Swerve that DUI with Sennett Devermont AKA Mr. Checkpoint, Owner & Founder of MR. CHECKPOINT & Santa Ana City Council member Johnathan Ryan Hernandez!

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
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(01:04):
dot Com. On the show today, two very special guests.
I'm gonna give it to the first guy first because
we've known him longer. Send it. Devin Mont's a k A.
Mr Checkpoints check. I mean, he's a legend around these lands. Folks.
You already heard me say Mr check Mr Checkpoint. Yes, yes, yes, yes,

(01:25):
Mr Checkpoints. You know when he was coming into that,
I got a little excited to myself, went wow, Mr
Checkpoints coming in. And not only that, I actually gave
a description of who you are to some people earlier,
and I described you just before I even read this
what we wrote up about you. I want to tell
you what I shared about you that's totally off script
because it had nothing to do with nothing right, because

(01:45):
it was people who didn't know who you worked, right.
And I go, before I read you, guys about the
introduction that I have on these two gentlemen. I go,
this dude, Mr Checkpoint is a real g is what
he is in my book? And they go really and
I go, yeah, I go, and this is how I
describe you do. This is how I remember you from
the first interview and everything I remember you, I go,
this guy is so dope that I will never forget

(02:09):
his name, being Mr Checkpoint and Senate. And he told
me that he's used his privilege because he's a Jewish
old not older, tall gentleman whose films the police and
goes these guys can't do it, but I can. And
I'm gonna show cops who are good and bad, and
I'm gonna expose everybody and I'm helping out. And I
feel like people like me is what this dude's done.

(02:29):
And I feel like there's black and Mexicans in the
group that I was talking about. This dude has helped
out people like us on some g P ship like
no one else. I go. So that's what I love
about this dude. And that's what I said about you,
and all that being said, that's how I feel about you, right,
But that's not the professional way to talk about this man.
Since two thousand eleven, Mr Checkpoint has been helping deterred

(02:52):
drunk driving and encouraging public safety by publicizing dui checkpoints
twenty five states nationwide. Mr Checkpoint has received prey. He's
not only from me right now and countless other millions
of people around the world, and support from many organizations
and agencies including the l A p D, Beverly Hills
p D, Cannabis Talk one oh one, Mothers Against Drunk Drivers,

(03:12):
and several local police departments all over the country. If
you subscribe to the app, Patron p A t R
e O N Rights are just follow His social media
subscribers received both d UI checkpoints and speed trap notifications,
as well as discounts to local sponsors that include shuttle
rides which is dope that you do, you know what

(03:35):
I mean, and just finding other drivers, affordable auto insurance, etcetera.
Mr Checkpoint is creating safer communities throughout education, transparency, and accountability.
He also acts as a consultant reminder to always film
the police. That's what I heard from Mr Checkpoint from
Jump always film the police, and everybody else to me

(03:56):
has jumped off that. And there's been so many other
great things that have come from this. But so what
Mr Checkpoint can do. He can film good officers and
give him recognition, and bad offers can get the same
recognition and they can be accountable. And that to me
is the dopest part of what he's doing. So let's
give him a real quick ground of applause and we
give Mr Checkpoints something there before I mentioned his partner

(04:20):
that he brought in today, but send it. It's really
an honor to have you here, brother, and everything I
said about you was real spit no no, thank you.
And your buddy that you bring in here, dog which
blues met before. I've never had the privilege to meet
Mr Jonathan Hernandez, Santa Ana City council member. Now he
represents the Ward five in Santa Anna. Now Santa Anna,

(04:42):
which is really dope if you think about it, was
the first city to legalized cannabis in Orange County. So
he's in the forefront for us out here in the
good old Orange Crush area. But this is the crazy
part about this gentleman who's a Santa Anna City council member, Folks,
Unfortunately this story takes a turn. His cousin is Brandon Lopez.
If you follow the news, Brandon Lopez was unarmed and

(05:06):
tragically murdered by the Anaheim p D. That's right, the
Anaheim p D. Or. Jonathan Hernandez is Santa Ana City
council member. In the same area, Orange County on September one,
and I can't wait to hear how Jonathan Hernandez you
deal with that from working with the city and realizing
that a police officer that works with your city murders

(05:29):
a cousin of yours like Unfortunately, can't wait to dive
into this to hear about this. But you guys, now,
you and Senate Mr Checkpoint are joining together on September
twenty four at the Blue Lot in Santa Anna and
they are having a concert, you guys, for all ages,
which is a beautiful thing. And this is for impacted
families of police violence, which is exactly what Jonathan Hernandez
has described what you just heard him go through, and

(05:50):
countless other families across the land, little in Orange County
can come out there. And Mr Senate has been promoting
this for years on his site. So if you are
a acted by this, all ages are welcome to come
out there for the families and they're gonna be speakers
such as Fred Hampton Jr. And families of Jacob Blake,
Brianna Taylor, and many more. Unfortunately of those names that

(06:13):
were tragically taken uh from us at such a young
age and such a crazy life. And as I say that,
as I bring you on, Jonathan, it's terrible and I'm
not clap for you, but please give Jonathan, this city
council member a round of applause as the table turns
at the motions. But you definitely deserve a round of
applause for your service and unfortunately what happened there. Can

(06:34):
you describe how you deal with that from a fucking
Cities council member having to work now with cops and
people that murdered your cousin. It's a coworker's a different
city right though, but still coworking. But from the city
in the city, I mean, next story each other, you
know what I mean? Like damn dug, it was well
first and foremost, I want to just thank both of

(06:54):
you guys for this platform which is helping remove stick
muh of cannabis. It's educating the community on on the
benefactors of what cannabis is doing for for people in
cities like Santa and across this country. So thank you
guys for helping promote this medicine that is making people's

(07:15):
lives better, especially people that deal with mental health conditions.
Cannabis is something that is greatly effective in increasing you know,
positive of course, positive moods. It helps with that, but
more importantly, cannabis is helping people that are going through
chronic illness and it helps them find that comfort. So
I just want to say thank you to you guys,

(07:36):
because you guys are kicking down those doors so that
way people can have access to that medicine. Thank you,
thank you. Know what, I don't get the clap for us,
so thank you for us. Let's let's i'll put the
mic down and people, but thank you, thank you. The

(07:57):
words I want to say, thank you, and I want
to think send it to um, because everybody wants to
be a gangster till it's time to do gangster stuff, right, Senate.
I know a lot of I know, I mean, gangster
has a lot of definitions, right. I know those folks
who grew up in the streets. I know those folks
who want to be that. I know those folks who

(08:18):
walk that talk um and are raising their families and
that's gangster too, um. And then there's people that want
to fight for justice and social change, and that's that's
something that people can romanticize about. But The honest reality
is that this work is gritty. UM. It is not
ever about the credit, and it's uh, it doesn't sleep.

(08:42):
And I know how tires tiresome. We can be in
the process and send it for you to rock for
this many years, bro, I just want to pay you. Yeah,
you gotta do it again. I just want to say
thank you, because only you would know the death threats,
the times that you've probably been followed UM by cops. Yeah,

(09:04):
not even by people who get you, mean, by cops
that can really get you. That that really can't have
to set you up, that really And I want to
say thank you because he has been extremely helpful with
my family's case. And and how I navigate that that

(09:25):
that fine, uh you know, delicate area of being an
ethical you know, representative and somebody who really leads on
the principles that I ran on. So before I can
even talk about my journey with my cousin, I got
to talk about what makes my cousin's loss all that
much more UM tragic, and that's that. UM. For many years,

(09:49):
I did a lot of statewide intervention and prevention work
UM focused on the juvenile justice system. UM. I grew
up in the justice system. As a youth, I was
in and out of different um programs, I mean especially
county education programs, and there was a pathway for kids
to go from school to prison. And it starts with expulsions,

(10:13):
expelling kids from school, putting them in continuation schools slowly,
then after there in the juvenile hall system. Next thing,
you know, that system that is supposed to help them
is killing them ten years fifteen years later. And so
the reason I share this with you is because of
my lived experiences, I always knew I wanted to devote
my time toward helping those in the struggle because I

(10:35):
come from that. And when George Floyd died, I flew
out to Minneapolis and UH and I went with a
buddy of mine and we were at George Floyd Square
and I stayed there for a week. And what a
lot of people don't know is that George Floyd Square
was not held down by activists. The activists actually contributed

(10:57):
to a lot of the amazing community the building efforts
that happened at George Floyd Square, But it was the
local community members that would be looked at as gang
members who protected that square. And I went and I
saw who was moving and shaken at George Floyd Square,
Common was there. He performed and I just remember seeing, okay,

(11:18):
who were the guys that had really taken care of
this square at the end of at the end of night,
the neighborhood, and it was the neighborhood, and so I said,
I want to meet with you guys. And I was
the only Mexican standing on a rooftop that all the
gang members stand on top of and I'm talking to
them and and I'm saying, look, these are your guys block.
You know, women in this community, older women should be

(11:40):
able to walk by us and not feel scared. You know,
when are we going to start taking these blocks back
and buying properties on these corners so that way we
can really create that generational wealth, um, so that our
families don't get displaced. And I built those relationships with them,
and I came back to my community very inspired and
uh and you know, my journey was a very interesting

(12:03):
one as to how I got elected. I ran against
a police officer, a sheriff, and the sheriff was not
supportive of George Floyd, and I ran against him. He
was the vice mayor and he represented the neighborhood that
I grew up in, and I just remember looking at
him and thinking, this man has never knocked on my door.

(12:26):
Why is he in office? And why aren't we taking
him out? And I remember looking around and thinking, well,
who was going to do it? And I just said,
you know what, if anybody's gonna walk this block's going
to be us. And I ran for office against him,
and what people thought were I was an underdog. I
won by a landslide because the work. To me, it

(12:46):
was never about the title. It was about what does
this neighborhood need? Because I'm raising my daughter here and
I did then. So when I ran, I won. Um,
I ran for office at nause. I'm already it's clearly
going to happen, right, I got you got the vision.
I appreciate it. I got a lot of work to
do still, um And for me, I got elected. And

(13:09):
in my first five months of being elected, I caught
two we're gonna say, alleged officers off duty fighting in
the community. Right they were drunk at an event I
recognized to alleged officers and I walked up on him

(13:31):
and I was like, this got to you. Gotta break
this up and it people were recording and I didn't know,
and they got posted. And that was my five months
in the office. And people ask me why did you interfere?
And I said, because you think you're fighting someone today,
but tomorrow he has a gun and a badge. You
really want to catch that fade because we never know

(13:55):
what happens is somebody you fight them today and then
tomorrow you live in that neighborhood and you're walking to
go get lunch and this guy that you just fought
last time that point, that boy you fought last night
that was talking heavy, has now got a badge and
a gun. You're gonna call the cops carries it every day,
And who are you gonna call at that point? Him
exactly what I mean? Hey, can you come help me? Yeah?

(14:16):
I sure can, So I'm gonna help you right now.
Turn around. So I took that opportunity, and that was
my first pushback to say, not in my city. Cops
don't act like dougs in my city. And uh. And
that goes for the folks who are banging too. If
I see them acting before, I'm walking up on them too.

(14:38):
Because no one's bigger than the culture and in this city.
We love and protect our people, Um, whether it's from
a cop or a gang banger. And four months later,
September one thing we haven't done is talked about that city.
So we're gonna go to break. When we come back,
I want to know what city that is. Is Cannabis
Talking one or more Back after this break, we'll be

(14:59):
right back with Hannabis Talk one oh one. Welcome back
to Cannabis Talk one oh one. During your typical into
something special, you guys, when it comes infused products, the

(15:19):
flavor you taste should be just as enjoyable as the
feeling you experienced. Visit the website lorano oils dot com.
Jonathan Hernandez, Sir, you are amazing hearing you talk about
what you're doing in Santa Anna as a city councilmember.
You're just going was what city wasn't sorry that was

(15:42):
in the city of san that was sink with happened? Listen,
I'll tell you what How old are you do? I
just sent thirty August nine King Dude, you dog, yeah,
he want me both His belly button just turned thirty. Um,
you know I wish Look, dude, I'm overwhelmed by by one,

(16:04):
your your your tongue right, your language is very well spoken.
You you've definitely took time to educate yourself, right. And
I say that in the sense that you take the
time to speak and say the right words at the
right time. You're not just some geek off the street
that happens to be, you know, pushing around town trying
to go throw flyers out there, happen to get a vote.
Like I truly believe that you care about your community.

(16:27):
One two is to believe that you're actually, um, you know,
lightning yourself up to become the mayor, which you know,
and and and as you you certainly have to write.
And then I think you can actually hold your water,
you know, for a long time because you're so young, dude,
you have so many all the way time, you actually

(16:47):
understand what the community probably freaking needs, you know what.
I say that because there's a lot of times that
you know, and I'm you know, you know, for me,
it's there's a lot of old people in office that
have their old you know, and they're not willing to change,
you know. And I think that one of the things
that I think you're very um uh conscious of yeah,

(17:08):
conscious of is that what's happening now and how it
happened while we were young, and how we're trying to
make sure that our kim folk and our kids and
our families and our our legacy isn't stuck in that
rut by developing at home and we can make it
better now. He knows what to make it better for
these streets and home, you know what I mean. And
and like you said, my kids are being raised here.

(17:29):
And if you're from Orange con l A. You might
know what in Santa Anna, but if you're a local,
you know exactly you know. And I just I'm just
I'm so, like you know, you know, honored to to
have you. Man. I think that you know, you guys
event is going to be amazing. I want to get
into that too, but I do know you want to
finish that story, so I want to give it back
to you. But I just want to take that time

(17:49):
to let you know, man, Prouty bro, you you're you're
a young man that I feel is um on his
way to you know, being the mayor and quite frankly
me with the President of the United States if that's
too one, you know what I mean. And and definitely
get assassinated if I run for president. Well, you know,
you know, maybe the first up there, let's go the
White House. Brown they gave it to Donald Trump, they

(18:13):
can give it to you, exactly. Why not? Hey, So seriously,
let's get back into some where you go with your
cousin because this this story gets crazy because you haven't
touched on your cousin yet. So please go into that
direction of how you find out and how you're working
with the cities. And that's adjacent city to sant Anna
as well. Yeah, so you know, as I'm a couple
of mints into office, that experience happens when you know,

(18:36):
I see these alleged officers off duty, um and public
recorded and it was a viral video. This is when
you were as soon as you hit off. I believe
it in ABC seven if I'm not mistaken. I've seen
this on ABC News as well. That's another exactly, that's
another incident I've seen. I've seen this whole thing. Now
it's all coming together to watch the news daily and
it's all coming to me, and so it starts there

(18:58):
and I'm doing my job, you know, as an elected official.
I mean, did you notify them as hey, I'm an
elected official, like this is who I am. I did
as soon as I saw the alleged officers what the
alleged officers um fighting fighting? Or they there in that
there was a community. It was a communal fight. We'll
call it that, the communal fight cop against cop. I

(19:21):
can't say because I don't know who the other parties were,
but I can just say from what I saw, I
don't care if it was cops or not. I'm going
to stop that fight because I know that it appeared
to be to police. I recognized one of them. And
and so long story short, several months after that, in public, yes,
at an event, at an event, community event, community of

(19:43):
a single mile Jesus, and so several months after UM
and mine still stage. Now it's kind of scary, and
mind you, so I ran against an officer. I see
this incident happen, I interested intercepted, I step in the
way of it, and UM I'm I'm working, you know,

(20:03):
outside of the Council in the field of mental health.
UM and I worked with foster youth and so September
comes and at this time, during my time in office,
um I had already introduced June tenth, making us the
first city in Orange County to have um I introduced

(20:24):
a Chicano Heritage Month, making us the first city in
the United States to ever declare the month of August
Chicano Heritage. And the reason why is we had a
Mexican leader from the Chicano movement, Ruben Salazar, who was
killed by police. He was the first Mexican journalist for
the l A Times. He was killed by police August

(20:45):
nineteen seventy. He lived in the city of Santa Anna
and that was during the largest walkout of students in
California history in the sixties. A lot of people forget
about the Chicano people's contributions to the civil rights movement
because we didn't have the access to education either, nor
did we have access to those restrooms. There's a joke

(21:06):
that was recently made and they said, oh, the restrooms
were segregated, but they had the Mexicans clean it. It
was it was a funny joke from a comedian and
it's real true. And so we had very prominent Chicano
leaders from sant Ana, such as Ruben Salazar, who was
killed by police during his efforts to bring our issues

(21:27):
to the forefront and so August. Um, I find out
that there's a man barricaded in his vehicle, and I
am at the gym at this point, and I find
out it's my family member. And I find out that
ANAHEIMPDS involved, and I rush over to the scene. And
at this time, I immediately go to the precinct um

(21:52):
that is adjacent to his car, and I interact with
three officers. And I walked under the yellow line and
I'm still my workout clothes, and I tell them, you know,
put my hands up, and I say, hey, you know,
my name is Jonathan Hernandez. I'm a policymaker here with
the City of sant Ana. The man in the car
is my cousin. UM, I just need to know what's

(22:12):
going on. They told me to move behind the yellow line.
I moved behind it, respectfully. My neighbors are all watching
at this point. This is walking distance from where I live.
My family has lived in sant Ana since the early sixties.
Um and his house you could throw a stone from
where he got shot and so UM that day, how

(22:34):
old was he? At the three my cousin and at
the time I walk under the line, and you know,
they tell me to get back. I do, and I say, hey, um,
what's going on. The officer has her hand on her
gun and she says, um, you know, get behind the
yellow line again, and I said I am. And I say,
I respond, why are you so aggressive your hands on

(22:54):
your gun? And I said, I'm just trying to make
sure my cousin doesn't get killed, and um, she goes, okay, sir,
well you know there's an active crime scene. And I said, yeah,
police kill people every day, and I need to know
what's going on with my cousin. And she goes, people
kill people every day. And at that point that was

(23:16):
my first acceptance that this issue of police violence is systemic.
Because I'm sure that woman is a very good woman
and a good hearted human being who happens to wear
a gun in a badge for a career, and I'm
sure her intentions are good, but I think her language

(23:36):
showed me that she understood that this was bigger than her.
And for her to say, people kill people every day.
If you're so concerned about your neighbors, tell them to
go inside so they don't get traumatized. And I said,
what are you telling me it's going to happen. And
I told you before. This is hours before he got

(23:56):
spooky and I and I say it to them, this
is I I say to the office, I say, if
you kill my cousin, you'll get away with it. That's
the difference between people killing people every day. And I
pointed at it and said you'll get away with it.
And she goes, you're getting aggressive. And another officer comes
and I said, I'm just trying to know how we

(24:19):
can help so that my cousin doesn't get killed. And
at that point those officers were no help. I go
to a different precinct and this is over several hours.
I go to a different area and let me ask
you this, How does it escalate to this point? Though? Right? So?
And I only have to ask because it's it's one
of those things. It's it's journalism, and we have to
figure out why are they sitting there? How does this happen?

(24:42):
Because we jumped right into the crime scene, right, not
to the crime scene, but I guess to the to
the to the scene. But how is how does like
he's sitting block away from his house, which I mean,
all of us has done, right, But they said there's
a crime scene so are they using that as the excuse?
What and and let me ask you this, you know,
and this may be you know something you know very

(25:02):
difficult to answer. Was your cousin in the right state
of mind? My cousin, like most people during a time
of crisis, needed professional help. And and what that means
is if you have somebody sitting in a vehicle and
this is coming from somebody, I might need professional help.
You got anybody, I've definitely been there, like, okay, this

(25:23):
is We've been stressed. Yeah, stressing man. And it's crazy
because I say that to a lot of my friends
or people that I know. I'm like and they look
at me like you're crazy. I'm like, no, I used
to be a ball hispanic, you know, living in Los
Angeles on Imperial Highway, and I religiously was get out
of my car by gunpoint, like you know, growing up
as a kid, Like religiously, like it'd be like step
out of the vehicle, put your left hand or your

(25:44):
right hand out the window, drop the keys, you know,
with your left hand grab the keys and dropping out
the window. And I'm like, boom. I mean it was
a religious act. This happens to me, like it was
normal to get rolled up on, just like pull over.
You know. I just got reminded the other day a
girl I was with, I remember rolling with you, we
got pulled over. The girls got every girl got questioned
with me because a ballheaded Mexican big group. Yeah, are

(26:05):
you here on your own wheel? Like it happened all
the time, Like it just happened all the saying I'm
having flashbacks right to understand, like you know and now,
But I also want to dig into it because you know,
there was a time where I, you know, I was
I was still young and you know, a little ching
going and like all right, you know what I mean,
like with some of these fools while they hitting on me.
You know, I had that mindset, right, but I still

(26:25):
sound like I did it. I did it, and I
did it really well, you know. But but but I
just I got to a point where I was like,
you know, I was that guy that was stepping out
of the vehicle. But I also knew that that I was,
you know, impossibly that's possibly I'm done that day, you know,
because I did have weapons on me. I did forcefully
get a grass from you know, slam to the ground.
I've been you know, so unfortunately, you know, you you

(26:49):
you have to see and live through something that's much
more worse than my small incident. Right, but my small
incident happens so many times that I thoroughly understand it.
I'm trying to get to the to that little, that
little part where it's like, okay, maybe he was he was,
you know, using drugs and he was like, screw these guys,
I'm gonna get out of the car. Did he reach
for a weapon? Did it feel like he was reaching

(27:10):
and he had no weapon? You know what I mean?
And maybe you probably are and you probably knew this,
and have the cops said, hey, you know, you know,
sign this waiver, walk up there and goes to talk
to your cousin. You probably could have gave him a
hug and fucking you know way with them right there,
and and and maybe we you know, there is a
waiver that we can you know, put into you know,
some kind of an act like that where it's like hey,
family men, the mom's like, you know, I'll go out

(27:31):
there and sign this paper right now on my own
right and get my my son right now and hug him,
and we'll lay down if they have to kill us both.
You have to kill us both. Yeah, you know what
I mean, Like there's there's a way to to try
and you know the scenarios and know. The interesting thing
is for me, professionally, I work in a field where
I am that person you call to those sios. So

(27:54):
I've dealt with um everything from youth to adults dealing
with suicidal idea and um you know you who have
run away from home for weeks on end um to
working with people who have served thirty years sentences and
UH and struggle with socializing. UM. So I have a
professional background and UM and accreditation to be able to

(28:17):
respond to these types of things. Now you add the
layer of that's my cousin. I understand this trauma, I
know where it starts. I understand how to get him
to feel safe. And so what's officer? Can you please
listen to me? But that's what I'm saying, Like I
think there's a you know, there's probably protocol that says
they can't do that, right of course, maybe there is

(28:38):
something that you can we How can they believe you?
How can I believe that this is this cousin walking up,
not another gang member so to speak? And the interesting
The interesting thing is, um, I'm a council member in
my own district, and that's my family member, and I
also have the professional experience. That's my field. So if
they don't stop to take the time, even you're literally handcuffed.

(29:01):
The reason why is that the reason why is that
that system was not designed to even know how to
acknowledge what that looks like. Because the field, the field
that I come from, we are attentive to adverse childhood experiences.
We document, We make sure to learn what did these
individuals go through, because they're not they're diagnosis. And so

(29:24):
as he was refusing to get out of the car,
you have to ask yourself what was happening? Why why
he was driving his girlfriend's car that was not in
his name, that was reported stolen. And at that point,
because of the fact that they think this is a
stolen vehicle, we don't know what's in the car. But

(29:46):
they had a swat truck pressed against his car for
hours in broad daylight. Those trucks have cameras that can
move in different directions, so they were seeing in the
vehicle for hours. This man cried, as this man looked around,
as this man prayed, in his vehicle, as this man
smoked a cigarette in his vehicle, as this man played

(30:09):
music until his phone died. And then the solution was
at ten or three pm, have seventy cops on the street,
have every cop dog out on leash, is ready to go,
break the windows, throw a tear gas grenade in the vehicle,
Throw a tear gas grenade in the vehicle. And mind you,

(30:30):
he's sleeping in the back seat. It's been almost four
hours at this point. He's in the back seat sleeping
and his head is pressed against the window, and they
break the window, throw the tear gas in, and they
throw a concussion grenade on top of the hood of
the car. So imagine you're sleeping and you wake up
to tear gas and a concussion grenade. But that means

(30:50):
is you can't see, you can't hear, and you and
you're also concussed. You're rocked. It's like you just and
so he gets out of the car within seconds of
them breaking the window. He got out of himself, like
he got out of himself within less than two seconds.

(31:12):
The officers yelled gun and four officers shot him twenty
two times. One of the officers Caitlin Panov has no
Caitlyn Panof is a different officer. This is her third
fatal police shooting. Unless this is I believe that was

(31:33):
a different officer. But before he could even find his
footing from getting out of the car, the term gun
was yelled. Now what's scary is that hours before I
was sent an email by my own department saying that

(31:54):
the suspect and vehicle has a gun. My question is
what did what did that gun look like? What type
of gun was it? Who said he had a gun?
You and you asked that question. That's the question I'm
going to be asking and guess what what happened to
that gun? And where did the information come from? Who
alleged that he had a gun? Because I promised you this.

(32:16):
If I wasn't a council member, they probably would have
found a gun. You feel me because you were there, though,
did you stay and watch and make sure they knew
at that point dealing with this council member, I was
not going to protect a killer cop. I was not
going to protect a criminal. I was not going to
protect somebody who abuses that badge, a badge that is

(32:38):
supposed to be designed to serve and protect, turned my
neighborhood into a war zone, shot my loved one twenty
two times and then knuckle bumped each other and left
literally literally, and my family we watched, we watched our
family member go through this, and um, seven days later,

(33:00):
so sorry for your lost man, thank you, And seven
days later, I'm dearly. I really it's um, it's fucked up,
you know what I mean, And I'm so sorry that
you had to one witness that I mean, um two
is uh, it's it's like I said, it's very difficult
that I'm sorry, dude, you know, I mean, I'm truly

(33:20):
amp dude. It's horrible. It's it's it's so sad that
this happens every day to our our youth. And again,
like I said, it brings me flashbacks of being you know, young,
because again I was that guy you know what I mean,
that that didn't know how to communicate with cops and
was just the neighborhood I grew up in, we you know,
and they didn't know how to communicate with us, to
be honest with you, and being told gun all the time.

(33:47):
And then when you look at these other names of
these people that are speaking at your event. It's the
same fucking thing. Who sees a gun, who says gun?
How is that just okay? How could a cop get
away with it three times? How can we have that
many shots and that many holes into your cousin dog?
Forty some that's okay? What about they knew that man

(34:09):
had a gun in there and waited forty minutes before
they were about that action. But we get killed for
lesser the white man. There's coming out there, dude, there's
carrying the shotgun. They're all white thought. Look at the
people who marched the state capital with intent to kill.
But you look like Jonathan and they killed a police officer,
they killed a police look just like me. And that's

(34:33):
why I love said it, because he knows, you know.
I mean, those protesters should be charged with felony murder
role because someone died. They were doing a felony by
breaking into the capital. And it actually there's people spending
time in prison for nearly life for for something like
felony murder role and it wasn't even an instance like
that ready for that's also terrorist threats. Look what they're doing,

(34:55):
you could call it terrorist. That's coming with a mob
like that at a place like that on federal ground,
come out there with weapons like that, that's becoming federal
you know, with intent to kill. Yeah, so you know,
and so let's you know, it's it's this is one
of those stories that we can, you know, go into
deep detail for for years and days, and I would

(35:15):
love to continue adding light to it and sure ensure
as how I want to figure out, you know, and
and when once because I'm sure it's still going through
court and everything else. Not even a year. No, I know,
this is this is so recent. Like I said, it
bothers my stomach so bad because the way that you're
you know, explaining it, it's like any you know, I
would have to look at myself. I'm not a police officer,

(35:38):
nor you know, have I been in their shoes? Right,
So I could be the guy they could sit here
and go, well, I've been in their shoes, but from
the other side of their shoes, right. But I mean,
you know, so I get the point of like, hey,
protect yourself, right, you know, you're going into something you
gotta protect yourself, you know, But at what point, like
don't don't we just say hey, look, let's just plumbs,
just do with twenty two shots with the non lethal

(35:59):
weapon and watch as as hit the floor and see
if we can keep them alive. I'm saying, like many
answers to question to this, you know what I mean?
Like I said, like, you know, you're walking up and saying, sir,
you know Kate's cool, do you care the same last name?
And you know you know you're a family member. Okay,
let's see if we can speak to somebody to diffuse
this or you know what, my my officer that's in

(36:21):
charge of that is right over there, Go speak to
him and diffuse you from you know, maybe you're talking
to the wrong officers. She's like, I can't focus right now,
I've got a gun on somebody, Please go to this
guy over here. And having somebody stays there for these
kind of events so that when someone from the family
does come up, he says, hey, I'm here. We've got
officers so and so on the side that's they're saying, hey, look,

(36:42):
I'm in the the head officer that's dealing with family
members and people that are you know, city officials or
anybody else coming forward to stop these things. How do
we get to these you see what I'm saying like
something that's simple, right, Like I think of ship like
that's an easy solution. You know, I have an interesting
sponse I want to share and I know Senate knows

(37:02):
a lot about this topic. To um. You know, when
we're talking about using the lethal rounds versus non lethal rounds,
what is um, something the public is not aware of
that they need to know is that, you know, they
shot him twenty two times. Then after his body light
on the ground, they shot him with one non lethal

(37:24):
round to make sure he was dead. That's just to
check him. That's just to check in case he's alive
and has a weapon. Shoot him once with not with
one non lethal And you know what what makes this situation?
What makes the situation? Are they all still free right now?
I'm sorry they are, but I think their days are counting. Um,

(37:46):
we're pursuing justice, you know, we're not interested in the settle.
What does justice look like? I mean, how does it
I'm trying to sit here exactly, That's what I'm sitting
here going. What is justice even? And don't say, don't
know settlement you gotta give up? Yeah, of course I's
got to be everybody. But but but again, the bigger
picture isn't the award of the right. But you know,

(38:11):
I think justice is something that is actively being defined. UM.
Senate and I are working on our community justice first,
and UM, he and I are working together on a
very powerful action. And I think that for families impacted
by police violence, the first step of justice is building

(38:33):
a community. And Senate can tell you all about that. UM.
And Senate, if you could tell tell us a little
bit about the network that you've been building over the
last couple of years, UM, because I think justice starts
with people like Senate. You need those community based UM

(38:53):
partners who are willing to unconditionally work for these families
and help them throughout the time that I mean, history
does not have a response on how do you help
these people? Well, instead of speaking for the people that
don't often get to speak, do you know what I mean?
Represents using his own platform and again his own you know,

(39:14):
his own life to to make sure that his life's work.
You know when I hear this man is to help others,
especially of color, you know what I mean? And that
goes for mark and community in communities around the country,
not just in his own around the country. I've seen
this man in different states, you know, different cities. I've
seen him marching down the freaking street people. I've seen

(39:36):
him out there, you know, you know, literally in the
middle of you know, of of what they would call, uh,
you know, a a riot when it's really a protest.
And I'm like, look, there's freaking sentate right there, Mr. Checkpoint,
and I know his character, and they're calling it a

(39:58):
riot or something, and I'm like, dude, they're not right,
and there's no way this dude's on a skateboard chilling
like you know, I know, you get it twisted if
you if you shoot something, madam, he might feel like, whoa,
what's going on? But welcome back, you know, thank you
for your service, dude. No, of course, I think cops
typically I mean in instances where they kill people, then

(40:21):
they make the families or they try to make the
person they kill look like a criminal, right, or they
it's the realities that cops kill more than three people
a day on average in our country. That's significantly more
than any other country that exists. We have a serious problem,
and there's no roadmap. When the cops kill your loved one,

(40:42):
it's not a situation where it's a random person and
then you can maybe move from that area. You don't
have a choice when the cops get behind you. You
don't have a choice when you have perceived unsafety, and
then we're taught for decades that the cops are gonna
be there to keep us safer. That's all destroyed, and
I think for families of from oldrin to grandmothers and
everything in between, you're forever affected. And we've had decades

(41:05):
of seeing police and shows like Cops right where they're
constantly chasing around brown and black people in random, low
income cities, and then you're never finally such a big show,
people love it. I'm gonna run the longest lasting reality
show that's ever existed, and I think it showed it
did a really bad depiction of what police are and

(41:26):
what people are in communities. All of those people are
innocent and guilty. Every person who's arrested or having interactions
with police, they're innocent until proven guilty, nless they had
a warrant unless uh they were wanted. And I think
that we like really forget that, and so he just
started to that's that's like kind of why I respect

(41:47):
even John when he's saying like you know these alleged officers,
you know, I mean, like, you know, he's not saying, hey,
they were guilty of this. He The way he's saying
is we're yet to see you know, whereas a lot
of times I think, you know, when officer has come
to um, to the door or to your vehicle, you're
guilty in their mind until proven innocent. And and that's

(42:07):
how I feel our whole judicial system is because they're
taking me to jail and you know, because I'm guilty
of whatever they charge me with. But yet they don't
have those facts all the times, and more often than
not with minorities. Correct. And and the reason Jonathan is
so brilliant with the way he words things is because
we're people and we get held accountable. The lack of
accountability is why you can have an officer kill three

(42:30):
people and and and still be employed. Correct. So there's
a problem with no accountability. And absolutely there's a problem.
And I think if people didn't like the idea of
defunding the police or anything like that, what we certainly
need to realize that cops today, in this manner, many
of them are cowards and it's not brave to go
around killing people. They can't be acting as judge, jury

(42:52):
and executioner for people who for what reason, you know?
And we see a time and time more and more. Right,
the more people that are filming, the more footage we see.
And that's that's a sad reality. And I want to
be because as people hear you send it, Mr. Checkpoint
and here you council member, nobody up here is saying
we hate cops, all cops are bad. Keep an eye

(43:14):
on all cops because there's a lot of great cops
out there, and like you feel me the police and
I've seen you praise cops consistently, which I love when
you do. But as we're on this cop bash right now,
I don't want people to hear this and get it twisted. Folks.
This is not what it is and we're not bashing
police officers, these officers in Santa and this is what
they did. What excuse me, what do you guys doing

(43:35):
to go after those ones that pulled the trigger and
those that watched, because in my opinion, just like we
counted all those people that walk the store are just
as if you did the capitol and watch watch that
those who watched that you had a gun out to well,
hold that thought real quick. Let's go to break. When
we come back, it's Cannabis Talk one on one. We'll

(43:56):
get that answer. We'll be right back with Cannabis Hawk
one oh one. Welcome back to Cannabis Talk one oh one.
You guys, if you're looking for a trusted cannabis seed

(44:17):
at a fair price, you want to head to Rocket
seeds dot com on Instagram, Rocket Underscore Seeds. So great
to have you here. City council Member Jonathan uh Jonathan Hernandez,
and of course Mr Checkpoint. We just went and said,
what's going on with these guys? I mean to hear
and think that these people that pulled the trigger twentysome shots,
forty shots, It's just it just fucking turns my gut

(44:39):
so bad. You what is your guys process sen it?
How are you guys gonna do? Pick? Like, what's what
can we get to help? How do we tell our
listeners this is what we're doing about this? You know
what I mean? Like, what are we doing? How do
we tell people to help and support? So the way
that we're approaching this is the fight looks very different

(45:00):
for us because my cousin was killed in Santa Anna
by an agency outside of our own city, Anaheim. It's
very rare, very rare, very very strange. We were one
of the first cases in California history UM to have
Assembly Bill fIF six applied to us UM, and that
Assembly Bill UM takes police investigations away from them and

(45:25):
has them independently investigated by the state Attorney General, who
oversees all of the district attorneys throughout the state of California.
That's the individual who is going to be investigating my
cousin's murder. Um Within his first year of being an
attorney general, he's already prosecuted an officer and UM. Our

(45:48):
approach is very different because we could take it to
the streets. We could have, but why would we sit
in front of Anaheim's police department after seeing what they
did to my family member? Why would I want to
put people in that position? And you know what our
protest is at the diets now, it's it's behind the
seats because all that information that we didn't have access

(46:11):
to as members of the public elected officials like me
exists now and that means that information belongs to the people.
My job is to make sure that I am creating
policies that are going to protect our residents. And so
one of the first things that I did, and this
is what what kind of It was very heartbreaking, and
I had this on my agenda prior to my cousin

(46:32):
getting killed, was we diverted um mental health calls in
Santa Anna from police to mental health specialists. This was
seven days after my cousin was killed that we voted
yes on that. I had that on my agenda prior
to my own cousin getting killed, and um, we were
one of the first cities in Orange County to do that.
And so our approach to justice was we need to

(46:56):
bring people together, and we need to humanize these people
whose lives were stolen, and we need to educate the
public that when your loved one dies, you have forty
five days to put out your truth, because the police
in forty five days will put out a video describing
in detailing how they killed your family member, and they

(47:19):
will criminalize him down to the core and whether it
had nothing to do with who they killed, if he
did something at sixteen years old, they will talk about it.
And my family put out a video first. Thanks to
send it, Send It, put a video video out that
helped us tell my cousin's story that detailed his video

(47:42):
was the first video to say the names of the
police officers that killed him, Brett Hitman, Caitlin Panav Officer Weber,
and Paul Delgado. And he put out the video showing
the murder of my cousin, showing the different an angle
where after he was killed, you can hear my family's screams.

(48:06):
He was the person who who put the video out
and educated the public the names of the officers. And
in that video, it also detailed the other instances of
violence and murder that they've committed. So when you look
at how much money, can I ask one think to
real quick, do any of them also have other murders

(48:29):
under their belt in the same department? Well but derogatory,
you know what I mean, Like like imagine this, but
but hold on, but let me just learn this real
quick that that don't have weapons also in that story
because now now we're getting into like you know, you know,

(48:49):
and I almost you know, I almost thank you, Jo,
I almost got to get into it, like because if
that even if now we're showing record of you know
what I mean, or you know, in the answers us,
oh my god, and this is this is and here's
the scary part. Had we addressed that first fatal shooting

(49:10):
by saying, you know what, we gotta get you and
that victims family mental health support. We need you to
not be able to work here, but we will get
you all the help that you need. And the reason
I bring this up is because the city of Anaheim,
how they dealt with this officer is they pay out

(49:32):
settlements and the next thing you know, you have to
fatal killings. Now my cousins, your third At what point
do we say, well, you're paying them. They're they're paying
the officers there. That officer still works, all of them
and they all get settlements, they get money. They Anaheim
has to pay out family. What point do we say, wait,

(49:56):
that's it. That's serial killer. Correct, you've killed many people.
This is a major problem because imagine specifically with these
officers like like like again, accidental death should never come
from a professional that's you know, in an officer. Right,
this is not this is not we're not playing you know, um,

(50:18):
that's what that's what you know. Idiots on the street
to right cannabis. This shouldn't be a Let me give
you a cannabis reference. If we're cannabis owners and uh
an employee, you know, happens to damage dollars of goods? Yeah,
they just lost. Do you keep them? No? You just

(50:38):
take the Now let's say we do it. Now, let's
say that same employee does it three times. It's my fault,
exactly what we just so, So here's the thing, as
we we just lost you know, a hundred and whatever
fifty dollars with this you know stuff you know, at
at an event. We got dah blah blah. There was
mistakes made, right, there's some equipment lost. There was all
kinds of mistakes made, you know, and we owned up

(51:01):
to it. We had the conversation about it, we went
through you know whatever. I'll be damn it actually happens
two more times, you know what I mean? Like this,
This is not a this is not a game. You know,
we can't afford it to you know, and and and
again you know, um, but but unfortunately, we're talking about
life in your in your in your you know real

(51:24):
today dream and vision and world of what you're living through.
You're dealing with and we're all dealing with it right
at this moment and and again when I see that,
That's why I asked that powerful question. I think it
was a powerful question. Was you know, is there this
officer have is this a multiple times they've had this
and and the answer, you know, if you're you're saying
yes is is pretty like almost. It should be an automatic.

(51:46):
It should be automatic like hey, like you are completely
you know, done with this lifestyle. You should definitely not
be on the force. You should definitely not be If
there's two times where you know, you catch somebody, you
kill somebody with and they don't have weapons. You made
a mistake with someone's death twice and their names were
David Abrams in two thousand and eight, two thousand and fourteen,

(52:10):
Steen Parker, and in two thousand and twenty one Brandon Lopez.
This is just one of the four officers, Caitlin Panov.
You can find her record at l e O Ratings
dot com. Google c A T A l I N
p A n l V Panav. You can actually have
access to this website. Type in an officer's name and
you'll see their record. Holy Ship, we need to educate

(52:33):
the public as to who works for us. I worked
for my community and that's why I ran on truth. Well,
that's why why I asked you these hard questions because
to me, you know, it doesn't matter to me, you know,
I mean what matters to me is that you've lost
a loved one, right, and and that one happened. But
but but it doesn't in the eyes of a lot

(52:53):
of people, They're going, well, did did they all have guns?
And did they you know, so their mind start asking
all those questions. I'm like, you're killed somebody, period one. Done.
You know, this man didn't have a weapon. You dropped
the tear gas on him, you dropped to this on them,
you dropped to that, you know. But then now you're
talking about now we have a multiple case right within
the same city, right or the you know, the same person.

(53:16):
I mean, it's it's it's a damn there. I mean,
it's there has to be a protocol that puts things
in place to stop that. And you know who is
putting things in place to stop that? Do? People like Senate? Yeah? Yeah,
I agree, I totally agree. I think Senence movement has
changed the face of of the world right now because

(53:37):
what's happening is is that it started a whole trend
of people going around filming the police. Always filmed the police,
right and and and then you know, now you have
people not afraid to film police. You know, you have
people that are you know, speaking up about their rights.
They're starting to share other people's actions that need to
be addressed. Like some people are just crazy out there

(53:57):
and they do stupid stuff, and it's like, oh, like
at you you know what I mean, And it's it's
more than police. But but I think it starts with
the law enforcement. Right, how do we get the guys
that are, you know, enforcing the law to enforce the
law on themselves first of all, And and then you know,
I always go back to this and send it if
I and if I. Senate and I have been on

(54:19):
the show together and we've talked about, like, you know,
one of the things that we we need to work
on is how we we label police officers. Like they
call themselves sergeants lieutenants, which is our all military terms.
You know, they should maybe just be called managers and
and and you know, um, you know officers, but you know,
but but there there may be a different way to

(54:40):
label them so that they don't feel so militant. Also
the training I think, you know, for for you know,
police officers is very old. You know, the actual training
of what they're you know, they're they're going off of.
They haven't updated their their real training models, and maybe
they're starting to now. I'm sure they are because of
everything that's happened. Um. And then I really think that

(55:01):
they should all be accountable. And I know that there's
laws set in place to make sure that if if
you know, there's there's actions that we're taking that sometimes
they're not charged for it, right, And I've heard those
things too. I don't know enough about him. You guys
probably are much more well around it. Um, But I
just think that, you know, how do we get into
a position you know where how how old was your cousin?

(55:24):
Thirty three years old? I mean thirty three year old?
You know kid? You know, let's be honest. At thirty
three years old, you're not you're not a you're not
a grown mass man. You're you're about to be a man.
Um and and a lot of us don't you know
understand how to get in that position. But how do
we help? Um? You know, stop this. I guess you
guys are doing it, So send it, you know, tell

(55:44):
us what you're doing to to to to do things
like that, because I know you're actually helping that well.
I think, you know, running for office, like jon Jonathan
Hernandez is huge, right, like taking the role fitting filling
the positions that makes such a difference. Do you plan
on running for office? No, no, not at the moment,
but we will continue to encourage people to you know,

(56:05):
always film the police, right, That's one way of transparency.
I think another way is, you know, representation. A lot
of people get you know, these random charges for something
they don't have a lawyer, they let it go to
a warrant, and with just simple representation, they would actually,
uh you know, get these cases dismissed. Right. A lot
of cops are just writing tickets for things they shouldn't

(56:25):
I know, I've been spent the night in jail for
something I shouldn't have done. Right, So this is just
a reality that many of us are facing. And without representation,
we're actually then get given a record because you're taking
a plea deal or something like that. And and I
think something that we're really talking about is, uh, you
know again this concert on October. In September, I'm sorry, September.

(56:49):
We're we're raising awareness to end qualified immunity. That's why
these cops can keep doing wrong, keep killing people, and
keep staying on the force to do it again. But
but the other thing I want to really touch on
his jury duty. You know, at some point, as this
case progressed, as it would be amazing to see this
officer have to take the stand and have to be
charged for the murder that they've committed. Right, And I

(57:12):
think if we all I think of an idea of
jury duty, and in my opinion, it's been how to
get out of it, it's a pain in the ass,
how to avoid it, you know, etcetera. But really it's
the most impactful thing we can do in our communities
to serve one another. It's why people are in jail.
First things they shouldn't be in jail for in our community.
And that's why I when an officer gets charged, I'm sorry.

(57:34):
When when an officer goes to court, we can be
on the dream be like, actually, no, they should go
to jail. We can be mindful, we can be conscious aware,
and unfortunately, juries across our nation aren't representing the communities
of the people that are facing court inside, and so
I want to just have that convo and rethink the
way we we talked about jury duty as well. That's huge, yeah,

(57:56):
you know, and listen, guys, I am um again, you
know your cousin's name Brandon Lopez. I like giving people names,
especially you know. I'm sorry I forgot it, but Brandon Lopez,
you know, maybe rest in peace and your family, uh,
find peace you know, through through this this time, you know.
And and I pray that you find the justice that

(58:17):
is deserved, you know. And I, like I said, it's
hard to say what is justice, right, you know, financial
settlements ain't gonna do anything. Um, you know, the the
you know, they're they're they're uh, they're great to have,
I'm sure, but at the same time, it's almost sad
to have, right. It's like, here's some money for the
loss of your son. You know, I don't know that
that that does anything special, um for for the for

(58:39):
the parents, or or you for that matter. And um,
so I understand, and and I think, you know, I
don't know if you pray, but you know you gotta
pray for these people. Absolutely. I say. This work we
do in the community is its church for the unchurched,
you know. UM, it's education for those that don't get
us hit in the classroom. That's why we do it

(58:59):
on the streets. UM. And so for me, with the
work that one I'm doing with Senate, we're honoring those
roots and we're now using these you know, my my tragedy.
I'm speaking for myself. UM. I I used this opportunity
to shed light and humanize these people who have been killed. UM.

(59:20):
Because this event that we have coming up on septemb
I wish I would didn't have to host it, or
be part of it, or even have to attend it, um,
because the actuality is I just want to I don't
want to be seen. You want to tuck your head
under a pillow and you want to forget about it,
and you want to sleep it off. And no matter

(59:41):
how many hours you sleep, you can't get enough sleep.
And uh. And that's just grief. Grief is just all
the unexpressed love. UM. And you know, like Kendrick Lamar says,
we grieve different. So this event on September we are
hosting in Santa Anna, Always Filmed The Police, Always for
the People Foundation is hosting this event and they are

(01:00:04):
bringing together one of the largest groups of police impacted
families that we've had in Santa Ana, and to honor
those roots, it was only right that we pay respects
to the Black liberation movement because Santa Anna is a
community that is as black as it is brown. And
the reason I share that is because the very community
where my cousin was killed was where we were raised.

(01:00:26):
But that's also where our Santana Black Panther Chapter existed.
And opening us in prayer is the founder of that
Black Panther Chapter who was wrongfully imprisoned for the murder
of an officer in the city of Santa Anna. Uh.
May he rest in peace. His name was Nelson sasser

(01:00:47):
Um and a gentleman named Daniel Michael Lyonum who was
the president of the Santa Anna Black Panther Chapter. UH.
He was appointed by Geronimo Pratt himself who was one
of the leaders of the Panther Party and Um. This
officer was was shot and killed June seven nine. May
he rest in peace. And the chief at the time

(01:01:11):
um through a book that is called Badge of Color,
which is a book written by Harlan Lambert, the first
black police officer in Orange County, was hired in Santa Anna.
He was tasked to work with his partner in arresting
Daniel Michael Linum, an innocent man, and that this innocent

(01:01:31):
man was child within forty eight hours and found guilty
of murder and became a political prisoner thirty one days after.
He eventually was released and exonerated of all charges. He
his life was ruined though he could never escape being
called a cop killer even though he was innocent, and
he became a pastor. Eventually he will be opening our

(01:01:52):
event in prayer. And Fred Hampton, who was the chairman
of the Black Panther Party, who was regarded in the
same light and respect as Dr Martin Luther King, Rosa
Parks and Malcolm X. The reason we don't learn about
him in the school bucks is because of what his

(01:02:14):
foundation of his liberation work was and his true solution
and liberation was you gotta bring you gotta build a
rainbow coalition. He went out to the white community in
the sixties when people were getting brutalized by the cops.
KKK members, he went out and talked to them. He
went out to the Puerto Rican community when they were

(01:02:35):
getting killed by the police, and he went to their
territory and he met with them. He went to the
territory that were occupied by black gangs and he met
with them, and they said, nobody's bigger than that one.
And he built the Rainbow Coalition. He eventually was assassinated
and it was one of the longest trials in American history.

(01:02:58):
His family fought again east our country to prove that
he was assassinated and they won, and they made a
movie about him last year called Judas in the Black Messiah.
And his son, Fred Hampton Jr. Will be present at
this event. And I ac credit Fred Hampton for a
lot of my beliefs, a lot of my fight, and

(01:03:21):
a lot of my tenacity I learned from those great
black leaders. Uh. He'll be part of this event. And
we have artists, very big artists who are performing and
send it if you could tell us a little bit
more about this event and how it came together. Uh,
this is the man who put put everything together. And
I think if there's anyone who could speak on on

(01:03:41):
what's happening, it is going to be him. Yeah, we
have I mean, it's a it's gonna be a meaningful,
purposeful day night it's free, it's for all ages. It
starts at noon, right, it goes to eleven pm. And uh, again,
the overall theme is to raise awareness. We want to

(01:04:01):
end qualified immunity, and we want to create a safe
space for all of those impacted families nationwide. Uh. Some
of the uh speakers, I know we're having the father
of Jacob Blake, which is Jacob Blake Sr. Bianca Austin
is the aunt of Brianna Taylor. Uh Leilah steinberg Um,

(01:04:22):
who was tupac's first mentor and manager. Her son was
tragically killed by Oakland police. She will be there with
her amazing nonprofit Mike Sessions, and I know Cannabis Talk
one oh one is supporting and going to be there
and helping out. So we uh, we're really excited. And
it's it's an unfortunate uh, the reason to have to

(01:04:44):
come together, but nonetheless it's it's needed, right, it's mandatory,
and I think it's the first of many. Yes, And
where is this located again, Blue Lot in Santana, And
I know Senate has a lot of amazing artists on
part of this event. Um. The speakers, like you mentioned,
there's a lot of important people throughout American history that

(01:05:07):
are going to be together in the same room for
the first time. And UM, the family of you know,
David Sullivan was killed by Buona Park pet family of
Leonel Chavez who was killed by Elie Sheriff's Hey. His
family member, Leonel Chavez died the same day my cousin
died hours apart. Three people died the day that my

(01:05:29):
cousin was killed within a thirty mile radius of each other.
Within twelve hours. Three people were killed by a sheriff
by local and two local police departments. And UM, the
Leonel Chavis family will be there, UM family of Firm
and Vincent Vealezuela will be there, the family of UM,

(01:05:51):
the family of the Valentina Oriana Parraulta. She was the
fourteen year old girl that was killed in the Burlington
Cote factory by l A. P d the day before Christmas.
Even my own sorry, and I get teared up, dude,
and it just it ruins me, man, because you know,

(01:06:11):
it's just like you start to identify, right like I
like I follow Senate and I see a lot of it.
I see a lot of the different um, you know, activists,
or I don't know the word for you guys other
than you know, the the yeah yeah dude on the
streets doing it right, you know. And it's just like
you know, I, I and I and I'm always like damn,

(01:06:31):
you know, and it always hits me, you know, and
and and now and right now I'm sitting here just
because it bothers me a lot, because again, like I said,
I can only understand it from the glimpse of myself
being a child, saying like, you know, sixteen years old.
You know, the first time I ever I've ever had
a gun point I mean, it was my police officers,
you know what I mean. So, you know, so I

(01:06:52):
know it. You know, I'm like, oh ship, you know,
I'm backing up. You know, I've got guns on me
and I'm getting out of the car looking at them.
They've all got guns on me, you know. And I'm sixteen,
you know what what I mean, I'm going, you know whatever,
and did I have a gun and have a fucking
gun in my car? Um? But you know, so it
really touches me, man, what you guys are doing. And
I freaking love it. Um. I can only share with

(01:07:12):
you guys that you know, you guys are doing the
right thing. You're on the right path. Um. There's fortune
for for those that that sacrifice you know, their time
to reveal um things in time that weren't meant to
be placed there. You know, this is this is something
that that can be um you know, recognized through prayer

(01:07:32):
or through beliefs in life. And I'm just you know,
honored to be here with you guys. And I love
what you guys are doing for the communities of the world.
Like I said, I know that it just it doesn't
just happen in Santa Anna or Annaheim, or or or
Beverly Hills or whatever cities that you guys are because
I've seen you guys, like you said, you went across
the state to sit you know on um uh George

(01:07:56):
Floyd's family on on on the block you know where
it all happened. This is before my family member was killed, correct, right,
this is and that's what I'm saying. It's something from within.
And again there's something about exposing you know, what's facts.
And I appreciate you guys so much for for all
these actions that you take and for spending your life's

(01:08:17):
work on something like this because this is not um
just to you know, uh, you know, it's not like
your average job. How about that. You know, there there's
a lot more purpose to it. And so many of
those families that were affected. Man, I look at at what,
you know, the names that you guys rolled off. I'm
sitting here going to Jesus, I've seen all of those
and until I hear them, and when I hear them all,
I can almost feel their spirits, you know, just going fuck,

(01:08:40):
thank you for for bringing my my name up into
light for something that I don't think they all knew
what they were getting into. A few well, yeah, and
to the credit of what Always for the People Foundation
is doing. You know, in Santana, we don't have a
response for this yet. We don't have the organizations or

(01:09:02):
the structure to be able to even respond to police violence.
And so to have Always for the People Foundation come
to Santa Anna and bring Fred Hampton, bring all these
families together, and you know what, it really speaks volumes
of how your work is in inserting hope into communities

(01:09:26):
that are very much lacking it. And I'll tell you
I met him at the lowest point of my entire life.
And I'm somebody who's been through a lot, and I
met him at the lowest point in my life, and
every month of working alongside of my life has slowly
started to feel more hopeful. And the event that he's

(01:09:46):
putting on has artists that are performing that we're taken
straight from Brandon's playlist on Spotify. And uh, let me
tell you so, Always for Them for the People Foundation
put a special event together and the performances that they
were able to book will announce here today area. Cool

(01:10:08):
with that. So with Santen's permission, you can if I
share the names that you got, would love for you
to do that, all right, Cool? So we have uh
and this is big thank you to Always for the
People Foundation. So I gotta before I can can even
say the names, we gotta give them around applause. So
let's let's love yeah hashtag. So what Always for the

(01:10:33):
People Foundation are bringing to the Santana community is an
event that is all ages um that is going to
have free food, free free music, free concert performance, and
more importantly, it's going to be educational. UM. People are
not going to leave here feeling depressed or sad about

(01:10:53):
seeing this tragedy. People are gonna leave here empowered. Educated, informed,
and stronger because they're going to know who their neighbors
are and they're gonna know that the trauma that's happening
in these communities isn't defining who we are. We're taking
this trauma and we're rewriting these stories for these family

(01:11:15):
members and helping us with that is always for the people.
Foundation has a concert and it will be headlined by Dubs. Um.
It will be co headlined by Planet Asia, UM PJ
Vega with Redbone come and get your performing. Yes, we

(01:11:35):
also have a lighter shade of brown rocking and then
the Funk Freaks were very close to Brandon. Brandon actually
did a lot of the logos for Funk Freaks. Back
in the day. He was a tattoo artist, which is
why he's covered in tattoos. Um. You know, police thought
he was a gangmanga, but he was a tattoo artists.
He loved art art and so Funk Freaks will be performing. Um.

(01:11:56):
They will have an hour set. They will be performing
with Diamond Ortiz and they have very very special guests
that I can't I don't even want to say who.
You have to be there to see it, um, but
they're huge funk artists. Um, we also have the Philharmonic,
We have Doe Boy, Tony, Jamal Jones, Sam Nathaniel Brown, Mosaic,

(01:12:16):
D Mar with Message, and then we have DJ sets
by DJ Pepsi, Ricky Baby and the one and only
DJ Lala and DJ Unique and DJ Deebo from the
world famous Funk Freaks Crew. Wow, you guys got a
full festival going. Let's go. Man, that sounds hot. That's amazing.
You put that lot up together. A little help from
your friends always for the people. Yeah, you don't see

(01:12:39):
that a lot, no man, you know, and I know
you know, first of all, I mean you guys have
got a lineup just with the artist is great. That's
a lot of fun. I mean, but you know, the
families are the true celebrities here, you know what I mean.
And like you said, I love how you you explained
it too, because it made me feel a little better too.
It's like, hey, it's gonna be educational. This is gonna

(01:13:00):
be the celebration of life, you know, for for those
that we've lost right in in our communities and and um,
you know, I really am just excited to one follow
your your your your cousin's uh you know, uh case
you know as something that I want to bring you
guys back on and help follow you guys with anything

(01:13:20):
that you guys are doing here at Cannabis Talk on one.
We we want to support you guys in any way,
UM that we can, because the facts is that we're
an outlet, you know, and we're just like you guys
were putting message out and I thoroughly believe in your
guys message, you know, and I think it's it just
needs to be highlighted everywhere. So UM, I look forward
to to getting involved more with you guys on all

(01:13:42):
these projects that you guys are doing as well. So
thank you so much for having us. Really, it's been
monumental at that Cannabis Talk one on one involved in
that day, being able to be here talk to you
and and it's it's super appreciated. Is there anything else
that we forgot before we let you guys get on
out of here. So Santa Anna was the first city
to legalize cannabis, and Orange Council and other cities are

(01:14:07):
now catching on City of Coasta mesa Um and City
of Huntington Beach. But the ogs in the game is
Santa Anna and so Santa Anna, we have legislation coming
back to us on September, and this legislation will be
related to the cannabis ordinance that we have UM. I

(01:14:30):
can't speak from my colleagues in the Council, but I
can speak as to what I am looking to advocate
for UM, and I think that removing the stigma of
cannaba is cannabis is extremely important. There are people serving
life sentences right now who are black and brown for
half an ounce, while there are people benefiting millions of

(01:14:53):
dollars that people of color would never have access to
even apply. Most people don't even nderstand that to be
in ownership of cannabis you have to pass a background check.
You want to hire employees, they have to pass a
background check. So how are people of color going to
have a seat at the table. For me as a policymaker,
I want to make sure that there's social equity in

(01:15:16):
cannabis so that people that look like us can also
not only you know, benefit from you know, being consumers,
but so that we can hire people who are justice impacted,
so that we can start having stronger local higher components UM,
stronger community benefit agreements where I believe for us as
a city, we need to prioritize the cannabis dollars that

(01:15:38):
we do make and program them for parts recreational seminars
and youth services. I don't think that this money should
be paying for police services UM. I think that this
money should be used for early childhood education because the
first five years of education preparis for the next eight
years of our life. So so for me as a policymaker,

(01:15:58):
UM supporting UM having good sound legislation for cannabis UM.
Some of the things I'm looking to do on the
is I think that the distribution rate UM of taxes
is too high in Santa Anna. I'm going to advocate
to see it get to one percent. UM. I think
that Santa Anna has to be the leading city in

(01:16:19):
Orange County. And one of the things that I'll say
here on Cannabis Talk UM, if you want to see more,
you gotta tune into the council meeting. But what I
can say is that I'm looking to make sure that
Santa Anna is the first city in Orange County to
host its own for twenty festival. L with that, and
if you want more details, you gotta tune in a
partner with us will help you blow that up for sure. Man,

(01:16:41):
I'd love to get behind that. Well. Listen, guys, where
where's that event? One more time? Give us the location
and the dates and times with absolutely That location is
one North bus Street, Santa Anna, California, one at the
Blue Lot, hosted by Always for the People Foundation. Big

(01:17:03):
shout out to Senate and his crew are Always from
the Police and all for Always for the People Foundation. Man,
we appreciate both of you. Guys. Man, make sure you
guys go check that out. It's Cannabis Talk one on
one and remember this. If no one else loves you,
we do. Thank you for listening to Cannabis Talk one
on one on the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast
or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Marc Wasserman

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