We Have Won A Battle, But We're Still at War with Tezlyn Figaro

just um, you know, work for my personal spaces. And I'll tell you like I don't you know, I know, I feel heavy, very heavy. But also I love how Black people lay our people to rest. No one does it the way we do it, like it's a family reunion, uh party, a church service. Uh you know. For DMX, I feel like I went to the mosque, the church and the club. It just so many things happened, um, you know, whenever we have services for our own I think it was very similar with Dante Rights service. It

was beautiful, um. And I love the fact that they used the music, especially when the procession first came in to sing freedom songs. You know, before I'll be a slave, I'll be buried in my grave and go home to my Lord and be free. Like usually, you know, you'll hear maybe amazing grace or something else that's a spiritual just you know, um sorts like a Christian song or a gospel song. But but they chose to use Negro spirituals to set the tone for how the service started.

And I was just I was, you know, I felt good about it. So it's heavy because we know that all of these deaths and all the services and even the verdict, while positive, yet still in the context of so much trauma. You know, um, but nobody I believe steps up to the constant Again. I can't find another word to use outside of trauma like we do. Yeah, it was, it was. It was a long week, you know. We we laid to rest one of our icons, which was was was one of my mentors, um and it

was it was hard, you know. And then we went to the funeral for Dante, right which which was also a beautiful funeral, but it's just hard seeing such a young man, you know, twenty years old, that that's just not gonna be anymore, you know. It. It was so many different things, and then you know, the Derek children verdict, which you know what, where we believed the correct the

correct verdict was definitely given in that case. So there was not really not really to celebrate because you don't, you know, you don't you wish that you don't have to celebrate that someone's going to jail or that we actually received You don't want to celebrate those things. But unfortunately America has given us so many down parts. We've seen you know, justice not be served for us so many times that we actually have to celebrate situations like this, you know, so we we It just was like a

constant roller coaster, man. But you know, I do say the d N Mexicans funeral was a beautiful It was long, both of them was long. But you know, when you when you're talking about the icon, you're talking about the legend and somebody who touched so many people in so many different ways, you know, it definitely it takes time. Yeah.

One of one of the things was that that stood out for me was, you know, Swiss said something that was really important about how we need to love when you know, how X needed that love while he was alive, you know, and he wished that people had given it to him, and he spoke candid about that. You know. Another one of the highlights was um hearing to share him his ex wife, who I know very well, Man, Just hearing her come from her place of honesty and talk about their ups and downs, but just how much

she loved and they connected, you know. And then having a moment just embracing his new fiance and bringing their children together. I think there was that was a lesson in class. She's always been a class actor. Shere has always been such a classy, beautiful woman. Man. Since I've known her, She's always been classy. But she just took it to the next level, you know, because people want to see drama, you know, people wanted to say, oh,

something was wrong, but she she handled that so beautifully. Man. And to see all of his children, fifteen children in one space at one time, you know, it was it was just a blessing. You know, x X will not be forgotten. He he will live on, not just only through his music, but through the seeds that he planted here. Man. So it was just so many different things that went on, man, and I just you're right. We had to stay home and is rest as soon as we finished doing this.

I'm gonna only back down because my body is just dream body weird. My body weird. Yeah, no, I think that to share us example of womanhood and grace that she showed yesterday, I also loved to share us so much. She's a beautiful sister. From the first time we met, um at an event that I think Yandy uh did some years ago, we just connected, you know, and just became sisters. It didn't take several occurrences. We just connected, and you know, she would send She sends me messages

telling me she's praying for me and I the same. Um. She's such a woman of God, And I think what people have to understand is that that doesn't just happen overnight, like that's not you know, she she's been through a lot.

She's been through a serious journe me and she's in the process of writing a book right now where she's telling her story, which can definitely help somebody else because all of us have different situations and things that we've been through, and you know, we suffer with those things. We suffer with um, you know, not so much hiding, but the veil of the pain and not being able

to really express it. Just seeing how strong she was when she walked up on that stage, um, and even had to say a prayer for herself to get through it. To do what she knows that DMX would want her to do was so powerful. You know, I appreciate one well.

First of all, I wrote her and said that the world needed to see what she did at that service, right, the whole thing, speaking about the truth, you know, the trauma, what they experienced together as a cup for I think she said for thirty nine years or something like that. But then also the embracing of his fiancee. Um, she set an example of what womanhood should look like, you know, and and just humanity should look like. She wasn't with

X anymore, you know what I'm saying. So to try to use her power in the room, because clearly she had power. She had she she possessed real power and presence because everybody knows her, you know, everybody feels like they grew up with dm X and two shar her and to share he was his wife, she has I think four of his children. Um, she's she's special, you know, and and everybody knows that. And she could have held that and used it as a way to snub the

rest of the children's mothers, but she didn't. She made sure to use her presence in the room to empower another woman that she knows DMX love and had a child with it and was planning to marry. So I, you know, I thought that that was probably one of the most significant moments of the entire weekend. And we all waited for her to speak, because the day before she didn't speak. She didn't even go on the stage at the public service, which, by the way, Kanye West

and his choir. You know, I am often critical of Kanye, um and and we should be because some of the things that Kanye has done and said, I think you're very harmful. Um And it's actually been very painful as a Kanye fan. But I can tell you that that choir and the way in which they they present their gospel tributes, they are truly it's powerful. It's powerful. It was like soul reaching, you know. Um. And so that's

one thing that brother can do well. But to get back to to Sharon, you know, UM, you know, I just say this really quickly. It takes a lot for a woman who has been who has been traumatized by the public life, you know, and DMX being a ladies man. Absolutely, you know you can tell that about the fact that he has thirteen children. Well some people say seventeen, but I know it's fifteen. Listen, he knocked, he was knocking on twenty about that, right, and you can only imagine

what they went through, you know, over the years. Yeah, right, But but he was a prophet. But the way that she did what she did yesterday, it just what it did for me, mice is it? It made me re evaluate my own approach to life because I think healing is probably the first step towards being in the space that she's in. That you know that she's been through a healing process. So shout out to to Shara Simmons,

we love you, says. If you see this wherever you are, just know that you gave us a lot of power yesterday. So there's a cat. Yes, my cat was just my mother's cat. Rather just came from nowhere. I don't know.

Very very interesting, but yeah, shut up to sha a man like like I said, she's always been a class that It was just so many different moments, man, just seeing the rough riders on stage, seeing their children on stage talk so well they did they all spoke, well, the minister gave a beautiful so his what he usually does, um and then then there was just this one point though there are some brother you know, decided that he wanted to utilize the space for his own and now

here's always gonna be something like we ain't gonna never just have a smooth all the way. It was a long time, like I wasn't mad. I was there five hours because it was Ex. I was him people, you know,

I was getting this energy. But one brother thought that he was not recognized for his contributions to ask, you know, and that he didn't have the amount of time to speak or nobody told him to speak, and he decided he was gonna have He said, I'm gonna have me a sugar night moment at the at the Grammys or something. And he went up there and he just started telling what he did, you know, throughout Ex's last couple of years, and how the album that he just released wouldn't be

done with all and and I get it. You know, a lot of people think they should have spoke. A lot of people say, you know, why you didn't speak. My people asking that why I didn't, you know, I get it you wanted. This was somebody that you loved or care for. This probably was one of your close friends, and you didn't feel that you had a voice. I just thought that was not the time to express that and the way that you did. And then he got

up there. He wasn't talking about X. You know, if he would have went up there and say, your exted this for me and X was this type of person and exited this, people might have been more receptive to it. When he got up there and started explaining what he did. You know, I was the one that did this for EX and I did this and me and X was like this and I was doing this, and I just was like, you know it just there's always one moment, you know that they're gonna be able to see where

when we quote unprogressive niggership going on. You know what I thought, um, I recognize his frustration based upon the fact that even in my own life and in yours as well, there are people who feel like they were there before the fame right and even though D and Y and the whole rough Rider's family they came from nothing and made something right to share or all these folks, a lot of people who spoke were folks who who started with damp with with Earl, and he became the

dark man, you know DMX, Right, So this guy seemed he kept saying that he was in the group home with him. So he's talking about a time that is before anybody even meeting and recognizing the talent that DMX had, and I think he felt probably that that needed to be expressed. Everybody's speech included a lot of their own experience or how they felt or what DMX did for them. Um, but this guy, he was out of line, for sure. Absolutely.

But sometimes we have to find the one person who can tell a story that most other people can't tell and allow them to say it so that you can just you know, make sure you cover all the basis right.

Sometimes you just have to do that. And I guess in my it just being a leader and an organizer, I've learned that when you go into a particular city or you know, if you're working in certain spaces, you're gonna have the person that's like, now, y'all ain't gonna just come here, you know, and the best thing to do is to give them a voice so that you don't have to deal with them trying to do with this guy did yesterday, although again what he did wasn't right.

I'm not saying that it is, and I'm saying that two things can exist at the same time. He could be wrong, and there probably should have been a space for somebody who could say I grew up with him in the group home, because nobody else had that story. Everybody else's story begins at the point that he's recognized as a great talent but with nothing, and they all helped to come together and build what we now know.

But he's telling the story that before there was any of this, I was, you know, I was with him, and then he seems like he was probably somebody that was there to you know, he was a part of a part of a time in in in DM Mex's life that probably wasn't that good, so that he just wanted to tell his story. Really, I mean, I don't mind, because they're friends that I've had before done anything right.

There will probably be able to tell stories of our of our relationships and things like that from third and fourth grade, and and and and those are relevant things that people might want to hear. I just think that his his whole premise didn't even reflect d m X to me. You know, he said, I was in there with d m X and I did this and it wasn't for me. The last two years of his life, he wouldn't have made this album. You know. Me we I was like, you didn't come there to celebrate him.

You didn't say, yo X did this for me and and you know we were together doing this and he helped me do this. So he didn't come to share and reflect on the positive and celebrate that. Yes, it's he almost got beat up. Man. I had to stop a lot of boys. Boys like what do he said, I'm like, chill, relaxed. You know, it wouldn't have been a church. I don't know if he had made it up out of there, man, but God bless him. The pastor, Albern said, set a prayer phone. You know, he understood

that we all we're all dealing with things. I just thought that that, you know, that just wasn't the right time for that. But other than that, man, everything was beautiful. You know, just just seeing people that haven't seen in a long time. Unfortunately, you see a bunch of people that you haven't seen in years at funerals, you know, and it just made me reflect, just think, you know, just be grateful because we're not promised tomorrow. To make you realize that, you know, you have to be aware.

You have to tell people you love them. You know, you gotta you gotta embrace. Like you said, we gotta give flowers while people are living, and we also just gotta live in fullness, try to live in fullness daily and just thinking about all that was said at the services, one of the things that came to me was this whole idea of what you know, what people were saying and on social media, like after DMX past, people were like, why did anyone help him? Why did anyone help him?

The same conversation comes up around Black Rob, who I don't think enough attention is being given to the fact that he also passed away. I mean, obviously DMX is larger than life, so you know, he's gonna suck up the energy. But I do think that the focus should shift immediately to Black Raw because I noticed that so many of of you, all, you know, young artists and just people in general love and appreciate him, and we watch the end of his life be really painful. You know,

the funeral is actually on Friday. I just received information that his funeral will be on Frinday, yea, so hopefully we have a real strong build up to that as well, and that people show up. I think what Swiss was saying was different from the point that I want to make Swiss he was. He was basically saying, you know, people, we talked about vultures, folks showing up when someone dies, everybody grabbing for what they believe is theirs. And he said that, you know, people need to be there to

support when a person is alive. So I get that, but there is this specific narrative around folks asking why didn't people help X to deal with his drug addiction, Like why didn't people get more involved? Right? And my thought of the day is sometimes people are not ready

for help, right, They're not ready for help. And the idea that we think that because we didn't hear it out in the world, that folks weren't trying to help and that they weren't having these conversations with him is to me, it's it's kind of disingenuous, or it's it's it's it's presumptuous, right, And and I think wrongly so because I'm sure that people around him did try to

help him and to talk to him. But when you've grown, if you want to get how I if you want to lie, cheat, steal, do whatever, you will find a way to do that. And I just think about even in my own life dealing with addiction, people talk to me, you know, and and it was a small group of people who knew about what was going on. But also it didn't even meet those people didn't have to beat me up. I know from seeing as a child growing

up what addiction can do to you. So I knew myself, but it wasn't until I was ready to deal with it right that I actually made a change. So I'm just thinking, you know, do we need to what do we do? Do we knock somebody over the head and tie them down without you know, without their consent, because I don't even think that's illegal, or how do you help people who are not ready? I think it's a process.

I think when we look at the situation, and we talked about specifically d n Mix, he was very complex. He it is a very complex individual. I think you look at he had mental health issues, he was he had addiction from a very young age, you know, an age of fourteen, somebody pretty much introduced him to drugs, who slipped him drugs. You know, then he had dealing with just his own personal things that none of us

even know about. You know. So when you think about that, it's it's going to take longer because when you do something for so long, it becomes who you are, you know it. It ain't like it was just something that, oh, it happened to him, so we have to change it his his It became a part of him. So his

change in process was way different. And I know if you just just talking about d and Y, just talking about Swiss's talking about two shared or just talking about even when his pastor was talking about you know, the interaction that she had and how she talked to him and how they embraced it's each other. You know, he had people that loved him, He had people that wanted

to help. You know, I don't know necessarily know whether or not he didn't want to receive the help, he didn't know how to go, or you know, it was it wasn't time for him, or you know, sometimes all the time you have to be prepared to receive help. There's a lot of people that want to give you help, but you have to actually be prepared, especially as an addict. You have to say, you have to make up your mind that you don't want to do it no more.

Nobody can make up your mind. Went through that for years with my mother and going through situations and and crying and doing everything and doing everything. And the day that she decided, she said, she woke up with then and said, I just don't want to do this no more. And that's when she, you know, she decided that she was gonna move forward. For twenty plus years she hasn't. She's been free, so, you know, drug free. So it's

a process, you know. So like you said that people have to be ready to receive the help, They have to make up their mind that they want to receive the help. We should always try, you know, I don't. I don't know if DMX. This situation is the situation that we took about where people don't don't try to help people. There are situations where there are times we see people going down certain roads and nobody does interfere.

Some people just and you know, they empowered, they you know, they make somebody feel comfortable in this indocutive and they don't stop them. So we have to talk about those two.

But I think in this situation is just a little different. Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, and I wasn't that close to the situation, but knowing to share, knowing Swiss and Alicia, right, and and the relationships of all these individuals, and just hearing why and D and and even you talking about stories of things that happened in the past, you know, D and his real trouble and fight to try to save DMX and to make sure that he was good. I think there were people there to help.

Of course, there's always going to be in neighborhoods. We know that that that that's always going to be the case. But I think when we lean on enablers who are also traumatized, also got they have issues. They were never really your friends in the first place, and even if

they are, they have their weak um. You know, a lot of people don't have the strength that it takes to go up against somebody who was also strong, so they just kind of fall into place and and and that's how they deal with all everything in their lives. But there are people who were there to help, and it kind of reminds me of that story in the Bible, or maybe it's a tale that people give. I don't

know if it's in the Bible or not. But when they talk about Jesus sending the boat, you know, and and and I think it's I think it is kind of like an old folks tale. But they say, uh, old wives tell. But they say, you know, he sent multiple modes of transportation, if you will, to get the people out of the wilderness. And they're like, well, I'm still waiting for the Lord to show up. Well, he

already showed old up in so many different ways. And I think that we spent so much time trying to chastise people and trying to find the one who didn't do instead of focusing on the the many who did. And and in my in my situation, you know, I could say that no, nothing that anyone said, you know, there were conversations that I had with each person who knew, but there's nothing that any one person said that was

more powerful than what I was saying to myself. Then when I started talking to myself, that's when the real power came. That's when the real shift came. When I said to Mika, you have to go, you know, you

have to get yourself clean. You know, today there is a memory of a time one hundred article where Um, Bob Land Lindus are sore carmon President I are in the magazine and it's a store read that was done on us because we led the women's marshes was four years later, Um, and you know that was that was the time in my life, the first time in my life that I became addicted to prescription medication because of the stress that I went through during the Women's March,

just trying to get some sleep, just trying to calm myself down from the tension and anxiety. It's no joke to be in a situation where you are the leading black woman in an environment where you're dealing with the white supremacists who just became president. Still dealing with the issues happening in our communities that we deal with every

single day. People still getting shot and killed, still supporting families, you know, dealing with white women who who who many of them were not in the movement, and even some of them who think they were in the movement was still abusive. Um. You know, dealing with the trauma and challenges of my personal life, with my own kid like it was a lot. It was a lot happening. And I know that with through the addiction that I suffered, there was nothing that anybody could say. Y'all all said things.

Those people who knew, who were a part of the small circle, said things like you gotta get it together, will help you. It was I. It was me that picked up the phone and called the friend and said, could you please help me get into a program. And then of course my my other friends, you know, Rachel North Lincoln, others supported me through that process. But nobody could take could take me anywhere on my own, you know, against my will. There was nobody that could do that.

It's something that I had to be ready to do for myself. And I understand because I suffer with addiction. I'm not addicted today, Thank God, I've been cleaned for two years and I'm so you know, grateful that God saved my life. But I still have to always claim that because they tell when you're going through the process, if you don't understand addiction and how quick it can grab you back, and you think that you're just living free, and then you don't have to do the work on

a regular basis. You can find yourself relaxing. And so I understand because when stress comes on me, even today, like when I'm when I'm dealing with stress and I'm dealing with UM, and I feel the tension because of the fact that I'm strong willed, and I know that the experience that I had with addiction UM was something that you know, it was a one hit wonder. It's

never gonna happen to me again. There's nothing, there's nothing that anybody could give me or any feeling that's so good that I'm gonna find myself going out and getting addicted again or relaxing. But I understand how when you going through so much of you back in the public eye. And look, the last thing I say on this is that I was removed. I removed myself. I literally resigned from an organization that I started that nobody could put

me out of. My name was on all the bank accounts I was, my name was on the incorporation documents, and you couldn't put me out the Women's March. But I chose to leave for my own mental health and to be able to focus on the communities that I know need need and and and my skill set the most. So I removed myself. But DMX was never able to remove himself from all the stuff that he was dealing with.

He was it was his life every day, dealing with the ups and downs of the industry, to stressed the family, to all of it, the trauma that he faced as a child. That stuff he was never able to remove, remove himself from. And so I think we all can learn so much from his story. We can learn so much from um. You know, the way in which people loved him and the way in which they they as

his family and friends, have sent him away. UM, And hopefully his life and and the way that it ended so abruptly will save somebody else who's watching with all the same traumas, and people who look you look at every day because with the Minnisterfericans say a lot of people in public day one thing, but they're not really that behind the scenes. And I took that to mean a lot of things. But one of the things in the context of dmx is life, is that there's a

lot of people out here suffering with addiction. Because I never looked like I was suffering, you know what I'm saying. It's a lot of people out here that's going through a lot of things behind the wall, but their Instagram page is popped, so that brings us to our streets talking segment. Streets is always talking, and today they are talking about these governors who are putting together policy that makes it okay for people who are driving to actually

run over protesters. Now, this is crazy to me, like just to to mentally fathomless when we think about what happened in Charlottesville. They want they want that to be legal. They're they're legalizing that. There's giving people the legal right to run down protesters without having any legal recause. But I don't even understand how somebody thinks that makes sense, Like we're really just saying, hey, you can just kill somebody because they're protested. They protested and there in a way,

go on and kill it. You know, I don't. I don't even understand who comes up with this ship I was I was looking for the young lady's name, just so that we make sure we call her name. I forgot again. I had to hire um. And it's not just mowing down protesters. That's one part of legislation that's being passed across the country that pretty much makes it illegal to protests in some ways, or at least that even the general public can take their own liberties with

how they want to deal with protests. To your point, that was very good that you brought up had a higher that these things could actually be legal. And what I think people need to understand, Mice is that there is a backlash every single time we had even the

slightest bit of progress. Now I know people will say, well, Joe Biden is not progress for our communities because still to date we are waiting to see what the Biden administration is going to do specifically on policing um as you know, as as it relates to the black community. So I agree we all on the same page about that. We believe that the George Floyd Justice and Police and Act has to pass, It needs to be signed immediately, and there needs to be more dumb even following that

particular legislative. I on that package. But we have to put ourselves in the mindset of white supremacy, because when you think about white supremacists and how they operate in their mind we have gotten some form of progress done right in their minds, so we may we understand that they're still mass, mass complications with any white man in

the office, and other people of color too. We know that as a president, but they see it as we've actually accomplished the goal because we came together as communities of color, and particularly black people and black women came together and and ousted their dude. So they are in backlash mode. And they're smart because they realized we might not have the White House, but we have states by having governors, senators and otherwise who can actually come together

and draw up let inslation and then past bills. Right, especially when I gotta say it, some of the Democrats they sleep on the job, right, They're sleep on the job. There's no mass movement that's happening on the streets of these different states. Right. Two combat this this Why are we not getting calls from elected officials in these states saying, yo, organized mass protests hit the ground. We need to be on the ground that that that's not happening enough. It

did happen in Georgia, but it's not happening enough. These bills are getting signed and we're hearing about it on TV as the pen is going to the paper. There has to be a better organizing strategy. It definitely has to be a better organizing strategy. You know. Um, I was watching The Breakfast Club the other day and Dr Lumara Johnson said something that was you know that that was kind of profound. You know. He said, Joe Biden has this anti Asian you know, um what what is it?

The anti discrimination law for the Asians. It was the COVID nineteen Anti Violence like Act or something violence and I and I agree with it. He also said that there have been two hundred laws that they introduced about anti lynching which affect with black people that have never been brought into law, you know. And I think when you think about that, that that makes you think like wow, answer, you would think it's common sense. Hey, you just can't

lench people. You know, re lynching is directly attached to black people. You know, this is something This was an m matil law that they wanted to pass. And so when you look at that and say two hundred times nobody saw that, you know, it made sense to say that lynching is illegal. You know that that's something that that directly, you know, correlates to the pain and trauma

of black people is illegal. Naming it after someone who was was was killed for nothing that we know was pretty much killed that that history records, the person who lied on them admitted that they lied on them, was killed for nothing. And we can't haven't got this bill passed. I think, you know, we have to be very very alarm at stuff like this. You know, it's alarming because, like most of us, we were hoping that this administration does more for us. You know that we're hoping that

it changes a lot. But we, like I said, I'm always gonna be critical and we're gonna hold you too, and we're gonna push the line every time, you know. So when we see disparities like this, and we see situations like this and understanding what it actually says, we can't I'm not me personally, I just can't ignore that. I can't sit back and say, well, you know, I don't know what to say. No, it's not right. You know, there's no way that we just we should not have

an anti legon law. There are other things that that people are saying Biden should be doing this. He's only been in a hundred days. Okay, I'm give you a little more time with certain things like this. These are things that should be advocated for right now. These are things that you know, these these laws that they write in executive orders could be given right now. You know, there's no need for us to wait about the anti Lynchon bill. Yeah, No, I think there's a lot more

that can be done. And certainly, um, you know, we're going to be hitting the streets very soon to to challenge Joe Manchin, who is the Senator from West Virginia that has really been standing in the way of progress. And you know, we're not stopping. So we always knew we were gonna have to fight. We didn't think that Joe Ian was gonna get in office in the world would change. We always knew we would have to fight, and we're prepared to do that now. And so, uh,

you know that's that's sort of where I stand on it. Um. I think that what we're seeing is not as surprising as some would think they have to change. Nothing has changed. The only thing that we can do is go as hard um in terms of the organization that it took to get a president and price president elected, that same energy is needed in order for us to make sure that we're pushing policy as well. Now, to be clear, A T L you as well as the INN Double a CP Legal Defense Fund, and people need to know

it is two totally different things. There's the INN Double a CP organization who has so many people in it that I love and and work with UM. But there is the INN Double a CP Legal Defense Fund, which is a completely separate organization. They were established at a time when all the leaders were working together, so of course you know the names are are closely aligned UM. And then there's history there that people should go read up on. But today, as we are sitting here, these

are two separate organizations. They don't have the same board, they don't have the same president. One is led by Sherylyn Eiffel, who is a black woman, UM and and then the other is led by Derek Johnson, who's a black man. Two separate organizations, but a c l U N double a CP Legal Defense Fund and many others. And I think also the N double a CP. Don't quote me, but I believe so. They are suing some of these states for the laws UM that they are passing,

that they're signing into law. They are they are suing them. There are actual lawsuits out there, and those organizations matter as well. There's so many layers to what has to be done to to fight back and to push back against white supremacy. Uh, you know that we we don't have enough people doing the work. So that's the deal. We need to keep our eyes on these different states and you need to figure out who is your governor and what type of policy are they looking at. What's

the conversations. It's not hard to find because they organized, they have rallies, they have conversations. It might be zoomed down, but nonetheless, if you go to their websites and you read up, you can see where they're meaning in terms of policy um and in terms of their opinions and feelings about what should happen in your state. Do some research, find those things out, because you might be the one

to say, whoa is something happening here? And before they actually signed this law, with this bill, we are going to hit the streets and push back. They are not going to stop if they think that the people are quiet, right, We're always gonna push back. So just know that Joe Biden, we on you, Joe Mention, we on you. Everybody that can do something for us, that got the the ability to pass these laws and you're trying to pass laws that directly target us as protesters, black people and everything

were on you. We own you, you know. Minus. We always talk about all our friends, and today we have another one of our friends. We're in a good company though. We've got people that we worked with every day, and Tesla and Figua is certainly one of those individuals. A

dear sister, a dear friend, UM and a powerhouse. So I want to tell y'all first of all, now we tell people every day to listen to Tesla, So I y'all should know if you don't know who Teslin is at this point, you're missing out because we get educated every single day from this dear sister and powerhouse. Our partner really in many ways and ally accomplice, really an accomplice in this struggle. Um. So she is uh the head of a communications group called Teslain Figureo Communications Group

where she does a lot of political consulting work. She also supports many families, particularly the most notable at this moment it is the family of George Floyd um working alongside Ben Crump. And I'm sure she uh is a thorn and being prompt side sometimes because she's always kicking it to him real and making sure that he's keeping his eyes opening his head on the swivel in terms of all of these different cases um that he's working on and and policy changes that need to happen in

alignment with those um cases. And then she is a part of the Black Effect podcast network, Charlemagne's network that he started and brought all of us onto, which is a great podcast network. If you are not following Black Effect, if you are not a part of our family, we

need to become a part of it right away. UM. There are many podcasts, not just Um Street Politicians, which we know is your favorite because we're number one, but there's some others that are also on the network, and one of them is Straight Shot Mo Chase, so where you really get the low down, uh from Teslain on a regular basis. And so we're happy today to have our sister tesling figure roll straight shot no Chaser, because

that is exactly who she is. Tesla, thank you so much for being with us, our dear sister and friends. O what a warm introduction. Thank you so much. You said too much. I'm just the home girl, but I'm glad to be here. Thank you so much. As honor. It's always honor the sea. Test. Like you said, straight shot, no chaser. We outside. That's my outside partner. They hate when we say we outside. Man, if you don't know Test Test listened to me, Tessa text me sometimes like

I'm about to go in on these clowns. You know. She she'll test me like, look to tune in because I'm about to go in, and I tune in, I get my popcorn, and she's gonna break it down to you. She don't duck no, she ain't ducking no smoke, you know what I'm saying. She's gonna stand on what she's standing on every time. She's one of the favorite, one of my favorite people to just listen to and just get commentary from because it's always gonna be wrong and authentic.

And you know, we have so many similarities because we both have that hood background, you know what I'm saying. We have that background where we understand the dynamics of the streets, but we understand how to you know, the to navigate through these suits. So you know, she's definitely one of my favorite people. So now since you're on here, I have a segment that I do you know, and I've seen you talking about this yesterday, so that's why

it's perfect that you actually here. This segment is called I don't get it, you know, And what I don't get right now is we know McCay bryant was killed at the hands of the police. What I don't get it's how we have so many people that come from actually come from the communities in the backgrounds that we have that are justifying this fifteen year old girl being killed shot pretty much in the back by officers. You know, I don't get. I understand that legally they can do this.

I get it, you know, there is legal terms that justified, but I don't understand how morally I were moral conscious and I'm more compass makes people believe that it was okay for officers to shoot a fifteen year old four times after about seven seconds from getting from his car and not asking no questions, not grabbing, not trying to intervene, but shoot up four times to end her life. And there's so many people saying, well, what else could he have done? I really just don't get that. I just

don't get that mind stage. Can you kind of help me, or can you give me some understanding of what you think they mean or how you think people are viewing this situation. Yeah, and again thanks for having me my side. I really think it comes down to it. It's a couple of people in the comments. When you know, when I say in the comments, I'm talking about people overall

that are making comments on this particular case. You have one folks who are simply white supremacists who are using troll account ounce to be able to use this case as an example to distract from the obvious evidence from the George Floyd case that nobody that was very hard for anybody to argue. This gives them a case to say, what about the nice what about protecting the girl in the pink? You know, I knew, I know you guys don't care about black on black crime because you're not

standing for her. So it gives them an opportunity to have a conversation that they've been waiting to have to say, look, look, look, we told you people black folks do try to harm other black people. Because we have an opportunity to say, look, look, look look at what happened with George Floyd. We told you That's what we've been talking about. So you have that person who was out there doing that, who was intentionally creating chaos around this to distract you into adjudicating

every single step of this particular case. Then you have the second person that's in the comments, who is for black people, for the movement, but they understand the word justification. They're having a language issue. When we say it's justified, we we do not mean that it is justice, meaning that we are not treated equally, But they're using the word justified as a way of if we were to take this case to trial. Uh and based upon policy, what you want to talk about all the time, what

needs to be changed? Policy says that he had the right to intervene if he if if someone was getting ready to cause him deadly harm or someone else a third party. So there's people in the comments I would say that truly are just having a language issue and are and they're not strapped with knowledge and facts on what it is that you, Tamika and Linda and me and so many others are trying to talk about when

we talk about overall policing. So you have these different elements you know, that are going on at the same time, and actually, you know, I'm talking to attorney at Lee Jackson yesterday trade by Marn's attorney, and she said, tests these are the cases that really show where people stand. It gives us an opportunity to have political education. It gives us an opportunity to go deeper into things that

are our community should fix within ourselves. And in addition to what we should hold the police, are the government accountable for when you say the words it's not right and when I hear right. And I was talking to our brother Charlemagne about this, but it's not right, it's not right to think. He even talked about it, you know, on the Breakfast Club. And so I reminded him of the quote from Martin Luther King and said, morality cannot

be legislated, but behavior can be regulated. Digital decrees may not change the heart, but they can restrain the heart less. So when we're using language to say but it's not right, but it's not right, my question is how do we fix it? How do we legislate morality Where we can't legislate morality. We also don't want to say who's in charge of determining what's right and what's wrong, because more likely than not, most of the things that we do

will be determined not right. So when we're advocating, what is it that we're trying to change about this situation? I did my life. I'm so glad you got stopped in because I want to make a point to everybody, particularly those that are challenging until freedom and what you guys do your role as an activist, and I need people to get this, like understand that you don't do what they do. We need you pushing the line all day,

every day for black life period. That that goes for Makaya, the Young Lady, and the pink Uh, George Floyd, whoever else, the many cases that you work on. The people know nothing about. You have a role as an activist to like we said in the hood, get active. You're a frontline soldier. So when I see people say in the comments, well, they should be saying this, and they should be saying that, No, your role is to do what they won't do because the reality of it is they get to go to

work tomorrow and say I'm turning it off. I've had so many people, and you know, we talked about this with the George Floyd case. So many people that I've known throughout my career that's never called me to do a mental health check in until the George Floyd case. Because they said, how do you deal with this every day? I said, this is every day, like y'all just now paying attention. But they were forced to turn on the TV. They couldn't look anywhere without here about it, and they said,

I cannot deal with the trauma. And I said, this is why, you know. It requires a personality like to me, to like my son, to be able to have the armor of God as you, as I would say, to be able to go out and fight these battles while everybody else go to work on Monday. So we need you turned all the way up ten and higher because of what you've been called to do now for people like me. And I'm just I'm framing this and I won't be long, but I'm framing this because I want

people to get this, people like me. To the political commentators on TV, I got two minutes in thirty seconds most times to respond to a question. I have to answer the question. I have to give uh answer what they asked. I have to give my point of what I'm trying going to get out, all in two minutes and twenty seconds so when I have less than three minutes to take a stand, I am standing for black people.

Let's never get that twisted. These types of platforms allow us to have the overall conversation on what is it about this case that is that is stuck, keeping people stuck and and making people feel some type of way. What I would say, my sign is there's three things that we talked about this before. There's protests, there's policy, and then there's punishment. In that order, you cannot have policy without protests. I'm secle folks saying protesting doesn't matter.

You cannot have policy without protests because somebody got to pull somebody's card. Period nexus policy. If I were to say, I want people to consider, what is it that is going to change police officers killing unarmed black people in our community when they arrive on the scene. Let's give some facts quickly. A thousand civilians are killed each year by law enforcement officers. Black men are two point five times more likely than white men to be killed by

the police. There was another study that said black people who were fatally shot by the police were twice as likely let me say it again, twice as likely to be unarmed opposed to white people. There's another stack from Texas A and M in college station. Folks can look this up. Two million, nine one one calls in two U. S. Cities concluded that white officers dispatched to black neighborhoods fired

their guns five times more than black officers. Does that mean that black officers, uh don't break the uh keep the wall, the blue wall of silence. Absolutely, there was a black officer on the sul Macayah. We are certainly not saying that black officers are better than white folks.

What this says is that black officers that respond to situations in our neighborhoods are five times less likely to shoot a gun, maybe because they don't have our fear for my life, Maybe because they don't see another black man as a threat, maybe because running away doesn't hurt their ego, their white privilege ego, because resisting only hurts the ego. It doesn't hurt anybody but the ego. When you're running away, when you're trying to get away like Dante, right,

the ego saying how dare you do this? And then me shoot? That is an ego issue and we have to start using that language as such. So people that don't like the Macayo Bryan case, I tell them this. If you don't like this, then pick one that you

do like. Going back and forth, trying to judicate with every single person is draining the energy of the movement, and it is strategically being done because at the end of the day, I continue to keep asking people if they say, well, she had a knife, Okay, I got you, And how do we stop black people from being killed five times more than than anybody else when the police are called, Well, she was getting ready to harm the girl. Okay,

I got you. Now, how do we stop people from being killed five times more likely when they respond in our neighborhood? Oh well he was resistant, Okay, I got you. Now, how do we respond it? You continue to keep asking it for those who give a damn about what's happening with black people. If you give a damn about with having black people, that's the talking point. Continue to ask that, and you know what that's gonna do? My sign make them come up with a solution. Nobody wants to come

up with a solution. It's better to just continue to be a clown in the comments. The bottom line is, what do we do to make sure that unarmed black people, well Mkaya was armed. Okay, but what about five times more likely the unarmed black people get killed. Throw it back to them to give them a solution, because then you have to say, what do we do when we task the Justice and George George Floyd Act Senator Joe Manson get off your ass and make it happen. It

makes you take a look and see who you're leadering. Oh, that's not gonna do anohing like okay, well we know not doing nothing. Damn show I'm not gonna do nothing. So we can continue to keep saying or what's not gonna happen? Was that's gonna happen? Or we can continue

to push the line. And that's so important. I think everything that you said is, you know, very clear, and I think it also helps us as advocates in terms of when we are making a case for ended duals, for policy change, for whatever it is, that it has to all be rooted in the solution um. And that's why I think you saw and a love that the four co founders of Until Freedom did the other day we were talking about defunding the police and explaining the system that has been created in New York to deal

with violence. It's a solution and it can be UM used across the nation. It's a model for the entire country of how you take money from police departments and put it into programming within our community that deals with mental health, that deals with UM, you know, dealing with families that are traumatized for a multitude of of of reasons, UM, dealing with with different issues UM. It also deals with drug abuse, UM. It deals with clean food UM, you know,

and addressing the issues of food deserts. I mean, there's so many things that can happen if you don't put six billion dollars like New York into policing for them to buy military equipment that they barely ever use except when they show up at protests because for the most part, the issues that bring police out in military equipment because

we don't have terrorism UM issues every single day. Not saying that there doesn't have to be a closet or a locker room somewhere that's got all the things you

need in case we are attacked. We we we agree that there needs to be a response to that, but we see police officers on our street corners dealing with protests with tanks and military equipment that they should not be using to address protesters who, by the way, we're not protesting to say we want the right to go break in a store and steal closed we want the

right to just cause them. No, you killed somebody. You killed one of our beloved family, loved ones, you know, people we care about, and the response is to cover it up or to ignore the pain that is coming from the community, and then to meet us with military equipment as if we are the criminals, as if we are committed the the act that caused the unrest. And so that for us, UM to your point, is a solution,

and it's something that we constantly talk about. And I think in the Macayah Bryant situation, your language and your explanation around how officers are five times more likely to kill people in our community, particularly white officers. Again, we know black officers do some of the same things, but we know that in most of these cases, it is a white officer who has committed UM an act of killing, abusing and threatening the life of of of a black person. And I saw this on Joy and Read's page. I

thought it was really important. I want to read it um to you all today. So this is a tweet that she put up where she is advocating uh for Macaya Bryant, and in fact it is a repost from a man the seals. Um I don't know who Molly Shack is. Maybe you all do know what I don't know.

So she says, while national eyes are on Columbus police because of the horrific slang of sixteen year old Makaya Bryant, let me remind you of recent events that demonstrate the irredeemably tyrannical, racist, and violent nature to talk amount of the police department. So she shows the night before Macaya was killed, thousands of white Ohio State fans celebrating a practice football scrimmage by flipping and burning cars. Police did

not come and no one was arrested. Okay, but you'll say, well, but that's still not someone charging at another individual with a knife. So these are other stories. CPD kill old Casey Goodson Jr. Who was walking into his home with a subway sandwich for his family. They killed Andre Hill just a few days after that. He was in the garage of his friend's house at the dropping off Christmas presents. Um I think that that's also a case that attorney

Benjamin Crump is on and is fighting for his family. Uh. The Monday before, Columbus police shot and killed a black man named Miles Jackson in the emergency room at St. Anne's Hospital after bringing him there for a suspected overdose. Of course, it talks about McKay Bryan. Now, this was what I thought was staggering. It says in the last five years CPD has killed more than thirty people, most

of whom were black. Tyree King was thirteen, Julius Tape was sixteen, Abd Rhyman Salad was sixteen, was fifteen, Henry Green and Donna Dalton were twenty three. Okay, and there's a list. There's a list of other individuals. Now, there will be some people Teslain and Mason, who will make

the case that, well, this situation was different. But I submit and will continue to say that I do not believe that police officers who know the communities they work and they may not know the individuals, but they know the demographics. They know when they show up that it's more than likely black folks in this neighborhood, white folks in this neighborhood Latinos and another and so on and so forth. I do not believe that police officers are showing up to places where sixteen year old girl a

sixteen year old girl black women. To your point, maybe they didn't know she was sixteen, but black women are having a fight, and and and and and and let me say it in the reverse, because that's my point. Where white girls, white women are in an altercation where they pull out their weapon and shoot four times to the body a young white girl, I don't see it happening. Now. Somebody said to me, well, there was this case over here, in this case over here. Okay, perhaps there's been one

or two times. There's nothing that's absolute in life, right except the fact that we're going to die. That's it. So I understand that. But when we look at the numbers, it is overwhelmingly the case that police officers respond to our communities without discernment, without taking the time to figure out, and they kill people too often. And now a sixteen year old baby is dead. And of course I'm not crazy.

I understand the complications of everything that was happening. I get to your point when you say, you know, people want to talk about the force one. I get it, the force, the home, the other parents, the the the the where were the adults? I get that. I am specifically dealing with the fact that we are burying too many of our own people at the hands of police. And I want to know what type of um training, right, because everything is about training and I don't believe that

training is the resolve. I do not believe that training is the resolve to this issue. I believe that, as you said, policy change and corrective behavior through accountability and punishment for when you commit crimes in our community is the only thing that's going to stop police brutality or to at least reduce it. That's what I believe. But if we're going to retrain, and that's a part, cool, show me what the training is that. Ericaford of Life Camp in Queens, A. T. Mitchell in of man Up

in Brooklyn. Um, Uh, what's our brother's name in d C? My son Tony Lewis Jr. In d C. And the list goes on and on and on, because as we know, most black people do not call the police, but that does not mean that they're not dealing with issues. Right. These anti violence advocates, the social work is at school teachers, in classrooms, on playgrounds. Mama them, what kind of training do they have where they are able to disarm? And when I talk about these these anti violence advocates, a

knife would be a nice day for them. They're dealing with guns, real weapons, weapons that folks are, that folks have and kids have, and I'm prepared to kill one another another over all types of things. And somehow Erica Ford tells the story of just how last summer they literally took knives and bleach out of the hands of young girls who had gotten into a fight. Now, unless you're telling me that white people don't have these fights, so maybe that's the point, and my son, you can

of course jump in here. But perhaps what they're saying is that white people don't have fights, they don't have knives, they don't get into these types of things, that they are much more orderly in their communities, and that when the police show up and they say, you know, drop it, or they just show up because you know, it was so much fighting happening in that moment, I could see how you don't even know that there's an officer there which not to mention their two other officers who are

standing there who are who don't have their weapons drawn, So I don't you know all of the dynamics there. To me, says that there was an opportunity to do whatever you do when you go to other communities where they have the same ship going on. But unless people are saying that that's not the case, then maybe I'm crazy. But that's what I see, And so this is where

I'm where where I am. And by the way, when you talk about us being advocate, when you speak about, you know, us being on one extreme, because we're dealing with people who are on such a far extreme that we could never get extreme enough in order to be able to counterbalance what we are up against in terms

of how white supremacy is perpetuated within our communities. Um. But when you talk about that, for my position, the role that I think we take is one to look at the overall, not just situation by situation by situation, is to look at the overall, and it's and for me, I'm willing to stand up for the shooter and the person who is shot, right. I am an advocate who understands that whatever Macaya Bryant went through for her whole life matters in the moment that we're looking at it matters.

It may not matter to a police office. And perhaps I know I'm talking long, but this is important to me. Perhaps the reason why social worker and anti violence UH interrupter, a teacher, Mama, Auntie, and the neighbor can disarmed and deal with these types of things without someone dying is because they actually care about the communities that they work in and the people that they're working with. Perhaps that's the difference. That's the that's the whole difference. That's that's

pretty much the whole thing. And that's my premise. It's like, you know, I understand what's justified. I understand what legal, legally they can do, but I understand that me as a man coming from my community, if I come into my community, that's gonna be the last resort that's gonna that's gonna be the first. Not within eight seconds, am

I gonna shoot teach two girls fighting and shoot. I'm gonna I might, I might risk my own life, I might take have to take one of those stab wounds before I'm trying to take a fifteen year old girl. It's not gonna be in my mind, say my moral compass does not allow me to say, hey, I'm The first thing I think is I have to completely take this lady's life. It just it's not in me. And we need we need or first of all, we need. The screening process for who becomes an officer has to change, right.

You can't just you gotta have more than just a high school dipromo at this point. You gotta have you gotta have some level of for the two. You gotta have some level of manhood, some strength. You can't be scared because the fact that we have these scared officers, because that's the first thing they said, they feared for their life, and they don't even be threatened Like I got my homeboys that's in the park that have no training,

that have taken knives out of girl's hands. I've taken knives out of my sisters in them hands a million times, you know what I'm saying. Saying, So when we have officers who are who trained and paid to come to our community to protect and serve, who's first thought is I'm so much in fear, I'll get out my coat, my hand on my gun. I see two women. I never take my hand off the gun. I never try to intervene. I'm close enough to grab one of them,

I don't reach. I just pulled my gun out and I aim with this target because I see this knife in my hand and I'm so much in fear. If you come from our communities, then you're gonna know that it's gonna be knobs all the time. You're gonna come in there with a different mindset. You're gonna understand what the dynamics is, what the culture is, how do you do you de escalate, how do you disarm people? You know what? What's the risk? The real risk fact that

you did well. We need people who understand that. And it's not just so much as them actually coming from the because they're coming from the community and understand the culture is is definitely primar to me. But it's just about having a level of manhood and bravery. Right. We

can't you can't hire cowards to be police officers. But and I agree, and these are all important points, which is why this case is so important to have as a community, because there's so many different intricacies and people are kind of finding, you know, what they want to

catch on too. I like to deal with facts, you know, And because when I'm doing commentary and I am usually debating somebody that is on the extreme right, I can't leave any opening for a what had happened was so all of our arguments are are important, but I try to stick to the overarching thing because we can't legislate

somebody to care. We can't make somebody care. What we can do, though, is start talking about maybe we need to consider removing the shoot center man's maybe we need to consider removing I was in fear for my life. Maybe we need to reconsider like to me, because said,

how do we disarm people? Because based on the facts since two thousand five, thirteen thousand, I'm getting into the punishment side, thirteen thousand deadly police shootings, only a hundred and six officers were charged with murder or manslaughter, and only thirty three of them were convicted, but not of murder on manslaughter, which is the same thing of somebody driving drunk and oh I just accidentally, you know, kill someone. These are the facts, and when it says only four

of them were convicted with murder, these are facts. So the part that we can change right now, while we're working to change people's hearts, while we're working too, because I always make it clear that defund the police is absolutely important because you guys do work all of the other work that they say, oh, don't do that. I don't know. You keep repeating it over and over. What you do, um, you know, for dealing with issues within

our community. But all of those that defund the police mechanism plays into that, putting that money into the community so that you don't have volicial situations. And by the way, I'm not talking about black on black crime. Why don't white crime, Asian or Asian crime, Hispanic on Hispanic crime. Anytime people live among each other is gonna be crimes, So let's kill that that that argument. But deefund the police does not deal with punishment. That goes into policy.

We when we talk about policy, we deal with the law, the law, and then administrative policy. Over one hundred cities changed administrative policy since the death of George Floyd. We don't talk about that enough. Why are we not following that New York City in the qualified immunity, Colorado the state in the qualified immunity. You heard more about New York because New York is the largest city, and most folks talked about it, but people didn't even know Colorado

did it at all. And they have some of the most progressive police reformed policies that they put in place. So to me, it all comes down to the policy. But we need all these different voices. But I hope that all of us that are constantly, you know, in in this conversation every day, live, eat, eat, breathing, that we're centering it on policy. And that's what I'm asking, make sure that we're including policy because I don't expect

them to give a damn. I really don't. I I expect until this changes, I expect them to continue to have problems recruiting uh black officers to work in the community. I expect them to have issues where people say, you know what, I've known more in black officers who have retired since this foolishness because they don't even want to be associated, you know, with with the type of gang banging the police officers are doing. I've removed knives from

people's hands. As this obstitute teacher, I get all of that. I'm not expecting them to do what I do or care about what I care. What I'm expecting is that we have policy in place because actually my sign. There's policy in place. It says taser first, and you know areas of de escalation that it should go up and up and up and up and up. I don't want to for me when I'm commentating it in the comments, I don't want to get caught up in the knife and you don't have two seconds and he had to

respond and it was legal. I think those conversations should be had, and I think you guys and others are doing excellent job job with that. When I am debating on TV especially, and within three minutes, I'm gonna continue to say, what do we do to make sure five times people are not kids are like? Because it leaves it makes you deal with what it is. Each one of these cases are different, They're not all the same.

We'll spend all day adjudicating. How about we direct their energy on complete root form, complete dismantle, not abolished, because we need police officers. My position, you have to have police officers, you have to have something in order but to dismantle and I and we use this word reimagine, I guess because it sounds good, a safer word, but

tear this ship down. But Barzilla said it great. This morning, tear it down and let's rebuild, and it starts at punishment first before well, listen, that's the great test test, the shot, the straight shot, no chaser. Listen, man, that she's gonna get. You can't be in her comments talking crazy because she's gonna give it to you that way every time. I just want to say thank you, because

that's your mentality. Is exactly where I met with it, you know, that's the mentality that I have, Like, we need soldiers, and I think that's where my frustration comes from that I see so few soldiers, you know, so many even people that you will leave. The soldiers that you will leave are gonna be right beside you, and I'm constantly disappointed. But just the advocation and just some of the men mentalities that some of these brothers have, and I think right now that I've really been moved

to it. You know, I had a conversation about the Million Man March. You know, I had a conversation with the brothers. They had a celebration last year, and they want us to take it to the next level. And I think the Million Kings Marches needs to be next and where we start really redefining what it is for manhood.

We redefining with soldiers what we need to be doing at this moment, because our young brothers are watching some of these fake ass o g s and people that saying they geez and they're following their you know, they're following what they're doing and they ain't doing it right or they ain't doing nothing at all, you know what

I'm saying. So I think we have to re gather our brothers and restructure your mind state, re established where we are as kings, what being the king means, what being a soldier means, and how much is needed in these times. So thank you Tesla for having more heart than most of the dudes that I talked to. You know what I'm saying. Unfortunately, the woman around me is tougher than the dudes man, and that's what I think

really frustrates me. But my mayby Mama go what harder than you niggas the fact man, So I just want to say we love you. Test You know, we could do this all day, all the time, and you know what you bring to this movement. You know the way that you're able to take what it is that I do and just package it a little better. I love it. I appreciate it. I love it too. I appreciate it. And hey, I just want to say this again because I want everybody be clear. My son want to get you,

want to get you all together a million kings. You want to get tesln ted and keep your ass at the house. Wanna come to me. I'm not I'm not Harriet Tubman. I'm honking horn one time. You know, I've said this to Meka before to me and said you'll go back and get him and said, no, I want because somebody got to know the bus gonna leave them, because if they don't have that threat, we all have a role. My FN really wants you all to get it together. Tesla telling keep your ass at the house

because somebody gonna get killed. I shot, So just stay at the house, do what you do. And just I just want three hundred to follow me. That's it. Just three hundreds sold. That's all I need. And in the meantime, let my sign get a million together and we're gonna we're gonna let him do that, and let's respect when we all do it. Let's keep it moving. There will be three hundred to come from the one million, so

we get the one million. That's how we do. We love you, Test, we appreciate you as it's so great to be and we can't wait to have you back again. Go listen to Test in the show Straight Shot No Chaser on the Black Effect Network. It's Straight Shots No Chasing. Man, push the push the side as you to our sister, straight Shot No Chaser. You know, Test, I love to hear Tests talk their talk. Man. She she breaks it down so eloqually and then bring it back to the

hood with it. Man. Yeah, like she said, Man, we definitely need to focus on politics, even though I hate politics and everything that goes with it. It's politics from the streets to the suitets. You know, we need policy to be enforced. That makes it a crime. You know, there has to be consequence. It makes it a crime for you to walk into our communities and just shoot four shots. I don't care if they got a nice nothing you should put. They're supposed to be steps. You know,

you gotta get a taser, get involved. You might have to do something else, but we we were trying to preserve life in our community. We need officers that believe that, that empathize with us, that see us as human beings that come into our communities that want to leave and make sure that everybody leaves alive, you know. So that's what we gotta be intentional about. I read with you mind. I mean, you know, there are a lot of people

who feel differently, and of course we know that. Uh, there are many police officers who all they want to do is get home and they want to keep everybody safe. But the ones that don't, they spoil the entire pot. And we're not gonna let these folks off the hook. We're going to, you know, continue to raise our voices.

And the more that people try to push back and justify the killing of Makaia Bryant, it makes me even want to determined to stand up for that young sister and to speak for her and to say her name. So before we leave, I would be remissed not to mention the young three year old boy who was killed in Miami. You know, gunshot, senseless, gun violence. Brothers, we gotta do a lot better, man. You know, I'm always gonna hold the system accountable and make sure that they're accountable.

What I want us to be accountable as well. When you hear stories like a young boy who was at his three third birthday party. Gun damn. You know it doesn't make sense. You know, we have to do a lot of better, a lot better in our communities. We have to hold ourselves accountable. We gotta have so so called old gez that you in the streets and you in that lifestyle to to have some level of consequences for things like that. You gotta have real conversations with

these young brothers. You know the fact that you just senselessly shooting and you ain't even hitting the person that you supposedly call out. You know, I don't understand. How do you keep shooting woman in babies? You know, it just does makes sense. So maybe you should just stop shooting. How About since you can't hit the target you hit and you shouldn't be shooting at that target, maybe you should just stop shooting all together. Maybe we gotta find

different ways. Maybe you could need to go out to shoot five man. They used to give you a fade, you getting to be for a brother, used to knuckle up, and everybody went home afterwards, and you shook hands, and if you didn't feel well, you for them again. Everybody went home with their life. So man, brothers so once again I want to say right P to the young king a largea France three year old shot in Miami

at his birthday party. Man, we gotta do better. We gotta protect our young babies, and we gotta protect our women. We gotta protect us. We gotta do better, kings. Mm hmm. So once again that brings us to the end of another show. This show was really heavy this whole week. The last couple of weeks have been heavy. Man r I P Dante, Right r I P d M Mix, r I P Black Rob, r I Pologla France r I, Pete Mkia Brian. And to all of you or anyone

who is suffering from addiction, reach out to somebody. A lot of places that you can reach out to to get help. Don't hold it in, don't suffer. It's a really serious thing, and we noticed that. So once again, I'm not gonna always be right to Mek is not gonna always be wrong, but we will both always be or then yeah,