What's up.
Family, it's your girl to Mika d.
Mallory and it's your boy, my son and general.
We are your host of street politicians, the place where the streets and politics me.
What's something nice?
How you doing it?
Oh, I'm blessed? How you favored on this blessed Tuesday.
I haven't made a few of latest today.
Yes you are latest.
My apologies, my apologies. Well, it is a blessed day. Every day is a blessed day.
I'll tell you so much stuff that's happening in the world that every day you have to acknowledge that you are still.
Here because because you could not be.
There's a lot of things going on, I tell you.
But we got a I'm late, and we have a good show, good guests coming up who I'm sure wants to get into some very specific conversation around the politics and our nation. And you know, I think you know one of the things that's important on Sundays. We have started obviously you weren't able to do it on this past Sunday, but we've started a new thing where were going live to cover different issues and give people opportunity to talk about stuff happening in their communities, things they
care about. Issues that's happening because on the show, we generally get, you know, just the one guest in and maybe we can talk about some issues, but due to timing, as we know, it always sort of you know, and also the final edits and all of that stuff, people get to hear just a portion of what we've discussed and or we only present a portion. And so I think the Lives that we are now doing on Sundays is going to help us to give more space to more people, a wide array of folks to come on
and talk from different perspectives. And the reason why I thought of that as it relates to our guests today is because sometimes we don't agree, or we often have you know, we have different perspectives. I wouldn't say we don't agree, because we agree on a lot of things, but we have different perspectives. And on the Live this week, I had Tony lindsay on, who's one of my Facebook friends who's now become our guide that comes to our events and whatnot. And Tony and I often have debates
about a lot of different issues. And I think what's important is that so many people think we only talk to folks that we know you only talk to people who say yes, yes, man, and it's not true. Every day we're in conversation with people, including you and I, debating issues back and forth. So I'm excited to hear what will happen and therefore we will have to move along.
You know, I definitely I am excited to hear what the guest has to say.
You know, it's so much going on, like you said over the weekend, you know, I want to say Hapy birthday. It's two of my close friends, my boy HARRYO and my boy Shelby, you know, Virbal and my sister. We make sure I don't forget that birthday September tenth, so you know, went and celebrated him. And then you know, when you when you're just around family and friends, it just reflects, like you said, we got to be happy that we're still here because everybody didn't make it here,
you know. So it's so many different things that go on in our community, so many different you know, fights, and we can't have all the fights. I tell people all the time, I can't be involved in every flight. I come to my page, I go to Instagram and oh you ain't talking about this. I don't even know about that. I didn't choose not to talk about it. Sometimes I just don't know, you know, So I just I just advise.
It's okay to say I don't even I don't. I don't want to talk about this. It might even be triggering. You could actually say this that I can't handle.
A pick and choose shit, is correct.
I do pick, and I picked and choose things that I'm passionate about. I pick and choose things that I feel that I know about, you know. I choose things that I want.
To fight for. I don't have to fight or speak on things that you want me to speak on. I'm not a puppet. You don't got your hand in the back going like this, Yo.
You need to talk about this, and why you I talk about the things that I feel best suited to talk about things I fight for, things that I know that I'm willing to fight to from tooth to nail about you. So, if I don't think that that's something that I'm going to get on and really fight for it, and I'm just doing it because you know.
The people say to do it, then I'm not going.
To do it.
And people, well, but you know, I think it's a way that the people can come to you. One of the things that happened in the live is that I posted I'm going live. You can disagree, you can disagree, but you can't come here being rude and disrespectful, right, And so I think that's one of the problems. It's not to say from my perspective that just because someone asked me to get involved in something or they tell me to look at it, that I'm not going to do it, or I don't want to do it or whatever.
It's more so that I know what I have the capacity to handle. And when I was younger in this movement, I tried to do everything, and then a lot of stuff either was undone and or you know, I wasn't necessarily proud of the effort that I was able to put into it. That's just the way it is. And oftentimes there are things that's going on in the background that people have no idea about. So there are people who are like, well, why didn't you come to the aid of so and so person or do such such thing,
or why are you not saying anything about that? And they have no idea that perhaps we've already talked to those people. We already know them, We've engaged with them, could have decided with them.
That you're going to stay away from it.
Maybe people don't even like you, maybe you don't like them, Maybe there's conflict.
You don't know all the time.
And because of the fact that we're not trying to be messy and there's so much other.
Work going on, then we may not explain it.
Yeah, pretty much. Man.
It's so many underling facts that go into the work that we do. And you know, and then I understand that, like you said, there are no leaders who are above critique, and I understand that, but you know, disrespect and critique and assumption is so so different. People just think that because you have a public profile that they can just say whatever they want to you, and that I'm not.
I don't believe in that. You know what I'm saying.
So you're gonna have to deal with me with a level of respect. It's like you said, we can have we can have discourse, we can disagree, but we ain't gonna have disrespect.
This is true.
So speaking of disrespect, I feel that the people of Atlanta are being disrespected, which is why we're wearing our stop Coop City shirts today, you know, for folks who don't understand or don't know, because I did see some people in the comments yesterday who were like, excuse me, I want to support the cause, but I don't know what it is, and I was posting a lot about it.
Of course, a lot of people were so in Atlanta, Georgia and Fulton County, which is which happens to be the same district I don't know what they call it, in the same area where Fanny Williams, the same woman who has both young Thug and a bunch of other folks under Rico charges and Donald Trump charged with under.
Rico the Rico law.
So Fanny also has the Arico charges against protesters in Atlanta, Georgia for their efforts to stop cop City from being built in Fulton County. Now, as we know, Fulton County is primarily a black county, right primarily at least it was the foundation. I'm sure gentrification continues, other people are moving in, but Fulton County is a place.
That is well known to the black community.
Now, we all understand very clearly that we've been fighting against additional police budgets for training and whatever because we do not believe that the current system can just be trained better. It has to be torn apart and rebuilt, because we believe.
That whatever money you're already given them, it should be allocated to that. If you're going to do it, then allocate that to it. Don't give more money away from resources from the community.
Absolutely, I know I've said this many times. When I am in Georgia. In Atlanta, you know, we go around our people. That's what we love. We go to the hood, We eat the restaurants in the hood. We always as soon as we get to a city, we like take us to where the community stuff is. We want whatever the If it's rigs, we want, Well you don't want the ribs, but I will. If it's rigs, we want to go to the ribs.
By this fish.
We want to go to the local seafood spot. That's what we do. But I can say that when I am in Atlanta and I am there, often I feel a little more uncomfortable with some of the folks in the unhoused community that are absolutely suffering with severe mental mental health issues. Right because it is very clear. So when you have a budget of multi multi, multi, multi, multi, millions of dollars. Now they claim they found some more money that's going towards this project that they didn't know
in the city council that that had been allocated. All of this money going to building a police facility or a facility that will train police officers. And then they'll say, yeah, no, it's not just police officers, other essential workers too, sure, firefighters, the police and others. Right, other first responders will be trained in this facility they're building this place. And again they say they try to make it that it's a
very balanced atmosphere. We're training for all these these different groups. But what they don't like to talk about often, and which you have to read define print to find out, is that one of the training pieces for police is one that cops will be coming from all over the country and they will be trained by the.
Israel Defense Military. The Israel Defense Military.
Now, these are the people, the same people that we as American tax face as folks be like, why should I care about that. I ain't stutting the people in Palestine. I'm worried about folks that's on my block. I don't agree with that.
But even if you take that position, your tax payer dollars is going to it.
The ten billion dollars that we send to Palestine, which is our tax pay I mean, excuse me, to Israel, which to Israel, for Israel to fight against the Palestinians, and in my judgment, for there to be some.
Peopleeople who are there, not all Jews, not all.
We're talking about the state of Israel to be there and oppress the Palestinian people, and we paid for it. It's already a slap in the face. And we were there and saw with our own eyes what the Israeli defense military does.
We saw it, We know what they do.
They wouldn't even let us walk around in the communities without showing our identification to prove that we were Americans, because in different places, the Palestinians on their own land are unable to move around free. And at many different times any given day you'll see Palestinian groups.
And other allies.
Sean King, of course, Lindas saw a posting that the military there has killed a number of people, including children. They will be running some of the training at this facility in Georgia. Why we need that, I don't know. So the organizers in Georgia, we don't need it. We don't need more money going to training because officers are trained and their budgets are the most exploded budget budgets
of most agencies in any city, so they have money. So, like you said, reallocate the resources if you feel that the current resources, if you feel they need some additional training. But their training works in other communities. They're training generally keeps them from being hostile and killing unarmed and or people in other communities who are even dangerous. They know how to do that, and they do it very well. When they come into our communities, it is a total
different attitude. And I know for sure that the current mayor of Atlanta and others have acknowledged the level of police abuse. So their thing is, oh, well, we're going to train them.
We don't need training. What we need is the unhoused people off the streets.
We need more to get rid of food deserts so people have actual healthy food that they can eat in their communities. We need housing that people can afford. We need education. That's what we need. Because the better the community is doing, the least you will need police officers
in those communities. And so that's our position and we definitely don't need an outside military agency coming into our country training police officers who are already too militarized, who are already using too much force when dealing with our people, and it's going to be.
Located in the community where our people live. It's too much.
So so the Stock Cops City campaign shout out to Queen and Nasaha and a number of other folks, Attorney Jail Griggs from the NAACP, and a number of others who are there on the ground and have been working for Oh now, it's been going on a long time. I don't know exactly the date. To stop this from happening. They have reco charges against protesters who went into the area. They're mainly environmental protesters who went into the area where this facility will be built, that is in the forest.
They'll have to cut down trees. It's all types of environmental implications. And for people who have an issue in saying things like oh, well that's white folks, that's not black folks.
It's called intersectionality.
That's what it's called.
So there's so much happening. We want you guys to check it out.
All the people want is for a referendum to be on the ballot so they can have the people of Georgia, the people of Atlanta vote on whether they want this facility in their community, and the city is doing everything they can to stop and block those individuals from being able to get that referendum.
On the ballot.
Crazy, it's really it's mom biggling to me how you know how, I don't know?
Why is my boggling? Because they get it.
They realize that over policing doesn't work, you know, they realize that that in the communities where crime is less, poverty is less. Right, they realize what actually can stop crime and cut down.
The need for police. But they won't do that.
They'll continue to fund, you know, the response instead of being proactive. Right, your response, because the police are not stopping crimes in communities, they're arresting people who commit the crimes.
So if you.
Really want to stop something, you want to make community safer, then you would make the community flourish.
Right, you would give the resources in the community.
You would make sure that the millions of dollars that you want to keep alakan to build the new cities, build some new you know, playgrounds and communities build some you know, community centers in the communities where the violences happen, and build the resources and and you know, have courses and have educational things that the kids actually want to learn, that that it's culturally relevant, that they can figure out how they can keep themselves out of trouble and they
can actually be financially stable and create create generational wealth.
They don't want to create those things.
They just want to keep giving communities of color and you know, disenfranchised community police instead of enfranchising those communities. So, you know, I was saying, it's mind blogging, but I get it. That's a part of capitalism, right, It's what
capitalism needs. In order for capitalism to continue to function properly, there has to be a class where criminality and you know, violencing, all those things happen because you have to feed in order for the top two and five percent to continue to get rich, you need the bottom people that you feed off. Right, these are the people that you continue to make your money off. So you know, I understand that they're gonna invest in prisons, They're going to invest
in the police to do this. They're gonna invest in every stock possible that's going to show that our communities are the worse and continue to invest in those things.
And that's why they're going to continue to make.
Sure that our communities look like they do so they can have some that invested in.
And get rich off. Yeah.
And the thing is, I'm sure that they are black elected officials because the entire city, not the entire city council, but many of the black electors. There are some who are speaking out against it, but many of the black elected officials and a lot of the influences, whether they be pastors, whether they be celebrities or whatever, have either said nothing or who have actually been a part of this. They would argue with you that what are you talking about.
I don't want to keep my community down. I'm sure the current mayor would say, I don't want to keep my community down. What do you mean, I'm here to empower my community. No, but what you're doing is you are being used as a tool of white supremacy. We're not saying that you're the one that has designed this to keep our people down. What we're saying is that whatever they offered you, or whatever you think you gain by working with the other side or working with the
current governor who has racist tendencies as well. He is he actually he actually is like Governor Kemp is like
a quiet Ron DeSantis. It's not as blatant. And sometimes he makes moves that you don't really know whether or you can look at it and say, well, that was good, Like the thing he did with the Trump piece the other week when he was like, nah, I ain't getting in that there's gonna be a trial here and I'm not doing anything to stop it from happening or to get involved in obstructing justice.
That was good.
That makes some people go, oh, okay, yeah, it's a good move. And because he's actually very strategic, but it doesn't mean that he's not also putting forth racist policies in the State of Georgia.
And this is one of those policies.
And there are black people who are being used as a tool to help get it done. And so it is really really really really really sad. Now let's move on to and we're gonna be with our people basically on this issue period on to the wheels fall off. We're gonna be with our people. They got their petition signed. Now there's a fight to get the petitions validated. And counting, so there's always gonna be something. But the people, regardless of whether they had help from the top celebrities.
A shout out to.
Ernie's King, Doctor Vernie's King, because she certainly has been saying since the beginning to stop cop City, and so, you know, and and whoever else didn't help them doesn't matter, because.
The people are learning that they must hope themselves.
But speaking of other things, that's sad, and it's you know, a little I guess.
I guess because of the fact.
That today we are, you know, getting ready to bring on our guests out kind to weave it into my thought of the day.
But I think people are pretty miserable that they even care to know.
Like, there is literally no one's life that I care about so much that I want to go unless there is some type of physical harm, like physical harm, or some type of implication for the work that we are doing in terms of racial justice. Other than that, I do not really care about what is happening in people's lives.
I might see something and laugh about it and say something to my best friends and talk to he he, But to go and try to make a platform of exposing people and this and that I just don't to me, I don't get it. It says something about you as a human. I think if that's where you focus your time. And I think this situation with Steve Harvey and his family, Marjorie Harvey and all of it is pretty sad.
It really is.
One not so much because of the blogs and these gossipers talking about his marriage, because I I guess one would say, when you put yourself out there is this fabulous couple.
Whatever, people are going to inquire.
I still don't think they should inquire to the point where they want to drag you up and down and put out things. And some of the shit don't even be true. That's the part that's really crazy, like making up things. But I thought that the Strawberry Miss Strawberry, and that situation that came out in the last couple of days, it's pretty sad because one everybody that works with somebody, I don't care who you are, you could be the people who are the best, the closest of friends.
Look at us, me, you, Angelo and Linda are Angelo, you, Angelo, Linda, You and me.
There we go.
We all are super tight. We are a family.
But nobody here can say the four of us would be lying if we said that in talking to our significant other and or our best see or whomever. We don't say Mashan gets on my nerves. He's all he never, you know, reads the text messages. You know, he asks like we beneath him that he don't have to read text messages.
And I'm not gonna keep on telling them such and such.
No, you can't sit there and tell me that Linda hasn't said, oh my God to Meika's calling me, she's calling me. She could do this herself, like she's always asking me to do. You know, this is what we do right as humans. You go today, you might have had a terrible day at work and you got some shit to say, and you might really feel like, oh, so and so.
Husband don't really like me or whatever.
Before that shit, the conversations with her husband to be leaked for somebody to make some money off of, like taking their personal business. You are a miserable son of a bitch, Like seriously, no, for real, And.
That's what we are. We people love to enjoy somebody else's misery. Like you know what I'm saying. People are they wallow in it?
You know, they They love to see somebody else going through some bullshit.
And they want to enjoy it.
They want to say, this's good for you, this and that negativity is at an all time high, you know. Like you said, those conversations that that women had with her husband, those are personal conversations. The the miserable, motherfucking person in that jail though, who was who was getting paid? Just think about it. There's somebody who's being paid in a jail, you know, to probably because all of those
calls are monitored. They're monitoring to make sure there's no criminal activity going on in those calls, and keeping those calls, you know, on a record just in case they need to be pulled up for something that proclaimed to justice and you know the law. But for somebody who's in the position of that to violate somebody's personal you know, conversation and leak it to the world, like how the fuck do y'all, how do y'all be okay for a couple of dollars?
Like it's crazy, It is really crazy.
That's that we put people in those traditions, And based on that call and based on the way it was leaked, there has to be more provisions to protect someone else's you know, privacy, and in prison, even though you are prisoner, you still have rights a human being rights, you know what I'm saying people should not violate if you if you are not outside, once you're being incarcerated and you're in prison, you are serving your sensors from the crime
you did, right, and you are serving your senses and within that crime, people can't commit crimes against you and justify them just because at.
Time within that time with that crime.
Yeah, within that crime you with that time, within that time.
Yeah, because you keep saying within that crime, people can't commit crimes against you.
But I think what you're saying.
While you're serving the time for that crime, right, people against you. And it's just like that and that's a crime. And I really think that people need to look into that this situation. People need to find out exactly what it is to trace who was on that call, who take that call, you know, who had access to that call, and everybody had any access to that call needs to be held responsible until we find out what happened.
Because this ship is fucked up. It's really.
He's a family like you know, you could just tell that I was listening to her statement, and you know I heard us.
She was like, you know, I said what I said, but you know it was no way to harm.
I didn't think the conversation, but you know that's how I felt, you know, and I love Steve and and you know I have respect for their family, but I felt like that at the time. And I never thought that that conversation is just so ugly because now these people were working together in a family structure, right.
And it's worse because the world has it right.
It's not like it's an internal situation like he was saying that we used to dealing with our situation in turn that we don't go out and talk with the world has said it, you know.
So now the weight of the.
World's opinions exactly, you know, constantly weigh on you. So and I hope they're able to weather the storm as just a family because you know, those people who work together, knowing Steve and being around Steve and knowing this his team, you know, they're real tight knit and there's a family structure over there.
So I hope, you know.
That this doesn't completely damage and they're able to salvage that and be able to move on because you know, it's just a messed up situation.
Everything that people think about you, you don't need to know.
Sometimes you just don't need to know that your mother is like, I can't stand that, damn little girl. Sometimes like you just don't need to hear that, which is why she might say it to your father in the car when you close the door. But she's not gonna say it while you're standing right there. You're not gonna hear your cousin talking to your other cousin about how to chick thinks she all that every time she come around here, she's talking about what she had.
It's not necessary. You don't need to know.
Everything about people's opinions about you. And like you said, when the world gets involved, it starts to impact your ego, because that's all it is, it's your ego. Because even if you felt like, even if Marjorie Harvey felt like, I don't think sister Strawberry, I can't even I don't even know her name.
I'm sorry, I can't. It slipped me right now.
But even if you thought she don't really like me, I don't, we don't, we're not really vibing, you might feel the same way she might have told Steve yesterday they should be funny.
I don't know why they act like such and such because.
People have come to you, people have gone to you as my son and said Tamika is like, I don't think I could joke with her, like she seems like she's and you like, what are you talking about? Talk to Tamika like she's fine? How many people have contacted you and said they didn't know if they could call me to ask me to sign a letter for them, or to do a thing, or to come to their event, And you like, no, like she's actually fine, Like just
ask her and then they get to know me. But sometimes we have up walls because of things.
People and crew.
Your mind is on some other shit.
When people catch you at the wrong moment and you might get a reaction, you're not focused on it, and people like that person don't like me, and you like don't like you. I don't even you know what I'm saying. So there are she might not like her.
It's like I'm saying, like trying to make excuses. She might not like her, right, and it might be wrong.
It might do It's fine because you don't got to like everybody.
But she said.
Her specific thing was that she treats. She thinks we're the help, right, so that that would make somebody feel uncomfortable. And I get it, I get it. I understand. All I'm saying is there was no reason you yes, And there will be people will say, well, that's why you know.
Of course you shouldn't be talking to jail phone. Cool. That's fine, I get it.
It's just like saying, when you write a character letter for people what's his name, Ashton Kutcher and the other one in the Azalea, when you write a character letter for people you need to know. But it is different because your phone call is supposed to be only like you said, it's supposed to be private unless you're talking about illegal activity. However, you want to imagine if there's third parties that are reading and or seeing anything that it might be to the public, right, they might be
released to the public, may be publicly known. However, you should still no other person should want to be the person to try to destroy people's families. And to what Steve said, and also Miss Strawberry, what she said is that because of what's going on right now with all of these blogs trying to pick apart whether Marjorie did this, whether this did that, and whether Steve is this and that and the third. Because they're so focused on it. For those takes to be leaked, it's almost like it
was done on purpose. It's almost like somebody knew, well, damn you know the two of them was I got these tastes, but like, did you go back and get them? Like what type of person are you? And it's just some people in this world, This is my thought of the day.
There are some.
People in this world who are just really bottom feeders. Like that's literally what they are. It's not that everybody is perfect. I certainly am not perfect. You're not perfect. None of us are. We've made mistakes, we've hurt people, we've done wrong or whatever. But being a bottom feet of means that you are intentionally, like you sitting around looking at things that you could go and do to try to hurt people. And it's just really crazy to me.
It's really crazy. It's really the fact that those tapes will lead is like really bottom feet of shit right there, for real.
It is, man, It's very very terrible, very very terrible.
It's real because I understanding it, thinking.
Like you can't even have a thought no more, and share your thoughts with your most intimate person without the world trying to expose your thoughts, because everybody thoughts about everybody is not gonna always be positive all the time. And sometimes you share those thoughts with the people that you trust, and when those thoughts get out, it's like damn, like you just it's we just in a very strange time, you know, in this culture and the internet and technology.
Has made it that much stage excuse.
Me, so you know, I'm just saying, man, be careful on the phone, man, jail phone, any phone, because you don't know.
What's going on.
You don't know what's going on no more.
You gotta you gotta whisper like you know when you watch the sports that they put the tower over their mouth when they talk. You gotta you gotta go through all types of shit.
Man, crazy, even in your own house, you could be being reported like you know, even in your own house. I mean shit, they was listening to doctor King's conversations in his hotel room right like everywhere you go, and it's and I mean whatever, it is the life you live, and it is what it is. These are celebrities these are people connected to celebrities that work with celebrities, and so I get it, but I just feel like, I just feel I have a deep like.
I don't want to know.
I don't want to know everything that's being said about me by people that I work with or talk to or see i'm around. I don't even care what people who I don't deal with have to say. But the people who are around me, I don't want to know what their worst thoughts of me are in the moments when they're either upset with me or going through their own shit or having their own insecurities. And the only time I want to know is when I've done something to them that they need to come to me and talk about.
That's it.
Other than that whatever they thought that they told their husband or their wife, that's crazy.
It's just it's.
Definitely bottom feeder, Like it's terrible that that happen, and I feel bad to see because you could see by the way, like you said, we've been around Steve, Steve is out here trying. Steve ain't trying to be a no mess period. He ain't trying to be a no mess. Okay, he don't want no mess, you know, He just trying to help people, give his entertainment, give resources to kids, and.
That's it, and deal with his family.
That's it.
He want to say, sail on out on his time, his last few whatever shakes in this earth.
On the way like.
Come on, and then here we are and here you got people that are in. It's like they see you happy and then it's like break.
It away, break it you ain't gonna be happy. You're gonna chip this bitch away.
Yeah, marg margin, whatever margin may. Whatever Margie did or didn't do, how she got what she had, where she was, how does it impact your life?
How? And more over her husband loves her? That's it?
But dirty drugs man, sitting and wasting your time, bro, So it certains you, like he said, we all right, you waste this other ship you have to be doing with your.
Time, bro, You wasting your time telling you find you something else to do.
That man is a season that is an elderly seasoned man to understands.
Elderly gonna think Steve would be like, oh my god, you think I'm elderly.
Not elderly.
He's an older, mature man, A mature mature man even have been around that's shit y'all doing.
You gotta do that with the kids, and she don't work with grown grown groom for that. Ain't just a grown that's a grown grown man is sick?
Does we are.
Are bringing on our guests who's actually another one.
Of our friends.
The big thing around UH Street politicians is that we always have our friends on and that's because our friends are doing amazing things. And guess what, just because we're friends doesn't mean that we don't have debate about issues all the time. But this sister is our dear friend.
And we have traveled miles on roads back roads to see about families who have been harmed, and police violence issues and issues in our community, violence within our communities, fighting for black women, standing up for black family, supporting black men because we are major despite what people may think,
we are major supporters of black men. Of course we support you, my son, Attorney Ben Krump, Attorney Angelo Pinto, Trade of Truth, like we are are a group of women who really are behind our men, and our men are behind us. And I am so excited that our sister is joining us today. She sent me a text
message which I'll tell you all about shortly. My personal thing that I have always said, and I know you and I share this feeling, is that she's literally brilliant, like literally a brilliant mind, the way in which she thinks and can articulate better than many people that I know. We've watched her for years on Roland Martin Show, given commentary on Fox News.
Not afraid to go to any platform, it's all Fox News whoever.
She's there representing the people, and a lot of people know her from her time being an attorney. That's when I first learned of her being an attorney for Bill Cosby, and then she's just gone on to do so many other things since then. I know it's a long introduction, but I want to make sure people know who my sister is.
Right, big Mo, Big big Mo.
Right.
Monique Presley, a legal analyst and a legal mind, a leader in a legal space who is helping us to really put together an amazing legal strategy around some of these social justice cases that we're fighting. So thank you, Monie presently for joining Street Politicians.
Well, thank you so much for having me and for that generous introduction, and thank you for all the things you left out of the introduction that you could have put in God bless you. And yes, I did have to kind of invite my own self on here, but I was just tired of waiting.
I'm just saying no, here and you you and we need that. See, that's what we're talking about. That is called friendship support. And it's also just it's just mature that you might be thinking, Okay, well I need to be all because I got some stuff to say.
But it's the first time. I didn't know that.
I didn't realize that.
But you know, well, why do I feel like you was only like three times?
I guess because we are on your platform and we together, so you automatically assume, wow, okay, this is definitely what we do.
Okay, I do.
But there are other people, I'm sure who feel the same way because sometimes you just don't think about.
It or whatever.
And the maturity is, hey, I need to come on and talk about this issue rather than these days don't like me. I don't know why they treat me like that, not like, oh my god. The nineteen Keys post is something the other day that said, stop complaining about people who are doing things that you ain't gonna do.
And help, like help get involved, find a way to get involved. He's complainer.
Complaining is the language of suckers or something, and I said, it's my final vocals.
Yea.
Anyway, so the text message you sent me, I said last two weeks ago in my thought of the day that I want people to just stop talking about Trump because it is making its given me anxiety. I said, if we're not gonna put him in jail, lead a man alone, because he is actually becoming bigger than what he was. He was able to raise seven million dollars after that mugshot photo, and it's just you know, And of course I want Trump to be prosecuted. Of course,
I definitely want him to be prosecuted. But I want him to be prosecuted and I want him to go to jail. I don't want him to somehow have a Jedi mind trick with our people that he was able to get out of this and then have folks either because I'm seeing some praise stuff online from some black men that I actually know very well, who were like, yeah, they're doing the same thing the Trump that they did the Pooky, So you know, and I also have issues
with Fanny. And so then you send me a message and said yikes, Can I come on to talk about this? And I said, absolutely, So here we are, So why don't you just get us started in this conversation and then we'll kind of jump in.
Well, look, a lot of people have a lot of things to say about some of the laws that are being used, and I understand that. But the place that my yikes came from was the comment you made about unless we know, unless we know that we're going to get him, let's leave him alone. Because to me, that is the opposite of that is that's what's been wrong for centuries with our justice system and with the way
prosecutions are handled in the United States. We give prosecutors, whether it's local prosecutors, whether it's state ags, whether it's district attorneys, US attorneys, the the US Attorney General, broad discretion. They have the right in their own office. They ain't got to ask nobody about nothing. They have the right in their own own office to decide whether a prosecution
is going to go forward or not. And it's supposed to be based upon whether they believe, based on the facts that they've done, based on their investigation, whether they have enough to convict someone beyond a reasonable doubt so, at the point that they go to a grand jury, or in jurisdictions where they don't even have to go to a green jury, at the point that they bring charges they're supposed to from their office perspective be locked in and knowing, yeah, we got the goods on this person.
And so for centuries we have watched black men after black man, after black men, after black women, after brown man after brown woman be prosecuted relentlessly, whether there was enough information or not, squeezing on people who were turned over to give states evidence. We call them in our circle snitches, doing everything necessary in order to bring down
people for lesser offenses. While they're these other people, largely white men over sixty with money, who were thought to be beyond the law, and their companies are thought to be beyond the law. So prosecutors, whether through fear, through intimidation, through being bought off through that's the way it goes. When you white in America, everything belongs to you, have refrained from prosecuting them. And I never wanted to be a prosecutor, ain't never been prosecutor, never will be. I'm
defense minded. But the prosecutors, especially the progressive ones, serve an important job. So for me, the same way we're willing to like pick up, I know you guys are willing to do it, and they're doing it again and get the day the Camerons of the world for not doing their job when prosecutors buck the tide, buck the system, and are willing to do their job when they have the goods on somebody, especially a former president of the United States.
To me, that is important, and I definitely agree with that sentiment.
But I also agree with the kind of understand where to me is coming from, right, because you know, being somebody who understands, who is knowledgeable enough to understand the dangers of Trump, a Trump administration, just Trump in general and what he represents, and knowledgeable enough to see that we have to really also think about our people who are not as knowledgeable.
Right.
I've had conversations with people who said, well, Trump let my man out of jail.
It was more money in the hood than any when Trump was in office.
And they have these conversations and they view him much as you do, like the mafia leader that they.
Vote for in the movies right there, and he plays on that understanding.
He understands that our communities idolize, you know, that type of infamous figure based on just the realities that we're dealing with in this culture that some of them have dealt with. They see him as someone who's going against the system. Trump is not a politician. Trump is just somebody who figured out the politician.
He got in law.
He like me and you, And so when we when we indict Trump on these things, there has to be in my opinion and understanding, Tamika, there has to be a clear and a clear understanding and a clear path to actual victory or else you actually within this culture and what we're dealing with now, especially within the culture of the young black you know, thrown away black man who's been locked up, his uncle's been locked up for the things he didn't do, or just somebody who's trying
to beat the system that they felt already beating us up. We have to understand how Trump understands that and he utilized his marketing and promotion to benefit him. So we have to understand that every time that something happens and it doesn't go our way and Trump gets away, it's not like me and me and Jojo that get locked up and we get prosecuted and if.
We beat it, you know, one or two people going to say you did good.
No, he empowers the mind state, right, he gets more power from watched you know, on prosecutions or things that they bring forward to him, and he's able to wiggle his way out of I don't think. I don't know if it really benefits, if it's not really being prosecuted and he's actually being held accountable in consequences.
Yeah, but I don't know what you're talking about, Mice. I don't know what you're talking about. I mean, he's never been charged with a criminal action and gotten away with it. There's never been a criminal action brought against him and it be dismissed. These prosecutors are career prosecutors. And for me, I take personal exception because I'm a black lawyer in America. You know, I've been on the government side. I do civil rights now, I crisis manage
instead of trying cases. But Alvin Bragg ain't no damn fool. He's not bringing a case against a former president that he doesn't have the goods on. He's not built that way. He's not putting himself in danger, his family in danger. He's walking around with secret service twenty four hours a day. His children have to leave school in order to bring a case that he can't win. Fannie Willis, for whatever people think about her, She's good at her job. She
brings cases against you. Yours is going to jail. I don't know if we cuss here forgive me, but you know, I mean this black woman layer Howard lawyer. These are Howard lawyers. I'm mentioning, say, you know, I'm gonna get real extra. I'm gonna be real extra about this. Letitia James in the civil court. These are people who have spent their lives doing this job, and they know how to do this job. And this one man has all these cases and all these different jurisdictions because he used
his presidency as a criminal enterprise. Just like my son said this, he ran it like he's a mob boss. So for me, the issue can't be whether they should bring the case or not. They got the goods. You can look at these cases and see it's evidence up one side down another. Can we control juris in the United States? No, I believe in jury's we can't control them judges. Can we control whether a judge can get bought off, get paid for. No, we can't control those things.
But that doesn't mean that the prosecutor doesn't have to do their job. They have to do their part. Then we have to educate our people with platforms. You guys have gigantic, ginormous platforms that you utilize for good. Which is why I said, please let me come, because I want our people to know polk in them.
Yeah.
They they always gonna get prosecuted. Don't you want to say the other side? No?
And I greet listen again, we want Trump to be prosecuted. Alvin Bragg I know him well. I trust him, Tish, my sister trust her, excuse me, Attorney General Lytitia James.
And that's the one.
You know.
I I know these people are trying to do the right thing. I know they are right.
Fanny.
I do have issues with her because I don't see her prosecuting police officers the way that I think that she should be in the state of in Georgia. And then these reco charges now for protesters who are out there trying to stop this cop city from being built.
That for me is howl.
That's not hers.
I thought it was. I thought people tell.
Me that it is. Well, we should find that out. We should, we should.
Yes, that's an important thing for us to know, because people who are there in Georgia have specifically named her at edis in her office.
Yeah, no, it's it's in the State AG's office. Okay, cool, I appreciate you for educating me on that.
But the come with the goods.
Which that's another thing that happens to Meka, like it'll be a law now any black man, No, when they when they throw rico at you, your defense lawyer gets depressed. You throw your hands up and start cussing. I mean, the reason it's so serious is because it can be used. I agree. It can be used to grab the man who is tearing the milk cart when when the criminal got a cart and the milk before he went into
the bank. It gets like that, But it matters who using it and whether they're using it for the right purposes or not. So if the law is on the books, I want Fannie Willis to use that lot to get Trump and all his end.
I agree with it, I agree, But I have seen I have been a part of the conversations recently where people are saying something that I think is true that one, for instance, one of the reasons why we are veheminently against the death penalty, even though white supremacists and others who have done heinous acts, who will committed heinous acts against us light going in and shooting up the Dollar General in Jacksonville or the supermarket in Buffalo, Do I
believe that those people are worthless, that they should not be here with us, and that if the death penalty
was being applied fairly, that they were good candidates for it. Absolutely, But because that the death penalty is also in Daniel Cameron's twelve point planned where he says he wants drug dealers to receive the death penalty, and we know to Massan's point that he keeps making is that they will never give the death penalty to the drug dealers in the pharmaceutical companies that are really killing mass, mass mass.
Millions of people.
They will give it though, to Pooky who's selling whatever on a street corner in Alabama. And so therefore, when we have these laws, it's or these yeah, these, these yeah, these laws, it makes us nervous because they are often applied to unfairly and imbalance, and.
Our communities are harmed.
So what I'm.
Saying is that even though people may not be able to articulate everything that they're feeling, that is one of the thoughts that's coming to mind where folks are like, yeah, I don't know about that rego charge, because now you hear of it coming up with the protesters, who are people who are literally putting their lives on the line because they know. We don't need more training facilities for police officers in communities. We need resources going to communities, right and.
So so it's a scary. And so I get you.
I get what you're saying that these individuals who.
Are now prosecuting or attempted, who have bought cases and charges against Donald Trump, they are doing the right thing. I'm with that we don't we agree. What I'm saying is that as I sit with the chatter of our people, like all our you know, and of course we know we talk to folks the.
Ray Rays, the Keisha's, TT's.
The Lee Lee's, and our people, we are in a space where folks are feeling very unsure and I think the Internet needs to be defunded, as I saw Charlemagne Stay the other day, because people are getting like a little.
Confused and disillusion and a lot of things that happen, and emotionally they're getting detached. It's a lot happening.
So when they see Trump on TV and it's like, we're gonna hit him with these charges and then the next thing, you know, for some reason is dismissed.
Or they don't win. I just don't know how that's gonna impact us.
So I guess you're saying be responsible in the way that I speak, because I'm over here making this statement, leave him alone if we're not gonna do anything.
But I think I was.
It was real layman for me that I'm just saying as a regular citizen, not as an activist, not as somebody who is friends with brilliant people like yourself and others.
I'm just feeling very nervous about the.
Signal that's being sent that it seems that he just keeps on doing stuff and going to court and then this doesn't happen, and that doesn't happen, and he's just kind of like still free and still running for president of the United States with all of these charges against him. So that's what I that was, And I know you
know that that's the point that I'm making. I feel, really I'm worried about us, believe I'm being I'm so, I'm really concerned about what's happened in this country because I'm watching people decide if you can't beat them, just join them, freak it. We just fuck it, hey, And we can't be that way.
No, we can't be that way. And I wonder I am concerned like you, and I've been spending a lot of nights wondering where the where the connectivity gap is, Like why I can't get some brothers and sisters whom I respect, who lead organizations, who who are leaders in community, to see it's not lesser of two evils. It's not all politicians are the same. It's not oh so what he just made a phone call. It's not like we have.
We've gone so far away from the breaks that would keep us in line, that would keep us from just running away with ourselves until now everything is acceptable. If Bishop Jakes was on right now, he'd started talking about how it's the last days, because that's one of the signals of it. When we are just at the end of times and nobody gives a damn about lawlessness or lack of lawlessness, about the way we treat ourselves, about the way we treat our children when everything has just
run away from us. And so I don't think that means, though, that we don't dig in. I think it means we dig in further and we're more creative about the way that we do it. Because I got to tell you to began. My kids, who are teens, they get all of it. They are looking at us adults like we are dumb with two heads. Like when Trump was elected the first time, my daughter and her school, of course,
they had had their straw pool vote. Hillary Clinton won by landslide, and my daughter was you know, she was a young team then, but she walked in and she's like, so Mom, Like the women just voted to sell their uteruses to the men. I mean, they just didn't care, Like it was real plain. It was so plain to the teens, like they deal with the racism, and their thought is you elected a grand dragon of the Klan, and you're wondering why there's more racism, Like it's real
clear to them. So I'm just trying to figure out how we can stop gap until it's not up to us anymore and not really mess them up so they can come behind us. I mean, we see young state representatives and leaders who were coming who to me, have their head on straight and are ready to fight the way that we used to fight when we knew. Yet the man's always got it rigged for him that that's a given, that's not a surprise. We have to dig in though, and do our part.
And I think I think what Tamika said about what Sheelman said, it's the exact opposite, right, And I think it's not so much as misinformation, it is intentional spreading of false information, right.
I think we have to and that's one of my strategies.
Like I've realized that social media and media is such a big thing and a lot of people don't a lot of people don't focus on it as much of it is. But it's it's programming. It's constant programming. Like a lot of these cases.
You know, I literally watched somebody have Misinformation.
Is a rape case that came up by a god that's in this culture who was being you know, promoted as one of these top black leaders and he supposedly, you know, molested a young girl, his girl's daughter, and his conversation the mis information that he came out right, you know the law, so he said, you know, they was pleading.
They gave him a plea.
Bargain and they said, all right, if you don't the two molestation cases will drop them if you take the aggravated child abuse cases.
The mother didn't want to go to put a daughter to the child. She didn't want her to have to testify and do that, so they.
Offered him this, and in his attempt to miss interpret and give people for his information, he came and said that the prosecution and the mother agreed to.
Drop the charges.
Right, So when you don't know the law, when you don't know that, somebody pleads to a different thing doesn't mean no charges to drop. It means if you take this, then we won't prosecute you. And it's the means that we dropping the charges. But you have to accept the plea boggin. You pleaded to lesser charges, they didn't drop anything. If you don't take the plea boggain, then we still
prosecuting you on the top two charges. But when somebody comes to the internet and said, well those causes was dropped sexual assault, all of the sexual cases would drop.
The prosecution agreed to drop something.
It misinforms people, and people take that information and they say, look, he wasn't accused of that. He took something else because he wasn't accused of the set. And when we start hearing information like that in different places, like when we with Trump and you had people intentionally saying, well, Trump didn't do this, and Trump did that, and the real people who know aren't as loud, aren't on the same platforms, aren't utilizing the platforms to spread the real information the.
People take it.
When we look at Torrey LANs case, he utilized the whole social media just to put out false information every day and let the little minions and trolls say she launched and it was a whole people just called the lady a liar that never even knew what happened. Right, So by the time the actual facts of that case would presented, it was even people like Tamika was like, well, I don't know, I don't know what it's going to go on.
I'm confused, And I'm like, what do you mean you confused? Because but she's no, no, no.
I was never confused about the facts.
No, you wasn't.
You was confused about the reality of what was going what was going to happen in I was.
I was worried about the outcome basically on the shell game that I saw had what I'm.
Saying, I'm not saying. You didn't think the facts, so you knew what the fast was and you was like, well, damn, based on what they presented and based on what they're saying is happening in there, and it was so far from the reality.
When she actually went there and seeing she's like, damn, that's not what's going on. I seen something went exactly.
I went to court to see for myself because I was very I was like, I don't I don't you know, I believe I know what happened. I'm damned, like you know one hundred percent in my mind, but this over here, what they're trying to say sounds like something else. And I went to hear and see for myself, and I learned exactly.
And that's what I'm trying to say.
If we are not utilizing these platforms and we don't have the proper voices like yourself to come and snatch us back.
In and be like, no, we got to prosecute.
This man has a Rico, he did, and you when we look at you and I'm looking at you and I'm like, Okay, no know what the fuck you're talking about. But I'm over here getting a thousand people that's telling me some bullshit and they controlling the ears and the eyes of the masses. We have to be intentional, Monique.
We like, we can't.
We just can't leave it up because when you lose, even when you lose in the court and you win in the court of public, the pion, it's millions of people, right. It's why we have fucking January sixth, because the the misinformation and the intentional mispreading and some shit got people saying fuck that. And they literally were sitting there like, well, Trump told us we could do it. We just was doing what the President said, were taking back to white
and they thought they were, They really thought. So it's a cult like understanding of what I'm trying to say. And if we don't get somebody to intervene in that colt and have a counter narrative on these same platforms that they spreading this bullshit, then we're gonna we our people are gonna continue to keep telling the educated people
that you're talking about because they're getting their education. Even though they're educating in certain ways, social media and media has another level of education, right, and they hearing people that they respect come with count with narratives that are false and words are the false. And when they don't all the way know everything, they take that and they come to you and they say, well, this.
Is facts, and they come to you factually. And I've had people that I.
Just say, yo, bro, you just need to calm down. These are the fac Just look into it. You just calmed down to do a little extra work and look into something and you'll see, just like what I was talking about the rape. They and God came back and say, you know what, you was right. I apologize after two days telling me that I was spreading false information.
I was lying on the guy.
He wasn't having no sex charges and he wasn't gonna be in a sex offender program and he wasn't this, and I'm.
Like, by the information, this is a lot. I went to the web and I'm like, Broy, you just need to take your time.
And that's what our people are dealing one morning, so I think, what are we gonna do to change that? And to utilize these platforms that they're utilizing to mis to mis inform us, to give us the proper information.
Well, so a couple of things. First, the guy who said that those charges were draped, I don't know that story, so I don't know who you're talking about. But saying that charges were dropped when they were is correct. That's correct if you're or offered a plea bargain and the state.
This is why I talk about prosecutors and all their power decides when they could bring a murder charge, to bring an assault charge instead, to bring a manslaughter charge instead, to bring you know, and accept defensive others or whatever the defense may be. What that means is that you were not convicted of, nor did you stand trial for whatever those higher charges were. So you can keep saying any day you want to say that it was dismissed
and the context. Then it's up to the other people who know the information to include the context of yes, this was part of a plea bargain. We don't know what would have happened in court. We don't know if it would have been found guilty of the higher charges or not. Because this decision was made by the government that's one two. The court of public opinion. And my dear friend Ben Crump and I who I know is
y'all's dear friend and brother as well. We just agree about this all the time because he utilizes it just as much as the bad guys. Right, He utilizes it the minute, the minute that there's a case and the minute that he knows that he needs to get out in the public and inform the public. And you're going to see the press conference, you're going to see the news blitz, and you're going to see everything to get ahead of the story. Because that pressure is what creates
the good result for the client. And that's his only responsibility. His responsibility is not whether it ends up in a criminal trial or not. He's supposed to win his civil case. He's supposed to get the best resolution he can for the injured parties that he represents. He utilizes public pressure to do so. But that same public pressure can be utilized to destroy lives before they ever reach a courtroom. So we have black folk on black folks on black folk,
a few white folk here and there too. But again, I'm a criminal defense attorney. I never back away from it. And I'll say if you ever been found guilty of a crime, I don't care how many crimes you've been accused of us you're not guilty. And the way this country is supposed to work is that you are innocent until you are proven guilty. People can decide if they want to. They don't want to do business with you.
They don't want to take your shows and put them on TV anymore, they don't want to let you go on tour anymore. They don't want to do business with your company anymore. All those things can happen. But to me, my soign, if that happened to you as a black man in America, because that's what happens to nothing would piss me off more. Because now you're fighting Boogeyman, you're fighting snuffle of it, because back when nobody could see him but big Bird, you're fighting shadows and mirror tricks.
Because any newspaper can decide, Daily Mail can get up tomorrow and decide, let's tear down to Nika, let's tear down my son, let's tear down on Linda, let's tear down Angelope and do it based on rumors, based on rumors, and it'll never make it to a court, not a civil court, not a criminal court, and to me that is unjust. So that's why I fight.
Whether I think.
Somebody did something or didn't, I'm like, prove it. And if you're not gonna prove it, shut up about it, because we have to be able to What is the point. By the time you get to court, you get a really good criminal defense attorney and you're found not guilty, You've lost your whole life. Everybody left you, including your dog. What's the point?
So I think happened to Brian Benjamin, the lieutenant governor in New York.
They said he did something to quick quote.
Quot and he lost his job, He had to suspend his campaign, all of that lost friends, people start. We were at my birthday party and I won't they names, but there were people there who was like, he can't be in the picture.
You got him, get him over, he can't be because I can't.
You had staffers running around like, hey, you got to back you know, and we still we like Brian is our people because until proven guilty, which, by the way, to your point about context, I get your point. What you said about the charges being dropped are the charges being dropped, But when people have contexts that helps to provide more information that gives a full view of what you're looking at. You might see charges drop, but there's
a reason why. And a lot of times these prosecutors are looking for ways to easily shut stuff down, Like you know, they don't have the resources or the time that they just don't care enough maybe to even go through a whole long drawn now three four years process or a year or whatever however the length is, and so you know they're looking for ways to cut down down on time. So anyway, there's a lot of different
reasons why that might happen. But within Brian's situation, then they the judge said, will show us the quick profault. I judge said, I'm all four defans of bringing a case against this man.
I'm with it. Show me where the.
Specific like what did he gain he gave him and then he gave him more.
Show it to me.
Where is it?
They couldn't prove it, so they threw it. But to your point, they threw it out. But he still is not lieutenant governor. His campaign was still suspended, he still spent a million dollars on legal defense, and he still has another charge that is lingering that you need the first charge to prove the.
Second, but doesn't matter because they didn't throw it out yet.
So you're you're I mean, what you're saying is one hundred percent right, and I think my saying same thing.
Who should be Plorida governor right now? Same thing. They didn't attack that man relentlessly, relentlessly, relentlessly, and every single time he's come out of it clean. Same thing. Justin Fairfax was lieutenant governor, should be governor of Virginia came.
Out cleaning important point. Andrew Gillen.
They just dismissed Kate charges again to him Jesse a few months ago. Now, these people had the biggest scandoever. Notwithstanding who he slept with, what he may have done to his wife, what issues he may have had with drug use, and all of that.
I'm not all of that.
That's your personal judgment of him.
My life ain't clean enough to judge demand for who he slept with and whether or not he used drugs because I was in rehab at the same time. He and I learned on his podcast and we both literally shed tears what we learned that we both went to rehab. Right my situation may have been a little different, but I don't have the right to judge him on that.
But if that's what you choose to do, that's fine. Win Telmant.
They say he broke the law, he was lying, and that he was a conspiracy.
I mean, they had him on so many charges I don't remember and they dismissed it.
But his life is, his political career is he would have to build like Brian from the bottom all the way up again to restore the faith in people. But I tell you what, I think they should do it because Marion Barry Shaw did the group's great.
Yeah, but when you talk about brilliant, there was none as brilliant as him, as brilliant or as beloved. And I think that that is the combination when people really know that you are for them. Back in that day it didn't matter. But now, as you said that, with your birthday party and things like that, what they do now is like you don't even have to be the
person who's accused of doing something. If you support the person who is accused of doing something, if you speak well on their behalf, if you refuse to speak ill of them, they want to kill you too. They want you just as dead as the person. But here's the question though, and we gotta wrap up.
But when I think about asking Couture and Milo or whatever.
Her name, right, is there a line?
Now?
I'm not talking about they said something that you don't like, or they you know whatever, But I'm talking about a man who is now convicted of rape and you're writing character let us on his behalf?
Do we think is there a line?
Because what you're saying sounds real good and it's true, and it works for my relationship with Pooky because Pooky did some crazy shit, and I know he did some crazy shit, but I still know that he deserves redemption. But if I know POOKI was convicted of rape, I can promise you I'm not signing anything on his behalf. And that brings me to another conversation. We already had all of us, the Carlie Russell thing right the way I was able to back some people because people were
calling me they wanted they wanted literal blood. They wanted physical blood draining from her body, out of her eyes.
Okay, that's how they were calling me, like, no, no, she did.
And I get it.
They're emotional because they got emotionally connected, so they emotionally connected to the end result. But what I kept saying was, but you the same person that called me and asked me to write a letter on behalf of your nephew, who you know, robbed mama, saying in the projects, but you want me to understand that he was a trouble kid, and he went some things.
He was da da da dad.
So we can help Poky ray ray t t and we should. But you're ready to kill Carly Russell. So the question becomes, where's the line?
Yeah, yeah, I mean, and the preacher in me would always have to say, there's no greater or lesser sin. So it's not that there's one track for the murderer. There's another track for the rapist, there's another track for the white collar embezzler. All have sinned and fallen short. And the decision then becomes whether we believe that there is rehabilitation in the law or not, and whether we believe that people should have the opportunity for it or not.
I can tell you I've known you long enough. I believe strongly enough in you and your character, in the good works that you do in the community, in your heart that no matter what came tomorrow, Like tomorrow, we could find out you a terrorist, or you could be accused of being one. You could be convicted of being one at your letter. And I'm gonna tell them what I know. I'm not gonna say. Listen, she if she did that one, I'm you're gonna have to convince me
she wasn't. Not in her mind because she needs help. She doesn't need a prison if she did whatever it is, y'all say she did second because I'm down like that. I'm like and she's still my girl, because it would the person I know. I'm fighting for that person to come back, and that may still end up being with prison time.
Then they still end up being with whatever.
But the way the system is working now, people don't even seem to want to judge to have anything to balance. You're gonna have fifteen victim statements, impact statements, but they want the criminal, the convicted criminal, to just start wherever the crime started. Nothing else they did in life mattered until they stole that one million dollars. Come on, now,
in what world is that true for anybody? So I don't blame people for wanting to write and saying this is who we knew, and this is what they did in the community, or this is what they did in work, or this is the good value they offer to society, because those are things that judges should be able to consider. Will it balance it such that you can walk for rape? No,
you already convicted. That's not happening. But it doesn't make the people who are willing to say something about the person they knew, it doesn't make them bad people for that. Now the letter is also saying something ridiculous like, oh and they asked for it, well not some bullshit. You can't say that. So there are limits, but there are to be safety and protection, in my opinion, such that I can write a letter to Judge chuck In just even that for an example, because I just like bringing
up her name. I'll to be able to write a letter to Judge chuck In and say, listen my says to Meka. I don't know what happened on that third day in June.
I don't know.
It was a very bad day. But here's who she's been for the past twenty years. We got to be able to get to do that. That's that's my last tie.
You know what that's a dope perspective, and I agree.
I agree, we got we gotta give people enough grace because you don't know everybody's relationship with someone else, you know, and and when people love somebody, you got to stay if you can't say that you love somebody and don't want to stand with them in their hardest times to some certain degree, So.
I support that, and I thank you.
I'm just telling you my line. I have a line at certain types of abuse against women and children.
I have a line.
Absolutely, and I would say even with men, because if I found out that my that's someone I know, and you would have to be damn close for me to decide I don't care, not I don't care, but that I'm gonna still put myself out there.
But my line is it's definitely.
Around women and children. Let me just put it that way. If I know that you have done something to really harm a woman and or a child, I'm going to be much more careful. And I'm also considering, as I'm mulling this over, that if you took the life of somebody else's child, they son, daughter, or whomever, I.
Don't know, I don't know. I agree with you.
I agree with you.
You know, if you stole something, I'm with you because I get it, you know, and I know it's wrong, and I will tell you all of that. I'm with you if you did you know some of these things. But when you start talking about.
People's children, I get real sensitive around that area.
And so that's something I need to work through. And I think all of us have the right to decide what you are willing to stand behind. Because my name is all I have. So when I put my name on something, and by the way, by the way, I have to accept the fact because to my son's point,
if I choose, then I'm gonna stand with you. I know you may have killed somebody, you did something, and now it's been twenty years or fifteen years or five years, and I see the growth and you know whatever, and I want to stand by you.
Pool I'm with that.
I've done it many times for many brothers, especially many brothers, trying to support them in their journey towards redemption. But I need to be prepared to put that shit on my own social media.
I don't need to be like, oh I didn't know that.
The judge will oh yeah, yeah, oh yeah, you gotta be willing to stand ten toes down on whatever you say, because your name is your name, and if you write your name on something, then you are saying I am with whatever this person, not what they did for who they are.
That's right, that's right, And the crisis manager and me will offer that free tip if you are in public life at all, any single thing you do, be prepared for that thing to be on the front page of everything the next day. And if you're still okay with doing it, proceed otherwise. Govern yourself accordingly.
Well, we love you, mo, and you know, as usual, you've given us perspectives, brilliant perspectives, and we're gonna mulle it over, you know, and take it and hopefully we our people will get it, you know, because when we go through we did, like we're dealing with times right, like a lot of there's a lot of just black people, leaders and everything who are scared right now, Like we got a we got a person who's got forty something
fucking federal charges that could actually get voted than this president, like it has an opportunity like this, this is some shit that's never been heard of.
So what is it we're looking at what does that actually mean? Like, what does that actually mean for our future?
So, you know, I'm hoping that people take, you know, pay a lot more attention, listen to things you're saying. We start utilizing these same platforms to properly educate our people about what's going on, you know, and give the voices to those who actually know, you know, give them platforms and a voice to those who actually know to spread words, you know.
And that's why it's so important that money goes on like Fox News, because I've had friends tell me I'm not doing Fox News.
Nah, but a lot of times. And I used to do Fox News all the time.
By the way, when I used to work at National Action Network, I was on all the time. They don't invite me anymore. And I'm not going to like go pitch myself if they call, though I don't. I wouldn't. But it has become a gotcha space. When I used to on years ago, fifteen years ago, you could actually have a conversation with Sean Hannity. Nowadays, it's now like you know, they you know, it's a different environment. So I get why people are saying they don't mess with it.
But I think to my son's point, right, you need to be in the same places where the misinformation is being spread.
Yeah, and we need to support our people who are trying to put the right information out there too, which shameless plug. We do this every day day through Friday noon on Make It Make Sense. Please join me on IG and on YouTube and I'm going to leave and actually go do a recording now with an administration official. But black media is working hard to try to get the right message out there, and I agree with you.
We need to be in those other spaces too, as long as they're not just pimping us, because that's why I stopped, because they were just trying to They were using me for clicks and then by the time you know, it actually comes out, it's like a SoundBite. I ain't doing that no more.
Got Well, we love you, We appreciate you. Continue to be great.
Make It Make Sense with Money Presley on Instagram and YouTube, tell them what you where to.
Follow you a moment at Money Presley Everywhere, Monique Presley TV on YouTube. Got You I amis.
Shout out to Monique Presley man always coming with word, educated and formed, strong, passionate, you know, and she know her shit. You know, she know what she'd be talking about, So shout out to her. Make sure y'all follow her, follow her show on YouTube and on Instagram at Monique Presley on all forms of media.
So we've come to my I don't get it.
Last week, like during the weekend, I posted about a young lady who allegedly.
Was hit with the brick in the face. She posted a video first.
The first video I saw was from a hospital room and she was explaining how she was hitting the face of the brick because she didn't want to give a guy a number. She was hysterical, she was crying and face was swollen, so obviously I assumed that this had happened. Then I seen another video, actually from the scene of where it happened, her taking a video of herself talking to a man saying, I was hitting the face of the brick and these black men just stood around and
did nothing. And in the background you can hear the black men saying, well, what were.
We supposed to do?
Like?
What are we supposed to do? Like? You know, and then she was like, you're supposed to be a man, You're supposed to be a man. So that was sound by a guy. And then after that there was another man.
Who said that he was actually physically there, you know, and his point was he was trying to justify why he did nothing. You know, he said, yeah, she was hit with the brick, but you know she was asking for it.
She was loud.
You know, if you go to Instagram, you see her always talking this and that. You know, I'm not protecting, I'm not getting involved in none of that. You know,
she pretty much brought it or herself, you know. And my response to the whole situation in general was, you know, as a black man, I was ashamed that black men would either participate by hitting the woman with the brick in the face before not talking to us, and then you know, try to justify it, or sit there and watch and not try to intervene, or try, you know, even to just interject and try to stop her from
being hit. I'm not saying everybody's supposed to fight. We don't be the toughest person, don't risk your life, don't go out and fight and shoot someone. I'm not saying none of that. I'm saying, as a man of good moral content, if you've seen a woman about the conscious, my fault good and moral conscious. If you've seen a man about to hit a woman in the brick something innately, and you should say, hey, calm down, brother, let's stop.
You just just think about it, relaxed. I know you frustrated, but just to try to de escalate the situation.
You know.
So I say, any man who wouldn't do that, it's a conrad. And any man who would hit a woman in the face with a brick is a cow, you know. So, as of late, there's there's been some discoveries on different YouTube pages that shows that there's a possibility, strong possibility, that this woman created a whole hoax in order to raise money for a go fundme. Her go fund me is now up to about forty thousand dallars. She has two different go Fundme pages now up to about forty
thousand dollars. And there's been different people supposedly quote unquote because now you don't know who's what, supposedly one of her friends, you know, who would supporting her. They have showed that she's in pictures with her, they hang out together.
It's saying that you know, this is probably about the third or fourth time she's done this, and she didn't want to say anything because she didn't want people to come at her, So she figured people would eventually find out their pictures with her.
With similar a similar swollen.
Face and it's supposedly attributed to allergic reaction and that she's had. They also have a picture of her moments before inside of the club with a full mask on her face in black mass all you can see is her eyes or they show her that I think it comes from her page these that she actually has tape or took videos herself.
Then they interviewed a.
Couple of the guys who you see in the video in the background where she's saying that they were watching her, and they saying they actually never seen her get hit with her break. They just seen her come and they was trying to help her, like yo. They were trying to get the police. She didn't want to make a police report, and she drove off before when they went to get the police.
She left before the police got there.
Then they're saying that she went to a clinic, and the clinic the people at the clinic stated that she never came there for injuries that she said it was either allergic reaction or she had celine. She puts saline into this. So there's so many different things that lead and then you know she's just pretty much disappeared.
And you see that she's asked for money on.
Numerous occasions for medical you know, bills, she never identified, the god didn't make the police support the people at the clinic say, she never said that she was here. There's all types of things that leads to us to believe that there's a strong possibility that she might have did this hoax to raise money. What I don't get, right, the point of me that I don't get is people telling me that I should apologize, And first of all, I would like to know who and what I should
apologize for. First, who should I apologize too? And what should I apologize for?
Right? And I should hold women accountable.
First of all, I'm not a woman, right, but if this woman did something and she scammed people, she should be held accountable.
You know, it's wrong we're dealing with.
We're in a time when black women are always being abused.
There are so many just like the Carlie Russell.
I do not condone any woman that will utilize their platform with voice to you know, to lie to get gone attention. I do not support any woman who would lie on black men, you know, especially in times when we're trying to be united, lie on black men and cause some level of division and make it seem as black men did something to Harmer. I do not condone that, you know, and never will you know. And I think
she should be held accountable. I think everybody who gave her money, you know, if it's found out that she lied, and we should figure out what is the process to get your money back first of all, and then prevent things like this.
From happening again. But I will not apologize for.
Being a man and stating that a woman should not be hitting the face of the brick. I will not apologize for being a man and stating that any man that would sit around and watch a woman hitting the face of the brick and not do anything verbally, physically, anything to try to stop or try to, you know, disengage that situation from happening, is a coward. I will not apologize for those states.
I will not.
Apologize for me standing up for women. I'm not gonna be I'm not gonna apologize. I will continue to be quote unquote as simple whatever y'all want to call me, I'll take on that, but I have no reason to apologize for that stance.
And the main arguments that I.
Had with people were not that people that came to nobody came to my package said Yo, she's lying, this didn't happen, and me and that person got into an argument, and I called him a coward because he didn't believe it happened.
Those people were and people are engaged. The people are engaged.
Were the people who told me that, well, she shouldn't have said this, or she shouldn't have did this, or you know, I looked at her page and she talked too much. She don't need a black man, so no man should protect him. I will not apologize for saying if any man that had that position to me was had a cowardy position.
You understand I'm saying. I did not discredit any man.
Who didn't believe that the situation happened because that's his perspective. But I think as men in our society, especially as black men, we should never be okay with watching other men beat on black women. And I'm not gonna apologize for that. So if somebody's looking for apology for me, for that, then they are looking for the wrong thing from the wrong person. What I will say is we need to be careful, right black men, black women, But in this case, black women, we have to be careful.
Right.
We have to be careful because you wanted to utilize this platform and utilize your voice to cause false alarms. Right, they are really black women are being harmed out here. They are really Black women who are being beat and destroyed and harmed and physically beat and abused. And every time that you do this, it's harder for us, the ones who want to protect you to fight. And we already fighting agains the Black women's already the most disrespected
and unprotected being on this earth. It makes it harder. I'm not going to stop standing up, but I want you to understand that you give you give some level of credence to voices who want to discredit the Black women's clean You give credence to those you know. So I'm I'm not against anyone who's calling this woman now. I'm not against anyone who's telling us how damage that she is or utilizing their platform.
I'm not against any of that. But my job as a.
Black man is to pull up black men and call out black men and tell black men what we should be doing. You know, I believe that situations like that it's harder for them to happen when we standing on our square as we're supposed to, you know. But when you got a million men in my inside of my my my comments saying well, she deserves it, and only only certain type of women is supposed to be protected, and if she ain't moving a certain way, then you know,
fuck it. I ain't stopping nobody. That's not my business. I gotta worry about my own, you know. When I see those type of things inside of my comments, you know, that's where the problem is for me.
You know.
And when and when women, when women see that, they feel like, damn, look how many men actually feel that way?
Look coming? And this ain't have This has very little to do with this one incident, right. It has to do with an overall mind state, because before you knew or believe that this woman came up with false allegations for money, you believe that she got hit, but you tried to figure out the reason why it made sense that she got hit. And that's what we have to point out. Let's not point on this war.
Let's not use this isolated situation, you know, to completely come up with the total hypothesis of what we're dealing with as black in America, women, black women, and black men are dealing with. So once again, I don't understand what y'all want me to apologize for. I'm never going to apologize for saying that black women need to be protected. I'm not condoning anything this woman did. I don't condone
nothing that Cary Russell did. I think they need to deal with the consequences of those actions, with those actions that they did on them, I'm talking about black women and black men as a whole being united and taking care.
Of each other.
I mean, I think, yeah, certainly, when there are these types of incidents, they certainly furthers the lack of protection that we as black women feel. But by the way, a lot of people, regardless of whether she was telling the truth or ling, they still ain't gonna do nothing.
And in fact, some of them.
Are the abuses, which is why they really don't want to why they really spend a lot of time behind fake profiles trying to make the case.
Of why a women deserve x y Z.
So that's one thing I think also though, that when you are a trying to be a voice and you're trying to work in certain areas, you have passion, and you have a public profile, and you're speaking on whatever different issues, you're not always going to be right.
That's just life like.
There's going to be a percentage of cases that we work on that we learn details as we go along that if we had known in the beginning, we might not have continued to engage. We may have done it with more caution, We may have said different things. We may have even wanted those those issues to come forward early so that they wouldn't come later. And I always say to people, more you tell me about whatever details has happening that night, when it's shooting took place or whatever.
It's helpful because we could get.
In front of people later on saying that we you know, we tried to hide things or suppress information for the good of our case, or you know, to talk bad about police or whatever. They say a lot of different things, So that is just what it is. It's not going to be one hundred proof. You're going to have instances in scenarios where you find out. But the thing is even if and I'm just using this as an example because or two things as an example, right, two things
I can use as an example. Even if George Floyd did take a drug, had nothing to do with that officer choking him to death. Even if Breonna Taylor's old boyfriend was involved in a legal drug activity, had nothing to do with them lying on the warrant to go to a house and shooting them up in the middle of the night, or shooting her up and putting Kenny's life in danger in the middle of the night, had nothing to do with that, right, And so you can
still support, as you said, your premise. Your premise can still be strong, it can be as it has made, as it has been.
But then you can.
Also make room for additional things that come into play, as you know more. That's just life, what I will say, as my one and I've been we talk about this all the time, and I notice it, and I also have many conversations with lately, I've been talking with Charlemagne and Teslin in our personal group chat about this as well. The Internet is a very dangerous place. It's a very
dangerous place. It lacks information, sometimes it lacks context. We just finished talking with Monique about how the way that people interpret stories, because I've seen I've literally watched people tell stories about me or my life or what I'm doing or whatever, and it's completely not in line with who I really am or even what was going on in that moment. But because they are loud, they get
to tell their story and it's spread. So what I am now learning and what I have been focused on, is that while there is a lot happening on the Internet, and it is a place that we all us go and know what the energy is, and this is where you learn about a lot of cases and people get to contact you and what have you, you really have to be careful with how much of it you consume and how quick we are to respond to what we're seeing. Right, So I am in a lot of ways because we
have so much other work that's happening every day. And you obviously have so much other work. You got books, I got books. It's all kinds of things going on. I am finding myself beginning to pull back from the Internet a lot more. I'm beginning to be less engaged with.
Trying to quickly respond to things that I see.
It's okay for me to let three or four days pass of a story until I'm able to watch the unpacking of it and then decide what I want to say, but more importantly, what I want to do right. And so that's my suggestion to you is that you have to You're never going to be a hundred proof, hundred proof with any of these things. I'm not talking about an apology or whatever that's on you how you feel you want to deal with it, but you're never going
to be a hundred proof. But you do have to build guardrails because what you are, what you are experiencing in this moment right which you don't need a woman with a brick, whether she lying or telling the truth, to make the case about the protection of black women.
I get it.
People learn more with imagery and examples that make them emotional, and then we have emotional connection to these issues because we believe if I see somebody being abused by a police officer, I saw a woman being choked to death by a man in a beauty supply store, Oh that makes me I get emotionally charged. That's the only way I can continue to do this work right. But I am in my as I grow in this movement. I'm realizing that it's okay to put a few days between
me speaking on it. I don't have anything. I'm not in a rush because the problem is not going to just go away. And yeah, it's true that if you try to enter the chat three days later, people are like, what the hell you talking about? We've moved on, But more than likely folks are not going to move on from a woman being hit in the face by a brick or these other issues. So my thing, and I've
been saying it. I've said it to myself, I've said it to you, and I will continue to say that the Internet is not the same place that it once was. And I know that a part of what we believe is like, well.
We have to be the balance.
But the thing is, you are one person that does not have the resources to send somebody to interview the people, to go talk to the lady. You don't have that type of the resources to do that, so you have to use discernment. And the discernment, unfortunately, is if something this is what I have found, if something.
Is serious enough.
It'll find this way to you and give you an opportunity to do what you think needs to be done on it.
But I am removing.
Myself as much as possible from and not to say I don't won't do it sometimes or whatever, but I'm removing myself as much as possible from the need to respond quickly to everything that I see, or to even some of the things that I see. And now I'm beginning to take the time to listen, learn, read, and understand more so that I can slow down or reduce the number of mistakes and or false representations or whatever, Carli.
But then again to the point Carl Russell, right, you only got seventy two hours when somebody's missing, so you can't wait three days. But I even still waited twenty four hours, and then I could still be wrong, you see what I'm saying.
So I could still.
Be wrong, or not so much that I was wrong, because I wasn't wrong at all. It's nobody like you said, this is nobody apologized to because that's on Carly.
It's not on me.
I did what I thought was right based upon the information that I had, and it's a short window to make the statement. But I think that there has to be a balance, and one of the balances is recognizing that the Internet has become such successful.
We got it.
By the time I spoke on Carli Russell. It wasn't just because the Internet was telling me to which they were. It was because Star Jones and other people were calling me saying they spoke to her mother.
But that's my advice.
No, it's good advice, and you know, and we live and we learned, and I just think for me, black women being hitting their face is imminent. Danger is immediate, right, It's like and just the way that I spoke on it was just based on the situation.
That it happened.
It wasn't just oh, I was hitting the face of the brick, boomom boom, boh. It was the fact that there were other men there, right, and there were so many people that was coming and making it seem like it was justifiable. So even the situation itself to me was triggering because it's like.
What do you mean, what does she do? What do you mean?
You know, I need more context if she got hitting the brick, I want to understand why, right, That in itself was triggering to me. And I actually took two days because I was getting overflooded with it. For days, I never commented on it, you know, so when it originally happened, I never said anything about it. So I took two days and I think, you know, just just moving forward, you know, I don't. I think when I comment on the situation, it's going to be more.
It's something that the.
Issue rather than the particular thing, unless it's something that particularly the particular thing needs us a call to action, you know what I'm saying. The issue around what happened to the women was, you know, the mind state of black men around what was supposedly happened to the woman was detrimental to me that I was focusing on and I and my goal now is to focus on black men.
Right. I'm doing Raisin Kings.
I got a book called Raising Kings, Twelve Principles of Manhood, you know. I got an organization boycott black murder. I got you know, ending calviculture. It's really me focusing on understanding that when men get back to their natural you know, in society, then everything else will be fine. The women that were talking about they need to do this with men's women start seeing men move in.
The proper right.
Women know that they're protected, that they got people that they could trust. All these things, and we're doing the shit as we do. I think women go back to their natural you know, as being leaders of society, but understanding that we work in unison and not saying I don't need this and I don't need a man, and we don't get into this, you know, this gender shit. So my thing is I focus on men. I'm not focusing on women because I've never been a woman in
my life. I don't know the mentality of a woman. I don't know the physical you know, women feel every day, how they emotionally attach or But I've been a man every day and I've been around men of strong caliber and strong you know, moral compasses a lot of my life. So I know how to speak to that, and I know how to speak to those who have that.
Inside of them. So that's what my focus is.
Everybody got something to focus if you go to school, is one teacher teach history.
One people teachers teach this. They teach that.
My My subject is men in manhood, and I'm going to focus on that. So everyone, I want you to call out women, I'm not That's not really my job. I learned that by being around strong women that me trying to man explain a woman into what she needs to be doing as a man.
It don't work.
It actually just caused further division when I focus on me, and then it makes them want to focus on them. It makes women say, you know what, I see, the men are over here focusing on them. Let us get out with shit together so that we're on the same page.
Okay, Well, I mean I like the fact that you've said where you see you could do something different, which is to talk about the issue, because I think you were saying when they were trying to tell you that she makes skips, you shown like this is a different shirt, and to your point, like there's no reason to even get into that because you don't know whether she's telling the youth or not. You could say, it doesn't matter what she's telling you.
Let's talk about the scenario, right, So I think you know and it's not an easy thing to figure out. My So, I think you're doing the right thing by recognizing, Okay, this is what I could do different, but there's really not. You can never apologize for standing up.
For what you.
Not at all.
And with that said brings us to the end of another Street Politicians episode. We appreciate all our followers, all our supporters. Make sure you follow street at Street Politicians Pod on Instagram, and Tamika mentioned earlier We're going to start doing some shows on Sundays where we talk about things on Street Politicians and we have issues and we have guests, and.
We want you to tune into that.
And if you haven't seen all our episodes, please tune in, go to YouTube and follow us, you know, follow our Women TV. They have all of our episodes on our Women TV. And make sure that you tune in. Man, this is one of the dopest shows in the world and if you're missing it, that you're missing out something that is extremely, extremely the greatest number one show in the world world. I'm not gonna always be right, Tamika D.
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