“A mother’s love, pain, and fight for the right.”

The names we must say include Jelani Day. Missing, unresolved….no justice, no peace. What we thought the day’s discussion would be changed after Carmen Bolden Day spoke in the first hour. Fat Meat Friday’s Reflectivity with Gina A Towns on The Jesse Jackson Jr Show. KBLA TALK 1580 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'm Jackson Junior looking forward to the Jackson Really of
fifteen eighty. Today on the Jesse Jackson Junior Show, we
are still reflecting upon what's taking place in the nation
and the body politic, and that is the state of
Texas and their mid decade redistricting efforts are now encouraging

(00:26):
and creating attention that's forcing Democratic governors to consider redistricting
in their states. If you listen carefully to the rhetoric
between Democrats and Republicans, neither side is mentioning the Voting
Rights Act of nineteen sixty five. We're largely locked within

(00:48):
the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party usually carries our interests,
but because we have not been able to on the
question of what it means to have black representation, to
make the distinction that we are actually, as black people,
independent Democrats, which means there are those moments in political

(01:11):
discourse when our interests are not solely represented by the
Democratic Party. The governor of California says that in light
of texas As redistricting, he's looking at redistricting the entire
state of California in order to offset the number of
seats that Texas Republicans think they will gain by targeting

(01:32):
for African American congressional districts. Jabe Pritzker in the state
of Illinois has now signaled that the State of Illinois
may reconsider its map New York, New Jersey. What they
are not saying is that they have to take blacks
out of safe African American congressional districts and move them

(01:57):
to Republican districts, hence diluting the significance of the voice
of African American representation in the Congress of the United States.
We've seen this game played before during First Reconstruction, when
more than a dozen African American men pursuing too the
Fifteenth Amendment were elected to the Congress of the United

(02:18):
States after the Tilden Hayes Compromise, another Democratic and Republican
Party compromise where they did not take into account the
interests of the newly freed people after the American Civil War,
by the early nineteen twenties, I think it would be
Oscar de Priest from Illinois who would signal the end

(02:39):
of African American representation in the Congress of the United States.
We are looking at a similar period right now. It's
taking place as Johnny Max said yesterday in time, because
in the present we don't understand that over time, the
things that are happening in time have tremendous ramifications and

(03:02):
consequences for African American representation. I can't say enough about
that because too many of us are silent. This is
what happened yesterday in the Texas redistricting map. They drew
Jasmine Crockett out of her congressional district, a safe Democratic
district that allows her to have the voice that she

(03:24):
has in the Congress of the United States. By changing
the demographics of the representation and the people that she represents,
it literally changes her voice if she chooses to stay
in Congress, or she can go to court and fight
the Texas plan, which would be extremely expensive, arguing, of
course that the Voting Rights Act of nineteen sixty five

(03:45):
protects her district and this is an unusual process being
advanced by the state of Texas. But imagine if in
California Maxine Waters now has to go to court, or
imagine in Illinois if Danny Davis has to go to court,
or Jonathan Jackson or Robin Kelly has to go to court.
Imagine in the state of New York. If Greg Meeks

(04:07):
now has to go to court. Imagine in South Carolina,
if Jim Cliburn has to go to court. Imagine if
African Americans in Congress in Alabama, Bennie Thompson and Mississippi,
African Americans in Georgia all have to go to court
arguing that to pack their districts with MAGA Republicans essentially
either changes their voice or they simply can't win in

(04:29):
their congressional districts. This argument and this fight isn't going anywhere,
but it's something that our best and brightest minds are
going to have to turn their attention to. They're sixty
two African Americans in the Congress of the United States
at this hour. There are dozens, if not hundreds of
African American legislators whose districts are behind or within as

(04:54):
subsets of African American congressional districts. Their lines will change too. Hence,
Black state legislators and Black state senators, their voices too,
will change if the Voting Rights Act of nineteen sixty
five is indeed struck down. I didn't want to start

(05:14):
our program today by talking about this issue, but the
fact of the matter is, this issue isn't going anywhere,
and we're going to be struggling with it for quite
some time because the very effectiveness of our representation at
every level of the government itself could be at stake.
Governor Gavin Newsom went so far as to say today
that he is not sure if we don't put up

(05:37):
a fight right now, that there will even be a
presidential election in twenty twenty eight. On the Jesse Jackson
Junior Show, when we come forward, a very very serious issue,
an unresolved investigation regarding Jalani Day. Today we're going to
celebrate his life, but we're also going to hear from

(05:59):
his mother and her long fought battle to ensure that
her son gets justice. I'm Jesse Jackson Junior on KBLA
Talk fifteen eighty or listening to the Jesse Jackson Junior
Show when we come forward, Carmen Bolden Day. I'm Jesse
Jackson Junior. Welcome forward to the Jesse Jackson Junior Show

(06:20):
on KBLA Talk fifteen eighty. Our very special guest in
this hour is Carmen Bolden Day. She's the mother of
Jelanni Day, twenty five year old graduate student someone who
had a lot to live for whose body was found
in the Illinois River after a period of disappearance. She's
been actively seeking answers and justice for her son, believing

(06:42):
that his death was not a suicide as authorities initially suggested.
Carmen has publicly spoken out about the condition of Jelani's body,
which was found with missing organs and facial features, and
has questioned the police investigation itself. She's also highlighted the
disparity in media attention given to her son's case compared
to other missing person cases like Gabby Patito. Carmen is

(07:05):
dedicated to raising awareness for many other cases and has
started a foundation, the Jelani Dave Foundation, to assist families
who are going through some extraordinarily difficult times in their
battles for justice. Carmen, welcome forward to the Jesse Jackson
Junior Show.

Speaker 2 (07:23):
Thank you, thank you for having me.

Speaker 1 (07:25):
I am so honored that you are here. First, let
me express our sincerest concerns for your lost and I
want to thank you in a special way for reaching
out to Tavis Smiley here at KBLA so that we
could share some light on your case and your son
and this situation.

Speaker 3 (07:43):
Well, I appreciate you and Tavis for helping me get
some light onto this.

Speaker 1 (07:49):
I also want to thank, in his absence, my father,
the Reverend Jesse Jackson, who has stood with you in
the past and would be standing with you, but given
his life to health availability and concerns, wants me to
send you his prayers and wants you to continue this
fight for justice for your son.

Speaker 2 (08:11):
Yes, I appreciate that. Rev. Means a lot to me.

Speaker 3 (08:13):
If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have gotten the
exposure and the things that I needed to give Jelani's
name out there.

Speaker 2 (08:21):
So I'm very appreciative of Reverend Jackson.

Speaker 1 (08:24):
Carmen, can you share with us what the status of
the investigation is and what the status what you've heard
lately or if you've heard anything since Jilanie's disappearance lately.

Speaker 3 (08:37):
I haven't heard anything right now. The case is still open. However,
the investigation is inactive. I am seeking and I'm wanting
there to be the investigation. I've asked the Attorney General
to put a special prosecutor or new eyes on the case,

(09:02):
which would be on the police departments. Per the Attorney General,
he can't help me with any of this. So I
am needing assistance. I'm needing guidance to know what it
is that I can do and who I can.

Speaker 2 (09:15):
Get to help me.

Speaker 3 (09:16):
I'm reached out to the governor, the Lieutenant governor. However,
I have not had any help, Carmen.

Speaker 1 (09:26):
Has the investigation yielded any new evidence any Have any
people stepped forward, anyone with a narrative, a story that
might shed some light on what could have happened.

Speaker 2 (09:40):
No, not, as I know of everything.

Speaker 3 (09:43):
When there has been individuals that quote unquote leads the
police say that they amount to nothing, that they go anywhere,
that they don't go anywhere.

Speaker 2 (09:52):
However, there are things that I have.

Speaker 3 (09:54):
Pointed out to them that should be investigated and they
have not been. For example, for example, Julanie's car, the
YMCA where the car was found. Then when that car
was found that evening, per the police, the video cameras
at that YMCA did not work. However, on September the fourth,

(10:18):
I found out that those video.

Speaker 4 (10:21):
Work.

Speaker 3 (10:22):
We did retrieve video. I did tell the police that
they needed to go back and they needed to retrieve it. However,
I found out in February of twenty twenty two, that
the police did not even try to go to get
that video on till January of twenty and twenty two.
So from September of twenty twenty one, they never went

(10:44):
there to return to get that video. And on that
video there is a vehicle that is leaving that area
that should be looked at.

Speaker 2 (10:51):
And I've given and like I said, we recorded it
with our phones.

Speaker 3 (10:54):
The police never went back to retrieve that video again
until January of the next year. So by the time
they went back, the YMCA had recorded over it. So
it's things like that that was not done and that
should have been looked at. We still do have those
videos of that vehicle that was leaving that area. However,

(11:14):
the police are acting as if that's not important information.
That's something that they should look at.

Speaker 1 (11:19):
Carmen, share more about who your son was, what he
was like. We know that he was a graduate student,
and again our audience primarily today in Los Angeles, but
of course available around the world by app, would like
to know more specifics about what kind of man, what
kind of young man your son was.

Speaker 3 (11:41):
Julannie was a very articulate, outgoing, family oriented young man.
He was focused, he had goals, and he had dreams,
and he was going. He was out trying to pursue
those things he had.

Speaker 2 (11:59):
He loved life.

Speaker 3 (12:01):
Julanni was protective of me and his father. So nothing
that would have indicated that Jolynni would harm himself was
ever there. Jelannie wouldn't have harmed himself there. He had
no kind of mental health history. Jelanni was very, very,

(12:22):
very lively. He enjoyed being around his family and friends.
Like I said, my son was just focused. He was
focused on life. The last time I spoke to him,
we were actually getting ready for a family.

Speaker 4 (12:37):
Trip.

Speaker 3 (12:37):
We were going to Florida for Thanksgiving, and I was
just getting on Jolynni that day about paying his part
because I usually take care of him. He was the
youngest of my one of the youngest of my five children,
so you know, I was getting on him that day.
I was like, Jolinna, you gotta pay your part, and
he was like, okay, Mama. And you know, we talked
all day on that Monday. So there was nothing wrong

(12:59):
with Jolanni that would have done anything to himself.

Speaker 1 (13:03):
I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry to hear that is
there a was there any interest I know that the
local police department has been significantly absent or not forthcoming
in some of the aspects of the investigation thus far.
But has there been any interest by the federal government
or the Department of Justice in Jelanie's case.

Speaker 3 (13:26):
No, I saw help from the Department of Justice. Before
this new administration came in. I tried to get in
contact with Kristen Clark on several different occasions. Reverend Jackson
was trying to set up meetings with her.

Speaker 2 (13:42):
It was unsuccessful.

Speaker 3 (13:44):
During the time when Jelanni went initially missing, the FBI
did a behavioral analysis on Jolanni. They wanted to analyze
what his mindset was. That's all of the help. That's
the only help that I received from the FBI, according
to or the contact that I made with them. According

(14:09):
to the police, the FBI could not become involved. It
didn't cross state lines, is what they told me. I
don't understand that part, because again, the way the circumstances
of Julnie's disappearance and is death, it does require that
the FBI come in, or it should have required that

(14:30):
the FBI to come in and help. At that same time,
when Jehlne went missing, Gaby Patitot went missing. She got
all that focus and the the attention, the resources, and
nobody couldn't tell you anything about Jeline because he wasn't
hearing his name on the news where you were seeing
her every day, all day, social media, the news, so well,

(14:54):
we didn't get anything about Jolanni Carmen.

Speaker 1 (14:57):
Were there any Were there any indicatorations that Jelanni may
have been in any kind of struggle with law enforcement,
or any chance that in the area in which he
was recovered his civil rights may have been violated that
would have compelled the US government, the FBI to further

(15:22):
investigate Jelani's case.

Speaker 2 (15:26):
I would think so.

Speaker 3 (15:27):
I actually said that to said to the Attorney General
a couple of weeks ago, that Jelani's civil rights and
his civil liberties have been violated because he did not
receive the attention or the help that from the police
departments that.

Speaker 2 (15:46):
That he deserved when Jelanni went missing. It took me.

Speaker 3 (15:52):
At least a good five hours to even get them
to help me to file a missing person's report. From there,
they never even conducted a search for Jelani. Those searches
that were done on behalf of my son were conducted
by myself.

Speaker 2 (16:09):
The search that found that body on that day was.

Speaker 3 (16:11):
At my insistence that they invite the Illinois Search and
Rescue be invited to help search because the police were
not doing anything. So yes, those things there, I feel
like would constitute involvement from the federal from the federal government,
but however they did not.

Speaker 1 (16:33):
Carmen, we often hear other high profile cases, and certainly
the Jelanni Davids case is certainly the Johnny Day case
is certainly one of them. But I guess I'm asking
that there are a number of cases that you correctly state,
like the Potito case, that get all of the attention,
while Jelani's case simply didn't. And now that you've established

(16:54):
the Jelani Day Foundation, I'm wondering if you are now
meeting more parents, more people whose cases aren't getting the
light but obviously deserve the light based upon the uniqueness
of your struggle and your fight for justice.

Speaker 3 (17:11):
I have there are parents that have reached out to me,
but to be totally transparent and honest with you, I
haven't been able to give them the attention that they
are asking of me because I've been trying to get
the attention for myself for my son, and it's often
been very hard because going through this journey on a

(17:32):
daily basis and having to deal with the fact that
I'm never going to get Jolnnie back and I don't
know what happened to him.

Speaker 2 (17:39):
It's hard.

Speaker 3 (17:40):
And so the foundation is something that I want to
make sure that does provide that assistance. But in order
for me to be able to help others, I'm trying
to first help myself, but at the same time, I
want to help other families. I want to help other
mothers because this is something that I would not want
them to have to experience, especially to have to experience alone.

(18:02):
So I'm trying to gain the knowledge and make the
connections so that I'm able to help those families if
I might.

Speaker 1 (18:10):
And I really don't mean or intend to go any
deeper into the facts of the case than you want to,
as Jelani's mother, but feel free to share with us
some of the awkward, if you will, some of the
irreconcilable aspects of the case thus far that leave you baffled,

(18:33):
leave us baffled, and leave us continually asking questions of
the investigators.

Speaker 3 (18:40):
First of all, they said that Jelanni drowned. There was
no water found in Jelani's lungs, so he couldn't have drowned.
Jelanie's car was found in a residential neighborhood behind a YMCA.
It was not off of a highway. Therefore, Jelanie would
have had to have knowledge. According if we go the
narrative that the police wanted to tell me that Jelnni

(19:03):
did this so himself, that Jelani would have driven himself
into this area, which was not possible because Julnni was
not familiar with Peru.

Speaker 2 (19:13):
His car was found without the license plates.

Speaker 3 (19:16):
What person committing suicide would want to read, that's the
first thing that they would think about, was would be
removing their license plates. His wallet was found in the yard,
His lanyard was found in one area. His clothing was
found a mouth from where his body was found, and
his clothing wasn't found until September twenty second. And they

(19:39):
were found by two white girls who said that they
were quote unquote wanting to help me because they had
been watching things on the social media. However, they went
all the way to Peru from Bloomington to walk their
dog and this is where they found Julanni's clothing.

Speaker 2 (19:59):
Car phone.

Speaker 1 (20:01):
Carmen, that way, We're gonna let me pause for station identisation.
I'm Jesse Jackson Junior, listening to the Jesse Jackson Junior
Show on KBLET Talk fifteen eighty. When we come back
more with Carmen Bolden Day, I'm Jesse Jackson Junior. Welcome
forward to the Jesse Jackson Junior Show on BLA Talk
fifteen eighty. Our very special guest on this program is
Carmen Bolden Day. Carmen lost her son, Jelannie Day, who

(20:22):
went missing on August twenty fourth, twenty twenty one, and
his body was found in the Illinois River two days later.
Carmen Bolden Day suspects file play in her son's death
and believes the police investigation was inadequate. She's publicly discussed
the disturbing condition of Jelanie's body, including the absence of
organs and facial features. She's used social media, interviews and

(20:43):
public appearances to raise awareness about Jelanie's case and advocate
for justice. Carmen has publicly discussed everything that she can
as a mother and therefore everything that we know tears
at our very hearts. About her loss. She's used everything
social media, interviews, public appearances to raise awareness about Johnnie's

(21:05):
case and advocate for justice. And now she is on
the Jesse Jackson Junior Show asking for all of our health. Carmen,
welcome forward to the Jesse Jackson Junior Show. Thank you
for having me, Carmen. How can we support the Jilani
Dave Foundation.

Speaker 3 (21:24):
One way you can support us through Right now we're
looking for funding. So we're trying to raise money for
the Jolanni Day Foundation in order for us to be
able to make sure that we're able to help families.
So we are asking people to donate.

Speaker 2 (21:40):
Donate. Donate.

Speaker 3 (21:43):
You can donate by going to our website, which is
the Jolanni Dayfoundation dot org. On that website there is
a link where they can donate. We just need all
of the help that we can right now to make
sure that the Jolanni Day Foundation and is the foundation
that when you think of Jolani, when you think of

(22:04):
missing people, you will see Jolanni Day. I want Jolnni
Day to be the missing people what Susan b Coman
is to breast cancer. That's how large I want Jolni ineffective.
And impactful that I want Jolanni to be.

Speaker 1 (22:17):
So proud that you're remembering him in this way and
with the intent to help lots and lots of people.
So we're going to come back several times between now
and the end of our show to the Jelani Dayfoundation
dot org. I believe it's the Jelani Dayfoundation dot org.
There is a link on the website where you can
give individual contributions, and of course they accept contributions from corporations,

(22:39):
they accept contributions from not for profits, and they accept
contributions from average ordinary people, no matter how small, no
matter how big. The Jelani Day Foundation is an important
part of all of our lives because Jelani was involved
in mankind. Jilani was a part of us, and man's

(23:00):
death diminishes me, or every man's death diminishes me, because
we are all involved in this struggle together. Carmen, You've
got to know that our love is with you. In
reading some aspects of Jilani's life, he was a graduate student.
What was he studying.

Speaker 3 (23:17):
He was studying speech pathology. He was going to school
to be a speech pathologist. He wanted to be doctor.

Speaker 1 (23:22):
Jelanni Day he wanted to be doctor, Jilani day. So
was he in a PhD program, a master's program?

Speaker 2 (23:30):
He was in his master's program, Yes he was, but with.

Speaker 1 (23:33):
The future in pursuing possible, he.

Speaker 2 (23:36):
Was in a graduate program.

Speaker 3 (23:38):
He had already received his white coat, so he was.
He was starting his clinicals to go in to be
a doctor, yes, sir.

Speaker 1 (23:48):
And so the no please just call me Jesse. So
the circumstances of someone who has aspirations tied to helping
other people, tied to speech pathology, meaning studying the speech
of other people. The idea that suddenly he felt so
bad about himself or his condition that he would take

(24:10):
his own life is it's just almost patently absurd.

Speaker 3 (24:15):
It's just plain asinine to even think that Jelanne would
want to hurt himself. Jelanni had too much to live for,
too much to live for. At the time, Jelanni's father
had cancer. And I have five children, Jilanni, I have
three boys. Jelani was the closest match to his dad.
Jelanni was coming to take his dad to his doctor's appointments.

(24:38):
Jelanni was coming home just to take my mom's garbage out.
So Jelanni was not going to do anything to harm himself,
especially when this was going on. He was he was
the closest match, like I said, to his father, So
they wanted their dad to get better. So there was
nothing that Jelanne wouldn't have done to make sure that

(24:59):
that happened. And when this happened to Jilani, unfortunately it
took away his father. We lost Jolanni in August and
we lost their father in April.

Speaker 1 (25:15):
You gave I'm so sorry. Let me let me talk
about the community, the community's response. What has been the
response of the community to Jilani's death.

Speaker 3 (25:27):
Everybody wants to know, just like I want to know
what happened to Jolanni. I invited and I extended Julanni
and shared him with everyone. So I wanted people to
put themselves in my shoes at the time, and I
still want them to and imagine if this was your son,
or your nephew or your grandson, what would you do

(25:49):
and what would you want to know if your son
just up and disappeared and they can give you no answers,
They are providing no help or no assistance, no resources
to you to find out what happened to your child.
How would that make you feel? And what would you do?
Because I can't sleep and I don't function well. There
are things about me that are not the same anymore.

(26:13):
I lost a very important part of me.

Speaker 1 (26:15):
I understand, Carmen, we all do understand. But you also
gained us. You gained the process, You gained people who care,
You gain a community of love and support. And we're
never going to forget Jelani's life or his work, what
he represented to the community, and the potentiality and the

(26:37):
possibilities that he represented for for our future. His death
has diminished all of us. Tell us a little bit
about Jilani's dad. You brought up that he was in
his own struggle with health and that he gave up.

Speaker 3 (26:55):
When there are pictures of Jilani and his dad and
well all siblings, that his dad's birthday was August the twelfth,
And you look at the pictures and you see save A,
and you see him. He looks he looks healthy, he
looks happy, He doesn't even look sick. That night on
the twenty fifth, when we received that phone call, when

(27:17):
I saw him that next day on the twenty sixth,
it looked like he didn't look like himself. It looked
like life had drained out of him. He actually started
looking sick. This took a toll on him because, like
I said, my children are all close and they were
extremely close to both me and their dad, and so Jelyn,

(27:41):
like I said, Jelani was absolutely he would check on
his dad. He called his dad all the time. So
when he went missing, it really took an effect on
his father.

Speaker 1 (27:52):
We have just a couple of minutes before we close,
but can you share with us more about how we
can be supportive and how we can contribute to the
Jeelani Day Foundation.

Speaker 2 (28:00):
Absolutely.

Speaker 3 (28:01):
We actually have a gala, a fundraising gala that's coming
up on August. It's going to be Saturday, August of
twenty third, is going to be in broad View, Illinois,
where you will be my guest keynote speaker. And I'm
so thankful that you have You have a actually said

(28:25):
that you would do this for us, and we are
so grateful for that. But we're asking everybody if they
can and will to come out and support us on
that night. That's going to be an evening to we
also to honor Jilanni, but also to know that we
staying and we're fighting for justice for him. You will
know that we have There's a bill that's in Jilani's name.

(28:46):
It's Senate Bill thirty nine thirty two. What that bill
entells is that if someone is found in the state
of Illinois and their body is not identified within this
first seventy two hours, the FBI has to become involved.
So those are things that we are are wanting to
celebrate and also highlight. So if we could come out
and support us at the gala, that would be greatly appreciated.

Speaker 1 (29:09):
So this invitation came across my came across my desk.
Actually I don't have a desk anymore. It came across
my email and they were offering me a small honorarium
to come, and I said, there is no way in
God's earth I'm taking a dollar from this family. I
don't accept honorariums. I'm so grateful for their service and

(29:31):
what they're doing, and I'm standing by them with what
they're going through. I'm Jesse Jackson Junior listening to the
Jesse Jackson Junior Show on KBLA Talk fifteen to eighty more.
When we come back with Miss Carmen Bolden Day. I'm
Jesse Jackson Junior. Welcome forward to the Jesse Jackson Junior
Show on KBLA Talk fifteen eighty Carmen Bolden Day, A

(29:51):
mother's love, pain and the fight for the right. Carmen
lost her son, but the investigation itself is incomplete, with
very little information that's making it back to her and
she has now established a foundation for the memory of
her son, but also to help other families who find

(30:14):
themselves under these bizarre circumstances. For her son, it could
have been a daughter had so much to live for.
But what they are saying is that he suddenly didn't
want to live, even though he had been working hard

(30:34):
in graduate school to major in speech pathology. He wanted
to help somebody else. His life story, the way in
which he interacted with his family and his friends and
other students in the universities and colleges that he attended,
does not reflect someone who wanted to commit suicide. His

(30:55):
car was found in one place, his clothes found in another,
his body found in the ILLINOISRS. It just does a
jive And I will be the guest speaker at Jelani
Day Foundation Gala to help them raise money to bring
more attention to this cause. Carmen, welcome forward on the
Jesse Jackson Junior Show.

Speaker 2 (31:18):
Thank you again for having me.

Speaker 1 (31:20):
Carmen. Tell me about your postcard campaign.

Speaker 3 (31:22):
So the postcard campaign is something that we started because
I needed I'm looking for ways that we can get
attention back to the case that the police officers failed
to I fail, We're negligent. What the postcard campaign does
is that I'm asking anybody who can and will to

(31:43):
go to voices for Jelani day dot com.

Speaker 2 (31:47):
You're going to click on the link.

Speaker 3 (31:48):
There and what you'll do, You'll purchase two postcards for
ten dollars. One of those postcards will go to the
governor and one will go to the Attorney General. The
intent is for us to just inundate their offices with
these postcards until they want to speak to me to
figure out what we can do to provide assistance and

(32:08):
find out what happened to Jolanni.

Speaker 1 (32:10):
I want you to take your time, and I want
you to say that one more time, a little bit
slower on how we can get involved in the postcard campaign.

Speaker 3 (32:20):
Okay, I want you to go. I want everybody to
go to voices for Jolanni Day dot Com. When you
go there, there's a link that you will click on.
When you click on that link, it'll give you the
option where you will purchase two postcards. One will be
sent to the Governor of Illinois and one will be
sent to the Attorney General's office. The purpose is to

(32:41):
inundate their's offices to let them know this is not
just me who wants to know what happened to Jolanni,
but also you, the people also want to know. You
want to know and you want them to find out.
So that is the purpose of the postcard campaign. So
I'm asking anybody who can and will to go to
that link and purchase the postcards.

Speaker 1 (32:58):
Fantastic. How can we support your gala?

Speaker 3 (33:02):
You can support the gala by either with your attendance,
your sponsorship, or making a donation. I would love to
for everybody to come and attendance. This isn't all white
gala Jilani had. Right before this incident happened where I
lost my son, Julanni was.

Speaker 2 (33:20):
Talking to me about his birthday.

Speaker 3 (33:22):
He was always trying to plan ahead and he said, Mama,
I want to have a birthday party and can you
sponsor it, and I was like, no, he wanted to.

Speaker 2 (33:30):
Be an all white party.

Speaker 3 (33:32):
So when everything happened with him in that next year,
when he wasn't here for his birthday and I wasn't
able to do anything for his birthday, I kept trying
to think, what can I do to honor my son?
And so therefore the foundation was birth and so when
we had the first foundation, I wanted to be all

(33:52):
white because that's what Jelani asked me for for his birthday.
So that is why we have had the all white
gala in honor of Jolanni.

Speaker 1 (34:03):
I am so glad you said that, because I normally
show up to these events in a black suit.

Speaker 2 (34:10):
It's an all white raising gala.

Speaker 1 (34:14):
I'm so glad you said that. I'll share with us
a word of hope. If Jilanni was with us today
and he had the opportunity to speak to this national
audience under very different circumstances, what would Jelani share with
the people.

Speaker 3 (34:31):
You know, Jelanni was one that would tell me all
the time, Mama, you can do it.

Speaker 2 (34:38):
Jilanni thought I could do anything. He thought that his
mom could.

Speaker 3 (34:44):
I can make magic. So I want to just share
with people today to not give up. And I guess
that's why I don't give up, because I know that
I've instilled in my children to always push forward, that
they can accomplish anything that they said their hopes and
their goals towards, and so in doing this, I don't

(35:04):
want to fail them. So failure is not an option
for me at this time. So I know Jelani would.
I know he's telling me every day, Mama, keep going.
So I want to encourage everybody to keep going even
when you feel like you can't.

Speaker 1 (35:21):
Keep Your story is extremely inspiring to all of us.
Give us the date of the gala again and how
we can get tickets for the gala event.

Speaker 3 (35:31):
The gala is going to be on Saturday, August twenty
third at the Red Door Meeting Room in Broadview, Illinois.

Speaker 2 (35:39):
You can go to the event bright.

Speaker 3 (35:43):
Which links are located on all our social media web pages,
which is on Facebook or Instagram. Click on the link
purchase the tickets. I would love to see everybody there.
The tickets are seventy five dollars for general admission, one
twenty five VIPN cocktail hour, and we do have sponsorship

(36:04):
opportunities available for those who want to purchase a table
or sponsor.

Speaker 2 (36:09):
I appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (36:11):
And there are ways that we can support the Jeelani
d Foundation. Walk us through that website one more time.

Speaker 3 (36:16):
You can go to the Jolanni Dayfoundation dot org. On
that website there is a donate page where you can donate,
so we are also there will be events that we
have coming up.

Speaker 2 (36:28):
We do.

Speaker 3 (36:29):
We have given our scholarships in Jolannie's name for the
past three years. We are endeavoring to do many more things.
We have given out food baskets for Thanksgiving. We've helped
families during Christmas and honor of Jolannni. So we just
want to continue to do things to help.

Speaker 1 (36:47):
Carmen. Thank you very much for sharing yourself and sharing
your son's life with us.

Speaker 2 (36:51):
Thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 1 (36:53):
I'm Jesse Jackson Junior listening to KBLA talk fifteen to
eighty on the Jesse Jackson Junior Show. When we come forward,
it is Fat Meat Fridays with none other than Gina
Towns Jesse Jackson. She was looking forward to the Jesse
Taxis Tout Show and welcome that need Fride Days where
the executive producer of our Show and the creator of

(37:14):
our Show. Gina Towns, who is the President and CEO
of five nineteen Productions and the executive producer of the show,
graduated from Hampton University with a degree in Mass Media,
Arts and Journalism. Gina has also earned her master's in
Theology and Social Justice from Princeton Theological Seminary. She's the
co producer of the Emmy Award nominated documentary Hampton University,
One of the Wonders of the World, and as a

(37:36):
writer and producer and performer, her single Yes at Number
twenty six with a Bull with a Bullet on Billboard.
She produced and directed a live broadcast in Afternoon with
Doctor Lewis Sullivan, m D. And influenced a rewrite of
the opening scene of the Position of Morehouse School of
Medicines brand while directing communications, logistics and location management for

(37:58):
the HBO film The Immortal Life of Henrietta LEC's, starring
Oprah Winfrey. Gina, welcome forward to the Jesse Jackson Junior Show.

Speaker 4 (38:06):
Hi, Jesse Jackson Junior. How are you today?

Speaker 1 (38:09):
Doing great? Thank you well, I'm.

Speaker 4 (38:13):
Just going to be very honest. I was so moved
by the last segment with Carmen Bolden Day. I think
that I had some things planned that I wanted to
talk about today, and perhaps I will get to them,
but I really cannot leave our discussion because it is

(38:35):
a discussion that we all too often have to have
in our community. And I had thoughts about the program
before Carmen came on today. I knew the details, but
as Carmen talked about them and you got to see
and hear a mother's love, a mother's pain, and her

(38:59):
fight to make it right, I am so moved in
my whole physiology, and I know that those of you
who are listening could hear it, and we, as I said,
it's a story that we have heard all too often,
we continue to hear it. And there is no justice
in this moment. I am reminded of Reverend Al Sharpton.

(39:21):
When there is no justice, there is no peace, and
we have to share in that no peace until we
get to the point of justice.

Speaker 1 (39:31):
Yeah, it's a really, really sad story, and you'd think
that the government of the United States, both the state
of Illinois and the federal government would be trying to
deliver some relief to the Day family during this awful
period of what has happened, and it just seems like

(39:54):
there are too many people who are not speaking up.
It sounds like and I can't justify or verify this,
but it feels like there's information out there that is
not being shared with us by the authorities. And our
history is so replete with these kinds of incidents where

(40:15):
our families are left struggling emotionally, mentally, physically. She even
shared with us, Gina that Jelani's father, she saw the
deterioration in him upon the loss of his life and
that April he expired himself.

Speaker 4 (40:33):
Absolutely because that kind of pain and pain in any
form takes its toll emotional, spiritual, psychological. And I remember
when George Floyd was murdered in front of the world.
I was reminded that there were so many people that

(40:56):
have been murdered and their name go unnoticed, and I went,
I have about five or six pages back to back
in my social media post where I just found as
many people as I could and I posted their names.
Natasha McKenna, Jeram Reid Remain Brisbane, Tamire rights, A Kai

(41:18):
Kareem Girly, Tanisha Anderson, Dante Parker, Azelle Ford, Michael Brown,
John Crawford, the Third, Tyree Woodson, Eric Garner, Dontre Hamilton,
Victor White, the Third, Gabriella, Monique Neveres, Yvette Smith, Mackenzie Cochrane,
Jordan Baker, Andre Lopez, Miriam Iris, Carrey Barrington, b J. Williams,

(41:44):
Jonathan Farrell, and the list goes on and on and on,
and even before our modern day society, this was the case.
The strange fruit that hung from the trees, this was
the case. And when Howard Thurman is talking about the

(42:05):
hounds of hell that chase us, and this is the plight,
and there's so many fronts, and people want to know
why it is that Black people keep complaining and why
aren't you happy? Yet? It's not that we are not happy.
It is that we are not at peace. And until
the mothers can stop crying out, we still hear Marvin
Gay mother, mother, what's going on? And now we see

(42:30):
things being rolled back that would help us to continue
to fight for our rights to expand things that have
been achieved. But this is what has been talked about,
and I talked about this a little bit last week,
that people on the show and in general are beginning
to call it what it is is a present evil.

Speaker 1 (42:50):
I'm Jesse Jackson Jr. Listening to the Jesse Jackson Junior
Show on KBLA Talk fifteen eighty. When we come forward
more on fat Meete Fridays with Gina Towns. Jackson Jr.
Welcome forward to the Jesse Jackson Junior Show on KBLA
Talk fifteen eighty. This is that meant Fridays with Gina
Towns And on this show on Friday we wrap up
our week. We often reflect upon what are we represented

(43:13):
and what we covered and Gene a few minutes ago,
you went through a rather lengthy list of our people,
our children, our brothers, our sisters, our neighbors whose lives
were prematurely cut short. In this moment, I think about
the presumption. I think about probable cause, and I think

(43:37):
if anyone fact pattern verifies any case, particularly as it
relates to police interaction with our community at risk. You
at issue is always when a police officer sees or
perceives that he sees that he has a right to

(43:58):
engage an African American or anyone for that matter, because
of something called probable cause.

Speaker 4 (44:04):
Your thoughts gena absolutely probable cause I remember you said
earlier in the week about the fact that black people,
and in particular black men, are.

Speaker 5 (44:22):
Born with probable cause.

Speaker 2 (44:25):
It is a.

Speaker 4 (44:26):
Part of being black in America, the presumption that if
your tail light is out, I can go ahead and
search the whole car and without a warrant. You know,
there is a freedom that people want to take.

Speaker 1 (44:47):
Tidy called it an entitlement, an entitlement.

Speaker 4 (44:50):
And you know what, I have to always clarify because
everybody is not the same. It's just that when you
have a large incident of things that are so blaring
and things that are so irreprehensible and heinous, that are ongoing,
and see what happens is when things are ongoing, we

(45:12):
become numb, numb to them. They don't even get reported
in the news and people just kind of go, huh,
it's happening, happening again. And sometimes it's that way because
what can I do about it? I mean, you look
at Carmen's situation. She's asking for help and she can't
get the help that she needs. And then when people
get upset and they take matters into their own hands,

(45:34):
and then you know, you now have another set of
people who are going to be somewhere in the system,
maybe not dead physically, but certainly dead on the role
of society as they go through the prison system.

Speaker 1 (45:48):
Gina, something went horribly wrong in that Jualaani day case,
and it really does require some federal oversight or some
federal involvement, because it may be the the local police
department itself is incapable of conducting an investigation that it
may have some culpability in. Now I'm not pointing the

(46:08):
fingers at anyone, but certainly an investigation that is not
providing more information to Carmen is deeply troubling. And again,
probable cause. What is the interaction between the police and Jelani?
Could there have been in any interaction that day? The

(46:29):
missing license plates, the car on the other side of town,
his clothes found a mile away. What is he doing
out of his clothes a mile away from his body?
And suicide? No organs? How do you suicide yourself without organs?
How do you remove parts of your face? That just
doesn't it just doesn't add up. And when I think

(46:53):
about police officers shooting into Breonna Taylor's apartment, I mean,
what's the probable cause? Why? So probable cause is a
standard that I believe black people are just born with.
If you have a broken tail light, if you're wearing
your hair a certain kind of way, if you're wearing

(47:13):
your clothes a certain kind of way, if you're walking
through a major store and you end up being followed
by local security or security within the store, it's because
we are born in They don't care about your degree,
your pet degree, who you are, or where you're from.
You're just born into the world with probable cause. And

(47:35):
we need to change the probable cause standard. The day
that we do, the day that probable cause is wrong,
the day that we change the standard, the day that
society itself is going to treat not only black people,
but poor working class white people differently as well when
it comes into contact with the criminal justice system.

Speaker 4 (47:57):
You know, I think in addition to the word evil
and everything that is the connotation of that, we are
in a society and you know this is ongoing, but
it is continuing to blossom and flourish. Instead of justice flourishing,

(48:20):
we see moral decay. The mere fact that we can
sit and know that things things are going on are
for any family. I don't care, you know, beyond color,
because doctor King talked about the fact that we have

(48:41):
to look beyond color when evil is present. I think
about the conversation that you did have with Johnny Mack,
and King wanted his professors of the faith and his
pullpit counterparts to open their eyes, to open their ears,
and not just be aware, but to also take action.

(49:03):
And I think that when we don't have conversations with
each other across the aisle, across communities, people are sometimes
unaware and they can't feel. I mean, you could feel
what Carmen was saying, and I, you know, invisibly shook
me just to hear her.

Speaker 5 (49:22):
Actually talk about it.

Speaker 4 (49:24):
And I think that we do not we report the news.
And I'm not finding fault because none of us are perfect, okay,
but we do have to point out those things as
a society that we can improve upon, that we can
be better at and be without excuse as it comes
to our one another relationships. So I think one of

(49:45):
the ways that I wanted to describe this was that
we need to wake up. We are asleep at the wheel.

Speaker 1 (49:50):
You know, I absolutely agree with you. I would just
add that in this moment, I'm thinking about my son,
I'm thinking about your son. I'm thinking about all of
our sons. I'm thinking about all of our daughters. Not
one of us want our children or our families to

(50:11):
go through this, not one. And yet the reality is
we are just one phone call away from this kind
of tragedy knocking on our own door. So what is it?
What is it that makes us live our lives every

(50:32):
single day with the worry and the anxiety that our
children may not be coming home tonight.

Speaker 5 (50:40):
That's absolutely the case.

Speaker 4 (50:42):
You do have to train your children in a different
way and in a different fashion, and especially now, I
have talked to my grown children because I am not
there to watch over them. But hopefully you have trained
your kids, you know, that's all of us. Hopefully we
have trained our children to be wise in the things

(51:04):
that they're doing and to not take for granted because
the days are not just evil. The days are retro
in some ways for us right now, and so you
don't want to live a life where you're in fear
all the time. But you definitely wisdom is always appropriate.

Speaker 5 (51:25):
And what does that mean.

Speaker 1 (51:29):
That's a good question. What does it mean? Well?

Speaker 4 (51:33):
I trained my especially my son when he was fourteen,
we went out driving, I was teaching him how to
drive at that time. He had his fifteen had his
learners permit, and we pulled over a county sheriff and
I said, do you mind if I have trained my
son a little bit with you, sir? And he says,
well sure, And I said, well, so what do you

(51:55):
call him son? And he says sheriff, sir. And I
said correct, I said, if he was a police officer,
then you would say officer, sir. If he's a trooper,
you say trooper, sir. You keep your hands here at
ten and two, and you know, you don't reach for anything,
you ask for permission for everything, and the and the

(52:18):
sheriff was like, my gosh, I've never seen anybody doing
this before. I said, oh, this is normal in the
community that I'm from, and in fact, for my own self,
I have been profiled and pulled over. I mean, just
it's amazing, you know, the things that go on from
day to day that people just kind of don't know about,

(52:40):
won't believe that happens. And that's why I kind of
go back to how important you know, not only your
show is, but our conversations as we engage people in Starbucks.
You know, or no matter where it is, to be
able to expose one another to who we are, because
sometimes it's boils down to fear of the unknown.

Speaker 1 (53:01):
You know, Communist still with us, And she writes in
the chat, I trained my sons especially that they had
two strikes against them. One they were black, and two
they were males. Now I've tried to summarize that this
week by saying this, they were born into the world

(53:23):
with probable cause, that they were looked at as less
intelligent than they were, less articulate than they are, less
hard working than they work. That they are born into
the world with the presumption of guilt over innocence, and

(53:45):
from womb to tomb they are in a constant navigation,
a navigation that is personal as well as existential to
who they are. We are black men. And so when
I walk out of this hotel, when I walk into
this grocery store, when I confront or have to get

(54:07):
pulled over by this police officer, and I put my
hands at the ten o'clock position, in the two o'clock position,
and I'm a sixty year old grown man. How I
speak to that police officer? He high school graduate, walk
up to my car, talking much smack and much garbage
at high school level. I've got to stop being who

(54:28):
I am and speak to that man with a level
of respect that comes with the presumption and the probable cause.
And in that moment, he absolutely has the power over
the trajectory of my life. He has the power over
the trajectory of my life. So does the professor in

(54:48):
my classroom, by the way, So does the principal in
my school, by the way. So does the president of
the university that I'm in, by the way, so does
by the way, on coming traffic. The decisions that we
make as young African American men from womb until we
are old African American men. If we live to be

(55:11):
old African American men, what follows our lives is something
called the presumption and probable cause that is inescapable. And
I can't, you know, thank Carmen Bolden day enough. She
said exactly what my mama told me, and exactly what
my daddy told me. Maybe my mother said it more

(55:33):
times than my father said it. And I think our
mothers say it to their sons more times than their
fathers actually say it, because mothers know what it means
to lose a child. It doesn't take away the pain
from a father. It's just that because she birthed a
man into the world, she already knows that there are

(55:57):
certain obstacles that will confront his existence. From mum to two.

Speaker 4 (56:05):
You know, the conversation is an important one. It's still important.
And I think even as we're talking about Texas considering
the redistricting of their congressional map so that they can
get rid of seats that are occupied and representative of

(56:28):
black people, this is part of what we are talking about.
This is part of a cycle of pain that comes
in so many different ways that it's difficult to even
really get a hold of. I mean the way that
it attacks the mind, the sympathetic nervous system. And so
I think we have to really speak up in this hour.

(56:51):
We cannot allow ourselves to just be dummied down, because
when the spirit is troubled and it gets distressed, it
seriously gets us in our thinking and our behavior and
our behavior. I've been seeing so many people walking down
the street talking to themselves. Now, mind you, I talked
to myself. I think we all talk to ourselves, but
I am talking about a different societal issue that seems

(57:17):
to be growing in nature because of hope, lost, despair,
lack of opportunity, and so many things. Because you even
have to take into account what goes on in the
home as people are being raised as children, when parents
are depressed, and you know, the system is the way.

Speaker 1 (57:39):
That it is. You know, we just have a couple
of minutes before the break, but you brought you broke
this question about the Voting Right Attack of nineteen sixty
five being attacked by Republicans in Texas. It's also, even
though they'll never admit to it, being attacked by Democrats
in California. Yes, Gavin Newswimms bear to readjust the state

(58:01):
of California's lines to offset what they're doing in Texas.
But the only way you change those lines is if
you change the Voting Rights Act of nineteen sixty five.
Governor Pritzkier in Illinois is now saying, let's change the lines,
and the only way to change those lines to get
more Democrats is to offset the Voting Rights Act of
nineteen sixty five. That's true in New York, that's true

(58:22):
in New Jersey, that's true in Georgia, that's true in Alabama.
So as we creep down this road. Everyone who's saying
that they're a Democrat and the Democrats must fight back. Well,
the Democrats may win this fight, but there won't be
no Blacks in Congress because they'll move African Americans who've
been segregated against who ended up in certain sides of town.

(58:45):
With the street running down the middle of it named
Martin Luther King, John Lewis Street, a Barack Obama Street,
we live on the black side of town. If we,
in fact are not paying attention and being woken this hour,
we could lose a lot of representation. I'm just Jackson
Junior listening to the Jesse Jackson Junior Show on KBLA
fifteen eighty talk. When we come forward more with Gina

(59:06):
Towns on reflectivity. I'm Jesse Jackson Jr. Welcome forward to
the Jesse Jackson Junior Show on KBLA Talk fifteen eighty.
This is Fat Meat Fridays and reflectivity with Gina Towns. Gina,
welcome forward to the Jesse Jackson Junior Show.

Speaker 4 (59:21):
Thank you, Jesse Jackson Jr.

Speaker 1 (59:22):
Gina. We've had a hell of a week, Yes we have.

Speaker 4 (59:28):
There was so much fat meat and one thing about
the fat meat Fridays is that we want to have
it be able to sizzle while it's cooking, and hopefully
you can cut away enough of the fat so that
you can end up with a lean piece of meat,
and then we reflect on it and see if we
can have some activity as a result.

Speaker 5 (59:48):
So that's the reflectivity part.

Speaker 4 (59:50):
But if you would indulge me for just another moment,
I would like to read some more names. Steven Eugene Washington,
Aaron ca Ambo Kawannie Carrington, Victor Stein, Sham Walker, Oscar Grant, Third,
Trerika Wilson, Deonta Terrell, Farrell, Sean Bell, Katherine Johnston, Ronald

(01:00:14):
Curtis Madison, James B. Burssett, Henry Ace Glover, Timothy Stunsbury, ALBERTA. Sproul,
Kendra Seree, James Orlando Barlow, Nelson Martino, Martinez Mendez, Timothy
Dwayne Thomas, Ronald Beasley, Earl Murray, Patrick Moses, Dorismant, Prince

(01:00:36):
Carmen Jones, Junior, Malcolm Ferguson.

Speaker 1 (01:00:41):
You can only you can only cry genocide or the
number of men and women in our community who've lost
their lives at the hand of law enforcement, and a
significant number of the names that you mentioned are just that.
There are others that you mentioned who are not at
the hands of law enforcement, but a significant number of

(01:01:04):
them are at the hands of men and women who
have been sworn to serve and protect, and the standard
by which they approach black people is based upon their
perception of what constitutes a crime, based on their perception

(01:01:26):
of whether or not the suspect is guilty, and how
the suspect reacts or behaves in the presence of the
law the police officer. They are not the law, the
police officer who in these cases becomes both judge, jury

(01:01:49):
and executioner. All you can do is crigenocide. I mean
that along the scale that you've mentioned is a plan. Now.
Abraham Lincoln said in his speech to the Sanitary Fair
that it was impossible to imagine, for example, the Court,
which was supposed to be a separate branch of government,

(01:02:11):
the House of Representatives and the Senate another separate branch
of government, the White House another separate branch of government,
and for example, the states and the governors themselves a
separate branch of government that, even though they have not

(01:02:35):
been in the same room at the same time, meeting
if everyone walks out of their respective homes with a
piece of wood, and the corners are perfectly carved, and
when they put the four pieces of foot together, from
the courts, from the Congress, from the Presidency, and from

(01:02:56):
the governors, when they put the four pieces together, it
forms a perfect frame. It is hard to believe that
the parties had not worked upon a common plan that
every piece of wood fits like a jingle puzzle. No
piece of wood is different, no corner is different, a

(01:03:18):
perfectly framed house. So how is it that all of
these cases from California to Loss, to New York City,
to Georgia, to Florida, to City of Chicago and LaQuan
McDonald to George of Floyd and Minnesota, How is it

(01:03:40):
that we've never met these police officers, and I've never
met George Floyd in my life. But when all of
the pieces come together, they frame a perfect house, consistently
with the same story, with police officers in different jurisdictions
who've never met each other. And while the facts of

(01:04:03):
the case themselves may differ, the fact of the matter
is the result is always the same. It is hard
to imagine that they've not all agreed upon a common plan.
So what's the common plan? First, from womb to tomb,
there is a presumption that that Negro right there is guilty.

(01:04:26):
I don't even know his name, he's guilty. He's gonna run.
The second is the probable cause standard, the reason for
the police interaction in the first place, that in every
case frames a perfect house. Gina.

Speaker 4 (01:04:48):
You know, there is a phrase that sometimes things are
so sad that you have to joke about them. But
I got stopped driving while black with something. You know,
that phrase has been around for a minute now. It

(01:05:11):
speaks to the fact that there's a conscious level that
they that are biased, and we have to go ahead
and call it what it is.

Speaker 5 (01:05:20):
And ever present hate.

Speaker 4 (01:05:23):
That persists within our country, persists within people in mankind.
And so one of the things that I have discussed
with our Monday hosts, Reverend Teresa Hoard Owens, I've discussed
it with Johnny Mack at one point, and Todd YERI.

(01:05:43):
I don't think Barbara Arnwine and I have had this conversation,
but I want to know the same question that Martin
Luther King wanted to know from the Birmingham jail, and
is where are my counterparts. Jesus does not cut off
his arm and throw it over to this denomination or
leg into this denomination. He is one body, and he

(01:06:06):
is the head of the body. And so for everybody
running around here wondering why there is an apostasy with
younger generations, as when it comes to God and things
that are spiritual and how we treat one another, and
at least a standard by.

Speaker 5 (01:06:24):
Which we would do that.

Speaker 4 (01:06:25):
We still are in segregated churches, although a lot of
churches have changed and a lot of churches are growing
in that. But I need for people to understand that
it is high time that we challenge the powers that
be for those people who say that they believe, why
are there still things that separate us when God is

(01:06:48):
not separated and Jesus is not separated. If you won't
to believe in Gandhi, Gandhi was not separated, I mean,
in fact, he even said, I like your Christianity, but
I don't like your Christians. And so as we look
at ourselves as a nation, it really we need to
call ourselves to a moment of reflection.

Speaker 1 (01:07:08):
Oh, absolutely we do, and that reflection includes recognizing that
what we all have in common is who we are.
What we also have in common is the reaction created
when we come into contact with other selves. What we

(01:07:33):
also have in common is the legal standard by which
we are determined. Prejudgment. That means pre before judge. There's
a judge involved, prejudgment or prejudice, prejudgment, pregdus, pregdue, prejudice, prejudice.
Prejudice comes from the word of prejudgment, and then there's

(01:07:55):
post judgment after the judgment. I'm Jesse Jackson Junior. You're
listening to the Jesse Jackson Junior Show on KBLA Talk
fifteen eighty. When we come forward more a reflectivity with
Gina Towns, I'm Jesse Jackson Jr. Welcome forward to the
Jesse Jackson Junior Show on Fat Meat Fridays with Gina Towns. Gina,
welcome forward to the Jesse Jackson Junior Show.

Speaker 4 (01:08:17):
Thank you, Jesse Jackson Junior.

Speaker 1 (01:08:20):
Gina. I want to just go through the week very quickly.
On Monday, I thought we had a very very rich
conversation with Teresa Horde Owens, the head of the Disciples
of Christ, on the Starvation in Gaza. On Tuesday, Barbara
Arnwind rang the Bell on challenges to the Voting Rights
Act and the consequences that we were are likely to experience,

(01:08:44):
and some of the great challenges that are before the
Democratic and Republican Party tied to that act, what it
means around the country, cly the Riple Effect. On Wednesdays
we talked with Reverend doctor Todd Yeary about probable calls
about prejudgment and judgment and the standards. And of course
on Thursday we had a very very deep conversation with

(01:09:07):
Johnny Mack discussing the World House and how doctor King
might respond to the current era and to the daily
current crisis that we find ourselves in. I love Johnny
Max's show because he brings so much together by the
end of the week. And he said, we must have
a new appreciation of time. That we live in time,

(01:09:32):
but living in time requires us to have a reflection
over time. And we talked about remaining awake through a
revolution and how a revolution Gina takes place every twenty years.
You were living between nineteen fifty six and nineteen seventy six,
from Emmettil to Jimmy Carter seventy six to ninety six,

(01:09:57):
you would have missed the Reagan era. If you sleep
from ninety six to two thousand, I'm sorry twenty sixteen.
If you were sleep, you'd have missed the entire Obama era.
Rip Van Winkl went up the hill and King George
the Third was on the end. His picture was up.
He came down and there was a picture of George Washington.

(01:10:20):
The time between King George the Third and George Washington
it was twenty years. You can miss a lot if
you're sleeping through a revolution, Ginatowns.

Speaker 4 (01:10:28):
I think that that is one of the reasons why
we have been commit on this show to bridge between
the generations, because if you miss a generation, or you
didn't live through the previous generation, then there are things
that you are just not going to know. We are
not in a space and place where we cannot share

(01:10:49):
information with each other, share experience with each other, be
in community with each other. And that's why I love
Ernest Krim's show. He'll be back this Monday. What's love
got to do with it? Common unity in community? Community,
which is common unity. It is imperative right now that

(01:11:11):
we not separate, that we not place emphasis on age
and generation. Right now, particularly in our community. We must
find the places where we can melt together with other communities, black, brown, poor,
the things that we have in common, they must be

(01:11:34):
our common goal, they must be our common cause. So,
you know, it always puzzles me when people think, well, yeah,
I'm going to be part of this, and then you
find out in the end that somebody just used you
to get where they want it to get to, and
you become fatality, a casualty of the larger picture of

(01:11:57):
whatever it is that they're trying to accomplish. That no
good to anyone involved into humanity.

Speaker 1 (01:12:05):
Yeah, you've got to pay very close attention to that.
If you dedicate your life to service, to service of others,
they are going to be some ups and some downs.
Doctor King said he had been to the mountaintop. But
any man who says that they've been to the mountaintop

(01:12:26):
also has a valley view. The valley view is very
different than the mountaintop view. And he stood on top
of the mountaintop and he saw the promised land, but
he said, I may not get there with you. Of course,
from the mountaintop view. He's talking to people who find

(01:12:47):
themselves in a valley, and what does that mean to
be in a Valley. It's to be in anxiety, it
is to be in depression, it is to be in
a form of oppression. It means to be one of
the rejected stones that can potentially become the cornerstones of

(01:13:11):
the new Republic. And I continue to make the argument
that on September seventeenth, seventeen eighty seven, America was not
a democracy, it was a republic. They picked George Washington
amongst themselves his first election, not essentially by popular vote,

(01:13:32):
but amongst a group of white men. They picked a
man of what they called pious reflection, and then by
seventeen ninety one the Bill of Rights, individual rights. They
did not want a different kind of autocracy, a military
hounta running the country, and they demanded individual rights that

(01:13:54):
the states themselves were to respect. But of course they
added the Tenth Amendment and the overwhelming concerned about property interests.
They left the freedmen, the slaves who would be freedmen
and their rights to the states. They left them in
chattel slavery. But it is the negro and his and

(01:14:16):
her history that is responsible for the thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, nineteenth,
and twenty sixth Amendments. To the Constitution we are responsible
for democracy. Democracy is not the natural instinct of Democrats
or Republicans. They are so in love with themselves, so
interested in the preservation of their brands, that they don't

(01:14:41):
have a problem with zero blacks in state legislatures. Long
as Democrats and Republicans get to fight it out on
their terms, they don't have a problem with zero blacks
in Congress. So now Jasmine Crockett, effective yesterday, no longer
lives in her congressional district. Under the State of Texas's plan,

(01:15:02):
one of our most vocal voices in the Congress of
the United States now has her home drawn into a
very different congressional district that may, in effect make it
impossible for her in the next election to even return
to the Congress of the United States. Now, if they

(01:15:23):
can go state by state Democrats and Republicans and take
people's homes out of congressional districts and draw mealy mouthed
people's homes into congressional districts, you can end up with
some blacks that you won't even recognize, singing uncertain tunes,

(01:15:44):
giving uncertain speeches, never reflecting upon our history, never singing
the Negro National anthem, all three verses, they're going to
miss it all. And Johnny Max said Gina that we
are sleeping through a great revolution.

Speaker 4 (01:16:08):
So as we now, what comes to mind is, as
you are talking, the whole purpose of fat Meat Friday
is to put the fat.

Speaker 5 (01:16:18):
Meat in this skillet.

Speaker 4 (01:16:20):
And as I said earlier, the reflectivity part of is
we've done some reflecting this week, and now we need
some activity. So let's challenge ourselves to do some zoom calls,
do some FaceTime calls. Let's get call your mom and
your dad, call your aunts and uncles, call your brothers

(01:16:40):
and sisters. Let's get these family zoom call going. Let's
get some neighbors involved and have some conversations pastors, let's,
you know, get to a meaty message.

Speaker 5 (01:16:52):
And let's endeavor to go to church. Let's endeavor to.

Speaker 4 (01:16:56):
Get involved with the community organization that where we can
have community. These things are really important right now. We
can no man is an island, and we cannot.

Speaker 5 (01:17:07):
Be unto ourselves.

Speaker 4 (01:17:09):
At this particular point in time, we are going to
have to be unified. We're going to have to come together,
We're going to have to reach out, and sometimes that's
not easy because there's so many distractions. We have purposely,
in my in my mind, been divided, and social media
does it.

Speaker 2 (01:17:28):
You know.

Speaker 4 (01:17:28):
We don't go out as much as we used to
and come in contact with one another, but we are
at a place in time where we must communicate.

Speaker 1 (01:17:38):
Gina, congratulations and thank you very much for this wonderful
fat me to prideday in a great week on the show.

Speaker 4 (01:17:44):
Well, we owe it all to you and your voice.
Thank you for your voice, and you certainly have gotten
a lot of accolade with the things that you have done. Said,
we appreciate you, Jesse, and we wish you well and
all of the current endeavors you're in.

Speaker 1 (01:18:00):
I'm I'm Jess.