February 5, 2025 • 64 mins
Explore the transformative journey of Ameer Baraka, the acclaimed actor known for his compelling role as Jeremiah in Tyler Perry's BET series, Zatima. Join me, Sanya Hudson, as we unravel Ameer's incredible story from a challenging childhood and prison to his rise in the acting world. Discover how his personal experiences, combined with faith and perseverance, have shaped not only his career but also his commitment to empowering marginalized communities. Through candid conversations, Ameer shares the systemic challenges he faced within the education system and the passion that drove him to success, offering listeners a profound narrative of resilience and hope.
We dive into the complex world of method acting and the emotional intensity it brings, particularly in Ameer's portrayal of characters with deep struggles. Hear firsthand about his experiences working alongside renowned actors like Kathy Bates and Angela Bassett, and how these encounters have refined his craft. Ameer's journey is a testament to the power of personal connections in acting, and he emphasizes the importance of selecting roles that resonate with his lived experiences. This episode sheds light on the spiritual side of acting, revealing how Ameer balances purpose-driven choices with financial independence, allowing him to follow his true passion with integrity.
Ameer's story is not just about personal triumph but also about redemption and giving back. His candid reflections on his troubled past, marked by drugs and violence, highlight a path toward forgiveness and transformation. Through speaking engagements and community involvement, particularly in his hometown of New Orleans, Ameer strives to uplift others, embodying a life dedicated to service and inspiration. Tune in to Sanya On-Air for an enlightening conversation that promises to leave you inspired, offering invaluable insights into the power of faith, purpose, and redemption in both life and the arts.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
What is the purpose?
What am I trying to do?
People are giving you keys,giving you gems, creating
pipelines to access, talking toinfluential people icons about
how they've done it and sharingthe tips so that you can enter
(00:30):
into that space.
One thing that I do know aboutmarginalized communities is that
the Pipeline to Access is oftenlimited.
Now, if you cleaned up onSaturday mornings and your
parents played old school music,then this show is for you.
Welcome, welcome, welcome.
(00:56):
You are now tuned into anotheramazing edition of Sonia on Air.
I'm your host, sonia Hudson.
Do me a favor Before we get toanything else, make sure you
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(01:19):
conversation, you'll be thefirst ones to know.
Now, before I say anything else, let me just say never would
have made it.
Never would have made it.
We are in 2025 and a lot hashappened, so make sure that you
stay tuned to whatever newsoutlet there is out there giving
you real news, not the fakenews, because we are living in
such critical times, dangeroustimes and once again, shows like
(01:43):
this.
Times, dangerous times, andonce again, shows like this,
shows like mine.
Signing on here is making surethat you have real information,
real tools, real access to makesure that you make it from step
a to step b, all the way to stepb, okay.
So today's guest I'm reallyexcited about today's guest.
You've seen him as jeremiah inthe hit Tyler Perry series,
(02:07):
zatima and I got a question toask this guest too.
This guest is named Amir Baraka.
Like I said, he plays Jeremiahon the hit series Zatima on BET
by Tyler Perry.
Now we know Jeremiah to be acrackhead.
Now this is such a relatablestory because everyone knows a
crackhead.
Everyone knows a crackhead.
(02:29):
Everyone knows a friend of acrackhead.
You may have a crackhead inyour family, but I didn't know.
You know what.
I'm not going to tell you whatI know yet.
I'm going to wait until Amirjoins me in the studio and we
are really going to have anin-depth conversation in the
studio.
And we are really going to havean in-depth conversation not
just about his character, butabout him, the actor, the man,
(02:49):
where he came from, how he gotto be on the TEMA and his future
aspirations.
So make sure that you staytuned, because this is going to
be a very enlighteningconversation, I guarantee you.
I guarantee you, after thisconversation you're going to be
saying I never knew that, Inever knew that.
(03:11):
And this is what I do on Sonyaon air.
I want you to walk away saying,wow, I never knew that, but now
I know.
Or wow, she just gave me someinformation, she just gave me
some tools.
Now I can access a door that Inever had access to before.
So we're going to just do aquick commercial break and we'll
(03:33):
be right back with Tanya on airand my special guest, amir
Baraka from Tyler Perry's HitBET series, zatina.
Stay tuned and make sure yousubscribe and hit the
notification bell.
I'll be right back.
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(04:19):
Now back to Sonia on Air.
Hi Amir, can you hear me?
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Yes, I can.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Good.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
How are you?
I'm doing exceptionally well.
How about yourself?
Speaker 1 (04:32):
I'm blessed and highly favored because I woke up
this morning.
Amen to that.
You better believe it.
You better believe it.
Yes, we're living in dangeroustimes.
Every day that we get toexperience life is such a
blessing.
So once again, I thank you forcarving out time to bless my
show, sonia on air Absolutely so.
(04:54):
My first question is I want totell you that I'm a huge fan of
yours.
How does it now feel whenpeople tell you that they are a
fan of your work on TylerPerry's hit show, the Tima on
BET?
How does it feel?
Speaker 2 (05:10):
It feels great.
It feels great I put in a lotof work.
You know, people see theresults but they don't see the
work.
I've been in the game for avery long time.
I've had some great coaches.
I've been in the game for avery long time.
I've had some great coaches.
I'm Emmy nominated and, and,and.
You know this is just my time,this is just my season.
(05:31):
When I got out of prison, youknow I was acting while I was in
prison and when I got out andwent to school and and and just
worked, and, worked and working,I tell you it's been a long,
long journey.
When people say that, you knowthey see the end results but
they don't see the journey, it'sbeen a very long journey for me
(05:52):
, a very, very long journey.
So, you know, the only thing Iwant to do is and it feels good
to hear people say that, butwhat I do know is it's always
about the work.
I just want to continue to dogreat work.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Yes, and that you're doing, but I didn't know that
you're Emmy nominated.
What was the Emmy nominationfor?
Speaker 2 (06:11):
For Bronx SIU.
It's a show that we shot in NewYork.
In New York.
We did three seasons out in NewYork.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Okay, so let's talk about that journey, because I'm
a firm believer, once again,again, that people will always
talk about the glory, but theydon't know your story.
So we're going to talk aboutyour story and also your journey
.
Talk about the moment where youdecided that you really wanted
to become an actor well it, it.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
it happened like so I'm dyslexic.
So throughout my, my entirejourney in school, uh, I
couldn't read or write, and so Ialways escaped through plays.
Doing plays at school, that wasmy way to escape.
I had to be good at somethingand, uh, I was really good at it
and I enjoyed it.
But I was, I didn't have theproper guidance, so I was
(07:05):
incarcerated.
I was doing four years for drugdistribution and I start doing
plays in the prison for thewarden, because he would have
kids come off the streets, so wehave to do these skits for them
.
And I just fell in love with itagain.
Right, I got passionate aboutit.
My one of my favorite actors atthat time was Charles Dutton.
(07:29):
He himself did time in prisonand start acting while in prison
and I said you know what I'mgoing to emulate, charles Dutton
.
And so I just stuck with it andkept rehearsing and doing plays
while in prison, writing myvisions down, telling my vision
throughout the prison, and a lotof dudes used to laugh at me
(07:49):
and I went back in those sameprisons and it was like man, you
really did it.
But it's been a very long road.
It's been a very, very long andtough road.
Many times I wanted to give upbecause, you know, you look at
this talented guy and you say,well, why, why didn't someone
see this years ago?
Well, I've been doing the samething, but I guess it's just
(08:10):
timing, right?
I say this all the time.
Here's what makes a great actor.
Right has to be a great script.
The writing has to be good.
Right, the actor must befamiliar with the character that
he or she is playing.
They have to have the rightproducer to believe in them, to
(08:31):
give them the opportunity toplay the role right.
And fourth, it has to be on theright platform so the world
could see.
Fortunately enough, the Lordthat we serve, the Most High God
, lined that up with me withJeremiah.
I don't know if you're aware ofthis.
I was on heroin and cocaine 14,15, 16 years old, and so I had
(08:54):
all those nuances in my toolbox,right, and this was just the
perfect.
This was just the perfect rolefor me.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Yeah Wow, this was just the perfect role for me.
Yeah, Wow.
You know you really brieflymentioned something about being
incarcerated, but yet and still,you didn't let that stop you
from pursuing what wasultimately in your heart, and
that's a testimony for a lot ofpeople listening in, because
oftentimes they let theirenvironment determine their next
steps.
So I'm glad to hear that youweren't kind of dismayed or sat
(09:26):
down or shut down, but you knewwhat was in your heart and you
pursued your purpose and yourpassion.
Now you mentioned dyslexia.
I'm an educator for over 25years here in New York City
public schools and charterschools and I know yeah, over 25
years and I know the storyabout how black and brown
children are often disservicedand undiagnosed in these schools
(09:51):
.
At what age did you find outthat you were dyslexic?
Speaker 2 (09:56):
I was serving a four-year prison sentence at 23
years old.
I found out when I was inprison.
23 years old, I found out whenI was in prison.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
So all of those years in school, your teachers never
informed you that you had alearning disability.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
No, so what would they say?
That's still going on to thisday, right?
So the thing is, is that if you, if public school systems use
the word dyslexiaia, it's, it'sthe burden lies upon them to get
the kid remediated.
And they don't have the fundsright, so they won't use that
terminology, so they'll justthrow you in a special ed class
and say you have some mentalissues, you're kind of slow,
(10:36):
right, because they can'taddress the issues.
Teachers are not skilled in thearea of teaching children who
are dyslexic, but those are someof the brightest minds.
So you have Steve Jobs, youhave Richard Branson, whoopi
Goldberg, tom Cruise I meanLeonardo DiCaprio, I mean the
list goes on and on and on.
Great doctors, great scientists, great lawyers are dyslexic.
(11:00):
It does not impact theintelligence, but how it can
impact the intelligence.
I would say, when you grew uparound an environment that's not
conducive to learning, and,like my mother did, she was a
single parent.
Mother called me stupid anddumb.
Sit your stupid ass down.
You'll never be nothing.
Because I was acting out andthis was acting out of
(11:21):
frustration because I could notcompete in the classroom while
my brothers and sisters excelledand went on to college, and so
I showed this antisocialbehavior, which she thought was
connected to me being dumb orstupid, but that wasn't the case
.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
So we talked about navigating what you didn't know
was dyslexia, or a learningdisability, and the conditions
of your home.
Those two things combined, isthat what kind of triggered you
to seek out solace?
And using cocaine at the age of13 and then heroin at the age
of 14?
(11:58):
Were those two majorcontributing factors?
Speaker 2 (12:02):
I would completely concur.
I don't think anything forcesyou to use drugs.
But what happens is yourenvironment does not control
your thinking, but it impactsyour thinking.
So if you have poor morals andpoor values and a distorted
picture of yourself, right andself-imposed limitations that's
(12:23):
a lot of self-imposedlimitations I can't do this
because I can't read I'll neverbe nothing because I can't read.
Those are self-imposedlimitations that you place on
yourself with distorted thinking.
And so it paralyzed me and Isaid to myself what am I going
to do?
I'll never be nobody anyway, soI might as well get high, right
(12:44):
, and so I numbed myself.
I just completely startednumbing myself and, uh, some
people numb themselves throughalcohol.
I, I numb myself through drugs.
Some people numb themselves byby poverty, just just going into
the streets and saying you knowwhat?
I don't want to work.
It's all different types ofways.
People numb themselves througheating uh, it's various ways,
(13:05):
but but Satan had a plan for methrough through drugs and in the
street life, which almost costme my life.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Oh, wow.
So when was the moment that youdecided that you wanted to
leave all of that alone and alsomaybe to address your learning
disability?
What was the moment that youchanged.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Yeah well, it happened like when I got behind
the prison doors right and thosecell bars rang, and there were
times when I was waiting to goto trial, there were young men
where I was 23 years old when Iwent to jail.
There were men my age andyounger coming back getting 40
(13:54):
years, 50 years life.
And then the lights came on.
I'm like Amir, this is veryserious.
I was facing 60 years because Iwas a multiple offender and I
was guilty.
I had that cocaine, I did thosecrimes that those people said
and I never forget.
I told God I was fasting.
(14:16):
My grandmother was a religiouslady, she loved the Lord, jesus
Christ, and she would alwaystell me Amir, god can make a way
for you, you don't have to dothat.
I'm like Ramon won't hear thatman, god ain't going to help me,
right?
And so I recall vividly.
She told me.
She said you're going to haveto stand on God's word, amir.
(14:39):
And I went on a five-day fastor a seven-day fast, I can't
recall, and I stayed in my cellwith a sheet over my head and I
never forget.
I put the Bible on the floor inthe cell and I said God, I want
to stand on your word.
I'm going to trust you to getout of here.
If you deliver me from this,I'll change my life.
I'll help kids.
(15:00):
I'll never sell dope no more.
I won't use dope no more.
I'll never sell dope no more.
I won't use dope no more.
And it began to slowly happen.
I started getting a desire towant to learn to read and after
I got found guilty of a lessercharge by the grace of God,
that's a whole nother story.
That could take us 30 minutes.
But I went to trial, I gotfound and I was only facing five
(15:25):
years.
The judge gave me four and Inever forget this.
This woke me up so clearly.
I was on my way to thepenitentiary.
It was a three-and-a-half-hourdrive from New Orleans to a
voice correctional facility andthis prison houses about 2,000
men and there was a work campwhere you went out and you
(15:47):
picked tomatoes, cotton.
You worked, you worked your assoff, excuse my vulgarity.
You worked and I was going downthis long road.
It was 32 men on a bus and thislong road that leads up to the
prison and we got about a mile,maybe about a mile and a half,
from the prison and on bothsides it was big fields and I
(16:11):
saw all these black men withholes, swinging holes, cutting
down grass, picking tomatoes,and I said God, I have placed
myself in slavery.
Now my ancestors came here wasforced into slavery.
Now my ancestors came and wasforced into slavery.
I gave them my slavery by myown volition, by breaking the
law, and I realized that I was aslave and I said to myself I
(16:35):
never want to be a slave again.
Now, the only way that I couldget out of my mental
incarceration because there's aI wasn't worried about the
physical, it was the mentalincarceration that had me.
I said I must teach myself tolearn to read and for four years
what I did was I wrote downthat yesterday, tomorrow, I had
(16:58):
thousands and thousands ofnotebooks of words that I
memorized to learn to read, thespell and and and the.
You know, I was going fromdifferent prisons and I, four
years, right at the tail end, Itook the GED test.
I took the GED test about three, four times, failed it, but I
kept at it and the last time Itook it I passed.
(17:19):
And there was this there wasthis joy that was unspeakable
that I had accomplished my GEDand I realized that I am
somebody.
I am not stupid, I am not dumb,I am who I am.
I am a mirror, I'm a child ofthe most high God, I'm a kingdom
citizen, I'm from a royalpriesthood, I'm chosen.
(17:41):
I began to see myself that, likeI'm somebody and I never
thought that I was somebodybecause I couldn't read and I
couldn't write and I had amother that told me I wasn't
nothing, and so all of thatimpacted me and pushed me and
made me feel unworthy.
And so I tell young people allthe time you are somebody,
(18:02):
irregardless of you can't,irregardless of the fact that
you can't read, irregardless toI don't care if your mama was on
drugs, it doesn't matter.
As a man think it so easy andso I am a proponent of that.
I proselytize that around thecountry.
That man listen, shake yourself, wake up, because the Calvary
is incoming.
You got to help yourself.
Wake up because the Calvary isincoming, you got to help
(18:24):
yourself.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Amen, amen.
That was so powerful, sopowerful, and I know that your
story is going to resonate withso many people.
It's actually resonated with me.
I currently have a cousin who'smore like a brother, who is
currently incarcerated, battlingaddiction, and I'm just making
sure that I'm his support systembecause I know that he needs
(18:46):
someone.
He also, you know, was goingthrough a learning disability in
school, undiagnosed.
So now he's being confrontedwith his demons and I'm just
praying for him.
We come from a very prayingfamily and you know now that we
know yeah, we know that God ison our side and you know, with
(19:08):
him on our side, we know thatwe're going to win.
So I know he's going to comeout of this victorious.
I have ultimate faith in that.
So thank you for sharing thattestimony as well.
But on top of your mothergiving you that type of blurred
love or encouragement, on top ofthe learning disability, on top
(19:28):
of the drug addiction you alsosold drugs with your father.
Is that correct?
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, my dad and I my dad was a heroin
user and my dad was up inChicago and my dad was up in
Chicago, his pops had died, lefthim 100,000.
And so my dad came back to NewOrleans to retrieve that money.
And so all the while, like, mydad just walked out on us and he
(19:57):
was just going like a fart inthe wind, from the age of until
I was three, until I was 19years old, he just disappeared.
And yet he was right there inchicago and he only came back
for the uh, the money.
And so I was dealing dope bynow right, so I'm dealing half,
half a bird's birds you know I'mflipping it and he had a
(20:18):
hundred thousand.
And so we put our money together.
He knew a guy in california gotto connect, and so now I'm
moving keys.
We just we're working, we'reselling dope together and we're
using dope together.
And so this reminds me of whatmy mom on Zatima was doing.
I mean that's what we did.
I mean this character wasperfect.
(20:39):
It was almost as if Tyler sawmy story and said I want that
guy.
Yeah, it was perfect.
Yeah, my mother and I on theshow used drugs, sold drugs, but
my dad and I in real life useddrugs and sold drugs.
It was just the perfectcombination.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
And.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
I'm so grateful.
Here's what's amazing.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Here's what's amazing what the enemy tried to destroy
me with and brought shame to mylife.
With.
God has gotten the glory out ofit.
Amen.
He's gotten the glory out of ityeah.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
It's an amazing thing , oh, god brings out good man,
but it's only in the kingdom.
You can only get this in thekingdom.
That's why I tell people cometo Christ, seek holiness and
righteousness and purity.
You know what I'm saying?
Because we're kingdom citizens.
We seated in heavenly places,above principalities and power.
Satan has no dominion over ourlives unless we give it to him.
(21:38):
So I can't do nothing butprosper.
You can't do anything butprosper if you're living in
holiness and righteousness andthe fear of the Lord.
Praise God.
He'll explode your life,because that's how he's going to
be glorified.
Yeah, because you're going tohave a testimony and you're
going to tell the world I didn'tdo it, he did it.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
You know people often ask me.
They're like you know what'sthe ingredient to your success.
How did you do it?
I'm like it wasn't me.
You know I allow God to use meas a vessel for his story and
his success.
I take no credit for anything.
I just said God, I'm anobedient service and through you
, your will will be done.
So it is not me.
(22:23):
I give him all of the credit.
But you know, once again, justyour character, jeremiah.
This is more than a performance.
This is personal.
How were you even introduced tothe script so that you could
audition for the character ofJeremiah?
Speaker 2 (22:40):
Hey, I was, my agent called me up.
I'm with the People Store inAtlanta.
They have a connection, theyhave a pipeline with Tyler right
, because they're a big agencythere.
And I was actually what thedirector Courtney who's a
fantastic director he told me.
He said listen, man, he saidthey didn't have any plans for
you.
You was just supposed to comein and just do your three
(23:02):
episodes and you know advantage.
But it was like to me your workwas just so profound so I mean
it was just like they wanted meto come in, play this guy.
Knock on the door, talk to theteam about my brother.
You know he had, you know hebeen in prison.
I had, I had been to prison,right, right, I mean, think
about this.
(23:22):
Jeremiah had been to prison,I've been to prison.
It was just when I saw thescript I said I got this and I
don't know where they're goingto take it at.
But it was up to me to do sucha great job.
And I'll never forget, whenseason one was over, I was
(23:46):
walking off and Tyler called meand said hey man, listen man, I
like what you did.
I'm going to bring you back forseason two.
And it's just been a wrap fromthere.
It was just auditioning,plainly just auditioning for it.
Boom did it and they juststarted writing for me.
I knew that if you do great onething about Tyler, if you do
great work, he's going to writefor you.
And he told us that he said ifyou do great work, we're going
(24:08):
to write for you.
And so it's just been writingfor me, man, and it's just been.
It's just been just scene afterscene, where I've just been
bringing it in.
My co-stars are very supportiveVal and Crystal, Zika, Belinda,
(24:28):
Gibacht, Alt Cam.
All these guys, man, these guysare very supportive, you know,
because it takes a team right.
Teamwork makes the dream work.
So they give me what I need tomake this guy come out.
And I want to say this I said Ithought about this, I was
ruminating on this the other day.
I said there was something thatCrystal told me from the
(24:48):
inception of this show that puta fire under me, that was
unquenchable five years, becausewhat she told me was something
that was you know, it was, itwas something profound, it was,
and I took it very serious, butit made me go to a whole nother
(25:12):
level.
So I want to thank her, Ireally want to thank Crystal.
I'm telling you and I'll sayI'll say years from now I don't
think it's the right time to sayit, but you know, I want to
thank her for that years fromnow.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
I don't think it's the right time to say it, but I
want to thank her for that.
No, that's confirmation for me,because I was listening to
Sarah Jakes Roberts the otherday driving into work and the
sermon was just about sometimes,when you get messages, it's
just for you and you can't telleveryone else.
And I kind of struggled withthat because I was like, hey, I
got this good news, I want toshare it with everyone else and
tune into the sermon.
It was like no, no, no, thatwas just for you.
(25:49):
So I understand because, as Iwas questioning God, like God.
But I want to say something.
I heard the sermon.
Now I hear it from you.
That's confirmation.
So I'm going to respect that.
I'm going to respect that andhonor that.
So when was the moment that youwere very vulnerable and
transparent and told your othercastmates about your past
(26:11):
history and how it is parallelto your character, jeremiah?
Speaker 2 (26:17):
I think it was in.
What I did was the guy Courtneycame on, he's the director.
Uh, he was director and he'sbeen doing some writing.
And so I was, uh, I was telling, no, no, I think I divulged it
first to the barber.
Tyler Perry has a personalbarber.
(26:38):
He's an older guy and he wasjust watching me and he was like
, man, you really into your work.
And I said, man, yeah, I'mtaking this serious because this
is personal to me, and I so Isent him a news clip of, uh, it
was a show I was on here in neworleans called like father, like
son, channel eight, channeleight did a story on it and uh,
(26:59):
it got like rave reviews, likean eight minute piece.
Uh, like talked about my dadand I as a story about my dad
and I and how we got started inthe drug game, using drugs, etc.
And I sent him that and I don'tknow what he did with that, but
I sent it to courtney as well,because I was trying to tell
courtney hey, courtney, listenthis he was director and that
(27:20):
was, uh, that was last season.
I'm like this story is likethis is my story, man, I'm like
I'm on it.
And so Courtney really believedin my work and allowed me to
have this liberty witheverything being creative, which
I stuck to the script, ofcourse, right, I got to stick to
the script, but he just trustedme.
(27:41):
It's something about having adirector that trusts you, right,
they believe in you becausemost directors they like to
direct.
You know, they've seen thingsout of their own peripheral, or
out of their own lens, rather,and they want it done the way
they want it done.
But you can't tell me how toplay this character, because
(28:02):
that character is me.
I am the character.
How can you tell me how to livemy life?
You can't tell me how to livemy life.
This is my life.
And so he understood that.
And tp understood it as well,because he directed season two
and he tp directed that, so heunderstood it as well.
I think they knew.
I think tyler is smart enoughto realize who's around him,
(28:25):
right, and and probably just aback digging and said you know
what I'm gonna let this guy do?
You know, uh, do what he does.
Uh, I would like to know that.
That same question as well, uh,but I, I did divulge.
I would like to know did theyknow?
How did Tala know Right, how doyou know?
But I guess you'll say thatyears from now.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
So are you in any way ashamed of your past story or
do you just?
Are you confidently living inyour truth?
I kind of know the answer tothat, but I want you to say it
out loud.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Yeah, the only, the only regret that I have is the
people that I hurt.
I hurt a lot of people, youknow, I hurt a lot of people.
Uh, I've shot people, uh.
There was a person, uh, that Itook a person's life.
We had a shootout.
(29:18):
I sold crack.
You know, when I was in jail Irecall I used to sell crack to
this lady and she had kids.
I used to take all her foodstamps.
I didn't care about the kid,just give me your stamps.
That type of thing I regret.
You know.
I've forgiven myself.
Of course the Lord has forgivenme.
(29:42):
But if I can take anything backthe people that I hurt I would
take that back.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
Well, we know that we can't often undo history or
take things back.
However, we can live lifedifferently and pay it forward
in the universe.
So in what ways have you beenpaying it forward in order to
make amends for your past?
What have you been doing?
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Well, I go throughout the prison systems here in
Louisiana.
I speak around the country withdyslexia.
I have five engagements set upnow and everywhere I go I tell
them listen, make sure I go to aschool or make sure I go to a
youth prison.
I always try to do that and soif I catch people in the airport
young people in the airport andin the stores, I'm always
pouring into people.
I go into the hoods.
I'm always pouring.
(30:27):
Everybody knows me in NewOrleans, in New Orleans, as one
that goes into the hoods.
I'm always going to the hoods.
I'm always fighting for some,for some, for some kid, and so
that's what.
That's how I pay it forward.
I mean, it's not like I'm doingit to pay it forward, it's
innately.
It's just lying there in me.
It's an innate thing.
(30:48):
I have to do this because thekingdom now has came Right, so
I'm living in the kingdom.
This is what you do when you'rein the kingdom you exalt others
higher than yourself, right?
Like my castmates, man, I, Iexalt my cast mates, I exalt
them, I praise them because Iwant to show everybody, on this
show and wherever I go, thatthis is how a kingdom man
(31:12):
operates amen, amen to that.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
So you talked about we were talking about your
character, jeremiah, and I knowthat the script was written
already.
Were you able to?
What layers were you able toadd to Jeremiah that weren't
wasn't written by the writers?
Speaker 2 (31:32):
Well, the deal was this right, the writing was
perfect, because an actor cannotbe a great actor without
writing.
Yeah, everything that they puton that page.
That was me, really.
I was able.
That was that.
That was the dialogue, it was.
The writing was superb.
(31:53):
The performance was just there.
I made it look easy because thewriting was there, I kid you
not.
And that's all a good actorneeds.
Just give me some great writing.
That's all I need.
That's all you need.
I need a great script.
I know how to break down.
I know how to find thecharacter.
That's all any great actorneeds is a great script.
So everything was done.
(32:14):
I mean, I didn't have to doanything, but come in and
prepare, you know, preparemyself and and go there, find,
find him, isolate myself.
Deval, and I talked.
Well, deval, and the directortalked about this.
Yesterday I heard that wedidn't speak my I.
I literally came across inseason one, season two and
(32:36):
season three as a person who wasperhaps could have been read as
uppity, uh uh, uh, a person whowas arrogant.
But I wasn't.
It was just the fact that I hadworked with kathy bates in
american horror stories.
I was able to talk to her, Iwas able to watch her
(32:59):
performance and what she didwhen she came on the soundstage.
She never talked Her and AngelaBassett never talked in
Crossing on that show becausethere were enemies.
And she said to me this is,this is how you must work.
I mean, I talked to thesepeople, I studied on the Captain
Bay's Jessica Lane, angelaBassett, I worked with Forrest
(33:21):
Whitaker, I worked with sometalented people, so being around
these people and I watchedthese people and so I didn't do
much talking and so it could beread as oh, he think he's all
that, but I'm not.
I am just deep through mycharacter.
Jeremiah didn't like anybody.
Jeremiah was frustrated.
He was anybody.
Jeremiah was frustrated, he wasangry, he was jealous, he was
(33:45):
full of rage, he had anaddiction.
He loved nothing but the drugsthat he was putting in his arm,
and so so now I think you knowso me and Deval had this thing
where we didn't really talk.
He went his way, I went my way,right.
But when we got on thesoundstage, the tension was
(34:08):
there.
It was always.
You saw the tension.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
And that's why it had to be organic.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
I am not there to please anybody on that set.
I am there to do the work.
Tp gave me a check to saylisten, I want you to do this
work.
I am there to do the work.
Tp gave me a check to saylisten, I want you to do this
work, I am paying you for it.
I don't care how you get there,just get there.
And so I had to internalizethat and do that and that's just
the way it is, man.
And one other thing to dovetailinto that conversation I was
(34:36):
just listening to an actor whenDenzel played the film when he
was a drug dealer, uh, uh, nikki.
Was that Nikki Bones?
I think it was Nikki Bones.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
Yes, yes, yes, american gangster.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
American gangster, One of the actors.
It was a white guy who playedthe police officer.
So they got into a scenetogether, right, and he forgot
his line.
So the cat the director came upto him, right, because they had
changed the lines and he saidhe was talking to Denzel and he
forgot his line.
So the cat the director came upto him, right, because they had
changed the lines and he saidhe was talking to denzel and he
put his hands on denzel.
And denzel said mother effa,get your hands off of me,
(35:10):
because denzel was.
He was the dope dealer.
A police has no businessputting his hands on him, right.
And so he was like he wasshocked, but Denzel was in
character yeah, yeah, you know,I'm sorry, just just off topic.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
You know, uh, I just have a reference of association
because you did mention, uh,denzel Washington, an American
gangster, playing Frank Lucas.
Last night I went to the museum, the Whitney museum.
I'm just a museum buff, I'mjust a museum buff, I'm just
anything about learning.
And I'm currently on crutchesand a cane just trying to get
around because I tore mymeniscus.
And as I'm walking down thestreet of New York City, my
(35:48):
daughter says you look likeFrank Lucas, an American
gangster, walking with that cane.
So it was just a funny thing.
And then when you mentioned hischaracter, so I just wanted to
mention that.
But you know, you are doing sowell with the character of
Jeremiah.
It is so deep and once againit's helping me navigate.
(36:09):
How do I support a familymember who is currently going
through addiction andincarceration?
Was there ever a moment whenthe director yelled cut that you
were so triggered that you hadto take a moment just to kind of
reset before you rejoined?
Were you ever triggered by anyof your scenes?
Speaker 2 (36:32):
Yes, listen, that happens constantly, because
you're always there, you'rethere, you're, you know, know,
you're, you're in the moment,it's, it's, it's, it's.
I recall one time in particularwe did that, we did the scene
where, uh, we did the scenewhere, um, we were going to see
(36:52):
the doctor, the psych, the, thepsychiatrist guy, right, and
myself, guy right and myselfDeval Crystal, and my mom was
there.
I'm there and I'm high and Ijust recall like I'm just there
and I'm not really payingattention.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
He froze.
Well, amir will be joining usback again.
Technology happens, um, thephone froze.
Shout out to iphone all thismoney for an iphone, new iphone
every other season, and look atwhat happened.
Look at hi iphone, hi apple,yeah.
(37:37):
So once again, amir, if you canlisten, this is what I'm going
to have you do.
I'm going to remove you fromthe studio and then I want you
to log out and then I want youto come back.
In Matter of fact, just bearwith me a few moments.
People in them.
What I'm going to do is I'mgoing to text Amir real quick.
So, just bear with me, bearwith me, bear with me real quick
(38:06):
.
So, just bear with me, bearwith me, bear with me.
So, amir, log out and thenrejoin the studio.
So, once again, amir'sperformance on Tyler Perry's hit
show Zatima on BET.
It's not just a performance.
This is personal Watching himeach and every single season,
each and every single week,because I stay tuned in, I'm
(38:28):
tuned in, I'm locked in.
I did not know his backstory,and this is, once again, the
purpose of Sonya on air.
I don't want us to alwaysglamorize over these celebrities
and place them in categoriesthat are not aligned with the
human experience, becauseoftentimes we try to place
people on pedestals and that'snot often the case.
(38:50):
But once again, Amir'sperformance, it's not just a
performance, it's personal.
Amir, are you there?
Yes, I am, I can't see you.
It's dark.
There you go.
I said look at blame Apple andiPhone.
That's all it is.
But you were talking about themoment that you were triggered,
(39:14):
when your character and crystaland deval and the mom when you
were talking to the psychiatrist.
Talk about that.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
Right, and so I just recall where I was just zoned
out.
It is amazing how you cancreate that high, like when I
used to be high.
You can create that right, youcan tap back into that.
All those emotions live withinyou, right, and those feelings.
And I was just there justducking, right.
You could, you can tap backinto that.
All those emotions live withinyou, right, and those feelings.
And I was just there justducking.
(39:45):
I knew my lines, so I'm notpaying attention, I'm just, I'm
listening to the conversation,but I'm high and I'm thinking
like I remember when I was highand I'm feeling this high, and
so tyler said cut, but I'm stillthere.
They got up and I'm still there.
And so Tyler said cut, but I'mstill there.
They got up and I'm still there.
I'm just still there.
Wait, you just go Listen.
Acting is spiritual.
(40:06):
I'm telling you, you got to belike some performances.
I won't even do, somecharacters I won't even play,
because you have to be that inorder for it to be real.
It's got to be real, you haveto have that in your briefcase,
(40:26):
your internal briefcase, and sosome things I won't even expose
myself to.
I'm not going to expose myselfto certain things.
Speaker 1 (40:33):
That's kind of surprising for me, because yet
you willingly played a characterthat was so personal and close
to home to your life story, butyet instead you are selective
with the other types of rolesthat you will play.
So what type of roles will youjust not play?
Speaker 2 (40:55):
anything that I have not lived, anything that I have
not lived, anything that I havenot lived, because if I have not
lived, it won't be real.
Speaker 1 (41:09):
It won't be real.
So let's assume that a castingagent wanted to give you the
role of a superhero and it paid,let's say, a a few million
dollars.
Would you take that role, eventhough, even though you know
that you've never really been asuperhero well, you probably
have been.
But would you take a role likethat as a?
Speaker 2 (41:29):
I am a superhero I am a superhero, right I am I'm, I
am doing superhuman things rightnow.
Speaker 1 (41:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (41:39):
You see.
So it's just, it's just.
It's.
For instance, let's sayhypothetically this right, I
wouldn't play a person that wasa molester, that had to molest
children.
Got it Because you have tothink, that, you have to feel,
(41:59):
that you have to get yourselfinto that spirit.
It's dangerous, very dangerous.
You better watch what you'redoing.
Speaker 1 (42:11):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (42:12):
I know it is for me.
I'm method, I'm method, I'mthere.
You can't fake this.
Speaker 1 (42:21):
You froze?
Speaker 2 (42:21):
again.
Speaker 1 (42:25):
Yeah, it went black again.
Speaker 2 (42:28):
That camera is going to see everything.
Speaker 1 (42:30):
Yes, yes, yes.
So you know you are reallyembodying the term and it's not
just a term.
People have these catchphrases,these taglines all the time,
but you meant, you mean what yousaid.
It's just not a performance.
This is all personal for youand it's just not limited to
your role as jeremiah.
(42:50):
It's limited to any type ofrole that comes across your
radar.
If it's not something thatyou've lived, then you just
won't accept it.
I'm glad to hear that, becauseyou know money is the driving
force for a lot of people.
What's your driving force?
Speaker 2 (43:11):
well, my driving force is this I'm not attached
to money because I know how tomake money I can.
I'm into real estate, I'm intothe market, right, I flip houses
, so I to make money I can.
I'm into real estate, I'm intothe market, right, I flip houses
so I make money.
One of the things that God hascalled me to do is is to preach
the gospel.
I am, I'm telling you this is,this is my calling, acting as a
(43:35):
job.
But the bigger purpose is asyou grow, you draw people to you
.
Now, what are you going to givethem?
I want to give them the kingdom.
That's what I want to give them.
I want to give them the goodnews.
That's what I want to give them, right.
So a man who desires to be richfollows the diver's lesson
(43:57):
temptation.
When you desire to be rich isthe diver's lesson temptation.
When you desire to be rich.
Hollywood will make you rich.
Speaker 1 (44:04):
It's gonna come with a cost yes, yes, and sometimes,
often, that cost is people'ssoul.
So you know, I'm glad that youare living a purpose-driven life
, because I know for myself too,whenever I have conversations
with individuals, my purpose is.
I want us both to walk awaywith food for thought.
(44:26):
I want us to both walk awaybetter than we first entered
into the conversation.
I want you to walk awaythinking, thinking about how you
and yourself can be better.
I just don't enter intoconversations for just any
reason at all.
So what do you hope thataudiences take away once they
(44:47):
watch you as Jeremiah on TylerPerry's hit show Zatima?
What do you want them to takeaway?
Speaker 2 (44:55):
One of the things I want audience to take away is
how to respect someone,irregardless to where they are
in life.
There's always redemption.
My personal life is a testamentto that and I'm sure at some
point, jeremiah, his life, willbe a testament to that as well,
because I don't think he's goingto remain an addict, right.
(45:18):
Secondly, I want people to takeaway that.
You know you get people alwaystalking about tyler perry actors
tyler perry this and tylerperry that right.
I want them to know that thisshow that I'm on, that tyler
perry, has some serious actorson the show.
They take the crap very serious.
Uh, there's, it's a stellarcast.
(45:40):
And personally, I want thempeople to know that Amir Baraka
is here.
I'm here now.
I'm here.
I was the one that was in thewilderness and I'm here.
Wow, I'm here and I can workwith the best of them.
I can work with the best ofthem and I can work with the
best of them.
Speaker 1 (46:00):
I can work with the best of them.
So working with the best ofthem.
What's next for Amir Baraka?
What's next for you?
Career-wise, action-wise.
Speaker 2 (46:14):
I have a show that's coming out this year with Taja
from Taja, she's from the Oval.
It's a new show, it's a spinoffshow.
I was on a show titled HouseDivided.
I was on there for two seasons.
Then they didn't.
They picked me up on thespinoff and I play a character
named Brother James who's areligious assassin.
He's a killer.
(46:35):
And he kills people forrighteousness, and so it's a
good show show.
Taja does her thing first timebeing a lead on the show and she
does her thing.
Now I got that coming out.
We did eight episodes, but allblack nice.
So I'm not going to show youabout for a couple of shows, a
couple other shows did someauditions for those and looking
(47:00):
to hear back from that, but uh,I think I got it, I think I got
it.
I think I got it, I think I gotit you got it, my brother.
Speaker 1 (47:10):
We just want to speak it into the universe.
It has already been written,it's just there.
It's just there waiting for you.
What is your, what is yourdream role, though?
Speaker 2 (47:24):
My dream role.
My dream role is I woulddefinitely like to be like a
superhero.
Okay, I would love to dosomething like that.
You know, I would love to dosomething like that, to be a
superhero.
You know, and I wanna work withthe young lady Ebony from
Sisters.
She was just in Sixth Grade.
Speaker 1 (47:44):
Oh, yes, oh my gosh, the way that she bodied that
role.
Let me tell you Tyler Perry andthis is the first time I've
heard people call him TP, youknow that's how you know that
you're really close and personalto him but he has created such
a lane for his cast on Sistersand on Zatima and just to see
(48:05):
you as actors once again justobtaining these magnificent
roles.
He has really opened up so manydoors to allow people like me
to get to know people like you.
I was so impressed by yourstory.
For me it wasn't about thecharacter of jeremiah.
I wanted to really get to knowyou, the many layers of you.
(48:25):
So I learned a lot about you.
I just learned that you wouldtake a role as a superhero, so
that role will be waiting foryou, um, very, very soon for you
to grab um.
So I do have one final question.
This has been a question thatI've been thinking about since
Zatima came on air.
Why is the show called Zatima,but you all call her Fatima?
(48:49):
Why?
Speaker 2 (48:55):
I think it was Fatima .
I think her name is Fatima.
Zach name is zach, right, sothey put those two together some
kind of way oh yeah, that's areal simple answer.
Speaker 1 (49:15):
I get it.
I was like, well, maybe heoriginally named uh's character
Fatima, but they kept callingher Fatima.
Now I get it, it's Zach andFatima.
I want to say something.
Speaker 2 (49:28):
I want to correct you on something.
I want to correct you onsomething.
You said that I call Tyler TP,right?
Speaker 1 (49:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (49:37):
Tyler is from New Orleans, grew up about five
blocks away from me, right?
Oh.
Tyler is from New Orleans, grewup about five blocks away from
me, right oh, I am not friendswith Tyler.
Tyler and I are not close.
I just work for him.
You know Tyler's a dude, thathe's on another stratosphere,
right, and every time I see him,every quarter, I'll see him.
Atp man, thank you for theopportunity.
Okay, you need anything.
(49:58):
No, I man, thank you for theopportunity.
Okay, I mean, you need anything?
No, I'm good.
Okay, boom.
And so we never really developa relationship.
But I respect that brother.
That brother's from my hometown.
He's doing his thing and maybewe'll never develop a
relationship where we'reintimate like that, but I value
(50:18):
and appreciate him giving me theopportunity to work and that's
enough for me.
Speaker 1 (50:22):
That is definitely enough for me man.
I hear that.
Well, you know we are at theend of this conversation.
Do you have any final wordsthat you would like to give to
one aspiring actors and two forany individual who's watching
this show who is currentlybattling addiction?
Speaker 2 (50:45):
Okay, cool, those are good.
So one thing I want to say isthis I have a book out new book
out titled Undiagnosed the UglySide of Dyslexia on Amazon.
It's a great read.
It lays out my life dealingwith dyslexia as a kid up until
an adult.
For those who are flirting withthe idea that you want to be an
(51:09):
actor or an actress, I wouldsay this is that.
Make sure this is somethingthat you want to do.
This is a very tough business.
It's not like you can go toYale and then come out and get a
job, like if you had gone to bean attorney or an engineer or a
dentist.
Right, it's not based on that.
(51:31):
This is not based on that.
Right, it's not.
It's based on a lot of nepotismand, god's favor, right, it's a
very tough business.
I will not tell my child to getin this business no kind of way,
unless they just knew that theywere born to do this and they
(51:53):
had a greater purpose, right?
So my purpose is, my desire isto act for a purpose.
My desire is to act for apurpose.
See, I'm acting for a biggerpurpose than myself.
So that keeps me driven,because I know if I stop acting.
Thousands of kids will neverhear my story.
I can't encourage people inprison, right?
(52:14):
I can't right, because peoplewant to see successful people.
We all want to see successfulpeople.
We all want to see successfulpeople.
Nobody wants someone that's notsuccessful, talking to them
Right.
And so that's why I keep actingand that's why I keep going
into the prisons.
(52:39):
A person who's dealing withsubstance abuse Listen, sister,
brother, look at me.
I was a person that knows thesickness, the feeling of being
on drugs.
I understand that no one iscoming to help you no one.
No one is coming to help you.
But Christ came that we mighthave life and have it more
abundantly.
He came to defeat drugaddictions, pornography,
(53:03):
masturbation, porn.
He came to defeat all sin.
He came to defeat it.
Your weaknesses.
He came to take your weaknessand give you his strength.
That is where the help is at.
That's where your joy will comefrom.
That's where your peace willcome from.
That's where your peace willcome from.
That's where your victory willcome from, knowing what he did
(53:24):
for you.
He called you into his kingdomto live royally.
He called you to live in aplace of victory, not a place of
defeat.
But you choose to live in thatplace.
You choose to live there.
So I beg you, man, I beg you,sister, I beg you repent.
(53:47):
I beg you to give your life toChrist.
I beg you to look into the richtreasures of the Lord and see
all the wealth that's there thejoy, the peace, the prosperity,
the healing, the forgiveness.
Everything that you need is inhim.
I beg you, man, don't delay.
Don't delay.
(54:08):
You were not created to livebelow your privileges as a human
being.
You were created to go out anddominate and rule.
Speaker 1 (54:21):
So, with that being, said man.
Speaker 2 (54:23):
I ask you, Father God , to strengthen those, Father
God, who will watch this HolySpirit impact their spirit.
Draw them to the cross thatthey might receive life in
Jesus' name, amen.
Speaker 1 (54:36):
Amen.
Let me tell you how this was sopurposeful, because I asked you
a question to give advice, andafter that I was going to ask
you to end it with a prayer, butthat happened automatically.
Because this is what happenswhen you invite God into the
space he just takes over and heleads, and we are just obedient
servants.
I thank you so much for yourstory.
(54:57):
I thank you so much for yourtime.
I thank you so much for whatyou are about to do.
I thank you so much for whatyou are about to do.
I thank you so much for beingobedient.
I thank you so much for beingyou wonderfully made.
Continue blessings, my brother,because this is just the
beginning.
It has already been written.
(55:18):
Thank you once again forblessing this platform.
I really appreciate you, thankyou.
Speaker 2 (55:23):
Minitans, for having me.
I do value that.
I really appreciate you.
Thank you, Minitans, for havingme.
I do value that.
Speaker 1 (55:27):
I do value that, no problem.
Well, I'm going to end thisconversation and I'm going to
continue with the show, butcontinue blessing Amir.
Thank you so so much.
Take care.
So there you have it, amirBaraka, who stars as Jeremiah on
Tyler Perry's hit series Zatimaon BETP.
(55:49):
Let me tell you something.
I really did have that questionfor so many years.
At the onset of Zatima, I waslike why is the show called
Zatima, but they're calling herFatima, did not realize had a
blonde moment for years thatthey were combining the two main
characters named Zach andFatima.
(56:11):
Hence you get Zatima Duh.
So if you had the sameconundrum, the same question,
the same like what is thisconfusion?
Leave a comment.
Leave a comment.
Let me know that I'm not alone,but wasn't that an amazing
conversation?
Wasn't it such a purposefulconversation?
Wasn't it a testimony?
(56:33):
I'm so inspired by people whohave gone through something
honestly, because when theybattle through storms and
they've acquired the successstory and the strength, I want
to hear about it.
I want to hear about how youmade it over.
(56:54):
How you made it over, becausemaybe your story is something
that can resonate with me, or Ican remember your story in case
I need to share it with someoneelse.
So to know that, going throughschool and with a learning
disability and no one said athing.
Like I said, I've been ineducation for over 25 years and
(57:16):
that's a true thing and onething that I'm going to say for
any parent that's listening inwho has a small child in either
elementary school, junior highschool or high school stay on
top of your child's education.
You give educators so much freerange.
(57:36):
It's because they got a littledegree, so you think they know
everything, and then you take abackseat to your child's
education, letting peopledictate how your child will be
educated.
So this man, amir, went throughhis entire life.
It wasn't until he wasincarcerated in his 20s that he
(57:56):
learned that he had dyslexia.
So oftentimes I rememberremember growing up in the 80s
we always saw the bad kids, thebad kids in school.
We already knew that they had alot of learning disabilities
because they were in rooms thatwere all the way in the back, or
there were kids in our classesand the general education
(58:20):
classes and we saw them actingout and no one said a thing.
They just failed the kid, leftthem behind, or either failed
the kid and just pass them alongto the next grade.
Because guess what's importantin education?
The data.
That's all it's about.
Even if the data was tainted,misconstrued, lied, falsified,
(58:42):
it's all about the data.
So please stay on top of theeducation system.
One thing I do realize as aneducator who is also a
journalist it's an ism.
It's an ism.
Any type of institutioneducation, healthcare, politics
(59:08):
in my opinion, it is bombardedwith a whole bunch of isms, and
the ism that I'm referring to isracism.
So when we look at schools andeducators and marginalized
communities, those are thepeople you need to be watching.
Trust me on this one.
Sonia's not going to lie to youbecause I've been in the system
(59:31):
for over 25 years.
You better watch them.
So Amir Baraka stars as Jermaion Tyler Perry's hit show Zatila
on BET, going through schoolbattling what he didn't know was
(59:51):
dyslexia.
At the age of 13, and alsogrowing up in a household where
his mother often called himderogatory names, english N-word
MF.
13 years old, starts usingcocaine, and by then I think
(01:00:13):
that he was also selling it bythe age of 14.
In just one year, heroin.
He's not only selling ithimself, he's selling it with
his father and they're both alsousing the drug.
He gets incarcerated for drugpossession and murder, beat the
(01:00:36):
murder charge by the grace ofGod and only had to deal with a
possession charge.
But while he's incarceratedhe's still in battle and
addiction.
He is still remembering God'spurpose over his life and in
prison he's acting for theinmates.
Now let me tell you something.
(01:00:58):
What we know about environmentswhere not everyone has it up
here, environments where noteveryone has it up here.
I can only envision him actingin some sort of prison system
and being made fun of becausenot everybody gets it.
Not everybody gets it whenyou're trying to do something
right, when you're in a placefor people who've done nothing
(01:01:20):
but wrong, but not all of themknow wrong, but not all of them
are Acting.
For years, emmy nominated andthen, lo and behold, one day he
gets access to a script and helooked at it and he said this is
my life.
So it once again speaks about.
Sometimes we don't just have tochase things, but we have to be
(01:01:44):
fully present in our moment sothat when the blessing comes, we
are aware of the blessing andit doesn't look like it's
disguised by anything and we cansay this is for me.
So Amir said that the writingwas just so exceptional that
there wasn't really much he hadto do to the role except act.
(01:02:07):
That's how you know thatsomething is for you.
You don't have to add extrasazon, adobo, black pepper,
garlic.
You ain't got to do all thosethings.
You just step into it and yougo to work.
So this is what I'm going toencourage all of you to do, no
matter what your currentcircumstance is.
(01:02:29):
Prayer is powerful, but withoutthe work it is pointless.
I want you to be fully presentin your moment so that, when the
blessing comes, you are able tostep confidently into the space
and do the work.
Amir Baraka is a testimony ofGod's awesomeness.
(01:02:50):
It is a testimony of doing thework.
So do the work, child, and makesure you subscribe, like, share
and leave a comment.
If you're watching this onYouTube, not only like,
subscribe, share and leave acomment, but make sure you hit
the notification bell.
That way, every time I uploadan all new Sonia On Air
(01:03:14):
celebrity interview, you'll bethe first ones to know.
Make sure you also visit Eden'sT-shirts and More LLC so that
you can get customized T-shirts,charcuterie boards, passports
just about any type of accessory, just about any type of item,
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(01:03:36):
So make sure you go to thedescription section of this
episode and get your shop on andthrow it in the bag.
And make sure you stay tuned into Zatima each and every single
week so that we can see howJeremiah develops.
The character of Jeremiahdevelops Because if you are
(01:03:59):
tuned in every single week, whosaw the recent episode, did you
realize?
Or if it was just me?
So, when jeremiah showed up tohis mother's funeral, who
remembers gator samuel ljackson's character in jungle
fever?
I believe jeremiah was actinglike gator samuel jackson's
(01:04:20):
character in Jumble Feet.
Amazing job, amazing job.
So this has been anotheramazing edition of Signing On
Air with my special guest actor,amir Baraka.
Make sure you stay tuned in toSatina and Signing On Air.
I love you much.
(01:04:41):
Y'all, muchis, take care.
What is the purpose?
What am I trying to do?
People are giving you keys,giving you gems, creating
pipelines to access, talking toinfluential people icons about
how they've done it and sharingthe tips so that you can enter
(00:30):
into that space.
One thing that I do know aboutmarginalized communities is that
the Pipeline to Access is oftenlimited.
Now, if you cleaned up onSaturday mornings and your
parents played old school music,then this show is for you.
Welcome, welcome, welcome.
(00:56):
You are now tuned into anotheramazing edition of Sonia on Air.
I'm your host, sonia Hudson.
Do me a favor Before we get toanything else, make sure you
subscribe, like share and leavea comment.
If you're watching this onYouTube, not only subscribe like
share, leave a comment, butmake sure you hit the
notification bell.
That way, every time I uploadan old, new Sonia On Air
(01:19):
conversation, you'll be thefirst ones to know.
Now, before I say anything else, let me just say never would
have made it.
Never would have made it.
We are in 2025 and a lot hashappened, so make sure that you
stay tuned to whatever newsoutlet there is out there giving
you real news, not the fakenews, because we are living in
such critical times, dangeroustimes and once again, shows like
(01:43):
this.
Times, dangerous times, andonce again, shows like this,
shows like mine.
Signing on here is making surethat you have real information,
real tools, real access to makesure that you make it from step
a to step b, all the way to stepb, okay.
So today's guest I'm reallyexcited about today's guest.
You've seen him as jeremiah inthe hit Tyler Perry series,
(02:07):
zatima and I got a question toask this guest too.
This guest is named Amir Baraka.
Like I said, he plays Jeremiahon the hit series Zatima on BET
by Tyler Perry.
Now we know Jeremiah to be acrackhead.
Now this is such a relatablestory because everyone knows a
crackhead.
Everyone knows a crackhead.
(02:29):
Everyone knows a friend of acrackhead.
You may have a crackhead inyour family, but I didn't know.
You know what.
I'm not going to tell you whatI know yet.
I'm going to wait until Amirjoins me in the studio and we
are really going to have anin-depth conversation in the
studio.
And we are really going to havean in-depth conversation not
just about his character, butabout him, the actor, the man,
(02:49):
where he came from, how he gotto be on the TEMA and his future
aspirations.
So make sure that you staytuned, because this is going to
be a very enlighteningconversation, I guarantee you.
I guarantee you, after thisconversation you're going to be
saying I never knew that, Inever knew that.
(03:11):
And this is what I do on Sonyaon air.
I want you to walk away saying,wow, I never knew that, but now
I know.
Or wow, she just gave me someinformation, she just gave me
some tools.
Now I can access a door that Inever had access to before.
So we're going to just do aquick commercial break and we'll
(03:33):
be right back with Tanya on airand my special guest, amir
Baraka from Tyler Perry's HitBET series, zatina.
Stay tuned and make sure yousubscribe and hit the
notification bell.
I'll be right back.
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(03:55):
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(04:19):
Now back to Sonia on Air.
Hi Amir, can you hear me?
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Yes, I can.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Good.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
How are you?
I'm doing exceptionally well.
How about yourself?
Speaker 1 (04:32):
I'm blessed and highly favored because I woke up
this morning.
Amen to that.
You better believe it.
You better believe it.
Yes, we're living in dangeroustimes.
Every day that we get toexperience life is such a
blessing.
So once again, I thank you forcarving out time to bless my
show, sonia on air Absolutely so.
(04:54):
My first question is I want totell you that I'm a huge fan of
yours.
How does it now feel whenpeople tell you that they are a
fan of your work on TylerPerry's hit show, the Tima on
BET?
How does it feel?
Speaker 2 (05:10):
It feels great.
It feels great I put in a lotof work.
You know, people see theresults but they don't see the
work.
I've been in the game for avery long time.
I've had some great coaches.
I've been in the game for avery long time.
I've had some great coaches.
I'm Emmy nominated and, and,and.
You know this is just my time,this is just my season.
(05:31):
When I got out of prison, youknow I was acting while I was in
prison and when I got out andwent to school and and and just
worked, and, worked and working,I tell you it's been a long,
long journey.
When people say that, you knowthey see the end results but
they don't see the journey, it'sbeen a very long journey for me
(05:52):
, a very, very long journey.
So, you know, the only thing Iwant to do is and it feels good
to hear people say that, butwhat I do know is it's always
about the work.
I just want to continue to dogreat work.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Yes, and that you're doing, but I didn't know that
you're Emmy nominated.
What was the Emmy nominationfor?
Speaker 2 (06:11):
For Bronx SIU.
It's a show that we shot in NewYork.
In New York.
We did three seasons out in NewYork.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Okay, so let's talk about that journey, because I'm
a firm believer, once again,again, that people will always
talk about the glory, but theydon't know your story.
So we're going to talk aboutyour story and also your journey
.
Talk about the moment where youdecided that you really wanted
to become an actor well it, it.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
it happened like so I'm dyslexic.
So throughout my, my entirejourney in school, uh, I
couldn't read or write, and so Ialways escaped through plays.
Doing plays at school, that wasmy way to escape.
I had to be good at somethingand, uh, I was really good at it
and I enjoyed it.
But I was, I didn't have theproper guidance, so I was
(07:05):
incarcerated.
I was doing four years for drugdistribution and I start doing
plays in the prison for thewarden, because he would have
kids come off the streets, so wehave to do these skits for them
.
And I just fell in love with itagain.
Right, I got passionate aboutit.
My one of my favorite actors atthat time was Charles Dutton.
(07:29):
He himself did time in prisonand start acting while in prison
and I said you know what I'mgoing to emulate, charles Dutton
.
And so I just stuck with it andkept rehearsing and doing plays
while in prison, writing myvisions down, telling my vision
throughout the prison, and a lotof dudes used to laugh at me
(07:49):
and I went back in those sameprisons and it was like man, you
really did it.
But it's been a very long road.
It's been a very, very long andtough road.
Many times I wanted to give upbecause, you know, you look at
this talented guy and you say,well, why, why didn't someone
see this years ago?
Well, I've been doing the samething, but I guess it's just
(08:10):
timing, right?
I say this all the time.
Here's what makes a great actor.
Right has to be a great script.
The writing has to be good.
Right, the actor must befamiliar with the character that
he or she is playing.
They have to have the rightproducer to believe in them, to
(08:31):
give them the opportunity toplay the role right.
And fourth, it has to be on theright platform so the world
could see.
Fortunately enough, the Lordthat we serve, the Most High God
, lined that up with me withJeremiah.
I don't know if you're aware ofthis.
I was on heroin and cocaine 14,15, 16 years old, and so I had
(08:54):
all those nuances in my toolbox,right, and this was just the
perfect.
This was just the perfect rolefor me.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Yeah Wow, this was just the perfect role for me.
Yeah, Wow.
You know you really brieflymentioned something about being
incarcerated, but yet and still,you didn't let that stop you
from pursuing what wasultimately in your heart, and
that's a testimony for a lot ofpeople listening in, because
oftentimes they let theirenvironment determine their next
steps.
So I'm glad to hear that youweren't kind of dismayed or sat
(09:26):
down or shut down, but you knewwhat was in your heart and you
pursued your purpose and yourpassion.
Now you mentioned dyslexia.
I'm an educator for over 25years here in New York City
public schools and charterschools and I know yeah, over 25
years and I know the storyabout how black and brown
children are often disservicedand undiagnosed in these schools
(09:51):
.
At what age did you find outthat you were dyslexic?
Speaker 2 (09:56):
I was serving a four-year prison sentence at 23
years old.
I found out when I was inprison.
23 years old, I found out whenI was in prison.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
So all of those years in school, your teachers never
informed you that you had alearning disability.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
No, so what would they say?
That's still going on to thisday, right?
So the thing is, is that if you, if public school systems use
the word dyslexiaia, it's, it'sthe burden lies upon them to get
the kid remediated.
And they don't have the fundsright, so they won't use that
terminology, so they'll justthrow you in a special ed class
and say you have some mentalissues, you're kind of slow,
(10:36):
right, because they can'taddress the issues.
Teachers are not skilled in thearea of teaching children who
are dyslexic, but those are someof the brightest minds.
So you have Steve Jobs, youhave Richard Branson, whoopi
Goldberg, tom Cruise I meanLeonardo DiCaprio, I mean the
list goes on and on and on.
Great doctors, great scientists, great lawyers are dyslexic.
(11:00):
It does not impact theintelligence, but how it can
impact the intelligence.
I would say, when you grew uparound an environment that's not
conducive to learning, and,like my mother did, she was a
single parent.
Mother called me stupid anddumb.
Sit your stupid ass down.
You'll never be nothing.
Because I was acting out andthis was acting out of
(11:21):
frustration because I could notcompete in the classroom while
my brothers and sisters excelledand went on to college, and so
I showed this antisocialbehavior, which she thought was
connected to me being dumb orstupid, but that wasn't the case
.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
So we talked about navigating what you didn't know
was dyslexia, or a learningdisability, and the conditions
of your home.
Those two things combined, isthat what kind of triggered you
to seek out solace?
And using cocaine at the age of13 and then heroin at the age
of 14?
(11:58):
Were those two majorcontributing factors?
Speaker 2 (12:02):
I would completely concur.
I don't think anything forcesyou to use drugs.
But what happens is yourenvironment does not control
your thinking, but it impactsyour thinking.
So if you have poor morals andpoor values and a distorted
picture of yourself, right andself-imposed limitations that's
(12:23):
a lot of self-imposedlimitations I can't do this
because I can't read I'll neverbe nothing because I can't read.
Those are self-imposedlimitations that you place on
yourself with distorted thinking.
And so it paralyzed me and Isaid to myself what am I going
to do?
I'll never be nobody anyway, soI might as well get high, right
(12:44):
, and so I numbed myself.
I just completely startednumbing myself and, uh, some
people numb themselves throughalcohol.
I, I numb myself through drugs.
Some people numb themselves byby poverty, just just going into
the streets and saying you knowwhat?
I don't want to work.
It's all different types ofways.
People numb themselves througheating uh, it's various ways,
(13:05):
but but Satan had a plan for methrough through drugs and in the
street life, which almost costme my life.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Oh, wow.
So when was the moment that youdecided that you wanted to
leave all of that alone and alsomaybe to address your learning
disability?
What was the moment that youchanged.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Yeah well, it happened like when I got behind
the prison doors right and thosecell bars rang, and there were
times when I was waiting to goto trial, there were young men
where I was 23 years old when Iwent to jail.
There were men my age andyounger coming back getting 40
(13:54):
years, 50 years life.
And then the lights came on.
I'm like Amir, this is veryserious.
I was facing 60 years because Iwas a multiple offender and I
was guilty.
I had that cocaine, I did thosecrimes that those people said
and I never forget.
I told God I was fasting.
(14:16):
My grandmother was a religiouslady, she loved the Lord, jesus
Christ, and she would alwaystell me Amir, god can make a way
for you, you don't have to dothat.
I'm like Ramon won't hear thatman, god ain't going to help me,
right?
And so I recall vividly.
She told me.
She said you're going to haveto stand on God's word, amir.
(14:39):
And I went on a five-day fastor a seven-day fast, I can't
recall, and I stayed in my cellwith a sheet over my head and I
never forget.
I put the Bible on the floor inthe cell and I said God, I want
to stand on your word.
I'm going to trust you to getout of here.
If you deliver me from this,I'll change my life.
I'll help kids.
(15:00):
I'll never sell dope no more.
I won't use dope no more.
I'll never sell dope no more.
I won't use dope no more.
And it began to slowly happen.
I started getting a desire towant to learn to read and after
I got found guilty of a lessercharge by the grace of God,
that's a whole nother story.
That could take us 30 minutes.
But I went to trial, I gotfound and I was only facing five
(15:25):
years.
The judge gave me four and Inever forget this.
This woke me up so clearly.
I was on my way to thepenitentiary.
It was a three-and-a-half-hourdrive from New Orleans to a
voice correctional facility andthis prison houses about 2,000
men and there was a work campwhere you went out and you
(15:47):
picked tomatoes, cotton.
You worked, you worked your assoff, excuse my vulgarity.
You worked and I was going downthis long road.
It was 32 men on a bus and thislong road that leads up to the
prison and we got about a mile,maybe about a mile and a half,
from the prison and on bothsides it was big fields and I
(16:11):
saw all these black men withholes, swinging holes, cutting
down grass, picking tomatoes,and I said God, I have placed
myself in slavery.
Now my ancestors came here wasforced into slavery.
Now my ancestors came and wasforced into slavery.
I gave them my slavery by myown volition, by breaking the
law, and I realized that I was aslave and I said to myself I
(16:35):
never want to be a slave again.
Now, the only way that I couldget out of my mental
incarceration because there's aI wasn't worried about the
physical, it was the mentalincarceration that had me.
I said I must teach myself tolearn to read and for four years
what I did was I wrote downthat yesterday, tomorrow, I had
(16:58):
thousands and thousands ofnotebooks of words that I
memorized to learn to read, thespell and and and the.
You know, I was going fromdifferent prisons and I, four
years, right at the tail end, Itook the GED test.
I took the GED test about three, four times, failed it, but I
kept at it and the last time Itook it I passed.
(17:19):
And there was this there wasthis joy that was unspeakable
that I had accomplished my GEDand I realized that I am
somebody.
I am not stupid, I am not dumb,I am who I am.
I am a mirror, I'm a child ofthe most high God, I'm a kingdom
citizen, I'm from a royalpriesthood, I'm chosen.
(17:41):
I began to see myself that, likeI'm somebody and I never
thought that I was somebodybecause I couldn't read and I
couldn't write and I had amother that told me I wasn't
nothing, and so all of thatimpacted me and pushed me and
made me feel unworthy.
And so I tell young people allthe time you are somebody,
(18:02):
irregardless of you can't,irregardless of the fact that
you can't read, irregardless toI don't care if your mama was on
drugs, it doesn't matter.
As a man think it so easy andso I am a proponent of that.
I proselytize that around thecountry.
That man listen, shake yourself, wake up, because the Calvary
is incoming.
You got to help yourself.
Wake up because the Calvary isincoming, you got to help
(18:24):
yourself.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Amen, amen.
That was so powerful, sopowerful, and I know that your
story is going to resonate withso many people.
It's actually resonated with me.
I currently have a cousin who'smore like a brother, who is
currently incarcerated, battlingaddiction, and I'm just making
sure that I'm his support systembecause I know that he needs
(18:46):
someone.
He also, you know, was goingthrough a learning disability in
school, undiagnosed.
So now he's being confrontedwith his demons and I'm just
praying for him.
We come from a very prayingfamily and you know now that we
know yeah, we know that God ison our side and you know, with
(19:08):
him on our side, we know thatwe're going to win.
So I know he's going to comeout of this victorious.
I have ultimate faith in that.
So thank you for sharing thattestimony as well.
But on top of your mothergiving you that type of blurred
love or encouragement, on top ofthe learning disability, on top
(19:28):
of the drug addiction you alsosold drugs with your father.
Is that correct?
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, my dad and I my dad was a heroin
user and my dad was up inChicago and my dad was up in
Chicago, his pops had died, lefthim 100,000.
And so my dad came back to NewOrleans to retrieve that money.
And so all the while, like, mydad just walked out on us and he
(19:57):
was just going like a fart inthe wind, from the age of until
I was three, until I was 19years old, he just disappeared.
And yet he was right there inchicago and he only came back
for the uh, the money.
And so I was dealing dope bynow right, so I'm dealing half,
half a bird's birds you know I'mflipping it and he had a
(20:18):
hundred thousand.
And so we put our money together.
He knew a guy in california gotto connect, and so now I'm
moving keys.
We just we're working, we'reselling dope together and we're
using dope together.
And so this reminds me of whatmy mom on Zatima was doing.
I mean that's what we did.
I mean this character wasperfect.
(20:39):
It was almost as if Tyler sawmy story and said I want that
guy.
Yeah, it was perfect.
Yeah, my mother and I on theshow used drugs, sold drugs, but
my dad and I in real life useddrugs and sold drugs.
It was just the perfectcombination.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
And.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
I'm so grateful.
Here's what's amazing.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Here's what's amazing what the enemy tried to destroy
me with and brought shame to mylife.
With.
God has gotten the glory out ofit.
Amen.
He's gotten the glory out of ityeah.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
It's an amazing thing , oh, god brings out good man,
but it's only in the kingdom.
You can only get this in thekingdom.
That's why I tell people cometo Christ, seek holiness and
righteousness and purity.
You know what I'm saying?
Because we're kingdom citizens.
We seated in heavenly places,above principalities and power.
Satan has no dominion over ourlives unless we give it to him.
(21:38):
So I can't do nothing butprosper.
You can't do anything butprosper if you're living in
holiness and righteousness andthe fear of the Lord.
Praise God.
He'll explode your life,because that's how he's going to
be glorified.
Yeah, because you're going tohave a testimony and you're
going to tell the world I didn'tdo it, he did it.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
You know people often ask me.
They're like you know what'sthe ingredient to your success.
How did you do it?
I'm like it wasn't me.
You know I allow God to use meas a vessel for his story and
his success.
I take no credit for anything.
I just said God, I'm anobedient service and through you
, your will will be done.
So it is not me.
(22:23):
I give him all of the credit.
But you know, once again, justyour character, jeremiah.
This is more than a performance.
This is personal.
How were you even introduced tothe script so that you could
audition for the character ofJeremiah?
Speaker 2 (22:40):
Hey, I was, my agent called me up.
I'm with the People Store inAtlanta.
They have a connection, theyhave a pipeline with Tyler right
, because they're a big agencythere.
And I was actually what thedirector Courtney who's a
fantastic director he told me.
He said listen, man, he saidthey didn't have any plans for
you.
You was just supposed to comein and just do your three
(23:02):
episodes and you know advantage.
But it was like to me your workwas just so profound so I mean
it was just like they wanted meto come in, play this guy.
Knock on the door, talk to theteam about my brother.
You know he had, you know hebeen in prison.
I had, I had been to prison,right, right, I mean, think
about this.
(23:22):
Jeremiah had been to prison,I've been to prison.
It was just when I saw thescript I said I got this and I
don't know where they're goingto take it at.
But it was up to me to do sucha great job.
And I'll never forget, whenseason one was over, I was
(23:46):
walking off and Tyler called meand said hey man, listen man, I
like what you did.
I'm going to bring you back forseason two.
And it's just been a wrap fromthere.
It was just auditioning,plainly just auditioning for it.
Boom did it and they juststarted writing for me.
I knew that if you do great onething about Tyler, if you do
great work, he's going to writefor you.
And he told us that he said ifyou do great work, we're going
(24:08):
to write for you.
And so it's just been writingfor me, man, and it's just been.
It's just been just scene afterscene, where I've just been
bringing it in.
My co-stars are very supportiveVal and Crystal, Zika, Belinda,
(24:28):
Gibacht, Alt Cam.
All these guys, man, these guysare very supportive, you know,
because it takes a team right.
Teamwork makes the dream work.
So they give me what I need tomake this guy come out.
And I want to say this I said Ithought about this, I was
ruminating on this the other day.
I said there was something thatCrystal told me from the
(24:48):
inception of this show that puta fire under me, that was
unquenchable five years, becausewhat she told me was something
that was you know, it was, itwas something profound, it was,
and I took it very serious, butit made me go to a whole nother
(25:12):
level.
So I want to thank her, Ireally want to thank Crystal.
I'm telling you and I'll sayI'll say years from now I don't
think it's the right time to sayit, but you know, I want to
thank her for that years fromnow.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
I don't think it's the right time to say it, but I
want to thank her for that.
No, that's confirmation for me,because I was listening to
Sarah Jakes Roberts the otherday driving into work and the
sermon was just about sometimes,when you get messages, it's
just for you and you can't telleveryone else.
And I kind of struggled withthat because I was like, hey, I
got this good news, I want toshare it with everyone else and
tune into the sermon.
It was like no, no, no, thatwas just for you.
(25:49):
So I understand because, as Iwas questioning God, like God.
But I want to say something.
I heard the sermon.
Now I hear it from you.
That's confirmation.
So I'm going to respect that.
I'm going to respect that andhonor that.
So when was the moment that youwere very vulnerable and
transparent and told your othercastmates about your past
(26:11):
history and how it is parallelto your character, jeremiah?
Speaker 2 (26:17):
I think it was in.
What I did was the guy Courtneycame on, he's the director.
Uh, he was director and he'sbeen doing some writing.
And so I was, uh, I was telling, no, no, I think I divulged it
first to the barber.
Tyler Perry has a personalbarber.
(26:38):
He's an older guy and he wasjust watching me and he was like
, man, you really into your work.
And I said, man, yeah, I'mtaking this serious because this
is personal to me, and I so Isent him a news clip of, uh, it
was a show I was on here in neworleans called like father, like
son, channel eight, channeleight did a story on it and uh,
(26:59):
it got like rave reviews, likean eight minute piece.
Uh, like talked about my dadand I as a story about my dad
and I and how we got started inthe drug game, using drugs, etc.
And I sent him that and I don'tknow what he did with that, but
I sent it to courtney as well,because I was trying to tell
courtney hey, courtney, listenthis he was director and that
(27:20):
was, uh, that was last season.
I'm like this story is likethis is my story, man, I'm like
I'm on it.
And so Courtney really believedin my work and allowed me to
have this liberty witheverything being creative, which
I stuck to the script, ofcourse, right, I got to stick to
the script, but he just trustedme.
(27:41):
It's something about having adirector that trusts you, right,
they believe in you becausemost directors they like to
direct.
You know, they've seen thingsout of their own peripheral, or
out of their own lens, rather,and they want it done the way
they want it done.
But you can't tell me how toplay this character, because
(28:02):
that character is me.
I am the character.
How can you tell me how to livemy life?
You can't tell me how to livemy life.
This is my life.
And so he understood that.
And tp understood it as well,because he directed season two
and he tp directed that, so heunderstood it as well.
I think they knew.
I think tyler is smart enoughto realize who's around him,
(28:25):
right, and and probably just aback digging and said you know
what I'm gonna let this guy do?
You know, uh, do what he does.
Uh, I would like to know that.
That same question as well, uh,but I, I did divulge.
I would like to know did theyknow?
How did Tala know Right, how doyou know?
But I guess you'll say thatyears from now.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
So are you in any way ashamed of your past story or
do you just?
Are you confidently living inyour truth?
I kind of know the answer tothat, but I want you to say it
out loud.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Yeah, the only, the only regret that I have is the
people that I hurt.
I hurt a lot of people, youknow, I hurt a lot of people.
Uh, I've shot people, uh.
There was a person, uh, that Itook a person's life.
We had a shootout.
(29:18):
I sold crack.
You know, when I was in jail Irecall I used to sell crack to
this lady and she had kids.
I used to take all her foodstamps.
I didn't care about the kid,just give me your stamps.
That type of thing I regret.
You know.
I've forgiven myself.
Of course the Lord has forgivenme.
(29:42):
But if I can take anything backthe people that I hurt I would
take that back.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
Well, we know that we can't often undo history or
take things back.
However, we can live lifedifferently and pay it forward
in the universe.
So in what ways have you beenpaying it forward in order to
make amends for your past?
What have you been doing?
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Well, I go throughout the prison systems here in
Louisiana.
I speak around the country withdyslexia.
I have five engagements set upnow and everywhere I go I tell
them listen, make sure I go to aschool or make sure I go to a
youth prison.
I always try to do that and soif I catch people in the airport
young people in the airport andin the stores, I'm always
pouring into people.
I go into the hoods.
I'm always pouring.
(30:27):
Everybody knows me in NewOrleans, in New Orleans, as one
that goes into the hoods.
I'm always going to the hoods.
I'm always fighting for some,for some, for some kid, and so
that's what.
That's how I pay it forward.
I mean, it's not like I'm doingit to pay it forward, it's
innately.
It's just lying there in me.
It's an innate thing.
(30:48):
I have to do this because thekingdom now has came Right, so
I'm living in the kingdom.
This is what you do when you'rein the kingdom you exalt others
higher than yourself, right?
Like my castmates, man, I, Iexalt my cast mates, I exalt
them, I praise them because Iwant to show everybody, on this
show and wherever I go, thatthis is how a kingdom man
(31:12):
operates amen, amen to that.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
So you talked about we were talking about your
character, jeremiah, and I knowthat the script was written
already.
Were you able to?
What layers were you able toadd to Jeremiah that weren't
wasn't written by the writers?
Speaker 2 (31:32):
Well, the deal was this right, the writing was
perfect, because an actor cannotbe a great actor without
writing.
Yeah, everything that they puton that page.
That was me, really.
I was able.
That was that.
That was the dialogue, it was.
The writing was superb.
(31:53):
The performance was just there.
I made it look easy because thewriting was there, I kid you
not.
And that's all a good actorneeds.
Just give me some great writing.
That's all I need.
That's all you need.
I need a great script.
I know how to break down.
I know how to find thecharacter.
That's all any great actorneeds is a great script.
So everything was done.
(32:14):
I mean, I didn't have to doanything, but come in and
prepare, you know, preparemyself and and go there, find,
find him, isolate myself.
Deval, and I talked.
Well, deval, and the directortalked about this.
Yesterday I heard that wedidn't speak my I.
I literally came across inseason one, season two and
(32:36):
season three as a person who wasperhaps could have been read as
uppity, uh uh, uh, a person whowas arrogant.
But I wasn't.
It was just the fact that I hadworked with kathy bates in
american horror stories.
I was able to talk to her, Iwas able to watch her
(32:59):
performance and what she didwhen she came on the soundstage.
She never talked Her and AngelaBassett never talked in
Crossing on that show becausethere were enemies.
And she said to me this is,this is how you must work.
I mean, I talked to thesepeople, I studied on the Captain
Bay's Jessica Lane, angelaBassett, I worked with Forrest
(33:21):
Whitaker, I worked with sometalented people, so being around
these people and I watchedthese people and so I didn't do
much talking and so it could beread as oh, he think he's all
that, but I'm not.
I am just deep through mycharacter.
Jeremiah didn't like anybody.
Jeremiah was frustrated.
He was anybody.
Jeremiah was frustrated, he wasangry, he was jealous, he was
(33:45):
full of rage, he had anaddiction.
He loved nothing but the drugsthat he was putting in his arm,
and so so now I think you knowso me and Deval had this thing
where we didn't really talk.
He went his way, I went my way,right.
But when we got on thesoundstage, the tension was
(34:08):
there.
It was always.
You saw the tension.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
And that's why it had to be organic.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
I am not there to please anybody on that set.
I am there to do the work.
Tp gave me a check to saylisten, I want you to do this
work.
I am there to do the work.
Tp gave me a check to saylisten, I want you to do this
work, I am paying you for it.
I don't care how you get there,just get there.
And so I had to internalizethat and do that and that's just
the way it is, man.
And one other thing to dovetailinto that conversation I was
(34:36):
just listening to an actor whenDenzel played the film when he
was a drug dealer, uh, uh, nikki.
Was that Nikki Bones?
I think it was Nikki Bones.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
Yes, yes, yes, american gangster.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
American gangster, One of the actors.
It was a white guy who playedthe police officer.
So they got into a scenetogether, right, and he forgot
his line.
So the cat the director came upto him, right, because they had
changed the lines and he saidhe was talking to Denzel and he
forgot his line.
So the cat the director came upto him, right, because they had
changed the lines and he saidhe was talking to denzel and he
put his hands on denzel.
And denzel said mother effa,get your hands off of me,
(35:10):
because denzel was.
He was the dope dealer.
A police has no businessputting his hands on him, right.
And so he was like he wasshocked, but Denzel was in
character yeah, yeah, you know,I'm sorry, just just off topic.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
You know, uh, I just have a reference of association
because you did mention, uh,denzel Washington, an American
gangster, playing Frank Lucas.
Last night I went to the museum, the Whitney museum.
I'm just a museum buff, I'mjust a museum buff, I'm just
anything about learning.
And I'm currently on crutchesand a cane just trying to get
around because I tore mymeniscus.
And as I'm walking down thestreet of New York City, my
(35:48):
daughter says you look likeFrank Lucas, an American
gangster, walking with that cane.
So it was just a funny thing.
And then when you mentioned hischaracter, so I just wanted to
mention that.
But you know, you are doing sowell with the character of
Jeremiah.
It is so deep and once againit's helping me navigate.
(36:09):
How do I support a familymember who is currently going
through addiction andincarceration?
Was there ever a moment whenthe director yelled cut that you
were so triggered that you hadto take a moment just to kind of
reset before you rejoined?
Were you ever triggered by anyof your scenes?
Speaker 2 (36:32):
Yes, listen, that happens constantly, because
you're always there, you'rethere, you're, you know, know,
you're, you're in the moment,it's, it's, it's, it's.
I recall one time in particularwe did that, we did the scene
where, uh, we did the scenewhere, um, we were going to see
(36:52):
the doctor, the psych, the, thepsychiatrist guy, right, and
myself, guy right and myselfDeval Crystal, and my mom was
there.
I'm there and I'm high and Ijust recall like I'm just there
and I'm not really payingattention.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
He froze.
Well, amir will be joining usback again.
Technology happens, um, thephone froze.
Shout out to iphone all thismoney for an iphone, new iphone
every other season, and look atwhat happened.
Look at hi iphone, hi apple,yeah.
(37:37):
So once again, amir, if you canlisten, this is what I'm going
to have you do.
I'm going to remove you fromthe studio and then I want you
to log out and then I want youto come back.
In Matter of fact, just bearwith me a few moments.
People in them.
What I'm going to do is I'mgoing to text Amir real quick.
So, just bear with me, bearwith me, bear with me real quick
(38:06):
.
So, just bear with me, bearwith me, bear with me.
So, amir, log out and thenrejoin the studio.
So, once again, amir'sperformance on Tyler Perry's hit
show Zatima on BET.
It's not just a performance.
This is personal Watching himeach and every single season,
each and every single week,because I stay tuned in, I'm
(38:28):
tuned in, I'm locked in.
I did not know his backstory,and this is, once again, the
purpose of Sonya on air.
I don't want us to alwaysglamorize over these celebrities
and place them in categoriesthat are not aligned with the
human experience, becauseoftentimes we try to place
people on pedestals and that'snot often the case.
(38:50):
But once again, Amir'sperformance, it's not just a
performance, it's personal.
Amir, are you there?
Yes, I am, I can't see you.
It's dark.
There you go.
I said look at blame Apple andiPhone.
That's all it is.
But you were talking about themoment that you were triggered,
(39:14):
when your character and crystaland deval and the mom when you
were talking to the psychiatrist.
Talk about that.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
Right, and so I just recall where I was just zoned
out.
It is amazing how you cancreate that high, like when I
used to be high.
You can create that right, youcan tap back into that.
All those emotions live withinyou, right, and those feelings.
And I was just there justducking, right.
You could, you can tap backinto that.
All those emotions live withinyou, right, and those feelings.
And I was just there justducking.
(39:45):
I knew my lines, so I'm notpaying attention, I'm just, I'm
listening to the conversation,but I'm high and I'm thinking
like I remember when I was highand I'm feeling this high, and
so tyler said cut, but I'm stillthere.
They got up and I'm still there.
And so Tyler said cut, but I'mstill there.
They got up and I'm still there.
I'm just still there.
Wait, you just go Listen.
Acting is spiritual.
(40:06):
I'm telling you, you got to belike some performances.
I won't even do, somecharacters I won't even play,
because you have to be that inorder for it to be real.
It's got to be real, you haveto have that in your briefcase,
(40:26):
your internal briefcase, and sosome things I won't even expose
myself to.
I'm not going to expose myselfto certain things.
Speaker 1 (40:33):
That's kind of surprising for me, because yet
you willingly played a characterthat was so personal and close
to home to your life story, butyet instead you are selective
with the other types of rolesthat you will play.
So what type of roles will youjust not play?
Speaker 2 (40:55):
anything that I have not lived, anything that I have
not lived, anything that I havenot lived, because if I have not
lived, it won't be real.
Speaker 1 (41:09):
It won't be real.
So let's assume that a castingagent wanted to give you the
role of a superhero and it paid,let's say, a a few million
dollars.
Would you take that role, eventhough, even though you know
that you've never really been asuperhero well, you probably
have been.
But would you take a role likethat as a?
Speaker 2 (41:29):
I am a superhero I am a superhero, right I am I'm, I
am doing superhuman things rightnow.
Speaker 1 (41:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (41:39):
You see.
So it's just, it's just.
It's.
For instance, let's sayhypothetically this right, I
wouldn't play a person that wasa molester, that had to molest
children.
Got it Because you have tothink, that, you have to feel,
(41:59):
that you have to get yourselfinto that spirit.
It's dangerous, very dangerous.
You better watch what you'redoing.
Speaker 1 (42:11):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (42:12):
I know it is for me.
I'm method, I'm method, I'mthere.
You can't fake this.
Speaker 1 (42:21):
You froze?
Speaker 2 (42:21):
again.
Speaker 1 (42:25):
Yeah, it went black again.
Speaker 2 (42:28):
That camera is going to see everything.
Speaker 1 (42:30):
Yes, yes, yes.
So you know you are reallyembodying the term and it's not
just a term.
People have these catchphrases,these taglines all the time,
but you meant, you mean what yousaid.
It's just not a performance.
This is all personal for youand it's just not limited to
your role as jeremiah.
(42:50):
It's limited to any type ofrole that comes across your
radar.
If it's not something thatyou've lived, then you just
won't accept it.
I'm glad to hear that, becauseyou know money is the driving
force for a lot of people.
What's your driving force?
Speaker 2 (43:11):
well, my driving force is this I'm not attached
to money because I know how tomake money I can.
I'm into real estate, I'm intothe market, right, I flip houses
, so I to make money I can.
I'm into real estate, I'm intothe market, right, I flip houses
so I make money.
One of the things that God hascalled me to do is is to preach
the gospel.
I am, I'm telling you this is,this is my calling, acting as a
(43:35):
job.
But the bigger purpose is asyou grow, you draw people to you
.
Now, what are you going to givethem?
I want to give them the kingdom.
That's what I want to give them.
I want to give them the goodnews.
That's what I want to give them, right.
So a man who desires to be richfollows the diver's lesson
(43:57):
temptation.
When you desire to be rich isthe diver's lesson temptation.
When you desire to be rich.
Hollywood will make you rich.
Speaker 1 (44:04):
It's gonna come with a cost yes, yes, and sometimes,
often, that cost is people'ssoul.
So you know, I'm glad that youare living a purpose-driven life
, because I know for myself too,whenever I have conversations
with individuals, my purpose is.
I want us both to walk awaywith food for thought.
(44:26):
I want us to both walk awaybetter than we first entered
into the conversation.
I want you to walk awaythinking, thinking about how you
and yourself can be better.
I just don't enter intoconversations for just any
reason at all.
So what do you hope thataudiences take away once they
(44:47):
watch you as Jeremiah on TylerPerry's hit show Zatima?
What do you want them to takeaway?
Speaker 2 (44:55):
One of the things I want audience to take away is
how to respect someone,irregardless to where they are
in life.
There's always redemption.
My personal life is a testamentto that and I'm sure at some
point, jeremiah, his life, willbe a testament to that as well,
because I don't think he's goingto remain an addict, right.
(45:18):
Secondly, I want people to takeaway that.
You know you get people alwaystalking about tyler perry actors
tyler perry this and tylerperry that right.
I want them to know that thisshow that I'm on, that tyler
perry, has some serious actorson the show.
They take the crap very serious.
Uh, there's, it's a stellarcast.
(45:40):
And personally, I want thempeople to know that Amir Baraka
is here.
I'm here now.
I'm here.
I was the one that was in thewilderness and I'm here.
Wow, I'm here and I can workwith the best of them.
I can work with the best ofthem and I can work with the
best of them.
Speaker 1 (46:00):
I can work with the best of them.
So working with the best ofthem.
What's next for Amir Baraka?
What's next for you?
Career-wise, action-wise.
Speaker 2 (46:14):
I have a show that's coming out this year with Taja
from Taja, she's from the Oval.
It's a new show, it's a spinoffshow.
I was on a show titled HouseDivided.
I was on there for two seasons.
Then they didn't.
They picked me up on thespinoff and I play a character
named Brother James who's areligious assassin.
He's a killer.
(46:35):
And he kills people forrighteousness, and so it's a
good show show.
Taja does her thing first timebeing a lead on the show and she
does her thing.
Now I got that coming out.
We did eight episodes, but allblack nice.
So I'm not going to show youabout for a couple of shows, a
couple other shows did someauditions for those and looking
(47:00):
to hear back from that, but uh,I think I got it, I think I got
it.
I think I got it, I think I gotit you got it, my brother.
Speaker 1 (47:10):
We just want to speak it into the universe.
It has already been written,it's just there.
It's just there waiting for you.
What is your, what is yourdream role, though?
Speaker 2 (47:24):
My dream role.
My dream role is I woulddefinitely like to be like a
superhero.
Okay, I would love to dosomething like that.
You know, I would love to dosomething like that, to be a
superhero.
You know, and I wanna work withthe young lady Ebony from
Sisters.
She was just in Sixth Grade.
Speaker 1 (47:44):
Oh, yes, oh my gosh, the way that she bodied that
role.
Let me tell you Tyler Perry andthis is the first time I've
heard people call him TP, youknow that's how you know that
you're really close and personalto him but he has created such
a lane for his cast on Sistersand on Zatima and just to see
(48:05):
you as actors once again justobtaining these magnificent
roles.
He has really opened up so manydoors to allow people like me
to get to know people like you.
I was so impressed by yourstory.
For me it wasn't about thecharacter of jeremiah.
I wanted to really get to knowyou, the many layers of you.
(48:25):
So I learned a lot about you.
I just learned that you wouldtake a role as a superhero, so
that role will be waiting foryou, um, very, very soon for you
to grab um.
So I do have one final question.
This has been a question thatI've been thinking about since
Zatima came on air.
Why is the show called Zatima,but you all call her Fatima?
(48:49):
Why?
Speaker 2 (48:55):
I think it was Fatima .
I think her name is Fatima.
Zach name is zach, right, sothey put those two together some
kind of way oh yeah, that's areal simple answer.
Speaker 1 (49:15):
I get it.
I was like, well, maybe heoriginally named uh's character
Fatima, but they kept callingher Fatima.
Now I get it, it's Zach andFatima.
I want to say something.
Speaker 2 (49:28):
I want to correct you on something.
I want to correct you onsomething.
You said that I call Tyler TP,right?
Speaker 1 (49:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (49:37):
Tyler is from New Orleans, grew up about five
blocks away from me, right?
Oh.
Tyler is from New Orleans, grewup about five blocks away from
me, right oh, I am not friendswith Tyler.
Tyler and I are not close.
I just work for him.
You know Tyler's a dude, thathe's on another stratosphere,
right, and every time I see him,every quarter, I'll see him.
Atp man, thank you for theopportunity.
Okay, you need anything.
(49:58):
No, I man, thank you for theopportunity.
Okay, I mean, you need anything?
No, I'm good.
Okay, boom.
And so we never really developa relationship.
But I respect that brother.
That brother's from my hometown.
He's doing his thing and maybewe'll never develop a
relationship where we'reintimate like that, but I value
(50:18):
and appreciate him giving me theopportunity to work and that's
enough for me.
Speaker 1 (50:22):
That is definitely enough for me man.
I hear that.
Well, you know we are at theend of this conversation.
Do you have any final wordsthat you would like to give to
one aspiring actors and two forany individual who's watching
this show who is currentlybattling addiction?
Speaker 2 (50:45):
Okay, cool, those are good.
So one thing I want to say isthis I have a book out new book
out titled Undiagnosed the UglySide of Dyslexia on Amazon.
It's a great read.
It lays out my life dealingwith dyslexia as a kid up until
an adult.
For those who are flirting withthe idea that you want to be an
(51:09):
actor or an actress, I wouldsay this is that.
Make sure this is somethingthat you want to do.
This is a very tough business.
It's not like you can go toYale and then come out and get a
job, like if you had gone to bean attorney or an engineer or a
dentist.
Right, it's not based on that.
(51:31):
This is not based on that.
Right, it's not.
It's based on a lot of nepotismand, god's favor, right, it's a
very tough business.
I will not tell my child to getin this business no kind of way,
unless they just knew that theywere born to do this and they
(51:53):
had a greater purpose, right?
So my purpose is, my desire isto act for a purpose.
My desire is to act for apurpose.
See, I'm acting for a biggerpurpose than myself.
So that keeps me driven,because I know if I stop acting.
Thousands of kids will neverhear my story.
I can't encourage people inprison, right?
(52:14):
I can't right, because peoplewant to see successful people.
We all want to see successfulpeople.
We all want to see successfulpeople.
Nobody wants someone that's notsuccessful, talking to them
Right.
And so that's why I keep actingand that's why I keep going
into the prisons.
(52:39):
A person who's dealing withsubstance abuse Listen, sister,
brother, look at me.
I was a person that knows thesickness, the feeling of being
on drugs.
I understand that no one iscoming to help you no one.
No one is coming to help you.
But Christ came that we mighthave life and have it more
abundantly.
He came to defeat drugaddictions, pornography,
(53:03):
masturbation, porn.
He came to defeat all sin.
He came to defeat it.
Your weaknesses.
He came to take your weaknessand give you his strength.
That is where the help is at.
That's where your joy will comefrom.
That's where your peace willcome from.
That's where your peace willcome from.
That's where your victory willcome from, knowing what he did
(53:24):
for you.
He called you into his kingdomto live royally.
He called you to live in aplace of victory, not a place of
defeat.
But you choose to live in thatplace.
You choose to live there.
So I beg you, man, I beg you,sister, I beg you repent.
(53:47):
I beg you to give your life toChrist.
I beg you to look into the richtreasures of the Lord and see
all the wealth that's there thejoy, the peace, the prosperity,
the healing, the forgiveness.
Everything that you need is inhim.
I beg you, man, don't delay.
Don't delay.
(54:08):
You were not created to livebelow your privileges as a human
being.
You were created to go out anddominate and rule.
Speaker 1 (54:21):
So, with that being, said man.
Speaker 2 (54:23):
I ask you, Father God , to strengthen those, Father
God, who will watch this HolySpirit impact their spirit.
Draw them to the cross thatthey might receive life in
Jesus' name, amen.
Speaker 1 (54:36):
Amen.
Let me tell you how this was sopurposeful, because I asked you
a question to give advice, andafter that I was going to ask
you to end it with a prayer, butthat happened automatically.
Because this is what happenswhen you invite God into the
space he just takes over and heleads, and we are just obedient
servants.
I thank you so much for yourstory.
(54:57):
I thank you so much for yourtime.
I thank you so much for whatyou are about to do.
I thank you so much for whatyou are about to do.
I thank you so much for beingobedient.
I thank you so much for beingyou wonderfully made.
Continue blessings, my brother,because this is just the
beginning.
It has already been written.
(55:18):
Thank you once again forblessing this platform.
I really appreciate you, thankyou.
Speaker 2 (55:23):
Minitans, for having me.
I do value that.
I really appreciate you.
Thank you, Minitans, for havingme.
I do value that.
Speaker 1 (55:27):
I do value that, no problem.
Well, I'm going to end thisconversation and I'm going to
continue with the show, butcontinue blessing Amir.
Thank you so so much.
Take care.
So there you have it, amirBaraka, who stars as Jeremiah on
Tyler Perry's hit series Zatimaon BETP.
(55:49):
Let me tell you something.
I really did have that questionfor so many years.
At the onset of Zatima, I waslike why is the show called
Zatima, but they're calling herFatima, did not realize had a
blonde moment for years thatthey were combining the two main
characters named Zach andFatima.
(56:11):
Hence you get Zatima Duh.
So if you had the sameconundrum, the same question,
the same like what is thisconfusion?
Leave a comment.
Leave a comment.
Let me know that I'm not alone,but wasn't that an amazing
conversation?
Wasn't it such a purposefulconversation?
Wasn't it a testimony?
(56:33):
I'm so inspired by people whohave gone through something
honestly, because when theybattle through storms and
they've acquired the successstory and the strength, I want
to hear about it.
I want to hear about how youmade it over.
(56:54):
How you made it over, becausemaybe your story is something
that can resonate with me, or Ican remember your story in case
I need to share it with someoneelse.
So to know that, going throughschool and with a learning
disability and no one said athing.
Like I said, I've been ineducation for over 25 years and
(57:16):
that's a true thing and onething that I'm going to say for
any parent that's listening inwho has a small child in either
elementary school, junior highschool or high school stay on
top of your child's education.
You give educators so much freerange.
(57:36):
It's because they got a littledegree, so you think they know
everything, and then you take abackseat to your child's
education, letting peopledictate how your child will be
educated.
So this man, amir, went throughhis entire life.
It wasn't until he wasincarcerated in his 20s that he
(57:56):
learned that he had dyslexia.
So oftentimes I rememberremember growing up in the 80s
we always saw the bad kids, thebad kids in school.
We already knew that they had alot of learning disabilities
because they were in rooms thatwere all the way in the back, or
there were kids in our classesand the general education
(58:20):
classes and we saw them actingout and no one said a thing.
They just failed the kid, leftthem behind, or either failed
the kid and just pass them alongto the next grade.
Because guess what's importantin education?
The data.
That's all it's about.
Even if the data was tainted,misconstrued, lied, falsified,
(58:42):
it's all about the data.
So please stay on top of theeducation system.
One thing I do realize as aneducator who is also a
journalist it's an ism.
It's an ism.
Any type of institutioneducation, healthcare, politics
(59:08):
in my opinion, it is bombardedwith a whole bunch of isms, and
the ism that I'm referring to isracism.
So when we look at schools andeducators and marginalized
communities, those are thepeople you need to be watching.
Trust me on this one.
Sonia's not going to lie to youbecause I've been in the system
(59:31):
for over 25 years.
You better watch them.
So Amir Baraka stars as Jermaion Tyler Perry's hit show Zatila
on BET, going through schoolbattling what he didn't know was
(59:51):
dyslexia.
At the age of 13, and alsogrowing up in a household where
his mother often called himderogatory names, english N-word
MF.
13 years old, starts usingcocaine, and by then I think
(01:00:13):
that he was also selling it bythe age of 14.
In just one year, heroin.
He's not only selling ithimself, he's selling it with
his father and they're both alsousing the drug.
He gets incarcerated for drugpossession and murder, beat the
(01:00:36):
murder charge by the grace ofGod and only had to deal with a
possession charge.
But while he's incarceratedhe's still in battle and
addiction.
He is still remembering God'spurpose over his life and in
prison he's acting for theinmates.
Now let me tell you something.
(01:00:58):
What we know about environmentswhere not everyone has it up
here, environments where noteveryone has it up here.
I can only envision him actingin some sort of prison system
and being made fun of becausenot everybody gets it.
Not everybody gets it whenyou're trying to do something
right, when you're in a placefor people who've done nothing
(01:01:20):
but wrong, but not all of themknow wrong, but not all of them
are Acting.
For years, emmy nominated andthen, lo and behold, one day he
gets access to a script and helooked at it and he said this is
my life.
So it once again speaks about.
Sometimes we don't just have tochase things, but we have to be
(01:01:44):
fully present in our moment sothat when the blessing comes, we
are aware of the blessing andit doesn't look like it's
disguised by anything and we cansay this is for me.
So Amir said that the writingwas just so exceptional that
there wasn't really much he hadto do to the role except act.
(01:02:07):
That's how you know thatsomething is for you.
You don't have to add extrasazon, adobo, black pepper,
garlic.
You ain't got to do all thosethings.
You just step into it and yougo to work.
So this is what I'm going toencourage all of you to do, no
matter what your currentcircumstance is.
(01:02:29):
Prayer is powerful, but withoutthe work it is pointless.
I want you to be fully presentin your moment so that, when the
blessing comes, you are able tostep confidently into the space
and do the work.
Amir Baraka is a testimony ofGod's awesomeness.
(01:02:50):
It is a testimony of doing thework.
So do the work, child, and makesure you subscribe, like, share
and leave a comment.
If you're watching this onYouTube, not only like,
subscribe, share and leave acomment, but make sure you hit
the notification bell.
That way, every time I uploadan all new Sonia On Air
(01:03:14):
celebrity interview, you'll bethe first ones to know.
Make sure you also visit Eden'sT-shirts and More LLC so that
you can get customized T-shirts,charcuterie boards, passports
just about any type of accessory, just about any type of item,
eden's more and t-shirts cancustomize just about anything.
(01:03:36):
So make sure you go to thedescription section of this
episode and get your shop on andthrow it in the bag.
And make sure you stay tuned into Zatima each and every single
week so that we can see howJeremiah develops.
The character of Jeremiahdevelops Because if you are
(01:03:59):
tuned in every single week, whosaw the recent episode, did you
realize?
Or if it was just me?
So, when jeremiah showed up tohis mother's funeral, who
remembers gator samuel ljackson's character in jungle
fever?
I believe jeremiah was actinglike gator samuel jackson's
(01:04:20):
character in Jumble Feet.
Amazing job, amazing job.
So this has been anotheramazing edition of Signing On
Air with my special guest actor,amir Baraka.
Make sure you stay tuned in toSatina and Signing On Air.
I love you much.
(01:04:41):
Y'all, muchis, take care.
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