For the Record - Chasing Freedom:

and you know, we just won't oblige. From my perspective, I want to make sure that as a mother that I speak directly to Miss Rice, and and also just so that folks know I have reached out through some other individuals. I don't have a direct contact for Ms Rice, but I have reached out and let some other folks know that if she wants to speak with me, I'm a veil to do so. Unfortunately, the world we live in, UM, everything hits social media uh so quickly, and it doesn't

give us an opportunity all the time to have direct conversations. UM. And I've I have seen a lot of you who have been asking me to do what I always do, which is to be authentic and to come to you all. UM, and and talk about some of what you have heard. UM. You know, I want to just make sure that we start off grounded and the fact that nothing UM we say today is an attack against UM miss Rice. UM. I want to make sure that that is stated from

the very very beginning. Quite frankly, ms Rice is right. UM. I support one hundred percent how she feels UH and what she has stated in terms of her pain UM related to her son. Right. And in fact, UM, I think and I was gonna say to you, Mi set, I feel like we all have failed her. You know, I was thinking a lot about this coming here today. We all have failed her UM as a nation. I think that whenever a child or any person, but particularly a child is killed, UM, we should this nation should

have erupted. And the fact that UM she did not get the proper justice for her son would make anyone angry. And so I totally understand and respect the trauma and pain that she feels as a mother. UM. The second point is that I think for far too long, the issue of divisiveness has been used in every single movement and it has actually destroyed movements. And UM, I don't participate in it. If you know anything about me, and you guys get to see me up close and personal.

We're on lives, we go into communities, we work with people directly, we're on the ground. Uh, and so you have an opportunity to see me up close and personal. And the one thing that I try my best not to do is to get caught up in the divisiveness that I know can happen in this movement. So again, if people are watching looking for some aha moment of me uh speaking uh negatively about or to Miss Rice,

it's not gonna happen. UM. I will never ever allow my organization, my team, UM and until Freedom, or myself to be used as a tool in the master's box. I will never allow that. So UM, if that's what you're looking for, you might as well turn away because it's not going to happen. I will, however, say that I think it's important to clarify the questions around whether or not we have used Miss Rice's child, her baby UM in campaigns or in speeches or fundraising or any

of those types of efforts. We have not UM my speeches, my son's speeches, and the work that we do it's very very public. Um. You all can go back and and look through speeches, look through my page. I encourage you to do so. UM. Other than potentially calling the role of all the people UM that that we can think about at any particular time who have been killed by the state, I have been very very careful, have always been careful not to speak about cases or individuals

that I have not worked directly with the families. And in particular, in this situation which Ms Rice has already said, we've never even met UM. If we have, UM, it has been something like maybe at a conference, I may have been introduced, or we may have seen each other in that way, but we've never actually sat down, had

a phone conversation or met in any way. And so there for I would never be so disrespectful as to speak about her child or to have a campaign that addresses her child or that uses her child's name to uplift any cause UM. And so I think that's really really UM important to state UM. I you know, to to that end, I guess UM. Miss Rice has said that she does not want she wants me to you know,

not speak of her child UM. And while I may not have been doing it in the past, I will be very very very careful going forward to ensure that I respect her wishes. I think we both can say that, you know, we will be very careful to respect her wishes, even if we feel that we're using all the names in order to make a bigger point, we will be very,

very very careful not to disrespect her wishes. Now, although what Miss Rice has said, UM calling me out my name and speaking to me, speaking about me without knowing me, has absolutely hurt. It definitely hurt me. But again I understand and because of the fact that I do this work, that we do this work from a very very very sincere and authentic place. I may not have lost the child, but I did lose the child my child's father, and

it wasn't a police brutality. But I understand lost and I also want to and I fight every single day to ensure that I don't have to experience what so many mothers of young black men have experienced, and so I do come from a personal perspective. Although I have not lost the child, and because I understand that pain and trauma working with families for so many years, I would like to tell miss Rice today UM that I am available to be supportive if necessary. I'm here for

or phone calls. I'm here to have any types of conversations with any family, UM that would like to reach out and talk about the death of their their child or some tragic situation that has happened to them. Um, We're just one small group, right. There are many organizations doing work, doing great work, but until freedom is one group, we can't help every family. We wish we could, but

we don't have the resources to help every family. UM. And there certainly are our situations that have been heartbreaking that have kept us up at night that we have not been able to get involved with. But again, just to reiterate, under no circumstances would we ever be so disrespectful as to use the name of a person, child, or otherwise that we have not met, work with, and talked with their family, and have not been directly asked to uplift their's name or their family member's name while

we are out doing our work. UM. I don't know if you want to have a response to because I have some other things on. Yeah, pretty much, you know. Yes, so miss Rice lost her son. I remember it was a year and I just entered into the space of activism, you know, and and I remember hitting the world hard, and I was I wanted to see justice family, you know, so I understand how she must feel as being his mother, you know, so her sentiments are felt just from just

being a human being. You know. When I heard her sentence, I didn't take it personal, you know. But what I what I did take person who was the attacks of the media, of people that I've known for years, of people that have been around us for years, of people who had direct contact to us, who've seen the work that we've done. I did personalize those things. I never

thought about miss Rice in anyway. The work that we've done, I've when I've done for the last eight years and you've done for twenty five years, has spoke spoken for itself. You know. There has been this quote unquote fake activism,

you know, and I asked, what is real activism? You know, if going out standing by families who have asked you to stand with them, uplifting the voices of the people who have lost their lives, standing in communities and taking guns out of hands of kids who are killing each other, you know, going in communities, starting programs and organizing in different communities to bring peace, treaties If that's not real activism,

then what is real activism? You know, when I looked at the media, I was disgusted because they highlighted the trauma and pain of a woman who lost her child, but they didn't highlight when she was telling them to get justice for her child. None of these many of them did not. They didn't post any of the post when she was saying, we want justice for a child, But they decided to post as she put poured pain and trauma and talked about her her opinions because we're

all a tied to our opinions. Her opinion of me, her opinion of you is is valid for her, but you can't. You can have your own opinions. But people don't get it. They don't get the opportunity or the

right to make those opinions. Facts like she said, we have never I would never, as a man of principle and integrity, I would never utilize the name of anyone, not just a person who's lost their life, but of anyone that I didn't have any connection to, a prior commitment from, to raise any money or to catapult myself

in any manner. You know, I lived my life on the level of integrity, and those things actually bothered me, you know, and they were coming from people that I actually knew, who have been attacking us for way before that, and they utilized this moment. You know, I want to say, I want to say this about you, you know, I want to say that we were proud to see you on the Grammy stage, you know, not for the glitz and glamor, but the fact that you were up there

talk in truth to power. You called out the president and demanded that he gives black people equity and justice in this world. And if we don't utilize those platforms, if we don't utilize every platform, we can't keep screaming from our you know, our soapbox about what we need. We can't keep going to the same communities that are impoverished and telling them that we need something to change. We have to be able to speak to eighty million

and ten million people. I'm going to advocate every time I can, on every platform, that we stop police brutality, that we stop mass incarceration, that we stopped um gun violence in our communities, every opportunity, and I don't care what how people think about that. You know, people they asked you to go to the Grammys because you have made one of the biggest speeches of this error. They wanted somebody to deliver a message, and you have made one of the biggest speeches of this err and you

do not have to apologize for that. You do not have to apologize because you have done the work for twenty five years. You have done the work, and you don't have to be sad. You shouldn't be attacked because you have done work that has put you in a position to be able to speak in terms of people saying that we are using the names of children or

that we're cloud chasing, as they say. I wanted to be clear that if anyone, especially when you talk about the media, when you say, well, you know, these folks have not necessarily been there to support um miss Rice's family and the ways in which they should, it's important to also challenge the media to do real work and real because we put stories out into the world without

actually doing the research. If you actually talk to families that I have worked with for twenty five years and that we have been working with since my son, Linda Angelo and I UM came together to form Until Freedom, you will not here. And I am a hundred percent sure of that that you will not hear UH sentiments like we are cloud chasing and we use their children. You will not hear that. Um. Many of those families have reached out to me over the last few days

to check in and to to offer their support. So when you think of folks like Trayvon Martin, Um, you think of Shakisha Clemens, you think of Joe Guzman and Sean bell Um, you think of Brianna Taylor. Of course you think of the family of Ramarley Graham, Uh, Sandra bland Um, Jordan Davis. These are individuals that I have actually worked very closely with and that our organization has been supportive of, especially in the case of Brianna Taylor,

and of course George Floyd's family. These individuals, if you actually do your work as a journalist and you speak with them to find out what or to ask them about our character and our work ethic, I can promise you that all of the individuals that I just name our people who will tell you that we still stay in contact. I'm thinking about Christopher Lloyd Morgan Jr. Who was a four year old child that I helped to bury some years ago. We still speak to these families

on a regular basis. We still are very much so a part of their families, and we work together. We invite them to come out and and and be a part of activities that we're doing. We work with these individuals and try to support them all the way through and guess what, they support us as well. So it's important for people who are looking for uh ways to just jump in on the attacks that you do some real,

real homework. I wrote down some points because I wanted to make sure to keep it um, you know, really tight and shut. There's several misconceptions that I think need to be stated on the record today. Number One, my activism did not start with the Women's March. It did not start with the Women's March. The Women's March did not make me. The people who worked together to gather five million people around the world we made the Women's March.

The Women's March did not make me. Now, it is true that in the last five years the media has begun to pay attention to my work on a larger scale because we organized five million people. But if you again do your research and you check your facts, you will find that I have been an activist since I was fourteen years old, and that my parents actually started me in the movement as a young young child, very very small child, because the two of them have been

activists all my life. I was born into this work. I did not jump up one day as a hashtag person who just decided to run to the movement, which is okay, I'm not taking away anything from anyone who did do that. I'm just talking about my story. Okay. I have not been a hashtag organizer. I have been doing this work since I was a very very young girl, and my parents again helped to get me started in the work. Can say something please, you know, And she's

not a hashtag organizer. I started this work after I came home from prison after being incarcerated for seven years for a crime I didn't commit. I decided to understand. I decided to change my focus, you know, being a hip hop artist. A lot of people know me from hip hop, and there's been a lot of questions, Oh, is this some type of skin You're just trying to get some money. You know, he's a failed rapper, so now he moved into activism. Listen, rapping and hip hop

is my passion. But I realized that activism was my purpose when I sat in those sales with these young boys that kept coming in and revolving door, and a let of them didn't even understand why they was coming to jail after the streets had lied to them, had that they've been sold dreams and thought coming to jail with some type of badger honor. And they listened to me, and O G sat me down and talked to me. I realized I had a different purpose. So I came

home with a different purpose. And you know, and by the grace of God, I got in tune with Tamika and the likes of the Gathering for Justice in which they brought me in and wet. I started out in detention centers and I started talking to young boys and telling them how to utilize music as an alternative to violence. This was a process for me. You know, so a lot of people I get that you questioned that you don't know you know my song from the street. You've

seen me in the streets. You know I was a hip hop artist, So I don't I don't have any problem with the skepticism, but I want you to understand that for the last eight years. My record has been stellar. I've been on the front lines of this movement. I've been taking guns out of hands. I've been side by side with families. I've cried with families. I've been on the front line. I've been to jails, I've organized, and

I've mobilized, and I've been doing this work. So to keep questioning whether it's authentic, that's something that you got to deal with yourself. I would not apologize for doing work and being recognized. I would not apologize for being unapologetic and standing on the front line. Absolutely, I'm you shouldn't apologize. None of us should. In fact, all of us should be. But the problem is people want to

see you. They want to see you unsuccessful. I've seen a video where Brothers said, Yo, you've got a dorman in your building. So I'm not supposed to have a dorman. I had a domain in my building before I started doing activism. But you want to make it seem like we're taking money from somebody. People hate to see that you have some level of success. I say all the time, I don't want donations. People who invest in our organizations or investments because they see the work that we're doing.

I don't want you to think that you're pitying us or we're not grifters. This quote unquote world a grifter? What the hell is after I'm going to point number two because we have to wrap this up and get into our regular show. Um. The And I've said it already, but I think this is very, very very important, and this is a it's a sensitive topic for a lot of people. Our organization. We say this every other week, um,

but sometimes people seem to miss it. And maybe today, now that most folks are listening, they can actually hear and understand. Our organization is called Until Freedom, Until Freedom. Our organization is called Until Freedom. We are not part of the Black Lives Matter organization all we are not part of the Black Lives Matter organization. We all believe that black lives matter. And you probably have heard all

of us saying black lives matter. Um. I think that is a statement, a mantra that is really held from the highest part of the land, and a beautiful It's beautiful that three sisters came up with such an important way to frame our movement. But there is a such thing as the Black Lives Matter organization, and we at until Freedom. Are not part of it. We are not engaged in the finances of Black Lives Matter, we are not on the board, We're not a part of the administration.

We are not funded by Black Lives Matter UM, we are not in any way affiliated with the business of Black Lives Matter. Now I personally know the founders UM, and I also know very well Patrice Colors, who is the current UM leader of Black Lives Matter, and I love them all. So this is not about trying to separate ourselves in any way UM in a disrespectful way. But it is important to have clarity about who we are and where UH and and where we operate from

and what our organization does. It's very very important because once we start to gather and loop and put everyone together UM, we lose the clarity among who is actually in which positions and what folks are actually doing. The next point is that you know that I've heard this comment, and I can tell that a lot of people don't necessarily understand the highway, if you will, of activism and and and of the movement right and UM and the fact that there are actual lanes that people are in,

things that folks specialize in. Until Freedom's job on this highway, our lane is to motivate, mobilize and educate people on issues, on cases and things that's happening UM in the movement space, right, that's our job. So we create a climate by keeping the streets hot, by organizing people, by training people. That really allows our friends and and and associates and other people that we work with who do policy work. It gives them the fuel that they need to go get

laws passed. Right, and so we've been involved in a number of those things in New York. UM. We have helped to change UM the issue of of unarmed individuals being killed by police or being shot by police too. Instead of it being an issue that is handled by the same prosecutors who work with police all the time, we have been able to push for legislation that was

actually passed where there is now a special prosecutor. We also have been a part of efforts to UM raise and to to secure from the City of New York forty million dollars and it's now more than forty million dollars for anti violence programs. And again that is from the mobilizing efforts. Now I'm not a politic, but I'm extremely politically savvy and so therefore you will see us at times moving in and out of spaces. But in terms of our day to day work, our job is mobilization.

That's what we do. We train people and we do mobilization. We also are very much so involved in getting Brianna's Law passed across the country in different cities, which is a band or no knock warrants. It's being led locally in Kentucky by Representative Attica Scott and also Katura Haran, who was an organizer on the ground until Freedom helps to create an environment where the two of them and others are able to go into the halls of the

legislature and get the actual policy um in place. I have seen people on my page and people who have text and called who really are concerned. They're really trying to understand one because they want the language that they can use to talk to family members, friends and others, naysayers because they believe in us. And so that is why we sat down today to be able to discuss and dispel some of these things that are being stated that just sort of catch like wildfire without people actually

doing real work and real research. And we do feel that we have to and we should be transparent and accountable to the community. We do ask for your investments. But I will say this to get to your other point, and I'm done after that. I will say this just

to get to the last point. In terms of the Grammys, I don't owe anyone an explanation for why I was invited to the Grammys because for twenty five years of my life I have worked, and for twenty of those years I was you know, I was basically working for other individuals and being sort of behind the scenes. Uh, the fact that I made it to the Grammy stage or was invited to be. I didn't call the Grammys. I didn't call a little baby who I appreciate, she ate so much for including me in and for Tima

Robinson and Jesse Collins and others. I did not call them. They called me, and they called me because for twenty five years of my life I have been on the ground doing the work of UM in communities and they know that, and that's why I was invited there. I've heard people say that somehow I'm canceled. You cannot cancel what God has called. And the reason why I know I have been called is because there have been so many attempts to destroy me, to discredit my work, and

to try to move me out of the way. And I'll be honest with you that when situations like this happened, I don't always feel like getting up and getting back in the fight. But every single time that I begin to feel weary, God comes and instills in me and puts in me and motivates me to get back in the fight. We all get tired, sometimes, we all get beat down sometime. But every single time that I think, you know what, that's an I can't do it anymore.

I need I'm pretty smart, I could go work anywhere, But for whatever reason, God continues to elevate me and to put me in position within the work that I am currently doing. And I know again that I have been chosen to do this work and that I have no choice but to do this work because every single time, every single time that the naysay is get together and that people try to take me out, instead of me

actually being buried, I continue to grow. And I just want to say to all of you, those of you who are saying that I need to stop and I need to move out the way, and I need to do all these things. Growth is exactly what I intend to do. I'm not going backwards. I'm going forward, and every single opportunity that I believe in that God puts

before me, I'm going to take it. And I'm going to bring the voices of those who have asked me, the people who I do represent, as well as my own family, my own struggle, my own desire to save my child and to save his children. I'm going to bring that message to any place that I believe is deemed a space where we can expand the awareness for the issues that we're fighting against. So that for me, is really the statement that the bottom line is you cannot cancel what God has called. And I know that

I have been called to do this work. That's I mean, that's gospel, you know, And I just I just want to end it by saying this. You know, when you come from where I come from, they make you believe that you can't grow, you know, and they want to continue to pull you down. A lot of people call it crabs in the battle, you know, And I say, I used to say it was the crab out the battle mentality because a lot of these people feel that when you get out, you're not coming back to get them,

so they're not happy for you to leave. But what what happens when somebody who's actually getting out and they're coming back to help, they still want to pull you back. And don't let these people believe that you can't evolve, that you can't grow, that you got to be a street dude your whole life, that you can't see things and you can't evolve your mind state, and you can't speak for our people, that you can't fight alongside me in this fight. Don't let these people feel that you're

not supposed to be successful. They question your success because you're not doing negativity. But when you're doing positivity, I mean, when you're doing negativity, they're happy to see you success. They're not mad. When they hear rappers talking about killing and drug dealing, they don't ask them why they got money. They don't ask them why you got a house or why you got a call. But when you're talking about positivity and you're talking about uplifting your people, you're a

fake activist. You know the mind state we have to change, And don't let these people make you believe any such thing. You are supposed to grow, you are supposed to evolve, You're supposed to come from the bottom and go to the top. So don't let anybody hold you back, young King, because I'm not letting them hold me back. Well that's that, on that on period as my sister Leslie Redmus, and though we owned it,