Fighting For Our Civil Rights with Attorney Benjamin Crump

This week Tamika and Mysonne addressed the recent overturn of Roe vs. Wade and how it will not only effect just women. Next, they had special guest and friend to the room Attorney Benjamin Crump stop by, where he spoke on his film "Civil", strategizing on getting some type of justice with different cases, and raising the value of black life in America. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
What's good. Family, it's your girl to make a d
Mallory and it's your boy my son in general, and
we are your host of street politicians the place with streets. Listen, Listen, listen, listen, Leanda,
I cannot go back outside for at least the next

(00:26):
two years. After all the partying and being out and
talking and strategizing in the corner with people at major
parties of v ET weekend. It was Black Folks Black
Excellence the week of June tenth at the highest level,

(00:46):
successful black folks, activists, organ Nazis, leaders, elected officials, businesspeople, entertainers,
regular folks, everybody to get up in so many spaces.
It was really really the best b et weekend I've
ever been to. Yeah man, And it started out the

(01:09):
reason why we actually even were here because our sister
Miss Diddy honored Until Freedom and her Toast to Black
Hollywood event which was which kicked it off. Dope. You know,
the ambiance, it was a vibe like it was. It
was a dope vibe shoutout to Ditty Man and the
work that she always does. But um, we want to

(01:31):
just say thank you for honoring us and recognizing the
work that Until freedom does. And we just want to
say the work that you do. You know, the way
that she brand coordinates and connects and is able to
navigate and strategize and put together different brands and different
people in rooms, it's just amazing, you know. And she

(01:52):
just has a skill set that is needed and and
and it represents black excellence and it it elevates Black culture.
So about yeah, you know, she she is a marketing
and branding expert. Um. The way her brain connects with
brands and people is so powerful. Not everybody can do it.

(02:15):
It's a whole lot of people out here that claim
to be in branding. They want to put them in
your budget for in there in your in your budget
for marketing and promotions. And they don't be doing nothing.
I know because doing anything. I know because I've hired
some of them. But I know for sure that every

(02:37):
time Miss Ditty touches a brand, their value increases and
their ability to reach the targeted market it increases. And
I see also her own growth. And we should actually
have Miss Diddy to come on and and she some
of the things that she's doing. So we have to

(02:57):
put a you know, a pin there. But that's our
friend and our sister. You know she was she was
honoring us, but because of the prices of the flights
and so many challenges, she was totally like, you guys
don't have to come, And I'm so glad we were
able to make it happen to be here. You and
Angelo Attorney, Angelo Pinto and I attended her event, and

(03:19):
there was so many other important passionate black folks um
acknowledged there as well. Uh Trade of Truth, our brother
he was one of the honorees. Velicia Butterfield Jones, and
the list goes on. I'm not gonna get myself in trouble,
but that's just two of the people. Cynthia Bailey, who
I just I just love and admire so much. So

(03:40):
it's a really powerful kickoff. And then as you said,
I mean, there's just so much we did after that,
Rock Nation had an event. We went to Club Quarantine
with d Nice and and H Kenny Burns. That was
one of the brothers. Don't listen Club Quarantine like it

(04:01):
started online, right, but when you were in that room
in Club Quarantine, and it's the same vibe, like it
brought me back to being in the pandemic in my
living room stressed and this saying, look, I gotta go
to D Nice page and then lasting the music and
you're getting that vibe and you get your little wine

(04:21):
and champagne. It was that vibe in the room. And
what what D Nice has been able to do with
Club Quarantine. It's nothing short of amazing, just watching his brand,
like his brand explode and and it and it was due,
you know, because D Nice has always been one of
the best DJs in the world. And I know D

(04:42):
Knights as the rapper you know, from b DP. You
know what I'm saying. So I always my name is
D Knight, So I always and from the Bronx you
understand I'm saying. So I always had this love for
D Knights. But watching him elevate from positivity right doing
something to unite the world and and give people level
a level of joy at one of the most hardest

(05:05):
times in history, you know, was most hardest, one of
the most hardest, the hardest or the most one of
the hardest times in history, Yes, sir, one of the
hardest times in history. You know, it was nothing short
of amazing. And watching him evolved into the premant the

(05:28):
world's DJ is just a good title for him, the
World's DJ, because he surely is. He He is my family,
like we are actually family. We're not blood related, but
we might as well be, you know. And I have
a lot of respect for him, like you you guys

(05:48):
know him on you know, from the from the community,
from him being, like you said, a rapper, being in
the music game long time ago. But I know him
from watching him with his daughters, watching him with his family,
watching him with his mother and his auntie, UM and
d is. He's a special guy. And that's why this
has happened. And it's not, you know, just by chance.

(06:10):
It's because he really did sit and think intentionally about
like how can he give something to the world that
was also pouring into him. Uh during the pandemic and
Club quarantine was definitely one of the highlights of my
whole weekend. So that brother Kenny, Kenny Burns, Kenny Burns

(06:32):
is my dude. I love Kenny Burns, man, I really do.
Kenny Burns is a super authentic dude. Every time used
to see him, you get the same person. You know,
He's not the the corny dude that act like he's
too fly to speak like you know all of that
because some of these people I wouldn't. I wouldn't. I'm

(06:54):
not gonna tell you what I wouldn't do, but I
wouldn't do it if they was on fire. But but Kenny,
since I've known him, always nothing but love, so as
he can love around the entire weekend um, and that
for me, it was like it was super powerful. And
first of all, let's give the shout out to all

(07:14):
the black folks up in b Et, from Scott Mills,
the President and CEO, to Connie Orlando, to Janine Library,
to Louis Carr. I mean again, another place where I
could get in trouble, but all of these black folks
that are around trying to create an experience where other
black people can meet up and be together. And I

(07:37):
really do mean that in every single thing we went
to Hennessey event we went to which was at the
Gathering Spot, So shout out to our brothers that run
the gathering spot. Um, Ryan, I forget Ryan's last name sometime,
but our brother Ryan. Um. Then we went to what
else did we go to? My song? I mean so

(07:58):
much stuff, so many different things that happened in every
single room. I was over. I saw you talking to people.
I was in the corner speaking to mega celebrities and
door influences in their own right, just about like what's
the steps that we take? Because of course the Roe

(08:19):
v Way decision came down right as v Et weekend began,
and so you had people, which which that happens all
the time anyway, because there's always some ship going on
with us. But there were folks who are like, listen,
I'm really concerned about the violence in our communities. What
can we do on that front? They were like, you know,
and now women's rights, we see they're gonna come for more.

(08:42):
What can we do? So, you know, a lot of powerful, powerful,
powerful conversations. And then you know, of course did he
being uh I call him puff, but him being honored
and his speech and you know, of course talking about
his mom and all of that was great. But the
part that was very very touching for me is when,
as somebody on Twitter said, he became Diddy Luther King

(09:05):
last last night, Um, which is so funny, but you
know they do that to us, but you gotta laugh
at yourself. So anyway, um, he was talking about this
dream that black people will be together and it was
that type of spirit all around b et weekend, people
trying to figure out what can they do? So we
just gotta keep it up, like, don't stop. Yeah. I

(09:29):
think I think we had a very pivotal point in history,
and it's going to be recorded, you know, where we stood,
what we did, what we didn't do, you know. And
I think Puff being in this industry so long, right,
being having a level of successful long being in different
rooms and noticing, you know, the trends, noticing that most

(09:51):
people that look like him are not in a lot
of those faces don't have the same resources, don't have
the same opportunities, you know, and him having personal investment
in wanting to see that change where I've been hearing
them for a while now. That's one of the main things.
He wants equity, he wants black you know, into generational wealth.

(10:12):
He when he wants us to create something that is sustainable,
something that that we own, you know, he wants black excellence.
And I think we're at a time where it's actually possible,
you know. I think that merge is about to happen
between the activists, the artists, all of the people who
have the ability to make change. And I think it

(10:35):
is when we at our lowest point where we look
at the violence in America, Black violence, and how you
know it's affecting our communities. I think people are realizing
that we need unity more than anything right now. So
you know, I'm I'm eager to start the process of
the change and the evolution of our culture and the

(10:57):
unity of our culture. So hopefully it starts to resonate. Yeah,
and there's so much happening in the news, it certainly
should push us to, you know, want to get more
involved and really understand how serious all of this stuff is.
I mean, even just thinking about the Roe v. Wade
decision that came down from the Supreme Court. You've got

(11:19):
a lot of people that's upset. And I saw a
bunch of white women marching out in the streets in California, UM,
and you know, people really out there, and and and
not enough of our people, I don't think are I
think we're paying attention. We certainly know what's happening, but
I'm not sure that we understand that we need to

(11:39):
be out physically fighting back against this. It's not gonna
happen on internet. It's not. And it's actually time for
us to do something that is really really strong and
extreme because what's happening to us is extreme. We are
at war. There is an actual war and people are

(12:00):
playing their role in it. And I don't think we've
put our gear on to say, Okay, we're we're in
a you know this, we gotta go to battle like seriously.
So hopefully we can. But but it always is better
when you think about James Brown and um, Reverend Jackson
and others who were sort of moving at the same time, right,

(12:25):
you got you have Dr King and Mahilia Jackson and others,
So that means you have entertainment, Harry Belafonte being um,
you know, an entertainer. But also if you if we're
using the term influencer, he certainly was an influencer you know,
in his time, and all of them merging to move culture.

(12:48):
And that's what I hear you talking about. So you know,
Roe v. Wade is is super serious, um, because not
because people are for abortion or against it, but what
we are for as a woman's right to choose that
it's my body and I should be able to make
a decision with my doctor. That has nothing to do
with an elected official who is able to determine my

(13:12):
medical care. So, uh so this is a real serious thing.
But what is even more important is that it has
set the tone for what is to come. And by
the time the Supreme Court, because you know they meet,
you don't know what the hell is going on. It's
not like watching hearings, um you know on TV. You

(13:34):
sometimes you can watch Senate hearings. You know what's on
the floor. You understand politically what's out there. And we
always knew Roe v. Wade what's going to come up
as a major issue. And we know just several weeks
ago it was leaked by an an employee or somebody
within the the the Supreme Court that got the documents

(13:54):
and put it out there. So that's how we knew
what they were even thinking. But you don't know. So
when the Supreme Court reconvenes and they're meeting again and
getting ready to put forth more decisions, it could be
all kinds of things that you know happen and rites
that we lose. So that's why we have to really
seriously get um m hmm in front of it, and

(14:16):
also why we cannot sit by and allow Joe Biden
President Biden to make us feel like voting is the
only thing. You know that he has to do some stuff.
He has to do some stuff. You have to also
put yourself out there and start a fight, a real fight.
You know, I want her listen. He needs to start

(14:38):
a fight. So you have that going on, and then
this Brittney Grinder situation is super serious. Now they're saying
that her court date will be July first, or her
trial begins July first. I spoke with her wife, who
basically gave me an understanding of what's happening. First of all,
it's not even like her trial is happening consecutive days.

(15:01):
Like you know, when you go to trial, you're in
there every day. Of course, there's moments when they made
um recess or a journ or whatever for a day
or two, but for the most part, every day you
go to trial until it's over every weekday. Her trial
is set up where it's like July one, and then
maybe and don't quote me on these dates, but then

(15:21):
maybe like July seven, and then July uh eleven, and
then July twenty something like it's all over the place.
And the other thing she said was that um in
in in Russia, their courts have like a nineties seven
percent conviction rate. A ninety seven percent conviction rate. That

(15:42):
means it's a kangaroo court. You go to court, basically
everybody is together. They've already made a decision that you're
guilty of whatever they say. They're talking about large what
are they The charge I saw today was like large
transport of rugs like what they said that she had

(16:02):
no cousin, and that was kind of weird for me.
So but they may they may say, first of all,
her family, they at this point they have not even
seen or understand anything about what she may or may
not have had, Okay, so that in and of itself
is questionable. And her lawyers saying the bottom line is

(16:23):
that she is innocent, period. And and our position is
even if she had what they say some vapor or
whatever thing de vape and whatever, still our country should
be fighting to get her out. You don't leave an
American citizen, especially a woman. This woman is not. She
wasn't over there causing nahim or doing anything illegal to

(16:48):
where people's lives were in danger, or participating in some
type of you know, uh, something against the government or
or something or anything like that to where she was
a danger against to society in Russia that we should
allow her to be in that in prison there at

(17:08):
a time of war when we're also engaged in trying
to stop Russia's invasion of Ukraine. I mean, this is
we don't have to even get into all the details,
because if a person doesn't understand it, to hell with you.
If you don't understand why we care about Brittany Grinder
being locked up in in in in in in Russia

(17:30):
and the kangaroo court situation where you don't even there's
no way that we see that she will actually get
a fair trial, then that's on you. But we're gonna
fight for and in fact, today there will be a
prayer visual excuse me, and today there will be a
prayer vigil for her where you know, we're asking people

(17:51):
to show up outside of the Russian embassy in New York,
um and and let's pray for her, Let's pray for
the Russians and their hearts all also to open up
so that our sister can get out. So that's the
deal with that. It's a real crazy situation and my
prayers are definitely were her, you know, just just trying

(18:11):
to even imagine being formally incarcerated, you know, and and
being inconcerated here. It was tough, and just noting knowing that,
you know, the trajectory of her life, she did not
see anywhere that this would be happening to hers, So
there has to be a level of trauma that she's experienced.
So I'm definitely praying for her, her family, you know,

(18:33):
and hopefully the US gets on his job, yeah, and
get and get something done. Man. So they say that
they're working behind the scenes, and you know, you want
to believe it, but you also you know, it's just
I don't know. That brings me to my thought of
the day, going back to this Roby Wade stuff, right,

(18:57):
because you do not be thinking but and going back
to the rov Wade issue, and then also even thinking
about Brittany Grinder, right and knowing that there are so
many people who could be involved, particularly white folks with
power and influence that could be standing up for her.
But they're like, oh, well, they said she had drugs,

(19:19):
Like we just we we just said that that Putin
was crazy, he's a liar, he's dangerous, But now we
believe that quick that a black woman did whatever they say, right,
So the same people who we just said they're crazy,
they you know, they're they're they're, they're there whatever. I

(19:40):
don't I mean, I can't even think of the words
that people used to describe putin. But it's some serious ship,
a maniac, a madman, they say all of that. They say,
it's it's it's corrupt. But then oh for the black
woman or she did what? They said that anyway, And
I see a lot of white folks, Um, you know,
I'm just happen to be in white Twitter, and I

(20:01):
saw that they were like, well, you know, it's a
little little different because she was carrying drugs. How do
you know? Did you see it? Like? What are you
talking about? Right? So I was thinking that we really
don't necessarily need a bunch of white folks marching up
and down the streets. We really don't. We really need

(20:23):
white women to go march in their communities. We need
them to go to their communities today, family barbecues. We
need them to go march over the mama's house and
put up put a tent outside of the lawn of
your mama's house and sit there, sit there, go to
the country club, protests there go to these establishments where

(20:47):
some of your your your family, because you know, for
black folks, whether we related or not, when we see
other black people, we like they it's family, right, it's
it's it's all of us. When we see black people
out here in the world hurting or doing crazy things,
we feel responsible enough to call them in and say, hey, man,

(21:10):
this is not good for our people. Or we celebrate
when as a people we're winning, right, and when some
of our ore are you know, best and brightest, are
making strides. So take responsibility in the same way white folks.
The margin is cool, we get it, that's that's you

(21:32):
know great. But what is more, what I think would
be more powerful in this moment is to start organizing
within your own families, sometimes in your house because you
and your husband are not even on the same page.
You need to go deal with aunties that are in

(21:53):
your family that you know, help vote for Trump so
that he could put three just the sys on the
court in the court and then take away your right
to choose. These are decisions that have been made by
fifty three percent of white women who went to the polls.
Fifty three percent of white women who went to the

(22:16):
polls voted for Donald Trump. And now we're in the
street and we're protesting, and we're screaming and shouting and
this and that, and all of that's cool, but it
doesn't mean as much as it would if you could
turn around the minds and hearts of people who look
like you. More white people are going to have to
understand that this is your fight because you need to

(22:39):
correct your people. You need to correct your people, right
The white folks need to not be invited to the
cookout the same way that Clarence Thomas is not invited
to the cookout. He is not invited to the cookout.
And that's what white people need to be doing right now.
I think white people need to be getting Hella uncomfortable

(23:01):
in their own communities, with their own people. You know,
it makes it makes a lot of sense, man. And
speaking to Clarence Thomas, you know, just his his you know,
take on the things that they need to do. He
wants to do pretty much an overhaul of presidents, presidents

(23:21):
cases in a lot of different places. That would change
the complete dynamics of this culture right now. Like it's
really dangerous. It's not the culture, it's the country. I mean,
the country, and the and and the culture everything. It
would just change the way that we live. And to
see that these people have this mindset, to me, it's

(23:43):
so dangerous, Like why would you want to impose your
personal feelings on somebody's life? Like why why do you
think that's okay? Why why do you think that because
you think that somebody's life or the or the choice
they make isn't okay for you, that you want to
impose that they live the way that you want them

(24:05):
to live like that, that mindsety to me is one
of the weirdest things I've ever experienced in my life,
you know, And watching this this role v way thing
is like a wake up call. It has to be
a wake up call when you see that a fifty
year you know case that said presidents that moved women forward,

(24:26):
they gave them the human rights that they deserved. Anyway,
you know, nobody should be able to tell anybody what
to do with their body, their mental, physical, emotional health.
You know, carrying a child in itself does a lot,
you know, to a woman, and if you're not prepared
or want to do it is even more damaging to

(24:47):
your to your psyche, to your physical to everything, you know,
So for someone to make a ruling about that, you know,
and and and men making white men making rule a
along with this, you know, I don't even know what
it's called something, but making that type of ruling, it's
just it's unfathomable. So it's like, this is this is

(25:11):
the first time that we've watched in recent history that
we're really going backwards, Like we're really watching in this
time where we they are rolling back our human rights,
not just you know, our god giving rights. God gave
us rights over dominion over our own bodies, and the

(25:33):
Supreme Court has literally taken that from women. Yeah, I
mean if people have to fight to get the right
to have dominion over their bodies, and you know, now
we're just in a we're in a time where you know,
I just hope that our people understand that it's serious.

(25:54):
And guess what, we black women are gonna have to
fix it because we always do and that's what's going
to happen. But this time, many more of our brothers
are like, uh, this is crazy. I'm hearing from so
many of you all that's like, nah, this is outrageous.
Like it's at the point now where everybody is like,

(26:17):
wait a minute, what the hell is going on? But
we've been asleep at the wheel because guess what they
told us that this was what they're gonna do. One
thing about them Republicans. The Republicans say they're gonna do something,
and they do it. They do it. Hella hot water,
we better freaking do the same damn thing. So anyway,
we gotta get straight to our interview now because we've

(26:41):
got a great, dynamic, incredible, dope, funny um warrior that's
coming up right now. And I'm really super dupid excited
about interviewing our next guest, the incomparable Black America's Attorney General,

(27:02):
brother Benjamin Crump. Benjamin L. Don't Benjamin L. Crump. Let's
bring him on. So just so happy to have him.
Our friends, you know, us and our friends on street politicians,
and we have one of our great friends today, uh,

(27:26):
Attorney Benjamin Crump. Now, you know what, y'all see Ben
Crump all the time, and y'all need to know he
don't just run around from one case to the next.
He actually has a law firm called the ben Crump
Law Firm, and it's a bunch of lawyers that work
with this man. It's not just been there as a
whole team. He's also the president of the Civil Rights

(27:48):
Trial Lawyers Association, and he is most importantly what my song,
what do you call him? He is Black America's Attorney General.
Thank you, General. Thank you so much for coming to
Street Politicians. It's been a long time coming, but we
finally got you on. Thank you queen, and to make

(28:10):
my side. Thank you all for using your voice to
amplify the cause. I mean, it's so critical what you'all
are doing to have this podcast Street Politics, where we
can communicate to our community directly. I mean, they don't
have to go through the filter and nothing, and y'all
can keep it real about how we move the culture

(28:31):
forward and more importantly, how we make a better future
for our children. Well, thank you, Yeah, yeah, no, really been.
I mean, so I I said to you before, and
and my son and I've been talking every week about
civil on your new documentary on Netflix, and I said,

(28:52):
then we're gonna talk a little bit about that in
a moment. But as we've been discussing it, I've been
saying I was always for being crump because I know
you we've been in the trenches since Trayvon Martin together,
I've watched you. I've actually watched you grow, you know,
just as a leader. UM, I have really been able
to up close and personal see how much you sacrifice

(29:15):
on behalf of this movement. And so they couldn't say
nothing to me about you before. But now I'm ready
to fight in the street if anybody says anything about
my Ben Crump, because I know, I know who you are,
and you know uh been, what you do and the
work that you put into this movement. I'm so glad

(29:35):
that the film is out there so people could just
see a little bit of how hard you go on
behalf of black folks and all kinds of folks. I mean,
I see you take cases that people don't even know
about UM with people of all backgrounds. And so we
just want to say to you on street politicians that
we love you, we appreciate you, we see you, and

(29:56):
we want you also been to be well take care
of yourself, you know, because that's something that I don't
think enough of us focus on as it relates to you,
is your wellness and your your your well being. Now,
thank you so much to Mika Mallory. You know I've
said it before, and I tell everybody you're the queen
of this movement. You and I literally kind of grew

(30:19):
up in many ways. I mean, tray Vine happened, and uh,
that was the first time when I believe the consciousness
level in America was raised about the killing of a
black person probably since like when far Immitia really where
it was part of the national conversation. And I think

(30:41):
that was being driven by young people like you and
me at the time, and especially the college students. And
I think people like you and my son tes y'all
can communicate directly with the young people are like many
of the people from the Old Girl simply cannot. And
it's so important that we communicate with them, because I

(31:05):
absolutely believe it is the young people, just like it
was with Martin Luther King and John Lewis. It's the
young people who are gonna move the needer. We won't
move unless the young people are making us move. That's
what has always been the case in the history, is
going to be the case now. And so when I
think about civil and I'm grateful to Netflix for you know,

(31:30):
investing to do this because they thought it was important,
and I would be remissed if I didn't think Kenya Barriss,
who you know as an incredible movie producer. Uh created
the television show Blackish. Uh created the television show America's
Top Model with Tyra Banks. Uh and he wrote Girls Trip.

(31:55):
He's direct in my side. White man can't jump to
so the brother is busy is I don't know what,
but he said it's not enough. You have to show
that part of the black experience. We have to show
the entire black experience. And he thought it was more
important than to make a comedy or make a basketball

(32:16):
film that He said, no, no, we're gonna make this
film talking about the mission and the work that you're
doing on the front line. Crump and then queen to making.
They went and got this sister named Nadia Hagren after Karrican.
I mean, just shop sister from y'all. Nikola was New York.

(32:38):
She's amazing. She did she did a real good job.
I don't jump in no, no, I just first of all,
I want to say that Sybil is amazing. And I've
been talking about it. You know, I watched it twice
and every time I still cried both times. Um, it
was emotional it was you. It was heartfelt. You know,

(33:02):
I just want to know what what made you decide
that you wanted to be involved in something like this.
You know, it was interesting my side. Thurgood Marsha is
my personal hero and and they're good understood that. Man.
You gotta are getting the court public opinion a lot,
because when he was going to court, you know that

(33:23):
y'all thought they criticized us. Man, people criticize him from
both sides, like all our leaders, Black people hated them
more than the white people hated them. They're gonna keep losing.
He can't win out. So he was saying that what
y'all to understand, the laws are against us. What we
gotta do is be arguing to the public to influence

(33:44):
the court of law because the court of law was
not made to help black people. And so without understanding,
I said, uh, you know, Netflix has one of the
greatest global bull horns in the world. So if they're
gonna allow me to have this global bullhorn to speak
truth to power, then I better seized the opportunity. Because

(34:08):
Netflix is in two hundred and sixty one million households
all around the world, and it was so fascinating my
son because you never know. But it was June tenth.
They released it on just the right date, and they
said it trended UH number one for half the time
during that day. So they were very happy that they

(34:30):
could not only engage their audiences, but what I hope
is that they educated them and influenced them. I know
Amanda Seales uh shop sister comedian. She said, June tenth
should be a day where white people have to listen
to black coaching, black issues and black causes. And I
think Netflix gave the opportunity on June tink for them

(34:53):
to say, hey, let's try to at least understand why
they are aggravate, aided, and upset since we think America
is great, but it ain't great to them. You no, no,
it's just one thing because you said something that was
so pivotal. I don't know if you was gonna say it,
but everybody says Ben Crump loses all his cases. He said,

(35:17):
you know, Ben, and I'll be trying to explain to people,
and that's what civil was explained that Benjamin Crump is
a civil lawyer. Right, He's not the prosecutor, he's not
the defense attorney. He can't he don't try the cases
when some of the person who killed Trayvon mart and
you didn't try the case. You know, the person who

(35:38):
who did something to um um Umar Army, you wasn't.
You're the civil You only in charge or able to
get monetary value in conversation for what happened. Could you
please let that be said because I hate hearing that. Yeah,
and you know my side. It is one of those things.
Hopefully we can act people if they're willing to engage

(36:02):
with us. A lot of people are just our haters
and you can't do anything about that. And I don't
spend much time on because I understand my mission in life.
But I am a civil lawyer. The seventh Amendment of
the Constitution says what civil lawyers are allowed to do.
We're allowed to receive civil compensation for our loss or injustice.

(36:24):
Only elected officials can prosecute somebody. They can. The only
people can arrest somebody, charge somebody, and have the trial
and put them in prison is elected government officials, these
district attorneys, these state attorneys, and so our people have
to understand that those are the people. If you're gonna

(36:47):
get mad at somebody for nobody going to prison for
Brianna or anybody else. You get mad at Daniel Cameron,
you get mad at the prosecutor. I understand as a
private lawyer, and my god, I think about to so much.
And you know, to me, can we talk a lot?
Strategy hasn't about how you can get some measure of
justice of this policy. I know tars and we always

(37:10):
talk about policy or what I can do directly, and
that is to try to raise the value of black
life in America. And that's what we do my side.
We have never lost the case and one of these
police shootings. We've always been able to recover some measure
of accountability of justice. And I could be wrong, but

(37:35):
I want people. I don't ever want to be arrogant
enough to think I know all the answers, but I
want to believe if we can raise the value of
black life in America, they will at least think twice
before they shoot first and ask questions later. Because that's
what we've been having on all these cases. They just

(37:56):
shoot first and ask questions later because they's like, well,
the police probably will get away with it, and we
don't have to pay any money for every trade bron Martin,
every Michael Brown, every George Floyd. There are at least
ten thousand other black people who would kill ten thousand,

(38:17):
and we don't know their names because they killed at
least hundred every year. And so if we go back
for ten years, they have killed at least almost forty
thousand people. And to Mika, we've been doing it for
ten we can probably name about fifty two hundred that
we know about and that we've dealt with just the ones,

(38:37):
and there have been some that other lawyers that you
are affiliated with, our friends, whether it be Lee Married
and Chris Stewart, and I mean so many lawyers across
the country that they are working on those cases. So
you know, there's it's a there's a lot of work
that's happening. Now you want to I want to hear
you talk about the monetary value being raised, because I

(38:57):
think people need to understand where you started, the amount
of money that you were able to get on behalf
of Trayvon Martin's family, and you know they should have
received way more than they got um to where we
are now twenty seven million for George Floyd, twelve million
for Brianna Taylor, there's a big difference. What's the strategy there?

(39:20):
And before you answer that, Ben, talk about how important
it is that the movement is strong at the same
time that grassroots organizing is happening in order to help
feed into whatever small amount of justice we can get. Yeah,
and I'll started there before I talked about the value,
because I wanted on the record, you know there's no

(39:41):
way we get any measure of justice for Brianna Taylor,
this innocent black woman without until freedom. I mean to
make a I's on record. You were the first person
I called after uh La Nita and to make a
Paulma Browna's mother engaged me and I said, if this

(40:02):
is gonna happen, because they were saying nobody's paying attention
after month, one month had passed in Brianna was over
with it kind of reminds you of trade Bine. It
was over if nobody gave a damn seem Also, yeah,
as if people don't ever acknowledge what you gotta do
to make it be a trend in astag or a

(40:24):
news story, then they say, oh, well, you just went
for the high profile case. Nobody knew about Brihanna Amar
at the beginning, nobody cared about Trey Vine. So but
to me, I I thank you, Queen. I think until freedom,
there's no way people would know Brianna Taylor's name without

(40:45):
you all. And I can never say thank you enough.
I know, like Needa and sam Aggie all were the
lawyers in the courtroom, y'all, like co councils in the community.
And it's so important to have the grassroots there, the
people in the court of public opinion and pushing the
court of law because the court of law really don't
care about black people, brown people, for any marginalized people,

(41:07):
we have to make them care laws or dead words
on paper. We breathe life into them by what we do.
And so when I think about the value of black
life in America, you have to remember, obviously Emmett Till
got no justice back in the fish. You didn't get money,
you didn't get criminal conventions, you just got nothing. You

(41:29):
saw with Latasha Goings, you know, Tupac, one of my heroes.
You know, everybody in l A when the Asian lady
shot the system in the back of the head and
then they let her go back to Korea and with
no criminal convention, that little girl was dead walking away
on video in the early eighties in Los Angeles. She

(41:51):
got no compensation. Rodnni King got like a million dollars. Uh.
And that was pretty much it. If you out a
million dollars, you better be happy to grow, It's what
they were saying. And obviously it didn't make any difference.
And so then Trey by Martin came and we said, well,

(42:12):
we won't not just civil conversation. We want the killer
to go to jail. And so I really started saying,
they gotta arrest this guy. This guy gotta be charged
because black people got used to the police shooting and
killing us, and you know, as terrible as it is,
we was like, man, that seemed to just be the
reality in America. But then when Tray Bond got killed

(42:36):
and this thing, I'll stany in your ground, it changed
everything because then it said we didn't have to worry
about just the police killing out children, but any time
dick and hairy white person could kill our children, as
long as they said that they felt in fear of
their life, they could go home and sleep in their
beds at night. And so we fought that when in

(42:57):
nine and nine out of a hundred lawyers when I
have taken Trade by Martin's case and I out of
a hundred and so people say, oh, well, you took
this high profile case man Sabrina and tracying them. They
were like, who do we turn to? Because lawyers are like,
why would I take that case, this neighborhood. Why the

(43:18):
person ain't gotten nothing and the police gonna believe him,
and we're just gonna spend our money and time. So
we took the case. We settled it out of court
for one point five million dollars. And what many people
do not understand is the Homeowners Association had already cut
Trade by Martin Killer loose. They said, he validated policy,

(43:39):
we're not responsible for that. He didn't have our permission
to care a gun and so forth, so it would
have been a judgment calling court. So they thought that
was The courts thought that was very fair. We were
not happy. We then Michael Brown and Ferguson, uh city,
you know the same thing. We at one point seven

(44:01):
five you instead of trying to increase the value. Uh.
Eric Gardner got about five million dollars in two thousand eighteen.
You know, Treybon was in two thousand twelves. So you're
you're pushing every time to say, let's give more to
black people because we want these cities to go bankrupt
having to pay these lawsuits out. And then we got

(44:25):
to you know, traybon Mark. I'm sorry, we got to
Brianna Taylor. Black women to mak her my side. They
just didn't get any money hero and now nobody go
to jail black women. It's like Malcolm Mack said, most unprotected,

(44:46):
mostly gladly, most disrespected because black women that Washington Post
did to study from two thousand fifteen to two thousand
and twenty, over four hundred black women have been killed
by police. Only eight of them have been charged. Four
of their cases got dismissed, four of them got convicted
of misdemeanor charges, no felonies. That meant nobody went to

(45:11):
jail nothing. And that's what happens in black women cases.
So for Brianna to get twelve million dollars was in
I mean profound statement that our black woman was not
gonna be looked at as irrelevant or insignificant or devalued.
You were gonna have to acknowledge them. And then George

(45:34):
Floyd and then twenty seven million dollars people. A lot
of lawyers was like, we never thought we would see
a day where a police department were spending a third
of their budget on a single case talking about banking
while black. To me, because we've gotten over two hundred
million dollars for black people, that people think that we

(45:56):
do high profile police cases. No, man, we find this
emination and employment and iron men of racism, medical racism.
And so when we got all these banks to pay
black people two hundred million dollars at one cole of
the year, it was not they all. They won't let
me say who the banks are because it's confidential settlements.

(46:19):
But a lot of black people have very merri Christmases
last year, and we gotta keep doing that transfer wealth
taking from rich white corporations given to black people that
have generational wealth. M So, like you just said, man,
a lot of people always think that it's just high
profile cases that you do. And when you watch civil

(46:42):
you see that there's so many different types of cases,
not just police killing cases. You know, you have black farmers,
you're talking about the banks, the young lady who's banking
while black, and that was one I think that one
really touching nerve for me just seeing that situation where
touching nerth Can you speak on some of the cases
that you have now that you know that might not

(47:04):
people might not know, because like you said, we have
to amplify that. So give us like one of two
cases that you think people should pay attention to. Man well,
hopefully until freedom will helping. Baltimore, Maryland with Sira Brown case.
That's the system ninety dollar check that white lady took
her check, locked it in the boat where she couldn't

(47:26):
get milk and food for her infant children. And uh,
it was heartbreaking. You see all these banking while black cases.
They just she was being accused that they were saying
to check the faith, but they called the job, didn't
they to to verify that the ninety dollar check was
not failing. Exactly the lady too and her check right yep.

(47:48):
White lady just said, I mean it was just so evil. Really,
uh wanted to just tell us a little black lady
that you don't matter. And and she, thank god, um
got the police officers to buy her milk and so
for just to make it through the weekend. My mom

(48:09):
raised me and my little brothers. People don't understand how
hard it is sometimes for single parents to raise children,
I mean on their own. And so that's the case
that hopefully when people see Silver, they'll understand it's more
than just these high profile cases. And with Blue Nadia
hard Grain, you know, now they had direct that Michelle
Obama's becoming and she she is running around the country

(48:32):
with me my side, and you know, I got these
I get the calls, I got the thirteen officers. I'm
just going She could not believe that out all these
high profile cases I was doing that. I said, we
gotta go see this young sister who has this bank
a while black case that I think it's imperative that

(48:53):
I work on. And they was like, you're gonna stop
and you're gonna drive Ben Crump, I said, hey, man,
I understand why we got these blessings and influences. That's
to try to help people. Can't help everybody, but the
ones we can, we're gonna do it. So my side,
that's a big case I want to draw emphasis on.
I'm doing Wheals Fargo and that's huge because during the pandemic,

(49:17):
you know, the government lord the interest rate to historic
lows uh seventy five years ago. I mean, we ain't
had interest rates that low, and so this was an
opportunity for people to refinance and get equity anywhere from
a hundred thousand dollars up to ten million, twenty million
dollars in their home, which we all know for middle

(49:38):
class people is the greatest way to grow wealth, to
accumulate wealth. Well, where's Fargo turned down out the black people?
And you're like, they the largest home lived in America
and they were turning black people down. So we're going
after them. And I know sometimes we don't agree on everything,

(49:58):
but I was very proud of Mayor Eric Adams in
New York for saying, until you addressed this pattern of
discrimination while I'm married, the City of New York would
do no new business with you. And I think if
more about elected mayors in these big black seaties like

(50:19):
Atlanta and Jackson, Mississippi and so forth, faith that stands
say along corporations, you all are gonna have to be
held accountable because I know who have vote me into office,
then that matters. Can you think about it? Just imagine
to me in my side. Let me just drop this

(50:42):
point right there, because I don't want to lose it.
People need to research Maynard Jackson when he was mayor, Okay,
when he was mayor of Atlanta, he did the same
in terms of looking at all the contracts, looking at
all the money going in and out of the city
of Atlanta, and he made sure that wherever black people

(51:02):
were not in the high percentile in terms of getting
the contracts and the business from these agencies, that he
threatened them to pull the city's money, pension funds and
other things out of those those businesses and institutions. And
that's that's that's the what where Eric Adams, I believe
get got that idea, you know, And it's so profound

(51:24):
because a lot of people don't have the courage to
do that. They rather just try to go along and
get alone to him, want to piss off nobody. And
you thinking where black people just keep getting kicked in
the faith. But you up here cheaching and haha with everybody.
And that ain't why we elected you. And so when
I think of made that Jackson, that's him and Mary

(51:45):
bear Uh and these great examples they said made of Jackson,
it's it's a legendary stir. When they're building Delta airlines
the airport in Atlanta, and he stops construction, and he
stays until we get black uh self contractors on this project,

(52:07):
we won't do anything more uh construction of this airport.
So it was a stand still and man of Jackson said,
I'd be damned if everybody else gets rich building this
airport and black people don't get anything. And he's still
about and delta blank. And that's why you have so
much prosperity in Atlanta from the early eighties just from

(52:31):
the building of that airport, because when we take a
stand ow, it matters. And so that's why this Whaless
Fargo thing matters. We might be able to get black
people close to a billion dollars from whales Fargo. And
it won't be a high profile case. It won't be
sex or anything like that, but boy, it would be

(52:53):
life changing for a lot of black people. Think about
you getting a house paid off now because they denied
your re five So now you've got three four hundred
thousand dollars in equity that you can pass on to
your children. It's those type of things that is part
of the mission. And I can't worry about if people
get it, because you know what you're fighting for. It's

(53:15):
not a popularity contest. It's about trying to give our
children a better world. And so that h hen Real
the Lacks case. Oh man, Yeah, we're suing all these
pharmaceutical companies for Henry the Lacks family. Yeall know she
was the sister who they stole herself from Johns Hopkins
Hospital in the nineteen fifties. Oprah Winfrey made a movie

(53:37):
about it. They're more the life of Henry the Lacks,
well her children. They hired me to try to do
something that people say, I'm crazy. I get called out
a lot. We're bringing a seventy year uh slawsuit. Statue
limitations is only two years. We're gonna say, Jared, we

(54:00):
think that it was you know, fraudulent concealment that and
when it's fraud, the statue of limitation should not apply.
And it's uh ingest enrichment, the theory that says, well,
if we can prove you've been ungestly and rich, then
we have our day in court where if we're successful. Boy,

(54:21):
it's looking kind of good for us. These pharmaceutical companies
have made billions and billions of dollars off of Henry
o the lack of sales. She was the first human
being on the face of the earth. We all knew
black women were the most powerful creatures on earth, but
she kind of solidified it. They were trying to find

(54:41):
out how if a human sale could regenerate outside the
body where he really lacks in ni hersels. They took
them out, put them in the little process, and they
know there's something miraculous. Every twenty four hours, herself will
regenerate on this own, not inside the body, outside the body.

(55:03):
And it's been doing that for seventy years every day.
So every pharmaceutic could company, every one of them who
came up with a vaccine, nation or any kind of
medical advancement, it was because they used her human sales
to test it, because that's the only way you could
do it in laboratory laboratory conditions. And so they have

(55:25):
made billions upon billions of dollars, and her children had
made one red penny, one penny. But we sued them.
Everybody said we're gonna get kicked out of court. They
laughed at us, called us crazy. But guess what, the
judge has denied that we get the motion to this myths.

(55:46):
We kid to keep going forward and what that means
my side, but that means to mecause those pharmaceutical companies
will never ever let that case see a court room
because when they put the argument that we were arguing
in federal court and they said, well, Judge, where does
it end. What happens when uh, fifty years from now

(56:08):
that her grandchildren come back and everything. In my response
to that, yeah, I was like, let me make you'll
understand this because y'all disrespect to the black woman, didn't
see her as a citizen worth of consideration and get
her to sign a agreement saying you can take her
genetic makeup her intellectual property so when you used it

(56:31):
in the future, her family would be able to profit
or get some proceeds from it. So since you didn't
do that, y'all are staying now if her grandchildren come
back in fifty years after these grand children just say
we won't uh if our percentage of whatever is to
be given for her intellection property, y'all see a problem

(56:52):
with that. But I'm confused, judge, because ain't the white
people who changing of these corporate presidents going to call
in fifty years and a hundred years and say along
the reason Sam Walton children are gonna be rich forever,
it's because Sam won't gotta contract. That says day rich forever, Eli, Lilly, Johnson,

(57:14):
and Johnson, all of them. So why does this black
woman grandchildren not entitled to the same equitable relief? And
was silent. Yeah, you need a part too, You need
a part to the civil and we need a part
too to this interview. And I do not want to

(57:35):
get in trouble with your team because I promise we
would just do thirty minutes today, so we I want
to let you go, but I do want to ask
you this one quick question, Ben, and we'll be done here.
Kim Fox and Marilyn Molesby. We see all of the
black women elected official state attorneys, not all of them,

(57:55):
but many of them are being hit with charges. This
is not about afther, we think, well, first of all,
we do not believe they're guilty of what they're being
charged up. That's Tamika Mallory speaking. I'm pretty sure that
Ben Crump has his own statement that he make on
their behalf. What do you think it's happening here? Because
because we see, we see what's being done to Maryland

(58:17):
where regardless of how you may feel, still it doesn't
look like she's getting a fair a trial if you will,
or fair? Um, what do I want to say? Exactly? Exactly?
And then in the way that they're after Kim Fox,
these are black women who have stood up for justice.

(58:39):
Talk about what you see happening and why have it
Why no insurrectionists in the government has been arrested yet,
but yet these black women are under attack. And you
can add Kim Gardner from St. Louis. That's right. They
are coming after these black women prosecutors, and I think
because they are, they are completely disrespectful of black women.

(59:04):
I mean, it is flavrant. I mean it is, it's
so over the top. Um. All Maryland mostly did was saying,
hold on the officers who did this to Freddy Great
need to stand accountable for what they did. We're not
saying they're guilty him to prove an innocent, but we're

(59:25):
saying that they read a great family should have his
day in court. Man. She did that. The police union
have been after her for six years now. I mean
every day, it's not like just now. Every day they're
trying to take that sister down. They want to destroy her.
Same thing with Kim Gardner in St. Louis. Y'all remember
Kim Gardner said the couple who was carrying the goods

(59:47):
the Trump supporters and pointed it on the black activists.
She prosecuted them. Man. You know, the governor tried to
script her of her power. Aaron Massa Yala in Orlando, Florida,
who was the first black state attorney in the entire
state of Florida, said that she's not gonna do the
death penalty because she believed this disproportionately used against black people. Man,

(01:00:09):
the whole state came up to this black woman. And
then obviously Kim Fox Chicago. Man, Chicago has just Chicago
City in America, and she they come out to her
and it's so deep because you bring up you bring
up Maryland most man, Freddy Gray. Tomorrow, I'm going to

(01:00:31):
New Haven, Connecticut because y'all are gonna hear the name
Randy Cox is the Freddy Gray tragedy on video. Brother
in the back of the padded wagon my side. I
mean he was arrested with our incident and he went
and you know, doing anything bad, but the police gave

(01:00:51):
him a rough ride. You liotally see him in that
back of that video and don't tell you being krunt
word for a handcuff. He slides down the bench head first,
hiss that and he's on the ground from that point.
For when the police stopping everything that you're okay, he
tells them, I can't feel my arms, I can't feel
my leg. They're like, well, you just drunk. You need

(01:01:14):
to shake it off. I mean, no respect, pulls on
out by his feet. You see its head in again.
Then they throw him in a wheelchair. I mean, at
no point do they get him in their help and
you see his body just hanging around and they just
are so callous to him. Now, this brother is paralyzed
from his chest down and only difference between him and

(01:01:36):
Fred are gray to me as we see the video now,
and that video is hard to watch, but it is
more evidence that we got work to do because they
just don't respect us. They I don't believe they do
this to white people, but when it's black people, they
just don't look at us as having humanity. We're not

(01:01:58):
worth their humanity. And so we keep fighting that fight.
And it's gonna be interesting because they may have a
black prosecute on this case too, black female prosecutor. And
if she comes out them like we want, you know,
they're gonna come out to her. I cannot end this
interview to make my sign without telling you this one thing.

(01:02:21):
It was a historic week. Obviously, civil came out on
June think and that was a big deal. But tomorrow,
La Near, a black woman, came to me six years
ago asking me to sue Harvard University for some slave photographs.
The earliest known photographs still in existence in the world

(01:02:41):
that she said was her great great great grandfather Renting
and his daughter Delia. The racist Harvard law profect Our
scientists stripped them down naked to take pictures of them
and back then to take a picture you had to
stand for like forty five minutes to an hour, so
they were button neck and they measured them his lips,

(01:03:03):
his buttocks are brass and everything to try to be
able to give ocular proof, to show visionary evidence of
his racist theory that black people were inferior to white people.
In eighteen fifty, so, while Abraham Lincoln was talking about
Emancipation Proclamation, Harvard and their professors were not only uh

(01:03:28):
argument he was wrong, they were endorsing that black people
were inferior. And so Harvard even to this day is
complicit because when this black lady went to them, they said,
you're crazy, get away from us. And so we took
the case, a hundred and seventy two year old case,

(01:03:50):
and that we aargum nine months ago before the Massachusetts
Supreme Court. They took forever. But on Thursday morning at
ten a him they came back with unanimous rule and
saying that Harvard's motion to dismiss our lawsuit is denied
and that there's a black woman can go forward and

(01:04:12):
have her a day in court. So it is going
to be I believe where Harvard is either gonna give
those to Garat types, those pictures that they believe it
worth a hundred million dollars are they're gonna get this
a black family a substatute amount of money. And so
it's about trying to have redistributions of wealth taken from

(01:04:34):
very rich white institutions and giving the money to black people.
That is the one thing that we can't control as
private lawyers. Oh man, that's you know. It just goes
to show that pretty much all of these rich institutions
have been built on the backs of black people. And

(01:04:56):
I just want to say before we leave, then what
you do is in as and you know, just watching you,
working with you, seeing what you bring to this movement,
you know, the realism like I'm I'm about authenticity and
I don't like a lot of people. I don't endorse
a lot of people, but you somebody like to Maka said,
I'll fight in the street with and for any day

(01:05:17):
of the week man. And and I know you take
a lot of backlash like we do because we really
do it from the heart. And you know, the enemy
is gonna be angry when you come outside and you're
fighting them every day. So it's gonna be backlash, and
it's gonna be negativity, and it's gonna be people that
like you said Hayters. But you know, I just want
to give you your flowers and that you know that

(01:05:37):
we truly appreciate what you do because we know what
you sacrifice on a daily And before I go, I
just want to know what do you want the world
when it's all said it done, What do you want
the world to say about Ben Crunt? Yeah, it's so simple,
my sign and to make it. And before I say
that and we close, out man. Thank you, Thank you

(01:05:57):
all for that's been on the front line. Man. It
is longly at times, and so you want to know
that you're not alone and to fight. And you know,
our children, I'm boring children. We'll know that we fought
for them. And so the one thing that I believe

(01:06:17):
it's gonna be on my tombs done y'all, is that
he was an unapologetic defender a black life, black liberty,
and black humanity. And with that said, we love you,
Ben Keep doing the work, keep being great. I love
your general. I love you queen y'all our leaders. Man.

(01:06:40):
To make you know what I said, you're the queen
of this movement. Yeah, well you are certainly. As my
son started out, Black America's Attorney General. We love you,
Benjamin L. Crump. Go and do something. Go do whatever
you're about to do, go do it. Do it well.
Let's not hold you up anymore. We love you so much. Man.
I love y'all. Keep up lifting the culture. Thank you,

(01:07:01):
Thank you king man. Ben. I mean, I just want
the haters and the non haters, the lovers and the
haters to make sure they watch civil because all of
what he was just talking about is in the film,
you know, and I don't know if people spend enough

(01:07:23):
time watching Ben like in his interviews and understanding how
how much intellect this man has and just you know,
what he means to our culture. It's just amazing, you know.
And one thing I didn't get a chance to ask
him is how, you know, why does he keep so
many different types of people around him? Because you know, Teslain,

(01:07:46):
our sister Teslain figure, Oh she's Tesla, and Teslain don't care.
She is on the full spectrum all the way. Black
folks gonna say whatever she wants to say. And there's
nobody um that she is not so much afraid to
go up against. But she's not. She's not paid, bought
and paid right, so when they say bought, and yeah,

(01:08:11):
she's just gonna say whatever she needs to say. And
that's powerful. But there are a lot of elected excuse me,
there are a lot of lawyers and other businesspeople and
folks who are successful, as successful as been who wouldn't
be around a person like Teslin. Right. Also, us we're

(01:08:32):
not your average protesters. The way in which we call
out white supremacy, the way in which we stand up
and say things about elected officials, even the Democratic president.
We we we are always going in on elected officials
that that many of us put in office and still been.

(01:08:52):
He's with us. But then he also works with people
who are a little closer to the system. So he
has a way of knowing and understanding how you bring
everybody together, and that's organised organizing skill. That's definitely a
skill set. Man. What what Ben does is phenomenal. Like
you said, he knows how to navigate, and he navigates authentically, right.

(01:09:14):
He has so many different relationships and each of those
relationships means something. Right, each one of the individuals that
he worked with is people that are doing work, and
a lot of times it's people that are doing work
that don't even agree with each other, but they work
with men because they respect what it is that he does.

(01:09:34):
So you know, he has a unique skill set and um,
like you said, it's a level of brilliance to what
he does. Man. So I hope everybody watches Civil and
they get to get a glimpse into the bend that
we actually know and love and work with on a
daily basis. Because you know, this this whole theory that
people chase high profile case instead of making these cases

(01:09:56):
INTI for all cases is something that you probably get
to see in the film. So shout out to bend
Man and it's dope Man. Just we ain't gonna stop
talking about They're gonna say every week they keep talking about. Yeah,
that's what we got. The best documentaries I've seen. I've

(01:10:16):
seen a lot of documentaries, but it's definitely one of
the best documentaries that I've seen. Yep, absolutely absolutely, And
and that brings me to my I don't get it,
you know, just just thinking about the movement, just thinking
about black people, just thinking about the world we're in.

(01:10:39):
Actually filming from l A right now. After the BT
Awards and it was a phenomenal night. Our friend, another
one of our friends, did he was honored with the
Lifetime Achieving Awards at the BT Awards and Dope Brother Love,
Brother Love you know, um, and he had performances, um,

(01:11:07):
he had people introduced him and Kanye right and and
he's my brother. So the Kanye was a part of
the tribute. He was one of them. He was the
person who who introduced did he to give him the
Lifetime Achieving him and baby Face and he came out

(01:11:29):
in Kanye fashion with his coat and his massive his face,
he could be like you could tell that it was
hard for him to breathe. And I and I just
want to understand Kanye, like I really do, Like I
really want to because you know, sometimes I'm very critical
Kanye because you know what it is, because I know
that he has a level of intellect ingenious, right, and

(01:11:50):
sometimes I think that he utilizes it, you know, for
some level of attention, and sometimes that attention negatively of
extra work that we do right and negatively affects how
we have to show up on the front line and
what we fight against. And I think sometimes he's utilized that,

(01:12:10):
you know, that brilliance in a in a a form
and in a way that's detrimental to us as black people.
To me, you know, everybody doesn't feel that way, but
I just was watching him yesterday, right, and he was
saying a lot of things that was brilliant and powerful
and very powerful. But just him being up there with

(01:12:33):
this mask and the glasses and the boots and all
of these things, Yeah, gloves on and it was l
a and it's hot, and it's just that I want
to understand Kanye, and I just don't get it, like
I don't. I don't. I want to. I really want to, Like,

(01:12:53):
I want to sit down and try to understand. You
should sit down with Kanye. I want to, like, I
really want to. Like Kanye is not It's some people
that you don't they but I don't even want to.
But Kanye is not one of those individuals. I like.
I actually respect the level he has a level of brilliance,

(01:13:14):
and I think that's why I'm so critical of him, right,
and because sometimes I think that he does it purposely, right, Like,
we we live in this troll era where people do
things just for attention, right, So sometimes I think he
does things that can be detrimental just for attention. So
I think that's been my issue with Kanye in the past.

(01:13:34):
But at this point, I just don't even know, because
he would do some things that's so powerful, you know,
and then then he does things that completely throws me off.
So I really just don't get Kanye. I don't know what.
I just want to say. As a black woman, all
y'all are like that most of the black men in

(01:13:55):
my life may not be as extreme as Kanye in
terms of what you're talking about, But y'all are constantly
throwing a curveball. So I feel like that about all
my brothers that and you know, I have many many
that I'm really close to and and my brothers that
I love, and it's like it's like all over here,

(01:14:19):
it's great and we're on the right page, and then boom,
because you do it. I pick up my phone, people like,
can you please go check my songs Instagram and please
ask him not to post that. Now. I don't think that,
you know, again, it's not as extreme as what you're
saying that the things that Kanye does sometimes it's pretty dangerous.

(01:14:41):
It is his affiliations, the ways that he shows up
in space, some of the things he says. It is
definitely dangerous to our movement. And also because of the
fact that he's such an icon when he speaks, even
if he's just you know, basically going for a shock value,
because he's a mastermark there, right, and which is why,

(01:15:02):
you know, with the clothes and all of that. But
he's a master marketer, and when he does those things,
I'm not sure that he realizes the minds of the
young people and other people who may not have developed
opinions on certain issues. He's able to shift their thinking
in a direction that is so far away from what
we need in terms of our people working together and

(01:15:24):
towards a particular goal. But so it's not at that level.
But y'all still all as black men. I think, um,
you have this curveball thing that happens, and I think
it has a lot to do with the pain that
has not ever been processed. Right when you ask about

(01:15:44):
looking at Kanye with the mass, I felt the same way, Like, Bro,
I get it, I understand being different. He you are
an artist, he's an artist, he's a superstar. I get it,
and I understand, but it's it's like it's just a
lot for me. The boots is this big that it's

(01:16:04):
just it's a lot for me. But I realized that
he's expressing, or at least I feel that he's crying
out saying something is wrong, something is going on, And
I think that with black men. You know, as we
were in um here in l A and throughout the
ET weekend, Taraji Henson was everywhere promoting her mental health

(01:16:28):
organization that's focusing on and and in fact B E.
T And Taraji they now have a campaign where they're
gonna give one million hours of of of therapy to
black folks. Right. I hope black men actually invest in
that and take advantage and that there's ways entry points

(01:16:48):
for black men to be like some of the highest
you utilizers, if you will, of the service, because there's
too many of you all as black men, that I
feel are not getting the necessary to process some of
the things that's going on. So there's a constant battle
between what is the mission and the passion, and then

(01:17:09):
there's these other things that just boom out of know
where it happened because it's speaking to the pain. And
I guess all of us are like that, but I
certainly feel like that about my brothers. Okay, well, give
I'm gonna give me some mental health from look into it.
You know, if I'm on if I'm on the spectrum
somewhere where Kanye is, that confuses then I definitely needed

(01:17:30):
to look into some somebody talking to somebody, you know.
But you're right, we all deal with different things, you know,
but that's just my opinion. You know, shout out to
Kanye hopefully you know he's dealing. You know, he said
something about him taking the hiatus and wanted to be
you know, Vanish and be Lea for a year. So

(01:17:52):
hopefully he's getting hopefully he doesn't do that, no, I
mean just hopefully he's getting just the therapeutic you know,
services that he needs and had somebody there to walk
him through whatever he's going through. So and with that said,
we had another amazing show. You know, shout out to

(01:18:12):
being Crump, Shout out to everybody to BT weekend. It
was a dope weekend. A lot of our friends. You know,
we've seen a lot of things. Club Love Listen if
you've never been to club love, club love is something special, man.
So once again, congratulations to Diddy. We put on a

(01:18:33):
good show. All of the artists they're dope. So with
that said, we're gonna close the show. I'm not gonna
always be right, Tamika d. Mallory is not gonna always
be wrong, but we will both always and I mean always, always,
always be authentic. Salute. Listen to Street Politicians on the

(01:18:57):
Black Effect Network on I Heart Radio and catch us
every single Wednesday for the video version of Street Politicians
or I Women Dot TV. That's