Black to the Future

Malik Books has all the knowledge you want, my league, but has all the knowledge you need chat.

They have all the books that the whole wild world one of breed Malague Books. Welcome, Welcome, Welcome to Malik's Bookshelf, bringing a world together with books, culture and community. Hi, my name is Malik, your host of Malik's Bookshelf. WHOA you know I'm the hype Man of books. That's right, this is Malik, the hype Man of books. I'm passionate. I love what I do and I do it with a passion. So I've been nicknamed the hype Man of books. So hey, this particular episode is going to be Black

But nevertheless, I.

Need to feature this episode, this conversation a planel. I was on there with a represented from Snapchat, a couple other community.

Panelists.

I don't remember the names, but they're listed on this particular episode in the introduction. But the community that hosted this, well, the Foundation in Los Session is the host of this is called California Community Foundation calfun dot or. They're located downtown Los Angeles. A prolific polantary organization. This foundation helps education, helps homeless, sheltered housing, They help in social justice, all kinds of things they do.

They got their hands in a lot of things.

Well anyway, but Leek, the heype man of books, was invited as a panelist and it was called Black to the Future, and I had a wonderful time. I just talked about what I thought about the future of Los Angeles and community and so it was a wonderful, wonderful panel and I'm on to feature that on this episode.

And guess what I got paid.

That's right, I received the honorarium to one of my favorite nonprofit organizations, the Cresader Praise Scott Scholarship Fund, that promotes education and scholarship to freshmen and in the college. So I donated my honorarium to the Crusader Praise Scott Scholarship Fund. Thank you, California Community Foundation c c F. Thank you appreciate you considering Elik Books to be on a panel with so many other activists having a conversation

So thank you. I hope to do more. I'm looking for more invites.

So if you want the hype Man of books, give me a call three two three five one three five three five eight. Now that's a direct number to get straight direct to the hype Man of books, Malik the hype Man of Books. Or you could just email me at Malik at malikbooks dot com. That's right, Malik at malikbooks dot com. If you look at Malik the hype Man of Books, give me a jingle, give me an email reach out. I'm available, So enjoy this episode. Block to the Future.

We've invited four Afro futurists to come and speak to the future of the black community. We have Jason Cocket from Staffing, So I'm gonna ask them to come on up and uh NBC it right here because I'm gonna do a quick transition.

Malik Muhammad from Malik Books.

You can give them around them a ball.

You haven't learned that a lot of.

Work work restauranting for the new Foundation.

And Kristen, we are moderator today, so I am happy to turn it over.

To christ Thank you all so much for being here.

I see everybody's plates are getting empty.

I'm sure everybody is enjoying the food.

I wanna just give it up again before the uh CCF.

I believe African Diaspora k UH committee.

It's an amazing petram.

I will say, I've done a lot of things like this and I haven't had uh. I haven't seen so much thought going to just not only just the food, but the opening presentation.

We've got food, we've got music. The energy is flowing.

So today we're really here to have a conversation and beat in conversation.

Our goal is that this is flow.

Is kind of like we're family at this point.

We're breaking bread, we're eating together, so I hope that we can just jump into it. I will hear from our esteem panelists today, so I'm excited for them to tell you all about their perspectives on Black.

La from where they sit.

And then we're gonna hear from you all, really hear from you on any questions that you have for the panel, and then we will be on our way for the evening or the the rest of the day.

Y'all still have to work.

Right, I know, I I know what the food it might be.

A little hard. You don't have to like go take a walk.

Around, shake shake it off.

But I hope everyone's feeling really nursed and full.

So thank you all again. We're gonna go ahead and jump into it.

You know, I think we want to start with just talking about what is the state of black la And when I sat with this question, you know, immediately my brain wanted to go to statistics about, well, how much how many folks are still black folks are still in Los Angeles right, how have the numbers dwindled over the

Are still living in some of our little wealthier, middle.

Class neighborhoods in black Los Angeles like View Park and Winter Hills.

And I wanted to do all, you know, come with all these statistics, but I figured.

It would be really an opportunity to share a little bit about who I am and how I got here and how that really helps to tell the story of Black LA. So I'm Christine Gordon, a current principle with Gloom Strategies.

We're a creative social impact company.

But that's not really where my story starts. I am a fourth generation Angelino. My family, originally my paternal side of my family, came to Los Angeles in the early nineteen hundreds at a time where there were black folks starting to move to Los Angeles, but they weren't massive in numbers, but they were massive in influence and power.

This is really a time period in Black LA where they.

Start to put their foot down, they start to buy real estate, and we hear stories about the matriarch of Black.

Los Angeles, Bibby Mason.

Right, a black woman who was able to get her freedom and to be able to buy real estate, and what we know today is downtown Los Angeles.

And Beverly Hills.

I was LAUSD educated and I never heard that story until I was an adult.

So that's just a another note for a different day. But I say that to say that that was a really.

Pivotal time in Los Angeles for black folks who were fleeing the South, fleeing really oppressive conditions, coming and seeking better, seeking the Sunshine State, seeking something different, and they dared to dream, they dared to see something different than what.

Was in front of them. And when they got here, they did their best to prosper. And at that time, interesting enough, because.

They were smaller in numbers, folks kind of let them do their thing right. They weren't intimidated by that, they weren't worried. Of course, you know, racism is ever present in this country.

It is always around the corner.

But they were really able to establish some.

Of the key institutions that still are thriving in Black la today.

My family during the second.

Wave of the Great Migration, so I was with my great great grandparents. My great grandparents on my maternal.

Side came from Mississippi in the nineteen fifties, around the same time a lot of black folks were moving, fleeing the.

South, and when we know it is a great migration.

And when they came, one of my aunts came first.

She established herself and she bought this property off of Central Ad and sixtieth Street, and that's important because at that time that was one of the only places in the city that black.

Folks could live.

Right.

We had racial restrictive covenant still in.

Place at that time, and so where we could be and where we could move freely.

Was dictated by laws and policies.

And when she came, she's established herself and she bought this kind of house in the front.

She had this house in the back.

And my family established what they called the Sunshine Club.

And I learned this story a few years ago. The Sunshine Club was a pulled.

Fund that my great grandparents and their cousins and all the members of the church put money into to send money back to folks down south so.

They could come to la and establish themselves.

And that was pivotal because you could come, you would come, you would stay in the back end Myrtle's house off sixtieth in.

Central, get what you.

Need, get the job that.

You need, get on your feet, get a little money in your pocket, and then.

Go off and be able to buy or get your own apartment.

Right.

So really an effort of collective community and shared resources.

Being able to help folks establish themselves.

And that story is very similar to our Latino brothers.

And sistrits who are also fleeing violence in places as they come here to LA as well. And so I think there's always opportunities for intersection how our stories reach each other. But they did that, and what we now know today is the Crenshaw.

District and community.

My family moved, well, they're still in off of Central Avenue, but really established themselves and what is the Crenshaw District today which is currently really considered the heart of black Los Angeles. And that was because racial restrictive covenants were lifted and they were able to choose to list somewhere else right, And that's kind of where folks decides to populate. I say that to say really that since then, I've

An acting school in that community.

I went to LAUSD Schools and by high school, my parents were like.

We're not doing that.

You're going to a private Catholic school.

But who I am today and who I sit before you today is really at the work of both my ancestors, my grandparents, my parents, but more pop importantly, in political and social environment in Black Los Angeles that nurtured.

And allowed Black folks to come.

And fight to make a place for themselves in the city. And so I don't sit here with accolades just because I'm so awesome.

I sit here because I have people who have cared about being in the community that has nurtured me.

And institutions that have been able to stand up for decades to water and nurture a generation of Angelinos who now get to show up today and talk about what the future.

Of Black Los Angeles is going to be.

And when I think about Black Los Angeles today, to me, the story feels the same.

A lot of opportunity and a lot of restrictions, a lot of parting, a lot of barriers in the way.

And when I think about that Sunshine Club, there were still so many things that allow black folks to be able to kind of lean on one another for more assistants or social fabrics who are a lot tighter.

There were institutions that.

Were supporting us, and now today things are only getting harder. Right, there's still a lot of opportunity to We're in Los Angeles, right, there's always a way to fit to figure it out. But when I talk to some of my friends, a lot of them are moving, a lot of them are going back South because it's too expensive. It's becoming so Burningsome. One of my grandaunts has moved to Las Vegas.

And that's great.

Her rid is cheaper for her church is not there, her health care is not here.

She comes back to go to Kaiser just on a plane almost on a weekly basis.

Right.

And so when I think about the state of Black Alley today, I housing is the first thing that I think about, and not just vote for folks who are currently housing struggling to be housed, but the amount of folks who are sleeping on.

Our streets every night. And so I think we have a a lot of.

Again opportunity though to lean on one another and be able to use our institutions, our resources, and our dollars.

To strengthen and build a network for black Los Angeles.

But it is gonna take all of us, right, and it has and as history has shown, it has taken all of us. So with that being said, I wanna really lean into our panelists and talk about from where you sit, what is it going to take right to really ensure Black Los Angeles can continue to thrive the way that it has. And Miss Tammy, I loves to start with you as we talk about you know, really for philanthropy.

What is the role that philanthropy plays and allowing Black los Angeles to continue to blossom?

Thank you Christian.

When I think of black Los Angeles, I'm a product of Los Angeles many ways. Our family came to the fifties, my mom on the second generation, my mother and father. My mom is from Nashville, Tennessee, and my dad is from Birmingham, Alabama. So yes, the food was dealished and I did have the hot sauce on it.

That's where I'm from.

I went right in and made myself back home and then you have everything was very good. So what I've done over the years is really step back and take a look at how my brothers and sisters were raised in Los Angeles, and I was through community and it was through family. Do you remember, well, some of you guys are too young to know this, but if you got in trouble on your way home from school, you got in trouble by every neighbor in the neighborhood until

I can't leave us, I can't go too far away.

But one of the things that I think stands out for me when I think about where we are in Black Los Angeles is it's gonna be a blend and we have to be ready for it because there's so many different demographics and ethnic backgrounds here in California.

Now, we can't just say that there's a Black Los.

Angeles and I think of the LATINX, the Asian White, the other demographics, because we're all starting to blend into one community. But what we have to watch out for, because I've noticed that this is a great mixed crowd. When you're engaging and when you're working with African American people, we have to remember now that the village is all of us.

And when you see that someone's not.

Getting the same access and opportunity because now you'll see it up close, because you're now in wounded communities. You have to be ready to stand in and step up and be allies. So what I see for Black Los Angeles is not just us stepping up and continue to push for equality, but I see a lot of allies that are going to be neighbors, church members, s, classmates, you name it, social club. I don't know if many of you guys ever go over to uh golf. There's the new what is it sky?

What is it the sky? Is it the sky called top God, new top Dog.

Everybody's in one place, and so we have to figure out how do we collectively continue to help the African American community.

Rise just to a place where we have.

Same equal access opportunity.

And so the village to me is different to the village is now all of us in this together, But we can't take the eye off of those that are not given the same opportunity to access. So we're gonna be a lot of allies to help us.

My name is Bleek Cloud and founder and co owner of Bleak Books.

We should give being here to speak in to thank the organization or inviten me too.

This.

I never saw myself doing these types of things, but I'm.

Very grateful and thankful and appreciative.

You know, growing up as we all at one point or with children and then we grow up to adults. But I had oobia, I had speech impatterment, I had a lot of fear.

And what I've.

Noticed is that in order to grow, you have to challenge through those fears, whatever they might be. And that's what I've done. So that's why having this platform, they would speaking about believe books, something I've been doing since nineteen ninety. I've been serving the community with books, and I consider myself a book activist because I've impacted so many people over these decades. I've had women and men my age when I was came out of college. Now

Because identity is very important.

You know, we're talking about you know, Los Angeles and and and and it's important because my bookstores in Los Angeles, we have several bookstores, one in the ball Else crunch Up Mall, one in of Fox Hills Mall. Now it's Westfield Coche City Wall. But I get this one question all the time.

They say what made you get into the book business? And I always say the same thing.

I had a degree from USC but I didn't have a knowledge yourself. It is very important identity what I'm saying.

You have to love yourself first.

You know when kids look at a picture, when you look at a picture, you first look for yourself.

What happens when you don't see yourself?

When we talk about the future, right, and has to see all of us right.

I grew up watching a lot of movies, and I didn't see a.

Lot of us in those movies as a black man, you know, I didn't see a future. I want to start tracking went all over the universe, and I didn't see all they old black people in the universe.

I damage you can't not neither, and I lost star track.

But at that time, when I was younger, I didn't even think about that.

But our youth is one other percent of our future, and it's.

Our job to impact them because we got the pastor torch open to them.

We gotta make the new future leaders of tomorrow.

So I miss that.

Milie books. It's to use books, and you see, books is just a part of art. Art is a.

Part of culture, and these are mediums that we have to use to reach the master of the people.

But in the process you cannot lose your identity.

I was told by.

A wise man like God made us in the tribes, not that we might fight each other, but to.

Know each other. It's great. It's in all of our culture.

And the way we recognize each other is by understanding each other's culture.

You have to eat culture. It's like this.

You go and I like to watch Discovery because I watched them animal channels, and I watched the animals, and I see how they.

Move during the summer all together.

Look the cows, the deers, the buffalo, I mean, the giraffes, the zebras.

They move thousands of miles together, but yet several.

And what I mean by that is that they keep their identity, they keep their.

Culture, but they move as one. And we have to learn to do that as a people, something that.

We haven't done, and we gotta do better because the future is at state.

We cannot drown out our culture just to blend in with everybody.

There is beauty in black culture, there's blue beauty in Latino culture, there's beauty in Asian culture.

There's beauty and white culture. For far too long, society puts us to lose ourselves. That does not work. You got to know yourself to be yourself. A line in the zup is not a line like in the jungle. An elephant in the soup is not the elephant up.

You put that line in the and and and in the circus, out in the jungle, out in the foot, and and and.

The samar it will die.

It won't die defeat itself because it has no identity. You got to know yourself and that doesn't knock somebody else to be yourself. Put too much money, too much interest is put on trying to create a blending society.

When you lose yourself, you can't.

You gotta be you.

They man in books. Why because books of us.

Now writing the story history and there are different stories.

I've been doing this since nineteen ninety as a book out.

I've seen the evolution of the industry and our voice was selected on them shelves, and that's in every community. But it's time that we elevate our voice, and it's time that we you know, because.

American history is a melting pot.

You have this country.

Greatness is in everyone's contribution. And even though we might have started out slavery, look where we are now. Look how what we overcome now And that's why it's important that all of these stories be told and elevated.

And it's all we talk about black to the future. And there's many ways that you can impact our identity, our image, our culture and move society in the right direction, because yes, we got to do it together, but don't lose your identity.

Thank you, thank you, and I think you all you all have both just touch touched on the multiculturalness of Los.

Angeles, and I think that's what makes Los Angeles a really.

Special place in a really rich space.

And at the same time, how do we each honor each other's identities, our stories, our cultures.

And I think in many ways that's again.

That's what makes Los Angeles the great city that it is, is being able to have so many different cultures and.

Identities blend in one place.

Uh.

You talked a little bit as well about the role.

Of books as a way to kind.

Of help the help us no our identity, but really as a tool for the future, right, and so books is at analogy of culture and art. We also have technology that continues to shift and emerge and evolve. And so, Jason, from where you sit, can you talk a little bit about the role of technology and helping us really be black to the future and what it means for for where you sit?

I can, but I I don't wanna believe to talk to him.

Started off here and.

He's like, hey, come, I did it with I. I was here for the ride, and thank you was what tamm. It really is a pleasure to be here and join you all in this panel. My name is Jason Crockett. I will get snap Ink the parent company of Snapchat if you're not familiar. We're a mobile communication device based in Santa Monica, And so you know, I think I can.

It as tech as industry as a tool.

Technology and technologists have an absolute unequippal responsibility to make sure that people have access to increased technologies. And underline all of that is a fight for broadband and quality access to high speed Internet. So I think that for technology companies is incumbent upon them to join that conversation and join that fight, and that's something that CCF has actually been at the forefront.

Of and as a leader. It's not the industry's job to lead that.

Organizations like CCF are well positioned to be the advocates for that sort of change. But it is incumbent upon technology companies who are, at the end of the day, the beneficiaries of access, to be supporting increased access to quality, high speed broadband, high speed, reliable internet across all communities.

That's incredibly important work.

Can we need more of.

It as an industry?

I think that it is important for us to continue to put increased pressure on tech companies to actually live up to a lot of what they promised during the last three, four or five years when it comes to exposing underrepresented communities to increased opportunities in tech, expanding.

The aperture of the ambition window.

What are positions?

What a job? So, what do the future of careers look like?

So we can ensure that those careers are actually being accessible to people that will indeed have the greatest impact in shaping the future of how technology is utilized. Essentially, how are we working with young black and brown communities to make sure that they see themselves not just as consumers but as creators in the.

Coming tech ecosystem.

For us as a company, we are beyond just Snapchat and how y'all notes that app with the ghost.

And you know, the disappear investments. That's only a part of it.

We're one of several companies, many companies working in the space of experiential technology, bringing tech to the world and experiencing it in the world. And now I think like you have virtual reality, which is kind of one component of that.

We really are bullish on.

Augmented reality, and that's where the storytelling piece comes in.

How can we utilize.

Technology to reach girl audiences and tell stories, including historical historical accounts of what has happened in the world around them, in the places where those things took place, where those events took place. And so for us, we've launched a number of initiatives using augmented reality. One celebrating the legacy of Biddy Mason, who so many people share that story of not having a clue that there was this phenomenal black woman at this time shortly after slavery, who became

We used AR to tell the story.

Of Natasha Harlan's because that was such an important cultural moment for so many different ethnicities and races, and it's just not taught in schools. So we created an entire augmented reality experience celebrating her legacy but also educating people.

On that experience.

In Santa Monica, there was an entire boulevard Broadway that was home to black and brown entrepreneurs and creatives before the expansion of the Tin Freeway, and when the ten Freeway expanded, it completely erased the history of these people and their contributions. We used augmented reality to bring that story to life on that street so that people on location could learn what existed there fifty sixty years ago. So I think technology is really one of the many

So I saw the times like sec happens when you get your little leagues, the promserat or anything. I'm gonna lie to you the black radical traditional day. So I'm also gonna say, as I pick up my phone, I appreciate you.

Reddit.

At some point, probably about one fifteen, one twenty, I'm gonna have to walk off the stage because we're actually performing right now at the conventions in her But let's get into it.

I canstrive for brevity.

My name is Pete White. And it's interesting when I when I listen to all the stories, particularly the Bitty Mason story, I think the thing that people have to remember about Betty Mason, and this is important when we when I when I give my little talk about black futurism, the Bitty Mason story is incredibly important.

Because she didn't just show up in Los Angeles.

She walked.

She walked to Los Angeles behind her quote unquote master.

She was a midwife.

And then when she got to Los Angeles after walking from Oklahoma, she sued her master for her freedom because Bitty Mason knew that California was in quasi free state.

And then after Bitty Mason did all of these things, she started the very first credit.

System here in Los Angeles, the first rescue missions, the first some of the first general stores, because Bitty Mason, up from slavery, knew that it was important to.

Take care of one to nothing Betty Mason would then go on to be one of the co founders of the African American Methodist Church.

Right, And so what I say when we talk about Bitty Mason put some respect on it. First second, is crazy that with all of the things that Btty Mason has done, the best that Los Angeles could do was to give.

Her a little small wall behind a parking lot on Spring Street. We can do better. Why do I say these things.

I think it's important, particularly when we think about black Los Angeles, not not think about Los Angeles and not think about the.

Founding of Los Angeles.

Forty six families founded Los Angeles, half.

Of whom we're black, up out of Mexico. Right.

And so also when we think about internationality and we think about oftentimes.

We'll say, well there is no this without that.

Well there ain't gonna have There's no Los Angeles without black or brown people, without our labor, without our coming here, without our standing life.

The problem is, because I'm also.

A product out of a LA unified school district, is none of these things are taught to us in school. And and oftentimes I'm an organizer, I'm an I guess I'm an.

Artist, and an organizer.

But when I bring these stories to community, to your point, community immediately gets it right. When someone brings the story right in an authentic way, someone from community right, the stories move forward the Los Angeles that I do. My family also got here.

He's in the fifties.

My family actually landed in Brownsville. Anyone in here know where Brownsville is at Regianna. If you know where Brownsville, all right.

So raising up, let's do that. Brownsville.

Brownsville is a little Tokio, right, That's where the first that's where the African American Methist Church was born as well. However, as African Americans were fleeing the South. My family comes from Louisiana, both Monroe, Louisiana and Alexandria, Louisiana. And then I got some folks from New Orleans. The interesting thing about Monroe, Louisiana, that's where hue P. Newton is from. And so you know, our cousins moved here, or my my, my parents' cousins moved here, and we found ourselves in

To the West Side.

Right.

Why are these.

Stories important because these stories also lay in parallel with political decisions that were made.

Like when I think about.

Slaughson for folks, if you're from Los Angeles and.

If you go down Alabeda or if you go.

Down Slawson, well two years two years ago, you would see all of these old manufacturing plants, empty warehouses where those were where people African American folks used to work Bethlehem steel, firestone, rubber. Right with the industrialization, all of those factories, all of those plants closed, and it began a real hard time for working class black folks shortly thereafter. So you know, the industrialized, the industrial zation. Try and

And if you scratch your head, you're like, damn, that shit sounds.

Like a plan, because it was right, It had to be a plan. And then we went from three prisons to twenty two prisons.

You gotta fill the prisons up somewhere.

We gotta get folks, We gotta you know, we have to keep those small town industries going.

And then welfare reform and then houselessness in the black community.

Right, and so oftentimes when folks look at houselessness in LA, the dominant narrative has always been you houseless because you didn't try hard enough. You're houseless because you really houseless just because you didn't want anything better. Picture that, think about a downinant narrative that leads to policy. Right, that's like you just didn't want to try it hard enough.

And then this idea of.

Substance abuse, Like, wait a second, if substance abuse is a thing that creates houselessness.

Wouldn't the whole of the.

United States be houseless because we are the most substance.

Abuse community in the world.

And then the last thing, mental illness is the thing that we've all been taught off and told is, wow, homelessness exists because they closed down the mental health institutions.

And they tell you, they tell you.

That Reagan did that.

They were like as covenor, Reagan shut.

Down all of the institutions. But that's a lie, of course, because the institutions were shut down and shuddered in nineteen fifty and so well before nineteen fifty nineteen sixties, so well before Reagan was around, the mental health hospitals were already shuddered. What Reagan was responsible for doing was simply not simply.

This is not a simply situation.

But we're moving community based funding to community mental health clinics.

Right.

Why are these things important? These things are important. I'm just watching that little big thing.

It's like an option. I saw you moving. I was like, it's out of my time because I can't pull up right now.

But these narratives are the stories are important, and the narratives are important because the things that we've been Tart actually faults.

These things are untrue, and these are the.

Things that divide us, right, these are the things that they used to divide the Black community and our elements, right, and it's important for us to interrogate those lies, particularly not just in February like this, the twenty eight day, the shortest month, when every day, because every day is Black history, every day.

Is around history in the city of Los Angeles. I'm living at my time.

I'm passing it back over because I'm trying to get out of here.

Thank you, Pete.

It's a wealth of uh imformation has been shared already on this stage as well as I think so many of our stories are connected because really in the back or backdrop of all of this, to PE's point, it's constantly policy and decisions and choices that are.

Influencing the movement of folks, influencing the conditions of folks.

And when we've heard on this stage.

Today, it's also just the complexity of many of the issues that are in the black community and.

The nuances that exist in.

How we solve them and how we everybody in this room, everybody outside of this room really comes together to.

Play a pivotal role in that.

So I just wanna kind of maybe do like a lightning round really quickly from where you sit in your position, what do you think if there's one or two things that are really pivotal in how we talk.

About everybody coming together?

Right, So it's always easy to say, you know, we just gotta work together, We've got to put our differences aside, or we we got to bring our identities into a room and we can all get in the room.

And I mean I used to.

Work in city hall, right, so we will all be in a.

Room in the city council chambers. Everybody's there, but sometimes you're not really sure what's getting done right, like what is actually moving the needle forward? And so I would love to just hear from you all, you know one of two things that you think specifically from where Houston, are really pivotal and how we continue to move forward from where we are today and into the future of black Los Angeles.

So I'll start with me, Tammy from the lens of philanthromy game.

Absolutely, thank you, Thank you Christos. Really quickly.

When I think about where we need to go and how we should all come together, it is through philanthropy. On Juneteenth, twenty twenty, the Orangetown Community Foundation. We said up what was called the African American Alliance Fund, and we did that because of we just standing in front of the television watching all of the unrest that was happening as a result. And I always say their names, Aubrey, Brehanna Taylor, and George Floyd. We saw that with our

I am here before you because.

She saw something that me have made me a leader of her organization. I'm here because of Shelley. So whenever I speak about this fun, I speak to Shelley an give a little choked up about it because she didn't have to see me. But what she said was, Kenny, we don't have what's called a fun just for African Americans.

Was there anybody in the room who did not see it? And also everybody wanted to health.

So we set up a fun and it focused on five things that really put African Americans at a disadvantage. Education, health, A lot of African Americans lost their lives during COVID because they had underlying helth conditions. Civic engagement. We just heard about all the laws and the policies that need to be changed in.

Order for us to have that same through our.

Opportunity human services for granteds.

That's our catch all. You guys know how we can put everything in human service.

There's something we can't fund underneath that, so you have health, human services. And then the last one was economic business development. We want access to the same level of banking for loans and everything else that others have, and we're not getting that.

We're not getting home loans, we're not getting those things.

So I wanted to set up a fund in partnership with my colleague CEO, Shelley hass and we set up the fund and it has since raised about one point five million in three years. It started off as a black thing, but it really is at everybody thing. It's an ally thing. And with that, when you have the course to spend up. Oh and by the way, did I mention that there's only two percent African Americans in Orange County? And yes I did set it up. I did not care because after Americans are in Orange County,

I set it up with my own money. Right, you put your money and you get saved.

Right.

You don't how we tell our kids you get paid to say.

Maybe not paying.

So that's that's what's happening because of doing that, We've also received a state fund of that uh one point five million for stop the hate. Even though African Americans are only two percent of Orange County. Guess whose numbers are the heights and hate crimes in Orange County African Americans. So we also received four four hundred and fifty thousand from the state to help us with the hate that is happening in Orange County. So when we think about

There's cause they need me, cause we all reading this together.

So if I shared my story, maybe my story can become their story.

No right, I'm still.

And we go out of order a little bit, so you get here from mister White before you've got a joke.

But I would do wanna say really quickly.

I mean, you brought up, you.

Know, twenty twenty and the years at twenty twenty plus child pandemic, economic crisis, political uprisings, and response to continuing to see the killing of.

Black folks live stream on.

Our owns, and I think you know it wasn't There's never just one twenty twenty, it was twenty fifteen.

At some point, it's nineteen sixty five.

It's there's always these moments in history, and not just moments in history, but honestly, as a black person, almost every day where you're living under the threat of some form of violence, something that is literally like, okay, you're constantly battling the day to day ways that systemic racism shows up. Right, And in twenty twenty, the world decided the world tuned in in the ways they had tuned in before.

But we're also seeing the world tuning out. Right.

We're seeing a lot of especially and I'll get to tech, but you know, some some tech kind of came you know, the practice sector was a lot quicker.

They came out.

They're like, Okay, we're gonna do this, this, this, this, this.

And even just we're in twenty twenty four and just hearing from different folks, all this fun.

Thing is running out. Oh they're not doing this anymore.

Oh.

This program lasted for two years because.

Sometimes people treat equity and justice as a trend and it was never supposed to be that.

Right, So in the work that we all do and that you all do.

In philanthropy even you know, you leverage twenty a flashpoint to go and to get some of the stuff.

You might not have been able to get before.

But the momentum has to be sustained. And how we continue to do the work.

We can't just say all.

Right, well that that passed.

We're really clear, let's move on and go back to business as usual.

We have to continually build upon And so I just wanted to put that note out there, and Pete, before you have to jump, I would love to hear from you from your standpoint on political and social organizing. What is the one thing we can really bolster again on right now to try to like he's giving me the face because he knows more than one thing, but.

Let's try to no, no, no no. And I think the mic went off, but I don't even I don't even need the mic.

At all at all.

So here it is, right.

So I remember the first question, and I thought the first question was wrong question. So I routed something and I thought I was gonna deliver two days from now, might.

Touch on some of what you just said.

You'll let that.

Can we do that?

Help we come hard? Can we do?

We got it?

So? So I don't.

I'm mentioned in this idea of the Black radical tradition. Right, it's a tradition. And it's funny when we think about particularly right now, you see you hear this thing called mutual aid, and we're like, hell, that's a new thing.

That's not new, that's not black folks have organized whatever. Right, when you.

Think about the Black radical tradition, we're talking about sort of all of the pieces of.

The Black community coming together.

And when I say this, this is not to mean that because it's funny and this isn't oftentimes that in every other community. But someone believes that all black people have to think exactly a lot of right.

And that's not true.

Right, we come from a tradition where we're able to bring a variety of perspectives together for the benefit of the Black community. And so I just wanted to just to come of remarks that I just wrote about the Black it's sort of the Black radical tradition, Black futurism, and intersectionality. It's something that we don't bring together, that means to be brought together.

And so.

I want to talk about the profound intersections of the Black radical tradition, Black futurism and intersectionality and conversions of ideologies that shape our understanding of liberation, resistance, and collective imagination. Collective imagination is so important. The Black radical tradition, rooted in centuries of struggle against oppression.

Embodies the spirit of resistance that has.

Defined the Black experience from the abolitionist movements to.

The Black Power era and beyond.

The Black radical tradition has been a guiding force in challenging systems of white supremacy, colonialism.

And capitalism.

It centers the voices and experiences of those most marginalized, advocating for transformer, transformative change and the dismantling of oppressive structures. In tandem with the Black radical tradition, Black futurism invites us to transcend the constraints of the present and envision futures that define the limitations of our current reality.

This is where culture and all these things demand. Drawing from afrofuturists.

Studies and speculative fiction, Black futurism celebrates the creativity, resilience, and innovation in Black cultures while imagining worlds where liberation is.

Not only possible, but inevitable.

It challenges dominant narratives and invites us to reimagine our relationship to technology, nature, community, and empowering us to shape our own destinies.

Of the heart of both black radical tradition and black.

Futurism lies intersectionality, a framework pioneered by black feminalists like Klie Crenshaw. Intersectionality recognizes the complex interplay of intersection identities such as race, gender, class, sexuality, and ability, and how they shape individuals' experiences of oppression and privilege. It acknowledges that struggles for justice are interconnected and cannot be addressed

Persons, and others at the margins of society.

By enhancing or embracing intersectionality, we acknowledge the inherent dignity and humanity of all people and strive for justice that leaves no one behind. As we navigate the complexities of our time, it is imparative that we helphold the principles of the Black racal tradition, black futurism and intersectionality. And closing, let us see the words of Ourey Lord who declare, I am not free, while any woman is unfree, even

Make it out when you black cowur do you have a role? But thank you, thank you, thank you everyone for having me, and thank you for having.

This uh account rank you so really quickly.

Actually wanna do a quick time check cause I know we wanted to do question and answers.

Are we okay to I gotta describe to kill that a just yi of r if you.

Has or not okay?

Excellent?

Thank you.

So he really left us off on a high note, not just about intersectionality.

But again black futurism in the future.

And how we dreamed, how we dare to.

See different from what is in front of us.

And so if you each can share, and I'll start with Jason and Lee, what is your vision for the future of black Los Angeles as we talk about the theme of Black to the Future.

Yeah, I'm happy to so.

I think, you know, there's this conversation going on nationwide about loneliness and the lack of connectivity, and I think that technology has a role to play.

It is not the thing that will solve this though.

So I think technology is as a as a mechanism to bring community together inclusively of everyone, to help build more community, but we also need more space for that community to be actualized into the life inan person. That human connectivity is so vital and so important. There should not be a person that feels only but you know, the future that I would want my greatest ambition is there's not a black person here who feels like there

I know you mentioned being a person who likes the numbers, I need to you know, Black population is about.

Ten percent of LA County and upwards of thirty percent of the homeless population last number I saw October twenty owiny three.

So that is just we cannot be serious unless.

We are addressing that specific issue and we look at the root of black homelessness. We cannot divorce that from mass incarceration and it's legacy and impact on the Black community, and people who experience that are x percentage higher to experience homelessness, public incarcetriction.

Absolutely hear of the future of black Clos's angels.

Well, I like everybody just to imagine all the issues, all the problems in the center of this room and a it'll be stacked up like a man.

And the question we gotta ask is how do we walk up all these issues to get to the top.

Now, that's gonna take imagination, because that's a four to five novel of problems.

And so that's the situation we're in.

We got a lot of issues, and we can talk this whole all day about them. But the key is how imaginative we compete to go through those problems and solve 'em.

We gotta come up with solutions.

Because we are ren trusted with the future generation.

And what I see is like.

Elite books. You know, we started our selling books, but that's time went on, we evolved, We went into outreach. I'm probably say like twenty twenty three, we were.

Able to raise over thirty thousand dollars through partnerships and give.

Our old ten thousand books to what to do.

And that was in significant to us because we in LA is not deserved and so we gave our books that gave representation to families and children, from children to teens to youth, whatever you And that was a problem moment because we.

Have to help each other.

And so my.

Thinking is that it's gonna take all of us to come up with ideas and.

To imagine the future, because not one person is gonna have the idea. And or why this man always told me this too, is that like think about this, like we all thinking right now. Right when you walked into this building, you wasn't thinking about all the steps you took.

How you was walking down here where you were gonna sit.

The reality is that you thought about coming to this floor. That's what you thought before you got here. Because thought is in the future.

We gotta think about the future, because thought is the most powerful force in the universe.

Got the speed of.

Light because thought trials twenty four billion miles per second.

All the gifts that we have in our brain.

Is calculating right now, everything I'm saying, everything you looking, it is calculating bangs and pieces of information and a second affronction of a second. So we gotta think our way out of this. But that's the greatest gift we always giving.

That's what separates us from every living organism in this world.

We got something that's a gift we can think and we can imagine, and that's the future. Let's imagine it together.

Thank you.

And I really appreciate the metaphor of that mountain, of all the problems and the issues cause along with the imagination to get creative about how we climb up that mountain. We're gonna need perseverance, We're gonna stay in power.

We're gonna need breast breaks, We're gonna.

Need to be able to lean on each other.

To get up that mountain.

So I think that again that's something to continue to keep in mind.

As we do this work. We can imagine we.

Can design the best programs, we can have the best.

Initiatives, but our ability to be able to.

Continue to sustain them, to manage them, to know.

When we need to maybe adjusting to pivot. It's really pivotal in getting up that mountain.

Thank you all right, So our final panelists, this is Tammy. If you would like to share with your vision because the future of.

Los Angeles is and really bring us home.

I thought I did that. Yeah, I be if it's out of respect for running the community poundations, we.

Gotta get back to work. I'm really not turtle facing.

I'm one hundred facing.

So I'm helping all these fines and here I said, if you offer plan to people can always reach out.

To me any time.

It's a pleasure to be here that you were. Thank you off for being here today, thank you for taking the time. I hope you are leaving with your I know your bellies are pull hopefully your souls are fat. Hopefully you're feeling inspired, you're feeling motivated again. I think we can share information for each of our panelists.

You need to reach out to them in the future.

But thank you off for taking time out of the day to be here.

And to show up into being a community.

Well let's give it up to his battle the lead and all your brother beef out of come.

In and out. You're gonna see I'm on TV soon.

He's in at something very important camera storing something very important, representing l A.

Representing I l A can and rubbers. I need the issue of the unhoused as p only can. So it was so great that he made the time to be here. I want to really thank the African THEASTHA group or.

Putting this together, the tradition of passing the baton of chair and BENI did a great job.

Thank you every This was really.

Powerful and there are three big things that I've taken away, something.

That I live by and something that you're reminded us today in the league about. You have to know yourself to be yourself, and it's why we do this. This is a phenomenal tradition here at CCF where our communities within a community come together on a regular basis to share their story, to share about their experience, their culture, their love.

For this place, and it's grounded.

On that very idea that you have to know who you are, you have to be proud of who you are. You have to know your own history and both the pain and the joy of who.

You are to be able to be who you are.

And so thank you so much really for reminding us of that important message.

Thanks for listening to Maleak's Bookshelf, where topics on the shelf are books, culture, and community. Be sure to subscribe and leave me a review. Check out my Instagram at Maleak Books. See you next time.