Closing the Mental Health Gap in the Black Community

is just moving and there's so much stuff happening. At one time, when we talked about the COVID precautions, precautions and staying six ft apart, you were saying that a lot of people are sort of just fighting to remain to have some communication and contact like some Yeah, like people are fighting to maintain some level of normalcy or

whatever is normal. But I was thinking to myself, it's really we're not it's not normal, Like we're just not Things are just not normal, and um, you know everything I think from politics to uh, what's happening in our communities. Our dear sister Leslie Redman, who's been a guest on

Street Politicians. She also was the just the immediate past president of the n double a c P chapter in Minneapolis, one of the organizers there during George Floyd, even before before George Floyd was murdered, and after um, you know, with other activities that she has going on. Now, she has her campaign, don't complain. Activate this a powerful young sister. She's out there doing the work. And yet her brother,

who was in his thirties, was killed just this past weekend. Um, he was shot and killed by someone that more than likely looks just like us. And uh, you have that happening. You have young people being killed. I think we just had another shooting where a child was harmed in New York. Um. You know, you had the school shooting where young black kid went and shot up a school. Some say kids in New York was a bron a ten year old

shot a thirteen year old. That ten year old. Wow, I didn't even know that ten old kid shot a thirteen year old. Wow. A ten year old shot at thirteen. Again, you know, just crazy things. And then you have the the the guy who shot people at a school, a young black man. We don't often hear of major school shootings, UM, where black kids are the ones shooting up at school. But his family talked about bullying. UM talked about you know,

him being attacked. Uh. So you know, and of course there's still no excuse for picking up a gun and taking the lives of a number of individuals, putting people in harms way, causing that type of trauma. But yet there are some serious things happening in society around the issues of bullying, the issues of trauma that have to be dealt with, and it's finding the balance between all of these things to still be able to maintain home, maintain home and family and what have you. It's a

lot happening. It's a whole lot happened. And then you got um John Gruden, who was the the Los Angeles Raiders head coach, who's they found these emails from years ago from about two eighteen before two eighteen of him just saying racists and homophobic and just like every level a white supremacy. He just possessed it. It wasn't he didn't. He wasn't just mad at black people. He didn't like gay people, he didn't like he didn't like nobody. Everything.

He had an issue with everything, and usually smacist work. So you know that that's been something like me and eat your cb D candies. That's what I do. This is my CBD candies. I found this. I was riding and I was like, stop, this is a story that has CBD candies and this is what I eat during my day keep my nerves together. This is supposed to be this is legal. You know candies. Are you looking at me like a crazy that's what you got in CBDs? Lord,

that get you fall asleep? Now, don't get that doesn't make you go to sleep. It takes the edge for you're saying. And it's supposed to be better than having a midday drink, which I am not above. But I'm working, so I don't wanna have a drink. So I pulled out my candies for my CBD in the You know, you gotta get you some stuff. You know, I'm gonna get you some CBD cands unless you see I'm enough. You're never in your life smoke weed one time? One time,

that's right. You tell the story is when you was with DMX and you had a trip. You were tripping. Everybody has a trip like the first time they smoke weed, yea, And then you was like, I never want to go back to it. It wasn't for me. Why you just didn't like the feeling or you didn't like the fact that experience. I didn't like it. It wasn't for me. But the thing is you have been around marijuana enclosed spaces,

so you probably have felt high. And after that, yeah, I have, Like you know the time we was in the studio and we had a huge chicken that did happen to us and you know, two hundred pounds and I was moving slower in thethargic and I'm like, nah, the same for me. But there's some people that just smoke weed all day night and I don't know, they can't wait, You'll never catch them. Not smooth. That is so true. I forgot about that story. But anyway, that's

one another day. We have to have the people who who are a part of that to be a part of the conversation so it will not be like we're a scandalous when we tell it about anyway. So so I was taken. I was thinking, how does how does the Democratic Party intend to win mid term elections without voting rights? Confused? I don't think. I don't think the Democratic Party attends to win anything. No, they they intend wasn't that will is something different. You can't, you can't,

they can't. It's good. There's no way that they expect those good old people that they would have voted that they didn't private things that ain't got nothing else, people that saved them. There's no way they expect those good old people to like you as CBD candy. What do you want? They know, them good old people. They're going back out there to vote again after this. Now they ain't. No. Come on, now, you're gonna have to pull another rabbit

out the hat for this one. Because you Because but I'm saying that voting right specifically, let's just say, I get your point, right, I get your point from our perspective, it's almost impossible to believe it disrespectful. It's actually disrespectful to even to even to even not just assume, but to request stand the people that they belief right that they vote for um, anyone who has not fulfilled any of the promises that were made. Right So that I agree with I agree with you a hundred on that,

But I'm speaking of something different. I'm saying that because what happens is even when you say I'm not engaging myself in this election, I don't believe, I don't trust right. We have that position, and that's okay. But the thing is, then you have to start listening to the people who are running against these folks, and when you start listening to them and understanding their agenda, it may encourage a lot of people to say, you know what, I'm going

to the post, right, I'm going to the post. Now. I'm not saying everyone, and I'm certainly not talking about ray Raids and Keysha's and others. But I'm saying there are there is a there there is a there are a group of people people want to kill me. Man. I know I agree with you need to I'm on the attack about it all the time, and I still would make the same decision if I had to do it all over again. But I'm not even I'm speaking

of something even differ, friends. I'm saying there are some folks in our society that, when approached and they are listening just because you're watching the news, or you're at church, or you're reading the paper, you're in your community, when you hear the other side of what you may be looking at, and you're listening to someone who absolutely wants to take away your right to having abortion so you're right to choose, and or they want to open more prisons,

or you know they want to um, I don't know you know they want to they want to close more schools or you know, take more funding from the communities in order to invest more in punitive measures and support police and uh, you know they bleed the blue. When you hear that rhetoric in that tone, right, it may encourage you to say, I don't think that these other folks is worth the damn either, but I know I have to block this individual from becoming whatever its senator

or whatever they're voting for in their community. What I'm speaking of is, now you're on your way to go vote and you find out that your vote is actually being suppressed by way of the laws in that particular state, just just forget it. I'm saying everything they could have done it all right, and this that I'm something about voting, right, it's going to vote. The people that want to vote that civil believe and say, you know what, I'm going to vote, and they get there and realize they can

the name has been purged. They need this, you know, their I D has to be updated there. You know they've been voting knowing that you got elderly people who have been voted for years with one little letter misspelled on their identification versus their voting record, because when we were coming out of enslavement and I we never had the appropriate records. A lot of people have continued through life with things that's not one accurate, but it's it's

Mama Mad's leaves information, you know what I'm saying. And so to have this, this this situation where it seems like people are fumbling and now we're at the administration and others are fumbling on fighting as hard as hell to get voting rights accomplished. I'm trying to figure out when you're already failing at all getting the policy in place, and then you're not even giving people who might just still want to be with you the ability to go to the post like you. They can't be planning on

winning anything. They don't plan on winning I'm trying to sell. They don't have any plan on They're just at this point like it's just going through the motions. And it's disappointing because you know, you want as somebody who wants things to be good, you want things to be right. You know, you actually praying on it and all that.

You want to believe that there is some side or some individuals that are in power to some certain degree that actually want to do right, you know, they want to do that, are willing to do whatever necessary to do right. So I'm not saying I don't I don't believe they don't want to do I think they're not. What they haven't come to the stage in the mind frame of that they have to do was ever necessary to do right? Not doing right. It's just not an option.

I'm not gonna allow you to delay justice and delay things that are right. I have to do whatever it is within my power to make things right, you know. And that's even though we hope for that, that's not where we are. So, you know, if people can't even go to the polls, and then the people that ain't never going to the polls, and the people on obviously God, so I've got people going to the polls and they reinvigorate,

you know, Chap. They're going to the polls for their own agenda, and their agenda is either they're gonna get some things that they want done that open communities, or just stop that community from being able to progress in any way they can't get gain anymore ground into um, you know, sort of breaking down systems of oppression and

so they vote for different reasons. They vote because you might be somebody who maybe you're not as radically conservative UM as I want you to be, but I at least know that you're not going to support a progressive agenda. That's right. We have people that are on both sides that think similarly. But I think the the issue with us as black people at this point is that we are no longer in a position to just like we've

already stopped. Some people can't just keep kicking, you know, we just want the shoffing and dry ki ki and go alone and get along. So you know, we're just in a different space. You know, We've We've got like a really really dope show today, two amazing guests that I'm gonna take us deeper. You know, I'm all about going deeper and getting deeper into like who I am and where I need to be in lining up all of the aligning all of what is going on inside.

There's a lot happening with all of us. And we've already talked about um at the beginning of the show, just the stresses and the pressures and just how life is just not what has been considered normal. And I guess even what was normal should not have been accepted as normal. So we're gonna be learning from two people today, really really learning. Um. And so we're right off of the heels of International Mental Health Awareness Day just this past Sunday and our that's a lot. I didn't even

know they had something like that. They do. They have a month, they have a day. There's a lot of stuff, you know. You know, you got to be learned. That's why we're about to learn. I'm here to learn. We're gonna learn from our two guests today, Anita co Catch and also sent to Chay friend Sella. I love her name. I can't wait for us. These people got dope names. So I hope they've got the dope energy because I

need some. I need to get my my mind right. Well, we're gonna bring Anita into the studio, if you will, and find out what type of dope energy she has right now. That's so, so we have a new friend on street politicians today. We we always joke about the fact that all of the guests that we have come up here doing such powerful work. Our friends, people we know, UM, people who we admire. This sister is someone who I

absolutely admire and have been watching her. And you know, we've all introduced one another to some really incredible people. My son, you introduced me to Charlomagne some time ago, and now Charlemagne has introduced us to this wonderful woman who was who was our guests, um, Anita co Patch, who is a spiritual psychologist and a sex therapist. And you know, I'm all about that. I'm getting ready to

like get all into the details. She also just published her best selling book, Shallow Waters, and we are sort of like siblings under the Black Privilege publishing brand. UM with Charlemagne the God as our I guess he's like the boss man. I tell him he's boss all the time. UM. And she also just finished a real deep mental health taken a spiritual of mental health awareness conference that Charlottamagne just held. And so there's a lot going on with Anita.

And I'm so so grateful that you took a little bit of time to come on street politicians and talk to my town and us and me today. It is such a deep honor for me to be here with both of you. The work that you do for our community. I'm tearing up now. You can tell I'm already emotional. The work that you do for our community is so important and it is just such an honor for me to be sitting here right now. I just love the phone.

It's just it just gives you healing vibes, like you can just tell like everything and here it goes with the the comforter and the world. Just look, everything is just beautiful. Now. We appreciate you. Thank you for her. I've been having us on our show. Thank you for having you got him like all twisted around. But that's

all good, you know. I I just want to drop this little note in to say that before you and I ever laid eyes on one another, we were already supporting one another's books, um, and just supporting and by sharing content and and being there to say hey sis, you know, love to you. And so this idea that people need relationships that span over years in order to support one another, I think we've debunked that just by already having a sisterhood from a distance and you know,

and so that's what makes today incredible. And I have you know, been listening and reading and you know, really deeply um, paying attention to you and your spiritual advice and support, and I already see why Charlemagne and folks like Angela Ry and others are attracted to you. And so tell us a little bit about the work that you do and why you do it. Absolutely so um I you know, first of all, I always share this first.

I believe that the black woman is God, and so I do everything that I can to um bow to black women and to support black women, and to support those who are supporting black women. And so that is already, um just a part of my mission. I was the editor in chief of Heart and Soul for five years and so within that I was able to get a lot of information, uh disseminated out into our communities about different ways of getting health and wellness into our hands.

And what I do as a spiritual psychologist and um A certified contra coach sex therapists, I work with people, mostly people who have experienced sexual trauma. And the interesting thing with sexual trauma, especially within our community, is that, uh, pretty much everyone is touched by it because if you haven't experienced it, your mom has, or your grandmother has, or your great grandmother has or your father has. You know,

like there's it's it's very prevalent in our communities. And what happens is that trauma can be passed down through the generations, which we all know this, and and so sometimes you can be walking around with the with the symptoms of having been raped or molested, but you're like, wait, I haven't been molested, Like why am I feeling this way? Why can't I connect? And it's because it's happened somewhere down the line. And so with the work that I do, I do a lot to try to normalize the healing

of it, the speaking of it, especially for men. I've talked to Charlemagne about this as well. Um that that you know, one in six men have been molested between the ages of one and eighteen zero and eighteen and um, and that's reported. You know, most people are not reporting that ship right you know, Um, I forgot to ask if I'm able to we say, shit, Dan, every around good gets the you know, gets the point of exactly.

And so and it's one in three. So it's one in three for women, and so it's it's very prevalent in our communities. And and well that's actually not even just our community, that's for everyone. Okay, Well, I was sitting here. When do you when did you notice? Because this is not like a to me right when I'm listening to you and the understanding that you have to I don't think this is something that you just go to school to study. I think there's like a calling.

It's a feeling, like when you call yourself with healing all this, Like when did you feel like this was something that you was supposed to be doing? Yes? So when I was around eighteen, I started hearing voices right. And what most people would say is like, oh, she's crazy, you know, like go to uh you know, like I

would have to go to an institution. But what what happened was that, UM, I started listening to what the voices were saying and when I would hear them, and my thing, I was actually just sharing this at the Mental Wealth UM expo with Charlemagne. I was sharing that, UM, I feel like black privilege to me means that we have the access to the voice of God and and a lot of times we think we're going crazy because all of this information is coming to us and we

don't know what to do with it. And so for me, when I was eighteen, I start I start hearing these voices, the voices I was hearing. It was not the voice of God. These were these were not not good voices that I was hearing. And so what I realized was that when I would walk by people, the voice would get louder, and then I had pass and the voice would go away. And so I'm wait, am I hearing what people are saying or thinking? And so I started

asking them. I was eighteen, I didn't have very much discernment, and so what would happen was that people would get freaked out because I would tell them what they were thinking and they were like, how did you know? And this one the last person that I did it too. Um It was this older man and he's like talking to me and smiling, and all I could hear was I don't know where my wife and kids are. And I was like, look, I know you don't know where your wife and kids are. And he grabbed me up

and he was like, where are they? What do you mean? You know? Like like I was feeling like I was going to be attacked, and so I like ran home. I ran upstairs and I just started praying to God. I was like, listen, if this is supposed to be a gift. I don't want it. I can't handle it. And um, just if there's something that that you feel like I might be able to handle, show me how

to do that, but please take these voices away. And and so I woke up those voices were gone, and then I had this dream that I was like throwing rocks and reading them for people. Which back, that's more than twenty years ago, so there wasn't really very many people doing those type of things around, so I didn't know who to ask, so I just started doing it.

And so that's how it started. I started giving readings to people, and what I realized is that I didn't know what tools to give them to continue on their healing journey, and they were getting addicted to reading and they would come back and you know, like so it was I was just like, okay. So that's when I decided to get my masters in spiritual psychology. And what did your family members say? So? Okay? So I was

raised in the church, so I was super scared. Once I realized I could um see the future and those type of things, I was like, oh no, So I you know, I asked my mom. I was like, Mom, you know, like am I a demon, right right, And she was like anything that comes out of you as God m And for her to say that to me, being a churchwoman, I was just like because that was actually probably one of the the scariest person to come out to as a you know, as a psychic, as

a healer. And my mom when she said that, I was like, I don't care what anyone else thinks. My mom knows I'm divine, you know. Wow, wow, So what did you? She's supported in a way, But were there other folks around who were like either you're were you labeled as crazy or were you always were people just clear in your family and your close friends that this is really a gift. So so with my close friends, they they were very clear that it was a gift. It was most the people who would label me as

and and what I heard it wasn't necessarily crazy. They just were like they did they called me a demon because they were like, how could you know this? And this was people who would come to me for advice and then I would tell them something that they wouldn't think anybody would know and they would just say that yeah, and so I you know, it's you know, the work you do you both do it's it like comes from a place where you have to do it, you know, Matt,

it doesn't matter what the funk anyone is saying. You know, it's like I still have to wake up and do it. And that's what would happen. Is like it didn't matter what anyone was saving it saying. Even though I was so young, it was like, Okay, I just have to

because it's it's it's album. That's that's amazing, you know, just listening to you, I've always felt like I had like certain like you said, like when I do this, doing this work, I didn't feel like it was a choice, you know what I'm saying, Like I just felt ever since a kid, I always felt like I had to help people. Always felt like I had to be the one that stood up against the bullies I had. Like, oh, so you just as you grow, you realize that certain

things just lead you to your calling. So I'm just thinking about this, is that what I haven't read your book and I'm just so like I have to read it now, Like I'm just so enamored, Like I definitely have to get this book. So what what is the book based on? What is it? Yeah, So the book is actually about yem Yeah and yemy Yea or Yema She is a goddess in the Europe of Panthea and of gods and goddess is she's a black mermaid from

Nigeria and uh. Around that same time, when I was eighteen, I learned that yem A Yeah was the goddess that watched over our ancestors as they went over the Middle passage. So there was a black mermaid that watched over That's what That's what is said. They watched She watched over us as we went over the Middle passage and watched over the souls that um were either thrown overboard or decided to jump overboard. Right. So when I learned of that, I was like, Okay, who is this, who is this goddess?

And why don't we all know who she is? And so the first time Charlemagne read the book, you know, he loved it and he was like telling me about it and I was like, well, you you know who yem A Yah is, right, and he was like, oh, the main character of your book. I was like, no, no, no, she's a She's the goddess. And he was like, I've never heard of her, and I was like, I bet you have. I was like, have you do you remember? Do you remember the poem from Love Jones? M hm.

He's straight up like he knew the poem by heart. He starts saying the poem right, and then he goes, are you Yem? Yeah, no, you must be o'shoon right, Like he was like, oh my gosh, I've been saying her name, like you know what we were saying, no idea what I was what I was talking about. And then and then you know, Beyonce came out with black parades and her baby's sister Reppin Yem. Yeah, So it's

like she's she has been here this whole time. I mean, she has been here the first written accounts of Ye we're um in it's I believe the fifteen hundreds or fourteen hundreds when um when the first enslaved Africans came over, but the information was passed down orally before, so we don't even know how old along these parables have been around.

And the representation of mermaids we know are like white, redhead, blonde, you know, like that's what we and it's all about, like I don't know sensuality more than spirituality, yes, yes, and so so when the story started coming through, um So, to your question about about the you know, the healing that's in it, m M, I wrote, so, so there's words that are written, but the intention behind it all is um So, this is my love letter to black women, and it is so that we remember who we really

we are. We were cut off from our African spirituality, from our mother tongue, from all of these things as daughters and sons of the diaspora. But we if we quiet ourselves and go inside, we have that connection because we are the ancestors. You're literally made from that. And so this book is my activation of that. And for me it was my healing of my ancestral wounds um from chattel slavery and um it was. It was intense.

You've written a book to make a you know, you know process, and so has my son, and it's you have it's insanity. He's actually writing another one right now. Oh so it's you know the process like it's it is an emotional process. Emotional it lets you know you're crazy because you're like, who came up with this idea? And and and it takes on so many different shapes

and forms, and you find yourself. I know that you are probably just like we are, perfectionists, like wanting to get it right, wanting to make sure that the information you're putting in the world is real and true and true and true, which is a different thing because now you've got to decide between what's the old you know, the folk tale that we tell in the family to make a point versus what is true? Um that will actually you know, will will will will not just sound good,

but will like be good, like for the soul. And so that's a whole. It's a it's a lot that goes into writing, and I suggest that people do it because it disciplines you, you know, it also gives you an opportunity to learn and see yourself coming to life within this document. And so there's so much about it, but it definitely is for insane people. Jamal Hill told me one day, people who write books are crazy. I said, is that me? Because I've been trying to te out

what is it that's right? And you know this being being a musician and writing music, it's sort of always like writing a book, right, because it's always when you write albums and you write songs is it's from self reflections ideas that you come up and you want them to be perfect, like I find myself in the studio. So writing the book it's just a longer elongated process of writing music. Like right, So I go in the studio and I put down lyrics and then I like,

this don't sound right. I gotta change this a little bit, and I don't like this beat. Let me put this ad live here and you until it just sounds always perfect, and then you still have critiques and you're all right, we let me just I just gotta get rid of it because people like, look, you gotta put this out

right now exactly. The one the thing about music that's really amazing is that it's it's one of the the avenues, or I would say channels that connect us to the divine, right, Like we can literally use music to connect us to the divine. And so I like, I have so much respect for anybody who knows how to do that. I music for me is to dance to Like I can

dance to it, I can't sing or dance with it. Well, speaking of dancing, I would say the other thing about finishing a book, finishing the project because people probably listen to us talk about all the emotional you know, ins and outs, and they're like, well, why the hell would I want to do it? But I would say that the finishing product is like a beautiful orgasm. That's the way I saw finishing my book. I was like, this is amazing. Why did I have a whole bunch of

to the sex therapists, I'm over here given my truth? Well, that brings us to the next se true. So you you said that, um, you know, you deal with sexual trauma, and I have this question that I've been wanting to ask somebody for a long time. Would you say, and this may be on a small scale, but let me just go with me for a second, Okay, would you say that the denial of truth within sex is a part of is a trauma a form of trauma. I'll

explain to you what I mean. Many women don't really experience sexual pleasure, right, A lot of women And I'm well beyond that now in my life, and you know, in my life at this stage, but I know a lot of women who lie their way through because they have been told that their only responsibility, or their only um their role is to please don't worry about being pleased, and therefore you have to lie, faith, do whatever to just get the man through it and to give yourself,

but never to actually receive the pleasure and the desire that you also or be able to reach your desires. And what happened? And I wonder is that something that we've passed down? Is it all communities? Is it some black women learned? Like what is that? Because to me it feels like trauma when I hear so many women say and I also have done it, you know, say, you know, we're faking it through just to be able to get the man off and let him get get

away from me. Basically, yeah, that's colonized sexuality for sure, because there you know, if you think of tantra and even ancient Egyptian tontra, that um, it's pleasure is for both right, and Tantras actually means the balance between the masculine and the feminine. And you know a lot of people are like, oh, you know, it means like the different sexual positions, But that's what the meaning is, is

the balance between that. And when you when you study tontra, you first work with yourself, so I I work with women to be able to find pleasure themselves. And you are so absolutely right. I mean, there there were so many women that I talked to who had never even experienced an orgasm, whether it was with themselves or with a man, or with another woman or whatever. You know, their their preferences and and so oh, it's it has absolutely been passed down from uh. I would say any

any patriarchal society. It has been you know, like we have been there to please the man, and there there definitely are a lot of people like waking up to it.

But there was just last week there was this whole TikTok thing that went down that was like this guy had asked women what does sex feel like, and that all of their answers were like, oh, it's like the itch that you can't scratch, like all these things that sex is horrible to women, and we are literally here too experience pleasure like that is what we are here for, and most of us run away from it. Most of

my life I ran away from it. I you know, the reason I'm even in this work is because when I was seven and I was molested, and so most of my adult life I was scared of pleasure because for me, my experience as a child was that it was very pleasurable, and the last time that it happened, I had asked the man to do it to me, and so I, in my head made it my fault. I was like, oh my gosh, you know, like I like this and you know, like I can't tell anyone, and like I'm asking for it now, and like it

was just this whole confusing thing. And a part of my healing was to really look at a picture of my seven year old self and I'm a baby, you know what I mean. Like I'm just like, okay, you know, I was so young. This was not my fault, you know. And even though we know that when we've gone through it, it's hard to make that separation because I am a need, right, Like I still feel like Anita and um, but like to actually look and be like, oh, yeah, I was a baby. I was a baby and this wasn't my fault.

And that is a part of why um sexual crimes are so nuanced, because even even someone who is raped and they're like, oh, but you got wet, your body is going to make you wet to protect you. It doesn't mean you're turned on all the time, and so it's just such a nuanced um. It is, it's very nuanced. Just listen to it. So that's that's triumph. A lot of the do you deal with men a lot of men or more? You probably deal more men? Or what

do you think you? I deal with more women, but I've I've worked with a few men, and uh, it's it's it. I feel like for men, they have a whole another thing having to deal with society. And I think the work that Charlemagne is doing with the Mental Wealth Alliance and UM normalizing emotions, you know, hugging it was there was this powerful moment at the end of the the Men and Mental Health panel where all the men came together and gave each other a group hug.

And it was just so powerful to see that because as as the divine feminine is rising, we're learning what the divine masculine is because all of us men and women have been I would say, victim to the the the toxic masculinity, and so it's really beautiful to see people who are ready to step into that right like, step into those roles and as we learn and as we talk about it, sharing it because when we share, I mean, I know you both know this because you're

always shared. No, but I'm being educated. Yeah, But as we as we share and as we heal, we heal

so many people with us. So so when I when I heal my issues with um sexual molestation, and I actually say it and speak on it right and say things like at this at this one event, I spoke about how, you know, my experience was pleasurable, and this woman walked up to me and she was like, if someone held a gun up to my head and set asked me to admit it that when I was a child, that my experience of sexual maliks molestation was pleasurable, I still would have said no. She's like the fact that

you said that and that was her experience. But she was like, I would never admit to that. And I was actually only able to say that because when I was ten years old, I was watching Oprah and she said that, and I remember I hadn't told anybody what had happened to me yet, and so when Oprah said it, my whole body started sweating. I was like, Oh, everyone's

gonna know she's talking about me, you know. But what that moment did for me was like, oh, if Oprah can go through that and still be on this stage and still be such a support to everyone, I can keep going. I can do this. My son, You've got first. And then I don't know, I was just sitting here thinking,

you know, there's so any these different layers. You know, there's there's levels of molestation and men have dealt with like the young boys that we've dealt with, and we never we never considered it as being molested, right, And so when you your teacher, your teacher. Yeah, that's what I'm trying to say. So we had when when you when you have these conversations and you were admitting, like, okay,

we actually liked it. And that's why. And I think that was the part of that differentiated with y'all what y'all described as being molested as well and what we described right, because we we felt like, exactly like you said, we got lucky. We scored with an older woman. I was twelve and thirteen and she was like one. I was eight and nine and she was like eighteen nineteen.

So those things for us was things that we bragged about and we talked about amongst each other, and that we never didn't think that it affected us, but we became so hyper sexual, you know, after those things like sex became like so focused in our mind that we didn't even realize that the trauma that that the trauma that came from that, because that's every every relationship and everything became about sex. It was that was the at the forefront of everything. You know, we never really realized

those things. So just listening to that and you and you're able because I've always like I've never I've never heard the interview that over did. So this is the first time that I've ever heard somebody admit a woman admit that when they were being molested at a young age that they actually enjoyed it and they wanted it and they I never you know, that was never really something that I've actually ever heard. So that was just enlightening just to hear that. Yeah, yeah, wow, I mean

so let me see it here now. I just want to ask one question. This is gonna be a debate because me and to me to have this conversation on time. Is there such thing as toxic femininity? Yeah? Okay, well people a lot of people don't seem to believe that that I don't. I never disagree with you that I think that it does exist, but I've never heard I've never heard it explained or you and I had a theory.

Because so let me just break down my theory that me and to me had this theory, right, and and I know you're probably not gonna ge me, so let me just give that before I said so, I believe that masculinity and femininity in itself can't be toxic and my and just my right. I think I think that for me that when someone masculinity is perfect, in femininity is perfect, I think that there's an excess of something

else that comes into you that that's toxic. Right. I think in men right for me is what what I realized is energy. To men and women have uh combined energy. There's a there's a masculine and in femininity in both of us. I think the toxicity is when the opposite is more dominant. Mm hmm. Right. I think for me, when I see when I watch a lot of men that I feel a toxic and it's not being it's not being dispected, or watch women that I feel a toxic, I think they exhibit more male traits than they do

women traits. When I see a lot of men that I think are toxic, I think they exhibit more women traits than they do men traits. That's just that's a observation that I've had, So I don't think either. To me, I don't think either one of those can be toxic mascular feminity. I just think it's the opposite. I think when I see men doing things, I said, that's more toxic femininity to me, And when I see women doing things,

I say, that's more toxic masculinity. But the debate comes for me, and this is what my son and I always talk about, is my I believe it is his unconscious desires to associate negativity with the female side in a man, rather than to take responsibility for the fact that some manages toxic is fun period, right, but instead to be able to say, well, now, that's because you've got too much feminine energy and that feminine ship is whack, like that's what. But that's what I'm trying to say.

That you may not feel that you're saying that what I'm saying. The reason why that can, in my opinion, is that I'm saying the same thing on the other side about I'm not saying I'm not saying. I'm not saying, and I'm saying, if I watched a woman I feel like has too much masculine energy and it's coming off, I be like, you're doing too much masculine. That's But what I'm saying is that there are people who exist

in the world. Right There can be a woman who's extremely feminine and she just argues all the time time and just wants to fight every day and you know, doesn't trust and can't lee. How does that just get associated with the main Like, I don't that that's just the ship about the woman. And I'm not saying it's toxic femininity because I'm not an expert in this area. I'm just saying that I wouldn't sit here and say this chick is just toxic. Every time she comes around,

she's starting problems, gossiping, you know. I'm just thinking of things that people automatically classify with women, you know, clossip and going back and forth between people, starting stuff, and therefore there's fights that's happening, or she's you know, whatever, whatever those things are. I'm not gonna sit there and say, well, that's because she's got more male traits. She just might be dealing with some toxic feminine ship. So go ahead. I think what what what just like came up for

me from what you both are saying. Um you know, uh, my son, am I saying your name right? Perfect and awesome? When you said you don't believe that masculinity and femininity can be toxic. That actually made sense to me because when you think about um, any element in the world, water, fire, right, even spirit, we can't really say that they're toxic. It's either right, like water, we can drink it and it can be life for us, but it can also drown us, right and so or fire it can warm us or

burn us, right. And so this is actually the first time that I'm thinking about it in this way. So maybe you're right that there is not a such thing as um masculinity or femininity being toxic. But there are people who are super out of balance, and um you know, I mean there there are women who are are amazing, women who are very masculine. So I don't know if it's if it's in that way, but um, it's I feel like they're just not connected to spirit. Yeah, I think it's all in how you use it. And I

hate that we have to actually wrap up. But um, but I think it's all you're supposed to be, like a two hour special man has to be, has to be. We have so many folks that we've got to bring back on our show. Um, and you certainly have joined that crowd of those who have to come back so we can dig deeper into things because there's a lot that you know, I think you that most of us have been afraid to approach. That you are head first, inn like a mermaid. You're and then like a mermaid.

And and I understand that it's time for us to bring our communities along. We've been in survival mode for so long that we haven't even been able to get to the development of so many elements of ourselves that can make us a stronger community. And and and and that's not in any um, that's not any fault of our own. But it's what white supremacy does, you know, and what it is and what it is and so I just need the first on I just want to

say thank you because your time is super valuable, super valuable. Um. You know you probably said, well, no, I'm you know, love to be you understand, but I love to be here. Should either be resting, reading, working, laughing the son, healing your own issues and needs. Um. But I want to thank you for what you're putting out in the world. And I'm so glad that the stars and moon and all the things aligned that would bring you into our lives so that we can ask these safe questions of

you know, what is toxic femininity? Masculiney doesn't exist? What does it mean? Because that's a real soft or a real vulnerable discussion, if you will, within our communities that we're trying to work out, because I think this idea of toxicity in general has been used to divide us into separating us rather than us figuring it out so we can come closer together. To appreciate you, my son,

from bringing that up today. Yes, I appreciate you, you know, always debating and always being you know, we we don't usually realize, you know, we just you know we we we disagree on a lot of things, we agree on principle, we agree on our mission and we are aligned in that. So, you know, is it dope? Is dope even being able to converse about these things? But you, Anita, are amazing your energy. As soon as I came on I was like, this is some some energy is here man like you.

It's some energy man, you know, so I appreciate you continue to do what you do. I gotta get that book now because I gotta get in tune. Dollo Water Water, Go get the book, got it because I'm going to get it. Yes, go get it. This is my publishing published sibling from Black Privilege Publishing. Shout out to Charlemagne the God for bringing us together. I need a co patch. Thank you for being with us and we aren't you definitely going to have you back. Awesome, thank you. Wow

like wow, Like Anita is just amazing. Like as soon as she came on the screen, the whole like you could just feel that some people are just going to do as you know, and just listening to her story, you can just tell that this is her calling this a purpose. You just feel comfortable just having a conversation with her. You feel like everything she says is right. Like you're just shaking your head, like you find yourself

just engulfed in what she's doing. That's amazing. So I don't even know it's very high energy, man, It's just it just illuminates if center Chaz, it's anywhere near needed, and we can probably have run of our best shows ever, you know. So I'm looking forward to what's going on with cinter Shame. That's how we are so off of the hills of Mental Health Awareness Day ten tent, which was just this past Sunday, UM and we know that

Charlemagne and God hosted a mental health awareness weekend. There are many people, including our last guest, I needed Copet. You are a part of the activities that were held during this weekend, and I think we all agree that it is time for Black votes particularly to really dig into our mental health and spiritual wellness. And so we have been joined by another guest today, Uh, someone who were just sort of getting acquainted with and getting to learn more about what she is doing in New York,

in the country and of course in the world. Uh centenche friend Sella is her name. She is such a beautiful name, and we're so happy to have on street politicians this bold sister, who is a yoga instructor and coach and the founder of the first black owned yoga studio in Queens. She also has a new initiative called the Man Child Project. And we're about to learn so much about what Center Chay does every single day in

the space of mental healing and awareness. Thank you so much for being with us today, Sis, thank you so much for having me. I'm so honored to be here, so grateful. Thank you. Yes, that name, you know, I'm I'm a stiggler for names because being my name, being my son, I didn't always love my name, like people always messed it up. I used to get in fights they called me my son and all type of stuff. So I want to I want to ask you that first, like, did you always just love your name because it's a

dope name? Now as an adult, like, have you always thought it was amazing? I hated it? Thank you? So first of all, I remember, I have this distinct memory of sitting outside the bathroom door. My mother was a nurse and she was in the bathroom. She had just come from work. I'll never forget it, and I was like, Mommy, tell me again how to spell my name, And she was in the bathroom and I'm outside the door and she was like yes, and I'm I'm writing it, and

I distinctly remember it. And she would always say and that accent on the eat. So I appreciate your story, because even though folks may say it right, oftentimes they spell it wrong. Same like you know, seeing your name and it's like, but that's not my name, you know, um and all other things. Yes, yes, well let me tell you my name story. My name is Tamika. And then the projects, everybody's name was Tamika. But I was like mine, you win, and name me the blackest name

you could come up with. Until I read in a book with African names that it actually means a princess, an African princess. So we all have a story around these names. Tamika, princess, queen all that I never even know that, okay with it, but it's still it's still hood. It's still Tamka. And tell us about tell us about what it is that you do, Like, what is your expertise? Where do you come through? Explain breaking down to us. So in the beginning, Um, in the beginning, I was

an educator. I started as a classroom principle, became a dean, worked my way up a system principle, then was an ap in the city, and then came to the suburbs and thought I landed right, like I had the parking spot I had the six figures and I was good, right, I thought, tenure, you know what I mean? And then I got diagnosed with PTSD, and and I knew what

it was. It was me walking around in this abnormal world not being able to process my ship, you know, you know, between the school shootings and going back into my building and then there's lunch, right like you hold

that right, Um, that's deep, that's deep. That's deep. I mean that that requires a moment like I almost burst out in tears just now, because that is such a truth for our young people that you can be in the morning time with your friends today maybe two, and then another day the friend is gone, there's a shooting, something happened, and the school system just goes right on back to normal, or or the school shooting is in Connecticut. Teachers running to your office saying I have to go.

There was a shooting at my kids school, you know what I mean? And and and I thought, well, I'm not in New York City anymore, right, so you know, verdicts are happening all over the world, right and I'm supposed to act likely with my son at the bus stop is normal. And one day, um, when he was at the bus stop, and I parked like up the hill and I just watched him because I was afraid, And and he got on the bus and I went to work. I think I was gonna cry. And I

was like this, she's just not normal. We're not supposed to live like this. You know. I don't want to talk about progress supports, you know what I mean. I want to know is my son gonna come home on that fucking school bus today? And so, you know, all of that fueled my PTSD and and finally after my father transition, I was like, you know what, I'm not doing this no more. I'm not gonna kill myself taking care of other people's kids. I can't even feel safe about my old life, let alone my son. And I

left to end. I opened up a yoga studio in South Queens and it was, as my understanding, little did I know at the time, the first black owned yoga studio in South Jamaica, Queens, with which was it's my old stomping ground, That's where I grew up. And so I opened up the yoga studio. Then the studio transition, and then COVID happened, and then it's like the fuck you know, you know what I mean, like, now what

do I do? I have no pension, I have no tenure, and and everything stopped and and then everything hit me, you know, like I was having physical reactions to all the stress that I have been carrying, all the stress we all have been carrying, individually and collectively. And then I was just like, I had to do something. I'm gonna lose it. And I struggled with I'm a mom.

My son is now nineteen, and I struggled with the story that I felt wasn't in between, the in between between so much tragedy and struggle and success and excellence and being an educator. You know, my kids came back. I'm like, yo, miss, I took the stuff, you know, the sanitation tests, and I got the job, or you know, I went into law enforcement, or I'm going into the military.

Oh I got married. These are my kids, you know, And now I'm doing this thing and I'm doing that thing, and all of these seemingly ordinary stories that were untold, and I just wanted my son to be able to scroll through the internet and see ordinary greatness, which is to be extraordinary ship, you know what I mean. And I and it wasn't there, So I was like, I'm gonna do it. So I called some friends and I was just like, let's just do this man Shop project.

And it was called the man Shop project because that's what he was when he was born. His name is Judah. He came out with a two fist, you know what I mean. And I was like, Okay, he's the man child. And that's what he did. And and we just reached out to a couple of friends and was like, yo, just share your excellent story, Like if it's ordinary, it's extraordinary. What are you here? Like are you kidding me? You

brush your tea today? You win in my nigga you know, I watch you ask because it be is like that sometimes and I really wanted to just create space to just celebrate that and see it regularly, you know what I mean. Like I had this vision like when you when you looked up hashtag black excellence, like all you saw was like a million black man Like motherfucker's would just have to just put the phone down because they couldn't stop scrolling, you know what I mean? Like that

ship that's what I wanted. Just sell Britton a black man for being a black man. No particular accolades, just being black and alive. Yeah, and and thinking about life and thinking about not thinking about life like you here, like what is your story, sir? Thank you so much for Sharon. What are your dreams? Sir? Thank you so much for Sharon. Mm hmm. Wow. It's a lot of process. I mean, you know, I'm uh daughter of a black man. My, Um,

I have black brothers, I have you know, my black uncles. Um. I've worked with many black men, and then i have a black son, and of course I've had black men as my partners. And I feel like my whole life is about black men. A lot of people don't think that.

You know, there are people who just because I dare to speak to the power of black women and or talk about our issues, and of course to speak about what black men do to harm us, because we are harmed oftentimes by the people who are closest to us, it makes folks say, oh, you know, you're you're a male basher. But the truth is, I spend probably eighty percent of my life focused on the needs of black men because I believe that the strength of the black

man is the strength of our families. Um, and so listening to what you're saying, I feel like that's exactly what we need to be doing more of, which is to pour into black men because they are not enough spaces where black men are not just celebrated, but that they can just be themselves without having to put on for the world. There's not enough spaces. And if I could just you know, make an offering to that comment, you know, part of the mental health piece, especially, let

me make an eye statement. The struggle that I had that I was also working through is that the both are true, right, Like I and a daddy's girl was a daddy's girl, you know what I mean. And I love my father beyond words. There are no utterances, you know what I mean. And he was profoundly abusive. Both were true, you know what I mean. And and I

would want him a part of the project. I would want to have shared his story, him to share his story, because oftentimes that's the struggle, like thinking that it has to be one or the other, you know what I mean. Like, brother, I can celebrate you and you can go heal that ship. You know, you can celebrate me, and I'm gonna go heal that ship, right and not waiting for this point of arrival before before I celebrate them, before we celebrate

them because the moment is now the moment. Yeah, this this one of episodes that you got me here thinking too much. I don't need to think this much. But it's a lot, you know, just listening. You know, I've been watching Charlottagne along this mental health thing. He's been very intentional, but he's somebody that you know, I respect, and I see it's a good friend. So I listened to it. But today just listening to my black sisters just talk about it in a different light. It's just

it tapped in a little more, you know. So what do you think we need to do to close this wellness gap? What? Like, what is the wellness gap? To you? What is it? So the Healing Station was created to really bridge the gap between what we know and what we think we know and then what else is out there? Right? Like we're not from here, Like that's really the premise.

We're not from here. This is not our native tongue, we're not wearing our native clothes, we don't have our native smells, and there is a genuine energetic disconnect we on occupied territory. All of that ship impacts our nervous system, it really really does, right, And so the Healing Station is about honoring indigenous Black culture, people of culture, right, honoring that, and then closing the wellness gap by sharing information through trainings, through workshops about what it is our

people actually did. So we look at what what some may call alternative medicine or alternative forms of treatment, but we take that ship back. It's not alternative. It's actually quite natural and it's an option. Right, you want to take prozac, but guess what, you can use a piece of hie, right, you know what I mean? Like you want to hold your crystal to get your piece, you could do that. You can take a tablet, you can walk barefoot, you can go for a hike. You know

what I mean. You can't go see that psychiatrist. But really giving access to information to persons of color, to persons of culture, so that we can heal ourselves, you know. And then the other piece is offering scholarship, whether it's for the different trainings that we offer or different trainings within the wellness community, so that people of color can have those careers. Right, like a ralfer, I don't know, do you guys have you ever heard what we're all

think about ralphing no tea, so raw it's amazing. So rawling is an energy uh and energy working right, So you heard of m acupuncture of course, right, so it's it's not similar. But just pull back a little bit and you're talking about energy and how energy moves through the body and raw thing helps move energy through the body by by pressing into the deeper tissues, into the fascia and literally literally you can heal trauma out of

the body. Literally you wake up different. Ralph, First, make anywhere between a hundred seventy five to three hundred fifty for an hour to a ninety minute session. What would a ralf what would a training look like from a brother that got released or s just that I got released. But they could go through that six month nine month training and take that ship right back conto their community and have their own wellness. That do you see what

I'm saying? That's that ship Because the wellness industry is our industry. Because we're paying other people to get ourselves well, well, why don't we just go ahead and flood the fucking ship heal our own selves and in our own communities. Talk about this you said you could use prozac or you could use something else. Hill right, give it again, please? Hi? Right? So it's power like a piece of crystal. It's it's um. It's like um. It used to be called it's also

called fools gold. And you know it's just it's just a crystal. I mean crystals, you know, um amesist and rose um rose courts and clear sports. All of those crystals have energy and in some wellness spaces, right, that is an available tool to use as well. And so when we talk about wellness, it's really about what do you want to prescribe for yourself? Like that's my work when I have my private practice. You know, I'm not

here to tell you what to do. We're here to co create your users manual and you figure out what works for you. And that's what we put in together. And so that your wellness is your own. This is your tool kit and and you and you do the work and you hear your own selves because we can't, we really really can't. Wow, you're all about well you said,

co creating a toolkit. Uh. So there may be someone who feels they need a tablet, but there are others who may feel like I don't want to put those things into my body, and therefore there may be other ways to go about helping to stabilize, um, you know, your mind. Like so, for instance, with me, being on a plane can be very very very stressful. I UM, at one point in my life was a serious pill popper, and I had addiction issues. UM you know, when to

rehab did a lot. And so I want to get to the point that I take as little pills as possible, which is the way that I was actually raised. UM. And so listen hearing you say that there may be other things that I can do other than having to take a pill at the onset of a flight to

help deal with my anxiety issues. That's so powerful. But I can imagine that there are black folks that don't have access to these conversations and don't have access to medication, and they're just like all over the place, call them crazy. And you could do a breathwork in your chair on a yoga map for ten minutes and reset your whole nervous system, like the whole thing. Yeah, they say breathing right, but this it's technique right, and but but we can

do it, and that's what the healing station. Does you know, we just we just teach folks like here's the information, here's where you could get more information on the information, right, which is also the other thing, right, like building our own knowledge. Right. So it's not because since that it's because you experienced it. It's because you know, that's just the experience to that brother experienced it. And that's how we each one pool one and I always walking side

each one pool one. So can you just what are conductors? Oh? So I'm a New Yorker, um, and I felt like a big girl with my mom let me take the train up time for the first time, right and um, you know, first generation Jamaica, Jamaican parents will let you go nowhere. So the fact that my mom's let me go on the train by myself and then let me go to Hallam, I was a woman. You're doing a lot what so you know, just just the New York City transit system, all of it is just magic to

me because I never understood it. Right. I took the F train to the E train and that was it, you know what I mean? And I always thought that the transit system was confusing to me. And so that's who kind of inspired even the logo just letting wellness be a simple stop. Just come to the wellness station

and get what you need. And so the conductors was real of course, UM inspired by Harriet Tubman because I do live on a path on the underground railroad, so she is always, uh always with me, and it just felt appropriate because it's project based. So as a conductor, you come, you help lead the project, you get it to where it needs to go, and if it's something that you want to continue to work on, you have that space to do so, and if it's not, it's

all good. But it gives people space to come in, to serve, to leave um, because we're energetic beings and nothing is supposed to be forever, you know, and um, you know this project can be medicine for some people and they want to step away, and so conductors have the space to kind of work until they feel nourished and then do what they need to do. Well. You

certainly are a change maker. We have a SEGMENTUM every week where we talk to people who are making a difference in our society and everything that I hear you saying is all about change making, UM, and specifically for our people and our coach, So how do you how can people help you to do more of what you're doing and and to to really broaden even your reach within our community, especially to our young people and of course again looking at the idea of specifically targeting our men.

Great question. Well hmmm, I think mm hmm. The best way folks can support the work is is twofold one. There is always donations, right UM, going to the healing station and why dot org and making a donation so that we can increase our scholarship program. We UM started our first let's go back, so the healing station dot org. The healing station, the healing station and why dot org? Healing station and why dot org? Thank you? UM. So

there's donations so that we can increase our scholarship program. UM. The vision was to always have one in and one out, so I meaning one UM, one full paid script person and then a full scholarship person UM and we did that.

We have six cohort members for our Trauma Informed BIPOC Yoga teacher training and UM women from all over the country are doing a trauma informed yogic approach so that they can hold space for their own bodies and hold space for the community, UM when they do this work and also UM copying us, modeling us like start your own man child projects, start your own teacher training, start your own movement training, UM, start your own healing circles like just you you like the idea, then go ahead

and do that too, you know. UM, it's like the direct sales of healing, you know, like steal it all, you know, take it. It's it's there for the healing, UM, because that's the only way that we're gonna heal when we do it ourselves and when we do it in community.

Like that nice giving you it. Well, I just want to say, you know, we really want to thank you for the work you do and and the way you make it plain like you know what I'm saying, You're relatable, Like that's what I love about I love about everything. I love about us as black people, Like we're able to break some because I've heard a lot of Europeans talk about mental health and I've never really felt connected.

But just listen to you talk. It sounds like somebody that's from my block, you know, breaking it down to me and making me feel like this is for us, this is something that we need to be involved, and we don't have to lose our culture. We don't have to be stiff. We can have the same hip hop culture. We can talk like we want to talk, look like we want to look. We can have dope names that nobody can pronounce. We're young three degrees, you know what

I mean. And we can just be dope man, and we can we can be fabulous and brilliant at the same time. So I just and hell we are. We are fabulous, we are healed, we all go, we are all those things for being with us today. We appreciate you for all that you've been parted on us and certainly you are a friend at Street Politicians. Anything that we can do to be of assistance to you, this

is your home. I appreciate. Thank you so much. Many blessings are Look, these interviews were so amazing today, Like I've learned so much, and and the thing about it was too completely different personalities and energies, but they both gave you that feeling like you wanted to talk to them. M M. You know what I'm saying. You both you wanted to talk to Nita was just amazing. Her whole energy just she seemed like a healer. Like she seemed like she was actually literally born to do this work.

Just just everything about her and the way she just communicated just make you feel comfortable talking to her. Yeah, yeah, I found myself like like we could that maybe she could help to process some of the confusion and concerns that we have about just the world. Like me, I really do. And I like say, he just found like the girl from the block to all the stuff. You know what I'm saying, that break it down to you,

And like, okay, that's what they were saying. You know all the stuff, you knew, all the stuff, and she just broke it down to and she and she brought it back to the hood and gave it to the hood the way that they can receive it. You know, there's so many different entry points and all of them,

you know, serve a real purpose. Man, And that brings me with black people, you know, we have we need lots of different ways to capture our attention when you start talking about healing, because we run away from that. Other communities and particularly the white community, white society, if you will, Um, they really have adopted the idea of self care and healing and it's not something that black people have been taught and or and I guess the stigma of it is on us. But we're starting to

break it down. You're starting to hear more men talking about going to therapy, and I think you know, to your point, the work that Charlemagne is doing today, it seems like, Okay, this is something cool. He's our friend and it's cool. But later in life he's gonna have deep deepoc chopra sort of uh, what do you call it? Um? There will be people that will remember him, that's the word. He's going to be one of the um. He's gonna

be one of the innovatives of mentor better culture. That's yes, and that brings me to our So it's I had like a two prong I don't get it because that was one of it that I just don't get why and how we've allowed ourselves to separate from mental health for so long, to not acknowledge mental health, just not acknowledge that we actually deal like we we of all people, should know that we're dealing with mental health issues, right because all of the things that we've dealt with throughout history.

There's no way that we can be a hundred percent saying it is impossible, impossible, you know, and just listening. Just over the last few months, I've been taking the time to just assess myself, you know, just listening and then saying, damn, I never even knew that was trumpa. I never even knew that. I just felt I had to be strong, I had to go through it. You know,

I'm good. I'm always good. And I never really identical five with just what I went through in prison, what I went through and solitary confinement, what I went through the process to get to prison, what I went through coming home from prison, trying to you know, rebuild life.

It's so many different This is my childhood and things I went through, and my family just understanding those things now and seeing, damn, I really have to have some level of mental health issues, and you know, and that was one of the things, like how I just don't get how we've we've allowed ourselves to not understand that for so long. And I'm glad that we get into where it's becoming something that you know, is um focused upon in our communities and in our culture right now.

But I really just was really confused, like, damn, we should have been got this. You know, And then the second thing was something that you said, you know, and it's and it's a thing, and and and I also and it goes along with the same thing. I don't get how we've allowed ourselves as black men and black women to be divided by our enemy. Right, there are people who focus on certain things and and different different things.

It's not even different things like how are we allowing the fact that a black woman wants to speak up about black women issues make men feel like it threatens our existence, right, and and vice versus sometimes so it goes both ways. I don't even understand how those things or even a problem, right, Like, I don't even understand how we can't see that. You know, we we all dealing with the same exact problems. We're dealing with the

same struggles. We're in the same communities dealing with everything, Like, how are we allowing ourselves to be divided by the same things that's tearing each of us part individually? How do we don't see that those are things that we need to unify. How do we don't see that? Well, a black woman sees that something is harming her, something is detrimental to her, she speaks up about it that our job as black men is to make sure that that right there, that she's safe in that space, right

and and vice versa. When black men say here, we feel this way, why do why is there this level of just like tugger war, You know, I just really don't get it. You know what. I think it's it's for another show, right to talk about the debt of

all of the things that we are experiencing. I think it is if this show and it's of itself is not um we need many different types of people to help us understand the backlash, if you will, and sort of like the residue of of being enslaved and what that has done to our people, our communities, our minds, our culture, um our relationship between the man and woman. None of this that you're expressing is by chance. All

of it is a part of a design. Because if we are mentally whole, if we have a sense of stability, if we have unity in terms of our understanding of um, of of of what has happened to us and where we need to go and how we need to operate in order to go forward, if we can stop and listen to one another and respect our individual issues and then the collective need for work and reconciliation. And we can do all of that, we would be the most powerful.

I want to say entity. Perhaps being black is an entity of thing um in our society, and there are forces that know it. They know it, and that's why our music, um, you know, it keeps the The things that celebrated about our music are things that keeps us dumb down. Um. You know, our schools, the way that

we're educated, the way that our communities are designed. It's been done that way because there is a force that understands the power of this thing that's on our skin, this melanin, this this this color um that other people do not have, and so you know it is it's always for me fascinating when we try to hone in and and begin to focus on our differences not from a place of difference, but from a place of love.

So I think that's why. But it takes people who are bold, like Anita, like censorship, to step out and say I'm gonna start the process no matter whether you know when when you hear Anita saying I knew I heard voices and my mother affirmed me rather than made me feel guilty or negative. Wow, like what that would be like for so many young black girls and boys who have a talent that their parents feed it rather than tear it apart because they don't understand it. That's

what I think. That's an amazing thought. I share those sentiments, which is rare. You know, we usually don't agree. We do agree a lot more than we don't. No, more than we don't you know lately, but you know, process so much bullshit we're dealing with you, I think. I think also we've agreed that there are certain things that we should just not even deal with. So therefore we don't have those issues and we don't agree with We found the ship we're on and we lead the rest

of you along. And with that said, we come to another And with that said, we've come to the end of another show. Thank you all for making us the number one show in the world. We appreciate it. Tree Politicians makes me laugh, but it's better be real. It's real because we listen. We ain't taking nothing else. We're moving into our second season on the Black Effect Network. So we want to thank you all for continuing to

support us. If you have any ideas for shows, if you want to tell us all if you hate us, you love us. I listen, I need feeling listen few. I need the few. So just let us know. You can follow us on Instagram at Street Politicians Pod. You on our YouTube page. Make sure that you go to our Women TV to watch the show. You can find us on a Black Effect Network or anywhere else. Will you want to hear your favorite podcast. So with that said, I'm not gonna always be right to me. It's not

gonna always be wrong. We will both always be authentic, always always, always peace. Peace. Listen to Street Politicians on the Black Effect Network on I Heart Radio. Catch us every single Wednesday for the video version of Street Politicians for I Women dot tv