"PowHer"- Woman's History Month Kick Off! (Michael Eric Dyson and Nupol Kiazolu)

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
What's our family. I'm to make a d. Mallory and
it's your boy, and welcome to another episode of Street
Politicians The Place where the ands me. It is Women's
History Months. Happy Women's Happy Women's History Month to all
of you beautiful women out there who have made history
or making history. Yes, and I feel like Women's History

(00:31):
Month is an extension of Black History Months. So that's
two months rather than one for me as a black woman.
Women's history is Black history, yes, because women have Black
women have definitely created history, absolutely paved the way for history.
You made the demand, that made the history, and you

(00:52):
created your own. That's let's listen to me, man, that
created the history. That's what I'm talking about, talking your stuff.
So I'm just gonna call it how to see it.
So we're gonna have a lot of incredible words today
by our guests that will be coming up really really soon.
That's one of my favorites, one of my idols. If

(01:12):
you will, Yes, but we shouldn't give it. We're gonna
got a treat. You gotta treat you, gotta treat a
treat coming up. The whole thing on Country over the
last few weeks is frozen I don't know. It's crazy temperature.
The temperature is just really listen to me. We were
in Christmas Orpus Crispy, Texas, then in Louisville, Kentucky. It

(01:36):
was hard to get twenty degrees in Texas. We was
on the beach. We're supposed to have a rally for
umposed Yes, you're right. We went and had a rally
at Corpus Christie for Brianna Taylor's law that they want
to pass in Texas with Brianna Taylor's mother and some
other organizers from Texas and on the beach and in Lovo,

(02:00):
some Loivio people came out to support her and the
petition of the law. And it was so freezing and
they were saying just the week before it was seventy
eight degrees and it was twenty degrees in Texas. We
had to we had to get out of there because
it was so cold. He canceled all the flights, so
we had to drive to Houston, who we barely got

(02:24):
the last flight out of Houston, which you see what
happened to Houston man. Shout out to my brother Trade
the truth man. He's been on the ground working for
all of the people trying to relief gang, the relief Gang.
All the work he's done out there. Man, I've seen
him frustrated. I tried to call him first couple that
he wasn't even said the phone. He was so busy,
you know, because he really takes like he's really the

(02:44):
mayor of Texas. It's not even like Houston. He is
the mayor. He's on the ground every minute, every situation.
He's always showing up. And it's not like no fake thing.
The Black Red Crow, the Black Red Cross, the black
the Black Cross. I'll tell you your trade is doing
a lot of great work there. He's been doing it,

(03:06):
so it's nothing new. But this is a different type
of situation because usually when he's in like hurricane season,
it's warm but rainy and stormy and what have you.
And and and they're real serious crises. I'm not, you know,
any in any way negating it or minimizing it. But
it's something different to be in twelve degree below. Yeah,

(03:32):
and you can have it even experience exactly. And people's
pipes are bursting and and then power is out. I
have a cousin who lives I have several cousins, lots
of family who live in Houston who told me that, Um,
in some places they're turning the power off and on,
so they'll give you about eight hours and then you

(03:54):
have to figure it out for the rest of your day. Um.
And you know that's a sad way to live, you
know how They love to say most of the city's
where there's uh crime within the black community. It's their
their democratic cities there the mayors are Democrats and the
states that they're in their Democrats. Well, most of the

(04:15):
states that are experiencing literal death right now literal death
our states where um Republicans are in charge and cities.
In one city within Texas, Colorado City, the mayor had
to resign because they were saying some crazy stuff about

(04:35):
nobody's here to give you a handout. You need to
figure it out and find light, find heat, find food,
do what you have to do. You know, if you lazy,
that's because of your your whoever raised you. I mean,
just absolutely disrespectful, That's what I'm saying. Man. Leadership is important.
The people that we vote into leadership is very either

(04:58):
is going to highlight elevate our lives will be detrimental
to it. Absolutely so when you hear a leader, a
mayor say something like that, it's just unbelievable, right, and
and the reason why it's important. I mean, you know,
I'm in no way suggesting that any place that a
Republican has control or is a the leader, that that
means that you will see, um, the type of disaster

(05:21):
that we're watching in Houston, But it always make it
seem like it's not well. While they don't believe in
global warming, UM, they don't support, you know, any of
the progressive issues that would actually deal with infrastructure and
UM resources for natural disasters and things like this UM.

(05:43):
And in fact, that money or the money that is
needed in order to UM in order to get in
front of these types of situations, has been allocated in
different directions. They actually do not support in any way
building infrastructure that supports FAN least when their natural disasters

(06:03):
and certainly whenever all the pipes in in in in
your home and many many, many and many thousands and thousands.
I saw Tamar Braxton talking about her home uh in
Texas and and how bad it is uh. Tammy Roman
also same thing, crying on on Instagram about what's happening
to her home and all the others who she knows

(06:26):
of that have either lost their lives or lost their properties.
And just watching the footage. We all know water damage, floods,
that's that is really devastating. And watching water just pour
into the homes of these families. Are elders, people with
with kids, folks having to take their food outside and
put it in the in the in the ice in

(06:48):
order to survive. I mean, it has been really really unfortunate. Yeah,
it has been for sure. So a lot of love
to the people there. They're trying to put their lives
back together after having you know, such a terrible a
few weeks in terms of the weapon, I mean even
in places like Memphis and Tennessee, the snow, the ice,

(07:11):
So something is changing in the atmos is definitely changing. Man.
It's just seeing people suffering, suffering and dealing with trum.
We're already dealing with this pandemic and that you know,
it's just it's way too much, man. So my prism
and my heart goes out to everybody who's experiencing troubles

(07:31):
in these times in all of those regions. Yeah, and
and and you know, more black women need to be
leading around the nation. I think preparation for potential disaster
is what we do best as women. And celebrating Women's
History Month, you know, we need to be talking about
how how women, as you said, have paved the way

(07:52):
in so many different areas. I think a lot of
our young men don't really understand the influence of women,
and especially Black women on the things that they do
every single day. They don't know, you know, they I
believe society sort of led us to believe that men
created everything, designed everything, and that you know, men are

(08:14):
where the trailblazers and women were just home raising babies
and supporting their men, and that's actually not true. You know,
we are leaders in our own right. So it's all,
you know, Women's History Month for for me, as I said,
it is an extension of Black history, and and I
was thinking, you know, because that's what I do. I think.
So for my thought of the day, I tried to

(08:36):
understand what Boosey was saying about um Lorie Harvey. I
really tried to understand, and I don't get it. I'm
with you, I need your I don't get it segment
today because I didn't get I listened intently, so at
some point and to be honest with you, I still
can't even find one because I just haven't had the

(08:58):
time to really dig. But I can't really find what
Lorie originally said. I know something about her saying goals
to a statement that implied, and so he says, I
didn't hear it myself, but that it implies that, you know,
people moving from person to person, like you know, if

(09:21):
you don't work out, keep it moving type of thing.
In terms of relationships, there's no no secret that we've
seen her associated with different guys over the last couple
of years. Um and you know, and and people love
to love her, and every site, every blog, everybody is
always on Lorie Harvey, what she's doing, where she's at,
who she's talking to, or what have you. And so

(09:42):
somewhere she must have made a comment saying that some
part of that is goals. And then Boosey responds, because
you know, he gives himself into stuff and he always
has a comment. Um and he he responded, but he
starts rambling into this thing about not giving women credit

(10:02):
for things like this, So don't give women power, and
we need to give it to the men who are
running through these beautiful women that's where the credit should go.
And I was like, I don't get it, because he
later on came back to try to clean up his
statement and he said, his point is that if we
think it's goals for a woman to move from person

(10:23):
to person, then what we're telling our daughters is that
by a certain age, they can, you know, have seven
different men, They can sleep with seven different men in
a short period of time. And you know the reason
why I said I tried to understand is because I
was trying to figure out if he was saying something
and trying to give some type of moral advice, which

(10:44):
is boosey. So you know, that's a little challenging for
for a lot of things that he said. But I
think where I really really challenged is around the level
of misogyny that exists within the statements that he made.
But also this idea, and you and I are constantly
in a battle about it. Why men think they need

(11:09):
to comment so much on what women are doing or
what women are saying, and less on what men need
to do to be better leaders in their households, in
their communities, And and that perhaps if men, if if
seven different type of men weren't trying to get with her,
then maybe that wouldn't be the case. And beyond that,

(11:29):
you know, and this is not a for Boosey, is
for anybody. But the other piece of it is that,
you know, why are we policing women anyway? Like why
is it if a man can have seven different women,
which they do oftentimes. And by the way, a lot
of women date different guys. If it's not working, they
move on. For me, it's the fact that you don't

(11:51):
stick around in a situation where you know you're gonna
get burned and hurt, right, So I can appreciate that
these guys, and like I said, women who move from
you know, they date different people, which I think is
healthy to date different people. The only difference between Lorie
Harvey and those individuals is that we don't see it online.

(12:11):
You don't get to see it and you know, on
social media every minute of the day. But I think
it's I don't think it's right to police a woman
in general. I just don't. I don't see how out
there robbing, stealing and killing. I think I think for me,
like I see, I see your point, you know, and
there's definitely a double standard, you know, in which we

(12:31):
have to look at and I think as men, we've
accepted a flaw that we have. We've accepted the fact
that relationships are going to be different from us. We've accepted,
like when when I have a conversation with women and
I've been explaining to them about men because I've never

(12:51):
been a woman before, so I can't give a conversation
to a woman about Yo, this is what women do
or this is what meant. I explained to them the
mentality of a man, right, And I can't change the
mental because a lot of times we are dealing with
the same exact flaws. We we are looking at you
and we want to give you the best advice, and
you're like, yo, he did this and this, and you're like,

(13:12):
why don't you tell him this? And I'm telling you
the reality is I can say what I want to
this man. I can have all the conversations I want,
I can tell him this. But there is this innate
flaw and men that we do ship wrong in relationships, right,
And we perceive things different, you know, and and the
way that we enter into relationships and see women and

(13:34):
visualized women are just different. They're just different than what
women believe we should proceed. Right, So if a man
of a woman has been with a lot of men,
first of all, we judge the caliber of men you've been. Right,
We look at the level of men and we and
we compare ourselves to them, and we said, well, if
she mess with that dude, I can't mess with them
because we don't see that man is the same caliber

(13:55):
as we are. Right. Or we look at the amount
of men you dealt with. We said, okay, the amount
of men end the amount of time. How often did
did they even have a relationship? Is there some connection?
Did she respect herself? How does she carry herself? Because
it reflects us as men. Right, Because when you're with
a woman that other men don't respect, they don't respect

(14:17):
you and they don't respect her too. Right. So if
you start to date a woman that men see is easy,
they openly disrespect you because they figured, why would you
be with somebody that's easy. I could talk to her.
She talked to everybody in the world. She's open. I
know I've been around her, she's been dating. She do this,
So they disrespect you and her in your face. The
jeopardize is your life and jenidize your reputation. It jeopardizes

(14:40):
how you move forward. And we know that this is
how men think, right because they see you as someone
who is accessible. We understand that you're going to put
us in harm's way whether we want to or not.
We can say, oh, I don't care about that, but
most men when you look at Kanye, Kanye has been
dealing with situations with Kim Kardashan based on the fact
that men see her as accessible. He always has to

(15:03):
challenge who she's been with this and that old I
think she's cheating. But it got much better because, no,
it didn't because he started having breakdowns. He started saying
DraCos would her. They told him they they've equated everything.
Meek was like he when he was having those breakdowns.
Most of those breakdowns contained something about Kim being with

(15:24):
another man and not being faithful to him. She's had
those common conversations with every relationship she had because men
viewed her as accessible, right, So we understand that it's
it's dangerous to us. I don't want to deal with
nobody that when I'm in the room with my women,
men feel like they can approach her away because they
she's made herself seem accessible now I gotta deal with them.

(15:47):
I gotta deal with her. I gotta question. Men don't
want to deal that. They want men to look at
their women in respect her of rip and say, look,
she's not easy, she's not nobody that when my man
leave the room, I can handle the book and have
to deal with that, right, because you put us in jeopardy.
But do you realize that just because I date, I've

(16:09):
dated other men, Like one thing, I've never heard and
I know we're talking about Lorie to put context and
give a face and in some some actual texture to
the conversation, but I have not heard with the exception
of maybe one situation which nobody is really a hundred
percent clear about, that she was like with this guy,
that guy, and this guy all at the same time.

(16:31):
It has been really clear. I said, there may have
been one situation other than that, I haven't seen that.
I generally it's been it was no, we're not gonna talk.
I'm not gonna say. But it was one individual that
said it two times about two different people. Okay, But
what I'm saying is what I'm saying is it seems

(16:53):
to me that there's been a fresh break, right that
you know, you see, you see her, and then it's like, Okay,
that's done, and I'm doing whatever else. She's a young
woman who's beautiful. Why does the fact that I met
somebody else mean that I'm willing to take a man's
number behind my man's back at an event. I just
don't understand that. And I also think it's extremely problematic

(17:16):
when we have these expectations. I mean, when you speak
about how men have accepted a flaw about them, you
say it in a way like it's it's okay, it's
not I don't care what. But it's like like I
don't have a conversation with a woman, right, And there's
a like I say this all the time, And it's
not to justify anything when women are dealing with men

(17:38):
of a certain individuals a mind state. Right, If I
know that a man is a rapist, I've seen his
watch his whole demeanor. Right, I'm saying this dude is
a rapist. Right. You do not deserve to be raped.
You don't. There's no justification for a woman being raped.
But if I'm explaining to you that that man is
a rapist, don't go into the room with that man,

(18:02):
and you make a decision to say, what's I going
to room with that man or not? He still shouldn't
rape me, And you're one correct about whether he should
or shouldn't. But the reality is that that man is
a rapist, and I'm giving you the information. So I'm
glad you said that because you set it up for

(18:22):
my point. Rather than policing me, tan the damn room
apart and make the rapists have to hide, that's been
because that is the problem, because when you go ahead,
I'm gonna going. But that's not the point. You're going

(18:42):
in after the fact, when too many times we already
know that the rapist is in our community, that the
abuser lives next door, that the child molester is there,
that the child molester has been coming to dinner, We
already know that the dude that we're friends with. The
guys know that to do we're friends with been ok
in his woman, we know it, and instead what men

(19:03):
do often some men, too many men's, have conversations with
the woman about what she needs to do and not
do in order to protect herself from harm, rather than
saying to the man, you can't even be around us.
It's too many bits that gets to hang out. Yes, Yes,
What do you mean? Because I'm trying to say I can't.

(19:25):
What I'm explaining to you is I don't get to
choose who you hand. That's not what I'm talking about.
You know what I'm trying to say if I have
a conversation because he already knows I know, but he
doesn't feel uncomfortable. But he doesn't feel uncomfortable. What do
you mean he doesn't feel uncomfortable? Think you think a
rapist is going to stop? Because absolutely, First of all,

(19:48):
let me take you. Let me take you to black households, okay,
where uncle so and so and cousins such and such
are walking around every single day being predators on and
what I'm trying to educate you and educate I'm trying

(20:09):
to educate around that. Okay, But I would argue that
that's not act I know of. Okay, maybe that you
didn't know. But what I'm saying is what I'm speaking
to is another issue. Too many people that disrespect, abuse,

(20:32):
and harm women are able to comfortably exist in spaces
that they should not be able to to be in.
It's too many, and what ends up happening is that
little girls are being told that is their responsibility to
protect themselves from Uncle so and so who's an abuser.
And he's being allowed to still come to Thanksgiving dinner,

(20:55):
Christmas holiday, He's still being allowed to function within the family.
And the little girls or the little kids are the
ones that are made to and that and what I
am saying. And I understand that I'm not I'm talking
over you, which is you know, I get it, but
this is a passionate issue. It is understand what I'm
saying because every day, that same attitude, that same exact

(21:20):
attitude is what allows a man like Boosey or anybody
else to make the statement that we should be giving
the credit to the men that are running through these
beautiful girls. You want to have a conversation about this,
because I want to have this conversation, Tory Lanes Megan right.
For for two or three or four weeks straight, I

(21:42):
was arguing, well, okay, you know, women was in d
M saying why is my talking? Women were saying that,
women were telling me I need to not say nothing right.
I was the only person by myself. I don't there
like yo, why y'are letting these these cow wars still
move the man shoutow woman this and that dude woman
was saying, mince maybe just not saying nothing about this,
just fall back, just be quiet. It wasn't. But it

(22:09):
doesn't matter the fact that any woman. But that is
a problem for me because when I'm when I'm standing
up for women, and women are telling me to be
solid and maybe I should just be quiet. But tell
me what happens is you start to say to yourself,
you know what, I'm just gonna be quiet. But see,
let me tell you why. Let me tell you why

(22:30):
that's not right. Because we go out here, right, we
gotta keep the same energy we go outside every day.
And when the white supremacists and the system in general,
and even other black people tell us be quiet, sit down,
stop talking so much, calm down, it's not that serious. Along.
But but we don't. Don't. So we don't. We don't.

(22:51):
We don't. Women continue to make people feel uncomfortable and
we don't care who tells us not to do it.
And guess what when you think about when you think
about white supremacy, I'm saying we as in people who
do what we do, some of our people. But what
I'm saying is what I'm saying is that even the
ways in which we we understand how white supremacy and

(23:13):
patriarchy and these very harmful practices exist, people of color
can uphold white supremacy right. So that doesn't make it right,
not that you said it does. I'm just saying it
doesn't make it right. And of course you're gonna find
black people, black women, women in general who run to

(23:34):
the defense of the abuser. I'm still making a different point.
I'm saying that there are too many people who, too
many men who spend time focused on what women need
to do so that they don't get abused, they don't
get harm, and not enough time making the cowards, the

(23:55):
punks and the bitch asses feel uncomfortable being in any
space there. Just agree with that. I just think for me, right,
if I'm telling you it's cars in the streets, cars
ain't gonna stop driving the streets because I say, hey,
yoah should stop driving, but somebody needs to give that
car that goes by too fast, but only one But
it ain't gonna stop it from driving though, right, So

(24:15):
if you, if I'm telling you, don't walk in the
road where the cars is driving, because they're gonna drive fast,
but the bottom mind. They might go to jail, but
it's still gonna be more cars. So if I'm preparing
you for the fact that cars are always gonna drive
down the streets, rapists are always gonna rape, Abuses are
gonna always do some more work on them. But you
can't don't work because will always be a sucker. You

(24:43):
can't you can't scare, you can't shame a sucker. They
move in the sucker mentality moving the suckers move. So
I'm telling you that if I'm teaching you how to
sucker duck duck, what's the streets. It's not it's not
so much. I mean, I could talk about this all day.

(25:03):
The streets are talking about black women owned businesses. We're
gonna be doing that. Well, we're gonna cover black women
owned businesses for the entire month of March, but beyond that,
we'll be talking about all different types of small businesses.
Um and we're highlighting one today, which is special because
because that's our theme. She's our sister. Yes, yes, Yandy

(25:29):
Smith Harris's yell Uh skincare line. It's not just for women.
It's not because look I got a commercial with you.
You see skincare. Definitely Yes. So we're gonna be highlighting
Yell Skincare today. Want you to watch this video where
Yandy explains her product and it's growing so much. I'm

(25:53):
so proud of the business that they've been in. Family owned.
It's a family own. But even a little kid is
even though she's boxing, she got a whole family, did
they boxing? They're mailing it out like it's a real
it's a real business. It's like assembly line. Yeah. That
that brick and mortar action in order to get your

(26:14):
product out there is what's really it's real. Like you
could pay a factory, you can do all of that,
but you don't know if your product is going out right.
You can't put your hand you touch it, feel it,
and make sure that it's coming from your hands, your
love into the homes of others, especially with something like
a skincare line. So Yell Skincare, Yandy Smith, Harris Yan, Yeah,

(26:36):
do your thing, girl. I am so incredibly excited. I
don't want to tell you all about Yell Skincare, all
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an anti inflammatory, it's an anti fungal, and it's also
it has fatty acids that possess anti microbial property that

(26:58):
re actne we we have toner. Now, I love this toner.
So we didn't add any extra sense to any of this.
But the toner, Oh my gosh, I wish you could
smell this. It smells like you are walking into a spot.
So now the serums. The serums have a really high
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(27:21):
that you need, Vitamin C, vitamin E. We have one
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What happens is it sudues the gland that's overproducing oil
and it really helps to madify your skin all day long.
You drip about three drops on your face and it'll
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(27:44):
we have our peptide boosting serum for normal skin. It
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have this like highlighted look as if you have highlighter on.
I love it. It gives my skin a natural all.
So this is my hydragen serum for dry skin that
helps yourselves retain moisture that your skin needs to really

(28:08):
keep it soft and not dry and not flaky. When
I created this skin line, one of my problems was
I used to get appeally residue around my nose. I
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a dream I cream, which I absolutely love because this
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(28:30):
that's going to do is helped to deep puff. It's
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any of you are like me with dark circles around
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they would call me raccoon eyes sometimes, so this really
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It brightened, but then it also lift so when you
put it on right before you go out you tie

(28:52):
your bags, this will really give you that open eye
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the moisturizer. So I think with this moisturizer we work
the hardest to perfect. So I wanted to make sure
this was a water based moisturizing. So it's really really light,
but it makes your skin feel so soft and moist

(29:13):
and supple. It's amazing. You have got to try it.
But what you wanna do is make sure when the
world opens back up, you show a brand new beautiful skin.
You okay, you don't have to walk around with skin
that is not to your liking. Work on it. Be
consistent every day for those that have really trouble spots

(29:34):
twice a day in the morning and in the evening.
But you want to absolutely make sure before you put
your head on your pillow you're washing all of those
toxins off. And you want a tone and at least moisturize.
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(29:55):
and flawless. You know what I'm saying, Go and get
you some yellow Man shout out to you end. Shout
up to the whole Smith family, Old Smith, Harris family,
because hard shout out to men DCS because he over
there running there to listen, my boy out there, working man.
Salute to men DC's to continue. You know, just came

(30:17):
home and he's on the path, he's building entrepreneurship and
you know, I'm proud of him. Man. So that is
our small business black woman owned business segment again, y'all
skin care yea. Before we go to the next segment
and have our special guests join, we're gonna take a
quick break for our sponsors. So you know, some guests

(30:41):
that come on, we say are our friends, but there
are others who are actually our mentors and our leaders.
Today UM, I am incredibly honored to have joining us
for street politicians. You know, this show is not new
to us because we've been doing it for number one
and we're number one in my son's head with number

(31:03):
one and his heart and I support that number one.
And whenever you're doing a new thing, people always try
to wait, you know, to to come to get involved
until everybody puts their stamp of approval. But the man
that we have on today is the stamp of that now,
the only person that could outrap me, the big dog,

(31:26):
the you know, the the leader of so many intellectual
UM keeps connected to the ground. As you said, he
can spit lyrics better than most people I know. UM
has used hip hop and culture and the grassroots fight
as a means to educate many and people. Some people

(31:47):
don't know that he's actually reverend right like he actually
he's a he's a preacher man. Okay, they'd be having
him up. The man of the cloth, and that is
Michael Eric Dice say, I'm so glad we call him Doc.
So glad to have you with us today. Doc, thank
you for joining us on street politicians. I mean, I

(32:08):
am honored to be here. Two of my favorite people,
my daughter, my sweetie Poe, my baby, my leader. When
people ask me who are the younger, I say to
Mika Mallory, dog, so what's she doing? That's what I'm
doing right now, Charlton asked. My man to Mika Mallory
is a leader, my song on the streets, checking people

(32:29):
chin checking in a rhetorical fashion and making sure that
we bear witness to the integrity of our manhood. So
these two young people right here, I follow them. These
are my leaders, and I love y'all. I'm humbled by that. Man.
Just you know just what you mean to this movement,
what you mean to us as black people, Like we

(32:49):
we're here with uh living not just a legend just
a historian someone who has connected the culture like you know,
being an elder, being someone that considered even though you
still have that youthful bounce with you, you know, and
being able to take hip hop, you know, and connected
to this movement and seeing the need to do that.

(33:10):
It's one of the things that got me into this movement,
to be seeing brothers like yourself saying damn, hip hop
can be a part of the civil rights organization. It
is a place for that. It is a place for me.
You know. When you can wrap jay Z lyrics and
two pop lyrics and Biggie lyrics and then connected to
this fight, it made me feel like I've really had
a place in this. So, you know, I just want

(33:30):
to say I appreciate that love to you, my friend.
I appreciate you, love y'all for what y'all doing. And
that's why I'm honored to be on the show today. Yeah.
So it's the first week of Women's History Month, and
of course we have to shout out your co pilot,
your co leader, uh Marcia Dyson, who is an incredible

(33:52):
lead in her own right and certainly has been um
in the trenches with me through some of the most
challenging times in my life. UM, you know, we're we're
we have to edify black women, right. We know black
women are always under attack, but we're also the foundation
of so much. And I watched her work for and
with you, Um, you know, and so we want to

(34:14):
give her love. But you also have so many of us, uh,
that honor you, that followed you, that learned from you,
from Angela Rye to Janet Ingram of course you know
myself and so many others. Why is it that you
take so much of a special interest in building the
leadership of black women. Well, thank you so much for that.

(34:37):
First of all, who wouldn't who wouldn't be in his
right mind, uh to want to have anything to do
with an extraordinary figure like you or an Angela Rye
or Janet Ingram and so many others Uh, that we've
had the privilege of engaging with your extraordinary You're brilliant,
you're beautiful, you're insightful, your soul for you're down the
earth and that's why I love you in particular since

(34:59):
we're talking today. My wife, Marcia is from the South
Side of Chicago. She is a straight up South Side
Chicago woman from the hood and and for real thought
and understanding what that means. I mean, they were so
poor when they were young. They would wrap up stuff
that the other one wanted, Like you like my shirt,

(35:20):
I like your sweater, they would wrap it up and
give it to each other. They would sell stuff on
the street, you know, that was legal, And they did
all kinds of stuff that that that poor people do.
But they were rich in spirit and rich in understanding.
And when I first went to teach at Chicago Theological
Seminary back in nine nine, I don't even know if

(35:40):
y'all were born back then, and she came to my
class and I was like, man, she's smarter than my students.
Like this. She was just so brilliant and still is today,
but devoted and committed. And when I think about a
young woman like you on the front lines, risking everything,
as radiant, as brilliant as a leader can be, and

(36:03):
you're out there with the people, you ain't front and
you ain't posting up, you ain't posturing. But what I
love about you is that you got uh in the
best sense of that word, the hood in the street
on lock. That's still part of who you are, That's
an integral part of what your identity is, and you
ain't trying to leave that behind, just like my man
my son. What I love about both of y'all is

(36:24):
that you take special privilege and priority to put that
at the top of the hierarchy. That those people that
other people throw away, those people other people diss those
people that other people think, Are they dumb and they
are unintelligent? Are they are un you know, uninspiring? Y'all
see the beauty and power in them. And for you

(36:45):
to make a mallory to be our leader, for you
to continue to speak out, to be as intelligent and
as fiery, an oratorical genius, a rhetorical master, and yet
a down the earth woman looking like a fashion model.
I love that combination and the acceptance of every part

(37:07):
of who you are. And I believe that we have
to uplift black women. I got kicked out of a
church in nineteen eighty three. I was a young past
I already got kicked out of school with the white
folks because I asked them, why don't we have more
black speakers? They said, based upon your numbers of students here,
you don't deserve more. So I said later for that,
I started skipping chapel, and then you have to go
to chap every Tuesday. When you didn't go, they kicked

(37:28):
you out, got kicked out of school, went to pastor
of Black church for one year. I talked, because I
ain't stupid, you gotta go in, you gotta figure out
the lay of the land. I wanted to ordain three
women as deacons in eight d three, nineteen eighty three.
I said, we're fighting racism, let's fight sexism as well.
They were down cool. Right before I was gonna ordain
these women, some local Negro Baptist preachers got wind of it,

(37:52):
organized my members, and I went to church one Sunday
and they put me out of that pool pit. I
had a wife and a child to support. They gave
me one month severance pay and kicked me out for
trying to ordain women. So from the very beginning, it's
been more than mouth with me. It's more than rhetoric
with me. It's trying to live my life in a
way to justify understanding the power and the beauty of

(38:14):
black women and less be real. I said, I'll leave
the Black church wherever the black women go, because black
women are what the Black church and you know, I'm
saying where they're going, That's where I'm going. They do
the work, they do all the the insightful stuff. It's
like spiritual apartheid. We didn't accept it when Nelson Mandela
and his people were population white, but they running stuff.

(38:36):
Love black men. I support black men. I want to
work with black men to help them out to get
a better sense of who we are. But we cannot
do that at the expense of black women, who who
speak out for us more than anybody else. I have
seen you speak out more for black men, defend black men,
stand up and elevate black men than a whole lot
of brothers have ever done. So I expect in return.

(38:59):
That's why that soldier set sitting next to you, brother,
my son, standing there with a strong black woman, he
doesn't feel defeated or in any way diminished because he's
standing next to an intellectual and spiritual giant. That doesn't
diminish me as a man. To acknowledge our women, and
we have to elevate them, We have to lift them up.
We have to acknowledge their genius, their support. And that's

(39:19):
going from the beginning of time down and now that's
back in Africa. That's on the slave ship, that's with
Ella Baker, Joanne Robinson, mcclark, Joanne Robinson, Angela Davis down
to Tamika Mallory and the young women who continue to
give sacrifice and to give devotion to our people. Such
a beautiful name. It's like a sermon man like listening

(39:47):
to all the time. Man, I'm just amazed that the
way that you're able to just captivate people and say
things in such an eloquent, yet down the earth way,
like I'm I'm getting there. I'm learning, you know, I'm
still a few of your you know, I've been in
meetings with you. Brother, I'm learning. But I just wanted

(40:10):
to ask, you know, as we edify women and we
uplift them, and right now that I've seen like they
are definitely to Meka. You know, you talk about our
first black um VP women. They are leading us right now.
Do you feel like we are in a moment in
this climate that we can actually see some change. Yeah,
that's a great point. And thank you for acknowledging that.

(40:30):
I mean, for you are young, handsome, articulate man, for
you to acknowledge that makes a big difference, because people
know your street cred. They know you real, they know
you're boning for days. They know you ain't faking it
right when you posting up on the internet when you
see some idiot who has attacked a black woman, I
can feel the trauma. I can feel the pain because
I feel the same thing. But to know that you,

(40:52):
as a younger generation soldier, feel that and leader, I
appreciate that. Yes, they are the best leaders. They get
most stuff done with with less resources. They have more
creative imagination. Now, we ain't trying to idolize to the
point that we know that some women can disagree with
other women. So it's not just because they're women, but
it's because they use what they've learned as women whose

(41:14):
backs have been against the wall. You know, look a
look at Tamika Mallory raising a child by yourself, figuring
out how to do something with your life, dealing with
both the acceptance and the rejection, and then coming back
to a higher pitch, a higher place, a higher perch
because you've been obedient to a higher power. Who cannot

(41:35):
but help follow that kind of leadership. So yeah, I
think women being in place will elevate us. You talk
about vice President Harris, Look at that woman. I mean,
what would you agree with her intellectually or ideologically? The
point is she's on her job, she's done her stuff,
and Joe Biden put her in position to really potentially

(41:55):
become the first female president of the MAASTE. Oh. I
think it's extremely important for us to support women of
all kinds, of all stripes, of all ideologies. I am
a Pressley, Corey bush Uh and and politically speaking, on
the front line, and people like Tamka Mallory on the
front line who are doing the unsexy work hanging out

(42:17):
in Louisville, Kentucky. Oh. You might see the camera every
now and again, and what she's doing, what you don't
see is the everyday ordinary stuff, organizing, the generating, the galvanizing.
That's what women are used to doing without recognition, and
we should pay them the honor and the reverence of
our recognition. Thank you, Doc, you know, um you all

(42:38):
you always, as my son said, you can say it
a way that no one else can. And the two
things I want to cover, well, let's just talk about
this idea of perfection, right because so many of us
are up against that, trying to be perfect and worrying
about what the people have to say, and this idea
that we can't make mistakes, that we're not gonna have

(42:59):
person no lives that could be in shambles one week, um,
and and still be a leader at the same time.
And and and that reminds me my second point is
and how you tie these two things together. We've talked
about being on those conference calls together and at times
we don't agree, right, we don't agree. We have different
perspectives and we have to get into it. I remember

(43:21):
the last call we was on Angela, Ryan and I
were on one side of the conversation and you know,
and you were with us, and then we found common ground.
There's a problem with that within our movement. It's two
totally different topics. But we have such short time. I'd
love for you to hit on how we cannot agree
and still work together. And also this idea of trying

(43:41):
to be perfect. Yeah, that's and they're tied together because look, um,
the great theologian Grace Jones said, I may not be perfect,
but I'm perfect for you. It's it's contingent. Right. Perfection
is about the right relationship with a person or an idea.
It don't mean you're that you're pure. It doesn't mean

(44:01):
that you don't have any flaws. When I say you
perfect for me, I don't mean you perfect in every
sense of the word. I'm saying, our yin and yang,
our get together. It's so powerful that it creates something
together that's even more powerful than us apart, you know,
like fabolous and I was singing, I'm a forced by myself,
but when we together, we're on another level. And so

(44:23):
when we talk about perfection, it is that you know
how they say, don't let perfection be the enemy of
the good. The thing is is that you know, none
of us can strive for perfection. That's why it's important
to tell the truth about our leaders. Right, So Martin
Luther King Jr. Was not perfect and when that stuff
comes out on him and about what And when I
wrote my book, I called a lot of flecking hell

(44:44):
from Negros because I was talking about you know, you
know what I'm saying and the plagiarism. I said, oh,
you think that's something I said? After all that, I
wrote all that in the book because I did my research.
And I'm gonna tell you one of the greatest compliments
I was paid. It was worth the late great uh
sister Dorothy who told me Dorothy I met with her

(45:10):
up in upstate New York because I went there to
teach for three or four days at some local school
there and had dinner with her. It was one of
the greatest events of my life because I revered her.
And she said, you have got this so right. And
the thing is this, She said, you was telling the
truth doctor, that the stuff happened, or would you on
the wall? I was like, I dug a deep baby,

(45:32):
I dug deep up in that piece. But here's the point.
The point was to say, not the dog, Dr King,
because I still think of him as the greatest American
whoever lived, far none. I don't care put him up
against anybody. He that cold. But he wasn't perfect. But
the reason the reason I wanted to deconstruct his perfection
because then they used Dr King against young brothers and

(45:52):
sisters who are perfect and say Dr King, well, he
wasn't perfect to make them perfect. If he wasn't perfect.
Malcolm wasn't perfect. Malcolm was a stone cold soldier, but
Malcolm wasn't perfect. His relationship with his wife, King's relationship
with his wife. It was complicated. So the point is
this that we do not have to be perfect to
be useful. We do not have to be perfect to

(46:16):
be useful. And when I wrote that in defense of
Reverend Jesse Jackson in the New York Times when it
was revealed about his child out of wed Locke, there
are a lot more brothers who could be exposed the
same way, who ain't going to have the truth told
on them. So that's it, the truth about our leaders.
Tell the truth in love. But see, that's why I
hate cancel culture. The reason I hate counsel culture is

(46:38):
the point you were making earlier. And to link this too,
we can disagree without trying to cancel each other. Council
culture is a white supremacist notion. Nero tolerance is not
a progressive ideal. It's a right wing ideal, and they
tried to use that to kill Negroes. The moment you
mess up, one time, you're done, you mess up in school, out,
you mess up on your job fired. That is not

(46:59):
what we as a or do. We believe in redemption,
second chances. People make a mistake. So if somebody asked me,
how could you write a book on Jay z h
I said, first of all, he's a rhetorical genius. I said,
you know when he says stuff like Ben Laden Ben
happening in Manhattan back then, back when the police was
out kind of the black men. I said, do you
know the rhetorical inventiveness that that takes. If he existed

(47:21):
during the Greek times, they call him a rhetorical god.
I said, you're asking me, how could I defend a
man who sold drugs. I defend the nation that sold people.
What are you talking about? I talked about leaders who
sold your things, and you're talking about some dude who
sold some crack on the corner. Stop him. So for me,
I believe that we have to understand that our leaders

(47:41):
will not be perfect. That we can disagree. And we
had a vigorous disagreement. You and and a ride was
beating me out. God. I was like, I told Jay,
they're killing me. He was laughing and he was he said,
I said, they're killing me, dog, They are killing me
up in here. But the thing is that we can
agree to disagree, we can have a different opinion, and

(48:01):
we don't have to cancel each other out. We don't
have to say, oh, dr King doesn't agree with Malcolm.
Malcolm doesn't agree with Elijah Mohammed, and Elijah Mohammed didn't
agree with Marcus Garvey. Marcus Garfer didn't agree with I'd
be Welles, I'd be Welles, didn't agree with WB divorce.
That is the beauty of our diversity at not what
who are. Let's allow each other to say, you know what,
I disagree with you, but you don't have to be

(48:23):
a sellout of handkerchief head. You don't have to be
a person who's not germane to our story. Now, I'm
not saying there ain't some people who are so heinous
in their regard for black people. I'm not mentioning Daniel
Cameron's name, but I don't want to talk about, you know,
Clarence Thomas. But what I'm saying to you there are
some people who are so fundamentally opposed to our progress

(48:44):
that their names alone they invoke a Rihanna response. You
know what she said to him on Twitter. So my
point is, yes, when she and embrace each other, tolerate difference,
go at it, and at the end of the day
we on the same team. You know, the l A
Lakers might be up against the Milwaukee Bucks. But they

(49:05):
all in the NBA, we all in their struggle together,
and we should accept and love each other for that. Well,
we ain't got nothing else to say. After that, we
can end the show now, we don't need nothing else.
Listening once once again, man, we want to say that
we appreciate you. Want to give you your flowers as
one of probably one of the most greatest orators and

(49:25):
teachers of our time. And continue to just motivate you know,
brothers like myself. Every time I hear you speak, and
every time I hear you just connect this culture to
this movement. Man is definitely motivated, so they don't act
like sometimes you don't be like, get I need Dison's
number because I don't agree with that. Sometimes you know,

(49:48):
I ain't gonna listen to me. I tell people all
the time, I don't agree with nobody a hundreds and
if you like, there's no way to that. But I'm
saying most of the times, you know, even things that
you don't agree, I don't agree with the way you
put it. It makes me have to challenge myself and say, Okay,
I don't agree with it, but let me figure out
how I got to come back at it to say

(50:09):
I don't agree to make it makes sense because you
could say something I don't agree with so good that
it makes me forget that I didn't agree with. I see.
But that's beautiful because then because give him my number
so we can call me. Then when you call me
and I go, you know, I hadn't thought about it
that way. Quick example. So I was I was when
the Jay and No stuff first went down. I was
an oas man right with him and talked because I

(50:30):
knew him and and respected him right. And so i'm
I'm I'm in a bookstore in Atlanta. Killing Mike is
sitting in the back of the room and killing Mike goals. Doc.
He says, you have been one of the greatest leaders
in hip hop culture telling us to be open minded.
But it don't seem this time you open minded to Jay.
And I had to check myself and I went back

(50:51):
and I studied. A couple other people checked me, and
I went back and I said, well, yeah, dang, this
dude is a rhetorical genius. I can admit that. So
we all need to be and kill killer Mike and
I go at it all the time. So but but
but it makes us, it makes us all stronger. And
I have to say, even though we are, we need

(51:11):
to ask you about your book, um, so that you
could talk about that real quick. But um, this space.
A lot of people think that jay Z called us
to the table to help him with his projects and
what he's trying to do, and that we just went
there and started saying yes sir, yes, sir, and happy
to be at the time. And that's not true. We
have some of the deepest debates in those meetings and conversations,

(51:34):
and we pushed them all the time. And I love
being in the space because I come out feeling stronger, bolder,
and smarter. Right, and I can testify she challenging me,
and she challenging, She challenged anybody up in that space,
you know, unapologetically, which is what it should be because
if we are producing quote children younger generation, you ain't

(51:55):
there to be an echo. We love you, we support you.
What you agree with, Like brother mind Son said, do
you deal with that? But if you disagree, just do
it with love and respect. That's all I'm asking. I'm
on the internet and people, I'm like Nick, bro, you
don't even know me right to me, like you snarky,
You're nasty. If you just asked me, challenge me and
then say, look, I disagree with you, that's cool. My

(52:17):
wife be disagreeing me, we could have a show my
wife be coming at me. So so I'm used to
that all the time. We gotta go, Doc, tell us
your your latest book. I don't know how. Listen, this
writing process was so hard for me. Uh to finish
this book two hundred and seventy pages or something like that,

(52:38):
state of emergency. It's done. I'm in the last past
of reading through it to make sure all the things
are right. It's in the editing process. Um, well, actually
we're beyond that. I mean, I've got my flats back
and the covers and everything. The book is coming out.
It was the editing process was really hard, Doc. I
never thought that I wrote the I kept critiquing it

(53:01):
and feeling like I didn't say the right thing, or
I didn't say enough, and where should I go back?
And expand and and and Angela Davis told me when
you when you write a book, you got to write it,
believe in it, put it in the world, and let
them have it. So, what's your latest book that you
keep giving you and you've got Angela Davis and introduction.

(53:22):
Yeah okay, yeah, yeah, I'm trying not to be mad
at you. But so look, Aden's book is called Long
Time Coming Recording with Race in America Book Number I
don't know. I'm working on another one now that I'm
turning in in a month. So I'm on my game.
I'm on my grind like what Jay doing, like with
Na's doing. That's what I do, like you know, Lauren Hill.

(53:42):
That's when I'm on and I do my stuff and
I do it at the highest level. So that book
is about writing five letters basically with seven letters really, uh,
to martyrs of the movement recently arrived ancestors for the
most part, with the exception of Mmett Till trying to
share my beliefs with Elijah m Playing, Brianna Taylor, Sandra Plan,
Clemented Pink, the Hadea Pendleton, Eric Garner, and to say,

(54:06):
you know how you go to the graveyard, they ain't there,
but they allow you a space of talking to them.
I didn't want to talk about them. I wanted to
speak to them with them and then talk about the
issues we're confronting. So that's the latest book, y'all check
it out after you read. You know, to mak A
Mallory hat State of Emergency Man, thank you, thank you.

(54:31):
We have you back soon. Love you, look forward to it.
Love you too. Michael Werck is the goat, the goat
go and I mean, and it's so true, like we
don't we don't always agree when we get to the table,
you know. After some folks know, other people don't. After

(54:51):
jay Z's relationship with the NFL was formed, um, and
it was a lot of controversy around it, and I
was critical or you were trying to understand, you know,
maybe Jade's got another move. I think you're since you
know him. There was just a lot of things. It's
not so much. It wasn't just so much knowing. It
was just knowing the whole situation. Yeah, but you know

(55:14):
too much, that's the problem. So just forget that problem.
You know too much. That's what they say. My past
always says that sometimes some of us can know too
much about the history of things, and it and its shade.
It not shades, but it it shapes our judgment. But
but really, you kept saying, I know Jay and I
know he gotta have a move. He's got to have

(55:35):
a move, um. And I'm not sure that he knew
all of what he was trying to accomplish, but he
knew that he had the ear of a major force
that had the ability to help us shape um. I
want to say shape culture, but I'm not going to
give the NFL that type of credit. But we are
using that platform to do things like having during the

(55:59):
half time shows and and also just during the games
in general, putting videos out there that are like p
s a s that literally cover the stories of some
of our fallen victims. But it's from it's with our language,
so the videos are not out there, you know, soften
and and uh and and you know, and you're pushing

(56:20):
back all the time. We need you to say this, Yes,
we we change the videos, and they respect us enough
to listen to us, you know, And that's our job.
Like for me, you're always gonna get criticism. It's people
that arm cheer, critics with no credentials who don't do anything,
who tell us what we need to be doing or
say that somebody's not doing. You know. For me, it's

(56:40):
just being in the space and being intentional about making change.
Like if you're intentional about making change. If you understand
what it takes to make change, then you you deserve
an opportunity to make change. Yeah. No, yeah, and and
and I don't want to make people because you know
they'll say P S A S that's it. No, there's
he's helping the fund some of the movements or some

(57:01):
of the organizations that women and mothers are leading, some
of the groups that are doing grassroots work. Um also
paying for campaigns getting behind Uh. You know, whenever something
like Parchment Prison happened, they've taken out full page as like,
I don't think people know how much money it costs
to get a full page in the Washington Post or

(57:22):
the New York Times to write a letter that is
signed by to make a Palmer on behalf of Brianna
Taylor or others, and to put that information out there.
Supporting the attorneys who are doing this work that needs
support in terms of having other attorneys to do research.
I mean, there's so much that is shaping up and
now we're in this these conversations about policy and how

(57:46):
we can organize artists and activists and parents and victims
and others to push some of the policy agenda items
that have been out there for too long, but we
knew we would not be able to move them under
the last administration. So now it's time to push here.
And the marketing campaigns and all of that. It's a lot.

(58:06):
It's a lot that goes into it, and um, you know,
I'm proud to be a part of the team, but
I also have to always say that we don't just
sit at the table and go along to get along
because we're starstruck to sit with jay Z. That's not
how it happens. You have voices like Charlottagne's, you know,
like Ebony Williams, like you know, I mean, the list

(58:27):
goes on that we you know, we come in leave
married and others and we like we don't like none
of this, you know, ad some more or we need
a little more radicalism, right or you know, y'all got it.
You one point and you know we can move on
to the next thing. So you know, it's a thing
of people that you know, we respect and all different
aspects of the movement and just black people in general, think,

(58:51):
you know, thinkers, thought leaders and just movers and shakers, man.
And that's what it's gonna takes. It takes when I
think about history, and just imagine if all of our
scholars and movement people actually sat down and came together
as a collective, you know. Yeah, And that's what we're
trying to do. And that's Charlemagne's commentary is always free

(59:13):
black man ish, like you know, he's the free black man.
That's all I'm on. I don't care, you know, I'm
always say the thing that the spark, that's what you do.
But anyway, Michael Eric Dyson is King King is what
they call him. Now we have our change Maker segment,

(59:34):
my favorite segment, your favorite favorite treatment. And this young
lady is a favorite of so many. Um she was
one of the leaders of Black Lives Matter in New
York City, but um, this young lady is all over
the country doing such incredible work and really connecting with

(59:57):
people on a deep level. When I first met her,
I was, you know, I was always impressed because she's
smart and she speaks well. But after listening to her
story of where she comes from, I understood why she
is acknowledged and sort of um revered as such a
leader and so powerful because she's been through a lot

(01:00:19):
in her personal life, have dealt with homelessness, has dealt
with just so much um and I won't tell her
story for her. And yet still she's on the battlefield,
a front frontline organizer who's incredibly strategic and also a
scholar UM And I'm proud to have New Paul to
join us today. And you know, New Paul is a

(01:00:44):
no nonsense person, right, so so she doesn't play games.
So when when you when you when you're talking to
New Paul, you don't know if you're gonna get cussed
out or loved up on, but whatever it is, like
you always say it's gonna be or then, So I
want to bring New Paul Kiazulu. Did I say it right? Nepaul?

(01:01:08):
You were close Kazola to to be with us today
as I changed make a spotlight, what's going on? Sis?
Hey guys, I'm so happy to be here. I missed
you guys like so much, so it was so good
to see you, like your beautiful faces. I'm so happy.
She's such adorable. She ran up on me in UM

(01:01:30):
logo in the square and she was like, I know
you don't you know me, but we've met a couple
of times, and I was looking like I didn't know you,
and then she just started talking to me and you
can just you can just feel her spirit was so
pure and she's just such a genuine and very smart
young lady and happy to have you here, queen. So
tell us it's it's Women's History month, and you are

(01:01:52):
certainly a woman. Um, talk of what's going on? What
are you into your I think you are. You have
stepped aside in your role as being, uh the head
of BLM New York, and you're doing some other things.
You're also in school to talk to us about your
daily experiences and what happens in the life of New

(01:02:13):
Paul every single day. So I did resign as the
president of Black Lives Matter Greater New York. So I
am an independent activist and organizer right now. Um. But nonetheless,
like I tell people all the time, that the movement
does not reside within a title or organization. The movement
is within us. Just because I resigned from that position

(01:02:35):
does not mean that my work as an organizer stop.
If anything, it has increased. Like you know, I'm constantly
on the go, I'm constantly moving, working with different families,
and um, just continuing this work as an organizer. Because
it's what I do, is what I know, and it's
what I love. What would you say is the specific

(01:02:57):
field of interest, Like you know, when we talk about
the move there's a lot of things. There's gun violence,
there's you know, women's issues, you know, black men, all
of that. So what would you say is your specific
expertise in um So, civil rights is what many people
around the world know me for, and that's one of
my expertise is I also am an advocate for sexual

(01:03:19):
and domestic violence survivors because I'm a survivor of myself
and homelessness. Um So, everything that I advocate for are
things that I've experienced personally and that I can speak
to um and concerning, like the sexual violence and the homelessness.
Um those were things that I used to be afraid
to speak about because of the stigmas surrounding survivors of

(01:03:41):
domestic and sexual violence and also homelessness. But then when
I was like seventeen, I just came to a point
where it's like, if I don't tell my story, somebody
else will. I know that my testimony can help someone else's, Like,
because when I listen to other survivors testimonies That's what
helped me change and save my life. Um So, I

(01:04:03):
just became unapologetic in my path and who I am
as a young person and how I show up in
this world. And you know, by the grace of God,
I'm here. I'm standing despite all obstacles thrown against me,
and I love what I do. Like literally, why I'm
alive is because of activism and just serving people and
really being in this like I was in the ship.

(01:04:25):
I don't know if I can cuss on here, but yeah,
like I was in this movement before it was sexy
and popular and trendy. Like I feel like I'm aging myself.
But I've been doing this for eight and a half years,
like since I was twelve years old. Um So, like
just seeing how this movement has shifted and people coming

(01:04:46):
in and out, it's definitely been an experience. And um,
I for one can say, like, you know, I came
in here because of Trayvon Martin. That's how I started off.
I committed my life to the movement at thirteen. I've
always had pure intentions and um you know I'm here today.
So listening to you, you're so driven in serious and

(01:05:07):
you have you're so young with the old soul, Like,
how do you balance this youthfulness? Because when you go
to your you know, your Instagram page, you see this
young girls, she's fly. You know, you pose and you're
having a good thing. And then you go and you
also see the connection with the civil rights and you
see all these things. How do you balance your youthfulness

(01:05:28):
with the seriousness of civil rights? I would say, Um,
it definitely goes back to owning my truth and controlling
the narrative, because oftentimes activists are portrayed as these stoic
figures that are serious all the time and then like
robots that don't have fun. And I'm like, I'm twenty

(01:05:48):
years old first and foremost, like I'm a young person,
will make mistakes. I am not perfect. I've never portrayed
myself to be perfect. I'm an open book. So, like,
you know, staying true to who I am and walking
in my path is the first and most important thing
to me while I'm navigating throughout life as an activist
and a young person and everything that comes in between that. Um,

(01:06:11):
and I encourage for anybody that wants to get in
the movement, Like you can be an activist and still
pursue things outside of activism that make you happy. Like
I really want people to understand that, Like, if you
want to go to a party with your friends, you
can go to a party with your friends. Do whatever
makes you feel happy. Like I love pageantry, and I've

(01:06:33):
always been interested in pageantry. I grew up watching Tylers
and Tierras. I finally took the boat step in nineteen
to compete in a paget Miss Liberia. That was my
first pageant. I had no type of experience before that,
no coach, no nothing. I went up there and I
was myself and I want so I'm like, I'm still
the reigning Miss Liberia, USA, And like I I say

(01:06:56):
that because I just want people to understand that you
can still pursue your dreams and have fun and be
yourself and be an activist. It won't take anything away
from the work that you do on the front lines
or behind the scenes or however you show up in
the movement. So what what are some of the critical
issues that you're on right now? Some of the things
that you're fighting for. And I guess that ties into

(01:07:17):
what you expect to see from the Biden Harris administration.
UM So some of the critical issues I'm fighting for
right now, UM, it's the allocation of resources to communities
that needed the most. This is one of the most
important issues to me that I've been fighting for since
day one, since I started, because I understand that police

(01:07:38):
brutality is just the tip ice word. UM. As important
as and serious as it is, there are underlying circumstances
that exasperate these causes, like poverty. You know, you tell
these people in an impoverished community, um to pick yourself
up by the bootstraps and work hard, and these people

(01:07:59):
don't even have the foundation for the boots that you
speak of. It's hypocrisy and you expect them to survive.
And it's not rocket science that if you allocate the
necessary and sustainable resources to the communities that need it
the most, that it would drastically decrease quote unquote crime.
And me personally, I don't refer to it as crime.

(01:08:19):
I refer to it as a life of survival because
growing up in Brownsville, Brooklyn, I definitely seem like a
lot of these people that's involved in what people consider crime,
they don't even want to be there, Like real hood
ning is like want They don't want to do that
ship like, but they don't have a choice. It like
when you grow up in communities like this, it creates
a survival of the fitness mentality and you gotta get

(01:08:42):
it how you live. So you know, I I that's
a cause that's really dear to my heart because I
see the effects first hands, whether it be in the
educational system, UM, the lack of mental health resources, were
the amount of trauma that black and brown folks facing
these impoverished communities, and just so many more resources that
can come into our communities, UM, instead of the police

(01:09:05):
departments across this country that freak havoc in our communities. UM.
And then another issue that I'll close with in person
that I'm fighting for right now. His name is Xavier Hill,
who was an eighteen year old young black child that
was murdered by Virginia State Police in January on January nine, UM,
and they're his family is still fighting to bring awareness case.

(01:09:28):
But this case hit home for me particularly because one
he's a young person like me, and two he's also
my birthday twin, but we're both we were both on
June twelve, and when I saw that, I was like, damn,
like this literally could have been me. Um. So tho's
some issues that I'm fighting for now, and I expect
the Biden administration just to close um to really include

(01:09:52):
people that can speak to what's going on on the
ground on the front lines. UM, and I don't. We're
not asking for at like this is something that they
owe us, that they owe at people because in that position,
without us, they would not be here. So I'm expecting
that they include people that can really speak to the

(01:10:13):
experiences of people from various communities, frontline activists, organizers, whatever,
in that in that space so we can build our
own tables, because we even just having seats at the tables,
we need to be able to create our own spaces
for us by us listen, I know that our future
is in great hands with you at the helms. Just

(01:10:34):
listening to you, hearing your passion, you know, being around
you and seeing the work that you've done and how
you continue to move you. You got the three fs
I call it fly UM, focused in the fighter, you know,
to continue to do That's a good one. That's that's

(01:10:55):
my that's mytion. You can take that, you know only
I only no credit on that. You're gonna take it,
continue to do the world, Queen. We're going to support you.
Everybody follow Newpaul on Instagram. She is one of our
premier leaders. You know, we say we're talking about black history,
and we took them about the women's history. Were from

(01:11:16):
black history to women's history, and women's history is black.
That's right. And this is the future. Were the president,
you know, and this is the future, Queen Paul might
be the president and the future. Paul, you know, you
mentioned Xavier Hill, but you didn't say what happened to him?
Can you give us thirty seconds on that and then

(01:11:37):
tell us how folks can support you. Where can folks
cash after you or to hook you up and help
you out. Xavier Hill was an eighteen year old young
black child that was murdered by Virginia stately So on
January um. It was a traffic stop that ended up
turning deadly. Traffic stop. That's the part I was trying

(01:11:58):
to get to. I knew he was killed by least,
but I want to know what were the circumstances of
the traffic stop situation. Yeah, the traffic stop that deadly
and his mother saw the dash camp footage and she
said he had his He was saying he did not
have a weapon on him and that he was coming
out peacefully. He didn't want any confrontation, but they still

(01:12:20):
killed him. Um. And right now his mother, LaToya is
her name, is fighting for the body cam footage to
be released, and Lee Merritt is on the case, so
super happy about that and things are looking up because
Lee is an amazing attorney. So we're hoping to get
the it's released because unfortunately, like it shouldn't have black

(01:12:43):
people dying on camera for people to activate, but that's
the state that we're in the now. So cash app
for you. Cash app is Crystal Clean v A. UM,
it's crystal clean with two ends, Crystal clean with you
and to be a crystal clean with two ends. V A.

(01:13:04):
Will make sure to put that information out there. And also,
y'all hear me continuously asking this young lady how we
can support her. She's not telling us that information, so
I'm gonna go find it and we will also include
that new Paul, thank you so much for being with
us today. UM. We appreciate you and cannot wait to
meet you on the battlefield again. You're a leader, You're

(01:13:26):
a courageous leader, and you are an inspirationist. So the
three fs a fighter who's focused and fly. I love it.
I love you guys so much. Stay safe out there.
Thank you to you too. I don't know where people
get this whole notion that there are no leaders, you know,

(01:13:48):
it seems like there's just so many of them to me.
And maybe it's because we come into contact with so
many people while we're traveling, you know, thinking about folks
in Louisville, Kentucky, in Minneapolis, Um, you know, in d C.
Just all over the country, and then looking at folks
like New Paul, Mary, Pat These are young folks that

(01:14:08):
are doing really really incredible work, like they're actually undergirding,
if you will, the entire movement, keeping it going. Because
sometimes as we get older, we become a little less courageous,
a little less more to take chances you want to
take lesshire wisdom makes you a lot more cautious, you know,
and these young people, and I think what you said

(01:14:30):
to your point, you know, people are saying that they
don't see leaders or we are the leaders. And I
think because leadership now is not the traditional look, you know,
there's not the conditional way that you exalted into leadership.
It comes straight from grassroots, is coming from communities that
normally weren't even engaged in the process, like we were

(01:14:53):
fighting further community, but it weren't people who are actually
engaged in the process, from marginalized communities, who who sounded
like the culture, who you know, didn't fit a certain
certain little mottel. They weren't of the cloth, didn't come
from church, they didn't have a religious background, all these things.
I think before that was when you look at tell

(01:15:15):
me so, tell me the leaders that or they weren't
ivy league, come from colleges, and tell me to lead us. Now,
I mean before they didn't happen. It was certainly a
level of intellectual um greatness, if you will, that existed
within some of the leaders of our past that we're

(01:15:38):
striving for today. I think that that's true. And that's
probably what we see because these were people and we're
searching for what people are searching for um and what
I say striving for because we're reading and we're trying
to uh to educate ourselves and and and I think
that it helps to make you a stronger leader. And

(01:15:59):
that's what we have sort of identified in some people
of the past. But I'm not sure that we can
say that the Black Panthers because I meet Black Panthers
all the time, or people who are a part of
the Black Panther movement who still live in the community. Now,
I don't. I mean, I do feel like the movement,
whatever that means. I'm looking for a new term for

(01:16:20):
the movement. Um. It's made up of a lot of people,
and it certainly was in the past, people who no
one knew where they grew up, right, Like, no one
really understood their story, at least it's not what got publicized.
And I think social media is the difference, because they
didn't have the ability to tell their stories more than

(01:16:43):
noon and night, to bring you into the relationships with
their mother, cousin, sisters. But they didn't have that, and
the only ones that you learned of those relationships and
the interpersonal um life of someone is because the world
or the country, or certain black people or whomever took
a special interest in that person and therefore the media portrayed.

(01:17:06):
But the media was always showing it in a negative light. Okay,
So I think social media is giving us the opportunity
to examine the real lives of individuals, and I think
that brings me to I don't get it. What don't
you get I don't get why people cannot see leaders

(01:17:31):
with flaws or leaders who don't necessarily fit into a box.
I don't get why is there this need to think
that leaders are perfect. You know, when we talked to
doctor Day and he was explaining to us about his
book about mom Luther King and how people were angry
with him, and he exposed some of the flaws of

(01:17:52):
you know, one of the greatest men that we know today.
Like I say that all the time. I said, if
you look at most of our greatest leaders, you know,
it's not highlighted the flaws that they had, but they
had very serious flaws that people speak of. And I
don't understand why people see it as hypocrisy that you
want to stand on the front line and fight for
our people, right, you want to advocate for equality, you

(01:18:14):
want to advocate for justice, you know, want to advocate
for unity, but that you actually have flaws in your
as an individual, that you actually are going through individual things,
you are suffering from, certain things, you're fighting with, certain things,
Like I don't understand why people see this need. I
really just don't get why people see this need to

(01:18:35):
box our leaders or people who are actually fighting into
one thing. And if you're not that one thing that
they want you to be, then you're a hypocrite and
you can't represent. Dr Dyson said exactly what it is.
It's a white supremacist theory. You know, I was um
sitting in a training one time during the the Women's March,

(01:18:57):
and a black woman was walking us through some you know,
inter inter organizational issues and other things. It was a retreat,
and she said that perfection is a tool of white
supremacy where people use the idea that if you're not
if you're not perfect, to uh Dr Dyson's point, you're canceled,

(01:19:20):
you're finished. You have to be first in line, you
have to you know, accomplish more than anyone else. And
those types of that mentality actually stops us from being
as great as we could be if we allowed ourselves
to to experience our experience, our imperfections. And I and

(01:19:42):
I said, you know, a couple of weeks ago, I
don't remember exactly when it was on this show that
I realized even my imperfections helped to make up the
person that I am. The world doesn't necessarily see it
that way. People will sit and criticize you for the
same ship they do every day day because you're supposed
to be better than them. You're just a human being,

(01:20:03):
but you're supposed to be better. And I know, am
I supposed to be better than you? The only thing
I'm supposed to do is use my moral compass and
strive to be the best person that I can be.
You know, we go through this all the time. I've
been I go through it all the time. I see
comments on my page. You know, my my quote is
gangster but woke, and and it confuses people, pisses people, all,
how are you gonna be gangster? But woa? You can't.

(01:20:24):
You can't straddle defense? And I say, what is straddle defense? Wood?
I come from the community where gangster has a meaning, right.
Gangster means that you are stand up, that you're strong,
that you're willing to fight, that you're willing to to
speak your mind, that you stand on principles, that you
stand in authenticity. When you woke, it means that you're
you've alerted yourself to the realities of life that we're

(01:20:47):
dealing with. You know, you've alerted. You said, damn, we
need to fight as black people. Understand the struggle black
people are dealing, understand the systemic racism, or understand how
the plan is to keep us boxed into this on
one place. And so when you combine both of those things,
you connect to so many different people. Like I came
from prison. I did seven years in prison. So my

(01:21:08):
story connects people in prison who never seen a pathway
into this movement. They thought they weren't worthy. They thought
people say, oh, I'm not good enough. You know, I
don't even know how to get involved in that. So
I'm connecting with them. I'm bringing them to this movement.
I'm bringing people that are still in the street to
have a streat mentality who lived by a certain you know,
rules in the street that everybody don't understand. But it's

(01:21:30):
about integrity. I tell people all the time. People say, oh,
you with this quote unquote no snitching thing, And I
tell people, it's not about snitching thing is not a
street principle. It's integrity. It's about being able to be
accountable and stand up to what you do. If you
made a decision that I want to engage in a crime, right.
I made a decision. I'm going to engage in the

(01:21:52):
crown despite people saying, don't do this as a grown man,
I mean intelligent decision. I'm going to engage in this crime.
I'm I'm a conscious not intelligence. Apologize it wasn't intelligent,
because engaging the crime is really not smart. But I
made a conjuct decision to engage in this act and
understanding that what comes with this act is one, two
and three. The minute that you engage in that act

(01:22:15):
and you have to face those consequences is because you're
not man enough or willing to deal with those consequences.
You decide that you want to give up information so
someone else can deal with their consequences, so that you
don't deal with your consequences. That's nothing but a lack
of integrity. It's not about a street principle. It's not

(01:22:36):
that you just talking about crime. No, that's manhood. Men
stand up for what they do, stand what it is
that you do. And people have an issue that I
do not subscribe to. Anyone that's who is too weak
to deal with the consequences of their own actions. It's
not about streets. I take those principles into a boardroom.
I take those principles into civil rights. If me and

(01:22:58):
you are standing with each other and we do something
together and people in the world is attacking you right
and there attacking me because of this, I'm not gonna say, well,
Tomika was doing it. You're didn't say nothing about her
to get the spite light off of me. It's just integrity, exactly.
And because they lack integrity, so I'm built on integrity,
I don't. It's not about street principles. When I say, Gangsta,

(01:23:19):
what woke? This is the integrity in the in the
is the integrity for me man, and I'm woke. So
when I combined both of those, it makes me more
more um qualified to leave because everybody doesn't have those
experiences and criterias and not respected in all the areas
of life that I'm respecting it. So don't be mad
at me because you don't have that skill set that

(01:23:40):
you can speak you know, fluent in ebonics and you
can go into a boardroom and talk like a college professor.
Because you can't do those things. Don't be mad at
me because I can sit down with scholars and you know,
and connect with them and go down to brothers who
haven't even been uh to pass junior high school and
bring all of those worlds together. Don't be mad at me.

(01:24:01):
Don't call me a hypocrite because you're not as skilled
as I am with the skill set that I was
blessed with and along my path that God gave me.
You know, just do you get you something to do well?
First of all to all of that. But I do
think that we should have on one of our shows,

(01:24:21):
we should have a deeper conversation about this whole idea
of the meaning of gangster, because I think over time
it's being defined as something different from what most people
understand it to me. But to me it's like this,
It's it's the same thing as when people want to
argue with you about defunding police, right when when you

(01:24:42):
when you argue with me about defunded police, you understand
what the reality is. So what I'm trying to say
is this, if I'm not out there with a gun,
listen to me. If you're looking at me right and
I'm not out there with a gun, I'm not selling drugs,
I'm not doing none of those things. And I'm moving
people away from the streets, and I'm saying I'm gangster
right then, and I'm showing you what the criterias for
gangster is for me, and you're telling me, no, that's

(01:25:04):
not what it is. So you need to change the world.
It's like the same way that you say that a
part of the word is gang get it triggers people? Well,
gang is just a lot of people. Well I understand,
but it triggers people when you deal with uh, when
you deal with the the actual context of what it has.

(01:25:26):
But you know what, you can't. You gotta look at
the individual that's using the word and not the word
in itself. You understand saying you gotta look at the
car like defund When you say defund, it means take
funds away. Right, we know that we know me take
all the abolish exactly today we listen. I'm with it, man.
I want to have these conversations because you can't keep

(01:25:48):
challenging me about the life that I live. You don't
get to tell me the words I use. You don't
get to tell me how I move. And I'm just
not gonna allow what to happen to me. I'm gonna
lead on my own. You want to follow, you follow,
You don't then you leave something else, but you do
you And on that note, thank you for being with us.
We appreciate y'all. I'm not gonna always be right, Tamika

(01:26:09):
will more than likely be wrong, but not all the time,
not all the time, but we will both always be
always always. Thank you for joining the street politicians. That's
how we are

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Tamika Mallory

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