State of Emergency

humbled me. I'll talk a little bit later about what it did and how it humbled me, but you know, I um have always known that a book was in me and there were people who told me to write one a long time ago, but it wasn't the right time. So State of Emergency is out. This book has been dedicated to my child, so that's a whole another thing. Congratulations, the book is dope. You know, I've got a little sneak peek and you know it's it's a celebration man.

You know, State of emergency man, and what the state of emergency? Whatever way to start our show off is just like talk about things that are going on in this world that that contribute to being the state of emergency. You know, Um, I was looking in the news the other day as young girl for the Cows daughter has been missing. Wow, it's just crazy when we think about it. Man, so many things, so much death is happening. We've student

in Buffalo just disappeared. You know, nobody has seen, you know, for they Cow somebody I know from the hip hop industry, you know, and it's it's I just can only imagine what he must be going through. We just want to if you see her, if you have any information, please reach out, you know, and and I would regard and our love and our prayers go out to the m for sure. For sure. That's that. It's very touching. As

a young girl who used to be a runaway. Um. You know, I now understand how traumatizing that was for my parents. Um. And you know, I don't wish it on anyone. And my mom would say my dad that they don't wish it on anyone for their child to just disappear, you know. And I did that several times to them. I was a terrible kid. I just you know. So I called my parents now and I just apologized for everything. Every week I called him and I started from a and go to ze saying I'm sorry, mom, Dad,

I'm so Sorry, I'm sorry I did this. Sorry I did that because I put them through a lot before we get into the rest of the show. I'm trying to understand in my thought of the day, I don't even know all what Kevin Samuels has said because I don't listen to him. I think maybe one day I actually listened to something that he said, and I felt, um,

the way in which he was speaking. Um. While there may have been a truthful line here or there, it really was very disrespectful and condescending, particularly to black women, and so I just turned him off. I tuned him out. And that's it. Why are people listening to, sharing content of and critiquing Kevin Samuels. If we don't like him, or if many women feel disgusted with the things that he says, why not just turn him off? Because that's what I've done. I've just I tuned it out. When

I see him on my timeline, I scroll fast. I don't give him more attention than he actually deserves. I gotta answer for you. It might not be one that you like, right, It's like asking the same question, why do women date men that treat him like ship? Why do women could constantly date the same type of dude that they say, Oh, he's disrespectful to me. He says this to me. But you you constantly see a lot of women, not all women, So this is not all women.

There are women who like unlike yourself. You say, you he don't say things that make you feel, right, you don't like what he says, so you tune them out. The woman who are constantly watching him, although they say they don't like what he's saying, they they actually have, they actually have something that they're attracted to, and what he's saying right, And when you listen to Kevin Samuels,

I don't like the delivery. You know, they are you know, and and sometimes people laugh at it because he's condescending, and you know he's um. He says things in the manner and he's like he's um trying to scold the woman or trying to do do things that degrade them. And I agree with that, But when you listen to what he's actually saying, there are a lot of facts inside what he's saying. I just think he has to change his delivery. So I think it's a multitude of things.

I think a lot of women, although they say they don't like to be treated a certain way. A lot of women do. And they can constantly date the same man and they constantly seek the same information and the same content that they say they don't like. And we've seen that throughout history. And then there is the truthful part of it, the parts of it that he says that actually makes sense that they're actually trying to get information from. Because women are still trying to figure men out.

They don't listen to their own man. A lot of women, not all women. There are women who be in a house with a man all day and he could be saying, hey, I want you to do this, so I don't like this and that, and they ignore what he says. But Kevin Samuels is saying the exact same thing that the man you've been living with for four for ten years, and you were like, oh, I'm starting to get it now, but you didn't listen to the man who said it.

So it's it's it's it's a combination of things. Well, but my thing is now I'm I'm recalling the one time. First of all, I don't even know where Kevin Samuels came from, but I'm recalling the one time that I did actually listen to him, and it was where he was telling a woman that she like wasn't good enough or it wasn't attractive enough to get the type of man that she wanted. I'm trying to figure out from

you what is so truthful about that? Because when you say not attractive enough, who gets to determine that only the man who actually is either interested in the woman or not, and the and and and and being attractive means more than just how you look on the outside. So maybe I didn't listen to it deeply enough because as soon as I heard that, I turned it off. But I'm just trying to understand where is it that

he's saying things that's truthful. We need our brother Angelo and this conversation Asian because he got plenty to say about this topic. But I'm just trying to understand what is he saying that is so truthful. You know, in those instances that you know, beauties in the eyes to beholder, right, So he made his own personal decision based on what he's seen as beauty, and that's and that's you know, subjective. He's not if she's not trying to get with him,

then his opinion on how she looks physically doesn't even matter. Right, he gave her an assessment based on his personal preference. Right. But in totality, what happens is women have a criteria for men. Right, we're women. There are not old women, because we're not gonna look all women into anything. But there are a particular category of women. Right. There is the hot girl summer category. There is what we're hearing the music. There's what Megan the stallion and talkers, what Cardi?

What they're talking about. They wanted a man broke. Niggers don't deserve No, I don't, that's right, right, So there's a concept that a man does not have a certain amount of money, right, doesn't have a certain amount of possessions, doesn't possess certain things, doesn't look a certain way or whatever. Then they're not interested in that said man, and women applaud that all the time. They repeat those same parts

of the song because that's what they feel. And a man might say, well, who gives her the right to say the amount of money I got is not good enough for who? Is not good enough for that individual woman? Just like the man is able to look at a woman to say she's not physically attractive enough for me, or if I'm saying, if I was a man who had all those things, would I'd be interested in in

giving those things to this woman? So it's subjective. So he's able to give his opinion based on if if he is I don't know what his financial situation, I don't know any of those things. But he's able to give his assessment coming from a person that if I was in that position, would you be someone that would be a candidate to receive those things, just like women are able to make those same assessments about a man that they would deal with based on what he looks like or what he has. M H, I mean, I

guess I hear what you're saying. I'm just I'm just not sure that any of this is really that helpful. That's just my opinion. I understand everything you said, and I do think that there is going to like Like I I spend most of my time debating politics and talking about the political aspect and the social justice aspect of the world, and so sometimes you kind of like you miss out on the other conversations things Because now him and Dr Umar Johnson right a beef and dr

Umar is saying that I call it a beef. But they've been having back and forth, but they're having, you know, a disagreement to where Umar is saying that Kevin Samuels it's can money off, you know, diminishing, demeaning black women. And there's definitely an argument for that, you know. And what I what I say is this right. Everybody has something a way that they communicate, right, some people don't get a message certain ways. I don't. I don't need

Kevin Sanduels to deliver that. You don't need Kevin Samuels to deliver a message. And man, if you probably having a conversation with him, it probably went last two seconds because the minute he says to you, like what mom, won't he be donna cut you off? The women that he is right, they actually are. If you go to Kevin Samuels Instagram Live, it's like ten fifteen thousand people on it at any given time because they're entertained. You know,

they're actually getting something from him. So maybe it's just entertainment. The Internet, like I said, the Internet has become accesspool as it is in out of these things are you know, just a result of where we are in society. So, you know, Kevin Samuels is entertainment to some people. Some people don't enjoy his particular form of entertainment. Drumar Johnson feels like it's demeaning woman, And I could definitely see

where that point of view come from. Like you said, if it's somebody saying something that you don't agree with just to now, Yeah, and I think it is. I think it is definitely entertainment for too many people. But there are also some women who have been unable to find the love of their lives, um, the you know, someone who's always had low self esteem, who's never really truly believed in herself, um. And some men who are who are inflated in a way by the things that

he's saying. And I think it seeps into the mentality and it may have a negative impact. So you know, I'm I'm to know for Kevin Samuels not saying again that I don't believe there should be healthy sarcastic funny, um whatever debate, But I do feel like the level of the tone and some of the ways in which he delivers his messaging is pretty damaging. So that's just my opinion. I agree I can, you know, I can

definitely see that. But I just also want women to understand that when we hear music, you know, we hear a lot of artists and women talking about a man has to have this, and if he ain't got that, and he ain't doing this, and our women repeat those things. They also heard a man self esteem right, and a man man are trying to live up to a certain

caliber in which they think women want. You know, they don't feel like they fit into a category because they don't have all this jury and all this money, and they don't look a certain way and in certain things. So men are dealing with those same insecurities. I ain't rich, what I wasn'tbody to love me for what I am. You got to be able to get the hotel, honey, you got to be able to you know what I mean, take me out to dinner. At least you know what I'm saying. But you know, it's all in the eyes

of the beholder, as you said. And with that said, that brings us to one of my favorite segments. The streets is talking this dope book that my sister has dropped. It is out now, state of emergency. If you do not have it. If you have not ordered it, make sure you go get it right right now. Congratulations to Meeka again on this dope book. You know, I know what you put into this. You know, it is compelling.

So many different things in this book that's gonna keep you in tune, It's gonna educate you, it's gonna bring you do different emotions. I'm in there, you know, so many different things. And I'm in there, you know, And there's so many and I'm in there and I'm this plan. But the book is dope. And to talk about the state of emergency. We have a lot of our friends here today, people who are on the front lines of this movement, who've been doing this work for years. You know,

we always have friends, you know. Unfortunately, our friends are the ones doing the work. So we're gonna get into this panel, this esteemed panel we have today with the front line, essential workers, the ones who are on the ground. Yes, our friends, and I'm so excited to have this group of individuals to celebrate with me that my book has just been released. If anyone hasn't gotten your copy yet, you can click links and bios and get all the information right here for where you can get your copy

a State of Emergency. Today, we're being joined by UM, a group of individuals who know so well that this country is in trouble and have been doing a lot of work to ensure that all of our people are held. Let's introduced really quickly, because you know, street politicians are Segments sometimes can be short, but we're gonna bring each and every one of these individuals back to give them

their own segments to talk about the issues. UM. We have Eddie Baccanegra who is with Heartland Alliance in Chicago. Carmen Perez, our dear sister. Uh she's she is an honorary co chair of Until Freedom, and we're honorary co chairs of Justice League and the Gathering for Justice. Thank you, Carmen, Erica Ford of Life Camp and pastor Mike of Live Free.

Let me just start by saying that in State of Emergency, I did something that is controversial to some but well understood to others, which is to have Cardi b and Angela Davis right the forward of my book by being in conversation with one another. There are a lot of people who said they didn't understand that there are other people who get it. Quickly that Cardi. First of all, I am a mix between Cardi B and Angela Davis on any given day. That's my reality, that's my truth,

right and I lived by that. I believe you can work and work at the same time, and it's as long as you do the work. Um. But the conversation that happens is where Cardi is basically asking Angela Davis, because I am not buttoned up, I don't have it all together. Is there space at the table in this fight for justice next to you, someone who we respect

so much? And Angela Davis replies to Cardi Um in a way that is so powerful and intriguing, where she's basically saying, not only are you welcome, but it is your duty to be involved. Um, that it matters not how we entertain. It matters though, what we do to fight for the protection of our rights and for generations to come. And she tells this powerful story about a conversation that she had while sitting in a jail cell

with Nina's Simon. Now, I didn't know you could visit people in their jail cell at one time, but clearly Angela Davis could have visits in her jail cell and Nina Simone was there. And I'm not gonna tell you much. I'm not gonna tell you about the conversation because I need you to get the book and read it. But it's something that is so impactful, and I think this group of individuals really um You all exemplify that we bring the streets and the sweets together every single day.

Just recently passed the Mike, there was some real powerful stuff that happened in Washington, d C. You and Erica have been a part of the efforts to get this administration to focus on gun violence and not to wait until we have twenty thirty forty more incidents, whether they be mass shootings or the shootings that we see happening

in our communities every day. Tell us about it and what do we need to be doing as a community to be involved in this new work that we are really really celebrating because it is truly transformative and historic

what the administration has done. Well. First, it's great to be with you both, uh y'all the comrades and homies, legends, living legends, making sure we organize in the streets and activating the streets the people closest to the pain and so UM, all of us come from the communities that we know, we love, and we care about, and ATEN, that's not the conversation. UM. We have indeed embarked and

seeing a historic movement by this administration. Folks who have understood that, UM, if we did indeed put all of our reputations are hard work on the line to get this administration in office. UM. This administration owes the streets, they owe the hood that old black people, they owe

brown people, unequivocally, unapologetically, full stop. And we realized that for many of the communities where we come from, gun violence, intra communal violence, interpersonal violence that rises to the lethality of using weapons that take lives, it's often only met with one singular response, and that's policing. UM, that's incarceration,

that's more violence. UM. And we figured what would it look like for us to make sure that the Biden administration lived into the commitment that they made UM during

their own campaigning along with many others in the Democratic Party. UH, in the early part of this year, UH, the team had to sit down with Susan Rice and Cedric Richmond and put on the table a five billion dollar apps to invest community UM violence initiatives to invest community VIACE initiatives, and over the course of a couple of months they were able to not only say yes to that investment, but also changed about twenty five programs inside five agencies

to open up about ten billion more dollars. So this is a historic moment, it's historic movement. Um. We certainly have to get the resources down to the streets and to the communities on the front lines and make sure, you know, big white groups or uh you know, uh poverty pimps don't come and raid that money. Um. But you know, the journey of a thousand miles started one step, and it is one huge, big step, and it's a

testament to the power of the people organized and working together. Eddie, listening to what passed the Mike just said, and you were a part of this cohort, if you will fighting to ensure that their resources getting to the ground, what does this mean for the work that you're doing in a place like Chicago. I think, first and foremost, we have to understand right that for two, for too long, rite the issue of gun violence has been plaguing in

our communities for way too long. So if you think about the West Side of Chicago the South Side of Chicago, two areas, right that are typically known for high increase of violence. Um uh. And if I think about the West Side as example, in the nineties sixties, when we had the civil rights movement with Marthon the King marching the streets, there was a lot of protesting, a lot of rioting, a lot of looting. Those communities fifties six

years later are still um recovering from that. So that to me demonstrates, right, fifties sixty years of this investment in these communities, Like the reason why we see so much high prevalence violence and specific areas across the country,

and we're not surprised our black and brown communities. It's because of the same reasons, right, that we see systemic oppressions that we're grappling with today, Like we are literally reaping right the collaoribal consequences of bad policies from the nineteen eighties and the nineteen nineties, whether it's war on drugs or whether it's the child predator lass that under Clinson administration also put out there. Right. So, so again

this is my my no coincidence. I think the fact that we're able to encourage the Biden administration, the first president to actually commit five billion dollars to gun violence. Speaks to the testament, right, what a small group of individuals, very grassroots individuals, are able to actually continue to advocate

and push forward for these communities. Those dollars benefit programs like where to Chicago, benefit programs that are taking place in Oakland, California, in Richmond, they are taking place in East Louis, New York, and so on. And the bottom line at the end of the day, right, is that we have to continue to invest in these communities in the way that makes since in terms of addressing the trauma that many of the individuals that were serving actually need.

In terms of addressing the economic instability that exists in our communities, it's also eradicating poverty. Thank you, so, one

more question for you, um so. Recently, a reality star and artists named Safari tweeted when the seven year old baby was killed there in Chicago just recently, young Lady um He tweeted that he wanted to know why people were not so upset about the death of a little girl and and in comparison to how we protests against police um, and I tweeted back at him and said, there are a number of organizations in Chicago that actually

needs support and have been doing the work. And I think that it is uh, it is it's a disingenuous narrative, if you will, it could seem as though people are not out there trying to decrease gun violence who also understand that we have to stop the violence from police in our communities as well. Um, I think it's false narratives and I don't think that they should be put in the same context because do we need people to

do both? So what are you seeing? Are you seeing that you're getting the type of support you need from artists, entertainers and others, or is there a call that you need to make today that we can share to say, if people want to help, there are ways that they can get involved and work with folks on the ground there. And you know, to macause the the incident of this young little girl, seven year old, right, we have to

understand a couple of things. And I also have to be very careful in my response with this because the the incident happened in one of the communities of ris chicag was in in fact we serviced that particular population, and a lot of our partners in his communities have also provided services in the past, or even the father in this case. So here's what I'll say. The actually is that many of the men and women in our communities, right,

isn't just doesn't happen overnight. The father in this case of this young little girl, you know, the day before that, he was at a cemetery desecrating, right, a plot in which another young man was killed not long ago. And his friends, right, this is posted on Facebook, and you know, and so on, so his friends, you know, even though he's deceased, they still have tremendous love for this individual.

And who am I to argue against that? So well, I don't, Well, I don't agree that the actions that that these people are young people are taking right to avenge their loved ones. So on, it's the healthiest way. But when you think about generations of trauma and generations of lack of love or support, or the way they you know, manifest this particular kind of love, um demonstrates the impact and the needs right to continue to provide

healing spaces for our communities. And it is my understanding that the people who were involved with this and not realized there was a young girl in the car. So that's first and foremost. Secondly, I seriously doubt the father even realized, you know, to what extent his comments we're gonna have, you know, the impact that we're gonna have in his own personal life with his family. What good does it do for a seven year old to be buried at seven years old? What good does it do

for us to point the finger at people? Right? And that's the problem when you think about what happened there and you think about the young dirt ye old kid that was also just killed a week before that, you know, by police uh Adam Toledo. Right away, we want to point the finger. We want to put a face to where the problems at and what we do that we don't reflect among ourselves and what are what are what

have been our short falls? You know why instead of taking it taking a negative approach, why not ask yourself what can I do to support this issue? What can I do to move things forward? Right? And that's the unfortunate part, because we're quickly willing to put the blame on somebody else. You know, they'll say anywhere Adam was outside two three in the morning. What was he doing? And I'm like with ship that you know that he ran away from home. You know, they want to blame

the mother, right, what happened? Right? And I asked myself, do you even know the most situation you want to we want to blame. Why isn't people lifting up the concern? Right? Well, the truth is, I would invite anybody to come to our neighborhoods every single time somebody is killed, because there is community activism behind that. There is you know, clergy coming together, that there is institutions coming together to lift

up the memory of the individual. You know that that is very, very, very telling because I say that all the time we have to change the realities of the community before we can ask the community to change, you know.

And that brings me to my sister Carmen Perez, who I've known for a number of years, and how she does this work and listening to this story, I know there's personal things that you've told me about yourself and your sister, you know, her losing her life to violence in the streets, you unidentifying with gang violence and growing up in the game culture in in l a I mean in in California, and and being able to identify that then utilizing that knowledge of that to transform and

do the man ending massive conservation and shild and cans of work. So I want you to speak to that, and and and and this this narrative that when we talk about defunding the police, there's a lot of people who have an issue with that, and when we try to explain to them that defunding the police meets refunding the community and giving us the resources and things that we need to change change the cultures in our communities

that will stop the violence. You know. So I want you to speak just try to tie all those things in because I know how you have don't have a lot of time, but I know how brilliant you are, and I know how passionate you are about all of these things. So give us a little outlook on that. How do we tie these things in and how do we give people understanding of how these things affecting our community?

You know, I learned restorative justice from my father. When they took my sister um and the police and the aide, the district attorney asked my family if they wanted to press charges and my father said, I cannot take another mother's child away. I think you know, no family ever

imagines that happening to them. UM. But so for me dedicating my life to working with people that are incarcerated or formally incarcerated UM, working to stop violencing communities, not just UM in California, UM, but also in the prisons or when I traveled to it in Salvador to support a peace process. I think it's all interconnected, right, But the police are not creating safety when so many black and brown people are being hurt and killed, and this

trauma is coming at a great expense. For example, here in New York City, the NYPD budget has ballooned to between six to ten billion dollars a year. What this means is that essentially, we have invest billions of dollars for a system to keep us safe, and instead it

over polices our communities and creates more harm. We can shift our tax dollars into alternatives like community community violence intervention and prevention, mental health and wellness services, substance use counseling, after school programming, and many other types of supportive investments in safety and wellness. Imagine if Makia Bryant's phone call for help had been met with people who calmed and de escalated the situation and got the teenagers to talk

to one another. That's the way we create safety by meeting the needs of our communities, and then would cost much less than the current system of policing does. Exactly. And speaking about showing up, there's nobody that shows up more my sister Erica Ford Man, she's been on the front line for this movement so long, and you know what she brings to it is exactly what Carmen was speaking of. Those people who can get in front of

the violence, those people that interrupt the violence. That's why this is important when we talk about defunding the police and refunding the communities, is giving people like Erica Ford who is one of the architects of the crisis management system in New York City, the proper funds and resources necessary to protect our communities. To make sure she's the one of the people that's taken the guns out of the hands of the children that's getting in front of See.

A lot of the police don't come to our communities until after the violence has already acted to a time to rest somebody it's a time to put somebody in jail. We need people who get in front of it, and

Erica Ford is one of those people. And I want you to speak to why it is important that we give the resources to the communities to protect and and govern our own and when you speak on on why it is important because we don't have an alternative, right when when I looked at that young girl who got shot, my team we do that all the time, right, butcher knife in one hand, bleaching the other, twenty girls going at it right, um, And what we do is we

get in the middle, and we we intermed and we separate. When those police came, one police had his hand on the guns. The other one was standing there like they know what was going on. If all of them would have moved in and grabbed individuals and held them separately, apart and mediated and talk through that's what we do, right. We have to get to the heart of like Eddie

was talking about, we have generational trauma. And so you can't deal with generational trauma putting more trauma on a community. And that is what happens when you call a hammer every time to deal with a heart. You're dealing with heart pain with a hammer, you're trying to beat the heart into something that can happen, right, The two don't mix. And so we have to get healers. We have to

get credible messengers. We have to get credible clinicians interventionists to come into the community and work with those who don't know how to deal with their pain. Who's going out in the community and looking at drugs and guns and gangs as as the vehicle to which they can heal and they can't, you know. And so what we do is is work with folks too to not only transition mindset, but to place them in opportunities that can

take their lives to another level. So we you want to be a chef, we hook you up with the top chefs. And that brings me to you know, either one that you can shine in on this And and there's this narrative, right and I don't know who painted it where it comes from, is that this work that we do, that the trauma that we take on is somehow in hopes to profit off the death of our own people, right. And it's the weirdest narrative in the world.

And it's like, how do we supposed to help our people, right, if we don't have the resources to help, if we're getting up, you know, we're going out there. We're willing to risk our lives on the front line. We're willing to take the backlash. You willing to risk our freedom. We're willing to do all of these things. And there are people saying, because we need resources to do those things, that means that we're capitalizing off the death of our

own people. What do you think about that statement? Well, and can I just add any other components so they say that we're capitalizing. Um also because we use media as a way to bring attention to these families and to their situations. Someone said to me the other day, why are we having a birthday celebration for my out of our Brey. Why do we have an event for Brianna con for Brianna Taylor? And you know my position is,

you could say you don't like the language. You can say, well, the title is bad, and maybe you shouldn't use the word bash as for a birthday, you should use celebration. But first of all, we supported the families and things that they want to do for their children. Um Ahmad Arebrey's mother is the person who wanted to do a birthday celebration for her son because she does not want

to be sad every single birthday that comes around. She wants to change the narrative around her son and not have him as just the guy who was killed, but someone who had a life who like to celebrate, and as we help her to do that. Um, you know, we we have experienced those people who say, well, this is cloud chasing, and that confuses me. So both of you, if you could talk about that. We have this narrative that we blame people for for their job right and

and this is our job, this is our life. But this is our job right and our job and so the the E M S worker right, because do they what do we say about that? The more tician the funeral home do we say, Okay, you are like, there's a funeral home and you make money off of the death of people. That's what they do. That's a whole industry that makes money. The flowers, the obituaries, or people want to bury their families in a nice way. So

it's part of death, you know. And it's unfortunate for me because I really don't I don't get the concept that people who actually are fighting to try to make sure these things don't constantly happen, so that we we you, we are we are you. We actually allow these families and situations to utilize us and our platforms bring attention to it as somehow we're doing something wrong and it's

the weirdest concept. And and people should celebrate their children, right, they should not like they should they should feel the greatness her her son's birthday is mother's day and birthday, right, it's the same time. So who's gonna be with her to sit with you know, like who's gonna help her during that time? Right? And you know it is the

process of celebrating that, young men. When we went into this area on past like that, seventeen people were shot a year, four people were killed a year and dude, nobody's talking about because of our work, we were able to stop that narrative from happening. And you know, if you're from our community, then you're growing up in the neighborhood. People celebrate the life of their loved one whenever they die. I mean, we put candles out, we have barbecues like

they still here. So I feel like some man, these people speaking on this must not be from the neighborhood, and they don't understand how many more we memorialize people's memories and I'll use the most respectable family with our communities Revere. I remember Dr Bernice King spoke at the fifth anniversary of Dr kings Um killing in Memphis that she said, UM, I think people don't appreciate that although my dad died, many of us have never been able

to bury him. We understand critiques. Sometimes we have to listen to different perspectives to be able to find tune our work. But we also know what makes sense and what doesn't. And what does not make sense is for people who have been out here for the amount of years that all of us collectively have been on the ground to stop doing this work because other people are just mad for whatever their reasons are. We're not gonna

do that. We have to keep on going forward. So I appreciate y'all so much for spending today with me. I appreciate you all supporting State of Emergency and Erica. You and I are gonna do a street signing. We're gonna be on the streets signing books, UM, and also passed the mike. You'll be joining us on the tour UM so they and you so very much for the love.

And it is truly a state of emergency. But there are some people who are out here fighting, and I do believe that change is going to be in our future, whether we live to see it or not, but our children and their children will experience it. Those are people who I really respect. I particularly appreciate Eddie Um and the work that he's doing in Chicago because I know

how difficult it is. And in fact, the crisis management system that exists in New York City that I was a part of helping Erica and A. T. Mitchell and others to develop UM. There was a similar program called Cure Violence that was in in Chicago, and eventually it

was defunded and the program is no longer functioning. There are many groups, though, that have continued to do the work and have sought out other ways of getting resources, some city money, but mostly a lot of partnerships with other institutions, other corporations and so on and so forth,

and they're continuing to do the work. And Eddie is one of those individuals who works with many hats and he's doing, you know, some real great things they're trying to save lives, and it's it's a lot, you know, especially when you're in a city where everybody focuses on what's happening in Chicago, as if to say that there's not gun violence in St. Louis or you know, gun violence even in New York since the pandemic. I think

violence is up all over the nation. But it's good to know that there are soldiers out there on the front lines. And certainly we know Erica h. Erica Ford passed to Mike um and Carmen Perez and of course Eddie Bocanerra. He told me how to say his name properly. That they are out there on the front line. So it was good to have them. But I think we have to have each one of them to come back when we can give them a lot of time to to really dissect and get into their issues in their areas.

And we want to track that five five billion dollars too, like where is it going five billion dollars to allocate funds to community based organizations that stop violence? You know, That's that's a lot, you know, and that's something good

that the administration is doing. And we want to talk about that, but that brings me to my I don't get it the same way we're able to say in good faith, hey, this was a good thing that President binded Dady five billion dollars allocated in communities, because we do we definitely need those things to give our children, our community just a fighting chance at survival, not even just men and survival. But there's also this narrative, you know, because I, for one, was not going to let have

forty five stay in office. So I was going to do whatever it took to get forty five out of office. I didn't think he was presidential. I didn't think he represented I thought every day that he was in office that our nation was in imminent danger. So my whole thing was, he has to go ethics at no expense, There was no expense, gonna be barred. He was going to get out. So whoever was running against him by

osmosis was gonna get my vote. So there are these people who believe that since I voted for this administration, that when they do something wrong, say something wrong, aren't strong on issues that I need them to be strong on, that I should not have the right to say something about it. I really don't get that. And the reason why you vote for somebody right because you feel like you should be able to hold them accountable. Nobody's gonna

be perfect, nobody's gonna do everything you want. But as someone who votes for somebody right, you really have the right because this is a candidate that you wanted to be office or whether you want it or not, you utilize your vote so your voice matters with that person. That person needs you. You understand that that person noticed they need you, so you have every right to hold

that person accountable. So I really don't get where this narrative comes from that because you voted for them, you should be quiet now or you can't say nothing because they did something that we might not agree with, or say something we're not. We don't agree with a lot of people. One don't know how the process works, and to there are a lot of folks out there that just want to have something negative to say, and that's just the reality that we deal with. We absolutely have

the right to hold accountable, UH any president. First of all, So if you are a president and you're in office, UM, and you are collecting and operating with the taxpayer dollars, we all have a responsibility to UM make sure that

you know that our voices are being heard. But your voices most powerful when you can attach it to your vote and your dollars, which means that you helped UM to get a candidate elected, especially locally where you have used your resources UM to donate UM and invest in campaigns. That is one big way that people absolutely pay attention to you and your voice, and they also want your your vote. So those are the two things that elected

officials care about. You know. Some sometimes protests UH and and our social media activism can help to amplify the message, but it falls short if it's not attached to a vote and or our dollars or lack thereof, meaning that we take our resources from one particular candidate or from one corporation or from one entity and move it shifted

to another one exactly. You know, I think, like you said, the low propensity voters and those who don't vote, like maybe you should be quiet, you know, because you you've made a conscious decision that you're not even involved in the process, so you just gotta take what you get. But when we are involving ourselves in the process, you know, and just even understanding the reality of what we're dealing with in this system and in the structure we got.

We we have to give ourselves every possible opportunity to be successful. We can't do one two things. We live in America right now where you can't even have one job. You gotta have a job, two jobs aside hustle a skill or trade. You know what I'm saying. You might have to bet on the weekends just to survive. So that's exactly how we have to survive within this country.

We have to vote, we have to build our own economy, we gotta raise our own children, we gotta learn, we gotta do everything thing possible to actually get a level of equity in this country. So I just want you to understand when you question me about why I'm calling out a candidate for telling me that racism, that the America is not a racist country because I voted for that president or that vice president of that administration. You're

the one that should be quiet, not me. And that brings us to the end of our show, which was a wonderful show. Once again, to Mega, congratulations on the release of your book State of Emergency. If you do not have that book, go get it right now. Order it where can you order it that go to Amazon or anywhere else that you courage his books, and especially black bookstores. That would be one place that I was starting. Your community is going to a small mom and pop

shop where they sell books. The audio version of my book is also out, so for those people who are exercising or just unable to read a book for whatever reason, the audio version is out. My son is in the book. He has a particular part that you know, as my mom was reading the book a couple of days ago, she said, you know, um, my son's part really impacted her.

My dad said that he thought Linda's part was very impactful as well, where she talks about the Women's March in the book and some of what we experienced there. And then our brother Angelo, he also um is in the book, and you know, my dad said, you know, Angelo uses those big words, he's super smart, but he's talking about policy and ways forward within our communities. UM. From from a very very um you know, I want to say high level, but it's not so much that

it's a high level. It's really just where we have to go as a people in order to be able to obtain power, and that's what Angelo speaks to in the book. The audio version is being read by two young people that are in this movement, young leaders. Um one is at link from Atlanta, Mary Pat she's a young, fiery sister. And then from New York, um My, my young sister knew Paul all our young sister in New Hall And I just hope other people feel good about it.

Dr Angela Davis spoke to me and said, listen, you write it down, put it in the world, and let it go. And so I finally let it go and it's out here, and I hope that people, um you know, are able to use it as a tool for transformation. Definitely, Man, once again, congratulations, We're proud of you. And this time we're gonna ended a little a little different. I will not always be right, and this time Tamika is not wrong at all, because State of Emergency is probably gonna

be the number one seller in the world. And we will both always always be authentic. Yes, sir Peece, thanks for joining the Street Politicians piece. That's how we own it.