The Deric Muhammad Episode

blame it on us. Don't get it twisted on code and me and danced for no furtament biscuits. It's really de y'all scar faces in the building. Collectively, we are to get old boys reloaded, reloaded with another episode of information and instructions to help you navigate through this wild, crazy, beautiful world. In the studio, my old school mate, my homeboy, and my friend, my brother, a solid father, brother, son, cousin.

Hey man, this active, this dude right here, and on top of that, the cherry on top is he's an active. He's for the people. Derek Mohammed family. Good to be here, man. Look man, I'm so happy to have you. Man, you. You were one of those people that that is earned, not giving you. You You we came, We came from the same place and we walked the same streets. We've walked the same holls in school. So I know your story, but I want you So y'all went to school. Yeah yeah, yeah,

a couple of years under me. I got a few years under will But how many years you over me? Because we all got a few years over me too. I think we go around that same I just turned fifty last year. Okay, right, yeah, but from the north side of Houston, brother Derek Mohammed, I remember Willie Deep back when Willie d was the local celebrity rapper. So when he became famous and people in Japan and everybody else started knowing him, we thought they already knew him

because it's famous in Japan. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, he is. He was he is. I don't know. But but we come from the same neighborhood. Everybody knows what goals on in the hood in the United States of America, so we don't have to itemize that. But we come from humble beginnings and due to our law, were living better now. But we haven't forgotten where we came from. Man. You know, when I look at you, oftentimes I see myself man, and in that You've always been like a good brother,

had a good heart, but you had some challenges. You had some challenges. I mean you you you was a good dude, but you know you got caught up for a minute, just like I got caught up absolutely and in to see you go from uh, basically a minute, that's what. But but but to see you go from that to being a giver, you know, to being a protector, that's big. That's big. And to see how you dote over your daughter and how that feeling is reciprocated, it's beautiful, man.

To see the relationship you have with your mother, you know, especially knowing like what that relationship was like early on because you know, your father died when you was eleven years old. You know, your your mother about addiction similar to mine. My mom bout an alcoholism, which is an addiction, but your mom about a drug addiction. Man, How I mean, what was that like growing up and not Northeast ust on an our side and you know, having to face

those type of challenges on a daily basis. It was rough, Will, but it was all that we knew. You know, you have some young children who say that they grow up in the household, but they don't even know that they're poor because they just don't know nothing else. They feel like it's just normal. But having a mom who was uh got caught up in the crack era, I look at it as her being a casualty of the War on drugs. It forced myself and my siblings to grow

up very fast. My father passing away at the age of eleven forced me to grow up very very fast. And I feel like the challenges that you face as a child, they'll either defeat you or they'll make you stronger. I believe that the challenges that I faced, I believe those that you face that we faced, they made a

strong younger. And now that God has blessed us to become stronger in the face of those challenges, it is up to us to turn the corner, to go back to where we came from, to make certain that we reach your hand out to those other youngsters who are going through the same challenges. I'm a firm believer that you must never turn your nose up at the bridge

that brought you over anything. You should do what you can to repair that bridge so that others who are coming across the bridge can make it on the other side too. So that's what I'm in the business of today, my dear brother, making certain that we were able to go back to where we came from and make it better for the next generation. Yeah. Share, share with the audience that story you told me about your teacher who

who hit you on literacy? Right right? So, tenth grade, I came to school and I picked up my my schedule and I saw that they had me in the class called journalism. At that time, I didn't even know what the term journalism meant. So I said in the class and the teacher was like, does anybody have any questions? I said, yeah, what's journalism? Then she explained it to me, but I told her, look, don't worry about it. You

know too many smart children in this class. I'm gonna get my schedule changed and and and so you don't worry about I ain't coming back here no more. So she said, well, Mr Jackson, give me two weeks and if you still want to get your schedule changed, I will co sign on it. But the way you got in this class is because you're English teacher from nine grade recommended you because she said that you had a talent for writing. So I said to her, that's a

hell of a thing, because I failed that class. Right, So what happened is she started teaching me face how to do what's called feature writing. She give me a subject and she said, okay, almost like probably comic songwriting. And I started getting good at it. Then I started liking it. Whereas at first I was hiding from my friends that I was in this journalism class because it sounded nerdy. Now I'm out with it, like, yeah, I'm

gonna take this journalism thing to the next level. So she started, um not at the time, my mother was in the throes of her drug addiction and we hadn't seen her for weeks. So it was myself and my brother pretty much living on our own, uh, surviving how we could, and you know, going to school when we wanted to. That kind of thing. Well, she knew what

it is, what was going on in my household. She knew I was fifteen with grown folks problems, and anytime there was some kind of competition or whatever, she would come pick me up. She would bring me food, she would give me money. So she as a teacher, unbeknownst to me, became the mother figure that I needed at a time when my mother was not in a position

to be a mother. What I'm saying. So she entered some of my writings into a competition, and I basically just did it for her, because this is what she did to me. She would give me something and I would write, and I would bring it back to her for her to grade it, and she would say, well, that's okay, Mr Jackson, but I think you could do better. Back then my last name was Jackson. Then I do better and give it back to her, and then she would go crazy. She would go that's what I'm talking about.

She would take a small thing that I did and she would make it big. Right. That was her way of giving me confidence. So she entered my writing into this competition. By this time, I was living with my grandmother. My grandmother had come and got us in. We were living there. So my grandmother was like Derek, Ms. Leonard's on the phone. I called, I mean, I picked up the phone and she started screaming, and I'm like, miss Leonard, what's wrong? She said, you got second place? You got

second place? I told you you could do it. And it was the first time that I had ever competed against white children in anything. But she had put such a battery in my back that any self doubt that I had in myself and thinking that I couldn't compete with these white children, it was already gone. So I tell that story just to illustrate the power of one teacher, of how the or the power of one mentor the power of how one individual can impact a child's life.

And they never forget it. Now, this was thirty years ago. I'm still talking about that to this day, you know. But she but I made it to State as a writer. I'm talking about coming out of homestead village projects and uh, she picked me up to take me to the competition, and she said, Derek, she said, don't you go a hand up. These rich white kids intimidate you. She said, you are the best sixteen year old writer on the planet Earth when you focused. That's the kind of batteries

she used to put in my back. So I competed, and I remember getting up from that death saying there's nothing in this room that's gonna be able to compete with what I wrote. Well, she called me just like she did the first time, and said, uh, you know, my grandmother was saying, brother dere Derek ms Lennar is on the phone. So I pick up the phone and she's on the phone crying. I'm like, what's wrong, miss Leonard?

She said, they robbed you. I say, what do you mean? Well, the rule said that you have to write a story that's four hundred words long or less less. Mine was four hundred and five words, so I did too much. But she used to judge those competitions, and she said that she never seen where they disqualified somebody for writing too many words. It was my first time experiencing systematic

racism directly. We all experienced it indirectly, but directly, it was my first time being cheated out of something right now. To be honest with you, I really didn't care. I was more there for her than I was for me, because I was there to prove her right. You see, all of the negative things that I have been that had been said to me about myself as a little black boy growing up in the hood, she was saying

something different. She was feeding the kid. Get me why everybody else was telling me you ain't gonna be nothing in life. So I had to prove her right. And so even though they robbed me of that competition, the battery that she put in my back thirty years ago, it's still in my back today. So I can walk in any room and never feel intimidated, never feel less than, never feel as if though I'm not on anybody else's level,

no matter who's in that room. Have you had the opportunity to tell this yes, yes, because he needs to know that. Yes. I wrote about her in my book. And uh, what's that book? It's called New Rules. It'll be out in a month. But I called her and I told her, and I let her know we actually maintained contact all the way up until the time she passed away. She passed away in but that year before she passed away, some months before she passed away, I was on an airplane on my way to Nevada for

my birthday. I was gonna spend my birthday up in the mountains in Nevada, And as I was writing about her in the book, I just started crying. Bro Because it wasn't until then, thirty years later, that I realized, Damn, God, use this lady to save my life. M and when I got off that plane, I called it and and I let her know, but because it was we were going through COVID protocols, I said, Man, I'm gonna go and see her, but I'm gonna wait till things cooled down

with COVID. Well, a couple of months later, I got a phone call from her nephew telling me that she passed away. But I want to say that to anyone who might be listening, if you have somebody that has made a difference in your life like that, don't wait to go and see them, to let them know what it is that they they've done for you, because tomorrow is not promised. Absolutely, But that's the power of one mentor. That's a hell of a story, man, And that is

a beautiful story, you know, speaking of passing away. Man, I did not know Virgin died. Um the owner of Sunshine. Yes, yeah, I did not know he died. Oh Man, I that that was a good dude and super good. Yeah. May God be pleased contributed speaking to pass And I don't know if people know, but my grandmother, that's on the My Homies album. She passed win Um June June six, She passed, were buried on the eleven. Oh man, my condolences, that's all good man. She put up ninety for me

and she don't owe me nothing. My grandmother passed back in October. Um, she put up ninety three years. Yeah, she don't owe you nothing. I got fifty one and fifty one years and that was beautiful, Yell the fantastic. And you talk about people, um that were inspirational in your your upbring you know, and you being who being the person that you are. You know, I shared that

same sentiment with my grandmother, you know. She she she gave me some stuff that I can take with me for the rest of my life and pass on to my shieldren that they can pass on it there. So I understand what you're saying when you talk about people that that just a big impact on your life. As well as teachers too. You know, teachers played a huge role in me being you know who I am today. I started this is funny. I started. The way I

started rapping was through limbricks. You ever heard of a limerick And it's like there was was a man from Nantucket who used to sit on the bucket. I guess how I learned how to wrap and I just mastered that and got really really good Willie And it's real though it is Man, something so simple turn can turn you into an animal. You know, something so simple as

journalism can turn you into an animal. Like you know journalism, you know how to put words together, you know how to stand in front of a group of people, man, and express yourself to them about the importance of what it is you're trying to get across. You know what I mean? Like, that's heavy, man, that's heavy boys. Reloted podcast will be right back after the poet. Are you still working with the Mail's Office? Uh? Indirectly sometimes sometimes you put a lot of work in man, especially with

that Blackmail Summit. Yes, sir, Yes sir. The Blackmail Summit is my baby. The black Mail Summit is the most important project that I've ever worked on, and it's the most important project that I will ever work on. What is the black Mail something? The Blackmail Summit is a summit that we host twice a year, once on the North Side and once on the South Side, where we bring in and young brothers from the hood and their parents and we focus strictly on the issues that black

males face America. If anything, let start to cut you off, but name some of those issues that um played the black male in America. The fact that your average black male functions at a reading level of second grade, that's an issue, the aversh black male? What what? Age? Just period? That's not true because women can read this ass off. I'm listening to his words. Second grade second the average second first of all, second grade reading level is actually comprehensive.

That don't mean you can't read? But yes, sir, what does what does? What does can't read mean? Though? What does that mean? Can't read? Like camp? That's not true? Come on, come on, man, that's not most mostly, most of your high school graduates, even if they can read, they graduate as functional illiterates. A functional illiterate is someone who can read and call words, but they can't get a grasp on the concept of what it is that

they're reading. And you have to also remember that for three hundred and three hundred plus years it was against the law for us to learn how to read. So reading and writing are actually two lost arts people. So my, my, my uh first grade teacher, her name was Ms. Taylor, and she had a thing on her board on our chalkboard, and it says, understanding what you've read, Understanding what you've read, what that is? That like a form of of illiteracy.

If you cannot understand what it is, it's called functional illiteracy. When you can, you can call. You can read the words, but you don't it doesn't make sense. And you can read the words very well, but you don't understand what. And then and then you have to also understand face that of what we're reading is culturally irrelevant to us.

Meaning we're reading. We can read it, but I'm not really interested in what the hell George Washington did as far as as far as I'm concerned, George Washington was a slave owner. He sold a slave for a kid of molasses. So these are things that if if if you put this in front of me, it's something that I'm interested in because I see myself in it. But most of what our young boys are force fed in

public schools, they don't see themselves in it. What happened on August second and this year August second nd, According to this calendar, North Carolina voters overwhelmingly approved amendment to disenfranchise African Americans as part of a statewide campaign to intimidate black registered voters. What does that mean? That means that what was going on? Then it's still going on right now? That's heavy, man. This is a catalog, uh,

a history of racial injustice exactly. And this is the type of information that we have to feed to our children because that's the only type of information that we can that we're interested in. Well, it's the type of information that matters. Man, knowledge of self is It's like the motor in side of a car, right, you could you could have you could have the body of the car, but if you don't have the engine, it can't go nowhere. And I have no desire to study Abraham Lincoln whatsoever.

I just don't. Then we're going and talking about the Journal Truth or Dred Scott or Path Singleton and stuff like that, Like I'm interested in those people. But when you talk about uh uh the Haze Tilling acting all that crap, I don't give a damn about that. Man. Well, the only thing that we really need to know is who they were period Haying Now I'm talking about our Washington Jack's all them, Who the who the hell they were heroes to us? Because from that we know what

they did. Right, there's a there's an African proverb that says, when a child does not feel the love of the village, they will burn it down in order to feel it's warmth. But that's heavy, it's very heavy because what it does is explains that it explains the behavior of our children, particularly black boys. See, we've given birth to soldiers, but we have not given them anything to fight for. When we integrated black businesses into white businesses, and black businesses

got eradicated while white businesses took off. What we did is we gave birth to a generation of soldiers, but what they were born to protect, we've integrated it into white society. So so they're angry. They're angry, my dear brother, And I mean, think about this. Right, when we came up in the eighties, you could drive down one street and you could see three different football games going on

at the same time. We are playing tackle football. They did a study with lab rats and they said that after a lab rat is finished eating, it will actually do more work in order to enter into another space where there's another juvenile male lab rats so they can play. So to play, it's something that's natural for juvenile males. So why is it today that we can drive down the same streets and ain't nobody outside playing. It's because we've traded tackle football for grand theft, auto Fortnite Freeze

tag for Fortnite hot Ball. Remember we used to play hot ball roadblocks. Yeah, so that's taxes, mask letting toxic. But what what not anything with black black, anything with men doing something aggressive, it's toxic, toxic. But but but the thing, but the thing about it is these video games, the type of it. It's not just that they're playing video games, but these violent video games that they're playing, they're militarizing our young boys before they reached the age

of puberty. Yeah, but that's not our young boys. They're militarizing their young boys because we ain't. We're not. We're not walking up the street with with Well, I'm lying. Think about what you're saying, Think about what you're saying. No, they're militarizing walking up the streets now with with with, with with, But we're militarized for self destruction. They're militarized

for something else. And what exactly what they're doing is is they're sending in militarized police officers to deal without militarized young boys. But but what I'm saying is the scientist got it down. Pat. If you can affect the way they play as little boys, then you can affect how they end up as grown men. Think, think about it. Think about it. If if you see a youngster every single day he got a basketball in his hand, he has a better chance of ended up in the NBA.

You see a youngster with a football in his hand every day, he has a better chance to ended up in the NFL. Right if you see if you see a youngster playing grand theft auto ten twelve times, ten twelve hours a day and that's all he do, it's gonna impact where he ends up as a man. So that's why Frederick Douglas said that it is easier to trained strong boys than it is to repair broken men. We got to catch them while they're young if we want to save them. Uh, which is a great segue

into the documentary you produced Raising Boys? Tips for Uh? Single moms, sir? What are some tips for single moms and raising boys in this climate? Yes, shout out to all of the single mothers out there who are being forced to raise their young boys on their own and that's not a slight against the fathers. But if the statistics are worth their salt, they say that sevent the homes in our community are headed by females. Right, So there will be times when that father is not there.

But some of the things that a single mom has to do first and foremost is she gotta she has to be realistic about what she's what she's in. You gotta do your research and understand what that boy is facing as a black male in America, and you cannot sugarcoat it for him. The worst thing you can do is keep him on the breast too long, because there's

a such thing as doing too much for your child. See, you might see him as your baby boy, And but if he goes out and every time he gets in trouble, you come and you save him, at some point he's gonna get into something you can't get him out of. And when he stands before that judge, that judge is not gonna see him as your baby boy. That judge is going to see him as a grown man. I don't give me twelve years old. And when little boys commit grown man crimes, they do grown man time. Another

thing that all parents should do is. No matter what it is that your child asked for, if he's a boy, especially, you make him work for it. If he asked you for them Jordan's and you know you want to bomb for him anyway, you make him go out there and cut the grass, rape the leaves, sweep the roof. Hell, I don't know, but make him do something, because what you're doing is you're establishing in him work ethic. You're letting him know that you're not gonna be given anything

in this world for free. If you don't do that, you send him out in the world with an unrealistic expectation that somebody owes him something, and he'll end up in prison wondering what happened. It'll hit him so fast he won't know what happened to him. So those are some tips that we give to single moms. But another very important one is you know you have to study

your child's father. I don't care how you feel about him, you gotta study him because if you study your child's father unemotionally, you will see in him your son's strengths and weaknesses. Whatever those strength so are, you feed those strengths, whatever those weaknesses are. You do your best to try to protect them from those weaknesses. But don't become so overemotionally disappointed in the father to where you're not paying attention. You think you got rid of him, but you didn't.

You're dealing with him in that child. And the same goals for single fathers. Um, we have to be systematic about this thing. Talk about the risk and coddling boys when let's say they have a father who has a colorful background. Colorful background, maybe they've been in some trouble with the law or something right, or they haven't done so well, you know, as a man, and they haven't lived up to manly expectations, you know, being a provider and and and protect her and all of this. What

if he just can't deal with that bitch difference. Let's stay on track here. So what what would be the advice to like a woman who tries to over overcompensate for uh, to make sure that her son don't turn out like her, like his dad. She overcompensates and she coddles him. And now instead of raising a boy to be a man, she's raising the boy to be more like a woman. You know, because I've seen dudes get coddled and they argue with their mothers like their mothers

it's their girlfriends or something. You know, they won't like you was talking about, uh, rewarding them for working, putting the work in. I know boys that don't do any chores. This ship was unheard of when I was growing up. They don't mot the yard. They they don't clean their room, and they don't have any kind of side job or anything. They don't do anything but stick their hand out and taking from their mom. And their mom was set up

and argue with them like they're there boyfriend or something. Yeah, I see all the time. Will and most mothers who coddle as you said their sons end up regretting it later. See the young black male in America is what I call over mothered and under fathered. Over mothered and underfathered both our problem. See, when God brings you into the world, he gives you two of everything, two eyes to see, two nostros to breathe, two ears. He gives you two of everything. And let's say it gives you two eyes.

If you lose one of those eyes, you're considered handicap. So every child that is born into the world has a human right to two parents, both mother and father. Okay, if the relationship between mother and father does not work out for whatever reason, that father, if you keep that child from his mother, as long as the mother is not hurting that child, you're handicapping your child. And as a mother, if you keep that child away from his father, as long as the father is not hurting that child,

you're handicapping your child. The child is the one who suffers. So as a mother, you have to understand the nature of a boy, all right. The nature of the male is it's about establishing dominance at every chapter in your life. That that's it. That's that's what boys do when we go outside. It's about who could slapbox the slap box the best, Who can fight the best, who could play

basketball the best. It's about establishing dominance. And if he does not have a strong male in his life to teach him how to manage that, then what will happen is he'll end up veering off the road of life and you won't know what the hell to do with him. I had a partner who um he his his child's mother got into another relationship, right, and he didn't want the man around his children, so he called over there, and he he threatened her and all this other kind

of stuff, right, which she shouldn't have done. All of that. What she recorded him and told him, now I got you that he was on probation at the time. She recorded him and said, if you come around my children again, those were his children too, I am going to call your probation office. So now he's in the bind, acting fold. But now he can't even see his children. So this brother went almost ten years without seeing his children. But

one day his children's mom came looking for him. She came looking for him because the boy had gotten out of control, didn't know what to do with him, and he had to step in. Most mothers who do that regret it in the end. So to the single mothers out there, if you if you keep your son away from his father, you're not hurting anybody but your son.

And this is the part that's heartbreaking. But I gotta say it, since we only get old boys that you reloaded the podcast, the sons usually end up hating their mothers, the one that does everything for him. They end up hating. And I'm talking about hatred because years old, mom is still doing everything for you. You still sleeping on her couch. Subconsciously you blame her for you not being the man.

It's really your fault, but subconsciously you blame her. And there are a lot of single mothers who take abuse from their sons after they've given them everything, because the sun grew up to hate them. You the reason I don't have a relationship with my daddy. So don't do that. Sisters, You're only hurting your sons, and you're creating a scenario where he may grow up to hate you. I hate to say it, but it's true. I see it every day. That would also have some effect on their relationships with

other women. You know, I would think that if you have such a low opinion of your mother, you can't have a high opinion of women. Facts. Facts, yes, sir, facts. Exclamation point. Girl Boylo podcast will be right back after the point. Let's talk about Savior Day two thousand twenty two, one of the greatest greatest days in the history of civilization. Lewis Farrakon, Honorable Lewis Farrakhan spoke back in February and

a speech that was called the Swan Song. Some people were saying that that was supposed to be his final official speech for the Nation of Islam. How true is that? To be honest with you, will I don't know. I don't know. Um Face said he just lost his grandmother. You never know when the time is going to come for the day of your departure. But when the minister explained the Swan song, he was basically saying that this

is not necessarily my swan song. And for those who don't understand, the swan song is the beautiful song that a swan sings before he dies. The ministers saying, we're saying that this is really America's swan song because if she continues down the road of denying black people justice, her end is near. So this is the swan song for those who refuse to heed to the truth. This is the swan song for those who refused to cast

off false ideas and concepts. This is the swan song for those who continue to, you know, keep their foot on the next of the oppressed. That's the way he explained that what's the what's the what's the repercussion from from what? From keeping your feet on black people's neck? What we're going to do, That's a very good question. That's what we're gonna do more. I'm sorry keeping you keeping their feet on out. The next we're gonna get up. We're gonna go march some more. We're gonna go and

congregate some more. Um We're gonna do We're gonna go to war because I think that. I think that in the um, in the society, in the country that only understands um brutality and war, brutality and war like the only like you. You. You you're not afraid of nobody standing up in front of your householding no sign. You're afraid of somebody walking in your house and beating you the funk up or killing you. See. I sound sucked up like that, like I'm not gonna. I don't. I don't.

I ain't down, like I ain't down with that ship. If you if, if, if we're really really tired of it, then let's going on and crank this ship up. Man. I don't want to talk to no motherfucking no if if his own, then his own. If it's not, we're just gonna stay where the funk we yet, you know what I mean? Like I don't, I don't. I'm tired of my fucker spoon feeding me. Man. Oh you want to vote again. Uh, let me take you to the Senate.

Uh let me tell you to congress. Uh. You niggas want to eat food, and uh let me let me let me see if they want to, let you'll eat. You know, that's the whole ass ship to me, Like, man, if you don't, let me, if you don't, if you if you want if, if you're gonna let me be a motherfucking man, let me be a man, bro you know, but they don't. They don't have the power to let you.

They're having the power. Now. Your power is within within within Like nobody I asked for permission from nobody to be a man, like, can't nobody give me permission or let me be an I'm a man, period, and I'm gonna carry myself like a man. And anybody got a problem with it, Uh, I'm gonna deal with it. It's as simple as that. Yeah. So, so anybody don't feel like that. Black people, we may feel like man, But what what has happened to us as a manly is we got caught up in the illusion of inclusion to

too many of us. Too many of us have gotten too comfortable and so in order for us to get into that that war mindset that you're talking about. A line has to be drawn in the scene and everybody got to be down with. Everybody got to stand behind that line. Unfortunately, you're not gonna get everybody, but we needed it is. But there's no war where they're not casualties, but we need a critical mass. I don't know how

many more casualties we need, brother Mohammed. I don't even we got we got we got more casualties, and we can count starting back from the from the eighteen seventeen hunters. It's all in this book right here, all in this calendar. Every day. We ain't got eighteen sixty six Texas Texas passing law providing and black people cannot testify in court unless the defendant is black, you know, like that kind

of ship, you know what I mean? Like, well, we we we have to begin to see it for what it is, dear brother, And that is that I think it was. It was W. E. D. B. B. Two boys who said that a system cannot fail a people that was not built to give them justice in the first place. And the problem is we keep trying to force ourselves on a people at all week we're begging for justice, um from a people who don't even have it to give to themselves. We're begging for jobs from

a people who don't have enough jobs for themselves. See but, but, but, but the black man listen to me, But the black man in America is like a seven footman that's drowning in four ft of water break. All he gotta do is stand up. All he gotta do is stand up to save himself. Like, well, I'm saying, we we got we have everything that we need in order to become a nation within the nation. We got the intellect. Don't

tell me we ain't got the money. With one point three three trillion dollars in spending power, but who are we're spending it with? And you're talking about the war. That's where the war is right there. The war is economic, the war is political, the war is educational, the war is cultural. That's where the war is. But we have to first give up this assine idea that the American

dream is somehow for black people. It never was, it is not now, and it never will be so until we come to that come to Jesus meeting that we all got to have with ourselves and realize that we all we got, then we're gonna continue to suffer. See, our ancestor showed us a blueprint of it with Black Wall Street. That was just a microcosm. How do we do to Black Wall Street? Man? Listen, I'm gonna tell you, like you said, we got the money, we got the intellect,

we even got the knowledge. We don't have I believe how the will. We don't have the we don't have the unity, and we have to be honest. But let me let me clear up before before I let you go any further, just collectively, we don't have the will. Because there's a lot of black people out there doing great things. I don't want to discount what you guys are doing. They're doing phenomenal things and that they're they're building industries, they're taking they're taking on buying in the industries,

they're hiring black people, they're creating jobs, they're producing. So shots out to all you guys out that it's putting in the world. But we but we have to do that with them with independence in mind. You understand what I'm saying, and there is a difference. You know, there's a story about the old hound dog who was laying on the porch laying on the rusty nail, and the neighbor came over, an access owner. He said, Man, I see that hound dog over that laying on that rusty nail.

Why don't he move? He said, I don't know. He said, either he too lazy to move, or it just don't hurt enough. And in my humble opinion, that's an analogy for us as a people like bro Listen, were out, We're out protesting in front of sessing Me Place because sessing Me Place is discriminating against black children. Listen, man, listen, what more do we need to see? That's that's white folks saying that. What more do you need to see?

Because if if we are passing over the black children sessing Me Street, you're already preempting them and indoctrinating them and letting them know that you live in racist America. Let me prepare you for this before you even get in the second grade. What more do we need to see? Damn, the nail just don't hurt enough. Either we're too lazy. Oh, it just don't hurt enough. Now, it can't be the laziness. Black people are not lazy. You know why black people?

I didn't know how. I know black people ain't lazy. Who built damn country for nothing, so it can't be the laziness. But I guess it don't hurt enough. Bro. It hurt me. It hurt me. Bro. We're three for three years up from when Nipsey Hustle got killed. I just can't. I still can't and get beyond it. It's still got me messed up like that still physically hurts

me that that black man who was that special. So you got the smart ones, you got the talented ones, you know, but you got something that that's the special ones. He was a special one. Nipsey was everything that we say we want to be. He's everything that we we we we we say that what we need to be. Yeah, he was that. He embodied that. And when when I found man, when I was reading the headline, I was on the internet and I saw the headline and said, uh,

popular rapper killed. I thought it was another one of these little youngsters. And and then I I saw a nips man, I saw a Nipsey name. Man, I just my heart just dropped, and I can't believe somebody would kill Nipsey Hustle like but but you know that but but but and we we know that their their their details to it. But what for what? And and and last week I was telling somebody this the other day, I actually said this at the Blackmail summit. And listen

to me. I saw where Nipsey's killer, Eric Holder got convicted for murder. Yeah, you got convicted for first degree murder a few weeks ago. And I asked myself the question. I said to myself, he probably don't even care. You know why, because at least people know my name. At least I'm famous. Now, nah, it's gonna be bad. At least I'm famous. Listen, let me tell you something, somebody,

But they don't care. That's what I'm saying. Somebody, some of these youngsters, some of these youngsters out here, they would rather be somebody on the front of a T shirt then to be nobody walking around in real life. I don't get it. But okay, I don't either. I don't either. But that's how bad. That's how bad it is. Like they say that this brother killed Nipsey because Nipsey made him feely relevant or something like that. But this whole idea of cloud chasing, it is out of control,

is out of control. But that still hurts me to see how that brother lost his life and just to think just in three years, there's no telling how much further he would have been in his career and in doing for his community. That's just one example. But the point that I'm making is I can't be the hound dog on the porch. I can't even I wish it was a way. I wish it was a way that we can get I wish it was a way that we can get with everybody and get us all together man,

and we all have a task at hand to complete. Man, that that could better the situation and for us, and and and the ones that come behind us, you know what I mean? Like, I really think that that that example should be set right now by us again, Brad, that that is happening in some sectors that we need to put it all together with. But going back to what what Derek said, this ain't for everybody. Every We

can't take everybody. Everybody's gonna make it. Everybody just ain't gonna make Some people don't even want to make it. Some people listen to what we're saying right now, they look at them talk about getting together and ship My mother, I hate the motherfucker. Who are you talking about? Talking about the girl? I'm talking about Nicholes. You know they listen, they're watching right now. They're looking, They're like, I can't they can't stand it. Get together? What you talking about? Unit? Man?

This is it? Man, I'm I ain't ship. Can you imagine together that? How many with one point three trillion? Know? What is it? Yeah? One point three three trillion one something something? People bread are just built that way, man, because intrinsically that's who they are. That's that's just who that That's that's who they are. You know, it's some some people, man, Like we we're not gonna be able to take everybody with us, and we gotta be okay

with that. And like we gotta be okay with like if it went down for real, Like we gotta be okay with Harriet mentality, kill a field. Yeah, you know what I'm saying. You know, we we we gotta be okay with that because the motherfucker's just holding us back and so we we can't we we can't let anybody jump on the boat that would try to poke a hole at it in the boat. You know the problem is we have to be clear on the goal. We

have to be clear on the objective. We have to be clear on what it is that we're trying to accomplish as a people. In the sixties. In the sixties, they were clear that they were trying to accompl the social experiment called integration, which has not worked. That has not worked, But they were organized in every state on many levels, trying to integrate. We want to eat in the same restaurants as white people and tallest listen. Not only not only do I agree that it was a

big mistake. Statistics bear witness that it was a total mistake. But what if integration was the goal back then and they knew, okay, we got one common goal, let's work toward it. What's the goal right now? If we don't establish that, then we don't know what we're organizing behind. The Honorable Elijah Mohammed said decades ago, even while they were fighting for integration, that we should be fighting for

what is called separation. We should have a separate system where we our children, a separate economy, where we determine the value of our own homes and the value of our own business is not depending on white people. Yeah, think about think about this right, Okay. Before South Park became black, it was white. Third War was white, White, Scenic was white, okay, and the property value in that neighborhood was it was high. Then integration came into play.

Our people start moving from Kendleton and all of these little small black towns into these neighborhoods right right, soon as we as soon as we moved in, white folks started moving out. They call it what white flight, okay, white flights. So then white folk moved to Missouri City. Then black folks moved to Missouri City, then they moved to Sugar and then we started moving. Then they got

tired of running, they come back. But now, initially in the sixties, when white folks start moving out of those neighborhoods, they say the property value went down. Okay, we black folk move in, white folk move out, property value go down. So in Third Ward the property value has been low for decades. When white folks decided to move back into the hood, I would it's skyrockets. So what are they telling you. They're telling you that the presence of white

people is what determines value in this country. How the hell are we supposed to win under a system like that. So you're absolutely correct, but it's it's important that we acknowledge that just because white people live somewhere, I don't mean that something is more valuable. And and it's what I mean, like in these neighborhoods, Well, the reason why the property value go down not because black people move

in and white people move out. It is because the politicians and the business people make a conscious decision to stop investing in those neighborhoods. And that's what drives the property value down. Because if you if the politicians continue to allocate funds directed into those communities to make sure that the streets are maintained, the parks are maintained, that the schools, the schools are maintained, and all of that stuff. And you've got good schools, uh teachers. You don't need

white people to maintain property value. The property value is going to increase. So what happens is that they take the resources when white people leave, right, the politicians and the business people take the resources. It ain't white presents because it's trailer parks with full of white people. But listen, that ship ain't got no value. But listen to what you're saying, Will yeah, they take the resources out of

those zip codes. But why did they remove the resources when they will want to stand Yeah, well you I mean, right, right right, your point. But saying but that that is I'm just saying that that is a that that's that's that's a layered you know theory there, you know, But I agree, I agree. But the point that I'm making is we can't depend on that system of valuation to determine what is valuable to us. If we do that,

we will always be at a disadvantage. That's the point that I'm making, right, and and and to that point exactly, we just to be clear that we have to look at the value of our own communities and where we want to live out or whatever, and invest in those communities and bring resources in that community. We actually got the power to do it. We do, we do it. It's like the wheel. You got the power, but we got to put the wheel in front of the power. Yeah, you gotta have the will and you also got to

have the courage. Yeah. A lot of black people are afraid that the two greatest enemies. Yeah, a lot of black people are afraid the two greater enemies of black people today is not white folks. Our two greatest enemies are ignorance and fear. If we overcome those two, then there's nothing that any white person, any clansmen, any skin heads, there's nothing that they could do with us. If we overcome fear and ignorance. You can't go to work with

somebody that's kid. Right. It's the hell of a thing, man, when when you got your own government targeting you fulfailure. The motherfucker's write the laws, they enforced the laws, they got the military, they got law enforcement, they got all the good and then and they value the dollar. They put the value on the bill. They value everybody's money. Did you know that? Mm hmm? And that's cold blood.

You got a number you just write on a piece of paper and say hey, this is worth what that is, whatever the number is, what that little piece of papers work. You know. That's why Kadoti was murdered, right, yeah, because he was like, you can't just have you just can't give me this piece of paper with this number road on it and for my oil and my goal and all.

And he's like, oh yeah, we killing your mother. You know, we're living in unprecedented times man, and um where there's a lot of changes being made by your elected officials. Some say for the bad. It seems like a lot of politicians are going out of that way to turn back the hands of times and progress for black people. Do you ever get worried? Man? Do you ever get worried? What do you ever? Do? You ever get worried about how we to survive this thing? You ever get discouraged

with the fight that you put up? Because on a daily basis, you do the work. You fight every day all day. This is what you do, That's what you do. You get phone calls all day another tragedy, you know, like you're constantly consoling grieving mothers, you know, grieving fathers, grieving family members, and you're constantly putting in the work all day every day. Do you ever get wary? And how do you manage that? Yeah? I get discouraged. I do. I would be lying to you if I said that

I didn't sometimes. But I never really worry. I never worried because I truly believe that this is what I was born to do. I was born to live doing it, and I was born to die doing it. So I never really worried. I also never worried because in the Nation of Islam, we're taught that what we're seeing black people go through is biblical. It's scriptural, and we're taught that the same way Joseph became the ruler in the land where he was once a slave. That's really just

the story of Black America. We will become rulers in this land where we were once enslaved. I know it's gonna happen. Well, I see it. I'm not sure about that one, but I know what's gonna happen. So I don't worry because I know that I'm just the link in chain. I'm just trying to be as strong of a link as I can. Um, what do I do about it? I do my best to maintain my spirituality because I don't see how you can be a freedom

fighter and not believe in the Almighty. I just if if there were no God, then black people wouldn't have a chance whatsoever. So, yeah, I do get discouraged. I get discouraged all the time. I cried sometimes, and I ain't just really no crier like that. But but but but my little feelings be hurt by some of the things that I see. Um, yeah, we're losing too many, but I do believe that there's a light at the end of that tunnel and we are that light. Yeah,

we are that, like absolutely, man. How can people get in touch with you? And you can follow me on social media at Derek Mohammed that's D E R I C M U h A M M A D and uh hit me on my website Derek Mohammed dot com. Man, we really appreciate you coming out. Man, it's so enlightened. I want to actually do this again. Um, let's have it. We need to do a weekly rent with brother Mohammed, like one weekly. Yeah, you know what I mean, at

least once or twice once every couple of weeks. Man, let's just get don't here and just let's just argue about it. You know, he off the top of the head or you got some brilliant as I do know it works man, Okay, Brad, remember we stopped damn well, uh man, thanks for coming up. Man, y'all need to come to the show. I've been trying to talk to him about shooting this movie. Man, y'all need to cover to the show for real. Now. We we're gonna shoot the movie and it's gonna be funny as hell because

we're funny brothers. Man. Yeah, we appreciate you coming out man. Thank you very much, thank you. This episode was produced by Aching and brought to you by The Black Effect Podcast Network and I Heart Radio