January 27, 2022 • 25 mins
The "Willie Lynch" letter purports to be an account of a speech given by a slave owner, in which he tells other slave masters that he has discovered the "secret" to controlling black slaves--setting them against one another. Join Tony and Toni as they sit down with filmmaker, Ron Elliott Jr to discuss his latest project Die Willie Die.
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Episode Transcript
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Ron (00:00):
So Die Willy Die is a film a documentary, and is geared
(00:05):
towards healing the black familyfrom multi generational trauma.
So it takes a journey. It ispretty much my journey of
examining myself and wanting tofix the things that I see in me
with my children so that theycan provide a better platform
for their children and wecontinuously improve the lives
(00:26):
that used to erase itthereafter.
Tony (00:29):
Welcome to season six of Black Family Table Talk. We are
your host, Tony and Toni.
Listening weekly as we shareunique stories that inspire,
build and give voice tostrengthen black families.
Toni X (00:43):
This season is sponsored by Frans Body Care. These are
handmade products made fromorganic ingredients. I
personally recommend you tryFree Me deodorant, it really
works! And it's free ofaluminum, taupe perfumes and
other harmful core cloggingsubstances. You can shop these
and other black businesses onour website at Black
(01:06):
FamilyTableTalk.com. Okay,welcome to the Black Family
Table Talk. We got Ron Elliot,Jr. in the house today. Such a
pleasure! I'm so excited aboutthis interview and the work that
(01:27):
you're doing. Tell us about theproject. My pleasure. Tell us
about this project Die WillieDie.
Ron (01:37):
So die Willie die is a film a documentary is geared towards
healing the black family frommulti generational trauma. So it
takes a journey. It is prettymuch my journey of examining
myself and wanting to fix thethings that I see in me, with my
(01:58):
children so that they canprovide a better platform for
their children. And wecontinuously improve the lives
of each generation thereafter.
Toni Henson (02:06):
Where did it stem from? Where did you get the
inclination to do it.
Ron (02:11):
So the Die Willie Die when I got the inclination to do this
film, it kind of goes way backinto my life. When I was young,
high school age, my parents,they visited the great blacks
and wax museum, and they boughtthis t shirt back for me. And
instead now we lynch ourselves.
And at the time, you know, Igrew up during an era where the
(02:35):
drug, it was the drill era. Alot of my friends and family
were drug dealers. As a youngperson looking to do something
different, or hoping to dosomething different, I realized
that a lot of the problems wewere having, we had a choice,
and we were putting those thingson ourselves. I fast forward, I
(03:00):
got to college. In college youget more awake, I guess. I went
to a predominantly whitecollege, I went to Michigan
State University. And atMichigan State University, I was
one of the founding members ofthe Black Poets Society. And so
in that space we created theBlack Poet Society because we
(03:23):
felt like we didn't have anyoutlets as African Americans on
campus to do arts and thingslike that. So that opened me up
to study more things. And I cameacross a song called
Redefinition by Mos Def & TalibKweli, also known as Blackstar.
And in the song, Talib Kweli hasa line where he says, I'll make
(03:46):
a slave by Willie Lynch andstill apply it. So when I heard
that everyone around me back tohigh school, remember it now we
Lynch ourselves, Willie Lynch,the two things came together for
me. And I did some researchstarted reading the book. Now at
the time I read the book, Ithought this was real. Like I
thought Willie Lynch was anactual person. So I'm like, wow,
(04:06):
like, this is a scientificallyengineered way to stop black
people from prospering.
It touched my heart then. But Ididn't know what to do with it.
So I had this personal mission,from that day forward, that I'm
going to figure out a way to fixthis situation. The irony of it
(04:28):
is you fast forward, I'm afather now, I have a daughter,
and I'm really watching, what Isay, what I do, how I do it. Me
and my wife having these type ofconversations because like, Yo,
the kids, they're going to dowhat they see you do. And I got
the light bulb, Aha, there, thatyou change. You can't change
(04:48):
adults, but you could changechildren. So how do you change
children? You changed yourself,right? Because they're gonna
watch more than they listen. Soonce I had my first daughter and
realized that that was the powerof change. That kind of fuel the
flame, so to say, to get to thispoint. The movie itself, at that
(05:10):
time I had no idea I was gonnamake a movie or was intent on
making a movie or anything likethat. What actually drove me to
doing the movie is Coronavirus.
COVID-19. The world shut down.
At the beginning of it, I gotreally sick, I had the thing I
thought I was dying. And mybusiness, I had a lot of stuff
(05:32):
lined up for business.
Everything just went away. I wassitting at home and I was like,
Okay, I gotta do something withmy time because I can't do real
estate right now. There'snothing for me to do and I felt
charged. Like I had to dosomething, I said a prayer that
night, I thought I was dying. Afriend of mine passed away. I
(05:52):
don't know if it's because ofanxiety or whatever, but I felt
like I couldn't breathe, I washaving these attacks. And I just
pray God, if I wake up tomorrow,I won't take another minute for
granted. I just started tryingto find a way, a new way, a new
thing that I could be doing waspurpose driven. So I set out
(06:13):
initially to write a book. Butas I'm sitting watching Netflix
with everybody else, I realizednobody's reading books, maybe I
should make a movie, and thatwas the idea to make the film
Die Willie Die. That's how wegot there. That's how we got to
the movie.
Tony (06:34):
Let me let me ask you a question, Ron, about your
process of putting the movietogether. You mentioned
something about how to preventthe Willie Lynch syndrome from
happening. We all know as WillieLynch was not real, but what
what are some of the things thatyou targeted within yourself
(06:56):
that you thought you needed tochange? Because to help us
understand what we have toidentify that we need to change.
So what was some of the thingsthat you identify within
yourself, that you change courseon, and dealing with your
children.
Ron (07:16):
So my, my primary driver, or there were two primary
drivers that affected my processof change, and in terms as it
relates to the Willie Lynchsituation. So the first was, if
anybody has not familiar withthe Willie Lynch letter, one of
the first tenets of programmingAfrican Americans for failure is
(07:40):
to remove the black man fromhousehold. I grew up, my father,
unfortunately, was a victim ofnarcotics in the 80s. And so we
had a very choppy and diceyrelationship, on and off,
sometimes I've seen him,sometimes I don't. So the first
thing that I wanted to make sureI did it myself was to be
(08:02):
present. Because as a kid, Ihave periods of time where I
don't recall my father. When Iwas with my father it was great
times but when he was goingthrough his things, I didn't see
my father. So the first thing Iwanted to make sure I did in
myself was, no matter how hardmarriage was, or things that we
were going through, was to stickit out, and to be present. The
(08:28):
second thing that prompted mepersonally, and I want to make
sure that I instill in mychildren was something from my
mother. My mother, most motherswant to want to keep her
children safe. I was alwaysentrepreneurial, all my life,
(08:49):
I've been this way. But I grewup in an environment different
than today's environment where Iwasn't encouraged. It was always
go to school, get a job, thatwas the safe thing to do. When I
went to college, I didn't wantto go to college, but I went to
college because I didn't want todissapoint my mother. And so
with my children, what I didn'twant to do was impose my beliefs
(09:14):
on what they should do withtheir lives on them. So I took a
different approach with mychildren.
I watched my children for theirgifts, and their talents. And
then I encouraged them to trythem. And I let how that process
flows so they take hold tosomething after I encourage them
to try it then I lean into thema little more to take it more
(09:37):
serious, but I don't tell themyou have to do this. I grew up,
I'm the first generation collegestudent, like myself and a
couple of my cousins were likethe first people in our family
to go to college. So that was abig thing to my parents. For me,
it is a big thing and mychildren fulfill their purpose.
So those are two primary thingsthat I can identify by myself.
(10:02):
Other people in the movie havedifferent things but for me it
was the parenting, how I wasraised and not want to make
those same mistakes.
Tony (10:12):
Excellent point.
Toni Henson (10:14):
Wow, you brought up a great point and is college
necessary. I think we need to doa separate podcast on that. I
truly believe that it is, Ithink that's where you make your
mistakes and you can grow butdefinitely purpose. Being
(10:34):
purpose driven, is what you saidthat I'd like to underscore that
when we raise our children, inorder for us to all be free, we
have to start out with mentalfreedom and a freeing of the
mind. So I agree with youwholeheartedly when it comes to
helping children and encouragingthem to identify what their
(10:55):
purpose is, what their gifts andnatural gifts and talents are.
And you also said something thatbrought to mind this phrase
"more is caught than taught".
When you say that the changebegins with me, that is such a
powerful statement. Because Iremember and I'll share a short
(11:16):
story, I always say, It's a longway up from the N word. And so
we have to be kind with eachother, we have to be gentle with
each other. And people like youare the ones that are
contributing to elevating theculture, elevating the
(11:37):
generations to the next level upfrom the N word. It reminds me
of when I was growing up and Iremember we had my son, and my
son was born out of love. He waswanted, we waited on purpose to
have him and we didn't have aproblem getting pregnant. He was
(12:00):
wanted. And I remember takingthem over to my dad's house and
just loving on them and my dadwas loving on him. Of course
first great grandson and I waslike, Oh, we're gonna get ready,
we're gonna go have some dinner.
And my father said, Well, Iain't babysitting. I stopped, my
(12:21):
baby was in my arms and heprobably wasn't even a month
old. I said to my father, Isaid, Stop. Nobody asked you to
babysit. My child is wanted.
Don't ever want you to say that,again. I don't ever want you to
use words in his presence, thatmake him feel like he's not
(12:41):
wanted. And I think about whatwe say when you all that stuff
you were talking about in thebeginning, what we say lands
into their spirit. And so movingaway from intentional and so
overused words today, butintentional parenting. That's my
(13:03):
comment. Question is, I saw thepromo for this film, it is very
well done. Did you go to filmschool where did your training
come from?
Ron (13:17):
So fortunately for me, I have a very strong network. I
made some mistakes. I've beendoing business long enough to
make some mistakes. Rather thantry to do this myself, I
employed people that I knew wereprofessional. I'm fortunate to
(13:38):
have a few friends that are EmmyAward winners. And so I hired an
Emmy Award winning filmmakerproducer by the name of
Timashion Jones and also hired aGrammy nominated composer by the
name of Valdez Brantley and ahost of other professional
(14:00):
people who do exceptional jobsat what they do. I just trusted
the people that knew what theywere doing and they and I bought
my vision. I did what I didbest, they do what they do best.
Toni Henson (14:12):
I applaud you for that.
Tony (14:15):
What can we expect now the project is complete? How are you
going to get it out there? Whatmessage you want to send? How do
we share this? Because it ismuch needed, much needed to
psychologically shift ourthinking, how we move forward
and how we navigate this worldand to take away those shackles
(14:37):
on our mind from colonialism andslavery and things that just
passed down from generations. Wedon't know how to get out of
that so it is an overused word,but intentional is something
that we have to do to take thoseshackles off.
Ron (14:56):
Indeed. At the time of this interview, we are not dealing
with the film, but we're almostdone. I'm in the studio right
now waiting for my engineer tofinish mixing some music for the
movie. But we're very close.
Hopefully, by Monday, we'll bedone. But the plan right now is
we have a digital screening.
(15:19):
This is like a Black HistoryMonth special type of screening.
That'll be online, February 5th,where people can watch the movie
for that day. And we'll probablyhave some type of discussion
just online. We have requestscoming in now from the website
to do in person screenings indifferent places. So we'll we'll
(15:42):
be lining up a lot of liveevents where we actually come
out, show them to show the film.
We may attach a concert to it,some music, make it an event for
people to come out and justreally built with each other.
And in terms of getting the wordout, sending people to
DieWilliefilm.com. That's wherepeople can learn more about the
film, they can see the trailers,they can see who's in the movie,
(16:04):
they'll give some some moreinsight as to why the movie is
important. Because it doesaddress, when people ask, Why
Die Willie Die? Why do you callthis Die Willie Die? That's
first thing I get. The thingwas, one, part of it just kind
of popped in my head while I wasin the shower. And it was like,
(16:27):
What do I call this? Die WillieDie. What are you trying to do?
Chill the goes to Willie Lynch.
What does that mean? Well, thatmeans that we break the slave
mindset that we pass down. Okay,that makes sense. We could run
with that. So the film initself, to do your things that
(16:49):
you spoke of breaking thecolonialism, and all of those
things. The film does do that.
But primarily, the film is aseed. This is a actually the
first film in a series of three.
And so this first one is moreabout mindset and awakening your
mind. The second one is moreabout putting together a plan. A
(17:09):
plan for the community withactionable items in which people
will be able to see that journeyand what that looks like. And
then the final film will be afilm that's documenting the
fruits of the labor from thefirst two movies. So this is for
me a lifetime project. It'ssomething that we'll be
(17:30):
committed to until, until it'sdone. Till the mission is
complete. So the goal is watchthe movie, tell your kids what
you learned about yourself, andmake some changes in yourself
and then let them follow thosechanges. That's the primary
goal.
Toni Henson (17:45):
Amazing, incredible. Thank you.
Congratulations. I can't tellyou how delighted I am and
excited I am about this project,I am going to lend my my
platform. I'm the executiveproducing director of the
Atlanta Black Theatre Festivaland that's another hat that I
wear in addition to thispodcast, I don't know if you
(18:07):
knew that. But we would love, wewould love to host a screening
either virtually or live duringthe festival this year. We would
absolutely love to get on yourcalendar. Because there's so
many unsong heroes and sheroesout here doing things to better
(18:30):
our community and we don't makethe news. It doesn't make the
six o'clock news. That's why westarted Black Family Table Talk
so that we could celebratepeople like you. So this is
right on point for our mission.
And what we do, we must tell ourstories. And I just absolutely
love that. You include the good,bad, and the ugly, what we need
to grow, what we need to do tobe better, but at the same time
(18:55):
celebrating those who are doingthe work and are there with
their families and shaping theminds of the next generation and
I'm telling you, we can't bestopped. With people like you,
we can not be stopped.
Ron (19:13):
People like me don't exist without people like you. I
appreciate people that haveplatforms that open a door to
share these messages becauseyou're right, it's very
difficult to cover because somepeople are going to find a fence
in intelligent conversation. Ifyou can't accept it as just
(19:37):
intelligent conversation. We'vegotten to a place in the world
we can't disagree. And if wedisagree, we got to fight or I
mean it's okay to disagree.
Everybody doesn't live the samelife. Everybody doesn't have the
same views. Everybody doesn'tshare the same experiences. And
one thing I would like for us asa people, people of African
(19:58):
descent is to understand that welive on multiple levels. There
are I mean, in every blackperson I know, has a cousin,
that's ignorant. Every personperson I know, has a cousin or
brother that's uppity. Andeverybody got a cousin or
brother or sister, they don'tcare, they're just there. But we
(20:20):
have to learn to embrace all ofthem. You can't separate the the
people that live in a certaincondition from the people that
live. We got to startrecognizing ourselves. Because
at the end of the day, when thepolice pulled us over, when
we're getting beat up or when wegetting denied credit for
(20:41):
housing and all that, they'renot looking at you and saying,
Oh, you're this type of blackperson or you're that type.
You're black, you're in America,and you're going to get
discriminated against the sameexact way. It's a song dating
back to most depth. And I'm notgonna say the name of the song,
(21:02):
because we have established thatwe're not using that word on the
podcast, but Mr. N, in the songhe talks about no matter how
famous and successful he is, andno matter how well he does,
society still treats him like Nword. We as black people we got
(21:23):
to learn to break the divisions,we can learn to be okay. You can
be Muslim, I could be Christian,you can be whatever else you
want to be and I can be whateverelse I want to be but we still
love each other. We don't haveto agree, we love each other.
That's what I think we need tohear.
Tony (21:44):
Absolutely. Absolutely.
Everybody has a role and a laneto ride in, and a purpose in
life. And among us, people ofAfrican descent, Africans in the
diaspora, we have to just loveon each other regardless. In the
divisions, we put people downfor whatever reason, and we have
(22:08):
to get away from that, andrecognize that we are one
people. We all have a role and apurpose in life but we can love
on each other and tell ourstory. That will take us a long
way.
Toni Henson (22:28):
Amen
Ron (22:29):
That's the answer. We say love is our superpower.
Toni Henson (22:35):
Well, I am so happy that you joined us. We're going
to end the podcast here. But I'mgoing to include the audio of
your film promo. Again, thankyou for being a part of the
podcast today and God bless youand your work. We'll be in touch
to to get that screening donevirtually sometime this year.
(22:58):
Virtually or, or live.
Definitely.
Ron (23:01):
I definitely will be coming to Atlanta. So that'll be work.
*playing Trailer 1 of Die WillieDie* "Every person in the world
has a problem to solve. Myproblem to solve was to give the
next generation a betteropportunity than I had.
(23:37):
doing..,"
Tony (24:07):
That concludes this week's talk. We hope you found some
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offers reserved exclusively foryou.
Toni X (24:25):
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Under Section 107 of theCopyright Act 1976. allowance is
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reporting, teaching, scholarshipand research. fair use is a use
(24:48):
permitted by a copyright statutethat may otherwise be
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family tabletop do notnecessarily reflect various
platform hosts. All topics arefor entertainment purposes only
discretion to strongly adviseand all commentary is alleged
This is a Micah six eight mediaLLC production.
So Die Willy Die is a film a documentary, and is geared
(00:05):
towards healing the black familyfrom multi generational trauma.
So it takes a journey. It ispretty much my journey of
examining myself and wanting tofix the things that I see in me
with my children so that theycan provide a better platform
for their children and wecontinuously improve the lives
(00:26):
that used to erase itthereafter.
Tony (00:29):
Welcome to season six of Black Family Table Talk. We are
your host, Tony and Toni.
Listening weekly as we shareunique stories that inspire,
build and give voice tostrengthen black families.
Toni X (00:43):
This season is sponsored by Frans Body Care. These are
handmade products made fromorganic ingredients. I
personally recommend you tryFree Me deodorant, it really
works! And it's free ofaluminum, taupe perfumes and
other harmful core cloggingsubstances. You can shop these
and other black businesses onour website at Black
(01:06):
FamilyTableTalk.com. Okay,welcome to the Black Family
Table Talk. We got Ron Elliot,Jr. in the house today. Such a
pleasure! I'm so excited aboutthis interview and the work that
(01:27):
you're doing. Tell us about theproject. My pleasure. Tell us
about this project Die WillieDie.
Ron (01:37):
So die Willie die is a film a documentary is geared towards
healing the black family frommulti generational trauma. So it
takes a journey. It is prettymuch my journey of examining
myself and wanting to fix thethings that I see in me, with my
(01:58):
children so that they canprovide a better platform for
their children. And wecontinuously improve the lives
of each generation thereafter.
Toni Henson (02:06):
Where did it stem from? Where did you get the
inclination to do it.
Ron (02:11):
So the Die Willie Die when I got the inclination to do this
film, it kind of goes way backinto my life. When I was young,
high school age, my parents,they visited the great blacks
and wax museum, and they boughtthis t shirt back for me. And
instead now we lynch ourselves.
And at the time, you know, Igrew up during an era where the
(02:35):
drug, it was the drill era. Alot of my friends and family
were drug dealers. As a youngperson looking to do something
different, or hoping to dosomething different, I realized
that a lot of the problems wewere having, we had a choice,
and we were putting those thingson ourselves. I fast forward, I
(03:00):
got to college. In college youget more awake, I guess. I went
to a predominantly whitecollege, I went to Michigan
State University. And atMichigan State University, I was
one of the founding members ofthe Black Poets Society. And so
in that space we created theBlack Poet Society because we
(03:23):
felt like we didn't have anyoutlets as African Americans on
campus to do arts and thingslike that. So that opened me up
to study more things. And I cameacross a song called
Redefinition by Mos Def & TalibKweli, also known as Blackstar.
And in the song, Talib Kweli hasa line where he says, I'll make
(03:46):
a slave by Willie Lynch andstill apply it. So when I heard
that everyone around me back tohigh school, remember it now we
Lynch ourselves, Willie Lynch,the two things came together for
me. And I did some researchstarted reading the book. Now at
the time I read the book, Ithought this was real. Like I
thought Willie Lynch was anactual person. So I'm like, wow,
(04:06):
like, this is a scientificallyengineered way to stop black
people from prospering.
It touched my heart then. But Ididn't know what to do with it.
So I had this personal mission,from that day forward, that I'm
going to figure out a way to fixthis situation. The irony of it
(04:28):
is you fast forward, I'm afather now, I have a daughter,
and I'm really watching, what Isay, what I do, how I do it. Me
and my wife having these type ofconversations because like, Yo,
the kids, they're going to dowhat they see you do. And I got
the light bulb, Aha, there, thatyou change. You can't change
(04:48):
adults, but you could changechildren. So how do you change
children? You changed yourself,right? Because they're gonna
watch more than they listen. Soonce I had my first daughter and
realized that that was the powerof change. That kind of fuel the
flame, so to say, to get to thispoint. The movie itself, at that
(05:10):
time I had no idea I was gonnamake a movie or was intent on
making a movie or anything likethat. What actually drove me to
doing the movie is Coronavirus.
COVID-19. The world shut down.
At the beginning of it, I gotreally sick, I had the thing I
thought I was dying. And mybusiness, I had a lot of stuff
(05:32):
lined up for business.
Everything just went away. I wassitting at home and I was like,
Okay, I gotta do something withmy time because I can't do real
estate right now. There'snothing for me to do and I felt
charged. Like I had to dosomething, I said a prayer that
night, I thought I was dying. Afriend of mine passed away. I
(05:52):
don't know if it's because ofanxiety or whatever, but I felt
like I couldn't breathe, I washaving these attacks. And I just
pray God, if I wake up tomorrow,I won't take another minute for
granted. I just started tryingto find a way, a new way, a new
thing that I could be doing waspurpose driven. So I set out
(06:13):
initially to write a book. Butas I'm sitting watching Netflix
with everybody else, I realizednobody's reading books, maybe I
should make a movie, and thatwas the idea to make the film
Die Willie Die. That's how wegot there. That's how we got to
the movie.
Tony (06:34):
Let me let me ask you a question, Ron, about your
process of putting the movietogether. You mentioned
something about how to preventthe Willie Lynch syndrome from
happening. We all know as WillieLynch was not real, but what
what are some of the things thatyou targeted within yourself
(06:56):
that you thought you needed tochange? Because to help us
understand what we have toidentify that we need to change.
So what was some of the thingsthat you identify within
yourself, that you change courseon, and dealing with your
children.
Ron (07:16):
So my, my primary driver, or there were two primary
drivers that affected my processof change, and in terms as it
relates to the Willie Lynchsituation. So the first was, if
anybody has not familiar withthe Willie Lynch letter, one of
the first tenets of programmingAfrican Americans for failure is
(07:40):
to remove the black man fromhousehold. I grew up, my father,
unfortunately, was a victim ofnarcotics in the 80s. And so we
had a very choppy and diceyrelationship, on and off,
sometimes I've seen him,sometimes I don't. So the first
thing that I wanted to make sureI did it myself was to be
(08:02):
present. Because as a kid, Ihave periods of time where I
don't recall my father. When Iwas with my father it was great
times but when he was goingthrough his things, I didn't see
my father. So the first thing Iwanted to make sure I did in
myself was, no matter how hardmarriage was, or things that we
were going through, was to stickit out, and to be present. The
(08:28):
second thing that prompted mepersonally, and I want to make
sure that I instill in mychildren was something from my
mother. My mother, most motherswant to want to keep her
children safe. I was alwaysentrepreneurial, all my life,
(08:49):
I've been this way. But I grewup in an environment different
than today's environment where Iwasn't encouraged. It was always
go to school, get a job, thatwas the safe thing to do. When I
went to college, I didn't wantto go to college, but I went to
college because I didn't want todissapoint my mother. And so
with my children, what I didn'twant to do was impose my beliefs
(09:14):
on what they should do withtheir lives on them. So I took a
different approach with mychildren.
I watched my children for theirgifts, and their talents. And
then I encouraged them to trythem. And I let how that process
flows so they take hold tosomething after I encourage them
to try it then I lean into thema little more to take it more
(09:37):
serious, but I don't tell themyou have to do this. I grew up,
I'm the first generation collegestudent, like myself and a
couple of my cousins were likethe first people in our family
to go to college. So that was abig thing to my parents. For me,
it is a big thing and mychildren fulfill their purpose.
So those are two primary thingsthat I can identify by myself.
(10:02):
Other people in the movie havedifferent things but for me it
was the parenting, how I wasraised and not want to make
those same mistakes.
Tony (10:12):
Excellent point.
Toni Henson (10:14):
Wow, you brought up a great point and is college
necessary. I think we need to doa separate podcast on that. I
truly believe that it is, Ithink that's where you make your
mistakes and you can grow butdefinitely purpose. Being
(10:34):
purpose driven, is what you saidthat I'd like to underscore that
when we raise our children, inorder for us to all be free, we
have to start out with mentalfreedom and a freeing of the
mind. So I agree with youwholeheartedly when it comes to
helping children and encouragingthem to identify what their
(10:55):
purpose is, what their gifts andnatural gifts and talents are.
And you also said something thatbrought to mind this phrase
"more is caught than taught".
When you say that the changebegins with me, that is such a
powerful statement. Because Iremember and I'll share a short
(11:16):
story, I always say, It's a longway up from the N word. And so
we have to be kind with eachother, we have to be gentle with
each other. And people like youare the ones that are
contributing to elevating theculture, elevating the
(11:37):
generations to the next level upfrom the N word. It reminds me
of when I was growing up and Iremember we had my son, and my
son was born out of love. He waswanted, we waited on purpose to
have him and we didn't have aproblem getting pregnant. He was
(12:00):
wanted. And I remember takingthem over to my dad's house and
just loving on them and my dadwas loving on him. Of course
first great grandson and I waslike, Oh, we're gonna get ready,
we're gonna go have some dinner.
And my father said, Well, Iain't babysitting. I stopped, my
(12:21):
baby was in my arms and heprobably wasn't even a month
old. I said to my father, Isaid, Stop. Nobody asked you to
babysit. My child is wanted.
Don't ever want you to say that,again. I don't ever want you to
use words in his presence, thatmake him feel like he's not
(12:41):
wanted. And I think about whatwe say when you all that stuff
you were talking about in thebeginning, what we say lands
into their spirit. And so movingaway from intentional and so
overused words today, butintentional parenting. That's my
(13:03):
comment. Question is, I saw thepromo for this film, it is very
well done. Did you go to filmschool where did your training
come from?
Ron (13:17):
So fortunately for me, I have a very strong network. I
made some mistakes. I've beendoing business long enough to
make some mistakes. Rather thantry to do this myself, I
employed people that I knew wereprofessional. I'm fortunate to
(13:38):
have a few friends that are EmmyAward winners. And so I hired an
Emmy Award winning filmmakerproducer by the name of
Timashion Jones and also hired aGrammy nominated composer by the
name of Valdez Brantley and ahost of other professional
(14:00):
people who do exceptional jobsat what they do. I just trusted
the people that knew what theywere doing and they and I bought
my vision. I did what I didbest, they do what they do best.
Toni Henson (14:12):
I applaud you for that.
Tony (14:15):
What can we expect now the project is complete? How are you
going to get it out there? Whatmessage you want to send? How do
we share this? Because it ismuch needed, much needed to
psychologically shift ourthinking, how we move forward
and how we navigate this worldand to take away those shackles
(14:37):
on our mind from colonialism andslavery and things that just
passed down from generations. Wedon't know how to get out of
that so it is an overused word,but intentional is something
that we have to do to take thoseshackles off.
Ron (14:56):
Indeed. At the time of this interview, we are not dealing
with the film, but we're almostdone. I'm in the studio right
now waiting for my engineer tofinish mixing some music for the
movie. But we're very close.
Hopefully, by Monday, we'll bedone. But the plan right now is
we have a digital screening.
(15:19):
This is like a Black HistoryMonth special type of screening.
That'll be online, February 5th,where people can watch the movie
for that day. And we'll probablyhave some type of discussion
just online. We have requestscoming in now from the website
to do in person screenings indifferent places. So we'll we'll
(15:42):
be lining up a lot of liveevents where we actually come
out, show them to show the film.
We may attach a concert to it,some music, make it an event for
people to come out and justreally built with each other.
And in terms of getting the wordout, sending people to
DieWilliefilm.com. That's wherepeople can learn more about the
film, they can see the trailers,they can see who's in the movie,
(16:04):
they'll give some some moreinsight as to why the movie is
important. Because it doesaddress, when people ask, Why
Die Willie Die? Why do you callthis Die Willie Die? That's
first thing I get. The thingwas, one, part of it just kind
of popped in my head while I wasin the shower. And it was like,
(16:27):
What do I call this? Die WillieDie. What are you trying to do?
Chill the goes to Willie Lynch.
What does that mean? Well, thatmeans that we break the slave
mindset that we pass down. Okay,that makes sense. We could run
with that. So the film initself, to do your things that
(16:49):
you spoke of breaking thecolonialism, and all of those
things. The film does do that.
But primarily, the film is aseed. This is a actually the
first film in a series of three.
And so this first one is moreabout mindset and awakening your
mind. The second one is moreabout putting together a plan. A
(17:09):
plan for the community withactionable items in which people
will be able to see that journeyand what that looks like. And
then the final film will be afilm that's documenting the
fruits of the labor from thefirst two movies. So this is for
me a lifetime project. It'ssomething that we'll be
(17:30):
committed to until, until it'sdone. Till the mission is
complete. So the goal is watchthe movie, tell your kids what
you learned about yourself, andmake some changes in yourself
and then let them follow thosechanges. That's the primary
goal.
Toni Henson (17:45):
Amazing, incredible. Thank you.
Congratulations. I can't tellyou how delighted I am and
excited I am about this project,I am going to lend my my
platform. I'm the executiveproducing director of the
Atlanta Black Theatre Festivaland that's another hat that I
wear in addition to thispodcast, I don't know if you
(18:07):
knew that. But we would love, wewould love to host a screening
either virtually or live duringthe festival this year. We would
absolutely love to get on yourcalendar. Because there's so
many unsong heroes and sheroesout here doing things to better
(18:30):
our community and we don't makethe news. It doesn't make the
six o'clock news. That's why westarted Black Family Table Talk
so that we could celebratepeople like you. So this is
right on point for our mission.
And what we do, we must tell ourstories. And I just absolutely
love that. You include the good,bad, and the ugly, what we need
to grow, what we need to do tobe better, but at the same time
(18:55):
celebrating those who are doingthe work and are there with
their families and shaping theminds of the next generation and
I'm telling you, we can't bestopped. With people like you,
we can not be stopped.
Ron (19:13):
People like me don't exist without people like you. I
appreciate people that haveplatforms that open a door to
share these messages becauseyou're right, it's very
difficult to cover because somepeople are going to find a fence
in intelligent conversation. Ifyou can't accept it as just
(19:37):
intelligent conversation. We'vegotten to a place in the world
we can't disagree. And if wedisagree, we got to fight or I
mean it's okay to disagree.
Everybody doesn't live the samelife. Everybody doesn't have the
same views. Everybody doesn'tshare the same experiences. And
one thing I would like for us asa people, people of African
(19:58):
descent is to understand that welive on multiple levels. There
are I mean, in every blackperson I know, has a cousin,
that's ignorant. Every personperson I know, has a cousin or
brother that's uppity. Andeverybody got a cousin or
brother or sister, they don'tcare, they're just there. But we
(20:20):
have to learn to embrace all ofthem. You can't separate the the
people that live in a certaincondition from the people that
live. We got to startrecognizing ourselves. Because
at the end of the day, when thepolice pulled us over, when
we're getting beat up or when wegetting denied credit for
(20:41):
housing and all that, they'renot looking at you and saying,
Oh, you're this type of blackperson or you're that type.
You're black, you're in America,and you're going to get
discriminated against the sameexact way. It's a song dating
back to most depth. And I'm notgonna say the name of the song,
(21:02):
because we have established thatwe're not using that word on the
podcast, but Mr. N, in the songhe talks about no matter how
famous and successful he is, andno matter how well he does,
society still treats him like Nword. We as black people we got
(21:23):
to learn to break the divisions,we can learn to be okay. You can
be Muslim, I could be Christian,you can be whatever else you
want to be and I can be whateverelse I want to be but we still
love each other. We don't haveto agree, we love each other.
That's what I think we need tohear.
Tony (21:44):
Absolutely. Absolutely.
Everybody has a role and a laneto ride in, and a purpose in
life. And among us, people ofAfrican descent, Africans in the
diaspora, we have to just loveon each other regardless. In the
divisions, we put people downfor whatever reason, and we have
(22:08):
to get away from that, andrecognize that we are one
people. We all have a role and apurpose in life but we can love
on each other and tell ourstory. That will take us a long
way.
Toni Henson (22:28):
Amen
Ron (22:29):
That's the answer. We say love is our superpower.
Toni Henson (22:35):
Well, I am so happy that you joined us. We're going
to end the podcast here. But I'mgoing to include the audio of
your film promo. Again, thankyou for being a part of the
podcast today and God bless youand your work. We'll be in touch
to to get that screening donevirtually sometime this year.
(22:58):
Virtually or, or live.
Definitely.
Ron (23:01):
I definitely will be coming to Atlanta. So that'll be work.
*playing Trailer 1 of Die WillieDie* "Every person in the world
has a problem to solve. Myproblem to solve was to give the
next generation a betteropportunity than I had.
(23:37):
doing..,"
Tony (24:07):
That concludes this week's talk. We hope you found some
tools to add to your strongblack family toolbox. And be
sure to sign up for a freesubscription at
BlackFamilyTableTalk.com forspecial discounts and product
offers reserved exclusively foryou.
Toni X (24:25):
Don't forget to tell a friend about our weekly podcast
and blog available on Apple podGoogle, Pandora, Spotify, and
everywhere podcasts are heared.
Under Section 107 of theCopyright Act 1976. allowance is
made for fair use for purposessuch as criticism, comment, news
reporting, teaching, scholarshipand research. fair use is a use
(24:48):
permitted by a copyright statutethat may otherwise be
infringing. The news andopinions expressed on black
family tabletop do notnecessarily reflect various
platform hosts. All topics arefor entertainment purposes only
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