League has all the knowledge you want.
League has all the knowledge you need.
Yeah, they have all the books that the whole wild world one up reads. Welcome, Welcome, Welcome to Malie's bookshep bringing a world together with books.
Culture and community.
Hi, my name is Malik, your host Malik's Bookshelf.
Another eventful week.
We had three book signings in one week at Malik Books at the Westfield Coche City Mall. And it don't stop from there because we have some community events such as the Orange Coast County children Book Festival. So we got a tremendous week that we're coming off.
Of community, books, culture.
But let me say this, Malie Books mission and aim is to change the world one book at a time. We breaking out the book more bill this week at the occ Children's Book Festival.
We gonna have.
About seven eight authors with us, so we excited about that. But I do have some upcoming events that already took place that I wanna feature on this up episode. I was able to interview Chante Griffin, who wrote the book Loving Your Black Neighbor as Yourself. Quite interesting, but it's her take. It's her take on how to heal, how to work together, how people can embrace each other, you know,
the god the rules, treat others like you wanna treat yourself. Well, it's kind of like, you know, loving your black neighbor as yourself basically, you know it is it's everyone taking the initiative to embrace their neighbor, their community, and to be able to work together in a collective miner for the sake of the neighborhood, the sake of the community, sake of the nation, and so forth. But I'm gonna
let Shaun Tate break down her book. No one can tell you more about their book than they ought to. Always say. Also, I'm a feature the interview I took with Yvonne Sanai Jones.
Who's the moderator.
Other she's a bilingual actress and an entrepreneur, So I'm gonna interview her and let her talk about her background and what she's doing as an actress, because you know, actress are the ultimate storytellers.
You know, they make stories come alive.
So these are some of the things that I plan on featuring on I'm a feature on this particular episode.
And one more.
Segment I want to feature on this podcast is Wallow two six seven was at Malik Books. Woo. Was that a wonderful event, But I got a chance. I didn't moderate the event, Amma Grimes moderate the event.
Now.
The book that came out, the new book that Wallowed two six seven just released and the New York Times bestseller his first week, Armed with Good Intentions, A very powerful book, a very moving, touching, inspirational book. Wallow is a brother that spent the twenty years in jail, came out and believed in himself, believed in the fact that a person can have a second chance. I think he went in at seventeen, came out at thirty seven.
He's now on forty four and.
He has come out running NonStop. He's amassed millions of followers as an infloor on social media, and it's all about inspiring.
Telling people to wake up, believe in yourself, get going. No one's promised tomorrow.
Listen, he said in himself at the event, and he was like, look, nobody owe him nothing. Nobody owes him nothing. And he believes in accountability and he's straight short. He speaks the language of the streets, he speaks the language of the people. I mean, it's a lot of us come out of the streets a lot of us to speak. It's a different language. I always believe it, always believe that God always sends someone speaking the language of the people.
So it's a lot of people in our community hip hop, their street and whatever the case is, someone has to speak their language. They're not gonna you know, leaders like President Obama when he was president, or Trump when he's president, when who else? Biden when he spreading a lot of these people. You know, they speak to a large group of people, but it's a lot of people that just don't hear him.
They don't.
They no matter what they say or what they do, they don't penetrate the streets.
Maybe their policies do, but them as a leader don't.
And sometimes people like a Wallow who speaks the language of the streets, and he talks in a way.
That they can relate.
You know, they not talking all intellectual, but they talking in a manner that they can understand and they can hear it. Because everybody is a lot. But do you got the key to unlock them? That's I always say that. And so some of us are heard differently, and so Wallo, you know, he speaks the language of the streets. This brother came out of jail, you know, spent twenty years, you know, in the four corners. But he didn't come out with a hand held out. He came out giving out.
And he came out sprinting and running. And he came out making with a movement, with an idea as an entrepreneur. And he came out running as a sprint And all I'm saying is armed with good intentions.
Telling his story is giving you insight to change. Start with you, and that's what bottom line is.
And you got to be accountable for your actions and stop acting like somebody owe you something, whatever cars you deal with.
And you know, all he knew.
Was the streets people around him was the streets. He got caught up in the streets. But he allowed changes to come about in his life to help change the streets. So the brother got millions and millions and millions of followers.
A lot of people know them.
Elie books was packed from the back to the front. Wallow dropped some knowledge, some inside. I think the biggest thing that I took away. Now I got a chance to talk to him for myself while he's there, and I always try to do that.
Give me a couple of few minutes, give me a few minutes.
If you at Elie books, I'm not moderating, But if I got you, I'm gonna come. Ay, let's go to the back. Brothers all to the front. Let me ask you a few questions from my audience on Malik's bookshelf, bringing a world together with books, culture and community. But let me tell you the thing that I thought this stuck out the most. He said a lot. The brother ain't shot on words. He's electric, he's passionate, he's powerful.
Let me tell you though it. You know I'm not as eloquent as him, and certainly I don't know the language he knows to read that group of people. But you know, I you know, the language that I speak touches certain people in a certain way.
But I'll tell you this my takeaway.
The thing that's stuck out the most is when he said that.
They spent a lot.
Of money to market death and destruction and for people to make bad decisions. That there's a billions of dollars of spent to create you know, because he mentioned how certain icons in our community, like criminals.
Al Campone.
Gotdi all these gangsters they glorified and our people know a lot of these mafia and gangsters and people who and former criminals or whatever. A lot of people in the community, Black community, Hispanish community, they know a lot of these people El Choppo and all that. But they couldn't tell you all the presidents of the United States, or at least if you ask them, give me ten president of the United States couldn't tell you.
They tell you ten high profile criminals. So he said, why is that?
Because marketing, marketing, And I thought that start out the most of me, because and I analyzed that, it's lot of money spent to market death and destructions all across these cities and all across this nation. How much money is spent to make the wrong de eat the wrong foods?
How much how much advertisement goes.
Into promoting sugary foods and drinks that ain't doing nothing but cause health problems? How many things are marketed to create licensius bib or having sex without responsibility? People are you know, no protection and so forth, like person get pregnant.
What you're gonna do? Can you you a child? You're a teenager.
You ain't making no money, you ain't got no career.
You know what I'm saying, so, how much when you look at these commercials, when you look at a lot of things, how much money is spent on you making wrong decisions, wrong choices, and ultimately affecting your life.
In a negative way, Drinking drugs, all of these things, Wasting your time on activities that don't enrich you. How many hours a day do you spend watching football and basketball in sports versus investing in yourself to make yourself successful, to make the kind of money of the people that you sit.
Up and watch all day. These are the coin I.
Said, Man, A lot of money is spent marketing death and destruction and self sabotaging to create self sabotaging behavior.
So I was interested. I mean, that point to me stood out in.
The insightful conversation that took place between Wallow two sixty seven and Amber Grimes. And so I was intrigued by that, and I, you know, to analyze that. But I got a chance, like I said, to interview him, ask him a few questions. It was interactive while people were still in the store and he was signing books. So you know, some you know, there might be a break here and
a break there. But nevertheless, it's all organic, it's all not it's not scripted, just me, you know, being me and talking to Wallow and him giving me his insight about his new book, arm with good intentions. So anyway, let me let this episode begin to roll, all right, please thank you.
I got a special guest.
She's gonna do an event today right here at Maligue Books. You know, I gotta get just a few minutes just to her to tell you about her book, Loving Your Black Neighbor As Yourself. Her name and author is Chantay Griffin. How you doing, Schantae, good, good, good good. I'm wonderful. So let's get right into it. No one can tell you about the book more than the author, So please tell us.
About your book.
Loving your Black Neighbor As Yourself is a book straight from the heart of God. Martin Luther King was a prophet who came to this kind that said, all of God's children deserve to be free, all of God's children deserves civil rights, all of God's children deserve education and great housing and economic opportunity. So this book is taking us back to the heart of King's message and saying, what is stopping you externally and internally from loving your black neighbor as yourself.
This book gives you the tools.
To break through those barriers and love the way God intended.
You to love. Wow, you know what. I love that because I always use this analogy.
The sun rises every day and it shines on everyone on the whole planet, which me is an analogy of every day as a new day. But more importantly, God's gift is given to everyone. And so when you said what you said about the Martin Luther King and about loving your neighbor, your black neighbor as yourself, I thought about that as an a knowledge. So what are some of the highlighted points the best chapter of your book?
All of them.
No, what we do in the book is we take this concept of the love languages, right, this is how different people give and receive love. We flip the script and we say these are cultural love lenses. How do African American communities give and receive love? So I actually created five love lenses, and this is how Black folks give and receive love. Number one intimacy community, right, we always want to be together. Number two honor and respect. Don't disrespect us. You don't want to see that. Number
Three God's gives resources. We're always giving given to the community, giving to the next generation. Right number four, stand up, we're speaking up. We're standing up for righteousness, for justice for ourselves. And then lastly we're praying people.
We're gonna pray over you.
We're gonna pray for you. God bless your heart. So I talk about how you can love black community, these and black people the way we're already loving each other because we love.
Each other doing it by nature, like a spider spenser of web, not because it read a book, but because it comes out to nature.
You know what I'm saying, what's in us just got to.
Come out, you know with some of the most soulful, joyful people.
Want to play.
They write books about, you know, how we can find joy in the midst of oppression and sorrow.
Why is your book important?
It's important because we're living in an age where people are trying to take us back. They're trying to take the civil rights legislation that was meant to protect and uplift black people and say that now we're discriminated against non black people. So this book is important because it shows you how we can love politically, how we can love relationally and how we can love holistically and with our dollars.
Wow wow, wow.
Now you heard it first hand from Jaunty Griffin, who's going to be doing an event today right here at Malik Books in the Westfield, Co City Mall.
So thank you. Tell people how they can find you.
As we close this off, you go, Shante. Sometimes you got to encourage yourself website, Instagram, Facebook, you go, Shante y O, you g O C H A N t E. You go, Chante find me there.
Thank you, Chante.
Malik's Bookshelf bringing a world together with books, culture and community change in the world with one book at a time. I have Yvonne Snai Jones, a bilingual actress. She's gonna be moderating the event today with Chantey Griffin, who authored the book Loving Your Black Neighbor As Yourself.
Welcome, Yvonne.
Tell my audience at Malie's Bookshelf why reading is so important.
Oh, it's foundational. It's foundational. You can and go to different places. You can learn things that you never knew that aren't going to be learned in school, and you can write and then you can share your own thoughts to other people.
So it's fantastic.
You know, I came across a stat they said, forty five million Americans are illiterate.
What we're gonna do about that?
I think more events like these get some more good books that don't want to read, right, you know?
You know, for there was a time in America where we were denied the right to read and write.
And that's why reading it's important.
Because it's transformative, it's empowering. And anything you can find you can find in a book. Now your actress, and you know, so you know how to make stories interactive and coming along?
Tell us all about that.
Well, that is actually what drew me to acting, is my imagination. I was an only child until my brother was born right about ten years old for me, so it was just me and stories and acting them out in the backyard. And I loved books as a kid. That was my mom would take me to the library. That was the first place I got to walk all by myself, so it's a big deal. And I would go and I would check out books and I would gobble them up, and then the next week I would
get more. So I'm very blessed to be able to have had that kind of experience.
Wonderful, wonderful.
Now you shared with me that you have a production company, entrepreneur. We living in a time where it's very important to do for self and be resourceful. Now I believe it is your husband's standing right here and life. Tell me all about your production company.
You were based out of southern California, focusing on media production, video, MFB entertainment, my father's business, and so we just love to to really support whatever the vision is. We came out today to support Sante in this book release and capture this wonderful moment. So it's always a pleasure to take the skills God to bless you with and capture the moments that matter to people.
We're making history today. We are at Malique Books. We're going to be starting an event in a few minutes, and they are here to immortalize this event.
You know, social media's like that.
Back in the day, they used to say, if you don't have a business card, you ain't got a business. Now on days, you ain't got a social media you don't have a business. So we want to, you know, capture the moment and any final thoughts about your production company you would like to share.
My brother, oh, Yeah, you could check us out at www dot NFB entertainment dot com. That's n FB my father's bi business entertainment dot com.
Thank you both for sharing your business and about yourself to my podcast, Elik Bookshell.
Thank you you, Malik for providing this resource for our community. It's that itself is going to be immortalized because you've already touched so many people by these opportunities and it's just going to keep going and those experiences they're changing lives.
Thank you, Thank you, appreciate y'all.
I can't let you leave without getting a few sound bites from a podcast, Malik's Bookshelf Bringing the World Together with Malik with Books, Culture and Community Wallow two six seven at Malie Books. Man questions Yep, well hey amor good intentions, it's your new book, break it down because you know your book better than anybody else.
Home, Well, good attentions to the book to show people the similarities of the struggles that take place when you're growing up trying to figure out life and you adult you trying to figure out life. But I just want to see people to see the similarities of the struggles that I went through. But I never gave up on myself and I got through on the other side. And when you don't give up on yourself, there an example of what can happen. The possibilities is endless, endless.
Well, you know, brother, one thing that stood out to me was when you talked about marketing.
Marketing is everything.
Market is anything one thing that's that's something you do because you're not afraid to get out of market your brand. You're not afraid to do videos and talk about my elige books. You're not afraid to do none of that. If I'm you, I'm doing today day, I'm getting worried out about books. I'm pulling up at events where you know books is necessary or whatever, and I'm just gonna keep it alive. But uh, you gotta market your product. Nobody can market your product more than you. Because you
know your product. They don't know it. You're trying to get them to know it. In order to get them to know it, you gotta tell them.
About it, and he'll be too cool. Yeah, and people be too cool. You know, brother, how.
Much money do you think they spend to keep people believing that they can't be all they can be a lot of money now building its brother.
They spend a lot of money because you know, it's just so much doubt in the air. They mark it out out here. Doubt is marketed, so you.
Know a lot of people can't rise above.
They talk about prisons, but the biggest prison is the mind.
It is because you know, it's like people be locking their own people be incarcerating their mind and don't believe that they can move. They could do this and that, and it's like you've done once you do that, like most of the game. You know, it's the mind. The mind game is anything man. And if you shut your mind down of what you can do and what you can't do.
You trouble. You're in trouble, them in trouble.
You know, always say change your thoughts, change your life.
You can change everything. You know, if you could change the thoughts, you could change the world.
Yeah, yeah, they did us.
I think it was.
The Dell KONNECKI commission Napoleon Hill to study success. And you know he wrote a series of books, Think and Grow Rich, you know what I mean.
He was a think of rich. I think that was a prison classic.
Yes, I mean we're in the years and decades and decades ago and is still it's.
Still that relevant.
It's still that it's still it's still major.
You know, go ahead, he wrote. He wrote one called the Lass of Success. He wrote a lot and deal.
Kage has commissioned him to do this study. But most of what he wrote was how the minds work.
How to be successful.
You gotta believe you can be successful to be successful.
You see, you heard what I said. You got to become a millionaire before you can become a millionaire.
Yes, yes, I always say fake it till you make it.
Yeah, yeah, you gotta do that.
What what what?
What was the spark that change you?
Brother? Butid I mean something that had to enlighten you to get on this course?
Did you become right now?
I got tired of losing, Malik, you know, for the streets that had you thinking you winning the whole time you're losing.
You know. I was always told this story there was a donkey that fell in the ditch and everybody walked by through a stone, and so many stones were down in the ditch that the donkey walked out.
Damn. That's crazy, you know, Meaning.
That every knock is a boost, Losing is sometimes winning.
So you got tired of losing.
And what's some of the steps you took to begin in your mind winning?
Accountability?
Countability, that's everything, break it down.
You know, you got to be countable for your bullshit, all the stuff you lack, ad the you know, lack of discipline, not staying on course, looking all over the place. You got to be accountable that you where you are based off of your actions.
You can't blame nobody.
For your shit out here. You got nothing but a bunch of victims. Oh I ain't here because of them. They ain't put me on. Ain't no what you ain't do for you? People don't want to look at America. And that's that's why a lot of people, you know, they don't want to be countable. Looking at America is a scary thing.
Wow, countability, Look in the mirror, accept the truth.
So what are your what's some of the tips to help a person?
Because I look at people and I said this to Tim Ross when he was here. I said that everybody is a lock and some of the locks got rusted on them, and so who.
Has the master key?
Because to open up them rusty locks?
You, Yes, it's yourself. Is your mind, is your body's the spirit is your energy, you know. But a lot of people they just it's hard to believe in self.
Change begins with self.
Yeah, so many of us doubt ourselves, don't believe in ourselves. But you wrote a book called Armed with Good Intentions to change the game, to change how people think. And what do you want people to take away from this book?
I just want you to see the similarities of the struggle in the ups and downs of life that I went through and you've probably gone through. And I just ain't never give up. You can't give up.
Well you heard it live at Malik Books. Follow two six seven.
Thank you, my brother, appreciate you. Thanks for listening to Malik's bookshelf, where topics on the shelf are books, culture, and communities.
Be sure to subscribe and leave me a review. Check out my Instagram at Malik Books. See you next time.