I'm Tamika D. Mallory and the.
Ship Boy my son in general, we are your host of t M I.
Tamika and my Son's Information, Truth, motivation and inspiration.
Name new Energy. What's going on, my son, Lennon, I am.
Blessed, black and Holly favored holiday season, just trying to holiday do the holidays.
I'm I'm on holiday. I'm in a you know.
Unfortunately, from last week to this week, a lot has not changed. We still have a friend who's deceased that I wish could come back, but he probably will never.
I mean, he won't. It's sad. Kevin just yeah, my heart is just.
Big kiv man, so.
Just I can't even anyway. And then our other brother, we pray for him.
You know, I haven't.
I haven't seen his family write his name on socials or anything, so I think, out of respect for them until they prepared to talk about his situation, that we, you know, keep his identity under wraps. Yeah, we got another friend who's really in trouble, and the holidays in general, it's pretty hard for a lot of people. I mean, I'm I'm blessed that I still have both my parents.
I have a healthy thriving granddaughter. And you know, my child is here, and for the most part, the people who are very very close to me, they around, right.
Even if people are struggling with a little bit of it's a little.
Bit of that they're around, and so I don't suffer with some of the things that I hear from friends. A lot of friends, this is a really, really rough
time for them. Moms that really celebrated Christmas. I know your mother really was into Christmas and holidays and all of that, you know, and you have other people who have lost a child, And I spend a great deal of my Christmas morning when I wake up sending text messages to all the mothers who I've worked with that I know, no matter what face they put on their child being lost, either the gun violence or police violence
or overdose. That's a new world that I'm now being introduced to where so many people have lost their children to overdoses and oh man, it's just seizures.
It's a lot, a lot, a lot of pain out there.
So I think, you know, like we said last week, it's always important for us to mention and to acknowledge what folks are going through that in many ways, are different from you know, the other experience because it's a joyous time. It's the most wonderful time of the year, for sure.
It is.
And like you said, you know, it's definitely hard when your parents in our here. Like you said, my mother was very into the holidays. You'll go to a house now, her tree will be decorated. She have the whole way decorated inside the building, and she was just really into holidays. So you know, this is always a tough time for me. But you know, I'm just pushing through these kids. As long as the kids are smiling. Yeah, you know, that's all it matters. You broke at the end of the day,
as long as you can. You know, I can live off bread and water man, you know, if I got to.
But the kids is happy.
So no adult Christmas gifts this year. I decided I'm just not doing it. I our friends and their health situations really has knocked me into a place of self reflection.
So yeah, I mean, like, for the most part, none of these holidays are really for us anyway, you know what I'm saying, especially as black people like you know, I don't really see we don't we especially in the financial.
Time that we're in. Yeah, you know, a lot of people just don't have the financials.
You know. And I think, you know, if we stop putting so much pressure on ourselves to be able to financially do things and gift gifts gifts, you know, and start putting that money and invested in something that's going to mature, you know, and it's going to appreciate over time, then it makes more sense.
You know.
I don't want to take that away from kids, because I grew up when Christmas is one.
Of the gifts in hearing it.
But I think for adults, I think we need to be figuring out how do we save money and how do we make money build.
I agree, one hundred percent. I agree.
So my thought of the day today sort of is in line with this, because, you know, I had this plan for the last week and a half to do a bunch of things to go and you know, get my little secret sayners and my gifts over here and all the stuff that I'm used to doing. And then Kevin, our driver confidant, our friend died. Oh Kevin, lord, please,
it's so hard. And then also our other friend got really really really really really sick and is still even though it's been a week and a half clinging for life,
and I just stopped. I stopped every thing that I would generally be doing at this time in the store, calling my mother for this person's size and this and that, and I'm not I'm still not as big on Christmas and buying gifts because after we decided to stop shopping during the holidays, you know, with all the police shootings and corporate greed and all the things, I cut down. But I like to make sure my parents and you know, my granddaughter lashing and a couple of little things.
So I'm like, and I'm not a person that gives people junks.
So I'm looking and doing and doing all this stuff. And this year because of those, in these situations that we've been dealing with, I just stopped, and I was laying down. I laid down a whole day, entire day. And I got up finally and said, I might not go out to buy gifts and to do the marry merry thing, but I can at least work on addressing some of the things that's in my house that do not need to be there anymore.
So my thought of the day today is get rid of it. It doesn't fit. It does not fit you.
I've taken jackets that are now. I have bens of clothes that I have in different places.
I try that stuff on the arms, don't go.
You never going back to that size these jackets were. It's not just about being healthy or not. Yes, I'm bigger than I want to be. I'm one fifty three or one fifty almost one fifty five. I want to be one forty. So I know what I need to do to be around that weight, even one thirty five. I remember a time when I was trying to gain weight. If I go down to one thirty five, it's okay, I'll take it. One thirty is fine, because it's really hard at this age to get the weight off of you.
But I realized that some of that stuff I'm holding on to it. I don't know why you never go into ninety eight pounds, one hundred and ten pounds, one hundred and twenty look at the one third.
I mean, ZIMPI because you eat about four meals a meal.
I don't eat anyway, my song, I'm whatever about.
Four bills a meal, four a day, four meals a meal, like you go in order four meal.
But I haven't been doing that.
I just don't know because you're not sitting down eating dinner with me at the restaurant every day, so you don't know. I don't be buying four meals in a day anymore because it's just another day.
I mean, in a meal. I don't do.
It four meals a meal. I want you to be clear.
I'm not saying a day because that just be an extra meal, four meals a meal.
The point is, I know what I need to do to lose weight. I know what I need to do right. I know what to cut, I know how to work out. I know exactly what to do. But I also understand that a portion of the things that I'm holding on too, and I'm talking about years back of clothes, I don't I'm never gonna fit them. The structure of my body, even from my workout, you know, I'm heavy and pilates. My body is not even the same body that I
used to have. So why do you have a jacket a suit jacket from when you was thirty two years old and you forty four sins?
Let it go. It's over.
And it made me think about that there are people, places, and things that just don't fit, and it's just time to let them go. And I know it hurts us to part with things like I have memories in this one blue suit jacket that's a bad ass Ralph Lurine. You know, I thought I was so cool when I first got this Ralph Lauren jacket that was like the the other than Saint John which, by the way, I got a bunch of Saint John's stuff, which is the black, fabulous black bourgeois clothes. I have a bunch of it.
Can't wear it, but I'm not giving it the way y'all just can't do it.
I'm not ready. It's it's just too expensive. It's right there yet.
But but to get you a polo jacket, you know what I'm saying, with the Polo logo on it and the whole thing, that was a big deal for a young professional woman coming up getting you know, showing up at meetings and corporate spaces and other places having that jacket with my jeans or my blue pants.
Or skirt or whatever.
Girl, it doesn't fit you anymore, Let it go, Let it go, Let it go. So I hope that for the new year, even leading into the new year, that as people are listening today.
It's people places.
Things in your life and in your household that does not fit, and you busy trying to stuff things in closets and push things under beds and make people stay around and still keep a little thing a little bit with them, keep your feet in a little bit.
Let it go it does not fit. Let it go.
It don't fit. You must have quit.
Child anyway, it's a difference.
It's must quip no, so you don't even get it asundre. If it don't fit, you must acquit.
Just quit. Quit a quit. You gotta quit. If it don't fit it, you gotta quit it. You see, you get it.
I'm just trying to tell you this is this is when you are lyricist. I'm trying to put you on. That's a bar.
Okay, moving right along the t m I today. You know, we don't just do a t m I all the time. We really look for the good, good one.
The good. It's a lot of tm i's out here, tell you the truth a whole lot.
Yeah, this is a good one, but this one is particularly particularly hilarious. It is the exchange between Elon Musk and Donald Trump. Now, first of all, people will say, well, what exchange, because I didn't see them go back and forth, you go making up stuff. No, no, no, it's what Elon Musk did first. That is the first.
Part of this situation.
Exchange.
So Elon Musk tweets out or whatever he has I don't know, tweeter, I don't know whatever he has ex child, whatever he has tweet He put out a message that said no, uh no, bills should be passed until the change of power. So he wants the Republicans to stall everything that's happening until the change of power, which is when Trump takes office on January twentieth. Right now, they didn't do it. They didn't listen because they were in
a stall last week. But by the time I think the end of the week came, they were able to get some things. A budget moved and they moved on and the government did not shut down. Right, but he was trying to encourage the shut down and to stop all everything, all progress, all bills. I don't even know if they progressive but whatever. And then all of these
memes were out. There was like twenty means where they all are like Trump is this little person sitting in a chair next to the desk, and Elon Musk is big and he's behind the chair, which is to say that he's the president. That Elon Musk is the president and Trump is just like a little side show. And there were other memes and other comments being made and pieces being written on Elon Musk and his influence in the administration.
Right, so then.
Trump, you can always leave it to a little person. To God, they gotta go. He got, he couldn't take it. He couldn't take it. So he wrote this whole long thing on his stuff, which is truth. So I know that on truth dot com or whatever that is. And he says, you know, oh you know, I'm the president elects and I'm going to be president. And Elon Musk, thank you for your time and thank you for whatever you did. You spent a lot of money on the election.
But I'm the president. I'm in charge. Other words, go somewhere and sit down. So the TMI today is that this is about to be a shit show.
Elon Musk is going.
To field that he is in a position of power because you have ingratiated him.
This is happen dump.
This is what happens when you give people when you spend billions.
When you spend Danny a billion dollars to support somebody a quarter billion dollars to support somebody, and then you give him a position in the White House within the staff.
Then he figured, I don't even know if his position is in the White House. It might be in the Executive Chambers, which is across the street, so I'm not even sure, but it would be in the administration in the administration.
And if you give him that that level of power, and you give that to a person who's already a narcissist, you give that to a person who is pretty much the richest man in the world and controls everything and everybody around him, and then you think that you're gonna control him when you have less than him. It's just not really common sense, because he's never let nobody control them, right, So I don't know how you think all of a.
Sudden you're gonna let him cot True, he was playing chess.
He utilized his money and his relationships, his platform, all the things to put you in a position because he felt he can control you. So now you think it's gonna change because you're the president. In his mind, is I'm the reason you the president like you, You wasn't gonna win this without me. You better stop playing. Yeah, now now I'm gonna call the shots like I've been doing. Like I was telling you. You listen to me to get to the presidency. Now you want me to fall back.
No, it don't work like that, does It don't work like that.
That's actually that'll get you hurt. It really will. But you know what I said.
Gud get the blocks, close the gates, they out the asylum all him, because that's what's about to happen. It's gonna be a shit show. And you know what, I'm back to what you said the other day. You kind of got me together and you didn't even know it. You was just talking. You know how sometime we be talking to each other. I know what happens with Linda and me all the time. I'm on the phone with her, and I bet you Angelo does it because I call him and I just be talking about everything.
I'm pissed about this. You did this to me. I'm my son. I'll be telling on everybody.
My son didn't listen, he didn't do it, and y'all both I'm trying to tell y'all do this and I know that man halfway here, half what I'm saying.
And Linda and I do it to each other all the time.
We just go go go go, go, go go, getting it all out, and every now and then the other person go, girl, what mm hmmm. The other day you was just talking and I'm just like halfway listening.
Way you went from stocks to something else.
You went to like five things, and I'm just listening to you. And then you said, and I think Charlamagne said this too, that I don't want to see Donald Trump fail because we, we are the citizens, we will be impacted.
I want you to prove me wrong.
That's what you said, and that got me together.
Like if he proved me wrong, I'd be the happiest person. Listen. I don't want to see American employed.
I don't want to live in a you know, a place where everybody is damn there, destitute in the third world country. Like, but when I'm looking at the Donald Trump, the mind state and the people around him.
I don't see how it went. So I want you to prove me wrong.
I want to sit down and say, damn, you know why I was one hundred percent wrong and we're doing good. Everything is good here, that's what I want. I don't see it though, and then sometimes you sometimes you could be wrong.
It's nothing wrong with me being wrong. If I'm wrong.
If Donald Trump does all the shit that y'all people that you know, the trump coat, if he do what y'all said, then listen, I'm gonna do nothing but say, yo, y'all.
Was right, because I don't have a problem for being wrong.
But if he don't, then I'm gonna say because if he what this is gonna be, this is gonna be a lesson because sometimes you just pay you when you start doing your math. The math that I'm doing this ain't mathing.
Before. It's just like it ain't math.
But hey, if it math, if it's right, then y'all just smarter than me, and I can be wrong. And I'm gonna start paying attention to the people that's smart, the people that predicted that Trump is gonna do this and it's gonna change the world. It's gonna be positive and we're gonna live happily after if that happens, I'm gonna take your advice and I'm gonna follow what y'all say. But if not, I'm gonna say I told you so. I'm definitely gonna say I told you so.
Now why we might not need to well, But see the problem is even with that I told you so, is that we're all gonna be living.
You might not have.
But the thing is, I'm gonna be preparing.
I'm preparing for it like I'm boarding up the house. It's just like you know, it's off and I look out there and see know where y'all like this? Man, No, I know the off I'm going with. Noah, I'm boreding it up and make me my own little off. I'm gonna help him build it because I believe that he what he's saying is right, y'all.
I don't think that we need to arc. I'm over here building the art.
Now.
If we don't need to act, then I just got a big ass boat that's outside. That's gonna be something that y'all can look at.
But if in the.
Case that I'm right and we need to arg, or I got me a room and everything in there.
Because I don't help build the.
Shit, I don't know what you're talking.
Okay, you'll see.
But okay, we get to our guests.
Yes we should, so today we are joined by friends and family. As we always say, you know, two brothers that I respect just watching them do this work that we call, you know, intervention work, gun violence prevention work. And these are two brothers that really do this work, you know, and just watching them, just actually being with them in their community, which is a very high risk community,
and just understanding their stories. These two brothers are actually respect And we're joined by Khalil Tut aka Tut and Shady Dukes aka Eighth the Great, and they are the founder members and the presidents of New Direction and it's a community based nonviolence intervention organization based inside of Newark, New Jersey. They're both active gang members, but the way they approach gang life is different.
You know.
These are these are the big homies that are giving you the right direction and telling you the real things to do. These are the real big homies. So I'm happy to be joined by the real big homies.
Hey, you like ten years old talking about big homie like.
How you know, because we're from a community and the coaching that don't define leadership by age, you know what I'm saying. We define leadership by actions, right, Yeah?
No, you actually you have children and everything. So you're a whole grown up.
But when I see you, I always admire your youth, you know, and I think that probably helps to attract some of the younger people to you, to know that you're not out here like wilding out and doing all of that.
So it's cool. It's good to see y'all. Thanks for coming to T and mind.
It's good to have you.
So explain to us what new direction is and how did it come in to be a new direction.
This new direction stething I created for the gang culture when I came home, you know, just to show my homebies, you know, something different. You know, I've been through, you know, some significant, you know things in the city. You know, we're involved in some high profile situations since the game culture came over. I was one of the ones that really was like putting on for it because I believed
in it. And you know, my big hombide he had brought me home, he had went to jail real early and before the gang stuff really kind of like took off. He kind of left it on me to like kind of like beat him. But I wasn't ready for it because I was like young, and I thought, you know, being a game and we got to put on and you know, hurt people and you know, get respecting the hood.
You know what I'm saying. I ain't realized like what the games really was created for until I went to prison and really got the knowledge and information you know, from him and other big homies who was already down serving time life sentences, and they became conscious behind the wall. And you know that conscious stuff don't make it to the streets unless you got a conscious stol y'all there pushing the line, you know what I mean. But I
wasn't that yet. I wasn't ready for that. You had to go through some things to get there, you know. So when I went to prison, you know, I kind of like, you know, got with them, seeing bros, you know, the serving life sentences, not never coming home with the look at the feet on their face. And I followed these guys here, so you know, I mean, I asked to bring homies, like, what's the plan for us getting
out of here? Ain't nobody had on It's like, you know, I ain't nobody forced you to do what you do? You know what come with this? And you know what I mean, But a lot of us didn't. We thought we were just with the brus moving. I ain't never knew jail was gonna come with this or life in prison or death. You ain't tell us that, you know what I'm saying. We had to learn that the hardway, so you know, us going through me going through my struggles, having to learn the hard way and saying they ain't
had no answers for me. I had to step up and become my own leader and find some answers, you know. And you know that's like the birth of new direction because it's basically me going in a different direction than the homies. And you know when you say we active game, it was like we couldn't like drop our flags and do this because if we dropped our flags and did it, we ain't gonna be to reach them because it's like,
oh yang with us, no more y'all on this. So we had to stay active in it to just be able to change it from within, you know what I mean, So that you know, I mean, we could get people to believe in and it's a risk, you know what I mean, because you know you're trying to challenge the coach, You're trying to challenge the trenches, Like who is you
to challenge the blood? You know what I mean? You ain't the biggest blood out here, you know, but you know, like what Bro said, it ain't about your size and your statues, your mind, you know what I mean, Like I could. If I'm thinking bigger than the big homies and it's working for us, you know, then I'm gonna become the biggest one, and I'm gonna hold it the right way, and I'm gonna keep pushing it in the right direction and saving some of these young bros that's
out here in the streets. That was kind of like Misgod it and we left some bad stuff behind for them to hold on too. That wasn't right. So when I when I came out of my situation and God blessed me with you know, having another opportunity see freedom again.
How long was you incarcerated?
I did fifteen street, so I had thirty and I had gave ten back through the grace of God on the pill and they gave me twenty thirteen. I had to do the fifteen to max it out, and I came out. I went in when I was like twenty twenty one young, So that fifteen years was something that
I kind of needed. I didn't want it, but you know, it helped me, know, become conscious because, like I said, I ran into a lot of the bros behind it, like the BLA dudes, and I realized what political prisoners was and what revolutionary socialism and things like that we didn't know. They started giving me them books to read, George Jackson books and you know, the audacity, the whole
Obama like a lot of stuff they was given. It was making us read that and you know, I learned a lot, you know what I mean reading those books, and it made me had a whole different perception on what we could be doing as game. Like we came together and start you know, doing things the right way, like how powerful it be, you know what I mean? And then we just came around and put it in motion.
So you you went to jail when you was twenty one, and you did fifteen years straight, right, Y'all's oh, but time has really stood still, right because I'm sure that people looking at you today just you would never know that y'all have that many years you know behind you of life that you've done.
You know, wow, wow wow, I mean it's impressive.
The work that the two of you doing, you know, I even longer than my son, have been a unfortunately or fortunately or whatever you want to call it, have been sort of like a mentor to many younger grassroots organizers that are coming up, some coming out of prison, some just coming you know, out of college, different things.
And I know the difference between authentic and not because I've watched it all, all of it, And we were just talking about people be nutty, you know, people be having serious mental health issues.
People.
And when I say nutty, I'm not making light of mental health because some of them they don't even have mental health. They just haters, angry, just mad at everybody. Yeah, just just messy. That's a good word for it. And I when I look at the two of you, I know that there's something different there, Like you guys are You're very authentic, and I was drawn to your work and what you do. And obviously the same applies to Angelo, who's not here with us today, and then my son.
And so why this, Why not just come home and say Okay, I can go get a job or you know, work with my family, Cause some days the money.
Ain't coming into the organization.
It's hard to keep the doors open, hard, to keep the bills paid.
Why this and new direction? What was the reason for that eight?
Right?
That you wanted to join with what he was doing.
Right, because we had similar outcomes but different journeys. Right. And although I didn't have an extensive stint in jail like he did, I've had expect sperience, you know what I mean with going downstate and seeing what that was like. And the biggest thing that it did for me is it changed my perception of the world, right, because I seen the world on a smaller scale. I seen how
you know. I mean, when a Spanish guy comes to the unit, the rest of his community don't have to know him from a can of paint, but they would embrace them. Wow, right, They'd give them something to eat, he'd have a laundry man x y Z. A Caucasian god comes the same thing. But soon as myself or another black person comes to the unit, even though we the majority, we'll all start sniffing him out right like
where he from? Right, you know, we just we're just unpack each other to the point where we'll find the smallest thing to disassociate ourselves with each other. And it bothered me. Right, and then even when we had things like you know, on Tuesdays, right, like we get to watch VH one, but all the other six days did
take VH one off the off the TV. So I just started seeing like a losion of freedom, right, like you you're free to change the channel to whatever you want, but they controlled the program that came to your television, and things like that always bothered like, it started bothering me, you know, I mean the wrong way.
Why do you think that is why VH one Because.
We wanted to watch love and hip hop?
Right, So we was the majority, so the majority got the rule, so we was able to to to lobby for us to be able to watch for these programs on these certain days, right, But it was it was it was really just a way to just spoon feed and keep keep everybody calm, all right, I give you, I give you a dose a happiness, right, and y'all just y'all just performed. And I always had I was always taught to to say what I mean and mean
what I say, right. I was always to how to speak up for myself, and that was one of the things that was bothering me. So you know, I just seeing an illusion of power, right, And it was the same thing for when I was inside the neighborhood like a dif we blood and we this, and we we quote unquote run our neighborhood while every time law enforcement pull up, we running, or they could pull up and they could give us any reason. There wasn't no way
for us to hold us accountable. So when I came home, I just wanted to change the narrative of who I was and who people said that we are. And I just I started doing small things for our community. And then it led to me becoming a district leader, right because I was approached by some guys who was district leaders and it was like, you know, they took a liking to me and how I was able to you know, command my neighborhood and a positive outlook. And then yeah,
they talked to me about becoming a district leader. And so long story short, I ran. Then I actually won. So now when lawf forcement pulled up in the neighborhood, they had to speak to Shati Dukes and tell us who made the call and why are you out here? Right, like how can we how can we get in front of this without somebody being arrested, and you know, so I started growing into that and then you know, just growing out into it more. I started in twenty nineteen,
I did a podcast right just on my own. I just wanted to push the work that we was doing even more further because I was learning more about it. So, you know, I'm a person that just take control of things, so I can't delegate things. So I just did it upon myself. I did in my grandmother basement and upon touch a rival back home, he did a video, right, and he sent the message out to the community, to the culture, and he spoke the same language that I was speaking. And I always I always knew of him.
But growing up, he was from a different age bracket than myself. Right, So me and my friends we always looked up and we had Mayer Chuck, but for the wrong reasons, right because of the incident that took place at the school, but more so how he delegated himself out in the streets. So he said a standard for guys in the street to upholl right, And we wanted to be We always wanted to be like Chuck growing up. But we was just wanted to be like come in
the wrong way. So we did the podcast and for the first time he came and he spoke his true story to the culture, right, and we did it together because, oh why, he didn't have to know me personally. He knew we represented the same same purpose, right, And it was times where he was even off of money to go on podcasts and shared his story. But he chose
to come sit down with me and do it. And from that day long, like he didn't have to ask, He didn't have to ask me to join him in the old direction, So why would he have to ask me to join him in a new direction? The end goal makes sense? So you know, that's why we're sitting here today.
I love that because it's similar to my story, right, being incarcerated and seeing the reality of what we're dealing with, right, and then saying and choosing that I'm gonna do something different, you know what I'm saying, and utilizing the power, the recognition, all of the notoriety that you have and saying, I'm gonna utilize that something for powerful like you. You was looking up to him for the negative thing, just like when I came home with people old mice on y'all.
I know he put this in and I came home and I was just like, Nah, they stripping us down in the sales in jail, and you can't. They stripped you, not even a man in jail, and they taught us that when we went there that made us more something and they literally taking.
Our manhood from us.
So I wouldn't be who I am if I lead you to that destruction, right they killing I'm watching young boys coming to jail with forty and fifty years at seventeen and sixteen.
And it's never coming home.
I'm seeing the ogs that I look up to with a hundred years in jail telling me I need to go home and tell him something difference, right, So I you know, so you hold on to that, you know, and when you really a man of honort, that's what you bring out. So just watching y'all, it reminded me of so much of myself and just seeing y'all connect the same way that y'all did and really lived that. But what's one of the biggest challenges that you feel like you face?
Right now, both of y'all, you can start.
To Yeah, so well, I'm asking the other questions with her too well to we could ask about a sustaining new direction with like resources and stuff like that. So when we first started a new direction, like how you explained like I already had influence in a gang coachure coming home like little bros that looked up to me from the story that happened at the school. So you know, I already had like created a legacy, you know, in the culture. So it was even for me to come on.
I was bro playing because every time you know, we came from prignant, we get the home, We had meetings, we go to the park, but our meetings was all about like you know, negative stuff. So by looking for my direction when we come home, like big broback on a lot of stuff gonna change you hear how you moving in prison? Because I was already starting a new direction. When I was in prison, we was called like new culture.
We was having a little meetings on the units every jol we went to where they had like gang issues. Once I got in the building, administration run down on me because they know and I got the influence. They know I got this high risk think following me because we been heard about how in there before we even got out of here, So they was like I'm riched everywhere I go because of my case. So any jail I go to, they are alert and no I'm coming in,
And I got influenced with the gang. So certain big homies coming certain prisons, it'll spike up the valance because certain big hompies are coming in with a different approach, likeyo, we ain't on this, w ain't over there with them, we ain't doing that. But I came in with like ad by a unity or already like clans from the MCU managed the control unit where they had me at where I met all them like bla dudes and all
the big homies. They was isolating a unit called Managed Control Unit, and it caused us like title thirty nimates. So if you was a gang member, it was STG and you was a threat to the population of the prison because your influence and officers. So they was isolating us in these units, but they was putting us all together in one unit, locking us down, giving us time to build with each other and figure this thing out.
So anybody that made it out of that unit came out with a certain level of consciousness knowing what we was up against against the system. So I came out of there and just started educating every population I went to.
But we wasn't violent. We were just getting them more, right, we moving militant, be coming out the mess all together, were eating together, and sometimes they were shipping me out because they didn't know what I was doing it for, right, because they think and I'm just doing it to try to like take over the jail or something. I'm really doing it to keep my brother's focused so they could get home to their families. And I'm talking and I'm
letting the brothers know that, and They're appreciating. I ain't got them popping on this, popping on that. So when I say it was working in there, what we was doing, I knew I was coming home with that same approach. So me to running at eight and get this out there to the pub, like, yo, this is what I'm on. You know this when I'm pushing we started doing new direction. They got it, got recognized by the mayor and the like.
We ain't golding no with the organization to get funded, and they recognized what we was doing and they had to let us know, y'all funded people for the same work. If we found out we getting people getting funded, and we really out here got the trenches, coln Andy, you ain't taking care of us, so it had to kind of let us know. So that's why I've never been about the money with us. That was a bonus. I mean, I was already set up when I went home and
had a plan before it came to the hood. I needed to have my own money cause I had nigga in the streets offering me stuff, Y're gonna get this work, you do this, you'll come back outside. Y'all got to connect for you. I'm like, now, I ain't doing. I went to the warehouse, worked in the warehouse, getting paid five hundred a week for like six month, and I had a plan to get my CDL. So I'm gonna
work get my CDL. Streets calling me O, got this before you got my Ain't doing none of that, bro, Because first of all, when I came home, I got a big target on me because I went to jail for police officer. It was just like so now they already checking me coming home, making sure I'm not about to come out of hand spark stuff up. They already ten steps ahead of me. They came to see me before I came home, Like Major Crime Task Force somebody from the federal brewer and I gave from the county,
and I'm thinking I got a new charge. They just trying to check the temperature where I'm not like you were about to get out in a couple of days. It's a big light on you out in the streets. So that kind of strepped the new direction too, you know what I mean, if I had any of the thoughts and not going in the better direction. When I seen it, they came like, look, yeah, I ain't doing nothing, bro, because like I'm good, I'm going down to Maryland, my family.
I'm getting out of it. I just did that. I ain't trying to come back to jail, so you know, being born again. I'm just coming out of prison, storuce. I'm coming back first, So I ain't coming out in the gangster ready for No, I'm nervous.
I don't know.
Somebody gonnaknock my head off. I don't know. I've been going for a minute. I was the police gonna try to take me out, so I had to get away from the hood. And then when I was working and doing stuff that I was doing, building myself up, realizing what credit was and I had money when I came back to the I got CDF, so I'm making money in the truck. So were able to still get the movement moving, even looking out for people because I always did that for my bros. My bros called me, they
want to rob somebody, Nah, broll do that. You need a couple of dollars. I gam one hundred dollars to calm down or something. I man bro was remembering that, and as I'm staying consistent with the new direction, they started rocking with it. Because the first least I was bluffing trying to get the police off of me, and like, all right, I'm keep the police offing and act like I'm doing these bunds underneath the service. I'm pulling buttons.
I really wanted doing that. When they was really on to me, they seeing it I really wasn't doing all that, they fell back, and they fell back, and then new directors start expanding, and I can stand next to mayors and stand next to other people because I'm coming with clean hands. And the period I took up about three
years before we got next to the man. We was out here pushing before the may and vices is standing next to him and be a part of peace in the hood because he had to believe that we really was on it, because some people could say stuff, but underneath the surface they still outside because you got to you gotta maintain a stain level credibility in the streets because they do only respected vallence. So we coming out here like waving the white fact. Hey, everybody stopped around
it like we got solved. I don't want to hear that. But you know me, I put so much work in out there, y'all know I ain't get y'all know I couldn't have got solved. So now like Touch's saying this is like, man, maybe we gotta listen, but you're gonna have someone that's still like mad because I'm pulling they homies away. I just ain't have the resources. I could have changed the whole streets and nort if I have
resource to pull all them off the corner. Like if I'm gonna come in like all y'all getting job tomorrow, come to my office, the corners to be empty. But they know I ain't had that. You know what I'm saying, All I guys like a message and then as certain ones I can help kind of want it you know what I mean. But it's still gonna be challenges when you're trying to change a culture of people who had stuff going on and I'm coming home.
Stop changing, you know what I mean?
Definitely, So talk about both of you have referenced being away and in prison, So talk about what happened.
You want to start eight in your life? How did you get there?
Well, minds, My minds were simple. It was just it was just it was a poor mind friend, a retaliate. It was just a retaliatory remind state. And ultimately it was the same thing that birth my change, right, my retraining, the thinking because I didn't so it wasn't me. It wasn't me getting shot, It wasn't me having a child, it wasn't me going to jail, quote unquote. That made
me like change my direction. It was the fact that you know, I had I had my daughter and once my once my brother got killed, right, and I sat down, I told my daughter, you know what happened, and her immediate response, you know, I mean, as we was crying, her first response was we gonna shoot them back.
How old was she?
She was about like seven or eight years old at the time, right, And in that moment right there, that that changed my life because I realized I wasn't I wasn't reasoning my daughter to be a young lady. I was raising her to gang bang, and I just wanted to offer her something different. From that day long I was, I just become extremely conscious of the person that I showed her. So this was you know, this was in two thousand and this was in twenty and fourteen, twenty fourteen.
How long were you at this?
What happened? So I was away before that. I was away in two thousand and ten, So I was I was only a way for twenty four months, not only because I felt every day right now, you know what I mean. But you know, but the crazy thing is it's psychologically and our coachd right.
Monday, you know what I'm saying. But we don't.
But we don't glorify that part of it enough, you know what I mean. That's a scared bill.
You did.
You did a five lucky you see what I'm saying. And should I can sitter that right.
Because listen when I would go to the little and this and see I'm saying, the little arrest when we do a civil disobedience like a lot of people. Some people they just pop in and out and they think it's cool. But I literally have claustophobia, so it's not a joke for me. Like I'm making a serious sacrifice. When you stick me in a paddy wagon with the wall in between, where the spaces this close and it's people packed in, I be crying, like it's really hard,
you know. They sometimes it'll be like women on this side. And I remember one time Yandy and I got arrested together. It was Yandy, somebody else was in the truck with us, might have been Porsche. They was singing and singing me through like I was crying and hyper ventilating.
And in Louisville it was hot. When I say hot, no.
Hot, it was on your knees, and they had your lot of this way and besus was dripping into your eyeballs.
And you had to have and they and they strapped you and they strapped you down this way. And because of the fact that so many people were arrested, like eighty something eighty seven eighty seven of us, that meant that it's processing this van in this van and this van, so you waiting and waiting and waiting for them to pull off that jam is no joke, right, no joke, So I can imagine twenty four months.
Yeah, we take we often, we too. We often we take two of the situations and the circumstances that we're in and the sacrifices that we make. And I think, you know, and I think woped my mom, so to speak.
It not just woped my mom, but it lit a fire underneath me to represent myself a certain type of way and not care about what anybody else stood about me, because it was, like you said, like once I had that knowledge of where I'm leading my people too, and I felt like I lost, like you know, I lost close family members underneath my watch, I feel right, and there's nothing that I could do in the physical world
to replace that. So I'm always conscious of, you know, what I'm saying, like where I'm taking my people to, because we don't get our friends, but we don't get our family members back, and especially when we have people who follow on our lead. And it's just something that you know, like I said, it just lit a fire underneath me. And I walk inside my purpose confidently every day. And that's why, you know, that's why everybody reference to my name ate the Great right. That was just me
calling myself Greek. You know what I mean. Ain't nobody named me Eat the Greek but myself. That was just me telling That was just me speaking confidence and to myself because I had people shooting me down for so long. You know what I'm saying, I underplayed my own hand and you know, so, yeah.
When you say shooting you down, what does that sound like? You know? Negativity?
It was all negativity and possible, right because I live on the edge of impossibles, right like us doing new direction was impossible five years ago to people who we tell our visions to us. Sitting down with y'all right now was impossible, right Like I remember, you know I made during COVID and particularly watching everything that y'all was doing and being introduced to a Tamika D. Mallory. I was always aware of my son because you was integrating the hip hop culture. You know what I'm saying. I
watched your freestyles, I seen what you did. I seen you and trade of truth. I seen you know what I'm saying. So it's even big for just you know what I mean, for whenever my mother see me a monks y'all. You know what I mean, She always light up whenever she see me a monk's y'all, because we get to determine who our heroes are, you know what I'm saying. We get to determine you know what I mean, who we look up to and who we follow. And I think that's one of the biggest things that we
do for the youth and our community, so to speak. Like, so that's why we we walk amongst the people. That's why we always angst our people because don't don't don't title us, don't put no label on them, right, don't limit it, don't don't limit us, because we've been to those limits. You know what I'm saying, Like, who are you to be eighth degree? You know what I'm saying, Who are you to say that you're going to do a podcast? Who are you to say that you're going
to do new direction? And you could tell somebody to put a gun down to stop shooting, Like say, I'm you.
You you you have right right here.
Let's talk about your story.
Yeah, so I had went, I got incarcerated for a police officer losing his life, you know, trying to protect kids at a school and which is will lead to a lot us what we do with the safe passions now, which why we so passionate about that safe passage program that we run it because you know, it came from
a personal place. I know how it is when these kids be up there fighting at the schools and then their parents get involved and they come up to the school and just hood stuff and then stuff could go leven. That's kind of like what happened in my situation. And you know, my sister was fighting at the high school and we got the call that she was up there fighting and in the every that the school was in. That's like where my set was that like we got
that whole hood. So if I get a call at my sister down school fight and you know, we're gonna get down there quick to make sure she good. And we had went down there to make sure she was all right, but we ain't go down there like trying to get him into a new law enforce or nothing like that. We just kind of break it up, make sure she could get her home. And we ran into a law enforcement officer who had kind of prior knowledge of who I be and us being out there because
I had just came home for something happened. Some rival gang members got shot. It was like a block of two blocks away from the school and it was a police officer out at the time doing beat walking, and they kind of charged me. They charged me with the case and they were saying I sent gods through here to do it and the officer was got shot. So they had locked my mother and father up before they could get to meet because I'm still out in the
streets moving around. So when my mother called me and the police department saying that they had her, that joint just did something to me that just made me like hate police officers. But I didn't take accountability that. You know, it's all love and fan war. If they you know, your family all on the line. Were you out here doing that? But you know, that was a shock and blow when they touched my mom and them and she cause my mom worked for Dife. It's good lady, she
and nothing. But you know, my actions in the streets that had brought that to my family. And you know when they finally had caught me and I and I was in the county and stuff. I was always thinking about that. Stuff like that. It just made me hate the police. I didn't take accountability of why they did that. So when I had got out, you know what I mean, I was just on that with them with the police. I just like, but I was talking about it around people.
I wasn't like trying to do nothing to new cop. But I but it's life and death and the power of the tongue and sit that in the Bible. So I was speaking. I situated like that into existence when I was around my homie every time we went in a car ride and we just talking about fuck the poliics might seeing because I just want to feel some type of way about what they did with my mother and father and there like lot my mother father them.
I used to go out on the homies like, man, they lock it up for y'all because I'm doing this for y'all, you know what I mean, and my mother and son. No, I can't play with d So I'm using that situation and further them to be you know, further goons for me against them. And it ain't even like that, you know what I mean. I spoke that thing up, man, when the police officer try to get me and they
overprotected me and and guys moved out for me. You know what I mean, And I and actually had nothing on me out didn't you know, shoot the office and none. But I had people with me that was overprotecting me because I was putting that in them, you know what I mean. So when they moved, I wasn't even mad because I preached that to him and I encouraged that. But they knew it. They knew the whole situation and everything.
But if they were charged it the right way, I probably wouldn't be sitting here talking to me all right now. But they try to put it on me as if I would have want I crazed guy would a gun and shot the officer, lined to the family, lined to the public, like I was the one that really did it. Yeah, I was the engine behind it, but I want the
one that actually did it. And that's how I got convicted of reckless manstre because the jury saw through the facts of the case when it came out, and that's why they charged with causing it by me being reckless with my actions, but not guilty of the murdered weapon and not guilty of shooting you know, police officers. And that's how I was able to, you know, get the fifteen years and come home because a lot of people
I didn't shoot, I didn't kill a police officer. I wouldn't be standing, you know how they take that, you know what I mean. So you know me being able to you know, overcome that. But I took accountability for my actions. And you know, law enforce was the enemy. That's what the enemy to me, you know what I mean. When I was living a legal lifestyle. They wasn't our friends. They trying to capture us, were trying to get away from them. So my mindset against them was what it was.
But it led to something like that happened, and I didn't realize I had the power and influence to allow something like that to happen under my you know call, until it happened, you know what I mean. Then I knew, like, oh, I gotta be careful with my power influence of what I say out my mouth. Since that situation, I've been careful with what I say out my mouth, my influence. I understood it, you know what I mean. But I had to go through that to really get to where
we're at now. But if that wouln't happened, we wouldn't be here with new directions we won't be here over protecting these schools, making sure these kids are safe. And you know what I mean. It was something like God allows certain things to happen for whatever reason you're allowed to happen for. But you know, I just try to make the best of it, in the grade of it,
because I know that situation harms our city. To this day, we still have, you know, issues with people, you know, it divided city, especially when it kind of law enforcement. You know what I mean, ain't never gonna understand me. Some of them did. The younger ones that respect the revolution to understand what's going on. But the older ones ain't gonna really understand that. Some people and politics ain't
gonna want to be next to me. I ain't gonna want to stand next to me, you know what I mean, because you know, everybody got to keep a good, you know relationship out here. The relationships is everything we understand and with us doing we doing, you know it ain't you know, it ain't beneficial to law enforcement that we stopping people from going to jail and you know, and and surviving out here and not dying. My mother walking to the store and safe. We thought that was beneficial
to law enforcement. But we know it's different things that goes on, you know, with money and people getting too in care of so we understand, like you know the politics of that, but that'd be hurting me sometime too when I'm coming with clean hands and pure hearts, and forget pologizy just for any actions that I did to make that happen, but showing by my actions like I can do in front of the judge, say Judge, I'm sorry what i'ma pologizing then for why I'm gonna say,
have mercy on the judge. But it ain't getting hurt, he ain't doing they good. I gotta go prilogize to my community. And that's by my actions by making sure that no another officer gets shot out here, no kids fighting at the school, nobody else get ain't no game wards in our city. I'm giving way back more then I kind of took away, because this is what we build. They're gonna live beyond us. It's gonna be a legacy
beyond us. Were about to open the school to change up with eighth degrade for our at rich youths who don't nobody want to rock with because they scared of these little young guys. And when the young guys see you scared of them, they gonna run rap laps around you, you know what I mean. But we ain't afraid of them, and we ain't afraid the doctor. What we believe it because we already died and came back, so to speak,
face to all our fears. So you know, we just gonna can't continue to push forward and just hoping that you know the right people are sitting next to y'all. We already made it, you know what I mean?
Right?
Like you know what when our home we see this, I rose behind the wall and all that, Like you don't know what that do for the coaching. But everybod ain't gonna understand us, but we understand us.
It was something that you said the other day at the at King College and you said something about my future. What would you say something about my past?
What did you say? I don't know exactly what you said. It was a strong story.
And it was like similar what I kind of spoke on.
It's like you foks because of something. I don't know what it was, but I just want to say that we commend you, yeah, because the work that you're doing, and like you said, it's action. It's showing you know, because I'm telling you, watching y'all is just it just it reinforced. It gives me energy because you get tired, like you know, it's hard and you go through this, and you got people that want to hate on you, and people and and and what I always say is
my actions speak louder than what you're saying. You can say whatever you want, but for the last decade, I've been showing you what it is that I do, and I put the work and I watch y'all do the same thing every day. So I want you to just give me, like I said before, what is like some of the hardest things that you got to deal with right now?
For me, man, it's just for you too, because we looked up to you, bro, and we still do to this day, even that we're next to you, we still do because you always inspired it. Even when I came home and I'm tapping more in with your stuff cause I got to see more of your stuff when I got home because you know, we got phones now, we got more access to things, So you know, you was
inspiring me. I'm looking up to you like damn, big Bro might sign and then your consciousness and you already was like there, so I felt cold with being in too. And then all the bros like you like the might Sign generation, like a lot of my brothers are saying that. To me, that was strong. But the challenge for me, it's like egos with the other bros and stuff out here, like you know what I mean, because like you know, there's a lot of different bigger homies that's out here
that got you know, stayed and got influenced. And you know, if I'm coming out here trying to push guys forward, they don't want to feel like they following my lead. Like well, I took saying peace because nobody was saying peace before I came home or pushing it. But with me, I always tried saying them, I'm just trying to inspire other leaders to be better leaders.
You know.
I'm not trying to like take over and be like hey, I got to listen to me or this go on, you know what I mean? Because I had those challenges at first with certain little bros. I'm hearing they said, man, new direction ain't all that, And then I got to pull up on them, what you mean that new direction? And I had to get out of that, because I can't fight against everybody that's saying like they might not be off of it, you know what I mean. If a dude can't tell me that to my face when
I come around, it's all love. It's big bro, we love what you're doing, but you see something behind my back. I can't really like be trying to approach that. But I'm that type of person like if you wanna say something were gonna, I'm pulling up on you on your hood, don't care where you're from, what niggas you're around. I got you got exposed fixed stuff. And when people would just trying to go against something that makes sense for us, that's the only challenges we be having because it's.
Not for a person writing it.
It's like, you know, it's just no God, just be hating because of power, you know what I mean. So we kind of like we came and took the streets. We knew direction. They adn't think we was gonna be do that, like challenge the culture, and some of the bros, you know what I mean, can be hating on that, and I want them to influence no younger bro to think they could challenge us and then we get back to the old direction, our whole movement over, you know
what I mean. So that be the challenges that we get. It's trying to stay humble, righteous and militant, and that's that's challenging of itself. Dealing with the word, that's the challenge for us, bro, you know what I mean. But we've been doing a good job with it, man, and we're gonna keep going.
So, yeah, you was telling me a story about the situation that happened with a young kid.
Because my grandmother, she don't want me doing this work like family member get away. You did enough for North come out of there, But same thing right right, So you know, we deal with the We don't deal with the polished kids. We deal with the at risk high resus to these the guys that get kicked out of school for having guns and stolen cars. Come after youth, oule. They're the ones that's wild. So we're trying to get with a lot of these kids, get on focused, get
them back on the right track. And some of them don't be you know what I mean, They ain't all that clean. So we had a bunch of group of kids around. We're gonna do more of making sure we searching our kids because we didn't want to move by our kids, like we don't know police stuff with it, because we're gonna lose them like that. So sometimes we gotta be a little cool with them, you know what
I mean. We ain't really on them. I'm not thinking you got none of your book bad, but I know we going into a center any place where I'm trying with these kids. I'm making sure you ain't bringing that name because they got metal detective. They got stuff going on. Because these kids they like they got like PTSD. I think some of them from seeing some of their fathers die out here, some of their uncles. The violence in or effect some of the kids too.
No, we know people, We know people that can't go anywhere unless they got to.
We go in to the fanciest rest. They still talking, I can't go. I can't bring my ship, like.
For real, Yeah, exactly, And that's what we're dealing with. So we're dealing We go to a basketball game. So we go to basketball game. That mind you, I'm telling these guys. So we got a van full of kids, we got the trouble got so we are all our kids packed things we had to take him from getting some jobs earty kid. Yeah, so we we take him getting some jobs, give job training at the re engagement center.
And then it was a basketball game, so we took him down to the bat So we don't we don't know what these kids got on when they coming in. They putting whatever they got up. So one of them said something got missing from him out of one advanced from another kid. So what you had, think like the phone? So he sat a gun. So I'm like, fuck, you got a gun for on?
Right?
So's I'm trying to count our kids. We found the kid was missing, so I'm calling, like, Yo, where you were at?
Bro?
He's like he ain't answering them calling them, didn't answering, And I'm texting them. They're like, you ain't got nothing to do with this, big bro. Fuck the nigga. They trying to rob me. They some girls he was gonna rob me. You're talking about who? So buck chirping our So but he walking there, he left us. He on urged trunk some in the hood with a gun on the pipe from and he going through a mental episode. Wow, So I call his mom. She tell me you know what I mean, Like, yo, she got a track on
his phone. So now we're tracking a little bro. So now I don't want to run up on a little bro and he just upping on us on some wild because but this little proper, I've been dealing with him, but to my first time having him around a bunch of other kids. Now he got issues being around people. He don't trust everybody. You gotta let me know that, because this thing almost cost us just now bruh. So when we pulls up on him, we find out yet
he rode on like YO, come here, browing me. How you got to give me that strip back you got? He whipped it out like yo, back up and ran. So now everybody car doub We got eight daughter in there. We got the kids behind us, three cars, three fans deep on him. So I'm like, we can't let him get away with this joint bro, because I noticed little niggas. I'm mad right now. We can't try to put this kid down. If the police se him running around the hood like this because he got it out, that's like
moving they gonna do. They gonna put him down. They a don't have no patience with him. So when I pulled around the corner, he hides somewhere. So we got the car looking for the backyard. So now I want him to just up it on us, thinking we but I'm like, yo, what you're doing, bro?
So he like real danger, real danger.
So I don't know he gonna pull up the cut and just start throwing at us and nothing, but I heard something move. We didn't you know that was him? And then we left out the back and then we got a call Munt say it was by the liquor store. So we pull up by the liquor store. He see if he runs out. Now he pulls the car. He pulls up at the first car to pull up on and I'm saying, butna pull up on him because he wild. They time a car pull up on it, he lifted it.
And I know he don't know what he's doing. This is his first gun. I know this, little bro, this is your first gun. He just filling hisself with it right now. So I got out the car and I'm I'm gonna get out the car and talk to Hi. I'm like, yo, bro, you're gonna shoot me. He's like, nah, big, oh, this don't got nothing to do with you. Do Niggas know what they did you know what I'm saying, ain't
nobody with me but me, bro. So he walking down the street with it out, talking and I'm just praying at God that those cop card has bend the corner and see this little kid walking down the street with a gun out like he just out. He had it out, like, walking with it so I can't get up on him to get it from him. He's like, Chuck, don't come up on me, bro, like you're gonna blow it. I'm so you're gonna blow me, bro. He's like, no, I
ain't got nothing to do with you. So once I knew he was in his mindset that blow me, I'm gonna stay with him and keep walking with him. Calm them down. So he put I said put it up, bro, because I don't want the police to be in the corner and see you with that joint out like that. So he listened to put it up for a minute. Then I was trying to get a little close and when he got it up so I could get it from him while he got it up. So when I got close to him, he like, oh, bro' come up
on me. Bron't pull it back out. So I'm like naw, he gets it out like he like, so, who's gonna shoot me? Brou I come up on you. So I'm like your mother on her way, because I got his mother on the phone. She screamed it. So I'm like, yo, you go and mess around and let the police business corner and we're not gonna be able to save you. Bro So when I said that again, he put it
back up. So when he put it back up, I was a little more closer to him, and I knew he want gonna pull it back out, and I drussed him right quick. And when I grabbed that, I went fright for that because I seen where he put it at both times he put it up and he tried to reach forward, and I just pushed it, wrestled it from gave it to the broke, and then I just threw it a little down like the little brothers, bang him up, beat him up for the door and that shit.
We ain't doing him too bad, but you know that situation, we could have died in that situation because he if he would have panicked shot the car that hit eight door to hate my little niece in them. We got leeing, We got everybody here, be coming from a game all these kids with his mother's and trusted these kids with us in one of these bass kids did something like that, you know what I mean to put all us in danger?
See, the reality is that's what high risk intervention is, you know. And you can't really pay nobody for that, right you got to You have to really have love for your community, have love for these kids, and really want to save them to put yourself on the front lines like that. And I understand what that is. I've literally stood in front of the dudes with guns. I literally had to stand in front and be like, yo, I'm not letting you shoot nobody. I'm not letting you
like with people that I love. It's like, yo, get on my way, and I'm like, nah, we're not doing that.
You're not doing that.
I'm like, you're gonna have to shoot me, Like I literally had to say that. So I understand that. So a lot of people don't understand how serious this work is, and you don't understand how much respect that.
You have to have right and to be able to do that.
Like they said, gangster, Yo, you gang It ain't gangster because you can shoot somebody when you real gangs, you got enough respect in your community that you can stop somebody from gang. That's what that's That's what leadership is. That's what the big homies is.
For me.
If if you, if you, if you call yourself a big home man, you ain't sureing to do, how to grow, how to get no money, and how to survive.
You just an older little nigga's that's what we said, you know what I'm saying.
And even with some of the stuff that we do with we get mothers that call us that be finding guns and stuff and they kids brom They can't call the policecause the don't want to send the kick to jail, right, So what're going They gotta call somebody who could come in here and get these stuff up out of these stuff. And that's what we're do. We're coming in and make sure we get that stuff up out of it and then get it to the proper people. We have to
make sure we keep it everybody safe. But that's the type of stuff that we having to get calls on.
What would you say the hardest parts of the job.
I mean, for me, what I believe for all of
us is the hardest part is our sanity. Taking care of our own mental health inside of this space because we know, we know that we were in a time where you can't fight can't you can't fight hate with hate, right, you go on to combat hate with love, right, But that thing gotta give a plenish, you know what I'm saying, because ultimately the hate gets so thick at times where I have to I have to learn and train myself to be prepared for, you know, the worst situations possible
every day, every single day, right Like, and then I have you know, I have teenage daughters inside of my city that go to the school. You know what I'm saying. I didn't choose to take my kids out of this city, right Like, my kids go to these same schools, they have these same basketball games, They walk in these same streets because.
And they want to go out.
They want to go out and have a good time.
And you like, why don't you just stay.
In that south And I understand that they don't want to stay in the house. So my job is to be able to make sure outside to see it, because having the prettiest house on the block means nothing. If the rest of the block is messed up, the property value ain't going to go up because of one house, all the houses got to be up to park, you know what I'm saying. So that's what I always you know what I mean, That's what I always think of it like, and you know, like, how do I walk
to a mediation and not personalized? Somebody might want to get d you know what I'm saying, Foday, I don't want to hear that shit, you know what I'm saying, or have it go or even how we just talked about with that situation. My daughter was in that car, My firstborn child was in that car. You know what I'm saying. How do I respond? How do I respond to that going off and God forbid hitting my child? You know what I'm saying. How do I respond if that thing go off and it hit somebody in here
and now I have to go to their parents? You know? So I always operate from that mindset because I'm always wary of people, people playing us against each other, because that's what they always done. You know what I'm saying. We always had at the Bill o'nills, right, like we always we always had the judases amongst us, right, and how do we how do we stay focused? Like how do we keep everything tight like through communication, having clarity.
If I'm not feeling something, I got to be able to go to my brother and tell them I'm not feeling it because I'm If I don't, then I'll sit there and I'll let a damage. Ob then it's a damage our relationship.
That's the reason why the relationship between the four of us, Angelo, my son, Lindon, and me, why our relationship is what it is because it's it's difficult at times, like it comes to get it out what we feel and what we're experiencing. It's not always pretty. We be at it, especially this right here, and Angelo too. Angelo, I literally walk away from conversations crying from talking to the two of them because they don't be making.
No sense to me whatsoever.
But I always walk away better than I was before we started the conversation, even if I still don't agree. Something in what we discussed makes all of us better. And that's but that's hard work. That is very difficult work. And I would imagine that the work that we do to lead together has spilled over into our other relationships and how we, you know, operate on the on the daily. I know, certainly even with my son like, I'm just thinking about you said the SMD and all of that.
But these kids or people will see you.
I've watched him grow, I watched you go a lot because he used to be ready to fight.
And I would be like, but you know that you can't be the thing.
What they My old boss used to tell me, you can't be big and little at the same time. Y'all choose one, right, so you can't do this and that, you know, And he would be ready to fight, and I'm like, but this is not really how it's supposed to go. And I've done it too, But I would say that and we still will get into a fight.
Let's just be clear.
So that nobody is confused. If you roll on us the wrong way, we're gonna fight you. We're not gonna let people try. But we were no longer letting you talk us into a fight. It's gotta be.
Right.
Like how how you just made clarity of that. I don't don't want to make clarity of that. I don't even want to take how take it how you want. That's it. My job is to put it to the universe. My job isn't to put like you said, I can't be big and little. I can't. I can't give the message and worry about how you're receiving it either. My job is on either give the message. You know what I'm saying. So if you want to take it, man after that, nigga, man, how I do this? Then? Okay?
All right, however you say or man, I won't eat step up. Either way, it don't deter me for my next move. You know what I'm saying. So I don't care to clear nothing up, no more, right, but I have to be in that space because I understand the powers in the tongue as well, like test it. The power is in my own mental you know what I'm saying.
So I don't even have to I don't even have to say it out loud if I'm thinking about it too much, I'm a manifested I'm gonna find it and then I'm gonna respond to how Oh this is the moment right here. Look you know what I mean. Look he trying to play in And that's why I believe everything is mental. Everything, all this high risk intervention, everything that we do, it's ninety mental. It's ninety percent mental. And once I learned how to master my own mind,
I like, I leave the rest. I leave the rest. I leave the rest for it to late with Lake. And I'm gonna just conclude that were saying that, you know, that's the biggest thing that I that I that I appreach to, not just the youth, but to anybody. You know what I'm saying, don't give nobody that type of power over because you're giving people way too much power over. Hell is rough because if it wasn't rough, then anybody would. You don't have no problems everybody being their own world,
So I don't. I don't feed into the comments. I don't feed it whether it's negative or positive. I appreciate both of the interactions. I don't care what it is that you're saying about me, positive or negative. I appreciate because that means you're paying me attention, and it's my job to give you something to pay attention to.
Wow we get.
Before we go, though, I want you to talk about the women of New Direction, because they have an age of role that they play working with you all.
What do you what's your like? How how great is the need to have the sisters alongside you?
Right? I guess I'll jump in there first, But for me. It's it's extremely it's extremely great for the women, but it's extremely difficult because everybody don't understand your vision, right, Like, it's a lot of sacrifices that go into just having a relationship, whether it's with a partner or with just our kids, because I you know, I often have to tap in with my kids just as much because I do a lot for the other kids out in the community.
Wow, that's deep.
And I wasn't even you on a whole different thing which I want to hear about. I was speaking specifically about staff members and people who are working in the organization and what that's like. But that's very powerful having to because I've done that. I lost my relationship with my son for a long time because I became mommy street person instead of mommy home person.
So yeah, so keep going.
Right, Oh well, yeah, I apologizing.
Keep going, keep going. You can talk about both, right.
But that's a real space, right And you know, for me, I grew up inside of a household. I grew up in a two parent household, right, and so did my mother, and show did it my father, right, So I came up with a full family and then you know, fast forward into today where I have You know, I have multiple different kids, right, I got I got five kids, right, so but I have three different I got three different baby mothers. So I never learned how to have kids.
I never I never experienced reason kids from outside of a household. So that was already a strain on it fromt the beginning. Because I have kids that I spent that se get to see me every day. Then I still have three more kids that have to see me twice a week, once a week sometimes sometimes every so often every time, you know what I mean. So that is strenuous on me myself. And that's something that I have to live and die with because that's something that
life can't prepare you for, you know. And I just want to take this time out to shout out our brother traded truth, right who going through? He going through?
And I want to you know what I mean, because that's a serious situation, and you know he touched on like you know, very rarely do a mother go a week without seeing or speaking to their child, right, But we don't never get to talk about how strenuous that is for a father as well, Like we feel that you know what I'm saying, that's a real space and it get downplayed a lot inside our community and our culture,
you know what I'm saying. But I'm saying as a father, I feel that, you know what I'm saying, and that's why, you know, I also pray for my brother the trade of truth to you know what I mean, get his daughter back and also you know I mean be able to make peace you know what I mean with with his uh you know, his baby mother or whatever, because they are not our ops. You know what I'm saying.
No matter what journey it is, or how much we disagree with each other, our our our our our other parents can't could never be our op because we got the same common goal, which is that child. You know what I'm saying. So I live with that every day and you know, just having my kids, you know, sometimes see me doing all this stuff out in the community, but I'm not there to take them. I don't know, to go ride they bike today, you know what I'm saying, or they see me. You know, my oldest daughter is
very active, right. She she my biggest challenge. We talked about challenge. It was turning that corner with her right because she was raised underneath you know, the gang banging, and I didn't understand that. So her attitude was real messed up, like she was real. She get into fights a lot. She you know, she she's real handsy. So you know last summer, well last year around this time, she got jumped by some girls in school and then you know, it was instantly like how do we move
forward and make peace with that? Right?
Like?
How do I be a father and get a phone call? I'm doing all this community work and now my daughter get jumped. So now what I go fight?
They?
Father? Do I go?
You know what I'm saying, I'm faced with this in real time.
What was your advice during this time? What did you say when he said his daughter got jumped?
Well, we have to stay focused. Man found out who who got jumped? While she got jumped, was she wrong and anything? Sometimes we gotta be hold lot of people accountable to, but definitely to you know, not get to a point where you know, he know, we know how to hands and stuff like that. We ain't gotta be like going back to our old ways. I definitely keep him focus beause that's just you know what I mean, that's that's what I need too, And that's his daughter
so we definitely trying to keep him focusing. Now we're gonna handle it. We're gonna get on top of it. And he know, like we do how to handle stuff like that.
That's human though, that's very human, Like he gotta tell you, remind you.
Because we learned from each other, and we'll be fools to repeat history on a negative aspect. So you know, I'm just concluse that with that though, man, like you know we we you know, what makes this dynamic work is because you know, like how you talked about it's for y'all, right, our advantages just that it's two of us, right, and it's a shared vision. So it's easier for us to have disagreements with each other because we know we
both operate from a police of love. So even when we don't disagree, we just bro whoever plan make the most sense, you know what I'm saying. So it's never its and it's never we do more than enough work for us to get stuck on one thing, you know what I'm saying. We do more than it. So even if we don't agree on what time we're doing safe passage, we still agree on you know, I mean, yo, we
gotta get these kids together, there's Wednesday and go feed them. Right, So we got more than enough things to keep us busy, you know what I mean.
So you're then y'all disagree with way more.
Way, way more.
So I was gonna ask about your staff people to work with you.
Yeah, it was good having the females with us, because you know, when we was going to these schools, most of the issues we was having was like girls fighting, like that was all girls. It wasn't really the guys, you know, like doing the fighting at school mostly the girls. So we just try to inspire some of the females that was working with us to start tapping in with the younger girls and you know, doing the same thing
were doing with the younger guys. So we get them all together, and then once we got the young girls and the young guys together, we could teach them together how to be I'm sure dells respecting each other because a lot of that was going on with these little guys talking to the girls certain way, call them out their names, and the girls trying to fight them and smacking them in their face and just trying to be like why yang they call them young and young lembers?
I don't like to use the word too much. We try to get away from but a lot of our young girls just doing that. So we wanted to try to get them all together and have us all doing the work together, working on issues amongst each other and seeing that we can grow and feed off each other. And you know, women is strong and certain stuff that we're not strong in. You know, when it's doing some of these outreachs wal good. We go into some hoods,
we got the girls with us. That's gonna break the guys down a little bit because they see the girls with us, so they look, we ain't coming in here trying to arm nobody. But we got the girls and had them doing more leading and and it's showing how important they are to us. It's saying showing how youremportant they are to us as a whole. And wanted to show the little bros that too, because we wasn't having the young girls part of our meetings. We were just
doing like man's meetings with the little bros. And then we're seeing that the bros put on for the girls, so they want to show off for them. All the little bron show off for other little girls. So we get all the little girls y'all trying to show off for and then show you what they really like and what we all really should be on and what we should be on. And that that's that helped us. Like we do, we change the dynamics of the movement. And
having the females working with us. They more reliable than men. You know, they're gonna be They more courageous than some men, you know what I mean. They more knowledgeable than men, so you know us and get tapping in with them and trying to make sure that we preserve them so they could be good because without them is to us.
But they're doing a good job of tapping in. They get to know some of the other girls because it's like us talk to some little girls about fighting, but we got other strong women telling them, like little queen, what you be doing in your head? Done it? You know how to tap more? When them we can tap them with the little bruce, but they could tap on with the girls. Then we get them all together, then we could be able to you know, tapping with them all.
So having the young girls with us, that's that made us stronger. Man appreciate our baby girls. Man, We were gonna keep them focused.
The work you're doing is just amazing and it's and it's authentic.
You know.
Make sure y'all follow New Direction. Make sure you follow eight through grade. Make sure you follow touch. These brothers are living. They not just talking about it every day. I get up sometimes and I be like I'm lazy, and then I look in their pages. Okay, time for me, give me.
Putting work.
I just want to commend y'all continue on the path that you're going. I already see that you're not gonna be swayed and gonna stop because it's in your heart. Man, So we appreciate your appreciation. Always welcome here.
Listen, this is the holiday time of the year when people like giving money, and you feel so sad that you haven't done anything to help your community in a long time. Give money to New Direction, because although you are haven't said that raising money is hard.
It's hard as hell to sustain when you.
Know, if somebody gets shot, unfortunately, everybody want to give. But the whole job is to not have someone getting shot. And so then when it's quiet, that's when you really need the support, not when it's It's the same thing, same thing with us when someone's killed by the police. Everybody want to call us, how can we help you?
We see y'all out there, But most of the time our work is in preventative measures, right, trying to keep up, trying to keep peace within our communities, working with groups like yours, trying to find ways to take money that has come to us and regranting it to other people so they can do work. And that takes a lot, and we need support that is consistent. We need people that are smart to help us think and help us strategize and open up resources and bring us into spaces
that we don't generally have entree into. So make sure that you take the information and donate. Give is five dollars, We appreciate five dollars.
Ten dollars, fifty dollars, and that's that's right, that's right. Invest in the work.
So I'm excited and I'm so happy to hear you talk about togethernness. That one of the reasons why Linda and I made a final decision that we were going to leave the Women's March was because we knew one they was trying to drive us crazy, but also we knew we could not build what we see for.
Black brown folks.
Without having men and women together at the table, it just doesn't work, you know. And I'm not saying that there shouldn't be spaces for men, there should be spaces for women, but what we had to have a table that allowed for all of us to sit around and be together because the issues that we face it's very it's intersectional, it's both at the same time. And if you let the internet dictate what's happening in our communities,
there's this big divide. It's always important to be reminded that our brothers love us as women and that we love our brothers and to still be in space. So I'm proud of the two of you. I'm kind of like the Elder Statesman over here on this show. Not in years to your point, but in the time that I've spent in this movement. Over thirty years I've been doing this and I know when I see talent, dedication and authenticity, and I'm just so proud of the work that y'all are doing.
Thank you to be the Lady.
Eight, the Great tut We love y'all, y'all.
I'm so inspired by Toutt and eate Man, the those like, you know, since we first you know, usually when you meet people, you know when you when you have that connection, when you got a vibe, and immediately when I met both of them, it was just like kindred spirits, is like you have the same spirit, and it was just
like they were my little brothers, man. And just watching them grow into this work, you know, it's been I've known them for about two years now working in Newark and just watching them constantly do this work and seeing them grow into this leadership role because a lot of when they first started, they just wanted to do the work, Like Tet was explaining, you know, he came home from prison and he was just he knew he wanted to do the work. But it was these complications. Then you
got to figure out how do you balance that. You know, and I've been around people who want to do this work. You do not have the emotional intelligence to actually do this, especially when you come from the gang lifestyle, and I've seen a lot of people resort back to that mentality. But you know, just I'm watching them grow further and further away from it and still have the same respect and the same credibility and the same strength, you know, that they have, so shout out to them brothers.
Yeah, no, I was, I'm inspired.
I felt like I got teared out a few times because both of them are very.
They're there, they are. I felt like they they're very.
Deep, like they're the introspection. The introspection is deep for them, like understanding where they came from and the struggle and as was said, revolution and all of that, and then what that should manifest itself into is how you support other people.
It just was.
It was powerful. You know, I feel like eight is wise beyond his years. You know, he speaks slower and he really is processing a lot as he's speaking. And then I could tell like they're ying and yang, because you could tell that is like motivated, motivated, motivated, gotta get everybody, keep it going, keep it going. We all gonna, we're gonna do this. We're gonna push, We're gonna and
it's just great. It's great because we can't all be the same thing, right, you know what I mean, Like on the days when you really need a strategist, I feel like we represent that. Some days we just need somebody that's just gonna think through slowly. And Angelo Kanda is like that right, think through slowly what's next and what moves should we be making?
Should we not do this or whatever?
And then we have you, who's a motivator, always trying to be like, yes, we can, we can.
Do it, let's go, let's go.
So everybody has something different and I see greatness in them period.
They're definitely destined for greatness. And it's just like the vision that I have for this work. You know, I'm constantly meeting brothers who fit into that space like this, this work should be celebrated and marketed and promoted as what it is.
These These are hero y public health work.
You know, it's not exactly these these are these are
our superheroes. And if you've got these young boys to see these type of individuals to be if that work is highlighted, you know, if you put him and Trey and you know Zeke from New Direction and just brothers all around the city at New era, my fault, New era, and you put all of these brothers in the same room and whenever it's something to be done, and we all moving together, and these young kids could see those type of men move in that manna and be celebrated
and be able to survive in that manner like that'should you know how how the world would.
Shift if that's what we were celebrating. But you know that's my vision.
That's what you have to You have to celebrate yourself a right like you have to celebrate yourself. We have to have more spaces where we're now waiting on some outside entity because the one thing we didn't get a chance to talk about was Mayor Baraka, and I would imagine may Burrocka gotta be taught, like you're trying to celebrate, make sure you get resources. Deal with the fact that you getting calls all the time. This is a problem. That's a problem this person that you know, it's a lot.
So we have to find more opportunities to celebrate ourselves, to celebrate leaders like him that would provide space because they I'm sure there are people, especially with him now being a candidate for governor of New Jersey, I'm sure there are people who are telling him you got to cut the ties with people like tut You know police
officer was involved and lost his life. You know, you can't work with Tamika Mallory because she and her relationship with men's apharicon you can't, you know what I'm saying, Like, I'm sure people are giving him that type of advice. And I'm not talking about white folks. I'm talking about black folks who know our stories. They know everybody, They know Jamila T. Dave, doctor, Jamilit Davis, they know everything
because they're in the room. They are seen to be a friend, so they are told and experience and have the ability to hear about the weaknesses and the things that we all fight against and all of that. Every day, those same people to ingratiate themselves when they have an opportunity to give what they.
What's the strategy.
It involves cutting everybody but them and anybody else who seem to be safe. And it takes a lot of discernment as a leader to hear your people giving you advice that is often reinforced by the white folks, but can can start with your own people and to say I know that this thing happened, but I see what I see touch value, I see what he brings to the table. And actually, I'm going to go ahead out on a limb and I'm still gonna work with my brother.
Because I know what he's trying to do and I know he's changed his life.
Because because it's shown, because it's through actions, you know, they say, and we always say, those closest to the solution are closest to the problem, you know, and that's what we have to invest in. So, like you said, shout out to me and Baraka for seeing that vision and just the way that he has been a mayor in Newark.
Right, it's to find, you know, the the.
Roses that grow from the concrete, right, just to understand how important it is and how much and and it makes you. It inspires you, right as somebody who who he believes in. It makes you to make sure that I can't mess up because I can disappoint him because you know that he's willing to go to bat for you.
So it pushes you to that level when I tell people all the time, when you show somebody that you believe in them, it inspires them and motivates them beyond even their own faults, even their own weakness.
It makes them that much stronger.
So you know that ecosystem that they've created in New Work with the ov PTR and the.
One half Office of Violence, right, because you bet we all we say the.
Acron shout out to Colia, shout out to everybody over there's that's doing a.
Lot of people doing great workout in new work.
But that brings me to my I don't get it. What I don't get today is how.
A man can set someone on fire on the public transportation in New York City and then sit there and watch the person burn, like you gotta be.
Deranged people. The person the person literally allegedly set this lady.
On fire, allegedly got off the train and if you there's a bunch of videos and then and when you look at the video, the person who allegedly set the person on fire was sitting on the bench just watching the person on fire. They didn't have any Yes, they didn't have any prior according to allegedly, they didn't have any prior relationships.
They didn't know the person.
The person was literally on the train sleeping and the man just went and set this lady ablaze and the lady was standing up there.
It was.
It was a very visual thing and a lot of people why do you put I'm like, this is on every news site on the world, like I found it, and I couldn't believe at first. I put it because I thought it was just maybe AI or somebody, and I was like, yo. But then when I started realizing that this was really actually something that happened, and then you just see, even if police are just walking by, it just seemed it didn't seem real.
It seems so real.
It seemed like there would have been a level of distraught, a level of confusion, a level of like emergency that I didn't see. There was no sense of urgency to help this woman, put this lady out, no water, there was no blanket, nobody was doing anything to stop this this lady from being on fire.
But she didn't seem that uh.
It just it seemed to me that he.
Was even standing there.
Like when I saw a little clip that you know, I don't like watching videos, but I saw a little clip of it on somebody else's page. I think it was brother five. I saw a clip of it, and I'm like, Okay, she's not like screaming running. I don't I didn't know what was happening.
That's why I was confused. What I would think is at the nervous because it looked like from the.
Top, it looked like it was completely burnt.
It didn't even look like so she was already so it probably just when you see the step, it probably was just like a reflex because I don't think I think that person had already passed with the reflex of the body was probably.
Still moving in motionless.
It was terrible, man, I just you.
Know, people, that's why Daniel Penny had to kill Jordan Nearly because he was a threatning thing is just something.
Like, but that's the person, this is, this is the person you're supposed to kill.
Don't say that, but I know.
But what I'm trying to tell you if if you sit there and watch somebody set somebody off.
Somebody actually did the actually set and then.
They got off the train and was able to sit in a chair and get on another train. Literally the person got on another train and was apprehended on another train. So like the fact, the fact that nobody apprehended that person. But you thought Daniel Penny, I mean that you thought Jordan Nearly. You know, Michael Jackson was frustrated, hungry, you know, destroyed.
Yelling, yelling, and I said, but didn't didn't approach anybody or touch anybody, but you let him.
This is that That's another thing I don't get right how How How was the threat? How was Jordan nearly the threat enough for you to choke him to death? But this man who set somebody on fire didn't even get touched, not one person, not one person.
So you would have ran up to the man.
I would have done something. There's no way I was gonna watch you set somebody on fire and didn't just sit there.
There's no way. Not me, No, you would have. It's just no, It's just no way. There's no way.
Like I would have been screaming and trying to get something to throw, like taking my police walk.
There was no there was no urgency. Nobody was like, yo, that's the person. Nobody was in wait, like that's the person who did.
It was just nothing, It just was maybe you just don't see it in the video.
It's not happening. The police walked by him.
He was able to get the lady still at the time. That see I didn't watch the.
If you watch the video, if you watch the video, the door is open and the one that I have is a man table. He's like, yo, rip to the lady, but this is on fire. This really, this is really a person on fire, he said him. He said it was a man, but we find out a lady was a lady.
He said he's on fire. He's on fire.
And then you see the police walk by the door, open door, with the person on fire walk by. You see the person sitting on the bench, and then you see the person on fire take like a step, and that's when the person on the bench gets up. The police don't already walk by him. This person's still sitting there. There's no sense to urge. There's nobody around. Everybody just completely gone. And it's just like this didn't seem like it was real. It didn't seem like it was an
emergency situation. It didn't seem like nobody took this serious. And it's just like, I just don't understand.
Man.
My condolezs goes out to the family, you know, you know, and I don't know what the mind that you have to have some type of mental health to do that.
I just don't.
I don't even understand what else it could be, you know, for you to just set a stranger ablade.
The mental health crisis of you know, this city in New York is very significant. It's very severe, and we won't be able to choke our way out of it, to kill our way out of it, to arrest our way out of it. We won't be able to solve it with rhetoric or with new laws. We will only be able to settle it if a new law is created that mandates very severe mental health support for people from school age all the way up to people who are working.
In this city.
You have people who are going to jobs every day that are working high level jobs. You got people sometimes you in the train station, people start cursing and they stay employee. In fact, I was going through security a couple of months ago and really got into it with the TSA agent who really thought we was in the street like we was outside. Well, I don't know, but you ain't gonna be able to win. Okay, But sweet are I understand what you're saying. I'm just telling you
that it always works. So if you're saying that I need to take it off now, it's a certain way you need.
To speak to it.
I don't got to speak to No, yes, you do, because guess what, I am paying for you to stand here and do a job. And so there is a way that I would like to be talked to. I don't you don't I'm not a person that gives people problems, and they in the point of authority to tell me you need to put this in the bind or you gotta do I'm not getting into no fight over that. But you're not gonna talk to me like me and
you outside in the projects on one whatever street. But what I'm telling you is that people be going through stuff. So whereas you would think that because we're in this environment and I could get into it, which you back and forth and didn't keep going, you never know, she might have.
Came flying through the thing, knocked me down. Try to fight me.
Because people are going to corporate jobs, they're going to Broadway, they're going.
To hospitals, and they are the people.
They are the worker, the doctor, the the whatever whatever the corporate and the executive having very serious mental life would do.
I had to think.
I had a receipt in my pocket, you know how you taking the stuff out, you put it in there. And I was going back through and it was a little receipt and I just put it on top of the thing, and she's like, don't just throw that there. I said, well, man, will should I put it? Well, I don't know what you should put it, put it in garbage. Would you just throw that in your in your house like that? I can imagine how you live? I said, man, where did all this come from?
You don't know nothing about how I live, you know. And she was a very she was a very big lady.
And I was about to say, well, I can imagine, and I didn't want to, and I didn't get into that because I was really I was like, well, why would you talk about how you all this over a piece of paper?
Well, I mean, I could just tell, but.
That's what I'm saying, Like people are going there and then that the problem is that what so happened if you would have responded to her in the same way that she was speaking to you, and then it would have turned into a thing. So because because because trust me, like you, like her, like anybody, we all got stuff going on. So it's not just a one sided thing.
You might meet somebody on the other side who might snap, and that means that we have to be dealing with mental health from when our children are very, very small. The one thing I heard those brothers saying today, tut and Ate, is when this young man was with them and they took him out right, and he's telling they telling the story he does not like. He gets nervous around other people. God only knows the story of how he got there, but there's been no one to address it, right,
so nobody else. So this day he could have created a mass crisis off of trauma that might have set in at four years old.
Three years old, we don't know. So with that being said, you know, and it might not be that.
Maybe it's something that he went through outside at twelve that nobody knows about. I'm just saying all of this to say until we take a serious, serious look at how to deal with mental health, not to the point that you have to be in crisis to get support, but that you have tools for addressing the potential of
a crisis. And that only comes from from school age, from a child very small, being given the tools to deal with pressure, to deal with the response to the world and all the crazy things that's constantly going on.
You need tools, and we're not we've not been presented with that.
We sure have not.
Y No, Well, that brings us to the end of another episode. Shout out to our brothers eight and tut from New Direction. Make sure you follow those brothers. They're doing amazing work. Thank you to our followers. You always support us. Make sure you follow us on YouTube at TMI Show PC and subscribe to our YouTube channel, and then follow us on ig it's TMI Underscore Show. Leave suggestions any guests you want to hear. If you love us,
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Mallory.
She's not gonna always be wrong. I'm not gonna always be right, but we both always and I mean always be authentic peace.
So look, that's how we a