We Will March On

it to folks. It's obviously much more than a we work space because, um, you have so many community events and efforts that take place here in this historic location in Georgia. UM, My son and I are proud to be two major supporters of this space just and when I say major, I mean from the very beginning we have been here and have continued to try to get black folks to understand the importance of supporting facilities like this. We love the we work spaces and other coworking spaces,

um that are owned by white folks. But this is a space that's owned by black people. And since I've been here today because we just happened to be in and and Selma, Alabama had to travel to Atlanta, needed to stop to do our show. Um. And since I've been here, the detail, the cleanliness, the friendliness of everyone calling one another kings and queens. I see people here

working on different efforts. They have different things going on where folks are sort of renting space if you will, to come and use conference rooms and um, different meeting areas. And it really makes me feel good to know that we first of all put our money here, but also that we are just invested in making sure that the Legacy Center continues to grow. And shout out to Jay and Earnestine for keeping this space going. There's a lot of space in this building. Um. And so I know

Greenlit Studios, which is Ernestine's studio. You know, she's an actress, she is a filmmaker, um and so they have a big space that where they do her work and Jay's podcast. It takes a lot to maintain this type of space. Vice it does, man, when and when you, like you said, when you look at the detail and the cleanliness and just the whole prisonna and ambiance of the place, it just gives you, like black excellence. Man. So I know

it takes a lot to maintain it. Shout out to Jay and understand and everybody else, just the staff, he is just there't pretty healthful that came in here. Do you need anything came that? You know. They gave us the red carpet, And it's not just cause it's us, it's everybody. I see them treat everybody with the same level of enthusiasm and respect, and that's what you want

to that's what you want to have, you know. So it's I'm definitely proud to be one of the first supporters and one of the partners with traff Life in this black House situation. So if you're in the Georgia area and you need a space, they do events, spaces, they have party they have all different types of spaces. So if you're in the Georgia area, look up the Black House, you know, um, and make sure that you try to patron you know. Yeah, that's right, listen. It

is close to the airport. I don't know. We we dropped Linda at the airport this morning before coming to shoot the show. How many minutes I don't know, maybe fifteen minutes time to get from the airport to come to the Legacy Center. And again, it's clean, there's a kitchen here. So if you and you don't have to live in Georgia like we live in New York. We're headed to New York City as soon as we finished

filming our show today. Um, but we were able to make a pit stop here so that we could tape our show and not lose a whole day of work just because we were traveling. So for folks who are flying in and out of Georgia, we know Georgia is a major hub. A lot of people are looking for office space. Don't be so quick to run to the spaces that are owned by people who don't look like us. Remember that the Legacy Center is here and there are

events that take place here that are curated by this team. Um. And so if you're just looking for stuff to do when you're in Georgia, check the Black House out and come through. And it's on a big campus, so there's outdoor space. There is space for every type of event that you want to do. So Mike's getting into the show today. There's a lot of things happening, and um, you know a lot of concerning issues. There's always a

lot of things happening. I think I say that every week, but it's just true, so I'll continue to say it in so there's not a lot of things happening. Um, this situation with Britney Grinder, I really kind of need you to explain it to me, right because first of all, I know she's a w NBA player and she's been detained in Russia. I'm trying to figure out why she's

in Russia. Is that because this is a place where people go to play like overseas sports, And then I know she is she's she was detained there for something that I didn't think was marijuana. But then I don't know, I'm a little confused. So help me understand. Well, UM, this based on what I what I've been reading. Um, she's definitely an NBA w NBA player. I don't know

exactly what she was doing in Russia. Maybe she was there on you know, working playing in some of the games out there, but I know that they said that the customers inspection of her hand luggage they found um hash oil cannabis oil, which is considered narcotic substance there. You know, they arrested her and it happened they arrested her in February, but they didn't give that they didn't see the exact date. I was heard that it was

she's been detained for the last three weeks. And we know that based on what's going on in Russia and U as being a part of those who are sanctioning against you know, the war, the Agian War in Ukraine, that this is definitely gonna be some retaliatory you know process. So it's you don't want to say that, but you know it's it's not really, it's not really a good situation. They're saying that it's gonna be hard, you know what.

I'm looking at seeing them and they said it'll be very difficult to get the team basketball stuff really grinding out of Russia alone. Makers say, so, you know that's because there's no negotiation table with what's happening with Ukraine and in America using its power um on the I guess at the NATO table to try to stop the invasion. It's a lot. So this young lady black woman um uh NBA w NBA player is they're detained in Russia.

We're still not sure which I'm sure once we uh post our show, we'll hear from everybody all the things. In fact, I actually reached out to our brother, her Roland, who works within the n b a UM and works with a lot of NBA players, UM and NFL players. I tried to find out more information and which he was giving me a little bit, but also connecting me

with some people who are close to to Brittany Grinls. So, you know, we gotta figure this out because you know, at least the system needs to know that people in the US are you know, speaking for her, advocating for her and making sure that um, you know, she doesn't just feel like she's alone. And if she's been in if she's been detained for three weeks, that's a long time, especially for oils, which I thought was legal, but I guess it's not. Depending on which state gering, I mean,

which country you're in. It's so many. It's so confusing, Yeah, it is, And you know, and they also, you know, just based on the situation, they're saying that the diplomatic negotiations and just communication is pretty much non existence between

American and Russia right now. And then they're saying that, um, they're very strict on l g PT rules and laws in Russia, and she's a you know, she's a proud LGBT woman, and so these things we don't know if those rules are going to impact her case or not. But this is things that they're stating on CNN right now shouldn't have anything to do with her situation because like if you are gay by yourself, like it's not like what she there. Let's see, we have to figure

out what was she doing in Russia? You know, well, this is just this is just these to reports coming from seeing N. From seeing N that I'm reading they're saying, you know, he the the representative notice, I mean noted that Russia is very strict on LGBT rules and laws, though it's not clear whether those rules and laws might

impact a case. They just that was something that because she's getting exactly and they have they have thousands of people signed, you know, to to ask for her requests back, I mean her speedy returned back to the U S. So you know, my prayers are with Brittany. I notice is you know, gotta be hard to deal with. Man.

You go, you're traveling and something that you didn't even know is a narcotic in another country at a time during you know, pretty much non existent communication between two different countries during times of war and you're trapped like this has to be very scary. So my friends go out to her in a family. Yeah. And the prison in Russia, I'm sure it's not the best place that

you know, where you want to be. So also, you know, speaking of scares, we all have had such a traumatic UM three years now dealing with the COVID nineteen issues. Whether you believe did a hundred percent or didn't believe it, or you felt it wasn't that bad, or it was worse than we knew. And if you thought you should wear a mask, you shouldn't wear a mask. Whatever you want to say, the virus impacted all of us. Every

single person. Is no one that can say that they were not impact, that their life was not somehow shifted. We always talk about the mental health challenges that we know people experience being locked away. Just so many things happened over the last three years, UM, and some folks will say you weren't locked away, but to some people it had that impact. It made you feel like you

were locked away from your family. You have folks that in the last year you've watched them UM have videos where they're seeing their family members for the first time, like for the first time they're seeing their mom or somebody that is like really a grandmother, people seeing their children. So it really really was a devastating time. And of course in New York we had the strongest UH mandates ever, like anything. You couldn't go to restaurants. A lot of

people took after us. Um I know l a uh they decided and well in California, certain places in California, I think it was more so l A though, that decided to follow New York's laws of having people um uh. You have to show your vaccination in order to go to a restaurant, in order to go to certain events plays, you know, just to be out in certain public environments. And of course the masked mandates were strict. May at the blasiol Our immediately outgoing mayor just has left office.

He was extremely strong and strict on everything COVID related. Some of it I thought was necessary because in New York is very different and you and I have debated this back and forth, but it's different from other places that sort of open air. You're talking about a city where people live real close to one another. Everybody's touching handles and whatnot. Some of it I thought, you know

you and not debated this back and forth. So some of it I thought because of the fact that the New York we live on top of one another, um, and the way that you know, people open the doors, everybody behind one another. The train system, which by the way, is a disaster. It was disaster m t A before the pandemic, but it's gotten worse because it seems that all the homeless people have moved in to the train

station and they need help and services fast um. And a lot of different people who have mental health issues. So some of it I thought was necessary in terms of cleaning and all of that, but there were other things that I did not necessarily feel we should be requiring and demanding, especially people losing their jobs for not wanting to be vaccinated. That's something I've never ever supported.

Now they're lifting because we have a new mayor. I'm not sure that de Blasio would have lifted these mandates at this time, but Eric Adams, our new mayor, has lifted the mandates as of us taping right now, UM, and there will be no more mass mandates in certain places. And of course, unless you're a business that wants to keep the mandate. If you want to say for your business you have to have a mask, and then also going to restaurants and things like that, you won't have

to have a proof of vaccination. There are a lot of people that's kissed off about it. I mean, I'm not I think for me, right, you know, I'm always for precaution, you know, and I want people to be safe. I want people to feel safe. I just never was with Mann. The word mandate, the word mandate, imposing your will upon somebody's their bodies, and things of that nature. It just never was something that was okay for me. I don't think anyone should be false into being vaccinated.

I don't think anyone should be forced into wearing masks all day, you know. I think the people who feel that it makes them feel secure and safe, you should wear it, you know, and and when you should take it. I just think those things to me just it just took away civil liberties of just human beings, you know. So now, now what happens a lot of these people who who took vaccines because they wanted to be able to go to restaurants and they wanted to do all

these things. You know, and they didn't. They felt pressured to even be able to live a human life. Now these people say, okay, it don't matter, no, And it's a lot of people who never took it anyway, So you you're moving around with people just a lot of these things never made sense, just like you know, the whole situation with Kyrie and him not being there to pay home games, but the visiting teams who have people who are not vaccinated because they can still play, Like,

none of those things makes sense. You've got people the players have to be vaccinated and the people who come in don't have to be vaccinated. So it's just it just really to me, it's like, what do we really saying to people that did it really make sense? Is it really added up to anything? So, I mean, I guess Tom will tell I guess you have to make that decision for yourself. You gotta be able to say, Okay, does it make sense to me? And I safer? Now? Did did anything change you know in a way that

we were handling it now? Or these people who haven't been vaccinated are still able to do all the things they've been doing and some of us had to get vaccinated and didn't like, you know, so I just guess we just gotta see, you know, I hope, hopefully. I want to see how this plans out because I'm a broken Nets fan. I want Kyrie to be able to play in inst so I just want to see how

this affects his eligibility to be able to play. You know, hopefully they'll be able to pick up Kevin Garnett and you know, so that's one of the main things for me, is like with sports, and basketball was probably the only sport who really suffered the rest of the sports, did you know, you had Aaron Rodgers and them who weren't vaccinated or anything, and they were able to play games

the whole year. But you had somebody like Kyrie who you know, took a stance and decided that for his personal you know, health and his own personal readings, based on his own studies, you know, for him, he decided he didn't want to and he was penalized and people made fun of him, and people called them all types of names. And now we were right back to where you can just do whatever you want. So it's like a lot of people experience unfair treatment, you know, based

on these mandates. And in certain things. So you know, I'm I'm just interested to see how do people move forward and what is going to be the response. I don't know, you know, I mean, I agree with you, it's gonna be. It's interesting because there are people who was like, I'll never go to a restaurant in New York City. They went to Westchester, they went to New Jersey,

and they are determined not to be vaccinated. So you still now have those people unvaccinated, without masks and now being able to sit right next to you in a restaurant. You won't know the difference. Then you have people who felt forcing. When I say felt force, I'm talking about people who were emotionally damaged because they had to get

this vaccine. Emotionally damage like it was a lot of stress on several people, including family members and friends, people who are close to me, that we're really going through hell and making the decision about whether or not they had to take this this vaccine. And now to see that these you know, the the mandates have been lifted. I mean, I believe that they should have been lifted

because here's the thing. It's all about going in the right direction, right Like people were saying before all they went from ten day quarantine to now it's down to five. And there were people who were like, why does it have to be for now all of a sudden, and

it was like a big deal. And I'm thinking to myself, if you live in a society where you something bad happens, they're supposed to be measures to clean things up and get it to a place where it doesn't have to be as stringent as it was in the very, very beginning. That's the goal is to move towards things being you know better, right, And so if it went from ten to five, that means we're going in a good direction

to eventually come from under all of this. So of course the mandates being lifted, it's a good thing, especially because how many of our friends and people we do business with that came. I'm just thinking about at one point, Um, I don't know, I don't even know whether she's vaccinated now, but anyway, I won't even say her name, so we

won't even get her target. But someone who's very who works with us, is very close to us, came from out of town and they couldn't we couldn't go out to eat because it was freezing and raining outside, and Dave, she wanted to take us to lunch and we couldn't go out to eat because she was not vaccinated. So these things, um, you know, we we we hope will change, but how does it impact somebody who felt they had

to take that needle? And it's just I don't know, Like you said, it all remains to be seen and it's all kinds of hypocritical stuff that goes on in this damn country. So hey, what's what else is new? And speaking of, you know, hypocritical stuff, I don't know many it's not. And maybe sometimes we're a little too hard or I don't know. I'm starting to feel like maybe it's me. But you know, I've been watching the news and obviously Ukraine is like really messed up, Like

it's really messed up. That pulling a man a one man could just decide he's gonna go bully some people

in another country. It's not right. And I see all these people being like, it's not our problem, and we this and that the third, but as we all know, it is our problem because if you're looking at them skyrocket and ask gas prices up there, you know that it is we are being impacted, and there's a lot of stuff that is being impacted based upon what's happening with Russia and Ukraine right now, and there's going to be more and we have not seen the like full

extent of it. It could potentially get violent here in the US. So we're we're we're in a situation here where you can't ignore world crises. You have to know what's happening. You've got to be aware, and there have to be people within the activist community and the advocacy communities like Shaun King and others who helped to dissect what's going on every single day so that we are

aware as well. It is not okay for us to just be ignorant, like we gotta know what's going on in this world, because guess what, if we were paying close to attention to what was happening with Iraq and the oil and the war and all of the stuff, perhaps we would have been much more knowledgeable when those planes hit No hit and non eleven but or in the Middle East, because that's more than just Iraq. You're talking about a whole bunch of ship that was happening

at that time. Um that that I don't think a

lot of us were really paying attention to. So with that being said, with this Ukraine situation, yes we need to know, but we can also feel um violated to some extent that that we as a country that is all over the place in the US, we got mad issues, like mad issues, We've got homelessness as we just talked about people being houseless, if you will, as a more respectable way of describing it, And we just talked about that people on the trains all over You've got people

of poverty, You've got hungry children. I was listening this weekend to some stuff that Reverend Dr Barber was saying. He was laying out, like before COVID, all of the different crisis that existed. We're been We're in trouble, and yet our government, our president is asking Congress to give a little more than six billion dollars to him so that he can spend money on the war in and and try to help out with Ukraine. Yes, we have to protect our interests. You said that on the last show.

You broke it down to me and explained it, and I was kind of like, but then you would explain it, like if we do business with people and being a major superpower in this country, we cannot just let security things happen that we're not engaged in and making sure we protect our interests. And there are Americans there in Ukraine, so I get it. I get it. But six billion dollars when we can't feed people right here in the US, I can see how that's pissing people off. I mean,

it's it's definitely pissing people off. And it's it just goes along with just the politics and the capitalistic structure of you know, and that's that's what we feed into. Like we always figure out why we don't have money to do things in our community that affects us, that directly affects the people who are marginalized in a starving and need things. Were always trying to figure out where do we get the money from, But like Tupacs said, we've got money for war, we can't feed the poor,

you know. And it's a reality we've always had. We've always found billions of dollars to give to different nations in different countries for different you know, for war and and and and and for things to help build up other countries and things that don't directly impact US, specially US in black and brown community. So it's it's it's it's understandable when people say, what, why are we find

in Ukraine? Why are we're worried about that? We have to understand that because when we look at these gas prices, when we look at the effect that you know, these sanctions now, Netflix, TikTok, Spotify, Hian m Disneys suspended service to Russia. When when they look and they say, okay, we're you're doing that now, that's those are that when you really really understand that those are declarations of war.

Their their banks, that their money has been trapped in and held in, you know, their their economy is plummeting. Those are acts of war. So when when you look at those things, understand that the possibility of Russia attacking America based on those things, and understanding that these are nuclear superpowers. These are not regular people who've got a couple of guns and they're gonna shoot. It's gonna be

on a little No, these are nuclear superpowers. And that's why whenever there has been talking about Russia and US going to war, they understand the catastrophic nature upsetual war. They understand that nuclear powers and bombs have the the capability to wipe out whole states at one time. They have and have um nuclear the the chemicals can completely just destroy and cause cancer and all types of different illnesses within our bodies for decades and centuries. So these

are things that we have to be aware of. So when people like yo, we ain't got a ton of where but no as and you know, absolute power corrupts absolutely. So when you see someone who's like Poutin, who is a dictator, who's constantly taking over land and imposing his will, what is him to stop? What's to stop him from constantly doing that? And then when you don't establish yourselves as a superpower. He already said, if you're able to control certain things, and we don't feel safe anyway in

my life could be taken, why do I care? If everybody does. This is the mentality of a dictator. So you gotta look at this and we have to be very careful and acknowledge what is going on. Yes, we're dealing with a lot of things in our communities individually, as a as a collective, as black and round people, and we feel like those things should supersede. But we're talking about something that can be catastrophic to the world, that can like war between America and Russia, is something

that nobody wants to see. That we've been talking about for years because we understand that these are nuclear superviowers. So we have to be very attentive. I know that we we look on our block and said, well, we ain't got none to eat, and we're trying to figure out this. We got gun violence and we're talking about police brutality and my man just got shot. Yes, those are very serious things, but this is also something that's can effect not just you, but your kids and to

see if they have kids. So this is a serious situation. Well, but then my my thing is, and I agree with you, I mean I I completely agree and understand what you're saying, but I I guess and that as in fact, I'm gonna use this as my thought of the day today. Here's my thought of the day. What if Netflix and what did you say? You told me Netflix, you said something, Tobodio's who was it? Netflix, Tick Time, Botify, Disney, all

these people. What if those companies felt the same way about and had the same passion for against police brutality, against racial injustice, right, not just giving a few dollars to a black organization or you know, to somebody who they feel is involved in the space, but literally saying we won't even do business with people, individuals and otherwise who are invested in in in racial injustice. And that's

not hard to know. It's not hard to know, because what did they say again this weekend, what we learned while we were at the commemoration of Bloody Sunday, fifty seven years since John Lewis and others went across the bridge fighting for voting rights, and they were beaten bloody um, even women. Um, I forget the lady's name, Amelia Lord. I always say it, and now is escaped me, but I'm gonna make sure to get it. But anyway, these are people who were we were bloodied on that bridge

fighting for voting rights right. And and what Reverend Barber said was that people will give corporations will give money to Bloody Sunday, but then turn around and use some of that same they're same resources to fund the Republican senators who are against everything that we were fighting for

on Bloody Sunday and still today. So these these senators and others who are um and and again this is not to take anything away from Democrats, who are also problematic, but we're talking about Republicans specifically who have voted against and also have been on their own creating laws that are suppressing the votes of people there in Alabama and

across the nation. These same corporations will invest in those senators and be a part of you know, don't get me started with their corporate initiatives that are unfortunately um investing in the oppression of black and brown people. And then yet say, well, we're gonna give a check over here to make sure that you know, you can do

a commemorative event on bloody Sunday. That to me doesn't make sense, but I can see and I see how people feel like damn, but you will go and put sanctions on a country which, by the way, the citizens of Ukraine are overwhelmingly white, overwhelmingly white, and even in wartime, how blacks are being treated, right, the blacks aren't being able to get out of the country. You know, there are a lot of black people saying they experienced all

type of racism. I seeing a guy that was doing an interview and they was something he was someone fight for here, I don't even care about me. You treat me I'm black. Yet when I fight for here, you still won't treat me like I'm black. You still don't have any respect for me. So racism is a worldwide issue. It's not just a country. It's not just the United States. It's a worldwide issue, and it shows up like this.

It shows up as you said, you know what, Why why they don't because they don't see It's like they said, Racism is American, is apple pie. Racism is something in America. It's it's part of the everyday culture. So they you know, sure, we wanted if we can do a little things to give you, but we don't really they don't really actually think that racism is not going to exist. They acknowledge that is there, and they want to do their part.

Some people feel guilty, you know, they have white tears, and they want to give you a couple of dollars. We made a hundred billion dollars or racism, so we can give you a couple of million and say that we did our part, But we're not gonna do anything to stop racism, because if we actually stop racism, then it actually means that we have to contribute and give back, you know, the equity that that that racism has taken away for black people. Right, Who wants to be a

part of that? Who wants to be a part of creative equity and equality that black people are really equal? Right? It means that I have to give up some of some of my stature, some of my possession, some of my money, some of my land, and make sure that we do right by the people who have been you know, have been ostracized in this country for years. So nobody wants to deal with that. But there of course, so when you talk about stations, they look and see other

white people die and they see it's a bad thing. Oh, we could do that, we could pull it course to that because that doesn't affect our money, and we don't do anything. In Russia, we still we still got billionaires over here. That's just extra thing and we were allowed. I ain't do with that because we don't want to

see that those things happen. But in America, our the most of the corporation is invested in black death because that's one of the biggest things that the jail system, us dying, the drugs, all of the things that creates the hierarchy for corporate organizations to run is the things that affect black people at the highest and destroys us at the highest rates. So they can't do that. They fighting against their own investments. M hmm. That's some powerful stuff.

We should invite our next guests to come and talk about this because this is some of the stuff that we were gonna cover the day and we just sort of got into it. I want to talk about Palestine too, but we'll talk about that is hopefully with our guests. So let's bring on Reverend Mark Thompson of Make It Plain, our fighting soldier who's been battling on the ground for a law long, long, long time and and really been

a mentor to so many of us. As you have been mentored by the older generation of civil rights leaders, you're now mentoring so many And UM, we just experienced Bloody Sunday together, the commemoration of Bloody Sunday. We spend it together every single year. Um. We left SOMA today it came to do our show and said we gotta have Mark Thompson to come on and give us some contexts. And you're out there on the ground to tell us

what you're doing. We are marching from some of the Montgomery recreating the march that occurred forty seven years ago UH when Dr King and others, John Lewis and others Ralph B. Coretta, Scott King find me terade Willie ricks All March to support the community of Selma and the demand voting rights. On March seven. It was a Black Lives Matter March plan to avenge the death of Jimmie Jackson, who had been killed by the state troopers in Maryon,

Alabama during a voting rights protest one evening. The plan was to march Jimmy Lee Jackson's coffin UH to the state capital of Montgomery to avenge his death. And ultimately the plan changed and they did not march but Jimmy but Jackson's coffin. They marched in the famous scene we all know now historically where they went across Von Pettis Bridge and were brutalized by the Alabama State Police at the behest. And on the war there's an instruction of

no good racist coming to George Wallace. After that, there was a world convergence on this little town called Settlmer that we come to every year to organize and that movement brought about the voting rights to nothing else did. So we come every year. I am honored to be on the board of the Bridge crossing Julie and every year we organized this event. It is the only UH annual commemoration of the civil rights event. How I know, I talked to the golf time we march on Washington,

we actually have not traditionally done the marching. So this is the only civil rights event that is commemorated every year.

So we're canning to be creating this march. Every day there'll be a different organization leading us on ten miles for five days to the tip to four miles in Montgomery today you happen to I happen to join you while the Poor People's Campaign, the Rainbow Pushed Coalition UH and the Transform of Justice Coalition, Barbara on Winn's organization of leading the march on my son, you were going to ask Mark Um some of your thoughts from being there yesterday. The Vice President UH Kamala Harris was in

uh Selma yesterday. That does not happen every year. Every year generally whenever there is a major election, all the elected officials show up we've we've been there when President Obama was in town. We've been there for other individuals. And I guess in two thousand and what was that whenever the last presidential election twenty I don't know, y'all, y'all tell me, but um, everybody was there, Bloomberg, brud

jag Obama. But I mean this last most recent presidential election, Joe Biden, Bloomberg, everybody who could think, a lot of Elizabeth Warren, Lotty Dotty and everybody was in in Solma. So this is every every few years we have this moment when people really show up. And yesterday the Vice president Kamala Harris's day and she walked across the bridge. So my son, you go ahead, okay, So no, no, what what I what I was saying is, you know, I've been blessed to have been going to summer for

the last seven or eight years. And um, it's always good to be around our brothers and sisters as we we acknowledge and understand the process and the dedication and the sacrifices that our ancestors made on that bloody Sunday day. But in my in my opinion, over the years, you know, a lot of politicians, a lot of different individuals are starting to utilize it at some level of performative thing rather than actual recommitment to what Bloody Sunday actually represented.

You know, I've been getting the feeling that I'm watching a lot of some of them, I know have been fighting with us, but it's are in the seem like a lot of these politicians and certain individuals are coming because they get these photo ops, you know, and they say that I've represented Selma. You know, I just want to get your personal view. What do you do You think that at some point is getting more performative than actually people recommitting to what it is that this Bloody

Sunday is supposed to represent. Well, I think that's partially true, but also think it's somewhere natural. For example, the first black president came, um, the first black woman vice president came because I think we do have for knowledge, they would not be if not for Selmer and there were no Selding, that would not have been a Barack Obama. But we're not have been a Kamala Harris. If not for Summer, we would not have the opportunity to add the first black woman's a thing for a justice um.

And just parenthetically, we're talking about this more later. If there were no Sellmer that we have not, then that would not have been a really part of the Clinton need. I just want to make that clear also. Um, So to a certain extent, people feel the need to come to pay I'm a gener respect to the blood of the ship that put them in power. But you're right, that's gonna becomes performative because that's a star as you go,

where is the real relief the people need? And right now, the greatest need for relief is in our voting right um. And we're at a very dangerous place because if the Democratic Party, which is the greatest benefices menepicting and continues to be the the greatest beneficially of black vote, if it cannot deliver protect our voting rights and what exactly is going on with um? And so we're not in a good place some sense when Vice President came Sunday

that it did not have a lot of meaning. It was hollowed because the White House, she serves protect our vote. And so that is that's when you g get into the performative or it's not performative invested, it's just serve it's just a commemoration, it's just a reminiscence. But some were saying, where is what we leave because we are almost going back to pre nine five voter suppressive. We are almost got to say the bills that are people for are now for. It's just about all one night.

So what really are we doing? And if if, if, if Shelma is not an opportunity to reinvigorate our selves, to get in these streets and get done with needs to be done done long term, then of course you also really does end up being performed. And it's also one thing I want to say. I'm no I was just gonna say that. Another thing for me that's very troubling is that every time I go to Selma, I see gentrification, but I don't don't see investment in community right.

And I feel like we've been We've had this conversation for years and and and of course Hank Rolls um And and fire Rolls, who are two of the great leaders there in Sma that have continued to make sure that Bloody Sunday happens and that people never forget the

history of of of Selma. But I can't help but think about how they have constantly, you know, been really advocating to all of us that there must be an investment so that the residents of Selma know that it's not just about a bridge, which still happens to be named by a racist, but that's a whole different part of the conversation, right, but that that that there would

be an investment in those people's lives. And we always drive around when we're gonna come to Selma, as with any other city we go to, We drive around and we talk to the people. There's extreme poverty and desperation and gun violence and every issue that you find, and other earth and communities happening right there in Selma. Where is the investment and what is the and and what

what do we need to be saying to people. I feel like we should be telling some of these presidential candidates and other people, not just candidates, because there are also funks that consider themselves to be leaders who have resources that don't do anything for some after they get their photo op on that bridge. Yeah, yeah, I agree, uh and and and sell Man is suffering economically as a matter of fact, um Selma. The level of poverty and some of the lack of jobs, the lack of

opportunity is real. Um. One thing cores woman Terry Too said emphatically I heard for the first time on the bridge is that you know, what is the point in having a commemoration in the place, and we're not oppolding with the people needing that, like tell me it's for young Selma. His hand went if I murdered in recent months. And it's a little small town and yet some I'm on hand about twenty week though what I'm told I mean, so so there's there's there's nothing there. We all that's

the other thing. People coming the sum to commemorate um. But then nothing is left behind. And so to the point of performave see whether we can get voting rights or not? Just all right, black voters matter, walking back, whether we can get voting rights immediately or not. On the politicians on their bridge, UH the other day can bring some type of economic opportunity to see tomorrow. They can all do that if they would, but choose to

do so. And so that has to happen. And it ought to be treated as a set of space and not just once a year, but throughout the year, so that it's residents UH can find jobs in some sense of income, get off the streets, all of that. But that is that is what's in jeopardy, and that's just not what's happening, and it has to happen. But for the first time, I'll say all that I've been coming down here and organizing and sol much over twenty years,

I've lost county, not quite thirty, but just over twenty. UM. This is the first time this year that I am for that type of UM commitment and that type of conversation about real economic investment and economic opportunity to city Southern. The last thing I say on that is UM because it is such a tourist location. I mean, there's some cities as we don't know, prides cities which thrive economically. UM. When it comes to tourism, you can create jobs from tourism.

You can live. I mean that time y'all seen it. You can you can live some money for people and creas people. If that is the biggest industry, that could be the most lucative industry in Selmer. If there are those who would, but just do it. I have to wonder though, whether the reason is not being down because there's still some level of existence. M what's selling the stands for maybe we really don't want someone to be susceptive. Maybe we want to continue to promising a small community.

And some of the people, hundreds of them whose names when we all know John leaves his name, there were people on their bridge with him who was still alive, who was still in Selmer. You all saw yesterday. And that's one of the things you all got rush DAGs speaking to the politicians. They were pushing the footsoldiers, we called them the footsoldiers, those who are actually on the bridge each other. They were pushing them out of the way to get on the pitch and getting front and

be seen, you know. And and Uh, that was despicable to all of us. These are the people who were beating up um for or the sake of voting rights and beating up on that bridge in Selma. You all probably hear rib Boba's voice behind and they're getting y have a program. This is one of the stopped here. I'm want to kind of come in and give you all a minute to hear that and get a glimpse of that. Reverend Jackson Uh is also here um with us.

And this is a committed group of people. Every day, this week, someone's gonna be some organizational rematching uh mash actstion networking as a day when black ters matter, all of the uh labor organizations, uh have a day. Um and uh so we're organized, we're here, we're here believing in it. So somebody you know, uh guess to meet in my science podcast. Um so I saw him. I saw him yesterday out there. I said, he's he's gonna walk as long as he can walk across that bridge.

And I understand, I understand. Let barber iten. So Mark, my son, I know you were gonna jump in, but I was gonna say. I didn't think about the angle that there is possibly resentment about Selma, right, But I did think of this conspire or recy theory that I don't think it's too much of a conspiracy. I think it's more of a theory. I believe they also are waiting out the residents to leave so that they can

gentrify the entire town. Hey, fire Rows and Cliff all right, look at their people, um people, look they're doing business and you and their face with the phone at the camera. But I believe they're waiting the residents out so that people can leave. So that they can buy up that land and those homes and all of use. Listen, plenty of them right, There's plenty of space around and a lot of you could you can make those buildings into, um,

you know, different types of businesses. Barbara on wine, everybody did, everybody's there. Um, these are all these are all folks who have been in the fight. Just for those people who are listening or and or watching. What we're seeing right now is Reverend Thompson. Rever Mark Thompson is walking through the first stop on I don't know if it's the first stop, but one of the stops today on the march from Selma to Montgomery, which is a historic march.

Folks think about the bridge crossing, but what they forget is that they weren't just crossing the bridge just for the sake of having a march over the bridge. They were walking from Selma on one side of the bridge to Montgomery, which is fifty four miles down the road. And I've actually done that march a few times. It's no joke. It's hot as heck out there. Um. The

roads are long and along the way. So when they first went over that bridge, they didn't make it there were many issues they had to turn back one time.

I mean there's different stories about things that happened, but once they did make that pilgrimage, if you will, from Selma to Montgomery, people died right there was there were incidents that happened along and as you walk down the fifty four mile mark, there are places that are historic locations where you will stop and learn about folks who died, people who were brutalized, and other interactions with law enforcement and white supremacists who were out there. So there's these

folks who are doing this. This is not just something to do. This is a very sacred march and a pilgrimage if you will, throughout our history. But to go back to the economic point on summer, I think they're waiting people out. I think they want to clear out the town. Looks like you're gonna say something about that. No,

I definitely agree. You know, when you when you look at just the level of poverty that they are allowing to happen in that town, in the space, especially right by the bridge where all of those things, like you said, those can be used as tourist place. They can be selling memorabilia from different or from different things, and everybody will come there just to see that if it was

something that was highlighted in promoted properly. So when you're watch and you see that a lot of those buildings abandoned, a lot of the property has been destroyed and left to be destitute and decrepit, you you have to acknowledge that it's for reasons, you know. And I think that if you know, and I want to go back to this, you were talking about a lot of these you know,

elected officials and people who come there. I don't even think that they have to invest all year, right, I think that if everyone who went there through that year, Hey, I just want to I know you all interviewed me, but I think we do well to acknowledge. Amoud alburies dad brother. That's that's show, and we need to understand he is here. This is consistent with what happened fifty

seven years ago. There's no delineation between Jimmy Lee Jackson who was killed in nine and Amoud Albury, which the deal thing, and it says something despite what his family is going through, he and his family have joined us on this march and I just wanted to thank him for that and and my brother, thank you, thank you. You know, we love him man. He's a strong, strong brother. Yeah, yeah, you're going right. We actually met him at at at the trial for the officers and not for the white man,

for the white apologize for the white man. We actually met him at the trial. Same same thing, same thing, Vigilantis officers, officers of Vigilant. But we get we're gonna make sure the private context. But yeah, we didn't meet him. But I just want to say, like if people made a commitment to one day, if those politicians who want to come and get the notoriety for being a selone want to say that they love hey, Latsha, you out everybody,

you know, everybody. All they're doing, they're doing their podcast podcast O we love you, Latasha, Latasha. Those are all. These are all. She asked a very specific question, where y'all at thatching. You know, we gotta we gotta get back home to these kids. I gotta get to these kids real quick. But um, like I was saying, if they wouldn't make that one investment, if each of them say you know what we're gonna We're gonna invest a hundred thousand dollars to someone to do something for Somelmer

this year. You know, if that happened every year, you know, the property value will grow and everything we're growing at and nobody does anything. They just come in and they say this is your story place, and we love it. And someone meant this, and someone meant that, and they raised their hand, they raised their fists, and they walk across and most of them don't even walk across the bridge. They walk halfway across, and then they take the jump into the car and they go, oh, I mean this

is this is the reality. And and the foot soldiers in the back that that that's trying to make this walk every time. And then the people from the town is stopped by secret service people and all and it's like, you know, it's it's it's something that I'm like, it's

not really genuine. And I love I love what Bloody Sunday represents for us as a people, and I love that we commemorated, but I think that we have to do a lot more, and we we cannot allow, you know, these government officials or anybody celebrity, whoever it is, to come and utilize the resources and the rich history of someone without investing back in. Yeah, no, I agree, And let me say before you go, Mark, because I'm I want to shift the conversations. I'm gonna give you a

last point on this. But the way in which the people, the community, it's sort of boxed out of being just even just a little bit closer where they can really see and experience what's happening. That's very disheartening to me as well. And I think it's something that has to be addressed because people were We're sending us messages on on social media saying what are they doing all the way over there? We can't really here and people are

passing out. It's super hot on Sunday in Selma at three and two and three o'clock in the afternoon, and it's almost like, because people are so caught up in the celebrity of the moment, there is not enough attention being focused on the community that should be They should be the first touch point. So I think there is, and I don't know that people are doing it on purpose. I think it's just that we get we are so celebrity driven at times that we somehow we need to

be reminded of the need to engage the people. So go ahead, you're gonna have a point on that. Well, I agree with all of all of you both there saying and um, we just don't know what to do anymore. To put it that simple, Sometimes the easiest explanations the

simblar one. We don't really understand our power, and we don't organize in the way we organize the if you all know, a lot of times, folks, when you come to someone's also, I thought it because we some of us stay up all night in the same games hotel and talk about these things. But but I remember when everything shifted seeing sixty five and during the whole Civil rights movement, the politicians reacted to the move the movement

didn't react to the politicians. Lyndon Johnson, It's quote, if you go but if you ever want to hear some real history, even get a few labs, listen to the O. B. J Table, And he says, he gets up every morning, he first, before he gets the National Security Advisor Report, the National Security Briefing, he wants to know what man Luther King and did Gregory had said about him overnight. That is what started his day. That was the influence

that the movement had at that time. We advocated that, and somehow our movement came um absorbed by the Democratic Party, and not even an ideology of the Democratic Party, just this that whatever we do or whatever we want done can happen unless we get Democrats elected. That became our end rather than our needs, and it absorbed it. I was sharing uh with with a young person today. This isn't that long ago. We were the three bunch were alive. I was involved in it. Something. Some of the biggest

victoris of our movement in the eighties. We blocked Robert Bork Ronald Reagan Supreme Court nominee. We can do that today. We did that eighty We over ruled Reagan on amount of the King Holiday. Reagan the most cooper republic the president. We s the memory. We beat him on the amount of the King Holiday. We also beat him with the kame of scitions against South Africa. Today we don't have their mentality. We weren't. We weren't discouraged because Reagan was

a Republican. Today this is what we say, Well, we didn't do it that stuff unless we get Democrats in office. We didn't wait to get Democrats in office to the feed Ronald Reagan on those three very important regis what happened to earth. Martin is a king and all of them didn't wait for a Democrats to get an office to do what they needed to do. And when the Democrat was an office, they held that democrat accountable. So something has happened to us where we have forgotten and

all these are gonna be honest with you. Some of our organizations have made it their their call, their mission to see how many times they can get invited too the White House. Not told the White House accountable, but to be in the meeting, to take pictures and do all of that they were holding up to mar each other day. Take a picture of the way. I was really like, some of y'all go to the White House once a week anyway, Why do you need to see

them in Sealman too? Why not looking people in Selma, seeing the vice president Kamala had and and so you know, I don't know whether some of what is happening to and what happened in sem on bloody Sunday when Tomala Harris came there, trying to put this as diplomatically as I came without violating the confidence she confided in me. But sometimes you don't know whether she herself is being steered in a direction so that she can fail. I'll just leave that there. Uh, you know, there were just

things that I observed that that that trying. Yeah, that the first black woman vice president, and what she expressed to me privately, it gives me pause to wonder, you know, what is really going on. It wasn't her decision to keep the crowd from her, whose decision wasn't being and and and if this were a white male vice president and the president was took about to be eighty years old, um,

there would be a runway prepared. Everything goes through history all every incoming vice president is promoted as a successor to the incoming president. That is not happening to the first black woman vice president, the first South Asian woman, the first Jamaican American woman. She checks about six and

nine boxing, but that's not happening for her. And several women came up to me, even even some white women that the president of the National Congress of Jewish Women, National Council Jewish Woman spoke to me after the march because this is something. Why is why is this a woman not being elevated in the way that the white male vice president. She stopped me on the bridge to ask me that. I said, you know, these are all

questions we have to answer. So when we look at all of it, all of these things are problematic, the lack of our voting rights, the performative aspect of this mice whereby people coming and take pictures and nothing can really be done about it. What did the news media do? Um My ma Avacrrends of the Practice Powers called me last night. I wasn't even back in the hotel. Yet all of the coverage on television was more focused on the Vice president's remarks about the Ukraine. We're obsessed with

the Ukraine, don't get me wrong. It's a terrible thing. We want us to end. We want that war to end. Pouting as a maniac, Trump is his marrying that. But you were yesterday for Selma and and and. While the Ukraine is being occupied by Russia, our communities are still mean, disproportionate, disproportionately occupied by the police who were still killing us, disproportionately occupied by those who were trafficking guns and drugs, your young people. So we all in the war one.

War one community is suffering in the war is not greater than another. And so while we stand with the safety of the people in Ukraine and one piece to them, everybody else for the Ukraine all don't want the same for us in our own community. And I know this with Dr Francis Fritz Weilson says you along, Blessing, I was gonna say I was gonna go to Ukraine next, but I think you covered it a c That's it, that's it, because we got you crate. Ukraine is in

the Bronx. You know what I'm saying that Ukraine is literally right, So you you're telling me they don't shut they don't stab a little young boy up in six years old yesterday in the Bronx. So as much as my heart bleeds for everything that's going on Ukraine, we have to acknowledge that we are at war in our

own country, you know. And and like you said, you know, watching the Vice President and just seeing just there was a level there wasn't a level of energy, right, It seems it seems that is she's just dealing with a lot in herself, just understanding like you said, they're noticing, we're noticing that she's not being lifted and elevated. She's not. Her voice is not being pushed in places that it should be pushed where she has the right to talk, where you know, all the issues that are going on

our community. She should be the first one speaking up. You know, blacks, Blacks got this president elected, Black's got this whole ticket elected. She should be her voice should be elevant. Black women have been the backbone of the Democratic Party for how long? Her voice should be elevated. You know what I'm saying, We're not seeing that and

just watching yesterday. You know, usually I'm enthused, even though a lot of things that's going on inside of the you know, inside of this administration I'm not happy with, but usually just hearing her speak gives me a level. Okay, she sounds strong, But I didn't get that. Yes, I didn't get it, And I have to be honest, I didn't. I didn't get it. I didn't get it. You know, I mean I was, I was. I was a little concerned. I'm not gonna I think we all kind of felt

the same thing. And you know, people get tired and it's hot, and there it was Selma, it was Selma. It was your moment, Black Queen. It was your moment. You was in Selma, you were speaking in front of your constituents, your people in your backyard with that all these people who died in sacrifice so you can be where you are right now. You're supposed to leave that

place on fire. You know it wasn't. There wasn't what happened. Well, well, I think there's a learning experience for us too, because frankly, vice presidents are supposed to be secondary to the president. But I think this is a special case. Let's all remember how she got there. This sister was not the first choice. She is the vice president because Chris Dodd, who was the former son of Chris Dodd, who was the search committee chair for the vice president. When publicans

says she was too ambitious. This so that caused the reaction, a viral reaction amongst women throughout the country, not just black women at all. Women's wait a minute, you're punishing her for being too ambitious. Now, because the movement said you now have to respect her because you called ambitious, you can't dispoalify her for being ambitious. That still does not mean they don't think she's too ambitious. So okay, we'll give me a job, But we ain't gonna let

you do nothing. We're gonna be seen. We're gonna make sure that you don't have is big of a crowd and someone else might have. Okay, you know, with so all of those things, I think come into plane. They didn't apologize the same humans to ambisitionals. They just said, well, we'll go ahead and give her the job. But we're we're in a perilous place because right now we know Republicans. What Republicans have done. I'm about to think about this.

What Republicans have done is is moved to those two extreme big words, big words to meet that Dr King used at the Mansion Washington. He said, into position and nullification. Um, they had made that, they have modified that in law. So now the Senate literally does not function. And Martin the third calm, he said, Mark, what we gonna do? I said, well, I'm sure we have to do. Tomard.

We have to ask ourselves, what would your father have done if he had not had the power to get legislation passed like he did When he was allowed the power. Dr King, he not only continued on the street, but by putting people in the streets, he got the six four vot the Ta pass, he got the six five six or se rights at pass, he got the UH sixty five voter right Zack Path in sixty eight after he died, because it was already in the in the

line in the opera. He got the fair House in that pass that was passed the memory of Dr King not long after the assassination. But that was the will of the country at the time and the will of the people in power to follow that lead. That was logical. People in the streets people had demand you pads legislation.

If this Senate where in existence, when he would have would have been allied and the seller buster would have been in full of fad there every years today in the forum that centivate not a talking fillibus Tom the Lords mackban we would have we would have gotten none of those pieces of legislative pass. And so the answer to our problems, if is meditating and studying and trying to understand what would Dr King have done? What do

we know? Max Malcolm ms Kain to Selma. See we none of this was by accident, Malcolm kan the Selmer it already been ounced it from the nation. He was coming to Selma to join Dr king That was the plan. Malcolm could have been killed at any time, but he wasn't killed until the King to Shelma. Two weeks after he came to Solmer, met with Cretic Kings, went to

visit Dr Kenyan jail. They killed Malcolm X. The agreement was that when Dr Kinge got out of jail he was in jail and Birmingham at the time, did he and Malcolm would go together together and petition United Nations under the International Declaration of Human Rights in terms of what our people were dealing with. Dr King agreed to

go with Malcolm. They were going to stand together. If Malcolm and Martin had been able to come together, stand together and organize together, this whole country would have been Father Jamie mm hmm. Knowing that mob man, because that's that's that's what it is. Thank you, Mark, Thank you so much. We knew you wouldn't right want to help

follow up uh to our Bloody Sunday experience. And I just want to say that even though we are challenging, we're asking questions, we're probing, we are concerned about what we saw in Selma. We are concerned about this movement in general, where we are today, we are challenging ourselves. What more can we do? I'm sure you have that conversation, you know, with yourself all the time, because that's what great leaders do. You challenge yourself and you challenge what's

going on around you. But it does not take away the importance of walking across that bridge every single year, getting recommitted and getting refired up to go back to your local communities and do the work. And I know that having Latasha Brown and Cliff all Bright of Black Gold does matter, and Barbara Online of Transformative Justice Coalition, and Reverend Barbara there of the Poor People's Campaign, and Reverend Jesse Jackson and all the folks that are in

the room being together in that place. Those folks are busy. You're busy. We got plenty, plenty of things to do, including the fact that people have families. As my son said, he's got to get back to his children. And yet we still take the time to be together and to show up in that space because every single day, the fighting that we do on the ground, we have to be reminded that there were people who suffered a greater sacrifice and challenge than we have um and and but

we have a responsibility to keep this work going. So I just want to thank you for being you. You have you deal with everybody's stuff, not just in Selma, but in all of these situations, everything from the million Man March to the marches on Washington, to the Women's March to everything. We always can depend on Mark Thompson to be at the center and to be a great voice. And if anyone has ever if you missed it, you need to pay attention to the fact that Mark Thompson

runs a program like nobody we know. Well, well, bless you, thank you for having me. Let me just say, folks, with the three of us have all under the sound of our races is also irrevocable solidarity. We all got to stick together. Our enemies are always constantly trying to divide us. What me and this sister, this brother have together is an irrevocable solidarity. We need that all with each other. We need that with all of our movements and our organizations. I come to Selma to get reenergized.

Selma is our political Eastern. There was blood, there was a crucifixion. We come here. The people on their bridge were crucified the top of that bridge was our political calberry. And we can either wear crosses around our next we can wear a little Selma bridges. That's all the same thing. That's why people's blood was shared from the sins of

America to change this country. So we invite people to come to sell them and get reenergized with all of us and then get back out in the streets and fight, and all of us stick together and not allow our ins to divide us, to have the unity that Dr King saught for which for which he was killed, up for which Malcolm was killed. That is our calling, that is our mission. That is what we must do as a people. How can people follow your show? And because

you know you got to do your business. Your business on here to Mark, So folks on Twitter, make a plane on Instagram, minister with two teams on Facebook as well, make a plane, make it plane dot com. Just look at making plane. We are everywhere that make you plan. Love you Mark, you mad I love you all too face. Thank you Mark. Be safe All right, man, that was really really good. I mean people need to listen to

what Mark said. I mean, we gotta find a way because I know we put out clips of the show but sometimes folks, don't, you know, go and really listen to the whole show and get the full context. Somehow, we need to really make sure that people get an opportunity to hear what Mark just laid out, because it was there was a lot that was in that you know, short time that we had him on with us. Yeah, it was a lot, man. Marca's Mark is like an encyclopedia. Man.

He's he's been around, he knows the history, you know, and he's able, like he's like his show, make it plain. He's able to give it to you in context that you can actually understand. And he's been around some of the greats, and he's been in the room for the grades, and he's organized and he's done so much. So it's a blessing that we have someone that we can call a brother with that level of expertise and knowledge in

this area. Man. So it's always always a pleasure just to listen to Mark give it to you like you give it to you. We learned so much. I mean the gems that he dropped on the end where he talks about selma Um, I mean talks about Alcolm x right, well, talk about where he explains how Malcolm X came to Selma. We know that Malcolm and Martin were starting to get closer. We know that they were sort of, you know, starting to put their difference is aside and realizing that they

were more powerful as a unit. Uh, you know, time ran out, but I think we are now, you know, with us working with different groups and the way in which we're trying to be intentional about our own work and our own collaborations. That is a continuation of what they were attempting to do. But every time we get close to those things, and you think about the Women's March and just so many different areas where this cointel

pro mindset seeps in. They know at this point to kill us brutally, although they have killed some of our foot soldiers that have been out there in places like Ferguson and other places across the nation. So it is not to say that they won't, but there are certain individuals they've decided that, you know what will We killed in the past, we created martyrs, We created a bigger moment.

So instead of killing them physically, we now have this thing where we will try to destroy and discredit them um and make sure that people are not don't really trust them enough, and we keep the communities dumbed down with you know, the whatever kind of nonsense they continue

to pump into our minds every day. Just in in in the spirit of that, you know, I've been trying to make my I don't get it go just a little bit left, you know, and go into certain things that's of the culture, you know, and and just talking about division, just talking about separation, just talking about how they try to devalue us and disrespect and normalize this level of disrespect and devalue on us. You know. Um, I've been you know, I'm always in the hip hop

community because that's what that's where I come from. I come from hip hop, and I listened to music and and and there was a story yesterday about Jill Button, who is somebody that is cool with me. And there's they have a group called slaughter House that they emminent have signed. It was Joe Button's, it was Roy's five Nine's, um Joel Ortiz and King Crooked Eye. These are the

dope lyricists, and so there's everybody. They never actually released a real album that people wanted them to release the album for some reason, the sort of House album never really did what it was supposed to do, you know, and a lot of people want one of them. Are yo. Joe Buttons had retired, roy said, you know, he had pretty much moved away from it. Everybody had moved into

different areas and listening to Joe Welling and Crooked. They somehow they got a deal on the table to do a slor of House album, but the rest of them didn't. When I don't know the particulars of it needed you need to hit no there. They got a deal and um, they I think they're releasing the project coming up shortly called U the Death for the slaughter House or whatever. And so there was a debate Royce and Joe Button's is on their lives talking and Joel Ortiz came on

and they started talking about their issues, you know. And these are people that you know, to the most people, they're like brothers. You know. This is they were in the group. They alway have respect for each other. They spoke up for each other. And during the conversation, you know, they were talking about the album and they were saying and Joe Bunden said, yo, I wish you the best, and then Joey c or whatever you wish it is the best, and support the album, tell people to go

get the album. And and Joe said, and I quote that album can suck my dick, right. So and I'm listening to it and a lot of people say, well, he didn't tell him to do this thing. And I'm saying, when did we start normal as men? Because we I'm from right, you don't utilize that language to another man. That's just not a conversation you have like if I was in prison. In prison, you could telling the man that in the streets that was always fighting, where you

might get shot for saying that to it. Man, it just in just in the conversation. You didn't want to utilize your private You didn't want to invite any man to your private parts or invite or utilize that context in a conversation where there was heated or disrespect. It was a level of disrespect that you didn't want to even talk to unless you had real issues with him. Now,

these are people that I call brothers, you know. And I was gonna hit Joe privately and say something body, but it's a public thing and it's not really saying And I'm just I want to know not really about Joe, but when did this become a thing? Like I watched these young kids on the internet every day SMD you can SMD, And I'm like, how did we get so far to utilize levels of disrespect that once could have got you killed and still can get you killed or shot or harm if you say to the wrong person.

When did we normalize this level of disrespect to each other? People that you that you what's had levels of good friendship? How do we go from all right, we don't we don't agree to SMD to saying things that you know is a bit because and you can tell by the reaction that Joel Teas had because he said it back to him and then he made a statement like you're gonna wish you didn't say that, And it's like, wow, how did us as brothers and people in our communities

started utilizing language and in disrespect so fluently? And that's and when we talk about the death and the violence in our communities, it is because we've normalized disrespecting each other. And I just don't get how that became a thing. I just don't get how did we just get so comfortable and just disrespecting and saying the worst things that people say. Your mother, I wish your mother is like.

Those are things that when I grew up, it was like, wow, you you are must trying to kill somebody when you talk about their mother or you invite them to your private parts, you know. And I just really don't get how did we allow a culture anything to to normalize disrespect, to normalize seeing the most vulgar and disrespectful things that we can in any context to each other as brothers, just as men in general, you know, And it sounds like there is more trauma. I think it sounds like

there's some other stuff going on. To your point, when you say, well, um, you know, you're like, well, it seemed like they were brothers. But when people say things like that to one another, it must be something deeper

going on. That's what it sounds like to me. But I would just say that from the larger context, that's just what's happening in the world, Like everything everywhere we turn, even the way that young people deal with their parents, even the way that young black men speak to their mothers.

I watch it every single day, how much how it it's like it's been Um, It's like it's the value of a mother is not the same, and perhaps some of these young people might say, well, my mother doesn't act like the mothers of you know a different time.

So I think we as a people, all of us, really have to start checking ourselves and realizing that even in our level of frustration, we could be angry going through different things, but there's time and place, there is ways in which things should be said, and I think we've gotten we've we maybe we're just like ticking tom bombs, where everybody is just ready to go off and do and say the worst things that we can to harm another person because we really are her and inside maybe man,

just it saddens me that we've normalized this level of disrespect and is directly correlates to the level of violence in our communities, because when you normalize disrespect like that, and you can and you can say the most disrespectful and the worst things possible to just people that that you don't really have any real animosity and real anger towards.

These are not your enemies. These are people that you've been in community with, people that you've been in relation with, people that you've been that you want to call family when you can utilize certain terms where you can get into argument with your brother and talking about you're gonna shoot them, or one of your family members said I'll shoot you and I kill you. It's like, how do you how do you want to harm someone that? How

do you how does it get that bad? How do we get so comfortable with this level of disrespect or just willing to take you completely out of here for disagreement. And it's just like, man, we we have to do better, you know, in boyd Kind black murder, in this campaign, you know, we have to talk about those things because I've realized that those are direct correlations to what's going

on in our communities. Man. So I want to I want to start the healing man, because I'm just flabbergast that I watched disagreements and arguments and they play out on the in and and and it's public right. And that's what I say all the time. When you publicize negativity and you publicize, you know, conflicts, and you say certain things to people, it's not just like you're saying it in the room with me and you and we

could go out. There are people that you said this in front of them, and the male ego says I can't allow you to talk to me that way. And then they have people who are gonna edge you on and say, oh, you solved, and people see me, did people watch you this de escalate the situation and tell you that you solve? You know? But my ego is not. I don't have any problem with that because the movement in the trajectory that I'm on now, it's about, you know,

de escalation, right I I don't have any ego. I don't think that because I don't want to hurt you or I don't want to fight with you makes me solve. There are a lot of people who don't bide by that. They think you're trying to de escalate something means that you're scared of you solved, and internet will you know, project that continue to to heighten that sense of ideology.

So if we understand that, why would we publicly disrespect people who don't have the emotional confidence and strength to move past their ego that with this energy of violence is gonna be incentivized because now you don't disrespect this person or perceived disrespect to a level that a million people have seen, and they're gonna be deeming them and say, oh you saw you ain't do nothing bad. You let them talk to you like that, this and that, and

they gotta deal with that. It's like we just we just gotta do better because you know, until we until we acknowledge the problems in the way that violence and negativity is spread in our communities, is no way that we're gonna be able to stop it. M hm. So with that said, we have another dope episode. Shout out to our brother, one of our mentors, one of our educators, Mark Thom's and make a play. Make sure you go

to his show. Shout out to everybody. We didn't talk about this, but March night today is the anniversary of the passing of the late Great b I G. Biggie Smalls. He's one of my influences. Man. I never got to meet Biggie Smalls, but his music definitely inspired me into

hip hop. And when he meant so much to just hip hop in general, not mainly to Brooklyn and New York, but when he meant to hip hop in general was something that has last untill now you know it's been It's been about over two decades since Biggie's passed, and he still has an impact that is unmatched. Only only person that I see with that level impact is him

in Tupac. So shout out to the late Great b. I. G. And shout out to his family, his daughters, his son, his mother, everybody that he left here the WLD you in your mind field, which is my family. Little Kim, you know R I P. Today's Biggie Day. Salute you the King. Yeah and I Yes, Biggie smoke baby baby. With that said, I'm not gonna always be right to make a matter is and that can always be wrong. But we both always and I mean always be authentic, solutely peace. That's how we owned