Special episode: How to Be a Light in Darkness Pt.1

Some of us even feel like it's also a knee on our neck and we can't breathe. This is so overwhelming for some of us, including myself. Well, my goal today is just to help you remember that you are the light. So how do you see the light in darkness simply by being the light? Well, my life coach, Dr. Krystal Conner had to remind me of this and I've invited her to be on the show. And she's just going to explain to us how we can find our purpose through this pain.

Then I have activists in pastor Paul Little. He's going to ignite the flame in us and remind us that we have this flame that must be used to spread more light, give love in a world that really hasn't shown us much love in return. Then I have psychologist , dr. Pam Thompson drops in and has a session with us and checks in on our mental and emotional health and why it's important for us to protect our light . And then finally, at the end of the show, I share a story that will inspire you.

If for the culture was a person, her name will be Carmen Davis, Carmen share strategies, and a plan on how she and her friends are coming together and putting money and their mindset together to give light. They're not waiting for the government to support black owned businesses that are on life support right now, they are becoming the resource in their own community. This one hour episode is filled with support, transparency, hope, and strategies.

So we can make tomorrow better than today because we are the light. Let's go crystal. The reason why I wanted you to be on the show today is just to somehow enlighten us on how we can be alight because , uh, African-Americans we have a lot going on right now. Um, we were already a prime target with this COVID virus. Unemployment rate is high, and we've dealt with a lot of black deaths, even in the midst of dealing with this pandemic.

And on top of that, we are now grieving another loss of seeing someone literally being killed on the street and the whole world has seen it. And they , he looks just like us, our brother, cousin, we can identify with him and his family. So how do we be a light in the darkness?

And that's not to say that the things going on this work don't need to be addressed, but I think we feel out of control when we look at all the things that are going on with COVID and, and, you know, with the police brutality. And , and we start to feel like we're out of control. We can't do anything. There's nothing we can do. And for me, the way that I combat that is that I focus on what I can do and what I can do is I can manage my mind. I can manage my thoughts.

I can manage my actions by doing that. And I think once you take a look at who you are, your belief system, the things that, you know, you challenge your own belief systems and things that you grew up believing, and just feel like are facts and learning other perspectives and learning how to give other people, grace. Um , I think that's how you , you become a light.

I think learning other people's perspectives, even when you don't agree with it and learning how to handle yourself in situations that make you uncomfortable. I think we run from discomfort a lot of times. And I think right now this country is having a lot of really uncomfortable conversations . I have a white colleagues that are reaching out to me and it's uncomfortable. The things that we have to say to each other, right. But it's so necessary.

And I think we spend so much time trying to avoid these negative feelings that it causes eruptions like this, right? Where, you know, nobody knows what to do now. And everybody's confused and people don't know what to say. And people feel like they're going to say the wrong thing. And you know , it causes a lot of confusion.

And I think the only way out of it is if we all truly understand VR and have a really solid understanding of what we, for who we are, and then we put that light out into the world, but it's hard to put a light out in the word of your field with darkness of your field , with your own anger and your own biases and prejudices. If you're filled with that, then you know, that Smothers the light and it's hard for you to put light out and , you know, you're operating from that place. So,

Or should I be showing the compassionate light of no, I have we been doing it for years. We've just been tiptoeing around that situation because like, even now you're right. I have people reaching out as well saying, Hey, I want to have that conversation. It's like, Oh, do I just be nice about this? Or don't just be like, Hey, this is what is going on with me. I am angry. I'm upset.

I can share that I'm angry, but that doesn't mean that I have to, you know, fall into that stereotypic . We always get portrayed as the angry black woman, right. Who we are. We always have to worry about, Oh, somebody's going to think that I'm angry. I think we can be angry .

And I don't think that we'll ever get the change that we need if neither side is ever willing to say, okay, let me listen and hear your perspective is as jacked up, as I might think your perspective is let me try to understand where you're coming from and not do it in a reactive way.

I don't have to be always the angry black woman in front of my white coworkers or counterparts or anybody I interact with. So it's still just like that, the future of this. Like how, I mean, I can , I definitely am understanding what you're saying about to be a light right now, but I'm thinking about like next week, next month, I can't picture this. Or even how to go forward with this. I feel like right in this out, this is how everybody was even with COVID-19.

We didn't know how to get out of it. We just knew we were in the middle of something and how to emerge from it. And it's like, okay. So when we emerge out of this situation, I want us to be in my goal, especially with even having this conversation with you and others and using this platform is that we emerge in a light of positivity of growth, but it's like, how do we get from that place to that place?

You can't change everything, but God has specifically assigned you for the role that you're to play in that. And I think the more self aware and the more, the more your heart is clean from the anger and the, you know, all of the other emotions, the more your heart is in a place where you can clearly hear from God, this is what you need to do next. This is your next direction. Then you continue to be alive because that's what you're doing, right?

You are on a platform that is so beneficial to the black community, right? We're teaching about generational wealth and how to leave a legacy behind that. So important for the overall cause that's your lane. So I think for you and for everybody, it's really focusing on, okay, where am I? Where am I supposed to be? What is my purpose? Cause all of us have a role to play. My role is not your, I can't do what you do, right? But I know where my role is.

And I need to make sure that I'm aligned with what God's purpose and that I'm aligned in position so that I can hear clearly from him. This is what you need to do next. Right? I mean, we can make all the plans we want to, I don't know what's going to happen next, next week, next month. But I know I'm going to be lined up with where I'm supposed to be and I'm going to be positioned to do what God has called me to do.

And I think for, for all of us, that needs to be the goal, that shouldn't be our goal to live in the purpose that God called us for . Because that purpose is what gets us to being in a better world. That purpose is what gets us past the racism. And we're starting to have conversations now about anti-racism those conversations are happening, unfortunately, because of a tragic situation.

But what we have to do is take that tragic situation and look at the things that are coming out of it and, and become better people ourselves so that we can play a role in facilitating change. And we talked about yesterday, that's what you're doing. You gotta keep doing it. And I think lots of times we start feeling like, okay, what am I supposed to do? What is my part? You know, I might not ever stand on a national stage and talk about racism and I might not do that.

But one woman at a time, right ? Talking about how can you be healed and whole so that you can play your role. Right ? Right. So we do, and it's not, you know, I just trust God in all things. And I know a lot of people are like, Oh, we're tired of that. You know, you know, praying and we need to do action. And I think that is very true. But for me, the prayer precedes the action. Like I got prayed, get direction and then I'm acting and I'm doing what I'm supposed to do.

Then I'm walking in my purpose and I think that's what we have to do to be a light. That's the only way we can't be a light if we're full of darkness ourselves.

What I told her was that Saturday night, I think it was Friday or Saturday night in Atlanta, we saw what was happening at the CNN building , the anger and you know, the looting. And honestly, I just, I didn't really care. I was just um, numb. I was to a point where seeing all that just brought back everything that I've seen as a c hild or r e d, be cause m y mother was a librarian.

She provided me with so many books and I just remember th e, the black massacre and um , y ou know, what happened in black wall street? And I decided I'm like, well, bars , I was concerned, the chickens have come home to roost. Right . And it's , it's gone from that too . You're angry. You feeling some type of vindication.

But then now that I had a letter come from one of my , uh, uh, leaders up top, cause I work for Keller Williams as an agent and Gary Keller has sent this letter out and it was so amazing to where he apologized. He wanted change any, even call it out everyone's name in that letter. And I was just in tears. I'm like, wait a minute, wait a minute. Now I've waited for this, my whole life for this to happen . I'm just trying to figure out my emotions in all this.

And I think a lot of us are, it's like, wait a minute, you get an email. Yeah. I got an email too . Well , this person I went on Amazon this morning, buy a book and write there black lives matter. Like I'm a dreaming . Yeah . So what are your thoughts on all of this?

Um , really, since they were a baby, but I moved away to Savannah, my wife and I, then when I came back home, I sort of picked up that mantle of being the father figure in their lives. So I constantly think about how this impacts their lives directly. And it's very troubling. It's very disturbing. The youngest one just turned 18. He just started driving about three weeks ago. And so, you know, subconsciously I'm wondering, I'm thinking right.

And being a person of faith, being a believer, you know, we, we fight those things through prayer and we fight those things through, you know, meditating on the scriptures, you know, but we also recognize that because we're human, we feel the pain that other people feel. And so even beyond my, my three boys , uh , I do a lot of social justice work and activism in the Macon area. And so I'm really connected to people.

I love people and to see are people hurting that way is really, is disturbing to see the deaths one, but to see how the reactions and the response have been, it really is an indication of pain. It's an indication of hurt. You know, there's this interesting proverb that says, you know, if we don't teach our young people, if we don't love our young people, they'll the village down just to feel the warmth of the fire, you know?

And it's like, I think we're seeing a generation who's looking for love and answers and , and revenge even. And I do share in some of your sentiments, when you talk about the fact of, you know, reaping, you know, the idea of reaping, what has been sold, you know , there's a scripture in the book of Proverbs that talks about how, when justice is when justice, when injustice is planted, then destruction is the harvest.

And so when we look at this from a biblical standpoint, I see so many of these things, you know, as you said, the language you use coming home to roost, not saying that I'm a fan of violence and looting , but I definitely think that the anger, the , uh, the sense of frustration is justified. Um , I'll also say that I really believe that when we look at the rioting and the looting, that's really a symptom of a sickness.

And so when things like this happen, there's an automatic, emotional reactionary response that may seem outlandish to people and that's valid, but we can not overlook the people you know , those individuals emotions and their pains as it relates to this response.

Now I do have some thoughts about strategies that we could use better our community, and some of those things, you know, our church and our, in our organizations or the organizations I work with, we've been able to implement some of those things. But when you come, when it comes to these type of issues where there's such high emotion , uh, I'm in, I'm in the same boat as it relates to processing this information.

So when people come to me, I have to first start with, Hey, I'm not an expert in overcoming because you know, I'm wrestling with these issues, just with it just as you are, where I start is with the scriptures. I start with, you know, encouraging the words through, through the Bible, through prayer, you know, having a sense of connectivity to God and the word. And then I tell people, Candle, I say, it's okay for us to own our emotions.

Even if that emotion is anger right there, there are times when we say stuff like, we don't want people to be angry, but anger is a human emotion. And the Bible says for us to be angry, but seeing not. So it's possible for me to aim , to be angry and not be sinful in that anger. Um, you know, one of the things I like to teach at our church is that our emotions are indicators not dictators. So I need to own my emotions.

If I'm feeling depressed, if I'm feeling upset about what's going on in the world, if I'm a mother or father or a concerned citizen, I need to own how I'm feeling, right. It's just an indication of where I am, but I can't let those emotions dictate my actions. And so I tell people, all your emotions be open. I'm a fan of those who follow me on therapy , uh , on Facebook would know that I'm a fan of therapy.

And I believe in mental health counseling, because I believe all of us, all of us are gonna need to lay on somebody's couch in the next few months.

I'm not healing and developing and moving beyond my pain, just for me, God uses my pain and my hurt and me overcoming those things. So, so that could be a light and spread that light to somebody else.

And you know, of course we talked about some of those things that took a turn, but it does not take away from the fact that people are speaking up and standing up, not just for themselves, but on behalf of other people. And so when we hear commentary like black lives matter from people that are not black, that says that there's a level of activity where people are attempting to walk in our shoes and feel our pain. We have to be open and allowing them to do so.

Like far as the future with this? Cause I just , I'm a very optimistic person, but it's like, I just cannot predict this.

I do think that this is a critical turning point. I think we're at the tipping point. And I think that our politicians and legislators are going to be pushed and forced to change. You know, when you have people of different ethnicities rising to the occasion, you know, different, I just saw Apple put out this , this wonderful statement. There are other large organizations like Nike. So now this has moved beyond our community and move beyond the Caucasian community.

I don't personally think that we should support vote for, or, or give any type of platform to people who are not interested in preserving black bodies. Um, I was talking to somebody the other day, you'll probably get a kick out of this. They say it I'll say, well, how do you feel about black lives matter? They say , well, I don't, I don't really like that statement. I said, really? Yeah . So we go back and forth between all lives and black lives. And the person says, well, I'm a conservative.

I say , really? I said , well, I am too. They said, you are. I said, yeah, I'm trying to conserve black bodies.

And of course we had to eventually end , but a great point was made up about, should we even, I'm not going to say start embracing , uh, why people, you know, and pretty much proclaiming , you know, that finally black lives matter and taking a knee and actually, you know , listening to our voice and giving us a platform to speak. But , um, a friend of mine said, we'll sit in and start in the black community because we don't love ourselves.

So when you do the stats, white people kill other white people at a higher rate than a person of another ethnicity, killing white people, black people kill other black people at a higher rate because they're there, they're in the same proximity for the most part. But here's the interesting thing when black people kill other black people, they get charged and convicted. You know what I mean?

We are seeing on national TV, people feel, you know, our family members , our loved ones from the black community. And we're all, we're all holding our breath. Like, okay, these four officers have been arrested, but we've seen what happened with some other cases. So , so everybody's kind of hesitant. Like they may not even get charged because we've seen so many people get off.

Now these are the people of other ethnicities that have killed black people, but they get off, but that's not the same case for black people. So I think that when you talk about black on black crime, yes, we need to be as diligent and as passionate, but we can't overlook the proximity issue. And we cannot overlook the fact that justice is always served when black people kill other black people or when a black person killed another white person. It is not the case when white people kill black.

And even in the midst of all that is transpiring, we've got to keep the faith and maintain our hope and our encouragement for one another. So I would say to everybody, just hang in there, we're praying for better times. And we believe by faith that the good Lord can make that happen.

I remember hearing about black wall street, like, Oh, well the chicken h as come home to roost. So I just, and I know that that's a point where it's like, okay, Candle, we need to kind of the separate from everything going on.

I can remember when we had nine 11, it was the same kind of thing. You know, just sitting there, watching those planes, going to the building over and over and over again. It kept people in a state of grief and sadness and , um, depression and anxiety about the future.

So I agree with you that stepping back from the news is probably the first thing that would contribute to somebody, even being able to be a light in the darkness, because if you are drained and depleted, and as you say, nom and para numbed and paralyzed by the images that you see, you're not going to be able to be very useful to anybody else to help anybody else , uh, lift themselves out of the pit of despair.

So to speak that, Hey, we see you, this was wrong and we're watching you and holding people accountable to a higher standard of being and behaving in and of itself is healthy. Um, I also happened to be a law and order kind of gal. And my husband in fact is a former law enforcement officer. And when I, long before I became a psychologist, I used to work for , for two mayors of Atlanta. And so I had a lot of friends that were Atlanta police officers, and still do have friends.

One of my best friends from high school , uh , just retired from APD. And so I have that side of the equation in my mind and in my heart as well. And so I never think that a protest becomes constructive and useful when it resorts to violence and vandalism and terrorism and destruction of property and hurting other people's ability to make a living. You completely destroy your message at that point. And yes, you get the attention of the world. All right.

But at what expense, I mean, it just horrified me to see that happen and I'm a native Atlantan. And so there was a time when I breathed and slept and ate Atlanta. If you cut me, I would have bled Atlanta. So I was talking to a lot of my girlfriends at night that I had gone to high school with. And we were all just like, ha just totally in shock because in Atlanta it was deep in the psyche of the native Atlanta and that we don't riot . We don't write it. You know, that that's beneath us.

You know, we leave that to other cities, but here in Atlanta, the home of dr. King, we don't riot . And yet we have a way of getting our point across and building prosperous communities and safe communities. And so to see us come to that moment in Atlanta, it was extremely sobering. It was just incredibly sobering. And it still is.

Um, everybody gets that this was horrific and that this was just outright murder that this, you know, should never have happened. And the fact that it was that people stood by and watched it happen and that it was totally uncalled for. And the , just the cavalier attitude that the officer had in taking this man's life. I mean he full well heads have known what he was doing.

I mean, my husband tells me that when somebody is handcuffed from the minute that somebody is handcuffed , they're in a vulnerable position and you would never ever put your knee on somebody's neck, particularly when they're handcuffed and they can't resist you in any shape, form or fashion. So it was just evil. And I unfortunately, candle, I think we live in a world today and I hope this answers your question.

In some regard where there are people who are fooled into thinking that evil doesn't exist. You know, that all mankind is good and everybody is basically good. No, that's not the case. Evil actually does exist and it lives. And it breves in the hearts of many of many, a man and woman. And so I am bumped the school of thought that when you at least have that understanding that evil walks amongst us, you're not quite as shocked when you see evil, you almost expect evil coming.

Uh, I've done many years of work in various prisons over the years. And I have sat face to face with murderers and rapists and child molesters and uh, you know, drug dealers and bank robbers and people who've done all kinds of things. I've looked into the eyes of evil many, a time and so evil in and of itself. Doesn't shock me. It's a part of the human condition ever since Adam and Eve in , in a garden. And so for me, I'm in the seat in which I said , where I've, you know, I've heard it all .

I mean, you can't shock me. You cannot shock me with whatever story somebody brings to me. That would be impossible. Um, I'm not shocked by evil and I, I would encourage everybody to , uh, you know, come to some terms , uh, or some resolve about the fact that yes, there is evil and, and when these things happen that if they happen, we ought not to be quite as shocked as maybe some people are who, who would rather take the false , uh , notion that evil doesn't exist. Oh, everybody's good.

Oh, everybody's cut off , you know, deep down in our hearts. We're all good. No, that's , that's not the case.

Period began because if you have no notion of a life beyond what we can see and touch and feel today, you gotta really put way too much importance on the things that happen here as though this is my one chance to live my life and, and, and, and, you know, live it abundantly. And so I think having an I , a concept of the afterlife , uh, makes a lot of the things that happen in this world pale in comparison.

When you have something to look forward to my mother used to always say, you always have to have something to look forward to. And when you have something to look forward to, it helps you get through the very grievous times of today. Uh, I can recall there was this Netflix documentary. I wish I knew the name of it, but it was this brilliant , uh, Islamic woman who had taken upon herself to go into the bowels of evil.

Um, the area nation types, the, you know, KKK types, the Islamic terrorist types. And she interviewed these people, these leaders and members of these organizations. And she did so without any , uh, inflammatory language, she was totally nonjudgmental. She simply wanted to understand, I want to understand. And the Bible says , uh , we should, we should first seek to understand then be understood. And so that's exactly what she was doing. I want to understand your world and how you got here.

And, and essentially why it is that you would choose this over this living a happy little life where you choose to, you know, turn the other cheek and be kind and candle. It was absolutely amazing that while they were in fight mode and talking about their fight and their cause, and you know how much we hate this one or hate that one.

And while they were in fight mode, Oh, they had a lot to say, and they were worked up and they, you know, they didn't have enough words to talk about their level of hate, but then she would switch the interview on them at a key moment and to talk about them and their personal life.

And in each and every case, they had had some kind of trauma, some kind of severe bullying experience , some kind of handicap , one of the guys was physically handicapped and he had grown up with such an overwhelming sense of an adequacy . And, and all of a sudden they would shift, you know, you could see their faces soften, and you could hear almost like the voice of the little boy come forward. And I'll never forget.

There was one that she asked the question, well , if you weren't fighting, if you weren't a terrorist, what would you be doing with your life? What was your purpose in life? What was your goal in life prior to you coming into contact with this particular group? And this guy was stumped , like stomp didn't have a word was speechless because there was no purpose there. He was just a shell of a man.

And all of a sudden, the guy who had so much to say now, he had nothing to say, and you could see the embarrassment come on on his face. That I don't even have. You know , I can't even begin to formulate an answer for that question. So her, her documentary, her documentary really underscored how empty certain people can be.

And how out of that emptiness, if you don't fill it up with something good and loving and righteous and kind, and , um , sacrificial and something for the betterment of mankind, then darkness will fill it up. Then Satan will fill it up. Then there will be this purpose, born of evil. That is great story. Thank you. That was a great film. I wish I knew the name of it so everybody could watch it. It was fascinating.

And as my pastor has said this past week, it's very difficult to have conversations with people who are very different from you with different perspectives and so forth. If you don't have some kind of great equalizer that you can , uh, filter information through. And so for me, and my perspective, it would be Jesus Christ and for others, it's, you know, a great love of their children or a great love of , uh , of mankind, which again, I don't believe emanates from anything other than God.

And I just think that , um, it's impossible to have constructive conversations without a divine hand involved. And who loves us all.

And then now it's just like, Hmm , I'm slowly a little bit more today. I'm laughing today. It's like you said, it's a , it's a great day. I wanted to create this and I'll share this story with you because I don't think I've shared it with anybody else that I've interviewed, but it was created because I'm in a group of like maybe 30,000 podcasters and black, white, all around the world.

And it was founded by an African American couple and it grew of course, beyond their expectations, but they of course are supporting the movement and they was , and this was maybe Monday, the conversation started and they said, Oh yeah, by the way, let's , you know, podcasters is, we're not releasing anything this week. We are supporting the black lives matter movement, no social media, no podcasts going out. And I'm like, wait a minute. I gotta a podcast ready to come out.

Like we just pull the plug. Like I'm paying my editor, my producer, like, wait a minute. But at the same time, I'm like, well, do I support this? Do I not support this? And then someone chimed in and said she was African American young, and maybe 18 or 19. And she said, I'm doing mine. I've got to share my voice. And so I said, can you send me yours? And I've listened to it. And if she was so transparent and emotional and grieving, and I said, I've got to do this.

And I said, but I don't want to do it by myself. I want to get those that have like been, you know, already speaking out already being a part of this movement. And I instantly of course thought of you. But then when I went to sleep on it , still trying to get an idea of how, when to put it together, it had been like maybe 167 comments the very next day it grew. And by this time it was a particular woman and she literally brought tears to my eyes out of London.

And she said, I need to hear your voice. We are silencing our voice so that we can finally hear yours. And I was , I was so done and I didn't have , okay, okay. I got to find Carmen, I got to find this person, that person, okay , I'll be , I wasn't ready. So Carmen, how give this light that we have?

So this week it was black girl sunscreen and Morris Brown college and a local restaurant Orleans restaurant. So that's one way that I give light is constantly promoting black businesses and organizations. And then I'm also part of a local giving circle. It's a 16 of us, but we started this giving circle five years ago. We terrify have this year and we've given close to a half, a million dollars in five years to , uh , black organizations, businesses , um, that are in Chattanooga area.

So we're solely , I'm not supporting black folks. And for ,

And so, you know , we have to wear that mask in those spaces. And so come together, we can kind of relax and have real conversations without having to give a background story. Like we just understand each other and we understand those struggles and those things that we're dealing with in our day to day, Oh , we're a group of friends.

We came together and we decided we wanted to do something with our dollars , um, to give back , we wanted to show that you didn't have to be old, rich and white in order to invest in your communities. And so five years ago we started each member has to commit , um, at least $300 a year and some giveaway more. You can't give less, but some give way more. We also partner with other foundations businesses. We have individual donors who also invest in the fund .

Cause we obviously, with 16 people giving between $305,000 a year, we're not able to do 500,000 with just that . So we can't other people who have caught the vision, understood the vision and have invested in us as well. And then for our five year kind of birthday party that we're throwing ourselves, we decided to invest $50,000 this year. Um, in organizations within Chattanooga, dad worked with black, you know, black people.

And we, we then took it one step further and decided to earmark 20,000 of that to invest in local black home businesses. Once COVID-19 hit, we understood that our businesses were adversely affected more than others. And so we decided to come up with this mini grant program where we did $20,000, 20 businesses, we'll get a thousand dollar mini grant and we had some other people come on board. So it was up to 23. So we gave out $23,000 to 23 black owned businesses this week.

So we partner with them because they have a much larger reach than we do as far as the local plaque is this community. Cause that's not our wheelhouse , but it's theirs. So we partner with them to help get the word out.

So short and sweet application. We had the rubric, each member did each business based on the rubric that the top 20 , uh , you know , one through 20. And then we found out we could do additional three. We throw in the additional three and that's how we, that's how we made it happen.

I mean, it's kind of like you guys a little bit short of being just venture capitalists in a sense, because you are investing in a business, it's just not all corporate is not as fancy as it is, but you saw the need and you just, you put all the way , all the, I guess, all the corporate red tape and just put your money in, you know, and that's what we're supposed to do.

Cause I was, I had this conversation with a friend of mine about how , um, different , um , racial groups, I think it was , uh, how Asians put their money together. They create like somewhat of a bank. So that person that wants to start a business applies and they get all that money to get that business started just like that. No questions asked and it's the same thing of what you're doing.

And I see it slowly happening across the country. I'm a member of another group that's doing like a 52-week challenge. Like there are so many people across the country, other , um, giving circles across the company, across the country that are investing in their communities local. So we're not the only ones there is a mind-shift definitely happening right now. I just needed to happen a little quicker.

So anybody can have a site where people can get some easy word resources about starting giving circles because it's, it's so easy and it's that it's collective giving, you know, it's , it's that collective buying money, power that we're trying to do.

It's the person who probably speaks to the most on behalf of our giving circle would be our president James McKissick our , even with LaQuisha Ewing And those would be the two people who probably do the most interviews , um , and things on behalf of the group . But we do try to kind of make each member do some press. And when we have these moments where we get into these blips , where people everybody's asking us questions, they want to talk about the work that we're doing.

So we do try to kind of shake it up, but they will be the two that probably speak the most on behalf of, of the , um, of the organization. I manage our social media. So you might see me posting a lot. Um, but , um, yeah, the , uh, the spokespersons for the group are actually, we kind of mix it up a lot, so I'm not the one sort of speak .

Um, and so we just want to be the example that people follow and duplicate for themselves, whether it's here or across the nation or wherever. That's what, that's the biggest probably goal for Sancofa as a giving circle.

I support you. I thank you. Stay safe. Stay sane, stay strong and stay lit. That's all for now.