WEBVTT - QLS Celebrates Womens History Month Part 2 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:09.479 Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. Welcome back 0:00:09.520 --> 0:00:12.840 to Quest Love Supreme, y'all, and this is a tradition 0:00:12.920 --> 0:00:16.040 for us. At March, we are celebrating Women's History Month 0:00:16.520 --> 0:00:19.400 with some special programming drawing from nearly a decade of 0:00:19.400 --> 0:00:20.960 shows and conversations. 0:00:21.040 --> 0:00:22.880 This is part two. 0:00:25.760 --> 0:00:30.479 You know, it goes without saying that despite where we 0:00:30.520 --> 0:00:34.879 are currently in present day times, it is important to 0:00:34.920 --> 0:00:39.440 be an ally to women to lift up their voices. Frankly, 0:00:39.640 --> 0:00:43.360 I believe that they are the leaders of now. We 0:00:43.640 --> 0:00:46.000 as men need to take a back seat, and I'm 0:00:46.040 --> 0:00:49.440 all for that. So despite what you hear in the 0:00:49.479 --> 0:00:52.120 news as far as like how businesses are run, I 0:00:52.159 --> 0:00:56.000 will continue to keep that promise to elevate. And you 0:00:56.080 --> 0:00:59.120 clearly see, like with my staff, my management, the artists 0:00:59.160 --> 0:01:02.840 that I choose to highlight, it's all about allyship and 0:01:02.880 --> 0:01:06.040 that's what we're about here. Being raised by my mother, 0:01:06.920 --> 0:01:09.080 my mother was always quick to pull me aside if 0:01:09.120 --> 0:01:12.240 she ever felt that the seeds of anything toxic was 0:01:12.280 --> 0:01:14.920 about to start coming down the pike. And you know, 0:01:14.959 --> 0:01:19.000 she would quickly remind me that, you know, you better 0:01:19.080 --> 0:01:23.039 learn from this situation that when you're grown up you know, 0:01:23.160 --> 0:01:26.600 a woman's not going to tolerate this type of behavior. 0:01:26.720 --> 0:01:30.039 You know, she kept me in a constant practice, not 0:01:30.160 --> 0:01:33.440 just when your mom's around you start, you know, acting up. 0:01:33.520 --> 0:01:36.720 But she taught me early about the importance of this 0:01:36.880 --> 0:01:40.839 and so women are not a threat. They deserve agency 0:01:41.160 --> 0:01:48.200 and are full support. Here's Shaka Khan from twenty seventeen. 0:01:49.120 --> 0:01:50.760 The clip is only a few minutes long, but it 0:01:50.760 --> 0:01:54.880 says a lot. Shaka touches on pivoting outside of rufus 0:01:55.320 --> 0:01:58.480 and some of the judgments and complications she felt as 0:01:58.520 --> 0:01:59.440 a pregnant. 0:01:59.120 --> 0:02:00.000 Artist at the time. 0:02:00.640 --> 0:02:04.040 She also speaks about her reluctance to sing I'm every woman, 0:02:04.640 --> 0:02:08.240 Shaka on behalf of everybody. We're very glad you did, though, 0:02:11.000 --> 0:02:13.480 do you explain to your guys like, Okay, well I'm 0:02:13.480 --> 0:02:15.720 gonna do the soul project real quick, but I'll be back, 0:02:15.800 --> 0:02:17.160 or like where was it? 0:02:17.760 --> 0:02:22.120 Well, you know, I got pregnant in the until of 0:02:22.200 --> 0:02:25.480 the beginning of that situation Otis Smith. You know, he 0:02:25.600 --> 0:02:28.360 was trying to trap me up and everything. God bless you, ODIs, 0:02:28.400 --> 0:02:30.800 But I'm telling the truth. He thought, you know, he 0:02:30.840 --> 0:02:33.600 was trying to have me and I got pregnant. By 0:02:33.680 --> 0:02:40.280 my husband. And he told me, he said, I'm how 0:02:40.280 --> 0:02:41.880 am I gonna make a star to you if you're 0:02:41.919 --> 0:02:43.919 gonna be having babies? I said, let me tell you something. 0:02:45.280 --> 0:02:48.600 I'm gonna be what I'm gonna be with you or 0:02:48.639 --> 0:02:53.720 without you, around you or under you. You have nothing 0:02:53.760 --> 0:02:54.680 to say about this. 0:02:57.040 --> 0:02:59.880 That's crazy because how many female singers have that same story, 0:02:59.880 --> 0:03:01.080 Like pregnancy is like. 0:03:01.440 --> 0:03:04.120 Cat make a start. I said, I'm not you know, 0:03:05.400 --> 0:03:10.919 a pin up. I'm an artist, you know when I'm 0:03:10.919 --> 0:03:11.639 pregnant or not. 0:03:13.240 --> 0:03:18.919 So so coming to the soccer project. 0:03:20.120 --> 0:03:25.440 You work with, I mean, ar If is one of 0:03:25.440 --> 0:03:28.440 my idols because for me, like the band that I 0:03:28.560 --> 0:03:30.560 worshiped the most when I was a kid was the 0:03:30.560 --> 0:03:35.640 average white man. Yeah, and so to see those names 0:03:35.680 --> 0:03:38.320 on the credits, I was like, oh, this is gonna 0:03:38.320 --> 0:03:38.840 be awesome. 0:03:39.360 --> 0:03:43.200 What was it? What was it like working with him? Yeah? 0:03:43.440 --> 0:03:49.160 Oh he was like my uncle father. Really, he took 0:03:49.200 --> 0:03:51.960 care of me. He put when I got my. 0:03:52.400 --> 0:03:54.800 Did you see him first or did they come to you? 0:03:54.880 --> 0:03:56.360 Like okay they put us together. 0:03:56.600 --> 0:03:58.280 Okay, who did you initially? 0:03:58.960 --> 0:04:01.720 Because by that point I forgot you did sounds and 0:04:01.760 --> 0:04:03.000 stuff like that too with Quincy. 0:04:03.520 --> 0:04:05.080 Yeah, well Quincy seventy six. 0:04:05.480 --> 0:04:07.120 Was he ever in the running for a second? I 0:04:07.120 --> 0:04:08.760 mean before Master Jam, but I mean like. 0:04:09.720 --> 0:04:15.280 Well, you know, I don't know what happened behind the 0:04:15.280 --> 0:04:18.039 scenes and stuff with that with him not working with 0:04:18.440 --> 0:04:20.200 I think he might have been working with Michael around 0:04:20.240 --> 0:04:20.680 that time. 0:04:20.800 --> 0:04:21.320 Yeah, he was. 0:04:21.640 --> 0:04:24.960 Yeah, he was so iraf and I I liked if 0:04:25.040 --> 0:04:28.400 a lot because he had produced Aretha Franklin. 0:04:29.200 --> 0:04:29.680 That's right. 0:04:29.880 --> 0:04:33.600 Yes, I love what you did with Donnie Hathaway, right, 0:04:34.120 --> 0:04:37.760 and you know, so I was like, yeah, this is good, 0:04:38.839 --> 0:04:43.640 this is good. And I mean he bought the blinds 0:04:43.640 --> 0:04:46.839 from my apartment, he put the carpet, you know, he 0:04:47.240 --> 0:04:53.440 took care of me like like his daughter. Well, and 0:04:54.120 --> 0:04:56.720 you know, I was his spiritual daughter. And he told 0:04:56.720 --> 0:04:59.680 everybody that you and told me all the time you 0:04:59.720 --> 0:05:03.160 were my instrument. Really, you have my instrument. You can 0:05:03.200 --> 0:05:07.160 play anything that I hear that I want. 0:05:08.160 --> 0:05:11.400 So, how did you I mean, by that point, by 0:05:11.440 --> 0:05:15.919 that point, you're just in full fledge of control of 0:05:16.040 --> 0:05:20.159 your instrument, your arrangements and background. 0:05:19.680 --> 0:05:23.280 The songs I wanted. Then, Yeah, so. 0:05:23.320 --> 0:05:27.600 Did they write I'm every nick value right, A lot 0:05:27.640 --> 0:05:29.960 of scientifically, Yeah, what made you choose that song? 0:05:31.040 --> 0:05:35.080 I'll actually talked me into it because I felt like it. 0:05:35.360 --> 0:05:39.679 I felt awkward saying the words I'm every woman. I didn't. 0:05:39.880 --> 0:05:43.200 I thought, how dare somebody say that they're every woman? 0:05:43.279 --> 0:05:48.120 I would just just not, you know, mentally there yet, 0:05:48.520 --> 0:05:50.760 not saying the anthem that it will be a song. 0:05:50.560 --> 0:05:55.360 That you because I'm a woman. I'm a backphone. 0:05:55.400 --> 0:05:57.880 See I'm thinking in terms of like you're singing like 0:05:57.960 --> 0:05:59.960 feminist anthems and those things. 0:05:59.760 --> 0:06:03.360 That was just in line with you, you know. 0:06:04.240 --> 0:06:08.719 No your womanhood and making us respect that. 0:06:09.000 --> 0:06:11.200 Well, you know, I wouldn't think about womanhood at all. 0:06:11.560 --> 0:06:15.799 I was singing songs that meant something to mean lyrics 0:06:16.400 --> 0:06:18.280 like I'm a woman on a back on a backbone. 0:06:18.320 --> 0:06:21.840 Your Smile was written by a woman named Lalonei Washburn. 0:06:22.160 --> 0:06:27.479 She wrote those songs. And but when I'm every woman, 0:06:27.640 --> 0:06:31.640 I had to grow into it. I just well, maybe 0:06:31.680 --> 0:06:34.400 in the last ten years something got comfortable singing that 0:06:34.400 --> 0:06:38.080 because I understood then what she was saying, you know 0:06:38.360 --> 0:06:39.360 what they were they were writing. 0:06:39.400 --> 0:06:41.800 I just shood, what did Whitney singing it mean to you? 0:06:44.240 --> 0:06:47.760 She's of all the people that have covered by songs. 0:06:50.640 --> 0:06:53.360 I had to ask her after she did it? I said, uh, 0:06:53.560 --> 0:07:00.000 did you use my background? Or that you that's like it? 0:07:00.480 --> 0:07:05.000 She's she's great, she was a great, great artist. 0:07:05.320 --> 0:07:08.719 Did you do was I'm every Woman first? Or was 0:07:08.760 --> 0:07:10.360 Clouds first? Which one. 0:07:12.640 --> 0:07:15.360 Clouds is on the second album on because that's the 0:07:15.400 --> 0:07:15.840 first song. 0:07:17.280 --> 0:07:18.400 Yeah, I love that song. 0:07:18.640 --> 0:07:20.960 Yeah, and you know what's doing. Whenever it's time to 0:07:21.000 --> 0:07:24.720 make us the record, we would get our put the 0:07:24.720 --> 0:07:27.880 word out. We would get boxes and boxes of cassettes 0:07:28.320 --> 0:07:33.840 and we would sit and listen to songs, listening sessions, 0:07:34.360 --> 0:07:37.240 and we would mark which songs we did were good, 0:07:38.160 --> 0:07:40.160 and when we came down to it, he would go 0:07:40.240 --> 0:07:41.680 on the track and write it out. 0:07:43.000 --> 0:07:47.560 Oh you don't want to ask what were your feelings 0:07:47.600 --> 0:07:53.960 on Snaps the Power? Uh? I got the Power specifically? 0:07:55.320 --> 0:07:59.800 Well that was a Penny. Yeah, actually that was my gig. 0:08:00.520 --> 0:08:01.600 I was living in England. 0:08:01.840 --> 0:08:03.120 They for you. 0:08:03.240 --> 0:08:05.760 They called me and asked me to come and do 0:08:05.800 --> 0:08:08.440 this stuff with him with them, but you know, I 0:08:08.480 --> 0:08:12.800 was having too much fun and I said a Penny. 0:08:12.800 --> 0:08:14.440 I told him I was sick of some But I said, 0:08:14.440 --> 0:08:17.120 pity you go to that because she Penny is one 0:08:17.120 --> 0:08:18.120 of my students as well. 0:08:18.160 --> 0:08:19.360 Oh you sent her to do it. 0:08:19.760 --> 0:08:21.640 Yeah. I said you could have that, you go do 0:08:21.760 --> 0:08:25.400 it really? Yeah, and then I slapping myself on the 0:08:25.400 --> 0:08:26.480 back of my head. 0:08:29.040 --> 0:08:33.959 Was a monster. Yeah, it's so basically why Snaps. 0:08:33.720 --> 0:08:35.920 Really the group snap? 0:08:35.960 --> 0:08:36.319 You got it? 0:08:36.360 --> 0:08:38.360 In the context, Penny was the one who was saying 0:08:38.400 --> 0:08:39.280 I got the power. 0:08:39.920 --> 0:08:43.360 But that's not the part that we're referring to. Put 0:08:43.400 --> 0:08:44.199 you on the game. 0:08:50.320 --> 0:08:53.560 I'm just saying the whole he could break my heart 0:08:53.600 --> 0:08:55.400 part from I Got the Power. 0:08:56.679 --> 0:09:03.120 Love left my brother on bass, yes. 0:09:03.000 --> 0:09:03.559 Like your brother. 0:09:04.600 --> 0:09:04.840 Yes. 0:09:05.400 --> 0:09:08.000 And it sped up. It got faster fast. You could 0:09:08.000 --> 0:09:12.360 tell that that was a heart song. And Steven he 0:09:12.559 --> 0:09:19.200 was kicking on the damn drunk, I'm mean. And somebody said, 0:09:19.360 --> 0:09:22.960 well it gets fast. I said, the little hearts when 0:09:22.960 --> 0:09:23.640 they're excited. 0:09:27.280 --> 0:09:28.920 I'm just saying I thought we. 0:09:28.880 --> 0:09:32.080 Had a moment because I don't looking at me like 0:09:32.240 --> 0:09:33.520 humble practice. 0:09:36.120 --> 0:09:39.560 Three two. Yes, I own the snare drum that so 0:09:39.600 --> 0:09:40.960 on some love, thank you very much. 0:09:42.920 --> 0:09:44.000 Was it a pickolop? 0:09:44.679 --> 0:09:49.080 Yeah, Steve, Steve, I've stalk note drummer in life more 0:09:49.120 --> 0:09:50.160 than Steve Ronie. 0:09:49.880 --> 0:09:53.480 Like I'm literally his Yeah, I'm saying I'm in air 0:09:53.600 --> 0:09:55.560 parent more than Clyde Stubble or any other drummer. 0:09:55.720 --> 0:10:00.680 I'm Steve Fron's double and he as a gesture, he 0:10:01.160 --> 0:10:06.640 gave me, uh his black and white snare that he's used, Wow, 0:10:07.120 --> 0:10:08.880 all records. 0:10:09.080 --> 0:10:14.040 Oh fantastic, But you don't. Miles gave me one of 0:10:14.040 --> 0:10:16.600 his his trumpets, the blue one. But you don't what 0:10:17.240 --> 0:10:21.320 his nephew that I could kill him. 0:10:21.679 --> 0:10:22.240 He took it back. 0:10:22.280 --> 0:10:29.120 I could kill him. Excuse me, almostcuse me, who can't 0:10:29.200 --> 0:10:33.720 take it? Okay, But I'm telling you after after he 0:10:33.840 --> 0:10:36.959 died in his in his will, he gave it to me, 0:10:37.480 --> 0:10:40.120 and the boy kept. Every time I see him, he 0:10:40.280 --> 0:10:43.240 shrinks and tries to hide and say, I'm gonna get 0:10:43.280 --> 0:10:45.640 it to you. I swear I'm gonna get to you. Well, 0:10:45.679 --> 0:10:48.120 I'm done with it now. You know what I'm saying, 0:10:48.280 --> 0:10:51.720 because what Miles David said is your your voice sounds 0:10:51.840 --> 0:10:54.760 just like my own. That was enough for me. 0:10:54.880 --> 0:10:57.080 You have trumpet, that's enough for me. 0:10:57.320 --> 0:11:00.480 The new the trumpet. See, I don't like usually like trumpet, 0:11:01.600 --> 0:11:05.880 only this muted. What's that sexy? I'll make trumpet? Make sexty, 0:11:06.559 --> 0:11:09.480 yeah baby. 0:11:10.720 --> 0:11:13.240 In twenty twenty two, Quest Stuff Supreme recorded of Black 0:11:13.440 --> 0:11:16.920 episodes in Atlanta, where our iHeart Partners. 0:11:16.559 --> 0:11:18.120 Are located and based. 0:11:18.520 --> 0:11:20.840 One of the highlights of that trip were speaking to 0:11:21.120 --> 0:11:25.720 Stacy Abram, the politician, author and activist. Wasn't a race 0:11:25.800 --> 0:11:28.280 to become the first black woman governor of the state, 0:11:28.920 --> 0:11:31.160 and my role call then I called for Stacy to 0:11:31.280 --> 0:11:34.640 run for president in twenty twenty eight, and I stand 0:11:34.640 --> 0:11:37.640 by those words still. We asked her about the origin 0:11:37.720 --> 0:11:43.000 of her leadership, and she explained, back when you were 0:11:43.000 --> 0:11:48.040 in college where what were your lofty. 0:11:47.600 --> 0:11:48.840 Goals in life? 0:11:49.280 --> 0:11:54.000 Like are you imagining that some fifteen sixteen years later 0:11:54.120 --> 0:11:55.800 that you'll be in the position that. 0:11:55.760 --> 0:11:57.440 You are now? Or were you just like, Okay, I'm 0:11:57.440 --> 0:11:59.360 gonna be a lawyer or da da da da, Or. 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:02.160 I had like twenty seven majors in college. I was 0:12:02.480 --> 0:12:05.560 physics and philosophy, with a minor in theater. It turns 0:12:05.559 --> 0:12:09.839 out I liked star trek but not differential calculus. And 0:12:10.559 --> 0:12:12.840 when you can't stay awaken in pistemology, it's probably not 0:12:12.960 --> 0:12:14.800 the thing to do when there are only four people 0:12:14.800 --> 0:12:17.760 in the classroom. I like acting, but not enough to 0:12:17.800 --> 0:12:20.559 make it my life's work, and so I flitted through 0:12:20.679 --> 0:12:23.080 a bunch of other things. But What was the through 0:12:23.120 --> 0:12:26.480 line for me was activism. The pivotal moment for me 0:12:26.520 --> 0:12:29.400 when I realized that it wasn't just an inherited property 0:12:29.400 --> 0:12:32.520 from my parents, It was part of my DNA. When 0:12:32.559 --> 0:12:35.040 the Rodney King decision came down in nineteen ninety two, 0:12:35.080 --> 0:12:38.880 I was a freshman at Spelman. I organized students to protest. 0:12:39.480 --> 0:12:41.800 They locked down our campus. I was at the AUC 0:12:41.960 --> 0:12:43.880 and if you if you know Atlanta, they locked down 0:12:43.920 --> 0:12:45.840 I twenty so you could not get off of the 0:12:45.840 --> 0:12:49.480 interstate and come to the University center. So it Spellman, Moorhouse, 0:12:49.520 --> 0:12:52.600 Clark Atlanta, Morris Brown, ITC and our School of Medicine. 0:12:52.679 --> 0:12:54.880 And then they tear gassed us. They tear gas the 0:12:54.960 --> 0:12:57.480 entire area. And this was under a black mayor. 0:12:58.720 --> 0:12:59.800 And this is Spelman and Mors. 0:13:01.800 --> 0:13:02.199 Wow. 0:13:02.320 --> 0:13:05.599 But the schools were juxtaposed next to some of the 0:13:05.679 --> 0:13:09.040 oldest housing developments in the nation. And so the issue 0:13:09.080 --> 0:13:12.720 was we weren't, you know, elite students and poor communities. 0:13:12.760 --> 0:13:16.320 We were all black, and we were all basically accused 0:13:16.360 --> 0:13:19.440 of the same anger. And the problem was the protests 0:13:19.480 --> 0:13:21.960 were real because the pain was real. And so I 0:13:22.000 --> 0:13:25.360 helped organize students actually got into an argument with then 0:13:25.400 --> 0:13:28.640 Mayor Maynard Jackson. He won the argument, but because he 0:13:28.679 --> 0:13:31.120 couldn't argue and I was like, my cleanest tea shirts 0:13:31.120 --> 0:13:32.040 were my nicest jeans. 0:13:32.040 --> 0:13:32.679 But he still won. 0:13:33.400 --> 0:13:35.480 But he later hired me to work in the newly 0:13:35.480 --> 0:13:37.080 created Office of Youth Services. 0:13:37.360 --> 0:13:41.280 Okay, let me ask something, because you know, I did 0:13:41.320 --> 0:13:43.920 not go to college, like immediately got a record deal 0:13:43.920 --> 0:13:48.640 and had a career. Always wanted to know when we 0:13:48.760 --> 0:13:52.040 protest on a college campus, like what's the goal, especially 0:13:52.120 --> 0:13:54.760 when like the issue is three thousand miles away in 0:13:54.800 --> 0:13:56.720 Los Angeles, Like how does that trickle to? 0:13:57.240 --> 0:14:01.240 So two things. One, what Rodney Kings with the verdict 0:14:01.600 --> 0:14:05.760 was evocative of was the lack of justice from police, 0:14:06.080 --> 0:14:08.480 and that was happening in Atlanta, that was happening in Georgia. 0:14:08.960 --> 0:14:12.280 And part of it was where poverty exists, where racism exists, 0:14:12.440 --> 0:14:15.599 you were going to find police misconduct. And there was 0:14:15.640 --> 0:14:19.600 also the larger issue of simply the evidence of our 0:14:19.640 --> 0:14:24.840 eyes being denied. Those things. Well, Rodney King was emblematic 0:14:24.920 --> 0:14:27.200 of it was but he was only one example. He 0:14:27.240 --> 0:14:29.400 was the first example that got caught on tape. But 0:14:29.480 --> 0:14:32.080 people had those experiences everywhere, and that's why it was 0:14:32.160 --> 0:14:38.320 so inflammatory the protests I organized. We started this moment wetched. 0:14:38.360 --> 0:14:40.720 We marched from the AUC all the way to City Hall. 0:14:41.000 --> 0:14:43.520 So to your point, I didn't go to a college, 0:14:43.560 --> 0:14:45.400 We're protesting at the college. Made a lot sense because 0:14:45.400 --> 0:14:49.200 we all pretty much agreed the most effective protests leave 0:14:49.360 --> 0:14:52.680 the safe spaces and go into the public spaces. So 0:14:52.760 --> 0:14:55.520 we made sure that march went past the housing projects, 0:14:55.640 --> 0:14:57.320 went past the liquor stores, all the way down to 0:14:57.360 --> 0:15:00.160 city Hall. That's how I ended up getting into the 0:15:00.200 --> 0:15:00.480 tet a. 0:15:00.520 --> 0:15:01.920 Tet with the mayor. 0:15:03.520 --> 0:15:06.840 But to your point, there are some campuses where protest 0:15:06.960 --> 0:15:11.440 on campus is it's effective because if you're at Harvard, 0:15:11.440 --> 0:15:14.760 you're talking about billions of dollars in economic influence. If 0:15:14.760 --> 0:15:18.760 you're an AEC the numeric the monetary effect is the smaller, 0:15:19.280 --> 0:15:22.600 but the salutary effect is bigger because you have people 0:15:22.680 --> 0:15:25.040 who may have been conditioned to think that they were 0:15:25.040 --> 0:15:28.000 the exceptions to the rule, who have to remind themselves 0:15:28.000 --> 0:15:30.840 that they are part of the same fabric that people 0:15:30.880 --> 0:15:33.560 don't ask you, They don't investigate did you go to Spelman, 0:15:33.680 --> 0:15:35.280 Why are you in the AUC, Why are you in 0:15:35.320 --> 0:15:38.240 Southwest Atlanta? They just see someone who looks like something 0:15:38.280 --> 0:15:41.560 they've been taught to be afraid of or taught to disregard. 0:15:42.000 --> 0:15:43.880 And this is true for a lot of different communities 0:15:43.880 --> 0:15:47.640 of color. It's true based on your economic situation and 0:15:47.680 --> 0:15:50.560 where protests comes in as protest moves beyond the space 0:15:50.920 --> 0:15:52.600 that you inhabit, and it tells the rest of the 0:15:52.600 --> 0:15:53.720 world you've got to pay attention. 0:15:54.560 --> 0:15:56.600 It's a bullhorn exactly. 0:15:57.400 --> 0:16:01.920 So do you consider that moment you're or first footprint 0:16:02.320 --> 0:16:03.480 in political action. 0:16:04.160 --> 0:16:06.880 It was my parents will tell you, because my mom 0:16:06.880 --> 0:16:10.640 and dad were in grad school here uh in Georgia. 0:16:10.960 --> 0:16:14.200 They hadn't moved back to Mississippi at and I gave 0:16:14.240 --> 0:16:17.480 out my phone number to tell people, you know, during 0:16:17.480 --> 0:16:18.960 the protest, I'm like, if you're if you want to 0:16:19.000 --> 0:16:21.080 join us. I didn't think through the fact that I 0:16:21.120 --> 0:16:27.280 was giving my parents home number out, yah know. And 0:16:27.280 --> 0:16:29.560 and they pointed that out to me later on as 0:16:29.600 --> 0:16:33.840 the phone started to ring. But for me, it was 0:16:33.920 --> 0:16:36.320 it was it was both in a moment of empowerment 0:16:36.320 --> 0:16:40.560 but a moment of ownership that I I wanted to 0:16:40.600 --> 0:16:43.080 be a voice for people who didn't know they deserve 0:16:43.160 --> 0:16:46.000 to be in that march that didn't know that they 0:16:46.040 --> 0:16:48.960 deserve to have better and who'd been lulled into thinking 0:16:49.000 --> 0:16:51.560 that because you had leadership that looked like you, that 0:16:51.600 --> 0:16:53.520 they shared all of the same issues that you shared. 0:16:53.520 --> 0:16:56.880 And that's just never true. That that notion of monolithic 0:16:56.960 --> 0:17:00.000 power is just not real. And so even within space, 0:17:00.400 --> 0:17:03.520 I mean, Mayor Jax is extraordinary mayor. But in this issue, 0:17:03.760 --> 0:17:07.240 when it came to youth poverty, he had not done 0:17:07.280 --> 0:17:09.040 what I thought needed to be done. So my job 0:17:09.480 --> 0:17:12.000 was to push that. And so for me it was 0:17:12.040 --> 0:17:14.879 it was a moment of reckoning, Like did I actually 0:17:14.960 --> 0:17:17.000 believe the things I was saying when I was safely 0:17:17.040 --> 0:17:19.400 on campus? And turns out yes, I did. 0:17:19.440 --> 0:17:23.280 So at the time, were you like student body president 0:17:23.440 --> 0:17:25.840 or like I don't know what the president's system is 0:17:25.880 --> 0:17:28.199 for college now, like I used to be president in 0:17:28.200 --> 0:17:29.240 my ninth grade class, But. 0:17:29.200 --> 0:17:31.679 I mean, like for you, so I wasn't then I 0:17:31.680 --> 0:17:33.800 eventually did. I was at that point. I was just 0:17:33.840 --> 0:17:35.600 an annoying freshman in college who was. 0:17:35.960 --> 0:17:36.679 And you were a freshman. 0:17:36.720 --> 0:17:38.919 I was my freshman year, So how did you, like, 0:17:39.040 --> 0:17:41.320 isn't it hard for a freshman to get the respect 0:17:41.359 --> 0:17:44.960 in the I was relentless and were people like afraid 0:17:45.000 --> 0:17:47.000 of being suspended or kicked off campus or. 0:17:47.119 --> 0:17:49.520 Yes, so one thing that happened part of I kind 0:17:49.560 --> 0:17:51.840 of short shortcuted the story, but it was a few 0:17:51.840 --> 0:17:54.199 phases when they were tear gassing the campus. This is 0:17:54.240 --> 0:17:57.840 before social media, this is before cell phones, and this 0:17:57.880 --> 0:18:00.760 is when you only had the television stations, the broadcastations. 0:18:01.200 --> 0:18:03.679 So I organized students in my dorm to call all 0:18:03.680 --> 0:18:05.880 the broadcast stations. They were lying saying that we were 0:18:06.280 --> 0:18:08.919 running amok. I'm like, no, we are angry and protesting 0:18:09.160 --> 0:18:11.600 both on the campus and out in the community, but 0:18:11.680 --> 0:18:15.359 this isn't a riot, and they were miscommunicating what was happening. 0:18:15.440 --> 0:18:17.080 So I had a bunch of friends call all the 0:18:17.080 --> 0:18:19.960 stations and flood the stations, and the stations got wise 0:18:20.000 --> 0:18:21.960 to us and said, well, who's calling, and so I said, 0:18:21.960 --> 0:18:23.840 just tell them you're me. So you had like seventy 0:18:23.840 --> 0:18:28.240 five Stacy Abrams is calling and that amplified my voice. Again, 0:18:28.240 --> 0:18:31.040 didn't think through the consequences when they sent the police 0:18:31.040 --> 0:18:32.800 to come and get me to take me to this event. 0:18:33.359 --> 0:18:35.000 I wasn't being arrested, but I was invited to the 0:18:35.040 --> 0:18:39.560 simulcast because all of the television stations in Atlanta came 0:18:39.600 --> 0:18:41.760 together because this was a crisis, and so the mayor 0:18:41.840 --> 0:18:43.200 was there and I was invited as one of the 0:18:43.240 --> 0:18:45.880 students to be there, and so that sort of that 0:18:45.960 --> 0:18:48.200 lifted my platform a bit more than I expected. 0:18:48.560 --> 0:18:48.920 I ask. 0:18:49.000 --> 0:18:51.520 I'm so curious, just on as a student as we're 0:18:51.520 --> 0:18:54.560 in this Spellman moment, I'm curious, did you what we 0:18:54.600 --> 0:18:57.560 your full experience was in college? Was it all work 0:18:57.640 --> 0:19:01.200 and no play and activism or but at a pivotal 0:19:01.200 --> 0:19:06.439 time in Atlanta period like olymp post Olympics maybe, So 0:19:06.480 --> 0:19:08.520 I was right before the Olympics, right before Okay, so 0:19:08.640 --> 0:19:10.679 right before the Olympics. So can you talk about like 0:19:11.280 --> 0:19:12.919 what kind of student you were in that way, like 0:19:12.960 --> 0:19:14.080 did you have fun. 0:19:13.960 --> 0:19:17.080 Social Because I was a nerd and I'm an introvert, 0:19:17.160 --> 0:19:18.040 so I heard this. 0:19:18.119 --> 0:19:19.080 That's why I was surprised. 0:19:19.320 --> 0:19:21.119 Firstman year, you went all out and started. 0:19:21.240 --> 0:19:24.680 Well I was that was happy left supreme right, A 0:19:24.680 --> 0:19:27.560 bunch of nerds and introvis. You mentioned star treks. 0:19:27.320 --> 0:19:29.720 So that was the well next generation was out. So 0:19:32.359 --> 0:19:35.200 your peak card girl, the card je Waite, Look, I 0:19:35.640 --> 0:19:39.240 do the whole universe, so. 0:19:38.800 --> 0:19:44.160 Turn out card is everything like us Luke who Jean Luca. 0:19:44.760 --> 0:19:48.000 Every day I find this person, I've known him for 0:19:48.119 --> 0:19:49.119 thirty plus years. 0:19:49.280 --> 0:19:52.840 Go ahead, even though she's still nineteen. That's good. 0:19:53.000 --> 0:19:55.919 So I this is probably the best example. When I 0:19:55.920 --> 0:19:58.320 became student by the president, part of your job is 0:19:58.359 --> 0:20:01.000 to make sure that they're social at I got two 0:20:01.040 --> 0:20:02.879 of my best friends. I created a position called the 0:20:02.880 --> 0:20:04.920 Social Activity Coordinator so I wouldn't. 0:20:04.600 --> 0:20:05.320 Have to go to parties. 0:20:06.400 --> 0:20:07.520 So you wouldn't have to go. 0:20:07.640 --> 0:20:10.000 Yeah, So they would set up the parties. They would 0:20:10.040 --> 0:20:11.560 I would come at the beginning to say hi, and 0:20:11.600 --> 0:20:13.000 I would come at the end to make sure nobody 0:20:13.040 --> 0:20:15.919 stole anything. Otherwise I was back in my dorms. 0:20:16.000 --> 0:20:16.600 You would not go to. 0:20:16.600 --> 0:20:18.119 Everybody was trying to get to go out, and you 0:20:18.119 --> 0:20:20.000 were like, I have meaningful to do. 0:20:20.080 --> 0:20:23.880 I never went on spring break? What well, why would 0:20:23.920 --> 0:20:25.919 you pay money to go sit in somebody else's hotel. 0:20:26.000 --> 0:20:29.080 I mean, like I was, I had a dorm, I 0:20:29.080 --> 0:20:30.879 could read anywhere. 0:20:32.320 --> 0:20:36.600 Like okay, So you said something, and I think you know. 0:20:36.840 --> 0:20:41.880 I try to pull as much personal inspiration information from 0:20:42.000 --> 0:20:44.480 our guests that come on this show. But I'll ask 0:20:44.600 --> 0:20:48.200 you yes, sir, because I feel like the one small 0:20:48.280 --> 0:20:52.879 task that I'm holding myself back from actually crossing the 0:20:53.000 --> 0:20:56.119 line to where you are, despite the fact that I'm 0:20:56.400 --> 0:21:01.560 hosting my own podcast and do other things. How do 0:21:01.680 --> 0:21:06.840 you get over the fear of speaking, because I've seen 0:21:06.880 --> 0:21:09.119