June 16, 2020 • 21 mins
BLQ(blæk)Podcast is the first step in BlackLoveQueer's multilevel digital platform. Historically, Black Queer voices have been marginalized in both Black and Queer spaces. This is for us, designed and crafted by us, to amplify and protect our individual and collective voices. ©BLQPodcast is hosted by creative and community organizer A.J. Lucky. This episode Is all about protecting yourself during the current movement.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, black boy, black girl.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
How come when we walk into a room full of pink people?
It's tiring.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
Okay.
Black boy, black girl.
Don't you know, a black, black,spiritual Lackey don't feel good
to be black.
Sometimes I was black.
Queer black is where blacknessintersects with queerness.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Uh, so what is your show called black like BLS.
You can make B, L Q it's calledit's called black Slack.
Speaker 4 (00:48):
Hey, y'all and welcome to black podcasts where
blackness meets queerness andintersects with love.
I am so happy to finally sharethis with you all.
Um, I just want you guys to knowthat this is a brave space for
us.
This is the platform for us.
And before I dive into thisfirst episode, I really wanted
(01:10):
to talk, um, and just be superhonest about, um, a little bit
about the journey arriving tothis podcast.
Um, at first I was thinkingabout this and I had this idea
and I've been working on it formonths, or I've been coming up
with it for months.
I had the entire season one andseason two outlined this, the
(01:31):
kind of guests I wanted to haveon the topics I wanted to
discussed.
However, the way spirit works,spirit moved me in an entirely
different direction.
Um, yes, it's still a space forus crafted by me crafted by my
queer hands, my black queerhands at that.
And it's going to be a platformto amplify and protect our
(01:53):
voices.
Yes, that's still the same, butI just couldn't ignore the world
around me.
I couldn't ignore what was goingon with us as a collective of
black people around this world,around this globe with the
institution of police and policebrutality.
So I really wanted to dive intosome things.
Um, I just wanted to let youguys know I'm going to lay down
(02:13):
a foundation.
A lot of stuff that we discussedin season one will be, um,
surrounded around or basedaround the things that we're
experiencing right now insociety, Nina, Simone.
She said something and it stuckwith me ever since I first heard
it.
She firmly believes that asartists, as creatives, no matter
(02:35):
what capacity you're creating inor under, she said that it is
your duty to reflect the times.
And I firmly believe it's myduty to reflect the times.
So this is where I'm at, andthis is where I arrived.
And I've decided to compile alist of, of things that we can
(02:55):
use to help ourselves duringthese times, because I'm looking
around and I'm speaking to otherblack people.
And what I'm finding is thatthis movement, these uprisings,
the fight for change, the fightfor resistance.
It's really fucking us up.
Y'all, it's really taken a tollon our bodies, um, mentally,
(03:17):
emotionally, and physically.
And look, I'm not an expert onhow to deal with this, but as a
professional organizer, I canshare some things with you that
helps me manage, but I'm goingto be, I'm going to be 100% with
you guys.
There are going to be timeswhere none of the tools that I'm
going to talk about today areactually going to help is going
(03:38):
to be moments where you're justgoing to have to feel that shit
and live in that shit.
I had one of those days thisweek, the week of June team,
I've had one of those days towhere I just was so overwhelmed
with hearing about the blackparties and the black death.
And I just, I found myself inthe fetal position on my bedroom
(04:00):
floor, just taking it all in andjust feeling that shit.
And none of my tools wereworking.
None of my tools were helpingthat in my tools were, um, um,
helping me manage.
And that's okay becausesometimes it's not about
managing.
Sometimes it's so strong thatyou just got to feel that shit.
And then once it's done and, um,once it's done, then it moves
(04:26):
and then it transitions and thenit transfers.
Energy can not be created ordestroyed.
It can only be transferredsometime that shit has to sit in
your body and do what it has todo.
And then you have to transfer itsomewhere else.
But sometime you have to feelit.
So I'm going to go ahead and getinto this.
Um, the first thing I want tomention tool one is to breathe.
(04:48):
Y'all breathe.
I know that shit sounds simple.
Um, I know you probably talkingabout, we're probably thinking
like, what the hell is hetalking about?
I breath all the time.
It's something that I do as aninvoluntary response as a living
human being.
No, I'm here to tell you that asblack people, sometimes we are
not breathing.
We don't breathe y'all we don'tbreathe properly.
(05:10):
And I, this has a double meaningis two-sided on one end.
Yes.
You need to take the time toactually physically breathe.
It's good for you.
Deep breaths, deep breath in andexhale out.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
[inaudible]
Speaker 4 (05:30):
it helps calm your body.
It helps bring your body tosteel moment, breathe y'all and
you can look online.
There are multiple, there's amagnitude of breathing exercises
that you can do, but actuallytake that time to breathe,
because what happens is rightnow, we're in a moment we're in
a movement that's filled withlike anxious feelings.
(05:52):
We're anxious.
We are, um, we are nervous.
We are panicked are afraid andthat breathing can really help
control and manage all thosefeelings with our body.
That breathing is kind of likeyou own in it.
Like, Hey, this is my body.
And I'm going to control thisenergy.
That's in this body right now.
So be mindful of that andactually take the time to
(06:13):
breathe throughout the day.
But then also the other meaningI'm going to mention too, taking
a moment to breathe is taking abreather, taking a break from
the work because the work isexhausting.
It can be overwhelming and itcan consume you.
If you allow this work toconsume you and look as black
people, we are constantly,always in the motion.
(06:35):
We're constantly, always moving.
It's been a fight for survival.
Since we've been in thiscountry, it's been a fight for
survival.
And I just had an ancestralreading and not too long ago.
And, and she was saying, Hey,Jay, like you are going, you are
moving.
You're always hustling.
You're always on this grind, buttake the time to enjoy the
(06:57):
moment, enjoy the journey.
And I'm sharing that with youguys, because I feel like as a
general collective of blackpeople in America, most of us
are always in that hustle.
We're always grinding, but wehave to take those breathers.
We have to break.
We have to take those breathersto check in on ourselves.
We have to take those breathersto enjoy the journey and enjoy
(07:18):
how we've come thus far.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Two,
Speaker 4 (07:25):
you have to control what you consume.
I know this is the age of socialmedia.
Um, on one end, it's amazingbecause we can, you know, we can
see everything that's happeningin real time.
We get updated in real time.
It's completely uncensored.
We can see, Oh, that's happeninghere.
(07:46):
The protesters less what's goingon.
People are claiming it's apeaceful protest or that the
police were in the right.
But we really saw the evidencewhere, Hey, they started off
kneeling with us, but, but acouple hours later, they were
throwing tear gas and they werebeating us and it got violent.
So we're able to see things inreal time.
That's amazing.
(08:07):
But with technology, it also hasits bad things.
Too much of anything is bad,even if it, even if it has a lot
of potential.
Um, good.
So I'm, I'm, I'm telling youguys to control what you
consume.
Social media, the news.
It's a lot.
(08:27):
If you're constantly takingthings in that are potentially
traumatizing, again, energy isnot created or destroyed.
It's only transferred if you'reconstantly taking in things that
are, are, um, potentiallytraumatizing and you're not
balancing it with things thatare loving with things that are
carrying with things that arepeaceful, it's going to disrupt
(08:49):
your mind.
You're not going to be able tofunction.
Um, and as a collective, I knowthis is affecting us on a mass
scale.
I'm just personally speakingwith some of the black people in
my network.
We've talked about wheresometime it's become so
overwhelming with social mediawhere we've had to delete the
app altogether, or in my case, Idon't, I didn't want to delete
(09:09):
the apps altogether because Ididn't want to be completely
tuned out or disconnected, but Idid turn off my notifications on
social media.
So I wasn't being notifiedinstantly by things as they were
happening.
Um, I had the space to controland decide, okay, now I'm about
to go and actually access this.
(09:31):
So I was controlling what I wasconsuming.
Um, but I also want to say, tobe mindful of, you know, the
friendships or the people thatyou follow on social media,
because not only are we facedwith all those potentially
traumatizing videos and contentthat that's happening or that's
being shared around the globe,um, or black bodies are Brandon
(09:51):
abused, beaten, and killed.
We are also, you know, incircles or we are in association
with people who are inopposition of black people
fighting for basic fuckingrights.
Like this is ridiculous.
And, um, let me tell yousomething.
I see a lot of people who are onsocial media, who exerts so much
(10:11):
energy, going back and forthwith people who are racist,
bigoted and prejudice.
Guys, let me, let me tell you asecret, hardly ever do people
experience a paradigm shiftthrough a back and forth on
social media.
That's just the real.
And I had to learn that veryearly on in my journey, because
I remember when I was, you know,coming around to be relatively
(10:34):
socially conscious, um, in, in,in high school, my junior and
senior year, and I had a wholebunch of Facebook friends and I
was in a small city and there'san Indiana.
I had a bunch of Facebookfriends.
And I mean, these folks werejust, they were going in when I
was posting all this consciouscontent.
(10:56):
And I was posting all thisblacks things about black beauty
and about police brutality aboutthings like Trayvon Martin and
Tamir rice.
And they would come in and theywould be justifying the actions
of the police dehumanizing ourblack bodies and us as black
people.
Eventually they got my wholepage report in and removed from
(11:17):
Facebook.
So when I remained my Facebook,I literally to this day only
have like 140 something friends.
Because if I add you on myFacebook, I know I need to make
sure I know you to some degree.
And I need to know what kind ofcontent you're posting and this
isn't to promote or ensure thatthere's some kind of group
thinking or the same collectivethinking.
(11:39):
No, that's not it, but you haveto control what you consume.
And again, that's not mycontribution to the movement to
sit in line all day and argueand do back and forth with
people.
I'm going to take that energythat I'm exerting.
And you guys might not eventhink it's much energy, but let
me tell you something.
Every interaction takes acertain percent.
So maybe you think, Oh, me goingback and forth with a few
(12:00):
people.
You know, that's not as big of adeal, but one person took 5%.
One person took 2%.
One person took 10%.
One person took this amount.
So at the end of the day, guys,it's just something you have to
be super mindful about.
You have to control what you areconsuming and not only you
controlling the bad things thatyou're consuming or the, I don't
(12:21):
want to say bad things, but thepotentially traumatizing things
as you're consuming, you have tocontrol and make sure you're
feeding yourself with thoseamazing things.
For me, it's been black loveblack love movies, and seeing
black people in Trump situationswhere they're free of trauma.
That has been beautiful for me,that has been feeding me.
(12:43):
That has been feeding my soul,find something that's feeding
you guys and find somethingthat's going to balance the
potentially traumatizing thingsthat we are consuming.
Three, you have to find a ritualor routine right now.
This is an unfamiliar time.
We were hit with a global pen.
(13:04):
Dimmick where we were onlockdown for months.
And now we're hit with theuprising to what seems like a
rebellion to, to the government.
And this is all unfamiliar.
This is new to us.
Therefore your, your, your body,the way you cope, the way you
mind, the way you conceptualizethings, that shit is going to be
(13:26):
jumbled inject up.
So what are you going to have todo to make a foundation to
steady your foundation?
You're going to have to groundyourself.
You're going to have to findsome kind of ritual or regular
routine that you do on a dailybasis.
That's a habit and it's going toground you.
It's going to bring some kind offamiliarity to your life.
(13:47):
Um, it's going to look differentfrom everybody.
I'm not saying you have to starta spiritual ritual or spiritual
routine, but for me it works.
Um, I wake up every morning.
I have to sit in silence.
I listened to some music.
That's usually like an old Negrospiritual to where I'm honoring
and acknowledging my ancestors.
I get up, I read Psalms 23 andthen I burn some candles for my
(14:11):
ancestors.
I burned some ancestral money.
That's my ritual, that's myroutine.
And then I meditate and I do.
I try to do something to thateffect every day.
And that has been so changing.
Cause let me tell you that firstweekend, when all this was
happening, I hit severalbreaking points to where I just,
I couldn't function.
I was doing work.
(14:31):
I was working from home, butsimple things.
I could not register simpleideas.
I could not connect.
And I know that other peoplewere filling those same things.
I spoke with the VP at myorganization and she was like,
well, we had a very, verysimilar, um, experience, a very
similar week, um, about justbeing jumbled those first two to
(14:52):
three days.
And that's okay.
Y'all put those rituals androutines will help ground you.
Um, for, you need to find thatyou need to find an outlet.
You have to find a way tochannel this energy.
For me, it's this podcast for meis developing and, and, um,
(15:13):
putting out this platform.
But for you, it might bedifferent for you.
It might be sports for you.
It might be golfing for you.
It might be walking for you.
It might be working out for you.
It might be a number ofdifferent things, but baby, you
gotta find your outlet.
You gotta find a way to transferthis energy because that's, it's
an energy.
(15:33):
And if you're not careful, we'regoing to be transferring this
energy to our children.
We're going to be chanting thisenergy to the next generation of
black people or people who looklike us and baby, I'm not trying
to transfer all this trauma thatI've experienced in this 21st
century in this realized body.
I am trying to transfer allthat.
I know some of it.
(15:54):
I have no, no choice in it, butthere's some energies.
There's some things that I gotto come to peace, where I have
to recommend.
And I have to get that out.
I have to transfer thatsomewhere.
I can't walk around and holdthat my entire life.
I'm not trying to pass that onto anybody.
So finding outlet and then fivefind a community.
(16:16):
Y'all we're in a time right now.
I see a lot of people for somepeople.
This is their, their first time,you know, being a part of
protests or this is their, youknow, their, their big
awakening.
And they're finding out thatthey're surrounded by people who
really don't give a fuck abouttheir wellbeing and their life
as a black person or a person ofcolor.
(16:38):
And you know, for some thatawakening is harder than others.
They're hit with it.
And it, yeah, it's harder thanothers, but you're going to have
to find your community.
It's gonna it's sometimes ittakes time.
Even as a black person, sometimeyou, you around the room, black
people and you gotta, you gottamove and you gotta maneuver and
you gotta wake up and you gottaexpose some truths to realize
(17:00):
that, Hey, even my own folk,everybody not going to be for
me, that's especially true forblack queer people.
We can be in the midst of blackpeople and the moment they find
out we're queer, or the momentthose, those trans rights come
up.
The moment we start talkingabout sexuality, then suddenly
it's taboo.
Then suddenly we're othered.
(17:23):
So find your community becausethat's a critical and essential
moment right now.
In these times, you need acommunity that is feeding you
that love.
That's feeding you that piecethat is supporting you.
You're coming and showing up asyour individual self.
And you're bringing something tothe collective.
You're bringing a contributionto the collective and there's
(17:43):
this mutual exchange you'revalued.
You're respected.
You're not just quote unquotetolerated.
I'm telling you, you have tofind a community because we can
not get through this alone.
This is a group project.
And if most of us are failing,then everybody going to fail.
I mean, as black people, we justdon't have the luxury of going
(18:05):
through shit and being anindividual person because what
one black person is doing thatshit somehow magically affects
every black person.
And that's just the way that theworld set up.
That's the legacy of whitesupremacy.
This is a group project y'all sowe need to all be good.
(18:25):
We've got to make sure we allgood.
Not just those people overthere, not just those people
over there, we gotta make surewe're good.
And we got to look out for eachother.
So find that community, breathe,control what you consume, find a
ritual or routine, find somekind of outlet and then find
(18:48):
your community.
So these are the five thingsthat helped me manage this.
These are five things thatusually help me manage, you
know, being a communityorganizer and working in the
space where I'm constantlymobilizing and moving people to
move towards a goal.
These are the things that helpedme.
Um, so I hope that someone findsthese things to be helpful.
(19:13):
Again, I'm not an expert onthis, but these are things that
helped me.
Um, and you know, leave areview, leave a comment.
When you see this posted on oursocial medias and talk about
some things that help you manageit because these aren't, you
know, definite these aren't theonly things.
There are a ton of other thingsthat are probably helping
people.
(19:33):
So be mindful of that.
Spread the love, spread the joy,spread the peace.
And, um, before we head outtoday for this episode, let's
just take a moment of silence,but let's take a moment of
silence for all our blackbrothers and sisters, all our
black trans people who, who havedied or been a victim of the
(19:56):
institution of police.
Let's take a moment.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
[inaudible]
Speaker 3 (20:46):
[inaudible].
Hey, black boy, black girl.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
How come when we walk into a room full of pink people?
It's tiring.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
Okay.
Black boy, black girl.
Don't you know, a black, black,spiritual Lackey don't feel good
to be black.
Sometimes I was black.
Queer black is where blacknessintersects with queerness.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Uh, so what is your show called black like BLS.
You can make B, L Q it's calledit's called black Slack.
Speaker 4 (00:48):
Hey, y'all and welcome to black podcasts where
blackness meets queerness andintersects with love.
I am so happy to finally sharethis with you all.
Um, I just want you guys to knowthat this is a brave space for
us.
This is the platform for us.
And before I dive into thisfirst episode, I really wanted
(01:10):
to talk, um, and just be superhonest about, um, a little bit
about the journey arriving tothis podcast.
Um, at first I was thinkingabout this and I had this idea
and I've been working on it formonths, or I've been coming up
with it for months.
I had the entire season one andseason two outlined this, the
(01:31):
kind of guests I wanted to haveon the topics I wanted to
discussed.
However, the way spirit works,spirit moved me in an entirely
different direction.
Um, yes, it's still a space forus crafted by me crafted by my
queer hands, my black queerhands at that.
And it's going to be a platformto amplify and protect our
(01:53):
voices.
Yes, that's still the same, butI just couldn't ignore the world
around me.
I couldn't ignore what was goingon with us as a collective of
black people around this world,around this globe with the
institution of police and policebrutality.
So I really wanted to dive intosome things.
Um, I just wanted to let youguys know I'm going to lay down
(02:13):
a foundation.
A lot of stuff that we discussedin season one will be, um,
surrounded around or basedaround the things that we're
experiencing right now insociety, Nina, Simone.
She said something and it stuckwith me ever since I first heard
it.
She firmly believes that asartists, as creatives, no matter
(02:35):
what capacity you're creating inor under, she said that it is
your duty to reflect the times.
And I firmly believe it's myduty to reflect the times.
So this is where I'm at, andthis is where I arrived.
And I've decided to compile alist of, of things that we can
(02:55):
use to help ourselves duringthese times, because I'm looking
around and I'm speaking to otherblack people.
And what I'm finding is thatthis movement, these uprisings,
the fight for change, the fightfor resistance.
It's really fucking us up.
Y'all, it's really taken a tollon our bodies, um, mentally,
(03:17):
emotionally, and physically.
And look, I'm not an expert onhow to deal with this, but as a
professional organizer, I canshare some things with you that
helps me manage, but I'm goingto be, I'm going to be 100% with
you guys.
There are going to be timeswhere none of the tools that I'm
going to talk about today areactually going to help is going
(03:38):
to be moments where you're justgoing to have to feel that shit
and live in that shit.
I had one of those days thisweek, the week of June team,
I've had one of those days towhere I just was so overwhelmed
with hearing about the blackparties and the black death.
And I just, I found myself inthe fetal position on my bedroom
(04:00):
floor, just taking it all in andjust feeling that shit.
And none of my tools wereworking.
None of my tools were helpingthat in my tools were, um, um,
helping me manage.
And that's okay becausesometimes it's not about
managing.
Sometimes it's so strong thatyou just got to feel that shit.
And then once it's done and, um,once it's done, then it moves
(04:26):
and then it transitions and thenit transfers.
Energy can not be created ordestroyed.
It can only be transferredsometime that shit has to sit in
your body and do what it has todo.
And then you have to transfer itsomewhere else.
But sometime you have to feelit.
So I'm going to go ahead and getinto this.
Um, the first thing I want tomention tool one is to breathe.
(04:48):
Y'all breathe.
I know that shit sounds simple.
Um, I know you probably talkingabout, we're probably thinking
like, what the hell is hetalking about?
I breath all the time.
It's something that I do as aninvoluntary response as a living
human being.
No, I'm here to tell you that asblack people, sometimes we are
not breathing.
We don't breathe y'all we don'tbreathe properly.
(05:10):
And I, this has a double meaningis two-sided on one end.
Yes.
You need to take the time toactually physically breathe.
It's good for you.
Deep breaths, deep breath in andexhale out.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
[inaudible]
Speaker 4 (05:30):
it helps calm your body.
It helps bring your body tosteel moment, breathe y'all and
you can look online.
There are multiple, there's amagnitude of breathing exercises
that you can do, but actuallytake that time to breathe,
because what happens is rightnow, we're in a moment we're in
a movement that's filled withlike anxious feelings.
(05:52):
We're anxious.
We are, um, we are nervous.
We are panicked are afraid andthat breathing can really help
control and manage all thosefeelings with our body.
That breathing is kind of likeyou own in it.
Like, Hey, this is my body.
And I'm going to control thisenergy.
That's in this body right now.
So be mindful of that andactually take the time to
(06:13):
breathe throughout the day.
But then also the other meaningI'm going to mention too, taking
a moment to breathe is taking abreather, taking a break from
the work because the work isexhausting.
It can be overwhelming and itcan consume you.
If you allow this work toconsume you and look as black
people, we are constantly,always in the motion.
(06:35):
We're constantly, always moving.
It's been a fight for survival.
Since we've been in thiscountry, it's been a fight for
survival.
And I just had an ancestralreading and not too long ago.
And, and she was saying, Hey,Jay, like you are going, you are
moving.
You're always hustling.
You're always on this grind, buttake the time to enjoy the
(06:57):
moment, enjoy the journey.
And I'm sharing that with youguys, because I feel like as a
general collective of blackpeople in America, most of us
are always in that hustle.
We're always grinding, but wehave to take those breathers.
We have to break.
We have to take those breathersto check in on ourselves.
We have to take those breathersto enjoy the journey and enjoy
(07:18):
how we've come thus far.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Two,
Speaker 4 (07:25):
you have to control what you consume.
I know this is the age of socialmedia.
Um, on one end, it's amazingbecause we can, you know, we can
see everything that's happeningin real time.
We get updated in real time.
It's completely uncensored.
We can see, Oh, that's happeninghere.
(07:46):
The protesters less what's goingon.
People are claiming it's apeaceful protest or that the
police were in the right.
But we really saw the evidencewhere, Hey, they started off
kneeling with us, but, but acouple hours later, they were
throwing tear gas and they werebeating us and it got violent.
So we're able to see things inreal time.
That's amazing.
(08:07):
But with technology, it also hasits bad things.
Too much of anything is bad,even if it, even if it has a lot
of potential.
Um, good.
So I'm, I'm, I'm telling youguys to control what you
consume.
Social media, the news.
It's a lot.
(08:27):
If you're constantly takingthings in that are potentially
traumatizing, again, energy isnot created or destroyed.
It's only transferred if you'reconstantly taking in things that
are, are, um, potentiallytraumatizing and you're not
balancing it with things thatare loving with things that are
carrying with things that arepeaceful, it's going to disrupt
(08:49):
your mind.
You're not going to be able tofunction.
Um, and as a collective, I knowthis is affecting us on a mass
scale.
I'm just personally speakingwith some of the black people in
my network.
We've talked about wheresometime it's become so
overwhelming with social mediawhere we've had to delete the
app altogether, or in my case, Idon't, I didn't want to delete
(09:09):
the apps altogether because Ididn't want to be completely
tuned out or disconnected, but Idid turn off my notifications on
social media.
So I wasn't being notifiedinstantly by things as they were
happening.
Um, I had the space to controland decide, okay, now I'm about
to go and actually access this.
(09:31):
So I was controlling what I wasconsuming.
Um, but I also want to say, tobe mindful of, you know, the
friendships or the people thatyou follow on social media,
because not only are we facedwith all those potentially
traumatizing videos and contentthat that's happening or that's
being shared around the globe,um, or black bodies are Brandon
(09:51):
abused, beaten, and killed.
We are also, you know, incircles or we are in association
with people who are inopposition of black people
fighting for basic fuckingrights.
Like this is ridiculous.
And, um, let me tell yousomething.
I see a lot of people who are onsocial media, who exerts so much
(10:11):
energy, going back and forthwith people who are racist,
bigoted and prejudice.
Guys, let me, let me tell you asecret, hardly ever do people
experience a paradigm shiftthrough a back and forth on
social media.
That's just the real.
And I had to learn that veryearly on in my journey, because
I remember when I was, you know,coming around to be relatively
(10:34):
socially conscious, um, in, in,in high school, my junior and
senior year, and I had a wholebunch of Facebook friends and I
was in a small city and there'san Indiana.
I had a bunch of Facebookfriends.
And I mean, these folks werejust, they were going in when I
was posting all this consciouscontent.
(10:56):
And I was posting all thisblacks things about black beauty
and about police brutality aboutthings like Trayvon Martin and
Tamir rice.
And they would come in and theywould be justifying the actions
of the police dehumanizing ourblack bodies and us as black
people.
Eventually they got my wholepage report in and removed from
(11:17):
Facebook.
So when I remained my Facebook,I literally to this day only
have like 140 something friends.
Because if I add you on myFacebook, I know I need to make
sure I know you to some degree.
And I need to know what kind ofcontent you're posting and this
isn't to promote or ensure thatthere's some kind of group
thinking or the same collectivethinking.
(11:39):
No, that's not it, but you haveto control what you consume.
And again, that's not mycontribution to the movement to
sit in line all day and argueand do back and forth with
people.
I'm going to take that energythat I'm exerting.
And you guys might not eventhink it's much energy, but let
me tell you something.
Every interaction takes acertain percent.
So maybe you think, Oh, me goingback and forth with a few
(12:00):
people.
You know, that's not as big of adeal, but one person took 5%.
One person took 2%.
One person took 10%.
One person took this amount.
So at the end of the day, guys,it's just something you have to
be super mindful about.
You have to control what you areconsuming and not only you
controlling the bad things thatyou're consuming or the, I don't
(12:21):
want to say bad things, but thepotentially traumatizing things
as you're consuming, you have tocontrol and make sure you're
feeding yourself with thoseamazing things.
For me, it's been black loveblack love movies, and seeing
black people in Trump situationswhere they're free of trauma.
That has been beautiful for me,that has been feeding me.
(12:43):
That has been feeding my soul,find something that's feeding
you guys and find somethingthat's going to balance the
potentially traumatizing thingsthat we are consuming.
Three, you have to find a ritualor routine right now.
This is an unfamiliar time.
We were hit with a global pen.
(13:04):
Dimmick where we were onlockdown for months.
And now we're hit with theuprising to what seems like a
rebellion to, to the government.
And this is all unfamiliar.
This is new to us.
Therefore your, your, your body,the way you cope, the way you
mind, the way you conceptualizethings, that shit is going to be
(13:26):
jumbled inject up.
So what are you going to have todo to make a foundation to
steady your foundation?
You're going to have to groundyourself.
You're going to have to findsome kind of ritual or regular
routine that you do on a dailybasis.
That's a habit and it's going toground you.
It's going to bring some kind offamiliarity to your life.
(13:47):
Um, it's going to look differentfrom everybody.
I'm not saying you have to starta spiritual ritual or spiritual
routine, but for me it works.
Um, I wake up every morning.
I have to sit in silence.
I listened to some music.
That's usually like an old Negrospiritual to where I'm honoring
and acknowledging my ancestors.
I get up, I read Psalms 23 andthen I burn some candles for my
(14:11):
ancestors.
I burned some ancestral money.
That's my ritual, that's myroutine.
And then I meditate and I do.
I try to do something to thateffect every day.
And that has been so changing.
Cause let me tell you that firstweekend, when all this was
happening, I hit severalbreaking points to where I just,
I couldn't function.
I was doing work.
(14:31):
I was working from home, butsimple things.
I could not register simpleideas.
I could not connect.
And I know that other peoplewere filling those same things.
I spoke with the VP at myorganization and she was like,
well, we had a very, verysimilar, um, experience, a very
similar week, um, about justbeing jumbled those first two to
(14:52):
three days.
And that's okay.
Y'all put those rituals androutines will help ground you.
Um, for, you need to find thatyou need to find an outlet.
You have to find a way tochannel this energy.
For me, it's this podcast for meis developing and, and, um,
(15:13):
putting out this platform.
But for you, it might bedifferent for you.
It might be sports for you.
It might be golfing for you.
It might be walking for you.
It might be working out for you.
It might be a number ofdifferent things, but baby, you
gotta find your outlet.
You gotta find a way to transferthis energy because that's, it's
an energy.
(15:33):
And if you're not careful, we'regoing to be transferring this
energy to our children.
We're going to be chanting thisenergy to the next generation of
black people or people who looklike us and baby, I'm not trying
to transfer all this trauma thatI've experienced in this 21st
century in this realized body.
I am trying to transfer allthat.
I know some of it.
(15:54):
I have no, no choice in it, butthere's some energies.
There's some things that I gotto come to peace, where I have
to recommend.
And I have to get that out.
I have to transfer thatsomewhere.
I can't walk around and holdthat my entire life.
I'm not trying to pass that onto anybody.
So finding outlet and then fivefind a community.
(16:16):
Y'all we're in a time right now.
I see a lot of people for somepeople.
This is their, their first time,you know, being a part of
protests or this is their, youknow, their, their big
awakening.
And they're finding out thatthey're surrounded by people who
really don't give a fuck abouttheir wellbeing and their life
as a black person or a person ofcolor.
(16:38):
And you know, for some thatawakening is harder than others.
They're hit with it.
And it, yeah, it's harder thanothers, but you're going to have
to find your community.
It's gonna it's sometimes ittakes time.
Even as a black person, sometimeyou, you around the room, black
people and you gotta, you gottamove and you gotta maneuver and
you gotta wake up and you gottaexpose some truths to realize
(17:00):
that, Hey, even my own folk,everybody not going to be for
me, that's especially true forblack queer people.
We can be in the midst of blackpeople and the moment they find
out we're queer, or the momentthose, those trans rights come
up.
The moment we start talkingabout sexuality, then suddenly
it's taboo.
Then suddenly we're othered.
(17:23):
So find your community becausethat's a critical and essential
moment right now.
In these times, you need acommunity that is feeding you
that love.
That's feeding you that piecethat is supporting you.
You're coming and showing up asyour individual self.
And you're bringing something tothe collective.
You're bringing a contributionto the collective and there's
(17:43):
this mutual exchange you'revalued.
You're respected.
You're not just quote unquotetolerated.
I'm telling you, you have tofind a community because we can
not get through this alone.
This is a group project.
And if most of us are failing,then everybody going to fail.
I mean, as black people, we justdon't have the luxury of going
(18:05):
through shit and being anindividual person because what
one black person is doing thatshit somehow magically affects
every black person.
And that's just the way that theworld set up.
That's the legacy of whitesupremacy.
This is a group project y'all sowe need to all be good.
(18:25):
We've got to make sure we allgood.
Not just those people overthere, not just those people
over there, we gotta make surewe're good.
And we got to look out for eachother.
So find that community, breathe,control what you consume, find a
ritual or routine, find somekind of outlet and then find
(18:48):
your community.
So these are the five thingsthat helped me manage this.
These are five things thatusually help me manage, you
know, being a communityorganizer and working in the
space where I'm constantlymobilizing and moving people to
move towards a goal.
These are the things that helpedme.
Um, so I hope that someone findsthese things to be helpful.
(19:13):
Again, I'm not an expert onthis, but these are things that
helped me.
Um, and you know, leave areview, leave a comment.
When you see this posted on oursocial medias and talk about
some things that help you manageit because these aren't, you
know, definite these aren't theonly things.
There are a ton of other thingsthat are probably helping
people.
(19:33):
So be mindful of that.
Spread the love, spread the joy,spread the peace.
And, um, before we head outtoday for this episode, let's
just take a moment of silence,but let's take a moment of
silence for all our blackbrothers and sisters, all our
black trans people who, who havedied or been a victim of the
(19:56):
institution of police.
Let's take a moment.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
[inaudible]
Speaker 3 (20:46):
[inaudible].
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