Challenging Stereotypes and Systemic Injustice: A Conversation with CNN Analyst Areva Martin

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
This is not the only game Doesn't have any good games
.
Open like a window, no morewindow.
Look at these videos.
What's up with that good video?
Because they're like, so sad onme and everybody on the east
coast calls me Don.
I'm like, what is Don?
I was on the island, but I wasat our homecoming.

(00:30):
Let's go.
Welcome, welcome, welcome.
You're now tuned into anotheramazing edition of Sanya On Air.
I'm your host, sanyaHudson-Pain, and how do I start
a feature in every single show?
You guessed that I have anothergreat show for you.

(00:52):
But before I tell you abouttoday's guest, I need you to do
me a quick favor.
I need you to go over to everymajor streaming platform where
you can find Sanya On Air andmake sure that you subscribe.
Now, if you're watching this onYouTube, not only subscribe,
but make sure that you hit thenotification button.
That way, every time I uploadan all new Sanya On Air

(01:13):
celebrity interview and packingtheir pivotal moments and
milestones, you'll be the firstones to know.
Today's guest is super, superimportant and amazing, just like
every single Sanya On Air guest, but this conversation is so on
time and so needed.
Today's guest is Areeva Martin.
She is a CNN and CLN legalanalyst.

(01:36):
She is the most leading voicecovering everything law,
politics, race relations andshe's on Sanya On Air today.
So we're going to be talkingabout just some topics that are
affecting the black communityand I'm hoping that you tune in,
I'm hoping that you lean in,I'm hoping that you unpack and
have these conversations withyour family, your friends, your

(01:59):
neighbors, because it is soimportant and is so on time.
So make sure you subscribe.
We're going to do a fewcommercial breaks and we'll be
right back with Areeva.
Martin, stay tuned.
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(02:22):
Let's just jump right on intoit.

(02:45):
Would you prefer me to call youMiss Martin, or can I call you
Areeva?
Areeva, good, good, good.
Now let me just tell you thefirst thing.
I was excited to have you on mySanya On Air platform because I
was looking at a lot of yourvideos and I see that you are
wearing plaques or either braids, and I said I'm proud, I'm
proud, yes.

Speaker 2 (03:06):
I'm wearing a cornrows.

Speaker 1 (03:08):
Yes, because you know .
Oftentimes, when women of colorare, you know in media and we
wear these type of hairstyles,there is often a stereotype that
is attached to it.
When you decided to just benatural with your hairstyles,
did you face any type ofbacklash from your peers in

(03:28):
media?

Speaker 2 (03:29):
I have people question whether I was going to,
how long I was going to wear it.
So I started with what I callprotective hairstyles about a
year and a half ago.
So quick story of my hairjourney.
When COVID hit, I had like awig installed in my head Well, I
guess, a wig more or less andhair salons shut down so

(03:52):
literally my daughter and I hadto cut it out and I, you know,
you couldn't go to a hair salon,you couldn't do anything.
And a niece of mine makes wigsand she saw me on TV or
something.
She's like oh my God, thatweave is like five months old.
Can I send you a custom wig?
And I'm like I've never reallywon a wig.
A lace front wig, sure, send itto me.
So she sent me this wig and sofor about the whole year of

(04:16):
COVID I ended up my niece makingme different custom wigs.
It was fine doing COVID, but Iliterally all my life I've had
super long thick hair, sowearing a wig was kind of like
in my brain, I don't know, justwasn't the right thing for me.
No judgment on it.
I did it for a year.
I got some gorgeous photos andme and blonde and curly.

(04:39):
So I went.
Really I had a lot of fun withit.
But coming out of COVID I waslike, hmm, okay, no more wigs.
And then I had a dilemma Do Igo back to wearing a weave or
two?
What do I do?
You know what?
I'm just going to do somenatural hairstyles.
And here I am a year and a halflater, having done natural hair
styles.
So I've done ponytails, I'vedone cornrows, I'm working up to

(05:02):
what you have.
I have not formed box braidsince I was a kid and the
thought of the sitting togetting it done has been the
impediment, not the look.
It's just been the when do Ihave like four to six hours in
my schedule.
So literally I am lovingnatural hair styles.
I've done, I said, I've braidedit up, I've braided it back,

(05:25):
I've had ponytails with, youknow, curly hair.
I've done all kinds of things.
And right now that's the plan.
I don't have a plan to go backto my weave, I don't have a plan
to go back to wigs.
This is it.

Speaker 1 (05:38):
Yeah, yeah, you know I'm kind of the opposite with
the pandemic and COVID.
Well, I called the pandemicbecause I was able to really
plan a lot.
It brought me back toprotective hair styles and
getting back to my truth.
So I was thankful for thepandemic because a new Sonya had
emerged.
But yeah, I was in this salonchair for six and a half hours.

Speaker 2 (06:01):
Yeah, I think that's my thing.
I am.
You know my schedule so andthen I have this issue I can't
schedule anything because aminute I scheduled something,
something comes up.
So I need kind of stylistswhere I can literally call you
this morning and say can I comein like in an hour?
I'm like a stylist nightmare.

(06:22):
So that's the other thing withthe six hours.
I'm trying to get my stylist tocome to my house on Sunday, do
box braids for me, and she'slike you know.
I got to check my schedule.
If you see me next week inMartha's Vineyard, which is
where I'm headed, without thosebox braids, you'll know.

(06:43):
I just couldn't pull it off andI had to do something else.
But it'll be either thesebraids or some other braids or
something.

Speaker 1 (06:51):
I get you Just the nuances, the nuance of being a
black woman.
I'm headed to SAC.

Speaker 2 (06:57):
I have two daughters and we talk about this all the
time.
They live in New York.
That's their school, college inNew York and New York, the
humidity when they're home in LA, it's like what do they do to
go back to New York?
Stylus in New York costs a lotmore than New York.
I mean then LA.
They don't have cars.
So it's just this whole thingwhere black women and our hair

(07:21):
becomes, even when you're doingnatural styles, like I did this
and had the nerve to get in theswimming pool on Sunday.
So it's literally jacked up.
It needs to be redone because Iwanted to swim and I, you know,
I just laid in a pool like fourhours on Sunday like I don't
care, I don't care, right?
Someone called me to do a shootfor Friday.

(07:41):
I'm like, oh, I don't know, Igot these braids, I got hair.
Yes, there's a lot of hair,there's a lot of hair in our
hair.
This is like you brought it up.
So I said I don't want to dothis, you know, and you, because
this is like always going on inmy hair, my hair.

Speaker 1 (07:59):
I had to unpack it because I'm telling you, I'm
traumatized.
Six hours in the chairyesterday, which was my birthday
yesterday, as a matter of fact,I spent the whole day at the
salon.

Speaker 2 (08:08):
Well, I can tell you they're gorgeous and I want them
and I'm jealous.
So I've been trying to get themall summer.
I've been, you know, hesitating.
I had an appointment, canceledit, thought about it, had
another appointment, so I don'tknow.
But gorgeous, so you're goingto get two months, right.

Speaker 1 (08:26):
Two to three months.
I don't have to do anything tothis.

Speaker 2 (08:29):
Yes, I love the colors.
I want color.
I've been looking at thedifferent colors that I want
Gorgeous, yeah.

Speaker 1 (08:35):
Thank you so, so much , but let's just jump into
another topic that is reallyreally just setting social media
, women on fire, and we'retalking about conflating vaginas
.
We're talking about is ithomophobic to attach womanhood
to just cisgendered women?

(08:55):
And when we say cisgender we'retalking about natural born
women.
For those who don't know yes,so talk about that, you know,
just attaching womanhood to justnatural born women.
How do you feel about that?

Speaker 2 (09:09):
You know, I just had this conversation, ironically,
with a group of friends, and oneof the friends has two children
who were born biologically male.
One of her children nowidentifies as non-binary and one
is gay.
I have another friend who had abiological daughter who now is
non-binary and identifies asmale, and what we all conclude

(09:34):
it was what these children aregoing through has existed
forever.
We didn't have the vocabulary,we didn't have the know-how that
we have now to identify it andto give individuals the freedom
to identify as they feel, toexpress themselves in their most

(09:56):
authentic way.
And now that we do have that,we have to give them freedom to
do it.
So I don't believe that I havethe right to decide what any
individual should presentthemselves as to the world.
So I am the first to embraceindividuals that consider
themselves non-binary.

(10:17):
There's a woman that I have onmy show regularly who wrote me
an email and said she is a queerblack woman who now considers
herself non-binary and ischanging her pronouns to they
and them.
I had her on the show and myproducer after the show said all
right, you, you, she.
I said oh my God, I was tryingto be so careful.

(10:38):
I wrote her, I apologize.
Well, them and apologize andthey said girl, don't worry, I
often still refer to myself asshe.
It's a learning process, it's ajourney, we'll all get there.
So, to answer your question, Iam accepting of individuals how

(11:02):
they present themselves.
I am not judging, because Idon't want anyone to judge me
and I don't believe the boxes,particularly the patriarchal
boxes, that white cisgendermales have defined for us,
should be how we defineourselves.
So I'm really I'm in a space inmy life I'm pushing back on the

(11:24):
white male cisgender patriarchythat defines pretty much
everything in this country.
So if they are defining what,who gets to identify as female,
and they have decided that it'sonly individuals born with a
vagina, I absolutely reject that.

Speaker 1 (11:45):
You know, you just added another layer to my
thought process because I wasjust like you know what?
This is?
A white patriarchy system andyou know we've kind of
normalized those systems and nowthere is a major disruption to
it and I think we're all justtrying to unpack it.
But another question that aroseas you were talking is that so

(12:07):
is womanhood just defined to adefinition, or should it be
defined by an experience?
Because women, we do haveperiods and if you have, let's
say, a non-binary or atransgender woman, they don't
have the same type ofexperiences that women have.
So I'll repeat the question Iswomanhood going to be a

(12:29):
definition or will womanhoodjust be an experience?

Speaker 2 (12:33):
I don't think we necessarily have the definitive
answer to that and I can saythat I reject the notion that
it's experiences only, becausemenstrual cycles obviously is
one experience that people bornbiologically female have, but we

(12:53):
know with science that couldchange, that could very well
change and there are otherexperiences.
There are experiences thatcertain women have that others
don't.
If you are born with a certaindisability and you are born
female, you're going to haveexperiences as a disabled
biological female, that someonewho wasn't born with that

(13:15):
disability.
So I don't think experiencesalone can be the determining
factor.
I think it's complicated andagain, our society wants
everything to fit very neatlyand nicely into boxes that have
been defined by these cisgenderwhite males and when it doesn't,
people reject it.
The Marjorie Taylor Greene's ofthe world, the people that want

(13:38):
there to be simple definitionsfor everything.
And the reality is individualsare complex and people are
expressing their complexitiesand the layers that make up who
they are.
And they make them fit so nicely.
And again, I'm not trying tomake everybody fit into those
boxes, because I reject thoseboxes and believe had those

(13:59):
boxes been developed bydifferent types of individuals,
they wouldn't be the same boxes.
So who knows, if we lived in amatriarchal society, right Some
of those earlier Africansocieties that were controlled
by women, where women were thedominant sex in those cultures,

(14:23):
what would the world look likeif we continued to have
matriarchal structures ratherthan patriarchal structures?
Maybe we wouldn't have thisdebate about who gets to be
defined as a woman or female.

Speaker 1 (14:35):
Yeah, I definitely agree.
This whole conversation thathas erupted on social media,
even people's personal lives,I'm just thinking it's a
distraction from the real issue,and that is just the rights of
human beings to live their livesfreely.
I think we're just getting socaught up on the nuances that it

(14:56):
is a real distraction from lawsthat need to be passed to
protect everyone.
So that has become adistraction and we're not really
addressing the real topics ofprotecting transgender, binary,
gay, the whole LGBTQ pluscommunity.

Speaker 2 (15:13):
Clearly, the LGBTQ plus community has been under
attack.
There was an African-Americangay kid I call him a kid 25
years old, just killed in NewYork.
He and his friend at that gasstation just because they were
dancing and expressingthemselves in a way that the
murderer didn't approve of.
He's killed just because of whohe is and who he wanted to be

(15:36):
in the world.
So I think we can't lose sightof that Again.
The cisgender male agenda is tokeep us in the confines of which
they have defined for us.
And, yes, if they can keep usdebating things about who gets
to call themselves a woman, thenwe don't have to deal with some

(15:58):
of the oppressive legislationand the oppressive standards
that are being imposed by someof these Republican white men.
So, yeah, I think we have tokeep our eye on the ball, and
that's why I think it's sodangerous for people of color or
any marginalized group to buyinto these narratives, because

(16:21):
if they come for that group,they will come for you.
No one is safe in thisenvironment, and we've seen that
white males will come for whitewomen.
So when white women don't standin solidarity with marginalized
groups and people of color,they are delusional if they
think that they somehow are offlimits or they have some special

(16:42):
place in the hearts and mindsof these white men that wanna
dominate and control the world,and us included.
And the wake up call shouldhave been the overturning of Roe
v Wade.
If they were ever going to beconcerned about anything is Roe
v Wade, it should be affirmativeaction, because white women
have benefited greatly fromaffirmative action programs.

(17:05):
So a lot of these programs thaton the surface may appear to
benefit other groups, we knowthat white women often are the
beneficiaries and have everyreason to stand in solidarity
with marginalized groups.

Speaker 1 (17:18):
Yeah, I think it's gonna come a place in time where
they will be forced to standalongside marginalized groups
because they're not exempt.
They just haven't gotten tothem yet.

Speaker 2 (17:28):
Yeah and in some ways they have I mean Roe v Wade is
an attack on all women.
There's a story in the New YorkTimes about two women white
young women who got caught instates where they couldn't have
abortions, forced to have tocarry to term a pregnancy that
they did not want, and how theyare struggling to raise these
children because these arechildren having children.

(17:50):
So again, you know it was, youprobably will recall Dr Jocelyn
Elders, first everAfrican-American female surgeon
general, appointed in the 90sunder Bill Clinton.
I had an opportunity she'sturning 90 in a week or so to
interview her recently and shewas such a visionary ahead of
her time.

(18:11):
And during her confirmationhearing she was challenged by a
white male Republican senatorbecause she made a statement
that these pro-lifers lovefetuses more than they love life
.
And he says what do you mean bythat?
And she basically said theylove to advocate and support
fetuses, but when children areborn, they won't expand Medicaid

(18:34):
, they won't make you know booksavailable, they won't make a
quality education available,they won't provide affordable
housing, they won't do thosethings that will enrich and
improve the life of a livingbeing a child, but yet they rant
and rave and protest to be, youknow and proclaim to be, lovers

(18:58):
of life, but you know, andagain, that whole pro-life
movement is rooted in a lot ofmisogyny and rooted in this cis
gender male agenda to controlinitially white women and then
all women.
So you know, we have to becareful about, you know, judging

(19:20):
, attacking and thinking thatsomehow you used the word exempt
I love that word that somehowany particular group is exempt,
particularly in what we seetoday in terms of the power grab
by white men.
It's astonishing and keepeverybody up at night worried?

Speaker 1 (19:39):
It definitely has.
I remember waking up maybe ithasn't even been a week and I
automatically turned on socialmedia, and I shouldn't have, but
it brought me two tears to justthink about.
To look at once again howpeople of color and that
includes the LGBT community, howpeople are treated.
But you talked about, you know,people caring more about the

(20:02):
fetus than the actual person.
I wanna talk about thedisproportionate quality of
healthcare that people of colorare receiving.
What are your thoughts aboutthat?
Well, you know we know.

Speaker 2 (20:16):
I mean you start with the increasing number, stats
around black maternal Mortalityand how that gap, how it's more
dangerous for black women tohave a baby in the United States
Than it is to have a child in athird world country, the
continued widening of the.

(20:38):
You know health disparitiesthat we see in this country and
again so many of these issuesthat we see around healthcare
around.
You know educational accessaround.
You know the black white wealthgap.
You know housing of thehomeless crisis that impacts so
many states and cities like LosAngeles, san Francisco.

(20:59):
All at the core is about raceand racism and you talk to the
experts whether it's a homelessexpert, whether it's an economic
expert, whether it's a healthcare expert it all goes back to
systemic racism, anti-blacknessand barriers in this system.
I had a homeless expert tell methat if the majority of people
living on the streets in thiscountry were white Rather than

(21:21):
being, you know, 35 to 40percent African-American in some
cities, that homelessness wouldbe solved.
Yeah, they know what to do.
He says it's not, as if thereis some, you know, dirt of
knowledge around.
How do we resolve our homelesscrisis?
There's just not the will to doit because of the color of the
skin of the people who live onour streets.

(21:42):
And that's in health care aswell, you know.
You look at what they teach inmedical school.
How good will they teach aboutblack bodies and black people,
some textbooks not even havingexamples of black bodies, again,
the cisgender white male beingthe Prototype that is used to
teach Med students aboutmedicine.

(22:04):
All of that is by design andall of that could be changed
very, very easily.
But that really scares me,sonia, the most is In this
country.
Now we are going through thebrowning of the country, where
the minority will become themajority, and that's not like in
a hundred years from now, right, and so like Texas, in

(22:27):
California, I mean, we'retalking about in five to ten
years, so in our lifetimes,there will be a majority of
minority people that live inthese states and eventually in
this country, and the Whitepower structure knows this, and
what we're seeing is thestruggle to hang on, to hold on

(22:48):
to power, because of the fearthat once the numbers change,
then that lays the foundationfor a power ship, a paradigm
shift the likes of they can'teven imagine.
Yeah, the extremists.
Slavery really was job, forSlavery really was an

(23:09):
opportunity for you to learnsome skills.
I mean so that that issomething even a lot of
historians have said they couldnot have ever imagined, even the
lost cause, you know, movingright after slavery and other
movements to a fantasize aboutslavery.
They never thought we would seea day.
Yeah, so slavery was all abouta job training program and you

(23:32):
want to be happy, right, that'sto make the skills you know.
And again, a black historiantold me just yesterday in an
interview that that is such aflawed and fallacious arguments
for so many reasons, startingwith so many of the African
people.
They were brought over to theUS, were already skilled
artisans.
Yeah, already trained, already,had skills that they had

(23:54):
acquired in Africa.
So this notion is somehow whitefolks gave them skills while
they were beating them andkilling them.
Right, it's just so fallacious.
But hold on to that power andthis, I think, is gonna get even
worse.
I think we're going to see, youknow, even more Extremism.
A poll out today says that in aone-to-one matchup, joe Biden

(24:18):
and Donald Trump or are tied.
Yes, I'm right, it's twiceindicted, about to be quadruple
indictment.
Yep, mm-hmm is tied.
So there, we can't let that go.
We can't just say oh, that'swhite folks that don't want, you

(24:39):
know, a big government, right?
We could used to say that aboutthe Democrats, right, that's
just white folks that don't wantbig government.
That's just white folks thatthink Joe Biden is too old.
No, this is white folks sayingDonald Trump is our only hope
Power in this country, and hehas made it clear and will say
the quiet part out loud, thatthis is about white power.

Speaker 1 (25:02):
Yes, it is, but you mentioned that very soon we will
become the majority.
When we become the majority, doyou think that there will be
some sort of power shift?
Because I just want people toremember their why.
I recently looked at one ofyour TED talks and your why is
the government cheese this wholeconversation?

(25:24):
I just want people to tap intoremembering their why, my why
for me, when I talked about thedisproportionate quality of
healthcare about two years ago,my mother was murdered in a
hospital and I'm in the themiddle of a major lawsuit
against one of the biggesthospitals here in New York City.

(25:46):
What can people hold on to toremember their why?
A universal why, why we need tokeep disrupting these systems.
What is our why?

Speaker 2 (25:58):
Yeah, I think people need only look, you know, at
their own families.
I don't care if you're, you know, african-american and you're
now wealthy or you know you canprobably go back a generation or
two and find your family thatstruggled and that paid, you
know, a serious price forwhatever privilege you may have

(26:18):
today, whether it's economicprivilege, education privilege,
you know.
Whatever you know status youhave today, I think our family
structures tell us everything weneed to know.
That's why I think, for me,listening to those Florida
educators, or so-callededucators, that education
committee, talk about changingand Introducing these new

(26:39):
standards about slavery, I thinkour why has to be our history.
It has to not ever allowingourselves to get sober, move
from our history.
And that government cheese isjust symbolic for me of my
history, of growing up poor in ahousing project, of you know,
experiencing what it is like.
I was literally having aconversation with two friends

(27:03):
yesterday.
We're talking about cockroaches.
Really, we're having aconversation about growing up
and the conversation got reallybizarre, like the American
cockroach Versus the Orientalcockroach and what we call a
water bug versus a cockroachcockroach, and all of us having
lived in, or or visitingrelatives, homes that were

(27:25):
infested with cockroaches andyou know, you may not have had
that experience and I wish toGod most people never have, but
that is an experience that isvery much a part of Lots of
people, millions and millions ofpeople in our country today.
Today, though not just back inthe day, today, yeah, it's like

(27:49):
Places like LA that live inpoverty and our history has to
keep us grounded, I think, andkeep us connected to those
communities and keep us, as yousaid, fighting and disrupting.
Yes, again, I don't care howyour, your privilege takes you,
how far you've been able to go.
If you get removed, so farremoved from that, then you know

(28:13):
.
No, to answer your question, wewill be a brown country, but we
will act in the same way.
Yeah, as the you know.
So just because we come out ofoppression doesn't mean that we
Will act in a way different thanthose that oppress us, because
we see that often right.

(28:33):
But the two of the people thatare defending those standards in
Florida, they are twoAfrican-American Republicans.
Yes, white folks on thatcommittee have said they fought
against the language, theythought it was wrong.
So we can't lose sight of thefact that the white supremacist
narrative has been.

(28:54):
You know we have beeninculcated with that same there.
Yeah, we have grown up withthat patriarchy narrative right,
which is why, as women,sometimes we can be harder on
other women than even men.
Yes, so sometimes people thinka white supremacist is a white
person with a hood.
No no, it's not, no, it's all in.

(29:16):
Can folk?
Yes, and we have been taughtthe same way that to hate
ourselves right, that'sself-loathing that would cause
someone to try to rewrite thenarrative about slavery is
because we have also been taughtthat black is Negative,
associated with everythingthat's wrong in this country.

Speaker 1 (29:39):
So true, and we've also been taught.
You know, for me.
I come from the projects inBrooklyn and I was always taught
Okay, once you go to college,you leave your community.
That wasn't true for me.
I said okay, once I go tocollege, I have to return back
to my community.
I walk through my communityevery single day, where my

(30:00):
father is still a resident inthe projects.
I even went to go teach for afew years because I felt that it
was my Responsibility toeducate black and brown kids in
the state of Florida.
Now it was.
It was a challenge because Idid make the news, because while
I was a teacher, I also wrote abook and my principal called me

(30:21):
into his office, a white man,and he said how dare you think
that you can write a book?
You're only a teacher.
It was one of the mosttraumatizing experiences of my
life because I would incorporateBlack history into the
curriculum.
I would get called into hisoffice about every single week
Until they told me okay, we'renot going to renew your contract

(30:44):
.
I said I already planted seeds,my assignment is done.
Now I'm off to go.
Now share this blessing withthe next black and brown
community.
So I really want people tounderstand their why.
My wife, from my wife for mewas, like you said, my mom.
It was also for me growing upin a community, in the projects
and I had to remember they gaveto me.

(31:07):
I have to show some form ofreciprocity.
So, once again, I'm reallyencouraging people to tap into
your why so that you can nowtake whatever was blessed to you
and Now give it back to yourcommunity.
So I'm glad that you mentionedthat.
Another topic that I want totalk about is the world not
believing us, the worldminimizing our voice, and I'm

(31:31):
connecting this to Carly Russelland her alleging that someone
had kidnapped her for 49 hoursand Now the world is believing,
because she lied, that no onewill believe another black woman
if she is Kidnapped.
What are your thoughts aboutthat case?

Speaker 2 (31:52):
Yeah, you know, when Carly's story first broke, I
honestly had some doubts aboutit, and I had doubts about it
just because of the work that Ido as a lawyer.
I've been, you know, a part ofso many of these big stories
when people are missing andHaving listened to so many law
enforcement agents talk about,you know patterns that emerge

(32:15):
when someone is missing, youknow, and so just some of the
things that I learned, that I'velearned in the work that I do,
caused me to have some doubtsabout the story.
Like the child there hadn'tbeen anyone calling saying that
my child is missing.
So that, and then the length oftime that later came out that
she said she saw this childwalking against, struck me.

(32:36):
As you know, that was odd.
Yeah, but you know what I did.
I say quiet.
I'm quiet because I, ratherthan impose my doubts into the
conversation.
You ain't got to have somethingto say about everything, you
just don't.

(32:57):
You know, one of my coachesonce taught me that you don't
have to opine on everything, youdon't have to weigh in on
everything.
There are things that are goingto happen where you have an
opinion but nobody's going towant to hear it, or sometimes
you don't need to express it, soI just held that.
So when the story broke that itwas falling, you know things

(33:18):
were falling apart, it wasn'tadding up.
And then finally, you know, thelawyer came out and just
acknowledged it my heart brokebecause I wasn't sitting back
saying, oh, this is some BS,this girl is tripping.
I was saying the story isn'tmaking sense and I hope that
this is not a hoax and I hopethat this is not a cry by a

(33:40):
young woman that is in serioustrouble.
Right, because we know there'sso many of our women, younger
people in particular, are inserious crisis coming out of the
pandemic.
You know, the suicide ratesamongst young black women and
boys in particular is sky highand I've heard of just too many
young people that I knowpersonally that have taken their

(34:02):
lives.
So I was just hoping andpraying that this was not going
to be one of those stories and,to your point, recognizing that
there is a thing in this countrycalled you know, missing white
woman syndrome and that when awhite woman goes missing, news
rooms and news outlets willspend an in an order and amount

(34:24):
of time focused on that story.
Because that is a story thatthe American people are
interested in.
It resonates, the news is notreporting anything that doesn't
result in ratings, right, andmissing white women people are
fascinated with them or whateverreason, and we can go into a
whole another show about that.
And missing black women,missing black children, missing

(34:46):
black men just they don'tresonate and it's hard and I've
talked to news directors insidethose newsrooms and it's so hard
for them to get their ownstations to report on those
stories and oh, don't let theperson have a slight blemish on
their record because now youknow that's a whole different

(35:06):
way that that story is told.
So I do think we have tocontinue to push news outlets
and media outlets to focus onblack women.
There's a group called you know, missing in black, I think
that's the name of it thatreally, you know, tries to
highlight the stories of missingAfrican American people and we
can't let this one story becausethere's a white woman out there

(35:28):
.
There's a white woman who leftand was gone for a couple of
weeks with a next boyfriend, whoyou know, and there was
reported that she was kidnappedand she returned.
So white women have done thattoo.
Carly is the first person whohas staged a disappearance, so
let's be clear about that.
So this should not cause mediato say, for every black woman

(35:51):
that's ever missing, we can'tlook for you because of Carly
Harper, because there are whitewomen that have done the exact
same thing.
And it has not stoppednewsrooms for looking and giving
media attention to white women.
They go missing.

Speaker 1 (36:05):
Yes, you know, I definitely want.
I'm glad that you added on tothat facet, but I also want to
address just the online vitriolthat Carly received from her own
community.
When I look at social media andhow we address, how we attack
one another, once again, I needpeople to remember the why.
Because it sends a message towhite America, to misogynist

(36:31):
America, that we don't even careabout ourselves and we have to
keep leading with a sort ofintentionality, because it is
becoming too much, where theyare continuing to devalue us,
because we are devaluingourselves.

Speaker 2 (36:48):
Well, you know, social media is a two-headed
beast, right, we love it becauseit's democratized information.
So, you know, folks can goonline the way we are and have
conversations and we don't haveto pay a big network to take out
an ad or to.
You know, we don't have to dothose things that made
information, again, you know,confined into the hands of a

(37:13):
small, you know, group of peoplecontrolled everything that we
saw and heard.
So now we all get to benewsmakers, we all get to be
producers and storytellers.
Flip of that is, we all areproducers and storytellers,
right?
So sometimes those stories andthat content that we are
producing is incrediblydemoralizing, dehumanizing.

(37:38):
And yeah, folks went in on herheart and you know, I knew it
was coming and you know therewere some people who were
pushing back, who talked about,you know, if she does have some
mental health issues, hopefullyshe's getting some help, if she
has some other kind of issues.
But, yeah, people like to sitbehind their screens and very

(37:58):
anonymously, right, attack.
You have to answer.
You have to, you know, comeface to face with the person,
the subject that they are, youknow, directing all of that
vitriol and hatred towards.
So that that is the flip andthat is the negative side of
social media and that's what wehave to be fighting against,

(38:19):
because the positive of socialmedia is, like I said, you know,
my 91 year old aunt can go onInstagram and go on tiktok and
have access to the latest newsupdates without having to pay
for cable, you know, pay for anexpensive internet service.

(38:39):
So there are positives, buteverything positive has a
negative.
So, yeah, I didn't like whathappened with you know Farley,
and I hope her lawyers and herfamily are getting her help.

Speaker 1 (38:54):
Yeah, yeah.
So going back to a topic thatwe briefly discussed, you know,
just the reimagining of blackhistory in Florida schools, what
can Florida parents do in orderto make sure that they are
children are armed with correctblack history?
And then, overall, what canother black parents do in every

(39:16):
other state, because if they gotto Florida, they're going to
get to you too.
What can I?

Speaker 2 (39:21):
do?
No great question.
First of all, the Floridapeople.
To remember, florida was notthis maga red state until the
last two election cycles.
Florida is a state.
What is the state where Obamawon?
Florida is a state that sent,you know, val Demings to
Congress with Val Demings justran for Congress.
It had a conversation with ValDemings about what happened to

(39:44):
Florida and she said theDemocrats went to sleep at the
switch and there are now 500,000more Republican voters than
Democratic voters.
But it doesn't have to be thatway, right?
So the thing I say to parentsis pay attention to your local
elections, because it is yourschool board, it is your state
legislators who have say overthe curriculum that your

(40:05):
children will be taught.
So we can't just engage whenthere's a, you know, a
presidential sexy election goingon.
The school board electionsmatter, those state rep
elections matter, and if thereare 500,000 parents outraged in
Florida about these standards,they need to send a message to

(40:26):
Florida legislators, includingRon DeSantis and including those
Republicans that have beenvoting consistently with Ron.
You know DeSantis is, you know,anti-woke initiatives to throw
them out of office and replacethem with people that will
represent them and the valuesand traditions that they hold.
So that's number one.

(40:47):
If you are a parent, you needto be actively engaged in the
politics in your local communityand voting and encouraging your
neighbors and your familymembers to vote, because Florida
doesn't have to be red.
Florida has the potential withall of those minorities that
live in Florida and we don'thave to give up on Cuban
Americans.
We don't have to give up on,you know, latinos.
You know you hear a lot about.

(41:07):
You know they're trendingRepublican, they're more
conservative.
I don't think we have to giveup on any demographic because I
would say they have more incommon with us than they do with
.
You know folks who tend to voteRepublican.
So register, vote, push back.
You can show up at thosemeetings because oftentimes, as

(41:28):
you know, being a teacher, it'sthe loudest parents.
It's not the largest group ofparents, it's that one or two
parents who have the loudestvoices that show up at
everything that the school isyielding to they.
You know they respond to thepressure from those one or two
parents.
So the rest of the parents thatdisagree with these policies

(41:49):
have to show up and they have toshow solidarity and unity and
they I think the majority ofparents are anti these policies
in Florida.
You know, don't say gay.
We don't how many parents ofgay kids there are, so you could
not be in favor of thesepolicies.
So I think we have to show upat those meetings.

(42:14):
We have to make our voicesheard.
I think parents around the stateof Florida should be in
collaboration with the teachersunion.
Andrew Spear I think Spears, orSpears is the president of the
Florida Teachers Association.
They are vehemently opposed tomany of these policies.

(42:34):
So teachers have allies withparents and parents have allies
with teachers, and I think thatkind of allyship can have a very
powerful impact.
Yes, so we need to make surethat that is happening.
And then parents have anobligation to teach their kids.
Yes, teaching their kids.

(42:55):
They should be teaching theirkids this important and critical
history.
Yes, organizations like theUrban League, the NAACP, other,
you know, african Americanfocused organizations.
I think we all have anobligation making sure that we
are supporting the teaching ofblack history in our communities
, where we are.
So we can't just say theteachers are teaching X or the

(43:18):
schools are teaching X, sothat's what my kids are going to
learn.
No, we got to make sure that weare countering those lessons
with true, accurate, factualblack history.

Speaker 1 (43:28):
Yes, yes, open up your kids book bag, open up
their textbooks.
As I mentioned, I've been ineducation for over 20 years and
for the past 10 years Ipartnered with the school to
introduce and connect them withan organization called the
Family Leadership TrainingInstitute.
Oftentimes schools will look atfamilies and say, oh, that's

(43:48):
just the PTA, you know, they'rejust going to bake cookies.
Oh, that's what you'veminimized them to.
Okay, so I'm going to get agroup of parents, I'm going to
send them to DC for formaltraining and advocacy, then I'm
going to place them back in yourschool community so that they
can be the leading voices offamilies.
We wanted to disrupt the systemwith families who were

(44:09):
adequately trained and armed tosit in front of school
leadership and administrators tosay our voices matter, our kids
education's matter, and we'regoing to move this dial forward
because you want to stuck in aplace of complacency and
ignorance and not on my watch.
So that's why I did here in thestate of New York, and I'm

(44:32):
encouraging other school leaders, other families.
If you're looking for anorganization to partner with so
that you can get advocacy skillsin order to disrupt schools,
please look into the FamilyLeadership Training Institute
and they're located in the DMVarea.
So please research that Greatpoint.

(44:52):
Thank you for sharing that, noproblem.
So let's move on to somethingelse.
Another topic reparations.
That has been a conversation onour tongues for so many years,
but I think the definition andthe purpose has become lost.
Can you please definereparations?

Speaker 2 (45:12):
Yeah, I think the common definition of reparations
is restoring restoring toAfrican American families what
was taken from them by raciallymotivated laws, policies and
actions.
I mean that's the simplestdefinition of it.

(45:33):
And cities around this countryare looking at the role that
they play, the cities and states, in terms of their treatment of
descendants of slaves.
There's treatment of blackpeople, cities that abuse
redlining, cities that abuseeminent domain, cities that have
had racially restrictivehousing policies and other

(45:56):
policies.
They're looking at how thosepolicies were used to
discriminate against and totarget black people, to deprive
them of land, to deprive them ofother economic opportunities,
to deprive them of health care,to truth them and to confine

(46:19):
them, to relegate them assecond-class citizens.
And how can they rectify that?
So the California ReparationsTask Force met for two years,
went around the state conductinghearings, hearing about racial
atrocities in the state ofCalifornia that happened to have
not been a slave state but hadsome of the same Jim Crowism

(46:41):
laws and anti-black laws andpolicies dating back to the
1800s as slaves who had beenfreed or who were escaping
slavery came into California.
And they have written athousand-page comprehensive
report that contains 105recommendations.

(47:03):
Other cities St Louis, detroit,all of them have now developed
reparations task force that arestudying again the roles that
those cities played in deprivingblack folks of property and
other opportunities and lookingat how they can right those
wrongs.

Speaker 1 (47:23):
But you, specifically , you're working with the
residents of Palm Springs,california, correct?
To award them reparations.
Talk about that, because Idon't think that this is on a
lot of people's radar.
We've all heard about whathappened in Tulsa, oklahoma, but
people really don't have an earand eyes on what happened in

(47:44):
Palm Springs, california.
So please unpack that.

Speaker 2 (47:47):
Yeah, so Palm Springs , California, is a desert
location about 90 miles outsideof downtown Los Angeles.
It is considered to be one ofthe nation's top exotic desert
vacation spots.
Tours from all over the worlddescend on Palm Springs,

(48:10):
particularly during the wintermonths.
So when it's cold back east inNew York and Washington DC,
snowbirds come in to PalmSprings, California, because of
the weather, the tropical, thedesert heat and lots of natural
springs that have been, thathave developed in Palm Springs

(48:32):
just because of the geography ofthe land.
And lots of beautiful hotels,golf courses, tennis courses,
hotels, restaurants, the FitConvention Center, lots of fit
conventions there, Beautifulsecond homes in the 50s and 60s
that became the getaway for therich and famous of Hollywood
Gene, Archie, Frank Sinatra allof them having homes in Palm

(48:55):
Springs and when they wanted toget away from the glare of the
studios they could get on thefreeway, get to Palm Springs in
an hour and a half and they havebeautiful architectural homes
built.
So it's just a beautifullocation but it has a very dark,
ugly past that isn't often, asyou said, talked about or even
known by people that live inCalifornia.

(49:15):
Tulsa, Oklahoma, became moreknown and, let's be clear, a lot
of folks did not even knowabout the massacre in 1921 and
the burning down of Black WallStreet.
That became popularized afterGeorge Floyd's murder and
likewise, what happened in PalmSprings became a focal point of
local media and now nationalmedia, because it was after

(49:38):
George Floyd's murder and theracial reckoning that this
country was having thatresidents in Palm Springs
started to look at their pastand look at how their city had
treated Black and Brown folksand moved into the city during
the time that they were buildingup this location this, you know
, this desert getaway, and whatthey found was not pretty, you

(49:59):
know, it was startling, it wasshocking, it was despicable,
reprehensible.
And it was that the city hadengaged in a campaign in the 50s
and 60s to burn out and tobulldoze the private homes of
Black and Brown families livingin 646 acres of prime downtown
property in Palm Springs, nowreferred to as Section 14,

(50:22):
property that was owned by theIndigenous tribes, a property
that was actually made availableby the tribes to minority
people, Black and Brown people,to live there because of
racially restricted covenantsthat said, you Black person that
have come into Palm Springs,that have helped to build these
golf courses, tennis courts andthese houses for these wealthy

(50:45):
people.
You can't live next door tothem.
How dare you think that you'regood enough to live next door to
them Now?
Your cheap labor, your undercompensated labor can build
their homes, but you can't livenext to them because you are
colored and you are inferior,and this is whites only.
So you have now this built upcommunity that is marketing

(51:07):
itself to the world to comeparty with us, vacation with us,
bring your dollars into ourtown, bring your tourism, your
millions of dollars, yourtourism dollars.
But we don't want you to see ina heart of downtown this Black
and Brown community.
We can't have the projects, wecan't have a poor community of

(51:29):
Black and Brown people, acommunity that we have starved
of resources so it doesn't havethe same veneer, the same gloss,
the same beauty asneighborhoods adjacent to would
have.
Neighborhoods where we'veinvested, where we've paved the
roads, where we've providedwater service and trash service
and we beautified withlandscaping.
This little Black and Browncommunity that has none of that

(51:52):
because we haven't provided itas a city, where we've allowed
dumping to occur, where we'veremoved the trash service, the
water service, where we've madezero investment to beautify, we
can't have Life Magazine or anational media outlet come here
and see this.
That would tarnish the imagethat we're trying to project to

(52:15):
the world.
So we need Joe to be gone and,like yesterday, and because
you're so unimportant andbecause you have no power, we're
not going into court and askinga judge for a court order to
remove you, they just did it.
We are just bringing in the cityfire department and we might

(52:35):
knock on your door and tell youhey, you know, tomorrow your
house is going to be burned ifyou're not out.
We might, maybe we won't, butin the end what they did was
they burned a community of 5,000people.
They forced them out throughthe denial of services and those
that wouldn't leave the 2,000plus that wouldn't leave who had

(52:56):
nowhere to go, whose jobs werenext door, who didn't have cars
and didn't have money becausethey were already making
substandard wages they calledthe city fire department and
they literally burned theirhomes.
And then they were sent tobulldoze, right to bulldoze that
which was left.

Speaker 1 (53:19):
But since then hasn't some officials apologized for
their wrongs?
They've admitted it, but stillno reparations have been awarded
.
Am I correct?
A couple of things havehappened.

Speaker 2 (53:32):
The city actions prompted a criminal
investigation.
A criminal investigation by theCalifornia attorney general
came into Palm Springs in themid 60s, did a skating report,
called what the city did a cityengineered Holocaust.
And you know white folks don'tuse the word Holocaust for you,
nope.
So you know if a white officialis referring to something

(53:55):
related to black and brownpeople as an in just city
engineered Holocaust, it had tobe bad.
Yeah, the city's own humanrights commission a couple of
years ago did its owninvestigation and again
highlighted that this communitywas targeted because it was
black and it was brown.

(54:16):
And yes, after some activism onthe ground by local activists,
the city did issue an apology.
It hasn't made good on thatapology.
It has taken an important step,but we are fighting and
pressuring and pressing forwardan action to make good on that

(54:38):
apology, because an apologywithout action is meaningless.
I'm sorry, I stole your moneyout your bank.
Hello, there are consequencesto your actions.
And this has not lived up to andit's not paid the consequences
for its actions.
And that's where I am involved.

(54:59):
I'm leading the charge,representing over, at this point
, a thousand We've identified700 plus and we believe they're
close to 2000 out there,survivors and descendants who
are now standing up, who havefound their voices, whose voices
have been buried, have beensilenced because of fear,

(55:20):
because of intimidation andbecause of racial trauma.
But they now have found theirvoices, they're standing up and
they're demanding that the citycompensate them, acknowledge
their contributions and makethem old so do you think in our
lifetime that the residents orthe descendants of the Palm

(55:41):
Springs Holocaust will receivereparations?

Speaker 1 (55:44):
Do you think that'll happen in our lifetime?

Speaker 2 (55:46):
I'm confident, I am optimistic, I'm cautiously
optimistic, but I am veryoptimistic.
We have put together a strategythat involves not just legal
action, political action,community organizing and a media
strategy.
So we recognize there's noprecedent, there is no court
case that we can look to.

(56:07):
Johnny Cochran and a professorof mine from Harvard, Charles
Ogletree, went into Tulsa in theearly 2000s, filed for
reparations for thosedescendants of Tulsa, took it
all the way to the US SupremeCourt and the case was dismissed
.
Yeah, a new set of lawyers justin the last two or three years
have filed for those descendantsof Tulsa using a different

(56:29):
legal theory.
That case was just dismissed atthe trial court level.
Now it's up on appeal.
We'll be going up on appeal.
So there aren't any favorablelegal precedents.
But we believe that we have anopportunity to create the first
collaborative model and I saycollaborative because we think
we can do this in a negotiatedsettlement that doesn't require

(56:53):
a full-blown trial before a jury.
Now we are preparing.
I have brought on co-counsel.
One of the nation's largestcivil litigation firms that has
an untold amount of resources,has signed on to this case with

(57:16):
me.
So if we have to go into courtand if we have to press our case
before a jury.
We are prepared to do that.
We have the manpower, the legalacumen, the resources to do
that.
But the city has said over andover and over again that it
doesn't want to spend millionsof dollars mitigating this

(57:37):
matter in court, that it wantsto make these families whole.
So we're going to hold theirfeet to the fire.
We are negotiating with themnow and we're going to find out
how serious they are aboutresolving this outside of court.
And if it turns out that thisis window dressing and

(57:57):
performative, then we're goingto take our case, as far as we
can take the case, because thesefamilies deserve it.
And one thing about legalactions legal actions often fail
.
So the action Johnny Cochranand Charles Ogletree filed was
necessary and failing is a partof this process, because it laid
the foundation for this nextgeneration, my generation of

(58:19):
lawyers, to be encouraged, to beemboldened to fight these cases
using the court system.
So oftentimes when there is abreakthrough, whether it's
around same-sex marriage or it'saround abortion rights the case
that breaks through is not thefirst case.
It's usually because there'sbeen somebody out there
advocating and pushing forwardand they lost.

(58:41):
And their losses empower andembolden that next group.
That then will have thatbreakthrough.
So I'm hoping that Section 14is that breakthrough.
But even if it's not, I knowthat the work that I'm doing
here will be the foundation fora group of lawyers that come
after me and there will be abreakthrough.

(59:02):
So I know that this change isgoing to come.
I have no doubt about that.

Speaker 1 (59:08):
Yes, and I just want to take this opportunity to say
thank you.
I stand on the shoulders of somany people.
I have so many people who arelifting me up and I just wanted
to use the strength that peoplehave lifted me up to now raise
you even higher.
There are so many women, womenof color, who are laying it all

(59:32):
on the line, and for so manyyears we've heard the term angry
black woman and I think thatwe've gotten to a time.
I had to admit to these lawyers, these doctors, this hospital
institution that I'm in themiddle of a lawsuit with.
Yes, I am an angry black woman.
What do you feel about thatterm and do you think it's about

(59:52):
time that we became angry?
I?

Speaker 2 (59:56):
said embrace it Again .
I started by telling you I amrejecting all cisgender
patriarchy, bs, yep and ul.
Anywhere I can publish blah,blah.
You want to use angry as apejorative term, we can embrace
angry as fired up, ready to go.
Yes, so you know, we get todefine angry however we choose

(01:00:17):
to, because we know when we arestanding up and being
affirmative and assertive in thesame way that that white male
does, he gets called, you know,he gets called a leader.

Speaker 1 (01:00:30):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (01:00:32):
We get called angry so we can reject that like boy
by you.
Play with our heads, manipulateus into silence, which is what
you're really trying to do,because when you're calling us
angry, what you're really sayingis how dare you challenge me,
how dare you stand up foryourself, your family and your
community?
Yes, when they do it, they arecalled leaders.

(01:00:55):
Mm-hmm, I ran on this bravadothat somehow, when he yells and
screams and uses profanities andinsults people, that's a leader
.
That's the guy I want fightingfor me and Hillary Clinton,
kamala Harris, michelle Obama,any number one, any of those
women.
When they stand up, they areangry, they're emotional and

(01:01:18):
that's just BS and we can rejectit and call me angry.
You call me whatever you want.
That's not what all me is whatI answer to.
Yeah, I know my name and Ianswer to that name and in any
given day I may say I'm angry,just like you told those doctors
and those ways you are angry.
Yeah, I'm not afraid to beangry because I hear is a

(01:01:39):
necessary emotion and Everybodymanifests their anger in
different ways.
Some people are silent whenthey're angry.
You have anything to say, itcan be angry.
I think we are Angry.
Black woman, that trope Again.
I think we are reclaiming, yeah, folks, and redefining them.

Speaker 1 (01:02:02):
Yes, we are.
Yes, we are.
You know, people can choose tocall me angry.
They can choose to call medisruptive.
I Don't even care, as long as Iam setting precedence for the
future generation to come afterme, because I want to make it
easier For them, because I'malways remembering my why and I
thank you for that, because youknow I was always I Attributed

(01:02:23):
to this.
No, I'm remembering my why.
So all of you tuning in andlistening, please remember your
why and everything that you say,everything that you do, it is
supposed to Frame your why andlead with excellence.
I'll read it.
Thank you so much for thisconversation that is so

(01:02:43):
necessary, so needed.
Once again, I wish you nothingbut the best as you continue on
this journey, because I know itis an easy, but you have people
like me cheering you on.
Power to you, my sister.
You keep on keeping on.

Speaker 2 (01:02:59):
Thank you so much.
I so appreciate an opportunityto be in conversation with you
today.

Speaker 1 (01:03:04):
Thank you so much.
You take care.
I have to finish this show, butI'll be in touch soon.
Take care.

Speaker 2 (01:03:09):
I thank you so many.
Take care, sweetie Bye.

Speaker 1 (01:03:12):
Bye.
Amazing conversation.
These are the type ofconversations that I love to
hear People who are the frontline, fighting for you, fighting
for me.
I'm at this point in my life,like I mentioned, I had a
birthday yesterday and I'm 51years old.
In case you're wondering, 51years old.

(01:03:33):
I'm at this point in my lifewhere conversations have to be
meaningful.
I don't want to talk about what.
I just don't want to talk aboutwhat you watched on television
yesterday.
I don't want to just talk abouta Mean that you saw or a video
that you saw on social mediaafter we discuss that.
I just want to talk about whatcontribution are you making to

(01:03:56):
making this world a better placefor black, for brown, for
people who are are minimized,for the LGBTQ plus community?
So for one, just going back toone of the first topics that I
addressed with a Riva, when itcomes to, is it homophobic to

(01:04:17):
Assign womanhood to natural bornwomen?
I don't have a problem Withthat at all.
I just think that terms need tobe defined, because it shows
the different layers, and a Rivadid add something else to my
nuanced way of thinking is thatwe really do live in a

(01:04:42):
Misogynistic driven world,created world, white world that
never thought that it would getto a place where it had to
include blacks, latinos, lgbtqplus in their conversation.
They probably thought that wewould just be the help, that we

(01:05:07):
wouldn't be seated at the sametables as them, that we wouldn't
create spaces and invite otherpeople To have a seat at the
table.
They never thought that thisday would come.
So I'm just asking all of you tolead with a little bit more
grace and Mercy.
Stop with the online ritual,especially when it comes to
someone who looks just like you.

(01:05:28):
The world is already giving usenough.
This is what I tell myhousehold every single time.
I can't go out in the world andfight this battle and then come
home and fight you too.
I refuse to do it.
I don't have enough energy.
I Don't have enough energy.
So I just need us To lead witha lot more grace, mercy and

(01:05:56):
Responsibility.
Civic responsibilities, socialresponsibility.
Have better conversations.
I Employee, I'm gonna chargeyou just once a week.
Once a week.
Do something to someone in yourneighborhood, in your community
Schools about to start soon.

(01:06:17):
Give a kid a backpack full of ablack history book, pins, paper
, something.
If you have a friend who has ablack child, have a conversation
.
Let me give you a teachablemoment in black history Once a

(01:06:42):
week, please, because they arereally trying you to erase our
black history, and not on mywatch, and it shouldn't be on
your watch either.
So thank you to a Rita Martinfor sharing her thoughts on so
many topics, so many topics thatare current, so many topics

(01:07:04):
that have ignited in the past IEreparations, the Holocaust that
happened to the residents inPalm Springs, california.
The officials admitted it wassimilar to a Holocaust, admitted
their Rome doings.
But it is taking this long forthem to provide reparations to

(01:07:24):
the descendants.
Some of them are still living.
How many gentrifiedneighborhoods do we see today?
How many black and brownresidents are kicked out?
The rent is too high Today inthis space.
Recently they just raisedpeople's rent by $500 per month.

(01:07:50):
I live here in New York City.
The rent here in New York Cityis just too damn hot.
It really is.
It makes no sense at all.
Let's say, for a One-bed roomyou're gonna be paying.
If you want a good neighborhood, you're going to be playing at
least 2500 Over $2,000.

(01:08:14):
It makes no sense.
So I am once again justencouraging us to just lead with
some grace and some mercy, topour out in your, into your
communities, to not stray awayfrom the real goal and agenda,
because talking about Does anatural born woman, is she

(01:08:40):
entitled to just be a woman?
That is a nuanced conversationand we are so far away from the
bigger picture.
It really is, because they aretaking taking away so many
rights from us.
They were already taken awaythe right for a woman to have an
abortion in certain states.
Soon is going to be in incertain countries.

(01:09:00):
If you are a part of the LGBTQplus community, you could be
murdered.
Yes, today a Black boy Wasmurdered.
A gay male was murdered at agas station because of his
mannerisms.
Another case in point someonewas murdered just for being

(01:09:25):
black.
So if we don't stop the onlinevitriol Against ourselves, it
makes it so much easier for thewhite folks to come in and
Continue dismantling, because wehave already chipped away at

(01:09:46):
our foundation.
So the only thing that theyhave to do is go and it all
comes tumbling down.
So that's enough for me, but itis not enough for the time that
I am going to spend that.
I will continue spending tomake sure that Spaces are

(01:10:09):
normalized for people who looklike me.
So thank you for tuning intothis edition of Sanyo and air.
Once again, special shout outto a river.
Please make sure that youfollow her her on social media,
because she is our unsung heroout there fighting for us, and
we have to make sure that wesupport people like her, because

(01:10:30):
I know she's going home everysingle night and Many majority
of her nights probably cryingherself to sleep.
So let's continue to give herwind beneath her wings, because
she deserves it.
Thank you so much for tuning in.

(01:10:50):
Make sure that you share thisconversation with your family
and friends.
Make sure that you alsosubscribe if you're watching
this on YouTube, make sure thatyou hit the notification button.
That way, every time I uploadan all-new Sanyo and air
interview unpacking Celebritypivot moments and their
milestones, you'll be the firstones to know.
Smooth justals, take care.

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