February 17, 2025 • 44 mins
Cari reflects on the emotional impact of recent events, including Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl performance. Tamika D Mallory joins the conversation to explore the importance of emotional intelligence in activism, the need for strategic responses to political challenges, and the diverse ways individuals can contribute to social justice movements. The conversation emphasizes the significance of community action and the power of consumer choices in driving change.
In addition and in celebration of Mallory’s new book, “I Lived To Tell The Story” we discuss the journey of writing a memoir, Mallory expounds on how writing a memoir can be painful, but also a healing process, the complexities of trust and betrayal, and the significance of empowering narratives for Black women and the community at large.
Connect @CariChampion @TamikaDMallory
Read I Lived To Tell The Story By Tamika Mallory
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey, everybody, welcome back to the podcast. I appreciate you
all for being so supportive. What I mean by that
is that the fact that we got nominated for NAACP
Image Award is huge, and it to me means that
you see the work that we're trying to do. You
have been consistent, and the podcast is growing and growing
and growing. So I'm just saying thank you because I'm
(00:23):
overly grateful. I don't even know if that makes sense,
but you get what I'm saying. The other part of
today's I don't know monologue I want to I think
days later, even after the Super Bowl, we are talking
about Kendrick Lamar and what everything meant. And while we're
breaking it all down, this is why I ultimately believe
(00:46):
the take is at the end of the day, that
performance will we talked about and written about, and it
will go down in history, Black history, to be specific.
So whether you enjoyed it or not, for it to
have us in a choke hold, I to understand it
means one we're thinking outside the box. Two we're thinking period,
We're not just reading the headline and not the context
(01:08):
of the story. And then three we are thinking when
was the last time we have been entertained with thought.
I can't even I don't know, I do not remember
the last time. So I thank him for that, and
again shout out to Jalen Hurts. We are so happy
that he won. I know I was. It's been a
good Black History Month thus far, but I do know
(01:28):
that I'm going to share this with you. I have
been wrestling with, and I've said this last week. I
have been wrestling with not being too emotional in these times,
meaning when I have a platform and I am speaking
on things that are near and dear to my heart,
the intersection of sports, culture and politics. The super Bowl
(01:51):
was a perfect example of that. And when I am
on different shows like on CNN and they say talk
to me about the super Bowl and what that performance meant.
That is the wheelhouse where I like to live. But
it's hard for me not to be emotional when defending
certain choices that I know. I know why Serena was
crip walking, I know why Kendrick decided to create a
(02:13):
flag full of black men black people like I know why,
and for people to act like they don't understand where
we are in this country, that gets me highly emotional.
So what I have been working on and what I
think is important, and I'll share this lesson with you all,
is that you when being frustrated with the times that
we live in, or when people are polarizing, they're extremely
(02:35):
left or extremely right. For us to be heard and
for us to be organized and for us to get
through these these very uncomfortable times, we're going to have
to remove the emotion. Passion is fine. Being passionate is perfect.
Being passionate about what you believe in, and being hopeful
and wanting more for our existence in the culture perfect.
(02:57):
But emotion that doesn't allow you to hear what the
other person is saying. Emotion that irritates you, that provokes
you in a way that shuts you down, that's not
gonna help. I'm talking to myself. I'm really not talking
to y'all. I'm talking to myself. So we appreciate you
with that being said our guest today, and I'll be
all emotional. When I said it, I said, don't be emotional,
(03:17):
but today I might be. I lived to tell the story.
Tamika Mallory, y'all is on the podcast, and I'm excited.
I'm excited that we get to hear her story, sit back, relax,
and enjoy this edition of Naked Sports. Welcome to Naked Sports,
the podcast where we live at the intersection of sports, politics,
(03:39):
and culture. Our purpose reveal the common threads that bind
them all.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
So what's happening in women's basketball right now is what
we've been trying to get.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
To for almost thirty years.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
From the stadiums where athletes to break barriers and set records.
Katan Clark broke the all time single game assist record.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
This is crazy for rookies to be doing.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Our discussions will uncover the vital connections between these realms
and the community we create. In each episode, we'll sit
down with athletes, political analysts, and culture critics because at
the core of it all, how we see one issue
shines the light on all others. Welcome to Naked Sports.
I'm your host, Carrie Champion.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
Hey everybody, I'm Tamika D. Mallory.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
I am a social justice leader and a movement strategist.
I'm also the mother of a twenty five year old
young black man and a grandmother of a two year
old baby girl named Blair Hunter, and I fight every
single day for them. I want to see them grow
up in a world that protects them, that they're safe in.
(04:47):
And so I do what I do for me just
as much as I do it for you. Beautiful, everybody welcome.
I was beautiful. I wasn't even I just got a
little tingle right here in the midsection here. I was like, okay,
I feelitting my stomach. Everybody welcome to me.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Ka d Malory two Naked Sports going on. Thank you
for amazing, Thank you, You're very sweet. I appreciate it
as do you.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
I got dress stressed for you today. I was like,
we go ahead and brush my teeth every so often. No,
I was. I was very tight about you know, being
here on time and what looks right and what you know,
because they are those who deserve so much respect. And
(05:30):
that's how I feel about you. Thank you, and I
just I knew that by my intentional way of how
I was handling the day. And so it's an odder day.
It really truly is a thank you for saying that
I do. I we are in crazy times, if wild wild.
While you wake up every day you're like, this is wild,
this is wild, this is wild. I think there are
so many things that are being thrown at us that
(05:51):
it's hard for us to focus on one. I want
to talk to you about emotional energy. I find myself
struggling with relaying facts and removing emotion so that I
can think clearly this moment. We have a group of
people waking up to Donald Trump's new you know, executive
orders every day, and they're frustrated by it. How are
(06:12):
you handling this time?
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Yeah, so I just want to be clear that I
don't I don't remove my emotions from how I see
the world. I think, you know, I know that that's
a thing that everybody is online saying, we can't be
so emotional. It's very emotional for me to see our
country going in the direction that is going in. I
(06:35):
think that the way that I act after I've taken
in the information has to be done, you know, smartly.
It has to be that I really have a group
of people around that I'm able to talk through what do.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
We think is the next move? Should there even be
a move at all?
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Because this is a time of confusion, and there are
going to be moments where we will have an opportunity
to respond, and those things need to be done in
a different way because we're dealing with a president and
the real president, who I believe is Elon Musk, and
then you have the president's little homie, which is Donald Trump,
(07:12):
and you also have a trifecta, meaning that they are
controlling the Supreme Court, they're controlling Congress, They're controlling everything
around us.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
Right.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
They are now, unfortunately in a position of power that
does not allow for balance, and I think that's important.
So I'm not one of those people to say I
want the entire Congress to just be Democrats.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
I don't believe in that. I think there should be
a difference of thought.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
I think that we have to have different perspectives because
in this country, we've got people that come from all
different sides of the aisles, and we have people who
think differently, their experiences are differently, and I think that
there should be that type of representation, So let me
just be clear about that. Nonetheless, when you have a
situation where the majority of the power is one individual
(08:05):
group of people and folks that unfortunately don't stand up
for our issues, that's very, very scary, and it makes
me feel emotional, and I don't think that people should
run from that feeling inside, because that is what actually
gets us on a path towards doing something when you
(08:25):
are too stoic about what you see going on around you.
And I understand it's protective. Years it's protective. I'm not
going to lose my mind. But when we approach things
from you know, a perspective of you know, I'm just
detaching myself, that's really dangerous. And I also know that
there's a difference between how black women show up and
(08:48):
how everyone else.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
Responds, because that's four of the matter absolutely talking case.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Yeah, as a black woman, we feel things in our stomachs,
as you said, right immediate, immediately when things happen, it
hits us in our stomachs, and we do carry a
lot of deep emotions about the world right we always have.
In fact, it has been because of that deep intrinsic,
(09:17):
you know, feeling and intuition that we've been able to
be some of the most creative leaders in our society.
So I don't I don't, I don't get into the separation,
but I do think that the way you move has
to be after deep thought, after being able to talk
to people around who might be able to help you
see different perspectives. And you got to be smart about
(09:40):
your your your steps.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
I think the key there be emotional, because you're never
going to take that away. But you're saying sit with that, yeah,
before you at, before you at. That is where I'm at. Yeah,
the sitting with it part. I don't necessarily I'm ready
to be like but that's that's the way to be smart,
that's the way to organize. That's these are all like
(10:02):
I think every time I talk to someone about this issue,
they're like, well, what are we going to do? First?
Is taking care of yourself? I think, and that is
what we should do this. Yeah, be emotional, but sit
with it first. Like why am I feeling this? What
are we going to do? If you are in an
action plan? But I don't. I'm speaking for what I
hear every single day. Why does it feel as if
(10:23):
those that are democrats and I know you're not speaking
for Democrats, but those who could be fighting this opposition,
this administration, why does it feel as if they're silent?
Why does it feel as if they're just shocking off
even though I know all of that is true? Right,
what's next? Right?
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Well, I mean I think there's two things. They're not
all silent because we've been watching people like Jasmine Crockett.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Yeah, why does it feel that way to because we.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Want to see it, like the person speak out and
then there's something changes, And what's happening is that no
matter what people are saying, it is not actually slowing
down or stopping what we see coming from the White
House every day. And so that is it's hard to
reconcile that people are speaking out but they are not
(11:07):
in power, they're not now, and there.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Are things that they can do.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
But I do think that there we live in a
social media world, so we expect to see everything laid
out and you can't really plan what you're going to
do in a revolution step by step on the internet
in front of other people. So I would imagine that
behind the scenes. I know there are I mean, I'm
(11:33):
involved in some of the conversations, there are people who
are working really hard to figure out what are going
to be effective moves, not just you know, rallies and protests.
That's cool, but that's not going and I think people
should do that because there always has to be a
sounding of the alarm. The world needs to know that
(11:53):
people are not comfortable or accepting of what we see
in front of us, that we know what fascism looks like,
we know what sexism and racism looks like, and we
know when there's a danger to our society and something
that might harm our children and our children's children.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
We're talking about generational.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Issues that are being created in this moment, and many
of them are issues that our ancestors and people who
really put their lives on the line fought for for
us to be in a better space. And now we're
going backwards. So it's pretty it's what do I want
to say?
Speaker 3 (12:31):
It is?
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Yes, I want to say it's dangerous, but it is
also a time when you need to have strategy that
can't be uncovered in front of the world every step
of the way. So I would tell folks, we're only
a few months in. There's a lot of legal work
that's being done.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
I mean, just loads are the guardrails, right, Those are
the guardrails, and it has been helping us, and so
I would I'm sure we'll see more of those things happening.
But you've got to give peop people the opportunity to
sit back, watch the playbook, not respond to every single thing,
because a big part of what they're doing in this
(13:08):
moment is hitting, hitting, hitting, hitting, hitting, So you're.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
Kind of like all over the place. You don't know
which way to go.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
We have to do the sit back, watch it happen,
kind of get an understanding and then decide which things
are most important to us and where do we have
the capacity to fight and how can we actually win.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
We'll be right back in just a few moments. Hey, everybody,
welcome back to Naked Sports. Appreciate y'all still being here
with us. If I'm at home and I am a
hairstylist and I feel I not even use that example.
If I'm a stay at home mom and I feel
like I can't help, right, well you can correct. Your
(13:48):
fight doesn't look like your fight. Absolutely everybody's, everybody's commitment
to this, this actual fight that we're in looks different.
It's absolutely absolutely so. When we have someone like you know,
Tabitha Brown, no shade to her, jumps on and she says, listen,
here are my thoughts on where we're at, and you know,
(14:10):
and I want you to still keep I'm paraphrasing, still
be down with me and help me because I want
to send a different type of message that created an
entire division to boycott or not to boycott, right? And
I remember thinking the message is I understand by way
of background, some of you guys know about target, but
the messaging to me was like, why does it have
(14:30):
to be either or why does it what? I mean,
why does it have to be one or the other?
Why can't you just do what feels right for you
because that's your fight, that's what you want to do,
to commit to the fight.
Speaker 3 (14:39):
I think people are doing that.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
I think again, social media is not a full depiction
of what is happening in the real, everyday lives of
real people, people who are not even online. Right, We've
got a whole bunch of folks who the algorithm doesn't
even tell them a boycott is happening, right, So they
don't even know. They're making decisions based upon whatever feels
(15:03):
right to them, and they're not even being influenced by
just seeing everything online. Now, I would say that the
target issue is big enough. They probably has reached many people,
millions of people. However, there are some folks that don't
even have a cell phone that has the Internet on it.
So let's just be clear, because folks forget about a
(15:24):
whole bunch of people that might have access to a
Target or Walmart or something like that in their community.
But if anything expose the issues with access to online
services and all of that, it was the pandemic. There
were children who did not have a laptop, they didn't
have a cell phone, they didn't have any of that.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
To be able to log on.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
It was one computer that came from the school in
a child's home that the mother, the father, everybody in
the household and other children had to use. So we
have to also just be mindful that what we see
is a small small portion of all of our people
that are all across the country, and those people will
make the determination of how they feel and what they
(16:05):
want to do based upon that instinct, that feeling in
their stomach. Right and I and I, and it's in
my comment section. There are women who are like I
went into Target because I had to go to CVS,
or I had to get something, or maybe I forgot
about the boycott, or maybe I just decided I was
going to try anyway, you know, I was going to
follow those who have said come in and buy black products,
(16:27):
and they said, I just couldn't do it. I felt
sick and I walked out, and I mean literally, you
can go to my post about the boycott and read
women who are these these these people? And I think
I'm included in this. Maybe you are, or you a
person that went to Target.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Well, I know it wasn't. I yes, I love Target,
but it wasn't. It was easy for me to let
it go. I wasn't a sacrifice exactly.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
So I could spend two hours, maybe two hours, two
and a half hours.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
And that's why it's designed to do with people.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
Are saying four hours, okay, you know.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
So they found it as a safe space and they
really felt like, okay, Target is for our values. They're
standing with us. We know the commitments that Target made
very out loud. It was very bold. This happened after
the summer of twenty twenty, but even before that. People
really love Target. Now to see that they would make
(17:20):
these loud announcements about rolling back their DEI initiatives and
ending some of their programs that made them feel like
a safe space to people, They're gonna be folks that's
gonna say, you know, I got to support a brand directly,
I can't, I can't go in the store. And then
there are other people who are gonna say, I don't
(17:40):
even care if it's a black brand or not. Target
is my target, and I'm gonna go there. But let's
just put it all in perspective. The Montgomery bus boycott
took over three hundred days to get everybody on the
same page. I would say that they got everyone on
the same page earlier than that, but nonetheless it went
on for three hundred plus days.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Right, So people need to not be.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
So concerned with trying to force everything to happen at
the beginning.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
Things take time. You've got to educate people.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Folks have to begin to see less black folks in
the space when they walk in the door and start saying,
this feels different to me, what's going on? Let me
check in and figure it out. Oh, I've started supporting
black businesses. I didn't even know I could go to
this website and this website. I don't need Target. Oh,
I've learned there's a hardware store and a different type
of pharmacy in my community. And as time goes on,
(18:32):
you will begin to see more and more people move
towards wherever it is that we're ultimately going to end up.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
And it's also developing new habits because absolutely will.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
Right, But that's the biggest that's the biggest piece.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
There have been so many people to say to me, well,
why not target boycott this, this, this, this and this,
And I'm like, well, let's just be clear. Our generation
is not the boycott generation. We're big consumers, right, and
we are kind of like by because we do get
into these moments. We're like, I'm gonna buy black, I'm
gonna bang black, I'm gonna do you know these things.
(19:07):
And so what we're doing in this moment is sort
of getting people in the posture, getting your body, your mind,
everything ready to say we're gonna have to fight back
using the tools that are at our disposal. You can't
vote for a president again for four years, and the
midterm elections which is coming up in two years, and
it'll be here cricket, and you know, people need to
(19:27):
start saying they're gonna run for office.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Let's be clear, you can run.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
You can say I've got two years before folks will
walk in to vote for you know, their local elected officials,
and you can run. So people should be doing thinking
of that. But that's still two years from now. What
can I do today. Well, one thing I can do,
just one thing with one point eight trillion dollars in spending.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
The one thing I could do in this moment is say,
if you.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Make me feel uncomfortable, you disrespect me, or make me
feel like we ain't on the same page, I could
keep my money in my pocket.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
That's the one thing I can do. I'm going to
do it.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
And that a mother, a stay at home mom, she
can do that.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Yes you can. And you got a little time to
look around and see where else you can shop.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
You will not die with you Target, and I mean
you will not. I will tell you this. I'm in
deep with Amazon, but I'm pulling away. I mean deep,
I'm in deep Amazon.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
What it had I have not said it out loud
so that I don't frustrate. Correct so correct, correct failure.
Because you know how we are. You start being like, damn,
I fell off the wages. And but I notice, even
with my own habits, I'm like, actually, I could run
to this store. I'm on my way so and so placed,
and I've started, I've started to pull back on the
(20:47):
amount of things that I'm ordering from Amazon.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
You know, there there are people who and I want
to make sure we made clear distinctions. Because you were
very clear, do what feels right for you. There are
people who who say, well, if you're on and that
on that phase of Amazon and all the companies you
know that are rolling back their DEI programs, or you
feel like they are very supportive of this current administration,
(21:10):
whatever it is you feel, and you're against that, but
you're going to use social media. You're still gonna use
the Internet. And they'll say, well, you're being a hit.
That's hypocrisy, You're a hypocrite. You're using one without the other.
My philosophy on that, and I want to ask you,
as people decide what they will do and what they
won't do. I think if you can use social media
to your benefit to help to spread a message, then
(21:32):
why not use it.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
Well, well, first of all, the people who own these
big companies. And by the way, I'm a big supporter
of fan Base. I'm an investor. It is a black
owned social media company and with I holde a platform
and I hope that one of the things we do
is wile while we are building up new habits, is
to go get a fan base membership and get on
(21:57):
there set your profile up, start talking on there, working
your your your your magic on fan base right, doing
your thing there. Please do that to support our brother
Isaac Hayes. But more than that, to support ourselves because
it is an environment that was created by people who
look like us for us. So let's let's do that.
So fan base is number one. I would say this,
(22:20):
if you boycott your boots, your tights, your your bottom pants,
your shirt, your jacket, all of that, there no clothes on,
and most people are not going to do that.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
So it is the case of what about ism.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Also, it's it's how the art of confusion when you
start saying, well, why not this?
Speaker 3 (22:40):
Why not that?
Speaker 2 (22:41):
When not people know about this boycott because it's on
social media right like, it's spread and the stocks are
the stock numbers have been declining.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
So yes, I.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
Understand we could be off all these platforms, and I
don't disagree with you, and I think if that's what
folks choose to do, good, But let's just also understand
that if we take away everything we have, we will
be left with nothing else.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
And I and I don't.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
I don't I'm not going to start pushing that because
I know most folks are not going to do it,
and it's a failing strategy. Also, when people open up
their phone and they turn on Instagram or they turn
on Facebook, they don't see their bank account go down.
They don't see the direct correlation between you open up
(23:29):
your phone and then you lose money. And when they
go to Target, Walmart, these places that when they walk in,
they give their credit card and they know that they
are making a financial investment. Is there also a financial
investment for social media networks? Absolutely, they're using us, so
we should use them as well, right until we can't.
(23:50):
It's a mutual usage of one another. Right, And so
that's you know, I think that. And then last thing
I'll say on it is that I don't I don't
believe in stretching myself to the point that I can't
actually be impactful with one thing.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
Right. I used to do that.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
I do ten projects at one time and realize that
none of them were working as as good.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
They weren't.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
I wasn't as effective as I could be because I
was just doing too many things. But when I give
my all to that one thing, maybe I can change.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
I can make change.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
I can do something heavy when I really focus and
and and and now and and be intentional about one project.
So yeah, do we need to get to all these
other companies, Sure, But once we get ourselves disciplined enough
and use to make one company and we all see
what we were able to do together, it's going to
make it easy to say, well, let's go over here
and deal with X company that's doing something else.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
So smart, so smart, so smart. That's that's a good strategy.
As we've been talking about, so smart, let me do
one thing really really well. And since and since we
know how to do that one thing really really well,
we'll move on to others. We don't have to take
all these companies out on ones. That still doesn't make
me feel better about my Amazon purchases. I'm easing out
of it. I'm posturing. I'm posturing. I'm like, we're gonna
(25:10):
get my my wig glue, you know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (25:13):
The beauties of possible.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
I have to go to the but do they carry
that special one that that melts the lace directly into
the fork?
Speaker 2 (25:21):
You know that you should be doing, though, is go
in the store and tell them this is the one
I use.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
I wish you had. I have a social media following
as you do. I'm you know, I also have a show.
I will make sure that people know they can come
get this glue, get over here when you It's the
same thing with my book. I've been calling black bookstores like, hey,
my book is coming out. They're like, oh, let me order,
let me order some right now. They don't have every
book just automatically. You have to make an order. You've
(25:50):
got to learn how to communicate. We just have to
find get ourselves back to a place where we actually
communicate with business owners. We communicate with one another. Educate
folks on what's the good product? You think the beauty
sublastoy doesn't want to know what's the good one that
every kind of line.
Speaker 3 (26:10):
Everybody want to know about that glue.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
Where is the glue? Where is the glue? You that
is so smart? First and foremost, I'm hollering inside because
you want to know where the glue is. I gonna
tell y'all get it. No, But to your point, we
have to get back to where we used to talk community.
Where we are we And we had Ory Wood on
(26:34):
the show and he talked about his special which is
about being he's a comedian, lonely flowers and he's like,
and we are. So we're comfortable with being by ourselves. Absolutely,
we're comfortable with isolation. And to my point, changing our
habits to me, is going to be the hardest thing
to do in the culture for us to really show
that we understand that you are intentionally marginalizing us and
(26:55):
using words like woki and de I to say that
you don't want us here. We'll be right back in
just a few moments. Hey, everybody, welcome back to Naked Sports.
Appreciate y'all still being here with us. Kendrick Lamar's performance
(27:16):
to me, obviously, you know it hit the internet. I
want to get your thoughts on that hit the internet hard.
And it's not that it always is just on the internet.
But I went to the game. How is that the game? Oh? Yeah,
so in the arena we couldn't hear. It was made
for TV. We couldn't hear as well as we wanted to.
But it was so the visual was so impactful. I
(27:38):
knew that I had to pay attention, and I knew
that it was important, you know important. It felt very special.
What did you think when you saw that?
Speaker 2 (27:46):
M I thought at first, first of all, I just
knew it was powerful. I loved every bit of it.
At first, you know, I was kind of like, what.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
Song is this?
Speaker 2 (27:56):
Like, you know, so I'm in the I was in
the like trying to figure it out as it goes along.
But it was the second time I watched it that
it knocked me off my feet and I just was
And then I actually had the sound up as loud
as possible so I could really hear it and feel
it all. It was the first time I watched it,
I was in a restaurant, a really like a community
little restaurant. They had it down in a nice you knows,
(28:19):
into that and the people who were sitting next to
me happened to be white folks, and they were like,
what is this and what is going on?
Speaker 3 (28:26):
So I was all like, which song? And what is
he saying?
Speaker 2 (28:29):
But that second time I turned it up in my home,
I watched it and I was like, Wow, this man
did something extremely powerful. And I couldn't help but think
to myself that jay Z, you know, wow, like he
could have said, well, we got to change it up
a little bit. We need to add some different types
of people to the performances or whatever. But to allow
(28:50):
him to create a real Black History moment, super Black
History moment.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
It was really powerful.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
And then a lot of people even in my family
who I saw on Facebook immediately like what was I
don't know what the hell just happened? Sure, And what
I said to them was that art requires you to
look at it several times, to see it from different perspectives.
Speaker 3 (29:12):
That's okay, it's nothing wrong with you.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
Right.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
In fact, artists at times don't even want you to
get the point in the beginning, and so they layer
it so that you will have to continue to study
the piece in order for you to find all the gems.
And so it's okay. It doesn't make you dumb, it
doesn't make you, you know, an anti intellect, It doesn't
make you any of those things. It just means that
(29:35):
if you're interested in learning with the messages, you'll go
back and rewatch it, you'll re listen to it and
pick up all of the moments. Samuel Jackson's role is
incredibly powerful because he really sort of exemplifies what we
see happening in this moment, and just knowing the roles
that he's played in the past, like you can't separate
(29:58):
those things.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
You know he's been he was in Django, right, so.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
Like he and you know him, you know, and you
know that he loves black people, you know, is a
real thing. Yes, so he's.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
Storytelling in the midst of this performance. I thought it
was great. I thought it was beautiful. I thought Serena
was so fun. Oh, she was so cute and so fun.
I love the fact that Sissa, you know, I'm all
for but your booty shorts on shake shake, Shake shake,
I'm all into that.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
I believe you can work and work at the same time.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
So this is not in any way to say that
if if Sissa had been, you know, dressing something more revealing,
that I would have had a problem with it.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
I'm cool with it, no problem. But I love the balance.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
I love the fact that we can show that hip
hop isn't all about that, it's not all about being revealing.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
Sometimes you can have.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
All your clothes on and sing your ass off, and
that's exactly what she mean.
Speaker 3 (30:54):
So I love that it was different from what folks
are used to.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
It wasn't the jingle that everybody he's like, you know,
so excited.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
For that you actually had to think yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
And also I thought we taped an intro and I said,
at my core, I thought that this is wild. I
was like, it made everybody think instead of just breezing
past the headline looking at something for five minutes, it
made us all think. Because I had to go and
watch it, obviously, So we hopped in a car. We
car with a bunch of other I was in a
(31:26):
suite with a bunch of people who Ludacris was one,
you know he performed last year. Just a bunch of
people who were artists, and they all right away were like,
I need to process that again. Right. That was that
we know it's special. We didn't yea there may couldn't,
but it was like, and it was so impactful. I
think it's gonna really to me his kid. It'll be
black history. It will be in books. I think our kids'
(31:47):
kids will read about that. I also feel that way
about you.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
Oh thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
I always think to myself, that was.
Speaker 3 (31:55):
Such a sweet transition.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
It was true though, It's true. Mind. I was like
on the way here telling my friend about my podcast
today and I said, you know what, I've been so
incredibly blessed to be around people who I know, our kids'
kids will read about like this is not just this
is how back in the day when Maya Angelou would
be kicking it, you know, with with whomever she was
(32:20):
with all James Baldwin and her group of people, or
you know, Nikki Giovanni or you know when you know
that they were just they were just doing these conversations
and somehow, like you know, we stumble upon those gyms
right right, and you're definitely going to be.
Speaker 3 (32:34):
That well, you know, thank you for saying that.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
I just see myself as like a person who picked
up the baton and I'm working hard to pass it
along to someone else just a little bit lighter. And
so I don't ever really sit back and think to myself,
I'm going to be in history books tends the fact
that I had to write about myself just to make
sure that you know my work.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
And speaking of this book, I live to tell the story. Okay,
so where do we begin. You are very honest, it's
a memoir about I don't know if you want to
use this word your rise.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
I've been calling it a coming of age stories.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
Okay, Well, you arguably had a period of time where
you were and still are, but you were the leading voice.
People would come to you. You were speaking for the culture,
You were speaking for black people, and whether you thought
you were or not, you were speaking for us. And
people leaned on you as we do historically in our culture.
(33:38):
We need that, we need you. And then you talk
about and I don't know if the word betrayal is fair,
but there were of how you rise and then you
find yourself in this position and you're like, oh, it's
really not what it's meant to be. There are people
who are not happy to see me doing what I'm doing.
And then you have this this moment where you have
(33:59):
to really just yourself. You fight and struggling with your
mental issues, sadness, whatever it may be, depression, all of
the things that come, all of the things that come
being a leader people and feeling so isolated and then
fighting and bringing yourself out of that and sharing that
as a testimony for the rest of us, because that
is that story. Your story is not unfamiliar, your specifics are,
(34:24):
but like the story is it?
Speaker 3 (34:26):
That's right?
Speaker 1 (34:27):
And so thank you for being so honest and sharing
this what made you decide it was time to write.
Speaker 3 (34:31):
Well, you know other people saw this book in me.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
I can't even say that I woke up one day
and was like, I'm going to go write a book. Actually,
you know, I went through a whole process to how
I ended up with a book deal, because you know,
I have two books. State of Emergency was the first
one and this is the second one. But Charlemagne, to
his credit.
Speaker 3 (34:51):
Through his new publishing brand as Publishing Company, and he
definitely was like, you can do this, and I don't
even we don't even need talk back and forth about it.
Speaker 1 (35:01):
It got you later.
Speaker 2 (35:03):
Yeah, I was the first book on his imprint, State
of Emergency. This book we weren't one hundred percent sure about,
but after writing an outline, I was like, oh, there's
like eight hundred pages of content. Oh wow, I could
actually really do it. I could write a book. So
the entire team believed in me enough to help me
get through this process, which was not easy. It was
(35:25):
a painful process to open up those old wounds and
open up the chest draws that you stuff everything in
and close it and never want to really go back.
But I had to take some of that stuff out
and re examine it, and then I had to really
reflect on what are the lessons? And that's hard because
(35:46):
those lessons oftentimes are not identifying external things, external factors.
Speaker 3 (35:53):
But you got to do a lot of self assessment.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
And I think that's what this book gave me the
opportunity to do, which means it helped me grow even
you know, even as I wrote my own book, even
as my story is out in the world, I'm growing
from it. I'm healing from it, and so I truly
hope that a person who picks it up is going
to be like, Wow, as I read through this book,
I'm changed.
Speaker 3 (36:15):
In one way or another.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
Did you everyone who wrote who wrote their own memoir
said when someone that they wrote about reddit, whether it
be a family member or someone that was a colleague
that they worked with, they were very offended.
Speaker 2 (36:31):
Oh yeah, well, I don't know about offended. I think,
you know, my mom has expressed at some of it
feels uncomfortable to her.
Speaker 3 (36:39):
Oh, but that's my mama. That's what we do.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
She's gonna be the one to tell me if no
one else. But overall, I think my family they know
the struggles that I've been through, even the things that
I didn't tell them.
Speaker 3 (36:52):
I'm sure it hurts to see those things.
Speaker 2 (36:54):
But what I will say, is that they knew that
something was going on, and so now they just get
an opportunity to see the details. And is there will
there be even some healing for them in this Yeah,
for sure. But they're not pissed off if you will,
just like, wow, you really truly have been through a lot,
(37:17):
a lot of things we didn't know, Like my book is.
Speaker 3 (37:20):
You know, one hundred percent true.
Speaker 2 (37:22):
You know, It's like I went through this book several times,
and if I thought a detail was wrong or I
forgot something that drove me crazy.
Speaker 3 (37:30):
Now no one gets everything right. I was, you know,
I'm writing about when I was a little girl in
the thousand Projects.
Speaker 1 (37:35):
Yeah, of course I don't remember.
Speaker 3 (37:37):
I'm every little detail. You know.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
There may be some things that maybe are in the
wrong space.
Speaker 3 (37:43):
But this is the truth.
Speaker 2 (37:45):
It is my truth, and it is the truth, and
and so how can you really be upset about that
about someone telling this story. I changed the names of
people who did things to me that I know they
wouldn't be proud of.
Speaker 1 (37:58):
Oh wow, oh wow, good for you.
Speaker 3 (38:00):
I did that.
Speaker 1 (38:00):
Good for you. Oh wow, that's so gracious. Now see
now that's the way to be, Like, that's what I
want to be instead of Petty mcbetty like and being
like But so you you did that for also for
other reasons too, because you don't need.
Speaker 2 (38:13):
That Well yeah, I mean, obviously there's some legal things
challenges that you can face when you expose people. But
you know, like you said, I could have just been like,
I'm gonna throw it at the wall and just deal
with too when it comes.
Speaker 3 (38:24):
But I don't. I would hope that some.
Speaker 2 (38:27):
Of those individuals have grown up and realized that some
of the things they did when they were young it
was wrong, and you know, and if maybe if we
encountered one another, they might even apologize.
Speaker 1 (38:38):
You know, how bad did that hurt you? I when
you trust people, or when you think people you know
really are on the same page, and then you find
out that someone you you, you loved near and dear
to you, it's not they who they appear to be.
It happens all the time. But how do you and
it's not so much how bad I don't want to
(38:59):
know how much it hurt. I know how much that hurts,
But how do you regain trust? How do you decide
to do still pick up and decide this is what
I have been chosen to.
Speaker 3 (39:08):
Do well well.
Speaker 2 (39:10):
On a personal side, I would say that one of
the ways that I pick up and regain trust or
at least keep going, is to acknowledge that I'm not perfect,
that I also at times have shown someone that who
they thought I may have been, I'm not right because
we all, all of us fall short, every single one
(39:31):
of us, and so I have to remember that I'm human,
and you know, and I also have to remember that
you never know what people are going through or what
circumstances have been created that allow people to respond in
certain ways. So you know, it's a lot you got
to You gotta have grace, or you can have you
(39:51):
can be angry, that's okay too, but just remember that
you also are not perfect and you kind of got
to dig into that space in order for you to
be able to have, you know, be able to see
other people's humanity and their decisions.
Speaker 1 (40:04):
So, well, that's been give me a lesson. I feel
like you're talking about tell me to my face.
Speaker 3 (40:12):
I'm like, you know all humans.
Speaker 2 (40:14):
I know all humans, And sometimes you can dig deep
and be like, yeah, I did that, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (40:20):
It was wrong, Oh I did that.
Speaker 2 (40:22):
So you know that I would say that from a
personal perspective, But on the business side, those people who
I feel like have been have betrayed me or I
thought they would stand with me and they didn't.
Speaker 3 (40:34):
It hurt.
Speaker 2 (40:35):
It took me to a real, real dark place as
a result of all the pain. But I'm in a
better space now because I realized that I already probably
in my mind when I think back, I knew they
really weren't for me any damn way, and I try
to force relationships that they really weren't good for me,
and I knew that. I knew that I should have
(40:57):
kept them at you give. Whatever we need to do together,
we do it. But I don't have any expectation of you,
our expectations of people to show up and to be
you know, our saving grace and all of that. It's
pretty dangerous because you can absolutely, and this book shows you,
(41:18):
you can absolutely get your feelings hurt.
Speaker 3 (41:21):
So I've been there. I've done that many times many actually.
Speaker 1 (41:25):
Okay, if we didn't give y'all teaser to go and
get this book, you can order wherever you get your books.
You have to support you have to support this, and
I think it is a manual that everybody can relate to,
not just.
Speaker 3 (41:37):
Yet, but no, everybody. You know, there are people reading
the book.
Speaker 1 (41:41):
Now.
Speaker 2 (41:41):
I have a homeboy who's like a street guy, you know,
like he's like, you know, I don't know about reading
all these books and all this stuff. He's totally not
into that. Not to say the street guys don't read.
That ain't his thing. He's like, man, I'm out here,
I'm working, I'm you know, I'm.
Speaker 3 (41:58):
Outside, you know.
Speaker 2 (41:59):
And he he's reading the book and sending me details
like this and that and you said this, and I
remember this, and I record that. I got another homeboy
who doesn't even have time. He runs like so many
different businesses. Shout out to my boy, Aaron. He's reading
it and he's sending me details. Also, so black men
that come from different types of lives, you know, one
(42:22):
that's out in the projects every day.
Speaker 3 (42:24):
It works.
Speaker 1 (42:24):
So it's for everybody. Yeah, he's uptown, downtown, we in
the middle, yeah, yeah, business. Yeah, it's for everything.
Speaker 2 (42:31):
And of course black women. I hope that this book
is a love letter to you know, whatever what we've
been through is not the sum of our existence. And
we make it through so much and it's in these pages.
Speaker 3 (42:45):
So you know. I actually the cover of the book.
Speaker 2 (42:48):
Is my braids on one side and my bus down
on the other.
Speaker 1 (42:53):
Side, because we do both. We do both like this
and then we we do.
Speaker 3 (43:02):
Well.
Speaker 2 (43:02):
I wouldn't ye I designed it, but I came up
with the concept on my own, and it's really special
to me because it shows you the truth about who
I am. I can definitely do the corn rolls. I
could fight with stench, break and be outside.
Speaker 3 (43:17):
But I can be a girly girl too, and I
think we all have a bit of that.
Speaker 1 (43:21):
Right. Well, I'm glad you were chosen. Some have answered
the call, so thank you so much. I love to
tell the story. You guys gonna get that book. I'm
not playing everywhere, right everywhere, it's.
Speaker 3 (43:31):
Everywhere book can be so.
Speaker 2 (43:32):
But of course, support black bookstores as much as you can.
That's really important to me. And I would say, if
you're sitting somewhere and you don't know which black bookstore
to go to, Barnes and Barnes and okay.
Speaker 1 (43:44):
I didn't know. I didn't know that today today, years old,
Thank you, sir, Thank you.
Speaker 3 (43:52):
Of course. All Good.
Speaker 1 (43:55):
Naked Sports written and executive produced by me Carry Champion,
produced by Jacquevies Thomas, sound designed and mastered by Dwayne Crawford.
Naked Sports is a part of the Black Effect podcast
network in iHeartMedia
Hey, everybody, welcome back to the podcast. I appreciate you
all for being so supportive. What I mean by that
is that the fact that we got nominated for NAACP
Image Award is huge, and it to me means that
you see the work that we're trying to do. You
have been consistent, and the podcast is growing and growing
and growing. So I'm just saying thank you because I'm
(00:23):
overly grateful. I don't even know if that makes sense,
but you get what I'm saying. The other part of
today's I don't know monologue I want to I think
days later, even after the Super Bowl, we are talking
about Kendrick Lamar and what everything meant. And while we're
breaking it all down, this is why I ultimately believe
(00:46):
the take is at the end of the day, that
performance will we talked about and written about, and it
will go down in history, Black history, to be specific.
So whether you enjoyed it or not, for it to
have us in a choke hold, I to understand it
means one we're thinking outside the box. Two we're thinking period,
We're not just reading the headline and not the context
(01:08):
of the story. And then three we are thinking when
was the last time we have been entertained with thought.
I can't even I don't know, I do not remember
the last time. So I thank him for that, and
again shout out to Jalen Hurts. We are so happy
that he won. I know I was. It's been a
good Black History Month thus far, but I do know
(01:28):
that I'm going to share this with you. I have
been wrestling with, and I've said this last week. I
have been wrestling with not being too emotional in these times,
meaning when I have a platform and I am speaking
on things that are near and dear to my heart,
the intersection of sports, culture and politics. The super Bowl
(01:51):
was a perfect example of that. And when I am
on different shows like on CNN and they say talk
to me about the super Bowl and what that performance meant.
That is the wheelhouse where I like to live. But
it's hard for me not to be emotional when defending
certain choices that I know. I know why Serena was
crip walking, I know why Kendrick decided to create a
(02:13):
flag full of black men black people like I know why,
and for people to act like they don't understand where
we are in this country, that gets me highly emotional.
So what I have been working on and what I
think is important, and I'll share this lesson with you all,
is that you when being frustrated with the times that
we live in, or when people are polarizing, they're extremely
(02:35):
left or extremely right. For us to be heard and
for us to be organized and for us to get
through these these very uncomfortable times, we're going to have
to remove the emotion. Passion is fine. Being passionate is perfect.
Being passionate about what you believe in, and being hopeful
and wanting more for our existence in the culture perfect.
(02:57):
But emotion that doesn't allow you to hear what the
other person is saying. Emotion that irritates you, that provokes
you in a way that shuts you down, that's not
gonna help. I'm talking to myself. I'm really not talking
to y'all. I'm talking to myself. So we appreciate you
with that being said our guest today, and I'll be
all emotional. When I said it, I said, don't be emotional,
(03:17):
but today I might be. I lived to tell the story.
Tamika Mallory, y'all is on the podcast, and I'm excited.
I'm excited that we get to hear her story, sit back, relax,
and enjoy this edition of Naked Sports. Welcome to Naked Sports,
the podcast where we live at the intersection of sports, politics,
(03:39):
and culture. Our purpose reveal the common threads that bind
them all.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
So what's happening in women's basketball right now is what
we've been trying to get.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
To for almost thirty years.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
From the stadiums where athletes to break barriers and set records.
Katan Clark broke the all time single game assist record.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
This is crazy for rookies to be doing.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Our discussions will uncover the vital connections between these realms
and the community we create. In each episode, we'll sit
down with athletes, political analysts, and culture critics because at
the core of it all, how we see one issue
shines the light on all others. Welcome to Naked Sports.
I'm your host, Carrie Champion.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
Hey everybody, I'm Tamika D. Mallory.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
I am a social justice leader and a movement strategist.
I'm also the mother of a twenty five year old
young black man and a grandmother of a two year
old baby girl named Blair Hunter, and I fight every
single day for them. I want to see them grow
up in a world that protects them, that they're safe in.
(04:47):
And so I do what I do for me just
as much as I do it for you. Beautiful, everybody welcome.
I was beautiful. I wasn't even I just got a
little tingle right here in the midsection here. I was like, okay,
I feelitting my stomach. Everybody welcome to me.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Ka d Malory two Naked Sports going on. Thank you
for amazing, Thank you, You're very sweet. I appreciate it
as do you.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
I got dress stressed for you today. I was like,
we go ahead and brush my teeth every so often. No,
I was. I was very tight about you know, being
here on time and what looks right and what you know,
because they are those who deserve so much respect. And
(05:30):
that's how I feel about you. Thank you, and I
just I knew that by my intentional way of how
I was handling the day. And so it's an odder day.
It really truly is a thank you for saying that
I do. I we are in crazy times, if wild wild.
While you wake up every day you're like, this is wild,
this is wild, this is wild. I think there are
so many things that are being thrown at us that
(05:51):
it's hard for us to focus on one. I want
to talk to you about emotional energy. I find myself
struggling with relaying facts and removing emotion so that I
can think clearly this moment. We have a group of
people waking up to Donald Trump's new you know, executive
orders every day, and they're frustrated by it. How are
(06:12):
you handling this time?
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Yeah, so I just want to be clear that I
don't I don't remove my emotions from how I see
the world. I think, you know, I know that that's
a thing that everybody is online saying, we can't be
so emotional. It's very emotional for me to see our
country going in the direction that is going in. I
(06:35):
think that the way that I act after I've taken
in the information has to be done, you know, smartly.
It has to be that I really have a group
of people around that I'm able to talk through what do.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
We think is the next move? Should there even be
a move at all?
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Because this is a time of confusion, and there are
going to be moments where we will have an opportunity
to respond, and those things need to be done in
a different way because we're dealing with a president and
the real president, who I believe is Elon Musk, and
then you have the president's little homie, which is Donald Trump,
(07:12):
and you also have a trifecta, meaning that they are
controlling the Supreme Court, they're controlling Congress, They're controlling everything
around us.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
Right.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
They are now, unfortunately in a position of power that
does not allow for balance, and I think that's important.
So I'm not one of those people to say I
want the entire Congress to just be Democrats.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
I don't believe in that. I think there should be
a difference of thought.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
I think that we have to have different perspectives because
in this country, we've got people that come from all
different sides of the aisles, and we have people who
think differently, their experiences are differently, and I think that
there should be that type of representation, So let me
just be clear about that. Nonetheless, when you have a
situation where the majority of the power is one individual
(08:05):
group of people and folks that unfortunately don't stand up
for our issues, that's very, very scary, and it makes
me feel emotional, and I don't think that people should
run from that feeling inside, because that is what actually
gets us on a path towards doing something when you
(08:25):
are too stoic about what you see going on around you.
And I understand it's protective. Years it's protective. I'm not
going to lose my mind. But when we approach things
from you know, a perspective of you know, I'm just
detaching myself, that's really dangerous. And I also know that
there's a difference between how black women show up and
(08:48):
how everyone else.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
Responds, because that's four of the matter absolutely talking case.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Yeah, as a black woman, we feel things in our stomachs,
as you said, right immediate, immediately when things happen, it
hits us in our stomachs, and we do carry a
lot of deep emotions about the world right we always have.
In fact, it has been because of that deep intrinsic,
(09:17):
you know, feeling and intuition that we've been able to
be some of the most creative leaders in our society.
So I don't I don't, I don't get into the separation,
but I do think that the way you move has
to be after deep thought, after being able to talk
to people around who might be able to help you
see different perspectives. And you got to be smart about
(09:40):
your your your steps.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
I think the key there be emotional, because you're never
going to take that away. But you're saying sit with that, yeah,
before you at, before you at. That is where I'm at. Yeah,
the sitting with it part. I don't necessarily I'm ready
to be like but that's that's the way to be smart,
that's the way to organize. That's these are all like
(10:02):
I think every time I talk to someone about this issue,
they're like, well, what are we going to do? First?
Is taking care of yourself? I think, and that is
what we should do this. Yeah, be emotional, but sit
with it first. Like why am I feeling this? What
are we going to do? If you are in an
action plan? But I don't. I'm speaking for what I
hear every single day. Why does it feel as if
(10:23):
those that are democrats and I know you're not speaking
for Democrats, but those who could be fighting this opposition,
this administration, why does it feel as if they're silent?
Why does it feel as if they're just shocking off
even though I know all of that is true? Right,
what's next? Right?
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Well, I mean I think there's two things. They're not
all silent because we've been watching people like Jasmine Crockett.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Yeah, why does it feel that way to because we.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Want to see it, like the person speak out and
then there's something changes, And what's happening is that no
matter what people are saying, it is not actually slowing
down or stopping what we see coming from the White
House every day. And so that is it's hard to
reconcile that people are speaking out but they are not
(11:07):
in power, they're not now, and there.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Are things that they can do.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
But I do think that there we live in a
social media world, so we expect to see everything laid
out and you can't really plan what you're going to
do in a revolution step by step on the internet
in front of other people. So I would imagine that
behind the scenes. I know there are I mean, I'm
(11:33):
involved in some of the conversations, there are people who
are working really hard to figure out what are going
to be effective moves, not just you know, rallies and protests.
That's cool, but that's not going and I think people
should do that because there always has to be a
sounding of the alarm. The world needs to know that
(11:53):
people are not comfortable or accepting of what we see
in front of us, that we know what fascism looks like,
we know what sexism and racism looks like, and we
know when there's a danger to our society and something
that might harm our children and our children's children.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
We're talking about generational.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Issues that are being created in this moment, and many
of them are issues that our ancestors and people who
really put their lives on the line fought for for
us to be in a better space. And now we're
going backwards. So it's pretty it's what do I want
to say?
Speaker 3 (12:31):
It is?
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Yes, I want to say it's dangerous, but it is
also a time when you need to have strategy that
can't be uncovered in front of the world every step
of the way. So I would tell folks, we're only
a few months in. There's a lot of legal work
that's being done.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
I mean, just loads are the guardrails, right, Those are
the guardrails, and it has been helping us, and so
I would I'm sure we'll see more of those things happening.
But you've got to give peop people the opportunity to
sit back, watch the playbook, not respond to every single thing,
because a big part of what they're doing in this
(13:08):
moment is hitting, hitting, hitting, hitting, hitting, So you're.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
Kind of like all over the place. You don't know
which way to go.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
We have to do the sit back, watch it happen,
kind of get an understanding and then decide which things
are most important to us and where do we have
the capacity to fight and how can we actually win.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
We'll be right back in just a few moments. Hey, everybody,
welcome back to Naked Sports. Appreciate y'all still being here
with us. If I'm at home and I am a
hairstylist and I feel I not even use that example.
If I'm a stay at home mom and I feel
like I can't help, right, well you can correct. Your
(13:48):
fight doesn't look like your fight. Absolutely everybody's, everybody's commitment
to this, this actual fight that we're in looks different.
It's absolutely absolutely so. When we have someone like you know,
Tabitha Brown, no shade to her, jumps on and she says, listen,
here are my thoughts on where we're at, and you know,
(14:10):
and I want you to still keep I'm paraphrasing, still
be down with me and help me because I want
to send a different type of message that created an
entire division to boycott or not to boycott, right? And
I remember thinking the message is I understand by way
of background, some of you guys know about target, but
the messaging to me was like, why does it have
(14:30):
to be either or why does it what? I mean,
why does it have to be one or the other?
Why can't you just do what feels right for you
because that's your fight, that's what you want to do,
to commit to the fight.
Speaker 3 (14:39):
I think people are doing that.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
I think again, social media is not a full depiction
of what is happening in the real, everyday lives of
real people, people who are not even online. Right, We've
got a whole bunch of folks who the algorithm doesn't
even tell them a boycott is happening, right, So they
don't even know. They're making decisions based upon whatever feels
(15:03):
right to them, and they're not even being influenced by
just seeing everything online. Now, I would say that the
target issue is big enough. They probably has reached many people,
millions of people. However, there are some folks that don't
even have a cell phone that has the Internet on it.
So let's just be clear, because folks forget about a
(15:24):
whole bunch of people that might have access to a
Target or Walmart or something like that in their community.
But if anything expose the issues with access to online
services and all of that, it was the pandemic. There
were children who did not have a laptop, they didn't
have a cell phone, they didn't have any of that.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
To be able to log on.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
It was one computer that came from the school in
a child's home that the mother, the father, everybody in
the household and other children had to use. So we
have to also just be mindful that what we see
is a small small portion of all of our people
that are all across the country, and those people will
make the determination of how they feel and what they
(16:05):
want to do based upon that instinct, that feeling in
their stomach. Right and I and I, and it's in
my comment section. There are women who are like I
went into Target because I had to go to CVS,
or I had to get something, or maybe I forgot
about the boycott, or maybe I just decided I was
going to try anyway, you know, I was going to
follow those who have said come in and buy black products,
(16:27):
and they said, I just couldn't do it. I felt
sick and I walked out, and I mean literally, you
can go to my post about the boycott and read
women who are these these these people? And I think
I'm included in this. Maybe you are, or you a
person that went to Target.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Well, I know it wasn't. I yes, I love Target,
but it wasn't. It was easy for me to let
it go. I wasn't a sacrifice exactly.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
So I could spend two hours, maybe two hours, two
and a half hours.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
And that's why it's designed to do with people.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
Are saying four hours, okay, you know.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
So they found it as a safe space and they
really felt like, okay, Target is for our values. They're
standing with us. We know the commitments that Target made
very out loud. It was very bold. This happened after
the summer of twenty twenty, but even before that. People
really love Target. Now to see that they would make
(17:20):
these loud announcements about rolling back their DEI initiatives and
ending some of their programs that made them feel like
a safe space to people, They're gonna be folks that's
gonna say, you know, I got to support a brand directly,
I can't, I can't go in the store. And then
there are other people who are gonna say, I don't
(17:40):
even care if it's a black brand or not. Target
is my target, and I'm gonna go there. But let's
just put it all in perspective. The Montgomery bus boycott
took over three hundred days to get everybody on the
same page. I would say that they got everyone on
the same page earlier than that, but nonetheless it went
on for three hundred plus days.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Right, So people need to not be.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
So concerned with trying to force everything to happen at
the beginning.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
Things take time. You've got to educate people.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Folks have to begin to see less black folks in
the space when they walk in the door and start saying,
this feels different to me, what's going on? Let me
check in and figure it out. Oh, I've started supporting
black businesses. I didn't even know I could go to
this website and this website. I don't need Target. Oh,
I've learned there's a hardware store and a different type
of pharmacy in my community. And as time goes on,
(18:32):
you will begin to see more and more people move
towards wherever it is that we're ultimately going to end up.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
And it's also developing new habits because absolutely will.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
Right, But that's the biggest that's the biggest piece.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
There have been so many people to say to me, well,
why not target boycott this, this, this, this and this,
And I'm like, well, let's just be clear. Our generation
is not the boycott generation. We're big consumers, right, and
we are kind of like by because we do get
into these moments. We're like, I'm gonna buy black, I'm
gonna bang black, I'm gonna do you know these things.
(19:07):
And so what we're doing in this moment is sort
of getting people in the posture, getting your body, your mind,
everything ready to say we're gonna have to fight back
using the tools that are at our disposal. You can't
vote for a president again for four years, and the
midterm elections which is coming up in two years, and
it'll be here cricket, and you know, people need to
(19:27):
start saying they're gonna run for office.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Let's be clear, you can run.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
You can say I've got two years before folks will
walk in to vote for you know, their local elected officials,
and you can run. So people should be doing thinking
of that. But that's still two years from now. What
can I do today. Well, one thing I can do,
just one thing with one point eight trillion dollars in spending.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
The one thing I could do in this moment is say,
if you.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Make me feel uncomfortable, you disrespect me, or make me
feel like we ain't on the same page, I could
keep my money in my pocket.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
That's the one thing I can do. I'm going to
do it.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
And that a mother, a stay at home mom, she
can do that.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Yes you can. And you got a little time to
look around and see where else you can shop.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
You will not die with you Target, and I mean
you will not. I will tell you this. I'm in
deep with Amazon, but I'm pulling away. I mean deep,
I'm in deep Amazon.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
What it had I have not said it out loud
so that I don't frustrate. Correct so correct, correct failure.
Because you know how we are. You start being like, damn,
I fell off the wages. And but I notice, even
with my own habits, I'm like, actually, I could run
to this store. I'm on my way so and so placed,
and I've started, I've started to pull back on the
(20:47):
amount of things that I'm ordering from Amazon.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
You know, there there are people who and I want
to make sure we made clear distinctions. Because you were
very clear, do what feels right for you. There are
people who who say, well, if you're on and that
on that phase of Amazon and all the companies you
know that are rolling back their DEI programs, or you
feel like they are very supportive of this current administration,
(21:10):
whatever it is you feel, and you're against that, but
you're going to use social media. You're still gonna use
the Internet. And they'll say, well, you're being a hit.
That's hypocrisy, You're a hypocrite. You're using one without the other.
My philosophy on that, and I want to ask you,
as people decide what they will do and what they
won't do. I think if you can use social media
to your benefit to help to spread a message, then
(21:32):
why not use it.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
Well, well, first of all, the people who own these
big companies. And by the way, I'm a big supporter
of fan Base. I'm an investor. It is a black
owned social media company and with I holde a platform
and I hope that one of the things we do
is wile while we are building up new habits, is
to go get a fan base membership and get on
(21:57):
there set your profile up, start talking on there, working
your your your your magic on fan base right, doing
your thing there. Please do that to support our brother
Isaac Hayes. But more than that, to support ourselves because
it is an environment that was created by people who
look like us for us. So let's let's do that.
So fan base is number one. I would say this,
(22:20):
if you boycott your boots, your tights, your your bottom pants,
your shirt, your jacket, all of that, there no clothes on,
and most people are not going to do that.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
So it is the case of what about ism.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Also, it's it's how the art of confusion when you
start saying, well, why not this?
Speaker 3 (22:40):
Why not that?
Speaker 2 (22:41):
When not people know about this boycott because it's on
social media right like, it's spread and the stocks are
the stock numbers have been declining.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
So yes, I.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
Understand we could be off all these platforms, and I
don't disagree with you, and I think if that's what
folks choose to do, good, But let's just also understand
that if we take away everything we have, we will
be left with nothing else.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
And I and I don't.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
I don't I'm not going to start pushing that because
I know most folks are not going to do it,
and it's a failing strategy. Also, when people open up
their phone and they turn on Instagram or they turn
on Facebook, they don't see their bank account go down.
They don't see the direct correlation between you open up
(23:29):
your phone and then you lose money. And when they
go to Target, Walmart, these places that when they walk in,
they give their credit card and they know that they
are making a financial investment. Is there also a financial
investment for social media networks? Absolutely, they're using us, so
we should use them as well, right until we can't.
(23:50):
It's a mutual usage of one another. Right, And so
that's you know, I think that. And then last thing
I'll say on it is that I don't I don't
believe in stretching myself to the point that I can't
actually be impactful with one thing.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
Right. I used to do that.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
I do ten projects at one time and realize that
none of them were working as as good.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
They weren't.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
I wasn't as effective as I could be because I
was just doing too many things. But when I give
my all to that one thing, maybe I can change.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
I can make change.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
I can do something heavy when I really focus and
and and and now and and be intentional about one project.
So yeah, do we need to get to all these
other companies, Sure, But once we get ourselves disciplined enough
and use to make one company and we all see
what we were able to do together, it's going to
make it easy to say, well, let's go over here
and deal with X company that's doing something else.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
So smart, so smart, so smart. That's that's a good strategy.
As we've been talking about, so smart, let me do
one thing really really well. And since and since we
know how to do that one thing really really well,
we'll move on to others. We don't have to take
all these companies out on ones. That still doesn't make
me feel better about my Amazon purchases. I'm easing out
of it. I'm posturing. I'm posturing. I'm like, we're gonna
(25:10):
get my my wig glue, you know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (25:13):
The beauties of possible.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
I have to go to the but do they carry
that special one that that melts the lace directly into
the fork?
Speaker 2 (25:21):
You know that you should be doing, though, is go
in the store and tell them this is the one
I use.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
I wish you had. I have a social media following
as you do. I'm you know, I also have a show.
I will make sure that people know they can come
get this glue, get over here when you It's the
same thing with my book. I've been calling black bookstores like, hey,
my book is coming out. They're like, oh, let me order,
let me order some right now. They don't have every
book just automatically. You have to make an order. You've
(25:50):
got to learn how to communicate. We just have to
find get ourselves back to a place where we actually
communicate with business owners. We communicate with one another. Educate
folks on what's the good product? You think the beauty
sublastoy doesn't want to know what's the good one that
every kind of line.
Speaker 3 (26:10):
Everybody want to know about that glue.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
Where is the glue? Where is the glue? You that
is so smart? First and foremost, I'm hollering inside because
you want to know where the glue is. I gonna
tell y'all get it. No, But to your point, we
have to get back to where we used to talk community.
Where we are we And we had Ory Wood on
(26:34):
the show and he talked about his special which is
about being he's a comedian, lonely flowers and he's like,
and we are. So we're comfortable with being by ourselves. Absolutely,
we're comfortable with isolation. And to my point, changing our
habits to me, is going to be the hardest thing
to do in the culture for us to really show
that we understand that you are intentionally marginalizing us and
(26:55):
using words like woki and de I to say that
you don't want us here. We'll be right back in
just a few moments. Hey, everybody, welcome back to Naked Sports.
Appreciate y'all still being here with us. Kendrick Lamar's performance
(27:16):
to me, obviously, you know it hit the internet. I
want to get your thoughts on that hit the internet hard.
And it's not that it always is just on the internet.
But I went to the game. How is that the game? Oh? Yeah,
so in the arena we couldn't hear. It was made
for TV. We couldn't hear as well as we wanted to.
But it was so the visual was so impactful. I
(27:38):
knew that I had to pay attention, and I knew
that it was important, you know important. It felt very special.
What did you think when you saw that?
Speaker 2 (27:46):
M I thought at first, first of all, I just
knew it was powerful. I loved every bit of it.
At first, you know, I was kind of like, what.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
Song is this?
Speaker 2 (27:56):
Like, you know, so I'm in the I was in
the like trying to figure it out as it goes along.
But it was the second time I watched it that
it knocked me off my feet and I just was
And then I actually had the sound up as loud
as possible so I could really hear it and feel
it all. It was the first time I watched it,
I was in a restaurant, a really like a community
little restaurant. They had it down in a nice you knows,
(28:19):
into that and the people who were sitting next to
me happened to be white folks, and they were like,
what is this and what is going on?
Speaker 3 (28:26):
So I was all like, which song? And what is
he saying?
Speaker 2 (28:29):
But that second time I turned it up in my home,
I watched it and I was like, Wow, this man
did something extremely powerful. And I couldn't help but think
to myself that jay Z, you know, wow, like he
could have said, well, we got to change it up
a little bit. We need to add some different types
of people to the performances or whatever. But to allow
(28:50):
him to create a real Black History moment, super Black
History moment.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
It was really powerful.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
And then a lot of people even in my family
who I saw on Facebook immediately like what was I
don't know what the hell just happened? Sure, And what
I said to them was that art requires you to
look at it several times, to see it from different perspectives.
Speaker 3 (29:12):
That's okay, it's nothing wrong with you.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
Right.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
In fact, artists at times don't even want you to
get the point in the beginning, and so they layer
it so that you will have to continue to study
the piece in order for you to find all the gems.
And so it's okay. It doesn't make you dumb, it
doesn't make you, you know, an anti intellect, It doesn't
make you any of those things. It just means that
(29:35):
if you're interested in learning with the messages, you'll go
back and rewatch it, you'll re listen to it and
pick up all of the moments. Samuel Jackson's role is
incredibly powerful because he really sort of exemplifies what we
see happening in this moment, and just knowing the roles
that he's played in the past, like you can't separate
(29:58):
those things.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
You know he's been he was in Django, right, so.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
Like he and you know him, you know, and you
know that he loves black people, you know, is a
real thing. Yes, so he's.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
Storytelling in the midst of this performance. I thought it
was great. I thought it was beautiful. I thought Serena
was so fun. Oh, she was so cute and so fun.
I love the fact that Sissa, you know, I'm all
for but your booty shorts on shake shake, Shake shake,
I'm all into that.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
I believe you can work and work at the same time.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
So this is not in any way to say that
if if Sissa had been, you know, dressing something more revealing,
that I would have had a problem with it.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
I'm cool with it, no problem. But I love the balance.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
I love the fact that we can show that hip
hop isn't all about that, it's not all about being revealing.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
Sometimes you can have.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
All your clothes on and sing your ass off, and
that's exactly what she mean.
Speaker 3 (30:54):
So I love that it was different from what folks
are used to.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
It wasn't the jingle that everybody he's like, you know,
so excited.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
For that you actually had to think yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
And also I thought we taped an intro and I said,
at my core, I thought that this is wild. I
was like, it made everybody think instead of just breezing
past the headline looking at something for five minutes, it
made us all think. Because I had to go and
watch it, obviously, So we hopped in a car. We
car with a bunch of other I was in a
(31:26):
suite with a bunch of people who Ludacris was one,
you know he performed last year. Just a bunch of
people who were artists, and they all right away were like,
I need to process that again. Right. That was that
we know it's special. We didn't yea there may couldn't,
but it was like, and it was so impactful. I
think it's gonna really to me his kid. It'll be
black history. It will be in books. I think our kids'
(31:47):
kids will read about that. I also feel that way
about you.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
Oh thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
I always think to myself, that was.
Speaker 3 (31:55):
Such a sweet transition.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
It was true though, It's true. Mind. I was like
on the way here telling my friend about my podcast
today and I said, you know what, I've been so
incredibly blessed to be around people who I know, our kids'
kids will read about like this is not just this
is how back in the day when Maya Angelou would
be kicking it, you know, with with whomever she was
(32:20):
with all James Baldwin and her group of people, or
you know, Nikki Giovanni or you know when you know
that they were just they were just doing these conversations
and somehow, like you know, we stumble upon those gyms
right right, and you're definitely going to be.
Speaker 3 (32:34):
That well, you know, thank you for saying that.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
I just see myself as like a person who picked
up the baton and I'm working hard to pass it
along to someone else just a little bit lighter. And
so I don't ever really sit back and think to myself,
I'm going to be in history books tends the fact
that I had to write about myself just to make
sure that you know my work.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
And speaking of this book, I live to tell the story. Okay,
so where do we begin. You are very honest, it's
a memoir about I don't know if you want to
use this word your rise.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
I've been calling it a coming of age stories.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
Okay, Well, you arguably had a period of time where
you were and still are, but you were the leading voice.
People would come to you. You were speaking for the culture,
You were speaking for black people, and whether you thought
you were or not, you were speaking for us. And
people leaned on you as we do historically in our culture.
(33:38):
We need that, we need you. And then you talk
about and I don't know if the word betrayal is fair,
but there were of how you rise and then you
find yourself in this position and you're like, oh, it's
really not what it's meant to be. There are people
who are not happy to see me doing what I'm doing.
And then you have this this moment where you have
(33:59):
to really just yourself. You fight and struggling with your
mental issues, sadness, whatever it may be, depression, all of
the things that come, all of the things that come
being a leader people and feeling so isolated and then
fighting and bringing yourself out of that and sharing that
as a testimony for the rest of us, because that
is that story. Your story is not unfamiliar, your specifics are,
(34:24):
but like the story is it?
Speaker 3 (34:26):
That's right?
Speaker 1 (34:27):
And so thank you for being so honest and sharing
this what made you decide it was time to write.
Speaker 3 (34:31):
Well, you know other people saw this book in me.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
I can't even say that I woke up one day
and was like, I'm going to go write a book. Actually,
you know, I went through a whole process to how
I ended up with a book deal, because you know,
I have two books. State of Emergency was the first
one and this is the second one. But Charlemagne, to
his credit.
Speaker 3 (34:51):
Through his new publishing brand as Publishing Company, and he
definitely was like, you can do this, and I don't
even we don't even need talk back and forth about it.
Speaker 1 (35:01):
It got you later.
Speaker 2 (35:03):
Yeah, I was the first book on his imprint, State
of Emergency. This book we weren't one hundred percent sure about,
but after writing an outline, I was like, oh, there's
like eight hundred pages of content. Oh wow, I could
actually really do it. I could write a book. So
the entire team believed in me enough to help me
get through this process, which was not easy. It was
(35:25):
a painful process to open up those old wounds and
open up the chest draws that you stuff everything in
and close it and never want to really go back.
But I had to take some of that stuff out
and re examine it, and then I had to really
reflect on what are the lessons? And that's hard because
(35:46):
those lessons oftentimes are not identifying external things, external factors.
Speaker 3 (35:53):
But you got to do a lot of self assessment.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
And I think that's what this book gave me the
opportunity to do, which means it helped me grow even
you know, even as I wrote my own book, even
as my story is out in the world, I'm growing
from it. I'm healing from it, and so I truly
hope that a person who picks it up is going
to be like, Wow, as I read through this book,
I'm changed.
Speaker 3 (36:15):
In one way or another.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
Did you everyone who wrote who wrote their own memoir
said when someone that they wrote about reddit, whether it
be a family member or someone that was a colleague
that they worked with, they were very offended.
Speaker 2 (36:31):
Oh yeah, well, I don't know about offended. I think,
you know, my mom has expressed at some of it
feels uncomfortable to her.
Speaker 3 (36:39):
Oh, but that's my mama. That's what we do.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
She's gonna be the one to tell me if no
one else. But overall, I think my family they know
the struggles that I've been through, even the things that
I didn't tell them.
Speaker 3 (36:52):
I'm sure it hurts to see those things.
Speaker 2 (36:54):
But what I will say, is that they knew that
something was going on, and so now they just get
an opportunity to see the details. And is there will
there be even some healing for them in this Yeah,
for sure. But they're not pissed off if you will,
just like, wow, you really truly have been through a lot,
(37:17):
a lot of things we didn't know, Like my book is.
Speaker 3 (37:20):
You know, one hundred percent true.
Speaker 2 (37:22):
You know, It's like I went through this book several times,
and if I thought a detail was wrong or I
forgot something that drove me crazy.
Speaker 3 (37:30):
Now no one gets everything right. I was, you know,
I'm writing about when I was a little girl in
the thousand Projects.
Speaker 1 (37:35):
Yeah, of course I don't remember.
Speaker 3 (37:37):
I'm every little detail. You know.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
There may be some things that maybe are in the
wrong space.
Speaker 3 (37:43):
But this is the truth.
Speaker 2 (37:45):
It is my truth, and it is the truth, and
and so how can you really be upset about that
about someone telling this story. I changed the names of
people who did things to me that I know they
wouldn't be proud of.
Speaker 1 (37:58):
Oh wow, oh wow, good for you.
Speaker 3 (38:00):
I did that.
Speaker 1 (38:00):
Good for you. Oh wow, that's so gracious. Now see
now that's the way to be, Like, that's what I
want to be instead of Petty mcbetty like and being
like But so you you did that for also for
other reasons too, because you don't need.
Speaker 2 (38:13):
That Well yeah, I mean, obviously there's some legal things
challenges that you can face when you expose people. But
you know, like you said, I could have just been like,
I'm gonna throw it at the wall and just deal
with too when it comes.
Speaker 3 (38:24):
But I don't. I would hope that some.
Speaker 2 (38:27):
Of those individuals have grown up and realized that some
of the things they did when they were young it
was wrong, and you know, and if maybe if we
encountered one another, they might even apologize.
Speaker 1 (38:38):
You know, how bad did that hurt you? I when
you trust people, or when you think people you know
really are on the same page, and then you find
out that someone you you, you loved near and dear
to you, it's not they who they appear to be.
It happens all the time. But how do you and
it's not so much how bad I don't want to
(38:59):
know how much it hurt. I know how much that hurts,
But how do you regain trust? How do you decide
to do still pick up and decide this is what
I have been chosen to.
Speaker 3 (39:08):
Do well well.
Speaker 2 (39:10):
On a personal side, I would say that one of
the ways that I pick up and regain trust or
at least keep going, is to acknowledge that I'm not perfect,
that I also at times have shown someone that who
they thought I may have been, I'm not right because
we all, all of us fall short, every single one
(39:31):
of us, and so I have to remember that I'm human,
and you know, and I also have to remember that
you never know what people are going through or what
circumstances have been created that allow people to respond in
certain ways. So you know, it's a lot you got
to You gotta have grace, or you can have you
(39:51):
can be angry, that's okay too, but just remember that
you also are not perfect and you kind of got
to dig into that space in order for you to
be able to have, you know, be able to see
other people's humanity and their decisions.
Speaker 1 (40:04):
So, well, that's been give me a lesson. I feel
like you're talking about tell me to my face.
Speaker 3 (40:12):
I'm like, you know all humans.
Speaker 2 (40:14):
I know all humans, And sometimes you can dig deep
and be like, yeah, I did that, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (40:20):
It was wrong, Oh I did that.
Speaker 2 (40:22):
So you know that I would say that from a
personal perspective, But on the business side, those people who
I feel like have been have betrayed me or I
thought they would stand with me and they didn't.
Speaker 3 (40:34):
It hurt.
Speaker 2 (40:35):
It took me to a real, real dark place as
a result of all the pain. But I'm in a
better space now because I realized that I already probably
in my mind when I think back, I knew they
really weren't for me any damn way, and I try
to force relationships that they really weren't good for me,
and I knew that. I knew that I should have
(40:57):
kept them at you give. Whatever we need to do together,
we do it. But I don't have any expectation of you,
our expectations of people to show up and to be
you know, our saving grace and all of that. It's
pretty dangerous because you can absolutely, and this book shows you,
(41:18):
you can absolutely get your feelings hurt.
Speaker 3 (41:21):
So I've been there. I've done that many times many actually.
Speaker 1 (41:25):
Okay, if we didn't give y'all teaser to go and
get this book, you can order wherever you get your books.
You have to support you have to support this, and
I think it is a manual that everybody can relate to,
not just.
Speaker 3 (41:37):
Yet, but no, everybody. You know, there are people reading
the book.
Speaker 1 (41:41):
Now.
Speaker 2 (41:41):
I have a homeboy who's like a street guy, you know,
like he's like, you know, I don't know about reading
all these books and all this stuff. He's totally not
into that. Not to say the street guys don't read.
That ain't his thing. He's like, man, I'm out here,
I'm working, I'm you know, I'm.
Speaker 3 (41:58):
Outside, you know.
Speaker 2 (41:59):
And he he's reading the book and sending me details
like this and that and you said this, and I
remember this, and I record that. I got another homeboy
who doesn't even have time. He runs like so many
different businesses. Shout out to my boy, Aaron. He's reading
it and he's sending me details. Also, so black men
that come from different types of lives, you know, one
(42:22):
that's out in the projects every day.
Speaker 3 (42:24):
It works.
Speaker 1 (42:24):
So it's for everybody. Yeah, he's uptown, downtown, we in
the middle, yeah, yeah, business. Yeah, it's for everything.
Speaker 2 (42:31):
And of course black women. I hope that this book
is a love letter to you know, whatever what we've
been through is not the sum of our existence. And
we make it through so much and it's in these pages.
Speaker 3 (42:45):
So you know. I actually the cover of the book.
Speaker 2 (42:48):
Is my braids on one side and my bus down
on the other.
Speaker 1 (42:53):
Side, because we do both. We do both like this
and then we we do.
Speaker 3 (43:02):
Well.
Speaker 2 (43:02):
I wouldn't ye I designed it, but I came up
with the concept on my own, and it's really special
to me because it shows you the truth about who
I am. I can definitely do the corn rolls. I
could fight with stench, break and be outside.
Speaker 3 (43:17):
But I can be a girly girl too, and I
think we all have a bit of that.
Speaker 1 (43:21):
Right. Well, I'm glad you were chosen. Some have answered
the call, so thank you so much. I love to
tell the story. You guys gonna get that book. I'm
not playing everywhere, right everywhere, it's.
Speaker 3 (43:31):
Everywhere book can be so.
Speaker 2 (43:32):
But of course, support black bookstores as much as you can.
That's really important to me. And I would say, if
you're sitting somewhere and you don't know which black bookstore
to go to, Barnes and Barnes and okay.
Speaker 1 (43:44):
I didn't know. I didn't know that today today, years old,
Thank you, sir, Thank you.
Speaker 3 (43:52):
Of course. All Good.
Speaker 1 (43:55):
Naked Sports written and executive produced by me Carry Champion,
produced by Jacquevies Thomas, sound designed and mastered by Dwayne Crawford.
Naked Sports is a part of the Black Effect podcast
network in iHeartMedia
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