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Speaker 1: Well up with Angela Yee and excited to have Marvin

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Speaker 1: being here with me. How you feeling today, I'm good,

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Speaker 1: a real change maker.

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Speaker 2: Sometimes no, all the time, all the time.

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Speaker 1: We got to own it and we're getting ready for

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Speaker 1: the just Us Idea Summit. Ideas Week, so tell us

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Speaker 1: about that first and foremost.

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Speaker 3: So Justice Ideas Week is a little platform.

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Speaker 2: I created, not a little platform, not doing that, Okay.

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Speaker 4: After last year's elections, I sort of had like one

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Speaker 4: of the man in the mirror moments. A lot of

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Speaker 4: my career has been behind the scenes. A lot of

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Speaker 4: things you've seen around social movements I've had a hand

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Speaker 4: in on, you know, over the course of the last

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Speaker 4: fifteen so.

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Speaker 2: Years, even an EP you had. Yeah, we'll talk about

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Speaker 2: that in a second.

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Speaker 4: So I wanted to get back to sort of my roots, right,

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Speaker 4: I mean, a lot of these social issues are near

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Speaker 4: and dear to my heart, but you know, I'm probably

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Speaker 4: gonna foster care system. Met my father in jail for

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Speaker 4: the first time. My mother was killed when I was four.

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Speaker 4: So I wanted to get back to those communities. And

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Speaker 4: I felt like, you know, sometimes in social justice and

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Speaker 4: advocacy you can get so torn away from your roots

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Speaker 4: to focus on other issues, and they're important, but I've

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Speaker 4: made a decision in January that this is going to

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Speaker 4: be my legacy, and it's I won't work on.

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Speaker 1: Because a lot of times people are advocating for things

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Speaker 1: that matter the most to them, but there's a lot

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Speaker 1: of people who aren't represented in that space, and a

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Speaker 1: lot of people who also feel like they don't have

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Speaker 1: a voice, no one cares about them, They feel forgotten,

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Speaker 1: And those are the most important people to advocate for

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Speaker 1: and to strategize with, because sometimes people feel like even

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Speaker 1: voting doesn't matter.

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Speaker 3: True story.

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Speaker 4: I mean, even one of our cornerstones of our platform

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Speaker 4: is you know, we have a president who is a

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Speaker 4: convicted feeling what does that mean for all the people

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Speaker 4: in America who have a felony record that can't run

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Speaker 4: for office and can't even vote? Right, So, even the

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Speaker 4: stuff that we're doing, it's like, how does that trin

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Speaker 4: relate into policy change in states that are still punishing

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Speaker 4: people who have been in prison when it comes to

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Speaker 4: voting or again for public office.

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Speaker 3: If he can do it, anyone should be able to

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Speaker 3: do it.

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Speaker 1: Anybody should be able to write. He's been changing a

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Speaker 1: lot of the rules when it comes to you know,

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Speaker 1: because it's interesting to me because we talk about like

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Speaker 1: laws are created for a reason, there's a system of

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Speaker 1: checks and balances for a reason, and everything that's been

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Speaker 1: happening makes it seem like you can just do whatever

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Speaker 1: you want. It's a free for all. We do see

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Speaker 1: some things getting challenged, right, but the average person is like,

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Speaker 1: how do I play a role in anything exactly?

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Speaker 4: And that's what Just as Ideas Week is is a

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Speaker 4: platform for average people who've been through these systems that

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Speaker 4: are set on paper, help to rehabilitate, support and guide,

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Speaker 4: but oftentimes we know it causes more trauma, more destruction,

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Speaker 4: separations from our families. So we're trying to bring everyone

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Speaker 4: together that's been impacted by the criminal legal system to

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Speaker 4: really just have a moment of you're not alone, We're

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Speaker 4: in this together, and really attack and focus our collective

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Speaker 4: energy and collective power to building something monumental that this

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Speaker 4: country really hasn't seen in terms of a united front.

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Speaker 1: Some things that you've seen just from last year, just

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Speaker 1: some strategic things that you saw implemented after the summit

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Speaker 1: last year.

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Speaker 4: Last year, I mean, honestly, there's been minor changes in

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Speaker 4: certain states. And I get this question a lot in

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Speaker 4: terms of like, well, what are you actually building toward?

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Speaker 3: What is all this for?

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Speaker 4: And for me, it's simple. I want to create the

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Speaker 4: AARP for people who've been in prison. I want to

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Speaker 4: create like a labor union for people who've been in prison. Right,

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Speaker 4: Like what's our space? Like, what's a space where if

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Speaker 4: you've been impacted by any of these systems, really where

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Speaker 4: you could come and get the same type of advocacy, services, protection,

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Speaker 4: the defense, legal.

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Speaker 3: Support that all these other groups always maintain. NRA. Right,

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Speaker 3: you ever see anyone attack the NRA and what happens

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Speaker 3: after that attack?

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Speaker 4: Here they come. It should be the same thing for

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Speaker 4: people who've been in the system. We should have a

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Speaker 4: structure and some sort of entity that you attack one,

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Speaker 4: you attack all. And that's exactly what we're trying.

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Speaker 3: To build toward.

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Speaker 1: Oh I love that, And I want to talk more

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Speaker 1: about you returning back to your roots and to where

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Speaker 1: this all started. So give us more information about what

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Speaker 1: life was like for you as well.

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Speaker 3: I mean, you know it was tough, like you know,

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Speaker 3: and I hate that.

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Speaker 4: My story is not an anomaly. Plenty of young people

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Speaker 4: are going through that, right, now, not having a mom around,

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Speaker 4: you know, not having daddy around, going from one home

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Speaker 4: to another. I've been in so many foster homes. I

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Speaker 4: know every religion like the back of my head. I'll

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Speaker 4: be with a Catholic family, Jewish family, seventy a Venice, Baptist, Muslim,

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Speaker 4: you know, and I'm blessing and I guess it's always

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Speaker 4: a blessing in storms, right, So I see the value

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Speaker 4: of God putting me through those situations to make me

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Speaker 4: who I am now. But I mean it's tough. I mean.

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Speaker 3: The trauma, really anger.

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Speaker 4: I want to say trauma, the anger that I've carried

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Speaker 4: most of my life just because I I've never had

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Speaker 4: that moment where I fall off my bike and I

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Speaker 4: can say mom, right, or you know, my dad's at

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Speaker 4: my basketball game when I'm in elementary school, middle school. Sadly,

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Speaker 4: you learn to live with it, right at a certain point,

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Speaker 4: you know, And I went through that process. I mean

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Speaker 4: I had therapists and you know sometimes in the group

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Speaker 4: homes I was in, because in foster care, you know,

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Speaker 4: you gotta wait to be placed, right, so you could

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Speaker 4: be in like a group home for like six months

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Speaker 4: to a year, right, if no family accepts you. You

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Speaker 4: could be in a group home for mad long. Group

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Speaker 4: home is like jail, Like motherfucker is stealing your shit.

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Speaker 4: You gotta fight for your shit, like your food. You

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Speaker 4: really go to school and sit you in a room,

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Speaker 4: just watch TV. Yeah, and you're young dealing with this, right,

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Speaker 4: And there's so many other people sharing the same story.

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Speaker 4: So I went through that. I think around you know, twelve,

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Speaker 4: thirteen years old. It's the first time I was arrested.

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Speaker 4: So I got arrested in the side of a foster

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Speaker 4: care placement. So I went right into the system at

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Speaker 4: that point, did you and I just system straight from

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Speaker 4: the foster ch system, right, And I did six years

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Speaker 4: in and out of juvie.

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Speaker 3: I did one one sentence I had.

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Speaker 4: I did a year and a half at a juvenile

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Speaker 4: attention facility called Saint gabrals All I came, I came

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Speaker 4: back to Philly for like a month, got rearrested for possession,

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Speaker 4: and I went away for two years. I actually graduated

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Speaker 4: out of a quarter of judicated juvenile facility. No prim

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Speaker 4: you know, no, none of that, right, none of that

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Speaker 4: high school experience, none of that the shit normal people

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Speaker 4: do during that time. But I mean, the thing about me,

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Speaker 4: I've always been to go getter. So even in Jewey detention,

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Speaker 4: I used to write coaches letters. I used to write

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Speaker 4: basketball coaches letters, and you know, they send a generic

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Speaker 4: letter back, Like I used to walk around my jaw.

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Speaker 4: You don't look at the coach and hit me back.

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Speaker 4: You know, it's just an automated letter. But even in

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Speaker 4: those moments of like unpredictability, trauma all that, I still

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Speaker 4: was like, I'm determined to figure out a way out

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Speaker 4: of this. And thank God, when I got out, and

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Speaker 4: when I was eighteen, my dad was just coming out

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Speaker 4: of prison. So he had she came out of prison,

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Speaker 4: and while he was in prison, and this is the

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Speaker 4: beauty of it all, this is the beauty and the struggle.

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Speaker 4: He became an activist while he was in prison.

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Speaker 2: Wow, Okay.

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Speaker 4: He started writing the city council president, John Street at

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Speaker 4: the time, letters about what to do with returning citizens.

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Speaker 4: So the council president John Street was actually about to run.

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Speaker 2: For mayor, if I remember that, Mayor John Street.

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Speaker 4: So he was about to run for mayor. My dad

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Speaker 4: got out right when he announced his campaign for mayor.

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Speaker 4: He took my dad under the wing mold him on

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Speaker 4: the campaign, and then my dad became the first inaugural

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Speaker 4: executive director of the Philadelphia Office of re Entry for

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Speaker 4: ex Offenders. It's the first of its kind in the

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Speaker 4: country at the time. A lot of cities have adopted

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Speaker 4: that model by opening up city level offices that focus

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Speaker 4: on returning citizens, but my father was the first one

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Speaker 4: and John Street was the first mayor.

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Speaker 1: Wow, you know, I love that story because that really

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Speaker 1: does show that there are changes that can be made,

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Speaker 1: sure when you can get active in community, because I

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Speaker 1: think a lot of times people don't like how the

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Speaker 1: system works, sure, but they're also not participating in doing

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Speaker 1: things to help bring about change. And whether that means

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Speaker 1: advocating for somebody who's running for office or who you

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Speaker 1: think would be a great leader, or coming.

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Speaker 2: Up with ideas.

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Speaker 1: And that's what's going to happen at Justice Ideas is

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Speaker 1: to be able to kick it and come up with

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Speaker 1: the ideas of things that we can do when we

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Speaker 1: come together. Absolutely, and you know, the fact that bills

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Speaker 1: can get passed, laws can get made that can be beneficial.

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Speaker 1: Local politics is so important at a time like now,

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Speaker 1: we're paying so much attention to everything that Donald Trump

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Speaker 1: is saying and doing. But what's happening on the local

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Speaker 1: level matter is a lot to us in our everyday lives, and.

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Speaker 4: That's one of the things that we want to definitely

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Speaker 4: make sure exist in our justice idea space. Is the

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Speaker 4: average person that's formerly incarcerated in Massachusetts, I mean, barring

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Speaker 4: their paro approbation, etc. The situation, we want to make

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Speaker 4: sure they're connected to the folks in Jersey, to the

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Speaker 4: folks in Pennsylvania, to the folks in Delaware, Virginia, Texas,

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Speaker 4: wherever they may be, to just build that community amongst

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Speaker 4: themselves too. I was just talking to my good brother

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Speaker 4: Nick Turner from Vera, and we talked about how advocacy

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Speaker 4: and social justice has now become high level, almost like

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Speaker 4: a luxury, and a point where the people on the

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Speaker 4: ground don't get connected and they aren't communicating because it's

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Speaker 4: just I'm the ed of this organization or I'm this person,

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Speaker 4: and then I'm this influencer that's frightened for the moment.

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Speaker 4: We got to always remember the people on the ground,

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Speaker 4: the people that have no public voice, that people don't

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Speaker 4: maybe afraid or not know how to use their voice

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Speaker 4: from their lived experience to get active in their own

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Speaker 4: communities around these issues because it's happening everywhere.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, right, it's not an anomaly.

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Speaker 1: So it's interesting because you know, since Philly's on the

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Speaker 1: table here, I'm just seeing how Meek Mile brought a

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Speaker 1: lot of attention to somebody like a Michael Rubin who

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Speaker 1: would have never understood or realized how the justice system

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Speaker 1: can be against you and how you know, he got

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Speaker 1: set up by dirty like just things like that that

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Speaker 1: the white man might never have experienced or have known

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Speaker 1: anybody that's gone through that, and then something like that

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Speaker 1: could be a catalyst for people to be like, well, damn,

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Speaker 1: maybe it's not like because sometimes I think people look

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Speaker 1: at you know, they could have seen you as a

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Speaker 1: kid out of He's you know that happens, Yeah, and

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Speaker 1: it does happen. And how does that make you feel

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Speaker 1: about yourself too as a kid when other people are

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Speaker 1: putting this stigma on you when it's really like fighting

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Speaker 1: for survival and trying to figure it out with that's

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Speaker 1: the direction that you need or the electionary of having

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Speaker 1: role models around Absolutely.

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Speaker 4: The good I mean, I guess the sad good thing

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Speaker 4: about it all is that you know, I've always grew

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Speaker 4: up as a cultural kid, so I paid attention to

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Speaker 4: the local drug dealers. You know, I paid attention to

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Speaker 4: the local hood legends. And you know, my dad was

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Speaker 4: at the time one of those people. So even in

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Speaker 4: his absence, it was like I glorified this figure that

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Speaker 4: I didn't really connect with it growing up, but I

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Speaker 4: knew he existed, Right, So you know, we pick our

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Speaker 4: leaders right, for good or for bad. But I want

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Speaker 4: to go back to one point you just said, because

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Speaker 4: I don't want to miss it. You know, the stigma

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Speaker 4: that we carry, like young people that experience false of care,

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Speaker 4: young people that end up in doing out attention, even

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Speaker 4: adults who end up in prison. Right, it's a real

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Speaker 4: thing that people look at them a certain way and

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Speaker 4: then they treat them and judge them based off of

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Speaker 4: that experience. And I'm thinking about, like you ask me

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Speaker 4: how I felt like I even deal with that shit

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Speaker 4: as an adult in the movement, right, there's people who's like, oh,

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Speaker 4: he was locked he's and falter care.

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Speaker 3: He's locked up.

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Speaker 4: Well, his dad was locked up, his mom got you

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Speaker 4: know again, you see these certain characters and people in

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Speaker 4: organizations that some do a great job, but it's really

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Speaker 4: judgmental at times too. So even someone like me who's

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Speaker 4: always been behind the scenes doing this type of shit,

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Speaker 4: I'm nervous as hell, right, But you don't seem like

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Speaker 4: you know, yeah, well, I.

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Speaker 3: Mean you make it comfortable, so think for that.

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Speaker 4: But you know there's people who will will hear the

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Speaker 4: story and then oh, we didn't know that, like you

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Speaker 4: know what I mean, you know, sadly, but it's feel

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Speaker 4: for me, like I think again, I'm fighting for something

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Speaker 4: bigger than all of that. There's people looking at me

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Speaker 4: to pave the way and kick the door down so

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Speaker 4: they go walk through it, and that's that's.

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Speaker 3: What I'm doing.

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Speaker 1: I want to ask you this too, why do you

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Speaker 1: think celebrity is important? Because some people will be like,

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Speaker 1: who cares about celebrities? They don't know anything about politics.

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Speaker 1: Some celebrities will even feel like I don't want to

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Speaker 1: be involved in the mix of that because I want

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Speaker 1: everybody to want to support me and buy my music.

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Speaker 1: So I'm not taking a stance on that because I

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Speaker 1: don't want to isolate certain groups of people. I want

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Speaker 1: to know why you think because you did put out

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Speaker 1: an EP that you put together with some amazing artists

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Speaker 1: who are, but I do. I understand the importance of

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Speaker 1: it and the brace that people can have. But I

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Speaker 1: want to hear from you like what you see when

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Speaker 1: it comes to celebrities and advocating.

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Speaker 4: Well, I think if you look at my career and

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Speaker 4: how I use celebrity, I'm always tapping into the celebrities

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Speaker 4: I feel are like the streets profits, right, So there's

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Speaker 4: different layers to celebrity. There's different genres of celebrity. For me,

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Speaker 4: I feel like a Beanie Segull speaks to more and

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Speaker 4: to what's going on in the street. Then no respect

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Speaker 4: John Legend, Right, I'm not taking John Legend into a prison.

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Speaker 3: I'm just not.

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Speaker 4: I don't think they get none out of it. And

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Speaker 4: I mean I get it, goodwill, your heart, empathy, support,

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Speaker 4: I get all that. But you think Gucci Man and

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Speaker 4: beans in in prison one they've been in prison. They

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Speaker 4: treats heroes. They talking about the everyday life that's happening

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Speaker 4: for people that's still living in crazy conditions, some intentional,

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Speaker 4: some unintentional. I think the connection and the relationships is

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Speaker 4: just more of a connective tissue, right, So I do

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Speaker 4: think it's important to use those folks.

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Speaker 3: Even on the EP.

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Speaker 4: Who would have thought Benity Butcher be on the EP

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Speaker 4: talking about some positive shit, right, I did it right,

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Speaker 4: And it's like the amount of people who listened to

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Speaker 4: that and like oh shit, or like one last time

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Speaker 4: he heard the electronica, I went and got him out

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Speaker 4: of wherever he was hiding, like bro, he loves Philly,

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Speaker 4: loves Philly. But again, like you put him on there

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Speaker 4: with a freeway with black thought. Who sees that coming?

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Speaker 4: But the people who get it get it and got it.

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Speaker 4: So maybe it's not for everybody, but it's definitely for

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Speaker 4: the people who actually tuned in and supported that them.

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Speaker 1: What do you think of about artists and celebrities who

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Speaker 1: feel like I don't want to really be involved in

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Speaker 1: politics at all.

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Speaker 4: I think it's scared not being scared, because we oftentimes

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Speaker 4: forget where we come from. And maybe they're so far

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Speaker 4: removed that they don't get to go back to the

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Speaker 4: neighborhoods they come from. But people still there and it's

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Speaker 4: still struggling, just like at one point they may have.

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Speaker 4: So we can't get so far removed that we can't

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Speaker 4: speak up for the shit that we see every day.

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Speaker 4: I mean, I know celebrities who family members are going

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Speaker 4: through shit, and they're like, I ain't saying nothing.

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Speaker 2: Right, all right, Yeah, how do you not?

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Speaker 3: How do you not because you're scared to lose a check?

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Speaker 1: How much patience do you have to have to deal

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Speaker 1: with certain people in answering? Like I remember I was

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Speaker 1: at a bar. This woman was like, this is a

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Speaker 1: drunk white lady was like, and this is when Black

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Speaker 1: Lives Matter was at an all time high.

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Speaker 2: She was like, I don't understand this Black Lives Matter thing.

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Speaker 3: My response has been crazy.

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Speaker 1: But you know, and I get that right, because sometimes

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Speaker 1: it's you could figure, you could go and do some

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Speaker 1: research yourself if you don't understand it. But sometimes having

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Speaker 1: a conversation with somebody can also, like you know, change

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Speaker 1: your mind abouts. But sometimes we don't have the patience

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Speaker 1: to want to have to like talk.

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Speaker 2: To each individual. I mean, I thinks I.

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Speaker 4: Think social media has contributed to that lack of patience

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Speaker 4: for our our society in general. But even the beauty

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Speaker 4: about justice ideas is one of the things that is

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Speaker 4: such a unifying thing. It's not a race issue, it's

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Speaker 4: not a socio economic issue, it's not a like cultural

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Speaker 4: derived religious issue. You got billionaires millionaires, thousands hundred years, motherfuckers,

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Speaker 4: and poverty, people who are already even in poverty below

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Speaker 4: poverty that has this issue of being in the prison

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Speaker 4: system come a home struggling and trying to figure out

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Speaker 4: a way out right, White, Black, Indigenous, Native American, Hispanic.

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Speaker 4: But everyone's dealing with the same issue. So even the

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Speaker 4: beauty of this movement from this struggle, it's one of

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Speaker 4: those clearing and unifying things that just levitates beyond any

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Speaker 4: cultural career that exists.

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Speaker 2: What can people expect from justice ideas week.

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Speaker 4: Energy, energy, recommitment to collaboration, an ego less, selfless clarion

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Speaker 4: call to get active, to do it together, and to

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Speaker 4: recognize their own power, like we are the power. No

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Speaker 4: one should be elected in this country without going through

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Speaker 4: people who experienced the justice system. And if we've been

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Speaker 4: together as a collective, Ain't no stopping. It was the

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Speaker 4: song Ain't No Stopping.

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Speaker 2: So that I remember you had mayor, the former mayor,

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Speaker 2: Kwame kill Patrick.

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Speaker 4: He coming back to my guy, my guy, it's my guy.

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Speaker 4: I got some Detroit times. My cousin was an elective

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Speaker 4: of Fisher out there, Okay, so I'm always in Detroit.

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Speaker 4: Love Detroit Qualm. I've known Qualm since I was a

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Speaker 4: young and his whole family, Carolyn Kwame.

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Speaker 3: It was there.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, but thoughts about running for office, No.

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Speaker 3: It ain't my twist.

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Speaker 4: I talked to my ship, but but not not only

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Speaker 4: that though, like you know, I you know, nah, you

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Speaker 4: sure I'm positive? Okay, I'm positive. I mean I've had

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Speaker 4: thoughts about it. I mean, my dad used to trying

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Speaker 4: to hype me. You should be this, you should be that,

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Speaker 4: and I thought about it. But you know, I think

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Speaker 4: a lot of people that get elected, they lose their

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Speaker 4: soul because they have to compromise so much to get crumbs.

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Speaker 4: And I don't want to ever be a position where

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Speaker 4: I have to compromise the sake of the people. I'm saying,

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Speaker 4: I'm committed to loving and fighting for to play.

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Speaker 3: That game with them.

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Speaker 1: You think you get a lot more done working from

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Speaker 1: the outside. Absolutely okay. And where can people go to

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Speaker 1: sign up if they want to.

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Speaker 4: Adjust usideas dot org. It's free be in the building there, Yes,

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Speaker 4: you will gotta talk about that. Definitely excited to have

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Speaker 4: you there, but it's free. Get active finals on social

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Speaker 4: media just as ideas on Instagram. If you have a relative, friend, family,

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Speaker 4: You know somebody when your school, live in your block,

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Speaker 4: your community, it's been incarcerated. They got somebody curly incarcerated

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Speaker 4: that has a relative and fault to care.

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Speaker 3: Any women you attention, tap in, this is for us

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Speaker 3: for real, all right.

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Speaker 2: Well, I'm looking forward to it. I will be there.

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Speaker 2: We'll talk about what's capacity, but I'm definitely going to

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Speaker 2: be there. And I'm excited. I'm excited and thank you

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Speaker 2: and I appreciate you and the work that you do.

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Speaker 4: This well