Beyond the Numbers: Unemployment, Veterans & the Fight for Opportunity (Ft. Valeisha Butterfield & Kevin Meggett)

This week on TMI, Mysonne and Tamika D Mallory delve deep into the concept of black joy, the current economic crisis, and the impact of black unemployment. The discussion expands to cover the dismantling of DEI initiatives, veteran struggles, and how these issues have far-reaching effects on the black community. Special guests Valeisha Butterfield, and Kevin Meggett, a regional commander for the National Association for Black Veterans, provide expert insights and potential solutions. The hosts also touch on cultural events, the ongoing societal challenges, and the importance of community solidarity and action.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'm Tamika d.

Speaker 2 (00:00):
Mallory and it's your boy my son.

Speaker 1 (00:02):
In general, we are your host of t M I.

Speaker 3 (00:05):
Tamika and my Son's Information, truth, motivation and inspiration.

Speaker 1 (00:10):
Name new energy. What's going on, my son, Lennon.

Speaker 3 (00:16):
Everything is hunky dorry, hunky dorry. I guess no fun
intended hunky dorry.

Speaker 4 (00:25):
Say I don't know about that, but I guess everything is.
I can't even say everything is fine because it's so
not fine.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
Listen, you gotta find some joy somewhere, but.

Speaker 1 (00:38):
I don't just not to.

Speaker 4 (00:39):
I think joy, black joy is what has always uh.
It's been a consistent source of renewal and strength for
us that even when we were in some of the
worst times. I mean when you think about you know,
even you know at the time of enslavement, they still
had song, they still had moments where they enjoyed, you know,

(01:03):
one another's company, The children still played.

Speaker 1 (01:06):
I don't think that we should not have black joy.

Speaker 4 (01:08):
I think our problem is that we don't have a
balance of more focused on our struggle and our fight
for our rights and less on the joy side.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
Like I feel almost like joy is it should be.

Speaker 4 (01:23):
The reward we get for winning battles.

Speaker 2 (01:32):
It should be, but it also should be just our
natural thing.

Speaker 1 (01:35):
I think it should be natural.

Speaker 5 (01:36):
Like.

Speaker 3 (01:37):
The problem is, we've lived in society so much that
we fight so much that the only time we get
to rejoice is when we went to fight.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
I don't think God, that's what God do.

Speaker 3 (01:48):
I think God created us to be able to enjoy
or the roses, to look at the sun, to lay
on the beach, right, And that's why we live in
a society where people try to chase, you know, the
creature comforts so much because they want to live that joy.
And when you actually experience that joy, when you're able
to go to and sit on the beach or sit

(02:08):
on the ocean and look at the creations of our
ancestors and just enjoy that moment, it's a beautiful and that's.

Speaker 4 (02:16):
What that joy different. I think that's what it is.
I think we should have much rest. I think we
should have all beautiful things that should be opulent all
around us at all times. But I guess when when
I think about joy, I think about, you know, we're
having boosts on the ground kind of joy, which is cool,

(02:39):
But I don't know, I feel I feel awkward even
in myself that I still go out, I still try
to enjoy myself, but I find also that while I'm
in you know, like the Food and Wine Festival this week,
having a great time.

Speaker 1 (02:56):
Shout out to our system Naomi, who.

Speaker 4 (02:59):
Put on an incredible, incredible along with her team occasion
at Queen's College, the Flavored Food and Wine Festival.

Speaker 1 (03:10):
It's the second annual and it was beautiful.

Speaker 4 (03:13):
And while being there in places like that where I'm
enjoying and you know, just trying to smell the roses,
as you said, I feel like people are constantly walking
over to me, getting in my ear who are kind
of like us, you know what I mean. It's almost
like you're like if you're out in the world and

(03:36):
people who know that it's not crazy, it's happening, yeah,
you know, Like well I'm not even I'm saying like
I would imagine it being kind of like a movie
where you're not really supposed to talk about it, but
certain people know that some big thing is happening, and
so people will come over to me and they'll be
in my ear like.

Speaker 1 (03:56):
Hey, you know, what are we going to do? Like
what's happening?

Speaker 4 (04:01):
Like I'm scared or this happened to me, or you know,
my kids there aid got cut or their scholarships have
been discontinued, and you know, people are really feeling it.
People are like, I've been looking for a job or
I've been at this place for twenty years and they
just let me go and I don't know why. I mean,
one of our brothers who we are very close to,

(04:23):
who work for a senator in New York. Soon as
I pulled up at a birthday party, he's like, yo,
I need to talk to you outside. Like it's there
is an undercurrent that should be an overcurrent, if you will,
of people who are focused on the fact that something
not something that Project twenty twenty five is happening, and

(04:44):
I don't know that.

Speaker 1 (04:45):
Everybody is like.

Speaker 4 (04:46):
I don't know. I just so I think I have
a sense of awkwardness. And you're probably right that we
should have black joy and joy in general all the time,
but I almost feel like the balance needs to be
there is especially it's like you partying every day when
you know you're supposed to be at like school and work,
and you're just letting school and work go to shit

(05:08):
while you're having a good time.

Speaker 1 (05:10):
Sometimes that makes me feel concerned.

Speaker 3 (05:12):
I deal with the same concern all the time. I
think for me, I think I'm settling into the reality
of exactly what it is. I think I was having
this level of anxiety like a year ago because I
always I just foresee a lot of things. So I
knew that we were coming to this place. I knew
that people didn't understand the seriousness that what we and

(05:34):
people still don't like you. People still oh you well,
ain't nothing, okay. So I don't even have conversations with
those people. I understand that there's a certain demographic of
us that are going to be called.

Speaker 2 (05:46):
To do certain things in this one.

Speaker 3 (05:49):
So I'm just gearing up and getting my prepared for
the level of organization, the level of building education that
we have to do. We have to educate our young youth.
We have to stop the evils going on in our communities.
We got to stop the violence going on communities, and
let let them really understand the time that we are in, right,
because that's what it's gonna take. I can't I'm not

(06:10):
trying to preach and have conversations with forty and fifty
year old people that are still telling about some other stuff.
I know throughout you know, the last year, a couple
of years, everybody was like, oh, this is what we need.
And when they were saying that what we need we
need a Trump presidency, We need them to see how
seriousness it is, and I said, we're not prepared for it.

Speaker 2 (06:33):
And right now we realize that we are not prepared
for them.

Speaker 3 (06:36):
We realized that these people have strategically and outplanned us.
They have strategically outplanned us, and they're executing everything. They're
creating civil unrest, they're gonna they're trying to create a
civil war. It's complete division. You know, our people are
not prepared.

Speaker 4 (06:56):
For I don't know if I would say that we
have been outplanned, because I know that their plans will
fail at some point.

Speaker 1 (07:07):
Right I think that we have been tricked.

Speaker 4 (07:12):
I don't think we're so much outplanned because we are
the biggest survivors in the universe. No one knows how
to survive and how to organize movements, whether it be
of resistance or of just like taking care of one another,
like black folks, right like we are the architects of it.

(07:33):
In fact, most of what they have even learned in
terms of how to take care of themselves has been
because of our wisdom. I think that what has happened, though,
is that a part of their plan was to dangle
in front of us comfort and it wasn't just their plan.
I think our elders wanted to provide for our community

(07:58):
and wanted the children not to have to suffer the
things of the past, and in doing it's a very
similar conversation to one of the.

Speaker 1 (08:07):
Things you were talking about.

Speaker 4 (08:08):
I think it was one of the your I don't
get it segments some weeks back. You were talking about
have we given our kids too much and not allowed
them to learn and see struggle. I think that is
you know, some of what has happened in our community
that we have. There was a fight to get us access.

(08:28):
There was a fight to make sure we had comfortabilities
and to have different opportunities.

Speaker 1 (08:34):
And there are many.

Speaker 4 (08:35):
People, not all by a long shot, but many people
who enjoy those things. And now we're being called into
a space where we're going to have to go back
to the fight necessary to secure whatever it is that
we built and build something new. The one thing I
know is that America is coming to its needs right

(08:57):
like white men, particularly with the assistance of white women
who believe in it. Anybody who has not watched Handmaid's Tale,
go sit down, take you a weekend and just watch
Handmaid's Tale all the seasons, and you will see exactly

(09:18):
what I'm talking about.

Speaker 1 (09:20):
That white women who always.

Speaker 4 (09:22):
Believe that they are going to have proximity to some
type of power just because they're supporting their white men
in this tyranny that they are causing on other people.
They always get the shit into the stick as well,
by the way, but nonetheless they support that.

Speaker 1 (09:42):
But white men always, in.

Speaker 4 (09:45):
Their quest for power and their fear of allowing the
world to be as God would have it, which is
to be diverse, which is that you are not the
alpha and the omega of everything, they will all ways
go too far every single time.

Speaker 1 (10:02):
Right, this is a coral Master's very line.

Speaker 4 (10:06):
Shout out to our mentor and our our love and
heart and and and and the big homie.

Speaker 1 (10:12):
Of our lives.

Speaker 4 (10:13):
She always tells me, these people will take it too
far every time. And what's gonna happen in this moment
is that what they think they're doing is collapsing things
on our behalf and making it we're only they're empower.
But what they don't understand is that this whole entire

(10:34):
world has been upheld.

Speaker 1 (10:38):
By us and our labor.

Speaker 4 (10:40):
Everything everywhere, whether it be the way people have learned
or what people have learned about other nations like African
blood and sweat is what makes this world what it is.

Speaker 3 (10:58):
I don't disagree with it, but what I'm what I'm
saying is this we are there's an innate nature of
us to survive like we live off just innate nature.
We're dealing with a strategic devil who plans because they
know the nature of you. It's just like you know
that the lion is the king of the jungle, right,

(11:20):
so when you watch the wild, so when you so
there's the king of the jungle, and then you watch
the little wild coyotes just sit around the strategically wow
to destroy it.

Speaker 2 (11:32):
Right.

Speaker 3 (11:33):
Ultimately, after they destroy one of them, the other lions
come back. But this is how they get any level
of power. What they do is sit around and plan
and watch because they know they can't beat you on
the merriage, so just fighting you or just straight up
fighting you, And do they understand that That's why it's
always been unfair when you look at how they have colonized.
It's never been fair. It's never been straight up warfare,

(11:55):
and it's always been sneak attack. Just strategy because we
can so confident in our ability just to win and
our ability to survive that we're not planning.

Speaker 2 (12:05):
So we have to have the strategy point.

Speaker 1 (12:08):
And people are going to say they don't agree.

Speaker 2 (12:09):
With you, I know, but I'm just trying to But
you can't.

Speaker 1 (12:11):
Because because there are people who have been planning.

Speaker 2 (12:17):
But I'm just trying to tell you they haven't been.

Speaker 1 (12:18):
Maybe cohesiveness is an issue, but.

Speaker 2 (12:20):
That's what I mean, that they are cohesively planned. We
we we've been.

Speaker 3 (12:24):
Playing in silos and and now in this moment, I'm
watching to see people saying we need to put all
together and calling people to the table that they normally
wouldn't call because they understand that even their strategies are
going to be required in this moment. Basically, what I'm
trying to say it is up to this moment, we've
been out for you know. The planing now moving forward

(12:45):
is definitely going to take place, and there are leaders
and thinks and organizers that are sitting around figuring out
what we have to do. But it's always that, and
I think that's what we have to get in front of.
I think when we look at projects and we look
at the architects of it, and we look at how
they strategically lit no, it's just that we don't got

(13:06):
nothing to do with it. Every one of them is
in this cabinet right now and they are strategically implement
and they just saying to forget everybody. Fuck what you think,
we just doing this. We I don't think that we
believe that. I don't think we believe up to that.
I don't believe that even as we as they're implement
and that people are acting like it's not happening. But
there are people who understand the realities of the time.

(13:28):
And I'm saying that's why I say we outen, because
now this is what they've done. I was watching Roland Martin,
who was he talking to. He was having an interview
with somebody. He was talking about every time there's black progress,
there's backlash, and then we have to revolte again. It's
the same strategy, and I'm tired of be having that strategy.
I want us to people when we have the black progress,

(13:51):
I want us to already have the defense for the
white backlash. I want us to already be prepared. And
that's that's what I haven't see. I think that's the
next level that we have to be and we have
to be prepared for as we once we get this
black like we build Black Wall Street, we put them
like Israel got a tent over there. Whatever it is,

(14:12):
they gotta dom because they prepared, like somebody gonna ball.

Speaker 2 (14:15):
We understand, we understood.

Speaker 3 (14:17):
They keep saying never again, and they make all of
the strategic plans for whatever happened to them never to
happen again, and we are not doing it. They're constantly
well to burn down Black Wall Street and then we
fight back and we we build it up because that's
who we are. We are, we are naturally God. But
they understand. It's like it's like kryptonite. It's like they understand,

(14:38):
we're gonna put them in ryptite. Every time they get
too strong, We're gonna trap them in this crypto. And
then after we trap them and they fight back to
get out, we're gonna figure out it. We gotta make
sure that they never get their hands on kryptonite again.
And that's what I'm talking about that's the plan I'm talking.
I'm not saying we're not doing anything or we not.
We aren't planning, we aren't planning for it to never
happen again.

Speaker 1 (14:59):
Yeah, I mean I think so.

Speaker 4 (15:00):
I think there's some dynamics in terms of just the
way that we distribute wealth out of our community. That's
going to be something we have to grab hold of.
And I'm not sitting up here and saying, oh, don't
don't you know, do some of the things you want
to do and have nice things and go places and whatever.

(15:20):
But we're going to have to consider our own businesses
and infrastructures first. Then take whatever little percentage and buy
a thing here and go to.

Speaker 1 (15:31):
These people's resorts and do this stuff.

Speaker 4 (15:33):
But the first thing we're going to have to do
is ensure that we are securing our communities and our products, services,
vendors and all of that first.

Speaker 1 (15:45):
That's the way.

Speaker 4 (15:46):
I think that's the only solution, because right now we're
the consumers that put our money out. We have to
be the consumers that keep our money in. That's how
you build a stronger society. And if you look at
other communities that do it, they do it. Those communities
are pretty much like you said, under their own dome.

(16:08):
It doesn't mean they're not experiencing the cuts and other
things as well, but they also have built in mechanisms
to support their own communities. When I think about how
the Muslim community operates in general, because obviously we have,
you know, the pleasure of spending a lot of time
with a number of Muslim people who are great leaders.

(16:31):
And one thing I know is that when they have
a candidate running, they raise money. When they have a
business that has opened, they support the business. They really
truly have a sense of connectivity that we as. There
has been a number done on us. There's been a

(16:53):
number done on us, and I feel like, you know,
I think more people are beginning to think about it,
but there has to be an even bigger acceleration, if
you will, of the support for our own And that
brings me to my thought of the day. You know,

(17:14):
I had a different thought of the day. I was
gonna talk about this crazy rapture thing. But we'll talk
about that later. We'll talk about that later. But I
yesterday I had this like really difficult day of conversations
with folks around the Target boycott. I think that there

(17:37):
is always and I'm committed to it. So I'm not
suggesting that in any way I think or believe at
any point that a boycott sustaining it.

Speaker 1 (17:50):
For as long as we have would be easy. That's
not what I'm saying.

Speaker 4 (17:55):
But sometimes the inner workings of all the things get
to be pretty challenging. And yesterday I spent my day
going back and forth about new products being launched in
the store, particularly one beautiful sister who deserves all the

(18:16):
support in the world, absolutely, but how the boycott is
impacting not just her but also impacting or how it
will impact her what she did well, I think she
sold out or whatever. That's a whole different conversation. But
then other vendors that are in the space, and we're
constantly in the tension of trying to.

Speaker 1 (18:38):
Figure out what to do to ensure that.

Speaker 4 (18:40):
Those vendors businesses do not collapse, right, And so we've
been very clear that we want people to please support
the businesses directly. I don't know why some of us
act like if we can't go through a major retailer,
we can't stuff.

Speaker 1 (18:56):
But we don't know.

Speaker 4 (18:57):
It's not that hard, right Couse that I wear right
here's by a black sister who I don't want to be.
I think I'm supposed to tell her website, but I
don't really know, so let me check things before I
say the things. But once I received the link that
she has a product and I know her, she's a

(19:19):
beautiful woman, I just started buying a lip.

Speaker 1 (19:22):
Now.

Speaker 4 (19:22):
I don't have anything else in my little pouch or
no other It's all around the houses everywhere.

Speaker 1 (19:29):
That's what I wear.

Speaker 4 (19:30):
I don't need to go to a big company, a
big store, or to Amazon or any of these places
to purchase it. Because it's available. We have to retrain
the way that we think, you know. And so we
were in you know, having a lot of dialogue back
and forth about that, and my thought of the day

(19:53):
came to me because while ninety five percent of the
convers were we are one hundred percent in support of
the boycott and we stand in this moment in solidarity
with those who are boycotting Target, there's another five percent

(20:14):
that has the issue of one, well, I don't even
understand why we need to do this. And you know,
and I get my stuff.

Speaker 1 (20:23):
I like Target.

Speaker 4 (20:24):
I always like I don't get it. What's the big deal,
what does it do for us? And then of course
you have the people who are like, well, I don't
care because I'm still going to target because I don't
see how this connects to anything else. And also, you know,
I'm gonna support these black women businesses and that's just
what I'm gonna do.

Speaker 1 (20:42):
And that's fine.

Speaker 4 (20:44):
And what happened to me was, for a moment, I
begin to think about the stress of our past leaders,
right Why some of them emotionally were walking around dead
even though they may physically still been present. And I
know some of these people have met and stacked with

(21:05):
and talked to some of the leaders of the past,
and our community are yes of the past, meaning that
they were intively outside and I know of the stress
that they carried when trying to need and trying to
get people together to do a particular action. The stress
that we experience is almost violent, right, No, it is

(21:30):
almost violent.

Speaker 2 (21:31):
It's actually because it's wear and tear on your body.
Like it.

Speaker 3 (21:36):
You can feel the physical it's like somebody is home.
This is It wears on your brain, your body, your spirit.
You when you look at Obama who head of gray hair,
like you watch stress and those leadership positions completely transformed some.

Speaker 2 (21:54):
You know, I was watching.

Speaker 3 (21:57):
Following Harry you know, mister belle Fonte, you know, or
Pizza him, and they have a short kind of documentary
following around and throughout the years. The main I noticed
was every generation that he was mental and you in it, Phil,

(22:20):
I knew that the young people from Park and it
was just different situations that you would see leadership. Every
time he was like you showed him with doctor King
and you would just see the level of vibrancy in him,
this diminishing right he was saying. He was saying the
same thing to everybody, but he felt like at the

(22:43):
beginning he was like, Yo, this is what you need
to do. What are you gonna do different in this moment,
like when he said genders to find an agenda and
he was vibrant about And then every time these young
people come and he's seen the moment for them, he
would give them the advice. But you can hear it
in his voice that he knew that they wouldn't as serious.

Speaker 4 (23:01):
But I think it is that they're not as serious well,
because that's the case. What I would disagree with what
happens is what happens is going back to my point
about my thought of the day is that people start
out with the best intentions to really do something powerful.

(23:23):
They see it, they have vision, they have heart, they
have all the things and the tension that you are
faced with by trying to help, you know, trying to
keep your people together. And see, this is what I
think is important for me to say. I'm not talking
about the masses, because you will never ever be able

(23:45):
to get the masses of the people to do anything right.

Speaker 1 (23:50):
You will never be able to get that.

Speaker 4 (23:52):
But what is extremely challenging is when the people that
you often have to fight are the folks who are
supposed to be in it with you, right. And we're
not talking about debate of thought, because debate of thought
makes us stronger.

Speaker 1 (24:06):
We're talking about people who literally work.

Speaker 4 (24:10):
To undermine the strategies and or they tell you they
support you, but behind your back they snicker into other people, Oh,
it ain't gonna work. Even know why they're doing this.
I never agree with it in the first place. That
type of energy can be very, very, very very draining.

Speaker 1 (24:29):
But I am so grateful for.

Speaker 4 (24:34):
The mentors that are around me, the people who I
have sought out to be mentors as well as those
that have been placed in my life by my parents
and other people who care about me, because they always
keep me grounded and focused on the things that matter.
And so today I woke up and I was expressing

(24:56):
that that you know, and I understand that we have
to be able to dodge and move and keep moving
and keep going, right, I get it. And so I
often find myself bouncing back quickly from tough conversations, difficult situations,
all of that at the betrayal that exists within the space,

(25:18):
find myself being able to you know, I make sure
that I don't.

Speaker 1 (25:22):
Let it just go. I definitely will address it.

Speaker 4 (25:25):
But I find myself being able to say, Okay, we
got to keep on, keep on keeping on. And today
I was like, yo, I'm just tired, Like I'm just tired.
And I'm not tired because vendors are being supported. I'm
not tired because you know, people don't always agree. I'm
tired because I'm trying to figure out at what point

(25:48):
will we have the crack of barrel slash Disney effect
where when people know that something is happening that is wrong,
it is very, very limited the amount of people who
will try to undermine change it, say let's do this that,
And the third them cracker barrel folks. The wife folk

(26:10):
that saw that cracker barrel was being removed, didn't care
who sold the syrup. They did not care. They did
not care about the vendors in the front of the store.
They didn't care about the candy companies. They didn't say, well,
who sells the chairs. I know I've said this before,
but I'm gonna say it again. They said, the image

(26:31):
of the cracker on the barrel is in alignment with
our values, our morals and values. And they said, if
you don't put it back on there, we're gonna tank
your shit. So we're selling our stock. We're gonna drop
your value by one hundred million dollars in two to
three days.

Speaker 1 (26:50):
And when you put it back, oh, we'll come back, but.

Speaker 4 (26:53):
We're not gonna give up until you do what we
are demanding that you do. And I think that I
don't know if I ever said my thought of the day,
but I think that my my like really, when I
narrow it down to what I'm thinking, is that our
love and care and support for our people is what

(27:18):
has sustained us, even though when it comes to us directly,
we sometimes that goes out the window, but that's put
that for a different segment or a different episode. Our
love and care and support and the compassion that we
have for our people is what has sustained us, and
so it is probably the biggest asset that we have,

(27:42):
but it is also to our detriment. It is also
a part of the demise of our communities. We will
we will rise from this moment, but we're going to
face more challenges because of lack of discipline and lack
of unity. Right and I know that in order to

(28:04):
fight the opponent that is in front of us, the
way in which we operate is going to make it
even more difficult because some of us are unwilling to
take short term inconveniences and even pain and sacrifice in

(28:25):
order for us to get to the greater good. And
the reason why I can speak to short term sacrifice
and pain and sometimes it's long term, is because I've
done it in my own life.

Speaker 1 (28:37):
I have sacrifice.

Speaker 4 (28:39):
I have said I want to be in I want
to be in the room, I want to be in
the spaces.

Speaker 1 (28:45):
I want my businesses to flourish.

Speaker 4 (28:47):
I want things that I'm doing to, you know, make
it here and there. In the third I want my
book to be New York Times bestseller and all of that.

Speaker 1 (28:56):
But I have sacrificed.

Speaker 4 (28:58):
Because I have decided to stand in a space that
speaking truth to power is not profitable and it is
also you know, there's retaliation that goes hand in hand
with it, and so I so sometimes I sit back

(29:19):
and I say to myself, I'm so tired that today
it's over. I'm just done, Like, let me just do
something else. I know there's other things I can do.
I could just go work for people and never have
my face like they don't. I'll do the shit, I'll
organize the stuff and turn it over to you, and
you be the face of it. I just need you
to pay me enough. I can go and take care

(29:40):
of my family and my responsibilities. I don't have to
be the face so that it's not controversial. I can
work for candidates, I can support from the background and
just stay out the way. And that's just how I
feel like that's what I need to do and I
have to. And I was reminded I was saying, thank
God for the mentors that I have in my life,

(30:01):
bishoply A Daughtry, who I need to breathe every day.
God bless she pulls me out of every single time
that I feel like I'm in that foxhole. She reminded
me this morning that out of seven hundred churches in Birmingham, Alabama,
seven hundred churches in Birmingham, Alabama, only sixty of them,

(30:24):
only sixty were supportive of the movement and were engaged.

Speaker 1 (30:29):
Only sixty.

Speaker 4 (30:31):
And I needed to hear that so that I can
remind myself that it's only going to be a few
of us that are going to pull the rest of
us along. But I just want people to know that
part of the reason why so many people don't feel
that they can even be in this work, like they
touch it with a toe and say, let me back up,

(30:52):
because the way in which we fight one another is
so disheartening and so crippling at times that it makes
it difficult for folks to even feel like they can
see themselves continuing to stay the course. And so I
know that some people might say, oh, that's weak, and
that's this and that's that, But I don't think it's weak.

(31:13):
I think it is a human emotion to say that
at times because I don't gain a dime or a thing.
I'm not even the main face of the target boycott.
I don't be on TV talking about it.

Speaker 1 (31:27):
I'm not. I don't do any of that. I don't
gain anything.

Speaker 4 (31:30):
In fact, it actually harms my reputation even more for
me being able to go out and maybe one day
get a job somewhere or start a business and have
funding from some of these companies or some of these
people that fund people.

Speaker 1 (31:45):
Right, because even black folks look at you like, oh,
you're the boycott person.

Speaker 4 (31:49):
I can't put my money over there, right, So I
don't gain anything. What I'm doing is a part of
a group of people who have said that we're picking
targets and we are going to make people feel it
when they harm our communities.

Speaker 1 (32:08):
And it's one by one by one.

Speaker 4 (32:10):
And yes, there are casualties because we are actually in
what's called a w A R. So that's that's why
casual Yes, it's casualties. You try to minimize, but you
can't sit there and say, oh, we're all just gonna
be We're gonna be free and oppressed at the same time.

Speaker 2 (32:30):
It's not really a thing understand what it is. It's leadership.
It comes.

Speaker 3 (32:34):
It's called leadership fatigue, you know, because you understand as
you when you start doing this work, you you surround
yourself by people who have the same energy and you
feel on the same mission. Used to do it different
and you engage yourself, you realize that ain't honest and

(32:56):
it's not dig get anybody. It's nothing against anybody. Everybody
is not willing to go where you are. And that's
what that's what I was talking about. They wasn't They
weren't serious. It's just that in a way, he wanted
to see people organize and fight.

Speaker 2 (33:13):
He knew, or he felt. He started to believe, I've
seen this before.

Speaker 6 (33:20):
I know.

Speaker 2 (33:20):
I remember him telling us before, he said, would do it?

Speaker 6 (33:23):
This?

Speaker 2 (33:24):
Seen it before? What do you what are you planing
to do?

Speaker 3 (33:26):
Like he was, He wasn't just happy that people following
and big marches and all that. He was just really like,
what is the point. You're gonna do what you do?
You know it's gonna come at you. He understood because
he had watched it over and that's what happens with leadership.
A lot of the people that they quote unquote say
sell out is because they got to the it's like,

(33:46):
what am I fighting?

Speaker 2 (33:48):
Like?

Speaker 3 (33:48):
The people that I'm trying to fight to protect don't
give a fuck about me. I didn't lost, almost died, incarcerated,
and they're gonna tell you I sold out because I said.

Speaker 2 (33:57):
Did one thing that they didn't.

Speaker 3 (33:58):
They didn't look at all the things that are contributed
to this move. So now it's about me. Now I'm
gonna fix, I'm gonna utilize whatever, I'm gonna take care
of myself.

Speaker 2 (34:08):
And that's what happens, you know. So it's very hard.

Speaker 3 (34:12):
Or leaders die right, either they die young or they
go older to realize or believe that they're fighting.

Speaker 2 (34:19):
For a purpose.

Speaker 3 (34:21):
They can't because the people don't even realize that they
need to fight. So, you know, hopefully we don't get
to that stage, but it definitely gets to a point
where you mad, you like you and they say that
all the time, your biggest fight is against the people
that you fighting.

Speaker 1 (34:34):
For, But I guess that's true.

Speaker 4 (34:39):
Well, you know, boycott Target, and I know that there
are so many people with us. We know because their
stock was down the lowest than five years recently. So
we're not going to retreat and We're not gonna sit
here and say, oh no, it's not working all. We're
doing a very good job and that I know there
are many of you out there who are staying the

(34:59):
core and understand that the endgame is more important than
the current moment that we're in. So thanks, thanks a
bunch for being in the struggle for real, for real.
So AnyWho, let's talk about the TMI. So I was
thinking we could we could choose one of two.

Speaker 1 (35:18):
Topics for our TMO today, right.

Speaker 4 (35:21):
The first topic is something that was suggested by Janice,
our wonderful producer right over there, over there, over there,
who will never come on the camera. If she ever
comes on the camera, we're gonna fall out, like that's
when the apocalypse will be here. So we could talk
about the images, like how seeing all of these images

(35:44):
of people being murdered, blood choking, stomping, beaten, shooting.

Speaker 1 (35:54):
Is too much? Like is it too much?

Speaker 4 (35:57):
Maybe some people feel like it's not or are We
could talk about.

Speaker 1 (36:01):
How do you.

Speaker 4 (36:05):
Maintain hip hop culture right, which some of it has
been problematic as hell, but some of it has been
the fun, the battle whatever, and then still try to
figure out how we don't die or have beefs that
last forever where kids are killing each other over it.

(36:25):
So that would be more so of my my Cardi
b experience. Which Cardi's album, She's got at least seven
fire songs on it, so that's a good album. That's
it for me. But I was just trying to think
which one? So you pick which one? You want to
talk a lot?

Speaker 3 (36:41):
Well, both of those things we could just know we
can let's pick one.

Speaker 2 (36:48):
Pick one.

Speaker 1 (36:48):
You gotta pick one, lady can't have three.

Speaker 3 (36:51):
Well, I'm ald since you know, since some hip hop thing,
I think there's always competition inside of hip hop.

Speaker 2 (36:59):
You know, I want us I enjoy like I don't
know a lot of people.

Speaker 3 (37:03):
I enjoyed watching Drip and Kindred compete right and nobody
ended up shooting anybody. Nobody, And even though there are
tempers as if I don't, some people naturally just don't.
You don't like each other rights. Just like a boxing
people box, they don't like each other, if you ask

(37:24):
before the boxing match, they push each other, they talk
crazy to each other. After the fact, you know, some
of them wrap it up and have respect for each other.
It's like jay Z, there was two Titans that went
to war. They didn't like each other. I mean they
went to lyrical war, right, there was a lyrical war.
And then at the end of the lyrical war, they
became friends and they began to do things, and they

(37:47):
they talked about the admiration because most of the time
when you odds with somebody, there's an admiration, but there's
a competitive nature and you because you wanted to prove
that you're the best, and they're telling you that the
other person's the best. So that it is human nature.
That's why we like sports. That's why we watch every sport.
We watch people go out there on the football field
and they try to take each other's head off every time.

Speaker 2 (38:09):
This is just a reality what we dealing.

Speaker 3 (38:11):
So I think hip hop just extension is another sport
that people talk about. I think when we start to understand,
we gotta teach our kids emotional intelligence so they're not
shooting and kill each other. So when there's some type
of miscommunication or there's controversy or conflict between each other,

(38:32):
let's wrap it up. Let's see who can rap the best.
Like battle rap is. I love battle rap. They get
on battle if they say the craziest shit to each other.
Things they say to each other, but it's a sport
and they shake each other's hands. Sometimes they might get
a fist fight in there. Nobody's died over that, but
they go into that arena understanding this person's gonna try
to say whatever he can to get the ouds from

(38:54):
the Crowd's gonna be some stuff that may be disrespectable.
I don't do anymore because I haven't. You know, I'm
too old as certain shit you ain't gonna say about
my mama and all that go through all that. But
I enjoyed watching it and enjoyed the people who have
that discipline in that you know arena, to be able
to sit there and craft things that are creative. People

(39:15):
put who's the best man at the end of the day,
all woman at the end of the day.

Speaker 2 (39:19):
So that's what hip hop is.

Speaker 3 (39:20):
It's always been competitive, you know rock saying, I mean
Seante had a beef with the real rock saying, and
you have Molly mal and.

Speaker 2 (39:31):
Care rest One.

Speaker 3 (39:32):
There was always beef Queensbridge. I guess it's always been that.
So you know, I'm just I just want us to
get to a stage right to where we were to
look at these hip hop battles be entertained and enjoyed
and they don't turn into anything that somebody's losing it.

Speaker 1 (39:49):
Yeah, no, I agree.

Speaker 4 (39:51):
And the thing is, I'm from Harlem, got to the
Bronx at fourteen years old. So as much as I
want to be sitting here to talking like, oh, well,
we can't and we have to be and this and
that and shout out to our brother d One who
is constantly trying to help to talk to us about
elevating the music, because the music is a sign of

(40:11):
the times, right, And so I get it.

Speaker 1 (40:13):
But I'm also a New Yorker and I like people who.

Speaker 4 (40:17):
Can rap for real. I like real lyricists. I like
good rap music, and I love a good battle like
At this point, I'm waiting on JT and Bea to
put their response records out for a CARDI right, so.

Speaker 1 (40:32):
We can get some good music going.

Speaker 4 (40:34):
But the problem I the reason why I hesitate to
encourage that is because for whatever reason, to your point
about emotional intelligence, to your point about understanding that this
stuff is supposed to stay on wax, it's supposed to
you know, you supposed to still be able to bump
this afterwards, it don't be happening like that. Like people

(40:54):
like I never forget that day. Well, I don't know
what party they were at where you saw like Alady
leaping over people and Nikki about to really throw down, right,
And like you said, sometimes people fight, that is what
it is. But I know, speaking of the people we're
about to meet with today that in the anti in
the violence prevention community that we're from, they know that

(41:18):
these back and forth turned into young kids taking a
side and the next thing you know, the kids are
out there beefing.

Speaker 1 (41:26):
I just but that's what we have to.

Speaker 3 (41:27):
That's what we have to get under order, right. I
think when the artists starts saying, yo, this is not
no beef. We're trying to kill each other.

Speaker 1 (41:35):
Yeah, but when you like baby, let me tell you
about Cardi B.

Speaker 4 (41:39):
Cardi B blacked out on that on this album, blacked out.
You said, Yo, Yeah, they clearly they really don't like
I don't think that, and maybe that is the responsible
thing to do, is to have artists saying this is
on wax.

Speaker 3 (41:56):
But for me, it's when I used to when I
came home from prison, I went to detention centers and
taught people how to use music as an alternativece. If
you feel like you want to establish somebody and you
go put it in the record and you an emotion
comes out and you're like, yo, I wish I would
have did this one, and you just say it. It
prevents it might prevent you from stablishing.

Speaker 4 (42:17):
Well, then, but let's be here, just like the room,
but the new project that you have with the young
people in Newark, New Jersey, from here music to drill music.

Speaker 1 (42:29):
You let them take drill.

Speaker 4 (42:31):
Beats and talk about whatever, but they're not allowed to
talk about killing, shooting and killing.

Speaker 2 (42:37):
That's the true.

Speaker 4 (42:37):
So that is an intentional thing because you know that
sometimes because.

Speaker 3 (42:41):
A lot of these kids have not engaged in emotional intelligence.
They haven't been taught, they haven't been taught, you know,
the art of word and have a skillful debate. Like
if you watch our scholars debate, they called each other
all kinds of ignorance, shit, they called each other coon,
they called this and that, and they said they said,
debated each other and nobody got hit in the mouth.

Speaker 4 (43:03):
I'll watch umar, Oh that's not you that people didn't
get hit. My old boss was tearing it up and
they get shot. I get it that sometimes people gotta
get things out. I'm only stating for the TMI today
that Carti's album is hot. The girls is texting, they like, oh, okay,

(43:27):
that's what's up this song? That song? And like I said,
if you got seven strong songs on an album, you
know that's good because most of the time it be
the two radio hits and maybe you found one more.
But when you got seven eight and probably other people
like two more songs on an album, that's a good album.

Speaker 1 (43:45):
She put together a solid body of work, but.

Speaker 4 (43:49):
She's blacking and taking some serious shots from her experiences
and some other stuff.

Speaker 1 (43:55):
You know, Carti is Carti.

Speaker 4 (43:57):
I just hope that when these people spawn that their
response because card is from the Bronx, Bronx.

Speaker 1 (44:05):
Like from Highbred.

Speaker 4 (44:07):
The album like part of it when I'm listening to it,
and I wonder, I want to hear what my Southern
friends and my Cali people and what they have to say.
But I know today all the chicks that I know
from from New York, from New York, from the Burrows
is like, this is fire. This is fire, And that's
because it resonates with us, because that's our sound, that's

(44:29):
our music, that's that that's that soul, right, and so
I just hope that these other people are talented enough.

Speaker 1 (44:37):
And we know that JT is talented enough.

Speaker 4 (44:39):
I don't really know who be It is, but these
we know JT is talented enough to make music that
just gives us something else to buy and some back
and forth and then they can just move on with
they separate, lize they ain't got to be friends, but
just please lord, let it stay on the song.

Speaker 2 (44:57):
I believe it's gonna stay on the song. I think
not the way that got four kids.

Speaker 1 (45:03):
Have you seen.

Speaker 3 (45:06):
Did she? But that's what she said. She said She's
gonna talk USh it now. She realized these people are
gonna suit. She listens, she doesn't it's too They're gonna
suit if she look at him. So listen, I'm gonna
talk to my ship. Long's y'all do nothing to me
like I'm not trying to go out there and find you.

Speaker 1 (45:20):
Well she gave she opened up a window.

Speaker 3 (45:25):
Be as supposed to capitalize her because I don't know
b Is. I seen him once or twice and Cardi
got one of the top albums in the country. You're
supposed to come out with your son and make people
pay attention to she actually gave you a letker.

Speaker 4 (45:38):
That's it. That's what it is. Producers get the working.
So now our guests are coming up. Let's get into that.

Speaker 1 (45:49):
All right.

Speaker 4 (45:50):
So, you know, I think we made a decision that
we're gonna stick to this topic of the black unemployment rate,
and we ain't letting it go because every week.

Speaker 2 (45:58):
It's serious, because it's like it's unreal.

Speaker 4 (46:01):
Yeah, every week, every week, We're not going to let
it go because we said this would happen when people
told us, oh, DEI has nothing to do with black people,
that's not our issue, and we were like, we're telling
you that the the the unraveling of and dismantling of,
and criminalizing basically of DEI, that it would absolutely mean
black folks. And we're seeing it happen in real time.

(46:25):
And it's probably DEI plus just discrimination in general that
is causing the black unemployment rate to be at such
high rates. You know, I think that when people hear numbers,
if they don't understand like proportion, they don't really get it.
They're like, Okay, well I still have my job. So

(46:46):
if you say that the overall unemployment rate for black
folks in this country is seven point six percent. They'll say, well,
you know, I have my job. My friends have their jobs,
like we are one friend who doesn't. But you know,
so we don't necessarily understand how serious this is for
our community. And what we don't understand is that especially

(47:07):
when people are collecting an unemployment check or people are
you know, they have a little nest egg saved, that
you don't really feel it until some time later. Right,
So in the next six months or so, you're going
to begin to see people suffering in real, real ways.

Speaker 1 (47:25):
I saw Donald Trump saying on TV.

Speaker 4 (47:27):
I guess he was over there in Europe, and he
was like, yeah, we fixed inflation.

Speaker 1 (47:31):
And I'm like, I.

Speaker 4 (47:33):
Know, for a fa I have seven jobs, seven different
incomes to make up my little bitty life, and it's
too expensive for me to get groceries and other things
like the tariffs is killing us. In turn, you can't
even order a T shirt. So I don't know what,
you know, he just says anything. So there's that. So
today we have two experts on this issue. One of

(47:54):
them is our sister forever and ever and ever, and
the other is a gentleman who was because I'm our
friend and want to bring both of them into this
conversation about how this unemployment crisis is impact in our community.
First of all, Alicia Butterfield, who is the co president
of the Grammys.

Speaker 1 (48:15):
She is a global business leader.

Speaker 4 (48:18):
She is the founder of the Global State of Women,
where they are specifically providing mutual aid to women Black
women who are in need as they have lost employment
or been pushed out of the workforce. She also is
an activist, which is where we first met. And Valicia

(48:39):
is probably the most called on person that I know
by artists, entertainers and other very influential people including politicians
to get support on ideas that they have or activism
or ways that they can get involved in different issues.

Speaker 1 (48:58):
And so just all around, just a powerful sister.

Speaker 4 (49:02):
And I may have some you know, maybe in her bio,
I don't know, there may have been some more stuff
I could say, but Velicia Butterfield is the bomb.

Speaker 1 (49:10):
How about that?

Speaker 4 (49:11):
And she was just recently a bad man magamo walking
in the.

Speaker 1 (49:16):
What is it actively Black?

Speaker 4 (49:21):
And then our brother Kevin mcgett meggot excuse me, who
is the regional commander for the National Association for Black Veterans.
He is also the founder of Veterans Action Now. And
this brother is from the BRONX, so we know he's

(49:41):
gonna keep it real. But he's also sitting at the
center of veteran activism and advocacy and really looking at
how this unemployment crisis is impacting a community that was
already not receiving their fair share after having served on
behalf of this nation and so unthank both of you

(50:03):
for being with us today, and we want to dive
into this topic. I think let's start, you know, I, Alicia,
I know you have so much to say, but today
we're gonna give the brothers some air. We're gonna start
with the brother man Chr who's in his car taking
the time to.

Speaker 1 (50:18):
Stop and to have this conversation.

Speaker 4 (50:21):
Tell us what you are seeing and experiencing in your networks.
I know you've already been fighting on behalf of the
veteran community, and we appreciate you for your service and
I would love to kind of hear from you in
this climate that we are in, with the type of
administration that we're we're dealing with in Washington, d C.

(50:43):
How what is what is happening. How are you feeling
and what are some of the struggles that you're contending
with at this time.

Speaker 7 (50:50):
Well, thank you so much, thank you for having me
on the show. The biggest struggle is equity. What's happening
is we don't have equity to the same amount of
yours that our white counterparts have.

Speaker 6 (51:03):
In fact, DEI is very real.

Speaker 7 (51:05):
It's very black targeted because a lot of we don't
know exactly what numbers per se are affected with the
downsizing of different federal agencies, but what we do know
is that a number of them are black, and a
number of them are veterans. And the veterans the VA

(51:28):
is just one one example, as do you downsize, A
lot of veterans have gone from retirement to working for
the VA, or have or they're a service connected and
they're working for the VA the supplement and income, so
those are usually the first people that have gone Overall,

(51:54):
unemployment is an issue for black veterans, but I think
under employed is even.

Speaker 6 (52:00):
Worse because it's it's.

Speaker 7 (52:03):
A hamster wheel, and so I think one of the
worst things, the most disrespectful thing that you could offer
a veteran that comes in is get your credentials and
become a security guard security and then it's just the
it's just.

Speaker 6 (52:19):
The eyelash above minimum wage.

Speaker 7 (52:22):
And these are the jobs that they're you know, stock clerks,
things like that, that's what they're These are the positions
that they're putting black veterans in. So it becomes a
system where they don't stay at the job and they
come right back for the same services.

Speaker 6 (52:39):
And it's it's a hamster wheel.

Speaker 7 (52:40):
So and you know, you have these different organizations that
are being funded to keep this hamster wheel going because
it's a it's a money grab for everyone and everyone's
getting paid except for the black veteran. And then I
just want to touch on also how there are disparities
between white veterans and black veterans and the amount of

(53:00):
the jobs that they receive, opportunities that they're offered. But
bigger than that, it's it's it's it gets deeper and
wider as you look at like service claims and things
like that. There's disparities all acrupt the board, but particularly
and especially in the black and black.

Speaker 4 (53:22):
When you say service claims, that's important. So what you're
saying is, yes, the job pieces is clearly you know,
a crisis. But even when it comes to veteran who
are applying for services from the federal government or even
state and city government agencies, there is a disparity between
what services white folks and black folks can receive.

Speaker 7 (53:45):
Is that what you're saying that is correct, especially in
the service The first service claim denial that we.

Speaker 6 (53:53):
Know of is our mother, Harriet Tubman.

Speaker 7 (53:56):
A lot of people don't know that she was elevated
to a colonel in the army.

Speaker 6 (54:05):
She was she was a spy and bigger than that.

Speaker 7 (54:08):
She led an attack on where my family's from, Charleston,
South Carolina, on behalf of the Union. So when she
when once the Civil War was over and she moved
upstate New York, she put in for her retirement papers
and the army denied her. And and that and that's
the first. But that's to this day. You have a

(54:29):
lot of service connections being denied and dased off of race.

Speaker 3 (54:35):
So so Relicia, like, what are you see to your
work at the global state of woman, What are you
seeing with the disparities between unemployment for.

Speaker 5 (54:47):
Well, I think it's important to just ground us a
bit in the data which Tamika Dad also at the
beginning of this segment, and thank you for having Kevin
and I both on. Currently today, according to the Economic
Policy Institute, black unemployment rate might sign overall is seven
point five percent.

Speaker 1 (55:05):
But what is alarming is.

Speaker 5 (55:08):
Over the last three months, we've seen the Black women's
unemployment rate just continued to uptick. And so we have
just as a community an overall and employment rate of
seven point five percent when the national average is four
point thirty percent. And that alone, just as you know
that they have a huge disparity and gap, and it's

(55:29):
really a state of emergency, right, I mean, I can't
gloss over it enough. This has been unprecedented in recent years.
This is the historic decline and unemployment and it's startledly.
But I think also when you think about Black women
and all of the obstacles that we're facing, when we
start calling through the day with global State of Women,

(55:50):
we have the federal government shut downs playing a huge role.
When you know that black women represent more than twelve
percent of the federal workforce until recon so you have
the federal shutdowns that have taken place, you also have
AI right, look at all the digital transformation is happening
the AI.

Speaker 1 (56:09):
You know what some people have said is human replacement.

Speaker 5 (56:12):
It has impacted Black women specifically in tech and so
many of our industries and again unprecedented and unexpected ways.
And then the last part is the media entertainment industry.
I mean, we've seen shifts and film and TV and
music through those digital transformations that have just been like
it's taken our breath away. And so when we launch

(56:33):
Global State of Women, we honestly expect that a thousand
or fifteen hundred Black women to apply to the fund
seeking emergency relief. And we have now toppled over forty
thousand Black women will applied for support and relief in
just four weeks. And so that lets you know where
we are. I'll say this when we come through again,

(56:57):
all of the stories, all the applications that came through.
We're talking about women with who had C suite rolls
last year, who were decision makers. We're talking about professors
at major Ivy League institutions. We're talking about decision makers
and a lot of corporations. So there is a multiplier
effect and ripple impact that's happening across our communities because

(57:18):
not only are these women displaced and now the workforce
they're now you know, unable to support and fund small
businesses and black owned businesses and women owned businesses too.

Speaker 3 (57:28):
So I just don't want you to give a little
bit insight on exactly what the Global Stay the Women
Fund is, what is it does it do?

Speaker 5 (57:36):
And so we started it, you know, as an initiative
to provide relief, financial relief to women, specifically Black women,
who have been disproportionately impacted by this unemployment crisis. And
so the first goal was to provide immediate direct relief
anywhere from five hundred dollars to fifteen hundred dollars as

(57:57):
a one time award given and granted. But then the
shorter term plan is to really start standing up virtual
career fairs programs that support a career placement because so
often people want to mentor us and give us more development.
When we've gotten skills, we just knobs right, and so
closing those gaps and creating access. But then the final

(58:20):
part of it, and to make and not talk about
this a lot, is you know, what are those entrepreneurial
paths too, because so many of us are going to
be forced into entrepreneurship when that may have not even
been a goal.

Speaker 4 (58:32):
Absolutely, So I'm thinking about this veterans piece, man, I mean,
this is quite disturbing. And I could see Felicia when
Kevin was speaking, I could see your you know, wheels turning.
Because in some of our most recent conversations with others,
as we are building and thinking through what is the
strategy for pushing back on this thing and then rebuilding,

(58:56):
you know, and and also sounding the alarm, we cannot
just capitul it, like we can't just be like, oh,
you know, oh well, hands up in the air and
we'll see how it goes.

Speaker 1 (59:05):
No, that we have to fight back.

Speaker 4 (59:07):
We have to make sure these people understand that what
they are doing to us, we get it, we see it,
we know it, and our people have to be informed.
And so when I'm listening to you, to you, Kevin,
and you're talking about the veterans component, it never occurred
to me that, as Lsia said, these federal agencies that

(59:29):
have shut down where they say more than ninety one
thousand black women lost their jobs since January or whenever
they started this crackdown they lost their jobs. It never
occurred to me that our veterans are probably another portion

(59:50):
that has not even been counted, right, because you're saying
that a veteran who you know comes home and is
now looking for employment. One of the biggest places I guessed,
or most commonplaces for them to be able to go,
was into the federal government. I think I saw that
on a special somewhere where white folks was jumping up

(01:00:12):
and down about how these you know, cutting these different
programs was going to impact their job numbers, and so
talk a little bit about those those jobs, like where
are veterans going and has any study been done or
is there any data out there or is that something
that we need to be thinking about, data around the

(01:00:34):
impact on veterans which includes black women, right, which includes
black women. But we know that there is no struggle
that we can fight where we don't focus on our
entire community and the black family. So I know that
was a lot, but I have so much that I'm
thinking about in reference to the points that you're making
on black veterans.

Speaker 6 (01:00:56):
Well, thank you for the question. We don't have a
robust statistic.

Speaker 7 (01:01:04):
Unfortunately, even when we had COVID, we don't there's no
statistic that said how many how many veterans for laws
during COVID, It's almost like veterans have been forgotten about.
It's like, you know, once you finish serving, you know good,
So I mean, you know, make it make sense once
you know, Like I'm a I'm a Gulf War arm veteran,

(01:01:28):
I saw action. You know, I've fought. I've fought and
bled for this country. And there's others that fought, bled
and died for the country and they deserve a little
bit more dignity and what they're getting. I mean, what
I do know is in the thirteen years of doing
Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program, which was a which is basically

(01:01:51):
a Department of Labor program that they're pushing more people
towards customer service and secure God and things like that.
Flaggers and with at least one thing the Obama administration,
I would give them they had, they had the right idea.
They had this thing called v RAP, And what v

(01:02:15):
RAP was designed to do was it was designed to
retrain people service people and give them a better skill setting.
So instead of being a security guard, why not train
them to become cybersecurity where they could make a not
a minimum age job, but a living age job. You

(01:02:37):
know what I mean, and so no one's thinking outside
the box. But I don't think that they really. I
think we're screaming. I think the veteran community is screaming
as loud as they can with people who got fingers
in their ears.

Speaker 3 (01:02:52):
ALI answer this question to me, because I'm constantly having
these conversations and debates with the D and all these things.
Why do you think that despite everyone seeing these numbers,
people still push back and say that the I didn't
benefit black people and black women.

Speaker 6 (01:03:15):
Happy.

Speaker 5 (01:03:15):
I have to laugh, right, I think, well, first I
want to say, Kevin, thank you for your service. My print,
my dad and grandfather are both veterans, and I think
exactly what you're saying around underemployment is so true too,
when we're seeing this over and over again, even with
this unemployment crisis, so many black women saying, hey, you know,

(01:03:39):
I've got all this experience right, and I can't find
a job doing anything even outside of my experience level
and scope. I mean, we're basically left to them for ourselves,
and the gig economy is like holding a lot of people,
you know, just above water.

Speaker 1 (01:03:58):
But I think d I signed.

Speaker 5 (01:04:01):
The greatest beneficiary of diversity, equity and inclusion was white
women period. That has been proven, that is documented, that
is data supported fully right. And so when you think about,
you know, the approach to DEI and for me as
a DEI practitioner in former roles, I mean, you really

(01:04:23):
go where the data points you, right, And there was
a big misconception around that.

Speaker 1 (01:04:28):
The assumption was even for me.

Speaker 5 (01:04:30):
You know, if you're a black woman, of course you're
centering black women in your DEI process. But no, right,
the data clearly pointed to the greatest, most disproportionate gaps
when you cut race and you cut gender. Right, we're
black women having the largest gaps, and we're talking around hiring, retention, progression, pay,

(01:04:53):
equity gaps you name, right. And then if you look
at all of the work that was involved around that,
you know, whether that was focusing on LGBTQYA plus communities,
people with persons with disabilities, a veteran status. If you
really started to look at the data and peel back
those layers, you started to see that the greatest gaps

(01:05:16):
and opportunity to close those gaps were when you cut
race and gender. However, so many of these organizations and
systems only cut it by gender. And when you only
cut it by gender and you act like races out
of the thing and make it race agnostic, then obviously those
programs center women, and just by proportion, white women carry

(01:05:38):
the greatest representation rate, right, And so it gets tricky
because now I think dion has been weaponized, It has
been used as a tool to divide, when in fact, again,
white women have been the greatest beneficiary. Even still, right,
even if you look at the unemployment crisis, white women
overall are experiencing unemployment crisis too, but they're opting out

(01:06:03):
of the workforce for a myriad of reasons that are valid, right.
Re Entry have been hard once you you know, have children,
being able to you know, compete with the pay equity gaps,
and feel a lack of progression and progress within the workforce.
So white women have experienced barriers and have chosen to leave. However,

(01:06:25):
we're talking about a different beast over here. But black
women are educated, qualified in the space, don't want to leave,
but are being forced out.

Speaker 1 (01:06:36):
And so that's the distinction.

Speaker 5 (01:06:38):
Right, And it doesn't make our quite harder, although personally
I feel like it's harder, right, because I'd rather leave
by choice. They're forced to leave without a plan, and
that's what's happened.

Speaker 4 (01:06:51):
So I would say that I wish someone had the
resources to study because, as you said, white women have
definitely been impacted.

Speaker 1 (01:07:02):
We know that and we see it.

Speaker 4 (01:07:04):
We see it in the No Kings marches, we see
it in the phone calls we're getting from the white
women who are like these mofos is out of their minds.
We out here, we're you know, we're in the movement.
Some of them are actually leading resistant spaces, and a
part of it is that they know they're being impacted
in many different ways, from the right to choose to

(01:07:25):
being pushed out of the workforce to you know, the
list goes on on and on and on.

Speaker 1 (01:07:30):
So we know that that's there.

Speaker 4 (01:07:32):
But if there was someone who had the resources to
do deeper or more granular study, I bet you we
would find that many of those white women who wanted
to stay have been repurposed within a company.

Speaker 1 (01:07:46):
Right they now their position is.

Speaker 4 (01:07:48):
Now you know, whatever else, whether even if it's being
the assistant. Because I promise you that what they have done,
as you said, with weaponizing DEI, is to go and
say let's use this to get rid of most of
the people of color or most of the black women.

Speaker 1 (01:08:05):
Go ahead, I'm sorry to me.

Speaker 5 (01:08:09):
I just have to say, though, let's just say, in
this perfect world where everyone wants to be a color line,
m strip away everything pertaining to the race, and we
zoon out right and look at the macro issue. The
economy is crumbling, absolutely absolutely right, So dd I to
call it whenever you want, like the business case for hiring,

(01:08:32):
retaining and advancing black women in the workforce.

Speaker 1 (01:08:37):
It behooves us as a country to not do that,
absolutely right.

Speaker 5 (01:08:42):
So I think that's where it gets tricky, because you know,
can we make it the argument, can we go deeper
into insights and data? Sure, we could do it all day,
and at the end of the day, the economy, for
I believe and force the decade, is going to recover
for for this crisis that black women are currently experiencing

(01:09:03):
in the front of.

Speaker 1 (01:09:04):
I agree with you and Kevin.

Speaker 4 (01:09:06):
I also understand very well what you're saying is that
veterans can do lots of other jobs, right, and we
claim we can't find that this has been realisia. How
many times have you heard these corporations and institutions say
we can't find qualified people for any of these roles,

(01:09:27):
and yet there is an entire community of folks who
have been away and have had to be educated in
order to participate in the protection of our nation. These
are not people that just went somewhere and sat on
the sidewalk and waited for a bomb to blow up.
These are people, many of them have had training that

(01:09:47):
is extensive that they can do other things. They can think,
they can move, you know, they can organize, and yet
and still we are not pulling from that particular pool
of individuals.

Speaker 1 (01:10:01):
And I would say that while you are.

Speaker 4 (01:10:04):
Kevin, working with black veterans, as we said about the
white women, white veterans are hurting as well, it would
behold these folks not to vote for their own demise
because it seems like people from other communities are actually
supporting ideas and politicians who are very dangerous to them.

(01:10:28):
So I don't know what we do to get people
to see that. None of this, to your point, Felicia
is good for not just good Black community before the
society in general. So Kevin, I don't know. You know,
if you want to share, what can people do to help?

Speaker 6 (01:10:46):
You know?

Speaker 4 (01:10:47):
Can we can people donate to your organization? Are their
actions that you are taken that you want folks to
get involved with, like give us some type of give
us a job.

Speaker 6 (01:10:57):
Thank you. I am I.

Speaker 7 (01:11:00):
On July fourth, when they had the Big Ugly Bill introduced,
I simultaneously I held a press conference on the steps
of the Bronx Supreme Court and I launched a campaign
on an initiative called n Veteran Poverty Now. Because at
the end of the day, PTSD, suicide thoughts, underemployment, unemployment,

(01:11:27):
food disparities, those are all symptoms. The virus is poverty
and racism and being a racism is such a hot topic.
I chose to just concentrate on the poverty and I
will chosen within the racism because it does matter, and
I don't want people to think it doesn't matter. But

(01:11:48):
I just need people's attention. Assemblymen Landing Days and I
are hosting a rally right across the street from the
Bronx Supreme Court to end veteran poverty. And I want
to thank the assemblymen because he's been using he's been

(01:12:10):
helping me message throughout the state and he's trying to
get twenty million extra dollars allotted to the budget for veterans.

Speaker 6 (01:12:19):
But you could throw money at the problem all day.

Speaker 7 (01:12:21):
If you don't understand the problem, you'll still have the problem.
So I think v RAP would be a form of
New York State. V RAP would really work if it
worked in the Obama administration. And he doesn't get credit
for that. That was a really good move that he did.
And one more thing I want to add, I suspect

(01:12:43):
that the unemployment rate is much higher than you guys
are suggesting, because your statistics come from unemployment claims. But
what happens when what happens when the person claims out,
Absolutely they just go. They're not reported anymore. And so

(01:13:05):
I suspect that it's much much higher than what you
guys are or what the statistics show on that.

Speaker 2 (01:13:11):
I'll yeve, I definitely agree with that.

Speaker 3 (01:13:14):
I just want to I want to make a correlation
to center because we was just me and to me,
were just having a conversation about how domestic violence is rising. Right,
I know, to me, when you think about unimportant and
you think about domestic violence, do you see the correlation
between that? Could you give us, like some insight on
how those things actually connect. Sure, so both of you.

Speaker 7 (01:13:41):
When when if you have a I always concentrate on
the veteran and their families. Veterans have families. If you
find an unhealthy veteran, you're gonna find an unhealthy family.
You find an unhealthy family, you're gonna find an unhealthy veteran.
So it's a it's a hand and glove. So this
poverty initiative shouldn't just go towards the veteran, but it

(01:14:02):
should also be extended to the family.

Speaker 5 (01:14:08):
Yeah, I'm with Kevin, and I think you know, it
all boiled down to you know, in a lot of
cases the impact that being unemployed or underemployed or having
you know, financial hardship can bring. Right. So first you
could potentially or you will lose your medical coverage, right, right,
So let's start there, right, So health disparities, you know,

(01:14:32):
lack of coverage, lack.

Speaker 1 (01:14:34):
Of being able to to the doctor, you know, things
start to brew.

Speaker 5 (01:14:37):
Couldn't make you stay in a relationship, right if perhaps
that coverage can help, you know, can be applied because
of that relation.

Speaker 1 (01:14:46):
And that's one. The second is mental health.

Speaker 5 (01:14:49):
Right if you think about, you know, our ability to
have a therapist. Oftentimes it's not even covered by insurance anyway, right,
So being able to pay out of pocket for a
mental health therapist, yeah, that's support and support, right, and
so then you isolate, right, Like all of this happens
right when you lose a job, when you're unable to
you know, make ends meet, and it can often cause

(01:15:12):
us to stay in relationships that are unhealthy. It can
often cause us to experience, you know, different dynamics around abuse.
Some of that could be physical, some of that could
be mental. Some of that is financial abuse, right, Like
we forget that that is a form of abuse too.
And so you know, if we have a partner that
may be you know, using mass leverage against us, right,

(01:15:33):
may be using that as a hero to just keep
you there and under the thumb, like whatever it is, right,
we're seeing over and over again, so many people suffer
so many different consequences right because of what's happening right now,
and certainly abuse is a part of it. And so
you know, I fear that, you know, when we as

(01:15:56):
a community lack freedom, and freedom you know often starts
with the economic freedom to choose and decide when to
stay and when to go.

Speaker 1 (01:16:05):
We're going to continue to see more of this kind
of ramping up.

Speaker 5 (01:16:08):
And then Childerby's too right if you think about children
in the home, who now you suffer because maybe the
parent has to stay.

Speaker 4 (01:16:15):
Yes, right, So Felicia, before we go, let's talk about
this whole concept of like building from here, right, Like
in any crisis, the best mediators of such crisis and
those who have the best strategies are people who know
that we have to rebuild something. And we absolutely cannot

(01:16:40):
build America back exactly as it was, so as it
comes to its neees, because you're talking about the economy
is crashing. People have been pushed out of the workplace,
and the agencies that were in place to try to
provide some levels of checks and balances on our government
and on society, those have been dismantled in many ways.

(01:17:02):
They have been dismantled to the point and when you
when you couple that with all you know they they
are removing reports on discrimination and agencies, and I mean
they're doing so much, they're even erasing the history that
will remind us of what these systems actually did in
how they function. And so we have to build. We

(01:17:24):
have the nation build in this moment, and I know
you've been thinking about that. I'm now sitting here saying, Okay,
the veterans and then the black women and the black
men like sounds to me like there's some agencies of
our own, there's some businesses of our own, and I
know you've been thinking about that.

Speaker 1 (01:17:40):
Tell me. I want you to talk about two things quickly.

Speaker 4 (01:17:44):
One is, are is that the energy that you're seeing
as people saying we're gonna build our own We're gonna
try to invest in our businesses. And the other thing,
as an entrepreneur that you are because no matter which
jobs you've had, you've always maintained your own businesses and
you know being involved in entrepreneurship and you know that's

(01:18:05):
what we do every day. It is a massive struggle.
That is not an easy thing to just go pop
up shop and start working on your own.

Speaker 2 (01:18:15):
So do you.

Speaker 4 (01:18:16):
Feel like it is even realistic to say that of
the let's say a million people, because I'm with Kevin,
it's a million people at least, right black women, men,
and it's probably a million each and more that are
out of the workforce right now, and some that were
already out and can't get in right, is it realistic

(01:18:40):
for all these people to just go start their own businesses,
start their own companies, and find the funding necessary to
sustain themselves.

Speaker 5 (01:18:50):
So I'll start by saying, to anyone watching or listening,
I knowne of this feels overwhelming. I know it does, right,
And so often we are so sick and tired of
the talking, the rhetoric, the talking points, which is why
a lot of young people and quite frankly just a

(01:19:10):
lot of us in our community have just given up
on caring anymore and waiting for someone to come save us.
And so the best answer I can give to the
First Party is we have to get back to the
basis period.

Speaker 6 (01:19:24):
Right.

Speaker 5 (01:19:24):
Our ancestors told us the plan, the blueprint, they gave
it to us. Right. I think it starts one with
recognizing that our vote actually does matter.

Speaker 1 (01:19:34):
That's right.

Speaker 5 (01:19:34):
Our brother Kenny Burns today was talking about it on
his platform, just like you know. I know there's been
a lot of lack of desire to vote anymore, a.

Speaker 1 (01:19:45):
Lot of app voter appathy. Blevet.

Speaker 5 (01:19:47):
If you can't control anything else, what you can control
is your right to vote and getting up or going
out mailing your ballot or going and casting about in
these midterms and in the generals.

Speaker 6 (01:19:59):
That's one.

Speaker 5 (01:20:00):
Just please vote. I know, even when you feel like
your voice doesn't matter, it literally will change everything. Love
stay a federal level. So just vote right. That's one.
The second is recirculating our dollar. H right. We control
where our money goes in most cases. And so if
you have the ability to go a little bit further

(01:20:22):
to get the thing you really want from a black
owned business, if you have the ability to wait a
few more day and say wait for that same day
delivery to hit, if you can just do your best
to put your dollar or keep your dollars in our
community for as long as you can, We're going to
see change move absolutely. And then the third thing is

(01:20:44):
and this is not popular for some reason and by
friends circles, but I've been saying it for a few months.
Community living, other communities do it, right, think about it.
So many of the communities will get homes, and there's
cousin's brothers stay in the homes together, and everybody pulls
their weight and no one's left behind. And so just

(01:21:07):
let's think differently about our approach to this on a
micro level and.

Speaker 1 (01:21:12):
A human level.

Speaker 5 (01:21:13):
On a family level over the next few years, because
at the end of the day, if we wait for
someone to come, we're gonna be waiting for a long time.

Speaker 2 (01:21:20):
We might have to get back to Polly like we
was in Oh.

Speaker 1 (01:21:24):
My God, good night, everybody. That's it Africa.

Speaker 3 (01:21:28):
We might have to go back to Keny the Africans
where they started listen, man.

Speaker 1 (01:21:33):
It's a man, and the women could sing out listen.

Speaker 2 (01:21:37):
The time called for disferent measures, man, you know something.

Speaker 7 (01:21:40):
So we have to look at this as a national
security threat that that's going on. And so one of
the books that I've read that's been very helpful with
me and navigating and like organizing and galvanizing other veterans
is a book on called Wide National Security at Us
by Oursha castil Bury Hernandez. We got to look at

(01:22:04):
this and with the lens with veterans they're really afraid
of they're afraid that we will take over this democracy
because they taught us how to fight and not to fight.

Speaker 6 (01:22:14):
I fight very well, you know, they taught me.

Speaker 7 (01:22:17):
And so I think that they kind of put their
finger on us because they know we could not only
save this democracy, we could take it over. M. M.

Speaker 2 (01:22:30):
Well.

Speaker 4 (01:22:31):
I think also a part of the national security piece
is that when again, when this economy collapses, as it
is absolutely on its way to the crime, the violence,
all the stress that press us on our communities now
is only going to be worse and it will definitely
not be safe. So what we hope is that we're

(01:22:52):
able to build a wall of protection around our communities
with both prayer and strategy, and that you know, we
know that we cannot save everybody in the community by
having businesses, because if you pay taxes, the taxes are
supposed to circulate back into the community through opportunities, through

(01:23:14):
services and support, and so there's going to have to
be some straightening.

Speaker 1 (01:23:19):
But right now, you know, I am very.

Speaker 4 (01:23:22):
Grateful for people like you who are staying on the
wall and continuing this fight and not allowing people to
just go home and feel hopeless and have nowhere to turn.
There has to be a movement that is strong and
it allows folks to feel like, even though we might
not be in the best position in this moment, we're
still not standing down. And so continue to stand up,

(01:23:45):
continue to elevate, continue to do what you're doing, and
just know that there are other people out here. Valicia
knows this, but Kevin, we want you to know that
you have resources of people to tap into to help
you expand the mission and what you're what the work
you're doing, because it's so very important.

Speaker 7 (01:24:04):
Thank y'all, thank you so much, and thank you for
having me, and thank you for everything that you guys
are doing as well.

Speaker 2 (01:24:10):
We appreciate you.

Speaker 1 (01:24:12):
Keep it up correct, Thank you both for joining the
peace out.

Speaker 3 (01:24:18):
We're gonna get your next catwalk. Let's gold man, come
on the next time.

Speaker 2 (01:24:23):
Let's go. Come on, we gotta get We need jobs.
We don't utilize every skill.

Speaker 1 (01:24:27):
Say good, put me to work.

Speaker 4 (01:24:31):
This man took of my poly relations. What he doesn't
understand is that some of those is gonna have to be.
That the brothers allowed of women to be the head
of household because his cases, that's three time.

Speaker 2 (01:24:43):
Ahead of household.

Speaker 1 (01:24:44):
It's fun. I want to go back to tradition. I'm
with you your original right that the men take care
of us.

Speaker 4 (01:24:53):
No, but what we what we need is to be
able to take care of one another. It's some serious
ship that's going on here.

Speaker 1 (01:25:00):
Love y'all, love it.

Speaker 3 (01:25:04):
They shout out to Felicia Butterfield and our brother Kevin
Maggott for beating I would guess, and talking about such
a serious topic. You know, employment is serious, like you said,
this economy is tinking. It's it's so crazy to me
that people just didn't hit common when she said this
completely like the start I do because it's funny to me,

(01:25:27):
because they don't want to listen to the black women
who said the economy is going to be.

Speaker 4 (01:25:33):
People are hating that lady, but it don't matter what.
They don't care if it means their own demand. It's
like it's they like the people who you know, they're
so committed to being against somebody that they won't even
like work or eat or do anything. They won't even

(01:25:53):
take care of themselves because they just pose stupidity.

Speaker 2 (01:25:57):
It ain't nothing else with the stupidity, Like I don't
understand it.

Speaker 3 (01:26:02):
Shout out to them for talking about this topic and
delving into the realities.

Speaker 2 (01:26:07):
I didn't understand.

Speaker 3 (01:26:09):
Oh I'm not saying I didn't understand that this wasn't
even focused on the veteran piece.

Speaker 2 (01:26:13):
You know, the veteran piece.

Speaker 3 (01:26:14):
And how do you know economy is definitely hitting them
and just talking about not them not having proper jobs,
or them just wanting to give just the regular security
job that that doesn't really pay the bills, you know.
So it's serious, and I just want to salute them
for the work that they're doing. Organization Global State of

(01:26:35):
Women and her raising dollars forty thousand women that they're
raising money to be able to just give money too
in its time because they've lost so much.

Speaker 4 (01:26:46):
Yere so, and it's not easy to raise that money
because initially you'll get an infusion of money from different people,
but after a while it starts to dry up and
the applications never stopped. So she in that space of
trying to get the big infusion, you need somebody in
order to be able to give people like a real

(01:27:11):
substantial amount of aid and support. You need a few
million dollars right Like it's not gonna be And when
I say a few, I'm talking twenty twenty right now,
I'm serious. If you're thinking about forty thousand women trying
to get them X amount of dollars that would really

(01:27:33):
help them be able to like cover their rent or
mortgage for two months or three months while they try
to figure things out, or provide them with six months
of groceries and gas and you know other things they
may need or help people to deal with their medical bills.
If you think about those types of expenses for forty

(01:27:54):
thousand people, and that's a small group of the larger
number you need twenty million dollars and there and and
by the way, everybody who's working on the fund is
completely volunteer. Every single dime hand in hand, I'm sure,
and minus the expenses of the lawyers and the accountants

(01:28:15):
that have to keep everything together. But all that money
hand in the hand is going directly back into the people,
so they're not taking a salary or taking you know,
fees from it. I mean, it's a real herculean task,
and I'm just you know, I'm grateful that Valicia always
has that that edge of knowing what to do, like
in a moment that's a crisis. So you know, God

(01:28:38):
bless them, God bless the brother for working with the veterans.
I appreciate the fact that you know, he's working with
a forgotten community and now it I and I am
so happy that we, thank God for a Black Effect
podcast network have a platform to bring someone like him
on so that he can tell the stories of a

(01:28:59):
forgotten commune unity that could be so much of a resource,
you know, to us and people who have fought for
our safety and have.

Speaker 1 (01:29:06):
Nothing at this point. It's just unbelievable.

Speaker 3 (01:29:09):
It's unbelievable. And speaking of unbelievable, let's go to my eye.

Speaker 1 (01:29:13):
Don't get it, let's talk about it.

Speaker 3 (01:29:15):
So we saw this what we call it memorial for
Charlie Kirk.

Speaker 2 (01:29:26):
I don't really like to watch this thing. I was interested.
It was, you know, RP to the man he lost
his life, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:29:33):
The way that life was taken.

Speaker 2 (01:29:34):
His life was taken the.

Speaker 3 (01:29:36):
Way that shouldn't happen to anyone, and we do definitely
do that from any type of violence.

Speaker 2 (01:29:42):
We've seen. There was a bunch of people, There was
a football full, a football arena full of people.

Speaker 1 (01:29:49):
They said sixty four thousand, sixty.

Speaker 3 (01:29:51):
Four thousand, so you know a lot of people came
out to support him. You know, he had an effect
on a lot of people. So as I watched, you know,
there was different retribution. There was advans, there was this
level of vitriol and anger for the laft and all
these things, and one man even said, these are our
rulers given power by God to institute the retribution on people.

(01:30:17):
And I was just so confused, and I'm like, what
God they talking about? Because the God that I served,
the God that I believe, was about peace, unification, love.

Speaker 2 (01:30:30):
You know.

Speaker 3 (01:30:30):
I was looking at a memorial and I wanted to
see people go up there and talk positive about this man.

Speaker 2 (01:30:36):
And this is what they said. He was a man
of all these things.

Speaker 3 (01:30:39):
They were supposed to go up there and talk about
his life and he would want people to move on
positive things. Everybody vet there, not everybody, but for the
most part, people got up there and spoke so much
level a and how they were going to just get
back at people and how they was going to strike
down on everything. I was so then you got our

(01:31:00):
president that took the time to go up there and
talk about everything. But y'ally talking about Charlie was you know,
I hate my enemies. I don't want them to do
like It's just it was so confusion to me, and
I'm I just don't get what God do these people
be talking because that's not the God I know, right,
And they say Christian God. I grew up in a

(01:31:22):
Christian Baptist household, you know, and they never spoke like that.
You know, no church that I went to the preacher
has I never heard levels of vitriol and in this
level of a.

Speaker 1 (01:31:35):
Just just.

Speaker 2 (01:31:40):
I don't even know what the word to say. It
just it just didn't seem godly to me. So I
want to know what God do these people be talking about?
What God is telling them? And it's crazy to me
because when I think about when I'm listening to them.
And we went to the slave dungeons in Ghana.

Speaker 3 (01:32:04):
And we were walking through there and there was a
church that was on top of the dungeons, right and
I thought about the irony. I thought about the irony
knowing that right above there they had this church that
these people sat in every day and they called on
their Lord while they had these people in them dungeons
beating and slaving and killing them and raping them and all.

Speaker 4 (01:32:26):
And they utilized that God. So in my mind, what
do you mean they utilized them? Oh, they praised them,
They praised and.

Speaker 3 (01:32:33):
Said that they were giving the authority by that they
utilized God. And that's the religion that they taught a
lot of the slaves to keep them in order. Right,
So I have to think that that God that they
talking about. Is that saying God? But that's not the
God that I look up to, That's not the God
that I know, you know, So I really just don't
get what God these people be talking about. I don't

(01:32:55):
understand how you would utilize a memorial for someone that
you say as a man of God to talk about
all types of evil things and retribution and striking that
on it, doing all these negative things to people. And
it used to be supposed to be about loving forgiveness.
I did you know Charlie Kurse his wife say that
she forgave the person. That was probably the biggest act

(01:33:19):
of God that I seen in it. Everything else that
I heard from these people were just I don't even
understand where y'all get this.

Speaker 2 (01:33:25):
What Bible do y'all be reading?

Speaker 3 (01:33:26):
What scripture do you get where all of this negative
and it's vituy all comes from.

Speaker 4 (01:33:33):
I think it's powerful when you talk about enslaved people
and how you know this is a very similar interpretation
of God's word.

Speaker 1 (01:33:47):
That allows them to.

Speaker 4 (01:33:49):
Be brutal, right, and that and we've seen that all
throughout history. I would like to insert into this that
a lot lot of people, not just the ones in
that stadium. But a lot of people misuse the word
of God for evil doing a lot of people, And

(01:34:12):
I think that's part of why there is this veil
that I feel over me that says, you know we
were talking about at the beginning of the show that
I feel like I'm in a like a bubble, right.
I just know that this thing is crashing. It's no
way that it can continue as it currently stands. When

(01:34:34):
we're in a situation where a young woman is on
the side of the road with her boyfriend or whatever
he is, and he stabs her in her faiths stabs
this woman in her faiths kills her, and it kind
of just walks out, like, you know, like people just
looking like, hey, what's the big deal? People hanging children.

(01:34:56):
I saw a video today where it is a edge
that a fourth grade white child hanged a to a
second grade black child in the bathroom at a school.
We'd I mean literally the parents got to the principal
called the parents and told the parents that it was

(01:35:19):
a that the child was choking and they needed to
hurry up because the child was choking. Never mentioned to
the parents on the phone that the principal actually found
the child hanging foaming out the mouth and unconscious and
at a fourth and it is this is what was
being is being alleged that the white child told the

(01:35:41):
black child, this is what we used to do to you.
And now it's been like a silence. It's a shut
off of information. They're unwilling to participate in an investigation.
This is the kind of stuff that's happening across the country.

Speaker 1 (01:36:00):
I don't see how we survived like this.

Speaker 2 (01:36:02):
Well.

Speaker 4 (01:36:02):
I looked at that crowd and I would never watch
I would never I feel like and bless you for
doing it, because you know, sometimes I watch Fox News
chann I used to watch it much more, but now
I'm just like, Okay, it's just racist and lies and
that's that so cool. But and if Tesla is on,
I go watch it because she'd be on there, shout
out to Tesla, figure over. She'd be on there feeding
them whatever anything she want to feed them. She put

(01:36:25):
her foot their mouth and they have to eat it.
And I love that. But when I as, I used
to watch it, and then I stopped to some degree
because it almost feels like demons are coming out of
the screen and it's things that you can't sleep, You
can't rest because you're sitting there thinking to yourself. Thousands

(01:36:47):
of people came together for a KKK rally in the
name of a man who was murdered by another white man,
and they should actually be talking about what to do
about white violence and also to deal with hatred that
they have helped.

Speaker 1 (01:37:07):
To to to to. Yeah, Foster and like.

Speaker 4 (01:37:14):
It maintained, like like they grow, this is their shit.

Speaker 2 (01:37:19):
They incubated.

Speaker 4 (01:37:20):
Incubate is such a good word, Foster. Incubates such a
such good terms.

Speaker 1 (01:37:26):
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (01:37:27):
I just think I don't know. I think that it
will not be long before we start to see the
society crashing in ways that we're gonna have to really
take care of ourselves until we get to the other side.
Now they claim the white folks on TikTok are going
I'm I don't I don't have TikTok, but I heard

(01:37:49):
the white folks on TikTok are concerned about the rapture.
You know about the raption, Janez. You don't know about
the raptors, the end of the world, it is coming,
And they again playing around with God's word. I think
that's when it gets like I'm with everything because.

Speaker 3 (01:38:05):
We're looking at if you look at if you look
at sh it like that, you would think they gotta
be there.

Speaker 1 (01:38:10):
No, no, no, these people are planning. I'm saying that I.

Speaker 2 (01:38:14):
Want to choose that the world was supposed to endmember right.

Speaker 4 (01:38:17):
So it's September twenty third of twenty twenty five, twenty
third and twenty four. They say God is coming now.
One thing I will say is that in the fifty
videos I watched in the middle of the night, there
were some white people in there saying the word says,
you will not know the time nor to out. So
I need them to say that because so cause I
know we're not gonna have no date and no time

(01:38:41):
for when God does what God does. But but they
are so far in their extremism, and again the use
of the word for evil, it's really there's no The
thing has to fall out, the list has to fall out,

(01:39:01):
the body.

Speaker 1 (01:39:03):
Has some how we survived, and that that in terms
of planning. That's how we.

Speaker 4 (01:39:11):
I have to give Attorney Angela Raie a hell of
a lot of credit for keeping us consistent on I
know we over here fighting, we over here doing this.
All those things are good, and she's like, I can support,
I can help build infrastructure, I can do whatever, But
we have to focus on what we're going to do

(01:39:32):
to feed people when the snap benefits are cut. When
what are we gonna do for medical support when the
Medicaid is cut and people have issues and can't get
a can't find a place to get a doctor, or
to get the treatment or the.

Speaker 1 (01:39:47):
Medication that they need.

Speaker 4 (01:39:49):
Yeah, all this everything else is important, but there's gonna
come a time when they will be very specific things
that we would have to do to take care of
our communities. And she has been very consistent and then
saying we need that plan as well, or else they'll
be pure mayhem.

Speaker 2 (01:40:06):
Sure will.

Speaker 4 (01:40:08):
So you know, people are gonna say we spent the
whole entire show trying to make them feel like it's
the worst place, it's so scary, But the whole show
challenged truth.

Speaker 3 (01:40:22):
Like listen, I don't know what else to do. Sometime
we come on here, we could tell a good joke
and laugh. I want to shout out to African American
Day Parade in Harlem.

Speaker 2 (01:40:33):
That was a beautiful event. You know, everybody came out there.
It was love.

Speaker 4 (01:40:37):
Did it get better is it getting It's a more
post you know, it's it could be a lot more full.

Speaker 2 (01:40:43):
I think the day was a little chilly, so people.

Speaker 4 (01:40:48):
Man, man, man man, we were whatever we went.

Speaker 2 (01:40:53):
I don't think.

Speaker 3 (01:40:54):
But the thing is, nobody is promoting. I don't think
they planning for promotion. If you don't live in Harlem
and you're not closely connected to the people home, then
you don't even.

Speaker 4 (01:41:02):
Know how to radio parade promotion because it's all the Caribbean,
on every Caribbean channel, every Korebbean radio radio.

Speaker 2 (01:41:09):
All of those people are out there at the Caribbean Day.

Speaker 1 (01:41:12):
But I think there's just something to be said.

Speaker 4 (01:41:15):
About there's no performances Africans right there at the State
of But.

Speaker 2 (01:41:20):
Nobody's performing that.

Speaker 4 (01:41:21):
Nobody know this performs at the Caribbean Day, all of those,
all of the people.

Speaker 1 (01:41:26):
But I think there's just something there's no promotion.

Speaker 4 (01:41:30):
I know over here, Janice, who is our over here, Janice,
who is the producer of our show, is saying, even
the Latina you know all about the Caribbean Day parade,
which is bomb. I love Caribbean Day Parade. I would
say that there's something to the Black American struggle that

(01:41:54):
is very different from everybody else.

Speaker 2 (01:41:55):
It is. I think what we gotta do, Like we
said last year, we have.

Speaker 3 (01:42:00):
To take over the No we can't take we oh, well,
we gotta go utilize our resources.

Speaker 1 (01:42:07):
About taking over people's stuff, I mean.

Speaker 3 (01:42:09):
Not taking over like physically, I mean that we got
to utilize our resources, go sit down, said we want
to help promote it.

Speaker 2 (01:42:16):
We need to get us a float.

Speaker 3 (01:42:17):
We definitely need to until Freedom float out there, bring
the people out there.

Speaker 1 (01:42:21):
We got to.

Speaker 3 (01:42:23):
But we have to we gotta be we gotta be intentional.
Like if we're not intentional about making African American Day parade,
the thing is supposed to be and what used to be,
and it's going to for all the side of the way,
that's what's gonna happen, you know.

Speaker 2 (01:42:35):
So we have to be intentional, not takeover.

Speaker 3 (01:42:37):
We want to we want to offer our services, you know,
to make it a better thing than this.

Speaker 2 (01:42:43):
It was good. It was definitely good. I know it
can increase if we have more star power.

Speaker 3 (01:42:48):
If we had utilized and we said, we went on
the Black Effect network and said we need everybody to
promote this. You know, we need all our resources to
say Hey Day Parade, we go up there and do some.

Speaker 2 (01:42:59):
Press for it, like needs to be promoted properly.

Speaker 3 (01:43:02):
There you go, and with that said, we've come to
the end of another episode. Shout out to Valisia Butterfield
and our brother Kevin Meggott for coming up here and
talking to us about the very serious issue of unemployment
in black communities.

Speaker 2 (01:43:17):
We appreciate y'all.

Speaker 3 (01:43:19):
Thank y'all for supporting us and making us the number
one number one podcasts in the world. Make sure you
follow us at TMI Underscore Show and TMI Show PC
on YouTube.

Speaker 2 (01:43:33):
My name is My Song Lennon and I'm not gonna
always be right. Tamika D.

Speaker 3 (01:43:36):
Mallory's not gonna always be wrong, but we will both
always and I mean always be author tease salute