Speaker 1: We're back. I'm Drew McCarry and I'm David Roth and
Speaker 1: coming in September a new site we have built together
Speaker 1: called Defecto or Defector, and we're gonna have a new
Speaker 1: podcast to go with it, this very podcast, which has
Speaker 1: the name The Distraction. It's out right now as available ever.
Speaker 1: Rescue your podcast at Stitcher, Spotify, Apple, Go listen right
Speaker 1: now to The Distraction everywhere. It's out right now. Go
Speaker 1: listen to see I by blending cultures. Very difficult for
Speaker 1: two people. Not difficult for me because I'm jamaking my heart.
Speaker 1: I'm a rasta and deep down on my soul, I'm
Speaker 1: a raster dead as I believe it. I believe it,
Speaker 1: But I will say you didn't want to revoke my
Speaker 1: black hard When we met and I told you I
Speaker 1: had never seen Friday. Oh, I forgot that. You told
Speaker 1: me that. I almost stopped talking to you almost. I
Speaker 1: was like, what you like? This girl is not cultured
Speaker 1: dead ass. Hey, I'm Cade and I've and we're the
Speaker 1: You may know us from posting funny videos with our
Speaker 1: boys and reading each other publicly as a form of therapy,
Speaker 1: but I'm making me deby most days. Wow and one
Speaker 1: more important thing to mention we're married, Yes, sir, we are.
Speaker 1: We created this podcast to open dialogue about some of
Speaker 1: live's most taboo topics, things most folks don't want to
Speaker 1: talk about through the lens of a millennial married couple.
Speaker 1: Dead ass is a term that we say every day.
Speaker 1: Where we say dead ass, we're actually saying facts. One hunt,
Speaker 1: the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
Speaker 1: We're about to take Phillow's off to a whole new level.
Speaker 1: Dead ask starts now. I remember one of the first
Speaker 1: few times I went by Kay's house and I met
Speaker 1: her dad's friends and her uncle's and it was crazy
Speaker 1: because when you're not in West Indian culture and you
Speaker 1: listen outside the house, you always think somebody fighting. And
Speaker 1: I remember your father's friend call Yo just screaming at
Speaker 1: the top of his lone yeah yeah, yeah yeah, And
Speaker 1: I'm just like, you're about to fight. But no, that's
Speaker 1: that's just how they they arguing debate like they've never
Speaker 1: seen each other before. That your father just sits there
Speaker 1: quiet and it's always older Jamaican rum right, and they're
Speaker 1: they're arguing and debating about black people in Indian people
Speaker 1: in Jamaican culture, and I come downstairs and I'm not Jamaican,
Speaker 1: I'm American. So then the argument turned towards me, and
Speaker 1: it was about American blacks versus West Indian blacks. And
Speaker 1: we were having this conversation, and I realized at that
Speaker 1: point how much disconnect there is between the two cultures.
Speaker 1: You know, your father's friends. You know, we're saying stuff like,
Speaker 1: you know, American blacks, you know, they're lazy, they don't
Speaker 1: they don't work as hard as Caribbean blacks. And part
Speaker 1: of it wasn't just like an attack. They were kind
Speaker 1: of asking me, like why you know, like your generation,
Speaker 1: you know, like your generation, your generation is your generation.
Speaker 1: So they thought it was you as a black American,
Speaker 1: younger Americans in general, right, and a little bit in general,
Speaker 1: you know. But but more it was a generational thing
Speaker 1: because that's what older generations do. They always say the
Speaker 1: next generation is lazy. So we're having this argument in
Speaker 1: this discussion, and I had said to them, I said, well,
Speaker 1: let's be clear, you guys came to this country for
Speaker 1: a better life based off of the fight and sacrifice
Speaker 1: that black Americans already fought for. So those same people
Speaker 1: that you're you're saying lazy, They're the reason why you
Speaker 1: can come here and earn a living. And it kind
Speaker 1: of got quiet because I feel like that's the first
Speaker 1: time they ever heard that perspective from a black American
Speaker 1: young man. And that's where I feel like my relationship
Speaker 1: with your dad and his friends changed because there was
Speaker 1: a resp back there because we were able to have
Speaker 1: that dialogue. Absolutely, and that's something that you didn't even
Speaker 1: foresee as an issue per se. And it could have
Speaker 1: been a totally wrong situation, or it could have gone
Speaker 1: on and you guys could have gotten to an argument
Speaker 1: and could have just you know what, we spoke about
Speaker 1: arguing effectively and debating, And at this point, I think
Speaker 1: it was a learning experience for everyone. Yeah, we both
Speaker 1: learned a lot about each other. One love, one heart.
Speaker 1: Let's get together and feel all right. Yes, give thanks
Speaker 1: and prayers to the Lord and I will feel all right.
Speaker 1: Let's get together and feel all right. Let's get together, folks. Yes,
Speaker 1: one love, one of them culture, One love shout out
Speaker 1: to Bob, one of the greatest humans to ever walk
Speaker 1: the face of this Let me tell you about the
Speaker 1: love I have for Robert Nesta Martley. Yes, I have
Speaker 1: no idea to the with my brother and my sister
Speaker 1: and I have the three little bird tattooed. Yes, right there,
Speaker 1: and devout felt a kind of way because I wanted
Speaker 1: to get a bird. I was like, it seem like
Speaker 1: I'm not part of the family, but that's okay. And
Speaker 1: then we proposition devel and we're like, hey, you can
Speaker 1: totally be like the branch. Like we could put a
Speaker 1: branch the bird and you could be the branch. You
Speaker 1: would be the branch. I was like, now I'm good.
Speaker 1: I'm good. I'm going on that. It's just me and
Speaker 1: my brother s gonna get our own tattoo with Biggie,
Speaker 1: with Biggie Biggie two pocket who No, just bigg because
Speaker 1: this big Bob is from Jamaica, so Biggie is from Brooklyn.
Speaker 1: But the context of something of somebody, we're gonna do
Speaker 1: something with threes. I'll figure it out. I'll figure it out.
Speaker 1: I figure it out. No pressure, no pressure. No competition
Speaker 1: here though, you know, and when it happens with always competition,
Speaker 1: when you always we don't want to create competition between
Speaker 1: two cultures. We want to speak about how we're able
Speaker 1: to cultivate one culture, one family from different sides of
Speaker 1: the spectrum. So as you all know, or if you
Speaker 1: don't know, my mother is from Jamaica and my dad
Speaker 1: is from St. Vincent, both of which are in the
Speaker 1: West Indies, Jamaica and to St. Vincent and to all
Speaker 1: the other West Indian islands because out of many, one people,
Speaker 1: that is the motto of Jamaica. But I feel like
Speaker 1: the entire westing these kind of bands together in a sense.
Speaker 1: Absolutely we have a very strong culture coming out of there.
Speaker 1: So shout out to every other island. And my family
Speaker 1: is from the States. My father's family is from South Carolina,
Speaker 1: Orange birth to be exact, and my mom's family is
Speaker 1: from Virginia, So you know, we're old school Baptist country
Speaker 1: people came up to New York, right. So when we
Speaker 1: think about joining cultures, and this is canna be any
Speaker 1: joining of cultures, um talking about having an open mind,
Speaker 1: and you know what does that specifically mean for like
Speaker 1: our relationship, because like the story time, you pretty much
Speaker 1: return about how you kind of had to have an
Speaker 1: open mind coming into this conversation that you were doing
Speaker 1: with my dad and his friends, and it necessarily couldn't.
Speaker 1: It could have gone wrong. You know, you could have
Speaker 1: totally taken offense to it, which I'm sure you probably did,
Speaker 1: did you did, so, you know, give us a little
Speaker 1: bit more, I guess at the meat of that conversation
Speaker 1: and why from their perspective they felt as if Black
Speaker 1: Americans were lazy. Well, because part part of it had
Speaker 1: to do with what we were talking about. I was
Speaker 1: in college at the time, so we were in college,
Speaker 1: you were in school, and they were talking about their
Speaker 1: kids not necessarily going to college. You know, some of
Speaker 1: them had started working right out of high school and
Speaker 1: they were paying for their own school about while working.
Speaker 1: And I told him I got a scholarship to play football.
Speaker 1: And of course they made fun of me for playing
Speaker 1: football because football you don't use your feet. You catched
Speaker 1: the ball, and it's like football of soccer, football O soccer.
Speaker 1: So there was a battle there because they believe football
Speaker 1: is soccer and American football us the real football. Thanks
Speaker 1: getting the real football. But no, but you know, I
Speaker 1: could have taken offense to it. But what it came
Speaker 1: down to was they were asking questions like, you know,
Speaker 1: like you know, if you don't play football, you know
Speaker 1: how you're gonna go to school. You're not gonna get
Speaker 1: a job. You know what I'm saying, You're not working.
Speaker 1: You're not working while you in school. And I was like,
Speaker 1: I'm playing football to pay for school. And they were like,
Speaker 1: my kids are working and going to school, like while
Speaker 1: you're not working to go to school. And I think
Speaker 1: it too was just them ribbing me a little bit
Speaker 1: because I'm dating Joe's daughter, so they were ribbing me
Speaker 1: a little bit. Team behind me, the whole team of
Speaker 1: West Indian And that's sitting down then and make you
Speaker 1: feel mad, uncomfortable when you see on the screaming how
Speaker 1: le at you? So um they were just then, they were.
Speaker 1: They were coming at me pretty pretty rough. At the time.
Speaker 1: I was twenty, so you know, my my ego was big.
Speaker 1: I'm feeling myself a division with athletes, so I'm I'm
Speaker 1: giving it back to them. But the thing is, I
Speaker 1: don't think they were aware of pretty much how educated
Speaker 1: I am about my culture. And I don't think that
Speaker 1: they were educated on American culture because my parents made sure.
Speaker 1: Like I said, my my grandparents are from Orangeburg, South Carolina.
Speaker 1: My grandfather affort in the Korean War, my grandmother's family
Speaker 1: was like pivotal on the front lines of the civil
Speaker 1: rights movement down south, the ones that moved to Georgia.
Speaker 1: So it was it's always been like big for me
Speaker 1: to be proud of what my family and my culture
Speaker 1: has done for this country. So when they were asking
Speaker 1: me questions and I would I would tell them like yo,
Speaker 1: they would say, you know, Western people come here, we
Speaker 1: come here. Jamaicans, we come here. We'll do anything, will
Speaker 1: work any job, just to make it. And I said, see,
Speaker 1: but that's part of the problem. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: As Black Americans, we fought so hard to get paid
Speaker 1: a certain rate, to not have to do certain jobs,
Speaker 1: to get respected in this country, that when you come
Speaker 1: here and you're willing to do anything, it takes opportunities
Speaker 1: away from us because now what they'll do is their
Speaker 1: lower their rate of what they're willing to pay because
Speaker 1: they know people were coming from other countries and do nothing.
Speaker 1: And we started having these discussions and they was just like, now,
Speaker 1: I didn't I didn't know that we felt that way.
Speaker 1: And then they were explaining to me how they lived
Speaker 1: in Jamaica and how their families lived. As a young man,
Speaker 1: you think Bob Only, you think you same boat, cool runnings,
Speaker 1: it's all fun and games. They're not thinking of reggae,
Speaker 1: you know, you think Elephant Man, you know Shaun Kingston.
Speaker 1: You're not thinking about the rest of the people who
Speaker 1: are living in like a third world country, who are
Speaker 1: willing to do anything to survive and send that money
Speaker 1: back to Jamaica. So I learned a lot about what
Speaker 1: they were going through their listening to their stories, and
Speaker 1: then they learned a lot about what my family went
Speaker 1: through going up through Jim Crow, because my biggest argument
Speaker 1: to them was like, Yo, you're talking about how lazy
Speaker 1: black people are, right, you all came here in the seventies.
Speaker 1: Why your family didn't come here in the sixties and
Speaker 1: the fifties because it was Jim Crow and y'all wouldn't
Speaker 1: want to come to America during Jim Crow. So we
Speaker 1: fought for those opportunities that y'all came here for in
Speaker 1: the seventies. So they were respectful of that, you know,
Speaker 1: And it turned at first from a joke into a
Speaker 1: real serious discussion, like a real service discussion like that.
Speaker 1: You know. One thing I can appreciate um When I
Speaker 1: was younger, my mom and dad put me into a
Speaker 1: school that was a private school at the time. It
Speaker 1: was actually we were both in Bethlehem Baptist Academy and
Speaker 1: it was an all black school, small private school back
Speaker 1: in Brownsville and Brooklyn. And what I loved so much
Speaker 1: about being in that school was that I was surrounded
Speaker 1: by other black and brown boys and girls who pretty
Speaker 1: much were just like me, whose families kind of aligned with, like,
Speaker 1: you know, moral values. What they instilled in us in
Speaker 1: that school was just amazing. So shout out to Bethlehem
Speaker 1: Baptist Academy with Filth School and they really really raised
Speaker 1: some great kids, um. But they also made it a
Speaker 1: point to make sure that us as children knew our
Speaker 1: African history, African American history. They were very deliberate, and
Speaker 1: that's why I was able to learn a lot more
Speaker 1: about Black history, Like it was like Black History Month
Speaker 1: every day. And that's because because in a public school,
Speaker 1: it's not in the curriculum exactly, you know. So I
Speaker 1: thought that was an amazing thing been in that situation
Speaker 1: and in that environment. But it's funny because now that
Speaker 1: I look back on it, UM, I could sense that
Speaker 1: there was a tension between some of the teachers in
Speaker 1: the school absolutely, the Black American teachers absolutely, and then
Speaker 1: the West Indian teachers, and yes they were cookie, but
Speaker 1: they were also too kind of like us versus them
Speaker 1: situation that was going on, and it really at the
Speaker 1: time I couldn't pinpoint what it is. But it really
Speaker 1: wasn't until after meeting you and dating you that I realized, wow,
Speaker 1: that there, it really is, this this tangible tension that
Speaker 1: exists between Black Americans and West Indians. Well a lot
Speaker 1: of it too, is also because of the stereotypes that
Speaker 1: we have within our own cultures of being black. You know,
Speaker 1: like just being black is not just black, Like we're
Speaker 1: not just black. There's different versions of black, So in
Speaker 1: those different subcultures, you know, there's stereo types that exist.
Speaker 1: Like I remember growing up in America and when you
Speaker 1: thought about Jamaicans or Haitians or Trinidadians or Africans, it
Speaker 1: was like, oh, they're they're not civilized, they're not educated.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. All they do is smoke weed.
Speaker 1: All they do is drink. So it was like you think,
Speaker 1: you feel, as an American Black, that you're better because
Speaker 1: they're coming from a smaller country. You know, and I know,
Speaker 1: there are some stereotypes, and that's what we were discussing
Speaker 1: with your dad. They felt like black people were lazy.
Speaker 1: So that's why Jamaicans were coming here to take those
Speaker 1: jobs because black people were not willing to do those
Speaker 1: jobs and they didn't want to work hard. That's why
Speaker 1: they had those issues in America. So those stereotypes about
Speaker 1: each other we had. You and I had to work
Speaker 1: to kind of dispel those stereotypes as our families started
Speaker 1: to mix. Because when we first started dating, Christmas and
Speaker 1: Thanksgiving are huge to both of our families. And when
Speaker 1: you're dating, it's like do we spend time and your
Speaker 1: family do we spend time? In mind, so now you know,
Speaker 1: you tell your dad, you know what, we're gonna spend
Speaker 1: some time here for Thanksgiving. You want to come over
Speaker 1: to me her family. Now, my parents got to go
Speaker 1: into this Jamaican version of Thanksgiving, in Jamaican anvincentition version
Speaker 1: of Thanksgiving, and it's like you, you're you, You're worried
Speaker 1: first of what it's going to be like when your
Speaker 1: parents come be her parents, but then you get excited
Speaker 1: because you know that next to the Turkey there is
Speaker 1: gonna be some curry goat, it's gonna be some roy,
Speaker 1: there's gonna be some pillow, and a couple of different dishes.
Speaker 1: So then you know, and you know my father loves
Speaker 1: to eat, so you know that that's always good. So
Speaker 1: Scoop was like, curry good and D they have some
Speaker 1: roady outside Scoop that we call his dad's scoop. I
Speaker 1: was like, did you just say roady like R O D.
Speaker 1: I don't go. Don't got no d's And if you
Speaker 1: call it roady with the D, you're not getting none,
Speaker 1: So you better put the tea in the road. T
Speaker 1: by Okaye. She turned bad with That's what I love
Speaker 1: about it when she turned to West India. She can
Speaker 1: turn the switch on and off. It's funny because growing
Speaker 1: up in Brooklyn and Flatbush particularly, he's been around West
Speaker 1: Indian people. And my Auntie Angie, who raised me after
Speaker 1: school when I was going to Bethlehem because she lived
Speaker 1: in East New York. She's a Guyanese old Guyanese Indian woman,
Speaker 1: and it was just amazing, like growing up in that
Speaker 1: environment and coming home and eating the food and being
Speaker 1: in it was just kind of like man like that
Speaker 1: that's part of that's part of the reason why I
Speaker 1: probably love West Indian women so much. It was kind
Speaker 1: of infused in me from from young and then when
Speaker 1: you live in Flatbush, they called Flatbush little Jamaica. So
Speaker 1: I shout out to Bethlehem, shout out to Cellar Missionary
Speaker 1: Baptist Church was on album all. So you come out
Speaker 1: of album sitting in the middle of what is like
Speaker 1: little Jamaica. You know, they had the beef patty shops
Speaker 1: before Golden Crust was huge. Put the beef in the patties, Like,
Speaker 1: I don't know what this pace situation is they have
Speaker 1: going on patties no shade, but shade Golden Crust, Like,
Speaker 1: where's the we need? We need some more beef in
Speaker 1: the patties. Pause. But growing up like that, I always
Speaker 1: always just had an affinity for West Indian coachure and
Speaker 1: island culture right right right. It's funny because when I
Speaker 1: was thinking about this, I said, you know, I was
Speaker 1: looking at some articles and just reading about once I
Speaker 1: know what the topic was, and I came across um
Speaker 1: this article by a woman, her name is Susan Model,
Speaker 1: I'm assuming um, and it talks about West Indian prosperity
Speaker 1: if it is the fact or fiction, Because when I
Speaker 1: really look back and then I have even spoken to
Speaker 1: my mom, my dad, or even family members who have
Speaker 1: come from the Islands to America, you know what was
Speaker 1: the motivation? Of course, the motivation is a better life.
Speaker 1: You foresee that there's opportunities in America that you can
Speaker 1: advance yourself and then either send money back home to
Speaker 1: help your family, or send money to then bring your
Speaker 1: family up here, or established some sort of life that
Speaker 1: out here went through. Yes, exactly. The eldest of six,
Speaker 1: you know, her mom and dad, her siblings were in Jamaica.
Speaker 1: They sent her to New York. She came up here
Speaker 1: by herself. You know job she was seventeen eight. She
Speaker 1: was eighteen years old, just old enough to work. It
Speaker 1: was literally like a countdown until she was old enough
Speaker 1: to work. Um, they sent her to New York. She
Speaker 1: was working at a local burger king. Check this out.
Speaker 1: The local burger king she worked at on Church Avenue.
Speaker 1: Church Charlie was the owner, and my father and uncle
Speaker 1: worked in the same burger king. And remember your uncle,
Speaker 1: my uncle, and your mom worked together. I think he
Speaker 1: hired my mom. Yeah, and how crazy is that so
Speaker 1: we date back to like our parents and uncles and stuff.
Speaker 1: But my mom came up and she was working a
Speaker 1: job at Burger King and then she was going to
Speaker 1: nursing school simultaneously. Because you know, if you West Indian
Speaker 1: says what island you from? You can have one of
Speaker 1: three jobs to be successful according to the West Indian standard.
Speaker 1: You can be a doctor, a lawyer or a nurse.
Speaker 1: That's where the story is. Anything outside of that, it's like,
Speaker 1: what are you doing with her failure? What are you doing?
Speaker 1: But they really came up here because they foresaw the
Speaker 1: opportunity to advance. Um. And when I was reading more
Speaker 1: about you know, this article and a couple other ones,
Speaker 1: it was talking about, you know, our West Indians who
Speaker 1: come to America is super successful because they had the
Speaker 1: ambition to leave or were they forced out by family members?
Speaker 1: You know what I mean? What causes the West Indian
Speaker 1: person to come up here and then be successful. But
Speaker 1: it may be too because they're like, you know what,
Speaker 1: by any means necessary, I'm gonna take this job. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna take several jobs. You know, we joke about Jamaicans
Speaker 1: have a magi, but it's like by any means necessary.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna because all these dollars add up, and as
Speaker 1: my mom says, every Michael make a muckle. That's a
Speaker 1: Jamaicans term. Any Yeah, So any little thing you get,
Speaker 1: you can put it together and it's going to create
Speaker 1: an abundance. Um. But in this article, particularly want to
Speaker 1: quote this one um past one passage and it says
Speaker 1: the belief that West Indian blacks are more successful than
Speaker 1: African Americans first appeared in the nineteen twenties, shortly after
Speaker 1: these immigrants began arriving in the United States and recognizable numbers.
Speaker 1: Early justifications for this opinion included that West Indian immigrants
Speaker 1: who were more entrepreneurial, familistic, scholarly, and diligent than their
Speaker 1: American or African American counterparts. Today, assumptions about Caribbean superiority
Speaker 1: remains widespread. A white male manager's comments illustrated public perceptions
Speaker 1: and it says, if I had one position open, and
Speaker 1: if it was a West Indian versus a Black American,
Speaker 1: I'd go with the West Indian because of their reliability
Speaker 1: and their willingness to do the job. They have a
Speaker 1: different drive than African American blacks. Wow. I don't know
Speaker 1: if that made me feel some kind of way. I mean,
Speaker 1: I mean, this is and this was part of the
Speaker 1: discussion that I had with your dad and his friends,
Speaker 1: was that there is a residue from slavery that exists
Speaker 1: Black American. Absolutely, I'm not putting up with your ship
Speaker 1: where I feel like West Indians are more likely to
Speaker 1: be like, you know what, I just came from my island.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna come here and do whatever I got to
Speaker 1: do to make it. Black people feel like we've been
Speaker 1: doing everything you'll ask for its free. I'm not doing
Speaker 1: that ship all. So, I feel like the difference in
Speaker 1: the attitude, right, the difference in the attitude makes it
Speaker 1: easy for a white person to come in and say, well, there,
Speaker 1: they work harder, you know what. You understand what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: And I feel like it's it's unfair to even pin
Speaker 1: one against the other because that creates the friction between
Speaker 1: the two. You see what I'm saying. And part of
Speaker 1: me wonders is that strategic? Because also too, in my reading,
Speaker 1: I did see something somewhere I can't quote it right now,
Speaker 1: but it did talk about you know, is this a
Speaker 1: strategy by think of the white man to then pin
Speaker 1: and separate and segregate the black community. Well, I mean,
Speaker 1: we don't know what the motive is. But if you're
Speaker 1: thinking about if you're thinking about just finance, right and
Speaker 1: take it as a job and your work, your your
Speaker 1: owner of a job. And now you have these people,
Speaker 1: you don't want them to create a union. You want
Speaker 1: to break apart the union. You divide and conquered. Right.
Speaker 1: So this, this country we live in, America is a
Speaker 1: capitalistic country that's based on margin. You've got to marginalize
Speaker 1: a certain group of people, you know, to make the
Speaker 1: bottom line the best for you. So if you can
Speaker 1: marginalize these people as much as possible, divide them as
Speaker 1: much as possible, created divide, it's easier to control them.
Speaker 1: So we don't know what the you know, we don't
Speaker 1: know what the motive is, but it seems like it
Speaker 1: makes sense based on, you know, systematic oppression, the way
Speaker 1: the laws are created for black people in America. It
Speaker 1: seems that way. It seems like it makes sense from
Speaker 1: a business standpoint and from a systematic oppression standpoint. No, definitely, Um,
Speaker 1: I think that's the thing. And I feel like also
Speaker 1: to back in the Islands. Um, there's not really a
Speaker 1: sense of racism that exists. You know, Like in talking
Speaker 1: to my mom for example, she felt like, you know,
Speaker 1: majority of the island is black, so they're or they
Speaker 1: really were the majority, there was no minority, whereas coming
Speaker 1: to America you now have to deal with being the minority.
Speaker 1: I think what really separates people back in the Islands
Speaker 1: is the socio economic status that you have, um, you know,
Speaker 1: for someone being like a groundsman versus like, you know,
Speaker 1: having a better job or working in the hotel industry. Like,
Speaker 1: there's layers to it, so everyone is divided more so
Speaker 1: by money and not skin color at all. Um. You know,
Speaker 1: not to say that there isn't colorism that exists, because
Speaker 1: of course that that exists. Yeah, um, but that's not
Speaker 1: something that as West Indians coming to America, you really
Speaker 1: foresee that you're going to be a minority. And that's
Speaker 1: and I think that's where the disconnect comes from Caribbean
Speaker 1: Americans excuse me, Caribbean blacks versus American blacks. Because if
Speaker 1: you're not dealing with that type of systematic oppression back
Speaker 1: in your homeland and then you come to America and
Speaker 1: just like all these black people aren't willing to do this.
Speaker 1: I'll do this right. It's kind of like you don't
Speaker 1: have the knowledge of the history of what has gone on.
Speaker 1: And as a Black American, I can't blame someone from
Speaker 1: another country for not knowing our history because there are
Speaker 1: people in this country who don't know our history. If
Speaker 1: I didn't go to Bethlehem Baptist Academy, right, I wouldn't
Speaker 1: have learned about slavery. I wouldn't have learned about Jim Crow.
Speaker 1: And shout out to my mom, who is like, my
Speaker 1: mom has been so inspirational when it comes to me
Speaker 1: being socially conscious because my mom was one of the
Speaker 1: first classes that was integrated into James Madison High School. Yes,
Speaker 1: in the seventies. She was busting, Yeah, she was busting
Speaker 1: from Crown Heist Brooklyn, busting all the way to Avenue
Speaker 1: p and they were chased out by bats and chains
Speaker 1: almost every day her first two years in high school
Speaker 1: during integration, which is crazy because those are stories that
Speaker 1: people act like was so long ago. And then when
Speaker 1: a West Indian person come in and say that black
Speaker 1: people are lazy, it's like, are you fucking kidding me?
Speaker 1: My mother and father. First example, could have it with
Speaker 1: your mom, because your mom would be like, let me
Speaker 1: tell you right now. If that conversation happened, if your
Speaker 1: dad and his friends and my mom was there, my
Speaker 1: mother would have lost her money. My mother, my mother
Speaker 1: would have lost her mine and been like, devout, get
Speaker 1: your ship and let's go. Because that's that. She's that
Speaker 1: she feels that strongly about education. Should you know, she
Speaker 1: works for opportunity. She has now and she she loves
Speaker 1: her community. But she's always big on understanding black culture.
Speaker 1: She's always the first one to text us remember to
Speaker 1: vote today or you know it's it's primary elections. So
Speaker 1: she takes her opportunity to be able to vote and
Speaker 1: be active in your community and take a stance and
Speaker 1: be able to tell your local officials what it is
Speaker 1: you want. And needy, I mean, she's start writing off
Speaker 1: names and districts and who you got. She knows all
Speaker 1: the assemblymen, she knows all of the local governments. And
Speaker 1: that's because she's been doti in the movement itself, active
Speaker 1: in the movement. So you know, it's all about showing
Speaker 1: compassion for each other as cultures. And you know, we
Speaker 1: always I feel like after that discussion, have been able
Speaker 1: to really just join together and really appreciate who we are,
Speaker 1: where we've come from. You know, I'm super proud of
Speaker 1: my heritage being you know, from the from the West Indies,
Speaker 1: and you know, Devout is totally like you said, DeVito
Speaker 1: looks at any opportunity to let people know how West
Speaker 1: Indian he is. I feel like I feel like I'm
Speaker 1: a RAS the hard Honestly, do feel like I'm wrong.
Speaker 1: Some of y'all have seen it. If you haven't, you
Speaker 1: have to check out the vlogs that we have on
Speaker 1: YouTube where we chronicle us going to Jamaica for my
Speaker 1: thirty fifth birthday, which was epic. Okay, it was epic
Speaker 1: on so many levels. We had thirty of my friends
Speaker 1: and family who actually came out and um, you know,
Speaker 1: we took our children out there with us as well,
Speaker 1: of course, because it was a milestone for me. But
Speaker 1: I look for any opportunity I can get to make
Speaker 1: sure our kids know where they come from, because they
Speaker 1: got to know where the hell they go in and
Speaker 1: going to Jamaica with them was nice to you on
Speaker 1: the beach and on the resort and everything. But after
Speaker 1: those festivities were over, We made sure that we a
Speaker 1: lott of time in our in our schedule itinerary to
Speaker 1: take them off the resort to go into Kingston, to
Speaker 1: go to the Bob Marley Museum for example, just the show,
Speaker 1: you know, because Jackson will always listen to his music
Speaker 1: and Cairo. You know, I think Cairo is a lost Marley.
Speaker 1: Ye think, definitely he is. But we took them down
Speaker 1: there and it was an educational experience for Jackson to
Speaker 1: just see a different part of Jamaica that's not all
Speaker 1: the glitz and not all the glamour and the beaches
Speaker 1: and the resorts and the room service, but seeing you know,
Speaker 1: people who are just walking the street day to day
Speaker 1: and you know, getting some background on Bob Marley and
Speaker 1: what he did, and I know that documentary that we
Speaker 1: watched their really kind of I think we all felt something. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I felt so connected to Bob. It sounds, but it
Speaker 1: feels like his spirit still existed and it's it's in
Speaker 1: his home literally, so you you feel it so much
Speaker 1: because you actually get to walk the grounds that Bob
Speaker 1: Marley walked and created so much content in music, and
Speaker 1: then you get to see the bullet holes from where
Speaker 1: they tried to assassinate him, And to me, having children
Speaker 1: made it that much more important for us to understand
Speaker 1: each other's culture because I have to be able to
Speaker 1: teach my children, my boys, about mom's culture the same
Speaker 1: way I gotta teach about Dad's culture. And going to
Speaker 1: going to the museum and having watching their eyes as
Speaker 1: they looked around, and then Jackson quoting the numbers of
Speaker 1: how many children and how long he you know, he
Speaker 1: was on earth and when he died, and it's like, wow,
Speaker 1: he's really learning. But think about it. You know, how
Speaker 1: many people from Brooklyn have probably never been out of Brooklyn.
Speaker 1: How many kids who were born in the States who
Speaker 1: have West Indian parents or coming from else have never
Speaker 1: seen And that's and I think it's important when you're
Speaker 1: blending cultures to take them back to where because I
Speaker 1: learned about even when we went to Elsha and it's
Speaker 1: funny because it's spelled h E l h E l
Speaker 1: L s h I r E and I was like,
Speaker 1: we're going to hell Shire. Look at I was like,
Speaker 1: we're going to hell Shire. Can you can you take
Speaker 1: it to hell Shire Beach? And I was like to
Speaker 1: vow drop, Yeah, you know, I learned this in Jamaican culture.
Speaker 1: Any word that begins with H, take it off. Any
Speaker 1: any word that don't have no vowels, you add a
Speaker 1: H that has the vowel. Yes. So if you're gonna,
Speaker 1: if you're gonna, if you're gonna eat food to eat it,
Speaker 1: you gotta eat food to heat it, right, you see
Speaker 1: how you see what grandfather was like? Great with that
Speaker 1: you must heat food to eat it. Eating you don't
Speaker 1: you know, don't eat yet, you know, don't eat yet.
Speaker 1: Heat be like okay, Grandpa, ready, heat it up the
Speaker 1: food and I'm gonna eat it now. But then I
Speaker 1: know I love it so devout, totally assimilated. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: we were on the beach front and you see all
Speaker 1: of these people who stereotypically you see them right, and
Speaker 1: post people would be scared because you hear all these
Speaker 1: stories of out Kingston and Jamaica. And I watched the times.
Speaker 1: I watched for a whole summer every day. So that's
Speaker 1: one of my favorite movies of all time. Big You're
Speaker 1: Gone Too Far? Um, that's one of my favorite movies.
Speaker 1: So you and this banana, don't you ever? If I said,
Speaker 1: which was so impressive to me, I was like, you
Speaker 1: watched Daters, but I didn't see Friday or like the
Speaker 1: Last Dragon, or I would never really used to listen
Speaker 1: to like rap, I don't even know who you are.
Speaker 1: She she didn't listen to wrap what was going on
Speaker 1: in your house? Beg and soca all the time. I
Speaker 1: am at that because you know how to work that
Speaker 1: wast but plenty waste pelting. Yes, So so we go,
Speaker 1: we go to Elsha and we pull up in a van. Case.
Speaker 1: Dad is first of all, he's like the mayor everywhere
Speaker 1: we go. He knows people, and this is what this
Speaker 1: is what I love about his spirit. Right, one time
Speaker 1: I had to drop him in land somewhere and yeah,
Speaker 1: your dad, right, So he's he's sixty plus years old, right,
Speaker 1: and he's like, y'all needed you to drop me here.
Speaker 1: So the address isn't picking in Brownsville. So I don't
Speaker 1: know if you guys noticed, but Brownsville is like the
Speaker 1: hood of the hood of Brooklyn. So I'm like, yo, Pops,
Speaker 1: you sure this is where you're supposed to go, right,
Speaker 1: And he's like yeah, Like why, I'm like, why why
Speaker 1: am I dropping you to browns Ville? So we pull
Speaker 1: up into Brownsville, and I know people in Brownsville because
Speaker 1: I'm un the mentorship program in East New York and Brownsville,
Speaker 1: and the football team that we partnered with was in
Speaker 1: Brownsville on Mother Gaskin. So I see some of these
Speaker 1: dudes and I'm like, Yo, these dudes, dudes, I know that,
Speaker 1: you know, they bang hard. So then your pops get
Speaker 1: out the car, mad smooth right here looking around, and
Speaker 1: then out here yo, Joe, Joe, and then he gives
Speaker 1: he put his hands up, and all these young dudes
Speaker 1: got their hands up at your pops like, yo, Joe,
Speaker 1: comes true, Come true. And then he looked at me
Speaker 1: and he's just like all right, I'm good. I'm good,
Speaker 1: I'm good. And he walking to this little basement party
Speaker 1: where all these young dudes. I'm like, yo, your father
Speaker 1: is he really is. And y'all have to watch that
Speaker 1: blog because you will see my father turn up like
Speaker 1: no other, like he wants to know where we were going,
Speaker 1: what the next move was. Every step of the way.
Speaker 1: Party was amazing. He just had his drink covered because
Speaker 1: he always has his drinking hand and he's just chilling.
Speaker 1: So so when in Jamaica, we pull up to Elisha
Speaker 1: and the same thing. A bunch of young dudes come
Speaker 1: up to the events slowly. And what I found out
Speaker 1: about the culture is that's their way of getting tourists
Speaker 1: and getting people to come to their restaurant. They have
Speaker 1: people at the door that greet them. Now it's not
Speaker 1: like the States where they greet you with a tuxedo
Speaker 1: and shoes on. They have one shorts, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. They're smoking, you know what I'm saying. They
Speaker 1: come through and they're like, yo yo, yo yo, want
Speaker 1: to fish, you want fish, wish fresh fresh, labster that.
Speaker 1: So then you know, Pops is in the front and
Speaker 1: the driver knows that one of your father's great friend, Linley,
Speaker 1: he you know, he knows the guy. So they drive
Speaker 1: us through. We following through this dark alley. It's not
Speaker 1: to get dark now, and we pull out and it's
Speaker 1: a bunch of huts and you see people sitting outside
Speaker 1: and they're looking at us. You know, we're looking at them,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. But I'm always comfortable in
Speaker 1: those type of situations as long as if you don't know,
Speaker 1: if you don't know, the cultures intimidating. So you know,
Speaker 1: we say a lot to everybody, what's up? What's up?
Speaker 1: And then we're going in and they start pulling out
Speaker 1: fish from the cooler that they just fished from the
Speaker 1: ocean outside, just caught them. So they're like fresh fresh,
Speaker 1: and that's always the best way to have it. Shout
Speaker 1: out to a mill seafood restaurant. Food was bombed and
Speaker 1: they treated us so nice, the kindest people, and the
Speaker 1: food was fucking bomb lobster fish, it was bomb. You
Speaker 1: have a nice red stripe and the kids are running
Speaker 1: around with a bunch of other kids outside, and I'm like, yo,
Speaker 1: like this is the part of the culture that we
Speaker 1: don't ever get to see. You know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: Because when you live in the States, you get character
Speaker 1: caricatures of other people's culture. The same way when you
Speaker 1: live in Jamaica, you get caricatures of what you think
Speaker 1: the States people are. And it's not till you break
Speaker 1: it down to its purest form you realize how pure
Speaker 1: and nice we all are as people. Because my dad,
Speaker 1: you know, I said he was from St. Vincent I
Speaker 1: think Vincentian people are some of the most genuine, just
Speaker 1: all around sweet, like good people. So you know, I
Speaker 1: was a little disheartened at first when I know that
Speaker 1: you had this conversation with my dad and I saw
Speaker 1: that you were bothered by it because I know my
Speaker 1: father means no harm and he really does not have
Speaker 1: a mean soul in his body, you know, Um yeah,
Speaker 1: he does not. Like he does he loves everybody. So
Speaker 1: first for you to have felt like I'm being attacked
Speaker 1: and these people are calling my people, you know, lazy
Speaker 1: and whatever it was, it really was just for lack
Speaker 1: of knowledge and understanding. It's crazy how ignorance is when
Speaker 1: blending any culture, regardless of what it is. It's crazy
Speaker 1: how sometimes just ignorance and not knowing can completely create
Speaker 1: a divide. And once you break that down, it's a
Speaker 1: amazing how you can see things just flourish. Wow. But
Speaker 1: it was it was like a great experience going there.
Speaker 1: And we have to go to St. Vincent next. I
Speaker 1: know you've been to St. Vincent with Tiffany on your own.
Speaker 1: I went with my girlfriend with a little country trips.
Speaker 1: Oh my god. Saint Vincent is such a beautiful island
Speaker 1: and I think it's super underrated. Um, but it's a
Speaker 1: beautiful island and the St. Vincent and the Grenadines, so
Speaker 1: they're surrounding islands. And it's funny because when I was
Speaker 1: in St. Vincent with Tiffany, I took her just because
Speaker 1: it was like, you know, a girl's trip. I was like,
Speaker 1: let's try here, you know, And at first I was
Speaker 1: kind of my mom at first was like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: why would you go to Saint Vincent. There's like not
Speaker 1: much to do there if you're looking for activity. But
Speaker 1: this was a mommy trip, so we were looking to
Speaker 1: go and just kind of chill and veg out on
Speaker 1: the beach um and then I tell you, it's beautiful,
Speaker 1: and Tiffany keeps asking me when are we going to
Speaker 1: go back there? Surrounding islands, so the Grenadines around St. Vincent.
Speaker 1: So we took a boat over to beck Way, which
Speaker 1: is another island that also has beautiful um. We wanted
Speaker 1: to go to Mistique, but then we couldn't go to
Speaker 1: Mistique that time because one of the royals I print
Speaker 1: somebody from just took over the whole island. They shut
Speaker 1: the island down because he was vacationing there. So I
Speaker 1: was like wow. I was like, I can't believe people
Speaker 1: are coming from all these different parts of the world
Speaker 1: to this beautiful island. So yeah, shout out to St.
Speaker 1: Vincent and y'all feel like I don't give you all
Speaker 1: as much love. She'd be at home talking about so
Speaker 1: we got because my Saint Vincent, they're gonna sing me
Speaker 1: because you know, we talked about Jamaica so much, especially
Speaker 1: because I went there for my birthday and stuff, and
Speaker 1: that was mainly because it was easy to access. Um.
Speaker 1: Now I think St. Vincent has the international airport, so
Speaker 1: they're working on and so I have to worry about
Speaker 1: flying into another country and getting getting the lead. Ye
Speaker 1: Kevin Little is known for like that song turned me
Speaker 1: on my body and That's going still goes hard and
Speaker 1: like every club that was that was high school days.
Speaker 1: I got some of my nicest dub to those songs.
Speaker 1: Oh sh you're fresh, She's fresh. But now yeah, so
Speaker 1: that he that song still goes hard. Actually put it
Speaker 1: on my Instagram the other day and he had damned
Speaker 1: me and was just like, Yo, you listen to my music.
Speaker 1: I'm like yeah and love. So let me talking about coaches.
Speaker 1: What's the one thing you learned about Black American coaches
Speaker 1: since dating me that you feel like you didn't know
Speaker 1: before that you feel like like now you're like, Wow,
Speaker 1: now I understand a little bit about how you are,
Speaker 1: so you understand. Um, one thing I did learn about you,
Speaker 1: aside from that Friday is the funniest movie. It's not funny.
Speaker 1: I still don't really get the Last Dragon, but whatever.
Speaker 1: That's maybe just don't don't, don't don't. Maybe it's an
Speaker 1: acquired I just gave me a black card back. I
Speaker 1: take that ship right back. But I do understand and
Speaker 1: I respect why you really appreciate the struggle and where
Speaker 1: blacks have come over time being around your mom and
Speaker 1: learning about her history and the things she's had to
Speaker 1: go through. I understand why, um, you are the way
Speaker 1: you are with that, why you're so passionate about it,
Speaker 1: And I think that with the current climate in our country,
Speaker 1: it's next necessary for you two then teach our boys
Speaker 1: about this as well, and about you know their history
Speaker 1: and and and why it's so important as a black
Speaker 1: man to know certain things and being able to kind
Speaker 1: of sharpen their moral compass at this point because you're
Speaker 1: able to now impart on them things that you've learned,
Speaker 1: and I admire that, and I've learned so much just
Speaker 1: from being a part of your family, because your family
Speaker 1: has completely opened their arms to me from day one,
Speaker 1: and they have embraced me as their own, you know, daughter,
Speaker 1: and um, I'm sure you can say it's vice versa now, No, absolutely, absolutely,
Speaker 1: your family has definitely embraced me. And I've learned a
Speaker 1: lot about West Indian culture outside of what I thought
Speaker 1: I knew, you know, growing up in Flatbush. Like I said,
Speaker 1: it wasn't just all about bruck ups and row. That's
Speaker 1: because that's all I did back in the dance back
Speaker 1: in the day. And um, I love eating beef fatties,
Speaker 1: I love royalty, I love curry go oxtail like I
Speaker 1: just I love the food. I love the women. Um,
Speaker 1: But I learned so much about why people come to
Speaker 1: the States from these islands, and it's it's it's a
Speaker 1: different type of escape, you know, because black in America,
Speaker 1: when you're black, you're trying to escape persecution from police,
Speaker 1: You're trying to escape systematic oppression. So you feel like
Speaker 1: there's nowhere else for me to go. I'm here in America,
Speaker 1: this is all I got. And when you're from a
Speaker 1: smaller island and you're trying to escape different levels of
Speaker 1: persecution from the government. Even though they may look like you,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, you've been oppressed. You're like,
Speaker 1: I just wanted the ability to grow and prosper, you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. So, and that's what I learned
Speaker 1: from your mom and your dad because their stories are
Speaker 1: very similar. Your father came here, you know, made money,
Speaker 1: sent back, helped your mom's family come here, and for
Speaker 1: them it was about owning property and not only owning property,
Speaker 1: but educating their kids when they have kids. And that's
Speaker 1: the biggest thing I learned about West Indian culture. Y'all
Speaker 1: are all about education, you know. And there's there's a
Speaker 1: huge difference between Caribbean culture in American culture because in
Speaker 1: Caribbean culture, they're all about books. Because of where they
Speaker 1: come from, the educational systems aren't as good as Americans.
Speaker 1: So they're like, yo, you better go to school and
Speaker 1: get the books. Books, books. Where I feel like for
Speaker 1: Black Americans sometimes you're allowed to create. Like when I
Speaker 1: told my parents I wanted to go to school for speech,
Speaker 1: communications and performance, they didn't look at me funny. They
Speaker 1: were happy toge, were happy I was going to college.
Speaker 1: And it wasn't you know, and they happy I got
Speaker 1: a scholarship. It wasn't like you know, but like the
Speaker 1: first generation to really go to a four year college. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well my aunt, my aunt Monique shouting to my aunt Manique, Um,
Speaker 1: she went to Northeastern. I believe, Yes, she went to Northeastern.
Speaker 1: Played volleyball, played volleyball. She could have been a basketball play.
Speaker 1: She's a beast athlete graduating on her degree. But she
Speaker 1: was the first in our family to get her degree.
Speaker 1: My mom didn't get her degree. My dad got his
Speaker 1: associates from Kingsborough, so in in that part of the family,
Speaker 1: I was the first to get my degree. But for them,
Speaker 1: they they're all their dream was like you could do
Speaker 1: whatever you want. You know, you're here, you could do
Speaker 1: whatever you want. Your father, when you told him he's
Speaker 1: getting in the TV, he was like, what the fuck you?
Speaker 1: I think we have a podcast. Now we're working on
Speaker 1: like developing a show. And I think my father still
Speaker 1: to this day, does not understand what the hell it is.
Speaker 1: I'm no clue. He's just like, girl, you did not
Speaker 1: go to nurse in school. My sister totally like one
Speaker 1: up me, and she's a nurse. So no favorite. I
Speaker 1: was never the favorite, was always favorite, That is the truth.
Speaker 1: And he will say it because he's like, conveem you
Speaker 1: nice and all, but Cary and he makes no jokes
Speaker 1: about it, like he'll tell y'all like, is my favorite.
Speaker 1: And then she now she's a nurse, like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: forget it, forget it. And I was like, Dad, but
Speaker 1: don't you understand, like I can make nurse like money
Speaker 1: and just not be in that particular film and still
Speaker 1: being successful. And he was like, being an entrepreneur, have
Speaker 1: your own business. Why you've been a punch your five o'clock,
Speaker 1: You better punch your seven and three o'clock, do your
Speaker 1: do your work and and come home and be comfortable.
Speaker 1: And I was like, I ain't trying to just be comfortable.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to be like successful successful you know. Um.
Speaker 1: But you know, you know it's funny that article that
Speaker 1: you read, right when they talk about they felt like
Speaker 1: West Indians had more entrepreneurial spirit, right, It's crazy to
Speaker 1: me because I feel like West Indians are more about titles,
Speaker 1: like even your mom, your mom is so much on
Speaker 1: titles because they came here with nothing. You know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, and it's like I got to get this
Speaker 1: title because that means something. So for me, I feel
Speaker 1: like that was actually the opposite because they weren't coming
Speaker 1: here just to create their own job. It was to work.
Speaker 1: Now they might have brought property, but you know, if
Speaker 1: your own property, you can become a realistic getting the
Speaker 1: real estate, being entrepreneur that way. But it was about working,
Speaker 1: like I want to work and have a title. I'm
Speaker 1: a director, I'm a supervisor, you know, superintendent. It's about
Speaker 1: climbing the ladder whatever, that ladder of successes within that
Speaker 1: that you know, I'm going to start as a paralegal
Speaker 1: and then I'm going to be a partner and that
Speaker 1: I want to like there was always a ladder, I
Speaker 1: feel like, and that's true, Like I've I've definitely seen
Speaker 1: that with my mom, you know, and they're all about
Speaker 1: like working the way up as well to you know,
Speaker 1: starting at the entry leve well and then um always
Speaker 1: further in education to then advance your title. Yep, definitely.
Speaker 1: It's just it's been great having the boys because they
Speaker 1: grew up in two different cultures and watching them do
Speaker 1: what they do as far as kids, but knowing that
Speaker 1: there Southern Black and Caribbean at the same time, because
Speaker 1: even with religion, and we can talk about we could
Speaker 1: save religion for another day because your parents grew up
Speaker 1: Seven Day events and my parents grew up Baptists. But
Speaker 1: it's just been great to watch them learn and co mingle. No,
Speaker 1: absolutely and kind of accept both right and the ultimate.
Speaker 1: I feel like they even shouldn't be a us versus
Speaker 1: them more. No, it's definitely not Americans versus like West
Speaker 1: Indian Americans. Like the versus thing just really always put
Speaker 1: you in that ring where there has to be a
Speaker 1: dominant or there has to be a winner, and I
Speaker 1: feel like we can just learn so much from each
Speaker 1: other from the richness of both. Historically, when people ask
Speaker 1: you what you are, you say, I say, I'm Jamaican
Speaker 1: of incension, right, and I say I'm American. Right. When
Speaker 1: they asked the boys, what are they going to say,
Speaker 1: right they are? I don't know, I mean we I
Speaker 1: don't think we've had this discussion yet, at least with
Speaker 1: Jackson because he's older. But I mean, I guess they
Speaker 1: would say, of course they're American, because at this point
Speaker 1: now they're what like a quarter Jamaican and a quarter
Speaker 1: of incension. But I mean, they definitely are going to
Speaker 1: have to know. But they have a huge Caribbean background.
Speaker 1: Like if you think about it, that that half of
Speaker 1: their family was all born out of this country. They
Speaker 1: were all like their grandma who raised them, their great
Speaker 1: grandmother who raised them, was born here, you know, came here,
Speaker 1: their immigrants, their grandfather who raised them immigrants. I think
Speaker 1: that I think too, that they're going to have the
Speaker 1: same pride that I have, Like, you know, yes I
Speaker 1: can I'm American because I was born here. Um, But
Speaker 1: whenever I'm asked, I usually identify with my culture because
Speaker 1: people will look at me be like, I don't really
Speaker 1: know where you're from? Where are you from? Or they
Speaker 1: can sense that there's like an act sometimes so they're like, Okay,
Speaker 1: where's that accent from? You know, depending on what I'm
Speaker 1: speaking about. Um. So yeah, I'm always And there's a
Speaker 1: pride that I think the West Indian community has. Regardless
Speaker 1: of what island you're from, there's always this ongoing pride
Speaker 1: that culture. I think about Labor Day on Eastern Parkway,
Speaker 1: like that's one thing in Brooklyn that I love. It's
Speaker 1: like when all the cultures come together all the islands
Speaker 1: and everyone is repping so hard for whatever island it
Speaker 1: is that they're from. So I think that sense of
Speaker 1: pride is something that was instilled in me um and
Speaker 1: I would love to, you know, instill that in the boys,
Speaker 1: because you know, Jackson has his moments too when he'll
Speaker 1: you know, drop some pots on and I'm like, whare
Speaker 1: a second you're paying attention to He's with Grandma all
Speaker 1: the time. He's with your your grandmother all the time.
Speaker 1: When your grandmother, you know, she speaks about to all
Speaker 1: the time. But my thing is is also just identifying
Speaker 1: like your true essence, right because for for Black American people,
Speaker 1: and maybe this just maybe me in particular, but I
Speaker 1: am proud to be a Black American because we built
Speaker 1: this country. You can't take that from us. And then
Speaker 1: on top of building it for free, we're now learning
Speaker 1: how to control and manipulate the markets within it to
Speaker 1: gain more power. There's a pride in that. Give me
Speaker 1: the comment that you feel like I can't necessarily claim
Speaker 1: America because I didn't build it, meaning my parents came
Speaker 1: from Cindy's Yes, can you elaborate on that for me?
Speaker 1: Because that can be that can that kind of struck
Speaker 1: a nerve a little bit. I think it's even I
Speaker 1: was born here. I think it's kind of clear. Okay, Okay,
Speaker 1: did you have to do the whole next? I did?
Speaker 1: I did? I did, because you're trying to attack me,
Speaker 1: like I wasn't attacking. You know, it wasn't an attacked.
Speaker 1: But I just want to be clear like what you
Speaker 1: meant by that. Okay, Let's let's think about like this
Speaker 1: hot button topic right now in America, right, reparations right,
Speaker 1: and they talk about descendants of slavery in America. Where
Speaker 1: your parents descendants of slaves in America, So you get
Speaker 1: no reparations. But I married to you, so I can
Speaker 1: have if I allowed, if you're in, if you're a
Speaker 1: good girl. No. But but being more serious, it's like
Speaker 1: I legitimate, like my my grandfather for in the Korean
Speaker 1: War and on the way back when they had POWs,
Speaker 1: my grandfather couldn't sit the pow sat because he was
Speaker 1: a black soldier in the American Army. You know how
Speaker 1: crazy that is? You know how crazy that is, Like
Speaker 1: he went and fort in this for this country. But
Speaker 1: they treat the prisoners of war better than they treat
Speaker 1: the black Americans in America and then when you come
Speaker 1: back to America, they still treat you like shit like
Speaker 1: and I think people don't value that enough what black
Speaker 1: Americans have have gone through in this country, no disrespect.
Speaker 1: But your parents didn't have to go do that here.
Speaker 1: They came here after that fight was over and are
Speaker 1: now reaping the benefits. So it's not like you can't
Speaker 1: claim America. But when people try to discredit what black
Speaker 1: Americans have done in this country to get us to
Speaker 1: this point, for me, it's try it a nerve like
Speaker 1: it really does strike a nerve because and and it
Speaker 1: did strike a nerve with your your dad and his
Speaker 1: friends because I wanted to be like lazy. We cannot
Speaker 1: discredit that, you know what I'm saying, We cannot discredit
Speaker 1: that and that, and then you know, I'm apologized if
Speaker 1: you took it the wrong way, because it could come
Speaker 1: off a little bit kind of fucked up. I'm saying
Speaker 1: both of your parents, both of your parents were from here.
Speaker 1: Their descendants didn't build this country whereas my parents did.
Speaker 1: And realistically, it was just like a little bit of
Speaker 1: a measure of what are my son's gonna claim because
Speaker 1: I don't want my son's to feel the pressure I
Speaker 1: felt in high school where oh, you're from America, You're
Speaker 1: not cool because we're from islands and the culture is
Speaker 1: great and celebrated. Black American culture is not celebrated the
Speaker 1: same way. So for me, when they say, you know,
Speaker 1: you know where you from, you you're not from an island,
Speaker 1: I'm Americans. Like, why are you trying to downplay because
Speaker 1: I went through that in high school. Oh you just American?
Speaker 1: What the fund does that mean? I'm just American like that?
Speaker 1: And it was a huge argument. It was a huge
Speaker 1: argument in school. One yeah, in Madison, because I remember
Speaker 1: Flag Day. Flag Day was a big deal right in
Speaker 1: in in uh Madison, and everyone wore the flags for
Speaker 1: the countries they represented, right, that's the thing. Yes, so
Speaker 1: a water American flag one tim. And people just like
Speaker 1: because you are because I'm American, right, And they're like,
Speaker 1: also you repped in American And I'm like, yeah, well
Speaker 1: I'm American. And then they were just like that's that's
Speaker 1: kind of whack, Like how dare you represent America? Like
Speaker 1: this is our day where in your country? We get it,
Speaker 1: there's your country, but you know, you know, and I
Speaker 1: was like, what you what do you like? What does
Speaker 1: that even mean? Kids? Which is you know, kind of
Speaker 1: getting at me, like, yo, you know, you're just American,
Speaker 1: Like like it's cool to be it's cool to be
Speaker 1: West Indian, but to just be American is like you
Speaker 1: have no culture, you have no swag. And I want
Speaker 1: to and I want my boys to know, like, you
Speaker 1: have to find pride in the fact that your ancestors
Speaker 1: built this country for for the rights in this country
Speaker 1: that we live in. So say, you know, because it
Speaker 1: always happens. Sat Jackson grows up and he's either a
Speaker 1: football player, the president, or is an entertainment they're gonna
Speaker 1: ask him, you know what are you his Wikipedia page?
Speaker 1: It's going to be very important. And if they say
Speaker 1: that he's of Jamaican descent and that's the first thing
Speaker 1: he says, you know, American blacks are gonna be piste off.
Speaker 1: And if he says that he's American and they don't
Speaker 1: mention that he's from Jamaican and Vincentian descent or he's
Speaker 1: not from St. Vincent, those people are going to be
Speaker 1: piste off. So it's like, how do we prepare our
Speaker 1: children to embrace both and rent both and identify because
Speaker 1: you you don't say you're American even though you were
Speaker 1: born here in America. You don't identify American your family,
Speaker 1: and you really can't, like your family didn't fight for
Speaker 1: slavery or fight for it, Like you don't fight for
Speaker 1: American civil rights here. Your parents were in islands, you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. They weren't here, So I get
Speaker 1: why you say I'm Jamaican in intention, right, right, and
Speaker 1: usually say I was born here in America, but my
Speaker 1: roots are you know, which make making savings just to
Speaker 1: give a total picture of what exactly is happening here.
Speaker 1: So I mean, I don't really foresee to like when
Speaker 1: it comes to dating culturally, like I'm thinking about our sons,
Speaker 1: because when it came to dating for me, my parents
Speaker 1: weren't like, oh well you have to date another West
Speaker 1: Indian or you have to date within the confines of
Speaker 1: They never put those kind of pressures on me. My
Speaker 1: mother was actually like, you ain't dating nobody, bitch. So
Speaker 1: it was just like she was just like, oh no,
Speaker 1: Like my parents were like super strict, you know, protective.
Speaker 1: You know, thank god they were, because I have become
Speaker 1: the nice woman that I am to date because of
Speaker 1: that and my good old West Ending upbringing. I think
Speaker 1: upbringing tho is something that we can both kind of
Speaker 1: can compare and they're similar because I don't think in
Speaker 1: a West Indian household or in a Black American household,
Speaker 1: we took no ship like our parents on both sides
Speaker 1: didn't take no ship. Manners was something that was very,
Speaker 1: very prevalent, you know, in the household, no talking back, religion, faith,
Speaker 1: Those are a lot of parallels that we did, which
Speaker 1: I think made dating for us, though we did have
Speaker 1: differences in the beginning, you know, like my father not
Speaker 1: knowing about the culture. That was easy for our families
Speaker 1: to assimilate. Now, yeah, absolutely while dating because because the
Speaker 1: moral values existed on both sides, and when the moral
Speaker 1: values exist on both sides, easier trying to sit back
Speaker 1: and say, you know what I can write. He may
Speaker 1: be a little different, but I know that his daughter
Speaker 1: gonna take care of my son, and I know that
Speaker 1: their son is gonna take care of my daughter as
Speaker 1: long as the moral values exist, right, And I think
Speaker 1: that's something that we paralleled in both households. When we
Speaker 1: talk about our upgramming bringing or the way our parents
Speaker 1: dealt with certain situations or even the school Beffle him
Speaker 1: that we went to, like whether the teacher was a
Speaker 1: West Indian teacher or the teacher was a Black American teacher.
Speaker 1: They took no disrespect, like that was just something that
Speaker 1: was not tolerated. Um. So I think they made dating
Speaker 1: for us and then eventually marriage and now our views
Speaker 1: on parenting and the things that we tolerate with our
Speaker 1: kids kind of similar. So with the boys, though, you're
Speaker 1: going to make sure that they when they say you
Speaker 1: wouldn't have them say I'm Jamaican American, I'm vincentition America.
Speaker 1: Can Um, how are you going to have them identify?
Speaker 1: I think they Yeah, I think they should. They should
Speaker 1: definitely pick up the culture and be like, I'm Jamaican.
Speaker 1: But since you an American, I like you like it.
Speaker 1: Coming up, we're going to get into some listener letters.
Speaker 1: But after these ads, this for the record. There it
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Speaker 1: show matters. I love this, I love this very nice.
Speaker 1: So let's see what we're talking about today. Oh, these
Speaker 1: are interesting, So they're not necessarily dealing with blending cultures,
Speaker 1: but it is kind of relevant because, um, the question is,
Speaker 1: what was the point where you all knew the leap
Speaker 1: of faith to start your own business? I guess so
Speaker 1: just a frame of differently, at one point do we
Speaker 1: notice start our own business though it doesn't necessarily deal
Speaker 1: blending of cultures. But my father again being his like
Speaker 1: you know, get your nine to five, he could not
Speaker 1: foresee the businesses that we wanted to start, but but
Speaker 1: he did own property to supplement his income. He did,
Speaker 1: so he kind of we kind of did have that,
Speaker 1: and he was very smart because he was able to
Speaker 1: buy property in Brooklyn during the late eighties, and my
Speaker 1: mom worked really hard to make sure that they were
Speaker 1: able to do that and start that kind of fund education.
Speaker 1: And yes, and gave me lots of opportunities. Shout out
Speaker 1: to Dad for that, um But yeah, what did we
Speaker 1: know that we wanted to start. This was easy for
Speaker 1: me playing in the NFL, Yes, because I always I
Speaker 1: always wanted to own my own part of what my
Speaker 1: mom and dad taught me. I always want to get
Speaker 1: into real estate. But I never forget the end of
Speaker 1: my third preseason, I had the best preseason I ever
Speaker 1: had in the NFL. The first year in the NFL,
Speaker 1: I made the team, then cut, then put on the
Speaker 1: practice squad. I didn't made the team play the rest
Speaker 1: of the year. Second year, I didn't even play in
Speaker 1: the preseason because I was hurt, and I made the team,
Speaker 1: was put on the pup. The third year, I had
Speaker 1: the best year and I got cut. And what that
Speaker 1: showed me was that I never wanted to live my
Speaker 1: life where my livelihood was dependent upon another man's decisions.
Speaker 1: So for me at that point, it was I need
Speaker 1: to own my own business. I need to make my
Speaker 1: own money, because if I'm constantly going to work and
Speaker 1: hoping that I'm going to continue to get a check
Speaker 1: by jumping through the hoops of someone else, at any
Speaker 1: given time, they can just say, Na, we want to
Speaker 1: go in another direction. You don't get laid off, and
Speaker 1: that new management doesn't come in and they they everyone's
Speaker 1: a wash that I couldn't do it. And you know,
Speaker 1: it's funny, I did not necessarily have that business acumen
Speaker 1: in the beginning. I didn't foresee the business side of
Speaker 1: things and how it would flourish. Um. I think too,
Speaker 1: because it was always ingrained in me to be sure
Speaker 1: that I had a stable job, whatever that job was.
Speaker 1: Again like my dad, you know, working in the hospital,
Speaker 1: my mom being a nurse. Like they wanted to make
Speaker 1: sure that I was able to um sustain the lifestyle
Speaker 1: by having that guaranteed quote unquote money. But then when
Speaker 1: you really think about it, it's like, what exactly is
Speaker 1: guaranteed money you know? Um? Or is it really guaranteed?
Speaker 1: You know? And the turning point for me, particularly with
Speaker 1: business and why I wanted to start my own was
Speaker 1: moving back to you know, New York after the NFL
Speaker 1: was over and developed wanting to start his business. I
Speaker 1: was working at Matt Cosmetics, um as you know, an
Speaker 1: artist and as a manager, and I was kind of
Speaker 1: working my way up the ladder there because again I
Speaker 1: was taught bout my family, like started the ground and
Speaker 1: you work your way up the ladder, and and that's
Speaker 1: what I always did. But you know, I think at
Speaker 1: that point, being with you and hearing how you were
Speaker 1: starting a business and being so inspired by that, I
Speaker 1: thought to myself, you know what, I'm about to flip
Speaker 1: this whole makeup situation. I'm going to go in there.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna learn the craft more. I'm going to hone
Speaker 1: in on my skills. I'm gonna work that ladder, learn
Speaker 1: about being a leader, learn about how the business works,
Speaker 1: learn about revenue calendars, and this, that and the third.
Speaker 1: So that way, I can then give myself the opportunity
Speaker 1: to step away from the confines of working for Frank
Speaker 1: and Frank who are the owners, and then start my
Speaker 1: own business where it can be more lucrative for me.
Speaker 1: I can have the flexibility that I wanted to have.
Speaker 1: You know, I will never forget that Thanksgiving where I
Speaker 1: had to leave the family. Jackson was still a baby
Speaker 1: at the time, and I had to leave the family
Speaker 1: because at this point now it was Black Friday, that's
Speaker 1: when the store was opening. It like midnight, So I
Speaker 1: had to leave Thanksgiving dinner to get dressed, put my
Speaker 1: all black on makeup on, and I literally cried in
Speaker 1: your arms, and I was like, I don't want to
Speaker 1: have to go to work, like so unfair. I cannot
Speaker 1: enjoy this holiday with my family because I have to
Speaker 1: go make that money on Black Friday, which is not
Speaker 1: even like Friday. I think now to the point where
Speaker 1: there's not even a Thanksgiving Day anymore. People are having
Speaker 1: to work on Thanksgiving because of making money. So I said,
Speaker 1: you know what at that point, you know, I told
Speaker 1: you how I felt about it, and you were like, Babe,
Speaker 1: we're gonna work so hard. I'm gonna make it so
Speaker 1: that you don't have to miss another Thanksgiving and so
Speaker 1: said so done. So you know, that was really at
Speaker 1: the point when we knew early on that we wanted
Speaker 1: to start our own businesses. Yeah, it was just pretty
Speaker 1: much wanting autonomy over our lives. Our lives, yeah, and
Speaker 1: wanted to be there and be active in our children's
Speaker 1: life as well, and to be able to work on
Speaker 1: our acting careers. You know, well, well, actually which is
Speaker 1: you know that that answer actually seguates us into the
Speaker 1: second one. Uh. Someone asked, you know, talk about DeVos
Speaker 1: post on I g to take care of home and
Speaker 1: let you do your thing. Recently, I did, I did
Speaker 1: post recently about it, and um, this post kind of
Speaker 1: came from a question that was asked when we were
Speaker 1: at Broccoli City. Um, a young lady asked, you know, what,
Speaker 1: what is the best way or how do you guys
Speaker 1: support each other, you know, in your own dreams? And
Speaker 1: the post came from that because I was sitting back
Speaker 1: and I think, and I answered her question that day
Speaker 1: about how we dig each other up, and we talk
Speaker 1: a lot about each other's projects when we're doing projects.
Speaker 1: If if we're doing projects, with what I can see,
Speaker 1: there can be some cross promotion, I'll mention codeine. But
Speaker 1: then I really really alized afterwards that the best way
Speaker 1: that I could support my wife is by just getting
Speaker 1: out the way and making sure everything else is out
Speaker 1: of her way. You know. So oftentimes it's left on
Speaker 1: the women to be responsible for take care of home
Speaker 1: and the kids, you know, And I've been I've been
Speaker 1: guilty of that sometimes, Like when I was the breadwinner
Speaker 1: and I was really focused on my career, on my craft,
Speaker 1: it was like, Okay, can you just focus on this?
Speaker 1: Can you just do this so I can focus on that,
Speaker 1: And in doing that we were able to prosper. But
Speaker 1: then part of me realized that and there's things that
Speaker 1: she wants to do that you know, I have to
Speaker 1: kind of take time away from what I'm doing to
Speaker 1: grab that so that she can focus. So for me,
Speaker 1: it was kind of like, we're trying to build this
Speaker 1: empire together, and yeah, Codeine probably could handle all of
Speaker 1: home stuff and I could go on and flourish, right,
Speaker 1: But how dope would it be is if while I
Speaker 1: see she's funishing, let me just grab the kids real quick.
Speaker 1: Let me pause when I'm doing and he paused real quick,
Speaker 1: Let me grab the kids, let me take care of
Speaker 1: home perfectly. Example, when you you you booked your first
Speaker 1: Netflix uh deal to be a key makeup artist on
Speaker 1: the show, Ye shout out to us. It's proud of
Speaker 1: you had to take on that whole project makeup artist
Speaker 1: for a whole month while they shot this show for
Speaker 1: I think it was twenty days or twenty two days
Speaker 1: and literally long hours you know on set here there
Speaker 1: for like anywhere between twelve to fifteen hours per day,
Speaker 1: so I literally did not see my husband and my
Speaker 1: children for an entire month. Um the Devote knew this
Speaker 1: was my opportunity to you know, get some experience in
Speaker 1: the field you know, makeup, to be on an actual set,
Speaker 1: to work with some actors as well. It was great
Speaker 1: for me too as an actor to now see another
Speaker 1: side of it how things are being shot. So it
Speaker 1: was really like a hands on learning experience for me
Speaker 1: and also away for me to do my makeup. I
Speaker 1: had my team, you know, we were cohesive, we were
Speaker 1: working together. Devot ended up booking a role in that
Speaker 1: series as well, So it was just really great at
Speaker 1: that time because it was like all hands on deck.
Speaker 1: So between Devot and my family, they were able to
Speaker 1: just hold a hold down the fort so I can
Speaker 1: then flourish in this opportunity, and I think the tide
Speaker 1: shift for us a lot depending on what the opportunity
Speaker 1: to Devout me have an opportunity to capitalize on something,
Speaker 1: so I have to hold the kids down on What
Speaker 1: I appreciate about you is that you never I never
Speaker 1: feel oppressed in this relationship. I never feel oppressed within
Speaker 1: the household because even though sometimes you were, you're direct
Speaker 1: with telling me what you need and it may come
Speaker 1: across as like, Okay, I'm gonna need you to do
Speaker 1: X y Z. I appreciate that you're transparent about that.
Speaker 1: So I know, Okay, Devout needs this to be his
Speaker 1: best self right now, So I'm going to do that
Speaker 1: to ensure that he can be his best self. And
Speaker 1: I can appreciate that you're willing to do that, but
Speaker 1: it makes me that much more prepared to do it
Speaker 1: when you need it. You see what I'm saying the
Speaker 1: rest because absolutely, like I say to myself sometimes like yo,
Speaker 1: this woman took a year and a half off to
Speaker 1: have a child from TV, then while taking a year
Speaker 1: and a half of come pregnant and had to take
Speaker 1: another year and a half off to have another child
Speaker 1: and both of them are my boys. Is to help
Speaker 1: build our legacy. It's like, if she needs a month
Speaker 1: to two months to focus on just her career, I
Speaker 1: have to be willing to do that, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. I think I have to like the most
Speaker 1: helpful things you've done too, Even if you couldn't step in.
Speaker 1: You made provisions for the kids with like my mom,
Speaker 1: you'd be like, my, you know, k needs to go
Speaker 1: to the gym? Is there a way for you to
Speaker 1: come back after? So that way? Yeah, your mom is
Speaker 1: my go to when your dad to Yeah, and Brian
Speaker 1: like Jackson, you know, because family, Yeah, they really just
Speaker 1: help so much. So even if you are not there
Speaker 1: to do it, you can foresee that I need the help,
Speaker 1: and you'll reach out to all of our forces and
Speaker 1: be like, hey, who is free to help us out
Speaker 1: real quick? And they're usually so great about you know, pures.
Speaker 1: So it really is the village, Like the village makes
Speaker 1: it possible for me to step out, you know, and
Speaker 1: just grab the kids in the house and say, you know,
Speaker 1: let's go go get the bag, baby, just go get
Speaker 1: the bags, all the bag, you know, because you bring
Speaker 1: home the bacon. You know, even though I don't eat
Speaker 1: pork no more, I know, I know, I definitely to me,
Speaker 1: I don't eat pork. I only eat bacon every now
Speaker 1: and again. So you just said that bacon is its
Speaker 1: own ented. Okay, bacon, April, don't eat it all the time.
Speaker 1: Let me tell you all about this girl, yo, we
Speaker 1: we go, I've got where we were, and she was
Speaker 1: just like, can I see your vegan options please? I'm
Speaker 1: like trying to be healthy today. So we have a
Speaker 1: black bean burger. She's, oh, a great, great greade. So
Speaker 1: she's like, let me get the black bean burger with bacon.
Speaker 1: I was like, what what are you doing? I felt
Speaker 1: for it, like the very blue boom that I felt
Speaker 1: for baking. It just happens. The rationale behind it was
Speaker 1: so dope, though, she goes. She goes, listen, nobody make
Speaker 1: food better than vegans. If you can make an all
Speaker 1: vegetable meal tastes man good. Imagine if you add bah.
Speaker 1: I was like, you right, though, but you're right and
Speaker 1: tastes good. Let me know who's doing that out there.
Speaker 1: Make sure I'll come in and let me know who
Speaker 1: has tried to put bacon on their hashtag vegan with bacon. Yes,
Speaker 1: all right, listen to this. I always loved those. Yes,
Speaker 1: um And if you want to be featured as one
Speaker 1: of our listener letters, email us at dead as Advice
Speaker 1: at gmail dot com. Yes, that's dead as Advice. D
Speaker 1: E A D A S S A, D V I
Speaker 1: C E at gmail dot com. Baby what's your moment
Speaker 1: of truth? Um for this whole what's the vows truth
Speaker 1: when it comes to blending cultures? Are just talking about
Speaker 1: you know, we're all a part of the African diaspora,
Speaker 1: Wakanda forever, all that good stuff. Let me know what
Speaker 1: what what? What's your takeaway from this whole conversation? My
Speaker 1: My moment of truth is to take time to embrace
Speaker 1: the culture of the people that you're around, even if
Speaker 1: it's not your wife, significant other, your friends. Take time
Speaker 1: to embrace their culture because what you think you know
Speaker 1: about their cultures, you probably don't. And all the caricatures
Speaker 1: about their culture that are the stereotypes that that are
Speaker 1: what you think or hold as true, can be so
Speaker 1: much deeper if you just take the time and don't
Speaker 1: only just do it for them, do it for yourself,
Speaker 1: because the more you learn, the better you can become.
Speaker 1: And I want to be able to know as much
Speaker 1: as I can about as many people so I can
Speaker 1: share that with the boys. Yeah, taking the time to
Speaker 1: really dispel the myths surrounding any culture, and that's just
Speaker 1: not Caribbean culture. With a culture whatever you want to
Speaker 1: call it, it can be, you know, Asian culture, it
Speaker 1: can be African, it can be European, like whatever it is.
Speaker 1: Really taking the time to dispel the myths will make
Speaker 1: you a well rounded person as well. And I think
Speaker 1: it's just more more about humanity and that circumstance, so
Speaker 1: you can really get to understand people better. Um like what.
Speaker 1: I like what you said that though more about humanity,
Speaker 1: learn other people's cultures so you could be a better human.
Speaker 1: I like that. I like that better human, like love
Speaker 1: thy neighbor, like you can legitimately love thy name, or
Speaker 1: in authenticity at that point because you feel like you
Speaker 1: can respect where they've come from. Yeah, that might be
Speaker 1: my moment of truth. You know what, Ignorance is not
Speaker 1: bliss in this circumstance because you don't know about a culture.
Speaker 1: If you don't know, like how my father and his
Speaker 1: friends did not know about the struggle, it's not bliss.
Speaker 1: It's actually pretty sad, and it's pretty sad. It is
Speaker 1: pretty sad. It is pretty sad. So, you know, as
Speaker 1: youcate yourself had these conversations instead of talking about you
Speaker 1: know what just came on on Love and Hip Hop
Speaker 1: last episode, how about you talk about somebody's culture, you know,
Speaker 1: share a little tip or something you know, invite them
Speaker 1: over for a meal that they may not have had
Speaker 1: before and introduced into a different way of doing things,
Speaker 1: or or something that's specific to your culture. I like that.
Speaker 1: I like that. I like that. Do you all like that? Well?
Speaker 1: If you like that, be sure to follow us on
Speaker 1: social media. That's I am devoted. I A M D
Speaker 1: as in David E V as in volume A L E.
Speaker 1: You're so obnoxious with the spelling of your handle. I
Speaker 1: liked le. People can spell and cadine, I am doing
Speaker 1: H A D E. And is a Nancy I A M.
Speaker 1: And if you're listening on Apple podcasts, be sure to
Speaker 1: rate and subscribe and tell friends. And dead Ass is
Speaker 1: a production of Stitcher is produced by T Square, Stephanie
Speaker 1: Karauke and Dinora Opinion. Our executive producer is Chris Manning,
Speaker 1: and we'd like to give a special thanks to our
Speaker 1: recording engineer Jared O'Connell, our sound designer Brendan Burns, and
Speaker 1: studio manager Ashley Warren. We'll back. I'm Drew McCarry and
Speaker 1: I'm David Roth. We have a podcast scoring on right
Speaker 1: now as part of the stitchen Net. We're called substraction
Speaker 1: that's available everywhere. Getting podcast at Stitcher, Spotify, Apple Go.
Speaker 1: Listen right now to the distraction, right now, it's out.
Speaker 1: Do it please,