Policing in America Needs to Change

the amount of fathers since I've been traveled. You know, obviously we always traveling somewhere over this summer, how many fathers are with their kids on like taking them somewhere and flying them back and forth, and you know, running through airports handling their children. And then UM, I was watching a video where the father was telling his daughter to jump off the dresser into his arms and she was like, I can't do that, and he was like, yes you can, Yes you can, Yes you can. And

it was such a good video. And I said that fathers matter, like and we have to as a community make sure that we are always um just uplifting our dad's because it's it's not easy, it's not easy to deal with the world's and the stress and the pressure and the pushing pull. It's not easy to try to work and provide for your family at the same time, you know, having to try to be present for your kids, because I see the struggles, and trust me, I know

the struggles. Just thinking about Angelo raising his daughter Attorney and Gelo pinto our partner um until freedom, and just knowing how much like y'all too, were on the road and you're like, I gotta I gotta go this time, and he's like, I gotta it back this time. And it's back and forth because you guys are trying your best to be there for your children, and you know, we just have to always just acknowledge that black dads are in the mix and black dads matter. Yeah, we've

been outside, man, you know. It's it's it's it's funny when you hear this narrative because I don't really know a lot, and they probably are. They're definitely dead be dads and fathers who don't want to be with their children or don't do the necessary things to do to be that it takes to be with their children, you know. But for the most part, man, man, like those are our reflections man, especially you know when they're young. They're young, like you want, you want to really impose or imprint

on your life. You know, I haven't been fortunate to have a daughter, but I have sons, and I know how important wanting them to have certain values and understand as the life it is for me to make sure that I'm there instilling these things because I know what it what it looks like when you don't. You know what I'm saying. I know, when you're not there, you're not able to have that imprint on your child, you know, because everybody's an individual, and your child's gonna have his

own mind and his own you know, understanding. But the foundation that you give that child is very important man. You know. So most fathers, I don't understand that because either they had that or they didn't have it. So either way they understand how important it was in their lives to it because then you know, they're like, then I wish I had a father to do this, or you know, I'm glad that my father did this. So

there's there's that duality, and most men do one. So I'm glad that lately, you know, we live in the social media era where you probably to see it a lot more. Yeah, and people are talking about dads more and appreciating more. I think at some point, um, we began to realize that there was a false narrative being created about dad's you know, black fathers not being in the household or not taking care of their chosen because you know, I think you can. You can be consistent.

As long as you're consistent with kids, that's what matters the most. And there was starting to be a negative narrative that I think people start realizing that, hey, we have to be much more intentional about showing the other side.

Um And I think you know, you mentioned that there are deadbeat deads, but there's also deadbeat moms right there, deadbeat moms that even though they may be great mothers, they still put their children's fathers through hoops and loops to be with the kids for whatever issues they may have.

I posted or I sent around. I didn't post it because I never would, but I think brother Ben ex posted a video of a woman who, um, you know, she's talking to her husband, or her husband starts taping her talking to him about child support payments in relation to some new sneakers that the kids that the mother said the child needs. And so she's like, you don't need to bottom those damn sneakers, Like, what are you talking about? You already giving them five hundred dollars a month.

Five hundred jollars a month, that's a that's a lot. Like, you know that's enough, what you know that you already she should get anything she needs out of the child support, which we know is impossible, that's not realistic, and that's not being a parent, um, you know, a father to your child, a parent in general. But then she goes and says, oh, and f that child and F you two. And I said, that was the end of the marriage

for me. Right, there's nothing else to talk about because there are women out here who that is how they approach life. So I think being honest about all of that and doing and and making sure we promote um, you know, all good father's, good mothers, good good co parents and good parents, good marriages, good families. That's what black people need to hear about, you know, more of and where there are challenges people need to understand navigating

through that as well. Because for me as a mom, I certainly know the mistakes that I made and because I talk about them. I get feedback from a lot of mothers who are like man, I'm career driven, and I realized that my child, you know, suffered as a result. So anyway, that's another conversation. We should probably do a

show on that. That's the whole show, you know. And I'm glad that you did that about the debbut moms, because I get a lot of flat right for not always calling out women and and and that's something that I've learned in relation to dealing with you and Linda and Carmen and all of the women around us, that my job is not really to call out women about women ship all the day, right, because women have to

call theirselves to things. So a lot of times when I'm speaking, I'm I'm credit way more critical of men because not so much that I hold them to a higher standard. I just hold them for me, right. I just think in life in general, there's a certain level of fortitude that men supposed to have, certain levels of understanding and responsibilities that I think that we should possess, that we should not look to women to possess the same things. And it's not that we have greater or

there is an equality, but there's an equality based on differences. Right, there's you. Y'all do some things better than we do, and we do some things and we're accountable for some things that you're not. Right, So the things that I feel like we are accountable for as men, I'm going to hold you to that. I'm not gonna say what about women? And and don't tell me about what about women? When I'm talking about man should I don't. I don't

want to hear that conversation. When I'm talking about what men should be doing, how we should be carrying ourselves. I don't want to hear you tell me, well, what about women? That's not really something that I want to do. So I get a lot of flat from men. Oh, you you know you're always thinking of you know I'm talking about wo men should do. I don't agree. I don't agree that you do that all the time. Well,

I mean I don't agree. Well, I mean I don't think because you do have a very specific feeling about how women should behave or move in order to be in relationship with not I don't mean physical or what intimate relationship with men. So you'll be like women shouldn't you know, wear this or do this or that if you don't want this type of response from a man's but that's human. Tell you why, because that's that's an instant I'm giving you. I can only give you how

men are going to respond to what you do. Right, So that's a different thing based on what men should do. Right. You you can tell me. Women can tell me, okay, if men do this, this is how women are going to respond. That's that's a different thing. Because I've never been a woman. I can't tell women, Hey, you you need to do this. I'm just telling you that if you do this, the average man is gonna respond this way. I know that because I've been a man my whole life.

So all i want to say is that I still don't agree. Agree, But it's the topic for another day. So we could get into it on another time. Excuse we could get into it at another time, so I can tell you why. I don't know that it's true. And you know what I'll do. I'll sit there and write down or put in my phone every time you do it, and then come back and say, look at this, look at that. But anyway, because because my opinion based upon talking to you, and also angelo often as we

move about this country. Y'all always got something to say about what I need to do. But anyway, let me tell you I want to give up up huh right? Anyway, Um, I wanted to give an update from last week's show too, because last week we talked about the city manager in Keenly, North Carolina, Justine Jones, and how they entirely departed Kennley. Okay, Keatley. Sorry. You know, listen, this is the one thing we do is tell one another when we're saying something wrong. So anyway, um,

in Kenley, North Carolina. Uh, this woman, Justine Jones, she became city manager and for some reason, the entire police department resigned. So as of when we were on the show we talked about woman, she was a black woman. You remember, the whole story was the black woman city manager became uhy, she became city manager and the police department, most people on the force resigned. And remember I was saying, right, so we were saying we didn't know much of the details.

We didn't. We couldn't save the show because she could just be a crazy out of her mind or let me not say crazy, but she could be a very rude and disrespectful person or she could be unreasonable. We can't say that every black woman or every black person in general is you know, doing the right thing that would make a police department resign. But we said more

than like, we we get the scenario. So after the show, people started calling, and then one I got calls from people who are close to us that are you know, black women who are working, um, you know, especially in the win with Black Women's Face, which is a space

where Joe take Joe taka d our friend. She started a space where black women, powerful black women get together to um, you know, really influenced culture, influence change, uh and and really just be on the backs of any and everybody who thinks that they can discard or discredit or or uh and I do mean that discard discredit. So if you're a black woman and you're doing good things, um and all of a sudden that the attack star coming against you, this network will join together to push back. Right.

But also um, in situations where black women are being disrespected and so our suspicion was correct, mostly or mainly majority white people, lots of white men, and she wants to see change, She wants to see accountability, and so as a result of that, these folks have resigned because they are not going to They don't want to bend. They don't want to bend, they don't want to be held accountable. And I say let them go. I say,

recruit new people. I say, what walk through and work with the community to figure out techniques and bring national leaders like us in to help them with techniques for dealing with community issues, while also recruiting other people to

become officers. I say, don't go back and get the ones that don't want to do yeah, because they're not Because you're trying to move something forward, right, and these people have you know, they have a um primitive mind state, and and they're not trying to evolve anything're not trying to mindset that also, you know, and and and racism is primitive, right, So a lot of people haven't evolved to where we're ready, you know, where we are right now.

So you know, you've got to get new people with new ideas ready to embrace, you know, and engulf upon new things. Find you some new energies. A lot of people out there that want to be part of you know, the police, and they need opportunities. Man, Let's get some new, fresh fresh minds, man fresh ideas, people who really want to see the beloved community, who reimagined what policing looked like. Mm hmm, well yeah, I mean I think that's that's

gotta be it. So that was just the update from last week, because you know, I want to make sure that people know that we did do some research and got some calls and we've heard a lot about it. Before we get to our main topic for today, Airbnb. First of all, I love black people. I love black people. I'm actually, as we know, this is Black August, which is a time of revolution, revolutionary thought. Think about the Haitian Revolution, Uh, think about even Rosa Parks and other

major things that have happened in in black history. Even the March on Washington it happened during August UM. And so Black August has been poined as a term as a thing. And now as we sit in the middle of Black August, I'm actually in a place where a lot of boogey black people come, but they come together to raise money for important candidates. They come together for opportunity for black young people, black kids to be able to run free and live their lives without terrorism from

police and white supremacists and even terrorism from there themselves. Um. And you know there is opportunity for network and a lot of fundraison for organizations go on. And it's in my off this vineyard. Um. And you know again it is the talented tent of Black America that gets together every year. Uh. And as I sit here and think about it, Airbnb is one of the big things up here.

There's lots of Airbnbs. And I was thinking about that video that I showed you where the Airbnb where the Airbnb had a slave cabin and the guy I love black people because the black man is explaining how this is a slave board is here and these people think it's okay, and the white people are in the comments section, like, oh I went there slavery and it's like so real, it's so real. We learned so much this experience. And he's like, no, there's running water here, there's electricity, and

it's just the way he does. Nobody right coming in having having enforceful sex with you at I but hopefully they put the video in here. Anyway, Airbnb has apologized and I was just thinking about that because as we were pulling up here in this town, as you know, people rent houses everywhere. Airbnb is a thing. And so as I was pulling up in the town, I was thinking to myself, I hope I'm not saying it is late. It's not funny, but it is a lot. We just

we just gotta do too much. Sometime. Let's bring our guests in so we can talk about our main topic of the day. So we're uh, you know, us and our friends, my son, that's the that is the running uh talk of street politicians, that we have so many

friends doing so many great things across the nation. Uh. And our friend attorney Lead Mary, who is not a stranger to street politicians, but it's been a while since um, since he's been on, is joining us today to talk about two of his cases, UM that are important to us. Like we've been talking a lot, you know us. We we always talk about how we have the court of public opinion and then there is the actual court. And in the court of public opinions, sometimes were weighing heavy

on our feelings about certain issues. And certainly when you get started, you don't stop. It's day seven or something and you're still talking about the issue. And I do understand what I said, and left the people online to

just argue with each other. You know, when I have a position, you know, and I'm not a person that had comes by a position likely, so I like to have, you know, facts and things to back up what it is that I'm saying, rather than just because the internet is full of people who just talk right and they don't have any facts, They don't have anything to support their arguments. They just say, hey, this happened, this, this, and this is what's going on. And I don't like that.

So I like to be fat driven. I like to come back with situations that I can that people can relate to, to to point to up of things. I like to be at the point to law, statue, all types of things to support my situation. So sometimes it don't be one day. To take about five or six days for you to get all that this me. You know, it really doesn't because the thing I keep trying to tell you is that the people who understand are even open to understanding. They already got it from the first

two or three days. It's people who are committed committed to not agreeing with you, and especially people who hate black women, including black people. And then there's the trolls, so I don't have time for it. I said what I said, and I'm I'm done. Here's the story of Angel, guys, and today we have a time to be married on UH,

to help us talk about this issue. UH. It is extremely disturbing to me the amount of people who somehow are able to justify what happened to um miss guys because of you know, are able to justify her being arrested the way she was arrested UM in that video, just because the police department put out some other pieces that supposedly make people see something that I still have an issue with, UM and I want to hear from

you on it. I'll give you my short take on this situation, UH, and then you know, we can kind of go from there. What I have been saying to people is that the conversation we're having about a black woman's attitude is a secondary conversation. We could talk about respecting law enforcement, we could talk about that. I don't

have an issue with that. I'm not even gonna argue with folks on that point, because everybody is going to approach situations the way that they think they should, and we all have to deal with the consequences of such, So I'm not you know, I'm not gonna are agree with that. What I am arguing is exactly is what I never saw. I didn't get a chance to see it until my sign happened to put up the full video and I was able to see from the very very beginning. And it is that in the very very

beginning of this video. That is my issue. And I know you have other legal things as the video goes on,

you have other legal things. But my issue, and I think the issue that we have to where we have to stay, especially as leaders and activists and people who are fighting against uh the system and trying to change the system, is that the mere fact that she was getting a ticket in the first place is problematic, and that we are we should be, and cities should be, and our federal government should be looking for ways to limit the amount of conversation and interaction between police and

civilians who may get upset, they may feel whatever kind of way, and I think that's for the officers safety and the civilian safety. Right when you pull up to two people, and that y'all correct me if I'm wrong about this, You pull up to two people and they're standing there pretty much loving up on one another in the park after hours. Are they wrong for being in the park after hours? Yeah, because the rules are the rules, right, But you approached them and say, I don't know where

you're from. You look like you're from out of town. You got Ohio plates, but you can't be in this park after a certain time. From my perspective, if they when they said okay, got you let them go. But I understand if they have been shootings in the park, that you might need to get their i D. Because you can't just say just because it's a couple, they're

not dangerous armed, they haven't just committed a crime. Fine, So let's take it to the next step that you need to run their license to to see if they're clear. Then you under license and the license says they no warrants, nobody's looking for them, they're not, uh enemy number one. At that point, I believe that this system should be set up to say go home or come out of

the park. So now, okay, so I gave my this is this is where I feel the issues start, right and that there's too much conversation after that, and now you want somebody to sign a ticket and all of that that creates what we saw at the end. But you guys could tell me if maybe I'm misplacing or not understanding the full context. I mean, I think from before league gives you know, his his legal and understanding professionalism, I think for me that is very much issue. You know.

I think when we talk about community police and we talk about community and police relations, and we talked about how do we repair that, this was a classic example of how not to repair how to further divide that, right because from the initial when he got the car and he said that, and they they they when he said they can't be in the park, they said, oh, thank you, like they were prepared to just leave, like you know, they thank you got it, and they said, oh,

thank you, we got it, and we're about to leave, you know. And once you took the idea, they're like, Okay, what we didn't really did all right, but cool, we're gonna give you the I d S. And I think at that point, you know, people are saying she had an attitude. And I think when she watched the board demand go over there and and was signing this ticket or whatever was giving a ticket, she was completely confused because I would have been confused. I would have been confused.

How I'm sitting in the park. I'm not in the park, deep in the park on the benches. I'm not with dark at I'm not like we were in a threat. You knew we didn't have a threat. You took out identifications, you acknowledge that the plates weren't from here. Everything about this made you didn't you went to your car with identifications because you didn't see us as a threat. You didn't call for backup, you didn't do any there. At

no point did you think that we were doing anything criminal. Right, So, at that point, if we're trying to resolve the divide between you know, the community and police, at that point, you show some level of community, right, you show that you're part of the community. You show Okay, you weren't aware of this situation. You're not really from here. You know, I'm gonna let you go with the warning. You know, it's a lot of things going make it make me

feel like you're trying to make me safe. You know a lot of things going on in this park, you know, don't We don't want you in here. Something that can happen to thank you over so, and I'm gonna leave with a good impression like then it's officer, thank you over so, and it feel like you're part of our community,

that you you're for the betterment of us. But instead what you decide to do is you try to decide it issue us a citation, which basically means that either I have to report to a court here you know, I'm not even from here, or I have to pay a fine if I don't, if I'm not prepared to come back and forth to a landed I fight ticket. So now you you've made a decision that you're going to really impose your power on me. You're going to you know, you're gonna do something that's gonna put a

damper all my life, like for what? For what? Why? Like what? And you didn't have to do it. It wasn't there's no mandate that you give somebody a citation for being in There's no mandate that I signed, no mandate. These are all discretionary things, you know, and and you made it upon your discretion to to to do things, to impose things you know that are gonna cause my life a level of conflict that I don't really want that I don't even really need. So it's so now

of course I'm aggravated, you know. So for me, it's like, what what is the what are the the police trying to do? Are they? Are you complete law and order? You just want people to feel fear you and see you at some level of power. Are you trying to be in community with the community? You know? Do you want like I don't understand what what is the goal of the police? People saying that's their job there here? Well, if that's the job that you have, and you can't

be mad that people don't like you. You can't be mad if there's an issue, because if every time I see you, I know you're strictly there to impose some laws or tell me what I'm doing wrong, and you know, put barriers in my life something that's good cause me some level of I'm gonna have to pay money or go to court inconvenience if you if you your job is completely to inconvenence me. Why do I like you?

Why would I even want to be around you? Why would I participate, you know, with anything that you involved in? And that's what that's the main thing it is to me. But I'll let lead talk. There's a couple of other things that I let lead get into, you know, the league. I just wanted you to hear leave how we feel, and now listen to what you have to say. Yeah, obviously I believe in misguised this position in terms of having her rights violated as a citizen because I took

on the case. But I've been hearing a lot of the national feedback or pushback from the other side that it's really demanding that misguys takes responsibility for our own actions. Right, So people are saying, well, yeah, he may have done this wrong, he might have done this wrong, but really the onus was on her because she amplic she she did show deference to the police officer, right, she didn't

humble herself before the police officer. And my concern is that most of the police encounters that result in in really tragic situations, um, both from John in his apartment complex of Tatiano Jefferson shot to death and playing video games with her nephew. Um, you know you you name it. Um you have a uh an instance where law enforcement is interacting with someone and that person is supposed to

show deference to the officer. But you never know how you're gonna catch someone, what state, what state you case your man at all. We we can't expect black people. We can't always put the onus on black people or victims of police brutality. Uh to show deference to police culture because we accepted it so violent and um, I think most people don't put the proper emphasis on this

case because she was just arrested. And it's almost like she chose to get arrested, but number one and arrested violent, right, like the whole idea of beat taking out of your setting and placing in the cage. She was she was describing an experience to me, and like you all, I shared the experience, so I understood what she was going through.

But smelling that pistons still laying awkwardly in the back of that that police car, that it's not built to have people in their handcuff, um, you know, being stripped of your clothes, putting on that want your uniform. All because she didn't want to sign a citation like in our society, we said that's okay, Like we accept the society that will allow someone to go through that dehumanizing process because they didn't show deference to a police officer.

The way I look at that police officer, he's a meter made. Right, you're outside, I have the dark. You're not supposed to be here. Uh, here's your ticket. Oh you showed me how to to. I'll get over because I'm just a meter made I'm not someone so important that you have the lord or like, show me deferensive perspective. You can give me an attitude, that's fine. I was a school teacher. I got attitude from you're badass kids

all the time. As you're as a civil rights attorney, I can get attitude from every client that I have. It's part of the process. I don't understand why cops get to live above that in our society. And that's what I didn't get. The legal part. I can get into the legal part. We want to hear that. We want to hear the legal Yeah. So that's just my response, and mostly as a father, as as a a dad. Oh this is the same thing, but as a black man. Um from from a legal standpoint, the citizen is the

person with the power, right. Uh, they call those people public servants because there are public servants, their servants to the citizens. That officer was actually serving those citizens. Hey, this is a dangerous part. I'm glad he warned them about that, because that is, in fact the dangerous part. Now, the danger there is because of poverty in the area. People are sleeping and homeless in that in that part, and they're robbing people like them who are hanging out

trying to have a good time. Right, So his job is to show up and say don't come back. And his job was even to give them a ticket, in my opinion, because there was in fact the man from the city hall saying, hey, violence is increasing in this area. Start giving people tickets so they don't come back. That's what's going on on the ground level and in Atlanta.

So we're supposed to give them the ticket. She was supposed to have an attitude about it, right, Uh, no laws have been broken yet, Um, when she refused to sign the ticket, there's a stupid law. Um. And one of the brothers one of a popular civil rights attorney on my page, brother Isaac from fifty show besides of the last name Isaac made a student argument why the requirement to at a signature is in fact unconstitutional because you're requiring me to promise to do something that I

don't necessarily have to exactly. I can suffer the consequences of not doing it, But I don't have to promise you. That's a violation of my freedom of speech. It's a violation of my personal works. I don't want to make that promise. I'll think about it. I might get a lawyer, you know. So the requirement is down. Um, but here the law does empower him to make arrests where the person doesn't satisfy that requirement. So he wandered her a couple of times, and she says she wasn't gonna sign it.

So he started to effectuate in the rest excessive force under the laws to find is more force than it's necessary to gain compliance any For if I yell at you and speaking in a normal voice, you are already complying, and I just suddenly start yelling at you, I'm using excessive force. I'm violating the law. Right. Um, you have a use of force spectrum that you can go up where loud commanding voice go hands on. Then you get into some of those lesslie the equipment, taser being bad, etcetera.

And then you have that force right And in order for him to gain compliance, he had the authority to gain compliance for her to do what to sign, the to sign the ex citation. If she showed compliance towards that, uh the thing that he had authority to use force against her force, then the issue was resolved. And so when I say all that to say, I'm I'm breaking it down sort of in parts. But I say all that to say, the minute he showed those handcuffs to her,

she said, all right, I'll signed that. I'll signed the citation. He responded, no, I'm not here to play games with you. In other words, no, I'm in my feelings now right, and now you're gonna jail? Well, uh, you being even feelings is not sufficient to take someone to jail. You wanted her to comply, she resisted. You decided your show force, your use of force was sufficient to gain compliance. Everything you did after she said I'm going to sign was illegal.

When you took her to the ground, that was illegal. When you pulled out that taser, that was illegal. When you put your knee into her back, that was illegal. It was an excessive It was more than was necessary to gain compliance. Was the signature on paper. But you can, I ask you can? I asked this what's this one question? You said that the law he has there is a law that allows him to arrest her if or arrest the person if they don't sign. Is that a requirement

or is it his discretion. It's a discretion. It's a discretionary decision. And what I said when I responded to this was it was abusive discretion. It was poor discretion to say in this part, this person who I've already established this no other threat other than showing me an attitude. Uh, this person is I have I do have their I D ident in ways to track them after here, right, I get to use my discretion in this case whether it's worth taking them into custod It it was poor discretion.

And I want to know another thing. This is when I when I read the them the law, it states that before you can actually issue arrest, you're supposed to tell the individual that this citation does not when you sign this citation, that it does not mean that you admission of guilt. At that point. After you say that to the individual, if they say no, then you can arrest them. And I never, I never, I've never heard him say that. And I think that's very important because

he didn't say to her. He said to the boyfriend, Um, and yeah, he missed that department under the law as well. Yeah, and that's what it is for me. It's like because when she from in my from my point of view, when she said no, I don't, that was based on her knowledge of the law, because most people have never signed a ticket, like I've never been asked to sign a ticket. I've had numerous tickets, I've been giving tickets

and nobody ever required me to sign a ticket. If I didn't, it was all right, they write the back, did not sign, refused to sign, and you still give me a ticket. So that's what's happened. Based on her knowledge of the lord. She's like, no, I don't like. She said, I don't have to sign that, right. He said, yes, you do. She said no, I don't. You know, And at that point he didn't explain the lord to her and said, well, based on the law in Atlanta, if

you do not, it doesn't, it doesn't. It's not, you know, admission of guilt. And to be clear and knowing this guys now and speaking to her after the fact, that's

exactly what she was doing there. She was asserting her rights as she understood them, and she felt because she felt violated by the encounter, by his decision to define him in her companion, she decided that she was going to try to assert her rights because you know, she she she had just a little bit of an understanding that she had rights to sign as as a citizen um and this officer was seemed to set out to prove that she didn't. In society has backed him. But

that's the part. Well, a large sector of our society is back them in a way that I find disconcerting. And and and that brings us to what our topic is. You know, we me and to me go often have these conversations and you know, and it's it's becoming more and more dangerous to me, right because there's this this narrative and this notion that black women, you know, their passion or they don't listen, or they're angry, they have an attitude, and this attitude is what justifies these type

of situations happening to them. And you know, and I don't I don't know. I think when I look back at history, right, and I look at every woman that they said had a history, I look at you know, I look at um, who can we go back to We can go back to any you can name any women that may actually made history, they will quote unquote said to have had an attitude because they just didn't

go for people were telling them right. You know, So I think you to celebrate you know this, this this the fact that you're not willing to just capitulate to things that you know are not right. To celebrate roads of fouls because she decided that she wasn't gonna get up right and and and to celebrate all of the women throughout history that fought with and created most of the movements that pretty much were the backbones and most of these movements who were the fire behind the men

who they had forward facing. To celebrate that and then say that that same attitude and that same fire and that same will to to get justice and and get things that they deserve is something wrong. It's like the biggest contradiction in the world to me. Well, I still think that. I mean, the bottom line is people have attitude. That's it. When they everybody people, and that it's just is with this that's gonna be a part of policing

and what to do with that. I'm sorry, that's gonna be a part of police, and what we allowed police to do with that, it's really going to tell what kind of society we're living. Right, But we've seen white people have not just attitudes. White people don't just have attitudes. They get they are, they are doing attitudes. They talk about your mama and everything else. Like I literally have a video that I post I'm gonna post where it

is a white woman. You don't see her, but she's getting put over for a ticket and the officers talking to her and she's calling them all types of assholes. She's telling them, this is why y'all get shot. I see why so many of you get shot. And and he and he's like, okay, man, you have a nice day, you know, and and and and these This is common. This is common every time I see I've watched white

women to call them all types of names. And you ain't ship and throw to throw the tickets at them, rip them up in their face, and and and people act like that, right, there is okay. But when a woman asks questions and say can I have your badge number and said no, I don't have to sign until you get your badge number, now she's the worst person

in the world. If she gets bad shot stabs, she brought it upon herself and that that that to me is so mind boggling that we have a large part of society that actually agrees with that mentally, and and they only agree with it when it pertains to black women. M hm, that's rights. Like I said, you know, we we went to hell for for Mike Brown as we should have. Like we was ready to fight, but he went in the store and took something out of it. We thought that was some petty and it was. It was.

It didn't never justified what happened to him, but there was something that was done. And we were in the world when you know over that was ready to kill everything, just like what happen with George Floyd. He supposedly had a fake twenty We didn't get funk about that. That man should what the things that happened after that should not have occurred. So why don't we have that same you know, that same mentality when it comes to a

black woman. Why do we think because they're willing to stand up for themselves and they're willing to question and have questions and not willing to just go down, that there's a problem. I gave him a situation, you know, you know, me and Tamika would on American airlines, and then a situation happened there and I was side right for the most part. For the most part, life has taught me my interactions is just take what comes. I went to jail because I was actually literally kind of

too scared to fight. I didn't speak up. I made I made a judge. I allowed a judge in the d A to force me to have an attorney that I didn't want because I was scared to speak for myself. I didn't want to say I don't want this attorney because I was scared, or the repercussions and if he all of these things. I was nervous this right and and and in a lot of situations I've been nervous. And then my mother and my grandmother have never been

nervous about nothing. The situations that I have been quiet, they stood up and a lot of times they understood their rights and they go and and I had to learn that throughout time, and even now just watching Tamika and watching other black women and watching my they don't bite their tongue and a lot of times it's because they know right for wrong. We've been taught as black men, and I listened to these things, just sign it. Just the dude talk. When the officers said to the demand,

he said, do I have to sign this? And he said, you either signing to go to jail. That's not that's not a legal term. That's not you explaining to me why I have to sign it. You're just giving me ultimatum. That's basically, you're threatening. You your fear, You're you're still in fear into me to make me sign something that I don't even know why I gotta sign. You still didn't give me a legal explanation on why I have to sign this. Well, because we've been taught to field

officers and and fear jail so much. We don't want we don't want any confrontation, and and and and our black women don't have that same fear, you know, and and some of them do, some of them do. How would you say, I wouldn't say that we don't have that fear, because there are some who do. Um and

there are some who also agree. When you first of all, when you're not talking to trolls, because a big problem with what we experience online is arguing back and forth or spending so much time focused on people who we don't even know if they're real. A lot of times they are fake profiles, white people posing as black people,

um trying to antagonize us and antagon it. So this is why I take going the role of saying what I have to say, putting my position out there, and I'll give a little bit, but I don't continue to go too far because I can tell when people are literally harassing me or just trying to cause confusion. But I had a woman come into my d M tells me, tell me she respects me so much, and now she thinks I'm crazy because I don't seem to understand this thing.

And I sat and I broke down for her what I feel about the tickets, how I felt the woman was antagonized, and how I felt this situation ended up being what it is because this officer is going from step to step to step to step to try to make this woman feel her and her partner feel uncomfortable doing too much. Is what I felt about it. And as I when I finished, she said, you know what you actually are right? You're right. I still think that

she put herself in a dangerous situation. But you're right, and that's fine, we can say that. But I'm so I'm saying, how do we get here? How do we get here? So anyway, that was we just wanted to here and you could you know, of course, continue to share lead, but we just wanted to hear your opinion on the situation. I strongly agree with both of your position. It's but just coming from two people who spend a

lot of time challenging police norms. Right, We've been talking about reimagining law enforcement throughout the country recently, and so you know, every police encounter I'm thinking, Man, I imagine what Mike just have looked like if it was done the right way for me to meet made and let me say, let me say this when we um Also, I think that there is something to be said about this idea that again civilians who are you know, may have been drinking or or frustrated for something that happened

in their day, or going through heartache, whatever, all of those things. Right, there's something to be said about making them equals, but then saying that one person has a responsibility to show deference, right, so we make them equal in saying you and the cop need to do whatever, calm it down or have respect. But then if he's upset or doesn't like something, or she the officers upset or doesn't like something, then it's your responsibility also, so

you become responsible at every level. Why do we need to pay police if it's our responsibility to de escalate the situation, not having attitude, especially if you're a black woman, figure out how to get home safe. If you have to do all of that, there is nothing. There's no purpose in having an officer who's going to training, who gets a paycheck, who has a badge and a gun.

We're not on the same level. When you approach me, I am untrained, uncootht un unfundable, everything you want to say, I'm all of that, and you are the one that's the professional here. So if I go to the restaurant to buy food and they tell me coming the back, cook the food, clean up after yourself, and then pay for it, that does not make sense. Why are you here? Why do you have and established no exactly and and to me, because that really gets into what I find

to be again the root of the problem. We've tried different language on it, one of the one of the languages that we've tried on it is deep militarizing. The police plice officer that she came in encounter with he was black. That's a start. We do want to see more black police officers because the data tells us that black officers are less likely to use force and make a lawful of rest. But normally that increases when the

black officers from the community that they're police. Right, And I don't know that about Officer Brooks here, um, but yeah, we're on our way. The problem is he's still, just like every other Atlanta police officers, spent seventy five percent of his training on shooter don't shoot scenarios, on the on the target practice on the shooting range. Right. They are military. They are a paramilitary standing force in the

city of Atlanta. Uh. And so they're they're still they've gotten the same training that we know officers had during this period that we call the rise of mass incarceration the last fifty years, during the war on so called drugs. Right, same militarized police are out there doing the same thing, arresting women in the park for being their thirty minutes after closing. UH. And so we're getting the same results. We still have right street in Atlanta, overcrowded with people

having in humane conditions. Uh. And that's something else that miss guys had to learn and sort of upper middle class and Lego who has never been in those shails before. It's something that we've seen in those jails. There are human rights violations taking place right there in those there's people with mental health crisis and those jails being being stripped of their clothes, being chained to bids. Uh. And when you're civilian sort of walking through that YouTube, get

an up close in person to look at it. It is urgent. I just got off the phone with Mona Harden. We all love Mona. That's the mother of Ronald Green, and um, she wants to know, you know, everyone agrees now we saw her son beat to death on the side of the road, begging for us life. She wants to know what we were doing about it today, about the two times we went to the White House and the time we went out to Batting Rouge and everybody

protesting in March with her and demanded justice. And and she wants to know what we were doing about it today because it's urgent to her. It happened almost three years ago now, but it's still urgent. And when I look at cases like this, it reminds me of the urgency at a human level. Um, we can't can continue to let law enforcement get away with the same culture and then protested it later. Like during the campaign. It's urgent for misguise, it's it's urgent for all of us,

and it's all tied to the same conversation. I don't I don't get I've had people reach out to me like they reached out to you, to me to say, I don't support you on this campaign. I supported I support you on a mide I support you on Ronald Green, that support you on both them, but this one, I wan't support you, And I'm saying they're all the same conversation.

It's about our individual writers. So you know, I think we'll be talking about this situation for some time because now you have joined them, and I appreciate you for that lead. You're not the attorney, right my son that would run and say, well, you know, people don't there's there's a mixed feeling or we're split in the community about this, and so therefore maybe I shouldn't take the case because one I think you see the legal side of it, which is not about our thoughts of what

should and should and could and whatever. It's the like real legal basis for you know how you feel you can support her and so you know we want to support you into that. Definitely, don't not dune in smoke. So anyway, Attorney Merit, you know are you you leave? You are our brother, but you have so many different issues and cases that you are involved in and have to always remind ourselves of how much you are working

every single day. UM. And this is the case that you have been fighting for some time and working with two sisters who have become our sisters, um, the mont Rosa sisters as we like to call them. UM. And I'll tell us about Sean Manta Rosa. The Valleo uh department, a police department killed him, UM. And I just want you to remind people about what happened to this very special young man that, by all accounts we know should

be with us today. Absolutely. And I'm gonna allow the Monta Rosa sisters to tell their brother's story and talk to you all about who he was. And they've done such a phenomenal job doing doing that not only for the community of Balajo where they're from, but all over the nation. But I do want to put the case of what happened to your brother in context and talk to other community about why it's so important that we all continue to back other my Rosa's sisters for justice,

not only for Sean. Now, but we'll start talking about California. You all know I'm from California originally. UM. Unlike the popular discussion around the South, we forget that California has some real issues concerning authoritarianism, concerning servatism UH that impact citizens. It is the deadliest state in the country for police violence. It is um the second most incarcerated state in the country. But when we start talking about police reform and justice reform,

California is really ground zero. And shortly after the murder of George Floyd, Sean mont Rosa threw himself into changing police culture in California and he was out protesting on behalf of George Floyd when he was shot and killed by one of the deadliest police cultures UH communities in

northern California, which is the Valleto Police Department. UM. Recently and in the media, and during the course of this case, we've discovered evidence that Vallejo Police Department engaged in uh practice called badge bending, where they celebrate the murder of

civilians by bending their actual badges. UH. It's a part of an ongoing discovery that we're finding about about gang culture within policing in northern California and police violence um both staring racism um um deeply ingrained and granted into the police culture and then all out celebrations of violence

and um. Anyway, so the mont Rosa Sisters have taken their their fight for Sean and they've been exposing the Valetjo Police Department on a national level, and they've been bringing in some some national figures um um into the fight. And so I'm happy to be a part of their case, and we'll talk to you about some of what we've been finding and our next moves to the extent that that we're willing to show our hand Ashley in the show. Well, first, I just want to thank you guys for giving us

opportunities say here and UH share what's happening. You know, it's been a little over I mean two years, two years now and some months UM you know, only God in the universe knows why our family was chosen. UM. But our June second is every day for us. It's just a matter of how we present ourselves. But June two, we got the call Shawn's dead. John's Shaun's dead. We're born and raised in San Francisco. Valo is like thirty

or forty minutes away. Um, this is all during in California we went into you know, lockdown, curfews and stuff, and we're just like, wait, what what you know? Um? But we all shared locations with our brother, and you know, this is the time we all want to share locations. In one of that we we see his pink locations ten fifty Redwoods for like ten fifty Redwood Street. What's he doing in Valleo? Um. But just even prior to that,

just it was a thirty minutes before shawn sensus. The last text message Shawn texted us is the to change dot org petition asking for the UM get Justice for George Floyd petition. You know it takes less than a minute. We responded by saying it actually reacts with the heart. We just kind of went with their evening and we drove I remember just driving and feeling sick to my stomach, alreety of just even having that phone Callum Big driving

to Valo. We don't know anything about Valo. The only thing we were up doing is like the rappers who come out of val aout and like six flags. That's pretty much all we knew about it. And I remember we just went on a on a trying to figure out answers. When we went to the location that was paying, the officers there on on site sent us to the Kaiser the hospitals right there. The people the kais were like, well, the hospitals all lockdown. We have no answers for you. You

You gotta go back to the crime scene. Go back there. They're like, no, we don't have answers for you. Go to the police department. We go to the police department. It's they're closed. And it's like, you know, we were there from two am to five, like five thirty in the morning, trying to get answers, trying to get some sort of help. But we're just like going with the pictures, Sean and going with the phone locations, like it says he is here, like what's happening. You know, there's all

these police officers. They all have like a R fifteens out holding them in their hands. Um, and I just remember the last time, we were like, Okay, he's at neither these hospital. There's another hospital down the way. Let's just go there. We go there and they say, well, we heard everything that happened on dispatch all night. Um, you know, if your brother's locations there, it's not gonna be pretty, you know, just go back and try to get someone to give you some answers. We go back again.

The guy says, let me go ask the detective for you know, for any clarity for you guys. The guy said, well, you're just gonna have to look up in uh the inmate locator to see maybe he got arrested, you know, maybe he's getting processed. And when you know, we keep re emphasizing we're not from here, We're from San Francisco. We don't know where we're going. Um. We go back to the kaiser and Ashley says, let me file missing person's report, like maybe somebody can give me some guidance

the car and I wone one. The dispatcher says, let me, you know, let me call and send you to the watch commander This is where I knew things are already. You know, they weren't going to give us any answer to watch. Commander told us, what's your brother's name? We give Sean's name, and then he said, well, you're gonna have to find out on TV like everyone else tomorrow. And then this is already a factor in the morning already.

You know you're I feel like you have a special ball on a special line, UM, connected with your love. When I felt like that line was cut off, So we started going through all these emotions. UM. We drive back home, We're praying with our mom and our moms just like we just have to be patient. No, no phone call from anybody in the La Police department. UM. Nothing actually looks again to see if my brother was maybe arrested. Nothing in the system. UM. And I was

about that evening. I believe they released the police department released the statement with no UM what was it. They didn't even specify to say the condition of Sean or anything. They just said kind of their own little scenario. But no one again didn't reach out, and it was till Ashley decided to call. I called the coroner's office at Solano County. UM. I gave them Sean's birthday and in his name, and that's when we got confirmation that Sean

was at the at the coroner's office. Still didn't know what even happened, how he ended up there, and we're trying to figure out, like where he's at, but all of a sudden, he's at a corner's office. So we were just so confused, we felt nauseous, like still didn't have no one reached out to us that even let us know what happened until like seventy two hours later, we finally get some type of news of what even happened.

So the remember his name was Detective Kevin Rose caused our home as we're calling family to coordinate Sean passed away. We don't know what happened. Um, you know me was

all everyone's calling us. And then this guy causes, like, we just want to talk to the parents, and my mom's working and my dad was at home, and I remember he said, we just want to get a statement, and we're like a statement about what we don't even know what's going on, and he's like, okay, what have you on the line, um, And I said, well, I can't talk right now. I'm on the phone with my grandma to you know, let them know everything that's happening

right now. I hang up. He calls again, he's like, you know what, actually, let me have the sisters, Like, I just want to ask you guys some questions. I'm like, I haven't. I can't answer anything for you, So I just hung up. And then that's how it pretty much was for us the first June one and June was it went one second? Was this the officer who said who called? The media person, the detective Kevin Rose, all the media people, all the you know, just everyone's trying

to you know, everyone's trying to just figure out what's happening. Meanwhile, we don't even know what's happening. We're trying to figure out ourselves. UM. So it's just a really rough you know, first forty forty eight hours for our family. Um but it's just really this hard. It was really hurtful for our family to know you're calling us. You know, you're supposed to be a detective. You're calling us to get a statement, not even to let us know what happened.

How dies Sean even you know everything. So you know, we took on the fight from I remember just even the moment our our previous UM former attorney we had was like you know, you guys have to get on camera. We're asking for two weeks. We're like we have to process. This is like you don't understand how how important this is. And it's almost like I felt like a message from God just telling us, like you can't stop m And

since then we haven't stopped. Don't you know. I know, I know it's kind of painful, but what exactly happened? What was If you don't mind, I'll pick up on that um and it's important. Actually, Uh, my son, as you start to ask that question of what actually happened, they remind reminded me of the time that you and I intomik or out in Minnesota. Uh. It was during the middle of all those protests, and so there were a lot of people out in the streets police for roaming.

I remember when I got off the airplane and was walking to my hotel, police stopped and pepper spray you all the way by and I was just walking from my hotel. Whoa crazy? Crazy enough? This case was very similar to that um Sean is out while people are protesting the police, they don't even stop their car. They're still driving and they literally shoot him through the window like a drive by, but bullets go through the windshield and strike him. While he's on his knees with his

hands up. He sees police approaching, he begins to attempt to surrender and they shoot him through the window. There no weapons involved on his part. Uh, there is no shots in the area recently. Uh, this was I don't understand why the officer wasn't drug tested immediately because it

was bizarre. It was a drive by by longs being the middle of the protest, during the middle of the protest, during during the George Floyd like, it could have easily been any of us, like the night that we were out, if the law enforcement decided just to roll up on us. It was that quick. There was nothing he could have done. In fact, the best advice I would have given him in that moment was to go to the ground and surrender, and that's exactly what he did. They stopped just like that.

So how many times did they shoot him with They shot him once without a R fifteenth through his neck, but they shot five times out the window. And the most devastating thing is right, they destroyed the evidence of the windshield, you know, um, once the release of the footage was released and they was asked to preserve the windshield,

you know, to forensics and all that stuff. The president of the Valleo Police Association orders for the destruction of evidence and has another um lieutenant actually just oh, we took it out, wipe it up, you know, put a new car, the cars back on the field. So it's like already little steps of them coming up. You know. Not only did he kill my brother, he but he endangered the other two people who he shot from the

back seat, the driver and the passenger, you know. And this is a culture and we we had to learn about the rituals that happened of l with the badge banning right the captain already on seen is it's a plotting basically, Jared on the off coach on it's like, well, we've been through this before. You'll be okay, You'll get through this, you know. And it's just the whole video is already very chopped and screwed and horrific itself. But it's just like the same thing. We've been through this before.

We're gonna be okay, you know, not even mind of like what's the family going to go through? You should have stopped, not even dried by a situation any of that, the justifications for like what did they say the reason why they should He said he believed he saw a hammer. I mean sorry, he believed he saw a game. Um, but what was discovered on Sean's body later was a hammer. Um. I don't believe that he even saw the hammer because

of where it was found on Sans. But yeah, you know, and this is we, like I said, once the second happen, we have to like go and be basically we are own detectives, learn about why and Valeto so and this is the craziest thing since Valeo from Sean. There's been an officer involved shooting each year of killing one or two innocent black around unarmed men, then finding out that the badge spending. Um the captain who was there previously before the captain that's there, uh no, the chief sorry

um whistle blowed about the badgepending. Then the city and everybody they fired him. So it's been a people been aware of this culture, the badge bending. You know, it's something and we're finding out now, you know, through hearing court transcripts and stuff that jaredon could have been a badge bender. You know that this is all this is their little internal gang. You know, this is what they do.

You know, it's already horrific the way we lost Sean, but to learn that this is something to go behind and said they could have been hunting that night for a starbank. You know, basically, how do you mean to cut you off? So basically every time they take a life, they've been one of the corners of the badge so and basically celebrating that you you killed someone, and you took someone's life, took the life of a level one and this is what the police, the public servants are doing.

Yeah wow, So what is the campaign now to deal with that? Because I'm sorry. So there has been some traction. Initially, of course they went to to cover up the officers UH actions. As of now, the as the Monte sisters mentioned a moment ago, the chief has been the placed with the new chief of police. UH. There has been a special report or investigatory report report UH done by the city of Alajo itself to found UH that this

was unjustified shooting. UH. The officer has been terminated However, there was an additional finding recently by the Civil Service Commission that the officers should be reinstated. The current police chief is trying to block this officer being reinstated. The police union is trying to have the current police chief removed from his position because he used to reform mind it uh. The Attorney General's Office, Rob Boten, is responsible

for the criminal prosecution of this officer. The initial prosecutor UH about out requested to be removed from the case. Um and so Rob Botner's office took over as special prosecutors and they're in the midst of them investigating. We planned to do a little bit more u H. As time goes on to put Mr Botan's feet to the fire how to move forward with prosecution. So how many times has this over to quote unquote bend his badge?

Is that? Is that known to the public TEA So through court hearings that have been released, I think they're they're released publicly right now. The so the captain who started the ritual went on standing testified about who the order, who been squad, what it started with. Apparently the ridge of the ritual came from another surrounding police department and conquered police department, then went to Oakland. Then it's then the hub is basically in Valleo. So it's been happening

in Valo since two thousand to two thousand two. And he basically named all the officers who are a part of it. So it's kind of like initiation, if you know, if one of us do this, then we're going and you know, I go bet yours and you go bet someone's. It's like that. And through those transcripts, Jaredtson's name was popped up, so we have reason to believe that that night he was going out to get his second one.

But Jarrettson has been in three other shootings. You know, he never killed the other the other ones, but Shaun's his first fatality and Jaredson is the second. I believe in the department to have the most um accord with another officer named Steve Darden, the most officer involved shootings under their belt. So this is an officer, Jarrettson, the officer who killed our brother. His came from a different police department because he had misconduct in this other police department.

So there's this thing in California where there's now there's through SP two Senator Bradford's Law of Police Decertification, there is now a process to de certified bad officers to prevent them from bouncing around from county to county and from police departments. But this is a person who's a known bad apple, who's a bad cop, who's always been

trying to kill people. You know, this is the longest period I want to say, two years since Sean's death that the officers of the Malayo Police Department haven't killed anybody. M No. And we stopped the ritual from twenty of them killing more people. And we can't thank fish for swimming. We can't apply fish for swimming. But it just goes to show that community pressure, what everyone is doing, the collective work of everybody is really making a difference. And

so we just gotta keep applying that pressure. And I like to say all gas, no breaks, even though sometimes we need to take those breaks, but you know, we gotta keep pushing no. So I just want to say, so, what can what can we do? Now? What can people do? You know, how can we in support to make sure that these officers are fired and and actually prosecuted, because this is this is murder, you know, and and these are murderers. They're pretty much any game, you know, setting

out to find the next kill. So what can we do? You know what I listen to do not only murderers, but texts payers sponsor murderers. And so for this gang that our text I was responsoring there too, um decision makers that you all can reach out to that we're asking you to reach out to, firstus the new chief of the Vallet Hill Police Department, showing your support for his um is decision and pursue progress, for his support of the prosecution of Jared Time, and for his termination.

I think he needs to hear voices of support around him, and the media needs to see that the community supports the reform that he's pursuing in Valet Hill. And then for criminal accountability for these officers, we are asking you to reach out to the Office of Attorney General Rob but his office has been investigating this case for well over a year now. They have more than enough evidence to issue your arrestlaurrants uh and to place the men

responsible for us Stunt's death and cover up in tustody. Well, thank you all so much. I mean you guys, First, of all, just to see you, Ashley and Michelle just blossom so much from where you started when this all

happened to where you are now. It's unfortunate that it takes extreme trauma and tragedy sometimes to develop the world's leaders um your voice and your understanding and your ability to you just have such clarity in terms of how you walked us through all of this and what's the next steps and what's happening with the police department, And it would actually do them good, which I know they never think this is true, but it is to work closer with you all so that they can create systems

that one respect people when issues happen. So first of all, we don't want the issues to happen at all, so you know that. But that's a long fight that we're all involved in um nationally. But just looking at how they responded to you, the same thing happened to Brianna Taylor as mother, going back and forth to the hospital all overnight, going to the apartment where Brianna was shot, then going to the hospital back and forth, and the

officers and and and the detectives and others. It's not that it was just a mix up they knew she was in the house, dead on the ground, They knew that, but they wanted to send her mother around in a loop so that she would not find out what was going on and have questions on the scene. So all of this is intentional, and then there is so much

disrespect involved. And I don't ever want us to normalize it, to say that you guys are gonna be there and tell them, well, if you kill people black and brown people, this is how you deal with it. But there's but that behavior, that attitude that they had with how they treated you in the detective calling and all of that, that's the same attitude that plays out in the conversation

we just had um Lee about uh miss guys. It's the same attitude that plays out with how police officers deal with people all over the nation, which can lead to someone was in their life because there was such a lack of respect for our community. So I just want to say to you ladies that I was gonna say you girls, because you know, y'all are like our babies at this point, that we love you, we appreciate you,

we stand with you. Um you know, we support you all, and we are really, really really sorry that your lives have ended up this way. You should be on the beach having a good time, living life and not even thinking about this type of work. But you are invested, and you know God has unfortunately allowed a tragedy in order to lift you to to help others. So thank

you all. Thank you. Look I did not I don't remember signing up to be God's strongest soldier, but somehow he picked us, um, And here we are, you know, we're trying to pick up the pieces and do whatever we can. And and our brother was a fighter, he all, he was a hustler. He had to do what he had to do. And here we are. We hear him saying, stop crying, do something about it, you know, And we're doing something about it, Um, And you know, unfortunately it's

not the journey we chose, but it's the show. It's the journey that's been given to us. And we're just you know, we're pushing and praying and we're doing everything we can, not just for Sean, but we really just want to be the last family impacted by the Valo Police Department, and we're gonna make it happen. How do the people join the movement if they want to follow you online. What's happen? You guys can follow us. Um,

We're not we haven't formalized our work yet. You know, this is a daily work we do at a heart and are gonna do it forever. Um. But you guys can stay tuned um with the work we do and just follow updates on the case. Justice for Sean Underscore on Instagram and Justice for Sean on Twitter. UM. And we also have a website stand with Shawn dot com um where you can stay updated. UM. And we have a website. So yeah, that's where folks can come and

support us. And you know, I think right now we applied so much pressure in Valo that the city officials canceled all their meetings of August. So UM, we plan to pack the city council meeting September thirteenth. Again, we still need to hear an update on the termination of Jariton and you know the uh the badge banning report. You know that's something that the publicly should note which officers are in their communities patrolling and are part of

this ritual. So you know, we'll coordinate with Lee in other ways and anyways. You know, we want to get you guys out to California and you know, we'll figure it out. Yeah, we we want to come. Call OUs is to Carmen that Justice League and to her to pay for our tickets so we could get there because we old sel guys and we got your back, man, continue to fight justice for Sean. Thank you, thank you, Thank you, Attorney Lee married We thank you guys. Work

with us today for a whole hour. We'll pick your brain today, man, I appreciate you. I'll take it easy. You know what I think. I think that people want to look because they're just so hopeless and we've been beating so much. People want to look at police encounters and as Lee said, as like individual circumstances and instances. They want to be like, well, this situation, it was this, and then that situation is that, and it's not. It's a it's an entire system. It's an entire system, and

it is failing tremendously. The reality for me is just that, you know, people just don't understand some people. Some people, well,

there are a lot of people. I think a lot of people just don't get that policing is a job, right, There are requirements, there are criterias, like you know, just like you explained walking into the restaurant, Like if you go to the doctor, I might know that I need stitches, right, I could look at it stitch, but I can't stitch me up right, I'm not if you you're supposed to stitch me, I'm good. And if you don't do it right there, you are liable for not doing it right.

There requirements that come with being a doctor, you know, And that's the reason why you get paid this money. That's the reason why you get a title, right, and police have a title of a public servant and in a badge and a gun. So you have you have, you have. The onus is on you to make sure things end up right. You know, you have the higher responsibility than I do, you know, because you understand things

that I don't. A lot of times police are interacting with basic civilians who who really haven't had interaction with police, right Sometimes, like you know, when you look at Amber, guys, like I mean Angel guys, when you look at her situation, I don't think this. I think this is probably her first interaction with the police officers. So she's she's given you interpretation of the lord the way she knows it, and she interprets it, and it's your job to to

properly interpret right. It's your job to make interactions with police, even if if they have to end up with you have to, you know, contain somebody, you have to give somebody a ticket because people are not happy about that. Nobody's gonna be happy about that. So police have a very difficult job. I will not lie. And that's why everybody shouldn't be police officers. You know. I was having a conversation with the lady police officers. She was like, well,

you know, what's the responsibility people? I said, the responsibility to people is to do their best, but they're responsibility whatever that the best is right and and and a lot of times it's not gonna it shouldn't be better than yours, right, Their their ability to de escalation not be better than the people who are paid to de escalate and the people to all paid to protect the serve. I should not be able to do your job better

than you do, you know, and everybody is. Sometimes if it's the job you have, you don't want the job. You shouldn't do the job. If you're angry today, if you're having something maybe you shouldn't go to world. Maybe you should call up because you know that you have to be your best self in interacting with people. Like if you're work at police, have you have to look

at police as a customer service job? If I walk at McDonald's and and and I'm I'm looking at the screen, I'm saying, you want a cheeseburger, lap, I want fries. No matter fact I might be indecisive, I might not know exactly what I want. Right, it's your job just to deal with me or help me. Okay, what would you like? What do you What is the combination that you're actually looking for? So I can give you some help not to be like yo, could you have me up? You don't got old day to do what you know

you I'm laughing because that's what you do. You go places and sit there five minutes while the way to stand there and go I think I want this, I don't want this, and you're gonna eat the same thing every time doesn't matter. Right there now Linda is she orders your food? Yeah? But the thing is, but this customer service, I don't have to be rushed to tell you about what I want. Ain't because the regardless of what it gets on. People shouldn't because the reality situations,

you get what you're saying. You have a shift. Right within that shift, even if you work with one person, you're still getting the same check. Right. Nobody ain't telling you, yo, you gotta walk away from that table. Are they are? And see that's the problem. The big problem here is that they are. They're telling you you have to give a certain amount of tickets out per night or during

your shift. They feel you aren't working exactly what the problems with all the problems that the system of policing is bad. And then you hire officers who are angry about the system of policing, who don't know how to do their job in the fashion that doesn't you know, that doesn't infringe your palm the rights and the ability of the citizens. So it's it's a clusterfier, you know. And I hate when people want to give the onus

on the citizen. I am a human in I don't have any training and that's why I'm not a police officer because I probably would have failed the academy. I get angry. I'm mad when you give me a ticket, I'm mad. I get pulled over I'm mad when you yell at me, and mad when you try to expose because I feel like I'm out of male. So when you try to impose your will and your power on me,

that's not gonna work. But you know, when when you come to me with some level of courtesy and you speak to me in the man that will respect, I'm gonna speak to you the same way. But the minute that you try to impose your will on me, then now you're you're you're human being like me. I don't

give a funk about the rest of that. That badge does not give you the authority and the ability to disrespect me, or talk down to me, or make me feel like I'm powerless because it but it doesn't because regardless of that's not what that's not what the law says. The law says that you were supposed to protect and serve. You're supposed to interpret the law. You're supposed to govern

the law. You're supposed to utilize the law to make the best decision, but not for you to try to make me feel like you have a power over me. That's that's not that's not the police And you told me, and if that's what policing looks like then we're gonna have a lot of interactions where the community does not like the police. Shout out to um my brother, um Jay Jordan. I just went to a convention for the launching of Time Done, you know, and that's that's a

big thing. Tom Donne is working. Two Give Back gives them formally incarcerated citizens back their rights and full over. They're over seventy thousand rights things what we call collateral consequences of being incarcerated. When you when you when you are deemed rehabilitated and you re into society, you should be able to be a full citizen. So that's what

Time Done is looking to do. They're they're actually looking too after you've served your time and you if you have certain amount of parole and you've done certain amount of things, that your your record is completely expunged to where it doesn't show up that you've ever had a record, so that you're not criticized, you know, And that goes to my I don't get it, you know, I don't get how a person serves their sentence. You do ten years, you did a crimely serence you sends you to ten

years in five years probation and parole or whatever. You come home, you do the ten years, and you do the five years, and yet you still uh serving a sentence because you're there are criterias and you can't be a dog walker, you can't cut hair, you can't travel. I can't go to Canada. You know, I told his story about what happened in um in the White House. You know how we do all this work. We come home, we redeem ourselves and you're invited to do after work.

After you do. We've done all this work to get these little passed. And I get to the White House and they tell me that I'm on the list that I can't go in. You know, so things like that, those those things hurt. You know, when you do a lot of this work and you and you're working hard a lot of people. I feel like, what am I working hard for? I served my debts to society. You know, I've come home, I'm living the right life. I'm a productive citizen, and still all these barriers and things stopping

me from being able to to really fully excel. Man. You know, I I literally can't go to Canda. I got people that want to booked me to go to Canada do shows for the last fifteen years, and they won't allow me into Canada. I actually was detained you know when I when I went UM, I forgot exactly where it was, but they detained me because I had a formal record, you know, and I was going tour with the game, and they wouldn't allow me to go into I forgot exactly where it was, but I know

that I was. I sat and detained New Center for three days before to the US, you know. So you know, we we we tell people turn your life around. We turned we we we sentence them and they fulfill them sentences. But yet you come home and you still treated like you're serving the sentence, you know. So I really don't get that. Man. Hopefully it's called chattel slavery and what

they say slavery by another name. So they because as we know in the Constitution, if you're in prison, you are still not you're not considered to be like a full human, full man. And so I think, uh, you know this, this gives them the ability to you know, I was listening to Jamilla T. Davis talking about how she did all of this time twelve years she has completed her parole. She's done all of this InCred doable

work in communities. We see it every day. We know what she does, working with young people, working with women, and now she's still paying what is it, restitution charges of millions of dollars. Meanwhile, the white men who taught her how to do the crimes that she committed, they don't have any of that. So the system is and that's why you can't, like, I don't want to hear much about oh, well, you're bordering yourself and you need to do this and that, and I can't it's very

difficult for me to get into those conversations. Yes, certainly we could tell people, hey, you gotta, you know, make sure that you get home safe. So therefore you have to conduct yourself in a way that protects you because people you know you you you you, you're you're. We're in a situation where we're dealing with people and a system that is i'll say dangerous, but also it's it's it's not mature, it's not it has too much ego

and and and therefore you're you're not protected. So I understand that I wouldn't say, but that still does not mean that it's right, what is happening, And so when we try to justify these things, it upsets me because if we understand what the system is, how it was designed, and how it still operates today, then it is it is designed to to to put punitive damages before community interaction. Right. It is designed to feed capitalism, and that is where

the child the major challenges. We're feeding financial resources into a society so other people can get rich and our people can stay poor. That's why that's why they go. They don't take they're not giving a white woman a ticket about that incident that happened. It's not gonna happen, Mike. I'm not saying it never happens. I'm saying the majority of the time, it won't happen. They're not going into white neighborhoods ticketing and forcing white people to sign tickets

and all of that. They are charging us to be oppressed. So that's why what's happening. They don't want you. They want you to to go back to prison, They want you to struggle, They want you to commit crimes so that this way we can continue to feed the system. And there's no other way to think about it, because if you didn't want people to continue to go back to prison, to feed the system, to commit crimes and

what have you. Then you will find ways to make sure somebody can walk dogs as a for a living, somebody can have a barber shop for a living. You would find ways to make sure that happens. Another great show, you know. I want to shout out our brother, Attorney Lee Merit, for coming on and tackling and giving his expertise, his legal mind along with his logical mind about certain things. You know. Also want to shout out to mont Rosa sisters whose fight for their brother is you know, tremendous.

We we've seen these young ladies for the last two is. We watched them, like you said, grow into activists and advocators and and and speak so strongly and and and understand what it calls for them to do in this moment. So I just want to shout them out and make

sure that you support them. We live in times that are very hard for everyone, but those who are paid to protect and serve, those civil servants, you know, those people who we look for to have some level of safety to that are supposed to ensure that our rights are given to us. So I'm making sure that we

are safe. They have a higher standard than the average citizen, you know, and I know a lot of times you're gonna see citizens do things wrong because they don't know a lot of people, don't know a lot of people and exactly, And we're not trying to justify anything, but we do know that citation shouldn't end up and people being told to the ground and locked in jail. You know,

we know those things shouldn't happen. And when those things happen, we have to look to the people who who who's supposed to have the higher level of the higher standard, who's supposed to be held to the higher standard? Man? So you know, I'm always going to advocate for justice to be done, and we're also going to advocate for accountability. But we know that if policing is done properly in communities, there are a lot less arresting and a lot less

people being hurt. So let's understand that, let's support each other, let's love each other, let's try to reimagine what policing looks like in our communities. I'm calling on if you're a police officering, you're watching this, you know, I understand that you're human beings, Understand that you have emotions, Understand that you deal with the same thing that us as regular citizens do, but just understand that we're not paid to deal with those things. We don't have the training

to deal with those things. So a lot of times we're looking for you to de escalate, We're looking for you to know the laws, We're looking for you to be the level headed one. And we know that it works because it works in communities that are not of color and not don't live in poverty. So when you try it in our communities, maybe it'll work there too. With that said, I'm not gonna always be right. To me, it's not gonna always be wrong, but we both always

and I mean always, be authentic. Listen to Street Politicians on the Black Effect Network on I Heart Radio and catch us every single Wednesday for the video version of Street Politicians, or I Women Dot TV