January 27, 2023 • 68 mins
About Oya:
Oya L Sherrills is a survivor, a lived experience leader in her field, an advocate, and an organizer. Author of "Musings of a Rascal", she works to create a culture where healing practices are centered and valued. Oya likes to pave paths that connect past and future ancestors in efforts to prioritize peace and community-driven solutions that break cycles of violence and address trauma. She's creative, she's a mama, and she's for the trees.
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https://www.instagram.com/hypknow/
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Content one. This episode will discuss a lot of heavy
topics such as sexual assault and homicide. Please be kind
to yourself, prepare yourself with before and or after care.
Then remember if you are a loved one is going
through it, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline
(00:24):
A six five six hope that's six six four six
seven three, or you can text the Crisis Text one.
Just text home h O N E to seven for
one seven four one. Thank you. To explore the stories, policies, practices,
(00:58):
and idea survives. This is oh yah, welcome good people.
Did you know that every April through the nine since
(01:20):
in California is Crime Victims Week. This is a time
in which victim and survivor advocacy groups platform the issues, policies,
and practices of survivor's movements, both new and traditional. This
episode is from Crime Survivors for Safety and Justices annual
(01:42):
event called Survivors Speak and Survivors Speak was themed When
Survivors Speak, Change Happens and we were there live in
the lobby of the Hilton at midnight to discuss with
conference goers what brought them there, what their work is,
(02:04):
and what morsels, what insights they had gleaned from the event.
Thus far C S s J has been rolling out
what they call their ten point program respect to the
Black Panther Party for the blueprint, but actually what they
call it is the California Victims Agenda, and it's a
(02:26):
ten point plan to do three things. Expand rights, end discrimination,
and provide real help. Now we can get into the
ten points right, So number one is to increase legal
protections for victims to prevent job and housing loss. Two
(02:50):
Expand victims civil legal services to help all victims recover.
Three Ensure dignity, respect and support for victims of unsolved crimes. Four.
Expand victims services eligibility to all victims of crime and violence. Five.
(03:13):
Eradicate racial disparities in access to compensation and services. Six,
Reach more survivors and crisis and faster. Seven, cover actual
costs of recovery. Eight. Ensure that trauma recovery services are available. Nine.
(03:39):
Invest in community based victims services providers like myself. Ten
fun urgent crisis assistance needs. Now, yes, like that, now, okay, listen. Essentially,
these are the things that I had the pleasure of
(04:03):
discussing with two attendees. Actually there was three, but here
you will hear two attendees, Malachi Scott and Rocky a
k A. Hip So thanks for tuning in. Please check
it out. So we're back at these midnight conversations. I
(04:28):
am sitting here with a gentleman who has been doing
some work at the intersection of re entry and survivors
of crime. Can you introduce yourself? Yes, I can. My
name is Malachi Scott Man. I'm many things, many different hats,
so it's kind of hard to like, panpoint um what
(04:49):
I want to say here, but I guess I would say, um,
you know, I'm here as a survivor, you know, and
as like someone who believes in Helen and Helen practice
from my self and also for my community. So I'm
with the to Say Justice League, Restorative Justice for open
youth and for all of my ancestors. Yeah. Wow, that's
(05:10):
really beautiful and powerful way to start the conversation. Okay,
so tell me about some of your personal healing practices
if you don't mind. Oh yeah, right right. That's that's
just really deep too. It's definitely many different things for me. Um,
just the power of prayer. Um. I believe in communication
(05:31):
with the Creator, the one who has delivered me through dark,
very dark times. Um, and yet I'm still here and
being able to be in the presidence with you, you know,
so UM really thankful for that. And so it's it's prayer, um,
it's libation, it's uh the lighting of in peppo something
that I wanted to do today. I brought some peppo um,
(05:53):
which is a plant that I light up that was
blessed through uh this wonderful system in South Africa. And
so I do a little do a little burning amongst
other different things too. But like just like self care
practices for me and my healing journey, like music plays
a role in it. And water as well. Often like
to uh take walks around the water. And it's interesting
(06:16):
that you asked, and I know what not to like
jump our heads is. I remember when I was incarcerated,
me and some of the guys, we used to walk
around the track. And we used to walk around the track.
We used to have really deep, vulnerable conversations, conversations that
probably doesn't really happen amongst men a whole lot. And
I remember when I was walking around this lake called
Lake Merritt in Oakland that if it seemed familiar and
(06:39):
I'm like, why do why does it seem familiar to me?
And it then it hit me, like remind me of
those days when I was incarcerated walking the track with
men who just had really good restorative spirits and so
um um and so my self care practices also like
walking that lake, Like I like to get around the
lake at least multiple times a week when I'm home
(07:00):
and I'm not traveling. Yeah, that's I mean, that's really
layered and it's so deep and it's so sacred everything
that you just said. So I really appreciate you sharing
your healing practices with us here in this space, because
you know, a lot of the times I feel like
we talk about healing practices and there's one way that
(07:24):
people think about it. But the way that you just
unpacked it, it's going to give access to somebody who's
listening who doesn't really know about healing practices yet. It's
going to give an access to understand like how personal
it can be, and also how you can connect to
(07:45):
the divine, how you can connect to ancestors, how you
can connect to plants, how you can connect to elements
like water, how you can also um open up and
be vulnerable, you know, in your masculine and and geez,
so thank you so much for that. And and then
one of my very favorite healing practices definitely involves music.
(08:07):
So I don't know if you have anything on your
heart on your mind that you might want to spit
for us or share. I don't I don't even know
what your modality of music is. But if you want
to take some space to share, please feel free. You know,
when I was young, um, I wanted to be a rapper.
(08:30):
I kind of wanted to pursue a sort of like
a restorative hip hop type of rap career. Um. But
then I learned how to produce music, and since then
I just got involved the production so much that sometimes
I messed around with you know, freestyling or something. But
for the most part, I like to make uh, you know,
music for artists to get on and I just like
(08:50):
the way that sound speaks to me. Now, Like I
didn't honor this. I wanted to be a rapper about it,
honor sound, the progressions and compositions behind the lyrics. I
didn't honor that, you know what I'm saying. And as
a producer, like, wow, this is amazing. It's so many
different elements. It's like singing, right, you got these different
layers of singers like creating this music for us to
(09:13):
wrap on, you know, looking at like that. Because instruments
are vocals and vocals are instruments. So it's just been
just a journey of learning how to create composition is
just um, that's part of my healing. And it's been
always been really a blessing during the pandemic as well.
You know, I didn't feel alone during the pandemic, you know,
(09:33):
always had something to engage in. It was definitely beneficial
for me to have my own music studio and to
create it's mostly hip hop and R and B beat
that I sell to artists, you know what I'm saying. Oh,
I give to artists if you want to jump on
and do something with it. And so yeah, and how
do people tune into the sounds that you curate? Yeah,
(09:56):
you can go to UH beat Stars and look up
malpractice malpractice productions, um and they come right up, you know. Um.
So yeah, you'll see a lot of you hear a
lot of arms. It's R and B beats, but it's
mostly like West Coast rat beats. So um, you know
from the West coast, so you know, I got to
represent so yeah. Yeah, So earlier you did say that
(10:23):
you identify as a survivor of crime. Do you care
to share more about that? Yeah, so I identify as
many things, right, Um, But I want to highlight that
part too, because like most of my life, especially being incarcerated,
always looked at myself as someone who did harm, did
(10:43):
something wrong. I was a bad guy, um, and I
would internalize that, you know, and not really be kind
to myself or empathetic towards myself. For some reason, I
just never really looked at all the things that happened
to me. I just never really looked at it in
to uh, I would definitely say when I came to
the stort of justice where I was able to be
(11:05):
asked those powerful questions that like make me dig the
insight out of myself, questions I never really heard of
or are talked about, things I never really talked about.
And so when I look back at my life and
realized the things that happened to me, like, yeah, I
was harmed, you know, I was harmed a lot, and yes,
I ended up doing something really very really really terrible
(11:28):
for me to go to prison, and so now, yeah,
I survived all of that, you know what I'm saying,
I'm still here and I didn't have a voice back then,
I didn't had a support back then, and so many
different things that didn't happen at the same time. Like,
I definitely was able to survive that, and not just
because of myself, definitely because of the higher power as well.
(11:49):
And so I identify as a survivor and I say
that in power and they said that for everybody that's incarcerated,
formally incarcerated, we all are survivors. You know what I'm saying,
Espec's like black men, black um are in the black
and brown communities, Like there's this intersection and of we've
got family members who have been harmed, who have been shot,
(12:09):
who have been murdered, and we also have family members
that serving time who's been on the opposite end of that.
And so I'm not gonna say it like necessarily and
I'm both in a sense, but I'm like, I'm definitely
a survivor. I'm formerly incarcerated, and I'm definitely someone who
made some very bad decisions in my life. And one
of the things about you mentioned about healing practice is
one of the things that I do. And one of
(12:30):
the things I like to say is that every day
is the opportunity to honor. Every day is the opportunity
to honor and even honor the people that we harmed,
you know. And so that's part of my healing practice too,
knowing that I'm honoring the person at the harm when
I when I went to prison far on all the
other people that people don't know about, you know, Um,
(12:51):
I honored their life, and so that gives me healing
knowing that I I live for them, you know, I
represent them, or I speak their name, you know, it's
different things like that, and so, um, that's one of
the things I like to do. And so leeah, I
also identify as a survivor and also a compassionate person,
empathetic person, and charismatic person and so forth, and song
(13:13):
I can keep running my mouth on it. Yeah. So,
so you spoke about honoring honoring the people who you've
lost and even honoring the people that you've caused harm,
and that sounds like a very big deal to me,
(13:34):
And I wonder how do you bring the element of
honoring those harms into your work as a real and
well you you said you were a retory court and
tell me your title again. Yeah, I'm I'm m. My
title is Community Renchy Restorative Justice Coordinator. And so I
(13:56):
do all kinds of things. It's not just that, but
when it comes to re entry, um, you know, it's
it's an intersection. Like a lot of guys come home
and they'd be a part of our Black Male healln circle. Uh,
just just a part of my life in some way
or another, and we like share wisdom to each other.
And you know this same thing I said to you
(14:17):
every day is the opportunity to honor. And like when
people come in our circle and circle and um, they're
expecting themselves on how they feel about losing their loved
one or their loved one is at the hospital, whatever
they may say. Like there's definitely the standard I heavy
every day is the opportunity to honor. You know what
I'm saying, And so I just speak to it and
(14:38):
I share like things that I do. I know, like
for me and just to be transparent, I was incarcerated
for homicide. Every January, I go and I pour a
libation at a specific location in Oakland, and I leave
a sacrifice and the sacrifice I leave any like like
like in South Africa and Africa, like that's the sacrifice.
(14:59):
But I leave so that I might buy a cake
or something like that from the store for some reason
for me, Like that's healing. Like every January, do the
same thing since I've been home. So yeah, that's what
I do. And so that's like, and I tell people
that story to not just like tell a by myself,
but like, lo, you can do this too if like
if that speaks to you at least maybe it doesn't.
(15:21):
But um, and this is something that I do. Sometimes
I just say the person's name, say people's name out loud.
Sometimes I just be silent, just look to the sky
and touching my heart because I believe God knows my attentions.
And so, um, these are the things that you know,
these are ways that I honor and potentially you can
do the same. Thank you so much for sharing about
(15:45):
your journey and the ways that you have navigated the
harm that has come into your life and the harm
that you have caused due to the harm that you experience.
And you know, I oftentimes think about in in my
own work. Um, this moment that I had with a
(16:07):
young man who told me that when he grew up,
he wanted to be a flocker and he wanted to
jack people. He wanted to take their ship. That's what
he told me, right, And I just saw all of
this pain and anger and his face, and I asked him,
has anybody ever took anything from you? And all of
(16:28):
the the vitriol that I seen, like all of the
wall that he had, you know, built up, you know that,
and it was all in his demeanor. I seen it
just crack right before me as he acknowledged that he
had been harmed before, you know, that somebody had taken
(16:50):
something from him that started him in the practice of
one in to take from others, you know. And I
think it's just so important for us to be able
to heal as like individuals, but also to heal as
a community, to be able to acknowledge the harms that
(17:12):
plague us and start to address it. You know. It
starts to bring honor back into our culture, start to
bring peace as a practice back into our culture, start
to elevate healing as a practice back into our culture.
And I see that, you know, you are exemplifying that,
(17:32):
you know, And I just men, I have gratitude to you,
And um, is there any moments from the past couple
of days that you want to share about. I know
you also have been a part of the of the
Men's Healing circles, but you know, there's all kinds of
things that have happened over the past couple of days.
(17:54):
So I don't know if there's anything from this survivor
speaks two experience you on the ship. Yeah, that's a
good question. Um, I know this is my first day
and I went to a workshop today on forgiveness and
then I have my Men's Healing circle and then we
listened to the panel and so I definitely got things
(18:16):
from all of the different circles and the panels. I
think seeing people like bring people together. Um. One of
the things that you know women was talking earlier, but
I don't know if you mentioned that he was doing
like a Helen circle for mothers at the r J
office and we're just supporting the space for a little
while for them to be able to hold it on
(18:37):
their own. And um, just seeing the mothers that's a
part of that Helen circle be here and be present
and take part of the workshops like that's that speaks
to me, it's seeing it tells me that, you know,
all it takes is one person to invite another person
and just seeing the smiles on their face. Uh, just
seeing them as a part of this and knowing that
(18:58):
it's it's in power. This This Survivus Peace Conferences empowering,
you know, just to see so many people who have
been through a whole lot of stuff have a voice,
knowing that they can create change in California for safety
and justice. Like it's like a perfect example of what
people can do and utilize the voices to help with
(19:20):
Prop forty seven, to help change legislation, to help reduce
mass incarceration. They bring funding back into the community, and
to help to speak like speaking up for justice in general,
accountability in general. Um. So it's empowering. So I'm really
thankful to see that the mothers that I know that's
here will be nice to have a lot more fathers,
(19:41):
a lot more, uh do. I definitely see black man
and brown man here too. Um But that's probably what
speaks to me the most, seeing the power that is
being created um here at this conference, especially for people
who come for the first time to see this. I
think that people who come for the first it's time.
They often want to come back or get involved in
(20:02):
some form. Can I ask you a kind of complicated question. Sure,
So when you think over the like the events of
your life, is there ever anything that you feel like
could have sent you on another track? Is there anything
(20:23):
that you feel like could have stopped the cycle of
violence before it started in New York life? Yeah? I
have a couple of different things in that piece. Uh.
One of the things I like to say, and I
know this is for myself. I believe that everybody want
to be a part of something naturally, whatever the social
(20:44):
group is, uh, you know, whether it's the sports, whether
it's an um just some sort of man, whethericent education,
whe whever it may be in right, So, everybody had
a desire. I think that for me, I didn't know
what I was good at. I didn't know where I
where I felt like I belonged. But what was easy
for me was was outside. And so, uh, you don't
(21:06):
have to be the most talented person, you know to
go and join the gang. You know, you know what
I'm saying. You don't need to do that, you know, So, uh,
it was easily accessible for me, was like right outside
of the house. So, um, that's what I chose to do.
But you know, I watched this video that my organization
show before I work with my organization. I saw it's,
(21:27):
uh you can go on YouTube and look at it.
It's called Restorative re Entry. You can look up Restorative
re Entry Circle and then to pop up on YouTube.
And the first time I watched that fourteen minute video,
and I've seen that the support that this young man
was getting, I would I thought to myself, Wow, I
needed that. I wish I had that where like twenty
(21:50):
people was there for me and to support me in
different areas of my life, Like I can't even fathom
that for myself, you know. Um. And so I kind
of looked at that. So I was I would just
say he did that village. That village support, UM could
have just you know, took me a long way, you know,
in my life. And so with that village support, I
(22:13):
would I would have definitely imagined like definitely like a
powerful uh male figure too. Because I didn't know my
father at that time, like I've known history now, I
was able to reconnect with my father's side of the family,
like right before the pandemic after like thirty something years so, um,
but I'm so I got I know now, but but
I didn't know him then, so you know, I definitely
(22:36):
needed that. But also to like this exposure to different things,
Like my life was so my brain was so developed
around South Central in Inglewood, California. I didn't know anything
outside of that, you know what I'm saying, and so
that's all I knew. And so just to be able
to go pastons for the world I think could have
been beneficial for me too. And like I said, I
(22:56):
wanted to be a rapper to like having support around
that and like people like pushing me forward into my
dream too. Maybe that could have been beneficial as well
for me, but mainly village because I didn't had that
at all. Like, thank you so much for sharing your
wisdom with me in the wee hourans of this morning.
(23:18):
Um yeah, I mean, I wish you many blessings as
your path continues to unfold. Thank you so much. Thank you. Um.
One of the things that I guess for before I leave,
I just say this because I'm he might want to
go real quick. Uh, is that when I talk about
with being a survivor and not speak for a whole
(23:39):
lot of other people. I know I should be using
ice statements, but like looking at like we are harmed
by systems, and we are also harmed by historical racism,
you know, historical trauma. Uh many different factors. Are young
people who was out here probably robbing and doing whatever
they're doing. They was born into a culture where this
(24:01):
all this stuff existed. And before this specific culture existed,
there was the culture with a black panther party was
this manto. Our political parties was this mantle, and we
fell on hard times and killed, yeah, in prison, and
so our leaders are leaders. And when the young people
wanted to who looked up to them, they looked up
to these leaders when all of that happened, like it
(24:23):
was really hard time. And so um, I forgot what
they call it, like something genetics. When when when trauma
has passed down through our DNA into generational trauma epigenetics, yeah,
epi genetics, yeah yeah, and so all of this stuff
like like we're we're impacted by that, you know what
I'm saying, And so where all survivors if you asked me, so, yeah,
(24:45):
you know, let's definitely look at it. We are the
dreams of our great, great great great great great grand parents.
Right we are, we are the star dust of their existence,
right right, right, right again. I appreciate you so much
for sharing and hold that thought. We'll be right back
(25:11):
after a word from our sponsors. Welcome, Welcome, Welcome. I
(25:32):
appreciate you come over here like you got cocoa butter
in the air. You gotta you gotta a will for that.
I sure did. I mean, I'm like, you know, I'm
into the aroma therapy, so like I appreciate the details.
When I knew I was gonna be sitting down with you,
I was like, let me come fresh, you know what
I'm saying, let me get my act together. That's why
(25:54):
I dipped out for a minute. Well, I appreciate it.
So can you tell that's a little bit about who
you are and the work that you do and what
brought you here to survivor speak? Who am? That's funny? Um.
I was asked that recently, and I was like, I'm
a spirit having a human experience, but in the more
(26:21):
literal sense, obviously, my my name is Rocky was having
my name is Rocky, but out there in the world
they called me hip. I'm originally from Boston, Roxbury. I've
been living in Oakland for twenty six years now. It's
actually music that brought me out to the Bay area.
And right now I'm the program manager for a restorer
(26:43):
of re entry program working with most of the young
people coming home from jail in prison throughout the Bay area.
And what brought me here, You know, it's funny. I
was thinking about the theme of his conference and survivors,
and I was like, Yo, we all survivors, right, Like
(27:03):
I mean when survivors of the transitate the slave trade,
where survivors of two thousand and sixteen two tops from
You know what I was saying, what's the ivors of
the pandemic? Right in literal sentences, I mean a lot
of us obviously survivors, you know what I'm saying about
(27:28):
the different things that not only me and my family
have experienced. I was actually talking about the story earlier
by the close Um family member of us UM who
was raped by madman who had AIDS. He was a
complete stranger who raped one of our people's because he
(27:48):
had AIDS and it was just angry at the world.
She ended up dying from AIDS. Lost so many family
members to street ship, to violence. Um, she had been
threatened with violence by police, myself being shot at. You know,
it's like from every angle, right, So we talk about
(28:11):
survivors on a macro a micro levels. That's basically what's
about me here, And I think, Um, what I appreciate
about the Safety and Justice folks here, um is that
they opened up what it means to be a survivor.
Because I remember when they first started out, you know
what I'm saying that it wasn't they didn't include everybody.
(28:32):
You know. It's kind of like it makes me think
of a little bit during the Civil rights movement. At
one point, they only wanted to have people who were models,
you know, on the front line. Right. So shout out
to my sister Ayola, who who invited us here. She
used to work for California Safety Injustice. She used to
(28:53):
work with them. Um, she did an event dedicated to
brothers who were victims, but not your you know, typical
victim or survivor, right right, you know cats who may
have done some dirt, right your survivor, regardless of you
know what I'm saying. So long story short, that's that's
(29:15):
what preciated, right. I really appreciate that because um, I mean,
just example that you gave all the civil rights movement
and their respectability polished politics, right, because that definitely has
been a part of the legacy of the crime survivor's
movement in the United States. Right, It has been that
(29:37):
you know, these people over here are survivors, and it
looks like you know, middle age white women, right. However,
it's communities of color that actually are the ones that
experienced the most crimes, you know. And cssj's national report
(29:58):
just confirmed this that you are four times more likely
to be a survivor of crime if you are a
young person, if you are um, a person of color,
if you are a male. You know, but these are
not the people that have traditionally received services. Traditionally, people
(30:19):
who have for some services as crime survivors have been white,
middle aged women. And that's not to say that white
middle aged women are not a part of this current movement,
because they are and that and it's really important that
they do bring their voices to this movement to make
(30:41):
room for everybody, because again, our liberation is tied today,
you know, and so it's just that, you know, when
we come to spaces like this, we have to understand that,
like you said, there has to be an ever expanding
definition you know, of who we are okay to ride
(31:05):
healing to you know, who have been harmed, because that
has been a major issue you know in this culture,
you know, is that constantly we are the humanized, you know,
and I have to call it the humanization because there
is I mean, that is the essence of what is
That's like the root of what the issue is. When
(31:28):
somebody can't see are hurt, when they can't see our pain.
When you have somebody who you know has had their
child stolen from them, and then the next thing you know,
you know, the landlord is stowing them now in the
streets in their grief, you know what I mean, because
they couldn't go to work, you know what I mean,
(31:49):
because they were grieving, and then the and the boss
is firing them, and that lemoor what to give them
an eviction? You know. It's like these kinds of things
that trap us. This is this, this is actually the
story of our communities, you know that we want to
address and change through the changing of the policies, you know,
and that's something the work we do, by the way,
(32:11):
we do a lot of definitely do a lot of lobbying,
behalf of because you know, shout out to be in
New York. That's the organization, that's the organization that I
work for, that's my you know, my daytime gig. Shout
out to brother Malachi who you were just talking to.
He and I we go by to and say Justice League,
and that's a whole different thing. But we do a
(32:31):
lot of um policy advocacy work, and in particular, what
I kind of want to see, which again get back
to what they're doing here today at this conference, is
expanding the narrative of who's a survivor and and how
we care for these folks, right, But the children of
a concerrated parents, that's another group that I'd like to
(32:52):
see this experience out to the survivors, right, And we
do a lot of policy work around advocating for them too.
So yes, the policy piece that speaks to what we'll
be doing tomorrow, right absolutely, you know, I mean, and
I know at some point we got to get to
sleep because we got to be on the lawn of
these legislators, you know what I mean, letting them know,
(33:14):
like right right, right, right right. But so I really
appreciate you taking a moment of your time, you know, um,
just to share with us, like about the work that
you're doing. Do you want to speak at all to
like the intersection than of being a survivor of crime
but also being incarcerating. Yeah, it's funny. Um, you hear
(33:39):
that phrase, heard people heard people that said that a
lot today. But what I didn't hear anybody say it
was healed people help people. I didn't hear that yet.
But that's what's been happening here right and technically in
my phone in concert. You know what I'm saying myself.
I've had to sit down once when I was sixteen,
people came and build me out. Thank God at this
(34:00):
it down another time when I was twenty five, same
thing that people bailed me out. But you know, it's
like many young working class black and brown men in
this country. I got into all types of ship and
probably I'm not gonna say it should have been because
I don't believe in that, but very well could have
been in conserrated to the point where I actually had
(34:23):
to go back to my family and apologize for ship
that they didn't know about, for putting the family of
Jeopardy stashing crack at the crib and ship like that.
You know what I'm saying, like exactly exactly being accountable
and you know what I'm saying. And you know y'all
do young dumb ship. But I'm gonna keep it super
(34:45):
funky with you and the work that I've been doing
and I've worked with worked with so many different groups
of folks and demographics that have been in concerrator. I
work with young folks and UM Camp Sweeney Juvenile Justice Hall.
You noticed by um Child Chilling Women's prison that was
so heavy for two years doing the restorative justice curriculum
(35:08):
out there, that's a whole other conversation. UM I did
can restorative justice of this jail in San Francisco, the
Richmond Jail, and oftentimes particularly with people in prison. I
joke and I say, yo, I like people that are
incarcerated more than I like free people. You know what
I'm saying. Because the people that are inconcerrated, they're doing
(35:31):
work on themselves. There's something, you know, there's this stigma
whom you're being in here, and you need to be
rehabilitated onnot so they're forced to actually work on themselves right,
and they do real genuine work. They recognize, especially if
they're involved a restorative justice while they're incarcerated, they recognize
(35:52):
that they were harmed and that they caused harm, and
that the way to healing that is tecknowledging that, acknowledging
your own trauma, and then acknowledging how you've passed that
on others, you know what I'm saying. So that's what
I think of when I think of the intersectionality between
survivors and healing as people who it's it's ironic really
(36:18):
to talk about how someone can wake up like that.
I've heard people say I needed to be in hand.
I'm like, God, no, no, But who am I? Who
am I to argue with that? You know what I'm saying?
Who am I to argue with your experience? I've heard
that a lot. I've heard it before, and my knee
jerk reaction is definitely to be like, oh, that's like
(36:40):
you've been institutionalized, you've been praying a lots, do you
know what I mean? Have been better than themselves? Right?
That's right, you know, And jail lockdown continues. Incarceration continues
to be a prevalent intervention and it does have to
be the way that it is. Let's let's get this strait, y'all.
(37:03):
This ship is raggedy, it's funked up, it's biased, it's
like literal institutionalized racism. It's like the dictionary definition. We're
not saying that we advocate this ship not right, you know.
And and if I'm being completely transparent, I'm also not
completely you know, brought into the idea of total abolition
(37:29):
because of my days when I'm there, and I have
my days when I'm like, oh god, right now, I
have a lot of arguments for why abolition would work,
you know. And I also understand the conditions that we
are currently in. Like you said, the incarceration system is
(37:51):
raggedy as fun. And yet when folks harm folks, the
systems that we currently have are not in place. The
culture that we currently have is not at a place
just yet where we can contain that harm and make
sure that it doesn't continue to ripple out into the community,
(38:14):
you know what I'm saying. And so um one, amazing
that you guys are doing the work of working directly
with the folks who are inside and behind the wall,
you know. Um and amazing that you have these insights,
you know about how you know, folks are reflecting into
(38:37):
themselves and realizing that one um, the harm that has
happened to them has you know, played a part in
them passing on harm to others talking, but also that
their current situation of incarceration is something that is a
(38:58):
step and their hell there you go, well, you know,
and again incarceration there's not equal healing. However, in the
current set of circumstances, we can make it. So that's right,
that's rights supposed to be. Talk about it, talk about it.
(39:19):
And that's the thing that's what's so interesting about it.
It's like, Yo, there's something happening. There's a collaboration between
people inside and a free people where we are seeing
each other, We're seeing each other, we're identifying each other,
we're bonding where building Otherwise, what rehabilitation is happening is
(39:39):
the deputy used to ce s like if it wasn't
for the people inside demanding some of this and the
people you know, san Quentin is interested. A lot of
people want to get to San Quentin because and this
is going to be the most bugged out oxymron that
you've probably ever heard in your life. San Quentin is
(40:02):
the most progressive prison. I can't believe it when I
say when I say it, it always because I said
this before. But you know, it's proximity to Berkeley, Oakland, Moran, Richmond,
all that, right, It's situated in the right place. And
there's obviously the history there, you know what I'm saying.
(40:23):
But it's the people inside too, you understand. Use when
you're saying the history, Um, for those who might not
know what the history is. Are we talking about the
Jackson brothers? There is that what you know? It's interested
you can't ye know, there's there's people still there, you
know what I'm saying. His name Sam Robinson. I thinket
(40:47):
exactly what his position is over there San Quentin. But
he's been there for years and he's kind of a
relatively young brother who's you know, kind of about it
like he's he comes through. Um you ever heard of
the podcast Her Hustle? Yeah, so he always he's the
one who's you know, I'm saying, Robinson, Did I approve
of this? You know what I'm saying? That's him right?
(41:10):
But um, they did an interview with one of the
cats from that movement and even Sam, he was like, Yo,
we don't like like that's like taboo to talk about that.
You know what I'm saying, was like even he you know,
he was like usually when he does this little sign
off and I approve of this message, he was like,
(41:32):
he did a kind of a disclaimer on that episode
of his Hustle and I'm not I'm only speaking facts too,
so I'm not throwing shade the salt and n y'all
can go listen and see that I'm not bugging out here.
This is what he said that up. And so yeah,
when we talked about that, there's so much history there, right,
but that history in particular is different because that's revolutionary, right,
(41:57):
and that's that's something that's but those seeds are there
in it's I think it's I think it's proximity. I
think it's proximity. We're gonna take a short break to
hear from our sponsors. So you have also been a
(42:30):
part of the Men's Healing Circle yesterday and the one
that we do, the one that we actually hold grassroot
literally grassroots in the grass around Lake Merritt. Yeah, just
open it with the with the fire pick, you know,
open it up to the community cast can come through. Yeah,
it's been something I mean, and only it only found
(42:53):
this way outside, um because of the pandemic. Right, it's
usually at the shout out to our joy and our
joys offs um. But yeah, so healing circles. We actually
had a Black women Black men healing circle too that
we were doing for a while, which you got real deep, Okay, okay,
(43:14):
But we did do the healing circle head today. Okay.
And so are there any are there any new insights
that you've come across this, you know, being in the
survivor speak space, absolutely absolutely. You know what I loved
actually the insight that again our own wisdom, you know
(43:36):
what I'm saying, our own knowing ourselves. Like, Yo, we
we did this exercise where we had these different ideas,
these kind of like male roll belief system mr BS.
How you like that acronym right right right? All these
(43:56):
male roll belief system quotes and this one brother was
just talking about how there was one that he was like, yo,
I this is one of the identified with But I know,
and you know, I got seeds and I know I
need to work on it for their sake too, you
know what I mean. But He's like, but yo, but
(44:17):
I'm still here, you know what I'm saying, Like, just
listening to different conversations, I know that there's a lot
of particularly black folks head that are like, Yo, yeah,
we're survivors and we're strong and we're doing the work
and all that, but yo, please believe I still can
get funky with it. Like you know what I'm saying.
It's like I told officer recently, Like, you know, I'm
(44:41):
relatively hippy in my mindset, you know, but I believe
in self defense. I put peace as a priority, you know.
But you know, harm harm none means also don't don't. Yeah,
and I and I feel like it's absolutely valid that,
(45:03):
you know, But at the same time, you know, what
harm looks like for different people is really deep, because
a comment can be so cutting for somebody that they
feel like, you know, that they have to lash out
physically in order to vintigate, vindicate that's right, that's right.
And that's exactly what that brother was getting at when
he said that. And it's like, um, I mean, you
(45:27):
know this this this some again mailoral belief ship. There.
You know what I'm saying, You're not gonna disrespect me
and all this ship. But even that is born out
of being harmed and being a survivor, Right, that's where
that comes from. Because you don't find that with a
bunch of middle class, upper class folks. We don't. They
(45:49):
don't have them. And I'm gonna working class motherfucker, you
know what I'm saying, Like, I know where that comes from,
you know what I'm saying. Yes, I have spent hours,
literally hours, because I'm a kind of inquisitive person, just googling,
like where does this idea of respect and disrespect come from?
(46:10):
Particularly in the black community, you know, And I feel
like it has also been borrowed by you know, our
brown and Latino brothers and sisters still because well you
know the culture to right, absolutely, So it's something that
we shared, is what I'm saying. Um um, not that
one came before the other, but it's something that we
(46:32):
share in our culture, you know what I'm saying. And
I'm just like trying to figure out what is it,
you know, because it's so subjective this idea. Please talk
about this, you know what I'm saying. So can I
hop in here real? Because it came up you know,
we do the values round right. When we do these
(46:53):
are starting justice circles, and inevitably respect will come up
like three photimes and I often say I always do
I have to do it. Now I have to say, yo,
we need to really talk about this as a value.
And even when when we get into agreements respect, it's like, yo,
(47:14):
that ship means something different to everybody, and it's a
powder cake word. This is powder Keggy is the N word.
You know what I'm saying. Like, and I was like, Yo,
the older I get and the more I do this work,
the more I become steep in restorative justice. I don't
really funk with respect like that. I don't. I don't
do it. I don't do it. But it gets deeper.
(47:34):
My dear sister Dr Joy the Grew, who we just
this weekend, actually did healing circles um with her. I'm jealous.
That's my sister. By the way, we that's like my home.
We go fishing together, Like we're actually going fishing in
Alaska soon. That's my sister. We've been fishing together for
(47:57):
like seven years. Yeah. We don't do a lot of words.
A matter of fact, I have I got a little
project I want to talk about we'll come back to that.
So I'll tell you a little bit about that a second.
But she put the word respect, and it's truest perspective,
so let's do it. What does spect mean to so
(48:18):
you said that, you said that you got it, no
expect to see, right, and so where it comes before that,
let me see you again, right, come on, come on,
I was like that respect I can get with. It's
(48:39):
it's African. Actually, yeah, so thank you. Yeah, that was
the perfect segue that because I always got to address it.
We can't just say re expect. It's a powder kick word.
It really is. That ship is explosive. Mother fucker's die
behind it. There's a war going learn right now Russian Ukraine.
(49:02):
For the sake of Posteria, I'm gonna say what it
is right now, you know. Wow. One really just appreciate
to have this level of conversation right now because it's
so important to be able to kind of pill back
(49:24):
the absolutely, you know, and just like here so clearly
stated what it is. You know, you know, we have
to understand. You know, my grandfather actually always used to
say this word etymology. Yes, the meaning of a word.
He said, like that, you don't understand nothing unless you
(49:48):
understand what the word you're saying mean. And Um, there's
this book and they talk about double and that is
I mean when we think about like quote unquote ebonics right, right,
or the you know the African American innocular right. We
(50:09):
we take words in English and we give them new
meanings all the time. That's right, right, But there's certain
words in English that we never define. There's certain roles
in our culture that we never define. And that ship
code of the streets and ship what is that? Cold?
(50:31):
But it was deadly? It's not even funny because yeah,
the fact that we don't define the ship that we
believe it that we leave it as a powder cad.
That's right, that's right, and it it could be flipped
to change, adapted, bastardized, twisted, you know, just like so
(50:51):
many religious doctrine. Come on. So I was gonna tell
you just the another tip because we're talking about my
my sister joy. Um, and this is something that I
think you might even be able to play during the podcast. Um.
I did this project where I took a bunch of
(51:12):
what I felt like we're progressive voices, Malcolm X, Michelle
Alexander Naomi Klein, Norm Chomsky, Michael Moore, Um are in.
Dr Roy, shout out to my South Asian sisters. Who else, uh,
Tommy gli Um And of course, like I said, my
(51:36):
sister Joy and I take the cadence and I put
it to music, right. I played the hot by the
way all of my heroes. Yes, yes, yes, the projects
called one Looking Forward Back and now I'll plug you
(51:57):
with it. It's on Spotify. But the one that song
with Dr Joy, that's my smell, my favorite song for
so many reasons, because I think what motivated me to
even do the album was there was a time and
it was all these movements happening here. As a matter
of fact, where we are now is a backlash to
(52:18):
all of the movements that were happening, you know, from
Occupy Wall Street and the Uprising, the Egypt Uprising, and
it was all this movement that was happening at the time,
and of course the pendulum has to swing. It's the
fucking Empire strikes back. Right now, you know, we're coming
out of that. But the four years of that motherfucker,
(52:38):
you know, like right, and then it was you know,
it's the rise of the colonial spirit. Yo, That's how
I've been That's how I've been defining it. They had
to fight back. It's a that dying gasping breath, you
know what I mean, that's what it is. Because it
wasn't just the United States, right, it was all around
the glow exactly, Um, Turkey, Philippines, Yo, you look around.
(53:02):
It was the strong man, you know. And that's right,
that's right. So this album came out at a time
when the scale was tipping, you know for those of
us who are about progress, real progress, right, And so
I put the album out and it was about It
(53:24):
was kind of like a period piece really because it
was like, you know, I was talking about things that happened,
but Joyce Peace in particular, that one addresses the past,
the present, and the future. It covers all three. So
you're gonna dig it. You're gonna dig it where I
find it Spotify. I'll definitely plug you. I definitely plug you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yes, Okay,
(53:48):
that is really exciting. I have so enjoyed speaking with you, gentlemen. Words.
I'm so glad we made this happen. It's worth it,
It's absolutely worth it. It's like almost three o'clock. Yeah,
we gotta be out of here in for hours, so
(54:09):
I'm not gonna hold you anymore. Yes, I'm gonna leave
you with so much peace, many blessings, blessings, blessings and
loves for people. Yes, it's so much for our people,
for our work, you know. So that was rather fun.
(54:37):
But this was only half of the conversation that was
had in them week hours. So shout out to Robert
Rubens at the Underscore r J Circle. But please do
reach out and support these black men who are bringing
healing and we're sort of justice and recovery and hope
(54:57):
and peace and light and spear a it to their
communities again. You can find Malachi Scott at now Practice
Productions with the Z. And you can find Hip spelled
h y p at hip No and that's no k
in o w on i g or at a Signola
(55:21):
Music Publishing dot com. And that's a double s i
in y e o l a music publishing dot com.
But listening to people that Spring conversation was not just
the social hour. We were there to get ship done.
(55:42):
And let me tell you it got done. I will
now read you all the bills that got passed in
These are the laws that got changed as a result
of the hard work and advocacy across many fields by
diverse group of folks who stood up for victims and
(56:03):
survivors in California. Honor respect to all those who make
it happen. And before I get into it, let this
be an inspiration to you join a local chapter and
go to your state crime Victim Speak. You can visit
Alliance for Safety and Justice dot org to find out
(56:23):
more about that. And without further ado, these are the
laws that were passed. S B ten seventeen, authored by
Egmont and entitled Keeping Survivor's House s B ten seventeen
will strengthen the current eviction protection survivors have under California law.
(56:48):
Several gaps in the law leave survivors at risk and
unable to access the existing protection. This bill will help
ensure that no survivor can be evicted be has an
act of abuse or violence committed against them. The bill
will provide a pathway for survivors to stay in their
homes even if the person who caused harm is a
(57:11):
tenant who is being evicted for a violent act against
the survivor. It will ensure protections are available to victims
of any type of violence and their immediate family members.
It expands the types of documentation survivors may used to
access protections. It eliminates a loophole allowing survivors to be
(57:33):
evicted if they allow, quote unquote allow the person who
caused harm to visit the property. It clarifies that survivors
can use the eviction protection even if the person who
committed the violent act is a tenant who no longer
lives in the unit, and it creates a way for
(57:53):
survivors to take action if their rights to eviction protection
or least termination are violated. It Whoop Whoop okay s
B eleven O six also passed. This was authored by
Reiner and it's called the Fresh Start Act. In California,
(58:14):
people who are convicted of crimes are often ordered to
pay restitution and restitution finds. Currently, unpaid restitution and restitution
finds can be used as a reason to deny a
person's petition to clear their criminal records, limiting their ability
to get housing, employment, and other opportunities upon entry. In practice,
(58:38):
current law results in people leaving the criminal justice system
being more likely to get trapped by signs and fees
than they can get a job to actually pay off
those fines and fees. This helps neither the person ordered
to pay restitution nor the person who will receive compensation
from the payment, because successful reentry into society for formerly
(59:03):
incarcerated people benefits the broader community. S B eleven oh
six ensures that expungement petitions aren't denied simply due to
outstanding restitution debt. And this was co sponsored by Debt
Free Justice Coalition, So shout out to all of the
people that make that happen. S B eleven O six
(59:27):
past whoop. Then there's s B twelve six, which was
authored by Kabayano. This is called curtis Is Law, and
s B twelve Curtis's Law will ensure that the immediate
family of a deceased miner whose death is investigated by
(59:51):
a law enforcement agency receives information about the investigation, including
contact information of the invest sigators, the case number, and
any information about any property of the victim that is
being held that passed. And it's a it's a shame
(01:00:12):
that it has to be spelled out, but you know
what this is doing something, This is this is at
least putting on the books that this needs to happen,
that we have the opportunity as survivors of homicide and
particularly for a minor that is deceased, to have information
(01:00:40):
given to us from the law enforcement agency. So you know,
shout out to those who made Curtis's law happen. Whoop Whoop.
Next is a B which was authored by Holden. It
is entitled Community Care Facilities Criminal Background Text A B.
(01:01:01):
Seventeen twenty increases access by qualified individuals with the rest
and conviction records to caregiving and similar jobs governed by
the California Department of Social Services. This bill will reduce
application barriers for people with the conviction history seeking community
care licensure from the d s S. A B. Seventeen
(01:01:26):
twenty streamlines the licensure process for those that have been
convicted of a crime to ensure that an unrelated prior
conviction does not prohibit a qualified, rehabilitated person from securing employment. Specifically,
the bill requires DSS to grant a simplified criminal record
(01:01:47):
exemption if the individual is qualified. This is so great.
Shout out to those that made it happen. This was
again authored by Holding. A B. Seventeen twenty whoop, And
then we have a B. This was authored by Mike Gibson.
(01:02:08):
This is the Certificate of Rehabilitation. Under current law, the
process for petitioning for a Certificate of rehabilitation is more
burdensome for people convicted of less serious offenses those resulting
in sentences of probation, than those with a conviction resulted
(01:02:29):
in prison sistances. So this bill would make it easier
for those individuals to begin the process of applying for
a CORE or a Certificate of rehabilitation. A successful petition
for a CORE provides several benefits. It can enhance licensing
considerations by a state board, It can serve as an
(01:02:52):
official document to demonstrate a person's rehabilitation to enhance employment possibilities,
and most importantly, it serves as an application for a
full parton and this was co sponsored by a r
C or the Anti Recentivism Coalition. Okay, whoop, whoop a
(01:03:12):
B authored by low Right. This is the bereavement lead.
What that means is that one, all workers deserve the
right to take time off to grieve the loss of
a loved one. Okay, let me say that again, all
workers deserve the right to take time off to grieve
(01:03:33):
the loss of a loved one. So a B nine
will allow workers to take unpaid bereavement leave when a
close family member dies. Under current law, most workers in
California have no right to breathe, but leave paid or
unpaid when a close family member dies. That's a tragedy right.
(01:03:54):
So thanks to legislation by Crime Survivors for Safety and
Justice sponsored into A twenty, family members of homicide victims
can take time off to access victim services or deal
with legal issues. But employees who lose a family member,
whether it's a homicide, illness, or any other reason, still
(01:04:15):
do not have the right to take time off to
make funeral arrangements or simply to grieve. So workers they
can take at least five days at least five days
of unpaid bereavement leave. It would also make sure that
workers could use other available paid leave as well, like
(01:04:36):
sick leave, vacation, personal days for bereavement. And this was
co sponsored by California Employment Lawyers Association, Legal Aid at
Work in the Equal Rights to Advocates, So whoop, whoop,
last but not least, we have a win with SPNT
(01:04:58):
one And this was all third by Durazzo, right, and
this is the Sunset's law, right. And so hopefully you've been,
you know, hearing a lot about this. So nationally, an
estimated seventy million people, nearly one in three adults, and
eight million people in California alone have a past arrest
(01:05:22):
or conviction on their record. California maintains an individual's conviction
records until that person reaches a hundred years of age,
preventing people with an old conviction record from ever being
able to regain full citizenship status even after fully completing
their sentence and paying their debts. This makes us all
(01:05:44):
less safe, It undermines the strength of our state's economy,
destabilizes families and entire communities, and is at odds with
California's core values of justice and fairness. So SPN thirty
one proposed a structured approach to expanding arrest and conviction
(01:06:05):
record relief, and it passed. It was co sponsored by
the Anti Recentivism Coalition a r C A New Way
of Life, you know, that's the organization that was founded
by the incomparable Susan Burton and then a Time for
(01:06:26):
Change Foundation was also a co sponsor. Homeboy Industries legal
Services for Prisoners with Children, Los Angeles Regional Reentry Partnership
and Pillars of the Community all co sponsors and you
know what, whoop whoop. All of these are things that
(01:06:47):
got done. All of these that are laws that got passed,
and we're making sure that they're not just words on
a record, They're not just words in a book. These
are now put into practice. We're making sure that these
are laws that have teeth. Okay, So if you want
(01:07:08):
to learn more about what is getting done and what
we can get done, and if you want to jump in,
want to jump into the movement, please go to the
website safe and Just dot org. Again, thanks so much
for listening. Disclaimer My views, beliefs, and opinions are my
(01:07:37):
own and do not necessarily reflect the views of my guest,
resource organizations or sources shared. Last thing, every day we
survive is a new chance to see killing. It's to
(01:08:00):
your journey. Good people asshare
Content one. This episode will discuss a lot of heavy
topics such as sexual assault and homicide. Please be kind
to yourself, prepare yourself with before and or after care.
Then remember if you are a loved one is going
through it, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline
(00:24):
A six five six hope that's six six four six
seven three, or you can text the Crisis Text one.
Just text home h O N E to seven for
one seven four one. Thank you. To explore the stories, policies, practices,
(00:58):
and idea survives. This is oh yah, welcome good people.
Did you know that every April through the nine since
(01:20):
in California is Crime Victims Week. This is a time
in which victim and survivor advocacy groups platform the issues, policies,
and practices of survivor's movements, both new and traditional. This
episode is from Crime Survivors for Safety and Justices annual
(01:42):
event called Survivors Speak and Survivors Speak was themed When
Survivors Speak, Change Happens and we were there live in
the lobby of the Hilton at midnight to discuss with
conference goers what brought them there, what their work is,
(02:04):
and what morsels, what insights they had gleaned from the event.
Thus far C S s J has been rolling out
what they call their ten point program respect to the
Black Panther Party for the blueprint, but actually what they
call it is the California Victims Agenda, and it's a
(02:26):
ten point plan to do three things. Expand rights, end discrimination,
and provide real help. Now we can get into the
ten points right, So number one is to increase legal
protections for victims to prevent job and housing loss. Two
(02:50):
Expand victims civil legal services to help all victims recover.
Three Ensure dignity, respect and support for victims of unsolved crimes. Four.
Expand victims services eligibility to all victims of crime and violence. Five.
(03:13):
Eradicate racial disparities in access to compensation and services. Six,
Reach more survivors and crisis and faster. Seven, cover actual
costs of recovery. Eight. Ensure that trauma recovery services are available. Nine.
(03:39):
Invest in community based victims services providers like myself. Ten
fun urgent crisis assistance needs. Now, yes, like that, now, okay, listen. Essentially,
these are the things that I had the pleasure of
(04:03):
discussing with two attendees. Actually there was three, but here
you will hear two attendees, Malachi Scott and Rocky a
k A. Hip So thanks for tuning in. Please check
it out. So we're back at these midnight conversations. I
(04:28):
am sitting here with a gentleman who has been doing
some work at the intersection of re entry and survivors
of crime. Can you introduce yourself? Yes, I can. My
name is Malachi Scott Man. I'm many things, many different hats,
so it's kind of hard to like, panpoint um what
(04:49):
I want to say here, but I guess I would say, um,
you know, I'm here as a survivor, you know, and
as like someone who believes in Helen and Helen practice
from my self and also for my community. So I'm
with the to Say Justice League, Restorative Justice for open
youth and for all of my ancestors. Yeah. Wow, that's
(05:10):
really beautiful and powerful way to start the conversation. Okay,
so tell me about some of your personal healing practices
if you don't mind. Oh yeah, right right. That's that's
just really deep too. It's definitely many different things for me. Um,
just the power of prayer. Um. I believe in communication
(05:31):
with the Creator, the one who has delivered me through dark,
very dark times. Um, and yet I'm still here and
being able to be in the presidence with you, you know,
so UM really thankful for that. And so it's it's prayer, um,
it's libation, it's uh the lighting of in peppo something
that I wanted to do today. I brought some peppo um,
(05:53):
which is a plant that I light up that was
blessed through uh this wonderful system in South Africa. And
so I do a little do a little burning amongst
other different things too. But like just like self care
practices for me and my healing journey, like music plays
a role in it. And water as well. Often like
to uh take walks around the water. And it's interesting
(06:16):
that you asked, and I know what not to like
jump our heads is. I remember when I was incarcerated,
me and some of the guys, we used to walk
around the track. And we used to walk around the track.
We used to have really deep, vulnerable conversations, conversations that
probably doesn't really happen amongst men a whole lot. And
I remember when I was walking around this lake called
Lake Merritt in Oakland that if it seemed familiar and
(06:39):
I'm like, why do why does it seem familiar to me?
And it then it hit me, like remind me of
those days when I was incarcerated walking the track with
men who just had really good restorative spirits and so
um um and so my self care practices also like
walking that lake, Like I like to get around the
lake at least multiple times a week when I'm home
(07:00):
and I'm not traveling. Yeah, that's I mean, that's really
layered and it's so deep and it's so sacred everything
that you just said. So I really appreciate you sharing
your healing practices with us here in this space, because
you know, a lot of the times I feel like
we talk about healing practices and there's one way that
(07:24):
people think about it. But the way that you just
unpacked it, it's going to give access to somebody who's
listening who doesn't really know about healing practices yet. It's
going to give an access to understand like how personal
it can be, and also how you can connect to
(07:45):
the divine, how you can connect to ancestors, how you
can connect to plants, how you can connect to elements
like water, how you can also um open up and
be vulnerable, you know, in your masculine and and geez,
so thank you so much for that. And and then
one of my very favorite healing practices definitely involves music.
(08:07):
So I don't know if you have anything on your
heart on your mind that you might want to spit
for us or share. I don't I don't even know
what your modality of music is. But if you want
to take some space to share, please feel free. You know,
when I was young, um, I wanted to be a rapper.
(08:30):
I kind of wanted to pursue a sort of like
a restorative hip hop type of rap career. Um. But
then I learned how to produce music, and since then
I just got involved the production so much that sometimes
I messed around with you know, freestyling or something. But
for the most part, I like to make uh, you know,
music for artists to get on and I just like
(08:50):
the way that sound speaks to me. Now, Like I
didn't honor this. I wanted to be a rapper about it,
honor sound, the progressions and compositions behind the lyrics. I
didn't honor that, you know what I'm saying. And as
a producer, like, wow, this is amazing. It's so many
different elements. It's like singing, right, you got these different
layers of singers like creating this music for us to
(09:13):
wrap on, you know, looking at like that. Because instruments
are vocals and vocals are instruments. So it's just been
just a journey of learning how to create composition is
just um, that's part of my healing. And it's been
always been really a blessing during the pandemic as well.
You know, I didn't feel alone during the pandemic, you know,
(09:33):
always had something to engage in. It was definitely beneficial
for me to have my own music studio and to
create it's mostly hip hop and R and B beat
that I sell to artists, you know what I'm saying. Oh,
I give to artists if you want to jump on
and do something with it. And so yeah, and how
do people tune into the sounds that you curate? Yeah,
(09:56):
you can go to UH beat Stars and look up
malpractice malpractice productions, um and they come right up, you know. Um.
So yeah, you'll see a lot of you hear a
lot of arms. It's R and B beats, but it's
mostly like West Coast rat beats. So um, you know
from the West coast, so you know, I got to
represent so yeah. Yeah, So earlier you did say that
(10:23):
you identify as a survivor of crime. Do you care
to share more about that? Yeah, so I identify as
many things, right, Um, But I want to highlight that
part too, because like most of my life, especially being incarcerated,
always looked at myself as someone who did harm, did
(10:43):
something wrong. I was a bad guy, um, and I
would internalize that, you know, and not really be kind
to myself or empathetic towards myself. For some reason, I
just never really looked at all the things that happened
to me. I just never really looked at it in
to uh, I would definitely say when I came to
the stort of justice where I was able to be
(11:05):
asked those powerful questions that like make me dig the
insight out of myself, questions I never really heard of
or are talked about, things I never really talked about.
And so when I look back at my life and
realized the things that happened to me, like, yeah, I
was harmed, you know, I was harmed a lot, and yes,
I ended up doing something really very really really terrible
(11:28):
for me to go to prison, and so now, yeah,
I survived all of that, you know what I'm saying,
I'm still here and I didn't have a voice back then,
I didn't had a support back then, and so many
different things that didn't happen at the same time. Like,
I definitely was able to survive that, and not just
because of myself, definitely because of the higher power as well.
(11:49):
And so I identify as a survivor and I say
that in power and they said that for everybody that's incarcerated,
formally incarcerated, we all are survivors. You know what I'm saying,
Espec's like black men, black um are in the black
and brown communities, Like there's this intersection and of we've
got family members who have been harmed, who have been shot,
(12:09):
who have been murdered, and we also have family members
that serving time who's been on the opposite end of that.
And so I'm not gonna say it like necessarily and
I'm both in a sense, but I'm like, I'm definitely
a survivor. I'm formerly incarcerated, and I'm definitely someone who
made some very bad decisions in my life. And one
of the things about you mentioned about healing practice is
one of the things that I do. And one of
(12:30):
the things I like to say is that every day
is the opportunity to honor. Every day is the opportunity
to honor and even honor the people that we harmed,
you know. And so that's part of my healing practice too,
knowing that I'm honoring the person at the harm when
I when I went to prison far on all the
other people that people don't know about, you know, Um,
(12:51):
I honored their life, and so that gives me healing
knowing that I I live for them, you know, I
represent them, or I speak their name, you know, it's
different things like that, and so, um, that's one of
the things I like to do. And so leeah, I
also identify as a survivor and also a compassionate person,
empathetic person, and charismatic person and so forth, and song
(13:13):
I can keep running my mouth on it. Yeah. So,
so you spoke about honoring honoring the people who you've
lost and even honoring the people that you've caused harm,
and that sounds like a very big deal to me,
(13:34):
And I wonder how do you bring the element of
honoring those harms into your work as a real and
well you you said you were a retory court and
tell me your title again. Yeah, I'm I'm m. My
title is Community Renchy Restorative Justice Coordinator. And so I
(13:56):
do all kinds of things. It's not just that, but
when it comes to re entry, um, you know, it's
it's an intersection. Like a lot of guys come home
and they'd be a part of our Black Male healln circle. Uh,
just just a part of my life in some way
or another, and we like share wisdom to each other.
And you know this same thing I said to you
(14:17):
every day is the opportunity to honor. And like when
people come in our circle and circle and um, they're
expecting themselves on how they feel about losing their loved
one or their loved one is at the hospital, whatever
they may say. Like there's definitely the standard I heavy
every day is the opportunity to honor. You know what
I'm saying, And so I just speak to it and
(14:38):
I share like things that I do. I know, like
for me and just to be transparent, I was incarcerated
for homicide. Every January, I go and I pour a
libation at a specific location in Oakland, and I leave
a sacrifice and the sacrifice I leave any like like
like in South Africa and Africa, like that's the sacrifice.
(14:59):
But I leave so that I might buy a cake
or something like that from the store for some reason
for me, Like that's healing. Like every January, do the
same thing since I've been home. So yeah, that's what
I do. And so that's like, and I tell people
that story to not just like tell a by myself,
but like, lo, you can do this too if like
if that speaks to you at least maybe it doesn't.
(15:21):
But um, and this is something that I do. Sometimes
I just say the person's name, say people's name out loud.
Sometimes I just be silent, just look to the sky
and touching my heart because I believe God knows my attentions.
And so, um, these are the things that you know,
these are ways that I honor and potentially you can
do the same. Thank you so much for sharing about
(15:45):
your journey and the ways that you have navigated the
harm that has come into your life and the harm
that you have caused due to the harm that you experience.
And you know, I oftentimes think about in in my
own work. Um, this moment that I had with a
(16:07):
young man who told me that when he grew up,
he wanted to be a flocker and he wanted to
jack people. He wanted to take their ship. That's what
he told me, right, And I just saw all of
this pain and anger and his face, and I asked him,
has anybody ever took anything from you? And all of
(16:28):
the the vitriol that I seen, like all of the
wall that he had, you know, built up, you know that,
and it was all in his demeanor. I seen it
just crack right before me as he acknowledged that he
had been harmed before, you know, that somebody had taken
(16:50):
something from him that started him in the practice of
one in to take from others, you know. And I
think it's just so important for us to be able
to heal as like individuals, but also to heal as
a community, to be able to acknowledge the harms that
(17:12):
plague us and start to address it. You know. It
starts to bring honor back into our culture, start to
bring peace as a practice back into our culture, start
to elevate healing as a practice back into our culture.
And I see that, you know, you are exemplifying that,
(17:32):
you know, And I just men, I have gratitude to you,
And um, is there any moments from the past couple
of days that you want to share about. I know
you also have been a part of the of the
Men's Healing circles, but you know, there's all kinds of
things that have happened over the past couple of days.
(17:54):
So I don't know if there's anything from this survivor
speaks two experience you on the ship. Yeah, that's a
good question. Um, I know this is my first day
and I went to a workshop today on forgiveness and
then I have my Men's Healing circle and then we
listened to the panel and so I definitely got things
(18:16):
from all of the different circles and the panels. I
think seeing people like bring people together. Um. One of
the things that you know women was talking earlier, but
I don't know if you mentioned that he was doing
like a Helen circle for mothers at the r J
office and we're just supporting the space for a little
while for them to be able to hold it on
(18:37):
their own. And um, just seeing the mothers that's a
part of that Helen circle be here and be present
and take part of the workshops like that's that speaks
to me, it's seeing it tells me that, you know,
all it takes is one person to invite another person
and just seeing the smiles on their face. Uh, just
seeing them as a part of this and knowing that
(18:58):
it's it's in power. This This Survivus Peace Conferences empowering,
you know, just to see so many people who have
been through a whole lot of stuff have a voice,
knowing that they can create change in California for safety
and justice. Like it's like a perfect example of what
people can do and utilize the voices to help with
(19:20):
Prop forty seven, to help change legislation, to help reduce
mass incarceration. They bring funding back into the community, and
to help to speak like speaking up for justice in general,
accountability in general. Um. So it's empowering. So I'm really
thankful to see that the mothers that I know that's
here will be nice to have a lot more fathers,
(19:41):
a lot more, uh do. I definitely see black man
and brown man here too. Um But that's probably what
speaks to me the most, seeing the power that is
being created um here at this conference, especially for people
who come for the first time to see this. I
think that people who come for the first it's time.
They often want to come back or get involved in
(20:02):
some form. Can I ask you a kind of complicated question. Sure,
So when you think over the like the events of
your life, is there ever anything that you feel like
could have sent you on another track? Is there anything
(20:23):
that you feel like could have stopped the cycle of
violence before it started in New York life? Yeah? I
have a couple of different things in that piece. Uh.
One of the things I like to say, and I
know this is for myself. I believe that everybody want
to be a part of something naturally, whatever the social
(20:44):
group is, uh, you know, whether it's the sports, whether
it's an um just some sort of man, whethericent education,
whe whever it may be in right, So, everybody had
a desire. I think that for me, I didn't know
what I was good at. I didn't know where I
where I felt like I belonged. But what was easy
for me was was outside. And so, uh, you don't
(21:06):
have to be the most talented person, you know to
go and join the gang. You know, you know what
I'm saying. You don't need to do that, you know, So, uh,
it was easily accessible for me, was like right outside
of the house. So, um, that's what I chose to do.
But you know, I watched this video that my organization
show before I work with my organization. I saw it's,
(21:27):
uh you can go on YouTube and look at it.
It's called Restorative re Entry. You can look up Restorative
re Entry Circle and then to pop up on YouTube.
And the first time I watched that fourteen minute video,
and I've seen that the support that this young man
was getting, I would I thought to myself, Wow, I
needed that. I wish I had that where like twenty
(21:50):
people was there for me and to support me in
different areas of my life, Like I can't even fathom
that for myself, you know. Um. And so I kind
of looked at that. So I was I would just
say he did that village. That village support, UM could
have just you know, took me a long way, you know,
in my life. And so with that village support, I
(22:13):
would I would have definitely imagined like definitely like a
powerful uh male figure too. Because I didn't know my
father at that time, like I've known history now, I
was able to reconnect with my father's side of the family,
like right before the pandemic after like thirty something years so, um,
but I'm so I got I know now, but but
I didn't know him then, so you know, I definitely
(22:36):
needed that. But also to like this exposure to different things,
Like my life was so my brain was so developed
around South Central in Inglewood, California. I didn't know anything
outside of that, you know what I'm saying, and so
that's all I knew. And so just to be able
to go pastons for the world I think could have
been beneficial for me too. And like I said, I
(22:56):
wanted to be a rapper to like having support around
that and like people like pushing me forward into my
dream too. Maybe that could have been beneficial as well
for me, but mainly village because I didn't had that
at all. Like, thank you so much for sharing your
wisdom with me in the wee hourans of this morning.
(23:18):
Um yeah, I mean, I wish you many blessings as
your path continues to unfold. Thank you so much. Thank you. Um.
One of the things that I guess for before I leave,
I just say this because I'm he might want to
go real quick. Uh, is that when I talk about
with being a survivor and not speak for a whole
(23:39):
lot of other people. I know I should be using
ice statements, but like looking at like we are harmed
by systems, and we are also harmed by historical racism,
you know, historical trauma. Uh many different factors. Are young
people who was out here probably robbing and doing whatever
they're doing. They was born into a culture where this
(24:01):
all this stuff existed. And before this specific culture existed,
there was the culture with a black panther party was
this manto. Our political parties was this mantle, and we
fell on hard times and killed, yeah, in prison, and
so our leaders are leaders. And when the young people
wanted to who looked up to them, they looked up
to these leaders when all of that happened, like it
(24:23):
was really hard time. And so um, I forgot what
they call it, like something genetics. When when when trauma
has passed down through our DNA into generational trauma epigenetics, yeah,
epi genetics, yeah yeah, and so all of this stuff
like like we're we're impacted by that, you know what
I'm saying, And so where all survivors if you asked me, so, yeah,
(24:45):
you know, let's definitely look at it. We are the
dreams of our great, great great great great great grand parents.
Right we are, we are the star dust of their existence,
right right, right, right again. I appreciate you so much
for sharing and hold that thought. We'll be right back
(25:11):
after a word from our sponsors. Welcome, Welcome, Welcome. I
(25:32):
appreciate you come over here like you got cocoa butter
in the air. You gotta you gotta a will for that.
I sure did. I mean, I'm like, you know, I'm
into the aroma therapy, so like I appreciate the details.
When I knew I was gonna be sitting down with you,
I was like, let me come fresh, you know what
I'm saying, let me get my act together. That's why
(25:54):
I dipped out for a minute. Well, I appreciate it.
So can you tell that's a little bit about who
you are and the work that you do and what
brought you here to survivor speak? Who am? That's funny? Um.
I was asked that recently, and I was like, I'm
a spirit having a human experience, but in the more
(26:21):
literal sense, obviously, my my name is Rocky was having
my name is Rocky, but out there in the world
they called me hip. I'm originally from Boston, Roxbury. I've
been living in Oakland for twenty six years now. It's
actually music that brought me out to the Bay area.
And right now I'm the program manager for a restorer
(26:43):
of re entry program working with most of the young
people coming home from jail in prison throughout the Bay area.
And what brought me here, You know, it's funny. I
was thinking about the theme of his conference and survivors,
and I was like, Yo, we all survivors, right, Like
(27:03):
I mean when survivors of the transitate the slave trade,
where survivors of two thousand and sixteen two tops from
You know what I was saying, what's the ivors of
the pandemic? Right in literal sentences, I mean a lot
of us obviously survivors, you know what I'm saying about
(27:28):
the different things that not only me and my family
have experienced. I was actually talking about the story earlier
by the close Um family member of us UM who
was raped by madman who had AIDS. He was a
complete stranger who raped one of our people's because he
(27:48):
had AIDS and it was just angry at the world.
She ended up dying from AIDS. Lost so many family
members to street ship, to violence. Um, she had been
threatened with violence by police, myself being shot at. You know,
it's like from every angle, right, So we talk about
(28:11):
survivors on a macro a micro levels. That's basically what's
about me here, And I think, Um, what I appreciate
about the Safety and Justice folks here, um is that
they opened up what it means to be a survivor.
Because I remember when they first started out, you know
what I'm saying that it wasn't they didn't include everybody.
(28:32):
You know. It's kind of like it makes me think
of a little bit during the Civil rights movement. At
one point, they only wanted to have people who were models,
you know, on the front line. Right. So shout out
to my sister Ayola, who who invited us here. She
used to work for California Safety Injustice. She used to
(28:53):
work with them. Um, she did an event dedicated to
brothers who were victims, but not your you know, typical
victim or survivor, right right, you know cats who may
have done some dirt, right your survivor, regardless of you
know what I'm saying. So long story short, that's that's
(29:15):
what preciated, right. I really appreciate that because um, I mean,
just example that you gave all the civil rights movement
and their respectability polished politics, right, because that definitely has
been a part of the legacy of the crime survivor's
movement in the United States. Right, It has been that
(29:37):
you know, these people over here are survivors, and it
looks like you know, middle age white women, right. However,
it's communities of color that actually are the ones that
experienced the most crimes, you know. And cssj's national report
(29:58):
just confirmed this that you are four times more likely
to be a survivor of crime if you are a
young person, if you are um, a person of color,
if you are a male. You know, but these are
not the people that have traditionally received services. Traditionally, people
(30:19):
who have for some services as crime survivors have been white,
middle aged women. And that's not to say that white
middle aged women are not a part of this current movement,
because they are and that and it's really important that
they do bring their voices to this movement to make
(30:41):
room for everybody, because again, our liberation is tied today,
you know, and so it's just that, you know, when
we come to spaces like this, we have to understand that,
like you said, there has to be an ever expanding
definition you know, of who we are okay to ride
(31:05):
healing to you know, who have been harmed, because that
has been a major issue you know in this culture,
you know, is that constantly we are the humanized, you know,
and I have to call it the humanization because there
is I mean, that is the essence of what is
That's like the root of what the issue is. When
(31:28):
somebody can't see are hurt, when they can't see our pain.
When you have somebody who you know has had their
child stolen from them, and then the next thing you know,
you know, the landlord is stowing them now in the
streets in their grief, you know what I mean, because
they couldn't go to work, you know what I mean,
(31:49):
because they were grieving, and then the and the boss
is firing them, and that lemoor what to give them
an eviction? You know. It's like these kinds of things
that trap us. This is this, this is actually the
story of our communities, you know that we want to
address and change through the changing of the policies, you know,
and that's something the work we do, by the way,
(32:11):
we do a lot of definitely do a lot of lobbying,
behalf of because you know, shout out to be in
New York. That's the organization, that's the organization that I
work for, that's my you know, my daytime gig. Shout
out to brother Malachi who you were just talking to.
He and I we go by to and say Justice League,
and that's a whole different thing. But we do a
(32:31):
lot of um policy advocacy work, and in particular, what
I kind of want to see, which again get back
to what they're doing here today at this conference, is
expanding the narrative of who's a survivor and and how
we care for these folks, right, But the children of
a concerrated parents, that's another group that I'd like to
(32:52):
see this experience out to the survivors, right, And we
do a lot of policy work around advocating for them too.
So yes, the policy piece that speaks to what we'll
be doing tomorrow, right absolutely, you know, I mean, and
I know at some point we got to get to
sleep because we got to be on the lawn of
these legislators, you know what I mean, letting them know,
(33:14):
like right right, right, right right. But so I really
appreciate you taking a moment of your time, you know, um,
just to share with us, like about the work that
you're doing. Do you want to speak at all to
like the intersection than of being a survivor of crime
but also being incarcerating. Yeah, it's funny. Um, you hear
(33:39):
that phrase, heard people heard people that said that a
lot today. But what I didn't hear anybody say it
was healed people help people. I didn't hear that yet.
But that's what's been happening here right and technically in
my phone in concert. You know what I'm saying myself.
I've had to sit down once when I was sixteen,
people came and build me out. Thank God at this
(34:00):
it down another time when I was twenty five, same
thing that people bailed me out. But you know, it's
like many young working class black and brown men in
this country. I got into all types of ship and
probably I'm not gonna say it should have been because
I don't believe in that, but very well could have
been in conserrated to the point where I actually had
(34:23):
to go back to my family and apologize for ship
that they didn't know about, for putting the family of
Jeopardy stashing crack at the crib and ship like that.
You know what I'm saying, like exactly exactly being accountable
and you know what I'm saying. And you know y'all
do young dumb ship. But I'm gonna keep it super
(34:45):
funky with you and the work that I've been doing
and I've worked with worked with so many different groups
of folks and demographics that have been in concerrator. I
work with young folks and UM Camp Sweeney Juvenile Justice Hall.
You noticed by um Child Chilling Women's prison that was
so heavy for two years doing the restorative justice curriculum
(35:08):
out there, that's a whole other conversation. UM I did
can restorative justice of this jail in San Francisco, the
Richmond Jail, and oftentimes particularly with people in prison. I
joke and I say, yo, I like people that are
incarcerated more than I like free people. You know what
I'm saying. Because the people that are inconcerrated, they're doing
(35:31):
work on themselves. There's something, you know, there's this stigma
whom you're being in here, and you need to be
rehabilitated onnot so they're forced to actually work on themselves right,
and they do real genuine work. They recognize, especially if
they're involved a restorative justice while they're incarcerated, they recognize
(35:52):
that they were harmed and that they caused harm, and
that the way to healing that is tecknowledging that, acknowledging
your own trauma, and then acknowledging how you've passed that
on others, you know what I'm saying. So that's what
I think of when I think of the intersectionality between
survivors and healing as people who it's it's ironic really
(36:18):
to talk about how someone can wake up like that.
I've heard people say I needed to be in hand.
I'm like, God, no, no, But who am I? Who
am I to argue with that? You know what I'm saying?
Who am I to argue with your experience? I've heard
that a lot. I've heard it before, and my knee
jerk reaction is definitely to be like, oh, that's like
(36:40):
you've been institutionalized, you've been praying a lots, do you
know what I mean? Have been better than themselves? Right?
That's right, you know, And jail lockdown continues. Incarceration continues
to be a prevalent intervention and it does have to
be the way that it is. Let's let's get this strait, y'all.
(37:03):
This ship is raggedy, it's funked up, it's biased, it's
like literal institutionalized racism. It's like the dictionary definition. We're
not saying that we advocate this ship not right, you know.
And and if I'm being completely transparent, I'm also not
completely you know, brought into the idea of total abolition
(37:29):
because of my days when I'm there, and I have
my days when I'm like, oh god, right now, I
have a lot of arguments for why abolition would work,
you know. And I also understand the conditions that we
are currently in. Like you said, the incarceration system is
(37:51):
raggedy as fun. And yet when folks harm folks, the
systems that we currently have are not in place. The
culture that we currently have is not at a place
just yet where we can contain that harm and make
sure that it doesn't continue to ripple out into the community,
(38:14):
you know what I'm saying. And so um one, amazing
that you guys are doing the work of working directly
with the folks who are inside and behind the wall,
you know. Um and amazing that you have these insights,
you know about how you know, folks are reflecting into
(38:37):
themselves and realizing that one um, the harm that has
happened to them has you know, played a part in
them passing on harm to others talking, but also that
their current situation of incarceration is something that is a
(38:58):
step and their hell there you go, well, you know,
and again incarceration there's not equal healing. However, in the
current set of circumstances, we can make it. So that's right,
that's rights supposed to be. Talk about it, talk about it.
(39:19):
And that's the thing that's what's so interesting about it.
It's like, Yo, there's something happening. There's a collaboration between
people inside and a free people where we are seeing
each other, We're seeing each other, we're identifying each other,
we're bonding where building Otherwise, what rehabilitation is happening is
(39:39):
the deputy used to ce s like if it wasn't
for the people inside demanding some of this and the
people you know, san Quentin is interested. A lot of
people want to get to San Quentin because and this
is going to be the most bugged out oxymron that
you've probably ever heard in your life. San Quentin is
(40:02):
the most progressive prison. I can't believe it when I
say when I say it, it always because I said
this before. But you know, it's proximity to Berkeley, Oakland, Moran, Richmond,
all that, right, It's situated in the right place. And
there's obviously the history there, you know what I'm saying.
(40:23):
But it's the people inside too, you understand. Use when
you're saying the history, Um, for those who might not
know what the history is. Are we talking about the
Jackson brothers? There is that what you know? It's interested
you can't ye know, there's there's people still there, you
know what I'm saying. His name Sam Robinson. I thinket
(40:47):
exactly what his position is over there San Quentin. But
he's been there for years and he's kind of a
relatively young brother who's you know, kind of about it
like he's he comes through. Um you ever heard of
the podcast Her Hustle? Yeah, so he always he's the
one who's you know, I'm saying, Robinson, Did I approve
of this? You know what I'm saying? That's him right?
(41:10):
But um, they did an interview with one of the
cats from that movement and even Sam, he was like, Yo,
we don't like like that's like taboo to talk about that.
You know what I'm saying, was like even he you know,
he was like usually when he does this little sign
off and I approve of this message, he was like,
(41:32):
he did a kind of a disclaimer on that episode
of his Hustle and I'm not I'm only speaking facts too,
so I'm not throwing shade the salt and n y'all
can go listen and see that I'm not bugging out here.
This is what he said that up. And so yeah,
when we talked about that, there's so much history there, right,
but that history in particular is different because that's revolutionary, right,
(41:57):
and that's that's something that's but those seeds are there
in it's I think it's I think it's proximity. I
think it's proximity. We're gonna take a short break to
hear from our sponsors. So you have also been a
(42:30):
part of the Men's Healing Circle yesterday and the one
that we do, the one that we actually hold grassroot
literally grassroots in the grass around Lake Merritt. Yeah, just
open it with the with the fire pick, you know,
open it up to the community cast can come through. Yeah,
it's been something I mean, and only it only found
(42:53):
this way outside, um because of the pandemic. Right, it's
usually at the shout out to our joy and our
joys offs um. But yeah, so healing circles. We actually
had a Black women Black men healing circle too that
we were doing for a while, which you got real deep, Okay, okay,
(43:14):
But we did do the healing circle head today. Okay.
And so are there any are there any new insights
that you've come across this, you know, being in the
survivor speak space, absolutely absolutely. You know what I loved
actually the insight that again our own wisdom, you know
(43:36):
what I'm saying, our own knowing ourselves. Like, Yo, we
we did this exercise where we had these different ideas,
these kind of like male roll belief system mr BS.
How you like that acronym right right right? All these
(43:56):
male roll belief system quotes and this one brother was
just talking about how there was one that he was like, yo,
I this is one of the identified with But I know,
and you know, I got seeds and I know I
need to work on it for their sake too, you
know what I mean. But He's like, but yo, but
(44:17):
I'm still here, you know what I'm saying, Like, just
listening to different conversations, I know that there's a lot
of particularly black folks head that are like, Yo, yeah,
we're survivors and we're strong and we're doing the work
and all that, but yo, please believe I still can
get funky with it. Like you know what I'm saying.
It's like I told officer recently, Like, you know, I'm
(44:41):
relatively hippy in my mindset, you know, but I believe
in self defense. I put peace as a priority, you know.
But you know, harm harm none means also don't don't. Yeah,
and I and I feel like it's absolutely valid that,
(45:03):
you know, But at the same time, you know, what
harm looks like for different people is really deep, because
a comment can be so cutting for somebody that they
feel like, you know, that they have to lash out
physically in order to vintigate, vindicate that's right, that's right.
And that's exactly what that brother was getting at when
he said that. And it's like, um, I mean, you
(45:27):
know this this this some again mailoral belief ship. There.
You know what I'm saying, You're not gonna disrespect me
and all this ship. But even that is born out
of being harmed and being a survivor, Right, that's where
that comes from. Because you don't find that with a
bunch of middle class, upper class folks. We don't. They
(45:49):
don't have them. And I'm gonna working class motherfucker, you
know what I'm saying, Like, I know where that comes from,
you know what I'm saying. Yes, I have spent hours,
literally hours, because I'm a kind of inquisitive person, just googling,
like where does this idea of respect and disrespect come from?
(46:10):
Particularly in the black community, you know, And I feel
like it has also been borrowed by you know, our
brown and Latino brothers and sisters still because well you
know the culture to right, absolutely, So it's something that
we shared, is what I'm saying. Um um, not that
one came before the other, but it's something that we
(46:32):
share in our culture, you know what I'm saying. And
I'm just like trying to figure out what is it,
you know, because it's so subjective this idea. Please talk
about this, you know what I'm saying. So can I
hop in here real? Because it came up you know,
we do the values round right. When we do these
(46:53):
are starting justice circles, and inevitably respect will come up
like three photimes and I often say I always do
I have to do it. Now I have to say, yo,
we need to really talk about this as a value.
And even when when we get into agreements respect, it's like, yo,
(47:14):
that ship means something different to everybody, and it's a
powder cake word. This is powder Keggy is the N word.
You know what I'm saying. Like, and I was like, Yo,
the older I get and the more I do this work,
the more I become steep in restorative justice. I don't
really funk with respect like that. I don't. I don't
do it. I don't do it. But it gets deeper.
(47:34):
My dear sister Dr Joy the Grew, who we just
this weekend, actually did healing circles um with her. I'm jealous.
That's my sister. By the way, we that's like my home.
We go fishing together, Like we're actually going fishing in
Alaska soon. That's my sister. We've been fishing together for
(47:57):
like seven years. Yeah. We don't do a lot of words.
A matter of fact, I have I got a little
project I want to talk about we'll come back to that.
So I'll tell you a little bit about that a second.
But she put the word respect, and it's truest perspective,
so let's do it. What does spect mean to so
(48:18):
you said that, you said that you got it, no
expect to see, right, and so where it comes before that,
let me see you again, right, come on, come on,
I was like that respect I can get with. It's
(48:39):
it's African. Actually, yeah, so thank you. Yeah, that was
the perfect segue that because I always got to address it.
We can't just say re expect. It's a powder kick word.
It really is. That ship is explosive. Mother fucker's die
behind it. There's a war going learn right now Russian Ukraine.
(49:02):
For the sake of Posteria, I'm gonna say what it
is right now, you know. Wow. One really just appreciate
to have this level of conversation right now because it's
so important to be able to kind of pill back
(49:24):
the absolutely, you know, and just like here so clearly
stated what it is. You know, you know, we have
to understand. You know, my grandfather actually always used to
say this word etymology. Yes, the meaning of a word.
He said, like that, you don't understand nothing unless you
(49:48):
understand what the word you're saying mean. And Um, there's
this book and they talk about double and that is
I mean when we think about like quote unquote ebonics right, right,
or the you know the African American innocular right. We
(50:09):
we take words in English and we give them new
meanings all the time. That's right, right, But there's certain
words in English that we never define. There's certain roles
in our culture that we never define. And that ship
code of the streets and ship what is that? Cold?
(50:31):
But it was deadly? It's not even funny because yeah,
the fact that we don't define the ship that we
believe it that we leave it as a powder cad.
That's right, that's right, and it it could be flipped
to change, adapted, bastardized, twisted, you know, just like so
(50:51):
many religious doctrine. Come on. So I was gonna tell
you just the another tip because we're talking about my
my sister joy. Um, and this is something that I
think you might even be able to play during the podcast. Um.
I did this project where I took a bunch of
(51:12):
what I felt like we're progressive voices, Malcolm X, Michelle
Alexander Naomi Klein, Norm Chomsky, Michael Moore, Um are in.
Dr Roy, shout out to my South Asian sisters. Who else, uh,
Tommy gli Um And of course, like I said, my
(51:36):
sister Joy and I take the cadence and I put
it to music, right. I played the hot by the
way all of my heroes. Yes, yes, yes, the projects
called one Looking Forward Back and now I'll plug you
(51:57):
with it. It's on Spotify. But the one that song
with Dr Joy, that's my smell, my favorite song for
so many reasons, because I think what motivated me to
even do the album was there was a time and
it was all these movements happening here. As a matter
of fact, where we are now is a backlash to
(52:18):
all of the movements that were happening, you know, from
Occupy Wall Street and the Uprising, the Egypt Uprising, and
it was all this movement that was happening at the time,
and of course the pendulum has to swing. It's the
fucking Empire strikes back. Right now, you know, we're coming
out of that. But the four years of that motherfucker,
(52:38):
you know, like right, and then it was you know,
it's the rise of the colonial spirit. Yo, That's how
I've been That's how I've been defining it. They had
to fight back. It's a that dying gasping breath, you
know what I mean, that's what it is. Because it
wasn't just the United States, right, it was all around
the glow exactly, Um, Turkey, Philippines, Yo, you look around.
(53:02):
It was the strong man, you know. And that's right,
that's right. So this album came out at a time
when the scale was tipping, you know for those of
us who are about progress, real progress, right, And so
I put the album out and it was about It
(53:24):
was kind of like a period piece really because it
was like, you know, I was talking about things that happened,
but Joyce Peace in particular, that one addresses the past,
the present, and the future. It covers all three. So
you're gonna dig it. You're gonna dig it where I
find it Spotify. I'll definitely plug you. I definitely plug you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yes, Okay,
(53:48):
that is really exciting. I have so enjoyed speaking with you, gentlemen. Words.
I'm so glad we made this happen. It's worth it,
It's absolutely worth it. It's like almost three o'clock. Yeah,
we gotta be out of here in for hours, so
(54:09):
I'm not gonna hold you anymore. Yes, I'm gonna leave
you with so much peace, many blessings, blessings, blessings and
loves for people. Yes, it's so much for our people,
for our work, you know. So that was rather fun.
(54:37):
But this was only half of the conversation that was
had in them week hours. So shout out to Robert
Rubens at the Underscore r J Circle. But please do
reach out and support these black men who are bringing
healing and we're sort of justice and recovery and hope
(54:57):
and peace and light and spear a it to their
communities again. You can find Malachi Scott at now Practice
Productions with the Z. And you can find Hip spelled
h y p at hip No and that's no k
in o w on i g or at a Signola
(55:21):
Music Publishing dot com. And that's a double s i
in y e o l a music publishing dot com.
But listening to people that Spring conversation was not just
the social hour. We were there to get ship done.
(55:42):
And let me tell you it got done. I will
now read you all the bills that got passed in
These are the laws that got changed as a result
of the hard work and advocacy across many fields by
diverse group of folks who stood up for victims and
(56:03):
survivors in California. Honor respect to all those who make
it happen. And before I get into it, let this
be an inspiration to you join a local chapter and
go to your state crime Victim Speak. You can visit
Alliance for Safety and Justice dot org to find out
(56:23):
more about that. And without further ado, these are the
laws that were passed. S B ten seventeen, authored by
Egmont and entitled Keeping Survivor's House s B ten seventeen
will strengthen the current eviction protection survivors have under California law.
(56:48):
Several gaps in the law leave survivors at risk and
unable to access the existing protection. This bill will help
ensure that no survivor can be evicted be has an
act of abuse or violence committed against them. The bill
will provide a pathway for survivors to stay in their
homes even if the person who caused harm is a
(57:11):
tenant who is being evicted for a violent act against
the survivor. It will ensure protections are available to victims
of any type of violence and their immediate family members.
It expands the types of documentation survivors may used to
access protections. It eliminates a loophole allowing survivors to be
(57:33):
evicted if they allow, quote unquote allow the person who
caused harm to visit the property. It clarifies that survivors
can use the eviction protection even if the person who
committed the violent act is a tenant who no longer
lives in the unit, and it creates a way for
(57:53):
survivors to take action if their rights to eviction protection
or least termination are violated. It Whoop Whoop okay s
B eleven O six also passed. This was authored by
Reiner and it's called the Fresh Start Act. In California,
(58:14):
people who are convicted of crimes are often ordered to
pay restitution and restitution finds. Currently, unpaid restitution and restitution
finds can be used as a reason to deny a
person's petition to clear their criminal records, limiting their ability
to get housing, employment, and other opportunities upon entry. In practice,
(58:38):
current law results in people leaving the criminal justice system
being more likely to get trapped by signs and fees
than they can get a job to actually pay off
those fines and fees. This helps neither the person ordered
to pay restitution nor the person who will receive compensation
from the payment, because successful reentry into society for formerly
(59:03):
incarcerated people benefits the broader community. S B eleven oh
six ensures that expungement petitions aren't denied simply due to
outstanding restitution debt. And this was co sponsored by Debt
Free Justice Coalition, So shout out to all of the
people that make that happen. S B eleven O six
(59:27):
past whoop. Then there's s B twelve six, which was
authored by Kabayano. This is called curtis Is Law, and
s B twelve Curtis's Law will ensure that the immediate
family of a deceased miner whose death is investigated by
(59:51):
a law enforcement agency receives information about the investigation, including
contact information of the invest sigators, the case number, and
any information about any property of the victim that is
being held that passed. And it's a it's a shame
(01:00:12):
that it has to be spelled out, but you know
what this is doing something, This is this is at
least putting on the books that this needs to happen,
that we have the opportunity as survivors of homicide and
particularly for a minor that is deceased, to have information
(01:00:40):
given to us from the law enforcement agency. So you know,
shout out to those who made Curtis's law happen. Whoop Whoop.
Next is a B which was authored by Holden. It
is entitled Community Care Facilities Criminal Background Text A B.
(01:01:01):
Seventeen twenty increases access by qualified individuals with the rest
and conviction records to caregiving and similar jobs governed by
the California Department of Social Services. This bill will reduce
application barriers for people with the conviction history seeking community
care licensure from the d s S. A B. Seventeen
(01:01:26):
twenty streamlines the licensure process for those that have been
convicted of a crime to ensure that an unrelated prior
conviction does not prohibit a qualified, rehabilitated person from securing employment. Specifically,
the bill requires DSS to grant a simplified criminal record
(01:01:47):
exemption if the individual is qualified. This is so great.
Shout out to those that made it happen. This was
again authored by Holding. A B. Seventeen twenty whoop, And
then we have a B. This was authored by Mike Gibson.
(01:02:08):
This is the Certificate of Rehabilitation. Under current law, the
process for petitioning for a Certificate of rehabilitation is more
burdensome for people convicted of less serious offenses those resulting
in sentences of probation, than those with a conviction resulted
(01:02:29):
in prison sistances. So this bill would make it easier
for those individuals to begin the process of applying for
a CORE or a Certificate of rehabilitation. A successful petition
for a CORE provides several benefits. It can enhance licensing
considerations by a state board, It can serve as an
(01:02:52):
official document to demonstrate a person's rehabilitation to enhance employment possibilities,
and most importantly, it serves as an application for a
full parton and this was co sponsored by a r
C or the Anti Recentivism Coalition. Okay, whoop, whoop a
(01:03:12):
B authored by low Right. This is the bereavement lead.
What that means is that one, all workers deserve the
right to take time off to grieve the loss of
a loved one. Okay, let me say that again, all
workers deserve the right to take time off to grieve
(01:03:33):
the loss of a loved one. So a B nine
will allow workers to take unpaid bereavement leave when a
close family member dies. Under current law, most workers in
California have no right to breathe, but leave paid or
unpaid when a close family member dies. That's a tragedy right.
(01:03:54):
So thanks to legislation by Crime Survivors for Safety and
Justice sponsored into A twenty, family members of homicide victims
can take time off to access victim services or deal
with legal issues. But employees who lose a family member,
whether it's a homicide, illness, or any other reason, still
(01:04:15):
do not have the right to take time off to
make funeral arrangements or simply to grieve. So workers they
can take at least five days at least five days
of unpaid bereavement leave. It would also make sure that
workers could use other available paid leave as well, like
(01:04:36):
sick leave, vacation, personal days for bereavement. And this was
co sponsored by California Employment Lawyers Association, Legal Aid at
Work in the Equal Rights to Advocates, So whoop, whoop,
last but not least, we have a win with SPNT
(01:04:58):
one And this was all third by Durazzo, right, and
this is the Sunset's law, right. And so hopefully you've been,
you know, hearing a lot about this. So nationally, an
estimated seventy million people, nearly one in three adults, and
eight million people in California alone have a past arrest
(01:05:22):
or conviction on their record. California maintains an individual's conviction
records until that person reaches a hundred years of age,
preventing people with an old conviction record from ever being
able to regain full citizenship status even after fully completing
their sentence and paying their debts. This makes us all
(01:05:44):
less safe, It undermines the strength of our state's economy,
destabilizes families and entire communities, and is at odds with
California's core values of justice and fairness. So SPN thirty
one proposed a structured approach to expanding arrest and conviction
(01:06:05):
record relief, and it passed. It was co sponsored by
the Anti Recentivism Coalition a r C A New Way
of Life, you know, that's the organization that was founded
by the incomparable Susan Burton and then a Time for
(01:06:26):
Change Foundation was also a co sponsor. Homeboy Industries legal
Services for Prisoners with Children, Los Angeles Regional Reentry Partnership
and Pillars of the Community all co sponsors and you
know what, whoop whoop. All of these are things that
(01:06:47):
got done. All of these that are laws that got passed,
and we're making sure that they're not just words on
a record, They're not just words in a book. These
are now put into practice. We're making sure that these
are laws that have teeth. Okay, So if you want
(01:07:08):
to learn more about what is getting done and what
we can get done, and if you want to jump in,
want to jump into the movement, please go to the
website safe and Just dot org. Again, thanks so much
for listening. Disclaimer My views, beliefs, and opinions are my
(01:07:37):
own and do not necessarily reflect the views of my guest,
resource organizations or sources shared. Last thing, every day we
survive is a new chance to see killing. It's to
(01:08:00):
your journey. Good people asshare
Host
Oya L. Sherrills
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