Speaker 1: That's what's up. Family, I'm your girl to make a
Speaker 1: d Mallory's you, and we're your hosts of Street Politicians,
Speaker 1: the place where the streets and politics meet. Yet another
Speaker 1: episode of Street Politicians. I'm proud of us, proud of
Speaker 1: us doing what we're supposed to be doing, bringing people
Speaker 1: good information. That's right. So every week we've been trying
Speaker 1: to really bring some real thought out um topics to people,
Speaker 1: and I've been getting the feedback from folks seeing them
Speaker 1: out at events and in different spaces. Listen, number one,
Speaker 1: we got to speak it into existing the number one
Speaker 1: podcast in the world, every number one in our hearts.
Speaker 1: But it's certainly right into the charts on the charts,
Speaker 1: and um, you know. And I'm really proud of it
Speaker 1: because I know how we started it was. It was
Speaker 1: a dope idea, UM that I was resisting because I
Speaker 1: don't like being on camera on a regular basis. I
Speaker 1: love my new thing. I've been doing my Facebook audio
Speaker 1: things and I just sit there wherever I can have
Speaker 1: my bond it on. I can, you know, not have
Speaker 1: my face be I can just do me run my
Speaker 1: run it because you know, I know how to run
Speaker 1: my mouth. I just could have had realized that we
Speaker 1: could have had the first podcast. We could have been
Speaker 1: like the entrepreneurs a podcast if you would have listened
Speaker 1: to me about three or four years ago. I said,
Speaker 1: you did, you said, and I said, because you wanted
Speaker 1: me to go to a studio that's in Delaware on
Speaker 1: the other side of the town. And then we met
Speaker 1: Cat Trig and the entire Cat Skate team and then
Speaker 1: we found a median of a place that we could go. Okay,
Speaker 1: let's just be clear, but it is um. It is
Speaker 1: good to still be in there in the space and look,
Speaker 1: even our picture changed. Oh anyway, UM, so lots of
Speaker 1: talk about today. We're focusing on um our our now
Speaker 1: our brother Dante Mitchell that I'm really so excited, like
Speaker 1: we do have two Mitchell's today, and I'm really really
Speaker 1: excited for Dante, Like I'm so excited. He's so smart,
Speaker 1: very smart kid. That's what That's what really started our connection.
Speaker 1: And um, I've just seen him and then he reached
Speaker 1: out to me. We started talking and just hearing his energy,
Speaker 1: hearing how articulately was knowing that he was gonna come
Speaker 1: into society and immediately be a change maker man so
Speaker 1: it's gonna be a dope interview with him. And it's
Speaker 1: like one of those stories that it actually worked. The
Speaker 1: advocacy of everybody putting his name out into the world
Speaker 1: gave the former governor, uh Andrew Cuomo I forgot his name,
Speaker 1: gave him you know, and his whoever works on his
Speaker 1: clemency packages. They were able to get the information. The
Speaker 1: awareness was there because he was advocating inside the walls,
Speaker 1: but people outside, we're calling his name, sharing his story,
Speaker 1: and so that's how you get on the list, right,
Speaker 1: you gotta. It's not they don't just go scouring through
Speaker 1: everybody that's in prison and say, oh, you know, it's
Speaker 1: usually people's voices are being raised about a particular person.
Speaker 1: Folks are writing, people adding you on Instagram, and you
Speaker 1: know a lot of a lot of these you know,
Speaker 1: a lot of these government officials have Instagram, they have
Speaker 1: they have people that and they said, let me go
Speaker 1: see if somebody's talking about you know, and you continue
Speaker 1: see that, then you realize that the voice of the
Speaker 1: people wants this, you know. And that's what I tell people, man,
Speaker 1: we we gotta utilize our voices. And this is one
Speaker 1: of those very rare instances where we actually seen the justice.
Speaker 1: You know, we've seen something come from our voice. A
Speaker 1: lot of times we get deterred and we get jaded
Speaker 1: and we get tired because there's so many setbacks and
Speaker 1: a lot of not a lot of winds. So this
Speaker 1: is a it's a big win. Twenty four years this
Speaker 1: young man uh sat inside of a prison, but he
Speaker 1: really fall from himself. So shout out to Dante. He's
Speaker 1: gonna be up soon. And then, like you said, it's
Speaker 1: the two Mitchell's because we're also going to hear from
Speaker 1: our change maker today. But I'm not going to spoil
Speaker 1: lit and tell people who it is. I'm just excited
Speaker 1: that my my bro is coming up. Yep. So let's see,
Speaker 1: this is a lot of stuff happening. The whole world
Speaker 1: is bugging as always. That's first of all, the COVID
Speaker 1: COVID pandemic. Nobody knows what to do. So that's just
Speaker 1: let's just get that out out there that regardless of
Speaker 1: whether you're vaccinated unvaccinated, in New York, if you can
Speaker 1: go to a restaurant, you can't go to a restaurant.
Speaker 1: This pandemic is still a major crisis. And um, how
Speaker 1: we're going to get our hands around it. God only knows,
Speaker 1: and so I just you know, they're more there are
Speaker 1: people who are still dying. Over the last two weeks,
Speaker 1: I've been hearing about a number of individuals who have
Speaker 1: passed away who are close to folks that I know.
Speaker 1: So these are like not distant stories that I just
Speaker 1: saw on the news, but people who have actually died.
Speaker 1: And just you know, also for for folks who are
Speaker 1: listening today, if you've had COVID and since it went away,
Speaker 1: you haven't been to the doctor to get yourself checked,
Speaker 1: just to you know, get your regular check up, you
Speaker 1: should because there are people who we are now finding
Speaker 1: out that a year later, months later, some of the
Speaker 1: symptoms or other conditions are popping up, and people are
Speaker 1: are experiencing other things that are as a result of
Speaker 1: them having COVID. So it's really something that you've got
Speaker 1: to take seriously. And as the guy on Instagram says,
Speaker 1: where your mask, We're your mask that you still tell
Speaker 1: us all the time. Get some fresh ye at all,
Speaker 1: Please get you some fresh year man. We gotta we
Speaker 1: just have to be just use common sense, you know,
Speaker 1: with anything that you do. I don't advocate for anything.
Speaker 1: I don't tell you what to do what not to do,
Speaker 1: but just use common sense. You advocate for anything. No,
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't advocate any way or anothers You
Speaker 1: know this is this is new to us. COVID is
Speaker 1: very new to us, and I think we just need
Speaker 1: to be getting checkups on the regular as we get
Speaker 1: older and you in your forties and late thirties and forties, like,
Speaker 1: go get checked up. Something don't feel right. Don't sit
Speaker 1: there and say well, I can fight it off. You're
Speaker 1: not a kid no more. Your immune system is not
Speaker 1: strong as strong as it was. A lot of things
Speaker 1: you're just not fighting off on your own, especially as
Speaker 1: black men. Black men have a problem with going to
Speaker 1: the doctor. That's got to be a show. That's a show.
Speaker 1: Actually a production team has been talking about doing a
Speaker 1: show or why black men don't get the type of
Speaker 1: care that a lot of us don't trust. We just
Speaker 1: don't trust that they get plastic surgery. We heard about
Speaker 1: that a couple of weeks ago. But they get this
Speaker 1: stomachs uh laid down. Dr Michael Jones told us that
Speaker 1: they get it sucked out, they get the eyelids straight.
Speaker 1: Teach his own man if you if you need, do
Speaker 1: what you got. And then in other news, um, I
Speaker 1: think that Joe Manson, the Senator from Virginia who is
Speaker 1: a Democrat supposedly he identifies as a Democrat, I think
Speaker 1: he's the president. I really think that Joe Manson runs
Speaker 1: this country. And you know that's a thing like if
Speaker 1: you watch these movies that are about politics, and you know,
Speaker 1: these these these shows that kind of give you, uh,
Speaker 1: like it's like, you know, where they're acting out being
Speaker 1: president or being an administration running stuff. These shows always
Speaker 1: have people who are within the ranks, whether they be
Speaker 1: another elected official or a staff member or just a
Speaker 1: rich person and particularly a rich white man, where they
Speaker 1: have more power than the president. And to me, Joe
Speaker 1: Manchin is the president. He gets to decide because he
Speaker 1: is in many ways if if you don't have his support,
Speaker 1: you can't use the majority power within the Senate. That's
Speaker 1: how narrow the numbers are in terms of having having
Speaker 1: the ability to vote in a bill against the Republicans,
Speaker 1: you need Joe Manchin's vote, and he sides pretty much
Speaker 1: with the Republicans on a lot of issues. He at
Speaker 1: least has very very conservative views and has been very
Speaker 1: very clear that if he is not able to get
Speaker 1: or if they are the Democrats are not able to get,
Speaker 1: Republicans wayne with us, have not been with us, have
Speaker 1: actually been harmful to everything we attempt to get done.
Speaker 1: That they that he won't vote for the bill he
Speaker 1: wants the Republicans, so he basically is saying, let's give
Speaker 1: them what they need so before we can sign bills.
Speaker 1: And one of the things that right now is happening,
Speaker 1: which you know it's been the last several weeks, so
Speaker 1: you know, hopefully this thing will get worked out really soon,
Speaker 1: is the the infrastructure bill which is three plug was
Speaker 1: I think it's our three point four but it maybe Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think it's three point four. I know it's more
Speaker 1: than three trillion dollars that's needed to deal with the
Speaker 1: number of things in our society, and including making sure
Speaker 1: people get back to work, infrastructure stuff like real infrastructure issues,
Speaker 1: bridges and tunnels, things that hadn't been taken care of
Speaker 1: because of the pandemic. And there's five point three billion
Speaker 1: dollars in that bill for a gun violence intervention and prevention, right,
Speaker 1: and so what do you mean you're not I don't
Speaker 1: understand what he means he's not going to sign the bill.
Speaker 1: He means he's not going to sign the bill. So
Speaker 1: the bottom line is we've just been hoodwinked Man and
Speaker 1: the government. It's like kangaroo court. It's like a kangaroo court. Right.
Speaker 1: So we go and we put all of this energy
Speaker 1: into voting for these people, and then they got you know,
Speaker 1: they got secret they got their secret agents, double agents.
Speaker 1: That's on our side. And when it's our turn to
Speaker 1: actually get a vote, they come and say no. I'm like,
Speaker 1: I don't. I'm not with that. But whenever it is
Speaker 1: the Republican situation, they never signed with us. There's no Republicans.
Speaker 1: You know what, I'm holding up the Republicans because I
Speaker 1: need to Democrats. Well that's not true. There's like one person,
Speaker 1: which is Liz Cheney. Representative Liz Cheney. Um, she has
Speaker 1: stood up to Donald Trump and particularly been fighting against
Speaker 1: this lie that the election was stolen from him. But
Speaker 1: you're right, nobody, I haven't. We're not passing these bills. Well,
Speaker 1: I mean, she has been one to advocate to fight
Speaker 1: against things that she thinks is wrong. But it's this
Speaker 1: one one lady. Really, there's not many of them, now
Speaker 1: what I and and sometimes you know I watched them.
Speaker 1: Sometimes you'll see different senators and and particularly congressional members
Speaker 1: saying like, I think we're going too far, um, you know,
Speaker 1: we won't vote for these bills. There needs to be
Speaker 1: some negotiations around changing the terms, but it's never really
Speaker 1: in favor of black communities. So to your point, you
Speaker 1: don't see Republicans stepping out of line to say I
Speaker 1: want to protect black people, but you always issues that
Speaker 1: are important or or or or marginalized communities. But you
Speaker 1: do see Democrats who, even if it hurts marginalized communities,
Speaker 1: they are willing to side with um, with the Republicans
Speaker 1: and others just to say, oh, you know, we're working together.
Speaker 1: You see Democrats who are like, well, we don't need
Speaker 1: uh qualified immunity included in the bill, knowing that that's
Speaker 1: one of those things that if we pass qualified and
Speaker 1: if we end qualified immunity, we could actually make officers
Speaker 1: feel more accountable, which might make them even more conscious
Speaker 1: about how they address and operate within our communities. And
Speaker 1: of course, the reason why they don't want to end
Speaker 1: qualified immunity, that's why they're fighting that one because they
Speaker 1: know that's one of the most important pieces of the bill.
Speaker 1: So and but yet we'll see, but we'll see Democrats
Speaker 1: line up and say, well, you know, maybe we'll just
Speaker 1: take that off the table so we could get something done.
Speaker 1: So you know, you're right, it's all a bunch of bullshit.
Speaker 1: I just think that Joe Mansion I want. I want
Speaker 1: to I want the kind of power that Joe Manson has.
Speaker 1: I gotta figure out how to make that happen in
Speaker 1: my life. He's definitely, he's definitely leveraged his position. He's
Speaker 1: leverage there. He knows he's got that vote. He knows
Speaker 1: that his vote is important in order for anything to pass.
Speaker 1: So he feels like his his community West Virginians. D
Speaker 1: of well, that's why I was getting ready to get
Speaker 1: into West Virginians, right. They that, particularly his constituents, they're
Speaker 1: more conservative people who vote Democrats, so they're looking for
Speaker 1: almost Republican and that's why they claim. Yeah, that's why
Speaker 1: they claim that he takes the types of stances that
Speaker 1: he takes because his constituents will not vote him in
Speaker 1: and so that then the Democrats will say, well, we
Speaker 1: don't want to lose the c because there has been
Speaker 1: other things that Joe Manchin has voted on in favor
Speaker 1: of the Democrats and and you know, in favor of
Speaker 1: some of the issues that we care about. So he
Speaker 1: hasn't been all the way. I won't say bad, but
Speaker 1: he hasn't been all the way against the Democrats either,
Speaker 1: So he's so he fluctuates and fluffs his way through
Speaker 1: a lot more towards it today, right, And it's dangerous.
Speaker 1: It's very dangerous. And I think you know that advocates
Speaker 1: like yourself need to go into West Virginia and help
Speaker 1: West Virginians who don't agree with him to figure out
Speaker 1: a strategy to get about But you got but the
Speaker 1: only way you get people those types of people out
Speaker 1: that you gotta vote them out. So I was thinking,
Speaker 1: I was watching a few weeks ago the mat gallup, right,
Speaker 1: and I was thinking, we should do a show on fashion, right,
Speaker 1: but from the perspective of like trends and um and
Speaker 1: I guess we could do a lot of different things
Speaker 1: about fashion, But I would like to talk to people
Speaker 1: like June Ambrose and other big designers about how they
Speaker 1: make these decisions on what people are going to wear
Speaker 1: and what the themes are at these events, because at
Speaker 1: the met gala, I was a little uh stunned, if
Speaker 1: you will, by some of what I saw. I really
Speaker 1: saw a lot of mess Like a lot of people
Speaker 1: look messy to me. I don't you know? This is
Speaker 1: that my section? This is well, but you had opinion
Speaker 1: about a few peoples. I'm I'm confused with fashion these days,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, Like, I don't know what
Speaker 1: is designed to do. I don't know if it's just
Speaker 1: pure shot value, you know, or what is the whole
Speaker 1: theme of it? Like you were just having a conversation
Speaker 1: and you know what I've seen, you know, this kill thing,
Speaker 1: and I don't I'm trying to get to what the
Speaker 1: fascist Like, why is every time that a man decides
Speaker 1: to culte this this big fashion statement and celebration of it, Like,
Speaker 1: what what is that? Actually? What is it signified in
Speaker 1: the fashion world? What is it actually? Well? I mean, well,
Speaker 1: first of all, the history of kilts in general, that
Speaker 1: I also am noticing a lot of people are not
Speaker 1: aware of, is that men wore kilts all throughout First
Speaker 1: of all, have been wearing kilts all throughout history, right,
Speaker 1: And I get your point. It's like Okay, if a
Speaker 1: man wears a kilt, it seems to be so like
Speaker 1: exciting to a lot of folks. But I think if
Speaker 1: you see a man in a banging suit and he's
Speaker 1: super sexy, that is is celebrated as well because you
Speaker 1: see men post like the best picture and everybody's like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, look how good he looks that I
Speaker 1: see it? Well, maybe because you're not looking for it,
Speaker 1: and it's also what might be like you see it,
Speaker 1: it's like, why is everybody on the well? But well,
Speaker 1: I think whether or not it's just a soup mice.
Speaker 1: I think people fashion moves because it is all publicized.
Speaker 1: Right jay Z takes off the jerseys, puts on a
Speaker 1: different type of shirt. It moves, everybody sees it. It
Speaker 1: gets shared. Now everybody's wearing these types of shirts. You
Speaker 1: say integrity over income. You put that hat on the internet.
Speaker 1: Next thing you know, everybody people are buying it from you,
Speaker 1: They're sharing it. I think fashion moves in general, and
Speaker 1: I also think that there is an element we can't
Speaker 1: deny that there's a gender conversation that comes up, and
Speaker 1: so it becomes, you know, it becomes something more to
Speaker 1: be discussed because people are like, you know, what does
Speaker 1: this mean, and what's the agenda? And all these different
Speaker 1: things that those conversations constantly come up. I think if
Speaker 1: people just let people do whatever hell and wear whatever
Speaker 1: the hell they want to wear, it doesn't have to
Speaker 1: be that much because you can't stop people from win
Speaker 1: with it. Right, So when you wh when you do anything,
Speaker 1: you're subject to someone else's opinion and that's just part
Speaker 1: of life. So for me, you know, I don't everybody
Speaker 1: should be able and willing to do whatever where, whatever
Speaker 1: you want to wear. I'm just trying to I'm really
Speaker 1: just trying to figure out the fascin nation. I think
Speaker 1: it's just a resurgence of fashion. So the bell bottoms
Speaker 1: come back every now and then wide legged pants, the
Speaker 1: you know whatever it's there's a resurgence of that and
Speaker 1: the simple it's Another example was like Chloe Bailey comes out,
Speaker 1: it's tight as short, it's sexy, and everybody's going crazy.
Speaker 1: Lizzo walks out, she's half naked with her body and
Speaker 1: know her being an oversized woman. Hey, everybody's talking about it.
Speaker 1: I think it's just people just you know, people are
Speaker 1: attracted to different they want to see something different. They
Speaker 1: want to see something that makes them feel like seeing right,
Speaker 1: because as a as a man or a woman or whatever,
Speaker 1: they might be like, Okay, I don't like to dress
Speaker 1: with the norm of exactly what they say I'm supposed
Speaker 1: to wear, because that's what makes me a man or
Speaker 1: a woman. So I'm gonna put this other thing on
Speaker 1: that will, like you said, provide some shock value, show
Speaker 1: my that I'm different. I'm not like everybody else, and
Speaker 1: yet I'm still whoever I am. But that but and
Speaker 1: that's a good conversation, and we should talk about that.
Speaker 1: But I'm trying to figure out why people wear such
Speaker 1: ugly clothes. Now. See, that's a different whole conversation because
Speaker 1: there was some stuff that I saw on that Red
Speaker 1: Carson Because right when you look at how ugly it is,
Speaker 1: or in your perception of ugly, right, it makes people talk.
Speaker 1: It's for shock value. I'm different, I'm I can wear
Speaker 1: the least attractive thing and get attention in it, right.
Speaker 1: I think that's where it's comes. Some people don't get
Speaker 1: no attention today, there was a lot of and they've
Speaker 1: got the attention regardless of worse. People like, what the
Speaker 1: hell is this? Somebody's talking about it, and I think
Speaker 1: we've come to a stage in our culture with that
Speaker 1: is that is a marketing strategy. Right to go so
Speaker 1: far left, to go so far disaccording to whatever normalized
Speaker 1: as acceptable or it looks like beauty or whatever. It's
Speaker 1: just to go so far from that that people talk
Speaker 1: about you, well, hey, look how Prince used to dress
Speaker 1: like That was a big conversation. Friends came out. He
Speaker 1: had multiple things going on in one Look, you know,
Speaker 1: Michael Jackson the same thing. Like I guess there's always
Speaker 1: been that fashion forward mindset that you know, I could
Speaker 1: be different, but I wanted to talk to the experts.
Speaker 1: Like first of all, June Ambrose at the met gal.
Speaker 1: If you have not, you should go to her page
Speaker 1: and check out you know what what she wore. She
Speaker 1: looked amazing, Okay, Mary J. Blige amazing, Little Baby fabulous,
Speaker 1: Mega Stallion fabulous. And these are also people Sierra amazing,
Speaker 1: and I could go on, but these are also people
Speaker 1: that we know them well enough to know that they
Speaker 1: just like classic looks. I don't know what the theme was.
Speaker 1: I I don't know where people was going, but I
Speaker 1: I just I saw some some some stuff that was
Speaker 1: It's very different. It was very divery different. So that's
Speaker 1: what I was thinking about. We have to have a show. Understand.
Speaker 1: I don't even understand a set Rocky in Rihanna. I
Speaker 1: looked at it. I didn't I didn't know what was
Speaker 1: he in a quilt? Like I think they said it
Speaker 1: was Valenciaga. I don't care what the name to what
Speaker 1: it was. Well, the theme was supposed to be something
Speaker 1: about American like like like old American classics. So that's
Speaker 1: why Sierra had on the football jersey because that's an
Speaker 1: American classic. Yeah, so that's why we have to invite
Speaker 1: people like Julie Ambrose here so we can expla they know,
Speaker 1: because because while she may have had while June's look
Speaker 1: may have been very you know, beautiful classic look, she's able.
Speaker 1: I'm sure she dressed some of those other people and
Speaker 1: she can explain her and others why, and other stylists
Speaker 1: can explain the difference. I don't know even our stylists.
Speaker 1: We need to ask Ladden and Mia. We need some
Speaker 1: answers because we got some questions. So today we have
Speaker 1: you know, a very special guest, um a brother that
Speaker 1: I met through the struggle, you know, um a few
Speaker 1: months ago, I was introduced to this brother struggled through
Speaker 1: social media. I came across now what video talking about
Speaker 1: his situation, how he had been incarcerated since he was
Speaker 1: seventeen for a crime that didn't involve any violence, but
Speaker 1: he was in jail for twenty four years at that point.
Speaker 1: He was sentenced to seventy years originally. And you know,
Speaker 1: it really was something that really touched me, you know,
Speaker 1: so I decided to repost and and and somehow the
Speaker 1: brother reached out to me, you know, he got connected
Speaker 1: with me, and um, I took personal his struggle, his struggle,
Speaker 1: and then we realized that I was actually incarcerated with him.
Speaker 1: You know, when I was in Sing sing in nine nine,
Speaker 1: he was actually on the same block as me. I
Speaker 1: was younger than Yeah, we we figured that out. He
Speaker 1: told me, like, yeah, he was in sing sing with me.
Speaker 1: You know, so there was always like, you know, these
Speaker 1: small degrees of separation. So, you know, I was inclined
Speaker 1: to do ever can for the brother, and so, um,
Speaker 1: he was just recently released, you know, after he was
Speaker 1: granted clemency. And this is a brother that I'm happy
Speaker 1: to see here on the other side of the wall.
Speaker 1: No more prison calls, you know, no more lone nights
Speaker 1: of him just trying to figure out how because this
Speaker 1: man really took serious his freedom and he called me daily,
Speaker 1: you know, checking up on people, sometimes bugging them and
Speaker 1: I'm like, calm down, we got this. But you know,
Speaker 1: his his passion was really drew me to him. So
Speaker 1: I just want to welcome home my brother Dante and
Speaker 1: foul me Mitchell. What's going on? King? How you doing?
Speaker 1: I'm alright, brother, man? How are you? I can't complain man,
Speaker 1: how you feeling? Feeling it? Lated? Cited? No, I'm ready
Speaker 1: get the work through the things that I've been doing. Man,
Speaker 1: take the same energy that got me, you know, released,
Speaker 1: and you know, to try to help uplift and empower
Speaker 1: my community. That's a beautiful thing. Man. Tis so nice
Speaker 1: to see you on the screen. You know, I've heard
Speaker 1: your story many times. I've actually, you know, as I
Speaker 1: worked very closely with my son, I have watched him
Speaker 1: go through emotional struggles and of course some Angelo Pinto
Speaker 1: attorney Angelo Pinto, who I also worked with every day,
Speaker 1: and I've watched them having conversations, trying to figure things out,
Speaker 1: making phone calls to people, um, you know, bringing you
Speaker 1: all you your name up in conversations with the top
Speaker 1: people that you know they could talk to about what
Speaker 1: was happening to you. And you know, I know I
Speaker 1: and I also know how frustrating it was because they
Speaker 1: would say like, we're frustrated. He's frustrated, you know, UM,
Speaker 1: And but you would I'm not I've not witnessed someone
Speaker 1: advocate for themselves the way that you did, um, and
Speaker 1: the way that you continue to advocate for yourself. So
Speaker 1: I just want to salute you, UM, and just tell
Speaker 1: you that your strength and resilience is so important and
Speaker 1: how you helped to translate that to the world is
Speaker 1: going to be what I you know, think is is
Speaker 1: God's message and the reason why you went through everything
Speaker 1: that you went through, right right, Thank you so much.
Speaker 1: So tell us, you know, just like breakdown. You know
Speaker 1: you went to prison seventeen years. Give us a brief
Speaker 1: synopsis of that situation which you were sentenced to, how
Speaker 1: long you were there. Just give people a little feeling
Speaker 1: or what it is so we can they can understand.
Speaker 1: All right, Well, you know, at the age of eleven,
Speaker 1: I end up being taken away from my mother in
Speaker 1: place in Falster Kid until I was sixteen years old.
Speaker 1: When I turned sixteen years old, I signed out a
Speaker 1: Falster Kid, and ten months later I was incarcerated. You know,
Speaker 1: I held out a job, but I was in between
Speaker 1: living situations. So I was going to different youth shelters,
Speaker 1: et cetera, trying to you know, do the independent living thing.
Speaker 1: You know. Um, I end up getting caught up with
Speaker 1: the wrong crowd, introduced to a life of guns and
Speaker 1: robbery and stuff like that, and it just kind of
Speaker 1: sucked me in. So um after I lost my job
Speaker 1: and I end up being displaced from one of the
Speaker 1: shelters that I was living at. You know, I've seen that,
Speaker 1: you know. You know, doing a robbery was a quick
Speaker 1: way of getting money, so you know, I went down
Speaker 1: that route, you know, and of course hindsight, you look
Speaker 1: at it in retrospect, it wasn't the most wise decision.
Speaker 1: But I was a kid, you know, struggling to find
Speaker 1: himself and find his place in the world. And I
Speaker 1: made that mistake, even though I didn't hurt harm or
Speaker 1: injure anyone. And I was the first time felling the offender.
Speaker 1: You know, I was giving an exorbitant amount of time
Speaker 1: thirty five or seventy years, and that was pretty much
Speaker 1: punishment from the judge because I chose to exercise my
Speaker 1: constitution right to a travel. And the reason why I
Speaker 1: did that is because you know, there was some you know,
Speaker 1: some things that the Orbany City Police Department had did
Speaker 1: in order to secure the conviction that was illegal and
Speaker 1: pretty much unjust. You know, they say capitcorns of the
Speaker 1: type of people when they see something unjust that you know,
Speaker 1: they're gonna fight, you know, hard for you know, to
Speaker 1: to to to deal with or to alleviate that injustice.
Speaker 1: So that that has always been me. And because I've
Speaker 1: seen that, all right, you know, so I'm like, you know,
Speaker 1: here it is you guys. You know your railroading me.
Speaker 1: But you want me to, uh, you know, own up
Speaker 1: and take responsibility for what I did wrong. Whatever you
Speaker 1: guys are, y'all, y'r police depart you are police officers.
Speaker 1: Wanted to oppose the law, but you break the law
Speaker 1: in order to try to enforce it makes no sense.
Speaker 1: So even at that young tender age, I understood what
Speaker 1: injustice was. So I decided to go to trial and
Speaker 1: try my hand for as punishment for doing that. You know,
Speaker 1: the judge basically through the book at me called me
Speaker 1: a plague to society, you know. And now what what
Speaker 1: was the crime? It was a robbery and to attempt
Speaker 1: at robberies and related offenses like criminal possession of a weapon,
Speaker 1: criminal use of a weapon and grand lost me hm.
Speaker 1: And so in thirty five to seventy years at seventeen
Speaker 1: years old was the sentence? Now does that? And this
Speaker 1: so this is in New York State. So this means
Speaker 1: that you would tried it as an adult, which is
Speaker 1: the raised the Age law that Angelo and so many
Speaker 1: and all of us fought to change. Um. So if that,
Speaker 1: if Raised the Age had been lifted, you know, if
Speaker 1: Raised the Age had passed as a law at that time,
Speaker 1: if that was a bill that was in place, he
Speaker 1: would not have been tried as an adult. He would
Speaker 1: have been tried as a child and gone to programs,
Speaker 1: detention centers and you know what have you and given services. Right.
Speaker 1: I'm just trying to make sure that that's what we've
Speaker 1: been talking about, or I want to correct you because
Speaker 1: I've been following and Raised the Age law since it's
Speaker 1: been passed. I know that Angelo and a few others
Speaker 1: who initially you know, introduced it, wanted to go you know,
Speaker 1: as far as they could juvenile offenders weren't treated as adults.
Speaker 1: But the bill got watered down. And you know, so
Speaker 1: people I mean, and you know it's like you damn
Speaker 1: if you do you damn people don't. So I don't
Speaker 1: fought the advocates like Angelo and others, you know, for
Speaker 1: the work that they did. You know, we are living
Speaker 1: in a very diabolical system, so they're gonna look for
Speaker 1: any way to maintain their interests to ensure that they
Speaker 1: keep these prisons open. So even though uh that raised
Speaker 1: the age, law has made it uh much easier for
Speaker 1: juvenile offenders to be treated as children. Especially if you
Speaker 1: have non violent crimes, you automatically go to family court.
Speaker 1: But if you were charged with a violent crime, even
Speaker 1: in a situation like me where no no one was
Speaker 1: hurt harmon injury, it's still gonna go to um the
Speaker 1: adult court. But they got something called the youth part um,
Speaker 1: but you still get the same amount of time. Is
Speaker 1: that right? The judge is supposed to you know, look
Speaker 1: into your your youth at that time as an the
Speaker 1: gating factor. But they basically left the loophole for them
Speaker 1: to still keep guys in prison even when the law
Speaker 1: was passed, it was being phased in. So unlike when
Speaker 1: they reformed the Rocket Feller drug laws, they allow for guys,
Speaker 1: you know, to file what they called for fort emotions
Speaker 1: to go back down the court to get their resentence.
Speaker 1: They didn't do the same thing for those of us
Speaker 1: who were juvenile offenders at the time that we committed
Speaker 1: our offenses so that we can get resentenced. They basically say,
Speaker 1: you know what, We're just gonna sweep all of you
Speaker 1: guys under the rug. Even the seventeen and eighteen roles
Speaker 1: that were being sentenced around the time of the law
Speaker 1: was being passed were still getting railroad is but not.
Speaker 1: But but to be clear, with the law that is
Speaker 1: currently in place, it would have at least not necessarily
Speaker 1: changed your situation. But it could have. Is that that's it, okay,
Speaker 1: But it could okay. I'm just just you know, we
Speaker 1: always want to tie together the advocacy, the work that's
Speaker 1: being done on the ground with real life stories, you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. So I'm just trying to understand
Speaker 1: because this show is about not just about educating the
Speaker 1: masses it's about us learning as well. It's what we're
Speaker 1: doing working, what should we be doing more of? How
Speaker 1: can Until Freedom Out organization be better advocates? And so
Speaker 1: that's why I just wanted to know hands on how
Speaker 1: would raise the age I've impacted you if it worked properly.
Speaker 1: So thanks for helping me. Listen, he's educating us man.
Speaker 1: That's why I advocated from speaking to him. From the
Speaker 1: first day I spoke to him, I understood that he
Speaker 1: had done his research, that he had utilized his time
Speaker 1: to grow as a man, to you know, to educate himself,
Speaker 1: and he wanted to come home and be a productive
Speaker 1: member of society. So he's definitely in tune and understands
Speaker 1: what's going on. I just think when we look at
Speaker 1: this his case, right, and this is what I always say,
Speaker 1: the the category, the category of violence, right has to change,
Speaker 1: you know, because they put all the everything under the
Speaker 1: guise of a viol and crime and a lot of
Speaker 1: these things. When you look when you say that nobody
Speaker 1: was harm nobody, like, there has to be different categories
Speaker 1: of violent. Okay, we understand that there was a weapon involved,
Speaker 1: but if nobody was hurt with that weapon, there should
Speaker 1: be a different category to where it doesn't not automatically
Speaker 1: just put you under this violent category with people who
Speaker 1: are actually murderers and all of these things. It has
Speaker 1: to be different dynamics, and those dynamics should be taken
Speaker 1: into consideration when they're giving these sentences, when they're given,
Speaker 1: you know, the way that they categorize these trials, and
Speaker 1: and that's what happened to him and the same thing
Speaker 1: that happened with me. You know, even though there was
Speaker 1: never any weapon found, there was actually no evidence at all,
Speaker 1: but it was classified a violent crime. So a lot
Speaker 1: of once they classified the violent crime, you don't get
Speaker 1: the provisions. A lot of people get you. You can't
Speaker 1: go take programs once they say they stamp this thing
Speaker 1: violent on you. They don't give you programs, they don't
Speaker 1: give you certain releases that they give everybody else. And
Speaker 1: it's and it just pigeonholds us and locks us and
Speaker 1: it just mainly just focuses and goes against us as
Speaker 1: black men. Yeah, so what do you want to see
Speaker 1: happen now? Like, are you thinking of legislation that needs
Speaker 1: to be introduced? Um? You know, your mind works is
Speaker 1: so sharp, and I'm just wondering. I'm sure that you
Speaker 1: have come up with some concept of what you think
Speaker 1: needs to happen as the next step for not just
Speaker 1: Dante Mitchell, but for the movement. Absolutely man. The things
Speaker 1: that I fail need to happen with the raised the
Speaker 1: age lawd one that needs to apply retroactive. And all
Speaker 1: those young men and women that have been sentenced as
Speaker 1: juvenile offenders, you know when the law was passed. Prior
Speaker 1: to the law of being passed, they should be given
Speaker 1: some type of amnesty. Their cases should be looked over
Speaker 1: and you know, they should be given the opportunity to
Speaker 1: earn their way out of prison. Another thing I feelt
Speaker 1: is that those individuals who are still left behind, you know,
Speaker 1: they should be given the opportunity, you know, to to
Speaker 1: have true merit time. They shouldn't have to do it.
Speaker 1: If you got ten years, you should have to do
Speaker 1: uh eighty five percent of your time because you were
Speaker 1: juven at the time to commit your offense. Um the
Speaker 1: law should also be raised. I think. I think if
Speaker 1: you twenty one and under, you should you know, the
Speaker 1: raise the age laws should apply. Another thing I believe
Speaker 1: needs to happen is that every juvenile should automatic go
Speaker 1: to family court. It should be on the prosecutor to
Speaker 1: make an application to the judge and family court to
Speaker 1: move the case to adult court if they feel that
Speaker 1: there are certain aggravating factors that require that, but to
Speaker 1: send their kids to adult courts and then letting adult
Speaker 1: court judge determine whether or not should be sent back
Speaker 1: to family court only on the consent of the prosecutor.
Speaker 1: Man that right, there is just another bootphole for them
Speaker 1: to keep God's and you know, not just God's but
Speaker 1: these children umu concerting and subjected to. And two more
Speaker 1: things that I think are very very important that the
Speaker 1: law never applied, never really focused on. The first one
Speaker 1: is really providing proper rehability of treatment for the young
Speaker 1: offenders that are in prison. Now, I've read a few
Speaker 1: law articles and studies that make it very clear that
Speaker 1: when you send a person who is under twenty five
Speaker 1: years old and put them in an adult institution, you're
Speaker 1: gonna do a lot of damage to them behaviorally and cognitively.
Speaker 1: They're not gonna get the same development that they would
Speaker 1: give if they were placing a more more conducive environment
Speaker 1: to their to their reformer rehabilitation. So you're setting them
Speaker 1: up from jump you're gonna sense eighteen nineteen and I
Speaker 1: mentor a lot of eighteen nineteen twenty year olds through
Speaker 1: my UFD organization that are created in two thousand eight.
Speaker 1: So I have a lot of young men that are
Speaker 1: part of that, and I see the damage that is
Speaker 1: being done to them, you know, in the environments that
Speaker 1: they're in. I always used to say to myself, man,
Speaker 1: if I could just you know, bring some of these
Speaker 1: young men into a more uh conducive environment, like a
Speaker 1: facility where you know, guys like myself who are you know,
Speaker 1: educated and have already transformed ourselves to be rolled my
Speaker 1: us for them, like the program that they got a
Speaker 1: Connecticut called True you know, where they take young guys
Speaker 1: and they pair them more for older guys, and they
Speaker 1: put them in a separate housing unit where the housing
Speaker 1: unit is the best unit of the facility. You know,
Speaker 1: this is that that needs to happen. You know, they
Speaker 1: need to have an environment in a space for these
Speaker 1: um young men and women who are these adult facilities
Speaker 1: where they can get the proper rehabilitative treatment. And the
Speaker 1: last and most important aspect, I think the raises the
Speaker 1: age laws should have dealt with is provided more funding
Speaker 1: to prevent youth crime. I mean, let's not let's not um.
Speaker 1: Let's not um, you know, treat the illness when it happens,
Speaker 1: Let's try to prevent it from happening. You know, That's
Speaker 1: why I'm head back in the city of Albany. You
Speaker 1: know already, you know, I'm getting involved. There's two young
Speaker 1: men that I just met on the street, you know,
Speaker 1: just started talking to them. You know. One kid wants
Speaker 1: to get into real estate. Another kid, he has a
Speaker 1: clothing line. You know, he's they're both working, they're trying
Speaker 1: to do the right thing. One seventeen years old and
Speaker 1: one is twenty three. You know. But there's a lot
Speaker 1: of other young men that my community that are getting
Speaker 1: involved in a lot of gun violence, etcetera. So you know,
Speaker 1: we got to figure out a way to get involved
Speaker 1: in their lives down in order to prevent them from
Speaker 1: end to ending up going in that direction that's gonna
Speaker 1: you know, you know, cause them to get caught up
Speaker 1: in the criminal justice system in the first place. So,
Speaker 1: you know, my thing to the New York State Legislator
Speaker 1: and also the Cathy Hoble where the money yet to
Speaker 1: be able to provide, you know, the actual resources necessary
Speaker 1: to save our children. And I think and that's and
Speaker 1: you said, you know, you brought up a very good point,
Speaker 1: and I think that's what it is that we try
Speaker 1: to explain to people who we say, defund the police
Speaker 1: is not take all the money from the police. Is
Speaker 1: not shut down the police, because we understand that there
Speaker 1: is a need for police in our communities, but we
Speaker 1: need to make sure that we take some of these
Speaker 1: resources and money that's allocated to people who are just
Speaker 1: doing over time, sitting at death doing nothing to give
Speaker 1: to health, you know, to to give public health and
Speaker 1: shooting public safety, um health, mental health, people who know
Speaker 1: how to deal with that violence interrupt as people such
Speaker 1: as yourself who come home and are are able to
Speaker 1: connect with the community, connect with these young people who
Speaker 1: are in these situations, be able to fund your organization
Speaker 1: that you want to start, you know, to be able
Speaker 1: to fund a lot of different organizations and give it
Speaker 1: to the credible messengers in our community because we're underfunded.
Speaker 1: Like you said, we have to get in front of
Speaker 1: the violence. We gotta get in front of the negativity
Speaker 1: in our communities. And in the main, the main reason
Speaker 1: for negativity and violence in our community is poverty. That
Speaker 1: is the main And when you look when you look
Speaker 1: at violence all over this nation, it is in the
Speaker 1: most impoverished communities. So there's a direct correlation. There's no
Speaker 1: denying it. We don't you You don't see violence happening
Speaker 1: at the rate anywhere near what's going on in the hood,
Speaker 1: in in communities where they are doing above average and
Speaker 1: they are flourishing and they have money and re sources,
Speaker 1: you just don't see it happening, right, So so let's
Speaker 1: go to some personal stuff as we you don't get
Speaker 1: ready to wind down. What did you do when you
Speaker 1: got home? Huh? Well, besides the fact that you know,
Speaker 1: you know, my son and my family, Maurice Ballad, we
Speaker 1: all basically, yeah, Mr fun Work, Yeah, we basically we
Speaker 1: took basically took over a diner and we all, you know,
Speaker 1: we just had a good time, man, just enjoying each
Speaker 1: other's you know, president and energy. And but my main priority,
Speaker 1: you know, when I came home, wasn't the typical priority
Speaker 1: I think, you know for somebody in my position. You know,
Speaker 1: my main priority is my eleven year old common law nephew. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, his his name is Marcello Martinez. Man, he
Speaker 1: was he's having a really hard time. He has a
Speaker 1: d h D. He's eleven years old. Um, he's living
Speaker 1: with his paternal grandmother who's in their sixty She has
Speaker 1: a bad knee, and he was acting up, you know.
Speaker 1: So during the time that I was incarcerating our up
Speaker 1: to more on the phone. Um, I wasn't sure whether
Speaker 1: or not I will come home. But I told him,
Speaker 1: I said, you know, when I come home and come
Speaker 1: get you, man, I'm gonna take you places. Man, We're
Speaker 1: gonna work on this. I don't think that you're a
Speaker 1: bad kid. You know, you might make bad choices, but
Speaker 1: you're not a bad kid. Because he used somebody's telling
Speaker 1: me I'm a bad kids Like, no, no, you're not.
Speaker 1: But he wasn't getting the proper you know, positive reinforcement.
Speaker 1: So he was one of the first people that you know,
Speaker 1: I've seen what little money that I did have. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, I took him, you know, out to Cross Gates,
Speaker 1: which is a moral in Orbany, and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: I brought him some legos and just spent some time
Speaker 1: with him, just going yeah, yeah, loose like man. But
Speaker 1: but it was just it was just such a fun
Speaker 1: and fulfilling, you know, experience to be there with him.
Speaker 1: And then I end up getting my ten year old cousin.
Speaker 1: She's she's biologically related to me. Um. She she brought
Speaker 1: them together. So I kept him for the weekend and
Speaker 1: the hotel room that Meek Mills and um Jessica Jackson
Speaker 1: had booked me because I'm having issues with finding residents
Speaker 1: right now. But you know, I kept them for the weekend.
Speaker 1: We just have fun. They made s'mores and you know,
Speaker 1: they watch TV and you know, they were just having
Speaker 1: fun and you know, they enjoyed each other's company. I
Speaker 1: enjoyed the company. We took some pictures you know that
Speaker 1: I'm gonna post later. You know, I just yeah, but
Speaker 1: I enrolled them in. You know, they're the first two
Speaker 1: roll leads into a program that I I established called
Speaker 1: the Dynasty Kids, which is basically a youth empowerment and
Speaker 1: youth leadership program, you know, really designed to talk at
Speaker 1: risk youth at that age because one of my theories
Speaker 1: is that you know, when you have these young children
Speaker 1: at this age who come from families where their mothers
Speaker 1: and fathers have to work or they're not president. You know,
Speaker 1: you need to have other adults that are around that
Speaker 1: are you know that our president that can you know,
Speaker 1: listen to them when they want to talk about their
Speaker 1: legos and they want to talk about their little toys,
Speaker 1: because you know, that's the way kids communicate. And when
Speaker 1: you show them that you know, you care about what
Speaker 1: they care about, you know, they tend to open up
Speaker 1: to you, and they're more receptive to you teaching them,
Speaker 1: you know, things like this and planning responsibility. So that
Speaker 1: that was one of the first things that I did.
Speaker 1: Not I had appreciated doing that with him. Um, it
Speaker 1: was just it's just one of the best moments man.
Speaker 1: So now taking care of some personal business, I opened
Speaker 1: up a bank account for the first time ever in
Speaker 1: my dot like you know, I applied for I'm going
Speaker 1: to go to college to pursue my bachelor's degree in
Speaker 1: business banishment and also a pair of legal studies. Um,
Speaker 1: I have a job well as a fellowship with we
Speaker 1: Form Alliance. Have just signed a contract with them, so
Speaker 1: I'm be doing that. I'll probably be starting that next week,
Speaker 1: so you know, I'm and of course, like I just
Speaker 1: told you, I'm about to go to a couple of
Speaker 1: schools that that are designed for at risk. You can
Speaker 1: just walk in there, you know, just say hey, this
Speaker 1: is who I am. You know, I'm here to do
Speaker 1: this type of work. If you guys need me, you know,
Speaker 1: you know on the youth that might need a little
Speaker 1: extra attention. I'm here, beautiful man. Like you said, Man,
Speaker 1: you gave your word that she was coming home. Hit
Speaker 1: the ground, focus and you really want to do change,
Speaker 1: and you've been doing that every day since you've been here.
Speaker 1: I'm proud to, you know, to be a part of
Speaker 1: this reacclimation. Man. Tell him, Tell them you know, you
Speaker 1: just came home from prison. You know, you don't really
Speaker 1: have money or resources like this is his first adult
Speaker 1: experience as a freeman. You know, he left here as
Speaker 1: a child. He's now on his own as a freeman.
Speaker 1: He doesn't have a lot of resources. You know. I
Speaker 1: know you have a go fund me, I know you
Speaker 1: have cat whatever you have. Let let the people know
Speaker 1: that one of you know. Invest I don't I hate
Speaker 1: the word donated because donated some charity, but invest in
Speaker 1: you because they believe and what it is that you
Speaker 1: bringing to the table. So let them know how they
Speaker 1: can do that. Yeah, they can go to my go
Speaker 1: fund being they'll find a link in my I G bio. Um,
Speaker 1: they can also I G is Dante let you free. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, yeah, so they can go there and they
Speaker 1: can look at the bio linker is down there. Um.
Speaker 1: They also if they if they can, they can send
Speaker 1: an investment through cash at at free Dante. My name
Speaker 1: is spelled d O n t I e UM. I'm
Speaker 1: also trying to get a fundraiser established on on Facebook
Speaker 1: specifically for the Dynasty Kids program. So um, just waiting
Speaker 1: for that to get approved. But um, yeah, man, that's
Speaker 1: anything that people can invest, especially you know in the
Speaker 1: programs that I want to do for the youth, it
Speaker 1: would be greatly greatly appreciate it. I'm in between residents
Speaker 1: right now, you know, I'm basically utilized and public transportation.
Speaker 1: So I hope to be able to get a vehicle
Speaker 1: so I can utilize that to do more outreach work
Speaker 1: with the youth, because you know, if I can get around,
Speaker 1: I can get around them. But if I can't get
Speaker 1: around them, you know, it's harder to get around them.
Speaker 1: If you know, if I had to come from several
Speaker 1: miles away and there's a crisis over here. You know,
Speaker 1: it's like my nephew would just called me earlier. You know,
Speaker 1: I just took again a little bit of money that
Speaker 1: I did have. I got on my phone because he
Speaker 1: likes to be on YouTube, were watching his little carstoons
Speaker 1: and stuff. So I got him a phone and he
Speaker 1: need me, you know, to go over there and unlock it.
Speaker 1: You know what you need. You need, You need a
Speaker 1: whip so you could get around. But slow and steady,
Speaker 1: slow and steady runs. Excuse me, slow and steady wins
Speaker 1: the race. So take your time and ease into it.
Speaker 1: You said, cash app is free Dante Dante and it's
Speaker 1: d O and T I E right and um and
Speaker 1: then your Instagram pages at Dante Mitchell free all right,
Speaker 1: So we're gonna make sure to put that information on
Speaker 1: the screen and also for our listeners to be able
Speaker 1: to get the info and send you a few dolls
Speaker 1: because you need a couple of right, take care of Dante.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for being with us today, and
Speaker 1: we hope you have like a real, real, real good start.
Speaker 1: I'm sure you obviously you and my son will be
Speaker 1: in touch every single day as you work through this process.
Speaker 1: So we won't leave aside, but just from me to you,
Speaker 1: I just want you to know that black man, you
Speaker 1: are needed and we're happy to see you at home.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much. I appreciate it. You gotta get
Speaker 1: this technology. I know that phone going crazy. You're figuring out.
Speaker 1: I'll hit you later too. For the past twenty years
Speaker 1: of my life, I've been able to call our next
Speaker 1: guest my big brother. UM. We have done some incredible
Speaker 1: work together and also I just have been together personally
Speaker 1: professionally for many years. And its one of the things
Speaker 1: that frustrates me so much. What you know, we talked
Speaker 1: about it all the time is when people say, well,
Speaker 1: y'all don't do anything about gun violence, and y'all don't
Speaker 1: care about what goes on in the communities. All you
Speaker 1: care about is police, police, police, And you know, we
Speaker 1: all ways explain to people the distinction between the two
Speaker 1: issues that they intersect and there are ways to work
Speaker 1: on both. Um. But we do have people who do incredible,
Speaker 1: like award winning work on addressing violence in our communities,
Speaker 1: and this brother is one of those individuals. UH. For
Speaker 1: many years, it was a trio of of of A. T.
Speaker 1: Mitchell who we have with us today Erica Ford, our
Speaker 1: sister who's been on this program before, and and me
Speaker 1: and the three of us moved around New York City
Speaker 1: navigating the waters to open up opportunities and resources for
Speaker 1: gun violence, specifically, you know, people who are gun violence
Speaker 1: interrupters and changing the way that New York even deals
Speaker 1: with the issue of gun violence. And so I'm happy
Speaker 1: to have my brother A. T. Mitchell of Man up
Speaker 1: out of Brooklyn. But he is now an international violence
Speaker 1: interrupter trainer. Um. And of course he is certainly our
Speaker 1: friend and definitely your friend. Yes, we love you, man,
Speaker 1: I'm just mad that took this long for us to
Speaker 1: get you on the show. Man. Everything happens when it's
Speaker 1: supposed that happened. Man, yess y'all know me. I'm I'm
Speaker 1: a humble giant. I'm a quiet storm. I'm a team player.
Speaker 1: I've just been here just rooting you two on and
Speaker 1: sharing you on and congratulating you and and just keeping
Speaker 1: you know, the work going, like you said, make uh
Speaker 1: the work that goes on on the ground. So I'm
Speaker 1: here as a field general. I'm on boots on the
Speaker 1: ground kind of dude. Um. Like like now as you
Speaker 1: can you know, you can say that the respect has
Speaker 1: been made across the country, if not across the world.
Speaker 1: So I'm really glad to be with y'all two right now.
Speaker 1: So you are our change maker today. We have a
Speaker 1: segment every week we try to make sure that we
Speaker 1: I like people who are doing you know, real work,
Speaker 1: and of course the the we we had a whole
Speaker 1: series where we talked about gun violence and we tried
Speaker 1: to bring people on, whether it be women who have
Speaker 1: actually been impacted, um you know, and and some you know,
Speaker 1: maybe they actually are victims of gun violence and or
Speaker 1: doing some type of work. What we what we found
Speaker 1: is that for women generally, it is a woman who
Speaker 1: has been impacted that becomes an advocate and is doing
Speaker 1: the work of trying to organize for women victims specifically,
Speaker 1: So that was important. We covered you know, of course
Speaker 1: many of our brothers who have been shooters, who have
Speaker 1: have have been victims of shootings, and then of course
Speaker 1: people who are on the ground doing the work. And
Speaker 1: and that was an important series. I think we did
Speaker 1: it for six weeks. Yeah, there was six episodes where
Speaker 1: we focused on it. And usually people call you a
Speaker 1: t because you are an expert on how to curb
Speaker 1: and reduce gun violence. And we know that one of
Speaker 1: our our biggest campaigns is dealing with getting this country
Speaker 1: to acknowledge violence as a public health crisis and not
Speaker 1: just a criminal activity. UM. But I think today it's
Speaker 1: important from a change maker's perspective that we learn more
Speaker 1: about you and your story why you're doing this work.
Speaker 1: And then this episode were focused on a young man
Speaker 1: by the name of Donte Mitchell, who you now you know,
Speaker 1: know his story. He was just released from prison after
Speaker 1: being in for twenty four years, could have been close
Speaker 1: to seventy years if you know, if he was not
Speaker 1: given granted clemency, and we just heard about his process
Speaker 1: and progress in terms of returning um to society. And
Speaker 1: you deal with people who are returning all the time.
Speaker 1: In fact, you are returning. You know. I didn't know that.
Speaker 1: Just so you know, after twenty years of being your friend,
Speaker 1: your sister and loving you so much, it took my
Speaker 1: song to say to me, no, a t is good
Speaker 1: for this episode, not that we were trying to figure
Speaker 1: out which one. And he said, no, no no, no, he's returned.
Speaker 1: I said, what do you mean, went to prison? I
Speaker 1: had no idea you know me. You know it's crazy
Speaker 1: me because um, nobody doesn't really look at me, and
Speaker 1: and they are all kind of astonished and their surprise
Speaker 1: because I know I never wear it on me like
Speaker 1: a billboard, like a neon sign. But all the things
Speaker 1: that you just talked about, you know, you haven't been
Speaker 1: in prison, you know, being uh, you know, a returning
Speaker 1: citizen from prison after sixteen years, um being you know
Speaker 1: the person on the inside actually doing the work on
Speaker 1: the inside, and just trickled into the work doing. You
Speaker 1: know when I got released and put those boots on
Speaker 1: the ground and I just hit the ground running. Um.
Speaker 1: So I come from a lot of that, being the shooter.
Speaker 1: I mean, lived there, you know, been there, done that.
Speaker 1: Haven't been shot myself, so I'm a victim of shot.
Speaker 1: I've been shot on. So you don't I don't know
Speaker 1: about it. You know that's the fact, you know, I'm not.
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't. I don't boast about it. It's
Speaker 1: not something I'm proud of, but it's something that you know,
Speaker 1: I mean, I can experience, I have experienced. I mean
Speaker 1: I live in Brooklyn. I grew up in Brownsville in
Speaker 1: East New York, right so I've been through wars on
Speaker 1: on the street level, so respectfully, you know, I'm just
Speaker 1: never proud of it. I mean i've been actually I've
Speaker 1: been very disgusted by it. And that's why I got
Speaker 1: into this work. You know, I wanted to stop the
Speaker 1: prison you know, pipeline. I wanted to you know, to
Speaker 1: stop the influx of our young brothers and sisters going
Speaker 1: into prison because they were glorifying it when I went
Speaker 1: through that same experience. And I've just been, like I said,
Speaker 1: I'm more of a doer. I don't like talking about it.
Speaker 1: I listened to some people as they boast about it,
Speaker 1: and I chuckle because I mean, you know, it's really
Speaker 1: not something you know, uh, that people can say that
Speaker 1: you know, that they're they're proud of. It's something that
Speaker 1: we really want to make a difference in. So that's
Speaker 1: what I've been doing. Yeah. So you know what we
Speaker 1: was inly, you know, me and you were mediating, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, a truce a few months ago, and you
Speaker 1: had told you had given me the story of how
Speaker 1: you started man up. Yes, about the young girl who
Speaker 1: shot whatever. So I want you to tell us that
Speaker 1: was the young brother. So that story was really touching
Speaker 1: for me. I want you to give us that story.
Speaker 1: I mean, like you know, like you Mike, we we've
Speaker 1: been doing the work, man, and it's just like for me.
Speaker 1: Back in two thousand three, I was still doing my part,
Speaker 1: and then I heard of a shooting in East New
Speaker 1: York of an eight year old little boy named DeShawn
Speaker 1: Hill who got shot actually in the middle of a
Speaker 1: drug beef over some weed. And it broke my heart, man.
Speaker 1: I mean, I mean I went to the crime scene,
Speaker 1: I went to the hospital where Dave Shaun and his
Speaker 1: family was and I was there when they actually pronounced
Speaker 1: them dead. Um, and I was angry, man, I was
Speaker 1: ready to relapse in my mind. I felt that it
Speaker 1: was you know, um something that really being an alleged
Speaker 1: o G that was not cool, that the children in
Speaker 1: the neighborhood were not safe, that the women were not safe.
Speaker 1: And so I just been, you know, began to start
Speaker 1: going out there, step into the cats on the streets,
Speaker 1: me and a couple of other brothers just g checking them.
Speaker 1: And and when we was out there doing that, you know,
Speaker 1: you know, checking the temperature, and you know, we realized
Speaker 1: that they responded with the same things that we responded
Speaker 1: when I was their age, and that was you know,
Speaker 1: they had no place to go. Nobody was giving them
Speaker 1: a job or a chance at life. You know, they
Speaker 1: didn't you know, nobody was invested in them. And I
Speaker 1: kind of had to back up off of the tough
Speaker 1: guys stuff and realized that, you know, they're right, and
Speaker 1: so I had to be you know, said, you know,
Speaker 1: if I create places for you to go, things for
Speaker 1: you to do with you in exchange giving me some
Speaker 1: peace on this block. And that's how man of being
Speaker 1: started and just thought it out just like that man,
Speaker 1: and it morped into something that was you know now
Speaker 1: it was a volunteer you know, led organizational effort from
Speaker 1: a basement location into a multimillion dollar you know, I
Speaker 1: have forty maybe fifty employees today because of you know,
Speaker 1: the blessings of all the work that we've been doing.
Speaker 1: So yeah, that's the beginning of man, I think. And
Speaker 1: you all have to You have two offices, not make
Speaker 1: your brother got nine officers? Now no, no, well wait
Speaker 1: a minute, do you have nine? You have nine sites? Right?
Speaker 1: Have nine sites where people are working? No, I know
Speaker 1: that part. You have nine sites where people are working.
Speaker 1: But I was just thinking about the offices where the
Speaker 1: manage man happens. Yeah, so's it's two different locations or
Speaker 1: or all nine there's you know, are all nine of
Speaker 1: your offices fully staffed? Yes? Wow, that staff That's a
Speaker 1: blessing that I said, to be able to be able
Speaker 1: to provide employment wile community. For these are people who
Speaker 1: come from the neighbor hood, people mostly who have been
Speaker 1: there and done that themselves. Um, I'm blessed to be
Speaker 1: in a position to to have a team of people
Speaker 1: around me like that that now go back into the
Speaker 1: same neighborhoods that they come from and actually you know,
Speaker 1: do the change making that you that you know that
Speaker 1: we often want to see done on a daily basis.
Speaker 1: The community Center. I have a beautiful two story community
Speaker 1: center's eleven point five million dollars UM. It's equipped with
Speaker 1: UH college regulated size gymnasium, a multimedia center, DAN studios.
Speaker 1: I mean it's named after Prince Joshua Avido, who was
Speaker 1: a six year old victim of violence, studio UM. And
Speaker 1: so you know, whatever, you know, whatever we do, we
Speaker 1: always try to turn the pain into purpose, right. We
Speaker 1: often time like to make sure that they're the memories
Speaker 1: of these young um angels are never forgotten. So you
Speaker 1: have the beautiful community center that we operate is dope.
Speaker 1: So I just want to ask one more question. So
Speaker 1: I because I'm I don't know, I don't clearly I
Speaker 1: don't know you. It's nice to meet you a TV
Speaker 1: after twenty years, we're meeting for the first time today,
Speaker 1: But it is a true testament to who you are.
Speaker 1: In fact, it doesn't surprise me at all that I'm
Speaker 1: just learning these things because I know that you are
Speaker 1: a quiet storm that does not like to talk much.
Speaker 1: You just like to do things and get things done.
Speaker 1: But I think it's also a testament to how hard
Speaker 1: we have worked. And I often don't speak of myself
Speaker 1: in that way, right because you know, we we have
Speaker 1: insecurities around talking about yourself. But from the day we
Speaker 1: met until now, we've done nothing but work hard and blood,
Speaker 1: sweat and tears. I mean, we had a little turn
Speaker 1: up here and there in the midst of it all,
Speaker 1: but really it's been focused on work, and we really
Speaker 1: haven't had an opportunity to sit and talk through all
Speaker 1: of our lives, changes and issue us and and college.
Speaker 1: And you are not on social media, so you probably
Speaker 1: know more about my ship from social media than I
Speaker 1: know about yours, because you're, you know, really on on
Speaker 1: on social media. So it's it's really it's really a
Speaker 1: true testament to who you are. Um I want to
Speaker 1: just kind of go back to that time because I
Speaker 1: didn't know sixty years and you say it's nothing to
Speaker 1: be proud of. When you were in prison, did you
Speaker 1: make the decision that I've got to make these changes
Speaker 1: or did it did it happen once you got out? No, definitely,
Speaker 1: it was a decision that I made when I realized
Speaker 1: that I have to like most of us growing up
Speaker 1: in the neighborhoods, I looked actually forward to go into jail.
Speaker 1: Um So, I did you know the things that I'm
Speaker 1: not proud of. I happened to also been printing a
Speaker 1: sentence to a crime I didn't commit. So for me,
Speaker 1: I had to go in um and and and and
Speaker 1: serve time and realize that when I went through that experience,
Speaker 1: especially going up north, my already know um Man, that
Speaker 1: wasn't something that would just reminded me of of slavery.
Speaker 1: And so I said, no, this was not a place
Speaker 1: where I wanted to be or to be a regular
Speaker 1: place for me. So the same way I worked my
Speaker 1: way into prison, had to work my way out of prison.
Speaker 1: And so that's when I started getting busy. I started
Speaker 1: realizing that, you know that mama hadn't raised no food
Speaker 1: and and and when I knew how to read, I
Speaker 1: knew how to write, but my fellow brothers inside prison didn't.
Speaker 1: And so I just started aiding them, helping them. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, we all canceled each other through um and eventually,
Speaker 1: you know, I went and got my g D, went
Speaker 1: back to college while in prison, and then you know,
Speaker 1: I started helping other brothers get there, you know, lives together,
Speaker 1: you know, and try to help them, you know, with
Speaker 1: their with their needs. And then they eventually opened up
Speaker 1: the doors for me. I said, if they opened up
Speaker 1: these doors, I would never return. And so it's ironic
Speaker 1: that two twenty one marks thirty years ago when I
Speaker 1: was released in prison in ninth ninety one. So yeah,
Speaker 1: so that's just been my my wark. Well listen, man,
Speaker 1: you you're you know, you're a major inspiration to me. Man,
Speaker 1: you somebody that I look up to. You know that
Speaker 1: I see a lot of myself and like it's not
Speaker 1: a lot of people that I consider real o g
Speaker 1: s and you know, carry themself a certain way. In
Speaker 1: the way that you carry yourself is indicative of how
Speaker 1: I want to be seen, you know, as as I
Speaker 1: mature into it, I want to still be respected amongst
Speaker 1: our youth and amongst our culture, and still maintain the
Speaker 1: stature of a grown adult man and with wisdom and honor.
Speaker 1: You know. So I I just I always salute you, brother.
Speaker 1: The way where you come from, where you continue to grow,
Speaker 1: the way you continue to motivate us younger brothers who
Speaker 1: are trying to get to where you are, is just phenomenal, man.
Speaker 1: And it's just a testament of what it is that
Speaker 1: I say. A lot of people they don't have faith
Speaker 1: in people who are returning citizens. They believe that all
Speaker 1: of us are doomed to failure. You just a criminal.
Speaker 1: They label you the things. And it's people like yourself
Speaker 1: who showed that that's not real. You know, to me,
Speaker 1: didn't even know that you had come from prison. Still
Speaker 1: try and find out what he went I'm saying, I'm
Speaker 1: still I'm not I'm not ashamed, sister. I mean, I
Speaker 1: went to prison for for for for for manslaughter, you know,
Speaker 1: I was I was. I was charged with murder. Um,
Speaker 1: I went to trial and thankfully, you know, they found
Speaker 1: me not guilty of that, and then I was unfortunately
Speaker 1: found guilty of manslaughter. So again, yeah, it's it's it's
Speaker 1: ironic because like you're saying, mice man, I mean, listen,
Speaker 1: I I'd like my sister knows to Meka knows like
Speaker 1: I'm there, just the whole y'all, damn you know, and
Speaker 1: and make sure that everything that the work that we
Speaker 1: all are doing, the work that you're doing on your
Speaker 1: level vice versa. What we're doing on our level is
Speaker 1: real work. It's hard work. It's not for everybody. You know.
Speaker 1: We have a lot of people who get in the
Speaker 1: way because we make it look good, you know, but
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, they don't have a
Speaker 1: clue as the relage to the hardships that come with this,
Speaker 1: the challenges, the testing, the tests that we have to
Speaker 1: always pass. But again, I'm not that brother that goes
Speaker 1: out there. I don't have to boast about it. I
Speaker 1: like to let our work speak for us. So um,
Speaker 1: but this is our our journey. We we all earned
Speaker 1: our rights in this seat, and you deserve the same
Speaker 1: accolade mice because of how you hold us down on
Speaker 1: your level. I'm extremely um, I'm motivated by you, brother, Um,
Speaker 1: and I'm proud of you as well, you know, because
Speaker 1: you're being very consistent. You could have went to Hollywood
Speaker 1: and stayed you know, on on on on on that note,
Speaker 1: but you chose to keep it, you know, your boots
Speaker 1: on the ground. So I definitely respect you highly. So
Speaker 1: we're gonna keep you much longer. But I just want
Speaker 1: to say, man, we want to give you your flowers
Speaker 1: while you're here and I can smell it. Thank you,
Speaker 1: and the last time, man, this is this is you know,
Speaker 1: honor to have you here. You wanted the people I
Speaker 1: call evolutionary man. You know the way that you evolved
Speaker 1: and continue to grow and and show that spirit, that
Speaker 1: spirit of our ancestors and you know the brothers who
Speaker 1: came before us that that have paved the way. So
Speaker 1: continue to do what you're doing. Well, I'm gonna get
Speaker 1: in trouble because I have one and a half more question.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, because we're talking about returning citizens on this show,
Speaker 1: and we've talked about your um process of returning. But
Speaker 1: you have a lot of staff members who are also returning,
Speaker 1: and so I just wanted to hear more about that
Speaker 1: work and how in our model that we designed together,
Speaker 1: a lot of it came from Erica Ford's brain. We
Speaker 1: have to make sure we always give her that credit.
Speaker 1: But the model that had already started and that we've
Speaker 1: worked to develop within New York State and New York
Speaker 1: City particularly, is to bring people home, get them home,
Speaker 1: and put them to work so that they can be
Speaker 1: a part of the healing process within our community and
Speaker 1: helping to reduce violence. So talk about why that was
Speaker 1: important to you and and what and what what does
Speaker 1: that look like for someone like you to do that
Speaker 1: work every day? Wow? So for for me, like you said,
Speaker 1: it looks it looks very like empowering because so many
Speaker 1: brothers and sisters, UM, that are looking forward to coming home.
Speaker 1: A lot of people don't know. Ninety nine point nine
Speaker 1: percent of people that are released from prison, UM, they
Speaker 1: come home with the right, you know, thing to do
Speaker 1: in mind. They really want to do the right thing.
Speaker 1: But unfortunately the things that that are awaiting them where
Speaker 1: they go back into the neighborhoods from which they come from, UM,
Speaker 1: the conditions haven't changed. So they are Unfortunately, they're kind
Speaker 1: of like moved back into some of their old lifestyles
Speaker 1: and resort to certain things, and that's why the recentivism
Speaker 1: rate is so high. But even just the fact that
Speaker 1: we call ourselves returning citizens today is in the testament
Speaker 1: of our work. We change the narrative, change the language.
Speaker 1: We used to be looked at as X cons and
Speaker 1: X defenders, and we you know, work alongside so many
Speaker 1: other greats to change that. No, we are returning citizens.
Speaker 1: When we return back into our communities, we receive our
Speaker 1: citizenship they want, and we need to understand what does
Speaker 1: that mean? Um, And so what I love about the
Speaker 1: work that we're doing now is that we're in position
Speaker 1: to receive them to come home. They're not, you know,
Speaker 1: stigmatized the stereotype in the way that we once looked
Speaker 1: at people coming home from prison, and we looked at
Speaker 1: as far as the value that we bring to our neighborhoods.
Speaker 1: We we we come from these neighborhoods, These are our communities.
Speaker 1: And so when we go back into our neighborhoods, we
Speaker 1: need to understand that our debt is still not paid.
Speaker 1: We still have to make sure that we a man
Speaker 1: make amends in the neighborhoods where we messed up. You know,
Speaker 1: we might have paid our debt to the a k. A. Society,
Speaker 1: But back in Harlem and the Bronx and Brooklyn where
Speaker 1: the crime is committed, we still got work to do.
Speaker 1: And so but this is what we do now. Just
Speaker 1: we make sure that people come home, they get involved
Speaker 1: in in just the ground, you know, the world that's
Speaker 1: happening on the ground, helping us media in so many
Speaker 1: of these conflicts with their influence. I mean today, like now,
Speaker 1: people like us. You know, we have now value. You know,
Speaker 1: we have some weight in the game and some steak
Speaker 1: in the game. So now we use that to our advantage.
Speaker 1: And so I'm just really proud to be a former
Speaker 1: and consibrated professional, you know, and today returning citizen with
Speaker 1: great pride. Thank you so much by the A. T.
Speaker 1: Mitchell of man, you know, a man of my heart.
Speaker 1: I love you so much. I love you more yo,
Speaker 1: appreciate you as well. I love y'all both. Y'll keep
Speaker 1: up the great work. I'm here anytime. Thank god, you man.
Speaker 1: We got work to do. Boycott Black Murder baby, Sorry,
Speaker 1: without questions, it's on your page. Wow, such a legend
Speaker 1: and people don't know and see you don't even But
Speaker 1: the thing is, like he said, we don't. He doesn't
Speaker 1: have to go and for that because it's not something
Speaker 1: that he's proud of, you know. And I tell people
Speaker 1: that all time glorified in prison is not something that
Speaker 1: we're proud of. The only thing that we say about prison,
Speaker 1: real men, is that we survived it. Because a lot
Speaker 1: of people don't survive. They don't come home fully with
Speaker 1: their faculties, or they don't even make it home. So
Speaker 1: when you when you're able to go through sixteen years unscathed,
Speaker 1: you ain't got no stabs, you didn't tell on nobody,
Speaker 1: you ain't done nothing foul, and your resume is still attack,
Speaker 1: your respect and credibility is still intact, and you can
Speaker 1: come back to the communities and not only just live
Speaker 1: amongst but be able to change, be able to take
Speaker 1: guns and have enough respect to where you can stop
Speaker 1: violence and employ people and continue to do that work. Man.
Speaker 1: That's that's a blessing. That's all it is for us,
Speaker 1: you know, who are returning citizens to want to come
Speaker 1: back and give back. Like he said, the debt is
Speaker 1: not paid just because you got out of jail, your
Speaker 1: debt is not paid. You have, especially if you've caused
Speaker 1: harm in those communities, if you've been a part of
Speaker 1: the problem, then when you come back, you know, the
Speaker 1: rehabilitation for you is becoming part of the solution. So
Speaker 1: you know, he's just he said, you have to make
Speaker 1: amends with the communities that you harm. I thought that
Speaker 1: was that was the most powerful thing that I heard.
Speaker 1: But you know, I just got to learn so much
Speaker 1: about my friend, and you know, and I'm sure that
Speaker 1: if we sat and talked, we all learned a lot
Speaker 1: about one another. Because life is going and moving so fast.
Speaker 1: But it's the right time and the right moment for
Speaker 1: a t and his story to be uplifted because what
Speaker 1: he has been able to create, right And I have
Speaker 1: spent a lot of time in two of his offices,
Speaker 1: which is why I said that. But you know, he
Speaker 1: has expanded so much and been able to put these
Speaker 1: offices in place where there are people where high percentage
Speaker 1: of the individuals are people who came home and they're
Speaker 1: doing great work to reduce violence in their neighborhood. So
Speaker 1: that's that's Those are the types of stories we have
Speaker 1: to tell because people want to know what do we
Speaker 1: do A t. Mitchell is an example what to do
Speaker 1: in your community. That's right, and okay, I want to
Speaker 1: like it. My I don't get it today, you know
Speaker 1: I was. I was with our production team. We're just
Speaker 1: looking through some things, and I had a different I
Speaker 1: don't get it. But this is really weird. And this
Speaker 1: is somebody that like, like, shout out to mc ross,
Speaker 1: me and ric Ross school got music together. Somebody I
Speaker 1: respect his entrepreneurs you know ability, his music ability. But
Speaker 1: I don't get how you got a hundred cards and
Speaker 1: you just got a license, Linse. It's still what I'm
Speaker 1: trying to say, Like, brothers, we got to do better,
Speaker 1: Like we got to do better. At forty five, he
Speaker 1: he didn't need a need a life. You need a
Speaker 1: license because you're driving. It's not like he was. If
Speaker 1: he wasn't driving, then it would make sense to me
Speaker 1: drives his car. But but now and for the and
Speaker 1: and and let's give him around of the clause at
Speaker 1: some point. But brothers, we gotta do better. You know what.
Speaker 1: I was having this conversation with my son the other day.
Speaker 1: He's like, yo, he just got his girl a car
Speaker 1: and this and that and I'm like, you got your license.
Speaker 1: He's like, no, you do need as a man, there
Speaker 1: has to be a level of responsibility that we take
Speaker 1: for ourselves. We gotta get our license, we gotta get out,
Speaker 1: no way, our social Security card is. We gotta get
Speaker 1: our password. We gotta get our own bakery. Like. We
Speaker 1: gotta establish some level of maturity, you know. And I
Speaker 1: think that is something that you know, I've learned over
Speaker 1: over time. You know, as as we grow, we have
Speaker 1: to take those responsibilities early Mama, Mama messed it up
Speaker 1: because we take care of everything. But it's nothing wrong
Speaker 1: with that. But but I'm just saying, you have to
Speaker 1: realize that to be a real member of society, a
Speaker 1: grown up, right, you gotta pay some bills. You gotta
Speaker 1: put a couple of bills in your name where you go,
Speaker 1: and you see the transition. You gotta have your your license,
Speaker 1: your passport. You gotta have all the grown up things. Brothers,
Speaker 1: we're doing. We're doing bad bunch. Oh of course he do.
Speaker 1: He got to move around. But you know, let's get
Speaker 1: your license. Man, shout out to Rick ross Man. But
Speaker 1: we we gotta stop waiting at forty five to get
Speaker 1: a driver's license. But we got a hundred cards man,
Speaker 1: So that some people it's like we you know what though,
Speaker 1: and I get the prices different, but we have a
Speaker 1: hundred pairs of shoes. He got a hundred cards. That's
Speaker 1: his thing in his in his category. Yeah, I know
Speaker 1: I have over a hundred. Don't even You shouldn't even
Speaker 1: talk about a hundred pairs of shoes because that's not
Speaker 1: even close to what you hadds. So with that being said,
Speaker 1: another Dope episode, Shout out to Dante, shout out to
Speaker 1: a t I'm getting ready to go cash now go
Speaker 1: this page. Dante met you free, send him to money man.
Speaker 1: He got a long road ahead of him. After twenty
Speaker 1: four years being incarcerated, he is finally free as an adult.
Speaker 1: This is first time being free as an adult. Just
Speaker 1: imagine that being in jail since she was seventeen, spending
Speaker 1: a majority of your life in prison, twenty four years
Speaker 1: of your forty three years you was in prison. Wow, Wow,
Speaker 1: you know that. It's just like I couldn't even never
Speaker 1: thought get out, and he never thought. But he he
Speaker 1: told me that, you know, three years ago that he
Speaker 1: came to a conclusion that he was gonna fight for
Speaker 1: his freedom and every day from there we need help.
Speaker 1: I gotta make sure I'm sending it to you. Just
Speaker 1: go to this instagment page. You should be up there.
Speaker 1: But he said that he never gave up. But those
Speaker 1: three years, the last final three years, he said I
Speaker 1: need to come home, and he he spoke his freedom
Speaker 1: into exist. It is manifesting your destiny, man, So shout
Speaker 1: out to him. Shout out to a T another brother. Look,
Speaker 1: you don't even know what he see. The thing is
Speaker 1: about us, black man. We don't look like what we've
Speaker 1: been through the entire race. And that's what it is. Man.
Speaker 1: So shout out to a T one of my big brothers. Like,
Speaker 1: I don't call a lot of people big brothers. I
Speaker 1: don't call a lot of people for advice. I don't
Speaker 1: respect the leadership of a lot of people because a
Speaker 1: lot of people are not really fit to lead. They
Speaker 1: get these people these old g titles that have never
Speaker 1: gained them, you know. But he is one of the
Speaker 1: brothers that I feel really has hearned that title. So
Speaker 1: shout out to him and another dope Episode number one
Speaker 1: podcast number one, podcast three politicians. Man, make sure you
Speaker 1: tune in, send us your thoughts. Tell us you love us,
Speaker 1: tell us you hate us, telling you, hey, you can
Speaker 1: hate me. Man. They might be able to hate you,
Speaker 1: but they don't got to time. You can tell me
Speaker 1: because I'll be in the wild. Tell me why, because
Speaker 1: sometimes it ain't all you know, bad reasons that you
Speaker 1: hate me. You might really have a legitimate I ain't
Speaker 1: heard one yet, but you might actually have a legitimate
Speaker 1: reason they hate me. So let us know. If you
Speaker 1: hate us, give us some topics you want to hear about,
Speaker 1: send some questions. We're here, man, and we ain't gonna
Speaker 1: always be right to me. Is not gonna always be wrong,
Speaker 1: but most of the time she will be because she
Speaker 1: disagrees with me, you know. So she's gonna be wrong
Speaker 1: multi time. But we will both always and I mean always, always,
Speaker 1: always be authentic. That's how we owed it. That's how
Speaker 1: we owed it. Listen to Street Politicians on the Black
Speaker 1: Effect Network on I Heart Radio and catch us every
Speaker 1: single Wednesday for the video version of Street Politicians or
Speaker 1: I Women dot teav