March 10, 2024 • 37 mins
Malik unveils his new podcast studio!
This week at the book store, April caught up with author, actor, host and documentarian Marcellus Reynolds, author of Supreme Sirens: Iconic Black Women Who Revolutionized Music.
Meanwhile, Malik discusses diversity, equity and inclusion with Dr. Thelá Thatch, author of The Diversity Dilemma: A Survivor’s Guide for Diversity and Inclusion Good Doers.
And a very serious conversation with author Adrienne Alexander, who wrote the children’s books Don’t Touch My No No Parts.
E-mail Malik@MalikBooks.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
My leg has all the knowledge you want. Le has
all the knowledge you need.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Yet they have all the books that the whole wild
world one up read books. Welcome, Welcome, Welcome to Malik's Bookshow,
bringing the world together with books, culture and community.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Hi, my name is Malik, your host of Malik's Book Show.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Well, I put together a podcast studio inside Malik Books
so that when authors come in there, I'm able to
do a podcast right on the spot.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
So sometimes some of the noise in the mall in the.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Background is picked up, so I apologize for that, but
I wanted to be more spontaneous. I wanted to, you know,
take advantage of when authors walking to the store or
when we engage in events in the store, to have
a nice conversation that I can feature on Malie's bookshelf.
(01:09):
So I did a couple of podcasts in the store,
and I want to bring that to you. On this
particular episode, we hosted Marcelli's Reynolds, who wrote three He
got a trilogy about three different books about Supreme Model,
(01:30):
Supreme Siren, and that's his third book. That's the feature
book that we're hosting that Malie Books today. Unfortunately, I'm
not there April is hosted. April is going to interview
marsh Seller's for the podcast Supreme sign It's about iconic
(01:52):
women in music and the revolutionary inside the music industry.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
She's going to do the podcast with Marcelle Reynald.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
I might track meet with my daughter, so we you know,
sometimes we gotta go ourselves ways. Family community. Books still
go down. So if I'm in one place, April is
at another place. We're putting it down still. So she's
gonna host Marcella at the store. She's gonna interview him
(02:26):
for the podcast. So if you hear any noise in
the background like a baby, and we're sorry, but hey,
some things out I control.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
We're doing our best.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
But this is an impactful, iconic interview from a person
who's well accomplished and has taken He's an award winning reporter,
he is a now our author, and he's known throughout
(02:57):
the industry. Like I said, he won won awards. He's
well accomplished, he's iconic. His name is Marcella's Reynolds, and
we are happy to feature him on our podcast and host.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Them at Meleak Books for Supreme Books.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Signing from his Supreme series three books, you know, one
about women in acting, Supreme Actors, Supreme Models and Supreme Sirens,
women in the music. Hisstory is his latest book, Revolutionary Women.
So we're happy to have him grace us with his
(03:34):
president of Malik Books. That interview took place justice last
March ninth at Mileae Books when we hosted them, and.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
April is going to do the interview.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
I'm also going to feature two other interviews that I
was able to take take advantage of in the store.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
We had the.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Dlay Datch who wrote a book called The Versity Dilemma
talking about de I.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
You know, that's all in the news about.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Diversity, equity, inclusion, and you know, some battle people think
it's reverse racism. People think that there's something that is
a handout, another ear mark, another you know, uh, subsidy
that the disenfranchised blacks, Whites, Asians, Hispanics or whatever. You know,
(04:24):
we live in this country, but it's a lot of insensitivities.
A lot of people feel that free education, do elementary
and Obamacare is sufficient to make up for you know,
all the oppression, all the discrimination there has taken place.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
You know, we started in America under slavery.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Don't forget, and we pulled ourselves up and many of
us are well accomplished. And although the focus shouldn't be
of yesterday and it should be about what's going on now.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
They are disparacies, there's just franchise.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
There are just environments where communities are underserved, and it's
just a lot of people that feel that in corporate
America that the playing field is leveled out. No one
should have entitlements and therefore there's no need for affirm
the action which President Clinton eradicated, you know.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
And now we're back today, and I've lived to see.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
The multicultural movement which came and gone in the nineties,
where it's the same concept, you know, earmarking trying to
create space and leverage to level up the Black community
in corporate America, abroad, in schools and so forth. Now
(05:46):
we the di diversity, equity, inclusion corporations now feeling like,
you know, how can we close that gap income, opportunity
and all of the things that you know in society
that can make one successful but yet make it almost
impossible for other groups.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Because the power in America is.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Just not share and the people who make decisions make
decisions based upon their bias and their upbringing and so forth.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
So the world it is what it is. But it's
a battle.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
It's a battle in this country on council, culture, book, band,
DEI verse.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Equity, clue. It's just you know, no one is happying,
no one is satisfied.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Everybody is arguing with each other about the direction in
the future of this nation and so forth.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
So we just have a battle. And I always say this,
no one could do for you what you can do
for yourself.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
So do as much as you can for yourself to
benefit yourself. And if opportunities like DEI and other things
can also elevate and help and grants and all that,
then you know, if you can qualify, you can get it,
go after it and what have you. But you know,
the hard work and the real work is if you
(07:18):
do as much as you can on your own for yourself.
There are a lot of things that Black America needs
to do that we need to do on our own,
regardless of all these subsidies and programs. They're nice and
they're important because there's disenfranchised and their discrimination, there's racism
still exists.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
A lot of people just.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Want to throw it under the table and act like
it don't. There is diversity dilemma that exists. But I
think that we also as black people, and I'm black,
and I'm proud I'm and I'm unapologetically black, and I
feel like, you know, there are things that we have
to do on our own. It's important for us to do.
(07:59):
You know, is more powerful than an atomic bomb. And
we have to ask ourselves, do we have the ultimate
unity in order to do the things that we can
do on our own without the aid of all of
these programs. I'm not knocking that we don't need these programs.
What I'm knocking is the fact that why we can't
do all we can do in order to solve our problem,
(08:22):
to solve our conditions. It's nothing stopping us from uniting
our resources. Financially, we get one point five tree in dollars.
What's stopping us for creating a black fund putting twenty
dollars in a month, forty million black people raising eight
hundred million dollars a month, raising twelve billion a year.
(08:42):
What's stopping us from doing that on our own? They
can solve a lot of our issues on our own.
I just think that it all starts at home and abroad.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
But we gotta do better. We gotta do the things
that we can do.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Instead of complaining about what's not here, let's leverage what
we can do. So I got that interview with Delay
that the diversity dilemma, and I'm gonna feature that on
this episode. I'm also gonna feature this episode that this
(09:20):
podcast segment that I took when a young lady came
in and she wrote a book called Don't touch My
No No, Don't touch my no No. And it's because
a lot of kids are touched and they stay in
silent and it impacts them throughout the life. So she
wrote a kid's book talking about this don't touch my
(09:42):
no no private parts that is. And so I was
able to interview and that that was kind of deep.
And I can relate.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Because I wrote a book.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
I wrote a chapter in a book called The Heart
of a Black Man, the Stories of tryumph RESIENTI, and
my chapter is called from Devastation, the elevation from of
a station. The elevation is in how you know things
that happened to me when I was young and how
it impacts you later on in life and you just
(10:10):
don't know that. But we we you know, people keep
these things in silent and so I made myself vulnerable
and open up some secrets about my childhood. But here's
the things that there are a lot of people out
here that has good intentions and really want to make
a difference.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
In this book. Don't Touch My No No is an
example of.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Someone a young lady named Adrian Alexander wrote this book
in an effort to talk about a very sensitive subject matter.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
And so I'm featuring that segment on this episode.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
And so that's pretty much three book reviews, three interviews,
and I just enjoy, you know, trying to take this
to another level video on these podcasts. Now I'm going
to be uploading these episodes on YouTube as well, so
enjoy the episode.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
All right, Hello, today we have mister Morse.
Speaker 4 (11:14):
You want to grow up the Morriscale.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
Thank you so much for worsening us with your president
of Finlik book.
Speaker 5 (11:21):
And today we are doing today this book discussion and
book signed with this lovely book and it is Supreme Sirens.
Speaker 4 (11:33):
Title. Okay, well you're doing I can't do it better
than you.
Speaker 6 (11:36):
Supreme Sirens iconic Black women who revolutionize music. And what's
important about this book and my other two books actually
is that they're the first, that they're kind they're the
first ever art books devoted exclusively to celebrating the stories
of black women.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
So it's how.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
Important with this journey you have a trilogy?
Speaker 4 (11:55):
Here have a trilogy, So how important the trilogy?
Speaker 7 (11:59):
Honey, the first one.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Just give a little bit about your first.
Speaker 6 (12:04):
So the first one, I always say, like it depends
on how I talk about each one. The first one
will always be my favorite because it took so long
for it to happen. Supreme Models took eight years to sell,
and then along the way, a bunch of people told
me a book about black women.
Speaker 4 (12:21):
Would never sell, and as you know, Supreme Models became lies.
You tell us lies, they tell us.
Speaker 6 (12:29):
Supreme Models became a best selling book and became you know.
Essence named it the number one book to read on
Black style. Vogue and Team Vogue named it one of
the best fashioned books of all time, and then not
to mention, it just became a perennial bestseller, and then
it became its own documentary where I co produced it
(12:49):
with MND, which now has like you know, now has
like eight point five million.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
Views on Vogue YouTube.
Speaker 6 (12:57):
Channels, so you know, all right, Supreme did what she did,
what she was supposed to do, and then we have
Supreme Actresses. So because of the success of Supreme Models,
Abrams came to me during the pandemic and was like,
do you want to do? Do you have an idea
for a second book? And I was like, do I
have an idea for a second book?
Speaker 4 (13:18):
And I didn't, but I.
Speaker 6 (13:22):
Like, I did have an idea for a second book
because there's actually a past of Supreme Models that has
an actress that has models to actresses in it, right,
and it was its own little section, but I was
over on pages so Abrams throughout Model to Actresses, and
so I was already in.
Speaker 4 (13:40):
That mindset of actresses.
Speaker 6 (13:44):
So the Supreme Actresses came out and it became a
It was just like another big book, especially because it
came out during the pandemic. It came out in the
fall of twenty twenty one, and it came out right
around that time where people were where people.
Speaker 4 (13:59):
Were really eating black books.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
Check it take it from us, you know, and the
pandemic really elevated you and I this is not.
Speaker 5 (14:08):
Just our fly first ball game. And when I met
two years back, and we were at the ball and
whose Mall. But the pandemic really elevated us. Some people,
the pandemic put a pause on them because of fear.
For fear is a stop sign. And we opened this
location the Moly books in the covers the hall in
the middle of the pandemic. Wow, we've been here for
four and a half years, so fear get.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
Out the way. Yeah yeah, And then you know, Supreme
Actresses did what she was supposed to do.
Speaker 6 (14:36):
What I think is most important to for our supremactresses
speaking about the pandemic was it was very easy to
interview actresses because they were sitting that hall at work.
Speaker 4 (14:48):
So I interviewed so many people that I interviewed, Like.
Speaker 6 (14:51):
My favorites are Lynn Whitfield, who played justinin Baker. That
was a break because she's just a legend and she
was wrapping her last show Greenwood, I think the name
of the show.
Speaker 4 (15:05):
So that was really interesting to talk about her process
and what she was going to do next, and she
was like, I have to do nothing next. I'm good
like things keep you know, things will come to me
when they're ready.
Speaker 6 (15:15):
I interviewed Sonna Lathan, who was really funny and dishy.
I interviewed Ray what I love about Supreme Actresses and
what I want people to not sleep on is and
why say it's my favorite.
Speaker 4 (15:29):
I interviewed Ray before Barbie. I interviewed Alexander's Ship before Barbie.
Speaker 6 (15:34):
So there are two barbiees in Supreme Actresses before Barbie
was even a thing.
Speaker 4 (15:40):
And Alexander Ship's interview is really beautiful. Who else? Oh,
of course Gabrielle Union. She wrote the form.
Speaker 6 (15:49):
And I found Gabrielle on the day where she seemed
to be mad, but she was just talking like she
was telling all the truths.
Speaker 4 (15:55):
She was like, they can't get your makeup right, they
can't get your hair right, they underpay it us. And
I was like, yes, yes, yes, yes to all.
Speaker 6 (16:03):
This, because you know some people like try to do
an interview, they try to be politically. Gabrielle was like,
not today, not today, not. Plus, I was in my bathrobe.
We was doing a zoom and I thought it was
gonna be zoom audio and Gabrielle, and all of a sudden,
the screen opens and Gabrielle's in her beautiful mansion, hair
and makeup done, and she was like, are you going
to show yourself And I was like, no, I'm not
(16:25):
my bathle throbe, and she's like, well, I'm not talking
to a black screen.
Speaker 4 (16:28):
So now I'm not only in my in my bathrobe.
I'm in my bathrobe in the bed in front of
the computer with like no lights all like like like
some like her brother. But it was just supposed to
be a zoom interview.
Speaker 8 (16:43):
So I turned the camera and she was like, you're
killing your white man about the ground bathroom and I
was like, so, I mean I love that and all
of the books.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
Now you know it didn't come from Oh, let me
get this together.
Speaker 6 (16:58):
So you came in and that's not my Well, I'm
always like if i'm not, I'm always in my bathroom.
Speaker 4 (17:06):
Oh, I tell her, Okay.
Speaker 6 (17:07):
So Supreme Sirens is the third book, and I say
it's the final one in this trilogy.
Speaker 4 (17:14):
Another bathroom story. I got the day I was supposed.
Speaker 6 (17:17):
To interview Monica, Monica did the foreward. The day I
was supposed to interview Monica, I got my days mixed
and her her manager is her cousin, Melinda, and I
have been having all these conversations with Melinda, so I
was really like a little.
Speaker 4 (17:34):
Casual with Melinda. So when Melinda called me, I was like,
hey girl, what's up. And she was like, are you
ready for the interview? And I was like, yeah, it's tomorrow,
and she's like, no, it's today. It's in an hour.
Speaker 6 (17:45):
And I was like, and she was like, please tell
me that you're ready for this interview because Monica starts
traveling tomorrow.
Speaker 4 (17:52):
And she's like, it's today or it's not happening. And
I was like, I'll be ready, like tell her to
call me, you know which, Tell her to call me
when she's ready. And because of.
Speaker 6 (18:02):
That, I was now scrambling to do like all this stuff.
I was like, how am I gonna set it up?
Blah blah blah. And I ended up and again I
was in my bathrobe because it was super early. I
created like a a like a sound booth, which like
I was literally under my.
Speaker 4 (18:18):
Bed because my bed is like this. So I was
under my bed trying with the computer in front of me,
with my things on on my knees, with the crops
on a pillow like this, trying to create a sound booth.
Speaker 6 (18:31):
And at the end of the interview, Monica was like,
let Monica kept saying, the Lord is trying to tell
me something.
Speaker 4 (18:39):
The Lord is talking to me, and I was like okay,
and she was like, are you on your knees?
Speaker 6 (18:45):
And as it turned out, I was actually on my
knees because I was under my bed on I was
like this on my like not on my belly, but
on the pillow like this with the headphones on. And
I was like, yeah, I'm on my knees and she
was like, let's pray. So we prayed, and then after
what we were praying, she was like, stay the course.
And I was like, okay, yeah, I'm I got it.
(19:05):
I'm a stay of course. And she was like stay
the course and I was like, yes, stay the course.
And then she was like stay the course and I
was like, yes, Monica, I'm gonna stay the course. And
she kept saying stay the course to get me to
say stay the course, because what God was telling her
was to tell me to stay the course. Because I
was saying that the book was so hard that I
didn't want to do it anymore. And so at the
(19:27):
end we were chanting stay the course at the same time,
stay the course, stayed of course, Stay the course.
Speaker 4 (19:33):
So then when we finished saying stay the course. She
was like, all right, you're.
Speaker 6 (19:36):
Good, and I was like, I'm good, and she was like,
all right, if you need something, you got Melinda's number.
You call her and tell and tell her that to
get to me if you need something. And that's how
Monica's interview with came to forward because it was that how.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
Well.
Speaker 6 (19:54):
I also think the power of words and I think
the power of black women Monica was there when that interview.
It was so important because I literally had had a
conversation maybe within a week, telling my literary agent that
I wanted to give back the advance.
Speaker 4 (20:09):
I didn't want to do this book and look at it,
and look at it. It's so beautiful. It's so beautiful.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
I want to thank you so much for your time,
and I thank you so much for giving me your tongue.
Speaker 4 (20:22):
I want to thank you for the the never ending support.
Speaker 6 (20:25):
I want to thank you for creating places where black
artists can thrive and be exalted. I want to thank
you for still going. I know how hard it is
to be in a in in in the business, and
in the be in a black bookstore. So I just
want to thank you for all the things you're doing
for our community.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Thank you actually appreciate it. Tell the people who they
can find you.
Speaker 4 (20:44):
I'm Ourselvia s Redols.
Speaker 6 (20:45):
You can find me on Instagram a Marquie mark like
Marquee naming lights and.
Speaker 4 (20:51):
You can find me here.
Speaker 5 (20:54):
We will find autograph copy of all three of his
book that lead books both look and online. You can
find us on social media Elik Books and our podcast
Leak Bookshelf.
Speaker 3 (21:06):
Thank you so much Marcell.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
Malik's bookshelf bringing the world together with books, culture and community. Hi,
my name is Malik, and I'm standing by this dynamic
female who wrote a beautiful new book to just hit
the market just now. It's called The Diversity Dilemma, A
Survival GUD for Diversity and Inclusion good Doors.
Speaker 9 (21:36):
Her name is.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
Doctor dlay That and she's gonna tell you more about
this book. Why because she wrote the book. So I'm
gonna turn the mic over to her right now, because Hey,
she wrote.
Speaker 4 (21:49):
It, right I wrote the book.
Speaker 7 (21:52):
What an amazing introduction. I just feel so hyped and
blessed to be here at Malik Books. And I did
write the book because there is a diversity dilemma. A
lot of people, women, people from marginalized communities. We want diversity,
we want equity, we want inclusion, and we want justice.
So in the work that I do, we call that
(22:12):
the Jedi principles, like Jedi from Star Wars.
Speaker 4 (22:16):
Yes, I love the Jedi.
Speaker 7 (22:18):
I love science fiction, right, and some of the things
I talk about and I believe is true change is
an act of science fiction. And so I really work
at connecting like things that we are entertained by and
things that we see in our society to the real
work that we need to do, which is justice, equity,
(22:39):
diversity and inclusion. That's the Jedi work. And so in
the book, I talk about how I fired up to
do Jedi work. Fired up I was hired by the
top companies in the world to do this work, and
then I found myself in places that were not psychologically safe.
I found myself being armed, being aggress with aggressive people,
(23:04):
being microaggressed and macro aggressed and treated as a token.
And all that to say, I wanted to write this book,
especially for those people who I'm calling good doers, not
do gooders, but good doers. They're trying to do good.
They're trying to step up for their communities and make
(23:27):
a difference, and then they're they're like our forefathers before us,
that came before us. They're getting pressure. There is not
like the hoses and the burnings and the bombings that
we saw in the sixties, but it's these mental hosings, right,
It's the mental abuse that we receive when we're told, oh,
(23:51):
that's not important all we're tired of talking about race.
Oh you're gonna get fired. Oh you need to stay
in your lane. All these things that we hear every
day when we try to speak up for ourselves.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
So I'm assuming nothing has changed. It's just the game
is played different.
Speaker 7 (24:08):
I have to say something has changed. I have to
give our society credit, and I really think it's our
new generation coming up. They're a lot more tech savvy.
They they have access to books, they have access, yes,
they have access to information throughout the you know, intranet.
They're seeing things when our generation they have resources. The
(24:30):
generations before us they didn't have access the way this
generation has access, and because of that, they are challenging
the status quo. So I have to say there's been
more language around, you know, language like anti racism, inclusion,
knowing what a token is like there's certain words that
we didn't know what the heck those words were. Like
(24:51):
if what I was experiencing in the workplace was called
gas lighting, but at the time, I didn't know what
gaslighting was. Where I'm telling someone something's wrong and they're like, oh, no,
you just need to sit down. You just know it's
not an issue. You're imagining things, And I'm like, oh,
maybe I am imagining things. Let me go sit down.
(25:11):
And then now this generation is very determined to make
sure there's vocabulary and language that we can all use
to describe what we're feeling, what we're experiencing. And that's
powerful because, as you know, words and language are power.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
So in your position, you was speaking truth to power.
Speaker 7 (25:30):
Yes, I was attempting to speak truth to power, using
my truth, using my experiences. And I was often told
that people just weren't ready to hear it.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Well, they always say a person ain't ready, But the
reality is that those are authority and those who have power.
You're ready, and so why don't you implement it? Why somebody?
Speaker 9 (25:51):
Why you gotta hire somebody to come in and do
something that you could do yourself.
Speaker 7 (25:55):
You just summed up the whole book that is the dilemma.
Why are you asking me to help you one person
who's getting paid a fraction of what some of the
senior leaders are being paid. And then when that person,
usually a black woman, when that person is not successful,
(26:15):
they blame the failure of these programs on that person.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
Yes, they do.
Speaker 9 (26:19):
You know, we've seen it in sports. They brought Jackie
Robinson there.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
He had to take a lot of spitting and a
lot of bad words throwing at him, a lot of
hate throwing at him, but yet he persevered. But what
he had to do and doing it and the trauma
and all that he had to do, you know, in
order to integrate and diversified baseball, it's.
Speaker 7 (26:42):
Almost like you just become the sacrificial lamb.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
Well, you know, it's I'm excited that we have those
like you are in positions that are not afraid and
to challenge the normals and to make changes within because
you can't make a check to let you within.
Speaker 9 (27:01):
You know, I always say, you can't play the game
unless you win the game. So if you're on the
outside looking at the game, how you gonna make a change?
Speaker 7 (27:08):
Exactly? So, but I want to give you credit because
you're making a change as an entrepreneur, as an owner,
you're creating a whole table. So in corporate America we
talk about bringing a chair, bring a chair to the table. Well,
by the work that you do, you've created a whole table.
You've created a whole room without asking permission from you know,
(27:30):
corporations and other powers that be. He said, you know what,
We're gonna create our own table. We're gonna create our
own room. And this is what more of us, what
we need to do. So I'm so proud and I
admire the work that you're doing. Are you hiring?
Speaker 9 (27:45):
I really appreciate appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
Thank you, Thank you, and I'm sure that my audience
on Police's bookshelf is gonna love. I know this, someone
I'm gonna relate wholeheartedly. Damn positions of authorities is gonna
hear this. You know, and some people work in in
places that they can still make a different even though
they might not be a manager.
Speaker 9 (28:05):
Or supervisor, executive. But we can all do better whatever position.
Speaker 4 (28:10):
Than we in.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
So I want to thank you for taking the time
to speak to my honors on Malise bookshelf.
Speaker 9 (28:15):
Thank you, And if you could just tell the audience.
How they can reach you directly.
Speaker 7 (28:19):
Sure, so my name is spelled T like Thomas h
E la FLA. Last name is Thatch. T you like
Thomas h A t h. So just go to Thla
Thatch dot com. I am the owner of Thla Thatched Consulting.
I do HR and Equity Consulting. I'm an author and
I'm a professor at UWLA and Kelset University, Long Beach.
(28:43):
So you find me just google Thla Thatch And I
look forward to coming back to my leak books because
there's so many books in here I need to buy.
Speaker 9 (28:52):
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
Well.
Speaker 9 (28:58):
Welcome, welcome, walk to Malik's books. She'll bring in a
world together with books, culture and community.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
Another author just walked into Malik Books and you know
how listen, no one knows about that book better than them.
Speaker 9 (29:12):
I have Adrian Alexander.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
Yes, she wrote a book called Don't Touch My No No,
So I'm gonna turn it on over to her.
Speaker 9 (29:20):
She gonna break down this wonderful book. It's wonderful contribution
to our voice.
Speaker 7 (29:26):
Yes, thank you so much, Malik. I am excited to
be here. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 4 (29:30):
You know listen, y'all.
Speaker 10 (29:31):
First and foremost, if you ain't got it, if you
don't stay ready, you ain't gotta get ready. If you
stay ready, you ain't gotta get ready.
Speaker 7 (29:36):
If you stay ready, you.
Speaker 4 (29:38):
Ain't gotta get ready.
Speaker 7 (29:39):
Hello, I came in here.
Speaker 10 (29:40):
My name is Adrian, and Alexander's Malik said. I did
write a children's book. It's called Don't Touch My No
No Parts. And I wrote this book because kids are
being touched. You know, it's a very important topic. It's
a situation that we need to talk about that we're
not talking about enough. We have people out here that
would like to sweep this under the who act like
(30:01):
it's not happening. And so when I did this, of
course it's from experience, because it happened to me. And
it's so many people walking around here with unhealed trauma,
walking and you know, not dealing with the fact that
they were touched as children, not dealing with you know, oh, look, y'all,
just don't go around Uncle Charles, but really making sure
that Uncle Charles is getting the help that he need,
(30:22):
or you know, taking care of the things that need
to be taken care of, versus blaming it on a child.
And so when I did don't touch my no No Parts,
I did a male version and a girl version because
we know both boys and girls are being touched. And
so what it does it does talk about you.
Speaker 4 (30:37):
Know your no no parts.
Speaker 10 (30:38):
It shows you what your know no parts are. It's
a children's book. It's for ages like four to kindergarten elementary.
It does talk about the no no parts. It talks
about you know experiences, people offering you candy, people offering
you things to try to touch you, making you comfortable enough.
Because statistics show that most children who are physically assaulted
(31:03):
are touched by someone that they know, someone that they're comfortable,
someone that they're used.
Speaker 4 (31:07):
To being around.
Speaker 10 (31:08):
And so I needed to have the conversation to say,
regardless of yeah, regardless of how they try to tell you,
oh I might hurt you, I might hurt your family.
You know, if you tell somebody it's going to be wrong.
You know those things, but don't listen to that, Like
if they can tell you that, but even if they
tell you that, you still need to tell. We need
(31:29):
to empower empower our children with their voice to say
no and to tell and share their experience.
Speaker 9 (31:38):
Well, this is deep here me personally.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
I can relate to some of the things you said
because I wrote a chapter in a book called.
Speaker 9 (31:49):
The Heart of a Black Man, the Stories of Triumph
and Resilience.
Speaker 4 (31:55):
Yes.
Speaker 9 (31:55):
And my chapter is called from Devastation to Elevation.
Speaker 2 (31:59):
Yes. And I opened up and made myself vulnerable and
told my story. But it wasn't I was ten, but
I was touched by my babysitters. Now she was sixteen,
but I was ten, right, But nevertheless I was touched.
(32:20):
And I didn't know the impact that it had made
on me over my lifetime though, and how I've looked
at women, how I viewed women, and the and the
and the effect of being so young and thinking about
sex and how that affected me in a lot of
(32:40):
different ways.
Speaker 9 (32:41):
So I made myself a.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
Varna and told the world in my chapter about that,
and I think, you know, and I shared that, and
a lot.
Speaker 10 (32:49):
Of other men have come forward, and I think that
and not even think I know what's important, because men don't,
because you know, unfortunately we do.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
You coddle our.
Speaker 10 (33:01):
Girls and you know, make our boys like, oh you
can't cry, you can't you know, you shouldn't be affected.
You can't you know this stand the third and because
men don't know how to humanize their experience, because men
are so conditioned to being hard, to being strong, to
not being affected. And so as a five, six, seven, ten,
(33:23):
fifteen year old boy, because you know, even sometimes like
you're older, you're still being touched by people and it's inappropriate.
But because you're supposed to excuse it away or because
it's it should be okay, you don't tell anybody about it,
and you hold that in, you internalize it, and to
your point, it affects all of your relationships going forward.
(33:43):
Do you know how long they say it takes people
to heal children to heal from sexual trauma.
Speaker 7 (33:49):
I've never heard the stat thirty years.
Speaker 10 (33:52):
Wow, it takes children thirty years to begin to heal
from sexual trauma because people aren't getting help these children.
And then they are even children who do tell, but
people tell them they're lying.
Speaker 4 (34:08):
They don't believe.
Speaker 9 (34:11):
Every time she came over, Hey, I already knew she
was coming in the room.
Speaker 3 (34:16):
Wow.
Speaker 7 (34:18):
Wow.
Speaker 9 (34:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 10 (34:19):
See, And that's the thing, and it's like, you know,
it continues on and it becomes normal, you know, and
it's sexualizing things for children that shouldn't even be sexualized.
You know, it's like just at ten, Yeah, like at
ten years old, you're supposed to be playing your video
game or reading a book or outside running.
Speaker 7 (34:38):
The street, you know what I mean.
Speaker 10 (34:39):
Like, that's not something that you're supposed to be dealing with.
And because children are not mature enough to understand and
recognize what's happening to them as being bad, that's what
they do. And I want to take this moment too.
I would be remiss if I didn't No, No, No,
because I would be remiss if I didn't mention my
first children's book, which is called My Parents Have a
Drug Problem. And so I'm from Baltimore, Wow, And so
(35:03):
the books that I write, you know, obviously I'm coming
from a place of I was a child dealing with
these things and I didn't have anybody to talk to me.
And so it's like when you see something that's normal
every day, you don't know what's abnormal. And if your
house is if you're living with a parent, a guardian
that's struggling with addiction, if you're living in a house
(35:25):
with a parent or a guardian that's touching you, that's
normal and without the sense and the empowerment to say
I don't like this, this is wrong. Without the education
and the knowledge to say this shouldn't be happening, it
happens because it's all you know.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
You know, I always say this that in today's families,
you have a Christian, you have a Muslim, and I
say you have a crack right right, I would say
just about everybody the family has those three reality and
(36:06):
and you know, I don't say it in the derogatory
way because but it's addiction is something that's killing our families,
in our communities. I watch my mom pain in my family,
dealing with my sibling. I watch other people, families and
(36:29):
individual I.
Speaker 9 (36:30):
Know, deal with that addiction. This is a devast stating reality.
And I don't have all the answers, but some of
the answers you can find in a book, and you
can find it.
Speaker 1 (36:44):
You can find it.
Speaker 9 (36:46):
That belief author, Wow, I thought you had one, but
I know you got multiple.
Speaker 4 (36:53):
I do.
Speaker 9 (36:54):
And this has been a wonderful talk, short and sweet,
but powerful.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
Yes, tune in to Malik's bookshelf, bringing a world together
with books, culture and community.
Speaker 9 (37:07):
Tell the people how they can reach Yes.
Speaker 10 (37:09):
So don't touch my no no parts dot com.
Speaker 7 (37:11):
There's a website.
Speaker 10 (37:13):
You can go to my agency pagees www dot ipy
agency dot com and follow me on Instagram at I'm
promoting you.
Speaker 1 (37:20):
Why you being go?
Speaker 2 (37:22):
Thank you, thanks for listening to Malik's Bookshelf, where topics
on the shelf are books, culture, and community.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
Be sure to subscribe and leave me a review. Check
out my Instagram at Malik Books. See you next time.
My leg has all the knowledge you want. Le has
all the knowledge you need.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Yet they have all the books that the whole wild
world one up read books. Welcome, Welcome, Welcome to Malik's Bookshow,
bringing the world together with books, culture and community.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Hi, my name is Malik, your host of Malik's Book Show.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Well, I put together a podcast studio inside Malik Books
so that when authors come in there, I'm able to
do a podcast right on the spot.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
So sometimes some of the noise in the mall in the.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Background is picked up, so I apologize for that, but
I wanted to be more spontaneous. I wanted to, you know,
take advantage of when authors walking to the store or
when we engage in events in the store, to have
a nice conversation that I can feature on Malie's bookshelf.
(01:09):
So I did a couple of podcasts in the store,
and I want to bring that to you. On this
particular episode, we hosted Marcelli's Reynolds, who wrote three He
got a trilogy about three different books about Supreme Model,
(01:30):
Supreme Siren, and that's his third book. That's the feature
book that we're hosting that Malie Books today. Unfortunately, I'm
not there April is hosted. April is going to interview
marsh Seller's for the podcast Supreme sign It's about iconic
(01:52):
women in music and the revolutionary inside the music industry.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
She's going to do the podcast with Marcelle Reynald.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
I might track meet with my daughter, so we you know,
sometimes we gotta go ourselves ways. Family community. Books still
go down. So if I'm in one place, April is
at another place. We're putting it down still. So she's
gonna host Marcella at the store. She's gonna interview him
(02:26):
for the podcast. So if you hear any noise in
the background like a baby, and we're sorry, but hey,
some things out I control.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
We're doing our best.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
But this is an impactful, iconic interview from a person
who's well accomplished and has taken He's an award winning reporter,
he is a now our author, and he's known throughout
(02:57):
the industry. Like I said, he won won awards. He's
well accomplished, he's iconic. His name is Marcella's Reynolds, and
we are happy to feature him on our podcast and host.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Them at Meleak Books for Supreme Books.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Signing from his Supreme series three books, you know, one
about women in acting, Supreme Actors, Supreme Models and Supreme Sirens,
women in the music. Hisstory is his latest book, Revolutionary Women.
So we're happy to have him grace us with his
(03:34):
president of Malik Books. That interview took place justice last
March ninth at Mileae Books when we hosted them, and.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
April is going to do the interview.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
I'm also going to feature two other interviews that I
was able to take take advantage of in the store.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
We had the.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Dlay Datch who wrote a book called The Versity Dilemma
talking about de I.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
You know, that's all in the news about.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Diversity, equity, inclusion, and you know, some battle people think
it's reverse racism. People think that there's something that is
a handout, another ear mark, another you know, uh, subsidy
that the disenfranchised blacks, Whites, Asians, Hispanics or whatever. You know,
(04:24):
we live in this country, but it's a lot of insensitivities.
A lot of people feel that free education, do elementary
and Obamacare is sufficient to make up for you know,
all the oppression, all the discrimination there has taken place.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
You know, we started in America under slavery.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Don't forget, and we pulled ourselves up and many of
us are well accomplished. And although the focus shouldn't be
of yesterday and it should be about what's going on now.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
They are disparacies, there's just franchise.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
There are just environments where communities are underserved, and it's
just a lot of people that feel that in corporate
America that the playing field is leveled out. No one
should have entitlements and therefore there's no need for affirm
the action which President Clinton eradicated, you know.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
And now we're back today, and I've lived to see.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
The multicultural movement which came and gone in the nineties,
where it's the same concept, you know, earmarking trying to
create space and leverage to level up the Black community
in corporate America, abroad, in schools and so forth. Now
(05:46):
we the di diversity, equity, inclusion corporations now feeling like,
you know, how can we close that gap income, opportunity
and all of the things that you know in society
that can make one successful but yet make it almost
impossible for other groups.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Because the power in America is.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Just not share and the people who make decisions make
decisions based upon their bias and their upbringing and so forth.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
So the world it is what it is. But it's
a battle.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
It's a battle in this country on council, culture, book, band,
DEI verse.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Equity, clue. It's just you know, no one is happying,
no one is satisfied.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Everybody is arguing with each other about the direction in
the future of this nation and so forth.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
So we just have a battle. And I always say this,
no one could do for you what you can do
for yourself.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
So do as much as you can for yourself to
benefit yourself. And if opportunities like DEI and other things
can also elevate and help and grants and all that,
then you know, if you can qualify, you can get it,
go after it and what have you. But you know,
the hard work and the real work is if you
(07:18):
do as much as you can on your own for yourself.
There are a lot of things that Black America needs
to do that we need to do on our own,
regardless of all these subsidies and programs. They're nice and
they're important because there's disenfranchised and their discrimination, there's racism
still exists.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
A lot of people just.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Want to throw it under the table and act like
it don't. There is diversity dilemma that exists. But I
think that we also as black people, and I'm black,
and I'm proud I'm and I'm unapologetically black, and I
feel like, you know, there are things that we have
to do on our own. It's important for us to do.
(07:59):
You know, is more powerful than an atomic bomb. And
we have to ask ourselves, do we have the ultimate
unity in order to do the things that we can
do on our own without the aid of all of
these programs. I'm not knocking that we don't need these programs.
What I'm knocking is the fact that why we can't
do all we can do in order to solve our problem,
(08:22):
to solve our conditions. It's nothing stopping us from uniting
our resources. Financially, we get one point five tree in dollars.
What's stopping us for creating a black fund putting twenty
dollars in a month, forty million black people raising eight
hundred million dollars a month, raising twelve billion a year.
(08:42):
What's stopping us from doing that on our own? They
can solve a lot of our issues on our own.
I just think that it all starts at home and abroad.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
But we gotta do better. We gotta do the things
that we can do.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Instead of complaining about what's not here, let's leverage what
we can do. So I got that interview with Delay
that the diversity dilemma, and I'm gonna feature that on
this episode. I'm also gonna feature this episode that this
(09:20):
podcast segment that I took when a young lady came
in and she wrote a book called Don't touch My
No No, Don't touch my no No. And it's because
a lot of kids are touched and they stay in
silent and it impacts them throughout the life. So she
wrote a kid's book talking about this don't touch my
(09:42):
no no private parts that is. And so I was
able to interview and that that was kind of deep.
And I can relate.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Because I wrote a book.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
I wrote a chapter in a book called The Heart
of a Black Man, the Stories of tryumph RESIENTI, and
my chapter is called from Devastation, the elevation from of
a station. The elevation is in how you know things
that happened to me when I was young and how
it impacts you later on in life and you just
(10:10):
don't know that. But we we you know, people keep
these things in silent and so I made myself vulnerable
and open up some secrets about my childhood. But here's
the things that there are a lot of people out
here that has good intentions and really want to make
a difference.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
In this book. Don't Touch My No No is an
example of.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Someone a young lady named Adrian Alexander wrote this book
in an effort to talk about a very sensitive subject matter.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
And so I'm featuring that segment on this episode.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
And so that's pretty much three book reviews, three interviews,
and I just enjoy, you know, trying to take this
to another level video on these podcasts. Now I'm going
to be uploading these episodes on YouTube as well, so
enjoy the episode.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
All right, Hello, today we have mister Morse.
Speaker 4 (11:14):
You want to grow up the Morriscale.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
Thank you so much for worsening us with your president
of Finlik book.
Speaker 5 (11:21):
And today we are doing today this book discussion and
book signed with this lovely book and it is Supreme Sirens.
Speaker 4 (11:33):
Title. Okay, well you're doing I can't do it better
than you.
Speaker 6 (11:36):
Supreme Sirens iconic Black women who revolutionize music. And what's
important about this book and my other two books actually
is that they're the first, that they're kind they're the
first ever art books devoted exclusively to celebrating the stories
of black women.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
So it's how.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
Important with this journey you have a trilogy?
Speaker 4 (11:55):
Here have a trilogy, So how important the trilogy?
Speaker 7 (11:59):
Honey, the first one.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Just give a little bit about your first.
Speaker 6 (12:04):
So the first one, I always say, like it depends
on how I talk about each one. The first one
will always be my favorite because it took so long
for it to happen. Supreme Models took eight years to sell,
and then along the way, a bunch of people told
me a book about black women.
Speaker 4 (12:21):
Would never sell, and as you know, Supreme Models became lies.
You tell us lies, they tell us.
Speaker 6 (12:29):
Supreme Models became a best selling book and became you know.
Essence named it the number one book to read on
Black style. Vogue and Team Vogue named it one of
the best fashioned books of all time, and then not
to mention, it just became a perennial bestseller, and then
it became its own documentary where I co produced it
(12:49):
with MND, which now has like you know, now has
like eight point five million.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
Views on Vogue YouTube.
Speaker 6 (12:57):
Channels, so you know, all right, Supreme did what she did,
what she was supposed to do, and then we have
Supreme Actresses. So because of the success of Supreme Models,
Abrams came to me during the pandemic and was like,
do you want to do? Do you have an idea
for a second book? And I was like, do I
have an idea for a second book?
Speaker 4 (13:18):
And I didn't, but I.
Speaker 6 (13:22):
Like, I did have an idea for a second book
because there's actually a past of Supreme Models that has
an actress that has models to actresses in it, right,
and it was its own little section, but I was
over on pages so Abrams throughout Model to Actresses, and
so I was already in.
Speaker 4 (13:40):
That mindset of actresses.
Speaker 6 (13:44):
So the Supreme Actresses came out and it became a
It was just like another big book, especially because it
came out during the pandemic. It came out in the
fall of twenty twenty one, and it came out right
around that time where people were where people.
Speaker 4 (13:59):
Were really eating black books.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
Check it take it from us, you know, and the
pandemic really elevated you and I this is not.
Speaker 5 (14:08):
Just our fly first ball game. And when I met
two years back, and we were at the ball and
whose Mall. But the pandemic really elevated us. Some people,
the pandemic put a pause on them because of fear.
For fear is a stop sign. And we opened this
location the Moly books in the covers the hall in
the middle of the pandemic. Wow, we've been here for
four and a half years, so fear get.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
Out the way. Yeah yeah, And then you know, Supreme
Actresses did what she was supposed to do.
Speaker 6 (14:36):
What I think is most important to for our supremactresses
speaking about the pandemic was it was very easy to
interview actresses because they were sitting that hall at work.
Speaker 4 (14:48):
So I interviewed so many people that I interviewed, Like.
Speaker 6 (14:51):
My favorites are Lynn Whitfield, who played justinin Baker. That
was a break because she's just a legend and she
was wrapping her last show Greenwood, I think the name
of the show.
Speaker 4 (15:05):
So that was really interesting to talk about her process
and what she was going to do next, and she
was like, I have to do nothing next. I'm good
like things keep you know, things will come to me
when they're ready.
Speaker 6 (15:15):
I interviewed Sonna Lathan, who was really funny and dishy.
I interviewed Ray what I love about Supreme Actresses and
what I want people to not sleep on is and
why say it's my favorite.
Speaker 4 (15:29):
I interviewed Ray before Barbie. I interviewed Alexander's Ship before Barbie.
Speaker 6 (15:34):
So there are two barbiees in Supreme Actresses before Barbie
was even a thing.
Speaker 4 (15:40):
And Alexander Ship's interview is really beautiful. Who else? Oh,
of course Gabrielle Union. She wrote the form.
Speaker 6 (15:49):
And I found Gabrielle on the day where she seemed
to be mad, but she was just talking like she
was telling all the truths.
Speaker 4 (15:55):
She was like, they can't get your makeup right, they
can't get your hair right, they underpay it us. And
I was like, yes, yes, yes, yes to all.
Speaker 6 (16:03):
This, because you know some people like try to do
an interview, they try to be politically. Gabrielle was like,
not today, not today, not. Plus, I was in my bathrobe.
We was doing a zoom and I thought it was
gonna be zoom audio and Gabrielle, and all of a sudden,
the screen opens and Gabrielle's in her beautiful mansion, hair
and makeup done, and she was like, are you going
to show yourself And I was like, no, I'm not
(16:25):
my bathle throbe, and she's like, well, I'm not talking
to a black screen.
Speaker 4 (16:28):
So now I'm not only in my in my bathrobe.
I'm in my bathrobe in the bed in front of
the computer with like no lights all like like like
some like her brother. But it was just supposed to
be a zoom interview.
Speaker 8 (16:43):
So I turned the camera and she was like, you're
killing your white man about the ground bathroom and I
was like, so, I mean I love that and all
of the books.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
Now you know it didn't come from Oh, let me
get this together.
Speaker 6 (16:58):
So you came in and that's not my Well, I'm
always like if i'm not, I'm always in my bathroom.
Speaker 4 (17:06):
Oh, I tell her, Okay.
Speaker 6 (17:07):
So Supreme Sirens is the third book, and I say
it's the final one in this trilogy.
Speaker 4 (17:14):
Another bathroom story. I got the day I was supposed.
Speaker 6 (17:17):
To interview Monica, Monica did the foreward. The day I
was supposed to interview Monica, I got my days mixed
and her her manager is her cousin, Melinda, and I
have been having all these conversations with Melinda, so I
was really like a little.
Speaker 4 (17:34):
Casual with Melinda. So when Melinda called me, I was like,
hey girl, what's up. And she was like, are you
ready for the interview? And I was like, yeah, it's tomorrow,
and she's like, no, it's today. It's in an hour.
Speaker 6 (17:45):
And I was like, and she was like, please tell
me that you're ready for this interview because Monica starts
traveling tomorrow.
Speaker 4 (17:52):
And she's like, it's today or it's not happening. And
I was like, I'll be ready, like tell her to
call me, you know which, Tell her to call me
when she's ready. And because of.
Speaker 6 (18:02):
That, I was now scrambling to do like all this stuff.
I was like, how am I gonna set it up?
Blah blah blah. And I ended up and again I
was in my bathrobe because it was super early. I
created like a a like a sound booth, which like
I was literally under my.
Speaker 4 (18:18):
Bed because my bed is like this. So I was
under my bed trying with the computer in front of me,
with my things on on my knees, with the crops
on a pillow like this, trying to create a sound booth.
Speaker 6 (18:31):
And at the end of the interview, Monica was like,
let Monica kept saying, the Lord is trying to tell
me something.
Speaker 4 (18:39):
The Lord is talking to me, and I was like okay,
and she was like, are you on your knees?
Speaker 6 (18:45):
And as it turned out, I was actually on my
knees because I was under my bed on I was
like this on my like not on my belly, but
on the pillow like this with the headphones on. And
I was like, yeah, I'm on my knees and she
was like, let's pray. So we prayed, and then after
what we were praying, she was like, stay the course.
And I was like, okay, yeah, I'm I got it.
(19:05):
I'm a stay of course. And she was like stay
the course and I was like, yes, stay the course.
And then she was like stay the course and I
was like, yes, Monica, I'm gonna stay the course. And
she kept saying stay the course to get me to
say stay the course, because what God was telling her
was to tell me to stay the course. Because I
was saying that the book was so hard that I
didn't want to do it anymore. And so at the
(19:27):
end we were chanting stay the course at the same time,
stay the course, stayed of course, Stay the course.
Speaker 4 (19:33):
So then when we finished saying stay the course. She
was like, all right, you're.
Speaker 6 (19:36):
Good, and I was like, I'm good, and she was like,
all right, if you need something, you got Melinda's number.
You call her and tell and tell her that to
get to me if you need something. And that's how
Monica's interview with came to forward because it was that how.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
Well.
Speaker 6 (19:54):
I also think the power of words and I think
the power of black women Monica was there when that interview.
It was so important because I literally had had a
conversation maybe within a week, telling my literary agent that
I wanted to give back the advance.
Speaker 4 (20:09):
I didn't want to do this book and look at it,
and look at it. It's so beautiful. It's so beautiful.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
I want to thank you so much for your time,
and I thank you so much for giving me your tongue.
Speaker 4 (20:22):
I want to thank you for the the never ending support.
Speaker 6 (20:25):
I want to thank you for creating places where black
artists can thrive and be exalted. I want to thank
you for still going. I know how hard it is
to be in a in in in the business, and
in the be in a black bookstore. So I just
want to thank you for all the things you're doing
for our community.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Thank you actually appreciate it. Tell the people who they
can find you.
Speaker 4 (20:44):
I'm Ourselvia s Redols.
Speaker 6 (20:45):
You can find me on Instagram a Marquie mark like
Marquee naming lights and.
Speaker 4 (20:51):
You can find me here.
Speaker 5 (20:54):
We will find autograph copy of all three of his
book that lead books both look and online. You can
find us on social media Elik Books and our podcast
Leak Bookshelf.
Speaker 3 (21:06):
Thank you so much Marcell.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
Malik's bookshelf bringing the world together with books, culture and community. Hi,
my name is Malik, and I'm standing by this dynamic
female who wrote a beautiful new book to just hit
the market just now. It's called The Diversity Dilemma, A
Survival GUD for Diversity and Inclusion good Doors.
Speaker 9 (21:36):
Her name is.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
Doctor dlay That and she's gonna tell you more about
this book. Why because she wrote the book. So I'm
gonna turn the mic over to her right now, because Hey,
she wrote.
Speaker 4 (21:49):
It, right I wrote the book.
Speaker 7 (21:52):
What an amazing introduction. I just feel so hyped and
blessed to be here at Malik Books. And I did
write the book because there is a diversity dilemma. A
lot of people, women, people from marginalized communities. We want diversity,
we want equity, we want inclusion, and we want justice.
So in the work that I do, we call that
(22:12):
the Jedi principles, like Jedi from Star Wars.
Speaker 4 (22:16):
Yes, I love the Jedi.
Speaker 7 (22:18):
I love science fiction, right, and some of the things
I talk about and I believe is true change is
an act of science fiction. And so I really work
at connecting like things that we are entertained by and
things that we see in our society to the real
work that we need to do, which is justice, equity,
(22:39):
diversity and inclusion. That's the Jedi work. And so in
the book, I talk about how I fired up to
do Jedi work. Fired up I was hired by the
top companies in the world to do this work, and
then I found myself in places that were not psychologically safe.
I found myself being armed, being aggress with aggressive people,
(23:04):
being microaggressed and macro aggressed and treated as a token.
And all that to say, I wanted to write this book,
especially for those people who I'm calling good doers, not
do gooders, but good doers. They're trying to do good.
They're trying to step up for their communities and make
(23:27):
a difference, and then they're they're like our forefathers before us,
that came before us. They're getting pressure. There is not
like the hoses and the burnings and the bombings that
we saw in the sixties, but it's these mental hosings, right,
It's the mental abuse that we receive when we're told, oh,
(23:51):
that's not important all we're tired of talking about race.
Oh you're gonna get fired. Oh you need to stay
in your lane. All these things that we hear every
day when we try to speak up for ourselves.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
So I'm assuming nothing has changed. It's just the game
is played different.
Speaker 7 (24:08):
I have to say something has changed. I have to
give our society credit, and I really think it's our
new generation coming up. They're a lot more tech savvy.
They they have access to books, they have access, yes,
they have access to information throughout the you know, intranet.
They're seeing things when our generation they have resources. The
(24:30):
generations before us they didn't have access the way this
generation has access, and because of that, they are challenging
the status quo. So I have to say there's been
more language around, you know, language like anti racism, inclusion,
knowing what a token is like there's certain words that
we didn't know what the heck those words were. Like
(24:51):
if what I was experiencing in the workplace was called
gas lighting, but at the time, I didn't know what
gaslighting was. Where I'm telling someone something's wrong and they're like, oh, no,
you just need to sit down. You just know it's
not an issue. You're imagining things, And I'm like, oh,
maybe I am imagining things. Let me go sit down.
(25:11):
And then now this generation is very determined to make
sure there's vocabulary and language that we can all use
to describe what we're feeling, what we're experiencing. And that's
powerful because, as you know, words and language are power.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
So in your position, you was speaking truth to power.
Speaker 7 (25:30):
Yes, I was attempting to speak truth to power, using
my truth, using my experiences. And I was often told
that people just weren't ready to hear it.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Well, they always say a person ain't ready, But the
reality is that those are authority and those who have power.
You're ready, and so why don't you implement it? Why somebody?
Speaker 9 (25:51):
Why you gotta hire somebody to come in and do
something that you could do yourself.
Speaker 7 (25:55):
You just summed up the whole book that is the dilemma.
Why are you asking me to help you one person
who's getting paid a fraction of what some of the
senior leaders are being paid. And then when that person,
usually a black woman, when that person is not successful,
(26:15):
they blame the failure of these programs on that person.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
Yes, they do.
Speaker 9 (26:19):
You know, we've seen it in sports. They brought Jackie
Robinson there.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
He had to take a lot of spitting and a
lot of bad words throwing at him, a lot of
hate throwing at him, but yet he persevered. But what
he had to do and doing it and the trauma
and all that he had to do, you know, in
order to integrate and diversified baseball, it's.
Speaker 7 (26:42):
Almost like you just become the sacrificial lamb.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
Well, you know, it's I'm excited that we have those
like you are in positions that are not afraid and
to challenge the normals and to make changes within because
you can't make a check to let you within.
Speaker 9 (27:01):
You know, I always say, you can't play the game
unless you win the game. So if you're on the
outside looking at the game, how you gonna make a change?
Speaker 7 (27:08):
Exactly? So, but I want to give you credit because
you're making a change as an entrepreneur, as an owner,
you're creating a whole table. So in corporate America we
talk about bringing a chair, bring a chair to the table. Well,
by the work that you do, you've created a whole table.
You've created a whole room without asking permission from you know,
(27:30):
corporations and other powers that be. He said, you know what,
We're gonna create our own table. We're gonna create our
own room. And this is what more of us, what
we need to do. So I'm so proud and I
admire the work that you're doing. Are you hiring?
Speaker 9 (27:45):
I really appreciate appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
Thank you, Thank you, and I'm sure that my audience
on Police's bookshelf is gonna love. I know this, someone
I'm gonna relate wholeheartedly. Damn positions of authorities is gonna
hear this. You know, and some people work in in
places that they can still make a different even though
they might not be a manager.
Speaker 9 (28:05):
Or supervisor, executive. But we can all do better whatever position.
Speaker 4 (28:10):
Than we in.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
So I want to thank you for taking the time
to speak to my honors on Malise bookshelf.
Speaker 9 (28:15):
Thank you, And if you could just tell the audience.
How they can reach you directly.
Speaker 7 (28:19):
Sure, so my name is spelled T like Thomas h
E la FLA. Last name is Thatch. T you like
Thomas h A t h. So just go to Thla
Thatch dot com. I am the owner of Thla Thatched Consulting.
I do HR and Equity Consulting. I'm an author and
I'm a professor at UWLA and Kelset University, Long Beach.
(28:43):
So you find me just google Thla Thatch And I
look forward to coming back to my leak books because
there's so many books in here I need to buy.
Speaker 9 (28:52):
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
Well.
Speaker 9 (28:58):
Welcome, welcome, walk to Malik's books. She'll bring in a
world together with books, culture and community.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
Another author just walked into Malik Books and you know
how listen, no one knows about that book better than them.
Speaker 9 (29:12):
I have Adrian Alexander.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
Yes, she wrote a book called Don't Touch My No No,
So I'm gonna turn it on over to her.
Speaker 9 (29:20):
She gonna break down this wonderful book. It's wonderful contribution
to our voice.
Speaker 7 (29:26):
Yes, thank you so much, Malik. I am excited to
be here. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 4 (29:30):
You know listen, y'all.
Speaker 10 (29:31):
First and foremost, if you ain't got it, if you
don't stay ready, you ain't gotta get ready. If you
stay ready, you ain't gotta get ready.
Speaker 7 (29:36):
If you stay ready, you.
Speaker 4 (29:38):
Ain't gotta get ready.
Speaker 7 (29:39):
Hello, I came in here.
Speaker 10 (29:40):
My name is Adrian, and Alexander's Malik said. I did
write a children's book. It's called Don't Touch My No
No Parts. And I wrote this book because kids are
being touched. You know, it's a very important topic. It's
a situation that we need to talk about that we're
not talking about enough. We have people out here that
would like to sweep this under the who act like
(30:01):
it's not happening. And so when I did this, of
course it's from experience, because it happened to me. And
it's so many people walking around here with unhealed trauma,
walking and you know, not dealing with the fact that
they were touched as children, not dealing with you know, oh, look, y'all,
just don't go around Uncle Charles, but really making sure
that Uncle Charles is getting the help that he need,
(30:22):
or you know, taking care of the things that need
to be taken care of, versus blaming it on a child.
And so when I did don't touch my no No Parts,
I did a male version and a girl version because
we know both boys and girls are being touched. And
so what it does it does talk about you.
Speaker 4 (30:37):
Know your no no parts.
Speaker 10 (30:38):
It shows you what your know no parts are. It's
a children's book. It's for ages like four to kindergarten elementary.
It does talk about the no no parts. It talks
about you know experiences, people offering you candy, people offering
you things to try to touch you, making you comfortable enough.
Because statistics show that most children who are physically assaulted
(31:03):
are touched by someone that they know, someone that they're comfortable,
someone that they're used.
Speaker 4 (31:07):
To being around.
Speaker 10 (31:08):
And so I needed to have the conversation to say,
regardless of yeah, regardless of how they try to tell you,
oh I might hurt you, I might hurt your family.
You know, if you tell somebody it's going to be wrong.
You know those things, but don't listen to that, Like
if they can tell you that, but even if they
tell you that, you still need to tell. We need
(31:29):
to empower empower our children with their voice to say
no and to tell and share their experience.
Speaker 9 (31:38):
Well, this is deep here me personally.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
I can relate to some of the things you said
because I wrote a chapter in a book called.
Speaker 9 (31:49):
The Heart of a Black Man, the Stories of Triumph
and Resilience.
Speaker 4 (31:55):
Yes.
Speaker 9 (31:55):
And my chapter is called from Devastation to Elevation.
Speaker 2 (31:59):
Yes. And I opened up and made myself vulnerable and
told my story. But it wasn't I was ten, but
I was touched by my babysitters. Now she was sixteen,
but I was ten, right, But nevertheless I was touched.
(32:20):
And I didn't know the impact that it had made
on me over my lifetime though, and how I've looked
at women, how I viewed women, and the and the
and the effect of being so young and thinking about
sex and how that affected me in a lot of
(32:40):
different ways.
Speaker 9 (32:41):
So I made myself a.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
Varna and told the world in my chapter about that,
and I think, you know, and I shared that, and
a lot.
Speaker 10 (32:49):
Of other men have come forward, and I think that
and not even think I know what's important, because men don't,
because you know, unfortunately we do.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
You coddle our.
Speaker 10 (33:01):
Girls and you know, make our boys like, oh you
can't cry, you can't you know, you shouldn't be affected.
You can't you know this stand the third and because
men don't know how to humanize their experience, because men
are so conditioned to being hard, to being strong, to
not being affected. And so as a five, six, seven, ten,
(33:23):
fifteen year old boy, because you know, even sometimes like
you're older, you're still being touched by people and it's inappropriate.
But because you're supposed to excuse it away or because
it's it should be okay, you don't tell anybody about it,
and you hold that in, you internalize it, and to
your point, it affects all of your relationships going forward.
(33:43):
Do you know how long they say it takes people
to heal children to heal from sexual trauma.
Speaker 7 (33:49):
I've never heard the stat thirty years.
Speaker 10 (33:52):
Wow, it takes children thirty years to begin to heal
from sexual trauma because people aren't getting help these children.
And then they are even children who do tell, but
people tell them they're lying.
Speaker 4 (34:08):
They don't believe.
Speaker 9 (34:11):
Every time she came over, Hey, I already knew she
was coming in the room.
Speaker 3 (34:16):
Wow.
Speaker 7 (34:18):
Wow.
Speaker 9 (34:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 10 (34:19):
See, And that's the thing, and it's like, you know,
it continues on and it becomes normal, you know, and
it's sexualizing things for children that shouldn't even be sexualized.
You know, it's like just at ten, Yeah, like at
ten years old, you're supposed to be playing your video
game or reading a book or outside running.
Speaker 7 (34:38):
The street, you know what I mean.
Speaker 10 (34:39):
Like, that's not something that you're supposed to be dealing with.
And because children are not mature enough to understand and
recognize what's happening to them as being bad, that's what
they do. And I want to take this moment too.
I would be remiss if I didn't No, No, No,
because I would be remiss if I didn't mention my
first children's book, which is called My Parents Have a
Drug Problem. And so I'm from Baltimore, Wow, And so
(35:03):
the books that I write, you know, obviously I'm coming
from a place of I was a child dealing with
these things and I didn't have anybody to talk to me.
And so it's like when you see something that's normal
every day, you don't know what's abnormal. And if your
house is if you're living with a parent, a guardian
that's struggling with addiction, if you're living in a house
(35:25):
with a parent or a guardian that's touching you, that's
normal and without the sense and the empowerment to say
I don't like this, this is wrong. Without the education
and the knowledge to say this shouldn't be happening, it
happens because it's all you know.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
You know, I always say this that in today's families,
you have a Christian, you have a Muslim, and I
say you have a crack right right, I would say
just about everybody the family has those three reality and
(36:06):
and you know, I don't say it in the derogatory
way because but it's addiction is something that's killing our families,
in our communities. I watch my mom pain in my family,
dealing with my sibling. I watch other people, families and
(36:29):
individual I.
Speaker 9 (36:30):
Know, deal with that addiction. This is a devast stating reality.
And I don't have all the answers, but some of
the answers you can find in a book, and you
can find it.
Speaker 1 (36:44):
You can find it.
Speaker 9 (36:46):
That belief author, Wow, I thought you had one, but
I know you got multiple.
Speaker 4 (36:53):
I do.
Speaker 9 (36:54):
And this has been a wonderful talk, short and sweet,
but powerful.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
Yes, tune in to Malik's bookshelf, bringing a world together
with books, culture and community.
Speaker 9 (37:07):
Tell the people how they can reach Yes.
Speaker 10 (37:09):
So don't touch my no no parts dot com.
Speaker 7 (37:11):
There's a website.
Speaker 10 (37:13):
You can go to my agency pagees www dot ipy
agency dot com and follow me on Instagram at I'm
promoting you.
Speaker 1 (37:20):
Why you being go?
Speaker 2 (37:22):
Thank you, thanks for listening to Malik's Bookshelf, where topics
on the shelf are books, culture, and community.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
Be sure to subscribe and leave me a review. Check
out my Instagram at Malik Books. See you next time.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
The Nikki Glaser Podcast
Every week comedian and infamous roaster Nikki Glaser provides a fun, fast-paced, and brutally honest look into current pop-culture and her own personal life.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.