What's up, family, I'm to make a d Mallory and I might son the general. Welcome to Street Politicians, the place where the streets and politics. Me. Yes, yes, yes, we got us an episode today. It's enough going on. Man. The world has shifted. It keeps shifting, but it shifted again.
If listen to me, I was innb in Atlanta after the day after we participated and helped the all the organizations in Atlanta who was out there doing work to make sure that we gotta Senate that was actually able to help this administration passed some laws from back and you know, and we were celebrating that we are so that you can't say it because you don't know what they're gonna do, but you only we know that, listen, that's all we know. We know that we our jobs.
We looked, we said, okay, we're gonna put all the feats on the ground. We went out to Atlanta. The boots and the feet snowler. We was on the ground. We was out there working and we knocked on doors, were handed out pamphlets. We do feel like feats on the ground. It does the ground when you knocking on them. Listen, door knocking, It was cold. Door knocking is very very hard. People think that going out and knocking this stuff is like fun. You'll look like you're having to get Some
people don't want you to make it look fun. They're looking at you do guns everything. You know. Georgia they got this open carry state. So I knocked on. We knocked on one door. A Meal Washington from wote vote and I were when we got in teams and he and I were walking through this neighborhood. So one door that we knocked on. First of all, I think that in this particular corridor it's like a dead and like
a cul de sac. I think that black people called each other on the phone and said day out here again on open the door, because nobody but everybody's cars was in the yard. Everybody cars all up on the grass and everything that they would have barbecues, but they weren't home. But there was this one place that we walked up to and it said, um, it's not worth it. Nothing that we have in this house is worth your
life because we have several guns in here. And I'm like, and I'm supposed to go here the porch exactly scream and say have you voted? That's what not just certain certain places you just walk up, you look, you assess the situation. So this is dangerous, it's pretty die here. So you put you put the little pamphlet on the thing.
You said, hey, make sure you're going to vote. Make sure we just you know, just we just we just got some literature here to make sure you're going to vote if you haven't voted, which is what they did not do for Brianna's right and Kenny Walker, because we know that when you don't know about other people's communities, but I know in the black community, when you are going to campus to knock on doors to bring them groceries, to you know, provide a service if you are a friend,
a visitor yourself, when you approach the area, the more noise that you can make, the more that you can make it clearness that I'm not here, I'm peace. Yeah, you can get out or something. You gotta let you gotta know who you are, because nobody's more likely we ain't gonna shoot the police because we were scared of That's why you know, we understand you're going to jail forever. You shooting the police? Who shooting? And if you're gonna
shoot at the police. You ain't shooting one shot. The person who made the determination that I'm shooting at the police, it's even gonna killed or died. They ain't saying you let me shoot one shot and hope and let them catch me and kill me. No, that person has made a full asked me that I'm trying to take you out or you're gonna take me out. So if somebody shot one shot, they did not know no police. What did Ruby detail Denzel Washington and American gangs? She said, listen,
I know you don't kill cops. Everybody knows everybody, your wife knows, your brother, everybody except you. And she said, she said she I would leave you. She said she will leave you too. You're gonna because black people know you can't kill anything with cops. So anybody that felt that these people actually shout the cops on purpose with one shot that rick off the ground is out of the damn mind completely. But anyway, knocking on doors is hard,
and we did that in Georgia. We really days and shout out to woke, vote to Wanna Thompson a meal, all of their whole team. They've been with us, you know, Tristan from the whole state of the State of Emergency tour until we went to Georgia. You know, the camaraderie that we built as a team, it's just dope. So my story, I was telling my story, you know, I was just we were celebrating. We was happy. He was like, yes, we just finished the gathering spot. We we've seen the
votes was in. Everybody was amped up and we went to sleep. We woke up, you know, we had a long night with but we all knew that there was going on, and it was like, let's see what the fools are doing. And I turned on the TV. And by the time I turned on the TV, you know, I'm listening, Trump is right, that was you were watching. Watch in his address and what he was saying was just I was like, is he really saying that? He said, We're gonna walk down and I'll be there with you.
We're gonna walk down, gonna walk down anyone you want. But I think right here, we're gonna walk down to the capital and we're gonna cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women, and we're probably not gonna be cheering so much for some of them. Because you'll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong. That sounds like he's telling people we're gonna go because I know if if he said it's going to take force, it's gonna
take it. We're gonna take it back with force, and it can't be weak. You can't be weak. And I'm like, yo, yeah, what I mean he literally just said that if we said that, we turned no. But it gives ja Well, that's one thing. I mean, let's let's just for that. Listen to me. For that statement alone is reason let's talk about complete treason. Will talk about the Black Panthers and others who just for the mere statement. We're locked up just for the mere statement because they said it
is inciting violence. That is what we have heard over and over again in history. But for us, we know that at the point that we would have had that kind of energy like we're gonna walk down here, we're gonna take back no weakness does as soon as we would have turned around, they would have been lined up in the street with tanks, dogs, shooting tear gas, flash bombs, Like, what are we talking about? They did that, and we was walking down the street to my we shall become
that's it. Holding hands. These people they got guns, they got sticks, faces is meaning have painted their skin, they got heavy they're walking on a black like this. You look and tell that they have at them, were walking down with our hands, were kneeling and y'all, well, whoever saying that, But the bottom line is the response to us and the response to them. It's just so it was just so different. I think as I watched those people take over that capital building, and I was just
really an amazement. I said, yo, and I don't care what we say about Trump. Trumper is a gangster. Trump. Trump is moving criminal. No, no, it's gangster this he's a criminal because no, no, because at the end of the day, he's a criminal. He has the criminality along with the gangsterism. Because the bottom line is that man told his people tear down but listen. If they don't look, they are threatened our democracies and landslide. They took over.
We gotta take our country back. And he said, just people out there, he eve been Trump been doing some gags. I've never seen. The only person I've seen moved like him is Al Capone and Gian Gardy, I've never I've never seen nobody else move like this. This man is literally calling hits from the White House. He has told people he told on me, we're gonna take care of him. If you don't tell on me, we're gonna get you party, We're gonna part of you like I have never And
that's what he's been doing the last few weeks. This man is pardon in criminals. He is calling for violence, he is causing civil unrest. I mean, he is so dangerous. But as I have said it, I said almost every episode. I'm gonna be saying it forever. It's cute now that Facebook and Twitter and Lindsy Graham and Mitch McConnell and all these people have found somewhere in the sky that this can't happen. This is wrong, it's not. But they were four years you know what it is. These people
understand the significant situation. Right now Trump is about to leave office. Sail said, we're gonna put cases on all you. They put cases on oh you, We've oh y'all this ship is Conspiracy'll listen to me. This man is running an organized and they realized they're like, you know what, when he get out, ain't nobody to protect us because he told us he could partner us when he ain't the president of more and these people come down with them,
charges them, conspiracy charges. I don't need nothing to do with it. They're like, you know. I looked at Lindsay Lindsey Graham the other day. Lindsey Graham was smacked. He was I wanted to wanted you to win. I wanted you to win. I wanted everything. We gotta stop, no, and then he said we got people said we got to stop. At this point, it's nothing here for us. I wanted you please. It's Lindsey Graham looks like he's drunk, like he's had a few. I was sitting there having
me a few, like Lindsay, me and you together. This is too much. It is. It's just and a woman. The woman got shot these people. The lady had the Trump flag and the Americans. Did you see the video that she made before she cursed out Kamala average And you still feel bad and you don't because you don't want nobody to die. We listen to me, if if it was one of us, that there are many people, many white folks, just gotta say what I gotta say. They would say you deserved it because you shouldn't have
been at smoking. That's what they say. With us, we say, oh my god, I'm still still I feel so bad. You know that this could happen to her, This woman was killed. You know what I just said. I was very bad. I just when I've seen it. I just said to Brianna Taylor, you know because I really understood. No, I know what you're saying, because it was really bad. Because when you look at that situation, I think at that point, right, you understood. So imagine you sleeping in
your home and the police kill you. You just walked in the door, you unarmed, and police killed you, and people are sad, and I don't know what she was offers. It seemed to me like the black officer in one situation, the one I don't know if he was a FBI, you know whatever, he was the military and not military,
like a secret service or something like that. But that officer and then um, the other officer that we saw being chased up the stairs trying to stop the mob that was coming in the building, saying like the black officers were taking on the responsibility. The man was at the door with. How did they leave that black man at the door with a stick he was run No, he had a as I saw it, but he didn't he know better, he saw a gun on his way. I would have pulled up what he knew better about
he go back to the shoot you. They didn't. They weren't. But see the thing is, it wasn't worth dying or even ruining your career and everything else for shooting those people all. But I'm fulk building because it's not about shooting him down. That's the building. You're not getting it what I would have did right, I'm not swinging those sticks as they welcome, trying to do his job. Back up, going where you're going, don't walk up to me because the check me, I'm pulling it at you, like listening
where you're going go, don't walkoume to me. I don't want to shoot you, but I'm gonna check my life. It didn't seem to me, and I think they did it on purpose. I think it was strategic that for the most part they were holding their hands up. They were trying to show that I'm not trying to hurt you, I'm not even thinking about you, but you're gonna let me go where it. The thing is this you're running up and you're not stopping him. You wasn't like this
walking your dad. You're swinging a stick there like this. It's too much to have to analyze because you can't get into the minds of these people. But it brings me to my thoughts to day, because I was thinking that perhaps there needs to be an education when we say white supremacy and when we talk about the social constructs of you know, racism and white privilege. It seems like even though we say it all the time, there still needs to be an education that we're not talking
about individual white people. I think that makes sense. That's a good thought to have. Yeah, like perhaps siouness, because I still in fact, I wrote on my social media when this all first happened, like you said, we all met downstairs, um in the living room, and we began to watch this craziness that's going on in the news, and I immediately ran to pick up my cell phone and to tweet out black people stand back and stand
by today. You don't you don't need to go to work, if you live in d C. You don't need to be running around town. And definitely Do not go out there getting yourself involved in white folks tantrum that they're having with the America that has promised them something that they feel is slipping out of their palms. Do not go out there with that because it's not our fight. It doesn't mean that there is not a fight that we are engaged in every single day, and we don't
have to fight for our lives. But it is not our fight to go and get in the middle of white people fighting white people about white privilege. We shouldn't be in that. And there were people. One of my family members says, she shared it because she knows what I'm saying is a accurate and she talks. She got a lot of white friends, um, and she said that they started calling her and they were very upset because they were saying, are you speaking about me and my family?
And I'm white and I didn't do this, and you know why, why are you coming at us like this? It's us. It's not saying about you, Becky, this saint about you. See the problem with this is that you don't want to listen. Because we have to say it a million times, We have to continue to clarify when we talk about white supremacy. It's not white people. There's a white construct. America is built on a construct that white.
This and any proximity to whiteness is power. It is it gives you an opportunity to have justice, to be treated like human beings. You watch the officer see an old woman, and I wasn't mad at this. There was a white officer and this white old lady who had just stormed the capital, and he walked her down the stairs. He grabbed her hand because he looked at her and he's seen humanity. He looked at her and said, this
is could be my grandmother. And even though I might, even though I might not agree with this, or even if I do agree with this, I don't want to see this old woman who identify as someone that I should take care of harm. That's what humanity is. Well, what happens to us. You walk into an old woman house named deb Danna, who is mentally ill, who is sixty seven years old, and she has a pair of scissors, and you shoot her two times in her abdomen. You
know why, because you don't see humanity. White supremacy makes you not see the humanity in black people. So it's not about white people because black people can participate in white supremacy because they are black people who have been taught that they are less than. So they so when they are around other white people who practice white supremacy, they believe in order to move up, they have to look down on their own people, they have to look
at them like they're not human. So don't just take it, Becky. It's not about you. That's nothing to do with you, know what I'm saying. It's not individually. And if you don't identify that your whiteness gives you a lot more privilege, it doesn't. It gives you more powerful. Lebron James moved into a neighborhood as an almost billionaire and they wrote
nigga on his home. You don't have to experience that, you know why, Because it doesn't matter how much money we have, like jay Z said, we are still nigga in the eyes of those people who this white supremacist right, who live in and and and and The thing is when you say it's not about you, Becky, it is about individual Becky's. Although we're not saying that every single white person agrees with it, and again practices every day white person. But every single white person absolutely benefits from
white privilege. Every single white person benefits from it. And if you are not anti racist, I'm not talking about being nice. And I have black friends and we all cool and I don't go out and hurt people. And my daddy didn't have slaves, and my grandfather helped to get some of the slaves free at some point. I mean this things. I hear the things they were, I listen. I I found a document in my house that shows
that my great grandfather actually helped to get miss Sally free. Okay, that's wonderful, But we're talking about you individually, and what we're saying is that being anti racist means that you're not just a good ally, but that you are also an accomplice in this work, and that you are as invested to the point where you make daily sacrifices in order to ensure that nothing about the privilege that you will afforded as a birthright is present in your workplace.
As a human resources director, as an educator, you have to make sure that you literally sacrifice. So that means that you might be getting uninvited from the barbecue right at your family's house, because when they start talking about those niggers, you say, they're not niggers. And I will not be here and participate or even here or allow any type of conversation that happens around me or my
children that degrades a group of people. It means that your girlfriend who talk down against other black women, or you know, make fun of our hair, make friends fun of our nose, make fun of the ways in which our children look. That you are constant, that you are known as a person who draws the line. So just going along to get along and being a nice person, and you don't do these things to people, and you pay folks that work for you properly and you treat
them nice. That's cool. But we have to actually do work that is that is painful, that is sacrificial, and that there is a true commitment to helping, to your point, dismantle and unravel the systems that you benefit from. So it is about Becky, because Becky has to be at
the table. But we are not talking about you specifically when we are speaking about white privilege, white supremacy, and and and and what those individuals was all those folks somebody said to me, well, they were black and brown people out there also, Okay that that may be true. We saw we saw a few fools. There's always a fool. There was one guy, we've seen him. He was But did you notice that. I didn't. You didn't look at He looked like he was coming there to see if
somebody said to make it. I don't know what he was doing, but a lot of people said he was there to get his people who had the T shirts on and said they were for Trump. Um, And you know, I don't know how many of them stormed the capital and we're doing the things that they would do. But I will say no. But but just because they are a black person for Trump doesn't mean that they were a part of those who committed the crime of going inside the capital and doing all those things. So so yeah,
of course they were. But the majority of people that we saw, the majority, the overwhelming majority, we're white people. That's just a fact. Like why do people get upset when you tell the truth? It is the truth. That is so Now, as another white person who sees what went on as being bad, right, it's terrible. I can't believe this happened. I can't believe Trump. Don't put this on Trump by himself. We almost should stop talking about
Donald Trump's involvement. You can't because you can't separate him from the incidet. But to focus on Donald Trump specifically and to like put all your focus there and your eggs in the Trump basket, it's really you don't have a good analysis on what took place because the same behavior, the same type of um uh, animalistic behavior that we saw take place on that day, the tantrum that was thrown, it's it's happens all the time, but it's been happening
for over four hundred years. Because how the hell you think they got us here? How you think that they got us on chips? Okay, you think none, none of our people tried to fight. How do you think they took the Native Americans land? That's exactly how they took it, the same way, with the same type of evil intent, the same criminal behavior, and they continue to do it.
And it might not look like climbing up walls, but it looks like building walls, and it looks like supporting a man who said he was gonna build walls, and it looks like building prison walls, and it looks like putting products in prison and having prisoners in there making your stuff. It looks like it looks like judges locking people up, locking black people up for crimes that they would never put a white boy in prison for. Okay, it looks like a whole lot of things that happens
in our community. Looks like trapping us in public housing. It looks like not properly educating our children. Okay, it looks like a whole lot of the stuff that we see. It's just at this time we actually got to see the animals on the side of the walls. You know, I've been talking about the wall. That was the best part of my day. How you do it? I call
him spider Man, you know. But for me, Chuck, when you when you understand when you talk about white privilege and white supremacy, and if you really don't get it right, I want you to just look at these videotapes, right, these are white people who are coming to cameras and announcing crimes. No, no, just think about it. And they came to the camera and said we were we were storming. She said, I was storming in the capitol. Like what kind of stupid questions? One guy was told how they
broke the windows. He had blood on his hands and he was explaining it, and I'm just sitting mere saying what the hell is going on? Meanwhile, on a serious note, we know people died, which is awful. People were killed. Let's just say people were murdered. Okay, so we know that, so that's bad. But there were also congressional members and
staff members with families locked in their offices. My friend's father, Because I don't know what he has said publicly, I'm not going to mention his name, but my friend's father was barricaded in his office with his staff and did not know if that if this was the end of their lives. They had no idea what these people were doing. This was some really really serious stuff. And the fact
that they did not because guess what. We have been arrested, and several of our people have been arrested in sweeps right where when the police come out, they surround the entire corridor in a way that there's no you can't go anywhere, you can't get out. So if you're in the middle, and you know that, you know, we tell people and I organizing all the time. At a certain point within this protest, if you are not trying to
get arrested. When they start saying certain things or moving certain ways, it is time for you to get out of the perimeter because at that point you're gonna get swept up. So when so my thing is the brothers and sisters or people people. These people was on top of buildings. By the time they got down, they should have been getting arrested. It should have been a sweep and they should have put those orange with's the orange things that they bring out. Don't get us started. What's
the orange barricades? The little barricade, old plastic barricades where they take it and wrap it around an entire group of people a bunch of times, you know, And it's just because, like I said, they were working with them. Now you realize that they were actually working with the police. They opened the barricades, they walked them in. You've seen them walk the lady down. So there was a joint effort. There was an organized effort for these people to work together.
And the privilege in that the privilege, like I watched numerous people walk to the camera. This man had Nancy Pelosi's mail. Another serious like like black people know when we commit the crime, we ain't taking it. We're running front of you. Jojo would be like Jojo would have been like, actually probably wanted to Nah, that's that's a big listen. That's another episode. But they are Actually we've
talked about it before on politicians. Some it may look different, mind, but some of us they get away shown and they're showing the money that they we're getting away because you you swiping with somebody else's credit card with your face on the camera at the GUCI. I mean, it's not smart. We do the same that you just walk you standing on the Capitol steps and yeah, we just stoing the steps. It's a revolution. We were knocked out the windows and
we're coming back. We're taking over our country and with it. Victoria Panel, one of our young mentors. Men, she's a she's a mentee. Excuse me, but shoot, Victoria's is a leader in her own right. Um. She had her tweet that she uh tweeted the other day that said, you're asking the question, why haven't the cops shot these people who they're not gonna shoot me? Ma and Paul Paul like these are people that they know, and like you said, they see themselves in these individuals. They know for sure
that there were law enforcement officers mixed in. I just I was debating someone who tried to tell me or these a trailer park. People know the woman who was killed, she was worked for the air Force, not the airport, the air Force. These people are influential, They sit in high positions. And the fact that some of us still believe that they are just trail apart trash folks. They you know which I listen. I have family members that
live in the trailer park and they're not trash. But that's the language that is you sometimes to describe certain types of people. They are not trail apart folks. They work in schools, they are on board, they are doctors, they are lawyers, they are police officers. So we need to It's it's like it's almost like we're punch drunk, like we still keep having the same conversation. And that's exactly what the streets are talking. It's called domestic terrorists.
That's what it is. It's home grown terrorists. America has an America problem. You don't have nobody else America, and they're talking about the American problem. When Joe Biden said this is not America, he was lying. America is not better than this, Joe body, this is what America has been. And we're glad that you actually can see it because this is what we've been telling you America has been for years. Welcome like you said that the Women's March,
Welcome to our work. You know, this is what this is what we've been experienced for our whole lives. America has has looted Native American America looted us what we got, like, this is what America is. So when Joe Biden made that speech and and everybody said, no, no, no, Joe, jojo Jo Jo Jojo, no, no, no, this is exactly who America is. And we've known that and it's sad that we actually have to see it in this and you know, in three D and my children are watching.
But the thing is change is gonna come. We are at the stage right now with change definitely has to happen, you know, so hopefully Joe Biden, Joe Biden, excuse me, he said, sometimes he says things, and then he said, you know, if this had been Black Lives Matter, you know, they would have been police differently. But you know, but the reason why he scares me is because the moment that Joe Biden is in and the responsibility that he has right like, the order of the day is justice
and equality. We say equity, which is even more important. In order to address those issues, you have to be prepared for this moment. You gotta be ready to get in the ring and know who, first of all, your opponent is. These people are not our friends. He keeps saying over and over there we and us. It's no we and us. It needs to be an identification at this point that there is a line of demarcation between us, and let me finish understand what I'm saying. Then you
could take it. It's not no we and I get it. You keep talking about this middle of the road thing. But for you to stand before America and make the same state and the statement that if it had been black people it would have been done differently, that means you have some knowledge of history and what happens to us, and then stand there and try to say this is
not America, this is not who we are. And I'm not saying that he should get up there and be like, this is exactly who we are, but maybe just leave that out because it's actually offensive and It's scary because it tells me that you may not understand what you are up against. Right now, Okay, this is this is this is actually the soil of the nation. What I'm trying to say is this, I think he understands exactly what he's up against, and I think that he's running
the system and the structure that is racist. In the bottom line, and it is core America is racist. Right, So to be to say that I'm going to take over the reins of America means that I have to acknowledge the racism and participate to a certain degree. Every now and then I get an opportunity to where I can shoot some men to let you know that I get it. But I still want my job, right, I want my job because but that's the bottom line. We we were asking America to change who it is, right,
We're asking a president. We voting the president. There's no president. We watched Obama sit up there. He couldn't say half the ship that Joe Biden could say, right, he couldn't say that. He couldn't say it because he understood the black list. For me saying I black, this would have been black people. They would have tried to kill me. But he didn't say that he was. He was very going on next time, very lightly tread you and I are not about to get into this debate today. President.
The one thing President Obama did, if he didn't do anything else, he said some ship. While he was the president, he made some of the most impactful speeches he always made any president, saying he identified and said when he stood up and said that Trayvon Martin could have been my son, that changed the entire way you listened to me. Tradevonmart could have been my son. Of course you're a
black man. They but listen, what I'm trying to tell you is Trayvon Nobody called for the rest of the people that killed Trayvonmon, right, because that's but no, listen to me when when when Joe Biden said and said the people will happen to Brianna Taylor was wrong and people should be held accountable. Right, What I'm trying to say Obama has never said that he the most he said about that because I was the most he said
that he could have been my son. There was no time that he called for accountability for those acts, all those black people that got killed, even Mike Brown He always said, you know, it's a bad situation. He need let the system do it. Exactly. He has always that the system a job in truest in the process and should just be clear. Let's just be clear, we're in a different time. What I'm saying takes. It takes the statements that Obama made in order to give Biden the
ability to go even further. I'm not saying my statement was never to discredit Barack Obama. My statement was to acknowledge that Obama understood his position. I don't gotta Obama because I love Obama too, but you understood It's just like what your what M Jay Cole said. You know, they gave the man the um the ship and didn't tell him he couldn't do nothing with it. They tell him they made him the um, the captain of the ship, but didn't tell him that it was it was no
way to navigate it. So the bottom line is he understood the position he was in. Joe Biden is in a different position. He can say something here and then throw it in, but ultimately he understand that we've run America is a capitalist, racist, white supremacist organization. Is an organization. It ain't even it's an organization and he understands what he's dealing with. So we gotta we gotta, we gotta politely but sternly make him do the ship that we
need him to do. I don't know about so much polite, politely, respect respectfully and stern So you know, I mean, I'm I'm extremely critical, especially if old white man. I'm definitely gonna be critical that to bottom line, people could say whatever they want, but I will say especially I saw my my, my, my girl, someone who I support so much get appointed over the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, Um Kristin Clark, and uh, it's it's
a diverse cabinet. I want to see more black men put in positions of power. I would like to see a black man be the head of edge of the Secretary of Education. I would really like to see that because I know the challenge that our young black boys have and I think it's a strong black man who has worked in public education to go in and really help to, you know, bring our kids up and get our kids excited about learning. As I want to see
more more black men. It does not mean okay, because you know, Gary Chambers our boy who's running for congress in UH in Louisiana and bat Rouge, Louisiana. He has made some that we've had Gary on the show. He's made, you know, statements about seeing that boy he had. Yeah, he's made statements about seeing more black men in UH, in the cabinet um and in positions of leadership within
the administration. And people get so upset, like, oh, so are you saying that you don't believe in and you don't support the black women's lee Merit I was watching on social media the other day he said he wanted to see a black man, particularly Ben Crump, to become the solicitor General, which is a person who goes out and actually argues cases before the government. Um, you know, and and and people were like, oh, you know, what are you trying to say that you don't believe in
black women. It's not that we're saying if black people put you in in office, then maybe you should not make as many appointments for white people to be the director and have the black and brown people being the deputy and the deputy deputy and associate deputy and all of that, and move some of them white folks flipped the table, if that's and then put some black men in there as well. But you're not gonna get everything
you want. And you do see the diversity. You do see women being put in very serious positions of power, and I'm excited to see where this goes. But I also know that the work that will have to do to ensure that we pushed them all because everybody, when you go inside of a corrupt system and there has not been an overhaul of that system, people get a little comfortable. People get afraid. They get afraid to speak out as much as they did when they were out
here protesting with us. Look at Build the Blasio, the mayor of New York City. I don't know what the hell happened to him. We used to be protesting together. He was talking big ship and then all of a sudden, I don't know what happened to Build the Blasio. So
you know, we have to fight and structure. It's easy, like I tell people all the time, it's easy to, you know, criticize the system from outside and say what I'm gonna do, But when you askally, you got the man with the gun anyway, you don't cut me off. Some peop go back. So listen. What I was saying was before I was interrupted a game, right that when you get into the structure that is not meant for you,
it is very hard to change it. So this administration, m hm, the next administration, none of these administrations are going to do everything needed to give black people power in equity in this country. We have to utilize this administration. We have to utilize every piece that we have. We have people inside and like we said, representation doesn't always mean that it's the best for us, but representation gives us the opportunity and a better chance. Speaking of representation
in Georgia, we just want two important Senate seats. Reverend Raphael Warnock, who is a dear friend of mine, and John Osoft have been able to be too incumbents, which is very difficult to do, and incumbents with a lot out of money, which is very difficult to do. And one of them's last name is Perdue. And I never did take the time to go back and look at why his name is Perdue. Is he part of the Perdue family? I don't know, but he probably is um And you know it feels good you are a part
of it. A little bit. Anyway, we're going to bring our next guests right now. I'm super dupereruper duper. I don't know if that's excited about who we will be hearing from today on Street Politicians. We have some good guests. We always have a good guests things always. Before we go to the next segment and have our special guests joint, we're gonna take a quick break for our sponsors of all the guests that we've had on Street Politicians, and there will be many, many more on the number one,
the best podcast in the world. We're gonna have all the everything is number one. We're number one, so you know we're speaking it into existence. And our guests now is someone who, Um, you know, I will not get into the personal story that I tell everybody. I probably tell a story so much that you know at this
point most people already know. But at a real dark time in my life, UM, this woman stood up and stood next to me and you know, didn't judge me and supported me and helped me financially, which is really really important. UM. And you know she went on to be such a good friend to all of us. She invited us until freedom at the very very beginning into her home helped us to get organized to also find ourselves as for co founders trying to come together and
be a strong group. Uh you so many of her skills, her staff, and and just poured into us so much that eventually we asked her to be chairwoman of Until Freedom, in which she has taken that on um as a very serious, serious job. And the care that she's taken specifically for Until Freedom is because she clearly cares about the work and the people and kids about what we're doing. And so UM, having Monique Idlet to come and join us today on Street Politicians, to me is a great honor.
I'm proud to have her to be in the presence of such awesomeness greatness Monique, I miss you both. I can't wait to see you. Yeah, Mika, I need that intro everywhere I go, take me on the road. So it's such an honor, honestly, Um, you know, to be here with the two of you, to to see everything that you all are doing, but then to see that you get to actually sit down for a moment and then have a conversation UM, to help continue the education
to people. It's just it's such a blessing. It's so amazing. And then you invited little on me on Yeah, little old years, a little old about Monique. She is a wealth builder, she is an entrepreneur, she is a visionary. She sits on the boards of fortune companies. She just does so many things that we can't It's extensive with the person she is is even bigger than that. So when you talk about little old you, we're just trying to We're just trying to We're trying to be like,
get to where you is. So there's so much that we could talk about today. You know, we call you mo um and and most of the people who love you call you MO. There's so much that we could talk about Um. It's it's almost hard to find the place to begin, because we could go back and talk about your career in the music industry and how you were able to build an empire and then to unite with another very strong man within the industry, your ex husband, Tim Berland, who is your friend, a very good friend.
I watched the way that the two of you co parent, and it's amazing to see the beauty of black love that continues beyond marriage, beyond relationships. UM, but you you helped him to build his empire. UM, you built your own. So many people like Jimmy Iveen and others have you to be grateful to for your work, your work ethic, your tenacity. UM. Knowing that you went on to say, Okay, I'm going to take my wealth and find a way to help other people, particularly black folks, brown folks, and
women become wealthy, and that being your new career. Knowing that at one point you worked at USA today as a leading executive. I mean, there's so much that we could talk about that this show. I don't even know that we have the time and space. But the most recent thing that you did, um is what me speaks to your character and the uniqueness of a black woman who has been counted out. We have been counted out
so many times by everyone. I think that when this when Discovery Channel, I don't care what you say, I'm saying this that when Discovery Channel asked you to be a part of a participant on Undercover Billionaires, I'm sure they put the one hundred dollars in your hand just being just knowing you would not be able to do it.
I know there's some people there that probably were rooting for you, but there were some who said, we're giving you a hundred dollars to go out and build a million dollar business, and they didn't believe that you could actually accomplish it. And now we're watching the success story because we knew that you. If no one else could do it, if no one else could do it, Monique
could do it. Well, you know, I'll tell you Discovery has actually been so they've been super super are supportive um and really they actually wanted inclusion and diversity because they know it matters, It actually matters. It is the difference. You know, you can't you can't actually talk about change and impact and inclusion if you're not actually showing it and helping your audience experience it. And so for them
it was important. For me, it's important. I'll tell you, I think that this was the most difficult thing that I have ever ever done. And from day one, before I stepped into that city, before I knew where I was going, I had one mission, and that was to represent black and brown people so that we could actually know and that others could know that we're more than just you know, an athlete and entertainer. We're business too, we're human beings. And for me, that narrative was so important.
And then I just wanted to represent the underdog. And then came I got to represent Tacoma because I fell in love with that city. So you went to Tacoma, Washington. Tell us more about what happened. What is undercover Billionaire for those people who are watching that don't understand what you just went through. The worst thing I ever did in my life, the most catfult thing I went in my life. But the challenge itself was this. They can take They take your identity, so they give you a
fake name alias. They give you a hundred dollars. You're allowed to bring one bag of clothes. Um, they take your cell phone, they take your computer, they take everything your they take your credit card, they take everything, literally everything Like they went through my bag to make sure I didn't have anything like that was crazy to me. Um, they take everything, they take and they give you a one dollar bill, They give you a used vehicle, and they give you a new cell phone with no contacts
and so both of you know me. Well, I live for my relationships like that is that is how I built my career. I believe in it. Relationship networking to me is the most important thing, and they took all of that from me, and then they dropped me into a city that I didn't know where I was going and they said, you have ninety days to build a million dollar business with. So you are the first black woman to ever person period one the network. So on
this show there have not been other black black women. Well, so this is only second season, only second season. Um. Glenn Sterns who he is just honestly the most amazing. Yeah, he truly is. He has a heart for people and everyone understanding each other and understanding that there are different journeys and different experiences and we have to understand them all. So he created this show, actually has a bet that he could be stripped of everything as a self made billionaire,
and he was the first one to do it. He actually got super sick during filming, but he finished it, Um, And this is you know, for him, it's about building up the underdog cities and helping people understand that. You know the concept of community and we all know that very well, right like we we as black people, we rely on our community, UM for support, and so it's he took that concept. He did it first, and then this is only the second season. So the second season
they have this brilliant black woman. You go to Tacoma, Washington, where we just found out black people live. I didn't even know they have a black mayor they have a black I had no idea. So you go there, and now it's important not for bragging, although I like to brag on you, um, but for context that you live very very well. I think you're in your home right now, so people can just see a little bit with the couch that's behind you. So what kind of building businesses
you build? So I'll say this because I can't tell everything, tune in, tune and tune in, but if you watch the first episode, you will see quickly literally really like the second day, I'm like, you know what access to to health like healthy options and healthier options. It's a human right. And we've allowed marketing and you know, the constant of the idea of quick inconvenience to be over to like where it shouldn't be healthy, And so literally immediately I had an instant idea of I'm going to
start with some healthy juice shots. It's been years since you had to grind like that from the bottom, from the bottom, like bottom bottom. When you think about what you went through, do you appreciate it? Does it make you that think about where you are now actually in your real life with pose and where you was, do you really appreciate it more more? I'll say this, and both of you know me, Well, Um, the grind has never stopped from me. And that's just a fact. I
never was. I never not at USA today, not creating my own company, not building a label with Tim, not know doing this stuff on empire, to owning my own sex. I forgot about that. I always pivoted and did those things so I could learn more, so I could actually help our culture. Yeah, but you didn't have to do it with a hundred dollars living in Tacoma, Washington. But that's the whole point is is that I did that because at the end of the day, if not me,
who who who is our people? Who are people gonna identify with? So did you did you take this as a personal you know, challenge because you wanted to really represent black people, black women? Did you really see to yourself, this has never happened before. They haven't had any black people I know I'm gonna be first. Did you accept in your mind? Because I know how you are. You challenge yourself and you I challenge myself all the time all the time, so I know for you, was it like, yo,
you know what, I'm going to be the first. It's no way that I could fail. So it was really it was really really deep for me, Like I actually said no, um. And then January February March April, may like think about that. And then we had all that stuff happening. We had all of the murders that were happening, um to our black men, to our Brianna Taylor, and
it was like dang. And then I was delivering food to our elders in in you know, our communities, and the grocery stores weren't open or they didn't have the same access for delivery or fresh food. And I was like, you know what, this is crazy, this is super crazy. We need we need some inspiration. If it takes me to sacrifice to help our people with a new mindset, it's a mindset for me. I was willing to literally, like real talk, I've never left my family like this before.
It was a pandemic that was real. I was like every day out in those streets in Tacoma during a pandemic, where before that I was at home comfortably. I was coming in my pool every day, doing my zoom meetings from living room, you know. Um. So at the end of the day, it was real to me, it was super real. Feeling was not an option. Did you almost did you get to a point where you was like, you know what, I'm quit, I'm going home. I'm tired of the day. One one I called my mom crying,
like what did I just sign up for? Not your mother though, let me tell you, Moniques mother has prayed me through my mom stroke. She's prayed me through some other mental breakdowns that I almost had. She is such a powerful person, and your mom the way I see her as someone who will not allow you and your sister Shaquira, who we love um so much to fail at all, Like it's almost like you can't She's like
my mom. You can't really call them saying I can't do it or I won't do it, because they become invested in the same thing that you're invested in the history behind it and just knowing that a woman can do anything that anyone else can do. I need you out to watch this because literally everything you're saying is exactly what she said to me. And I even there's a quote in there that I'm and I'm talking to rain and I say it to her. I'm doing this so you know that you can do anything you want
to do. It's not about you know. My mother always taught me, it's not where we are, it's where you want to be. I've never used my circumstances. I grew up in the projects, but for me, I was on top of the world because I was gonna be on top of the world. I want my daughter to know that. I want your kids to know that. I want all of our people to know we're not our circumstances. That's
why mental health is real. It starts with fine. Well, speaking of mental health, in the last few days, we've learned that there was a mental health breakdown that happened among some of the seventy three million people voted for Donald Trump, mainly white folks. There was some of our own folks out there. I saw a few who were mixed in who really you know, the mental health issue that they are dealing with. I believe the diagnosis is white supremacy, that white supremacy is a sickness. It's a
mental health sickness that has to be cured. UM. And unfortunately, and I know you and I have discussed this, it almost is is if what is happening in this moment, this meltdown, has to happen in order for us to be able to get to a place where we have true equity and justice and all the things that we've been fighting for. And that even though it's painful and it looks crazy and it's scary, and people are dying. People died in the Capital building, UM, because of all
of the chaos that took place there. But it's almost like just like many of our struggles, even though I don't know what they're struggling for, but that's a whole different days conversation. UM. People have died, right, people had, There have been casualties. They are at war, in my opinion, with themselves. It's not our fight. There are many that are that many things that we do have to fight,
and we are collateral damage. Every time America gets in trouble with this self or anyone else, Black and brown people suffer. But there is no reason for us to run to the streets to be a part of this war that white folks are in with other white people because they're all trying to fight for supremacy to hold true and black people have begun to recognize our power. That's right. You know, Dan rather Um made a very important statement for media today. And you know, journalism is
a real thing. The words that they use are it can determine how someone perceives that. And I actually was really honored that he actually said, stop calling this protesting. Stop it. We have an accountability And that's an g saying it because he knew, he knew he needed to say that because these are not protests, these are terrorists. And you know they want to talk about We couldn't say black lives matter because all lives matter and blue
lives matter. Yet they were out there killing, killing those cops. Let's just be honest. You all know, it takes a lot of a lot to organize. That wasn't That wasn't organized that, okay. And the fact that the fact that they were able to penetrate a federal building like that, they allowed them to. They were allowed to that was part of the organization, understand exactly because they somebody organized
that they will allow them to have access. If you look their films, you know a lot of different clips where you see the police saying, come on, come through, opening the gate for them to come through. So, you know, we realized, and it's just sad that it takes other people so long to realize and people are starting to visually see things, and you know, you can't continue to just act like it's not happening anymore. You know, we're we're, like Tamika said, we are definitely in a state of emergency.
And you know, and as we awaken, when you look at the Georgia race and you look at what we've done, how we've come together, you know, to make sure that we've elected um senators that give this presidency and this cabinet opportunity to actually pass some legislation that is gonna benefit us. You know, they're seeing that we are what we are seeing our power every day because we've been taught for so long you don't have a power. Your
vote doesn't count. What are you doing that for? You don't count because and what we realize is if I don't vote didn't count, they wouldn't do so much to try to suppress it. So we've come to the point now where we see our power and they are so afraid of us coming into that power. And I wrote them on social media other day and I let you speak that America has lied to us for so long. They've told you that you don't matter. And this is
what this is. You know, these these quote unquote protests as a patriots, which we know are terrorists, are only acting because America promised them that white supremacy will always rule, you know, and when they and when they see now that that is a lie, they are protesting America for lying to them. So let them deal with America because we never believe that anyway. You know everything that you both are saying, And yes to Mika, I loved your your statement, and then I love what you said today
Mice earlier on your social media. The reality is that this is a perfect opportunity for, first of all, for us to take a step back and allow them to behave in the way that they have always behaved with us. This whole nation was built by oppressive people, like literally like they oppressed us. It was slavery that built this like because never have been a good nation. But literally, and so the point is that let them. They are out there acting a fool on the airplanes and the like.
They're out of control. And the point is they don't even know why. That's the crazy. When they're being interviewed, they actually do not even know why. They cannot say because people are getting murdered, because you know, they're losing, they're not saying anything. They don't even know. All they know is that in the end um First of all, they're losing their numbers. Their race is decreasing, right, so they're having three, four or five babies, trying to ensure
that white people don't become the minority. But yet and still Latinos are quickly becoming the majority. Latinos black and brown people. Um, as they say, the country is browning. And so that's the first thing is that there is a fit. It's a literal fit that's taking place as they see their numbers decreasing and feel that they're going to lose power. I think it was a bad move
for them to allow Donald Trump to be president. Not that they haven't had racist tyrants in office in the past, but they allowed their president to go forth in showing us how deeply corrupt and racist this nation is and as black folks always do, we respond when our backs
are up against the wall. And so they allowed Donald Trump to go so far for these last four years that now the bag, the cat is out the bag, the sheet is off the head right, and so we see it so clear that people said, Okay, I don't even believe. I don't believe in Joe Biden and Kamala Harris that much. It's beautiful to see a black woman, um, you know, as the VP all those things, but I'm not that excited yet. And still my vote against Donald
Trump is extremely important. And they lost what they believe, what they proceed to be power in their minds in the last few weeks and it literally has drove them crazy. And you spoke about Dan rather than because you, um were executive at USA today, Let's talk about how the media is covering this incident. Now, it started out that they were so upset, Oh my god, we can't believe
that these things are happening. But as soon as Joe Biden stood before the country and said, if this had been a Black Lives Matter protests, I know that they would have been treated differently. Black people would have been treated differently. Than those white folds. I watched the entire news cycle shift to people being very uncomfortable. But why
does he have to be divisive? These folks don't like truth, and the media is playing a role in encouraging these people and they don't don't think that they are, but they're actually a part of the process. I believe that all the whole circle we have to fill up with equity and equality, not just the the civil rights, not
just the political side. Financially too. And when we actually have a bigger stake financially and we build more successful companies and stopped building the Louis Batton so to speak, of the world, and we start building, then we build bigger media companies, we have more impact. You know, we have to start building our wealth. We have to wealth is wealth is what runs everything is what runs everything.
You know, the media can say what they want to say because it's look who's yes, and so, you know, all of these areas are important, and we do we have to make media more accountable. I loved what Charlemagne and then did this morning on the Breakfast Club. They literally said, oh, the FBI needs help. That's weird because all we had to do was Google, well and go straight and here. So here's all the names FBI. Right.
So the reality is that instead of being quiet about it, we have to put it out there and we the only way to do that is through media. That's why like this is important, and you know all the other things. Well, you know we like we always do, we sit for hours talk about we could do this for hours. Unfortunately this show is not that long and they can't even take all of the you know, we can give each other.
But we want to say thank you and want to tell you that we appreciate you, not only for what you do for us, for what you do just in general in this world and which you represent. Tell us where can we get this? Watch this show? What time it comes on so people can tune in because we need them to watch our representatives, our queen. It's Undercover Billionaire. It's every Wednesday at eight p m. Eastern Standard Time, and it's also streaming on Discovery Plus. The first two
episodes are up right now on Discovery Plus. Monique I let our our chairwomen of Until Freedom, our sister and the star of Discovery Channels. Undercover Billionaire. We love you, we support you, Thank you go ahead, peace out, Monique Man, I mean such an inspirational, dope sister. We have the best friends. I was just saying that same thing. We have so many dope friends, and we were not making up a story like new episodes alone. We're just our friends.
That would be like the best episodes. I mean, it happened. And you know, we have a lot of friends, which you know, not a lot of people do. It is a blessing. A lot of people say to me, no new friends. You know, I don't. Women have never done
anything for me um. And I've had some challenges with women along my career, and so I understand some of what black women and other women go through, especially when we're all sort of fighting for the very limited leadership opportunities and budgets and uh, you know, and and and things of that nature. But I have been blessed to be wrapped with black women who are my friends, they
are my sisters. I do trust them. Cat Trig is one of those individuals, the producer for UM for Street Politicians for this show, also the head of Eye Woman TV UM. I have I have been black love Cat. I have been blessed. And but Monique is very special she's she is, she's she stands out by herself because of all that she's been able to accomplish. And she walks around regardless of what maybe happening, with a mission, a goal, and a purpose at all. She confidence that
you just don't like. She walks into a room and she knows, she knows what she possesses. You can't talk like. She walks inconfident, she's aware of what she talks about. She always brings something to any situation that she's in, and that's just she's just a blessing old. She was a part of along with my other friend who we have to get on, Marvette Britto, um and Uh and of course latoy Von my manager, um Our the manager for this show. Um Monique worked with them to get
my book deal together. So she knew so much about the book industry and just because she's just a smart business person and just to watch her navigate UM in a space where I had I didn't know anything. I don't know what else was to do. Somebody told me they're gonna give me a few dollars and I was like, all right, let me write the book and they were like, no,
doesn't work like that. You actually have to negotiate. You need to talk to a number of publishers um and have her as a friend in business for our work and zation for until freedom. It feels good. It's like you know that she is going to ensure that the best product is constantly birth. So I love her. I'm proud to have my life. And she's such a dope person. And it's so sad that I have to go to my eye. Don't get it after we talk about so many people. What don't you get today, sir? I don't
get Are you yelling? Yeah? Because you know what's sad? Because we're just talking about this beautiful woman and we have to that's the way back to dumb sh that's how we do, you know. I just really don't. But at least we have the moments, monique moments, and then we have don't yeah, because I think that's like the balance negative in the positive, just the balance of life.
So we gotta deal with it. But what I don't get is how anyone, like anyone in the world, white, black, green, purple, kind of red, whatever color you are in this moment, after all we've been through, you still you don't understand the difference in the way that black people are policed.
You still don't understand what our play is. How can you look at what happened at this capital where police actually ushered, you know, criminals and terrorists into the building, when Black Lives Matter who were protesting, who literally were protesting because they just wanted charges brought against officers who actually killed people, peacefully walked up to the front of the steps and they had hundreds of army, geared, federal agents,
national guards, everything. But these people who had planned, strategically planned, they had seen them violently go to different states and take over buildings, pushed. They knew this. People, these proud boys, had been doing this all over the world, and they planned this situation and there was no level security. And the reason why there was no level of security because the security was working with them. And anybody that says
anything else is lying to yourself. So I don't get how people continue to turn the blind on and act like, you know, no, police brutality is not a thing against black people, you know, the way that police are dealing with black people, it happens to all of us. I go to my social media page every day and there's one or two people that tell me you're just a race bader. You just want to point out things, talk
about what happens to white people. White people get arrested too, white people get shot too, all right, And I asked them all the time, just show me where this happens in the same magnitude that it happens to black people. And I have no problem posting if you show me police brutalizing white people who have no weapons, killing them and shooting them and taking their rights and you know, violating their rights on a regular basis. I would love to promote that because I want to show how the
system is not working for everybody. So we can so we can just over and what we say all the time, especially in this situation, is we don't want the police to shoot to kill anybody, anybody, including including us. We don't want you to shoot and killing harm the white people. We just want you not to shoot and kill us the same way you don't shoot and kill them. Yeah, you know, and that's and that's what it is. So I still don't get it. Hopefully I won't have to
get it. Hopefully at this situation we can look and say, you know what, I ain't that you know, I ain't crazy. I could see what's going on. We we you know, the President said, you know, if this had been a Black Lives Matter situation, it would have been police difference. Well we know that and they and they know it also.
But you know what the media again, as we were saying, uh with Monique, um, the media plays a role in that because whenever protests Black Lives Matter protests happened and there's you know, anything a brick thrown own, you know, if there's a building that burns, all of those things, which we totally don't support. But when those things happened, they low it up. They highlighted so much and try to discredit the entire movement and say that we're thugs,
were violent. Um, And they are immediately So it seems like they're excited to shift the narrative away from the reason why people are protesting and to call out the
reason why some of these buildings are burning. And by the way, to be clear, in the summer of tw we learned that many of the people burning down the buildings and causing the chaos were the same people that was out there running up the walls at the State Capitol building at the you know at the Capitol Building in DC, the same people they call them, We saw them, They caught them. They found a woman who burned down the Windy's that was a white woman, broke through the
breaking and target in the order zone. They fact that that guy, they specifically went back into his history and found out how much he was not a Black Lives Matter activists or loyalist. So the same fault to be clear on on both sides there on both sides. So for me, you know, before we end the show, I just want to point out a clear distinction. You know, we we protested for Brianna Taylor, and we sat on the lawn and then you came into just sat down.
There was no weapons, there was no force, didn't break anything, We didn't knock on the door, We didn't do anything. And eight seven of us went to prison, went to jail. Well I keep saying prison because I guess because I've been to prison. I always say that. But we went to jail and people died in the Capital, people were injured. There was violence, They broke down windows, they pushed through
the pretty much backed offices down. They did all before you before you go out on that now, is it not true that there are black folks who are in jail right now because they happened to be somewhere when another person was killed and they are charged with association. They didn't pull a trigger, but because you were there and you were a part of causing why this felony murder? If someone is murdered in the act of you committing a felony, then that murder goes to you. Everyone who
was involved in committing that felony is charged with that. Okay, So you know, and that's that's a law that has a lot of our young kids who locked up, locked up who are doing fifty and sixty years in prison right now. You know, I know a young boy who I've been fighting for and continue to fight for. He
went to jail. He's not a young boy now, he's actually forty one years old, but he went to jail at seventeen and for robbing and McDonald's and he's shot in the ceiling and he told the people to get in the back while he ran off with the money. Didn't hurt anybody, didn't kill anybody, no one was injured a harm, and they sentenced that were the thirty five or fifty years at the age of seventeen, and he's done twenty four years right now, and he's still sitting
in the prison. So if we can continue to over you know, incriminate our children, our young boys, and these grown people who publicly announced the crimes that they committed on TV, who took lives, who injured people, who were responsible for the way people died. An officer actually lost his life because he was hitting the head with a fire extinguisher. So if, if, if we don't see the same type of sentences and charges handed down to these only fifty this, this was what I was trying to say,
Only fifty three people have been arrested. Eighty seven of us was arrested for sitting on the law. We've seen hundreds of people inside of that Capitol building and only fifty three people who have been arrested. If you don't realize that there's a different police, there's a different America, there's two different Americas, then I don't know what you realize.
And on that note, I might not always be right, and I'm always right to me, it might not always be wrong, but we will both always be that's a fact. Peace out. Thanks for joining street politicians. That's how we own