EPS 018 - No King Today, Jamal Bryant Says Dollar General is Predator, Woke Or Broke_ Black Pain Sells Again! - Truth Talks LIVE

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
One of y'all. It's tore.

Speaker 2 (00:01):
Welcome to Truth Talks, where we keep it unapologetically black
and unfiltered.

Speaker 1 (00:07):
They say woke.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
Sells, but at what cost to us? Tonight we're talking
woke or broke? How corporate America profits off of black pain?
Over and over, we're pulling back the curtain on that
performative bullshit that ally ship, and we're cutting through that
and asking the real question. Are these companies actually caring
about us in our struggle? Are they just using us

(00:28):
to get over on us to get more of that money?
And how do we reclaim our power back from them?
Right now, we're about to have an amazing conversation. It's
truth Talks.

Speaker 1 (00:38):
Let's go. Are y'all ready to roll?

Speaker 2 (00:53):
Let y'all all right, truth Tellers, that's another episode of
truth Talks.

Speaker 1 (00:59):
Here to blow your mind and make you think about
things that.

Speaker 2 (01:02):
You have not ever thought of before. Returning our favorite guest,
Lauren Lake. Judge Lauren Lake is here.

Speaker 1 (01:08):
How are you?

Speaker 3 (01:09):
I'm well, happy to be here, happy to.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
Be here, and fully prepared for the apocalypse.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
Also fully prepared for the apocalypse, Doctor Cheyenne Bryant.

Speaker 4 (01:19):
What's up? True Teller's your favorite doc. I'm here. I'm back.
I'm here every day Monday through Friday, APM Eastern.

Speaker 5 (01:26):
I want you to keep liking the chat up because
y'all been in the chat going crazy. I've been seeing
y'all go in there talking about that's right, sis, what
doctor B said?

Speaker 4 (01:34):
Yes, doctor B cook, doctor B, preach doctor B. I
still want to hear that. And I want to know
when you don't agree with doctor B.

Speaker 5 (01:41):
Because I know sometimes I say some things where it
looks like the scowls are missing.

Speaker 4 (01:44):
But let me tell you something. I don't want the
screws back. I like it just like that. I love you.

Speaker 1 (01:50):
How do you recognize? And sometimes the screws are missing?

Speaker 2 (01:52):
But I want to know if I can borrow a
little zombie repellent. I know you are prepared for ever everything,
and my man, the Betri is gonna deal with the
zombies at Chicago.

Speaker 1 (02:03):
How are you, young des she.

Speaker 6 (02:05):
Prepared for everything? I'm prepared for nothing. Listen, I just
like dropping the chat that I'm handsome. That's all I
really care about. You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (02:12):
That's all that matters. That's all that matters. Wow.

Speaker 2 (02:15):
Wow, Well I'm sure that you could get some sisters
to help you with that, and maybe some brothers too,
because the cheek bones are cheek boning.

Speaker 1 (02:22):
Right, the skin is clear. I mean, like you know,
I can't even front. He's a good looking brother. I
can't read. I can't even front.

Speaker 4 (02:31):
But that boy ain't good looking. That is a fun
in his words? Why in that white in is fine?
My little cougar claws and retracted his money.

Speaker 7 (02:44):
Wow.

Speaker 8 (02:45):
Hey, let's get into treading truth even though that topic
was fantastic. On the rend with that, if you want
general old Pastor Jamal Bryant, who I love, doctor be loves.
We all know him and respect him and love him
and appreciate his activism over a long period time. Very serious,
real important figure in our community. He's calling for another boycott,
this time Dollar General. He had a discussion about this.

Speaker 2 (03:08):
I want to roll little video of doctor Bryant talking
about the Dollar General boycott.

Speaker 1 (03:12):
Let's roll that.

Speaker 9 (03:13):
Next up is Dollar General And questions have been coming
to me from around the country and a run across
social media wide Dollar General because they've been hiding in
the cut, not being accountable and not being responsible. What
you may not know is what I didn't know, and

(03:36):
that is that Dollar General has three times as many stores.
Hear this of Target and Walmart combined twenty one thousand stores,
and most of those stores are in the communities of
abject poverty or rural areas that have less than twenty

(03:59):
thousand in population.

Speaker 1 (04:01):
They are predators. D you're in the hood.

Speaker 2 (04:04):
This is an important question because I respect the brother
standing up to a company that does a lot of
business in the hood and saying, you got to do
better for people in the hood.

Speaker 1 (04:13):
But those folks.

Speaker 2 (04:15):
Who are patronizing Dollar General in the regular live probably
in a food desert where it is hard for them
to easily acquire the basic necessities that they would acquire
at a Dollar General. So we're kind of saying, of
poor people, can you do without? So we can get
Dollar General to be more just to you? And I
appreciate the overarching goal, but it comes with a bit

(04:38):
of pain for the average person who's going to have
to carry out this boycott. What do you think about
what doctor Pastor Bryant is offering, Doctor Bryant, what Pastor
Bryant is offering to the people asking the people to do?

Speaker 1 (04:49):
Here, I can tell you. For one, I get it,
like I really do.

Speaker 6 (04:54):
I understand what Pastor Bryant's trying to say, and I
understand it is Hard's probably in the right place. But
to be mad at Dollar General about DEEI policies, I
think is probably the wrong look.

Speaker 1 (05:06):
I think, to.

Speaker 6 (05:07):
Be real, my mother did not raise me on DEI slogans.
She raised me on goddamn EBT and Dollar General tissue.
You understand what I'm saying. She raised me on what
she could afford. She raised me on what she could do,
and boycotting the only options that's left for a lot
of people.

Speaker 1 (05:24):
When you got to go five to fifteen miles to.

Speaker 6 (05:27):
Get to the nearest Walmart or Target at X y Z,
this is all a lot of people in the hood have.
This is the one store willing to stay open late.
You know, you know, you got your family dollars. But
those who play into the same effect, these are those
stores that matter to the people who are like imagine,
I don't know if Pastor Brian has ever had to
attempt to feed a family on whole foods fucking prices

(05:50):
like it doesn't work.

Speaker 1 (05:52):
It's not reality for a lot of people.

Speaker 6 (05:54):
And I think when you make statements like this or
attempt to target places like this, A lot of people
who survive on just this story alone.

Speaker 4 (06:04):
Dog, Yeah, and this is my thing. Pastor Briant knows.
That's my guy. We claim cousins from time to time.
That is my guy.

Speaker 5 (06:11):
But I do want to say what he's been doing
with Walmart and these other initiatives. His heart in the
right place. Absolutely, his heart posture is there. I get
what he's trying to do. I understand he's saying their
sacrifice for us to move this throttle. But Pastor Bryant,
I got a question from.

Speaker 4 (06:24):
Your good old doc over here.

Speaker 5 (06:26):
What other resource are you going to offer these folks
in the inner city, in the hood who don't have
anything else close enough? Some of these people are on
public transportation. Some folks are walking to this dollar tree
or to this dollar store. Some people don't even have
access to a store further than that, closer than that.
So if we shut these stores down, how do they
feed their families? And then I want to I want

(06:47):
to ask this. You know, the church, the church is
supposed to be a place for resources. Pastor Bryant, I'm
gonna hitch your brother, But I still love you, and
I would love you to come on you talks and
explain to us what your plan is for resources. After
I say this, are you gonna offer up that your
church becomes a resource where the people who are not
going to shop at the dollar tree can actually some
type of way put in the claim or contact the

(07:08):
church and get the resources that they're not going to
get from this door from the church.

Speaker 4 (07:13):
Now, Listen, I'm willing to help contribute.

Speaker 5 (07:14):
I'm willing to be a volunteer part of it, but
I want us to be very proactive in telling our
community what not to do, but providing a resource on
what they can do in lieu of what they're going
to miss out because for some people, listen, that dollar bread,
that dollar milk, that is all they have and we
can't strip them from that and then say well, I

(07:35):
don't know what to tell you, but it'll get better later.

Speaker 4 (07:37):
That's what they've been doing to us all along. We
can't be a part of that rhetoric.

Speaker 1 (07:41):
I appreciate the point.

Speaker 2 (07:43):
And if the pastor is going to say to folks,
you know, we're not rolling with Dollar General right now,
there is a conversation to be had about him saying,
here's the alternative.

Speaker 1 (07:53):
Yes, here's the thing. Though.

Speaker 2 (07:55):
For me, protesting is not supposed to be convenient. It's
not supposed to be easy for protesters. It's not supposed
to be easy for the state. We're making it hard.
We are, as Baard Wrestling would say, we are putting
ourselves in the gears of capitalism.

Speaker 1 (08:09):
And making it stop.

Speaker 2 (08:10):
When Doctor King was doing the Montgomery bus boycott, people
walked to work every day for over a year. And
it is easier for me to sit here and say
that than it is to actually do that. But sometimes
we have to take extreme measures to show the corporations
we can live without you, and we can be more
powerful than you, and that will make them And when

(08:32):
I see, okay, well these people will be without such
and such. That's Dollar General's fault, right. I don't blame
the protesters for what happens to them. If Dollar General
comes correct, then they will go back to serving the community, Lauren.

Speaker 1 (08:43):
As long as Dollar General is not.

Speaker 2 (08:44):
Serving the community, then we have to protest them and
deal with whatever consequences we do.

Speaker 10 (08:50):
I mean, I think he's in a very interesting position
because he's almost damned if he does and damned if
he doesn't.

Speaker 3 (08:56):
Right, he had a very successful boycott of Target, wasn't
it next? What's next? Where are we going with this movement?

Speaker 10 (09:04):
There's no store where it's going to be, you know,
best case scenario versus worst.

Speaker 3 (09:09):
He has to choose a place. I also did hear
him say a little bit further along in that speech.

Speaker 10 (09:14):
That he does understand that these stores are in areas
that are considered food deserts, where those if people in
those communities must shop there. He completely understands that, which
is why he also brought up the digital boycott factor,
where he wants people to send emails, he wants people
to even write letters, he wants people to make phone calls,

(09:36):
making demands. I think what he's trying to do is
keep the momentum going from Target, where we are putting
companies on notice that if you don't value us, we
won't value you. And so maybe in those food deserts
where people still must go, right, of course, go, We're
not going to have you starve in an overn boycott

(09:58):
of Dollar General. However, in the communities where you do
have options, maybe choose another option.

Speaker 1 (10:05):
Now, this is.

Speaker 3 (10:06):
Where you're tricky for me. What's the option.

Speaker 10 (10:09):
So everybody's saying all the time, Okay, so now we
ain't going to target everybody going to Walmart.

Speaker 3 (10:15):
But I thought we had a problem with them.

Speaker 10 (10:17):
And then everybody says, well, now we're not doing that,
so we order them from Amazon. Do we have a
problem with them? There's this law. We don't have a
large scale blueprint of where this is going and how,
and know we can't do everywhere at once. I do
understand that, but I think we do need to understand

(10:37):
how this blueprint flows so people can kind of have
the big picture of what we're doing and more importantly,
how we move as a culture to then combat our
It's almost like our tie to these larger corporate like
what could we be doing as a people to where

(10:58):
we always don't have to go there? Now you've got
some places online. I've seen those where there's all black
owned businesses. There's just a lot of questions that I
think are going unanswered. However, I believe if he stops,
he'll be criticized more than if he keeps going and
just tries to find the best case scenario to continue.

Speaker 6 (11:15):
I absolutely understand what you're saying, and I'm not saying
he should not be holding dollar generally accountable. I think
that's fine and dandy, but when you look at corporations
like Target, a lot of those are outside of the hood. See,
there's a difference between holding a company accountable and holding
the hood hostage.

Speaker 1 (11:34):
At the same time. They can't really align.

Speaker 6 (11:38):
If you're gonna shut it down, cool, But this is
for you know, pastor Brian, Listen, If you gonna do that,
you gotta come to the hood.

Speaker 1 (11:45):
You gotta do some food drives.

Speaker 6 (11:46):
You got to give free shuttles to people going for
better grocery stores, like single mothers, to voucher voucher's for
single mothers, you know, who can't dive into the political
aspect of it because they're too busy worried about feed
their families. Like, I get it. I get what you're
trying to do, and I get what you've done. I've
seen the way it worked for Target. You said, don't

(12:07):
go to Target. I wasn't in Target. But if you
tell me that the only way I know how to
get to where I'm going is through CTA bus that's
Chicago Transit in Chicago.

Speaker 1 (12:16):
If you tell me I.

Speaker 6 (12:17):
Can no longer take that what do you want me
to do to get to where I'm supposed to be
for my family, I need answers, I need solutions, not emails.

Speaker 5 (12:26):
And this is where and this is where community leaders
are supposed to commune.

Speaker 4 (12:31):
This is where leaders are supposed to come together and
not be divided.

Speaker 5 (12:34):
This is where Black Lives Matter no longer has a
problem with NAACP and vices verse. This is where church
pastors and bishops and congregations come together to congregate to
figure out a plan of action. This is where people say,
wait a minute, we are going to have a planned
and we're also going to have an issue and concern.
I understand Toay saying that, look at you know, protesting

(12:55):
and doing these things comes with a little pain. But
we are in a place where we have leadership, enough churches,
enough folks who can come together and say, Okay, we
are going to do this call of action for our community,
but we're also going to provide this plan of action
for our community. We cannot leave our people hanging, because
then we are doing nothing different than the oppressor.

Speaker 4 (13:14):
We cannot tell our folks there's a problem.

Speaker 5 (13:16):
I'm going to give you a bone, go fetch, but
We ain't gonna tell you exactly how to fetch, what
to do, or where to go and how you can
thrive in your community. It's just not fair. Again, does
he have a right heart?

Speaker 4 (13:27):
Pross?

Speaker 7 (13:28):
Hell?

Speaker 4 (13:28):
Yeah. Do I love what he's doing? Yes? But lastly,
not lastly, but lastly.

Speaker 5 (13:33):
To my point, Frank and Lamb, who are the stores
and the folks that we can partner with that will
offer these vouchers, that will offer grocery credits because there
has been time in our community that we have boycotted.

Speaker 4 (13:46):
Many stores in the Los Angeles area as INAACP.

Speaker 5 (13:48):
We partnered up with nine nine Sinister, We partnered up
with stores we have a big loss for us out
here that said, yeah, we donate one hundred dollars gift
cards to the folks that at the college that you're president,
you're the vice president of the Doctor Bryant, were donate
grocery gift cards to the people who are in the
projects that you're telling them to stay away from or
that certain stores are not catering to. You have to

(14:09):
first put plans into action before you go tell people
what action you.

Speaker 4 (14:13):
Want them to take, especially in marginalized community.

Speaker 5 (14:15):
That's despaired and they don't have a thriving plan. They
are surviving. We can't make it heavier for them. We
got to go in there and help them out.

Speaker 4 (14:23):
That's just what you do.

Speaker 5 (14:24):
And if you got to be boost to the ground,
like Dimitri said, show the fuck up, show the fuck
up as a person and say, look, I'm pastor Brian,
I'm doctor Brian, I'm judge Lauren.

Speaker 4 (14:33):
What do y'all mean from us? Who should we partner
up with that that where we can help it? If
now we're going to help you figure it.

Speaker 2 (14:38):
Out, you're right that the pastor has to have some action,
some real tangible action to provide people with another pathway,
because if they live in a food desert, we can't
just tell them, well, just you have to you just
can't get milk. I'm sorry, you can't get it at all.
You can't get it at all, Like that's not an acceptable.

Speaker 4 (14:57):
And you have an infant child and you have infant child.

Speaker 2 (15:00):
Yeah, so he has to help people find a solution
to not need to need to patronize this predatory store
because on the long term, we do need to root
out the predatory corporation.

Speaker 1 (15:12):
But what is the day to day action.

Speaker 2 (15:14):
You're allowing the people, And like I do, there is
a big difference between doctor King saying Okay, well you're
gonna walk to work versus well, we cannot access.

Speaker 1 (15:22):
Milk like we do need milk or bread or what
have you.

Speaker 2 (15:26):
So we can't just tell people well, just walk and
get that like you can, but you can't.

Speaker 1 (15:30):
So I need the pastor to at least maybe.

Speaker 2 (15:33):
Come on here and tell us a little bit more
about how he's going to effectuate this. And if you're
in the comments and you have ideas on what those
folks in that community can do and who they can
turn to for resources so they can boycott Dollar General,
please let them know.

Speaker 1 (15:49):
Please let us know, and we'll share with them and
we'll put it all in our.

Speaker 5 (15:53):
And I want to push really quick for people to
because Judge Lauren, you said this in one of an episodes,
push for people to build a.

Speaker 4 (16:00):
Relationship with their local officials everything.

Speaker 5 (16:02):
Listen, your local officials could do more for you than
your state congress, senator or the president. Locally build a
relationship with him. We had our local councilman, Tim Mcoscar
give us busses to bust the kids that were in
the projects out to different basketball games, football games.

Speaker 4 (16:17):
We had an exposure program.

Speaker 5 (16:19):
They will bust So Pastor Jamal Bryant, can we get
in contact and have partnerships with our local officials where
they were bussing food, busting milk, bussing water exactly.

Speaker 10 (16:29):
And that's the feedback I think these movements need. And
that's why I was talking about. I think there needs
to be more of a blueprint, a greater understanding instead
of this transactional approach of we're going here, Okay, we're now,
we're going here.

Speaker 3 (16:41):
How does it connect to where we're moving?

Speaker 10 (16:43):
What is the map of how this creates the positioning
that we want to create. I also want to say this,
which will be, you know, slightly uncomfortable, but a reality
that I think we need to address.

Speaker 3 (16:56):
You know, while I think he does make it clean
that if it's.

Speaker 10 (17:01):
Your only place to shop, we're not asking you to
go hungry, he said that it wasn't in the clip
that we played, but it is later on because I
listened to it. He said that I do want to
talk about the way in which our leaders today they
model and they are rooted in such wealth and excess.

Speaker 3 (17:25):
That's almost not relatable.

Speaker 10 (17:27):
And this is where I think the reach and the
connection becomes disconnected. I believe the intention is admirable and credible.
I do believe that the visual then of and this
is this is not just him. This is a lot
of our pastors and leaders that when they're Gucci head
to toe and Louis Laton and it's always the best

(17:50):
of everything, and it's this. It does beg the question
to those who are sitting at home barely making it,
how many more hoops you know we got to go
jump through while you still out and every day on
your stories you and your wife are living your limitless life.

Speaker 3 (18:10):
There is a disconnect there that I think.

Speaker 10 (18:13):
We need to address because I don't think our leaders
from the past, like when you look at say doctor
King's life or Malcolm X's home life. When you see
those stories, right, they're not popping out of a Rolls Royce.
They're not every day with drivers.

Speaker 2 (18:30):
But we live in a new Adam.

Speaker 10 (18:35):
Saying, but okay, well what my point was? My point
is this, when you're trying to speak to I think
a community that is struggling to just survive. I think
sometimes them seeing you in a position where it doesn't
look like you are also surviving, creates a disconnect or

(19:00):
or if you don't look really inconvenienced. And you know,
maybe I'm off kilter here, but I do think that
there is a little bit of a disconnect here that
I've even noticed from going to church.

Speaker 3 (19:11):
And look, I can I can not go to Dollar General.
But I'm not gonna lie. Sometimes when I go to churches,
when the pastor.

Speaker 10 (19:19):
Is had to toe and look like a stylus had
the stylum, I'm like to give the word ye. I mean,
I think we have a little disconnect here that we
have to address.

Speaker 3 (19:31):
It's the elephant in the room.

Speaker 10 (19:32):
Nobody wants to talk about because I like to be
sharp like the next person.

Speaker 3 (19:35):
But I'm just telling you that that's what I feel.

Speaker 6 (19:37):
You know, you're right on point. You're right on point.
It's actually a lot larger than you may think it is.
It's not just because they're wealthy, it's not just because
the cars they drive. It's it can be as simply
as that man having his legs folded in that video.
I don't trust him because his mannerisms ain't even like mine.
I've never seen him where I'm from swear, I swear
to gods.

Speaker 1 (19:58):
But we know him. He is a serious activist in
the unity.

Speaker 6 (20:00):
And that's why you if you're looking at the mental
state of a young black man in the hood, his
mannerisms ain't like mine.

Speaker 1 (20:08):
You would be like, I know him, he's touched my
life different.

Speaker 6 (20:16):
I don't trust what I'm unfamiliar with. This man can
be using uh words too large for my vocabulary.

Speaker 1 (20:22):
And make him not trust him. This is the mindset
of people in the hood.

Speaker 6 (20:26):
So you want me to trust the fact that boycott
in the store where I know the clerk, but I
don't know you. It's what I'm supposed to do. That's
the disconnect. That's the problem. It's not just about what
they're wearing or what they it's the fact that you're
speaking on something saying you want to help a place
you've never been to. I've never seen you, and that's
that's the largest disconnect there is. But I want to

(20:47):
ask you a question though, in all actuality, do y'all
think what we did with Target was a momentary fluke
or is this the best way we should be a pro?

Speaker 1 (20:57):
Is boycott the best? Like?

Speaker 5 (20:59):
Like?

Speaker 1 (20:59):
What do you what you feel?

Speaker 2 (21:01):
I mean, I definitely feel like when we have corporations
that are not serving us properly, whatever that and whatever
the problem is, then we need to not shop there.
We need to be conscious shoppers who are shopping at
companies that where their values and the way they do
business aligns with how we want to see them do business.

Speaker 1 (21:20):
And we in a.

Speaker 2 (21:21):
World where we can online order almost anything, there really
isn't to me a reason that we have to go
to the local Target or the local Dollar General. And
the thing is, I understand what you're saying about the
mannerisms of the leader and the way that Malcolm X
speaks is that in and of itself captivates people and

(21:45):
they want to listen to he seems like me.

Speaker 1 (21:47):
He's admirable. I get it.

Speaker 2 (21:50):
But when the thing that we are angry about is
so triggering, then those other concerns and whatever privations that
you have to go through to stop that company, you'd
be willing to go there. I know one of my
favorite restaurants in your town, doctor Bryant.

Speaker 1 (22:11):
Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles.

Speaker 2 (22:13):
As I haven't dug in on the story, but apparently
there's much more magoanness and trumpiness in the ownership there
than I had known. And black people are like, we're
not going in you there anywhere. And that is some
of the best fried chicken I've ever had in my
life outside of Memphis, Tennessee. But I will not go
there because I'm so angry about the problem that it's

(22:33):
worth it to be to have the deprivation.

Speaker 1 (22:36):
So when the problem and that's kind of a joke
problem even though magg is horrible.

Speaker 2 (22:40):
But cheyenne, when the issue is hard enough and it
makes you angry enough, you'll be willing to go through
those problems.

Speaker 4 (22:47):
You know, I'm gonna stand what.

Speaker 5 (22:48):
I'm gonna stand ten toes down with Dmitri on this.
What Dmitri is talking about, Torrey, and you know this,
We've talked about this representation. He's talking about representation.

Speaker 4 (22:58):
What he's saying is.

Speaker 5 (23:00):
That it's easy to speak, like Judge Lauren said, from
your pulp pit, from your high mountain, you know, from
the suburbs, from the from the mansion. Yeah, you can
holler from the from the from the mansion, right, But
what about the people in the fucking desert. It's hot
down here. We ain't got no water down here. Bro,
You and your Gucci were just trying to have a

(23:21):
little bit of water. You and your Bentley, We're just
trying to get public transportation. We're trying to get a
transfer from bus number two to bus number fifty five.
Hold On, we on a subway. We're just trying to
make sure that my son and we can get on
the subway when there's a rise in crime and we
can get back safe. Hold On, I get off work
at four o'clock. My son gets out of school at
three thirty am. I gonna get a CPS called to
me because I'm just trying to make it from work

(23:42):
to my child and I'm a single parent. Wait a minute,
So so the Gucci in the mansion, that is not
something that that person can relate to. But you want
to come down here and have a conversation with me
from up there. And this is why it's important, because
for myself, when I said I went from the hood
to the hills, I may make sure I am the
vice president of Harvard College that is in the root

(24:04):
of the hood.

Speaker 4 (24:04):
I don't want to be the VP of Harvard. I
like being the VP of a hood. Jason.

Speaker 5 (24:08):
You know why, because I bring my black ass back
to the hood. I drive my green machine which he's
a Kia, or I drive my Bentley.

Speaker 4 (24:14):
But I go in there and I'm boost to the floor.

Speaker 5 (24:15):
I'm talking to students, I'm having conversations, and in those moments,
I'm telling you right now. To judge Lauren's point, I
try to come in with no makeup. It's not about
dummy and Dan. I'm about respecting my people, respecting my city.
I try to make sure I come in i'm ass
as relatable as I can. I don't want to be
I don't want to be a weapon. I don't want
to be a threat. I don't want to be someone

(24:37):
that intimidates them. I want to be someone that they
can look to and say, wait a minute. She's not
coming to show us what we don't have. She's coming
to show us how to get to a place we
want to be at. They may not want to be
in the heels like me. I want to help me
get to the where they want to go. And a
big part of it is if I don't represent someone
that they feel they can identify with, at some point
they can become a piece of me.

Speaker 4 (24:58):
I lose my people, and what is it for me?

Speaker 5 (25:01):
To be in a fucking match or a Bentley, or
wear my Dior shirt or my Gucci. If my people
are lost in me, If my people can't use me
as a tool, they see me as a timidation factor,
that is not what it's about.

Speaker 4 (25:12):
I don't want to be on no pull pit. I
don't want no title.

Speaker 5 (25:15):
I don't want to be anywhere where my people look
at me and say she's doing a disservice because I
can be in awe of her over there, but I
can't touch it because she's not within reach.

Speaker 4 (25:25):
That is not okay. Whether it's me, pastor Jamal, Judge, Lauren,
you told her, anybody else.

Speaker 5 (25:30):
We gotta be able to make sure we are in
the trenches with our people, especially if you're like me
or or Jimiti or Lauren who come from the trenches.
There's no way I'm wearing my Gucci high heels to
the hood, not because I'm gonna get robbed, because I'm
good in the hood. Because I don't want my people
to look at me and say, Doc, you just too

(25:51):
far untouchable. You making us feel like there's no hope.
I'm here doing stall hope. And if I got a
dummy down or take layers off, pandemic, take layers off.

Speaker 4 (25:59):
It's no point of me saying I made it.

Speaker 5 (26:00):
If I can help my people see the whole and
then making it too, that's the bigger point that I
see Dimitri making.

Speaker 1 (26:06):
I love that.

Speaker 2 (26:07):
I love that attitude and that commitment to us and
the notion that I can rise. But I'm still going
to be at black institutions, and I'm going to be
there in a way that will be inspiring and mentoring
and uplifting to them. And whatever success we have, we
should be thinking about how can we take that attitude

(26:29):
and turn it back to black people and lifting other
black people up with us?

Speaker 1 (26:33):
And I loved that way.

Speaker 5 (26:36):
That's part of culture competence. I say this as part
of culture awness. And I'll wrap re the quick because
I always talk about culture competence being something that the
white people or folks outside of our culture. And guess what,
we the people who made it, the people who are
doing well, we need to have culture competence for our
people as well.

Speaker 4 (26:52):
We really do.

Speaker 2 (26:53):
I No, I think that the attitude is really inspiring
and important, and you know, as part of what we
were talking about when Deon Sanders left Jackson State for Colorado,
like you could be at Jackson State helping black kids
who are not able to get the level of coaching
that you're able to get. And it's not anti Deon,

(27:13):
I love Dion, but just the attitude of take your success, academic, economic, whatever,
and bring it back to black people and never be
so above black people that you're not bringing your gifts
back to them.

Speaker 1 (27:26):
Like I appreciate that attitude, and I think.

Speaker 2 (27:29):
That's how we all should should should take our success
and really try to pay it forward in that way.

Speaker 1 (27:35):
And we love Pastor Brian.

Speaker 2 (27:36):
I think everybody in the segment respects him and loves
him to be choose hating a little bit on the
way he sits, But I want that sweater?

Speaker 1 (27:42):
Well who made that sweater? Can I get right from
the sweater?

Speaker 4 (27:46):
He dresses down, and he dresses down.

Speaker 1 (27:48):
He does all right, he sure does.

Speaker 2 (27:50):
But like you know, if the pastor and he knows me,
he knows doctor b he knows Jody. If you want
to come on the show and talk to us about
what you do with Dollar General, what you did with Target,
we would love to hear from you. We'd love to
talk to you about, you know, the good and the
challenging parts.

Speaker 1 (28:06):
Of your movement, because we're definitely supportive, but we want
to maybe we might be to call him in a
little bit right, doctor.

Speaker 4 (28:11):
Yeah, yeah, I would love to.

Speaker 5 (28:13):
And you know one thing about Baal pausea Bryant, He's
gonna have answers. He always has answers. And I'm not
saying wordplay, not wordplay. He has thought out answers and
that's what I do love about him. He's gonna come
correct and he gonna bring it.

Speaker 1 (28:25):
So let's move on to our politics segment.

Speaker 7 (28:27):
H Elon Musk has stepped back from his explosive medium
feud with Trumpy, writing on X I regret some of
my posts about the president.

Speaker 1 (28:38):
They went too far. Who wrote that for you? That's
not how you talked, Elon? Yeah, rite that shit.

Speaker 2 (28:43):
The Billionaire Romance is back in the spotlight because Elon
is apologizing to Trump and public Doctor b. You said
last week the Billionaire of Romance was all smoke and
mirrors by design.

Speaker 1 (28:55):
This again Don putting on a show to distract from
something else.

Speaker 4 (29:01):
Listen, I said that this was roleplay. From the beginning.

Speaker 5 (29:04):
These two men were not having a real problem this
is what happened. Elon came in and God he didn't personally,
his companies, I E him, him, y'all, him got contracts,
governmental contracts, hold on his business. SpaceX made twenty two
billion dollars off government contracts, Tesla off tax cuts, and
the Census made two point eight billion dollars in twenty

(29:27):
twenty four collectively took date. Elon has made between thirty
eight and forty eight billion dollars for having a romance
with his.

Speaker 4 (29:35):
BFF Big T.

Speaker 5 (29:37):
So when he comes in, gets his contracts, gets his money,
guess what. He can't just walk off stage and say
thank you. He has to say this, Terrey, you know what,
screw you. You're the reason. I'm the reason why you
got an office. I got a problem with you.

Speaker 1 (29:51):
Terrey.

Speaker 4 (29:51):
Oh, Terrey, clap back at me, so we can make
it look.

Speaker 5 (29:55):
As though we have this issue for me to be
able to dodge out after I got my bread, I
got my back, and then we can throw people off
with the whole reason why we were in relationship. To me,
it's no different than a man who got money and
a woman who was gold digging.

Speaker 4 (30:08):
That's exactly how it looked like the gold.

Speaker 5 (30:10):
Digger came in, she got what she got, and and
we call the guy with the money.

Speaker 4 (30:15):
I guess the trick.

Speaker 5 (30:16):
The trick trick thof gold Digger got a coins and
now they got to figure out a reason for this
relationship to end.

Speaker 4 (30:20):
That's exactly why I said it was world play.

Speaker 1 (30:22):
Yeah, Lauren, I'm not sure I agree with the doc.

Speaker 2 (30:25):
I think you have two combustible, highly egoed out people
who are prone to say all kinds of things. Trump
and Elon both seem to have personality problems where they'll
say things that are self destructive to themselves. And I
think Elon got to a point where he was like,
I understand that you are not doing the right thing.

(30:46):
And I could see where a gigantic, pork filled Bill
would eventually like blow Elon's mind when his whole project
has been to go in the other direction, and he
said something that given his wealth privilege, he would be
willing to say and Trump would find offensive. And so
now they're fighting. But it's all like when you have

(31:06):
the two biggest egos in the country. Of course, eventually
everybody who is around Trump starts fighting with him. Within
about three to four months, most people do not last
any length, and Elon was by far the most famous
person who did in Trump's orbit for the longest.

Speaker 1 (31:22):
So I'm like, eventually this is going to end, Lauren,
What do you think?

Speaker 3 (31:25):
I thought it was real.

Speaker 10 (31:27):
I didn't think it was all performative. I think there
may be pieces of it that was. But I felt
like the couple of the digs that Elon took with
respect to you wouldn't even have won this election without me,
which we were all waiting for that next thing to
drop light, and so tell us what you really did
you know? And so, and then also the part where

(31:47):
he talks about you know, the reason why the Epstein
files haven't been released is because, I mean, those are
blow blows if you were going a craft in argument,
I don't know if we necessary would include that dialogue
as a part of the fallout, especially when we already
had the super Bill as already a point of contention, right.

(32:11):
I mean, he could have just been like, he don't
know how to do business. You see, he ain't never
really done business, like that's why his company, so you're
gonna trust his He could have gone anywhere. But when
I tell you he went low with the with the
Epstein files.

Speaker 1 (32:23):
And also.

Speaker 10 (32:27):
I saw this coming like I felt like the energy
of this had been brewing ever since his son was
in the Oval office and he had that little slip
where he had to tell everybody, you ain't the president.

Speaker 3 (32:39):
You need to just shut your mouth. See, I already
knew that there.

Speaker 10 (32:44):
Was something going on in that house and things being
said that this whole boy was picking up on.

Speaker 3 (32:50):
And I felt like in that moment, you know, Elin.

Speaker 10 (32:53):
Had basically said, now, listen, I came in here, got
this election for you, and ran this country for you
to this certain point.

Speaker 3 (33:01):
Now my business ain't making money. I'm about to go.

Speaker 10 (33:04):
Don't now try to undo everything I did, because you're
undercutting my intelligence.

Speaker 3 (33:09):
And that's one thing.

Speaker 10 (33:10):
He stands on and that people hold him up for
is this, you know, supposed intelligence. And I think that
is what bothered him. And I thought a part of
that discourse was real.

Speaker 1 (33:22):
Indeed, she makes a great point.

Speaker 2 (33:24):
I mean all her points are great, but she's talking
about a five year old. You got a five year
old about the same age as Elon's kid. They tend
to repeat everything they hear, So if he's telling trub
the five year old telling Trump you're not the real president.

Speaker 1 (33:36):
He surely heard that from Elon or his mother.

Speaker 6 (33:39):
Hey that a five year old repeat everything word from
word like a parent. And you always got to believe
them because they're so innocent, spinning it back out of
their mouth. You know they don't have bad intentions. But
for me, man, I think I may be a little
different than everybody else here. I'm tired. I'm tired of
seeing two fucking rich, spoiled white boys argue like this

(34:00):
is fucking real Housewives of the White House, Like I'm sicking,
and shit, this ain't nothing but like a big budget
Netflix original for real? Why half the fucking nation is
living in with overdrawn accounts?

Speaker 1 (34:11):
Like it shit don't make sense to.

Speaker 6 (34:12):
Me, Like and I'm supposed to worry about which one
of y'all apologize first, Like I don't give a fuck
who apologizes first, because my motherfucking cousin can't find a
job from some shit he did five years ago, Like
make it make sense, Like ain't nobody fixing elks?

Speaker 1 (34:26):
At school? The textbooks still say George Bush.

Speaker 6 (34:29):
The president like it's lead in the water, Like like,
if you want to impress me, stop tweeting and go
put some more fucking money in a mental health clinic
or something like, because this is not impressive to me,
and I don't frankly, I don't give a fuck.

Speaker 1 (34:43):
Like, why is it relevant to me if they fucking apologiz?
I don't care. I'm sorry.

Speaker 4 (34:48):
And that's exactly the point, Dimitri. You know why it's
relevant to you. You know why it's relevant.

Speaker 5 (34:52):
The low blows that Elon was taking on Trump are
all the things we already know. We knew about this whole,
possible einstein'st We knew about this whole I'm seeing whatever
say a toroy, don't care how you pronounce it, damn thing, Okay,
thank you Epstein.

Speaker 4 (35:04):
Stuff we knew about.

Speaker 5 (35:05):
We knew that must have offered up millions of dollars
to people who would go into a sweet state for
folks who voted for Trump.

Speaker 4 (35:12):
We knew all this, So you're not telling us any
low what we don't know.

Speaker 5 (35:15):
The reason why it's so important that it's your business,
Dimitri and everyone else, is that this apology happens and
all this chaos, and it's not behind the curtain conversations
like all the other government contract conversations they had that
were behind the curtain. But let's have the argument be
on the stage. Is because they had to create this
fancy for.

Speaker 4 (35:33):
Whatever they're doing. When you're talking about power, money.

Speaker 5 (35:37):
Rich, spoiled and white supremacist systemic, these boys is big
boys there in the big dog part.

Speaker 4 (35:43):
They're not stupid.

Speaker 5 (35:44):
They've been strategizing this stuff all freaking along. They strategized
to get him in office. They're now strategizing to have
these fallouts in front of us, like spoiled rich white
boys would do, so that they can take the narrative,
feed us what they want, and we can feast off
their bullshit.

Speaker 4 (35:58):
This is b ed. This is about money and power.

Speaker 5 (36:00):
When that white boar who happens to be from South
Africa must got in there, got his dough, got his bread.
Him and Trump were not done having strategic plans and
things takes them.

Speaker 4 (36:11):
Boys is still planning stuff for the future. They're not done.

Speaker 5 (36:15):
Power and money and ego and narcissists does not have
an ending point. They want us to see this because
this is a part of their strategy to say, oh.

Speaker 4 (36:23):
They got into it, look at them.

Speaker 5 (36:24):
No, don't, don't, don't don't deflect us from what the
hell you really doing? Don't deflect us from this money
move you're making. Don't deflect us from the strategy that
you're attempting to do. No, we see what's going on,
at least some of us do. That's some bullshit. I'm
calling you out. You ain't had no argument. This is
your tact, that this is your plan and strategy.

Speaker 3 (36:41):
Do they have to make up a diversion? They're doing
everything in front of our face.

Speaker 10 (36:48):
Really, keep it real that probably about five years ago
I would have said, this is all deflection and diversion.

Speaker 3 (36:53):
I'm talking about.

Speaker 10 (36:53):
What these people have exhibited is that we will do
this in front of your face, and there's nothing we
can do. Why does Trump need to create a diversion
to send the National Guard and send troops saying doing
what he want to do, ain't nobody stopping him. That's
all I'm trying to figure out. He does, and he
doesn't have to create diversions. They don't even have to
talk in private rooms. They doing what they want to
do right in their face, and ain't a check and

(37:15):
balance gonna stop them.

Speaker 3 (37:16):
That's what they're saying to the American people.

Speaker 2 (37:18):
That's one under right, And what is happening in LA
is not a distraction. The sending of the military is
the point and the attempt to say, look what I
can do and can you do anything about it?

Speaker 1 (37:31):
No, that is the point. He's not distracting from something else.
That is what he's able to do.

Speaker 10 (37:35):
That's not just the point to raise the plan exactly
what we're gonna get temper to that.

Speaker 2 (37:40):
We're gonna get deeper to that another episode, because LA
is hugely important to us in our community. But I
want to talk about something a little bit deeper in
our main topic. How does corporate America profit off of
Black pain? From Black Lives Matter statements to June Team
sales to DEI, Corporate America is constantly cashy in.

Speaker 1 (38:00):
On our struggle. Are they truly for us or they
just about profits?

Speaker 2 (38:04):
Were all the so called DEI initiatives really performative? Allyship?
And did we get caught up in the illusion of
diversity again? Black people have always been a commodity since
we got on this land. Now they're using our resilience,
our pain, our tears, our history to monetize our culture.

Speaker 1 (38:23):
For their profit.

Speaker 2 (38:24):
DBITI when I see like Black Lives Matter hit and
brands and companies one in on the movement, and they're
releasing statements, changing logos, changing old brands and stuff, telling
us they stand with the black community, and it sounds good.
But five years later you're like, were they really trying
to be woke? Were they really trying to show that

(38:46):
they truly care about us, or were they just trying
to make a dollar off of black pain.

Speaker 6 (38:51):
You know, the thing about it is it's pr is
It feels good because it's safe.

Speaker 1 (38:58):
It don't cost them shit.

Speaker 6 (38:59):
They don't cost you a dim, it don't cost you
a meeting, it don't cost you a contract, It don't
cost you a brick in a neighborhood, nothing at all.

Speaker 1 (39:07):
So the thing about it is, I know, if I can.

Speaker 6 (39:10):
Get the major consumers on my side to believe you,
everything in Chicago had a BLM fucking logo on it.

Speaker 1 (39:17):
I'm talking about pet.

Speaker 6 (39:18):
Stores, corporations, wouldn't even hire that same black motherfucker they
was trying to appeal to, like, so to me, of
course they're going to take the safest option.

Speaker 1 (39:27):
Of course, the police department, everybody did it.

Speaker 6 (39:29):
But when it's time to actually care about the neighborhood
that b LM.

Speaker 1 (39:33):
Represents, nobody gives a Lauren, what do you think?

Speaker 10 (39:39):
I'm thinking, you don't know, really, because Demitiri is such
a great point. And look, there's a part of me
that wants to believe that the absolute shock and trauma
that the nation the world witness spoke to the hearts

(39:59):
of some right that.

Speaker 3 (40:01):
This movement was rooted in some goodwill.

Speaker 10 (40:06):
However, you know, I know, instinctively, intellectually, it was about
profit at the end of the day. I mean, the
people selling the shirts, most of them weren't like black
people making money off of all of these shirts and
clothes and things.

Speaker 3 (40:22):
But then you look at the flip.

Speaker 10 (40:23):
Side and say, well, those DEI efforts did bring a
lot of black brands into spaces where they weren't at
the time. And if for just that three to five
year time, those brands got that lift, got that exposure,
you know, how do we capitalize on that? I think
the answer is murky. I don't think there's a black

(40:46):
or a white to it. I do think there's very
much gray to live in here, because I think while
they did profit, if we're being completely honest, there were
some black brands and companies that got.

Speaker 3 (40:58):
Their start and a birth day where they were able
to profit as.

Speaker 10 (41:02):
Well on our pain, yes, but also because of some progress.

Speaker 2 (41:09):
I don't expect profiteers to do anything that would damage
their ability to profit, right, I would always expect them
to try to make the most amount of money. And
I wonder if this question can be answered with the
answer is both that they did this because they wanted
to make money and they saw if you're Burger King

(41:30):
or Amazon or whatever, if you reference Black Lives Matter,
if you reference Black History Month, if you reference George
Floyd and these people who mean so much.

Speaker 1 (41:38):
Of us, Doctor King, Malcolm X whatever.

Speaker 2 (41:40):
I don't know if these corporations are referencing Malcolm, but
definitely King that they will.

Speaker 1 (41:44):
Get our attention and we will feel closer to them. Now.

Speaker 2 (41:47):
They are doing that to make a profit, but inherently
are they not showing us respect that they are saying,
we need to show respect to the totems and the
symbols and the things and the people who they respect,
and the colors and the flags. We need to show
them that we are thinking about them, that we took
a moment and said, let's get some black actors in

(42:08):
that ad. Let's put a Black Lives matter flag in
that let's show respect to doctor King or Rosa Parks
or whoever. So they are showing us respect in trying
to get the profit. I think they're doing both at
the same time.

Speaker 1 (42:21):
What do you think.

Speaker 5 (42:22):
Doctor No, First of all, there's no respect. Respect would
be every time you purchase something that has to do
with black pain, black progress, or a black owned business
in my company, a contribution goes to your choice of
a black organization, A contribution goes to your choice of
a black educational scholarship.

Speaker 4 (42:42):
A contribution goes to your choice of this or maybe
the store.

Speaker 5 (42:45):
The corporation themselves can say, hey, we're choosing you know,
Black Lives Matters INAACP and help black young kids go
to college type of programs.

Speaker 4 (42:54):
A dollar is going to go to that. Instead.

Speaker 5 (42:55):
What they do is when you go to check out,
you know what they do. They say, would you like
to donate to such and such. I'd like the purchase
I'm making that has MLKA or that has some black
pain or some black business or black association to be
automatically donated from your corporation.

Speaker 4 (43:09):
And when you donate it, guess what you get?

Speaker 5 (43:10):
The five on one C three test, right, off, So
don't act like you don't get to write off what
you donate as a corporation. One and two, I'm so
tired of a talking about DEI initiative like it was
something that really pushed us. Forbes, readed dot com, and
white House dot gov shows the stats and studies that
they've done that white women benefit the most from DEI.
So why is it that us black men and women

(43:30):
are so upset and pushing something that wasn't created and
nor did we benefit the most from. We need to
be able to read torad you one second. I'mna let
you go because that is a problem. We are constantly
fighting for issues, initiatives, and policies that again, media has
presented a narrative that is for us. It gets us
to overtly push that book coverally systemically, it doesn't work

(43:55):
for us.

Speaker 4 (43:56):
This is why we got to be able.

Speaker 5 (43:57):
To write, legislate, and author our own bills our only
so we know exactly who is tailored to.

Speaker 2 (44:05):
You are absolutely right that white women have benefited more
from DEI than black people, full stop. But black people
have also benefited from DEI, and that we're not the
most beneficial.

Speaker 1 (44:18):
There's not end the conversation to be that.

Speaker 2 (44:20):
I think that there are ways, and there are people
in corporations who understood that diversity is valuable in and
of itself and elevated people to decision making roles because.

Speaker 1 (44:31):
They understood, we are a better corporation. This is self interest.

Speaker 2 (44:34):
We are a better corporation when the decision makers look
like the country, when there are black people in the room,
when there are gay people, when there are women in
the room making the decision with us, we are going
to make better decisions. So they understood it is in
their interest to be diverse. Now we're moving in a
different direction at this point because of Trump. But I

(44:56):
think there is value in DEI inherently to meet you go.

Speaker 6 (45:01):
You know, I like to see respect as something that
never fades. I think the thing. I think the thing
happens when you fall back on you. You could view
it in a relationship of marriage, of parenting thing. Regardless
of when the situation changed, respect is still on the
table now. As you know, tore the moment the Black

(45:22):
Lives Matter movement began to fade, everything went back to them.
It was no longer black power and stand up for
the people and all these things that they pushed early on.
What really happens is a lot of people tended.

Speaker 1 (45:36):
To revert back to who they were. Respect happens in silence.
We need, we need you to respect us.

Speaker 6 (45:42):
Before Black Lives Matter movement was profitable to you and
they didn't where their money was going and what there
was profiting on, like to doctor Bryan's point, is.

Speaker 1 (45:51):
What they truly respected. And that's just my opinion.

Speaker 2 (45:53):
The BLM conversation is very important that you bring up,
and it's very very difficult for a mass movement to
have a long term impact. That is the goal, but
it's very very difficult to accomplish. But Black Lives Matter
did have that impact that they're one of their main
goals was to get people to understand that these police
killings of young black people were interconnected, They were part

(46:16):
of a singular system. They were it was something that
we could deal with. It was not a bunch of
isolated incidents. And before Eric Garner and Trayvon Martin, that
is generally how most people in America and media saw
this and treated this. And after BLM educated the country,
people started to see and talk about this as a

(46:36):
singular thing and the body cameras are a good and
bad step forward.

Speaker 1 (46:42):
They're not the end.

Speaker 2 (46:42):
They're not They don't solve everything, but they do give
us something that is a lasting legacy of BLM.

Speaker 1 (46:48):
And there are other smaller things.

Speaker 2 (46:50):
There's occasionally officers being held accountable, like Derek Chauvin, what
have you. There is there are some things I don't
want to have it say like BLM did nothing. They
did accomplish a lot. But I do understand the point
of like respect, real respect would go further than the
trend lines of the politics or.

Speaker 1 (47:08):
What's going on in the economy. There is a slightly
different way to approach this, however.

Speaker 2 (47:14):
Right when you think about Costco, right, they had over
seven and a half million visits, an increase of seven
and a half million visits after my friend, the Reverend
Al Sharpton organized a buy in. Right, Not so Pastor
Bryant was saying, don't go to Dollar General, Reverend Sharpton saying,
let's go and help.

Speaker 1 (47:33):
Costco because they're doing it. Let's roll the video of
Reverend Sharpton dealing with Costco. Yeah, there are no set.

Speaker 2 (47:47):
So here's part of the thing that the reverend is
dealing with. Their de Mita. I want to hear what
you think about this, because Costco increased its hourly pay
to thirty dollars an hour thirty two dollars an hour
in some states, which is a fantastic stick rate for
a lot of people. Right, That's way above minimum wage,
and we like to see that high rate for people
who are working at a Costco. But they did it

(48:09):
for all employees, not just the black employees. So you wonder,
is this really investing in the black community. A lot
of Black people will be helped by this, but other
people will also be helped by it, but they're all
they're all working class people, right, So I'm like, do

(48:30):
you are you? Are you happy that some fairly large
group of black people is being helped by Costco raising
it it's wages, But then this isn't specifically for black people,
So what do you think?

Speaker 3 (48:41):
You know?

Speaker 6 (48:41):
The thing about it is, I think it's exactly what
we've seen happen with the bl IN movement. I'm not
saying the BLM movement did not do significant, you know,
positive push towards black culture in Black America. But the
thing about it is people begin to take that turn
of phrase and saying, well, white lives matter as well well,
blue lives matter.

Speaker 1 (49:02):
Where all lives matter, and that to that nature.

Speaker 6 (49:04):
The thing about it is, as long as Costco hiring
black people go we chow thirty.

Speaker 1 (49:08):
Two dollars an hour, I'm happy for you. That's exactly
what we need to be doing.

Speaker 6 (49:11):
As long as they're employing black people, that's all that
matters to me. Because we talk about this pattern, and
this is what I wanted to speak on a little earlier.

Speaker 1 (49:18):
There's a pattern that obviously Costco wants to push outside of.
And in this pattern.

Speaker 6 (49:25):
There's people who, if you really pay attention to it,
our protests become commercials.

Speaker 1 (49:30):
Our hashtags become.

Speaker 6 (49:32):
Marketing tools, our oppression becomes an aesthetic and aesthetic that
they can post all over Instagram and drive themselves.

Speaker 1 (49:40):
And they drive their sales because.

Speaker 6 (49:42):
They know black people are going to support black What
they do is they they monetize the struggle and package
it up just to sell it. There's a big difference
between performative allies and real accountability people who actually want
to do the work instead of just profiting off your pain.
How about you help these people ill? And I don't

(50:04):
know about y'all, but I might have to go on
over to Cosco get my thirty two.

Speaker 1 (50:09):
You know what I'm saying, because this is better than
most people.

Speaker 2 (50:12):
Well, you can't, you can't work at night because you
got to be here with us on True Talks.

Speaker 1 (50:16):
Lauren, what do you think about this that Costco does
something that helps.

Speaker 2 (50:20):
Lots of people and helps lots of black people, but
doesn't just help black people.

Speaker 1 (50:25):
Can we look at that as a success?

Speaker 10 (50:29):
I don't think we have a choice, you know, And
I don't mean to, you know, be the parade rainer, right.
What I feel like as you guys were talking, I
was just like the visual I kept getting was hamsters
in one of those wheels, you know, the things where
the hamsters are running around and then they meet this

(50:49):
benchmark and then they go back down. And this system
I think has black people sometimes feeling like and operating
like we're just hamsters on a system that we don't control,
and we're just being moved over to this side of
the system. Now we're moving over to this side of
the system, And I think, yes, I think we almost

(51:10):
have to accept the fact that if we're gonna all
shop at Costco because we're not shopping at Target, the
owners of Costco gonna.

Speaker 3 (51:18):
Make more money.

Speaker 10 (51:20):
I mean one plus one gonna be two all day
every day. And so, but are more black people maybe
being employed? Yes, are some of the black brands that
maybe weren't making it at Target now able to maybe
debut at Costco for a new debut and those those profits,
you know, are returned to them.

Speaker 1 (51:40):
Yes.

Speaker 10 (51:41):
I think there is good and bad in every scenario.
And I think when we're in a system that we
don't control, we are never going to be able to
ensure that all of the benefit is just segregated to us.
We're just not gonna be able to do that. And
I think that's what.

Speaker 3 (52:00):
I think it's.

Speaker 10 (52:00):
John O'Bryant was talking about how we did put too
much emphasis on DEI in our communities and how it
didn't fit us the way we thought it would, and
it just made that point that I think is so important.
It's just that we're in a capitalist society at the
end of the day. As much as we want to
talk about race, equality, morality, the needle moves in America

(52:26):
at green and money.

Speaker 2 (52:28):
So, Doc, what is the call to action? How do
we get ahead of all the fake allieship or the
performative corporate allyship the T shirts and the hashtags, But
then they're not talking about over policing and the oppressive system.
We're in the real stuff that we're dealing. So how
do we break the cycle that we're in with these corporations.

Speaker 4 (52:49):
Yeah, first of all, BML has done great work. I'm
not going to give them credit for body crams Cam's.

Speaker 5 (52:53):
Obama had seventy five million dollars of federal funds that
did that.

Speaker 4 (52:57):
So I'm gonna get that.

Speaker 5 (52:58):
To our great op president who put that in place.
Moving forward, somebody either Judge like or Dmitri mintioned. Media
media is a billion multipe billion dollar industry. They make
more money off of our pain on the news, on
social media, on all of the media that we are

(53:21):
all all of us are guilty to watching and participating
in at some point, right, and we don't have enough
true talk shows that are controlling the narrative of what
media they are.

Speaker 4 (53:34):
Going to receive.

Speaker 5 (53:35):
We are also contributing, and some people may not like this,
and I don't care. Contributing to the crime that they
talk about, contributing to sometimes a lot of folks not
being educated on politics, So we're not on a lot
of the political media's networks. Are media streams providing our
representation or our voice. A lot of us who are

(53:56):
in leadership positions aren't all always taking that leadership position
and doing what we're supposed to do with it. And
so what does that do? Bom Bom got in a
lot of media coverage and media attention for a lot
of money spenditure that was not in alignment with what BOM.

Speaker 4 (54:14):
Was supposed to do. So what does that do?

Speaker 5 (54:16):
They covered more of that, y'all than they did cover
all of the things that Bom didn't do that got
huge media, huge media.

Speaker 4 (54:24):
So what am I saying is that, yes, they're making
money off our pain. What do we need to do?

Speaker 5 (54:29):
We have to take our voices back. We have to
take our media back, and not just beyond shows, but
like our show True Talks.

Speaker 4 (54:36):
I am very proud and I say it all the
time and Jody and Lori.

Speaker 5 (54:38):
Knows it that our two Talks producers and owners are
black and women. They own this media, they own this narrative,
they own what we're putting out here. So they're allowing
us the space to have a black voice. We have
to start doing that. We have to start making sure
we take our.

Speaker 4 (54:56):
Black voices and our black.

Speaker 5 (54:57):
Pain and we take it on our own platforms, and
we monetize off it.

Speaker 4 (55:01):
And let me go a little smaller because some folks.

Speaker 5 (55:03):
Don't have the capital like the Gomes family does to
you know, just develop an entire show like truetalks. Guess
what if you can have a social media I don't
care if you have one follower, two hundred followers. Take
your media, put it on your social media, monetize off that.

Speaker 4 (55:17):
Start some more small.

Speaker 5 (55:19):
But we have to be able to take back our
voices and our representation, and we have to be the
ones that make money off of our history, our pay
and our future and our policies and whatever else that
we're doing. We can't keep letting them make money off
us because we are not only the biggest consumers.

Speaker 4 (55:33):
Let me go take this, then I'll wrap on this. Y'all.

Speaker 5 (55:36):
We've been profitable since the slave days. You know how
we know because the only move about the people who
were supposed to tell was us we're't.

Speaker 4 (55:42):
Nobody trying to buy. And I'm gonna say, I know
it sounds banan. Us we're nobody trying to buy them.

Speaker 5 (55:46):
White folks, weren't nobody trying to There was no there
was no way you can I want you to be
about after.

Speaker 4 (55:51):
Two there was no profit.

Speaker 5 (55:53):
They found they were making a profit off of us
from the beginning of times, from slavery days. They're making
a profit off of us today, which is called modern
day slavery. It hasn't changed. The only thing that's changed
is how they're doing it. And now we do have
leverage today that we didn't have back then to take
it and do something different with it.

Speaker 4 (56:15):
And that is what I want us to do at
all levels.

Speaker 6 (56:18):
To me, treated question for you, toy, could you do
me a favor? I know you navigating everything. Could you
put that PayPal screen that I had seen back up
there a minute ago? Could you could you work the
theority is thank you, tore for doing all you could.

Speaker 1 (56:32):
Do for me.

Speaker 6 (56:33):
I'm asking this question because I know every single viewer.
I've always seen things like this throughout my whole life,
and if you like me, if you anything like me,
my first question when I see things like this is
where the money going, Where the money at, Who's who's
who's benefiting, what neighborhoods.

Speaker 1 (56:50):
Is this touchment? Look sir?

Speaker 6 (56:53):
I just want to know you committed it to support
black I need receipts, I need.

Speaker 1 (56:58):
A transparency report.

Speaker 6 (56:59):
I need to know where because five hundred and thirty
million dollars ain't just a ain't just the drop.

Speaker 1 (57:06):
Of a dime.

Speaker 6 (57:06):
This is this is wire tramp, these are these are
large amounts of money. If you're are you actually claiming
to help or is this publicity?

Speaker 1 (57:14):
Is this your.

Speaker 6 (57:14):
Profiting on black pain again? Or are you actually making
a difference. All I'm saying is it's about It's about
time somebody actually came out and said, look at what
I did for black people, instead of saying look what
I will.

Speaker 1 (57:26):
Do or putting a quote up about it.

Speaker 2 (57:29):
Half a billion dollars? Do I really care what their
intention is? There is money will have a huge impact
on black businesses. How you know, how you really love
me or you're just giving me.

Speaker 1 (57:46):
The receipt?

Speaker 4 (57:48):
Where's the program?

Speaker 1 (57:49):
How you know anything? We seed it? Right? I'm not
even I'm not even dealing with that because I'm not
in their books.

Speaker 4 (57:57):
But I'm transparency receipts, it run it.

Speaker 1 (58:00):
If they give me money, that's love.

Speaker 2 (58:04):
Didn't need a further beauty test for them to prove.

Speaker 10 (58:12):
What but the reason why they can give it or
not get it, or give it or put it wherever
they want to put it. Again back to the fact
that we're in a system we don't control.

Speaker 3 (58:23):
And then who do they report to. Who's the girl
on the house? Don't check me booth, that's what they say.
Who's Chara?

Speaker 10 (58:29):
That was her line, That's what corporations they can say anything,
but where's the checks and balance? And then that takes
us back to Jamal Bryant, because we have to commend
him at least for standing in the gap between communities
and corporations where they don't ever seem to have a
check in balance and somebody to say, no, we're gonna
check you. We want to know what you're gonna do.

(58:52):
And I think that's where we at right now. To
your point, doctor Brian. The reason why, and I gotta
say this because truth talk. The reason why we were
so profitable is because of our knowledge, intellect, and genius.
We were engineers, architects, growers, we were all the things
that it built an entire civilization.

Speaker 3 (59:13):
That's why we were a profitable people.

Speaker 10 (59:16):
Because we were a talented, gifted, genius people, and that
has not changed what I think is happening. This is
where distraction, I think come. We talking about the word
distraction earlier. This is the distraction we here were we
worried about a lot of the wrong things, and we're

(59:36):
not focused on what is going to get us where
we need to go and most importantly, who are the
leaders we want to put in place to get there?

Speaker 6 (59:45):
No.

Speaker 10 (59:47):
Al Sharpton has been doing what he does for centuries,
it feels like, and can't nobody take that away from him?

Speaker 1 (59:54):
I'm looking for.

Speaker 10 (59:55):
If I had to name five, six, ten new urging
leaders who are standing in the gap, I'm ashamed to
say I couldn't.

Speaker 3 (01:00:04):
Really name ten.

Speaker 1 (01:00:05):
No, no, no, there's not.

Speaker 5 (01:00:09):
And I just want to say, Dimitri, you on listen,
baby boy, you on fire this episode because you said
another word.

Speaker 4 (01:00:15):
Don't you bite that lift like that? Though, let me
be turned back on back.

Speaker 5 (01:00:18):
You said something really good transparency report, because there are
a lot of funds at the local level that are
put aside for the black community, the minority community, and
guess what it's sitting there? How do I know our
local officials? We want a skate park. They said they
had no money for us. Guess what we did. We
pushed the hell out. They asked for a transparency report.

(01:00:39):
Guess what we found. We found three hundred thousand dollars
sitting there to contribute to our nonprofit, the Doctor Brian
Foundation in City Lights, to then take and get permits
and build an entire skate park in the inner city,
in the hood where kids had nothing to do after school.
So what am I saying is that trans garancy is

(01:01:01):
huge because that allows us to open the books and say,
wait a minute, but you said you allocated half a
million for black people. Why is this still sitting there?
Oh you allocated this for this Why is that still
sitting there? What's going on here? And that makes it
to where we put pressure and we pushed and they
got to allocate those funds. We know that brother Torrey
got some money, but brother toray and got no receives.

Speaker 1 (01:01:22):
So hey, zero bedleys and your shirts?

Speaker 3 (01:01:28):
Why have the zero.

Speaker 1 (01:01:29):
Busy shirts for me?

Speaker 2 (01:01:33):
I have watched My goodness, Oh let me get out
of here, for I take more bullets.

Speaker 1 (01:01:39):
Might got them?

Speaker 2 (01:01:40):
Oh my god, oh my god, that's our show for tonight,
Like come in and.

Speaker 6 (01:01:44):
Subscribe on our YouTube channel at True Talks dash Live.

Speaker 2 (01:01:48):
Continue to watch them because I am dead. They'll be
simetastic right here the black Star Network. After rollingd Martin
unfieldered every night, we got to thank our supporters. Want
need a Madi, Kyla Carr and Benjamin Gomes.

Speaker 1 (01:01:59):
Why it?

Speaker 2 (01:02:00):
Kyla and Benjamin, thank you so much for your weekly
support for truth Talks.

Speaker 1 (01:02:04):
We really just appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (01:02:06):
If you want to be in the credits, like Kyla,
Juanita and ben hit that cash app and show us
some love. And if you're a corporation who wants to
show us some love, we accept that cash app too.
Support Black Media at cash app, truth Talks.

Speaker 1 (01:02:20):
Live, or on any of the links on your screen.

Speaker 2 (01:02:22):
Support the businesses that support us, like the Playpad in Atlanta,
an amazing indoor play and activity center for the kids
for the community. Partner with us by visiting truth talkslive
dot com. Become a VIP member of the Truth of
the Truth Lounge. Click on any of the co host
rooms and you'll get a chance to see what they're
really all about. Hair Maniacs is supporting our sister Shayah

(01:02:46):
Brian who's been wearing the product looking fantastic.

Speaker 1 (01:02:48):
The hair still looks fantastic. It's great. Every night it
looks amazing. Hair Maniacs is hooking you up.

Speaker 5 (01:02:58):
There it is without my I don't go nowhere without
my hair MANIAX.

Speaker 4 (01:03:03):
I don't care what nobody says.

Speaker 5 (01:03:04):
Honey, I got products of theirs that I put on
this hair and this thing is seld in and let
me tell you it is mine.

Speaker 4 (01:03:11):
You ain't gonna tell.

Speaker 5 (01:03:12):
Me no, wait wait, Judge Laurence said it's mine, and
who gonna check me?

Speaker 4 (01:03:16):
Boo?

Speaker 1 (01:03:18):
I would like to see the receipt? Can you? Can you?

Speaker 2 (01:03:23):
Black media is under text, so please tell your friends
to support us.

Speaker 1 (01:03:26):
Watch the show. Truth Talks is here for you.

Speaker 2 (01:03:29):
Every night a pm E S T and a pm
PST on the West Coast for Kendrick Lamar fans. Next week,
Ebany K Williams will be here and Ryan Cameron will
be sitting in. We will be here every weeknight at
eight pm. There's Ebity K Williams. Love her and we
will see you tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (01:03:50):
Peace.

Speaker 4 (01:03:51):
Can I y'all?

Speaker 3 (01:03:54):
Hi, y'all

All Episodes

EPS 018 - No King Today, Jamal Bryant Says Dollar General is Predator, Woke Or Broke_ Black Pain Sells Again!

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

Stuff You Should Know

Dateline NBC

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}EPS 018 - No King Today, Jamal Bryant Says Dollar General is Predator, Woke Or Broke_ Black Pain Sells Again!