Silenced Voices, Broken Systems, and Family Choice with Tony Lewis Jr and Monica Ray

In this episode of TMI, Tamika Mallory and Mysonne discuss the growing trend of celebrities staying silent on political issues, the challenges and strategies for DC's statehood, and a controversial decision by Ciara regarding her son's last name. Featuring special guests Tony Lewis Jr. and Monica Ray, who provide insight on the current federal occupation in Washington DC and the battles for community power and justice. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Before we get into today's episode, we've got to celebrate
the Black Effect Podcast network is turning five years of
powerful voices, unforgettable moments, and a community that keeps growing.
This is the power of the platform. Now let's get
into it.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
I'm Tamika d.

Speaker 3 (00:19):
Mallory and it'shit Boy my Son in general.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
We are your host of TMI.

Speaker 4 (00:24):
Tamika and my Son's Information, Truth, Motivation and Inspiration.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
New Name, New Energy. What's going on my son, Lennard.

Speaker 4 (00:35):
Black, Blessed and Holly Favorite on this good old day.
How you feeling, dude?

Speaker 1 (00:41):
Okay, you know I could complain about a bunch of stuff,
but who cares?

Speaker 3 (00:46):
So I see the glasses is your new thing.

Speaker 4 (00:48):
Last couple episode has been this little glasses thing you
got going on.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
Well, I need to wear my glasses for screen time
because you know, first of all, I've been I have
had glasses since I was like nine years old, so
I always should be wearing glasses. But what I noticed,
of course, you know, we kind of don't do some
of the things we're supposed to do when we're young
and throughout life, and as I have gotten older, I

(01:16):
noticed that the screen, especially the computer, the light and
all of this stuff gives my eye makes my eyes
fell away. So it's often times better, especially in this
particular lighting in my home, to use my glasses.

Speaker 2 (01:30):
So that's what I've been doing. And I need to
use them when I'm driving at night. That's a whole
other conversation.

Speaker 3 (01:37):
Yeah, I was supposed to give some glasses for something.

Speaker 1 (01:39):
I don't know exactly what, but well you should probably
figure it out. Did something, because I think when we
don't wear glasses when we're younger, as they say we should,
we make our vision.

Speaker 2 (01:53):
Worse over time and by the time we get older.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
What could have been You know, you could probably go
back and forth, wear them a little bit, not or whatever.
When you get older, you'll probably need them more consistently,
just because at that point you would have diminished your
ability to use the glasses or you have increased your
kneed for glasses.

Speaker 2 (02:15):
There you go, I got it, got it strict.

Speaker 4 (02:17):
I'm hearing that this laser surgery is the thing.

Speaker 2 (02:21):
So you know, well you Linda had it. Linda Sarsore
had no. Yeah, Linda had it. Well, we were living
in Kentucky.

Speaker 1 (02:29):
She had they laser surgery done by a doctor there
in Louisville who she met.

Speaker 2 (02:36):
You know, I'm not sure exactly how they connected, but the.

Speaker 1 (02:39):
Doctor did laser surgery in her eyes and she hasn't complained.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
She said it's good.

Speaker 1 (02:44):
So I guess at some point that's what technology is
all about. At the time when I was prescribed with glasses, again,
I was ten years old, laser surgery probably was a thing,
but it probably was for very rich people, a very
small group of individuals who could get it, you know,
And now a lot of people are getting laser sfurgery.

Speaker 4 (03:07):
Yeah, I'm thinking about it. That might be the way
for me, because I don't really want to do the glass.

Speaker 2 (03:12):
Yeah, I don't know.

Speaker 1 (03:13):
First of all, I don't know how you'll ever be
able to find the glasses. But that's a whole other thing.
Let's get into a couple of topics. So first of all,
you know, I was in this group, well not so
much in a group, but I was on Facebook, and
the person posed a question of why you don't see

(03:34):
more celebrities speaking out in this time about the craziness
that's happening in this country, And I was like, really
sitting with it, because obviously we have a lot of
celebrity friends and associates, and you know, here and there
I'll get a call or text, maybe a DM from
somebody who's pretty high profile saying this shit is crazy,

(03:56):
sending me an article being like or video and saying
what the hell. But most people have been very quiet.
I mean, I think that's a true assessment that there's
been almost like an eerie absence of a lot of
very public voices.

Speaker 2 (04:18):
Especially during the Biden administration.

Speaker 1 (04:22):
You know, you had much more people or many more
people who were much more vocal about a lot of issues,
whether they liked the administration or not. And in this
particular situation with Donald Trump as president, you do see
something different. And so what was happening in this Facebook
conversation was people saying, oh, that's because many of them

(04:43):
are Trump supporters.

Speaker 2 (04:45):
And I was like.

Speaker 1 (04:46):
Reading that and seeing that, you know what, there are
some people who, especially the more money that you know
of artists or celebrity athlete, whatever more money they make,
they made in fact either be a Trump voter or
a Trump supporter because they think it's more beneficial for
their particular their pocket or maybe it is because of

(05:09):
the tax cuts for the rich. But also they could
just feel like they don't want to be a target,
and so they have been many ways, you know, found
themselves be more careful or quiet or whatever.

Speaker 2 (05:24):
But what I was thinking.

Speaker 1 (05:25):
About, and I know you know about this, is that
actually what has happened, and what a lot of people
don't realize, is that from the time a person has
been I want to say dubbed, you know, sort of
like they've been identified as an upcoming talent in some ways, sports, TV, music, whatever,

(05:52):
and they have a team of people who develop around them.
There is somebody on that team from day one telling them.
Don't get involved with politics. It's literally ingrained in them.
Don't get and it could be their parents, their family members.
Don't get involved in politics. Don't say anything about these issues.
You don't want to put yourself in that bucket. You

(06:13):
have fans that's gonna love you from all sides, your
personal views. Keep it out of, you know, the public discourse.
And as they attain more wealth and more status, it
is it becomes even more of any of a like
a thing that is pushed on them. It's sort of

(06:34):
like a mandate for them to do the opposite of
speaking out.

Speaker 2 (06:38):
They can get involved in charity. They can do all
of those.

Speaker 1 (06:42):
Great things, the nice things that doesn't upset anybody or
step on anyone's toes, but they are they are pushed,
and it is highly recommended that an influenced to.

Speaker 2 (06:55):
Stay very very very quiet on.

Speaker 1 (06:58):
Issues that affect their lives and the lives of the
people around them, and particularly their families and others and
things happening in the world that will impact them one
way or the other. And it's very very disheartening when
you think about it, because their platforms, like we build

(07:19):
these people up by supporting them and pouring into them
and buying their albums and other things, and then when
it comes time to listen to to get them to
be a part of movements that we know because they
tell us behind the scenes round the corner at the concert,
they say, it's crazy what's.

Speaker 2 (07:37):
Going on out here.

Speaker 1 (07:38):
But you can't depend on them oftentimes to speak up.
And I have to say that I appreciate how many
people really got involved in the Breonna Taylor movement because
it was it was widespread, from Ellen DeGeneres to obviously
Alicia Keys and others, and some of them stay involved
no matter what. But it is kind of eerie to

(07:58):
have so much silence going on at a moment where
we actually need more people to speak up about what
they see happening in this nation.

Speaker 3 (08:06):
It really, it really is are you one hundred percent correct?

Speaker 4 (08:11):
That is definitely conversations with management and labels that they
tell artists, you know, not to be political, to try
to keep their political views to themselves, because like you said,
they have a plethora of different fans from different genres
who have different political views, and you don't want to

(08:32):
alienate yourself from any of them, you know. But it's
actually it's heartbreaking. It's heartbreaking that, like you said, us
as fears, we have to deal with the realities that
come with politics right with We tell people all the
time that you don't do politics than politics will do here,
and the fans who have who have uplifted you and

(08:55):
put you in a position of power to where your
voice matters, expect you to speak on things that mattered
to them, especially when you already made them believe that
you are on the same page that they are.

Speaker 3 (09:10):
Right, your music has a certain sound and a.

Speaker 4 (09:13):
Cultural relevance and identification that basically tells.

Speaker 3 (09:18):
Them that you agreed with them or you willing.

Speaker 4 (09:21):
To fight for the certain same things that they want
to fight, So it's very disheartening when it doesn't happen.
That's why people like Pac, you know, had such a
big following, because Pac never had a problem talking about
what was going on in Martha.

Speaker 3 (09:40):
You know, I think that's even to some degree, even
though you.

Speaker 4 (09:43):
Know, I definitely disagree with a lot of things Kanye
has said have done, but it's one of the things
that elevated him to where he was because he wasn't
scared to speak over his political views, whether you agree
with him or not.

Speaker 3 (09:57):
He was willing to speak.

Speaker 4 (09:58):
And I think a lot of artists are scared and
they don't even understand how much power it gives.

Speaker 3 (10:04):
It gives more power.

Speaker 4 (10:05):
Shout out to brothers like Maclamore who have always been
and shout out to tay lib Quality like brothers who
have always never been afraid. And you wouldn't have believed,
like when Maclamore started speaking out against you know, the
genocide of Gaza, I wouldn't have believed that it made
sense for him to do or if not made sense,

(10:26):
excuse me, let me take that back. I wouldn't believed
that he would have been the person to go up
because it didn't seem like he had anything to gain by.

Speaker 3 (10:34):
But there's a moral compass. There's your own personal feelings,
there's emotions, there's empathy. There's certain things that we have
as human beings that should compel us to speak up
against injustice. You know.

Speaker 4 (10:47):
So it's definitely disheartened when you don't hear artists that
you know will have a lot of power or should be.

Speaker 3 (10:53):
Connected to certain views and issues, or.

Speaker 4 (10:55):
From certain places who have certain backgrounds and certain things
that don't about issues.

Speaker 3 (11:02):
It's definitely this all it's also.

Speaker 1 (11:03):
Your tax dollars. It's also your tax dollars. It's not
just empathy and all of that. That stuff is great,
but like you said, that's connected to your emotions and
your heart, but your tax dollars, you're actually paying into genocide.
And you know, and I'm not going to shy away
from calling the name of DJ Khaled. This is a

(11:24):
person who's from Palistana and you see people every day
begging that brother, begging him to speak up about what
he sees going on there.

Speaker 2 (11:33):
And so you know, it is it's unfortunate.

Speaker 1 (11:36):
And some people will say, my son, well, what about
the fact that, like, you know, they'll say, what about
if I don't know the issues?

Speaker 2 (11:46):
Learn it.

Speaker 1 (11:47):
Learn it the same way that you learn the right
You practice basketball, you practice music, You you know, you
sit down, you write, you stay in the studio, you
you study other genres of music. There is no excuse
for not understanding what's going on in the world, because

(12:08):
that's one of the reasons why we're in this situation
we're in. And Donald Trump said he loves the uneducated,
the people who don't really know what the hell is
going on. They just going along with whatever they hear. Propaganda,
they listen to propaganda. And so the biggest tool we
had as in our arsenal to fight against injustice and

(12:29):
this war that we're in is knowledge. And I tell
people that all the time, and they say, well, what
can I do? What can I do? Inform yourself? Stop
saying I don't know, I don't watch the news, I
don't know what's going on.

Speaker 2 (12:39):
And I'll just tell you.

Speaker 1 (12:40):
If you're a celebrity and you're listening to this, or
you're somebody with influence and you're listening and you don't
know about some of the issues, you might want to
try to figure out how to get you somebody else
on your team that does know and that's willing to
teach you about the world that you live in, in the
world that you're raising your children, your famili's in.

Speaker 4 (13:00):
Yeah, I think I think it's a it's a it's
a grave mistake not to be informed, especially in these times,
the things that's going on. And like you said, I
don't I can't speak for DJ Callaides. I know for me,
if the situation was happening with my people, you know,
I would definitely speak up. But I don't know what
his issues is. And sometimes you know what the reality
is some people. Sometimes people aren't connected. Sometimes we see

(13:24):
it all the time. We see old skin folk and
kidful and it's not really a jab at anybody. It's
a lot of black people that don't feel connected to
the black struggle because they didn't grow up in homes
where their parents informed them of black history and it
made it something that was prevalent in that and then
their realities were completely different. They grew up in white

(13:47):
neighborhoods and and well to do neighborhoods. A lot of
them didn't experience, you know, racism or when you look
at I brought up last time did Jubilee with the
man the Seals, and you listen to these young kids
told it's like to me, it's like they got to
be living under a rock. But you can tell that
they actually believe what they're saying. So a lot of

(14:07):
them don't have the same experiences, so we we What
I see is there are people who either are willfully
ignorant or just don't know or just don't feel attached
to certain things.

Speaker 1 (14:22):
Now, Butched, I'm gonna push back on that and say
to you that here's my problem because I've watched and
you know, again, this is not about any one person,
because I could go on with a list of people, right,
But I've watched many of these celebrities and DJ Khaled
is one of those people talk about the culture of Palestine.

Speaker 2 (14:46):
Right, giving you the food. I've watched the videos you
know and love them, love them.

Speaker 1 (14:52):
And Dj Khala is actually an artist that I really
really have been fond of, right, and I've watched themselves
let breed the culture of Palestine. I've watched him show
you know, the food, the family life and talk about
his Palestinian ruts. You cannot start there with culture and

(15:15):
then in with and then stop when it comes to genocide.
That doesn't it doesn't work because that means if you
know the culture.

Speaker 2 (15:23):
It's different.

Speaker 1 (15:24):
What you're saying is true that some people they're not
really from the community.

Speaker 2 (15:28):
It's like me trying to before I'm going to Africa.

Speaker 1 (15:32):
It's not much that I could really say about it
except a few things that I learned here and there.
You know, I learned a little bit as my parents
taught me some things maybe out you know, I got
a little bit of information here and there.

Speaker 2 (15:44):
But once we step foot.

Speaker 1 (15:46):
On that soil, we have a different responsibility because we
got an opportunity to see and feel for ourselves the culture.
So you know, that's just is what it is. But
I digress because I still need to get to my
thought of the day. But I just think that for
me is disingenuous to appreciate, celebrate, and promote a culture

(16:11):
and not be willing to talk about that save culture
when it's under attack.

Speaker 4 (16:18):
I mean, I can't even argue with you. You ain't
gonna get no argument.

Speaker 3 (16:21):
Did for me.

Speaker 1 (16:26):
So speaking of culture the blacks in our world is
something boy and what we get upset about and what
triggers us.

Speaker 2 (16:34):
It's very telling.

Speaker 1 (16:35):
So but my thought of the day today, I want
to talk about this video that Scott Folks going really
crazy about not crazy, but people are very much so.
In debate and dialogue about a video that Tabitha Brown
did which she said, for entrepreneurs who are truly struggling,
you know your ideas are great.

Speaker 2 (16:54):
The execution may not be happening.

Speaker 1 (16:57):
Doesn't mean that you are not still gonna be great
and do great, but you might need in this moment
to get a job. And people are going crazy.

Speaker 2 (17:07):
I watched it.

Speaker 1 (17:08):
Let me keep on, let me fix that. People are
in great dialogue. I don't want to say they going
crazy because some people have been having very extensive dialogue
that's actually pretty good.

Speaker 2 (17:19):
I watched another follow up.

Speaker 1 (17:20):
Video where someone was saying that Tabitha is wrong, and
their position was the opposite that if you have a dream,
you have something that you're going for, that you're trying
to do, something you're trying to accomplish.

Speaker 2 (17:35):
That you don't have any other options. There should be it.

Speaker 1 (17:39):
Take everything else off the tape, and day and night,
your focus should be on building your business, no matter
what it is.

Speaker 2 (17:47):
You gotta do.

Speaker 1 (17:47):
If you gotta eat less, you know, struggle a little bit,
whatever you got to do, you focus yourself on that
only right on this business. Take every other option off
the table, because if you have Plan B, then Plan
A is not as important or does not have the
priority that it needs.

Speaker 2 (18:06):
I disagree. I disagree one hundred percent, you.

Speaker 1 (18:11):
Know, I and and and there may be points of
disagreement slightly with Tabitha and myself around the target boycott,
right because We've had not so much conversation about it,
but I've heard her say a couple of things, and
I'm sure she also feels that the boycott could have
been handled differently and whatever.

Speaker 2 (18:31):
And so that's fine.

Speaker 1 (18:32):
We can have disagreement or concerns about the way for
it for our community and not be to the point
where we can't agree on something else later on. That's
one of the problems that we have, is like I,
you wouldn't my son and I don't agree on this
this thing over here, or we've had some points of

(18:53):
disagreement on this issue, and then move down over here
we're talking about something else that maybe we do agree
about it, but we say it or even act like
we do just because it's easier to just write a
person off and be done with them forever.

Speaker 2 (19:08):
That model does not work. It doesn't work because.

Speaker 1 (19:11):
In community, you are not going to agree with everything
that anybody does or says, and you should still be
able to be in community together. And so in this
particular situation, I disagree with people who don't understand what
this system is saying. I have seven jobs literally literally,
and guess what, Yeah, I understand the point that one

(19:34):
or two of them, which is my activism, is really
where I thrive. That's like what I do, what I
focus on, what my passion is every single day.

Speaker 2 (19:45):
But I don't make a lot of money from being.

Speaker 1 (19:47):
An activist alone or just be an organization working on
the ground. A lot of times I'm pouring my own
resources into two you know, to the work that we do.

Speaker 2 (19:59):
And so my thought of the day is around.

Speaker 1 (20:02):
This idea that it is okay to have a way
to keep the lights on in your house, to make
sure your children are able to go to school and
have the things that they need, and that they're not
living in the dark or being evicted or living in
a car, or you know, having to miss meals while

(20:23):
you work on your passion.

Speaker 2 (20:25):
If it is your true passion and it's something that
you're supposed to be doing, you should be able to
focus on it, just like I do. Just like I do. Yeah,
I'm out here. I was in Kentucky, running down, running
down in the world.

Speaker 1 (20:40):
We out there being the police surveiling us. It's a pandemic.
It's all of that. And I still had to stop
to get in a suv or to go back to
the airbnb or whatever to sit down and write a book,
because that's also a part.

Speaker 2 (20:58):
Of the work. Now, it's all extensions, right, And I
do believe that if you are somebody who you're an
esthetician and you want to build a business around doing
facials and whatnot, yes you should go somewhere.

Speaker 1 (21:15):
And work, maybe in a spa, or work in an
area that kind of gets you closer, maybe around skincare,
maybe in you know, I don't know, even the barbershop.
Whatever you need to do to try to work in
the area. So at least you could put your hand
on it. But if you can't, and the only thing
you could do is work at the neighborhood hardware store,

(21:37):
you gotta sit there on your break in between turn,
you study, you read, you have a book with you
about what it is that you're doing, so every time
you get a moment, you focus on that. But I
do not believe that somebody should be encouraging people, especially
these young people, to just sit around and just all

(21:58):
you not sit around, but focusing so much on your
business and everything else around you is up in slope.

Speaker 2 (22:04):
Because I'm going to tell you what happened. You become
other people's problem.

Speaker 1 (22:09):
Now you're calling asking for one hundred dollars, five hundred
dollars this, and that your lights are or you need
somebody to help pay your rent, especially in a time
where you see that people are struggling, even people with
money are struggling, right, And so I don't understand why
anybody would be upset or would discourage someone from happen

(22:31):
that nine to five, well whatever.

Speaker 2 (22:33):
Part time job in your pocket.

Speaker 1 (22:35):
To hold you down while you're in the midst of
building what it is.

Speaker 2 (22:40):
That you're trying to do. That you should ultimately be
able to.

Speaker 1 (22:43):
Put more energy into right And I get that, but
you you also don't need to be every time something
happens you ask if Mama, asking your friends, asking whoever
else to help you get groceries and are refrigerator because
guess what, you're dreaming everybody else's dream, and even if
it is sometimes people cannot afford to bankroll you while

(23:05):
you're doing what you're doing.

Speaker 2 (23:06):
So people can be mad all they.

Speaker 1 (23:08):
Want, and maybe they feel, you know, might feel that
what I'm saying is wrong, but damn it. As a
person who has worked every kind of way possible to
keep myself free enough, right, free enough to do the
work that I do and to speak truth to power
every day, I understand if we got to sell T shirts,
that's what we gotta do while we also get out

(23:28):
here in these streets and fight for justice.

Speaker 3 (23:31):
You one hundred percent correct.

Speaker 4 (23:32):
I think the reality of the situation is if you
are chasing the dream, right, and you decide that you're
gonna chase that dream full speed it and you're not
gonna do anything else, then whatever you chase shouldn't fall
on anybody else, right, if you're chasing the dream.

Speaker 3 (23:48):
Because I was one of those individuals.

Speaker 4 (23:50):
I remember I came up from prison and I was like, listen,
I'm not getting no job. I'm doing my music. I'm
gonna figure this out and I'm gonna go full to
even ahead. But my what I I needed didn't fall
on anybody else. I wasn't calling everybody else for two
hundred dollars and could you help me get groceries?

Speaker 3 (24:06):
Could you help me do this?

Speaker 4 (24:08):
I figured out odd ways to hustle and scramble up
to my barely necessities and say, I'm willing to sacrifice.
I'm not gonna have a bunch of clothes. I'm not
gonna have a bunch of sneakers, I'm not gonna hang out.
I'm not gonna do all of those things because I
want to pour all this energy and time into this.

Speaker 3 (24:23):
So the sacrifice was on me.

Speaker 4 (24:26):
My sacrifice did infringe upon anybody else, And I think
that's what That's what you have to understand. If you're
a person, your individual, and you're able to say, yo,
look I'm not going to get any other job and
I don't need any other job.

Speaker 3 (24:40):
I just want to go head down with this.

Speaker 4 (24:42):
That's a good that's a good philosophy and strategy if
you're able to do it and it doesn't impose upon
anybody else. Nobody can tell you how to go about
what you're dealing with. You know, you look at Will
Smith in the pursuit of happiness. He decided to sleep
in the always you know what I'm saying, that was
but he figured out how it made sense for him.
Everybody that shouldn't do that's a that's.

Speaker 3 (25:04):
Not a will for true.

Speaker 4 (25:05):
When you got kids, and you got responsibilities, and you
got lighting gas, you got all these things, and these
things got to get paid, you know you have the
smart strategy is I'm gonna figure out a way to
cover my day to day living, right, I'm gonna figure
out a way that I can find me a job,
find me a hustle, find me something that can cover
my day to day living while the rest of the

(25:25):
time I focus on what it is my real dream is.

Speaker 3 (25:29):
And if you really have this dream and you really motivated,
what you'll do is you'll find a way. You eventually
find a way to do what it is that you
want to do. Is nothing going to stop you from
getting what you need to get. So, you know, I
don't understand why people don't understand what she say.

Speaker 2 (25:46):
It was the olden driver.

Speaker 1 (25:48):
She was an open driver while building her business.

Speaker 2 (25:52):
And now look at where she is.

Speaker 1 (25:55):
I don't understand why people don't get that like that
doesn't mean I'm sure she was in uber and in
between rides she was reading about her products and figuring
out what she's going to do with.

Speaker 2 (26:05):
Her hair and her afro and this and all whatever.

Speaker 1 (26:08):
I don't know what the first business was to pop
from being in the uber. Maybe it was TV or
something like that. But this lady worth the job while
building what she's doing. It's for so many people to
be up in arms about that. I just don't know,
but anyone, we need to get to our guests today.
You know, for today we're gonna skip our team and

(26:29):
mine because the guests that are coming up are going
to be talking about the occupation in DC. These are
people from DC, people who live in the community and
also work there in the community in grassroots organizing and
entrepreneurship in the in the District of Columbia, and we're

(26:49):
gonna be talking about that today.

Speaker 2 (26:51):
So we want to give them the appropriate time.

Speaker 1 (26:54):
So let's jump off of this topic because I think
we've said enough that you know, get you a job
if you need one, don't be out there, you know, doing.

Speaker 3 (27:04):
Strange and imposing on somebody else.

Speaker 1 (27:08):
And it asked in mama who's already out, stressed out
and can't even live her life because she's got to
give you money. And this is not the same thing
as supporting someone who has a dream.

Speaker 2 (27:21):
Sure, or you should be able to tething.

Speaker 1 (27:23):
Some people see you hustling and you banging down a
door and they say, hey, let me, let me, let
me take this off your hand, But not all the
time do people even have it to do so, And
when you go back the third and fourth time need,
then it starts to become a habit that people cannot maintain.

Speaker 2 (27:41):
And I am one of.

Speaker 1 (27:42):
Those people who knows because I get the phone calls
all day, the emails, the bone fourths some people who
have real serious things that they need help. But guess what,
I don't have many people that I could go to
and say I need help, you know what I'm saying.
So that's a scary thing that you the help, and
it's hard for you to find other people when you
need help. Thankfully, in my life they been people to

(28:02):
show up for me. But I try my damnedest to
never have to ask anybody, not knowing what they're going through,
to help me in my situation financially, knowing that each
one of us has our own struggle. We're all trying
to build something. We all have a dream. And if
I don't work, if you're working and building and you
need help, that's cool. But if you decided that you

(28:24):
don't need to work while you build, then shoot, you
wants to have it all together.

Speaker 4 (28:30):
And that's the fact. Don't close it on nobody else.
If you decide that you don't need to work, then.

Speaker 3 (28:35):
I hope it work for you.

Speaker 2 (28:37):
And that's that all right, y'all.

Speaker 1 (28:39):
So we told you that we were going to have
two guests on today to discuss the military occupation of Washington,
d C. Which is extremely, extremely troubling. And what is
the occupation in DC is absolutely the occupation of America

(28:59):
because as we know, Donald Trump and his administration are
moving to various cities across the country and they are
also threatening other cities that are to come.

Speaker 2 (29:13):
And it is, you know, occupation.

Speaker 1 (29:16):
Military occupation is never in my judgment, in our judgment,
I think, my son, you would agree, the answer to
dealing with the issues of violence and just the challenges
of our community. We know the resources that are needed.

(29:36):
You could put any of us as matter of fact,
we've been on all the task force, we've given all
the information. We know exactly what needs to be done
to drive down a violent crime and to address the
needs of our young people and people in general.

Speaker 2 (29:51):
In our cities.

Speaker 1 (29:53):
And what we always find is that there is a
quick desire to lock us up to to use punitive
measures to address our needs, and never do we receive
the type of investment necessary to care for our communities
the right way so that we don't have to deal

(30:14):
with with the with the issues that are of concern
supposedly to some of these people.

Speaker 2 (30:21):
And you put that against the.

Speaker 1 (30:23):
Fact that violent crime is down across the country, and
it was down in DC before the military occupation.

Speaker 2 (30:33):
It is down in many ways.

Speaker 1 (30:34):
And I think what we want to talk about today,
or at least one of the things that I want
to frame and the introduction of these two powerhouses that
we're going to be talking about, is that this is
not about driving down violence, because again, we know what
to do to deal with violence. This is about an

(30:55):
authoritarian government that is looking to stoke fear and who
spread war on American people on American soil across the nation.
And that is why the President is changing the name
of the Department of Defense to the Department of War.
If you don't pay attention to what's going on in

(31:15):
this moment, I don't know where you are. And they
wrote this deare in a nine hundred based document call
Project twenty twenty five.

Speaker 2 (31:23):
So here with us today are two powerful people that
I love.

Speaker 1 (31:27):
They're actually our friends. Y'all know we always have our
friends on this show.

Speaker 2 (31:33):
Tony lewis Junior of Washington, DC.

Speaker 1 (31:36):
He's an author and community leader who has stood at
the intersection of mass incarceration, poverty, and gun violence prevention
for the past twenty five years. And I know that
to be true because we have worked alongside Tony for
many years and know the power of the work that
he does. And then my sister Monica Ray is a

(31:56):
visionary civic leader, a social entrepreneur, and founder of the
Black Bone Project, whose work empowers communities, uplifts black women
entrepreneurs who's desk for life includes restoring classic cars Honey,
riding on motorcycles Honey, and proudly being Gammy the Nea

(32:18):
Mayah and Hezekya. Okay, Gammy. What's going on today, y'all?
Opreads so fan I don't know.

Speaker 3 (32:27):
With y'all.

Speaker 2 (32:28):
Good man, good to see y'all.

Speaker 5 (32:29):
Happy to be thank you, Fret, Yeah, thanks for having us.
And with Tony he Tony, I'm good.

Speaker 1 (32:37):
Let's jump into this first topic here, or first excuse me,
let's jump into you know, this discussion here. First of all,
I want you guys to just introduce, even though I
did an okay job of the written bio stuff, but
just talk a little bit quickly about what you do.

Speaker 3 (32:57):
Monica.

Speaker 1 (32:57):
I'm to start with you, and then ultimately what has
been your role on the ground in DC during a
military occupation?

Speaker 2 (33:06):
Sure, good, good morning again, and thank you for having me.

Speaker 5 (33:09):
My work for more than thirty years has been in
a neighborhood called Congress Heights, what a ground zero of
all things in Washington, d C. We call ourselves the
soul of the city, and that soul is we're fighting
for it literally in figuratively at this moment. But my
work has always centered around economic justice, community power, and education.

(33:32):
Our nonprofit has long trained and hired more retornity citizens
than probably most in the city.

Speaker 1 (33:39):
We believe firmly in the ability to educate to change
our economic conditions, and that's going to change all of
our other ills in our society, including crime. We believe
the best way to pat down crime is to create
opportunity in our community. So that's been our work for
more than thirty years now.

Speaker 5 (33:58):
And my free time I get to place this place
called Sycamore and oh amazing gathering space where community and
black joy happens every week.

Speaker 1 (34:09):
It's been your role on the ground in the midst
of this occupation.

Speaker 5 (34:14):
Sure we've taken the position that we need to protect
our people. In this conversation, we know that we need
people to lead us and be negotiators and high tech people.
We need people in the street to fight, but we
also need people who can build community. In this time,
I was able to join Tony Lewis and core Mashless
Berry and a crew of other community leaders together to

(34:37):
bring community together to simply say how to stay out
of the way. How do we stay safe in these
really challenging authoritagent fastest regimes that are happening in our city.
So our job has been to really dig deep at
the grassroots level, reach our adults and our children to
tell them how to move and how to be safe

(34:58):
in this community. And that's been because it's felt like
we've asked them to be cowards and that's not been
our goal. But we've been trying to be safe in
a very tenuous time.

Speaker 4 (35:11):
Tony, give us a little of your background and your
you know, what you've been doing in this moment for DC.

Speaker 2 (35:18):
Yeah, he bruh.

Speaker 6 (35:19):
And again, thank you guys for having us. You know,
I saw the as Tamika mentioned, staying at the sort
of in the middle of you know, these different issues
that impact the Native Washingtonian, trying to help people to
navigate their way through to a to a space where
they can thrive.

Speaker 2 (35:34):
And their families can and their communities can can be prosperous.
You know.

Speaker 1 (35:39):
Uh.

Speaker 6 (35:40):
For the past twenty five years, I've done so much
in the way of helping many women when they return
from a constration on working in the community to bring
peace and squash beefs and ultimately to connect people to
economic opportunity, as well as advocating for children with incocerated parents.

Speaker 2 (35:56):
And in this moment, all of that, you know.

Speaker 6 (35:59):
Past history, read and connectivity to the community has allowed
me to be able to you know, play my part
and bringing people together. I was so honored to be
to be on the team monitor Mansion to be able
to push forward a message to our community that though
we can't stop the occupational, stop the federal surge, we
can't educate on our people on how to be saved.

(36:21):
Educate our people on knowing their rights, which could maybe
just because they know their rights don't mean their rights
gonna be respected, but at least they obsessed up a
framework in their own defense that maybe on their Fourth
Amendment rights or their Fifth Amendent rights, that they can
have some safety net.

Speaker 2 (36:37):
And I think we've done that effectively, and.

Speaker 6 (36:39):
Not only having gatherings of mass gatherings of community, but
also going into the trenches, going into the communities, going
into these neighborhoods and talking directly to the men and
the women that's going to be the most impacted by this.
And so I've just tried to do what we've always done,
give information and insight to help our people stay safe

(37:00):
and don't get taken.

Speaker 2 (37:02):
And it's been incredibly difficult, but it certainly is.

Speaker 4 (37:05):
Uh.

Speaker 6 (37:05):
This this this piece here in DC has been like
a three prong approach, right, So you got the federal
serge that's really coming into communities like the ones we
grew up in to extract, you had the National Guard
that's sort of been playing a role of uh, it's
interesting their position so so forth, so to this point
has been more protecting other communities or other spaces in

(37:29):
the city. And then you have the sort of ice rollout,
and so as citizens of this city, we've been trying
to really navigate all three of those things. And so
it's it's been incredibly important, particularly on the federal serge
piece that's aim that black people to give them the
information to stay out the way.

Speaker 4 (37:50):
And so when we when we talk about DC, you know,
I know there's been a long fight for DC statehood.
A lot of people don't even understand what it is,
and it makes the situation with the Federal the National
Guard very different than it would be in a state.
So talk about the fight for DC statehood and talk

(38:12):
about why the Feds coming into DC made it a
lot different than it would be going into Chicago or
coming into New York.

Speaker 6 (38:21):
Well, I would say one first, people, I understand the
fares are here already. That's a and a lot from
a long enforcement standpoint. A lot of the collaboration is
also already in existence. So it's really on one level,
it was just a uptick. And when you talk about
the national guards.

Speaker 2 (38:39):
Here in d C. The president controls our national Guard
and not our mayor, but not a state. So therefore,
not only can he activate the local DC National Guard,
but as he did, he can bring in guards men
and guards women from all over the country.

Speaker 6 (38:53):
So I think we at this point at about six
states Ohio, West Virginia, Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, and I
think Louisiana.

Speaker 2 (39:01):
Right, so people from outside of the district. In a state, it.

Speaker 6 (39:04):
Would just be your national guard that the governor will activate.
The president can't activate the New York National Guard, right,
only the governor can. And so we don't have the
protections that states have all on any level. We don't
have any voting representation in the Congress. We do have
a delegate, but she's not a voting member. We have

(39:26):
no senators, so we don't have any protection. So in essence,
for just for the audience, you can really look at
the President of the United States as the governor of
the District of Columbia.

Speaker 2 (39:35):
So we don't have statehood in meaning we don't have
any leverage to.

Speaker 6 (39:39):
Really push back against any of this, the states will
have some level of pushback.

Speaker 1 (39:46):
Well, Nka, let me jump in and ask this question,
because you know people are up in arms, and I
know you and I and Tony and my son could
sit here all day and go down the rabbit hole
of how the messaging came out of the mayor's office
and all of that, and I really want to keep
this conversation squarely focused on community.

Speaker 2 (40:07):
But the statehood piece does play a role in how in.

Speaker 1 (40:15):
The strategy coming out of the mayor's office, right, I
still think the messaging could be better, and I think
that people's critique of that, especially in the hysteria of
the moment, has not been unfounded. There are reasons for it,
and it has to be addressed, and I know that
it is being addressed, and certainly you know with you

(40:36):
and I Manaka sitting at the feet of the great
leader Cora Mastersberry, who you've already mentioned, she has been
consistently helping us.

Speaker 2 (40:46):
To understand the danger of what can happen to.

Speaker 1 (40:50):
DC if there is not strategic work done to try
to get the president up off of d Can you
talk a little bit, Monica about how there has always
been a desire to take DC from the mayor right

(41:11):
like or to not have a mayor or representative like
Mire Wows or anyone else in position. There is talk
about that tension and how that's played a role in
what we see coming out of the Mayor's office and
the Attorney General's office.

Speaker 2 (41:28):
Quite frankly, so, I think to me gout, just to
reframe a little bit.

Speaker 5 (41:33):
Although we don't have statehood, and we do, we lack
some of the protecture that Tony mentioned. If this guy
is able to do this in Washington, DC, it should
be a wrench flag for the entire country. I think
when you start talking about states, even with governors who
control the National Guard, I think you have the you
still run the risk with a guides this wild about

(41:55):
takeover and it's not by accident. You think about Chocolate
City and why that's a threat, and it's not just
about Miria Bowles. It's about we have a black woman
chief of police that people have seen more than ever
in the last thirty days, and I think both of
them are under attack. I agree with you that messaging
is very, very important, and I think the message is

(42:17):
really what keeps community together. And I believe that we
should approach this in a threefold way. I think we
have to negotiate. I think there are some things that
we have to try to do on the business level
and negotiate and do those nuanced things to protect home rule,
build statehood.

Speaker 2 (42:35):
But I think we also have to resist. We need pushback.

Speaker 5 (42:38):
We need our leaders in the streets like Tony and
Needy Taylor in Washington, DC to resist and fight like hell.
But then we also need at grassroots level to be
able to build community power so it can't happen in
the future, and we need all three of those are
swayed at the exact same time. I think we all
sometimes let ourselves get sub distracted and divided into who

(43:03):
should be doing what job.

Speaker 2 (43:04):
But I think the focus needs to be we need
to be doing all three.

Speaker 5 (43:08):
Let the mayor talk to the goal and maybe get something,
and talk to Congress and hope to our council is
able to go on the hill and fight. Because we
don't have a vote. We need to convince other congress
people in other states to support.

Speaker 2 (43:22):
Us, so we I do that. But we need to
fight like hell in the streets, and we need to
build community at the same time.

Speaker 1 (43:28):
I agree with you, And that's why I've been very
careful not to spend so much time attempting to critique MARYE.

Speaker 2 (43:39):
Bowser.

Speaker 1 (43:40):
Right, I'm not saying that again, messaging can't be different, tighter,
or whatever that's saying that, But the none of us
who have not been a mayor of a city in
the midst of what this woman is up against can
really even speak to how what went away, anything needs

(44:01):
to be done right. This is something that is unprecedented
and it's dangerous as hell, and you could lose the
city literally in the fitst of this while you're up
against a tyrant who is a violent fascist tyrant, right,
and so sure, resisting is important, and I definitely want

(44:25):
to see Muriel come to the stage just slam the
thing and go care like that's what I want to see.
But I'm also careful to acknowledge that, yes, things can
be better, but there's also some real, real dangerous stuff
happening here that Washington, d C. Becomes the tone for

(44:45):
America in general. And I don't know the answer, and
I'm not saying that. People who are challenging the mayor,
which helps to keep her sharp, right, because you have
to push back you can't just just go, especially when
you see and field things is that it's not right.
There has to be pushed back. It keeps you, shark
keeps you. You told us, you know the people are
watching you work for us. We demand that there be

(45:08):
a certain job done. But I think that there has
to be also some grace that we allow for people
who are trying to navigate a time that is unlike
any other time that we have seen.

Speaker 2 (45:20):
It's some dangerous up And I know Tony.

Speaker 1 (45:22):
You might want to speak to this because you're real
close to the people who are out there saying we're
gonna push back against the mayor and everybody in this moment.

Speaker 2 (45:32):
Yeah, and I've been trying to.

Speaker 6 (45:33):
I think I think without the messaging I've been given
to the streets though, honestly and to people into community,
is that My personal belief is that this would have
happened in February if she wasn't the mad I think
we really got understanding what what we up and what
we are up against.

Speaker 2 (45:50):
Like and when I say this, I mean this.

Speaker 6 (45:51):
Sort of uh federalization, federalization of our MPD, the attempt
that the you know, the working towards taking home rule.

Speaker 2 (46:01):
I really think she's been able to stay that off
up until this point.

Speaker 6 (46:05):
I think he campaigned that he was going to do
this as soon as he got in office, So this
is not really but people don't be paying attention. And
I think, you know, there's some shared values as relates
to public safety, is what I'm saying between the Trump
administration and the bowels of administration. I'm not I don't
even say that as like a critique. I'm just saying
some of that is it helps us in terms.

Speaker 2 (46:25):
Of holding on the home rule.

Speaker 6 (46:26):
And I think the mayor's loan game is really around
that holding on the home rule. This past week, the
Congress has introduced fourteen bills that I aim at chipping
away at so many of our laws and our bills
and home rulers.

Speaker 2 (46:39):
So it's deeper than just right now, and I think
she understands that.

Speaker 6 (46:44):
But what I feel like the administration can do a
better job of is communicating to the community sort of
what's going on in the bigger picture. I think that's
where and not just in this moment, but I think
historically this administration has dropped the ball in that and
so and now that we're in this moment, it feels
like people feel like she's capitulating or we're not pushing back.

(47:07):
But she has to be strategic, and we all have
to be strategic as possible because again, there is no
and some people may feel like, a, I forget it,
Let's just go all in and let them do what
they gonna do, because compromising with him doesn't work. And
I think a lot of people feel that way, and
I think there's a lot of evidence to speak to
that being maybe being true. But I just continue personally

(47:31):
to give the mayor grace in this moment because I
do understand all of.

Speaker 2 (47:35):
The working parts.

Speaker 6 (47:36):
For everybody out there in these other states, please please
please call your congressional members, House representatives, and senators and
speak to this CBC coming up.

Speaker 2 (47:46):
This should be the main thing at CBC. I don't
know where the caucus is on this.

Speaker 6 (47:52):
I haven't seen anybody, heard anybody met with anybody, not
saying it would just be meal Monica.

Speaker 2 (47:56):
I don't know if MS Barrier has met with anybody.

Speaker 6 (47:58):
But my point is that they shoul be in the
DC community talking to us because they probably have more
leverage than the mayor at this point, and they can't
be active when.

Speaker 2 (48:07):
These bills roll out and it's time for votes.

Speaker 6 (48:11):
If the vote comes out to continue this emergency right,
the city would have to.

Speaker 2 (48:16):
Do sixty votes in order for this to pass.

Speaker 6 (48:17):
These are the type of things where people around the
country can really really help DC and not just see
it as again being here, but you know Baltimore, next Chicago,
next Oakland or whatever New York City.

Speaker 2 (48:29):
So people got to understand that again, this is the
peatrit dish.

Speaker 6 (48:32):
We are testing the stage an't brand and what's happening
here will very well and care very well be you
know in your front door. Your children like mine could
be seeing soldiers with armed soldiers in your streets very soon.
So I think this is important for everybody to understand
this is not just happening here and we need your help.

Speaker 4 (48:53):
Wow, I agree with ninety percent of everything that you
guys are saying. I just think for me and just
look at the grassroots and looking at what we've been
dealing with in politics forever while we are actually here.

Speaker 3 (49:07):
Because the people have lost faith in this strategy. The
people have low faith and politically correct in trying.

Speaker 4 (49:15):
To play this long game because they have not seen
the fruits of the labor of this long game. They've
watched this party deal with tyranny, right, literally deal with
tyranny in us, trying to capitulate or try to find
common ground, and they don't want common ground. And I think,
what's happening in the grassroots now, because this is what

(49:36):
we're dealing with every day when we looking at and
when we're looking in New York and we see that
we have a democratic socialist about to be elected, right,
people do not want status quo. And what's happening. As
much as I love to support maryol a black woman,
I want to see thrive and all of these things,
but it looks like.

Speaker 3 (49:57):
Status quo to everyone.

Speaker 4 (49:59):
And we know the law game, we know the politics
behind the door things, but the constituents taunt. They just
want to see people that want to fight and say
things that make them feel comfortable, make them feel heard.
So when she makes statements as if you know, this
is a good thing and we want to work with
you and not give any level of pushback.

Speaker 3 (50:20):
At all, it looks like once again someone has failed us.

Speaker 4 (50:24):
So how do we stop that? What is the long
game to stop in that? Because these young kids in
the streets, they are going to take over these elections.
They would rather completely let Trump burn it down than
vote for somebody that's playing this game.

Speaker 3 (50:41):
They just not want to do it. So what is
what is our strategy?

Speaker 4 (50:45):
What do we think that we need to do to
try to because we know the inside outside game, we
know the politics back, So how do we attack that?

Speaker 3 (50:54):
Because I don't.

Speaker 4 (50:55):
See anything changing if we do not have leadership in
this moment that is raved that says, when lose a draw,
I'm going to stand up for what the constituents and
what the people are.

Speaker 2 (51:07):
You know my side. I agree with you, and I
like Tamika. I would love to see tables turn over.

Speaker 5 (51:12):
And I've heard my friends say things like she should
just fight back and let whatever comes comes. And the
challenge with that is it would be tragic for us
to lose our limited home role right now, and the
people who don't understand what it means to have locally
elected officials speaking for you are prepared to lose that.

(51:35):
Those who understand that, no, we can't afford that. So
I think the answer comes in education. We have to
train our residents to understand both the inside and outside.
Gay It's stuck me cart Michael versus an MLK right,
they were two different.

Speaker 2 (51:50):
Movements about the same end goal, and we need to
do the same thing. Washington, DC.

Speaker 5 (51:57):
Muriel Bowser have to represents seven hundred thous and of us,
protect home rule, keep us as safe as she can,
and we need to find another leader who can go
in there and turn the tables over. We know that
it's about the same common goal, and we can't get
so caught up in the critique of what's going wrong
and what's not happening that we missed the opportunity to

(52:17):
move this mission forward. I think about this Mayor will
go down in history as having faced probably two of
the biggest existential threats to our city with COVID and
now this imperialistic takeover, and Aslapeka saying unprecedented. There's been
no handbook, no guide to howgh deal with either of

(52:39):
those things. And we watched her face the saying kinds
of critique doing COVID. You know, she doesn't like black people.
She's not doing things that black people need. And history
will say that she led us well through COVID and
we're able to even rebound. I'm hopeful that her actions
will do the exact same thing now and that on

(52:59):
optit September tenth, that they'll be gone and the statehood's
fight will be amplified to a place where we know
we can't afford to be spin on statehood.

Speaker 2 (53:10):
I've watched for thirty years, Tony's been around where we've
been in this community about weather site. It was important.

Speaker 5 (53:16):
So my neighbors said, we don't need statehood because we'll
lose our benefits, We'll lose this. The reality is we
now know full head on state that statehood is absolutely
critical to protect Washington, DC as a whole.

Speaker 1 (53:32):
I just I just want to jump in and say that,
you know, I understand the tension right of the turnover
the tables versus try to and I don't want to
use the word capitulate because I don't think that that's
what's happening. And I think we got to be mindful
of the propaganda that is being pushed in our communities
also to create division between US and black elected officials

(53:56):
and the council, and you know, all the thing, what
I I think it's the main thing. What I believe
that is a main thing that we have to focus
on is not allowing all of us to be the
enemy instead of keeping our eyes on what is happening
with this authoritarian government.

Speaker 2 (54:15):
Now we have to be very squarely focused on that
and at the.

Speaker 1 (54:20):
Same time remain in a posture of pushing the mayor
to be as strong as she can be and as
strategic as she can be. But I would I would
offer this as a critique that if anybody, I'm sure,
if there'd be a million people listening to this podcast,
to this episode to hear what we have to say
in this area, and some people even from her team,

(54:42):
I would offer this critique about this paternalistic way approach
to community, that we've got a strategy that y'all just
don't know and don't understand. If the people don't understand it.
To your point, Monica, we better teach it, talk it walk.
If you got to get in church basements, home basements,

(55:04):
community spots to explain to people exactly what's happening, because
you will be surprised what people know. To say that
people don't know and people don't understand, that makes folks
feel disrespected, that they're intellect and near years and years
and years of activism and work that they've been doing
on the ground is being dismissed in the name of

(55:27):
some strategy that is above their heads, and that you
have to be very careful about, because no matter how
right you are, you lose people as they begin to
feel that they are no longer a partner. But then
why are Mama Bear or Daddy Bear protecting the children
that don't know what's going on?

Speaker 2 (55:45):
And we have to be real, real careful about that, agreed.

Speaker 5 (55:49):
I'm hopeful that the Mayor's comps to you will hear
us today and spend some time truly talking to residents.
We have some sergates out there who are doing their
best to carry the message, but that message isn't always
amplified or aligned with what the Mayor's comes to you
puts out on the street. So you're right, we need

(56:11):
to tell the story and be very very transparent and
where the threats are and where the socials line.

Speaker 2 (56:17):
And Mice and.

Speaker 6 (56:18):
Tomik and you guys said, both of you said something
that made me think about what this moment can still be.
It should have been from the jump as something a
silver line is something that brought us all together, something
that made people more civically engage people that the young
is or whomever to be more aware of why how
their voice matters in terms of voting. But for the
mayor and the council and all of our leaders to say,

(56:40):
in this moment, we're just like you every your everyday residence.
So this, this is why we need to come together
to create more dialogue. I would love to see. I
don't know what's going on in the in the behind
the scenes meetings with the White House, but like all
this stuff, you're talking about the beautiful two billion dollars
you're gonna asks Congress for to beautify the city that's

(57:00):
coming to our community that should be folks with black
businesses and to employ people and let us beautify our
own city if you really are concerned about crime and
things of that nature. But we go back and we're
talking about we are a city that's fractured. Though prior
to this, there is a class divide in the black
community here in DC, and in this moment they show

(57:20):
that's what it's hard for people to galvanize because people
have been so distant and we expect that things trickle
down to a certain demographic when it does it and
so we are as strong as our quote unquote weak
as link, and we need to really double down on
true investment and sustained investment in the folks that have
been justice involved and the folks that we know that

(57:42):
could potentially be involved in some of the crime or
the violence, and really create real pathways so that they
can become stable. That that's gonna help and the push
for statehood that's gonna push in and our pushback at
this in this current moment.

Speaker 2 (57:56):
And I think that's the type of things that I
look to pull from here.

Speaker 6 (58:00):
One of the things I was the most encouraged about,
and in terms of the group that Ms Barry and
Monica and Ron Moden and Nini and the others were
part of that it was really people that all of
us know of each other, all of us have worked
together in some form of fashion in the past, but
we came together in a way where egos would check.
It really was for the common good. And I think

(58:21):
we have to model that, have that be a microcosm
of what we do moving forward in this city. And
some of this stuff needs it could and should be
done despite you know, elected officials, but and know that
our voice is really the ones that's the strongest in
this moment and I hope that at some point, I mean,

(58:41):
you guys, I don't mean the ramble, but I think
it was Also we got a new US attorney who
was judging in Pierrot, who was on Fox five News,
who's aiming to undo so many of our reforms and
prosecute twelve year olds and fourteen year olds as adults.
These are all these bills are talking about moving our
elected attorney general and have the President of appoint the

(59:03):
Attorney General who will not go through a Senate confirmation,
to roll back the Incosceration Reduction Amendment in the Act,
the Youth Rehabilitation Act, the Second Look Act.

Speaker 2 (59:13):
These are all things that are.

Speaker 6 (59:15):
Now on the table and people need to not only
know about it, but people need to come together to
push back on that because that's going to change our
way in life and really hurt our community. And I
think that's what's also like at stake in this moment.
So home rule is super super important. I want to
continue for people to understand how important it is to

(59:36):
hold on to that because without that, you know, this
will become you know, the conservative sort of model. Right,
We'll have the take commandments hanging off of buildings, we'll
have no you know what. I'm just thinking about the
things that these residents have voted or spoken about what
we want, but it just won't matter. It won't None
of that will matter. And that's the predicament we are

(59:58):
in for the rest of the country. I just want
people to understand that, and that you guys need to
start to come together to strategize on how your governor
is going to stand up, how we're going to get
into community and educate your populace on how to avoid
you know, the surge and things of that nature if
it happens, but also how to help.

Speaker 2 (01:00:20):
The district of Columbia.

Speaker 5 (01:00:22):
Please, and my son, you said something, I hope it
comes true. You said, young people going to get in
the streets and bother people out. I'm banking on that.
I am so hopeful that we're able to plan a
see today. In the last few elections, we've been very,
very fracturing about which band guy to choose.

Speaker 2 (01:00:41):
We now understand how important that decision is.

Speaker 4 (01:00:45):
Yeah, just watching what happened in New York City and
seeing the surge of the youth, and especially young black
youth that had never voted before, how they they came
out in record numbers. It's just it was telling to me,
you know, so I think that's the time we en.
But I want to say thank you guys, not just
for this interview, but for the work that you've done

(01:01:06):
consistently on the ground in DC. You are pillars in
the community and the work that you've done. We can't
even thank you enough. And I hope people know what
it is that you guys do, so continue on. We
love you and thank you else.

Speaker 2 (01:01:21):
Thank y'all, God C and Marshall today we love, love,
love both of you for sure. Peace, take care, guys,
Save y'all.

Speaker 4 (01:01:34):
Big shout out to my brother Tony Lewis Junior and
Monica Ray for their beautiful insight on what's going on
in DC. You know, the work they've been doing since
we met them, for years and years, it's just phenomenal.
So it's great to have their insight on something that's
so pivotal and serious going on in their communities, right.

Speaker 2 (01:01:53):
And not their community.

Speaker 4 (01:01:54):
Show's going on in hour God you know work like
they said David petrit Dish right, they're the one where
the main thing is being tested right now. So just
getting the insight and understanding because a lot of people
are just looking and they don't really understand what's going on.
So just get Having people who have their post on
the community and actually know what's going on in politics
at the same time is very resourceful.

Speaker 3 (01:02:17):
Absolutely, so for my I don't get it.

Speaker 4 (01:02:19):
There's been a lot of chatter online about Sierra naming
her son, who is Futures and also Little Future, with
the last name of her husband, Russell Wilson. Now she
didn't take away his original last name, but she added
Wilson to and a lot of people was like, oh,
this and that, and I don't get it. I'm not

(01:02:40):
saying it's wrong or right. I just don't understand why
it was needed to do. You know, if if I
had a woman and I came into her life and
she had a child with another man, I don't think
I would be comfortable even giving them my last unless
that was something that was agreed upon with me and
the father, unless that was something for some reason I

(01:03:02):
just don't understand. I feel like that imposes on her
relationship that a father has with his own child. You know,
I think that it causes wedges between the family, you know,
I'm sure, I'm just knowing just based on and I
can't confirm more than not this, but just based on future,

(01:03:23):
I don't believe it's something that he was like, yeah, yeah,
go on, Namem Wilson, you know. So I know there's
gonna be some type of backlash and it's gonna be friction.
So I don't understand the move. And a lot of
people say, well, if she want to do this, or
I just don't understand, I really just.

Speaker 3 (01:03:38):
Don't get it.

Speaker 4 (01:03:39):
Maybe somebody else could give me some perspective, but I
just know as a man, I wouldn't feel okay with it.
I wouldn't be okay with my child taking the name
of someone else, especially while I'm alive in the child's life,
you know, and this is something somebody that I love
and I care for and we have a bond, and
I'm identifying that person as my son. You legally adopting

(01:04:01):
my son and taking away my parental rights. I don't
see why you would give my son someone else's last name,
whether you married to the one, I just don't see.

Speaker 2 (01:04:12):
Well, let me say that we don't know what has happened.

Speaker 1 (01:04:17):
We haven't heard a future say that he's upset about
it either. So we really don't know. This is all
people on the internet who are going crazy about something
that we have now interpreted it in their own way.
For all we know, it's not an issue and it
has been discussed, but we don't know. What I will
say is, let's just it was done without Future agreeing

(01:04:42):
to it, right, Let's just assume because that's what most
people are assuming that it's a slight to him cool,
which again still I say, again, we don't know. I
have watched two different types of personalities in Future and
in Sierra. Right from the outside, I don't know nothing

(01:05:07):
nahing about these people, but Sierra gives me a very
solid individual, not because I'm a super fan. I'm just
saying that's what she gives.

Speaker 2 (01:05:20):
Future. On the other hand, I have questions about for
many reasons.

Speaker 1 (01:05:25):
If my instincts are right about just from the outside
looking in at relationships, there's some underlined stuff that's.

Speaker 2 (01:05:36):
Been going on with this family for a long, long,
long long time.

Speaker 1 (01:05:41):
And I'm not going to sit here and put bad
things on that man's name because that would be wrong
because again I don't know. But if I had to be,
if I was gossiping with my friends, I'm sure you
come up with a list of reasons why in this
particular moment she thought it was the right thing to do.
I think it's also a business, small for a family,

(01:06:01):
because families and your name is a business, and a
lot of people don't realize that. Right, it's legacy, sure,
but it's like nos, that is a business, right, Carter,
that's a business.

Speaker 2 (01:06:17):
Harvey, that's a business. These names are not the same.

Speaker 1 (01:06:21):
And by the way, it's a business when you mallories
and we don't have the money of these people or
the status of these people.

Speaker 2 (01:06:30):
It's a business.

Speaker 3 (01:06:31):
Futures a business too.

Speaker 2 (01:06:33):
I'm not saying he's not, but it is definitely important.

Speaker 1 (01:06:38):
Well for some people, it's important that a family unit
all be under one particular name.

Speaker 3 (01:06:45):
What who what? People though, this is what I'm trying
to tell you.

Speaker 2 (01:06:49):
That's what.

Speaker 1 (01:06:49):
It's a business. It's a business model. Also, I'm saying that, yes,
there is of course the emotion, not the emotional, but
the legacy and the family side of it, which is
obviously why they're saying. She added Wilson, but she didn't
take away whatever future's last name. So clearly some decisions

(01:07:11):
were made and I believe that it was done for
more than just a family legacy, but also a business reason.

Speaker 2 (01:07:21):
That's what I believe.

Speaker 1 (01:07:21):
I believe it has something to do with, you know,
God forbid something happens to Russell Wilson.

Speaker 2 (01:07:29):
Or whatever.

Speaker 1 (01:07:30):
The family has a particular umbrella, if you will, and
it would be under the Wilson name. That's what I believe.

Speaker 2 (01:07:38):
I don't think that.

Speaker 4 (01:07:39):
The only only thing that I could see that would
make a little bit of sense is if he felt
the way right, if little future felt like, well, my mother's.

Speaker 3 (01:07:47):
Last name is Wilson, it could make.

Speaker 4 (01:07:51):
We have another child like we have I have like
so like we have a family and my my name
is the only name that difference. So that would be
a conversation. And maybe they want your future and maybe
that conversation, but I don't know, so.

Speaker 1 (01:08:04):
I cannot confirm that will maybe they but and that
that's a good perspective.

Speaker 2 (01:08:12):
But what I what I will say is that.

Speaker 1 (01:08:15):
There are a lot of women who even when they
get divorced, I mean, are Kelly's wife.

Speaker 2 (01:08:20):
This has been the conversation many times. I forget her name, she.

Speaker 1 (01:08:27):
Kept her last name Kelly, and people are like, well,
why would you keep his last name when you're also
saying that he did all of these horrific things and
you're not supportive of him and whatever, Why would you
keep his last name? And her position is that my
children have that last name, right. I know a lot
of women who are still living under the last name

(01:08:49):
of their.

Speaker 2 (01:08:52):
Their ex husband because they are trying to make sure
that they keep their family name consistent.

Speaker 1 (01:08:58):
And again is back to it's a business also, like
there is literally business reasons why people in a family
have this all of one last name, especially when people
have a lot of money.

Speaker 2 (01:09:12):
Look at Steve Harvey's step children. They are named Laurie Harvey.

Speaker 1 (01:09:15):
Is not his shot.

Speaker 4 (01:09:16):
Well, the thing is, I understand that, and it makes
sense in that situation because I don't even know who
Lorie Harvey's.

Speaker 1 (01:09:23):
Father isn't That's the only reason why you can't because
he should have to say.

Speaker 2 (01:09:26):
If you care about Future, don't think that Robert is not.

Speaker 4 (01:09:32):
Also in what I'm just trying to say, because what
I'm trying to say is Future is a big artist, right.
Future is a multi million dollar platinum artist. He's probably
one of the biggest artists in hip hop. He pretty
much is one of the icons. When they talk about
icons and hip hop, Future is pretty much an icon.
He's he's one of the founders or creators of Atlanta Sound,

(01:09:56):
the new Atlanta Sound that usher it in Future is.
They called him the godfather of this sound. So he
is one of those artists. He sells out arenas and
all of those things, so he has his own legacy.
I mean, I know, I know, for me, not even
being a bigger artist, I want my son to live
in my legacy.

Speaker 2 (01:10:15):
I want my sons this last name. I listen, listen.

Speaker 1 (01:10:19):
I do not want to sit here and make it
seem like I agree with the premise because my child's
last name is Ryan's, which is his father's last.

Speaker 2 (01:10:28):
Name, and marriage or not, I probably would never change
his name.

Speaker 1 (01:10:34):
Even though they didn't change the name, they added a name,
and that's and that does give me a different perspective
because if Don Colman, who I was with for twelve years, right,
who became and a plus, my son's father is deceased,
so it's different.

Speaker 2 (01:10:52):
Jason is not here. But even in that situation, it's
even more emotional for me in terms of the can
to the Ryans legacy. Nevertheless, if Donna and I got.

Speaker 1 (01:11:05):
Married after twelve years of being together and him doing
everything in his power to care for my child. I
don't know that I wouldn't add Coleman to his last
name if it, like you said, if it was something
that he wanted to do.

Speaker 2 (01:11:19):
It's an interesting dialogue, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:11:21):
But I look at Sierra and want to believe that
we just don't know the details of what goes on
behind the scenes.

Speaker 2 (01:11:29):
Hopefully Future said alright with me, I hope it isn't called.

Speaker 4 (01:11:36):
I hope it because those kind of things can cause
major confusion within a family structure. So I hope you
know they're on the same page, and we just don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:11:46):
We'll see because well maybe not. They put me not
tell anybody anything.

Speaker 4 (01:11:51):
Well, that brings us to the end of another episode.
We want to thank you for listening to celebrating five
years of the Black of Podcast Network with us. Keep following, sharing,
and streaming because the next five years are gonna be
even bigger. Make sure you follow us at TMI Underscore
Show on Instagram and TMI Show PC on YouTube. Listen

(01:12:13):
I'm not gonna always be right Tamika D. Maverick's I
Canna always be wrong, but we'll both always.

Speaker 3 (01:12:18):
And I mean always be authentic.

Speaker 4 (01:12:22):
That's how we