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Welcome, Welcome, Welcome to Elite's bookshef bringing a world together with books, culture and community. Hi, my name is Malik, your host of Malik's Bookshelf. Welcome back everybody. We're gonna have a great time with this episode. I was blessed to speak with students at Pepperdine University. Now that was a first and it was a great conversation about DEEI, diversity,
equity and inclusion. This was a communication class and the professor invited me to speak with her students about a bunch of concepts and theories surrounding d Now, this conversation when in a lot of different directions. I'm not an expert on DEI, but I do have experience about being black, being in business, and dealing with inequities and issues surrounding diversity and racism, which is the lack of inclusion. So
my expertise. After being a bookstore owner for so many decades, I was invited to Pepperdine Universe to speak with some students regarding this subject matter, and we had a wonderful time, and so I want to feature that conversation that I had with the students. As you can see, they're bright, They're the future generational change. And they asked me a tremendous amount of important and insightful questions and I did
my best to answer it. So enjoy this episode of Mali as he speaks with students at Pepperdine University.
It's a pleasure meeting everyone. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak to the future generation of change. I would say my name is Malik Muhammad. I'm the founder and co owner of Malik Books. I've been serving the community since nineteen ninety with books and one of the main reasons why I do what I do is because I believe books are life changing and changed my life and I.
Believe books of is the gift that keeps on giving.
And so since nineteen thirty been a bookstore owner and I've hosted many events, many workshops, many seminars. I've hosted people I sent you to entertainer who was a common you know some of the people I know y'all know, and as well as a lot of self published authors that you don't know to the young lady named THEA Thatch who dlay Thatch, who wrote The Diversity Dilimma, and that book is all about d e I you know
what I'm saying. So we had her here, Muriel Buck who wrote the Breaking the Cycle of Transgenerational Trauma.
So, uh, this goes on and on. Tyler the Brown, I can just keep going on. Terry Crews, Spike Lee, all of.
These people I've got a chance to meet, talk to and host right here at Melite Books in the Westfield Coach City Mall.
We do have little two locations.
The second locations in the Baldwin Hills Princeshaw Plaza which is our og the original, but here in the Westfield Coach There which is our marque location. We've been about four years and this is mostly events that we host we host here, although we do host events at both locations. Our Instagram if you'd like to follows Malik Books, as well as our TikTok and uh and our Twitter. So but the most important thing for you to know about me, I'm a graduate from USC back in the nineteen eighty seven.
I ran in the nineteen eighty four Olympic Games in track and field in the one hundred and two hundred meters. And I've been a book activist since nineteen ninety.
So that's a little bit about.
Me as a background, a little bit about the bookstore, and from then let's talk. You know, I thank you for this importation, an amazing well, thank you, thank you. You know. I believe that the older we get, we should get wiser, we should be more experienced.
And one of the things that I've was able to achieve.
Since graduating from USC and people asking me this question, I'll time, why did you get in the book bit?
I had a degree.
From USC, but I didn't have a knowledge itself. A lot of things that y'all believe in the day wasn't coming back in the eighties in the nineties. You know, certain things is story. And I believe that one of the reason why we have such an explosion of controversy is because we have a difference in the way we see things and we're trying to level the playing field after so many years of oppression, and so.
It seems like no matter.
What suggestions people come up with, we always effaced with this controversy. We're in an age of bandon books. We're in an age of controversy about DIEI.
You know, back in.
Nineteen eighties, when I first started, back in the late eighties, when I opened my bookstore in nineteen ninety, what happened is there was a movement back then it was called multi culturalism, and all the money was appropriated to help level the playing field, and so a lot of money was spent to try to integrate and to try to balance the inequities.
That exist in There.
Are a lot of underserved communities and a lot of money and resources don't necessarily reach the people that really really needed. And so what happened is they created in the nineties the monticulturalists, particularly in the publishing industry as well, and so a lot of books were published because of the inequities. When you go in sign of major bookstores, you didn't see what a handful of black books. Okay, maybe one shelf is that? And so our voice wasn't published, we.
Wasn't on the bookshelves. And so it was a movement that took place. I like to call it.
From the black perspective, the Black book Revolution, and the White America they call it multiculturalists, but what.
We spoke up.
And so therefore in the nineties they started publishing in the publishing industry all types of black voices.
Turk McMillan was one of the biggest.
Names back in the nineties where she received the major publishing deal. Not only was the book a hit, but the movie that they made, Waited, that.
Was a hit.
The album they made Waiting to Us, that was a hit, and in the in the.
Waiting, I'm sorry.
And the multiculturalism movement went all over the world, all over the university, and these published books. They tried to write books there, the representation books that showed to reflect, you know, images of black people and and our voice and our youth and our children and our young and
so that itself became controversy, just like affirmative action in universities. UH. People start to fight against UH and and and that doing that because this is another generation today, y'all, another generation right now, they call it die I diversity equally inclusion, I believe right.
So it's the same thing.
And he called the bank where you have people trying to bottom line to go here is the level up is the great athlete is to create a balance and to drape the wrongs of the past. It's a lot of discrimination that we just don't want to admit, and so we have to find ways to try to level this field and make it fair and it you know, it's never gonna be you know, there's nothing in the universe that's equal. The only thing we can do is
make things equal. Lead. So Lenk Books is just an outgrowth of trying to give voice to the voiceless in the world that has a lot of challenges and racism and discrimination. And so instead of complaining about and about books not being in white bookstores, I open up Elik Books to give our voice a place in a space. Now we got other books written by other people from up the coaches and rape. Why because a good book is a good.
Mount and it needs to be written. And so one of the.
Things that over the years that because of my passion and my desire.
To use books to make a difference and a change.
Because books if the gift that keeps on them. Book books also change your thoughts, change your life. And so what happened is over the years people were saying, man, this brother got a lot of energy. Man, this God is elected. Man, this dude is exciting about and it has.
A passionable book. Well, I throw about so many people I can't even count.
They say, man, you're the height Man of books. So now that's my nickname. Come only lead.
The height Man of books. So so yeah, that.
That's in a nutshell.
You know, I love what I do and I do it with a passion. I believe this is a something.
What's the name of this course?
Please entry Cultural Communication?
Okay, Well, you know, just into cultural communicator said, you know, it could be a very challenging, difficult subject because the elephant in the room is racist and uh, you know, in a lot of circles, it doesn't want to be talked about.
Okay.
And like.
I have a podcast called.
Malik Bookshelf bringing the world together with books, culture and commuting. And I'm on one hundred and thirty three episodes. So my one hundred episode was called why I do what I do Because I do it with a passion. Right, So that was one hundredth episode. But I just recently did an episode called Respect and Protect the Black Woman. And what that episode is about was two different subject matters, but they really connect with each other. I interview Shannie
Oden Well I interview. I talked to her, but I had a moderator right here at Believe.
Books last Tuesday.
Shannio Henderson is how many of y'all know kill O'Neill.
She kill O'Neill. All right, all y'all know.
He a famous Hall of Famer basketball player, won a ganga World champion. Wh that was his ex wife, Okay, And she wrote a book called Undefeated, and what the book is about was what she and challenges she had to go through when another book as a mother, as a wife, as an entrepreneur, and a producer of a
hit show called Basketball Wise. So she had a lot of insight because there was a lot of infidelity in their marriages, and she, you know, talked about this in the book and how she didn't allow those adversities to stop her from being successful as a woman. A black woman a negative in America.
See a woman as a negative because.
Y'all had to fight for her every single thing, and then being a black woman's a negative. So she talks about this and still persevering became a free to the successful TV series or cable series called Basketball Wise, where she brought all these women to marry the basketball players and they try to create a friendship and talk about their marriages and relationships and what.
They you know, and raising their kids.
And all these things.
So she was here and I had Jasmine Simpkins do the moderateor she's a journalist on KTLA, and it was a great conversation because you.
Know, no one can tell your story but you, and she got a heck of a story. And she persevering and she was resilient, and her journey is so wonderful because you're gonna be faithful with obstacles and challenge and life in America. She didn't let the racism, she didn't let the discrimination, she didn't let the infidelity.
She didn't let the double standards in the market. She didn't let none got to.
Stop her from being the stuntful and not. The overall thing is that because these things exist in America, don't mean you can't win, don't mean you can't be successful, don't mean that you.
Can't be an overwhelming achiever.
And whatever you put your mind to, y'all in college to become the future generation of change. And part of this is that, you know, you got to relate to other people from other coaches, and it's and some things are a sensitive subject. Well, anyway, that was the first thing I featured on my episode Respect to Protect the Black Woman.
Because she was talking about how she and what she went.
Through and hurt and and things that she went on in her life and so and so doing I also had to talk about the some of the some of the most controversial you know, I guess you know social media and newsworthy Current Affairs is out now and that's on p ddy and that video that went viral or when he kicked Beete, threw down drag Katy his girlfriend, and so that was a very hard find. Many y'all saw that video. Raise their hand, just one, two, three,
all listen, just about everybody. So well, anyway, I talked about that video, but not necessarily talking about PD. His behavior is unexcusable. But what I wanted to connect is what's called post traumatic slavery syndrome that exists in America that multi professional site don't.
Want to talk about. There's a lot of trauma in black.
Communities and all over this country and none of that is being addressed. And this is not a shield to sin such horrific and savage behavior by p daddy attacking an assaultant his girlfriend.
All right, but I want to talk.
About because the GYP don't start with him. All over this nation a woman whether he oh see white, it's being a type, it's been.
A fut it's being assaulted. And this maddness.
How you gonna have a society and a similation where doesn't respect.
And protective woman.
But I'm specifically talking about Black people because our women have to be respected or protected.
And we was taught a.
Bad behavior a long time ago, and that's doing slave. Now people say, oh, that's the thing in the fact, but you can pass along generational traumas and bad behavior, and this is what is taking place. I believe in psychiatrist and it's called post traumatic slave rey sidual. This is no different than a person to go off the war and get peet get post trauma. Uh uh, you know.
When you go to war PSD. I forgot the name the term. But they go to war and come back and they.
Got issues, you know, they witnessed things, they got trauma, they got to disorder and they got in there PDSD or something like that. Right, So my thing was a lot of this behavior is passed on a lot of people think that the way you treat a person is by and control a person is through physical abuse and that type of methodology. And so a lot of that
was passed on because use doing slavery. You got to understand that the slave my rates attacked, beat, drag slot and did so many horrific things to black women and a lot of insensitive A lot.
Of you won't talk about that, you know what I'm saying.
You know, they don't make a lot of movies and they don't write a lot of books where they show you the torture and the humiliation and the sabbagery that White America did the black people. All right, Well, a lot of black men adopted some of these wickedness that we learned doing slavery, and they passed it on generational thinking that that's how you control your environment and your community and your women and your children, and this kind of behavior as the stuff. That's what I did.
My podcast around respect to protect them.
But it is that we need to address the trauma and the abuse that goes on on a daily basis, and then and then beating video should just be the start of the address a real issue that takes place all over this country that needs to stop.
And it ain't just in the white men, it's in all communities that a lot of this.
This white white woman had to fight for every rank that you see in American just like we did, you know, because you know, there's a lot of masculinity going on where they feel that you know, might makes right. So anyway, that's my latest podcast. But I'm trying not into d e I because you know, it's to me, there there, there, there there discrimination this all over this country, and to me, the agenda of d e I is simply.
To level the playing field.
Now person can disagree in saying that is unfair, it's goble discrimination or racism or whatever.
When you come up with.
A solution, up with relief books to deal with the problem in the publishing industry where they didn't put black books on the bookshelf, and our voice matter. So I came up with a solution. I didn't complain about the solution. I came up with a way to elevate our voices. And that's what your face with and challenge it. There are wrongs in this world that need to be corrected, and we need to come up with solutions and so you want to knock down something, you need to come
with something. You follow what I'm saying, Sir.
You seem like a really all spoken person.
But do you.
Believe outside of the books, more radical actions and even violence is necessary in living a playing field Atlanta?
Right now, that's a wonderful question because that's an ongoing debate. You know, history is best way to reward us because of the research of it.
Now, I do.
Believe history is written in advance, like you plan what the city gonna look like fifty on hundred years in advan.
That's real, Issy.
Past history just is like God and information that.
We can study in order to improve our decisions going forward. So we live in the past.
We got to live in a president and the now, and we have to think about tomorrow.
So the question is, you know, do I think violence?
And I believe absolutely that.
Violence is not the answer because it only creates more violence.
Now, why do I say that we got listen, unless you have unless you have the same capabilities as the oppressor and the people in power, you're not gonna outbeat them and what they're and what they Listen, we got the Black the Party who believe in picking up up weapons. All right, we got history and what happened to the black panther problem. It became a blood vibe and they lost because they're not time to.
Go in strategically.
Able to deal with the forces that is running this world. The greatest truth you have right now is the truth. And we must use the truth in all ways to deal with falsehood and evil. And if that means that in the process you might end up getting hurt.
Then.
That's a sacrifice.
Sometimes like a slave, all right, he they was forced to do. You know, listen, I'm not saying somebody attack you. You know you defend yourself, all right, but if but you should never be the aggressor. You know, fight with those who fight with you, but never bet the aggressor.
That's the key.
Martin Luther King was owned something when he's when he didn't want. And I'm not an advocate of seeking dogs on people and water holes on people and not defindish yourself. If somebody attacked you, you need to type back and defend yourself. That your God given right. If you physically get abused, you need to defend yourself.
But if you physically assault somebody, they have a right to assault you black.
And so that's why I'm saying that I don't believe just picking up being violent is the sole answer to solving gus that playing just asciety why because you're not gonna beat to the oppressor at his own game. His game is physical abuse, lines and wrong and race them here. You have to do the opposite in order to.
Beat them at their own game.
The minute you assault them back, that's gonna be the headline. It ain't gonna beating you defend yourself what you have a right to do. It's gonna be the fact that you assaulted them instead of they thought that you.
First.
You in a war of propaganda, and you got to win that first. You got to get the people on your side first.
You can't just attack and then in that.
Way and you don't got no support, and they control the media, and they made you look like you assaulted and a type first. So I'm saying, you got to use strategy, You got to use tactics. You got to be smart. But if you go out there and you seem like you the aggressor and you doing things physically vandalizing and rioting and all that, you ain't gonna win that argument, and they're gonna make you out to look
like a criminal, and you're gonna lose that. And that's what happened with anybody to go out there and do those kind of things. And I look at the Black Panther history and see and there are other socialists out there who have adopted that type of philosophy. They did not win in the end, they got uprooted. I'm taking win.
Oh God, my answer your question right, I mean joying this combination anybody else.
In that question? Sorry?
I got one more.
If you would to add a course to the public school system that you want to educate to the younger generation, what kind of course would you have?
So if I had to put a course together for a younger generation, it would be on love of self to address hatred of self, you know, I would my course in Correculum would be the start of young and and go over the statistics and.
All the data to show that.
You have to love yourself to be yourself, and if you really want to be successful, you have to zone in to your gifts and who you are, you know, and that would be my course, and then teach how to fight against attacks against you.
If your hair ain't right if your.
Hair is course, to combat the color of your skin, if you're attack the assaulted, because.
They say black as ugly and white as beautiful.
To find ways and methods to teach black people that these things that you can guard against by loving yourself and not buying into that.
So the course and.
Curriculum I would teach because I believe children are one hundred percent of our future, and I believe we have to teach them to love themselves to beat themselves. The first thing a child looks at in a picture is look they look for themselves. Now, they've been done a lot of studies, and they had like doll babies with girls, and certain things were boys, and they always gravitate towards things that don't look like them. And it starts early,
and so I believe early prevention is necessary. So I think, like I said, if I had to have a curriculum, it would be the teacher teach about love or self, but also had a backup, which I think is just as equally important. And it really is a toss up. I believe ninety percent of our problems in the black community is tied to economics.
And I believe that part.
Responsibility for any nation is to learn how to do for self. Everyone is not cut out for a college environment. Some of us is cut out to be entrepreneurs and to go a different direction. Some of us are cut out to be tradesmen like electric plumbing. You don't have to go to a four year school. Know that, and some of us have to do something. Some of us are cut out to go to a four year school
and work for somebody instead of working for yourself. But the number one goal for any culture, any right or race, is that you must not only love yourself. And part of that is that you got to do for self. And so you got to create income, recycle the money in your.
Community, support each other.
This is our every nation becomes superior in Mighty. America is great because it does does for self.
You got to look.
Out for self Earth And I think that in the black community, we have to emphasize, just like other coaches.
Do, economic development, and we have to.
Teach financial literacy at an early age. These are conversations that we cannot wait until we adult to deal with. We got to teach how money is made and how to multiply and invest money. All of those subject matters, and I think that that is a curriculum that we got to do early and not way to college and take it as an elective or as a degree. So I believe ninety percent of our problems in the Black community and a lot of and that's what DEA is all about.
Leveling the plan field will having education around.
Entrepreneurship, economics, finances, business, I think should start very early. And I think that you have to understand like it is the responsibility for every culture to create jobs for itself, and every job can't come from out your community. You've got to do forself as well. And we are responsible to create at least two million jobs within our own community through entrepreneurship.
That is our responsibility.
And if we don't do that, we become a burden on society where you're acting for handdous in welfare and jobs where you don't even have the skills to even do. And that's the problem is that we have to focus on that and it's not being done. When I grew up in high school, we had trade jobs.
Ime, I'm sorry, trade classes.
I could have took in high school car mechanic or plumbing or carpentry, cooking, sewing. These are trades that made people middle class and wealthy.
But what happened is a lot of.
These people who had these trades, these auto mechanics and these plumbing companies, when they had children, and their children wanted to go off to go to college and go work for somebody else and not take over the business. See, And that's became a burden and a problem in our community. And so it was it wasn't no accident that they took these trade jobs out because we became middle class and versus sceptible. And all of a sudden, now you took out things that can create wealth and jobs in
our in our community. And so it was my design that they took all of that out. And so and then and then through the sixties in December when I told you history can reward you for the reason serves the data.
And then all of a sudden, the language was, oh, everybody go to college. Everybody go to college.
Okay, you want one hundred percent of black people to go to college just to get a degree and go to work for corporate America, and that work for yourself. One point five trillion dollars come through the hands of black people and we don't do anything.
Monumental with that.
We are the seventh richest nation on the planet, and we don't recycle that one point five trand dollars within our own community.
This is devastating, This is.
Hurting us, and we need to be educated on how to recycle that money and build that money and invest that money. Instead we turn around.
We don't make taller paper, we.
Don't make potatoes, we don't make no clothes, we don't make nothing. So all that money go back to White America. This has to stop, and that's what's killing us. You have to target that money. Other coaches target that money in order to leverage it for the next generation. And so we need to create and oational wealth. So education in terms of entrepreneurship economics is so vital and love of stealth because they go together, they go together, and
I can't stress it enough. So that would be my curriculus. That was a very good.
Question, Stavian, Thank you so much for answering them so well.
They're are toaching on a lot of concepts that we've been discussing in class.
Anybody als with that question.
Do you think bruling class use public public school systems and consumerism to keep the black community poor and then to your custom.
Education is designed for control. Thank you the government of America for giving our free education up until college. Okay, until you get there. But there's a motive in mind, and that's control. And most people that come out, you know, we are warehousing students and not educating students. America is
the biggest economy in the world. America is the most biggest super power in the world, but has the worst that's the change compared to other nations all over this planet in terms of high school, elementary and not by design.
It's by design.
Listen, these are the these are the smartest and wisest people on the planet.
When you see something taking for.
Its work, for what it is and not make excuses, it's by design that they dumped down the education system and warehouse the future generation and chamber.
Without teachers, there is no future.
Without educating the young generation, there is no future. So what what I see and what I've read and the data is that I see is that it's by design that the education system is not effective. But is Nothing is absolute, so there's never one hundred percent, So you're always gonna have certain people who DeFi the odd outliers. A lot of books talk about outliers. So you're not
gonna get everybody, You're gonna getmost. And the outliers are the ones that's gonna stand out and they're gonna do things that's gonna be the fighter odds and underestimate everybody, and they're gonna show you them to make you believe that the education system is perfect, it works good, it stayed.
Of course, the education system is.
Nothing but warehousing ignorance and savagery. And it's by design that way. And that's what I believe. I don't believe that you know, is its intent is to create success in the way that we need it in order to change our lives and our community.
And I'm be honest.
Most colleges are the same way. They about the money and not the honey. They ain't trying to create, you know, the future generation and trains. They trying to get four five hundred thousand dollars out of you and give you a car with no key to drive it. Most people coming out of college are working in other fields and not what they majored in. Why listen, if you're gonna go to college and be a doctor, I get it. An engineer and science I get.
It is worthwhile.
But if you're majoring in all the other subjects, I don't know if that's worthwhile because you because you're paying a lot of money for a degree, they don't mount to nothing. But it's science and engineer because those are the the courses or industries that make civilizations grow as well, and so those are the areas. And if the college isn't want to.
Reduce to that, that's half of the student body. So they ain't gonna make no money.
So I don't I think there's a profit involved in colleges and super succeed the quality of the education. And I think in the UH, in the minor school systems before college, there's an intent to rob, to destroy and undermine the future generation that goes to these public schools and in some cases even some of these private schools.
So that that's my thing.
That's my thinking on that is that because in government of America, you know, it costs you a lot more. You know, I think it's about control. You know, that's first and foremost. Is that So if you become wealthy, even if you outlined as long as you think in a certain way like the mainstream they got.
You know, it don't matter.
You're gonna build that world. College you wist and wrote a book. And if you ain't ready to call miseducation of the Negro and College you Wishing is the father of Black History Month.
He used to be called Black History Week. If you ain't read College.
You Wishing book, miseducation or nigga's a black man educated. But he tells you when you don't control your education, you don't have to worry about the action of the people.
Even if you close the door on them, they will.
Carve out another door and walk right through it to do exactly what you educated.
And that's how powerful education is.
And when you control it, you control the actions of the people.
And it's not set up.
America wasn't built because of education and voting. America was built because of entrepreneurs and people who believe in the idea of building a nation. And once they built the nation, they created a system to control the masters of the people to do exactly what they need them to do to maintain that nation.
What concept do that?
That is?
We've been learning about this concept for what's that?
Yeah?
Power distance?
Yeah, we've been learning about this concept of power distance.
So it's sort of like summarizes.
What you're talking about.
Okay, why no power?
Let me tell you this. You know, people say, oh, it's all about the money. It's all right, No, it's not always about the money. People will lose war, you know, and war you lose money. You might gain and building weapons and all that, but you lose a lot and no one really wins. But the person who comes out on top they get to control. And that's what it's for, is to gain control. And I've seen businesses lose money after money and never make a change because it's all
about control. Particularly in the journalism field. A lot of these news a lot of these stations don't make any money. In the news stations, they lose money and they never change their platform. And you got to ask yourself, why why don't you do the same information over and over, use the same personalities over and over and you don't make no profit. It's because it's more about control what they tell you then about and then about making money.
They got to control you first.
That's why you can turn every station they say the same thing over and over because they're trying to control it's all propaganda and that's what power is derived after you get control.
But if you ain't got control, you ain't got no power.
It ain't all about the money off the time. You know, families don't have a lot of money, but they got control of then kids.
That's why they got power.
Money don't give you power. What I'm saying is you can have money and have no control, and the powers they run things can destroy you even with all your money.
Do you think and like today's society, social media is doing a good job of educating, like the changes that need to be implemented, or do you think social media is doing a better job of controlling what's already mainstreamed wall That's a.
Beautiful question, and it's like a yes and no no.
It's like social media.
Has an impact on the only society, but the whole world, and everybody's on there with a different motive.
The platform is on.
There that they provide for us, like meta Twitter, they have their own motive that's about profit. Okay, Now people help and to become this on there and they utilize it for their own motives. And as a result, social media had became an outlet to work around mainstream media and in such an effective way, they started censoring people on social media because for what is worth, it was reaching a new generation and people in a way.
News and newspapers wasn't.
And so now the power structure started meeting with the social media. It was all about money, and now they starting to censor people because they start as a way where they can circumvent and get a message out without having to be interviewed by AGENCNBC, CBS and Auto Mantion network to control everything. So it's very powerful platform and they're censoring people because freedom of speech.
This the first Amendment. But that's the saving grace of America. It's why America is different from a lot of nations.
Right now, you can say certain things in other name, it's got right out right then you shot down in the street.
Not in America. You was given a living in right. Don't mean you're not.
Gonna be prosecuted, I mean persecuted. Persecuted don't means others not going to like what you say.
But you can turn the channel.
But they want to effectively stop you from saying certain things because it.
Don't work in their advantage.
Because they want they send you to school to think like they want you to think. And when you don't think like that, they mad, they upset, they hurt you. They're like, oh man, they use to me to teach people different than the way we thought. We gotta do something about this, so the government start meeting with them on a regular basis. And guess what is for censorship. You don't have to like it, you turn it, you
flip it, just you know. But social media is a great technology, but it's being manipulated today and the power structure is trying to control it because they want to control us. So that's how I see it.
I was gonna ask how you how you started up your business, Like what was that process like for you?
I had a degree from USC but I didn't have a knowledge itself. So I opened the bookstore because I thought books can make a difference, and as it did in my life in the community.
And I didn't have much money.
I didn't have any money, and I wanted to hear to tell you that money gonna stop you from your dream and what you want to do.
You got to find a way, you know.
I got tons of people who had no money and they're wealthy or they was able to do what they gotta do.
They found a way. They didn't rob a bank.
You don't said or none of that.
But I you know.
When you when you meet people in different walks of life, sometimes I can translate into a relationship. And I part laid a relationship into a credit line and I was able to buy books.
And that's how I got started. I just you know, build on that. And I had to learn.
I didn't graduate from collegeod a business brewer. I had public administration. So I had to learn on the job, how to be entrepreneur, how to market, how to record, keep I had all the things that going to running a business. I had to learn on the job. And if you do something long enough, you'll learn all the things you need to do. And so along the way, I learned how to develop my brand, believe books and our mission, and to be able to post events and
seminars and workshops. And so I started, you know, back in the in in nineteen ninety with no money, but I had friendships and I leveraged that and I grew I had by creating partnerships with other people as well. And so I think that you know, you start where you start, and you go from there and you try to develop whatever the other parts that you need in order to grow. What it is you have is an idea or business, you know.
So that's how that's how I started.
I started realie. But I had to be motivated to start, and I had to have the stink to it them and the determination because it ain't always have been profitable. It's been a lot.
Of years and decades where you just you.
Know, you in business, but you ain't really making no money, you ain't really making no real.
Impact that you can see.
But when people over the years come in and they come in our store and they cry, they start dashing, they thank us, you know, because we get voice of voiceless and we have a mission and that's and that's the use books to make a difference in it and change our community through the written work.
Books have been around for thousands of dollars and years. They're not going nowhere.
And I'll tell you at that point, I realized one thing. After thirty years of doing what I do and using books as the medium to make a difference and a change, now I realized that that's my activation and I realized
that I'm actually a book activist. So you know, there are a lot of ways to make your mark, you know, and people who are activists out there, but I'm a specifically a book activist, and I realized that because of the work that I've been able to do over these last thirty years, I raised money through nonprofit organizations to donate books to schools.
Last year we was.
Blessed to raise thirty thousand dollars and give out ten thousand books in the community to underserve children and you and teams in the community.
So, you know, we make it more than.
Ourselves because we got to think bigger than ourselves think about you know, at least here I believe we think about the next generation because you're on the next movies and shapers you will.
I have another question, so this is just kind of like your opinion, but if there is only one book that you could advocate or kind of show the next generation to like read and learn from, Like, do you.
Have any specific books.
In mind that you would want to show us to educate us.
I know I mentioned one book, The Miseducation of the Negro That's an excellent book.
But my goal to.
Book because mostly, like I said, most of the people I talk to look like me, all right, and most of the people that I'm.
Advocating for look like me.
Because of our disadvantages and into our trauma into.
Generational So that book.
Is called power Nomins, and it focuses on the blueprint for Black America to elevate by recycling the Black Dollar by doctors written by doctor Clark Edison.
It's called Powernomics.
And so that book is one of the books that I highly recommend because, like I said, of our issues and problems is economics, and we need to address that. And and I believe this.
Too, is that.
It's very important that we address ethics and morality. You know, even in business, they have a professional business code, you know.
What I'm saying, So you got to have.
Ethics and morality in business otherwise, you know, you you you know, I'm not advocating just going to just through any business because you can make money when it's destructive and devastations and in your community. God, I'm not advocate. We got enough of that already. We're trying to We're talking about businesses that can make an impact and a difference and your and and and the entrepreneur's life and in the community, you know, and then a litle businesses
that can be developed like that. So the book para Nomics, The Economic Blueprint.
For Black America by doctor card Anderson is one of my most.
Famous books and just really means do for self and self consequences. You can take religion. That's the bottom line is to create a shock. Let me ask you something. If if who can answer this question, If a snake bite you, where you get down to go from? Say absolutely the snake. So let's after this a rate dom has destroyed you and poisoning.
You and undermined you when you get to.
Go from no answer, Well, guess I got to tell you.
You get it from racism.
So if you're taught your whole life you're black and you're ugly, you're not gonna do anything. I don't even know, they told malchaul met his teacher said, you don't want you want to be I want to be a lawyer. I don't know why you want to be a lawyer, because ain't nobody gonna utilize you.
As a lawyer, not even your own people.
If you grow up and all you was thrown was hate and racism, and you hate yourself, you hate being black, and you bleaching your skin like so many people. You're changing your nose, you're bleaching your hair, you're you're you're doing things to yourself so that you can look Europeion and white because you don't really like Because I know, when I was growing up, I told my mama, Man, when I grow I'm a married white woman. I said that.
My mama always to say, you know, when you was.
Young, used to say that I wasn't even looking at my own black women, in my own culture, in my own society, and my own people that's around.
Me all the time.
I'm saying, I ain't.
I'm not against in a racial marriage is hell. You get Hey, you love what you love, you know what I'm saying.
But but you already know that the majority is gonna marry within their own.
Coach because that's who you're around.
You fall in love with with the.
Things that around you.
Anyway, I didn't see black women is pretty. That's the point I'm trying to make. I saw a white woman as privy. So my thing is where you're gonna get dying and those from. If you suffer from racism, you get it from racism. You gotta flip it because you gotta switch to mind. It's just nowhere around it. You want to have to create a philosophy and a doctrine that will flip your self hatred to love.
You gotta be proberate. I'm glad and I'm proud.
See the difference you start making songs, when you start saying.
You start doing things like d.
You say, you start doing things that can teach you to start to love yourself and not hate yourself to don't by answer your question about the books, thank you you wilcome.
Do you think multiculturalism has spelled in the US?
Yes, because and the reason.
Why a multiculturalism and all these things fail is because at the heart you have to love yourself for it to be sustainable not temporary. You cannot solve this problem with a bad name in history will always repeat itself until you get it right. And that's why it's circled back and it's called dee I today because of the fact that the ultimate aim is got to love yourself and do for self, and that's the overall. You gotta take yourself away from becoming a burden on society.
There's not is not intended for the government.
It is not intended for the government. Two to provide everything for you is in the government give you a start, but for your whole life.
That's you know, there's something.
Wrong with this you you know, so we we have to find a way to make this sustainable long term. And I don't think you know, most of these programs in there there for temporary gratification, but they have purpose and meaning and it's the level of the plan field. And I'm saying we need those things, but we gotta go deeper. We gotta go with multiculture. Lived I can work if we go deeper and big in our mission to do what it is that need to be done. And the work is hard, and the work ain't gonna
help them. I mean, a lot of people ain't gonna like It's just a lot of people around this nation.
They don't like, you know, black people being successful. They just don't.
And this is twenty twenty four and unfortunately it's people who fill with with hate and I can't help them. I'm just trying to say, we we gotta the only way that this nation can be. Like I said, my podcast is is Elie Bookshop bringing the world together with books, culture and.
Community bringing together. I'm using books you're trying to bring up the only way you know.
You ever look at. You gotta have your identity in this whole process, is what I'm saying.
You can't lose your idea.
The only way Multiculture List DII will work is that you can't.
Lose your identity.
You gotta have a black agenda, and white people have to have their agenda. His fanings have to have, Asians have to have there. It's important because you cannot lose who you are. Every we're going to be who we are. I can't change the fact that I'm black.
You can't change the fact that you're white or Asian. Why are we trying to create a system where will you deny where you are?
We want to deny it, Jen, do we want to any our race?
We want to deny you.
We define fantasy. It ain't gonna happen. And all that's gonna do is create more division and more fighting. Unnecessary.
You got to.
Beat who you was born to beat, and and and and and treat others like you want to be treated. Because the golden rule, that's the number one golden rule, is that we have to teach others as the way we want to be treated.
So if you want love, you need to give love.
If you want success, you need to give success. It's just that that's the universal common And you treat people bad, it's gonna come back to you. So you know, multiculture, we got to go, deeperent. You can't lose your identity because a lot of this they want you to lose who you are.
You can't lose who you are. You can't lose if you're a woman. You a woman, you a man, You're a man.
You can't lose that. That's what you are. You can't lose who you are as a ring. Love who you are, be happy who you are.
That's that's the only way I see multiculturing.
And d I work. Love who you are, to respect and know who you are, so that that's why I see it. Well, my close Rod, I hope I said something to inspire you to think outside the box to help you along your journey as you become the next generation of change. Yeah. I appreciate you giving me this opportunity and asking me some very very enlightening questions and and I just appreciate having this opportunity. Thank you, and make sure you following Malif books on Instagram.
And you can buy now with god Belief Books dot com. You be about the Boots books I just told you about.
You get it on at belief books dot com. Thank you so much.
I'm very inspired. I mean, you see a lot of important things.
I feel like I should also invite you when we have like a normal semester and actually invite you physically so that we can you know.
Basically, the power of face to face conversation, as you know, is more powerful.
But I'm very grateful that you took time and we did very short notice. I really come to talk to these students. I do believe, yes, they had the future generation and there's a lot of hope on them. So you've had a lot of you know, wisdom and I get of wisdom. And I'm very grateful for your time. I'll definitely grab some of these books that you have recommended and I'll use my linkbooks dot com.
I'll say integrating in the time to be with us.
This is a really great conversation. Are you looking for any help in your in your business.
And just time no value?
I definitely you can email me. You can email from the teacher and uh and send me your resume and we keep it on final and we get to that point out and sometimes we need volunteers as well. We can reach out even from that capacity. All right, all right, thank you, thank you, thank you.
Our upcoming June events is explosive. You don't want to miss these. What events there's going to be hosted at Milieue Books and outside offside events. Listen, we're hosting but Car Sellers. You know, he's an attorney and author.
He wrote a book called The Moment.
He's going to be at Malik Books June eleventh at seven pm.
He's going to be talking about his book.
And the moderator for this event is Arriva Martin. Now both of them are CNN commentators, analysts, attorneys that brought on frequently to talk about politics in worldly and community events. Now this conversation is gonna be explosive. She's got to come through June eleventh at wlie Brooks Westfield Cover City Mall. Then on June fourteenth, we're hosting Nicole and A Jones in conversation with Angela Riot. This is gonna take place
at the Miracle Theater June fourteenth at seven pm. This Friday night is gonna be an explosive conversation centered around sixteen nineteen project. This is going to be epic and Angela Ryt, who's a CNN correspondent, a podcaster, she has done a tremendous amount of achievements and she's gonna be in conversation with Nicole Hannah Jones, who's a Police Surprise
winner for her timely book sixteen nineteen project. So you gotta come through Friday, and then let's turn it up even more when Taraji p Henson is gonna be at Malik Books on June twenty second at three pm at the Westfield Covid City Mall. She's gonna do a storytime and book signing. Her new book is coming out, You Can Be a.
Good Friend No Matter.
What A Chosen's book by Taraji p Henson Storytime at Westfield Coch City Mall. Got to come on out because we also hosting on June twenty second, our June Deep Celebration at the Westfield Coch City Mall. We're gonna have drummers, We're gonna have kid friendly things. We're gonna have a panelist featured with some very interesting community leaders who are gonna be talking about Resilience and June teenh so come on out Une twenty second, from one to five, we
got a festive event at Westfield Culver City Mall. We love to do these kind of partnerships and bring these kind of programs.
But our headliner for that.
Particular event is Tarachie p Henson, who's gonna be doing story time and doing a book signing.
So you want to come out to the Westfield Clover City Mall because Elite Books, in.
Partnership with the Westfield Mall, is hosting a big time June team festival. But I'm gonna warm you up before the twenty second.
You gotta come through June eighteenth at Malite Books where we're gonna be talking about Voices of Resilience, descendants of the Tousa Mosica in conversation with Victor Lukison.
That's gonna take place on June eighteen at seven pm. We're gonna warm you up before we get to June twenty second.
But we got an intense conversation.
With Victor Lukison because he wrote this wonderful, wonderful book bating the history of Tulsa's Greenwood District.
The book is called Built from the Fire.
It's a multi generational soccer of a community in Tulsa's Black Wall Street that highlight survivors of the nineteen twenty one Tulsa massacre that murdered hundreds, if not thousands of black people. We in this conversation are inviting two descendants from this massacre. They are descendants from a black woman who owned a movie theater in nineteen twenty one in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
And they're gonna be at this conversation with Vicker Lucklson, and we're gonna be talking about Built from the Fire. And also just added just a few days ago, Tiffany Hattish will.
Be at Malik Books June twenty ninth.
This is meet and greet books signing with Tiffany Hattish signing.
Her new book I Cursed You with Joy.
So come on out June twenty nine, two pm. That's right, they get a signed book by Tiffany Hattish I Curse You with Joy.
So that's our lineup for June.
Probably have some more gonna be scheduled, but I think if you go to meliebooks dot com go on the event, you can keep up with all our latest events. That's all for now, So and Joy, Thanks for listening to Malik'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 Malak Books. See you next time.