all about. So
Speaker 1: there's a lot that can be done with street politicians.
Speaker 1: And so you know, my my thought of the day today,
Speaker 1: after sitting for the last week, you know, leading up
Speaker 1: to January six. Now we're a week later after January six,
Speaker 1: and we watched all of this coverage about the insurrection.
Speaker 1: Every which way you turned, they were talking insurrection, insurrection, insurrection.
Speaker 1: And then President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris they
Speaker 1: went somewhere and and and vice the vice president was
Speaker 1: the speaker, and they talked about all of these things
Speaker 1: that you know, the criminal acts of those people who
Speaker 1: participated in trying to overthrow the government, and you know
Speaker 1: what the insurrection means. And President Barack Obama put out
Speaker 1: a statement, powerful stuff. Why is it? I'm just trying
Speaker 1: to understand or let me not even ask why, because
Speaker 1: I already know why. To me, it is a waste
Speaker 1: of time to talk for, especially for elected officials, to
Speaker 1: speak about the insurrection and focus just on those, you know,
Speaker 1: individuals who were there who participated, and not call for
Speaker 1: the prosecution of people who are in government who were
Speaker 1: a part of it. So if you're not taking the
Speaker 1: time to when you're standing Vice President Harris, President Obama President,
Speaker 1: why not say there are congressional members who opened the
Speaker 1: doors of the capital basically gave people tours, knew what
Speaker 1: they were doing. They knew what these people were doing.
Speaker 1: They need to be prosecuted. So why what is the
Speaker 1: problem with I don't know if it's the Democrats or
Speaker 1: just the way politics work, And maybe I need to
Speaker 1: be re educated, but it feels so disingenuous to me
Speaker 1: to listen to these people make powerful speeches and they
Speaker 1: say all these things, but not place to blame squarely
Speaker 1: on individuals who are elected. A crazy person who's running
Speaker 1: up the side of the wall, Yeah, that person needs
Speaker 1: to be prosecuted. But what's more important is who powered
Speaker 1: that behavior, who is behind who is responsible for why
Speaker 1: that person thought it was okay? And there are congressional
Speaker 1: members and and people who are in the Senate, and
Speaker 1: no excuse me. They are members of the House who
Speaker 1: are who incited a riot. We already know we have,
Speaker 1: of course Donald Trump, but we've dealt with that. That
Speaker 1: is what it is. But there are others lower hanging
Speaker 1: fruit that I don't even hear what I'm talking about.
Speaker 1: So my thought of the day today is like, am
Speaker 1: I bugging that? I feel like all the speeches that
Speaker 1: were made, all the statements they put out last week
Speaker 1: should have culminated with a call for um accountability for
Speaker 1: people who were elected to office that are basically committing
Speaker 1: treason on this country. When you sit and know that
Speaker 1: there are people who want to destroy the foundation of
Speaker 1: our nation and you do nothing about it and or
Speaker 1: help it, help the aid to make it happen, I mean,
Speaker 1: you're not bugging, but that's not the conversation that people
Speaker 1: want to have. You Look, you look at government right
Speaker 1: now and see how it's how it's torn. How does
Speaker 1: bipartisan you know, how the government is trying to be
Speaker 1: ran bipartisan league, you know, and people are comfortable with
Speaker 1: talking about Trump and the old menustration but not talking
Speaker 1: about current people who actually contributed to those things, right,
Speaker 1: because they want to get some type of support from them.
Speaker 1: They want to make it seem like we're trying to
Speaker 1: do something different. They don't want to call out, you know,
Speaker 1: their colleagues right now because we're in the state where
Speaker 1: it's it's damn sill. It's like a standoff. So this
Speaker 1: administration strategy for success in tails being cool with those
Speaker 1: same people who actually contributed to that reality. So at
Speaker 1: this point they can't even call him out because he
Speaker 1: already got mentioned who don't said fuck y'all. And then
Speaker 1: when when you know he's pretty much on the side,
Speaker 1: you know, and you got to send them money. You
Speaker 1: got all these people. So they cannot continue to wage
Speaker 1: all of these wars because they don't even have a
Speaker 1: strategy to do it. They don't have a strategy to
Speaker 1: hold anybody accountable. America's not has never been about holding
Speaker 1: white people accountable. You look at the tens of thousand people,
Speaker 1: they don't even got tickets. And you know, I've seen
Speaker 1: the thing where they to the guy said he got
Speaker 1: ten years from being a lookout, and these people will
Speaker 1: never spend a day in jail for for crimes that
Speaker 1: we Peterson, that was Marlon Peterson, that's our guy who
Speaker 1: said Marla Peterson. So when you when you when you
Speaker 1: when you look at the reality of that. Right when
Speaker 1: you look at during the George Floyd protests, people are
Speaker 1: out there getting five years and ten years and all
Speaker 1: types of ship for for protesting against injustice. And these
Speaker 1: people who who stormed the Capitol or not even going
Speaker 1: to when you look at that reality, tell of them.
Speaker 1: But it's a handful. There's a hand literally, not even
Speaker 1: like when you said a handful, it's literally a handful
Speaker 1: of people. It might be it might be twenty people.
Speaker 1: I don't know. We haven't done in numbers, but it
Speaker 1: certainly isn't the thousands exactly that were there exactly. So
Speaker 1: when you understand that reality, then you understand what America
Speaker 1: is built on. Then you understand what this administration said
Speaker 1: it can do and what it is trying to do
Speaker 1: in the strategy that is utilizing to try to do it.
Speaker 1: Then you understand that, of course they can't do that.
Speaker 1: They can't continue to make more enemies the administration is
Speaker 1: they lost right now like then we thought we had
Speaker 1: a little we can't continue to make more and more.
Speaker 1: And even though it's on the side of justice, even
Speaker 1: though we know it's the right thing to do. We
Speaker 1: gotta try to win some of them over. So politics
Speaker 1: is a fucked up thing. The politics, it's fucked up.
Speaker 1: Politics itself is a bunch of bullshit. You gotta deal
Speaker 1: with this, you gotta take this, you gotta you gotta
Speaker 1: compromise a bunch of ship. And when you don't know that, right,
Speaker 1: when you're just looking from the outside and you're just
Speaker 1: looking in, you're like, damn, I don't get it. Funk
Speaker 1: all that. But when you start to really realize it
Speaker 1: is not designed for us. Politics is not designed for
Speaker 1: us people of you know color, people who are living
Speaker 1: in poverty, who live in communities of color. It is
Speaker 1: not really designed to benefit us. We are the things
Speaker 1: that are used to fuel it. So we're want us
Speaker 1: go over. But two things can exist at the same time.
Speaker 1: It's not designed for us. However, we have to exercise
Speaker 1: our political power because and that's what we have outside
Speaker 1: it's not designed for us. So it's like we have
Speaker 1: to continue to take it over from there. And that's
Speaker 1: why when you know, that's why I understanding how important
Speaker 1: voting is. You know, voting is a point because you
Speaker 1: continue to rip away fibers of it by putting new
Speaker 1: people with new ideas that can challenge old structures and
Speaker 1: challenge old laws and old concepts, constantly putting something that says,
Speaker 1: you know what, this low don't really make sense. I
Speaker 1: want to implement this. This doesn't really make sense. I
Speaker 1: want to implement this. So that's why voting is a point.
Speaker 1: You're not gonna just completely change the structure, but gradually
Speaker 1: what you do is you create something new from the inside.
Speaker 1: You're not gonna tear it up because you're yelling at
Speaker 1: the build and say, yo, I don't gonna fox that.
Speaker 1: I don't want to know. You have to go in
Speaker 1: and take ship out and say we're gonna throw this away.
Speaker 1: We're gonna throw this away, We're gonna build this this infustray,
Speaker 1: We're gonna rebuild this room piece by piece. And that's
Speaker 1: what it is. And I think in Minnesota we saw
Speaker 1: an example of that by having um, you know, Keith
Speaker 1: Ellison to be elected as an attorney general. Now you
Speaker 1: have Lee Merit running for attorney general in Texas. We
Speaker 1: gotta put people and and and by the way, those
Speaker 1: are some high level positions. We got Shanique Chal's running
Speaker 1: for Assembly UM in New York City. Uh, in New
Speaker 1: York State, you have Jamanni Williams running for governor. So
Speaker 1: some people it's like, how can he be governor? Why not?
Speaker 1: Why you any be governor? You know? So there is there.
Speaker 1: We do have to make sure that while you, like
Speaker 1: you said, you tear down and build up at the
Speaker 1: same time, but you never divest and just completely walk
Speaker 1: away from systems that we actually functioned as part of.
Speaker 1: So I think those things, you know, all of these
Speaker 1: things matter, and that's what really kind of we We've
Speaker 1: got to stay focused and today you are focused. So
Speaker 1: as promise today we had with us I would resident
Speaker 1: brand expert LaToya Bond. She's gonna be doing a full
Speaker 1: recap of some of our best small businesses throughout the year. LaToya,
Speaker 1: how are you doing today? I'm doing good? How y'all
Speaker 1: doing doing good? Than because they happy? Yeah? Happy? Is that?
Speaker 1: Thank you? Black Queen as I am, Yes from That's
Speaker 1: one of the swatter is actually from one of our
Speaker 1: small black businesses, Black Woman's Lost Matter. I'm gonna girl.
Speaker 1: Jamility Davis has a lot of bombs shirts. Make sure
Speaker 1: that get one need a black king, one black We
Speaker 1: need some many, we need some real energy we need, Toya.
Speaker 1: We gotta get some black men, some men up here
Speaker 1: to give us some good products, some small because they
Speaker 1: out did. I agree. That's my goal, my golden years,
Speaker 1: to find more men friendly topics because all y'all run everything,
Speaker 1: y'all got all the clothes, y'all got all the topics.
Speaker 1: You'll be jumping me up here, you know, every week.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna try. I'm gonna try to make this
Speaker 1: a little more minute up here. Yeah, maybe one of
Speaker 1: the topics could be like, why is it so hard
Speaker 1: to find them in the mail? You know, black old
Speaker 1: male businesses, because the women you're gonna instagram, they're like
Speaker 1: boom boom boom boom, how bing bang for the mail
Speaker 1: if you gotta go search them, hashtag them. So, Mike,
Speaker 1: she's gonna help us to do better with that in
Speaker 1: twenty two. That's my that's my goal, man. So Toyo,
Speaker 1: we know that you are resident brand experts. Were letting
Speaker 1: people know, like what do you do in totality? Tell
Speaker 1: them how how much of a black queen you actually are?
Speaker 1: I love that. I love that too. Okay. My name's
Speaker 1: LaToya Bond. I am brand strategists. Um I help women
Speaker 1: mainly and some men build seven figure brands, UM, whether
Speaker 1: that brand is a tangible brand, or it's a service
Speaker 1: based brand, or it's a person that is a brand.
Speaker 1: And I do that through a system that I like
Speaker 1: to call a I S model, which is authority, influence
Speaker 1: and strategies. So we we make a strategy to help
Speaker 1: them build authority in a niche, and then we use
Speaker 1: that authority to build influence, and then you monetize that
Speaker 1: influence which helps you build a seventh figure brand. Okay,
Speaker 1: and I smart, he's not smart, And certainly, UM, you
Speaker 1: have worked with me for the last seven years. How
Speaker 1: long have we been working It's been a long time.
Speaker 1: We've been working together since I think twenty six, like
Speaker 1: officially before the Women's March. Absolutely, and then at some
Speaker 1: point you acquired my son, UM and so many people
Speaker 1: around we all come to you for business ideas. For UM,
Speaker 1: you to be our layers on to work with people,
Speaker 1: because especially for me, I either won't ask or don't
Speaker 1: want to be bothered, like you know, just because I
Speaker 1: have the fear of um, you know, not wanting to
Speaker 1: ask for money, the fear of what people will say
Speaker 1: when I demand pay for compensation, for my time, for
Speaker 1: my ideas, for my energy, and working with you. That's
Speaker 1: been one thing that we have conquered together is that no,
Speaker 1: if you're going to be a part of a project
Speaker 1: and there is money in the project, I should actually
Speaker 1: be compensated. Because too many of our black leaders have
Speaker 1: died without without resources, without money, And we said, we
Speaker 1: do not what you call is subscribe to that model.
Speaker 1: We do us teacher ship. That's not you're not doing
Speaker 1: exactly and and and being compensated. Well, you know, if
Speaker 1: you're if you're part of a project that's generated millions
Speaker 1: billions of dollars you and you're the main talent or
Speaker 1: even you know, one of the main talents, you should
Speaker 1: be compensated well for that project. And there's nothing wrong
Speaker 1: about that. There's nothing that you should feel guilty about that.
Speaker 1: And then the other thing is being able to monetize
Speaker 1: some of your influence and reach and create a business
Speaker 1: for yourself and your family, your mom. You have parents
Speaker 1: that an agent that you're gonna have to take care of.
Speaker 1: You need to be able to have an income so
Speaker 1: you can take care of your family. And there's nothing
Speaker 1: that you should feel guilty about ever, I've been trying
Speaker 1: to tell her that for years. I'm glad you've got it. Period,
Speaker 1: like the younger people would say, on period on period.
Speaker 1: So tell us about these businesses that we watch this video.
Speaker 1: We see all the businesses that you bring to us
Speaker 1: every week. Um, you know, we're soliciting others to send
Speaker 1: us their businesses, and we always say, make sure it's
Speaker 1: a real business. Like if you tell some of our people,
Speaker 1: they say they got a business, but they want you
Speaker 1: to cash at them for the we need. You need,
Speaker 1: you need to account, You need all of your information
Speaker 1: in order so you can really you know, so we
Speaker 1: can really actually support So talk about some of these businesses.
Speaker 1: You have to talk about all of them, but a
Speaker 1: few of the brands that we saw. Okay, So I
Speaker 1: will say, first of all, this this started from you
Speaker 1: and my son as an extension of your activism because
Speaker 1: you wanted to make sure that we highlighted black businesses.
Speaker 1: Because when we're talking about a path to black people
Speaker 1: getting the hand, entrepreneurship and building wealth is one of
Speaker 1: the main ways that we're gonna be able to build
Speaker 1: power in this country. And then using your platform to
Speaker 1: be able to highlight some of these small businesses is
Speaker 1: one way that you guys can't give back and that
Speaker 1: you do choose to give back. UM. So we have
Speaker 1: a few businesses that we've highlighted over the years. I'll
Speaker 1: talk about um some of them. UM. One of them
Speaker 1: is called Just Breed. The owner's name is Precious of
Speaker 1: Bocleia Evans and UM. That brand is only about mental
Speaker 1: wellness and self care, which is something that we talk
Speaker 1: about a lot and that we all subscribe to. And
Speaker 1: it's a it's a box that basically help people, UM meditate,
Speaker 1: you know, it helps you feel comfortable meditating because a
Speaker 1: lot of people think that meditation and and you know,
Speaker 1: crystals and that and that whole realm of things goes
Speaker 1: against spirituality, and and it really doesn't. They both they
Speaker 1: really work, Um, they really work hands in hand together.
Speaker 1: And that's what her brand is about, is showing you
Speaker 1: that this is not something that's separate from it is
Speaker 1: something that you can use in conjunction with your spirituality
Speaker 1: to just really help you take a mindful moment for
Speaker 1: yourself and just breathe, you know. So it's a it's
Speaker 1: a it's a self care box. It includes the eye pillow,
Speaker 1: that you can heat or cool to kind of help
Speaker 1: you relax. It includes like a starter bag of crystals
Speaker 1: that you can carry with you in your purse. And
Speaker 1: really it just helps you deal with like anxiety or
Speaker 1: moments when you're not feeling quite well. You know you
Speaker 1: can you you kind of learn what the testimer is doing.
Speaker 1: You take those moments to help round you. There's also
Speaker 1: a lot of other things in a box what I
Speaker 1: won't go into all enough because we have, but check
Speaker 1: it out. We have, we don't have a little bit
Speaker 1: of time, but make sure you guys check it out.
Speaker 1: No Precious, you know we've had her on the show
Speaker 1: and I've actually worked with Precious personally for mental health
Speaker 1: issues as well as professionally. She's really the jack of
Speaker 1: all trades. But her specific um passion to help us
Speaker 1: be more mindful. It's so important. We just learned that
Speaker 1: a very close friend of ours um that his daughter
Speaker 1: committed suicide just in the last few days. And you know,
Speaker 1: these these are people who are very progressive, They are
Speaker 1: very you know, they are spiritual, they are their activists,
Speaker 1: they are smart, they're great family and yet still they
Speaker 1: lost their child to something that folks generally would say, well, no,
Speaker 1: if you have it together, suicide won't be an issue
Speaker 1: in your family, and that's so not true. And Precious
Speaker 1: has been trying to help us understand that we have
Speaker 1: to be able to to to get rid of these
Speaker 1: negative thoughts in our mind that says if you sit
Speaker 1: with yourself, if you meditate, if you use your crystals,
Speaker 1: if you use your sage, that you're crazy or that
Speaker 1: you're weak, crazy, and wicked. Because those are some of yes, wicked, Yes,
Speaker 1: shout out to Precious child. Um. One of the other
Speaker 1: brands that we have that's been actually one about very
Speaker 1: very popular episode is called Candlelucks and it's a smoking
Speaker 1: accessories brands, and Um, the owner of this brand, wanted
Speaker 1: to find a way to get into the legal cannabis
Speaker 1: industry and doing her research her name is Tory owens Um,
Speaker 1: and doing her research, she realized that the licenses were
Speaker 1: extremely hard to get from black people, of course, and
Speaker 1: extremely expensive. We're talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars
Speaker 1: of investment if you want to do like a dispensary.
Speaker 1: So she figured out a way to get into the
Speaker 1: business in a way that was attainable. So she started
Speaker 1: art Deco Smoking Accessories line, which looks like basically looks
Speaker 1: like furniture or art pieces or home decor um. It's
Speaker 1: a line of accessories and includes ashtrays and pipes and
Speaker 1: things of that sort, a lot of accessories that you
Speaker 1: can use to indulge and it's pretty dope and it
Speaker 1: has been doing really, really well. And her goal is
Speaker 1: to use the profits from that to not only sustain
Speaker 1: her family, but also to save enough so that she
Speaker 1: can get into the dispensary business because she feels like,
Speaker 1: you know, as people of color, we have been we
Speaker 1: have gotten the worst part of the of the cannabis
Speaker 1: industry for so long. So now that it's legalizing, it's
Speaker 1: becoming a multibillion dollar industry, we need our seat at
Speaker 1: the table as well. So you can smoke, So you
Speaker 1: can smoke every No, her is not to feel guilty about,
Speaker 1: you know, it's the time when you feel guilty about indulgence.
Speaker 1: Should be should be something of the of the past.
Speaker 1: Indulgence that word get you a little week for your nerves,
Speaker 1: for your nerves, for your mental health, for yourself care,
Speaker 1: all of those things. Another brand we talked about is
Speaker 1: Black Woman's Loves Matter, which is UH lifestyle brand that
Speaker 1: uplifts and profiles black women. And then they and they
Speaker 1: also have a lot of account that goes along with that.
Speaker 1: Super dope comfortable hoodies and T shirts and um the
Speaker 1: owner's Humility Davis, which has she has a really really,
Speaker 1: really good story. If you guys know her. If you don't,
Speaker 1: make sure you google her and make sure you support
Speaker 1: that business as well. Black Women's Lives Matter. Listen, I
Speaker 1: don't have one of my sweatshirts on today if you
Speaker 1: go back and check. Last week, I had on a
Speaker 1: green sweater that said I Love being a Black woman.
Speaker 1: And I went in my closet and just happen to
Speaker 1: find these green uptowns and I was like super flied, Like,
Speaker 1: you know, all of my Black Women's Lives Matter sweatshirts
Speaker 1: that I have T shirts and sweatshirts their real moments
Speaker 1: when I'm walking the streets, when I you know, fix
Speaker 1: it up with my whatever, your your little skirt, your
Speaker 1: jeans or whatever. It's a high low option and it's
Speaker 1: fly and fashionable, but yet it has a message that
Speaker 1: we can get out to the world. And so I
Speaker 1: support Black Women's Lives Matter with everything and it's and
Speaker 1: it's a silent statement. And they also have a tribute
Speaker 1: shirt to our own to mek A D. Mallory, which
Speaker 1: is their number one seller, So make sure you guys
Speaker 1: check it out and compito. It's okay to wear a
Speaker 1: sweater that says something that is positive about black women.
Speaker 1: You can't put where the one that says I love
Speaker 1: being a black woman because clearly you're not. How but
Speaker 1: you know? And that's that's a conversation because even sometimes
Speaker 1: I think about it and I make myself do it anyway,
Speaker 1: Like when I'm going to certain places, I'm like, do
Speaker 1: I want to be walking through the airport in Texas?
Speaker 1: You know where I love being a black woman sweatshirt?
Speaker 1: And it's like, if you even have to think about
Speaker 1: doing that, that's even more want to do it? Yes,
Speaker 1: good tell jall, I need my package. He's been sending
Speaker 1: me a package. I just got this for christ Okay, okay.
Speaker 1: Next up as Rhythm, which is mother spelled backwards. We
Speaker 1: love Rhythm because it is a lifestyle brand for moms
Speaker 1: that on the weekends, you know, you have to be
Speaker 1: a soccer mom or a basketball mom. A weekend mom.
Speaker 1: We'd like to call them, and a lot of times
Speaker 1: you gotta be on the go, right, and so you
Speaker 1: still want to look cute, or even if you have
Speaker 1: to go to like a game after work, you don't
Speaker 1: want to necessarily show up in your suit, but you
Speaker 1: still want to be cute and fashionable. So Rhythm is
Speaker 1: a lifestyle brand that creates really cute, um stylish pieces
Speaker 1: for mom that are comfortable and functional and easy to
Speaker 1: throw on and still be cute and still be cute.
Speaker 1: So I wore this finally, finally vest the other day
Speaker 1: with some silver um. I don't know what those are called?
Speaker 1: My song, what are those sneakers called? I wear two
Speaker 1: different kinds of sneakers. I wear air Max, I have
Speaker 1: some all silver air Max. I had this on with
Speaker 1: a little white sweat suit, and I was you, honey, you.
Speaker 1: And the thing is that she has a lot of
Speaker 1: loungewear and streetwear, but she also has pieces like that
Speaker 1: that you know would be considered casual, that you can't
Speaker 1: wear to work and that you can't wear to the office.
Speaker 1: So we're to like a business meeting or something like that.
Speaker 1: So she's really good. Check them out. Hym there spell backwards,
Speaker 1: So she get some fathers collaboration happening, this collaboration. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we have to tell it could be a collaboration. No, no, no,
Speaker 1: we got daddish. That is just the other version of rhythm.
Speaker 1: That's the that's the bad version of rhythm. Okay. Next up,
Speaker 1: we have one of my favorite favorite products. It's called
Speaker 1: shampoo tom Bat. This is actually an innovative invention inependent
Speaker 1: Um product that was developed my mom that has a
Speaker 1: beautiful daughter with a lot of hair, and shampoo tom
Speaker 1: was just horrible for her, Like she just her daughter
Speaker 1: would cry and it was something that she was dread
Speaker 1: and doing. You know, she would go weeks without watching
Speaker 1: her daughter here because it was it was just such turmoil.
Speaker 1: So she created Matt. The Matt kind of fits on
Speaker 1: your countertops so that you could comfortably reclined into the
Speaker 1: sink like you would do in a hair salon. And
Speaker 1: then it has uh, it has a piece that you
Speaker 1: put over it which is easy to put together, and
Speaker 1: you can attach your iPad or iPhone to it or
Speaker 1: any or android. And so the kid is entertained while
Speaker 1: washing it here and they literally forget about it. I
Speaker 1: saw the mom hit me up and said, you know
Speaker 1: I haven't evention. I want to know what you think
Speaker 1: about it. By the time she went to text me
Speaker 1: something else, I had a ready ordered one because as
Speaker 1: soon as I saw it, I'm like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: I gotta have this. But I was having the same problem.
Speaker 1: It literally took off like hotcakes because it's a it's
Speaker 1: a product that sells itself. Any woman of color, viracial mom,
Speaker 1: you know of a viracial child that sees this product
Speaker 1: is gonna buy it in five seconds exactly. Yeah, because
Speaker 1: you said, most of all getting our hair washed when
Speaker 1: we were it was abuse. They they should have been
Speaker 1: somebody should have been locked up for the way that
Speaker 1: we were treated to watch. They didn't have a mat,
Speaker 1: they didn't have all this new technology. You had to
Speaker 1: stick your head which ever kind of way, and that's see.
Speaker 1: And if you didn't back right to the to your forehead,
Speaker 1: can't breathe. The water is in your face. You'd better
Speaker 1: not cry, just dr it. Just what it hurts. And
Speaker 1: so I love that product. When I first saw it,
Speaker 1: I don't have any a daughter, but when I saw
Speaker 1: the product, I was immediately like, oh, I know everybody
Speaker 1: is going to want to purchase this if they have
Speaker 1: a daughter, especially a young daughter, and they have to
Speaker 1: wash their own here. So I love that product. She
Speaker 1: launched in April of the pandemic and by the end
Speaker 1: of the year she had already made a quarter of
Speaker 1: a million dollars in sales. That's just how great the
Speaker 1: product was with with no no page. She didn't pay
Speaker 1: for any advertising, any marketing, just word about and people
Speaker 1: seeing the product in love it. It's definitely a hero product.
Speaker 1: Abolutely love it. Love it. Unto Freedom is one of
Speaker 1: the products that we featured this year and this okay, see,
Speaker 1: that's a product that gives back. So part of activism
Speaker 1: is being able to have money to do the things
Speaker 1: that you guys calling them to do. When you say
Speaker 1: I want you to fly to Texas or Alabama or
Speaker 1: Mississippi or Boston or whatever to come help me and
Speaker 1: my family, it takes money to do that. They have
Speaker 1: to have income to be able to fly to these places,
Speaker 1: to um whold rallies, which could sometimes course hundreds of
Speaker 1: thousands of dollars. In order for them to activate, they
Speaker 1: have to have the finances to activate. And we always
Speaker 1: like to say that you guys should invest in until
Speaker 1: Freedom a way to invest in Alto Freedom is to
Speaker 1: support their business, which is the Until Freedom merch which
Speaker 1: is a collection of really really fly streetwear and loungewear
Speaker 1: that is comfortable and it's fashionable and it's great quality,
Speaker 1: and it gives back. That money goes directly to Unto
Speaker 1: Freedom to help them with all of the things that
Speaker 1: they do for us every day freedom. That's what I'm told.
Speaker 1: I love my Until Freedom sweatsuits. I love my unto
Speaker 1: Freedom stuff too. Yeah, I'm wearing it with heels. I'm
Speaker 1: wearing it, you know, dressed down, dress up, and people
Speaker 1: are loving it. Everywhere I go. Folks want they want it,
Speaker 1: and you know, and I think also it is a
Speaker 1: message until freedom means something, whether you're a part of
Speaker 1: the organization and or just being somebody who's out here
Speaker 1: in the world that says, until freedom, until freedom, we're
Speaker 1: fighting until freedom. We just we out here, we exist. So,
Speaker 1: you know, if you want to support our work, as
Speaker 1: LaToya has said, do what you can to well, I
Speaker 1: think what's important is that you get something. It's not
Speaker 1: like you're just giving your money just investing in our lives.
Speaker 1: You also get a product. How are you got surprised
Speaker 1: by how well the merchant has done. Nic Soon is
Speaker 1: not surprised and so lives in faith. He walks, so
Speaker 1: he walks into right. I just believe. I believe, you know,
Speaker 1: the cause of until Freedom itself is something that's so big,
Speaker 1: you know, and that more people once they see what
Speaker 1: it is that we do and acknowledge and understand what
Speaker 1: it takes to do it, they're gonna want to be
Speaker 1: involved with it. But I just also feels like I
Speaker 1: was symbol you know, the clothing itself is something that
Speaker 1: people like, you know, I like it. I don't really
Speaker 1: like a lot of stuff, and most people that I
Speaker 1: that I that actually have our clothing like it. So
Speaker 1: I was like, you know, we this is something we
Speaker 1: need to focus on. So I'm definitely not surprised, and
Speaker 1: I think it's gonna go up this year. Yeah. It's
Speaker 1: a It's a conversation starter too, because people usually asked, like,
Speaker 1: what's until freedom? Then you get to tell them all
Speaker 1: about themselves and why they need to buy it. That's right.
Speaker 1: So we are continuing this for two. If you are
Speaker 1: a business owner with a real business, you know, meaning
Speaker 1: you write your business right, because the one thing we
Speaker 1: don't want to do with feature of business and then
Speaker 1: get our d m s and emails flooded because we
Speaker 1: recommended a business that didn't right by the customers. If
Speaker 1: you have a viable business, DM the atreet Politicians DM
Speaker 1: and we'll tell you how you can submit your business
Speaker 1: to be featured on the show. Absolutely. So to your
Speaker 1: point about promoting businesses that don't take care of their
Speaker 1: customers properly, that's something we have to talk about. You know.
Speaker 1: We often try to kind of like hide certain things,
Speaker 1: like right like we don't want I don't want to
Speaker 1: we want you to support black businesses, so we don't
Speaker 1: really want to talk about the negative experiences that people have.
Speaker 1: But I have to talk about it because the truth
Speaker 1: is the truth. There are businesses that I have tried
Speaker 1: to support and the customer service is trash. The way
Speaker 1: you're treated um also the time in terms of how
Speaker 1: you receive your product, like people who are really slow
Speaker 1: at getting their product out, the way the product comes,
Speaker 1: how you can't get in touch with people, it's it's
Speaker 1: it's a disaster like and by the way, and and
Speaker 1: that is just for products, but service says like going
Speaker 1: to a salon to get your hair done, having to
Speaker 1: wait for hours and hours on end. You know, people
Speaker 1: canceling appointments thinking that they are more important than you
Speaker 1: when you're the one paying for the service. There's so
Speaker 1: many things. I have a nail, a young lady who
Speaker 1: does nails. She is incredible, incredible. I would put her
Speaker 1: up against whoever you name it, who cartis nail. It
Speaker 1: doesn't matter who's nails. She can't be on time. She can,
Speaker 1: she just cannot be on time. So, as a brand manager,
Speaker 1: how are you encouraging people to tighten up the business?
Speaker 1: I think that that is the foundation of building a
Speaker 1: business and really branding, right. So when you talk about
Speaker 1: building a brand, and that's why I always say that
Speaker 1: we're looking for brands, We're not just looking for people
Speaker 1: to have like a side hustle, because I don't think
Speaker 1: that they're looking at the brand as something that's scalable
Speaker 1: and that's gonna be around for a long time. When
Speaker 1: you talk about building legacy businesses and that all of
Speaker 1: those things matter, that the pact, it didn't matter the
Speaker 1: shipping type, the ship and time matters. Being transparent with
Speaker 1: your consumers and letting them know it's gonna take X
Speaker 1: amount of time to receive a product before they buy
Speaker 1: is going to save you a lot of headaches. So
Speaker 1: I think that with social media, right, I want to say,
Speaker 1: there's two things that have helped us as a culture
Speaker 1: um gain power and be able to gain wealth, right,
Speaker 1: and one is hip hop and one is on social
Speaker 1: media because social media allows us and hip hop allows
Speaker 1: allows us to get a lot of influence and then
Speaker 1: we're able to monetize that influence. So with social media,
Speaker 1: you have direct, direct access to consumers and you're able
Speaker 1: to start a business. I have a lot of people
Speaker 1: that come to me and they're making seven figures in
Speaker 1: their business. They don't even have a tax ID number, right,
Speaker 1: so they you have to go, well, have to go
Speaker 1: back to the ground floor with them and really give
Speaker 1: them the funds and fundamentals of starting, launching, running the business,
Speaker 1: and just creating a sustainable business model so that you
Speaker 1: have repeat buyers and you have return customers, because you
Speaker 1: can't sustain a business if everybody is a one time customer.
Speaker 1: You need customers that's gonna come back again and again
Speaker 1: and again and recommend you to their friend in order
Speaker 1: for you to get to a point where that business
Speaker 1: is something that is going past the point where you're
Speaker 1: making six figures, because that's one of the things you
Speaker 1: always see. All of these are stats that says black
Speaker 1: women are starting business is faster than any other any
Speaker 1: other demographic. However, a large percentage of our business I
Speaker 1: want to say, like maybe something for said, don't get
Speaker 1: past the six figure marks. They don't exceed making more
Speaker 1: than a hundred thousand dollars a year. And the reason
Speaker 1: why is a lot of things, a lot of the
Speaker 1: things that you're talking about. But with that, I would
Speaker 1: say that people should give small businesses a little bit
Speaker 1: of grace too, because they're not Amazon. Amazon is a
Speaker 1: beast right that is a multibillion dollar in fire that
Speaker 1: can get you products in a day. A small business
Speaker 1: is not gonna be able to do that. They're not
Speaker 1: gonna be able to get you products, especially a business
Speaker 1: that's starting not that's in the negociative business. They're not
Speaker 1: gonna be able to match up with the Amazon. So
Speaker 1: it's unfair for us to want to deal with them
Speaker 1: that same way, same way we want to go to
Speaker 1: the Amazon page and leave a customer service question in
Speaker 1: the d M. You shouldn't do that to a business either,
Speaker 1: like they may not have the capability to respond to
Speaker 1: you in a d M. You know. So I think
Speaker 1: that it's two folds. Number one, the business owners need
Speaker 1: to really go into business wanted to run their business
Speaker 1: like a business. And then even if you started, and
Speaker 1: there has to come a point where you realize that
Speaker 1: in order for me to sustain this business, I kind
Speaker 1: of gotta do some homework and and do some cleaning
Speaker 1: up and make sure that you community communicate that to
Speaker 1: your customers. Customers love good brand story if you're transparent
Speaker 1: with them and you say I messed up, you know,
Speaker 1: I know it hasn't been the best, but these are
Speaker 1: the things that I'm doing to make it better and
Speaker 1: I want you guys to stick with me a lot
Speaker 1: of time. Those customers are going to appreciate that and
Speaker 1: stick with you. Good information. Well, I think there should
Speaker 1: be I want to start a school that you know,
Speaker 1: I have a million, thousands, a thousand ideas, but you
Speaker 1: got that, Hey, I want to start at school that
Speaker 1: focuses on customer service and also cleanliness. Right, Like, I
Speaker 1: go to so many restaurants and places and just just
Speaker 1: in general and just be like, why can't we be
Speaker 1: just do a little bit better. And I think some
Speaker 1: people just have never learned. They don't They think that
Speaker 1: they can treat their business the way that they treat
Speaker 1: the conversations that they have with their friends, and actually
Speaker 1: you can't. And there is the challenge of taking your
Speaker 1: friendships into a professional round. Yeah down the way in
Speaker 1: which we were when you used to just you know,
Speaker 1: hook me up with some hair. On the side, I
Speaker 1: don't want to be treated the same way when it
Speaker 1: comes to now your prices have gone up. Now I
Speaker 1: have to come to a salon. You're not just doing
Speaker 1: my hair in your kitchen sink. So you're supposed to
Speaker 1: treat me a certain way, and I, as the customer,
Speaker 1: should treat you a certain way as well. And I
Speaker 1: think there's there's not enough conversations about that happening where
Speaker 1: people can check themselves, both the customer and the provider.
Speaker 1: So I think that's something else that you should include
Speaker 1: in your bond brand management sphere. MEK a school of
Speaker 1: great customer service. And I will say this, if you
Speaker 1: can to me happy myself, you all gotta worry because
Speaker 1: her level of excellence, it's gonna be tought. Not if
Speaker 1: you get her as a happy customer then you're gonna
Speaker 1: be You're gonna be good, you know. But but I
Speaker 1: think that's okay you speaking me, because she'll be happy
Speaker 1: for five seconds. You'll come to a place this is
Speaker 1: just nice, and then she'll come back and like, I
Speaker 1: don't like this place anymore. It's dirty. I saw it.
Speaker 1: I saw it a little. I've seen a little roach. No,
Speaker 1: I'm the same way though, it comes to stuff like that.
Speaker 1: And the thing is the good thing about it is
Speaker 1: that when you do get good customer service, like when
Speaker 1: I go somewhere and it exceeds my expectation, like this cabin,
Speaker 1: for example, it was better than the pictures, like they
Speaker 1: had let cusett on pots in the kitchen, you know,
Speaker 1: like everything was like five star, top notch. And I'm like, okay,
Speaker 1: I'm about to come here every time. We gotta break
Speaker 1: because it's the service was that good. When you exceed
Speaker 1: somebody's expectation, you gotta get a lifelong client, and that
Speaker 1: is where that's worth. You put in the extra effort
Speaker 1: into making sure that they feel appreciated and that they
Speaker 1: get the service. Yeah, and that's what that's That's what
Speaker 1: I said to my son. Don't say little because I
Speaker 1: don't look and be like, oh, it's one little thing.
Speaker 1: It's a whole experience. And also, I do not feel
Speaker 1: that I should have to spend my money for people
Speaker 1: to bring me silverware that has food left over on it,
Speaker 1: glasses that has someone's lipstick on it. I don't want
Speaker 1: to have that. That's not fair to me that I
Speaker 1: have to drink and eat behind the customer before. And
Speaker 1: there is a way to make sure that that's not
Speaker 1: the case, because other people do it, so you have
Speaker 1: to figure out how you do it as well. It's
Speaker 1: a little extra work. It may require you to have
Speaker 1: a different type of you know, spend more money on
Speaker 1: a solution or whatever. But to your point, as a customer,
Speaker 1: I'm coming back and I'm bringing the village along with me.
Speaker 1: So thank you the Toivan, thank you guys for having
Speaker 1: me here, for being for being here in farted A
Speaker 1: my star know so my started that that that matters.
Speaker 1: But I will say that it's the going with the expectation, right.
Speaker 1: If it's not a five star place, you can't expect
Speaker 1: I star service. You know. Tomka to Maka might disagree
Speaker 1: with that, but the service at a five star hotel
Speaker 1: is gonna be different from a three star hotel, you know,
Speaker 1: and a real truth star hotel. You and I go
Speaker 1: in with that mindset, like if I know we gotta stay,
Speaker 1: that can't do end because that's the only place in
Speaker 1: the area you might find it. Head on the floor,
Speaker 1: but she cannot be. No, I don't need toist family dirty,
Speaker 1: but you might. I don't here on the floor in
Speaker 1: the baskett. I don't even accept that because I know
Speaker 1: that there are some places that they don't they don't
Speaker 1: do that. I think they're you should we should not
Speaker 1: ever be okay with um, dirt and things not being clean. Now.
Speaker 1: I understand if that means you don't have like a
Speaker 1: kitchen where you're able to do twenty four hour room service.
Speaker 1: I understand if the furniture is not you know, freaking
Speaker 1: up today today and you don't have when you call
Speaker 1: it frette um bed sheets, and you know, I get
Speaker 1: all of that, but it being me going in the
Speaker 1: shower and having to deal with somebody's left over hair
Speaker 1: that's not okay. Well so so cleanliness should be the basis,
Speaker 1: the basics. Anything you've got it, Thank you, We love you,
Speaker 1: love you too, love peace. I don't know why you
Speaker 1: always want to try to like diminish my or or
Speaker 1: make fun of me when I say that things need
Speaker 1: to be clean. I just don't get it. I'm confused
Speaker 1: that I think my that your I don't get it
Speaker 1: is my issue with you today. Yeah, I don't get
Speaker 1: it is your issue with me. I don't even get it.
Speaker 1: I still don't get it. It's not that I try
Speaker 1: to diminish. I just think that, like I tell you,
Speaker 1: all the time, I was in jail, Right so, my expectation,
Speaker 1: tolerance for certain things and understanding that most time ship
Speaker 1: is not gonna be what you wanted to be is
Speaker 1: different for you. So I don't I don't think I
Speaker 1: have as high expectations as you do. Right, So, especially
Speaker 1: if if we go to places where just regular places,
Speaker 1: I don't most of these businesses and things we go
Speaker 1: to that somewhere in the hood or not in five
Speaker 1: star areas is because they operating off a shoestring budget, right,
Speaker 1: So a lot of the people there are not being
Speaker 1: paid well enough to do all the things that you
Speaker 1: think or believe. They're not being paid. They're not saying
Speaker 1: like they might be working at this job for two
Speaker 1: or three weeks and quit. You know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: They're constantly trying to find people to work. This is
Speaker 1: not it's not what they don't really have. Most people
Speaker 1: don't really have job stability, especially if you're looking through
Speaker 1: the pandemic right now, most people ain't even working in
Speaker 1: inside of the you know, into the industries that we're
Speaker 1: talking about, like you know, hotels and in in eitheries
Speaker 1: and all these things. So my expectations is way different
Speaker 1: in yours. But yours has always been this way. It's
Speaker 1: always always so that's just who you are. So I think,
Speaker 1: I think my life experience in your life experience have
Speaker 1: us looking through different lenses. And I'm not mad that
Speaker 1: you do it. But for me, it's just it's not
Speaker 1: that serious. I'm not trying to diminish. It's not as
Speaker 1: serious for me as it is for you. What I'm
Speaker 1: saying is, first of all, I didn't go I didn't
Speaker 1: grow up in and I mean I didn't go to prison,
Speaker 1: so I appreciate that. But I grew up in the projects,
Speaker 1: which is his own little prison, and I stepped over
Speaker 1: pe and and all kinds of nastiness and crack files
Speaker 1: and everything on a regular basis. But my mama kept
Speaker 1: the inside of our house clean. She didn't have the
Speaker 1: mindset that just because we lived in this environment that
Speaker 1: it meant it was okay for the buildings, you know,
Speaker 1: for our apartment to be run down and so. And
Speaker 1: I know your mama keeps our house clean. So the
Speaker 1: fact that you went to jail should not be an
Speaker 1: excuse for people not providing cleanliness and positive attitude when
Speaker 1: somebody is spending their money with you. I just don't
Speaker 1: I don't see that. And I think in line with
Speaker 1: this cold conversation that we're having today around racism in
Speaker 1: America and how do we get to the next level,
Speaker 1: we as black people are gonna have to raise our
Speaker 1: standards if our cause is going to be more economically focused,
Speaker 1: where we're gonna look at how do we strengthen our businesses,
Speaker 1: how do we become you know, we we have to
Speaker 1: have an excellent mindset that even with a little bit
Speaker 1: right when when I went to Haiti, even after an earthquake,
Speaker 1: roads all broke up, streets you know, streets split open,
Speaker 1: no food fan in, all kinds of issues. Heavy single
Speaker 1: morning when we got on that bus, we ride through
Speaker 1: towns where people had their children hair bowls together, clothes
Speaker 1: looking me. Every single day, those kids will going to
Speaker 1: school on the way cleaned up, even though they might
Speaker 1: have to go around because the street was split in
Speaker 1: their neighborhood. It's something about having a level of excellence
Speaker 1: about yourself that we will have to take with us.
Speaker 1: We can't just tell people support our businesses. We have
Speaker 1: to also have a mindset of good customer service and
Speaker 1: not being and not diminishing somebody or or you know,
Speaker 1: or or making it seem like somebody like me is
Speaker 1: crazy because I'm asking for a certain amount of service
Speaker 1: when I'm committed to giving you my money. Well, I
Speaker 1: think I think it's in different regards, right, I think
Speaker 1: we all hold different things at high standards. Right. For me,
Speaker 1: it's about respect, right. I think we move around y'all
Speaker 1: tolerate more disrespect than that. Somebody can say or do
Speaker 1: something that I have very zero tolerance and relaxed, relaxed,
Speaker 1: that's not that serious. And and for me, I'm saying, no,
Speaker 1: don't it is that serious. People shouldn't do this. People
Speaker 1: shouldn't do this. So the way that you feel about
Speaker 1: cleanliness and you're giving your money, I understand. I'm just
Speaker 1: saying that's not my pet peeves. We all have different
Speaker 1: pet peeves, and we all seek a level of excellence
Speaker 1: in in different fields. I think for me, the way
Speaker 1: people talk and the way people treat you and the
Speaker 1: way people handle you is way more than if something
Speaker 1: you know, the folk got food on him. I'm I
Speaker 1: can watch that off, right. I don't know if it's intentionally.
Speaker 1: I don't know if somebody yo, it's hella disrespectful to
Speaker 1: have to eat and drink behind somebody else. But you
Speaker 1: also don't seem to really get upset when people are
Speaker 1: nasty in the restaurant. You'd be like, oh man, I'm
Speaker 1: just hungry, like it's the food good. So I don't
Speaker 1: think I have expectations in these type of indu treats right,
Speaker 1: and in those regards, I just think my expectations. But
Speaker 1: in my personal life and close proximity and people around me,
Speaker 1: there's different expectations of certain things, So I don't I
Speaker 1: don't think I have the same expectations of those things.
Speaker 1: So we can agree to agree, but disagree because I
Speaker 1: get it. You have a standard for certain things that
Speaker 1: you like, and I have a standard for certain things
Speaker 1: just in different areas cool. Well, again, I think as
Speaker 1: we go into this next conversation, we need to be thinking.
Speaker 1: While we understand all the things that's wrong with society,
Speaker 1: we also have to take an examination of what will
Speaker 1: help us to grow and be more stable UM. And
Speaker 1: I think one one of those things is this idea
Speaker 1: that we have to walk with excellence in mind. And
Speaker 1: I'm not just talking about business owners. I'm talking about
Speaker 1: even me, even in the way that I communicate in
Speaker 1: the things that I do, we have to have a
Speaker 1: level of excellence in minds. So I think that brings
Speaker 1: us to this next interview. And I'm you know, I'm
Speaker 1: about to learn some stuff Like I'm all about two.
Speaker 1: I want to be learning and filling myself with information
Speaker 1: and just getting stronger and being able to speak UM
Speaker 1: from a from A from a higher level, you know,
Speaker 1: and that and that comes from learning from people like
Speaker 1: our next guests. Well, let's get to the interview. So
Speaker 1: on January fourteenth in New York and l A, something
Speaker 1: really really important is happening. A documentary UM that has
Speaker 1: been produced by our next guests will be coming out
Speaker 1: really digging into this issue about racism in America. Now
Speaker 1: there's some of you who say, why are we still
Speaker 1: talking about it? Either we know racism exists and or
Speaker 1: they'll say there is no such thing. We had President
Speaker 1: Barack Obama, so racism doesn't exist in America anymore. Um.
Speaker 1: But I think we are from the mindset that if
Speaker 1: we do not constantly revisit history, and not just history
Speaker 1: of yesterday, but history of what is happening in this
Speaker 1: moment um, that we will lose sight of the direction
Speaker 1: that we need to be traveling. And we have to
Speaker 1: constantly remind this country, this nation, remind ourselves as black folks,
Speaker 1: remind white folks of their history, and also others who
Speaker 1: are looking in and participating in our society of what
Speaker 1: is happening. Um. And also make sure that our children
Speaker 1: are raised in a world where they know the truth,
Speaker 1: They know the truth about themselves, the truth about oppression.
Speaker 1: And again that we all take on the cause and
Speaker 1: the courage to fight to change it. And so our
Speaker 1: next guest, Mr. Jeffrey Robinson, has produced a documentary called
Speaker 1: who Are We? A Chronicle of Racism in America, and
Speaker 1: he's also the head of the Who Are We Project?
Speaker 1: And we are really really grateful for you being with
Speaker 1: us on Street Politicians today, we want to get into
Speaker 1: this conversation and learn about your project and why you
Speaker 1: actually decided to put a film like this together. Well,
Speaker 1: thank you for the introduction, and uh, it is. It's
Speaker 1: very interesting because it's actually who we are a chronicle
Speaker 1: of racism in America and we are we are project.
Speaker 1: But even coming up with that title was something that
Speaker 1: took a lot of work because you kind of said,
Speaker 1: you know, we can say, oh, we all know about racism,
Speaker 1: what are we still talking about it for? And the
Speaker 1: fact of the matter is that's not really true. And
Speaker 1: if you think about America's reaction to the murder of
Speaker 1: George Floyd and put the fact that it was on
Speaker 1: videotape and everything like that aside, but when people heard
Speaker 1: about it and people were just so outraged and so shocked,
Speaker 1: it was like something like that has never happened before.
Speaker 1: And I'm not talking about Eric Gardner five or six
Speaker 1: years ago. I'm talking in until in nineteen fifty five.
Speaker 1: I'm talking over four thousand black people who were lynched
Speaker 1: documented lynchings between eighteen seventy and nineteen fifty five or so.
Speaker 1: So not knowing history allows you to think that a
Speaker 1: problem that you're facing has roots that only go back
Speaker 1: a couple of years, and so when you try and
Speaker 1: deal with those what i'll call young roots, you think
Speaker 1: you've solved the problem, and then five years later it's
Speaker 1: the exact same thing, and everyone's wondering why didn't this work?
Speaker 1: And it doesn't work because we have never addressed the
Speaker 1: root of the problem, going back to the beginnings of America.
Speaker 1: So who we are is a statement about the truth
Speaker 1: about American history. It's a question about who we are
Speaker 1: really as we think about the good and bad of
Speaker 1: our our history and America and who we want to be,
Speaker 1: and that last one about who we want to be.
Speaker 1: You can't get on the path to who you want
Speaker 1: to be as an individual or a nation without coming
Speaker 1: to grips with who you are in the moment. So
Speaker 1: so that's so that's a very good point, and it
Speaker 1: brings me to a question that I have. We've been
Speaker 1: hearing a lot about critical rece theory lately, and there's
Speaker 1: this big, you know, argument whether it should be told
Speaker 1: in school, whether kids need to know, And based on
Speaker 1: what you're saying, it would it would be an atrocity
Speaker 1: for us not to teach about the history of America
Speaker 1: and its totality. So what why why do you think
Speaker 1: that white people see to be so against racial critical
Speaker 1: race theory in schools and actually just admitting that racism
Speaker 1: is even a part of America. I think that, like anything, uh,
Speaker 1: difficult conversations make people afraid and reluctant. If you can
Speaker 1: think about the most difficult conversation you have ever had
Speaker 1: with someone who is close to you, and think about
Speaker 1: how long it took you to bring it up, how
Speaker 1: nervous you were about talking about it, and then take
Speaker 1: back on a much grander scale, what we are talking
Speaker 1: about here, in my view, is the power of narrative.
Speaker 1: The narrative of America is an incredibly powerful thing. We
Speaker 1: are talking about our origin story. We are talking about
Speaker 1: things that have been fed to all of us since
Speaker 1: we were literally, you know, coming out of the wound.
Speaker 1: One of my favorite bands has a line that says,
Speaker 1: you know, it's in my honey and it's in my milk.
Speaker 1: It's like, this is how the narrative of America has
Speaker 1: been fed to us, and that narrative is a narrative
Speaker 1: of equality, of heroism, of a problem with slavery. But
Speaker 1: the Civil War solved that, and then there was the
Speaker 1: Civil Rights movement and everything spine. We elected Barack Obama
Speaker 1: and letting go of that narrative, a narrative that you
Speaker 1: have been fed since you were an infant, is really hard.
Speaker 1: So you know, let's just accept that when you are
Speaker 1: challenging a narrative that has taken four hundred years to build,
Speaker 1: don't be surprised if people get really frightened when you
Speaker 1: start shaking some of the foundation of that narrative. But
Speaker 1: I think people then say, well, I don't want my
Speaker 1: child to feel guilty, and I don't want to feel bad.
Speaker 1: I don't want to get blamed for something that happened
Speaker 1: a hundred and fifty years ago. One of the things
Speaker 1: that I think it's it's so important to understand here
Speaker 1: is that critical race theory is a law school curriculum,
Speaker 1: has nothing to do with teaching history. Conservative think tanks
Speaker 1: came up with a strategy to call everything about the
Speaker 1: history of anti black racism in America critical race theory
Speaker 1: and then to attack it as critical race theory. And
Speaker 1: you can find you can go and find the people
Speaker 1: who wrote about this. So why would a parent of
Speaker 1: a fourth grader be screaming at a school board meeting.
Speaker 1: Don't teach my client critical race theory when it's not
Speaker 1: being taught. We're talking about is fear. And so the
Speaker 1: way I would start this discustion, this discussion is simply
Speaker 1: with any parents from any political view in America, can
Speaker 1: we agree that we should tell our children the truth
Speaker 1: about history? And if the answer is yes, then we
Speaker 1: don't have a problem because now it's just about telling
Speaker 1: the truth. And if we go and look at what
Speaker 1: has been hidden in plain sight in all of our
Speaker 1: historical documents, the truth is undeniable. Look, America has demonstrated,
Speaker 1: and I said this in the film, America has demonstrated
Speaker 1: its capacity for greatness again and again and again. And
Speaker 1: America is one of the most racist countries on the
Speaker 1: face of the earth. Those two things are not mutually exclusive.
Speaker 1: And until we reckon with the latter part of that,
Speaker 1: we are not going to move to who we are,
Speaker 1: who we want to be, who we claim to be
Speaker 1: as a country. So I really think it is fear
Speaker 1: of a difficult conversation and fear that the narrative in
Speaker 1: America is going to change now. But you know, I
Speaker 1: would go a step further and saying, because you said
Speaker 1: that if you are close to someone, it's difficult to
Speaker 1: have a certain type of conversation, I would say, also,
Speaker 1: if you know you have wronged that person, if you
Speaker 1: know you have done something um to hurt them, it's
Speaker 1: even harder to go and sit and have the conversation.
Speaker 1: And I think a lot of it has to do
Speaker 1: with the fact that there is there is a level
Speaker 1: of guilt and or acknowledgement that we have done something.
Speaker 1: But not only have we done it, we haven't corrected it.
Speaker 1: Still to today, we have not corrected the wrongs of
Speaker 1: our ancestors, and we don't want to. We don't want
Speaker 1: to have the conversation. To your point, we don't want
Speaker 1: to happen. I think I think you make a really
Speaker 1: good point, and it's really important because when there is
Speaker 1: this element of guilt or responsibility, that makes it doubly harder.
Speaker 1: And and the other point you made is there is
Speaker 1: the acknowledgement of what happened, and nobody alive today owned
Speaker 1: an enslaved person. Nobody alive today was supporting slavery, but
Speaker 1: what have we done about it? And one of the
Speaker 1: reasons that I think some parents get upset about their
Speaker 1: children being taught this information is that Johnny and Susie
Speaker 1: are gonna come home and they're gonna say, Mommy and Daddy,
Speaker 1: did this stuff happen? And what did you do about it?
Speaker 1: And what did you do about it? And what is
Speaker 1: our room doing about it? And what are we exactly
Speaker 1: and why do you call Mexicans this? And and why
Speaker 1: do you still say nigger behind closed doors? And why
Speaker 1: do we have such and such in here working in
Speaker 1: our home and being treated a certain way like they don't.
Speaker 1: I mean, the conversation could go so deep that they
Speaker 1: don't want to have it at all. The fear, that
Speaker 1: is the fear. But the reason why we fight. We
Speaker 1: we tussle with this question of um a power right
Speaker 1: because people will say, oh, you know, black people can
Speaker 1: be can be racist as well, and we argue all
Speaker 1: the time that that is a very it's a shaky role,
Speaker 1: if you will, because we don't have well I'm just
Speaker 1: saying we can have biases that is. I mean, I
Speaker 1: just really believe, Like as a lawyer, one of the
Speaker 1: things I learned is, uh, you can't say there was
Speaker 1: a crash, do I mean? Two cars. Do I mean
Speaker 1: a car in a motorcycle? Do I mean a car
Speaker 1: in a person? So you have to be explicit in
Speaker 1: your use of language. Racism is not the equivalent of prejudice.
Speaker 1: I can be the most prejudiced person in any might
Speaker 1: walk into in America, but in America, I cannot be
Speaker 1: a racist, as racism is prejudice plus social power plus
Speaker 1: legal authority. That's racism. And that's why these these these
Speaker 1: foy aise into well, I don't have anything in my
Speaker 1: mind and my heart, so I'm not a racist. I
Speaker 1: don't have racist thoughts, so I don't have any you know,
Speaker 1: everything is fine. I don't have to do anything other
Speaker 1: than that. And that reduces racism to these individual prejudices,
Speaker 1: and that makes it too easy. That's why people want
Speaker 1: to say, oh, well, that couple of those people are
Speaker 1: prejudiced and they're the problem. No, that's not the problem.
Speaker 1: This view of mistaking individual president by prejudice and equivalent
Speaker 1: making it the equivalent of racism is why some people
Speaker 1: would say the way you solve the George Floyd issue
Speaker 1: is by passing a law that says police can't kneel
Speaker 1: along someone's neck. Now, we've solved the issue, and there
Speaker 1: are a lot of people who think that that kind
Speaker 1: of law would solve the issue, But of course it
Speaker 1: won't because that's not what killed George Floyd. That was
Speaker 1: the physical mechanism that choked the life out of him,
Speaker 1: but that's not what killed George Floyd. So once again,
Speaker 1: this limited view allows you to come up with quote
Speaker 1: unquote solutions to a problem that will never solve the problem.
Speaker 1: But you walk away like, you know, hey, I did
Speaker 1: a great thing. I passed the no Chokehold Act, Like
Speaker 1: that's gonna change something. M That's so that's the real thing.
Speaker 1: We have conversations about that all the time. So there's
Speaker 1: two things. First, I want you to tell us of
Speaker 1: give us a synopsis about the film. Would I see
Speaker 1: one part when you were talking to this guy and
Speaker 1: I think he had a Confederate flag and he was
Speaker 1: and he was talking about how they weren't it wasn't
Speaker 1: slavery because they treated him like family, did they treated
Speaker 1: slaves like? And when I was listening to that, and
Speaker 1: I've seen your face and you just really was looking
Speaker 1: like you are you really like serious? So I wanted
Speaker 1: to just give us a give us like, give us
Speaker 1: a give us a description, and then we'll tell us
Speaker 1: about it. And tell us what did you during this documentary?
Speaker 1: What did you find that even shocks you, like when
Speaker 1: you were searching for things, like where there are things
Speaker 1: that you found that even shot you? Well? I think
Speaker 1: that uh uh to understand that. Back in two thousand
Speaker 1: and eleven, because of some family circumstances, I started reading
Speaker 1: about the what came to be the history of anti
Speaker 1: black racism in America. And I tell people, this isn't
Speaker 1: a brag. This is to make a point. I've had
Speaker 1: one of the best educations in America. I graduated from
Speaker 1: Marquette University and Harvard Law School, and in my fifties,
Speaker 1: I started reading stuff that I had never heard before
Speaker 1: about the history of anti black racism in America, and
Speaker 1: I was shocked. And as I started finding more and
Speaker 1: more and more information, that led to a three hour
Speaker 1: presentation that led to people seeing it, and that led
Speaker 1: to this film being made. But the film is more
Speaker 1: than just the presentation of these facts that I found.
Speaker 1: The film is involved with going out and interviewing people
Speaker 1: who are witness to uh the history that is has
Speaker 1: been taken from all of us. One of the things
Speaker 1: that we wanted to do is to confront the issue
Speaker 1: about the cause of the Civil War. And I did
Speaker 1: a presentation, this three hour presentation in Charleston, South Carolina,
Speaker 1: and a woman came up to me at the end
Speaker 1: of it and she said, you know, there's some guys
Speaker 1: on the waterfront every Sunday in front of a Confederate
Speaker 1: Soldier monument there waving Confederate flags, and you should come
Speaker 1: down there for the demonstration that was Thursday night, Friday
Speaker 1: and Saturday. We did everything from go to Mother Emmanuel
Speaker 1: Church where Dylan Ruth slaughtered nine people. We went to
Speaker 1: a plantation and saw how our ancestors lived and retreated.
Speaker 1: We went to the Charleston Slave Mark Museum, where I
Speaker 1: saw shackles that were made for three and four year
Speaker 1: olds and whimps that had nail heads embedded in the
Speaker 1: leather in order to tear the flesh. And I was
Speaker 1: sick and I wasn't. We were leaving Charleston the next
Speaker 1: day on Sunday, and Sarah and Emily Kunstler, the directors,
Speaker 1: went down to the waterfront and they called me and said, Jeff,
Speaker 1: you've got to come down here. Uh this guy is
Speaker 1: willing to talk to us. He signed a release, and
Speaker 1: I think that was an important thing. That I was sick,
Speaker 1: and as I think back on it, I wasn't sick
Speaker 1: with like the flu. I think I was just sick
Speaker 1: from everything we had been seeing. But I got myself
Speaker 1: down there and so my energy was lower, and I
Speaker 1: think that helped me stay calmer. And I'm glad that
Speaker 1: I did, because I wanted to talk to this man
Speaker 1: and to have him explained to me what his view was.
Speaker 1: And I'm a criminal defense lawyer and I've been trying
Speaker 1: to cross examine witnesses, and so I just listened to him,
Speaker 1: and I wanted to try and reflect back to him
Speaker 1: how Ridict feels some of the things that he was saying.
Speaker 1: We're and so when he first started talking about moral
Speaker 1: terroiffs he's talking about I think the name is m
Speaker 1: O R R I L. It's the name of a
Speaker 1: law and some people hear it may think is he's
Speaker 1: talking about more terrorists, and he's like, no, it's moral
Speaker 1: terrorists on crops that enslaved people were essentially responsibly responsible
Speaker 1: for producing. And when he started talking about that, I'm like, oh, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: that was cotton, tobacco, and rice. And so one of
Speaker 1: the things I'm doing is telling him I know this
Speaker 1: history just like you know it. And that took him
Speaker 1: back a little bit, and he didn't want to talk
Speaker 1: about that anymore, because now we were talking about the
Speaker 1: fact that enslaved people grew all those crops, and so
Speaker 1: taxes on those crops to the north. All of a sudden,
Speaker 1: that doesn't seem like such a strong Southern issue. And
Speaker 1: that's when he pivoted to, well, we treated them like family.
Speaker 1: And I just in him to admit that I couldn't
Speaker 1: own him and treat him like family and that it
Speaker 1: would be okay. And you could just see the wheels
Speaker 1: in his head turning. And I thought, if I yell
Speaker 1: at him, which is what I wanted to do, that's
Speaker 1: what he's expecting. You. Now, I'm just another black man
Speaker 1: who's you know, having an argument with a guy with
Speaker 1: a Confederate flag. And how many of those have we seen? Wow?
Speaker 1: But do you so you feel like this film is
Speaker 1: one that white people can watch and feel safe learning
Speaker 1: about themselves in the history, or do you feel like
Speaker 1: it's still going to be such a trigger that they
Speaker 1: may just shut just the wall comes down. One of
Speaker 1: the things that I wanted to do in the way
Speaker 1: this film was presented is to try to address the
Speaker 1: issue that you just released. Number one. I'm not looking
Speaker 1: to make anybody feel comfortable. I'm looking to tell the truth,
Speaker 1: and the truth is what the truth is. What I
Speaker 1: have learned as a criminal defense lawyer is if I
Speaker 1: come and tell you the Constitution was filled with advantages
Speaker 1: for white supremacist slave owners, I can say that to
Speaker 1: you and you may react one way or another. But
Speaker 1: if I give you the facts, here's what this provision said,
Speaker 1: Here's what this provision said, here's what this provision said,
Speaker 1: then you have to deal with it yourself. And so,
Speaker 1: just like that guy with the Confederate flag, I said,
Speaker 1: of these craps were raised by enslaved people. He wanted
Speaker 1: to fight about that. So I said okay, and he
Speaker 1: had to agree because he knew that was truth. And
Speaker 1: so if I say to someone, did you know that
Speaker 1: the three fifths claws in the Constitution, That wasn't just
Speaker 1: about making sure that the Constitution reflected that black people
Speaker 1: were not considered full human beings. That was about the
Speaker 1: electoral College, Because what three hundred thousand blacks in Virginia.
Speaker 1: You multiply that by three fists and that gets added
Speaker 1: to the population. And then when you go down to
Speaker 1: the next provision in the constitution, it says the number
Speaker 1: of electoral College votes you get is dependent on your population.
Speaker 1: And that's why nine of the first twelve American presidents
Speaker 1: were from the South, and seven of them were from Virginia.
Speaker 1: And then you here, and then you see where slave
Speaker 1: owners are given specific protections. So as opposed to telling
Speaker 1: you what to think, what I'm trying to do in
Speaker 1: this film is giving you the facts and saying you
Speaker 1: come to the conclusion that you think these facts bring
Speaker 1: you to, and the conclusion, quite frankly, is not escapable.
Speaker 1: H is the film for children, Absolutely, It's a PG
Speaker 1: thirteen rating. And what I would say is this is
Speaker 1: not a film that I want to send my fifth,
Speaker 1: six or seventh grader in to watch by themselves, but
Speaker 1: to watch with their parents. Absolutely. And I have had
Speaker 1: conversation with kids in middle school, with kids even younger
Speaker 1: than that, about these issues. There are very very difficult
Speaker 1: things that are shown in this film, and so the
Speaker 1: PG thirteen rating I think is very helpful. But this
Speaker 1: kind of education in age appropriate ways is completely important.
Speaker 1: And I think one of the best things I've seen
Speaker 1: about this is everybody knows the iconic picture of Ruby Bridges,
Speaker 1: maybe as six or seven years old with her little briefcase,
Speaker 1: walking into a school surrounded by federal marshals so that
Speaker 1: she wouldn't get killed if she had to understand about
Speaker 1: racism at that age. White kids that age can learn
Speaker 1: about it. So this whole concept of oh, they're too young,
Speaker 1: that is absolutely false. And one of the things that
Speaker 1: who we are project and this is a not for
Speaker 1: profit organization that I've established, one of the things that
Speaker 1: we're going to do is to work with experts so
Speaker 1: that parents and pre k teachers can start to talk
Speaker 1: to kids at a very early age. And how can
Speaker 1: you do that. You can do it all kinds of ways,
Speaker 1: just by starting with the concept of what's fair. Give
Speaker 1: four lollipops to five kids and the girl with red
Speaker 1: hair doesn't get one, and ask them if that's fair,
Speaker 1: and they'll start telling you at three years old, of
Speaker 1: course that's not. This is the This is that you
Speaker 1: can start teaching kids about concepts before you get into
Speaker 1: the actual history of of anti black racism. I'm not
Speaker 1: saying you teach that history through a first grader, but
Speaker 1: I am saying that we think our children at a
Speaker 1: very young age or not being taught about racism, and
Speaker 1: that's just a fantasy. Our society is teaching them. And
Speaker 1: the way you figure that out is you go to
Speaker 1: the most liberal monastory school in America and the kids
Speaker 1: will self segregate in the lunch room in the first
Speaker 1: grade down that for decades. Why is that they are
Speaker 1: learning something and they're learning it from us? So the
Speaker 1: issue is not will your child be taught about racism?
Speaker 1: Because the answer to that is yes. The issue is
Speaker 1: how is your child going to be taught? Wow, I
Speaker 1: want to actually one thing before we go, because I
Speaker 1: can said actually millions, very very insightful, and you've seen
Speaker 1: to break it down. There's two things I want to know.
Speaker 1: Do you believe that we can eradicate racism in America?
Speaker 1: That's a great question. And and if so, if not,
Speaker 1: what do you think is the biggest threat to Black
Speaker 1: America's future? What do you think is our thing that
Speaker 1: we really need to focus on if we're trying to
Speaker 1: evolve in progress and move past a lot of things
Speaker 1: what do you think. I think that I think the
Speaker 1: answer to the first question, can we eradicate racism, not
Speaker 1: just anti black racism, but racism in America? And the
Speaker 1: answer in my mind to that question is I don't
Speaker 1: know mhm. The answer is uncertain. But what I can
Speaker 1: tell you is this, we have never in our entire
Speaker 1: history addressed our racist underpinnings and origin story. We have
Speaker 1: never addressed the issue, not just going back five or
Speaker 1: ten years, but going back to sixteen nineteen. And people
Speaker 1: say that was colonial America. Well, when they had the
Speaker 1: Constitutional Convention, all those colonies brought their riches from slavery
Speaker 1: and dumped them on the table, and people said, doubled down,
Speaker 1: we are keeping this going. We have never addressed this
Speaker 1: issue by looking at the entire history. So we are
Speaker 1: doing something today, in this decade, in this century, that
Speaker 1: we have not done before, and that gives me hope.
Speaker 1: The other thing I'll tell you is this is January
Speaker 1: six today, one year ago today. We all remember what
Speaker 1: we were looking at. And I'll guarantee you those people
Speaker 1: think that racism in America can be eradicated because they're scared.
Speaker 1: They are scared of what will happen if the truth
Speaker 1: is taught. It's just like that fear about critical race theory.
Speaker 1: People are afraid, Oh, the origin story is gonna be shaken.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna have to acknowledge that while I've had struggles
Speaker 1: and overcome burdens as a white person, I walked through
Speaker 1: this world completely differently than the black and brown people
Speaker 1: I'm walking right next to. And that has to change.
Speaker 1: So the people that are screaming at school board meetings,
Speaker 1: the people that were in the insurrection on January six,
Speaker 1: they're scared, and they're scared because they see the possibility
Speaker 1: of radical change occurring. And that's one of the things
Speaker 1: that I think is really important. We are literally at
Speaker 1: a tipping point, and a tipping point in a country
Speaker 1: with a four hundred year history is not a moment,
Speaker 1: for a year is a decade. We were in this
Speaker 1: tipping point at least by two thousand and sixteen, and
Speaker 1: we are in the middle of it now. So what
Speaker 1: we do over the next five years is critical. And
Speaker 1: to do your specific question, what areas should you focus on?
Speaker 1: There are two things to me, and they are they
Speaker 1: are interrelated. One is the economic health of the black
Speaker 1: community and the other is voting, and the two things
Speaker 1: are inextricably uh combined with each other. Why do you
Speaker 1: think that there is so much effort to keep us
Speaker 1: from voting? Because people understand that the black community can
Speaker 1: have a huge impact not just on congressional races and
Speaker 1: Senate races, but on local races as well as races
Speaker 1: for the national offices. So I think voting is a huge,
Speaker 1: huge issue. And when I say economic impact, the thing
Speaker 1: that will give us the clearest view of that is
Speaker 1: HR forty, the bill in front of Congress right now
Speaker 1: to create a commission to study the issue of reparations
Speaker 1: for slavery and the vestiges of slavery, and this is
Speaker 1: where the history comes in. And then to make recommendations
Speaker 1: to Congress and and so uh, those are two things
Speaker 1: that I think are examples of areas where in the
Speaker 1: next five years America is going to have to reckon
Speaker 1: with a lot of difficult things. And uh, for me, Um,
Speaker 1: I know what I'm gonna be doing for the next
Speaker 1: five years. M what is that? What are you gonna need?
Speaker 1: We're gonna need it, We're gonna need some inside. But
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be doing for the next five years with
Speaker 1: the Who We Are Project is making sure that everyone
Speaker 1: in America has access to our true history. Think about
Speaker 1: all those states that have passed these anti CRT laws.
Speaker 1: Do they really think that a classroom is the only
Speaker 1: place where students learned? Have you seen thirteen through seventeen
Speaker 1: year olds walking around America without a cell phone in
Speaker 1: their hands? And so we can we can get this
Speaker 1: history out to people so that they can confirm it themselves.
Speaker 1: They can go to state historical societies and find the
Speaker 1: original documents where our founding fathers are saying horrific things.
Speaker 1: And once you confirm it yourself. Knowledge. I hate to
Speaker 1: say this in the time of COVID, but knowledge is
Speaker 1: like a virus and once it starts spreading, it's really
Speaker 1: hard to stop. It's the last thing I'll say on
Speaker 1: this in terms of the impact that knowledge can have,
Speaker 1: and why the Who We Are Project is going to
Speaker 1: spend the next five years trying to make sure of
Speaker 1: that youth, community groups and corporate organizations and government organizations
Speaker 1: are all made aware of this history because being aware
Speaker 1: of the history is what will take us to this
Speaker 1: to this different place. So that's where we're going to
Speaker 1: be focusing our efforts and Who we Are Projects, Thank
Speaker 1: you so much, so much. We really appreciate it and
Speaker 1: you are a wealth of knowledge. I've definitely looked forward
Speaker 1: just after watching the trail, I definitely look forward to
Speaker 1: watching the movie. Everybody should go out and get it. Well,
Speaker 1: just let him know where to be showing. Thank you
Speaker 1: very much, but first of all, thank you for having
Speaker 1: me and I really appreciate the chance to have this dialogue.
Speaker 1: And if you go to our website, the Who we
Speaker 1: Are Project dot org, uh, there is a section for
Speaker 1: the film and a section for the project, and one
Speaker 1: of the links is you click on it and it
Speaker 1: will show you a map of America, and then you
Speaker 1: click on the state where you think you're gonna be,
Speaker 1: and it will show you all of the dates where
Speaker 1: things are gonna open. So it's in New York and
Speaker 1: Los Angeles next weekend, but then it's gonna be in Washington,
Speaker 1: d C. In Chicago, in Memphis, in in Tulsa, you know,
Speaker 1: all over the country. So uh, that's probably the best
Speaker 1: way is to go to our website and click on
Speaker 1: that map and it will give you the places where
Speaker 1: it's gonna be screening in your area. Awesome. Thank you
Speaker 1: so much. Again, we cannot wait to be well, you know,
Speaker 1: to talk about the film, to make sure that people
Speaker 1: have an opportunity to see it. I think it's so
Speaker 1: important for it to be accessible, but it will take
Speaker 1: all of us to push that info out there. So
Speaker 1: we're committed to that. UM and you, we appreciate you
Speaker 1: for coming on street politicians. Thank you. And let me
Speaker 1: just say, if there is anything else that I can
Speaker 1: do to support the work that y'all are doing, just
Speaker 1: let me know because I appreciate what you're doing. And
Speaker 1: this is part of why I do have optimism, because
Speaker 1: this stuff is getting out there, and when it does
Speaker 1: get out there, people go, oh M, I didn't know that,
Speaker 1: And at that moment, that's when they're willing to try
Speaker 1: and think about something different. And I think we can
Speaker 1: bring about those moments. So thank you for the work
Speaker 1: that y'all are doing. Congratulations Jeffrey Robinson, attorney, writer, producer
Speaker 1: and the Who we Are Who we Are project, Thank you,
Speaker 1: Thank you, Thank you, dope interview man, Really do you know?
Speaker 1: I think the ironic part is how with LaToya was
Speaker 1: saying about supporting black businesses and just the whole segment,
Speaker 1: and then how Mr Robinson said that is gonna be
Speaker 1: one of the essential things for us to move forward
Speaker 1: is black economics, you know, So it's it's all on points,
Speaker 1: all connected. You know, we have to be very intentional
Speaker 1: about being entrepreneurs, creating economics, creating generational wealth, you know.
Speaker 1: And I think we're on the right path. He said that.
Speaker 1: He said, Um, how in this the last five years,
Speaker 1: you know, what we've been doing about exploring and holding
Speaker 1: accountable and talking about the you know, the history of
Speaker 1: America and put it in plain sight so people can
Speaker 1: see it. It's never been done. He said, We've done
Speaker 1: everything else with that, so that that's gonna have a
Speaker 1: different effect, you know. And he was honest, he doesn't
Speaker 1: know if we're ever gonna see the eradication of racism
Speaker 1: in America. Right. But you know, but as you said too,
Speaker 1: really really strong things that tied directly together some people,
Speaker 1: and I think there is another element that we have
Speaker 1: to bring introduce into the conversation as well. You got
Speaker 1: one thing, which is toyt latoy Von saying we have
Speaker 1: to support small businesses, support black owned businesses and other
Speaker 1: people of color. You have as you said, um, Mr
Speaker 1: Robinson talking about economic empowerment. And then there's the protest
Speaker 1: component where we should not be spending our money with
Speaker 1: certain businesses when they don't invest in our communities. And
Speaker 1: I think when you put those three things together, and
Speaker 1: of course education, we will be able to, you know,
Speaker 1: to really teach our young people because it will be
Speaker 1: the next generation that is going to be so they're
Speaker 1: so in tune with buying sweatshirts from their friends, you know,
Speaker 1: they're so in tune with going to get their facial
Speaker 1: done from their home girl. Now we just have to
Speaker 1: be able to bring it all together and let them
Speaker 1: know you could go to the spa. Of course, you
Speaker 1: could go to a white spa downtown, but you could
Speaker 1: also go to your home girls spot and get the
Speaker 1: same type of service. And that brings me back to
Speaker 1: the point about why it needs to be quiety service. Well,
Speaker 1: that kind of brings me, you know, just the whole
Speaker 1: racism and black and all these things brings me to
Speaker 1: you know, I don't get it. You know, earlier this
Speaker 1: I think probably was last week, there was a conversation
Speaker 1: and you know, I've been I've been critical about a
Speaker 1: lot of these bloggers and on site. You know, um
Speaker 1: individuals that just came out of nowhere got famous somehow
Speaker 1: just talking on the internet and somehow they had some
Speaker 1: level of credibility. Now this this one side I've I've seen,
Speaker 1: you know. I talked about how you know, they had
Speaker 1: DJ academics on the and he was cursing some black
Speaker 1: women out, calling her old types of names, corner bitches
Speaker 1: and all types of things because they had a difference
Speaker 1: of opinion. And he just started really being disrespectful. But
Speaker 1: there was a conversation where they were talking about a
Speaker 1: website or some type of site where you can go
Speaker 1: on the date black women. It's called black and these
Speaker 1: two black men, one black black and another you know,
Speaker 1: um more more my complexion black individual talking about how
Speaker 1: they don't date black women and stuff and not just
Speaker 1: don't date black women. Say well, if you want to
Speaker 1: go get bake, date Shaniko or boom Kisha, that's on you.
Speaker 1: You know, we don't, we don't like the dark met
Speaker 1: We don't we don't really engage in that, you know.
Speaker 1: And for me, I just don't understand the mind state, right,
Speaker 1: I don't. It's two things I don't understand. I don't
Speaker 1: understand First, how do we give people with that low
Speaker 1: vibration mind state any authority to continually impact, in effect
Speaker 1: and dictate our culture? Right, I don't even understand how,
Speaker 1: because they've been they've been toxic, Like I watched, and
Speaker 1: the thing about is this show is filled with always
Speaker 1: black women at the table. Black women is sitting around
Speaker 1: and they're having these conversations and whatever whatever. This show
Speaker 1: has been made pretty much made of mostly black women
Speaker 1: that I've seen that the shows I've seen. And then
Speaker 1: I don't get the mind state that that even comes.
Speaker 1: How you just get comfortable with saying something like that.
Speaker 1: I don't even understand how you as if you and
Speaker 1: if you see how black this man is. I hope
Speaker 1: we have a clip of it, you know when when
Speaker 1: you see how black and dark this one guy is,
Speaker 1: he said, all, we don't, we don't do the dark
Speaker 1: me like the self hate that has to come with that,
Speaker 1: you know, the self, the self, how much you don't
Speaker 1: care for yourself to understand that your mother is a
Speaker 1: black woman, understand that your grandmother's understand the history of
Speaker 1: your whole existence is a black woman. And for you
Speaker 1: to say that so freely is as if it's not embarrassing,
Speaker 1: as as if it's not something that you should you
Speaker 1: just to even think that you should be ashamed though,
Speaker 1: you know, I just don't get this mindset. I don't
Speaker 1: I don't get where we are in this culture and
Speaker 1: altogether is where we just have gotten comfortable with less.
Speaker 1: We've gotten comfortable with disrespecting ourselves. We've got comfortable with
Speaker 1: allowing people who don't even value us to dictate what
Speaker 1: this culture looks like, you know. And it was real
Speaker 1: confusing to me. I heard a lot of people, you know,
Speaker 1: say things about it. I've seen a couple of people
Speaker 1: Joe Button says something about it, Roy says son about it.
Speaker 1: Was a couple of dudes you know that has said
Speaker 1: something about it. And it just really evolved me the
Speaker 1: wrong way, you know, because this was the second situation
Speaker 1: where I've seen the violation of a black woman on
Speaker 1: this podcast. M hm. I mean, I don't have anything
Speaker 1: to add to that. I think that, you know, the
Speaker 1: first point you gave was the most important. It's like, well,
Speaker 1: we as black people, and of course led by black women,
Speaker 1: Um well, I mean maybe led by black men, say
Speaker 1: that we no longer support the show. That's it it's
Speaker 1: really simple. I don't I'm not trying on to deliberate
Speaker 1: on why they say they said the things they said.
Speaker 1: And in fact, I didn't give it any of my
Speaker 1: attention because we already know what type of content is
Speaker 1: coming from that platform. It's not just that platform. But
Speaker 1: it was another show where they were on there talking
Speaker 1: with some young guy about, you know, robbing people like
Speaker 1: this is a this is becoming a thing. And we
Speaker 1: talked last week about the cultural awareness that the shift
Speaker 1: that has to happen and how you and others are
Speaker 1: really trying to lead that, you know, And so I
Speaker 1: think there is we already know that being enslaved, being
Speaker 1: an enslaved people has done a doozy like it's a
Speaker 1: number that has been done on us. That is, it's
Speaker 1: really scary. But beyond that, now it's going back to
Speaker 1: the previous conversation. People need to understand that just because
Speaker 1: so for me, I didn't click it to watch it
Speaker 1: because I don't even want to give ratings to whatever
Speaker 1: services or you know, whatever sauce sources are providing the content.
Speaker 1: I don't even want the views on the shade room
Speaker 1: ball alert or whatever to go up because I'm another
Speaker 1: person who has listened to it over and over and
Speaker 1: over again. Because your cliques equal money, like your cliques
Speaker 1: equal resources. And there are people out there that will
Speaker 1: invest in something like that because it's controversial, whereas they
Speaker 1: won't necessarily support something that's on that, you know, the Shade,
Speaker 1: room Ball Alert, all of these, the Jasmine brand, all
Speaker 1: of these sites. They try to also post some things
Speaker 1: that are different, not like that. I'm not gonna say
Speaker 1: positive or not or whatever, because this is not about that,
Speaker 1: but just different. And the clicks and the numbers for
Speaker 1: those things may not be as strong. And so we
Speaker 1: have to understand that the more we listen, the more
Speaker 1: we engage, the more these people become hot to those
Speaker 1: people who don't care nothing about our communities. All they
Speaker 1: care about is throwing that little advertisement on there so
Speaker 1: that they can get more eye right, so they can
Speaker 1: get more eyeballs. So it's up to you, you know
Speaker 1: what you want to see? What is it that you know?
Speaker 1: We e street politicians. We're trying our best to give
Speaker 1: content that is not just talking about you know, we
Speaker 1: talked about we talk about black love, we talked about relationships,
Speaker 1: we talk about all of that, and those episodes do well,
Speaker 1: and that's great, and because there's things we care about,
Speaker 1: it's information we want, it's the world we live in.
Speaker 1: But we also try to talk about things like you know,
Speaker 1: bringing someone like attorney Jeffrey Robinson on. And the question
Speaker 1: is it begs of itself? Will people actually listen and
Speaker 1: download that content because it's it's actually gonna help educate
Speaker 1: you and move you in your life to a better place,
Speaker 1: or are we just gonna focus on the trash that
Speaker 1: you know, who's sleeping with, who would, who's doing what.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying I don't like that stuff. I'm not
Speaker 1: saying that I don't also and I'm not gonna say
Speaker 1: light but I'm not saying that I don't also listen
Speaker 1: to and watch you know we call it um what
Speaker 1: do they call it? Guilty TV? Or you know, guilty
Speaker 1: internet surfing? But I spend more of my time invested
Speaker 1: in things and listening to people who educate me. So
Speaker 1: here we go. I hear you, but I can't, you know,
Speaker 1: for the life of me, I can't invest in anything
Speaker 1: that degrades me or destroys me or demoralizes me. And
Speaker 1: I don't think that we should we should at any
Speaker 1: point be okay with that. We can have this debate
Speaker 1: another day the show is over. But I will say
Speaker 1: that I don't agree with that. I think that it depends.
Speaker 1: It depends on how you look at it. Because all
Speaker 1: of us we know every episode of Power, we know
Speaker 1: every episode of BMF, and we know every episode out
Speaker 1: of everything Harlem uh the Godfather of Harlem. We do
Speaker 1: watch things and and are invested in things that a
Speaker 1: young person could be watching and it could actually be
Speaker 1: impacting them and making them do things that are not good.
Speaker 1: That's but but that's that right there. To that, to me,
Speaker 1: that's a lazy argument because right if you're in your home,
Speaker 1: a young person is in your home watching Power and
Speaker 1: you're not, and you're not educating them about Hey, this
Speaker 1: is entertainment. And this is based on what do you
Speaker 1: mean if you're seventeen years old whatever, with a parent
Speaker 1: that may not be in the household or maybe you
Speaker 1: know or maybe working all the time, you think that's
Speaker 1: seventeen year old. The parent is monitoring them, watching if
Speaker 1: you if you done it, if you're a parent, then
Speaker 1: by seventeen, you parented your child enough for them to
Speaker 1: be able to differentiate between entertainment and not entertainment, because
Speaker 1: if you look at the biggest supporters of you know,
Speaker 1: quote unquote the gangster rapping and all that, it's not
Speaker 1: really black people, White American. Okay, white America has grasped
Speaker 1: mostly right and and they're not on his shooting and
Speaker 1: roving each other. Well, I mean that we could go
Speaker 1: down the whole rabbit hole. But here's the deal. I'm
Speaker 1: all I'm saying is Little Kim Nicki, Minaj, Cardi, b Meg,
Speaker 1: the Stallion. I listened to every single one of them.
Speaker 1: I love it, I talked to it. I'm into it.
Speaker 1: But I also understand that there are components of that
Speaker 1: that if not to your point, guided properly within a
Speaker 1: young person, a little girl or whatever, it could go
Speaker 1: the wrong way. And they'll tell you that. They will
Speaker 1: tell you like, yo, I'm not don't, don't bring your
Speaker 1: your two year old to listen to me on my
Speaker 1: live or whatever when I'm talking. So I'm just saying
Speaker 1: that we all indulge in things for our were entertainment
Speaker 1: that depending on which way it goes, it can be harmful.
Speaker 1: It can be However, However, there are certain things that
Speaker 1: I think I do agree with you. That's more real
Speaker 1: life like, it's real life. It's not entertainment. It's real
Speaker 1: life stuff. And so that's where it is a little different.
Speaker 1: But that's another day. We should actually do a show
Speaker 1: on that. Okay, that's a show entertainment versus real life.
Speaker 1: I like that. And with that said, another dope episode
Speaker 1: of Street Politicians. We truly appreciate you. If you have
Speaker 1: topics that you want to hear, let us know. If
Speaker 1: you think we dope, let us know. If you hate us,
Speaker 1: let us know. Just let us know and tell me
Speaker 1: you hate me. I want to hear it because I
Speaker 1: feel I listen. I am fused by love and he
Speaker 1: I'm fused by both. So if you hate me, I
Speaker 1: have no problem hearing it. It's not gonna change me.
Speaker 1: It's gonna motivate me to be just even better person.
Speaker 1: So please let me know. Number one show, Street Politicians,
Speaker 1: the number one baby, We're coming for that crown for
Speaker 1: your ask. I gotta say, I'm not gonna always be
Speaker 1: right to Mega. Mallory is not gonna always be wrong,
Speaker 1: but we will both always and I mean always, always,
Speaker 1: always be authentic. He Lou, That's how we ow