No. 76: Who is Sweet Daddy Grace - The Man, The Myth, The Legend w/Marcy DePina. PART THREE. - Hand Me My Purse.

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hand Me My Purse is a production of iHeart Podcasts. First,
I want to start out by saying, hello, I want
to let you know on the front end that my
allergies are staging a coup against my body.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
They're waging a war against my joy.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
And I feel like I am saying to them, but
they are saying, I'm gonna do what I want to do.
So all I can do is press on like the
resilient black woman that I am and just do my best.
And so that's what I'm here to do in my
pursuit to do my best.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
I was on.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
I was on Me Me Walker's Internet today and I
read something and I want to share it with you guys,
and it says your relationship with change is a clear
baron for the amount of stress that your mind carries.

(01:06):
If you embrace change, the ups and downs of life
will cause you less tension. If you have a combative
relationship with change, then you will struggle when you repeatedly
see that much of life is outside of your control.
Time and life only flow forward in the form of
an ever changing river. If inner peace is important to you,

(01:31):
then you need to learn to move with the current
as opposed to moving against it. I'm not going to
read that again. Forward that back if you want to
hear it again. I'm not reading it again, but I
want you to listen to what it's saying, and it's saying, basically,
excuse me, the sum of everything that I've been saying

(01:54):
all year, which is, you got to be cool with
the uncertainties of life. You kind of just gotta let
life flow and flow with it. Imagine yourself on a
lazy river, on a raft, laying in the little donut,
looking up at the sky, with your sunglasses on of course,

(02:17):
and sunscreen because you want to protect your skin. Just relaxing,
not worrying about anything. That is kind of how we
got to live. That doesn't mean that we don't take
action or that we're not intentional. It just means that
you kind of gotta just flow with life and let
life do what it's gonna do. Because, baby, let me

(02:38):
tell you something, life is going to do what it
is going to do.

Speaker 2 (02:45):
I hope you listen to that.

Speaker 1 (02:47):
And reflect on it, sit at it, meditate on it,
because that is a good word.

Speaker 2 (02:56):
That is a good word. I can't see that. Okay,

(03:20):
what's up, y'all?

Speaker 1 (03:21):
Welcome to Hand Me my Purse the podcast I am
and me Walker and I will be here forever, host
each and every single time you tune into this podcast.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
So go ahead and get comfortable. Get yourself a glass
of your favorite beverage, whether that's some room temperature mineral
water big yuck, or some eggnog double double yuck, or.

Speaker 1 (03:46):
Some hot apple cider with a shot of bourbon and
a cinnamon stick in it. And for me, that's a
big yummy yummy.

Speaker 2 (03:54):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 1 (03:56):
Go light yourself a candle, some incense or burn some
sage and just get ready to you'll out and have
yourself a merry little good time. What's up, friends in
kenn It's me and me Resident Auntie Supreme here and

(04:17):
hand me my purse. And today I am actually sipping
on hell a different shit like I've just been drinking
a lot of drinks today, not drinks, drinks, Okay.

Speaker 2 (04:30):
I was doing a bit of a.

Speaker 1 (04:32):
Colon flush, and I made myself some detox tea, which
is essentially just dandalion root tea which is lovely for
detoxing your liver. And I added some living living lemon
and also a shot of this tincture t I N
C t U R E tincture that I take that
has apple cider, vinegar and some more herbs or whatever

(04:56):
in it to help with my hormones and.

Speaker 2 (05:03):
Bloating.

Speaker 1 (05:03):
And I added that to my detox tea. I drank it.
I also had a twenty four ounce smoothie that I
made myself. And I don't know, if you've been listening forever,
then you know that I used to subs.

Speaker 2 (05:22):
What in the heck I used to I used to
subscribe think you me me to this. It was a
powdered smoothie brand. It's called can Go.

Speaker 1 (05:37):
No, they're not paying me, but it's great for people
who want smoothies and go. And I found out that
they sell them in Walmart now, so if I want them,
I can go there, even though I only going to
Walmart at all, not a fan, but they sell them there.
But I had like three boxes that I had opened,

(05:57):
and I finally opened them and decided that you know me, me,
why don't you just do what you need to do
with these smoothies because they are not cheap at all,
so start drinking them so they don't go to waste.
And I said, today would be a great day to
do that because I'm trying to detox, and so all

(06:20):
they have is them in them is fruit, vegetables. It's dehydrated.
They turn it into a powder boom. It's great and
you get I want to say, you get five servings
of fruits and vegetables in every packet. So I drink
a smoothie and then I had some peppermint tea. Then
I had some water. Then I had some unsweetened green

(06:41):
tea that was really cold, and even though it didn't
taste really delicious, it was kind of refreshing. I also
had some ginger lemon water, definitely not delicious. I was
really in my bag when it came to sipping. And so,
needless to say, I feel a lot better. I feel

(07:03):
less bloated, I feel less heavy and less dense. And
every now and then you just gotta flush yourself on
out and you know, clear some shit out literally and figuratively.
Shout out to a wonderful detox friends and ken for

(07:30):
two days jam. I chose a song that I wonder
if a lot of you don't know, but guess.

Speaker 2 (07:39):
What you know it now?

Speaker 1 (07:41):
You know it now or you will in about two minutes.
It is a song. It's a collaboration or a collab
as the Millennials and the gen Z say, it's the
main person or the main artist is his name is
Jason or excuse me, it's uh. The song reminds me

(08:02):
of a friend of mine named Jason who loves ty
Dala sign which is why I probably said Jason. But
it's by a gentleman named Jacob Collier and mahel Yah
who is an artist from London or England and ty
Dalad Signs And the name of the song is all

(08:24):
I Need, and I just love the song. It feels,
you know, sometimes there's some music or there's some art,
specifically music for me because I'm a music lover. That
just makes me feel good. This song makes me happy.

(08:47):
This song brings me joy right, this song it kind
of makes me want to be in love, like it
makes me want to hold hands with somebody's son and
walk on the boardwalk on Venice Bach, or drive down
Pacific Coast Highway and a convertible with the top down
and the wind blowing and blasting this song. Actually, I

(09:11):
want to hear this song as I'm driving down PCH
and it makes me long for warm weather. Which is
heavy on the sunshine. I want a lot of sunshine
and a lot of love and a lot of lust,
and a lot of smiles and a lot of laughter
and just good times. I just love the way that
the song makes me feel. So without further ado, I

(09:35):
want you to just get into the song. Okay, So
let's do that right now. Let's just get into the song.
And it may not make you feel the way it
makes me feel, but at least you could say, this
is a dope ast song.

Speaker 2 (09:48):
Let's get into it. Maybe what did you think? It

(10:16):
was good?

Speaker 1 (10:17):
Like? I don't even you know. I say that because
I want you to answer me when I ask you
this question.

Speaker 2 (10:22):
But it was good.

Speaker 1 (10:23):
So just go ahead and do yourself the favor of
listening to the song.

Speaker 2 (10:27):
It's in its entirety. You know.

Speaker 1 (10:29):
I'm gonna put a link to the song in the
show notes. I want you to listen to it, and
I want you to listen to it on repeat. And
I don't necessarily need you to listen to it until
you feel what I feel, but I want you to
listen to it on repeat. It just feels good, and
that's the end of it. The song just feels good.
It makes me feel good. The chords of the song,

(10:52):
the lyrics, the vocals, the chord changes. Not to mention
the artists. It's a hodgepodge of energies. But the ship
just worked out perfectly. It's just the way it makes
me feel. Just says everything. So just go ahead, listen
to it, get into it, and you're welcome.

Speaker 3 (11:29):
Yeah to your other point about the preacher, the preacher
who has a flat prosperity. Yeah, the flashy, flashy preacher
with all the charisma and the prosperity and all show
that shouldn't he though, there's that right, because it does
say in the Bible, and Daddy Grace would reference this

(11:50):
that you know, he's entitled to the riches that the
earth had had to offer. So that's one thing. But
the other thing is there is something to be said now.
I know that I've heard from some members saying like, oh,
you know, my mother or my grandmother gives all of
our money to the church and they feel away about it.
But when you needed something, the church would be there

(12:10):
for you. They take care of their own. They have
a lot of apartment buildings, they have them here in
New York. They have him in La Baltimore, DC, pretty
much anywhere there's a House of Prayer, Newport News. They
have not only their church buildings that they own. By
the way, this is the only church that I know
of outside of the Catholic Church that has all mortgage

(12:31):
free homes and buildings everything that they only paid cash for. Yeah,
who's their accountant, I don't know, But Daddy Grace used
to post this man was so he was so sensational
that he would pull up, have his attendants come out,
roll out the red carpet, and then he'd walk into
the bank and he would buy a house, and his

(12:53):
attendant would give the bag with the money and he
just put it there, and of course that would be
in the papers and all of that, you know. But
that's why I think that that's one of the things
that I think is interesting about the House of Prayer
is that maybe they didn't take care of everybody, right.
I'm sure that there were people that are not doing well,
but they did have an obligation so they could offer
you a job. They employed a lot of people the

(13:14):
church with the restaurants as attendants things of that nature.
But in addition to that, if you needed help, you
could ask for it. And they have various mutual funds
within the church, so they have like a life insurance fund,
they have a fund if you get sick. So there's
a lot of this is support there, right, So it's
not like all the money is just going in and

(13:36):
it's just being spent. That's not what they It's very
clear what they're doing with money. This you know, particular
program is available or this is happening. So there's two
sides to that.

Speaker 2 (13:46):
Yeah, got it.

Speaker 1 (13:48):
Are going to say, Now, here's the thought that I
had that I don't think that we've talked about, or
maybe I did, maybe we did. When I look at him,
I started to do some research of my own because
I looked at him.

Speaker 2 (14:00):
I looked at his nails, I looked at his clothes.

Speaker 1 (14:02):
And he is the first account that I have ever
seen a man in America, a black man in America,
look that way. And then I started to make the correlation.
And this is not to disrespect him in any way,
shape or form, or disrespect a man of God at all.
But I started to think about the trope, the pimp trope, okay,

(14:26):
And I started to think about like Bishop Don magic
wand and Iceberg Slim and how they look. They wear
these gaudy suits. They have long nails, or at least
one nail. We know why they have a lot, We
know why they have a long, pinky nail, clearly, but
they have these long nails. They drive these very loud,

(14:47):
egregiously colored and decked out cars. They always have a
lot of women around them. They flaunt money around, and
they have permed long hair, and they wear these big hats.
Nobody can look me in my eye and tell me
that that trope did not come from Daddy Grace.

Speaker 2 (15:09):
Nobody can, because it's there.

Speaker 1 (15:12):
It's like a cutout, literally, like a color by number
look literally. And now as I sit here and talk
because I couldn't, I mean, I was researching, I read
excerpts of Iceberg Slim, of his autobiography. I was really
trying to figure it out. And now that I'm sitting
here thinking and talking it through, it makes sense. Because

(15:35):
pimps want you to believe that they have a lot
of money, whether they do or not, and they want
women to believe. It goes back to what I said.
You want the women to want you, and you want
the men to want to be like you. They want
the women. They want women to believe that they have
a lot of money so that they can bring them
on to their team, so to speak. And if I'm

(15:58):
gonna be out here looking like I'm rich, excuse my
French because I'm about to curse, that's the motherfucker I
want to look like. And it makes sense. His nails
were like his nails literally looked like this Evan, maybe longer,
and they curled over.

Speaker 2 (16:16):
It was a little creepy.

Speaker 3 (16:18):
Yeah, just a little bit, yeah.

Speaker 2 (16:20):
A little bit. And I thought about that, and I
was like, hmm.

Speaker 1 (16:24):
And I couldn't find anything to connect it online, like
anything of any value, of any substance. But I definitely
thought about it, like this is the colorbine number. This
is the blueprint for what black American pimps look like.

Speaker 3 (16:40):
Yes, I agree with you, and these were one of them.
This was one of the many reasons why I was like,
how come this man's story has never been told? Even
if we talked earlier about coming to America before we
got on this recording and the scene there, you know,
where he's like, oh, we like the kind of cash
that jingles, but we really like the kind that folds

(17:02):
that's Daddy Grace. That's as came from Daddy Grace.

Speaker 2 (17:05):
Yeah, I think it's it's.

Speaker 3 (17:07):
That whole trope, right of the creature with the long
silky hair and the suit and all of that. All
it did come from Daddy Grace. It did start there.
I don't know why he hasn't been given his just due.
Part of the reason why I did this show was
to I'm glad to do it because I learned a
lot more. Yeah, and and also too, when you think

(17:28):
about that time, in that era, right, there were only
a few spaces for a black man to shine, Yeah,
and to be Flamborian.

Speaker 1 (17:37):
Sports entertainment right, and a man of God right or
a revolutionary.

Speaker 3 (17:43):
Right or a revolutionary. But being a revolutionary could get
you killed.

Speaker 1 (17:46):
Yes, okay, well Malcolm X, both Malcolm X and Martin
Luther both ministers, were both ministers, they were both men
of God and both revolutions.

Speaker 3 (17:55):
Right, So clearly that was very dangerous also because people
understood the power and this way that you had over people. Absolutely,
but I think that that was one of the only
spaces that somebody like Daddy Grace could have existed to
achieve the level of success that he clearly had in
mind for himself, whether he was coming from the perspective
of a you know, wanting to grow a spiritual community,

(18:16):
or just simply.

Speaker 2 (18:17):
I'm trying to I'm trying to come up. Yeah, I'm trying.
I'm trying to work my plan.

Speaker 3 (18:21):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (18:22):
Sol If my plan benefits this community, great, But I'm
here because I'm trying to get this money or in
the words of Bell Calice aka Cardi B I'm trying
to get this sh money money, Okay.

Speaker 2 (18:34):
And it worked for.

Speaker 3 (18:35):
Him, and it worked and you and in doing that,
he had to put up with a lot of people
accusing him of being different, you know, and and and constantly.
I'm sure he got clown the Cape Verdians, the things
that Kate Verdians say about him.

Speaker 2 (18:49):
How did you well?

Speaker 1 (18:50):
If you you, I highly suggest that, if you are
interested in what we are speaking about, or you're intrigued,
that you listen to Marcie's show. And I'm definitely gonna
link it in this show notes. Because I was here
for the show. I listened to it. I listened to
every episode. I was here for it.

Speaker 2 (19:07):
I want to know.

Speaker 1 (19:09):
I want to know more about his kids and and
his his descendants, where are they?

Speaker 3 (19:13):
They might be everywhere?

Speaker 1 (19:15):
Well because because because I was also thinking about that,
because I wonder, yeah, we know, I know he was
booking like crazy.

Speaker 3 (19:26):
Okay, First of all, I love that you use the
word booking. I always say I never heard that before,
and so from listening to your podcast.

Speaker 1 (19:32):
I got it from I want to say, this guy
used to work with he is. His family's from Guyana.
His name is Pete. I'm pretty sure that's what I
got it from booking. His family's from Guyana, So that
makes sense.

Speaker 2 (19:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (19:46):
Yeah, In terms of Daddy Greece's descendants, where are they?
There are he still has his uh well, his his
children are a bit tragic in the sense that you
know his children that from his marriages or a bit tragic.
His daughter Irene died shortly after her mother, Daddy Grace's

(20:09):
first wife. His son Norman, who was a veteran, died
in a car tragic car accident right around Newport News,
right around there. Really he was going to he was
actually starting to train with. Daddy Grace died in a
car accident. He was last Norman Grace Grace, Norman Grace.
I think we should go to Newport. I would love

(20:32):
that it would be.

Speaker 1 (20:32):
I don't know if I just said investigation, it felt
like I said investigation, but either way, I meant investigation
either way.

Speaker 3 (20:39):
And we can get some food too.

Speaker 2 (20:41):
I don't know about well, I don't know about food
and Newport News.

Speaker 3 (20:43):
Now we can go to the House of bra I'm
sure the food.

Speaker 2 (20:45):
Yes, yes, I'm sure that's great.

Speaker 3 (20:48):
Yeah. And then he had another son, Marcellino which is
his given name, with his second wife. And he had
two wives and they both ended in divorce. His second
wife was like significantly younger than him. She was Mexican,
Mexican American. She was an artist, she was a musician,

(21:08):
a singer.

Speaker 2 (21:10):
California probably, Yeah.

Speaker 3 (21:12):
They got married in Arizona, though, so who knows. And
she ended up after they got divorced, she became a
Jehovah's witness and she was a preacher, well she wanted to,
you know, she had some role of leadership in the church.
But Marcelino, their son, was schizophrenic and had a lot
of mental health problems, ended up in He was like

(21:32):
in and out of jail, and Daddy Grace tried to
help him several times, gave him money, bailed himut of jail,
got him in a facility and all of that, and
he just eventually cut ties with him and he ended up.
I feel like somebody, I feel like somebody killed him.
I think I know, I know he he got arrested
for some sort of like petty robbery and I believe
somebody shot.

Speaker 2 (21:51):
Him in Arizona.

Speaker 3 (21:54):
No, that was in Pennsylvania. That was in Pennsylvania. So
you know, those were those children. Irene had three children there.
One lives in New York. One is Pastor Norman, who
There were so many things that happened throughout this podcast
that I discovered, interesting coincidences, just interesting things that I

(22:17):
couldn't even or didn't put into the podcast.

Speaker 2 (22:19):
I want to know about them.

Speaker 3 (22:20):
Yeah, it was kind of crazy, so Pastor Norman. One
of them is that I was telling my father, my stepfather.
I had gone to the New Bedford Public Library, which
I hadn't been in since I was a kid, and
it was like porn raining cats and dogs. And I
went into the public library and I said to the
library and hey, i'm here. You know, I'm doing research
on a New Bedford resident. Blah blah blah. Okay, well,

(22:43):
what's his name? And I tell her his name and
she goes like, white is a she? Like white is
a she. I'm like, She's like, you're not going to
believe this. I have just spent the last two weeks
pulling all the research on him for a scholar that's
in Mississippi that's reorganized PhD. And I just sent it
to him. I have the flash She literally had the

(23:03):
flash drive in her hand and so she's like, you
want it. I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah. So she gives
me that I'm copying, you know, I'm copying all the stuff,
and you know, she comes over to me and asks
me what I'm doing. I told her and she's like,
I don't know. Maybe Daddy Grace does have some special
powers here. I'm like, I don't know. Maybe get back
into my car. I'm going over to my parents' house now.
And someone tells me I'm going to see a rainbow today.

(23:25):
I just had his feeling, let's see a rainbow. Get
to the house, talking to my stepfather and telling him
what I researched, and he's like, you need to go
to the grave. Got to go to the grave and
like get all the headstones around because a lot of
the families. He goes, yeah, you know that when they
installed the new mausoleum for Daddy Grace, I was the
person who installed the gates on the mausoleum. That's interesting.

Speaker 2 (23:46):
He goes, yeah, he's buried.

Speaker 3 (23:48):
Yeah, he's buried in all that's interesting. And we talked more.
He's like, yeah, and by the way, he's like when
we were when he first died, the kids used to
do a thing where they'd try to do like a
little seance where they would, you know, like pray to
see if Daddy Grace. Yeah, And apparently they were all
there doing it and Daddy the phone rang. They said,
Daddy Grace, if you're here, let us know, and then

(24:08):
the phone rang. The kids all thought, oh my god,
Daddy Grace is there anyway. So he, you know, he said, yeah,
Daddy Grace has come up a couple of times. He said,
don't you remember Pastor Norman. And I'm like, of course,
I remember Pastor Norman. We used to go to his church.
He's a really good sink. Like the choir, like the
music there was always hidden and that.

Speaker 2 (24:24):
For me is always yeah, that's it.

Speaker 3 (24:28):
And so I'm looking at him and I'm like, yeah, passed.
Of course, He's like, yeah, that's Daddy Grace's grandson, and
I'm like what He's like yeah. So I'm thinking to myself, Wait,
this church that I used to go to when I
was a kid, all this time Daddy Grace. Then I
found out that the house that I lived in, that
I grew up in was owned by Daddy Grace's. He
actually paid for that house. That house was owned by

(24:51):
his nephew, was owned by his brother that went to
his nephew, and he paid for the house that I
grew up in. I always knew the people that lived
there before were Grace's, but the connected yeah, like I
just never connected the two so's things like that. But
what was interesting that day when he told me about
the pastor Norman, all of a sudden I looked on
the TV and I see like there was a rainbow.
I said, oh, I think I'm gonna see a rainbow.

(25:13):
And then the woman who takes care of my sister
in the back, she goes, oh my god, there's a rainbow.
And there was this huge rainbow that spanned across like
the whole back porch area. And I was like, I
knew that was Daddy Grace. I knew it. I was like,
that's Daddy Grace. And if you look at the House
of Prayer imagery rainbows as most churches use rainbows. They

(25:33):
were a symbol of hope, no resark and all of that,
but they use it in the imagery in the churches.

Speaker 2 (25:38):
You see the rainbows.

Speaker 3 (25:40):
So there were like little things like that, you know.
They just kept letting me know that I was on
the right path. But when it came to his children,
that Pastor Norman, I don't know. I haven't met any
of the other children, any of the grandchildren. He's the
only one that I met. He would of course wouldn't
allow me to, you know, but there, yeah, but there
have been. Yeah, he did, he did. He talked to me,

(26:01):
he gave me a book. Very nice man. And he
remembered my mom because my mom was also a music minister,
so he remembered her. But yeah, you know, when it
came to his children and his other descendants, he has
a lot of his nieces and nephews that were greatly
involved in the church. Great nieces and nephews are still around.

(26:21):
Some of them are still parts of the church. I
have a lot of family members that are still part
of the church.

Speaker 1 (26:27):
And you found out that he was your family member. Yeah,
that's wild.

Speaker 3 (26:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (26:44):
So this just goes right back to what we were
talking about at the beginning when I said, like, God
is a god of intention.

Speaker 2 (26:50):
God is not a god of coincidence.

Speaker 1 (26:53):
It's not Oh, this planet is this far from the
sun and it's red and it's hot, and that's not
how it works. Mars is Mars for a reason. It
represents war and rage for a reason, right, Okay. And
the reason that if there are people here that are
smart enough to understand.

Speaker 2 (27:15):
Tectonic plates.

Speaker 1 (27:17):
And I have a cousin who is a biologist and
she does research or she used to do research on
silver nanoparticles, then there were people long ago that were
smart enough to do research or understand things about planets
and why they function this way and spirits and this
and that.

Speaker 2 (27:35):
If you don't want to believe it, don't.

Speaker 1 (27:37):
But I'm just saying God is not a god of whoops,
this fell in my lap. If anything falls in your
lap is because God placed it there. And for people
who don't believe in God, this is and I don't personally,
I don't care if people believe in God or not,
because it's not my business, and I'm very good at
mine in my business. But I don't understand people who

(27:57):
don't believe in God. I don't agnostic people. I get it,
like you don't know who to something is there.

Speaker 2 (28:05):
I get it.

Speaker 1 (28:06):
But people will say, oh, no, this is all science. Yeah, no, sway,
I don't even know.

Speaker 3 (28:10):
I actually don't believe that that's even possible. I know
people say it.

Speaker 2 (28:14):
I know it doesn't make sense.

Speaker 3 (28:16):
And not only that, let me tell you something. When
you are faced with death, when you are looking at death,
I know because I've experienced it. When you are looking
at a dangerous situation or your loved one, you remember
that God exists real quick, no matter what, really at
that moment. There are moments in life where you you

(28:37):
will be humbled and you will be made to understand
that there is something greater than you go into the
ocean when there's a crazy wave.

Speaker 2 (28:45):
That's those kind of things. To me.

Speaker 3 (28:47):
It's like, yeah, if you don't believe there's a God,
you're just lying. You just you or you.

Speaker 1 (28:53):
Just want to be combative. Yes, you will argue, you
just want to argue. We ask you about who's the
best basketball player in stead of whether or not there's
a God, because I don't have time for that.

Speaker 3 (29:03):
Yeah, I don't have time for that either.

Speaker 1 (29:05):
Another thing before we wrap up, I want to just
share some things that my uncles told me because they
were just kind of.

Speaker 3 (29:11):
Fascinated about that. That's my whole thing. When when you
and I spoke, you know, finding out that your family
has a connection to the House of Prayer.

Speaker 2 (29:19):
On those on two totally different sides.

Speaker 3 (29:21):
Yeah, and that's crazy, Yeah, that's crazy.

Speaker 1 (29:24):
Yeah, because these uncles, sorry, these uncles are from Baltimore
and they grew up in the they were born in
the thirties, right, and so they were there when he
was coming and having his tenth But then on my
mother's father's side, nobody knows about this side but me.
I'm the only person in my family who went to
seek this out, went on this mission another not coincidence,

(29:46):
and I went to the House of Prayer. Then I
read the article about the obituary for my grandmother, I
mean my great grandmother, and she had her funeral services there.
I'm like, no, this is not a coincidence at all.

Speaker 3 (29:59):
It's not. But what's fascinating to me is that the intersection. Yes,
all of that, but the desire to know your story,
the desire to tell your story, is so important because
if you didn't do this work, it could have been
lost forever. Yeah, you know, your family history would have

(30:19):
been lost. So you know that old man, you know
that you ran into that was wild. You know, all
of those little steps going on ancestry, finding my mother's brother,
all of that, Like, had you not done that, you
would be missing a part of yourself.

Speaker 1 (30:36):
And he just found another sibling. Because my grandfather apparently too,
like Daddy Grace, was around laying it low and spread
and wide. My uncle said that dreud Hill Park was
supposed to be the original that's what drew Hill the
group was named.

Speaker 2 (30:57):
So there's a park.

Speaker 1 (30:58):
Yes, that area was supposed to be the first potential
location for the United House of Prayer, but it didn't
come through because the neighborhood Association, an all black neighborhood association,
opposed it and they shut it down because they didn't
want him to build their church in their neighborhood, which
I can kind of understand, but I can also understand

(31:20):
because it's like, don't bring all this.

Speaker 2 (31:21):
Loud noise and drama around.

Speaker 1 (31:23):
And they also said that they but then that's when
they built it on Liberty Heights. My uncle Bunkie said
that a lot of the young guys would go to
see Daddy Grace because they.

Speaker 2 (31:35):
Would do shut out to him, Uncle Bunkie.

Speaker 1 (31:40):
He said a lot of the young cats would go
to the because they would do baptisms.

Speaker 2 (31:46):
In the street with water holes with water.

Speaker 1 (31:49):
No, this is in Baltimore, Baltimore, they would do baptist
I imagine that they would do them in the James
River because in proximity to that church right down the
street past some of the projects is the James River. No,
but in bald and super metropolitan, like down here in
New York on fifty fifth Street, they would do baptisms
with water hoses or fire hoses or fire hydrants. And

(32:13):
so my uncle Bunkie said that the guys would go
to see Daddy Grace not because they were going to
get touched by the Lord, but because the ladies would
be getting hosed down and they'd be in these wet
clothes and that they were perfs. That's what my uncle
Bunkie says. And I started to say, well, why did
you go? Why did you go, Uncle Bunkie? He said,
I went for the food. And I said, I believe you,

(32:35):
because me and my family will like a good meal.
They do dinners every Sunday. They recently had a convocation
and I wanted to go, but I wasn't able to go.

Speaker 2 (32:44):
We should go next year, Yeah, let's go, all right.

Speaker 1 (32:47):
One of my cousins got married at the end of
the United House of Prayer on Liberty Liberty Road on
Liberty Heights.

Speaker 2 (32:54):
Let's see.

Speaker 1 (32:55):
They were just describing him as having long gray and
white hair and long nail.

Speaker 2 (33:00):
They said he had a huge entourage at all.

Speaker 3 (33:03):
Yeah, I'm telling you it was a situation. Yeah, it was.
It was a movie. And again, like he yeah, there
was something about him that he just knew. And I
also think that he was a bit concerned about his
personal safety.

Speaker 2 (33:23):
It should have been. Yeah, I think the reason that before, yeah,
it was true.

Speaker 3 (33:27):
Part it was one to create, you know, an air
of nobility around himself and create that hierarchy of who
he was amongst his congregants. But and it was also
a privilege for the for people to be a part
of that. Absolutely, you know, contingent of people that were around.

Speaker 1 (33:42):
Another thing that you talked about in the show, when
you talked about like your family and like the pride
and the pride in your family, like they didn't want
to be associated with him. It's funny because one of
my uncles told me about my great grandmother. Yeah, and
my great grandmother was extremely prideful and it has passed
down in the DNA of the women in my family.
But he said that Daddy Grace had something that looked

(34:04):
like a throne and he would put it up on
a riser on a stage and sit on it, and
that my and that he would sit on it. And
so when my uncle was small, because he was still
young and he was born in the late the latter
parts of the thirty so maybe thirty eight or thirty nine,
and he would go to want to go because he
would want to go get the dinners because I told

(34:25):
you I come from a long line of chunky people.

Speaker 2 (34:27):
We likes to eat.

Speaker 1 (34:28):
He said that my great grandmother would forbid him or
forbid them from going. He said that my grandfather and
my aunt was sneaking go, the two oldest kids were
sneaking go, but forbid them from going to go eat
there because she would say that we don't want his handouts.

Speaker 3 (34:45):
Yeah, I believe that. I mean that all sounds right
on brand as far as you know what I've researched,
and even what I know. What's trippy about that throne
is that where is it that's every every single house
on as a throne that's reserved only for the bishop.
It's only for the bishops there.

Speaker 1 (35:05):
But when I think about I don't know about different denominations,
but when I think about Pentecostal churches, there's always a
throne that the pastor sits on.

Speaker 3 (35:15):
Yeah, I mean there's a that's every Look at Catholicism,
look at all of the pomp and circumstances around the pope. Ye,
think about that, think about That's what I feel like.
Daddy Grace took a big page from probably the Catholic.

Speaker 1 (35:27):
Church because the pope always has an entourage around him.

Speaker 2 (35:32):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (35:33):
Yeah, I think I think he definitely took a lot
from them. There's there's so many stories. I think it's
fascinating that your family members were told not to go
in there. I think that that was across the board.
Something I heard very common. People that were part of
the House of prayer. Other black people looked at them like,
you're in a cult. You guys are hooting and hollering.

Speaker 1 (35:55):
Yeah, but that's but I also think that that's a
Pentecostal church thing, because even amongst other denominational black churches, yep,
that's what they were called. Because we speak in tongues,
we pass out, and all of these things have happened.

Speaker 3 (36:11):
To me, me too, and they're real.

Speaker 2 (36:13):
Listen, it's not just real.

Speaker 3 (36:15):
It's not a part that people need to understand that.
That was one of the big criticisms out that Charlaton
came in, that people thought that that was all a show.
It was in choreograph.

Speaker 1 (36:24):
I'm gonna sell you what I do believe. I do
believe that in some cases it is a show. There
was a lady at my church will every damn Sunday.

Speaker 2 (36:31):
Ms Edith would get up and speaking every Sunday.

Speaker 1 (36:36):
She'd be speaking in tongues, and I'd be like, oh,
here she I mean. I would look at this.

Speaker 2 (36:40):
I can't.

Speaker 1 (36:40):
I think her name was Dominique, And I would look
at her and be like, how long you think it's
gonna take for she get up and start speaking tongue?
Ten nine eight and before you know it, she's standing
up rock and speaking in tongues.

Speaker 2 (36:51):
Was it real or not?

Speaker 1 (36:52):
Maybe if it had never happened to me, then I
would think this is bullshit. But please be advised, it
has happened to me too, and I did not have
control over it.

Speaker 2 (37:03):
Yes, it happens. In addition to.

Speaker 1 (37:06):
That, I have done the whole They hit you on
they and then you lay out and you open your
eyes and.

Speaker 2 (37:11):
You're like, what in the fuck just happened? Why am
I on the ground?

Speaker 1 (37:15):
Right?

Speaker 3 (37:16):
It's the strangest feeling, right.

Speaker 1 (37:17):
Because you don't know what what you're doing in your
eyes and everybody's around you, and it's like, but you
feel like you feel new, You feel different, right, you
feel like clean. I'm not clean, but like something was
all got taken off of you. That's what I'm saying.
Like people like Christians kill me with like saying, oh,
whodoo is the devil? And voodoo is the devil. We

(37:39):
all out here doing a form of whodoo around here. Okay,
let's just stop judging people for their religious beliefs, because
I am living proof that speaking in tongues happens. And
if I'm going to be very honest. Sometimes it happens
to me now and I'm not in church. It happens,
and it is the strangest thing, and somebody around me
witnessed it. Actually, my nail tech was doing my nails

(38:02):
and it happened, and she.

Speaker 2 (38:04):
Said, what the fuck is wrong with you? And I
was like, girl, nothing, no worry about it because I
know it's something over here happening. I know, I know.

Speaker 1 (38:23):
But we're just gonna keep it down because I don't
want to be daddy Grace. I'm just gonna have this podcast.
We're gonna do that.

Speaker 3 (38:28):
And there may be a new future for you. No,
I certainly lucrative.

Speaker 1 (38:33):
Listen, and I'm looking for a new way to get
multiple streams of income.

Speaker 3 (38:38):
Listen. One thing I love.

Speaker 2 (38:41):
Well.

Speaker 3 (38:41):
Yes, I don't know if I could be a full
time member, but I'll definitely come. But if you you
told me I had to come seven days a week,
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (38:48):
I don't want to be there seven days a week. Evan,
would you join my call? But yes, are you seven
days a week?

Speaker 3 (38:55):
So my thing is I feel like your coat would be.

Speaker 1 (38:59):
It would be dope. Yeah, it would be centered around music. Yeah,
I'm man listen music and good snacks. Who doesn't want that,
don't get me started.

Speaker 2 (39:13):
I will get to work in my plan.

Speaker 1 (39:15):
Listen, I'll go to Daddy Grace's grave and get the praying.

Speaker 3 (39:18):
People need saving though you know that's the thing, is
that people do need saving.

Speaker 1 (39:24):
But I think part of the problem, and the scary part,
is that people don't realize that nobody is coming to
save you. Yeah, nobody is coming to save us. And
I feel like black people, poor people are always or
disenfranchised people all over the world. It doesn't matter if
you're Irish, it doesn't matter if you are the original
people in New Zealand or Australia. It doesn't matter if

(39:48):
you are Mongolian people in the mountains of China, or
if you are Mexicans in Phoenix, with whoever you are,
Black people in Detroit, Baltimore, Atlanta, New Orleans, Nobody's coming
to save.

Speaker 2 (40:01):
Us, first and foremost. Now two, ain't nobody gonna save
us but us.

Speaker 1 (40:06):
Stop looking for somebody to save you, because all the
time that you expend looking for someone to come and
fix it for you or save it to you, you
could have been working on your plan right Shout.

Speaker 2 (40:16):
Out to Daddy Grace.

Speaker 1 (40:19):
Because he was like, fuck this, I an't wait, no
nobody to save me, let me figure this out. I
feel like if more people had that ideology and that
way of like processing how to live, there would be
less poverty.

Speaker 3 (40:37):
Yeah, because all it is.

Speaker 2 (40:38):
Is a fight against oppression.

Speaker 3 (40:40):
It is, but I do think I will say this
is Daddy Grace, is what it looks like when you
have no options.

Speaker 1 (40:49):
Well, I know a lot of people who don't have options,
no options, and you also have a blind faith and
determination and ambition and belief in yourself. But I think
that goes back to what I'm saying. If more people
had that, that's what I'm talking about, not if they
had not even the marketing strategies or the intelligence, but

(41:14):
if you had the faith in yourself to save yourself,
I think there would be a lot less poverty. I mean,
and I get it that there are systems in place
to keep people in people's oppressed. I get that right,
and to get people to believe that it's okay that

(41:35):
it's that way. But I think that if more people
had a blind faith or had an understanding that if
I don't do it for me, nobody's going to do
it for me.

Speaker 2 (41:45):
And I'm going to tell you why.

Speaker 1 (41:46):
I believe that that's important because there are systems put
in place to make you think that they're saving you.
Welfare in the seventies was set up so that poor people,
poor women, could believe that there's no way for me
to be successful unless I make sure that there are.

Speaker 2 (42:02):
No men in my house.

Speaker 1 (42:05):
I have these children with these men, but they can't
be living. They can't live in my house with the
children that they make, so that I can get government assistance.
And think about all the women and all the people,
and all the generations of children that are now mentally
codependent on this system. Listen, if more people realize that

(42:27):
nobody's coming to save us and not just and it's
nothing against people who believe that Jesus or Allah or
whoever is coming to save you. I want people to
have faith and believe in whatever. I want people to believe.

Speaker 2 (42:39):
In, whatever it is that they want to believe.

Speaker 1 (42:41):
But I, as someone who grew up in a church,
faith without works is dead. So if you do not
do the work for yourself, God got a lot of
shit on his plate, okay, or her plate. Whatever you
want to believe, listen. The sun gotta come up, the
sun gotta go down. You gotta walk, people gotta have babies,
people gotta die, people gotta run, people gotta win the Olympics.

(43:02):
Planes gotta fly, the wind has to blow. God is busy.

Speaker 2 (43:07):
Can you help.

Speaker 1 (43:08):
God out a little bit and do some of the
work yourself? And I think if more people stopped and said,
let me get it how I live, because that's all
Daddy Gray said.

Speaker 2 (43:17):
I'm finna get it how I live.

Speaker 1 (43:18):
Exactly, and he got it. How I wish I had
that kind of ambition. I need to channel it. I
need to go to his mausoleum and put some oil
on me or something, because I'm trying to get it
to how he lived me too. Maybe I will start
a Colts listen, don't get me started, don't even get
me started. That was a SNL reference nobody got in. Sorry,

(43:42):
but yes, I'm so glad that you. I'm so glad
we did this. And the only reason, the only reason
that I'm wrapping up is because I know that we
can't be here that long.

Speaker 3 (43:52):
No, we can't be here forever. Yeah, we can continue
to talk yes and keep yes. Seven days and you're
it's cool. It's a cult, right, so if it's a cult,
he's therefore commit. Yeah, we're committed.

Speaker 1 (44:04):
Can his girlfriend I was with, I don't want to
be called master or anything.

Speaker 2 (44:10):
Mistress, mistress.

Speaker 1 (44:12):
That sounds like I'm a domination. Let me work that,
Let me work that out. But I'm so glad that
you that we got to have this conversation.

Speaker 2 (44:21):
I'm excited.

Speaker 1 (44:22):
I feel like it's not quite finished, but this is
the start of the conversation.

Speaker 3 (44:27):
That's so funny that it doesn't feel complete. It doesn't well,
there's so many there's so many different layers. What we
talked about from that, you know, from Daddy Grace's perspective,
is one thing. Your family story is another thing, my
family story, telling our stories.

Speaker 2 (44:42):
It's so important.

Speaker 3 (44:42):
There's so many layers here. And I think that what
Daddy Grace did give to the world, and what I
would like for people to learn from his story is
that you do have the power. You do have the
power to create what you want. You do need to
create systems to ensure your legacy, but also whatever it.

Speaker 1 (45:07):
Is that you got to do the work that I
think that's where we falter as human beings. We don't
want to do the work with anything, and there is
no prize or there is no reward for not doing
any work.

Speaker 3 (45:20):
There is. This is why Daddy Grace worked to the
day he died. You know literally he yeah, literally.

Speaker 1 (45:26):
No, I know he listened. I listened to the podcast.
I know he did know about the last speech in
the bed.

Speaker 3 (45:30):
It's crazy, right, Yeah, do you know that in his
very last the very I mentioned it in the podcast,
but his very last letter to the church, he said,
you know, prepare because I'm going to be flying. I'm
going to be back on.

Speaker 2 (45:43):
The road soon.

Speaker 3 (45:44):
And he like the day that he said he was
getting on the road was the day he died.

Speaker 2 (45:48):
He was getting on the road to heaven.

Speaker 3 (45:51):
Yeah, he knew what he was doing. And he also said,
y'all need to get it together. That's basically what he said.
And y'all need to get the same exact thing that
you just said. You need to do it for.

Speaker 1 (45:59):
Yourself, to do it for yourself because nobody nobody coming
to save us.

Speaker 2 (46:04):
Nobody's coming to save.

Speaker 3 (46:05):
And also stop trying to save people, well, which is
a different that's serious.

Speaker 1 (46:11):
That that that those are two very important things to say,
but that is kind of like the premise of my
shows to tell stories in our community that don't often
get told to me. That's why this was a natural
fit to have you on the show and talk about this,
because not enough people know about him, and I don't

(46:31):
really know why his story isn't told, but well who
for who?

Speaker 3 (46:36):
Everybody? He had so many people first Adam Clinton, Paul
Senior and Junior hated him. They detested him. So there
were a lot of black elites that really could not
stand him. They felt like he was low class and uneducated.

Speaker 2 (46:52):
And you know, she think it was because he was
an immigrant.

Speaker 3 (46:54):
It was a combination.

Speaker 1 (46:55):
Sometimes people sometimes I'm not even gonna sometimes Black American
people can be nastygrants to black immigrants.

Speaker 3 (47:01):
It was partly because he was an immigrant, but it
was also because of the members of his congregation. They
felt like, you know, they had all the high falutin
people up you know, Riverside Drive at the church, you
know what I mean. So it was a different class
his church, Adam Clinton Powell scene and yeah there church.
So looking down at.

Speaker 1 (47:18):
Grace, looking at because Daddy Grace used to come to
the neighborhood where my family is from and say both
both families exactly. And I went to Newport. I know
about the neighborhood in Baltimore. It's still the hood, yeah,
very much.

Speaker 3 (47:30):
So all of the churches are in places Newport News.

Speaker 1 (47:33):
When I went there, I was like, well, there's a
lot of projects around here, all right. Are there any
high rises?

Speaker 2 (47:41):
No?

Speaker 3 (47:42):
None, there's only a few neighborhoods that where the church is.
That it's you know, changed significantly that you know, it's prospering.
Most of his churches are in the post. Yeah, but
they just needed.

Speaker 1 (47:55):
Yep, and that's where they should be because also, you know,
even though I say, like nobody's coming to save you,
people need hope.

Speaker 2 (48:02):
But sometimes when hope.

Speaker 1 (48:03):
Is misguided, it can turn into delusion, which is scary.

Speaker 2 (48:08):
MARTI, thank you so much.

Speaker 3 (48:10):
Thank you absolutely tell your stories.

Speaker 1 (48:14):
People, do your research. Find out who your family is.
I bet we're family.

Speaker 3 (48:20):
I bet we are. Yeah, it wouldn't take too much.

Speaker 1 (48:23):
On none of my things it says that I'm my
family's from Cabo Nor Does I love how I said it.

Speaker 3 (48:29):
Like, yeah, that was really good. See you are Cape Verdian.

Speaker 2 (48:32):
Or I just speak two different languages.

Speaker 3 (48:36):
Do you speak?

Speaker 1 (48:37):
It's a little bit of Spanish and a little bit
of French. Yeah, you got it, that's what it was.
Or it doesn't say that in any of them. It
doesn't say anything about Portuguese ancestry. I think I saw
something about Basque.

Speaker 3 (48:49):
Oh really interesting.

Speaker 2 (48:51):
That was weird. I don't even know what. I have
to look. I have to look. It's not a Nigeria
and is definitely the largest one.

Speaker 3 (49:02):
Related to my son, the largest portion of I've taken
a lot of those tests, and one of them said
that I was forty four percent.

Speaker 2 (49:12):
I was like, can I get a town or something?
Am I owed something? Please?

Speaker 3 (49:19):
To start your cult? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (49:22):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (49:22):
Oh town, No, I'll pass on that. I'm just gonna
keep helping the people around me. Okay, thank you again, Marcie,
thank you Evan for sitting for this engineering this.

Speaker 3 (49:39):
Ed got up, big up.

Speaker 2 (49:45):
And friends again.

Speaker 1 (49:46):
I will link in the show notes Marcy's podcast, and
I have a feeling that this won't be the last
time Marcy will be on me.

Speaker 3 (49:55):
My first, My god, I would love to come back.
This is so much fun.

Speaker 1 (49:57):
Absolutely because she's got the g That's why we're here now.

Speaker 2 (50:01):
I heard studios in New.

Speaker 3 (50:02):
York a studio. That's exactly what you need.

Speaker 2 (50:05):
We're in the Red Story studio. That's exactly where I
need to be.

Speaker 1 (50:28):
All right, friends again, So for today's straight fact question.
You know, this question is a little bit different. It's
not like our traditional or our usual question. I won't
say traditional because there's no traditional question, but it's not
like our usual question here on stray Fax, where you know,
they lay out the story, they're going to tell us
what's going on. It's a very specific question to a

(50:51):
listener's life or to the person's life. This is just
a very general question.

Speaker 2 (50:55):
And I love that.

Speaker 1 (50:57):
And that question is what are your I love that
they asked me. What are my unfiltered thoughts? What are
your What are your unfiltered thoughts on how to be
your authentic cell as far as sexuality that is not
commonly accepted? And that is from Anonymous in Atlanta.

Speaker 2 (51:20):
Well, let's get into this. Why don't we let me
read it again?

Speaker 1 (51:26):
What are your unfiltered thoughts on how to be your
authentic self as far as sexuality that is not commonly accepted? Well,
anonymous in Atlanta, Aia Ayah. Let's just say her name
is Ayah, Aia I'm gonna just say this your question,

(51:49):
let's take off the end. What are your unfiltered thoughts
on how to be your authentic self? Let me start there.
My unfiltered thoughts on how to be your authentic self
is to allow yourself the freedom to be your authentic self.
You can put anything on the end of that that

(52:09):
you want, as far as your sexuality that is not
commonly accepted, as far as someone who wants to have
a small dog instead of a large dog, as far
as someone who loves the efrenchise in their bed, as
far as someone who doesn't want to have a relationship
with their mother, as far as someone who thinks it's
okay to fart in front of your partner, as far
as someone who doesn't think it's okay to fart in
front of your partner. Whatever you put at the end

(52:31):
of that question, it's going to start with you allowing
yourself and you've given yourself the freedom to be your
authentic self. And at the end of the day, I
feel like we all deserve and have earned the right.

Speaker 2 (52:50):
To be who we are. First of all, being who
you are.

Speaker 1 (52:54):
Is free, Okay, So when it comes to your sexuality,
that is not commonly accepted. It's free to just be
who you are. Does that mean that being who you
are is going to be easy?

Speaker 3 (53:06):
No?

Speaker 2 (53:07):
Does that mean that being who you are is not
going to come with criticism and or feedback?

Speaker 3 (53:12):
No?

Speaker 1 (53:13):
Does that mean that being who you are is not
going to come with any repercussions or any there's cause
and effect, you know what I mean. But the reward
for sitting in the seat that God has declared for

(53:34):
you far outweighs the risk of, you know, doing something
that is not commonly accepted. If you feel in your
heart and your spirit and your mind, your body, your soul,
your bones, your toenails, that whatever sexual preferences or whatever

(53:56):
your sexuality looks like is for you. Fuck what anybody
else has to say. And I know sometimes that's hard
because some of us are people pleasers. I am a
recovering people pleaser. I know that's hard because we do
care about what people have to say, and we don't
want to disappoint people, and we don't want to upset people.

(54:17):
And we want people to like us, and we want
people to love us, and we want people to be understanding.

Speaker 2 (54:21):
But guess what, sometimes they ain't gonna be. Sometimes it's
not gonna always be what you want it to be.

Speaker 1 (54:32):
And so I think it boils down to what's more
important for me. It's important for me to be who
I am. It is if you could see the response
that I experience when I'm not able to be my
authentic self, or the response that I experience or that

(54:57):
I have when people around me are not being authentic,
and when it's egregious, like it's almost like my flesh
gets hot or starts to itch, and I gotta like
remove myself being who you are, being your authentic self.
First of all, you gotta figure that out. Okay, First

(55:18):
of all, figure it out who am I? And once
you figure that out, if I could be honest, the
work that it takes to figure out who you are,
you know, nobody ever talks about how hard it is
to figure yourself out, you know. And you know, I
have kids at my school who's like, I know who

(55:40):
I am?

Speaker 2 (55:42):
Child? Please?

Speaker 1 (55:43):
You don't even know how to wash your butthole right yet? Okay,
you're scared to tell somebody that you got discharge man
or woman? And what are they doing upstairs? Sounds like
they're having a river dance competition anyway. I just feel

(56:07):
like when it comes to being you, that is your assignment,
that's the assignment that God gave you. And I feel
like it is an full opposition of the job that
gave excuse me, the job that God gave you here
on this earth, in this realm, in this lifetime. To

(56:31):
not be who you are, it's in direct opposition of what.

Speaker 2 (56:37):
God wants for you.

Speaker 1 (56:39):
And so some people may not agree with that, especially
when you're talking about sexuality, because people don't go out
of their way, okay to make other people feel bad
about who they love. Listen, they gonna do that. Excuse me, Sorry,
I sniff like that that was inappropriate. I apologize. People

(57:00):
are gonna go out of their way. They're gonna use religion,
they're gonna use societal norms, they're gonna use race, they're
gonna use gender, they're gonna use class, they're gonna use
all of the things when it comes to other people, fucking,
sucking in, loving on other people, when in reality, it's
none of your damn business. But I fundamentally believe that

(57:24):
if you believe that this is what you want to do,
and this is what you feel is your you feel
like this is you. Whatever your sexuality may look like,
whatever your sexual preference is, that's your business, because I
can promise you that none of those people when it's

(57:44):
time to meet your maker, whoever it is you know,
whether you be Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, whatever it is you are,
when it's time to meet your you're an answer for.

Speaker 2 (58:02):
Your life. I can promise you that.

Speaker 1 (58:06):
Whoever your maker is, whoever your creator is, is not
going to say, oh, my child, the man that lived
down the street from you he liked men, and you
have to answer for the answer for that.

Speaker 2 (58:25):
It's not how it works.

Speaker 1 (58:26):
So I say that to say, be who you are,
and be proud of yourself, and be proud of the
courage that it takes to be your authentic self, because
it takes a lot of fucking courage to be your

(58:46):
authentic self in a.

Speaker 2 (58:48):
World that tells you that whoever you are is not enough.
It takes a lot of courage.

Speaker 1 (59:00):
Be brave, Be brave, because realistically, and I'm going to
close on this, realistically, what is the fucking alternative living
a life that's a lie. No no, no, no no,
that is sheer and utter, living your life that is

(59:25):
a lie, do you know the physical implications that that
is going to have on your body. We're not even
talking about your mental health. I'm not even talking about
your mental health, your emotional health, your social emotional wellbeing.
I'm talking about your physical person being somebody else. The

(59:48):
stress alone, your cortisol levels are going to be through
the roof, the stress that it's gonna the toll that
it takes on your physical body trying to be somebody else.
It's not worth it. And you deserve so much more.

(01:00:10):
Whoever I'm talking to, you deserve so much more.

Speaker 2 (01:00:13):
Just be you, Be you.

Speaker 1 (01:00:15):
The shit is free, It's awesome. And guess what, There
will be people to love you and like you just
as you are, regardless of your sexual preferences, regardless of
your sexuality, regardless if you dye your hair orange, regardless
if you dye your hair green, whoever you are, however

(01:00:35):
you are, somebody is gonna love you and like you.
But guess what the mother fucking key is for you
to like you? You gotta love you first. It ain't
no way you can love yourself when you out here
parading and pretending to be somebody that you're not. And
that's it. Because if you don't love yourself, how in

(01:00:58):
the hell is somebody else going to get it? Get
into that? Please? Okay, Happy fucking holidays to that. I
love y'all, ye friends and can. This quote comes from
a poet. Her name is Elizabeth Alexander. Elizabeth Alexander was
born in New York City, but she owes her wonder

(01:01:23):
to none other than Washington, d c. Shout out to
Chocolate fucking City, chocola city. Ain't that chocolate no more?
But that's a different story. I love that when I
am guided to some of these quotes and songs and
whatever it is I'm sharing with you, and that I

(01:01:43):
find during my research that I learned that so many
people come from right here in this area, or as
we say around here, right here, from this area this area. Yes,
that is a very regional way of saying area. We
say area. But anyway, I'm going to say this. If
you want to know more about Elizabeth Alexander, i'd say

(01:02:06):
google her. Just know that in twenty twenty two, Time
magazine named Elizabeth Alexander one of the one hundred most
influential people in the world. That's that's stern, honey, that's serious.
One of the most one hundred, one of one hundred

(01:02:28):
most one of the one hundred most influential people in
the world.

Speaker 2 (01:02:32):
That's heavy. Okay.

Speaker 1 (01:02:35):
Anyway, when I chose this quote, or I should say
when it chose me, I have to say that it
just fit perfectly with the close of this series or
this conversation, this series of conversations, or it was really
just one conversation and I just gave it to you.
In a series that I have with Marci, Marcy Depina
told the story. She was brave enough and bold enough

(01:02:58):
to tell the story of a sweet Daddy Grace, who
was a man that I feel we should all know about,
just based on the barriers that he was able to
knock down in this country being black. Whether he felt
like he's black or not, that's none of my business.
But I think he understood that he was a black man, black,

(01:03:20):
He was an immigrant, he was an African immigrant, and
not to mention he was something else, honey, he was
something else. He was on some other stuff. Okay, And
I want.

Speaker 2 (01:03:39):
I really google him and see what you can find.

Speaker 1 (01:03:44):
Google him and see if there's a United House of
Prayer in your area, because they'd be selling dinners on
Sunday and on Friday, So go get some goods of food.

Speaker 2 (01:03:52):
Dooobe banging. Anyway, let's get into this quote.

Speaker 1 (01:03:56):
Elizabeth Alexander said this, and like I said, I feel
like it resonates and it's a good way to close
out this series of words that Marcy and I shared.
It says, and I quote, these women heal us by
telling our stories, by embodying emotion that our every days

(01:04:21):
can't hold. Come on, now, come on, let me say something.
I took that a little personal in a good way

(01:04:43):
because I feel like, here I hand me my purse,
and in any and everything that I do, when I
use my voice, when i'm speaking and when i'm sharing,
I'm trying to tell our stories because it's important to
tell our stories because that's how we heal. I feel
like that's how we heal. This is so crazy because

(01:05:04):
I said this, and it's in my bio.

Speaker 2 (01:05:08):
For handing my purse. It's in my bio.

Speaker 1 (01:05:10):
And I say that by sharing our stories, we heal ourselves,
and we hear heal excuse me, our communities. This lady
said these, and I quote again, these women heal us
by telling our stories by embodying emotion that our every
days can't hold. Child, I don't even know who these

(01:05:32):
women are that she's talking about, but I don't need to.
I don't need to, because these women are me, These
women are you. These women are my ancestors. These women
are my elders. These women are your ancestors, your elders,
the older women that work at your job. Shit, sometimes
it might be the younger women that work at your job.

(01:05:54):
These women are us, and it's our responsibility to heal
our community. And as poet Elizabeth Alexander said, these women
heal us by telling our stories, by embodying emotion that
our every days can't hold. I want that on a
T shirt. I want it on a T shirt. Before

(01:06:22):
I get into saying thank you, thank you, thank you,
I have an announcement, So get ready. I am going
on a break for the holidays, which is something that
I do historically. Here, I hand me my purse the podcast.
Because life gets to lifing around December, a lot of

(01:06:42):
things happen. My best friend's birthday is in December, so
I be having a good time. Okay, life also gets
to life and because you know, sometimes during the holidays,
I get a little sad. And this year's the first
year that I will be spending my Christmas without hearing
my grandmother's voice, without seeing her face, without being able
to touch her. Huger, Okay, sir. So I'm just anticipating that,
you know, maybe I just need some time to be still, Okay,

(01:07:08):
And so that's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna be still,
and you should be still too, or you don't have
to be I'm gonna be still, though. I'm gonna be still.
You don't have to do anything either way. Gonna be still,
Gonna work on doing some rest and some resting and

(01:07:31):
some reflecting.

Speaker 2 (01:07:33):
I'm going to.

Speaker 1 (01:07:36):
Really start to focus and prepare myself for the new year.
Basketball season starts very soon. Remember I coach high school cheerleading,
and basketball season is intense. So I just really want
to focus on closing out the year with a grateful
heart and with a peaceful spirit. I spend a lot

(01:07:57):
of my time, like I said, focus on rest, relaxation,
and reflection. I have to reflect on what has happened
in twenty twenty three, look at some things that I
could have done differently, celebrate the things that I feel
like I did wonderfully and prepare for a new year
of creating those kind.

Speaker 2 (01:08:17):
Of moments all over again.

Speaker 1 (01:08:18):
You know, taking time out for my own self care
is really essential for my.

Speaker 2 (01:08:25):
Mental health and well being.

Speaker 1 (01:08:26):
And I suggest that you do the same thing. And
one thing I'm gonna do is I'm gonna take care
of me.

Speaker 2 (01:08:33):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (01:08:34):
Self care is essential. It is what I do, and
I'm gonna do it every single time. So we will
be going on a two week break and we will
return on January the second with a brand new, fresh
episode for y'all with some hot out the fish grease
energy ready to tackle the new year. The question is
will you be ready? The answer is you got two

(01:08:56):
weeks to get ready, damn it, so do so. Okay,
now let's go ahead and get into these thank yous.
Why don't we let's move forward. The first thing that
I want to say is thank you to God first,
because God is supreme. God is everything. God is my everything,
and whether you acknowledge it or not, God is your
everything too, Okay, And I recognize and appreciate the grace

(01:09:18):
that God extends to me every single day.

Speaker 2 (01:09:19):
Of my black, fat ass life.

Speaker 1 (01:09:23):
Okay, I want to say thank you, to my people,
to each and every one of you that's been rocking
with me since day one, and that is since March
the first of twenty twenty. Thank you, I thank you,
I thank you. I trulyate appreciate you for being here.
It sounds like I said, I truly eate. Maybe that
should be a word.

Speaker 2 (01:09:42):
I truly ate. I like that, Okay, I like it
girl bad.

Speaker 1 (01:09:47):
Anyway, I truly ate you for being here, which means
I truly appreciate you for being here. And even if
you just started listening to day or last week or
last month, I thank you for that as well. I'm
grateful either way you cut it up, I am grateful,
and I'm thankful for my family. I'm thankful for my friends,
my friends and Ken, all my supporters, all my supporters, and.

Speaker 2 (01:10:08):
Of course, most importantly.

Speaker 1 (01:10:10):
Every single one of you out here listening to hand
me might purse the podcast. I actually love you, guys,
like deep down from the bottom of my heart, and
it is nothing short of an honor and a privilege
to share my time and energy with you every single.

Speaker 2 (01:10:27):
Week, especially if you keep coming back.

Speaker 1 (01:10:29):
Though, like I don't think I think that y'all think
that just because I say this over and over every week,
and I say the same thing. You know, I might
cut it up a little different, and I julie in it.
I might, you know, chop it or dice it, But
essentially I'm saying the same thing that I'm grateful and
I'm appreciative of you, and I thank you.

Speaker 2 (01:10:48):
But I don't think you understand how much it means
to me that you keep coming back.

Speaker 1 (01:10:53):
For those of y'all that keep coming back and keep listening,
it means so fucking much to me. I don't even
know how to explain it, but it does. It means
a lot. I'll be trying to explain it, and I'm gonna
keep on trying. I look forward to the next time
that we get to do this with one another, which
will be on January the second, two thy twenty four. Now,
before you exit out of whatever streaming service you're using

(01:11:15):
to listen to this, stop what you're doing. If you
haven't already done so, look for the subscribe or follow button.
Click on it if that's an option on the streaming
service where you're listening, And next, I want you to
go over to Instagram follow me at hand me my
purse Underscore podcast. Follow me on threads. You can find
threads on my Instagram profile. Just look for where you

(01:11:36):
see my name right under my Instagram profile picture.

Speaker 2 (01:11:40):
Click on it.

Speaker 1 (01:11:40):
Follow me on threads, threads to smun I love it Facebook,
just search hand Me my Purse the podcast, And if
you're listening on a streaming service or medium that allows
you to do so, please please, you want to give
me something for Christmas, you want to do something nice
for me for the holidays, Rate and review Hand Me
my Purse the podcast or give it a thumbs up or.

Speaker 2 (01:11:59):
Whatever it takes.

Speaker 1 (01:12:01):
Leave a review, reviews, make make me happy, leave a review. Okay, friends, again,
be sure to share Handing the podcast with your friends,
your loved ones, and even the people who get on
your fucking nerves that you don't like. Because the best
way for people to find out about this show is
by you, guys telling them all about it.

Speaker 2 (01:12:18):
So what what should they do? What should they do?

Speaker 1 (01:12:24):
They should tell a friend, to tell a friend, to
tell a friend. I want you to submit your questions
for the straight Facts segment by clicking on the link
and the show notes that says submit a question for
Straight Facts.

Speaker 2 (01:12:35):
Who with a thunk?

Speaker 1 (01:12:36):
It, or you can click the link in my Instagram
profile and look for the button that says submit a
question for straight facts like It's real simple. I've tried
to make it really easy over here for y'all. Who
knows your question may be featured on an upcoming show. Also,
remember that show notes are always available in the episode description.
Wherever you are listening to Hand Me my Purse, be

(01:12:57):
sure to take a look at the show notes because that,
my friends and my kin is where I put all
of the links and any other information that I mentioned
during the show that you may want to check out,
in addition to some stuff that I just might want
to share with you that I think is cool. Also,
just so you know, the music for Him my Purse
is provided by none other than West Baltimore's own Gloomy Tunes.

(01:13:20):
I want to give a shout out to Gloomy Tunes,
but I'm going to tell you why. At my school,
my school is a six through twelve right in the
heart of West Baltimore, there were some gentlemen. We used
to have a music program at my school. I can't
tell you what it was called, but I thought it
was really weird A little bit corny and the kids
really liked it, and I was like, whatever, anything to

(01:13:40):
keep them off the streets. And they're doing something that
they like. Two of the young men who were in
that music program, and the music program was rant by
all white people.

Speaker 2 (01:13:54):
I was like, what is this.

Speaker 1 (01:13:56):
I'll tell you what though, two of the young men
that were in that program they created all of the
music that you hear on this podcast. I like to
pay it forward. I like to look out for my people.
I like to look out for the kids that I
work with. And I just want to say, if I

(01:14:16):
am being grateful and showing gratitude, I want to say
thank you to Gloomy Tunes because they kind of laid
the foundation and they were here from me and here
with me from the very beginning. So shout out to
Gloomy Tunes, and shout out to West Baltimore, and shout
out to that music program. And I don't remember what

(01:14:37):
it was called, but shout out to that music program
and the rich white guy who started it and who
ran it. I think his name is Kenny. But anyway,
I digress. Last, but not least, I want to give
a big oh shout out to Rando Banjo in the

(01:14:58):
dirty throats.

Speaker 2 (01:14:58):
That's me, my producers.

Speaker 1 (01:15:02):
I hope that all of you have a wonderful holiday season,
and please do nice things for yourself, and do nice
things for the ones that you love, and do nice
things for.

Speaker 2 (01:15:12):
The people that you like to.

Speaker 1 (01:15:14):
I will see all of you in twenty twenty four
with a new focus, a new mindset, a new smile,
a new renewed sense of gratitude and appreciation, a new
love of self, because those things should be new, a
new love of self. I love you all so much,

(01:15:34):
and I look forward to you, looking forward to listening
to Hand Me my Purse the podcast.

Speaker 2 (01:15:40):
Let me say this way. Wait wait wait wait wait
wait wait hold up, hold up.

Speaker 1 (01:15:45):
During this break, go back and check out the catalog. Okay,
during this break, go back and listen to listen to
some shows show number two through forty nine. That's your
Homework two through forty nine. Listen to some of the
bonus episodes that I usually do during the holidays. Listen

(01:16:08):
to episodes two through forty nine, not all of them
if you don't want to, but check some of them out.
Some of my favorites are episode ten, episode twelve, and thirteen,
Episode fifteen, No, No, No No. Episode sixteen, episode seventeen, episode

(01:16:33):
twenty three and twenty four, Episode twenty, episode twenty two,
episode twenty nine, episode thirty nine. Just go back and
check the catalog out, okay, because there's some good shit

(01:16:55):
in there, some good conversations that I had. An episode
that people love is episode forty one. I was talking
to my cousins and three of them are divorced and child.
They had a lot to say, okay, and my other
cousin was there and she is currently married, and it
was just an interesting time.

Speaker 2 (01:17:16):
But I love y'all.

Speaker 1 (01:17:20):
And as I said, whereas I was saying, I look
forward to you looking forward to listening to hand Me
My Purse the podcast, And the next time you will
get a new episode, we'll be on January the two,
twenty twenty four, and I'm out this bitch.

Speaker 2 (01:17:37):
Piece.

Speaker 1 (01:17:45):
Handy My Purse is a production of iHeart Podcasts. For
more shows from ihart Podcasts, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

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No. 76: Who is Sweet Daddy Grace - The Man, The Myth, The Legend w/Marcy DePina. PART THREE.

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}No. 76: Who is Sweet Daddy Grace - The Man, The Myth, The Legend w/Marcy DePina. PART THREE.