Wow. I normally speak more off the cuff, but you're following the governor and the president and doctors, and you're just a basketball coach. I decided to put a little more into it. So I'd like to start by offering my condolences on behalf of my family, Lupi and Stephen Rook Allen. Stephen was at one of the buildings two nights ago, about ten minutes after things
happened. So sometimes we don't understand because we haven't been through it. That little moment brought me a little closer to understanding, but as well as our entire university community who was impacted by the horrific actions Monday night, I'm representing our athletic department, and I feel like Michigan State my fortieth year here. I don't like the place. I don't love the place I live, the place. To the families of those who were senselessly taken from us, words
seems so hollow right now. To the individuals currently fighting for their lives in a hospital and their families, we're praying for you. And I know that my wife and I got a chance to go to the hospital. I know Governor Whimer was there and I know our president was there and unbelievable people. There are so many good people in the world of the doctors, the nurses. Although for me I'm also a father of two spartans of my own.
I can't begin to imagine what all of you are going through, but I do know that we as a campus community can offer our support both to you and to each other. Look around, look next to you, shake somebody's hand, Introduce to yourself to someone you don't know. That's what we are and that's what we need to be at this time. I'd like to offer a special thank you, as all have, to our first responders who assume you get paid little and ask to put their life on the line each and
every day. As I've learned through my own assistant coach not that long ago, the coordinated response from law enforcement from around the state, from the FBI to the AMS to the hospitals was nothing short of remarkable. And to the students who listen to the Shelter in Place directive, your ability to follow protocol even in the face of fear was incredible. If you use that throughout your
life, it will be helpful. I won't belong, but I did want to offer a few words that someone that some of you will hopefully find helpful. Michigan State is my home, everyone thinks, some of you per Yes, that's where I came from. But virtually all of my adult life I've been a spartan. I've seen some incredible highs and yes, unfortunately there have been some devastating lows. But as a spartan we always get through it together or Spartan tough, Spartan strong. If you need proof, look at us
all standing here tonight, each and every one of us. We've come for many different reasons, to heal, to grieve, to honor our victims, to stand up to fear. But you're going to have to do a lot in your life. Whatever you're feeling, it's all valid. Emotions are different for each and every person. I cry in front of my team, I cry a national TV. Don't be afraid to show your emotions. We all process trauma in a very different way. I'm just glad we're all here together
tonight. So let me close with the challenge. Let's all do a better job taking care of one another through no fault of our own. But COVID has led us to all feel a little more separated from one another. It drives me crazy. We need each other for forty years. If I always believed that at Michigan State we are at our own strongest when we're together, and athletics, the best teams are always greater than the sum of their individual
parts. The same is true for our community. Governor Whimer, you should be proud that you know not only did our police not need did our hospitals, just the individuals and our community all banned together at this incredible university that I have given most of my life too, and I have a lot more to give in the future. If any of you need help, please speak up. Be vulnerable, don't be afraid. It's no secret that I do
wear my emotions on my sleeve, so I'm not afraid. Our hearts are heavy, our loss has been great, our lives have been permanently changed. But with a shared commitment to help each other, and I promise to remember those we have lost, we will learn to find joy once again. I think everybody spoke that something has to be done in our society. Gun violence is insane. Right now, we all have a platform. Some are small,
some are high, but we all have a platform. And I hope each and every one of you use your platform tell others so other families don't have to go what these families are going through now. I appreciate everybody being here, and before you leave, I hope you meet the ten people around you and become closer. The world needs it, Michigan State needs it, the grieving time needs it. I need it as we struggle as a Spartan family together to find the words to process what happened on a few days ago
in Burkeye Hall and around the student union in Michigan State on campus. It's hard to find the right words, but nobody does it better than Tom Izzo, as he did last night in front of a large crowd of Spartans that are there trying to find a way to heal and get through this. It's Thursday, February sixteen, twenty twenty three. I'm Jason Straehorn, your host, along with my co host Otis Wildie ju Culcrick. This is Sparta.
The victims that lost that we lost a few days ago. We want we want to honor them today before we continue on the show and give a moment of silence for them while we think about them and their hearts and their souls. Thank you. In times like this, we need leadership to get us through the tough times, a way to plan a foot forward and pivot into the next direction. But we first must, you know, take an introspective look at what just happened and try to come together in the community so that
we can heal. You know, one of our own, jay U Kulker, has been through his own civil war as a young child, and he's been through a lot of things. And Jayu, please bring some insight into where your heart is, what you feel. Yeah, Jason's it's definitely tough. It's definitely tough for the three of us, especially you know and everyone that we're surrounded with ass Spartans because we've walked those sidewalks of east Lands and
we've walked, we've been in those classes. Main being a social science major. A lot of my classes we're in Burkey all you know, talking to otis a lot of his classes were in there. As Spartan fans. You know, we tailgate, you know, outside the Union, we go through the Union, we go to the shops in there and everything like that. So this is very, very tough for us. And you know, when this happened, this tragic senseless incident happened on Monday night. You know,
we you know, we had a meeting. We thought about, you know, do we do a show, do we not do a show, and we decided in the best interest that out of respect to the victims, the community, the university, to not do a show, because we know each and every Tuesday and Thursday, we come together and we have a we have a show that you know, polls the curtain back to what it means to be a Spartan dog, what it means to be in that locker room,
and that was not the time to do that. And so that's why we decided to you know, postpone the show on Tuesday and come on today. And today we have a lot of great people coming on, a lot of experts in their fields. Because the three of us, we may be experts on with x's and o's in football, but we're not experts when it comes to mental health. We're not experts when it comes to the spiritual side of
things. So we decided to create this platform today and for that one hour that you know, all the Spartan nations all that this is part of MSU fans, you know, come aboard with us. We want to create that escape out of this tough, tough time that we're all facing right now, to come together as a family, huddle together at you know, for this
one hour and create that escape. And also too, I know, we promoted MSU quarterback Noah Kim you know, to be on the show today, but we feel, you know, as respect to Noah, as respect to you know, the organization, the program and everything like that, it is not fair to have him come out and be that one voice right now. So today is a lot bigger than X's and O's. It's about healing as a community. It's about healing as Spartans. Is about coming together as Spartans,
and that's why this title is appropriately titled Spartan Strong. Well, great words, olde, any words from you. Yeah, you know it's been Uh, it's been real tough man, from a standpoint of trying to work I guess through it. You know, as a as a crisis, your job is is day to day with making sure you know, partners are you know, happy and satisfied. And to to Jay's point, you know,
athletic events we were canceled. So it's it's an immediate action when it happens to be able to say, hey, you know, when will it be
a time for me personally to you know process it. And uh, you know, today I have the opportunity of delivering you know, food to you know the FBI and and our responders and investigating and and you know doing their their their part, you know, with this investigation at Burkey Hall, and you know, just walking up there to the side you know doors where you have caution tape and you know, not being able to walk in there, but just really place the food inside of the inside the door so that they
can take the take it back. And it's just an eerie it was. It's eerie. It was an eerie feeling of I constantly played inside my mind of scenarios if I had class in that first four classroom, and what would I have done if something was to happen, if I was on campus just trading places, and those things were play in my mind of what could I have what I have done, And the victims who are really chasing their dreams and getting the education and thinking that this is a safe space, safe space.
It was robbed of that, uh, that that life and so it's this show is it's really about that, and and you know we're so much
bigger than like you said, Jau football sports. We have to truly take consideration of the human element of this in the aftermath that will continuously follow this, as everyone had a different feel and everyone had a different perspective experience in this this terror or this horror that really you know, took a Monday night evening by storm, and so this will be a tough one to truly talk
through. But I think this, to your point, is a great opportunity for us to all just be open and vulnerable and understanding that this this this has to stop. What we have to pray for the hope and healing of our victims and our victims families, but also the ones that are still validing their lives. Now I appreciate that. Guys, you know, we have to the ways and great tools in order to cope with this and to move
forward. And while we honor the victims and understand the healing process is different for everyone. So we have a guest on the show. We have a few guests from teams rising right now, We've got Vinnie, Well, we have Ashley, Vinnie and Ashanti that we want to welcome to the show to talk mental health. Welcome, Welcome, well, welcome, welcome, Welcome, see Vinnie. Thank you, sir. No. I appreciate you guys
opening up this space. It is truly empowering in this moment, and I feel honored alongside with Ashanti and on behalf of Ashley to be here to discuss with you guys some of these reflections that we're having in this moment. Yeah,
we appreciate you, you know one, being open to joining. I know it was a request that was a week of as we were, you know, building out this this production of the show this week, and so you know, I think it's more so if your experience dealing with student athletes and and there's there's multiple things that happened in someone's lives that is trauma, right, like trauma that you you have dealt with some student athletes and your prior in your prior practice, and so like, can you can you give
us a little bit of insight of you know, what you witness obviously from yours, yours, your chair where you're located, about our news, but also about just mass shootings in general. But like as a student athlete, but just as a human being, the process of processing what just happened on Monday night. Yeah, man, I think personally it's fascinating to see how we're all responding to something that I'm coming from California to give you context.
I'm in the West Coast and we're hearing this news, and if I could be completely transparent, although there's that initial shock because the news has been so repetitive in our culture for so long, we react with numbness, and a lot of times in our grief, that is our first response because we want to deny the reality that is in front of us. In working with student athletes, and I also work with justice impacted youth, many times I see
that we're not treating grief with sacredness that it needs and necessitates. Many times we think that grief has this linear pattern and path. I think a lot of people go to this model of like, you know, versus denial, and then there's anger and depression, bargain, and then finally there's acceptance. But I liken it to we're always battling between loss and restoration, and so in the loss, we acknowledge the emotions and the loss and the pain of
the loved ones. That that that that we loss of the communities that are being impacted. But we also need to find a way in our grief to uh take take a break and then return, because only then are we able to maintain that energy for us to keep moving and progressing forward. And so I see a lot of us we get caught up in this in this model that this is how grief is supposed to look like. And if I could empower the student athletes and how are the students and anybody that was impacted by
this? Is that your grief should not be defined by what others believe it should look like. In fact, your grief is sacred to you, yourself as an individual, and the process and how you're going to react in that grief is going to be unique to you and your nature. And only then can you really realize how are you going to move forward and proceed. I want to strip away that set of expectations. Time doesn't necessarily mean that everything
is going to be healed. That's actually a myth. When it comes to grief, each one is on their own path and so I think those type of things need to be stripped open and need to be realized and people understand that in their grief there are becoming advocates because they're actually acknowledging the reality of
the pain that is occurring. Yeah, Bennie, you know you made a great point there, and you know you said that feeling of numbness when stuff like this happened because it happens so often, but also too, there's also that feeling of yes, that happened, but it will never happen here until it does, So, like, what do you tell these people, you know, these people that when it finally hits home, you know, because when I was in college, you know, it happened to Virginia Tech,
you know, and we're like, oh, you know, it will never happen here. We're walking around campus and you know, like, so what do you tell those people that when it does happen and that shock that comes in and how do you help cope with that shock? Yeah? I like, And so for myself, one of my expertise is kind of group therapy. One of the three curative factors that I try to allow for people to
proceed in their grief is hope, universality, and connection. We have to instill that there will be a sense of hope that we can progress from this at some time. Doesn't have to be now, but at some point and in our time, there is a hope that we are trying to progress too. Then the concept of universality is what I find beautiful and I think this is what you guys are offering on on this podcast, is that we're not
unique in our pain. I'm not the only one that is suffering. There are other individuals that are also suffering from the same pain, and so in the community, as we are processing the shock and processing the grief, when we realize that other individuals are alongside with us in our pain, we feel a sense of comfort. I'm not the only one that is going through this. I'm not the only one that's angry. I'm not the only one that's
looking for justice. There are others that are in the same path along with me, and that comfort allows them to progress in their grief with more certainty. And then finally, the idea of connection. And I think that's what we are doing on this podcast and having this dialogue. I'm sure at Michigan State the same things occurring amongst the students and opening that safe space of talk and make it real because we have to run away from this idea of disassociating
about what happened. We'll have to confront with this head on. And when we confront head on, the raw emotions just have to be allowed into the room and into the space. Way too many times we're trying to shut it down and suppress it, or we like I know, a lot of times I hear from young folks he answer to the athletes. I'll explain all my pain to some older folks, whether it be coaches, whether it be my
advisors and mentors, but they shut me down my pain with advice. And so a lot of times we're trying to speak life into individuals, but it's the wrong time. Instead, we're supposed to be listening. So let me hear and validate where you're coming from. Let me provide that safe space for you to really come forward with all the pain, all its rawness. And
I'm gonna be real. When we hear situations like this, will be individuals that'll come forward with a sense of vengeance, with a sense of need to advocate for a sense of anger, a sense of questioning their existence, questioning of their communities, of the society that they live, in and so if we don't validate that provide that comfort for those type of raw emotions, we're
not going to progress in the grief that is necessary. And so if we're able to hit those points, and I think that's what we're doing here collectively on Spart and Strong, we're beginning that dialogue in order to empower the youth were being affected by the most by these type of shootings to come forward and speak with their grief openly. Uh, so that action can can can take
place. Wow, this is this is extremely interesting, intriguing to me when you when you talk about from the athletic side, A lot of times people look at athletes as tough and leaders and that they should be able to weather things like this. But you know, in your professional opinion, I believe
you know vulnerability is best. What kind of tools you know? Do you see that that athletes are people who have that same uh, persona, I guess that it's okay to be vulnerable at this time in order to process things at their own time. Great question. I think Also, if Ashley and Ashanta, you guys want to join in, feel feel free as well. I feel free. But a couple of points that I would bring up is
the willingness to challenge the culture. The willingness to challenge the culture. I think a lot of young men when I talk with them, they seem to understand that this is the way that we can go. That I'm supposed to lead with the limp is what I like to call it, alongside in my circles, lead with the limp. I think our generation is tired of seeing
individuals lead in a sense of perfection. But if we're leading with the limp, therefore vulnerability, more people are going to be attracted to humanity and your pain and will want to follow you. And that's why I think we have to step forward with that grief. I think for me personally, it's challenging
the culture more and more and more. If athletes are able to find a sense of empowerment among first within themselves and then amongst their local athletes right on their team, for them to come forward to the cultures, for them to come forward to the culture and say, no, I do want to speak on the pain that I'm having. I don't want to suppress it any longer because it's affecting my play, it's affecting my perception my self perception as a
man. Then we could begin the actual discussions for this to take presidents nationally. But that challenge of the culture has to be embraced wholeheartedly. I think the discussions in dialogue have commenced, but this is some of the work that Team Rising is attempted to do and move forward in is challenging that culture and having that sense of empower to continue challenging. Our job is not yet done, though the discussions of dialogue are occurring, although we are seeing changes in
what it means to be a man. What does it mean to be vulnerable? Cannot be vulnerable as a man or as an athlete? Those questions may come up forward, that's just dialogue. It then has to become a repetitive theme and pattern. And so I think we're still in the beginning and we're still in that processing and that work of contingency challenging the culture. That's where I believe it has to begin first and foremost extremely well said Yeah, and
you know, I know Shanti is on as well as Ashley. You know, I think from a standpoint of it's all of the perspectives of that have been me or that we talked about the six degrees of separation or you know, not the separation where someone had someone close, like you said, influenced by this, I guess from a standpoint of the healing process, and you know, having our students potentially come back on Monday, you know, we're
having this kind of constant battle of it. You know, when is it too soon or is it open kind of door policy of you come when you're ready. I guess kind of talk to is just a mental mindset of you know, how do they how do we how do we communicate the proper ways to truly cope with the timing. Like you said, there's no timetable. You can't put a time on it. But this is what they're dealing with internally of making sure that our students come back and feel safe. Well,
this is Chauncey. Thank you for having me. I'm really thankful for this conversation. And one of the things that in our work we we talked about with young people is around and around the timing, is that we can't choose the timing. And I think that what what I noticed over the last couple of days, I've been watching some of the news articles and even the same night when there were some students who were they were grappling or what are they
were experiencing. They were feeling a lot of feelings in that moment. You know, sometimes we are going to respond to things different than another person will. And so maybe somebody who right now is feeling a real intense level of feelings around it because they have a deep emotional connection to what just happened, and some maybe in the moment of like, yeah, I'm not I mean, I'm sad that these people, you know, passed, but I'm not I'm numb to it or I have not yet, I don't know how I
feel. And I think what happens on our campus is some time is after a tragedy three days, four days, they have counselors available, and then all the counselors pack up and go back wherever they were before the four days were and then when the stuff after math comes, when the aftershocks come, the counselors are no longer around, and so there's nobody who's saying on a regular basis, Hey, anything that comes up, you got some spaces to go to. I think we missed that, and we've had to happen not
only you know, as we see on these college campuses. We haven't happening in our high schools as well. A tragedy happens the first few days after, there's plenty of counselors easily available. But what happens a week later everyone is packed up and going back because they think that, hey, we were
here for a week. You should have dealt with it a week ago while we were here for What begins to happen is all the other stuff, the residual trauma, the residual pain, sadness, worry, feared, doubt begins to come up, and I think we need to be making more space, more regular for the support and our work. We talk about this emotional mask.
The mask is what we let people see. And if you are on a team where showing emotions is not acceptable, then you would probably follow a long suit with like, oh, we don't talk about feelings on this team, and where do you go? Well, if you go to the some of the coaches or whoever, are you worried about that your position may be in jeopardy because you're telling them that you're having some challenges. I think that we have to make it more open, that it is normal, it is
expected to talk about what you're going through whenever it is. And I think oftentimes the pressure. I didn't play at college level, but I do. I do have a lot of friends who did, and they would be talking about injuries, but they didn't tell their coach because they didn't want to lose their position, and so they they were like trying to deal with it themselves, with some you know, some being gay and some rap in the back. You're like, dude, you need you need a doctor. What do
you talk about? And I think that oftentimes if we don't make sure that they know that your health, your wealth, your your your health is your wealth, and your your your mental health mental health is also important, that that's first. But I don't think that every athletely knows that or believes that.
So therefore, you may not talk about what you need, whether it's physically or mentally, until you know that you can trust that you can talk about it, get the support and it doesn't jeopardize what you believe you're there for in the first place. Yeah, yeah, that's a good point, and maybe Ashley you can jump in an answer to this, but Ashanti drew a good point there that there's all this time where we you know, in the moment, we're in the moment we have there's counselors on the scene and
everything like that. So talk to this for current students that are there, but also a lot of people that are hurting as well, are former students, people that are sitting there watching this show, people that graduated ten fifteen years ago, like the three of us sitting in here, you know, like and when these students come back and when those thoughts, you know, when they're walking the sidewalks of East Landson and they walk by the Union walk
by Berkey Hall, you know, what are some coping mechanisms that they can do to get them back in the same place. Yeah that you know, it's tricky, right because this is such an individual journey, and so you know, on the one hand, I think we need to redefine you know, what strong it is, right, and I think that we're doing a good job doing that in these conversations of strong it's being able to understand and recognize the whole human experience, which includes all of our emotions, which includes
this grief. And you know, you know, next February, when someone's walking down you know, the sidewalk and the shadow hits just it a certain way, or the sun hits a certain way, and it's going to take someone back to that day. And so things like that are going to come up in life, and so there's not one thing someone can do right.
But I think what's most important is is knowing what is right for you and knowing that you're able to stand in that and say, you know what, this is not a good day for me, or this is this is not a day where I can you know, go to the union like, this is not a day for me. And so to find to recognize and respect
that in yourself that that doesn't mean you're not strong. It means that you're recognizing what feels right for you and that you kind of continue on that journey of understanding what wellness looks like for you and then respecting that for yourself. Yeah, you know, from all those things, and you know when Jason alluded to at the beginning, you know, I've went through a civil war, you know, coming from West Africa here literally walking over dead bodies,
refugee camp to refugee camp and everything like that. End when I tell my story it is that I don't want you to feel sorry for me. I want you to gain strength from the fact, you know that I went through this and I survived. I'm a survivor of this, you know. So what message can we tell some of these kids that went through this. This is their second time that they've been in a mass shooting situation, you know,
second time within a year, that have gone through this. So what message can we you know, say that, hey, you're not a victim, You're a survivor. You know, you're you know, you can persevere through this. So what is that message that we can pass along, you know, that they can take with them. I think I don't know if I'll go I'll take a fresh shout of shot and then I had to do I know for myself. Brother, from what you the way you responded saying
I'm not a victim, I am a survivor. That is a result of someone doing the internal work to make sure that they're not identified as a victim. Not everyone necessarily is going to be in that place or is yet ready to accept that. Some individuals in order to get to that to that place, they're going to have to do the necessarily internal work, and maybe they're not yet ready to necessarily tell their story in a way where I want to
empower others. Maybe right now is I want to keep it closed. However, with that being said, the moment that they are ready to move towards that at that that final venue of hope and acceptance, the mentality that they need to have, and it was something that I had said earlier, is that in your grief and the way you expect through grief and the things that
you have gone through, you have now become an advocate for others. So in our pains and our sufferings, we are then learning that what I have gone through, at some point, when we reach that acceptance stage, when we reach that hope stage, what I've gone through can now elicit help for others. Right, And so from that moment onward, I'm now becoming an advocate with my voice and in my story. But that processing is going to
take on each individual's terms. And so what is interesting is I think a lot of people are ready to hear the scenario of I'm not a victim, I'm a survivor. We want to get to that point, but the body and the emotion is saying I'm not yet there. So when we try to ignore that, we're then accelerating ourselves to a stage that we think is acceptance and hope, and all of a sudden we're back to anger and denial because
it was not yet properly felt. So in order for us to get to that point where I want to power my story might ePower my story for others, the work and the diligence on the individual for them to confront the wrawness of the emotion has to be done. And it begins with the dialogue and community, and it begins with the journal, and it begins to be confronting
self about all the emotions of what they're feeling. So I guess, for an example, I'll have students of mind in some of the nonprofit work that I've done, where they'll be a shooting victim and the question that's enraging in their mind is why me? And why us? And if they do not process those questions fully in its fullness the vengeance that there is, then they're going to follow them forward and they're going to re enact the vengeful cycle back
and in that they've become a victim of their own story. But if they process that vengeance and then flip the script like you have done, with your own story and they're able to say, no, I'm not going to act with this vengeance and I'm instead of going to use the story as an advocate. Then we're going to see the benefit and the fruit from that self that
they have gone through. But I think in this moment, for a lot of times, for this sensitive period of time, there has to be a trust and a sacredness to the space that we provide for these individuals to speak freely on the pain, even if it does come from a sense of victimization, because that that is that is a part an avenue as they progress in their healing, and if we're not sensitive to that, if we're not willing to guide and protect them at this very vulnerable stage, that point of them
becoming a survivor mentality may never occur. Yeah, I totally agree with everything that you just said because I think, you know, just talking and when I said, you know that I went through that, and I come out on saying I was, but it didn't it wasn't just like that that I was sort surviving and that's what you know. I'll we were missed if I didn't say that, because there was a time when I came and I saw an airplane flying over. I was like, Oh, they're gonna go and
bomb us. And I ran in the house and everything like that, and I had that support group to you know, be like it's okay, it's okay. But I displayed that vulnerability, just like you said, Vinny, that that I was that victim at that time. And you know, I
think for everybody it needs to it's okay to be that victim. It's okay, you know for that moment, that that period of time, however long, that it takes you to you know, cope with this and get to the point in your life where you can come by it and say your survivor.
I think that's something that can't be taken out of context. That you know, there is a period of time that healing process and it comes to people at different times and everything like that, and people surrounding others that went through this should be okay with those other people being that victim and being that, you know, till they get to that survivor stage. Man, go ahead, go ahead, go ahead. Just going to say, and I really appreciate what you just said, and I want to add to that.
I want to say and the part where we are not ready to because we're watching everybody else around us, and if we're not careful, we can totally see people the next day playing video games having fun, and we think that they're not feeling real things, but maybe they're trying to numb themselves, or maybe they have substanced themselves to numbness so that they are now trying not to
feel what they're really feeling. And what we when we create the idea of the Million Mask movement, it was around what are you letting people see? Because I think what's going to happen over these next even probably right now, some people have moved on to the next thing. Right They got to go to work, they got to go deal with their family, got to deal with friends, they got to deal with sports or whatever. The things that are in their real life is happening. And when you can recognize that,
some people are gonna wear it differently. Some people today are smiling, but there's a whole lot happening behind what a smile looks like on the outside. Some people today have gone back to business as usual, but there's a lot happening behind what you can see on the outside. And I think that's why we created this tool that I was trying to say, Look, there's more than There's more to me than you can see. There's more to you than
I could see. I would never know your story if you hadn't have shared it right here with me today. But that's what happens because we oftentimes read the outside and we think we know what people was really going on with people. I think people being more general with themselves, Like if you think people
have moved on, they may not have. Don't don't assume that people are not taking it serious or not grieving, because we all grieve differently, and so having ways of finding the safe people that we can talk about what we're feeling, even though on the outside everyone's walking around like we're back to business
as usuals That that was one. I just want to let you all, three, three of you know that truly have obviously a blessed but also blessed my soul because I'm I'm I'm still pro I mean, we're all processing, but I'm I never had the time to truly unplug and process fully this right Like I quickly had to go to work, like I had to, like I said, do the necessary things that around me, things were were good really only the right the time, right before this show, as we kind
of built this out as where like I had to, I had to go and just basically say like, I'm struggling with this. I am truly struggling with this. From the post. Yesterday, I had to have this conversation with my four year old about the students who died because she saw this on the on on the news, and no, I'm not trying to shield that from her, like clearly that that that talk is obviously being it's going to
happen, but didn't wasn't truly prepared of it happening yesterday. And so you know, for me, it's how do I how do I give that that story to her? Which I did, but she was still innocent, and I ask forward to or rewind to those those kids, those students who are innocent. Man. Kind of that's where it hits home, where you look
at the aftermath. My daughter has fell in love with Alma Mater, loves going to sporting events, love dancing, hanging out, you know, supporting, and you know that's now something that we have to kind of take into consideration now of you know, is it safe for us to truly go back to that. And so this, this this conversation truly has opened that up.
And I appreciate you guys being vulnerable coming on and just telling us, you know how this truly is going to to to parlay through everybody's minds because this is national news. But to your point, where we're conditioned now to
just do mass mass or sense this act, then it's the support. Then it's just the ever cycle that we're now conditioned to where like when is that stop and truly needs to just break the chain there right like, And so I appreciate you all of doing that because that's really helped me kind of go through this as we're talking in real time on live you know media standpoint of me trying to really now you know, verbalize that and really be open and
vulnerable. But we we're going through here internally on campus and this is day to day, this is non stop. So appreciate you all. Yeah, definitely definitely appreciate every one of you. You know, that was very insightful and you know, very thoughtful words that were said by all of you. Jayu too, man, look man, like, I really appreciate this. If there is any athletes out there or anybody period that once a chastise somebody
for going through this process that they're not. Look, there's there's a lot of words I can say that are probably getting a lot of trouble for, but those aren't our kind of people at all. Are kind of people of people we like we have on this show right now that are giving us tools and understanding that it's okay to be vulnerable. It is totally it's okay. And anybody that thinks different, take hike. We're human. I believe in the human race. I believe in the evolution of what we're doing. Our
mind, our species are our people. The kindness in our heart is something that I think will press forward for eternity. Thank you all for coming on this show. Teams Rising, Ashley, Vinny, Ashanti, I can't say enough for what you guys have just shared with us. Thank you. Definitely appreciate it, guys, appreciate it. Thank you all so much as you guys, You guys are doing a blessing job. Man, keep fighting.
Appreciate sure, thank you appreciate it. Yes, that's incredible, you know, and we always got your back, Jay you We definitely got your back. Otis don't worry about that. I think all the of Spardan nation agrees with that. You know, you guys laid it on the line, and I appreciate that we need to now get some levity in this conversation when you talk about from a spiritual side of things, and you know, no one does it better than the pastor Marvin who is joining the show now from Trinity.
Uh. He's inspiring people to turn that minutes into moments. Author of the Daily Bread, Pastor Marvin Williams joins, this is Sparta, Hey, gentlemen, thank you, thank you for having me, having me on, and this is this is a very very important conversation and and I celebrate you all for making space and making room for for all of us to grieve but
also to look forward to hoping again as well. And Team Rising, all three of them just did such a phenomenal job Chante, Vinni and Ashley reminding us of just how important mental health is, and how important vulnerability is, and how important being connected to one another is and so so very very grateful. And again we've already mentioned it, but our hearts break for the three that lost their lives. Brian Ariel and Alexandria and those five who are fighting
for their lives in the hospital. One we got news today that has been upgraded from critical to stable and that is good news for us. And so so again, thank you for making space for this conversation. Yeah, pastor, we really appreciate you taking the time to come on, you know, with us, and you know of all everything. I know, you know this is a tentage. We all need a little Jesus and I especially I'm going to crack a joke here. Yeah, we don't need around this.
Anytime I can get I can get closer to the Lord. You know, I'm all in for you know, I'll throw a couple of shekels in the collection plate. Extra word from it sounded like Rico Beard a little bit. He always trying to give me money for the building, funk. So that was a good laughter, good one. That was good. We have to Yeah, we still haven't given me any money, so that's awesome. Really absolutely, you know you know what you mean to me man, my family.
You know, I told you, like love, I trust you with my life. Uh, you know we have relationship. You also helped my staff and when I started, you know, doing a workshop, from just team team bonding, but trying to set the tide. And I appreciate you doing that for for us, but you know, it's you know, I'm
a pastor's kid man and stray as well. And and when I think about just things that we've we've had to deal with, you know, from a standpoint of a lot, we've we've we know that it's inevitable, everyone has a time step, and we know death is is, there's no stinging death right, but it's it's still still the kind of the why questions of why,
like why why would this occur? And I think that's something that people kind of want to, you know, hear from a standpoint of where you're going and reaching out to your community and your church of how do you lean properly on your your leaders there? Yeah, man, that's that's a great Again, it's a great question. I've asked the same, uh, the question of you know, I find myself sometimes in the wilderness of why.
And Monday was another moment I have to be transparent and and I hope we can find space for this because I think Team Rising talked about this a little bit. You we're hearing this so often now that one of the first responses is, oh, there's another there's another shooting, or there's another mass shooting. And it feels like every day. I think it's been sixty or seventy
so far in the in the year of twenty twenty three. So it almost feels you feel this sense of numbness, and and I have to catch myself. I really have to to reject and resist numbness, because the moment I become numb, then I stop caring, not just about that situation, but I stop caring about people around me who are going through all kinds of things. And so one of my first responses was like it there was a sense of, oh, this is another swatting, because we had had two swattings
earlier within the last couple of weeks. But it wasn't until my son sent a text message saying that we are locked down at the House of Prayer, which is right next door door to five guys. We are locked down now and because there's craziness going on, there's an active shooter, and the moment it becomes close to home, it takes away the numbness. And I began as a parent. I began my wife and I we began like we were
concerned, not just concerned, but even fearful. And I think that we have to treat all of these as if it's close to home, because I think that allows us to the maintain feeling that that this is somebody's child, This is somebody's brother, this is somebody's sister. It may not be mine, but if we take the idea that it's the village and we are all human, we are all connected and there's a human solidarity. Uh And and
I think then he talked about the universality of humanity. I think we can maintain the feeling the moment of like like this is my brother, this is my sister who's experiencing this is this is my mother, my father feeling the pain and the grief of losing a child. I know, I know that it feels like it's so distant sometimes, but I think we have to play those mental gymnastics and say, no, this is a part of who this
is, this is another part of me. And so so I think there's this sense where we we can't afford to be numb about this but really look at all of humanity as as connected. Now the why part is because of the brokenness of humanity. And again I don't know everybody's faith journey and what
their faith leaning is. But according to my faith, because of Adam and Eve's disobedience in the Garden of Eden, and a lot of people say, well, I don't believe in all of that, But I don't know any other explanation how disobedience and evil and brokenness was passed down to all of humanity that would lean or lead someone to do the kinds of atrocities and evils that we've seen that we saw on Monday, but also in the world period.
So because of the brokenness of humanity, peace and security will always be under threat. And I think we have to be aware of that at and that we're not special that it cannot happen, that it cannot happen to us. So I think the brokenness of humanity does lead to these kinds of evils and atrocities that upsets it really upsets us, and not just upsets us, but shakes us to the very core. Yes, you haven't a you know, we we've all had to pivot here, you know, because of what the
what would happened a couple of days ago. But you also at your Church at Trinity have had to pivot and you're having a special service coming up this weekend. Correct, Yeah, that's correct. So we've been going through a series of messages and it would be kind of tone death for us to just
go ahead with what we're what we're doing. We were going to be talking about what does it mean to what does the Bible say about work and how we should show up every day at work, and man, we just felt like it wasn't the it wasn't the right move, and so we've pivoted.
And so this coming weekend at both our nine to fifteen and eleven o'clock service, we're going to have a service of grief and hope, and so where we're going to be you know, singing, we're going to be praying for MSU and students, and we're going to be praying for kids K through twelve just like otis you just mentioned you have to explain to your your four year old how to manage this, and it's it's so heartbreaking that this generation has
not this generation has known active shooter drills from the time they've been in kindergarten up until now, which is sad. And so we want to be praying for our k through twelve. And then we're going to have some administrators Alexis Travis, Sam Saldivar and Elliott Daniels probably, I think he might be there as well, just to kind of share perspective and then how we can pray for students. There's going to be another student who who experienced just just the
student's perspective, and we're going to hear from them. And then we're going to spend some time praying for administrators, students, praying for the campus and and then well we'll give a message on you know, what do you do when you lose What do you do when you lose your piece? What do you do when you lose optimism? What do you do when you lose hope? And and we hope that it will be just one small piece to help bring healing, healing to the community m s U community, but the community
at large. Yeah, pastor for uh, what's the address? Yeah, before you say that, because Jalli and duncle Jo, I'm on, I'm on the I'm on looking at the streamer and I see people. I'm just looking at the comments and everything, and and Steve Smith, I'm calling you out. You said, yeah, I need to show up the Passage Church, so let us know where. So thirty thirty three fifty five Duncle Road and Trinity Church and and it's if you know they're the four corners, you
have, the speedway, you have, the the the coffee shop. I can't think of the coffee shop's name, now coffee, that's right. And uh. And so so we're we're kind of on that dunkle. You go back and you'll see us in the in the back by thirty three fifty five Duncle Road nine fifteen and eleven. And I mean, we just we just want to be We've been a part of this community. And we always ask the question, if Trinity Church was not in the community, would the community
miss us? And and I think that's that's a question not only for a church, I think that's a question for all of us. If if we were no longer here, would people miss us? And I would I would say, and again, this is this is this is Sparta. If this is Sparta MSU was not on the air right now, would people miss it? And I think I think since you all have gotten started, you all
have added so much value, and I think people would miss it. If it were not on the air, And I think we should ask that question of us personally, but I think it should we should ask that question of the organizations that we're part of, and we continue to ask that question of Trinity Church. If Trinity Church was not in the community, would people miss
us? And I think this is a perfect opportunity to say God has placed us here to be to be light and salt in this community and and so yeah, so it's it's our pleasure to be able to serve this community,
but also to be able to serve the MSU community. Yeah. I think something that you just said that that really hit me was you know if when you said that, if Trending Church was not I think we can use that in every in our everyday life absolutely, like, you know, if I was not you know what this person missed me or you know, your job or anything like that, that really really put things in perspective to see what's really important and what, you know, what you think is important at the
time, you know. So I think that's a really good, you know, good statement, and that's something that stuck with me. I appreciate it. Yeah, right, Sometimes sometimes I you know, I rock, I rock my hose, the hose in the jeans and and then other days I'll have my my my African suit on with from Nigeria. So it just on how I'm feeling in that weekend. But you can come as you are and
and it's it's pretty laid back, pretty casual. Otis knows how we rock, knows how we roll, and and we're gonna we try to give a message that is relevant to where people are and and you can obviously check out some of the some of the messages, uh some people. So so the website is actually the front door to our church. So if you say, I want to find out what this church is about, go to the website, listen to a couple of the messages and see what we've been doing over
the last over this last this last year. And we've been talking about a lot of relevant issues as to what the Bible says about certain things. And so if you want to check us out before you come, you can do that and and you'll see that you're you're more than you're more than welcome. So pass you mentioned you say in Nigerian garb you have roots or no. So so when I did the twenty three and me and uh and did the
ancestry dot com. I I have a large, a large part of my DNA is in Western Africa, beneaing Togo and and Jay who you would be hopefully I think you would love this. My first trip to the continent was to Ghana, a kra Oblasi and Kumasi got my first can't take cloth from Kumasi and uh So I think you I think you can appreciate that absolutely absolutely, And I'm from Liberia. Liberia has the best jelf rice. Okay when my when Mama Calcer come, I will get some. Okay. I will
have to say. Ghana is part of one of the most beautiful countries in Africa. Okay, well listen, that's consistent. Okay, Okay, So go Africa, go to Ghana beautiful. Yeah. Our college age minister, our collegiation director, Emanuel Boating is from Ghana, and we have a large group of Nigerians as well as Ghanians who attend our church on uh on the
weekend. And so yeah, just we we again we we. I love the fact again I've gone to been to Africa probably eight or nine times now from from Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, Kenya just literally I was justin Zimbabwe a few We did a five country U sixteen five countries in sixteen days about about three months ago, four months ago, and so beautiful, beautiful continent. I'm glad I got a chance to go. Yeah.
But if you ever want to send your church in an uproar, go up there and say, because the big three is Liberia, Nigeria and Ghana for the jalla right, Okay, votes are in. Okay, Now do you cook it? Do you cook it? My mom cooks it. I can't cook it like I can't do it. Justice, Okay, do it for the first time, but all right, when she comes, when she comes, you got to make sure she cooks it and make sure I get some yes, and then after you get it, then you can go off
there and say all right, that's right, a big shattle. Yeah. Well listen, before I know, I know, time is running. And the last thing that I want to say, and uh and I would love to pray for the m s U community is that I know not everybody is there yet, but hope is still good. Hope is still good. And and as Vinnie talked about, uh, not everyone is there, you know, again. We you know, some might still see themselves as victims before
they come to a place of being ambassadors of peace and healing. We have to say, hope is still good, and it might come tomorrow, it might come three weeks from now, but we have to keep rehearsing that hope is good and that the sun does shine after the darkness. It does shine after the darkness, and it just has to be our posture. After we finish grieving, after we finish morning, there's a time where we need to
stand up and uh and become those ambassadors of healing as well. An appreciated pastor, if you know my past, can you send us off in a prayer? Please? Absolutely absolutely, let's let let's pray so Father. Our hearts are heavy from all that we've experienced over the last few days. We are broken, and we carry the pain of those three families that lost Brian,
Ariel and Alexandria. There are families who are still battling the anxiety of the five that are still in the hospital, praying and hoping that there would be speedy recovery, and we pray that as well, and so we pray for comfort for those families. We pray that your presence would be unique and
palpable for those families who have lost children. And we asked that you would meet them there and that you would remind all of us that you too lost a child, You too lost a son Jesus, and I asked that you would you would be with the doctors and the nurses who are tending to the five that are in the hospital. And then I ask your blessing over the students that are struggling, struggling to come back to the campus, whether it's safe or not, and I asked that you would be with them in a
unique way. I pray that they would find space to talk and fake space to grieve and space to weep, and space to actually be with connected with others. Then I pray for faculty members who are also struggling, and I pray for all those who are part of the MSU community. Thank you for first responders and the MSU police and the East Lansing Police and the local police.
Thank you for the dispatchers. Thank you for all of those who played a part in helping to make sure that the pain and suffering was not expanded and extended. And so we pray that as we as we move forward another day tomorrow, you would bring us a little bit closer to healing, a little bit closer to hope. Thank you for this is Sparta, the voices on this program, they're very important. Even though it's about sports and it's
about x's and o's, it's about meeting and connecting with student athletes. It's more than that. It's about connecting an entire community around something that we all can share. So I pray your blessing upon Jason. I pray your blessing abon Jake, who pray your blessing upon Otis the voices would remain strong during this season. Yeah, we pray all of this in Jesus' name. Amen, as I saying, like Veria Coy Okay, all right, appreciate it
absolutely, Thanks thanks for having me on. Thank you. I appreciate you all right. Man, Guys, you know something like I'll say, we for me, I needed this tonight. I needed this platform. I needed to be around you guys. I needed to be around the guys behind to seeing Tony Pee, Alicia, everybody, and I needed to be around you know. I'm just sitting there looking at the comments roll through, just as much as those people that are saying, you know, this is great,
we needed this today. They're leaning on each other. I needed this today. I needed to have a laugh with my brothers. I needed to have a you know, the sad moments, the happy moments, the difficult moments with everyone. I needed that today. And I appreciate you guys. I appreciate everyone that tuned in and listening and the people that are posting their comments. Is the first time I ever went on to look at the different comments
and stuff that's coming in. And I think the viewers, the Faithful that
this is part of Faithful, they needed this as well. And I appreciate everyone that came together to make this possible today because, like I said, you know, we're seven minutes over an hour, and if this is something that can give us some type of you know escape for an hour, something that we can laugh, we can do a little he he ha ha over here and just escape all the bs that's happened, you know, in the last forty eight hours and all the trauma, all the hurt and everything.
This is why we're here, This is why this platform is here. And you know, big shout out to you, otis big shout out to Jason, big shout out to Pete, Tony, Alicia, everyone that made as possible, and even big shout out to everyone that's watching. You know, we needed this today and this was for us tonight without a questions. You
too late, you know, let me tell you something. Man like you know, you search for reasons why things happen when they do happen, and as I'm sure you did when you were a young man in West African Liberia, when those terrible things, those atrosses that you saw right there, were happening in front of your eyes. Somehow, some way, you end up at Michigan State University from Western New York, and you become a beacon of light for the people who are going through this strategy right here. Leadership.
You know, the way that this thing is orchestrated comes in different ways, and I just thank him for it. I really do. Thank you. Guys. MSU Baseball, our basketball and baseball are going to continue this weekend, which is a bright spot. I don't want to highlight that thing, you know, obviously, I think you know, Michigan State baseball is gonna be in Arizona as you see here, and in basketball I think they're going on the road down the road, aren't Aren't they going down there to that
school down the road? Who? Look, have they been supportive? We'll make it about X and o's and all that stuff we talked about. But this is happening Saturday, which is good. You know. Our a d our athletic director Alan Haller said that, you know sometimes when they took a poll of the community, Uh, the players, I feel like getting back into it is going to help them therapeutically, and we're all for that if
it helps them therapeutically. And just for the record, uh, if he can throw us up, we got an invite to Hona Liul, Hawaii. It's in the comments here. I saw that too. I saw that too. Well, take you off on that car, Sam, and right ready for me, that's uncle. Uh. You know. Also, yeah, you know from a standpoint of you know, I think about how sports unites
everything, right, like it's it's heroic efforts, it's in tragedy. It's kind of that nostalgia of just heroism or like just you know what we're gonna do now, coach, Yeah, right, right, you know, so I think it's a it's one student athletes have to process as well. This is not all on them to like I said, be entertainment for the university. This is truly an opportunity for them personally to go back out there and
continuously perfect their craft and you know, compete and that's their therapy. Like you said, you know with that event, you know you have women's basketball at home, so that'll be our first home event on Saturday the eighteenth. So it's one of those where this is we're just really judging on who's going to be open and welcome me coming back, and then whoever's in that building is truly give them just hope throughout this game. That's truly the deal there.
So our student athletes they need your support near and far that this is gonna be tough to deal with, and time and time again we do this moments of silence, we honor our victims, and it's just kind of like you said, it's it's a cycle that somewhere nun but we do truly got to pray and support our student athletes as they do take the field. It's representing the green and white after experiencing that will happen on Monday. Purp I
always said Purp. If you can't go to Arizona's for the baseball, you can't go to and Arbor hit the brezling up. Support the women's sports, give them that support that they need. Every strengthened number right now. Yeah, absolutely strengthened numbers. Sunday there's going to be a special Spartan social event taking place from one to four pm. Yeah, so one to four pm. You know, one of our graduate students on campus, Emily Dummins,
she has organized this with her close friends and her mother. And what started out as a small organized event, as you can imagine, as spartans have really spartans will and they will support and come through and enjoy the unite,
and it's become bigger, obviously than what she expected. So so you know, Sunday one to four pm, we will basically be welcoming back students back to campus, and so it'll be an event for students to come and grab you know, goodies and snacks and food and bridges and toilet trees, et cetera, just to get them, you know, not say acclimated, but just as good will of supporting them in this time. And so we had
Meyer fully step up and support. We also had our very own cow and Hi Hop step up this morning to feed our FBI who's you know, investigating Bricky Hall. So you know, the partner's community. Everyone is rising up and supporting and it's not about me, It's not about us, It's really about we, right, It's everybody. And that's what's a good effort from Kyle and and I Hop and you know they're the supporting partner of this show,
man. So it's just that opportunity of showing the good will and good Spartan love that we just want to continuously put good love out and show the beacon of light to the Spartan nation. And everyone's coming here and far too, man. So if you are in the city, come down and help and volunteer. You know, we you know, follow some We'll put some stuff on our social just to help drive the awareness for you if you want to take part in that. But Sunday will be We'll be there. I'll
be there doing this. So appreciate you you guys give me that platform to support that initiative. No, appreciate you guys, all of you guys for this. You know, speaking of there's cal right there, speaking of I hob the Keon Coleman Autograss signing will be postponed. It will be pushed just a couple of weeks down the road as it was. I believe it's going to be in brightened. Follow our socials for that. I'm not going to
do that this weekend. And also I Hoap has stepped up and said on February twenty eighth, it's going to be a National Pancake Day every store, every store in the state of Michigan. Proceeds will be going from whether the short stack they're going to give you for free. Come in and get a free short stack, and if you want to donate some money, it's going straight to the Spartan Strong Fund for the victims of this horrific accident thing that
happened to the people on campus in Michigan State on Monday evening. Here's our wink tree if you want to see that and go through and donate to MSU Strong. Take a look this record. This support the families of those eighth victims. Any way you possibly can. Fellas and for Otis Wiley, Jay, you, colchrigm, Jason string On. This is Sparta. Everybody, have a good night, God, Bless and go greet. This is part of MSUs a BIND presentation of Playfly Sports Properties in Michigan State Sports Properties.
The show is produced by Pete Manez with additional support from Tony Costella Operations and Social media support is provided by Alicia Straehorn with support from Cecily Max Brown on location. Technical support is provided by Good Fruit Video. Be sure to follow our hosts Jason Strayhorn, jay U Culchrik and Otis Wiley on social media to stay up to date with all the latest. This is spartan news. Please like and subscribe by visiting our link tree and tell a friend to do the
same. Thank you for your support and as always, go green.