January 29, 2025 • 63 mins
The Black Effect Presents... TMI!
This week hosts Tamika D Mallory and Mysonne the General discuss personal healing, the importance of community engagement, and the upcoming launch of Tamika's new book "I Lived To Tell The Story." They reflect on parenting, social issues, and the significance of consumer choices in supporting black-owned businesses after Trump's Anti DEI order. The dialogue emphasizes the need for economic power and the consequences of dismissing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Tamika also. stresses the importance of strategic boycotts and unity within the community to address economic disrespect and the breach of partnerships with companies like Target.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'm Tamika D. Mallory and it Shit Boy my Son
in general, we are your host of TMI.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Tamika and my Son's Information, Truth, Motivation and Inspiration.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
New Energy.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
What's up, Tamika D. Mallory. How you doing today?
Speaker 1 (00:16):
I'm doing good, my SONA now.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
You I am doing better.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
It has been a rough week, but now I'm coming
to terms with the reality of what we're dealing with.
You know, I got my mojo and I'm ready to go.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
You know, yeah, me too. I'm good.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
You know.
Speaker 4 (00:36):
I feel like I am putting into practice things that
I've learned since that horrific burnout.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
That landed me in rehab.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
Right, and you know, the trauma and everything that I experienced.
I talk about what I learned and how I came
out of it. But often times, as time goes on
and you have different experiences and you live in life,
we often forget about things. It's like when you drink
too much and then you're like, God, I promise you,
(01:13):
if you would just help me get over this, I
promise I won't drink as let next. Oh no, that's it,
this is my last time. And then of course five
times later, maybe even the next day people go back
to some of their old ways that you know, we revert,
and so I've had to be mindful of that in
this moment, and I write about it in my book,
(01:34):
my new book.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Yes, I live to tell the story.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
I live to tell the story, and that's the real thing.
I live to tell the story. And the story goes
and I say that I'm going to fight for freedom
until I die, but this time freedom includes me, right.
And so with that being said, I cannot allow my
(02:00):
self to go back to where I was in twenty
nineteen to ninety eight pounds, even though I wish I
could get to ninety eight pounds now shoot on my own.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Without being stressed out.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
But that's a whole different day's topic, not ninety eight pounds.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
But you get my point.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
I guess, let me get my point.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
So I can't allow that to happen. So I'm not
going to allow myself to drown.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
I feel it.
Speaker 4 (02:27):
I know where we are, and I think what is
very frustrating is watching people wake up knowing that like
we said this, we said all of this and had
been saying it before an election. Yeah, that's the other thing.
I just want to make sure that. That's clear. We've
been saying a lot of this stuff before an election.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Definitely way before election. Well, listen, how do people get
this book? When does it drop? Like this is our show?
Speaker 1 (02:54):
People already know.
Speaker 4 (02:55):
They already know because I'll be telling them every other day.
It's February eleven. Yes, first event is February sixth in Louisville, Kentucky.
It is extremely humbling and it's such a proud moment
for me to go to Louisville and have my friends
(03:18):
Sadiqa Reynolds and attorney Leanita Baker to be the host
of my first public event. It's actually before my book
comes out. It's a pre event. It's the first event,
and it means so much because you know what we
went through in Louisville. Yeah, you know that, and well,
(03:39):
and Louisville was right after I came out of rehab, right,
I mean right before.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Louisville was right before I.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
Came out of rehab, right, because twenty nineteen, and then
we went there in twenty twenty. I was still a mess.
I was still trying to piece myself back together. I
was still dealing with shit. I you know, didn't know
exactly what I was gonna do which direction to go in.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
I had so much.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
Going on, And when Ben Crump called me, all of
that's in this book about you know, Breonna Taylor, we
went and so these are people that we've only known
for five years, but it seems like we've and it's
not even five years yet, but it seems like we've
known them for a lifetime. And they became our sisters,
you know, to Meeka Palmer, she excuse me, she's one
(04:29):
of the hosts as well of the event. And so
I'm just like, wow, you know, this book has.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Been I love to cover like show like show to.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
This is the uh, the this is my vision.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
It's the duality, all right.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
It's the duality from you know, the braids to the
long here and it's just and this.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Is actually the housing projects that I grew up in.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
People probably, oh, I can't even realize that and projects.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Yep.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
So anyway, is this book was a lot to get out.
I always say that it's like I'm at the right now.
I'm in the delivery process. Like I already have my
date scheduled. It's February eleventh. I know we're gonna have
the baby that day. It's coming out, and all the
(05:21):
terrible things, the what do you have with morning sickness?
You nauseous, can't eat, can't rest, can't whatever. Most of
those things have subsided at this point from this book,
except you know, trying to get the tour done and
the sales where they need to be. That kind of
feels like the part when you need the body pillow.
(05:44):
Janie is looking like yes. Janice, who is our director
of everything over there, she's looking like yes.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
So I'm in that stage.
Speaker 4 (05:52):
But it's pretty much I'm in the sailing part. We
know the baby is coming and win. But it was
a lot to get this done. The stories that I'm
telling in this book, I wish I could take like
five of them out because I don't know what I
must have been like, I don't.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
Know, just telling you tell your business.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
Or something that day and just went the little bit.
So but I'm glad that it's out here. I know
that this book is going to help somebody.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Well, I look forward to reading it today, you know,
because I got my little copy and I'm gonna read it.
But I'm proud of you. And please make sure that
you'll go out pre order. Make sure that you at
every event on the tour, show out, show up, make
sure that you support this woman because the way she
fights for black people is undeniable.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
Well, and also make sure that you get my son's
book I got a couple of years.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Last one is.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Called it's called Echoes in the Streets.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Echoes in the Street, and it's.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
About gun violence, the stories about gun violence within the
inner communities in the cities, and it breaks down different
ways and strategies that community and you you can come
together and stop gun violence. So there's really really strong
stories inside. So shout out to my partner and publisher
Heed Yes.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Right cool.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
So, so you know wherever, first of all, wherever you
buy books, Black bookstores very important, Barnes and Nobles. Also,
please pick up a pre order copy. I know how
we as black folks, especially how we are, we got
to we want to touch the thing. We don't want
to buy anything and wait for it to come. I
(07:32):
remember when we were out getting people to the polls
and I was like, you're not gonna early vote, Like
you could go vote today.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
They be like our own vote early. I want my
vote on the day. I'm like, but you gotta stand online.
I don't care.
Speaker 4 (07:44):
I want my vote on the day. That's sometimes how
we are, that's how we operate. But in the publishing world,
and shout out to my publisher, Black Privilege Publishing, CHARLEMAGNEA
god Atria, and the Simon and Schuster family.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
But in the publishing world, authors need pre sales.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
That's very helpful in terms of how their books get
out the bond.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
You know.
Speaker 4 (08:09):
It's like when you know when you in a race,
you don't try to like take off slow. You coming
out moving. You're coming out moving. So that's what we need.
So you can go to Tamika D. Mallory dot com.
That's Tamika D. Mallory dot com and you can find
out all the things how to purchase the book.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Where the tour is going.
Speaker 4 (08:30):
The sixth we're in Louisville, Kentucky.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
The ninth, I'm.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
At Jamal Bryant's Church, New Birth Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
The eleventh, well, actually the thirteenth.
Speaker 4 (08:42):
The eleventh, I got something going on, but I ain't
really talking about it too much. If you know me
and you want to come to what I'm doing on
the eleventh, holla. But on the thirteenth, We're at the
New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. I'm
gonna be with Jimani Williams, the Public Advocate, and Janelle Aggie,
who is the executive director of editing at Ebony Magazine.
(09:05):
I mean, then we're in that's the thirteenth. The eighteenth,
I'm in Washington, d C. At Politics and Pros. Then
I'm in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Our family there, the Crutcher family,
and also Keim Roxy of Lamique Beauty. And then you know,
also in New Orleans, we're at Baldwin and Company. I
think that's on the twentieth, but don't listen to me.
(09:26):
Go to the website and look it up for yourself. Jacksonville,
Florida on the twenty second. We have a full schedule
of things that we'll be doing all of February, all
of March, and I'm really really excited.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
I didn't get to do this with my first book.
We were at home.
Speaker 4 (09:41):
Although I had a star studded release for my first book,
we had everybody. We had panels and discussions online that
included everybody from Taraji p Henson to Tiffany Hattis. Of course,
Charlemagne was helping to hold some stuff. You held to
host things. Linda Sarsour was invo I mean I could
(10:02):
go on. Alicia Keys, you know, did panels and discussions
with me. So it's not that we did not have
a good amount of people who were supportive, but everybody
was at home. It was now going outside.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Now you outside with it, man.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
So I definitely I know it's gonna be a good book,
and I know that people are gonna love it because
it's so authentic and raw, like every time you talk
about it, you got a team your eyes, and everybody
that's read it so far has tears in it. So
I make sure make sure that you go out and
get the book. Yes, and the news for me. Yesterday
was my youngest son, Kesten's birthday, Happy birthday casting He
(10:43):
turned eleven yesterday and we had a ball, took him
out to Humdinger's, this place he likes with his friends.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
So I enjoyed that.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
I just you got three sons and grandson.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
I'm a g from the gipop, but Kessen is like
he's a very he's an impact. He's a very intelligent
young boy and he picks up on everything like he
knows what you're thinking, he knows how you're feeling. You know.
He's very passionate about things. He messed up his foot
(11:21):
last weekend, you know, playing soccer, and he had a
game the next day he couldn't make it to. So
he was up all night.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Trying to heal itself together.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
He was soaking his ankle, he was putting alcohol, he
put vics on his leg, anything you could think of.
He was trying to make it to that game. He
did not want to let down that team. He woke
up at eight o'clock in that morning, was like, tried
it again. He was just like, nah, Dad, he's still
been living. So I made a little joke. I've been
calling him young peg Leg and he hates that, but
(11:52):
I played with It's.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
A joke, a joke. What God? Yeah, listen, everything is
not so serious.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
No, But it's not that.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
It's that injuries sometimes makes people feel already, especially like
you said, he can't play.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
He already is feeling.
Speaker 4 (12:13):
A way about that, and then you over here putting
a label on him, and.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
They feel he laughed it up.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Sometimes he doesn't like it. Sometimes he likes it. Sometimes
Young peg Leg is fine.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
He's he'll be good for you know that there are
people who really have peg legs. And it's kind of
like you saying that to him.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
It's like saying, you know what, the reason why I
call him because he limps like he has one. He
looks like it looks like he has like a little
pirate sometimes when his legs starts hurting very much. Disregarding
these it ain't got nothing to do with I'm talking
about my son. You're talking about these people. This ain't
got nothing to do. This is not to offend anybody else.
(12:52):
It's a joke that I have with my son.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
Right so please call somebody who actually has a peg
leg a peg leg, although he probably won't do that.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
Because I will do that, because I would never do that.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
I made a joke with him about his little foot
being hurt.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
I'm going to once again, happy birthday. I love you.
Speaker 4 (13:17):
Listen if my granddaughter was being pushed in the swing
and when she said something, but her father was also
talking to our whole family on face time, because we
literally have everybody possible on a FaceTime. Whenever he wants
(13:37):
to show Blair and he hit something and then everybody goes.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
In and go, hi, Blair, we love you. She's the
star of the show.
Speaker 4 (13:45):
So he was pushing her, and he pushed her one
time and she said and she said something, but he
doesn't he didn't know what she said.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
And her mom was there also, so he said, what
did you say? What does she say? So her mom.
Speaker 4 (14:01):
Says, she said do it again or put or do
it one more time or something like that, and so
he goes, she didn't say that.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
Now, she was probably.
Speaker 4 (14:11):
Talking kind of baby gibberish, but a mother's gonna understand
her child.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
We don't care.
Speaker 4 (14:17):
You could be talking backwards and a mother is gonna
be like, I know exactly what that means. So he said,
she didn't say that, and Blair goes, yes, she's old too.
She said, yes, like mommy is right, I can do
it again.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
I might not have said it exactly, but.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Listen, she wants you to understand, and she knows what
she wants for herself, and she wants you to understand
that she's expressing herself.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
And her mama understood exactly.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
That's exactly right. That's why I love my mother, because
my mother she knows she's they are they are.
Speaker 4 (14:58):
We talk about this all the time. These kids parents
are amazing. It's not like when we was parents.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
That's one thing I say about these kids. My son
is serious about being a father to his son. These kids,
they do not play about his son.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Now. They can have all.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
Kinds of they're crazy otherwise, but.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Them kids, they serious about them kids. They go.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
So that's a testament to you know, parenting that they
see they either you know, they feel like something didn't
happen that they want to happen, or they've seen something
happen that they want to.
Speaker 4 (15:31):
Continue to Later on, they're going to realize we weren't
as bad as.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
They That's what I think.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
What happens is they realize it now because they realize
all of the pressure and stuff that they're under, and
then they're like, damn, I didn't even know you went
through this.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
I just because it's hard.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
It's hard.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Is very very very hard. It's very hard. It's very hard.
Speaker 4 (15:53):
And speaking of hard things, there's a lot of hard
things happening in our world.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Love and I.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
You know, I've only made one post maybe two about
the target situation and and just overall diversity, equity and inclusion,
and I am committed. I've only made two posts maybe
about it, maybe one and then also I only said
(16:26):
one thing like on camera. But I thought about it
and I listened for the last few days.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
I just listened.
Speaker 4 (16:36):
I was taking in all the different aspects, because you know,
we follow and are followed by all different types of people.
We got the super radical blacks, we got the Pan
African blacks, we got the the the bougie black, we
got the conservative blacks.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
We had we every.
Speaker 4 (16:59):
Kind of person, black person, we have somebody who is
a part of that Republicans of course, Democrats or whatever,
black women, black men.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Troll we got trolling, pntroll we have the trolls. We
have the ignorant.
Speaker 4 (17:19):
We have all kinds of young, we have young, we
have different age groups. So we see a lot of things,
and I follow a lot of different types of people,
and I just want to I just listen.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
I said.
Speaker 4 (17:33):
The one thing that I have learned in my leadership
position is that I now don't where I used to
need to respond. I don't have to as quick because
the more information that I gathered before speaking, I think
it makes my voice more effective, more powerful. So I
(17:56):
just sat back and I kind of listened to people
sending me everything.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
Every body sending me something.
Speaker 4 (18:01):
And I know that part of the reason why so
many people are sending me so many different things is
because folks know that I have not said this is
what I think we should do, and they want to
try to not so much influence in a negative way,
but just put their perspective into mind.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
In my in my thought process.
Speaker 4 (18:23):
And so speaking of thoughts today, in my thought of
the day, I really want to take the time. And
we don't have a guest for this show because it
just we just couldn't fit it with what we want
to discuss. So I want to just start off by
saying that. So I want to put this at the
(18:45):
beginning in the end as a bookmark to Meeka Mallory
personally will not be shopping at Target. That's not going
to happen. I won't be going to Target. I have
always and will continue to uplift black brands. I am
(19:07):
a die hard support supporter of black people in general,
and I will continue to do that. But I personally
will not be shopping in Targets. Some people are saying
Black History Month, others are saying the third quarter. I
mean the first quarter. People have different ideas about it.
I don't know when or if I will ever return.
(19:27):
Our history is that when we leave a brand, we
we almost never go back. I looked at myself today
and realize that I've been wearing my little Blenciaga sock sneakers.
I was a good I was a beyond a Blencioga
person like I liked Blenciaga. Uh and and I as
soon as they start with the kids and the videos
(19:48):
and the devil stuff and whatever, I don't know what
was going.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
I didn't even take.
Speaker 4 (19:52):
The time to do bus so much research about whatever
that was.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
But it just didn't feel right to me.
Speaker 4 (19:59):
I don't like the way it looked, and I didn't
have anything to do with this side it packed up
a bunch of Balenciaga stuff and just gave it away.
I might I have like two sweaters, maybe three sweaters,
and these little sock sneakers. So that's where I'm at
with it. But I'm probably never going to be caught.
And when I say caught, I don't mean like gotcha,
but me personally walking into a store purchasing something from Balenciaga.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
That's just me.
Speaker 4 (20:26):
I gave up Gucci and the blackface sweater. I did
not like it. I felt, first of all, the impact
to me, it was very very disrespectful for people to
even try to make the excuse that they did not
know or that it wasn't exactly what we saw. And
so I just decided that I was done with it.
(20:49):
But then even if I even if I would have said, well,
maybe I'm overreacting or maybe we need to educate them
and it's going to get better, the way in which
things rolled out after that I didn't appreciate at all.
So I just don't wear a Gucci. But that's you know,
everybody do their thing. That's my personal thing. Then Kyrie
(21:14):
Irvin Nike, they cut their contract with him.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
I cut Nike.
Speaker 4 (21:19):
So you cut Kyrie, I cut you. That's it, simple,
one hard decision. First I was kind of like, what
we're doing. Everybody wears Nike. Then I realized it's not
that serious. I don't have to wear Nike. There's a
number of black brands, actively black being one of them,
there's other.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
They just hit me a couple of Piers Niggas new.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
Dope, sigh of collected.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
I mean, they go get Kyrie's the answers he got
all kinds of flavors.
Speaker 4 (21:46):
So there's a there's a million things we can do,
and we're gonna talk about that because distribution is very important,
which is why this target piece is so serious.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
Wiffle House ain't been back. The waffle house.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
She was on my page ten somebody up this morning
talking about me, So she don't she don't play.
Speaker 4 (22:08):
Shakisha Clemings was attacked, brutally attacked and dro in a
waffle house because a white woman wanted to try to
charge her for a plastic four.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
And they and and and they.
Speaker 4 (22:22):
What they did to her was something that it wasn't acceptable.
But what was worse was that waffle House response wasn't
even to respectfully say, we apologize for what took place,
and we you know, we don't condone the way in
which our employee and the police officers came in here.
They doubled down and acted like Squisha Clemings was some type,
like she was in there doing a robbery.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
And then she took her to trial.
Speaker 4 (22:45):
Right, and then tried to exactly the police took her
the trial to say she did something to them. So
waffle House been off my list. Okay, so I'm saying Starbucks.
Muslims said, we're not going to Starbucks because of their
support for and by the way, Starbucks has been around
(23:06):
in a cycle on my list of people that I
don't shop with, but specifically around Israel, Palestine and the
Palestinian people and Muslims in general, saying we do not
support Starbucks because of their support for the Israeli government
and what is happening. Unfortunately, whether you want to accept
(23:28):
it or not, it's whose side or you are you on.
That's just where we are right So Starbucks, I be
dying of I got a cold. I used to like
the medicine ball have I my stomach be growling.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Some airport you go in. All they have is a
little Starbucks.
Speaker 4 (23:48):
Count and you know what I do, Get me some
water from a store and keep it moving.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
I don't go in Starbucks. I'm saying all of this
to say to you all that I know that I'm different.
Speaker 4 (24:00):
I know I was cut from a certain cloth that
is very, very different from most people. I know that
when a school calls me up, or a corporation calls
me up, and they get in touch with Toya and
they say they want me to speak at a conference,
(24:22):
or they want me to participate in some type of program.
But they tell me that I need to scrub my
Instagram page or I need to not say these things,
or don't do this thing, or don't wear this, And
I'd say I can't do those things, and they telling
me that it's twenty five thousand dollars or it's fifty
(24:43):
thousand for two sessions, or it's whatever. I have turned
it down many times. I have had people call me
on the phone and say to me, Tomka, your book
is about to come out, or this is about to happen,
or y'all just you know, the rebranding of your show.
You got all these things going on. Let's just leave
(25:06):
that alone for now. And strategically they might be right. Strategically,
what they're saying is probably it's probably right that if
I just go dark, stay under the radar, and just
you know you because there's different ways to work. You
don't always have to be in the front, right, You
(25:27):
can do things differently.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
You know.
Speaker 4 (25:29):
I've had people say that to me, Hey, just you
know for now, but that's not who I am. So
I have to take that into consideration whenever I'm out
here speaking to other people that we are not all
at the same place, we're not all on the same level,
and we're not all committed in the same way. Our sister,
(25:51):
Leslie Redman says something so true yesterday. Leslie Redmand, who
was the president of the Minneapolis chapter of the NAACP
while we were there fighting for George Floyd, she said
something yesterday.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
It is so true.
Speaker 4 (26:07):
Most people don't want to be free. Most Black people
don't want to be free. They want to be rich,
That's what and that's the fact. And sometimes being rich
looks like freedom. But if we know anything about that,
(26:28):
jay Z said, still nigga, OJ and all everybody. You
can have lots of money and still be treated like
a nigga. And so not to say we should not
acquire wealth, because we should, but wealth and freedom are
(26:50):
not the same thing.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
It should it should be a balance, right, and it
should be real conversations like you said, you know, when
we when I looked at this hotel, good situation, when
I'm just looking at the last one hundred executive orders, right.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
And hundred Yeah, there's been a hundred.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
Executive orders signed in in the last week. And when
I'm looking at how these things actually roll back civil
rights that have been established for the last fifty sixty years,
you know, And you really just sit there and think
about this, And I say to myself, what are we
willing to say? And I've heard all these people you
know there are you know, we have we have black
(27:31):
scholars and black leaders that say that's good. We don't
need d you know, we need to separate anyway, We
need to do our own.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
I don't know too many scholars they're saying, well.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
I mean, I don't know, Okay, well these are this
is what they say. Doctor Claude Anderson has said that
we need to separate, and we need and that's what's
going to take for us to do is to build
our own.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
And I do not disagree with those things. Right. I
do believe that we need to separate.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
I do believe that we need to build our own,
but I do not believe that we should build it
while we are experienced injustice. I don't believe that we
should make it okay for them to do negative things
to us. I don't believe we should be okay since
we need to separate. You don't have to give us
what you owe us, right, we don't deserve the amount
of reparations and things that we've earned in America. I
(28:19):
don't I believe we should be doing both ads. It's
like I'm in jail and I'm filing for my pill right,
but at the same time trying to figure out if
we got to break out and I got life inside
here and I gotta break I'm gonna do both of
them at the same time. It's not gonna not fire.
And then if I'm locked up for life for a
crime I didn't commit. So this is what I'm trying
(28:40):
to tell you. I want you to understand we're inside
of This is jail for black people. We living in America.
We were sentenced to life in America, right, and we're
trying to figure out how do we get our freedom back?
Because that's what it is. It's a lifetime bid in America.
So how do we get our freedom back?
Speaker 3 (28:58):
Now?
Speaker 2 (28:59):
As I'm trying to from my freedom, I know that
America still owes me. So sure, I want reparations, I
want repair, I want You know what has been owed
to our ancestors who built America on his back, It
was never compensated for it. You know, we have built
our own economies time and time through our history, and
they have destroyed it. They've burned it down, they've disenfranchised
(29:20):
us over hundreds and hundreds of times.
Speaker 3 (29:24):
This is documented.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
So I don't I do not, you know, subscribe to
the fact that we what we actioning for is a handout.
We're not asking for handout. We're asking for we old.
But in the meantime, we should be building what you know,
our own economy should we should be building.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
Our own structure.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
We should try to separate and build out because everyone
else has done that. But what I say when people
say that to me is what are you willing to
sacrifice for it?
Speaker 3 (29:50):
Right?
Speaker 2 (29:50):
Because the same people that are saying, yo, we don't
want nothing from the white man and we don't want
this with the same people that's saying, well, we got
a stimulus check, right, and they wanted to make it
seem like that was okay. But that's not a hand though, right,
the same people that say they aren't willing to boycott,
they aren't willing to stop spending their money with the
people that's suppressing us. They don't want to They sit
(30:10):
there and say, yeah, we don't need none of this,
but you're not willing to make the sacrifices.
Speaker 4 (30:15):
Well, it just depends, okay, because I just want to
make sure we put these things in little buckets. Because
first of all, when you said, they say, doctor Claude
Anderson and others have said that we need to separate, right,
And I don't know, Like I know that doctor Claude
(30:35):
Anderson teaches a lot about independence and all of that,
but I would love for somebody to just show me
where doctor Anderson has said that black people do not
deserve a seat at corporate tables, a seat in institutions,
that we should not have ourselves intertwined in systems where
(30:59):
we are able to monitor what is happening with the
millions of black people who are coming through the stores,
the banks, the colleges.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
The whatever.
Speaker 4 (31:09):
I do believe building our own is important and I
want to see us continue to do that because I
believe that there are a lot of people who are
in They're building sustainable communities, They're building you know, black banks.
You got Greenwood, which is Killer MIC's bank. You have
people that are doing all of these things, and so
(31:30):
we don't want to conflate them because I know that's
a group.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
Then of course you have.
Speaker 4 (31:35):
The stimulus check, it was more money in my pocket.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
People.
Speaker 4 (31:39):
But those people in these people are not the same people.
And then you have the people who are in the
middle who are like, the hell with everything, we don't
need them for anything.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
Here's my thing.
Speaker 4 (31:51):
Even with that, Okay, I've been asking people all weekend.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
They said, well, we.
Speaker 4 (31:57):
Don't need you know, we don't need anything from the
white man. And by the way, I think anybody who's
telling you that this moment, the executive orders and the
things that's happening in this nation are not going to
impact you. Any black person that says that to you,
that it doesn't have to impact you, or that it
doesn't impact you at least, they are ignorant, just and
(32:20):
not ignorant in a negative way, but they don't know.
At best, they are dangerous when they tell you that,
because we are all living in a society that impacts
every single one of us. Everything that happens, it impacts
all of us, whether or not, whether or not we
realize it. Even when we talk about violence in our communities,
(32:42):
we talk about you know, happiness in our communities, all
of that is in fact influenced by what is happening
in the atmosphere. So when you say that things don't
impact people, it's a very dangerous statement to make because
it does.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
All policy are local, all politics.
Speaker 3 (33:02):
Are local, and they affect everyone, and.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
They impact all of us.
Speaker 4 (33:08):
If you drive, you got to have gas, Okay, if
the gas price is high, that's.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
Going to impact you.
Speaker 4 (33:15):
You want to put your children in schools, and all
the things that you are doing every single day. Even
if you only do a little bit and you're more
self contained, you still will if you breathe the air
that's outside, if you don't have your own air, it
is impacted by whatever chemicals are being put into the
(33:39):
atmosphere or all of that.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
So I don't want to say that.
Speaker 4 (33:42):
I don't want people to tell you that policies don't
impact all of us. But we also have to keep
in mind that as we move about building our own
So you say, we don't need targets and walmarts in
all of these places, right, we don't need that. The
(34:03):
average person in our community is not going to build
our own.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
There's only gonna be a few.
Speaker 4 (34:10):
People who do it, and then people who funnel into
it and help it to thrive. Right, That's how it works.
So if you live in a food desert and you
don't really have transportation.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
While we're on a five to ten year.
Speaker 4 (34:26):
Process to building our own, which we should focus on
rather than focusing so much on being on the internet
telling everybody else, all of us what we're doing right, wrong.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
This, that, and the third.
Speaker 4 (34:38):
But if you building something five ten years, then how
is Jojo going to eat? Where is he going to
work right now?
Speaker 2 (34:51):
And that's a That's another conversation that I'm having when
we have this conversation about boycotts and we talk about Target.
You know, there's been this long, large conversation about there
are black people who vendors, who have vendors who have
contracts with Target, and if we boycott Target, then it's
gonna hurt them and we shouldn't do that. And I
(35:13):
say to myself, there are hundreds and thousands of people
who are going to be affected because of these policies
that Target, and they're not going to have jobs, They're
not gonna have a way to survive this. They don't have,
you know, the resources to be able to produce and
be entrepreneurs.
Speaker 3 (35:29):
Their families are going to suffer.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
There are people who are in d oppositions in major
you know stores and Target and all that they're gonna
their families are going to be completely wiped out. Right,
These are this is a right reality. They are people
who are in positions. I'm just saying everywhere. So I'm
saying Target because when we talk about were Target and Target,
(35:52):
there are they were d I departments in Target that
these workers were working and that no longer existed.
Speaker 3 (35:58):
So I don't know they also whole departments that have
been But I don't.
Speaker 1 (36:02):
Know if Target has fired a bunch of people, Well.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
If you scaling, if you deciding that you no longer
are invested in d I, then what is the department?
Speaker 3 (36:10):
Where's the department gonna be at? Well?
Speaker 4 (36:12):
Because I mean I don't know, I mean we we
we shouldn't. I don't know that they had a specific
department where people are going to be let go. They
may have reassigned people, giving them new titles or whatever.
I don't know if that has happened, but I can
tell you that in government offices, right, that is definitely happening.
In educational institutions, that is happening. So I can't say
(36:37):
in Target.
Speaker 2 (36:39):
Just based off the policy, the culture, the culture of
dismissal exactly.
Speaker 3 (36:45):
It's going to disenfranchise thousands of black.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
People more maybe and probably million.
Speaker 3 (36:50):
Probably millions.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
So what I'm trying to say is, are we saying
that the one or two hundred people who are important
that we're not saying they don't have value but their
finances to proceed the cause of the many. Are we
saying that we're willing to sacrifice the millions of people's
lobbihoods and just the law and establishing something that.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
Is all the respect of the respect.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
Of the mass is in the lord, just the impact
that it's going to have, right, because once, if you
don't stand for something, then you're gonna fall for anything.
And if they can say, okay, you know what, we're
just gonna take that from y'all, and that's it, and
there's no response, there's nothing for us to sacrifice.
Speaker 3 (37:29):
Nothing.
Speaker 2 (37:29):
There's not enough of us that's willing to sacrifice so
that two hundred people can continue to thrive, or maybe
three hundred, but I know it's in the hundreds.
Speaker 4 (37:38):
It ain't in the thousands they're saying.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
So they saying that Target has contracts with thousands of
black people.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
It's not just black people.
Speaker 4 (37:49):
Because diverse, I'm not saying I don't ever want to
use the word the turn DEI I want to say
it completely diversity, equity, and inclusion, because when you say
those words, it makes it clear what somebody is saying
that they're they're model no longer fits diversity, equity and inclusion.
(38:16):
Equity is what y'all on the internet, all the Internet
negroes that know everything, that talk everything about why this
one and that one is weak, and this one ain't
no good and this one don't know know y'all are
talking about equity, building, equity, having more than enough for
us to survive. Right, So these companies are saying diversity,
(38:39):
equity and inclusion.
Speaker 1 (38:41):
So to your point, but I'm tak you a thousand
and might be a thousand, might be fifteen hundred.
Speaker 3 (38:46):
Okay, I don't, but it's still not.
Speaker 2 (38:50):
Maybe it's a thousand, but based on what I've been hearing,
it's been hundreds. So a few hundreds of people. So
what I'm trying to say is, I think I'm willing
to sacrifice. I've sacrificed all time. But like you said,
I know that I'm built different. I know that there's
a level of revolutionary in me that most people don't have.
That's not like I was willing somebody did so uner Kyrie,
(39:10):
who's somebody I had never met prior to that, but
just that I identify with him in his struggle.
Speaker 3 (39:17):
I said that these hundreds of pairs sneakers.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
That I have, I no longer need them, and I'm
willing to throw them away because that's how strong I
am in my conviction about saying fuck you, because that's
how I feel. Everybody is not going to do not
understand that. But if we're not willing to, at the
drop of a dom say we're willing to stand on
principle and lose whatever it takes to establish a level
(39:39):
of respect amongst our culture, then we're going to find
ourselves back at the same position. So a lot of
people say, well, you know, we got to figure out
how do we go about a boy.
Speaker 3 (39:49):
We gotta do that.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
And I'm all for strategy, but I understand that the
longer we take to strategize, right, the longer we take
the longer, the the more ground we lose, the more.
Speaker 3 (40:04):
Energy we lose.
Speaker 2 (40:06):
Right now, people are fired up, They're looking and saying,
damn this is this is happening in real time. So
if what our leadership has to say in our leadership,
we have to say, listen, we gotta understand who's with
us and who's not with us, because you sometimes you
lose time trying to bring somebody to your cause that
ain't gonna come with you anyway.
Speaker 4 (40:24):
Well, I mean, I have multiple feelings about that. I
think that yes, we do have to move with the time.
When you hear a cry from the community, or if
you hear just to give a better example, if you
hear a cry from a baby, you want to go
(40:45):
at least and look and address whatever it is.
Speaker 1 (40:48):
But if you know that the.
Speaker 4 (40:50):
Baby is crying out in the moment because they're hungry
and the food is not prepared, you have to go
let the baby cry for a little while while you.
Speaker 1 (40:59):
Prep pair a meal that is going to nourish.
Speaker 2 (41:02):
The problem is the baby won't cry for too long
in these situations what we deal with in our communities,
people have outrage for one week until weeks.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
But that's what.
Speaker 3 (41:12):
Happened is the news cycle changes.
Speaker 2 (41:14):
Somebody talks about that this happened mc carty b and
this and that people's is on that this week.
Speaker 4 (41:19):
But the thing about this time, Mice, I want to
say to you that those people are gonna drop off anyway.
So that means that the people you're talking about are
people who we would never be able to sustain anything
with because they're not serious about or committed to it anyway. Right,
(41:40):
the purpose of planning and strategizing is that, especially in
this particular time period, they are not gonna stop doing
the things that they're doing.
Speaker 1 (41:51):
It's gonna get worse.
Speaker 4 (41:53):
So there will be a need for a response that
is not just about target, but a response that is
about all this shit that's happening, and how do we
use our economic power to be our voices in the
midst of a fascist government that is attempting to take
away our rights and to make us second class citizens.
Speaker 1 (42:16):
That's what we have to be thinking about.
Speaker 4 (42:18):
And so yes, target is now, and I and one
of those people just like you, they ain't never got
to call me since they don't want diversity.
Speaker 1 (42:26):
Damn it, I'm diverse. They don't want equity.
Speaker 4 (42:29):
I believe in equity, and they don't want inclusion, no problem,
I don't. You don't need well, I mean, but even
talk about but even when we talk whichever one is
your thing. Whichever one is your thing, the diversity, the equity,
or the inclusion, whichever one is your thing. Because again,
(42:50):
we are not asking white people to give us money, right,
We're not saying inclusion means we want white people to
give us money. We're saying, I made a product. I
made Jaden made this good water. This is a good product.
Speaker 1 (43:08):
This is not a.
Speaker 4 (43:09):
Product that needs pity, it needs whatever. And guess what
black people shop at Target. So we're saying we want
to be in the shelf, on the shelf, in the
place where our people are walking past it. That's what inclusion,
men means. It means that you can't have black people
(43:30):
walking up and down these aisles and the only thing
they can find on the shelves are your things that
you'll profit off of. Inclusion means my black product needs
to be sitting right next to the poland spring, the
smart water, and whomever else, because we also deserve to
be on these shelves, since our people make up part
of the economy that keeps you going. Now, here's what
(43:56):
I want to say to get to your point about
how do I feel hearing black women, especially say I
put everything that I have on the line to get
my product on these shelves to be included. And going
back to the Kyrie Urban example, while Kyrie has incredible sneakers,
(44:18):
we already saw them. You have a pair of two
two pairs or whatever. I don't got nothing. I don't
know why I didn't ask for myself. Oh because of
my size, that's what it was. But anyway, he has
a line that's doing well.
Speaker 1 (44:31):
When we were in whatever.
Speaker 4 (44:33):
Country in South Africa, people were like buying them, people
were walking around in them. So we know that he's
gonna do well. But the distribution is different, and that's
why people are making sure they getting target in the
big box stores. Because the corner store sneaker store, that's cool.
You want to be there too, just like Nike is
(44:53):
in there too, just like New Balance is in there too.
In order to scale so that a little. Because I'm Rovio, Alabama,
where my family members live, they ain't got no small
too many small sneaker stores. Maybe they are one, but
not really right. They might have a sneaker store that
sells like sketches and that has something for people who
have prosthetic legs or something, you know, like elderly people,
(45:15):
but they don't have a fly ass sneaker store. Should
somebody open one, no problem, I agree with that one
hundred percent. But they got Walmart right, And so when
people are this is why people want to be in
these places where the masses can get to their product.
It builds generational wealth, and generational wealth ultimately helps people
in our community because our people generally hire their own people, right.
Speaker 1 (45:38):
And so so I get the point.
Speaker 4 (45:41):
I get the point of why we want diversity, equity,
and inclusion because.
Speaker 1 (45:46):
We are the engine that fuels these companies.
Speaker 4 (45:50):
But I just want to say this because I know
that there are people who want to know how I
feel about the video that Tabbit the Brown, who I
absolutely adore. I love tab With the Brown. I share
her videos, I talk about what she's said everywhere because
(46:11):
she is so authentic and beautiful and Courtney out of
La love Courtney. Courtney has supported us in the past.
I've been in space with her. She has the main
excuse me, the main choice. I support these women and
I see what they're saying, and that's why I stop
to listen because I know what struggles they have been
(46:34):
through in order to get to where they are today.
But I want to frame this and it's very important
that people hear me.
Speaker 1 (46:44):
One.
Speaker 4 (46:46):
It is not not smart because I heard that somewhere.
Speaker 1 (46:51):
Let let's be smart.
Speaker 4 (46:53):
It is not not smart to take your money and
put it in your pocket when you feel you being disrespected.
Speaker 1 (47:01):
That is very smart.
Speaker 4 (47:03):
So it is not not smart to say I don't
want to spend my money.
Speaker 1 (47:08):
And I'm gonna tell you another thing. If you are.
Speaker 4 (47:11):
Spending your money in a store with a brand, or
you are going into places and spaces and doing business
with people and they disrespect you, damn it, you should
be emotional as a motherfucker. When people keep talking about
don't be so emotional, it's too much emotions. I am
extremely emotional about the blood, sweat and tears that I
(47:34):
put into every dollar that comes into my bank account,
every dime I make. It's an emotional battle for me
because I know that if it were not for me
getting my ass up out the bed every single day, hustling,
dealing with situations and people that I don't want to
deal with, Feeling the pain, the pain of the struggle
(47:56):
of what it takes to be able to survive, that
is an emotional thing.
Speaker 1 (48:01):
Between me and my resources.
Speaker 4 (48:04):
Right, so when you disrespect me, I emotionally can respond
and say you won't get a dime.
Speaker 1 (48:11):
Now, should leaders be strategic.
Speaker 4 (48:13):
Absolutely, but consumers have the right to decide. As has
been said, Both Courtney and Tabitha and others have said,
do what you think is right.
Speaker 1 (48:23):
So nobody has said don't do it.
Speaker 4 (48:25):
But when we said we were going to boycott Gucci,
they told us, but Dapper Dan is there and he
has a partnership with them. We don't want to abandon Dappadan.
When we said we were going to boycott waffle house,
they said, but what about the employees?
Speaker 1 (48:44):
We don't know, it might create this, that and the third.
Speaker 4 (48:47):
The point is that every time we get ready to
say we're not going to spend our money somewhere, we
are told, but what about this?
Speaker 1 (48:58):
That, and the third? And brothers and sisters, ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 4 (49:02):
I want to tell you today that I understand the
challenges because, as Angelo said to us when we were
meeting yesterday and whatever, that, black folks are always in
the catch twenty two. We always in between a rock
and a hard place, trying to figure out how we're
going to move forward. But the one thing I understand
(49:25):
so clear about oppression and about the white man who
believes that they have power and dominion over us, is
that they have studied our patterns and they sit back
and they watch us dismantle even our own people's frustration.
We are able to dismantle a movement without even negative intentions.
(49:51):
It's not even intentionally. We're just trying to figure out
which way to go. So whenever Black people get real
and we're ready to move, our own people are the
ones who helped to shift the energy, and we gotta
be real careful about that, real careful about that. And
(50:13):
so I personally am not going to target, but I'm
not going to join any particular call for boycott yet.
And that is because I want to go back to
the teachings of doctor King operation bread Basket, when he
(50:34):
was thinking through economic withdrawal, and they were using their
economic power, and they had points that they studied, and
they had points to their movement. And so there's a
lot of work that needs to be done, and I'm
not taking away strike for all people who are doing
different things. You got people out here saying I'm just
(50:54):
gonna walk in the door and I'm gonna get just
the black products.
Speaker 1 (50:58):
You got people who are saying they're gonna do all
types of things.
Speaker 4 (51:01):
But for us to have the impact necessary to show
these people that we're not playing with them, we're going
to need to come together, to sit down, to talk
through what our steps are, what our goals are, and
what it is that we're attempting to accomplish, and then
make a move that our people can get behind and understand.
(51:21):
Because right now, all this confusion, everybody's this one says this,
this one says that you lose.
Speaker 1 (51:27):
People in the middle of it.
Speaker 4 (51:28):
And then I'm saying this last thing, and I promise
I won't say another word.
Speaker 3 (51:31):
You're talking good though, No, But I just want.
Speaker 1 (51:34):
To say one last thing.
Speaker 4 (51:37):
It is I and I I struggle because the last
thing that I want is.
Speaker 1 (51:49):
To be.
Speaker 4 (51:53):
At odds with our people. We've got enough, we got division,
we have so many things that pulls us in different directions,
and people just struggling, people just and people. People are
just trying to figure it out as we go along.
All of us have those moments, and so I want
(52:15):
to be conscious of that because most of the people
that I see involved in this truly love black people
like we love black people, and so I want to
be conscious of that. But I want to say to
you that movements protest and most importantly, fighting oppression is
(52:39):
not convenient or comfortable. People will hurt, people will lose,
people will suffer. But I promise you for everything that
I love that if we stand up and we do
it majority together right, even though some people may lose,
(53:00):
the gain on the end is for a long stretch.
I can't say a lifetime because they always circle back,
but it's a long stretch that we will be able
to make gains, even with our own young people being
able to look at us and see that we stood
for something.
Speaker 1 (53:18):
And the idea that some of us are.
Speaker 4 (53:20):
Gonna walk into Target and say, I'm just gonna purchase
the black brands. Perhaps some people might do that. I
think it's a lot of people that's gonna do that,
but the majority of our people will easily slip back
into what they got the paper towels on sale today,
they got this.
Speaker 1 (53:38):
A boycott is a boycott.
Speaker 4 (53:40):
If we say we don't shop at Target, we don't
shop at Target. So we do e commerce. We figure
out how to support people, but we cannot be walking
in and out the door. Because another thing I said
I was gonna say us. But another thing is that
your presence is also a part or lack thereof is
(54:00):
a part of a boycott.
Speaker 1 (54:02):
Your presence.
Speaker 4 (54:04):
Okay, So when you when you come through the door,
that in and of itself is a sign that in
and of itself shows.
Speaker 3 (54:17):
Places other people.
Speaker 2 (54:18):
Because the reality of the situation is there are people
who are saying, I'm not going to the store, I'm
gonna boycott, and they and they watch you walk into
that store and they just see.
Speaker 4 (54:27):
Like, damn, I need to go to targeting that I
have anywhere, and people, people, you.
Speaker 2 (54:35):
Need people to hold us to keep us strong, like
you know, because a lot of people are this is
Shopping is addictive, you know, especially when you when you
go to your Target and that's your favorite store. You
going every hour and it got what you want, and
you used to that, and you you you're fighting against
that urge and you see somebody else that you know
has that same urge and say, look, I know it's hard,
(54:56):
but we ain't going to that Target. And y'all walk
to another store and you we start getting used to it.
We need we listen to me, like you said, we
have to be steadfast and we have to be unified
in order to get because on the other side of it,
it shows these people that they can't play with us.
It shows them that, you know what, we have to
make consensions. We have to come back, we have to
(55:18):
rethink this, We have to have meetings because we moved
a little too fast.
Speaker 3 (55:22):
And that's what history has told us.
Speaker 2 (55:25):
When we talk about Operation Break Basket and we talk
about Doctor King and the boycotts they had, it's because
they were willing to sacrifice for a year. They were
willing to say I'm not going to do this. The
majority of us, ninety nine percent of us are not
going to Sure, there was people who back, and there.
Speaker 4 (55:39):
Are people right now who need the bread and they
only have a Walmart or they only have a Target.
Speaker 2 (55:44):
And we understand, and you know we have to do
in our organizer, we have to figure out how do
we get them some bread and how do we get
them to another store? You know, as as thoughtful leaders.
This is what I want to talk about. I want
to talk about, Okay, we're boycotting, right, We're gonna go
outside and we're gonna pick it in front of it.
We're gonna pick a target today that we're gonna go
out and we're gonna explain why we're not going to target.
(56:06):
We're gonna tell people where else they can go. We're
gonna say, you know what, we're willing to set up.
We have two or three cars a day that's willing
to take you. If you can't get to another store,
we're gonna willing to drop. These are things, These are
strategic things that we have to do to show community,
to show unity, that we're not just doing something on
a whim. But that's what the Panthers was doing. That's
what doctor king Ino was doing. They were utilizing their resources,
(56:26):
they were utilizing their bodies. They were able to give
whatever we can and that's when we come together like that.
There's no way that they can beat us. There is
absolutely no way that they can beat us. So I'm
saying to you, I already know what I'm willing to sacrifice.
I know how far to me is willing to go
and sacrifice on behalf of our people and to get
the respect and the dignity not even just the resource,
(56:48):
but the dignity that we deserve.
Speaker 3 (56:49):
Because if they think that they.
Speaker 2 (56:51):
Can do whatever they want to to you, then they
will do whatever they want to to you. So this
is what it is at this moment right now. There
are a lot of people who are feeling confused. They're
watching on the news, you see all these type of things.
I'm telling you, take a deep breath, Take a deep breath,
and say, the only thing that's gonna win is our unity.
(57:11):
When we show them that we're not breakable, when we
show them that we're not weak, when we show them
that we're not scared, then they have no choice for takaar.
You know, they say, if you look the devil in
its eye, he will flee, and it's time for us
to look the devil.
Speaker 3 (57:25):
In his eyes.
Speaker 4 (57:25):
Absolutely absolutely well, I think there's you know, I have
a whole bunch of more stuff here, but I think
that we have covered it all, you know, And I
would I would circle back to my point that I
am completely understanding and aware of how challenging and how
(57:47):
complex these moments are in these situations because they get
us wrapped.
Speaker 1 (57:52):
Up in different ways. You know, you get you all.
But I know that.
Speaker 4 (57:58):
A boycott is a boycott. I know that everybody's not
gonna do it. I know that the people who are involved,
these black businesses who can be substantially hurt, they love
black people, at least the ones I know they love
black people.
Speaker 1 (58:18):
And I also know that.
Speaker 4 (58:21):
We are not I personally in the position that I'm in,
I cannot sit by and not at least tell us
where we are and make sure that people understand what's happening. Yeah,
I know, you can't just take your product off the stand,
(58:41):
off the shelf, but there ought to be a morality.
Speaker 1 (58:45):
Clause for you too, that's right.
Speaker 4 (58:48):
They ought to be if you are my partner. Because
Target was supposed to be these people's partner. They never
said that Target. They never said that Target was the
employer of XYZ Black Brands or XYZ Women own brands.
They said they were partners, right. That's why one of
(59:10):
the things that we've been told that's a big risk
is that if you don't sell your product, you either
owe them money or you end up with all the
product and no money. Right, So, because that's what partnerships
look like. But and and by the way, people, some
of these same brand owners, I'm talking about all of them.
(59:32):
That's so please, let's not do the old Tamika said
this about Tabithaugh or this about so and so or
such and such, because that's not what I'm talking about
to about the whole pie. Right, If you black brand
or black woman was so much of a partner of targets,
why would they not pick up the phone and call
(59:52):
you to tell you that this is what was going
to happen.
Speaker 1 (59:55):
So already there's a breach.
Speaker 4 (59:58):
In terms of what that partner looks like, because they
should have been sitting with you, saying we're doing this
new thing, were.
Speaker 1 (01:00:07):
Trying to figure out how we're gonna go about it.
Speaker 4 (01:00:09):
We want to tell you that this is gonna impact
you because there are people that.
Speaker 1 (01:00:13):
Since I'm doing what I'm doing, they not gonna work
with you no more.
Speaker 4 (01:00:16):
How do we know that that's the case, because we've
discussed that in our board meetings all the time for
Until Freedom.
Speaker 1 (01:00:22):
And other organizations that I'm a part of.
Speaker 4 (01:00:25):
In fact, when I went to Savior's Day and was
called anti Semitic for being a supporter of the Nation
of Islam, there were people who stopped working with me,
People pulled their money, and there were people I was
on boards that I was asked to resign from because
(01:00:48):
the morality clause is that if you do something in
this partnership that we have that harms the brand of
another person, then how does that impact met and my organization,
my company.
Speaker 1 (01:01:02):
This is what these people said to me.
Speaker 4 (01:01:04):
So if Target is your partner, why did they not
even have the respect to pick up the phone and
have a meeting with people and say, hey, this is
what's going on so that you could get prepared for
what is to come. It didn't happen. It didn't happen.
So the partnership has been breached. Okay, not wanting diversity,
(01:01:26):
equity and inclusion should at least be something that lawyers
can look at to see if there's a morality clause
that has been broken on their behalf. All of these
things need to be done, and I'm sure it is
being done. But the point that I'm making here is
that the consumer who chooses to walk in the door
(01:01:47):
and just do a little this and little do a
little of that, that is still crossing the picket line.
It's crossing the picket line. Sorry to tell y'all. How
we figure it out from here from an e commerce
perspective or what we need to do.
Speaker 1 (01:02:04):
We need to figure that out.
Speaker 4 (01:02:06):
I'm not going to Target, but I understand that there
are some people who will say, well, this is my
product or these are people that I respect, and I'm
going to do that. In the meanwhile, however, we as
leaders need to come together to figure out what our
people can do collectively, collectively to address what we know
(01:02:29):
is an onslaught that if other people in America have
a cold, even the flu, we as black people are
going to experience a pandemic. So we better be aware
that what they're doing over here to.
Speaker 1 (01:02:43):
Homie, they gonna do to you.
Speaker 3 (01:02:47):
One hundred times.
Speaker 1 (01:02:48):
So there's that.
Speaker 2 (01:02:49):
On that note, we'll end this show without mine. Don't
get it, and I had a lot of stuff to
say about it. I don't get it. But I think
this boycott, in this situation where Target was extremely important
for us to speak about, well, please let us know
how you feel. We want to hear all sides, especially
from our people who are going to be impacted by
what's going on in Target.
Speaker 3 (01:03:08):
Just let us know.
Speaker 2 (01:03:09):
Once again, I'm not gonna always be right, Tamika d
marriages and I can always be wrong, but we will
both always and I mean always be authentic.
Speaker 1 (01:03:16):
Pace that's how we own it.
I'm Tamika D. Mallory and it Shit Boy my Son
in general, we are your host of TMI.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Tamika and my Son's Information, Truth, Motivation and Inspiration.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
New Energy.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
What's up, Tamika D. Mallory. How you doing today?
Speaker 1 (00:16):
I'm doing good, my SONA now.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
You I am doing better.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
It has been a rough week, but now I'm coming
to terms with the reality of what we're dealing with.
You know, I got my mojo and I'm ready to go.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
You know, yeah, me too. I'm good.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
You know.
Speaker 4 (00:36):
I feel like I am putting into practice things that
I've learned since that horrific burnout.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
That landed me in rehab.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
Right, and you know, the trauma and everything that I experienced.
I talk about what I learned and how I came
out of it. But often times, as time goes on
and you have different experiences and you live in life,
we often forget about things. It's like when you drink
too much and then you're like, God, I promise you,
(01:13):
if you would just help me get over this, I
promise I won't drink as let next. Oh no, that's it,
this is my last time. And then of course five
times later, maybe even the next day people go back
to some of their old ways that you know, we revert,
and so I've had to be mindful of that in
this moment, and I write about it in my book,
(01:34):
my new book.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Yes, I live to tell the story.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
I live to tell the story, and that's the real thing.
I live to tell the story. And the story goes
and I say that I'm going to fight for freedom
until I die, but this time freedom includes me, right.
And so with that being said, I cannot allow my
(02:00):
self to go back to where I was in twenty
nineteen to ninety eight pounds, even though I wish I
could get to ninety eight pounds now shoot on my own.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Without being stressed out.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
But that's a whole different day's topic, not ninety eight pounds.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
But you get my point.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
I guess, let me get my point.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
So I can't allow that to happen. So I'm not
going to allow myself to drown.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
I feel it.
Speaker 4 (02:27):
I know where we are, and I think what is
very frustrating is watching people wake up knowing that like
we said this, we said all of this and had
been saying it before an election. Yeah, that's the other thing.
I just want to make sure that. That's clear. We've
been saying a lot of this stuff before an election.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Definitely way before election. Well, listen, how do people get
this book? When does it drop? Like this is our show?
Speaker 1 (02:54):
People already know.
Speaker 4 (02:55):
They already know because I'll be telling them every other day.
It's February eleven. Yes, first event is February sixth in Louisville, Kentucky.
It is extremely humbling and it's such a proud moment
for me to go to Louisville and have my friends
(03:18):
Sadiqa Reynolds and attorney Leanita Baker to be the host
of my first public event. It's actually before my book
comes out. It's a pre event. It's the first event,
and it means so much because you know what we
went through in Louisville. Yeah, you know that, and well,
(03:39):
and Louisville was right after I came out of rehab, right,
I mean right before.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Louisville was right before I.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
Came out of rehab, right, because twenty nineteen, and then
we went there in twenty twenty. I was still a mess.
I was still trying to piece myself back together. I
was still dealing with shit. I you know, didn't know
exactly what I was gonna do which direction to go in.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
I had so much.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
Going on, And when Ben Crump called me, all of
that's in this book about you know, Breonna Taylor, we
went and so these are people that we've only known
for five years, but it seems like we've and it's
not even five years yet, but it seems like we've
known them for a lifetime. And they became our sisters,
you know, to Meeka Palmer, she excuse me, she's one
(04:29):
of the hosts as well of the event. And so
I'm just like, wow, you know, this book has.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Been I love to cover like show like show to.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
This is the uh, the this is my vision.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
It's the duality, all right.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
It's the duality from you know, the braids to the
long here and it's just and this.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Is actually the housing projects that I grew up in.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
People probably, oh, I can't even realize that and projects.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Yep.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
So anyway, is this book was a lot to get out.
I always say that it's like I'm at the right now.
I'm in the delivery process. Like I already have my
date scheduled. It's February eleventh. I know we're gonna have
the baby that day. It's coming out, and all the
(05:21):
terrible things, the what do you have with morning sickness?
You nauseous, can't eat, can't rest, can't whatever. Most of
those things have subsided at this point from this book,
except you know, trying to get the tour done and
the sales where they need to be. That kind of
feels like the part when you need the body pillow.
(05:44):
Janie is looking like yes. Janice, who is our director
of everything over there, she's looking like yes.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
So I'm in that stage.
Speaker 4 (05:52):
But it's pretty much I'm in the sailing part. We
know the baby is coming and win. But it was
a lot to get this done. The stories that I'm
telling in this book, I wish I could take like
five of them out because I don't know what I
must have been like, I don't.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
Know, just telling you tell your business.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
Or something that day and just went the little bit.
So but I'm glad that it's out here. I know
that this book is going to help somebody.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Well, I look forward to reading it today, you know,
because I got my little copy and I'm gonna read it.
But I'm proud of you. And please make sure that
you'll go out pre order. Make sure that you at
every event on the tour, show out, show up, make
sure that you support this woman because the way she
fights for black people is undeniable.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
Well, and also make sure that you get my son's
book I got a couple of years.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Last one is.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Called it's called Echoes in the Streets.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Echoes in the Street, and it's.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
About gun violence, the stories about gun violence within the
inner communities in the cities, and it breaks down different
ways and strategies that community and you you can come
together and stop gun violence. So there's really really strong
stories inside. So shout out to my partner and publisher
Heed Yes.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Right cool.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
So, so you know wherever, first of all, wherever you
buy books, Black bookstores very important, Barnes and Nobles. Also,
please pick up a pre order copy. I know how
we as black folks, especially how we are, we got
to we want to touch the thing. We don't want
to buy anything and wait for it to come. I
(07:32):
remember when we were out getting people to the polls
and I was like, you're not gonna early vote, Like
you could go vote today.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
They be like our own vote early. I want my
vote on the day. I'm like, but you gotta stand online.
I don't care.
Speaker 4 (07:44):
I want my vote on the day. That's sometimes how
we are, that's how we operate. But in the publishing world,
and shout out to my publisher, Black Privilege Publishing, CHARLEMAGNEA
god Atria, and the Simon and Schuster family.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
But in the publishing world, authors need pre sales.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
That's very helpful in terms of how their books get
out the bond.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
You know.
Speaker 4 (08:09):
It's like when you know when you in a race,
you don't try to like take off slow. You coming
out moving. You're coming out moving. So that's what we need.
So you can go to Tamika D. Mallory dot com.
That's Tamika D. Mallory dot com and you can find
out all the things how to purchase the book.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Where the tour is going.
Speaker 4 (08:30):
The sixth we're in Louisville, Kentucky.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
The ninth, I'm.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
At Jamal Bryant's Church, New Birth Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
The eleventh, well, actually the thirteenth.
Speaker 4 (08:42):
The eleventh, I got something going on, but I ain't
really talking about it too much. If you know me
and you want to come to what I'm doing on
the eleventh, holla. But on the thirteenth, We're at the
New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. I'm
gonna be with Jimani Williams, the Public Advocate, and Janelle Aggie,
who is the executive director of editing at Ebony Magazine.
(09:05):
I mean, then we're in that's the thirteenth. The eighteenth,
I'm in Washington, d C. At Politics and Pros. Then
I'm in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Our family there, the Crutcher family,
and also Keim Roxy of Lamique Beauty. And then you know,
also in New Orleans, we're at Baldwin and Company. I
think that's on the twentieth, but don't listen to me.
(09:26):
Go to the website and look it up for yourself. Jacksonville,
Florida on the twenty second. We have a full schedule
of things that we'll be doing all of February, all
of March, and I'm really really excited.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
I didn't get to do this with my first book.
We were at home.
Speaker 4 (09:41):
Although I had a star studded release for my first book,
we had everybody. We had panels and discussions online that
included everybody from Taraji p Henson to Tiffany Hattis. Of course,
Charlemagne was helping to hold some stuff. You held to
host things. Linda Sarsour was invo I mean I could
(10:02):
go on. Alicia Keys, you know, did panels and discussions
with me. So it's not that we did not have
a good amount of people who were supportive, but everybody
was at home. It was now going outside.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Now you outside with it, man.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
So I definitely I know it's gonna be a good book,
and I know that people are gonna love it because
it's so authentic and raw, like every time you talk
about it, you got a team your eyes, and everybody
that's read it so far has tears in it. So
I make sure make sure that you go out and
get the book. Yes, and the news for me. Yesterday
was my youngest son, Kesten's birthday, Happy birthday casting He
(10:43):
turned eleven yesterday and we had a ball, took him
out to Humdinger's, this place he likes with his friends.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
So I enjoyed that.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
I just you got three sons and grandson.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
I'm a g from the gipop, but Kessen is like
he's a very he's an impact. He's a very intelligent
young boy and he picks up on everything like he
knows what you're thinking, he knows how you're feeling. You know.
He's very passionate about things. He messed up his foot
(11:21):
last weekend, you know, playing soccer, and he had a
game the next day he couldn't make it to. So
he was up all night.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Trying to heal itself together.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
He was soaking his ankle, he was putting alcohol, he
put vics on his leg, anything you could think of.
He was trying to make it to that game. He
did not want to let down that team. He woke
up at eight o'clock in that morning, was like, tried
it again. He was just like, nah, Dad, he's still
been living. So I made a little joke. I've been
calling him young peg Leg and he hates that, but
(11:52):
I played with It's.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
A joke, a joke. What God? Yeah, listen, everything is
not so serious.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
No, But it's not that.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
It's that injuries sometimes makes people feel already, especially like
you said, he can't play.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
He already is feeling.
Speaker 4 (12:13):
A way about that, and then you over here putting
a label on him, and.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
They feel he laughed it up.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Sometimes he doesn't like it. Sometimes he likes it. Sometimes
Young peg Leg is fine.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
He's he'll be good for you know that there are
people who really have peg legs. And it's kind of
like you saying that to him.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
It's like saying, you know what, the reason why I
call him because he limps like he has one. He
looks like it looks like he has like a little
pirate sometimes when his legs starts hurting very much. Disregarding
these it ain't got nothing to do with I'm talking
about my son. You're talking about these people. This ain't
got nothing to do. This is not to offend anybody else.
(12:52):
It's a joke that I have with my son.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
Right so please call somebody who actually has a peg
leg a peg leg, although he probably won't do that.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
Because I will do that, because I would never do that.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
I made a joke with him about his little foot
being hurt.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
I'm going to once again, happy birthday. I love you.
Speaker 4 (13:17):
Listen if my granddaughter was being pushed in the swing
and when she said something, but her father was also
talking to our whole family on face time, because we
literally have everybody possible on a FaceTime. Whenever he wants
(13:37):
to show Blair and he hit something and then everybody goes.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
In and go, hi, Blair, we love you. She's the
star of the show.
Speaker 4 (13:45):
So he was pushing her, and he pushed her one
time and she said and she said something, but he
doesn't he didn't know what she said.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
And her mom was there also, so he said, what
did you say? What does she say? So her mom.
Speaker 4 (14:01):
Says, she said do it again or put or do
it one more time or something like that, and so
he goes, she didn't say that.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
Now, she was probably.
Speaker 4 (14:11):
Talking kind of baby gibberish, but a mother's gonna understand
her child.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
We don't care.
Speaker 4 (14:17):
You could be talking backwards and a mother is gonna
be like, I know exactly what that means. So he said,
she didn't say that, and Blair goes, yes, she's old too.
She said, yes, like mommy is right, I can do
it again.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
I might not have said it exactly, but.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Listen, she wants you to understand, and she knows what
she wants for herself, and she wants you to understand
that she's expressing herself.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
And her mama understood exactly.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
That's exactly right. That's why I love my mother, because
my mother she knows she's they are they are.
Speaker 4 (14:58):
We talk about this all the time. These kids parents
are amazing. It's not like when we was parents.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
That's one thing I say about these kids. My son
is serious about being a father to his son. These kids,
they do not play about his son.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Now. They can have all.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
Kinds of they're crazy otherwise, but.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Them kids, they serious about them kids. They go.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
So that's a testament to you know, parenting that they
see they either you know, they feel like something didn't
happen that they want to happen, or they've seen something
happen that they want to.
Speaker 4 (15:31):
Continue to Later on, they're going to realize we weren't
as bad as.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
They That's what I think.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
What happens is they realize it now because they realize
all of the pressure and stuff that they're under, and
then they're like, damn, I didn't even know you went
through this.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
I just because it's hard.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
It's hard.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Is very very very hard. It's very hard. It's very hard.
Speaker 4 (15:53):
And speaking of hard things, there's a lot of hard
things happening in our world.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Love and I.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
You know, I've only made one post maybe two about
the target situation and and just overall diversity, equity and inclusion,
and I am committed. I've only made two posts maybe
about it, maybe one and then also I only said
(16:26):
one thing like on camera. But I thought about it
and I listened for the last few days.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
I just listened.
Speaker 4 (16:36):
I was taking in all the different aspects, because you know,
we follow and are followed by all different types of people.
We got the super radical blacks, we got the Pan
African blacks, we got the the the bougie black, we
got the conservative blacks.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
We had we every.
Speaker 4 (16:59):
Kind of person, black person, we have somebody who is
a part of that Republicans of course, Democrats or whatever,
black women, black men.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Troll we got trolling, pntroll we have the trolls. We
have the ignorant.
Speaker 4 (17:19):
We have all kinds of young, we have young, we
have different age groups. So we see a lot of things,
and I follow a lot of different types of people,
and I just want to I just listen.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
I said.
Speaker 4 (17:33):
The one thing that I have learned in my leadership
position is that I now don't where I used to
need to respond. I don't have to as quick because
the more information that I gathered before speaking, I think
it makes my voice more effective, more powerful. So I
(17:56):
just sat back and I kind of listened to people
sending me everything.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
Every body sending me something.
Speaker 4 (18:01):
And I know that part of the reason why so
many people are sending me so many different things is
because folks know that I have not said this is
what I think we should do, and they want to
try to not so much influence in a negative way,
but just put their perspective into mind.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
In my in my thought process.
Speaker 4 (18:23):
And so speaking of thoughts today, in my thought of
the day, I really want to take the time. And
we don't have a guest for this show because it
just we just couldn't fit it with what we want
to discuss. So I want to just start off by
saying that. So I want to put this at the
(18:45):
beginning in the end as a bookmark to Meeka Mallory
personally will not be shopping at Target. That's not going
to happen. I won't be going to Target. I have
always and will continue to uplift black brands. I am
(19:07):
a die hard support supporter of black people in general,
and I will continue to do that. But I personally
will not be shopping in Targets. Some people are saying
Black History Month, others are saying the third quarter. I
mean the first quarter. People have different ideas about it.
I don't know when or if I will ever return.
(19:27):
Our history is that when we leave a brand, we
we almost never go back. I looked at myself today
and realize that I've been wearing my little Blenciaga sock sneakers.
I was a good I was a beyond a Blencioga
person like I liked Blenciaga. Uh and and I as
soon as they start with the kids and the videos
(19:48):
and the devil stuff and whatever, I don't know what
was going.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
I didn't even take.
Speaker 4 (19:52):
The time to do bus so much research about whatever
that was.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
But it just didn't feel right to me.
Speaker 4 (19:59):
I don't like the way it looked, and I didn't
have anything to do with this side it packed up
a bunch of Balenciaga stuff and just gave it away.
I might I have like two sweaters, maybe three sweaters,
and these little sock sneakers. So that's where I'm at
with it. But I'm probably never going to be caught.
And when I say caught, I don't mean like gotcha,
but me personally walking into a store purchasing something from Balenciaga.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
That's just me.
Speaker 4 (20:26):
I gave up Gucci and the blackface sweater. I did
not like it. I felt, first of all, the impact
to me, it was very very disrespectful for people to
even try to make the excuse that they did not
know or that it wasn't exactly what we saw. And
so I just decided that I was done with it.
(20:49):
But then even if I even if I would have said, well,
maybe I'm overreacting or maybe we need to educate them
and it's going to get better, the way in which
things rolled out after that I didn't appreciate at all.
So I just don't wear a Gucci. But that's you know,
everybody do their thing. That's my personal thing. Then Kyrie
(21:14):
Irvin Nike, they cut their contract with him.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
I cut Nike.
Speaker 4 (21:19):
So you cut Kyrie, I cut you. That's it, simple,
one hard decision. First I was kind of like, what
we're doing. Everybody wears Nike. Then I realized it's not
that serious. I don't have to wear Nike. There's a
number of black brands, actively black being one of them,
there's other.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
They just hit me a couple of Piers Niggas new.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
Dope, sigh of collected.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
I mean, they go get Kyrie's the answers he got
all kinds of flavors.
Speaker 4 (21:46):
So there's a there's a million things we can do,
and we're gonna talk about that because distribution is very important,
which is why this target piece is so serious.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
Wiffle House ain't been back. The waffle house.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
She was on my page ten somebody up this morning
talking about me, So she don't she don't play.
Speaker 4 (22:08):
Shakisha Clemings was attacked, brutally attacked and dro in a
waffle house because a white woman wanted to try to
charge her for a plastic four.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
And they and and and they.
Speaker 4 (22:22):
What they did to her was something that it wasn't acceptable.
But what was worse was that waffle House response wasn't
even to respectfully say, we apologize for what took place,
and we you know, we don't condone the way in
which our employee and the police officers came in here.
They doubled down and acted like Squisha Clemings was some type,
like she was in there doing a robbery.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
And then she took her to trial.
Speaker 4 (22:45):
Right, and then tried to exactly the police took her
the trial to say she did something to them. So
waffle House been off my list. Okay, so I'm saying Starbucks.
Muslims said, we're not going to Starbucks because of their
support for and by the way, Starbucks has been around
(23:06):
in a cycle on my list of people that I
don't shop with, but specifically around Israel, Palestine and the
Palestinian people and Muslims in general, saying we do not
support Starbucks because of their support for the Israeli government
and what is happening. Unfortunately, whether you want to accept
(23:28):
it or not, it's whose side or you are you on.
That's just where we are right So Starbucks, I be
dying of I got a cold. I used to like
the medicine ball have I my stomach be growling.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Some airport you go in. All they have is a
little Starbucks.
Speaker 4 (23:48):
Count and you know what I do, Get me some
water from a store and keep it moving.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
I don't go in Starbucks. I'm saying all of this
to say to you all that I know that I'm different.
Speaker 4 (24:00):
I know I was cut from a certain cloth that
is very, very different from most people. I know that
when a school calls me up, or a corporation calls
me up, and they get in touch with Toya and
they say they want me to speak at a conference,
(24:22):
or they want me to participate in some type of program.
But they tell me that I need to scrub my
Instagram page or I need to not say these things,
or don't do this thing, or don't wear this, And
I'd say I can't do those things, and they telling
me that it's twenty five thousand dollars or it's fifty
(24:43):
thousand for two sessions, or it's whatever. I have turned
it down many times. I have had people call me
on the phone and say to me, Tomka, your book
is about to come out, or this is about to happen,
or y'all just you know, the rebranding of your show.
You got all these things going on. Let's just leave
(25:06):
that alone for now. And strategically they might be right. Strategically,
what they're saying is probably it's probably right that if
I just go dark, stay under the radar, and just
you know you because there's different ways to work. You
don't always have to be in the front, right, You
(25:27):
can do things differently.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
You know.
Speaker 4 (25:29):
I've had people say that to me, Hey, just you
know for now, but that's not who I am. So
I have to take that into consideration whenever I'm out
here speaking to other people that we are not all
at the same place, we're not all on the same level,
and we're not all committed in the same way. Our sister,
(25:51):
Leslie Redman says something so true yesterday. Leslie Redmand, who
was the president of the Minneapolis chapter of the NAACP
while we were there fighting for George Floyd, she said
something yesterday.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
It is so true.
Speaker 4 (26:07):
Most people don't want to be free. Most Black people
don't want to be free. They want to be rich,
That's what and that's the fact. And sometimes being rich
looks like freedom. But if we know anything about that,
(26:28):
jay Z said, still nigga, OJ and all everybody. You
can have lots of money and still be treated like
a nigga. And so not to say we should not
acquire wealth, because we should, but wealth and freedom are
(26:50):
not the same thing.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
It should it should be a balance, right, and it
should be real conversations like you said, you know, when
we when I looked at this hotel, good situation, when
I'm just looking at the last one hundred executive orders, right.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
And hundred Yeah, there's been a hundred.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
Executive orders signed in in the last week. And when
I'm looking at how these things actually roll back civil
rights that have been established for the last fifty sixty years,
you know, And you really just sit there and think
about this, And I say to myself, what are we
willing to say? And I've heard all these people you
know there are you know, we have we have black
(27:31):
scholars and black leaders that say that's good. We don't
need d you know, we need to separate anyway, We
need to do our own.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
I don't know too many scholars they're saying, well.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
I mean, I don't know, Okay, well these are this
is what they say. Doctor Claude Anderson has said that
we need to separate, and we need and that's what's
going to take for us to do is to build
our own.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
And I do not disagree with those things. Right. I
do believe that we need to separate.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
I do believe that we need to build our own,
but I do not believe that we should build it
while we are experienced injustice. I don't believe that we
should make it okay for them to do negative things
to us. I don't believe we should be okay since
we need to separate. You don't have to give us
what you owe us, right, we don't deserve the amount
of reparations and things that we've earned in America. I
(28:19):
don't I believe we should be doing both ads. It's
like I'm in jail and I'm filing for my pill right,
but at the same time trying to figure out if
we got to break out and I got life inside
here and I gotta break I'm gonna do both of
them at the same time. It's not gonna not fire.
And then if I'm locked up for life for a
crime I didn't commit. So this is what I'm trying
(28:40):
to tell you. I want you to understand we're inside
of This is jail for black people. We living in America.
We were sentenced to life in America, right, and we're
trying to figure out how do we get our freedom back?
Because that's what it is. It's a lifetime bid in America.
So how do we get our freedom back?
Speaker 3 (28:58):
Now?
Speaker 2 (28:59):
As I'm trying to from my freedom, I know that
America still owes me. So sure, I want reparations, I
want repair, I want You know what has been owed
to our ancestors who built America on his back, It
was never compensated for it. You know, we have built
our own economies time and time through our history, and
they have destroyed it. They've burned it down, they've disenfranchised
(29:20):
us over hundreds and hundreds of times.
Speaker 3 (29:24):
This is documented.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
So I don't I do not, you know, subscribe to
the fact that we what we actioning for is a handout.
We're not asking for handout. We're asking for we old.
But in the meantime, we should be building what you know,
our own economy should we should be building.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
Our own structure.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
We should try to separate and build out because everyone
else has done that. But what I say when people
say that to me is what are you willing to
sacrifice for it?
Speaker 3 (29:50):
Right?
Speaker 2 (29:50):
Because the same people that are saying, yo, we don't
want nothing from the white man and we don't want
this with the same people that's saying, well, we got
a stimulus check, right, and they wanted to make it
seem like that was okay. But that's not a hand though, right,
the same people that say they aren't willing to boycott,
they aren't willing to stop spending their money with the
people that's suppressing us. They don't want to They sit
(30:10):
there and say, yeah, we don't need none of this,
but you're not willing to make the sacrifices.
Speaker 4 (30:15):
Well, it just depends, okay, because I just want to
make sure we put these things in little buckets. Because
first of all, when you said, they say, doctor Claude
Anderson and others have said that we need to separate, right,
And I don't know, Like I know that doctor Claude
(30:35):
Anderson teaches a lot about independence and all of that,
but I would love for somebody to just show me
where doctor Anderson has said that black people do not
deserve a seat at corporate tables, a seat in institutions,
that we should not have ourselves intertwined in systems where
(30:59):
we are able to monitor what is happening with the
millions of black people who are coming through the stores,
the banks, the colleges.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
The whatever.
Speaker 4 (31:09):
I do believe building our own is important and I
want to see us continue to do that because I
believe that there are a lot of people who are
in They're building sustainable communities, They're building you know, black banks.
You got Greenwood, which is Killer MIC's bank. You have
people that are doing all of these things, and so
(31:30):
we don't want to conflate them because I know that's
a group.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
Then of course you have.
Speaker 4 (31:35):
The stimulus check, it was more money in my pocket.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
People.
Speaker 4 (31:39):
But those people in these people are not the same people.
And then you have the people who are in the
middle who are like, the hell with everything, we don't
need them for anything.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
Here's my thing.
Speaker 4 (31:51):
Even with that, Okay, I've been asking people all weekend.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
They said, well, we.
Speaker 4 (31:57):
Don't need you know, we don't need anything from the
white man. And by the way, I think anybody who's
telling you that this moment, the executive orders and the
things that's happening in this nation are not going to
impact you. Any black person that says that to you,
that it doesn't have to impact you, or that it
doesn't impact you at least, they are ignorant, just and
(32:20):
not ignorant in a negative way, but they don't know.
At best, they are dangerous when they tell you that,
because we are all living in a society that impacts
every single one of us. Everything that happens, it impacts
all of us, whether or not, whether or not we
realize it. Even when we talk about violence in our communities,
(32:42):
we talk about you know, happiness in our communities, all
of that is in fact influenced by what is happening
in the atmosphere. So when you say that things don't
impact people, it's a very dangerous statement to make because
it does.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
All policy are local, all politics.
Speaker 3 (33:02):
Are local, and they affect everyone, and.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
They impact all of us.
Speaker 4 (33:08):
If you drive, you got to have gas, Okay, if
the gas price is high, that's.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
Going to impact you.
Speaker 4 (33:15):
You want to put your children in schools, and all
the things that you are doing every single day. Even
if you only do a little bit and you're more
self contained, you still will if you breathe the air
that's outside, if you don't have your own air, it
is impacted by whatever chemicals are being put into the
(33:39):
atmosphere or all of that.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
So I don't want to say that.
Speaker 4 (33:42):
I don't want people to tell you that policies don't
impact all of us. But we also have to keep
in mind that as we move about building our own
So you say, we don't need targets and walmarts in
all of these places, right, we don't need that. The
(34:03):
average person in our community is not going to build
our own.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
There's only gonna be a few.
Speaker 4 (34:10):
People who do it, and then people who funnel into
it and help it to thrive. Right, That's how it works.
So if you live in a food desert and you
don't really have transportation.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
While we're on a five to ten year.
Speaker 4 (34:26):
Process to building our own, which we should focus on
rather than focusing so much on being on the internet
telling everybody else, all of us what we're doing right, wrong.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
This, that, and the third.
Speaker 4 (34:38):
But if you building something five ten years, then how
is Jojo going to eat? Where is he going to
work right now?
Speaker 2 (34:51):
And that's a That's another conversation that I'm having when
we have this conversation about boycotts and we talk about Target.
You know, there's been this long, large conversation about there
are black people who vendors, who have vendors who have
contracts with Target, and if we boycott Target, then it's
gonna hurt them and we shouldn't do that. And I
(35:13):
say to myself, there are hundreds and thousands of people
who are going to be affected because of these policies
that Target, and they're not going to have jobs, They're
not gonna have a way to survive this. They don't have,
you know, the resources to be able to produce and
be entrepreneurs.
Speaker 3 (35:29):
Their families are going to suffer.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
There are people who are in d oppositions in major
you know stores and Target and all that they're gonna
their families are going to be completely wiped out. Right,
These are this is a right reality. They are people
who are in positions. I'm just saying everywhere. So I'm
saying Target because when we talk about were Target and Target,
(35:52):
there are they were d I departments in Target that
these workers were working and that no longer existed.
Speaker 3 (35:58):
So I don't know they also whole departments that have
been But I don't.
Speaker 1 (36:02):
Know if Target has fired a bunch of people, Well.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
If you scaling, if you deciding that you no longer
are invested in d I, then what is the department?
Speaker 3 (36:10):
Where's the department gonna be at? Well?
Speaker 4 (36:12):
Because I mean I don't know, I mean we we
we shouldn't. I don't know that they had a specific
department where people are going to be let go. They
may have reassigned people, giving them new titles or whatever.
I don't know if that has happened, but I can
tell you that in government offices, right, that is definitely happening.
In educational institutions, that is happening. So I can't say
(36:37):
in Target.
Speaker 2 (36:39):
Just based off the policy, the culture, the culture of
dismissal exactly.
Speaker 3 (36:45):
It's going to disenfranchise thousands of black.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
People more maybe and probably million.
Speaker 3 (36:50):
Probably millions.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
So what I'm trying to say is, are we saying
that the one or two hundred people who are important
that we're not saying they don't have value but their
finances to proceed the cause of the many. Are we
saying that we're willing to sacrifice the millions of people's
lobbihoods and just the law and establishing something that.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
Is all the respect of the respect.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
Of the mass is in the lord, just the impact
that it's going to have, right, because once, if you
don't stand for something, then you're gonna fall for anything.
And if they can say, okay, you know what, we're
just gonna take that from y'all, and that's it, and
there's no response, there's nothing for us to sacrifice.
Speaker 3 (37:29):
Nothing.
Speaker 2 (37:29):
There's not enough of us that's willing to sacrifice so
that two hundred people can continue to thrive, or maybe
three hundred, but I know it's in the hundreds.
Speaker 4 (37:38):
It ain't in the thousands they're saying.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
So they saying that Target has contracts with thousands of
black people.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
It's not just black people.
Speaker 4 (37:49):
Because diverse, I'm not saying I don't ever want to
use the word the turn DEI I want to say
it completely diversity, equity, and inclusion, because when you say
those words, it makes it clear what somebody is saying
that they're they're model no longer fits diversity, equity and inclusion.
(38:16):
Equity is what y'all on the internet, all the Internet
negroes that know everything, that talk everything about why this
one and that one is weak, and this one ain't
no good and this one don't know know y'all are
talking about equity, building, equity, having more than enough for
us to survive. Right, So these companies are saying diversity,
(38:39):
equity and inclusion.
Speaker 1 (38:41):
So to your point, but I'm tak you a thousand
and might be a thousand, might be fifteen hundred.
Speaker 3 (38:46):
Okay, I don't, but it's still not.
Speaker 2 (38:50):
Maybe it's a thousand, but based on what I've been hearing,
it's been hundreds. So a few hundreds of people. So
what I'm trying to say is, I think I'm willing
to sacrifice. I've sacrificed all time. But like you said,
I know that I'm built different. I know that there's
a level of revolutionary in me that most people don't have.
That's not like I was willing somebody did so uner Kyrie,
(39:10):
who's somebody I had never met prior to that, but
just that I identify with him in his struggle.
Speaker 3 (39:17):
I said that these hundreds of pairs sneakers.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
That I have, I no longer need them, and I'm
willing to throw them away because that's how strong I
am in my conviction about saying fuck you, because that's
how I feel. Everybody is not going to do not
understand that. But if we're not willing to, at the
drop of a dom say we're willing to stand on
principle and lose whatever it takes to establish a level
(39:39):
of respect amongst our culture, then we're going to find
ourselves back at the same position. So a lot of
people say, well, you know, we got to figure out
how do we go about a boy.
Speaker 3 (39:49):
We gotta do that.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
And I'm all for strategy, but I understand that the
longer we take to strategize, right, the longer we take
the longer, the the more ground we lose, the more.
Speaker 3 (40:04):
Energy we lose.
Speaker 2 (40:06):
Right now, people are fired up, They're looking and saying,
damn this is this is happening in real time. So
if what our leadership has to say in our leadership,
we have to say, listen, we gotta understand who's with
us and who's not with us, because you sometimes you
lose time trying to bring somebody to your cause that
ain't gonna come with you anyway.
Speaker 4 (40:24):
Well, I mean, I have multiple feelings about that. I
think that yes, we do have to move with the time.
When you hear a cry from the community, or if
you hear just to give a better example, if you
hear a cry from a baby, you want to go
(40:45):
at least and look and address whatever it is.
Speaker 1 (40:48):
But if you know that the.
Speaker 4 (40:50):
Baby is crying out in the moment because they're hungry
and the food is not prepared, you have to go
let the baby cry for a little while while you.
Speaker 1 (40:59):
Prep pair a meal that is going to nourish.
Speaker 2 (41:02):
The problem is the baby won't cry for too long
in these situations what we deal with in our communities,
people have outrage for one week until weeks.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
But that's what.
Speaker 3 (41:12):
Happened is the news cycle changes.
Speaker 2 (41:14):
Somebody talks about that this happened mc carty b and
this and that people's is on that this week.
Speaker 4 (41:19):
But the thing about this time, Mice, I want to
say to you that those people are gonna drop off anyway.
So that means that the people you're talking about are
people who we would never be able to sustain anything
with because they're not serious about or committed to it anyway. Right,
(41:40):
the purpose of planning and strategizing is that, especially in
this particular time period, they are not gonna stop doing
the things that they're doing.
Speaker 1 (41:51):
It's gonna get worse.
Speaker 4 (41:53):
So there will be a need for a response that
is not just about target, but a response that is
about all this shit that's happening, and how do we
use our economic power to be our voices in the
midst of a fascist government that is attempting to take
away our rights and to make us second class citizens.
Speaker 1 (42:16):
That's what we have to be thinking about.
Speaker 4 (42:18):
And so yes, target is now, and I and one
of those people just like you, they ain't never got
to call me since they don't want diversity.
Speaker 1 (42:26):
Damn it, I'm diverse. They don't want equity.
Speaker 4 (42:29):
I believe in equity, and they don't want inclusion, no problem,
I don't. You don't need well, I mean, but even
talk about but even when we talk whichever one is
your thing. Whichever one is your thing, the diversity, the equity,
or the inclusion, whichever one is your thing. Because again,
(42:50):
we are not asking white people to give us money, right,
We're not saying inclusion means we want white people to
give us money. We're saying, I made a product. I
made Jaden made this good water. This is a good product.
Speaker 1 (43:08):
This is not a.
Speaker 4 (43:09):
Product that needs pity, it needs whatever. And guess what
black people shop at Target. So we're saying we want
to be in the shelf, on the shelf, in the
place where our people are walking past it. That's what inclusion,
men means. It means that you can't have black people
(43:30):
walking up and down these aisles and the only thing
they can find on the shelves are your things that
you'll profit off of. Inclusion means my black product needs
to be sitting right next to the poland spring, the
smart water, and whomever else, because we also deserve to
be on these shelves, since our people make up part
of the economy that keeps you going. Now, here's what
(43:56):
I want to say to get to your point about
how do I feel hearing black women, especially say I
put everything that I have on the line to get
my product on these shelves to be included. And going
back to the Kyrie Urban example, while Kyrie has incredible sneakers,
(44:18):
we already saw them. You have a pair of two
two pairs or whatever. I don't got nothing. I don't
know why I didn't ask for myself. Oh because of
my size, that's what it was. But anyway, he has
a line that's doing well.
Speaker 1 (44:31):
When we were in whatever.
Speaker 4 (44:33):
Country in South Africa, people were like buying them, people
were walking around in them. So we know that he's
gonna do well. But the distribution is different, and that's
why people are making sure they getting target in the
big box stores. Because the corner store sneaker store, that's cool.
You want to be there too, just like Nike is
(44:53):
in there too, just like New Balance is in there too.
In order to scale so that a little. Because I'm Rovio, Alabama,
where my family members live, they ain't got no small
too many small sneaker stores. Maybe they are one, but
not really right. They might have a sneaker store that
sells like sketches and that has something for people who
have prosthetic legs or something, you know, like elderly people,
(45:15):
but they don't have a fly ass sneaker store. Should
somebody open one, no problem, I agree with that one
hundred percent. But they got Walmart right, And so when
people are this is why people want to be in
these places where the masses can get to their product.
It builds generational wealth, and generational wealth ultimately helps people
in our community because our people generally hire their own people, right.
Speaker 1 (45:38):
And so so I get the point.
Speaker 4 (45:41):
I get the point of why we want diversity, equity,
and inclusion because.
Speaker 1 (45:46):
We are the engine that fuels these companies.
Speaker 4 (45:50):
But I just want to say this because I know
that there are people who want to know how I
feel about the video that Tabbit the Brown, who I
absolutely adore. I love tab With the Brown. I share
her videos, I talk about what she's said everywhere because
(46:11):
she is so authentic and beautiful and Courtney out of
La love Courtney. Courtney has supported us in the past.
I've been in space with her. She has the main
excuse me, the main choice. I support these women and
I see what they're saying, and that's why I stop
to listen because I know what struggles they have been
(46:34):
through in order to get to where they are today.
But I want to frame this and it's very important
that people hear me.
Speaker 1 (46:44):
One.
Speaker 4 (46:46):
It is not not smart because I heard that somewhere.
Speaker 1 (46:51):
Let let's be smart.
Speaker 4 (46:53):
It is not not smart to take your money and
put it in your pocket when you feel you being disrespected.
Speaker 1 (47:01):
That is very smart.
Speaker 4 (47:03):
So it is not not smart to say I don't
want to spend my money.
Speaker 1 (47:08):
And I'm gonna tell you another thing. If you are.
Speaker 4 (47:11):
Spending your money in a store with a brand, or
you are going into places and spaces and doing business
with people and they disrespect you, damn it, you should
be emotional as a motherfucker. When people keep talking about
don't be so emotional, it's too much emotions. I am
extremely emotional about the blood, sweat and tears that I
(47:34):
put into every dollar that comes into my bank account,
every dime I make. It's an emotional battle for me
because I know that if it were not for me
getting my ass up out the bed every single day, hustling,
dealing with situations and people that I don't want to
deal with, Feeling the pain, the pain of the struggle
(47:56):
of what it takes to be able to survive, that
is an emotional thing.
Speaker 1 (48:01):
Between me and my resources.
Speaker 4 (48:04):
Right, so when you disrespect me, I emotionally can respond
and say you won't get a dime.
Speaker 1 (48:11):
Now, should leaders be strategic.
Speaker 4 (48:13):
Absolutely, but consumers have the right to decide. As has
been said, Both Courtney and Tabitha and others have said,
do what you think is right.
Speaker 1 (48:23):
So nobody has said don't do it.
Speaker 4 (48:25):
But when we said we were going to boycott Gucci,
they told us, but Dapper Dan is there and he
has a partnership with them. We don't want to abandon Dappadan.
When we said we were going to boycott waffle house,
they said, but what about the employees?
Speaker 1 (48:44):
We don't know, it might create this, that and the third.
Speaker 4 (48:47):
The point is that every time we get ready to
say we're not going to spend our money somewhere, we
are told, but what about this?
Speaker 1 (48:58):
That, and the third? And brothers and sisters, ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 4 (49:02):
I want to tell you today that I understand the
challenges because, as Angelo said to us when we were
meeting yesterday and whatever, that, black folks are always in
the catch twenty two. We always in between a rock
and a hard place, trying to figure out how we're
going to move forward. But the one thing I understand
(49:25):
so clear about oppression and about the white man who
believes that they have power and dominion over us, is
that they have studied our patterns and they sit back
and they watch us dismantle even our own people's frustration.
We are able to dismantle a movement without even negative intentions.
(49:51):
It's not even intentionally. We're just trying to figure out
which way to go. So whenever Black people get real
and we're ready to move, our own people are the
ones who helped to shift the energy, and we gotta
be real careful about that, real careful about that. And
(50:13):
so I personally am not going to target, but I'm
not going to join any particular call for boycott yet.
And that is because I want to go back to
the teachings of doctor King operation bread Basket, when he
(50:34):
was thinking through economic withdrawal, and they were using their
economic power, and they had points that they studied, and
they had points to their movement. And so there's a
lot of work that needs to be done, and I'm
not taking away strike for all people who are doing
different things. You got people out here saying I'm just
(50:54):
gonna walk in the door and I'm gonna get just
the black products.
Speaker 1 (50:58):
You got people who are saying they're gonna do all
types of things.
Speaker 4 (51:01):
But for us to have the impact necessary to show
these people that we're not playing with them, we're going
to need to come together, to sit down, to talk
through what our steps are, what our goals are, and
what it is that we're attempting to accomplish, and then
make a move that our people can get behind and understand.
(51:21):
Because right now, all this confusion, everybody's this one says this,
this one says that you lose.
Speaker 1 (51:27):
People in the middle of it.
Speaker 4 (51:28):
And then I'm saying this last thing, and I promise
I won't say another word.
Speaker 3 (51:31):
You're talking good though, No, But I just want.
Speaker 1 (51:34):
To say one last thing.
Speaker 4 (51:37):
It is I and I I struggle because the last
thing that I want is.
Speaker 1 (51:49):
To be.
Speaker 4 (51:53):
At odds with our people. We've got enough, we got division,
we have so many things that pulls us in different directions,
and people just struggling, people just and people. People are
just trying to figure it out as we go along.
All of us have those moments, and so I want
(52:15):
to be conscious of that because most of the people
that I see involved in this truly love black people
like we love black people, and so I want to
be conscious of that. But I want to say to
you that movements protest and most importantly, fighting oppression is
(52:39):
not convenient or comfortable. People will hurt, people will lose,
people will suffer. But I promise you for everything that
I love that if we stand up and we do
it majority together right, even though some people may lose,
(53:00):
the gain on the end is for a long stretch.
I can't say a lifetime because they always circle back,
but it's a long stretch that we will be able
to make gains, even with our own young people being
able to look at us and see that we stood
for something.
Speaker 1 (53:18):
And the idea that some of us are.
Speaker 4 (53:20):
Gonna walk into Target and say, I'm just gonna purchase
the black brands. Perhaps some people might do that. I
think it's a lot of people that's gonna do that,
but the majority of our people will easily slip back
into what they got the paper towels on sale today,
they got this.
Speaker 1 (53:38):
A boycott is a boycott.
Speaker 4 (53:40):
If we say we don't shop at Target, we don't
shop at Target. So we do e commerce. We figure
out how to support people, but we cannot be walking
in and out the door. Because another thing I said
I was gonna say us. But another thing is that
your presence is also a part or lack thereof is
(54:00):
a part of a boycott.
Speaker 1 (54:02):
Your presence.
Speaker 4 (54:04):
Okay, So when you when you come through the door,
that in and of itself is a sign that in
and of itself shows.
Speaker 3 (54:17):
Places other people.
Speaker 2 (54:18):
Because the reality of the situation is there are people
who are saying, I'm not going to the store, I'm
gonna boycott, and they and they watch you walk into
that store and they just see.
Speaker 4 (54:27):
Like, damn, I need to go to targeting that I
have anywhere, and people, people, you.
Speaker 2 (54:35):
Need people to hold us to keep us strong, like
you know, because a lot of people are this is
Shopping is addictive, you know, especially when you when you
go to your Target and that's your favorite store. You
going every hour and it got what you want, and
you used to that, and you you you're fighting against
that urge and you see somebody else that you know
has that same urge and say, look, I know it's hard,
(54:56):
but we ain't going to that Target. And y'all walk
to another store and you we start getting used to it.
We need we listen to me, like you said, we
have to be steadfast and we have to be unified
in order to get because on the other side of it,
it shows these people that they can't play with us.
It shows them that, you know what, we have to
make consensions. We have to come back, we have to
(55:18):
rethink this, We have to have meetings because we moved
a little too fast.
Speaker 3 (55:22):
And that's what history has told us.
Speaker 2 (55:25):
When we talk about Operation Break Basket and we talk
about Doctor King and the boycotts they had, it's because
they were willing to sacrifice for a year. They were
willing to say I'm not going to do this. The
majority of us, ninety nine percent of us are not
going to Sure, there was people who back, and there.
Speaker 4 (55:39):
Are people right now who need the bread and they
only have a Walmart or they only have a Target.
Speaker 2 (55:44):
And we understand, and you know we have to do
in our organizer, we have to figure out how do
we get them some bread and how do we get
them to another store? You know, as as thoughtful leaders.
This is what I want to talk about. I want
to talk about, Okay, we're boycotting, right, We're gonna go
outside and we're gonna pick it in front of it.
We're gonna pick a target today that we're gonna go
out and we're gonna explain why we're not going to target.
(56:06):
We're gonna tell people where else they can go. We're
gonna say, you know what, we're willing to set up.
We have two or three cars a day that's willing
to take you. If you can't get to another store,
we're gonna willing to drop. These are things, These are
strategic things that we have to do to show community,
to show unity, that we're not just doing something on
a whim. But that's what the Panthers was doing. That's
what doctor king Ino was doing. They were utilizing their resources,
(56:26):
they were utilizing their bodies. They were able to give
whatever we can and that's when we come together like that.
There's no way that they can beat us. There is
absolutely no way that they can beat us. So I'm
saying to you, I already know what I'm willing to sacrifice.
I know how far to me is willing to go
and sacrifice on behalf of our people and to get
the respect and the dignity not even just the resource,
(56:48):
but the dignity that we deserve.
Speaker 3 (56:49):
Because if they think that they.
Speaker 2 (56:51):
Can do whatever they want to to you, then they
will do whatever they want to to you. So this
is what it is at this moment right now. There
are a lot of people who are feeling confused. They're
watching on the news, you see all these type of things.
I'm telling you, take a deep breath, Take a deep breath,
and say, the only thing that's gonna win is our unity.
(57:11):
When we show them that we're not breakable, when we
show them that we're not weak, when we show them
that we're not scared, then they have no choice for takaar.
You know, they say, if you look the devil in
its eye, he will flee, and it's time for us
to look the devil.
Speaker 3 (57:25):
In his eyes.
Speaker 4 (57:25):
Absolutely absolutely well, I think there's you know, I have
a whole bunch of more stuff here, but I think
that we have covered it all, you know, And I
would I would circle back to my point that I
am completely understanding and aware of how challenging and how
(57:47):
complex these moments are in these situations because they get
us wrapped.
Speaker 1 (57:52):
Up in different ways. You know, you get you all.
But I know that.
Speaker 4 (57:58):
A boycott is a boycott. I know that everybody's not
gonna do it. I know that the people who are involved,
these black businesses who can be substantially hurt, they love
black people, at least the ones I know they love
black people.
Speaker 1 (58:18):
And I also know that.
Speaker 4 (58:21):
We are not I personally in the position that I'm in,
I cannot sit by and not at least tell us
where we are and make sure that people understand what's happening. Yeah,
I know, you can't just take your product off the stand,
(58:41):
off the shelf, but there ought to be a morality.
Speaker 1 (58:45):
Clause for you too, that's right.
Speaker 4 (58:48):
They ought to be if you are my partner. Because
Target was supposed to be these people's partner. They never
said that Target. They never said that Target was the
employer of XYZ Black Brands or XYZ Women own brands.
They said they were partners, right. That's why one of
(59:10):
the things that we've been told that's a big risk
is that if you don't sell your product, you either
owe them money or you end up with all the
product and no money. Right, So, because that's what partnerships
look like. But and and by the way, people, some
of these same brand owners, I'm talking about all of them.
(59:32):
That's so please, let's not do the old Tamika said
this about Tabithaugh or this about so and so or
such and such, because that's not what I'm talking about
to about the whole pie. Right, If you black brand
or black woman was so much of a partner of targets,
why would they not pick up the phone and call
(59:52):
you to tell you that this is what was going
to happen.
Speaker 1 (59:55):
So already there's a breach.
Speaker 4 (59:58):
In terms of what that partner looks like, because they
should have been sitting with you, saying we're doing this
new thing, were.
Speaker 1 (01:00:07):
Trying to figure out how we're gonna go about it.
Speaker 4 (01:00:09):
We want to tell you that this is gonna impact
you because there are people that.
Speaker 1 (01:00:13):
Since I'm doing what I'm doing, they not gonna work
with you no more.
Speaker 4 (01:00:16):
How do we know that that's the case, because we've
discussed that in our board meetings all the time for
Until Freedom.
Speaker 1 (01:00:22):
And other organizations that I'm a part of.
Speaker 4 (01:00:25):
In fact, when I went to Savior's Day and was
called anti Semitic for being a supporter of the Nation
of Islam, there were people who stopped working with me,
People pulled their money, and there were people I was
on boards that I was asked to resign from because
(01:00:48):
the morality clause is that if you do something in
this partnership that we have that harms the brand of
another person, then how does that impact met and my organization,
my company.
Speaker 1 (01:01:02):
This is what these people said to me.
Speaker 4 (01:01:04):
So if Target is your partner, why did they not
even have the respect to pick up the phone and
have a meeting with people and say, hey, this is
what's going on so that you could get prepared for
what is to come. It didn't happen. It didn't happen.
So the partnership has been breached. Okay, not wanting diversity,
(01:01:26):
equity and inclusion should at least be something that lawyers
can look at to see if there's a morality clause
that has been broken on their behalf. All of these
things need to be done, and I'm sure it is
being done. But the point that I'm making here is
that the consumer who chooses to walk in the door
(01:01:47):
and just do a little this and little do a
little of that, that is still crossing the picket line.
It's crossing the picket line. Sorry to tell y'all. How
we figure it out from here from an e commerce
perspective or what we need to do.
Speaker 1 (01:02:04):
We need to figure that out.
Speaker 4 (01:02:06):
I'm not going to Target, but I understand that there
are some people who will say, well, this is my
product or these are people that I respect, and I'm
going to do that. In the meanwhile, however, we as
leaders need to come together to figure out what our
people can do collectively, collectively to address what we know
(01:02:29):
is an onslaught that if other people in America have
a cold, even the flu, we as black people are
going to experience a pandemic. So we better be aware
that what they're doing over here to.
Speaker 1 (01:02:43):
Homie, they gonna do to you.
Speaker 3 (01:02:47):
One hundred times.
Speaker 1 (01:02:48):
So there's that.
Speaker 2 (01:02:49):
On that note, we'll end this show without mine. Don't
get it, and I had a lot of stuff to
say about it. I don't get it. But I think
this boycott, in this situation where Target was extremely important
for us to speak about, well, please let us know
how you feel. We want to hear all sides, especially
from our people who are going to be impacted by
what's going on in Target.
Speaker 3 (01:03:08):
Just let us know.
Speaker 2 (01:03:09):
Once again, I'm not gonna always be right, Tamika d
marriages and I can always be wrong, but we will
both always and I mean always be authentic.
Speaker 1 (01:03:16):
Pace that's how we own it.
Hosts And Creators
Mysonne
Tamika Mallory
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