Working Yourself to Death, Literally

Kyle Rittenhouse trial is happening. Obviously, folks know, we tape a couple of days before the episode actually airs, and so today, um, the information maybe a little bit different and maybe a little delayed from what was actually taking place at the time that we uh take this episode.

But we watched as uh the weapons charges, most of the weapons charges were thrown out of the caves, and so some how another decision was made that the weapons that Kyle Rittenhouse had with him were inadmissible in this in the in the trial, but particularly in the closing arguments and in terms of what the jury instructions are for what they can take back with them after closing arguments. I do not understand, and I know I'm not a lawyer, and I haven't had a chance today to have a

conversation with lawyers and understand. But I'm on text threads with a number of legal professionals and and lawyers, and I don't see anybody given an explanation that makes sense about this at all, because it doesn't make sense, man, because you know, it's the same old and what we call the kangaroo court man that we we We've seen,

We've witnessed it. We I've been involved in it. I've been a victim of these kangaroo courts, and it always seems that, you know, some people have the complexion for

the protection and it does. It just really makes no sense that we even have to have these conversations and constantly keep seeing these injustices you know, occur, you know, and people get mad when we say we don't have faith in the system, like when when people just don't care about the system and we want to we want to believe that there's a system that works, that there's a system of accountability, there's a system with fan and

equal treatment, that everyone is created equally and all these things, but it just doesn't happen that way. And this is a classic example. You we've seen it writing on the war from the beginning with this situation, how a majority of white America has supported this man and embrastim well, listen to me. He had he had a go fund me that raised how much money, I don't know, but it was a lot. There was a lot of money. So you understand I'm saying, and you won't see what left.

There have been a black man, they would have threw him under the jail go fund me. They would have funded his ass into jail, and he would have still been in jailed. You probably would have got killed because he would have never made it back home at all anywhere. So at the end of the day, this is the things that we're dealing with, and once again another attrocity man.

So you know, let's just hope again. By the time this episode airs, Um, I hope that the closing arguments are finished and that the jury has made a decision to convict Um Kyle Rittenhouse of murder. I don't even know what all his charges are, but I know he

shouldn't walk free Um. And I think his mother should also face some charges because she had her son in the car bringing him across state lines with weapons that she knew he was not supposed to have and then he goes out and kills Now in our situation, right, first of all, if you put your child in the school that is outside the school district, you can do five years. Like our sister Crystal Mason. Um, it's something.

It's someone that that was accountable for her actions right related to her child going to school somewhere that she should not have gone and in fact, her father lived in the district. Right, you have situations where because of a child's truancy, parents are picked up and arrested. I just would love to see the numbers. Some people will argue, old, you know, Tamika, you know it happens to everybody. It's

not just okay, We'll show me the numbers. Show me how many white families where their children cut school have been arrested for the truancy of their child. I want to see it. If it's if it compares. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think so. I don't think so. Even man, I look at my my case. You know, I got convicted of a gun that I never had, that nobody

else found, never seen. I got convicted of a weapons and sentenced to to two to four years for a weapon that was never found or even seen ever anything. Four years we were talking about two to four. Yeah, that was part. That was you know, there was one of the charges, but the robbery charges superseded that because

it was the highest count. So it was it was four to eight, and then it was three, three to six, and and then under the underneath charges with weapons possessions two to four years for weapons possession and it's two to four. So the highest counts they add those two together, the three to six and for the eight to get my sentence to hide. The lower counts were superseded, but I was sentenced to two to four years for weapons possession that never never had and nobody ever saw, never anything.

Well that's kind of that. Well, you don't see not understanding you have to understand the legal system, because I'm sure going into it you had no idea about this and this layer and that and the judge and all the things that happen with your attorney. And so I'm just saying that in in in in these situations, it seems like to your point that they that white people have a complexion for protection, Like you said, that's it.

I mean, that's That's that's my thought. But tell me what this sweatshirt means that you have on to that. It means, it means fuck it. If you don't care, if I don't you know, if you've got a problem with me, fuck you, fuck it, fuck you, fuck it. You know what I'm saying, anybody, So everybody that has the problem with you is you put a post s up yesterday right that resonated. You know, I'm very stubborn, very stubborn, a very prideful, have a lot of ego.

I hate to, you know, my name to be talked about. I hate to be discredited. I hate somebody allowing me a lot of things that I have, certain things that you know, I take pride. And then you know, the post that you put up yesterday just resonated with me, and I wanna what did it say? It's said this, and it really just made me think, you know, after you always say it, you know, I'm I'm kind of hard headed. I don't listen to ship most of the time.

Sometimes I'd be like, man, I don't do what I want to do, and I'm gonna do what I want to do most of the time. But when you said I stopped beating with people when I realized they felt important being an enemy. That was like the realest thing.

I realized that there are people who just you acknowledging them as an adversary, not even saying their name, but just the fact that they feel that you acknowledge them as someone who is even equal to be adversary or accounter anything to what is that you do gives them some level of power. And I said, you know what,

at this point, I've done, I've exhausted. I've done whatever I had to do in anybody that's not on my my own wavelength, that's not about progression, that's not doing any work that's I can't benefit from, I can't even allow to have space in my mind, you know. So you know, I'm turning over a new leaf. I'm not engaging in discourse with people that I don't even deserve discourse, you know. I'm not engaging in anything with somebody that's

not helping me grow or I'm not helping grow. So you know, this shirt symbolizes where I'm at, fucking fuck you, fuck it, you know. And my hat my new hat honorable, you know, because that's that's what it is. I believe I am. So this represents my whole moved right now, fuck you because I'm honorable. Listen, I have nothing to say, and today the course protect black people. Yeah, that's right,

I have my mind. Well, I put this on today because when I woke up, I realized then with two trials happening in two different places across this damn country, and both of them are incredibly painful for black people

in the Kyle ritten House matter. And someone said this to me, Reverend Stephen Green said today, And it really struck me when I said, I don't know that people will respond and be as upset and and impacted by Kyle Rittenhouse being um exonerated as other situations that we've seen where people really have been emotional and hurt, and we has impacted especially white people, to see how bad it is because his victims were white, right, And Stephen's

response to me was the original victim, he didn't say Kyle Rittenhouses, but the original victim was Jacob Blake, a black man who was shot and paralyzed in Kenosha. And that is what precipitated the response, the outrage that bought Kyle Rittenhouse to that town. Why he killed other people

who were there protecting black lives. The other situation is in Brunswick, New Brunswick, Georgia, where a mother has to sit and listen to people talking about all this other stuff except the fact that these men, the McMichael's, were not and plus their other whatever the other guy's name is. They were not the police, They were not in any way authorized, They were not the owners of the home.

They were in no way authorized to take their funky asses, their racists, uh, evil callous asses out there to hunt down a man who they they saw him, They saw him, they saw a mod are very going in that house checking it out, and and and and similar to George Zimmerman, hunting black people is a sport to some white folks, particularly to some white men. Putting black people's lives in danger with their tears is a specific thing that white

women do, some white women, too many of them. But hunting negroes, President Biden, hunting negroes is something that white men specifically get off on. And so when they saw Ahmad, they said he didn't know, he was oblivious, believing that he could run in America and just dream about this new project, this new house, looking at it coming together the same way that white people were able, kids were able to dream going in that house over and over again.

They had the footage to show it. But they saw a black boy, healthy, running and they love it. It literally brings them to goddamn or gas to see a black attractive strong man and they cannot keep their nasty, filthy hands off of black men, and so they hunted

him down. And here's a black woman having to sit there and listen and then further watch the video that if it had not the people all Shaun King this and leave married that, guess what if it had not, I've been for the work that Shaun King lead married, and or Chris Stewart and others, all of these attorneys and and activists and advocates that got together and kept pressure in the system, kept pressure in the system, kept bringing us up to speed and keeping us in the loop,

if it were not for the work that they did. When first of all, they created out of what they believed, having some visuals to bring us to the moment. And then the video comes out and we see Ahmad are Very being hunted and then blown away. Damn there, shot to death. The mother sitting there watching that, and it's too many of us that are trying to go to work, go to travel, do this, do that, all this other ship And meanwhile, in the back of our minds, we

know that black people are not protected. So that's why today I wore this. I guess that's kind of like my thought of the day. I had other things because I was gonna ask they didn't want the weapons conversation. They were they were, they were, they were uh lifting

the weapons charge. And as they were talking about late r during the prosecutors closing statements, he was he mentioned the weapons again and it caused more dialogue in the court that the judge had to speak to about whether it was okay for the weapon to even be mentioned at all. Right, And so in the midst of this conversation the judges him and in Han can't get his words out straight and our and and it seemed to me that he was prepared in his mind to protect

Kyle Rittenhouse. That's how it's been throughout this entire trial, throughout the whole process. And I was thinking to myself, the white people have like a phone, a back phone that they call each other on, Like how do they transmit the message that we protect them. There's no other messages.

They see a white boy walk into the room and they empathize, right, the same empathy and the same you know, grace that we want them to give our children and understanding that we want to give young black kids that come from nothing, that commit crimes that they believe or or detrimental, heinous, and we want we don't want to be put on death rowd for crimes that you commit, you know, very young, and we don't want to be have life imprisonment, and we want to be able to

have opportunities after these things. They look at their own people as human beings. They don't look at us that way. So it's not about there's no sign to sign. Is that white boy walking here? And we we And it was against some ship that the niggers had going on anyway. It was based on some nigger that we already said he shouldn't those people shouldn't have been out there protesting

for that nigga anyway. So those are nigger lovers, and we're gonna make sure that the man who protect the nigger lovers is safe and he's and he's protected because he's the man that protect the nigga or the man who was willing to kill was killed. The man who killed the nigga lovers is protecting, so you know, and and this is what it comes down to it and it's not hard, and people want to act like that those ain't the facts and that's not the reality, but it's it sure is, and you know, and it's in

this same scenario place over every time it does. And I guess the larger question that we will not get into today because we've got too incredible guests that we've got to bring on talking about mental health and still trying to deal with this thing. And we got to keep going there, man, we gotta keep getting into the heart of this mental health crisis. Um. And then as we go into as the holidays, you know, people getting they're starting to spend that money, spend that money. You know.

It's like what they say that corporations is like nigger dance dance, dance, dance dance, bring that money in. Um, We're gonna be talking about that with two incredible people, one being Precious of R. C. Lea, who is a licensed psychotherapist, and then the other being Shakira Green, who is a financial activist and so with those two coming on, we want to keep it short even though I'm running my mouth, But it just begs the question, do we

as black people have a bad phone? You know, do we have a bad phone to call one another and say I'm with you? You know, I don't know if I want to live in the world mice where just because a person is black, they could do anything, they

could kill innocent people. And I support that, but I'm also being very honest and saying that I'm tired of us always being the ones that have to do right, that have to be right, and yet we are up against a diabolical enemy that doesn't have the same moral compense. I just don't know, you know. So that's just yes, man, it's it's a it's a very it's a very um

convoluted and fucked up place to be right. You you want justice, but you watch your people experience never get justice for so long that you even start to root for the villain, you know, you start to root for things that you normally you probably you think they should be held accountable, but you like any nobody else being held accountable, No like you. I want to see us.

I want to see us beat the system once in a while, and it's it's a fund up, it's a place to be in where that's the mindset that we have to have, or we we not really have to, we feel like we have to have. So, you know, the this whole the whole theory of justice, it's just a theory for me right now. And it's sad. That's

so Now another friend joins us on the show. We talked earlier today about this UM fire brand, brilliant young woman that I can't to know through BBM, which is the Bond Brand Management Agency where LaToya Bond manages both of us, me more so than you because you are unmanageable, UM.

But that's for a different days conversation. And UM, you know, one of the great things about having small agencies that specifically focus on black folks UM and understanding all the issues that we have within us, is having an agency that knows that it's not just pr it's not just UM, you know of marketing and all the work that has to get done, but it's also having people around who tap into the spiritual realm, who tap into the mental

health realm. And Precious has been that and I always am so afraid to say her name, but as she would say, you always, I always get it right. So precious of work, Leia again, a friend of ours, of friends to street politicians, and I'm so happy to have this young woman on and just to re iterate who she is and her great great accomplishes accomplishments. She is a licensed psychotherapist, she is an author, and she is a mental health advocate and activists in her own right.

So Precious, thank you so much for joining the street politicians today. Thank you you guys for having me. I am thoroughly enjoying the work that you guys are doing. The commentary, you guys are spot on every time I'm in the back whooping y'all on and everything, So we appreciate you. Man. So how's it been going? Like, what what are you doing right now? What have you been

focusing on? So, as you guys may know, um, you know, I've been in the mental health industry for quite some time now, for well over ten years, and I started out with a group practice and several years ago I decided to open my own practice, Modern Therapy now, which we've been open now and thriving for about four years. And my intention behind that was because I wanted to tailor make my approaches to the black and brown community.

You know, as a psychotherapist, traditionally, you're really trained to be you know, a blank slate, right, don't say too much, don't be too much, don't take up too much space in the room. But as you guys may know, that really marginalizes a lot of people. You can't tell many people about their deep seated truths if they don't have a sense of who you are. So I decided I was going to take a different approach. I was gonna

be transparent, I was gonna be my whole self. I was wanting to be you know all of the hay girl hay as well as you know, the clinical jargon and so on and so forth. So right now I'm really thriving with working with a lot of black and brown individuals and it's been doing great. Yeah, So what you just decided to go to school to be a psychotherapist? Like what was the process? What's the journey towards that?

Because there may be other people out here who were like, this is what I think I should be doing, Like, what is the thing that comes up in you that says this is the field that I should be in, and just as a point of reference in Little f Y I. As I mentioned earlier in the show, I'm glued to the TV because the Kyle Rittenhouse trial is happening, and so I haven't running. Usually we don't, but today is a day that I think it's important for us all to be tuned in. So excuse me for that.

It's not a distraction, hopefully, but I just wanted to say that absolutely, I totally understand. I've been, you know, checking in here and there in between sessions as well. UM. So you know, I think of one of those rare stories where I really did set out to impact individuals in some kind of way. I didn't really know what to call it early on, but I knew that was really interested and intrigued by human behavior and all of people's complexities, you know what I mean. I've seen mental

health concerns throughout my family. I've been personally impacted by it. I know many people have, UM and I just noticed that I had a way with connecting with people and being able to support them, UM and help them move towards their goals. UM. Right now, I've taken a special

interest in work life balance. Um, I've been I've had so many conversations with women in particular, but you know, women and men alike where the greatest strain is trying to figure out how to be everything that they want to be for others, and um, just finding that it's the expectation itself that really throws a lot of people

off off balance. Uh So, really approaching work life balance from a place of let's, you know, understand what our individual needs and strengths are and then help that match our the way we're experiencing the world. Mm hmm. That's that's crazy, because I think that's one of the hardest thing to do, is just have a work life balance.

You know, especially when you're trying to be successful, you know, when you um embarking on new endeavors, when you're a creative person, you know, when you're entrepreneur, Like, how do you what is the key? Like, give us some keys that you think it is to balance and work in life and being comfortable and not driving yourself crazy and working yourself to death. I think the first thing is

just to shift your ideology about what balance is. You know, first and foremost, balance does not mean equal a lot of times, we expect ourselves to be to give to every you know, person in our life, every area of our life, in the same way, at the same level, with the same level of energy, always and forever, and that's just an unrealistic expectation. We're not the same person every single day. Our needs shift from day to day, and it's just not humanly possible to be able to

give everything to everything all at once. Um. It's a well known fact that we actually do not multitask. You know, we put we end up putting a lot of strain on ourselves when we're trying to shift from one task to the other. So really scaling back on this idea that multitasking is the ideal, that you know, losing sleep is the ideal, That pushing through and keeping it moving is the ideal ideal. Excuse me, um, I've been on social media for years now saying that keeping moving culture

is toxic, especially to the black and brown community. Um. You know, we have this beliefs of stuff that tells us that if we're experiencing things like anxiety and depression, that that's actually a sign of failure and weakness. So we have to continue to press up against that stigma, um, and shift our understanding of those wellness features being inclusive

of our in our path towards success. I saw on our friend killing Mike's page uh something that he posted that the night I saw it, it resonated, But the next day I had a little frustration happened, which made it even more important. He said, I tried my best and if that's not good enough, fuck it then, right? And I was like that when I saw it the first time, I was like yeah, But then I thought about it and I said, we especially just all of us in general, but especially as women, we try so hard.

And I'm wondering if as we're getting older does it Do you think that it is helpful to the mental psyche to like stop trying with certain things, or is letting go a form of failure? Like how should we process that when we feel like we've tried too much? Right? I think that letting go is a part of wellness

for sure. Um. I think that we all have a particular relationship with control, and when we are operating within this sense of control that says that we are supposed to be able to manage and impact change on everything around us. That is actually more debilitating to our mental health than anything else. Sometimes acceptance is the best way to fall into balance, just accepting the fact that the door did close, that the answer was no, so that you can pivot and you can shift. I'm not telling

people to stop. I'm just telling them that sometimes you have to accept that that may not be what's for you. And I think that that can create a sense of resolve.

But we have to understand again, back to your ideology, your basic fundamental belief system about how life works in general has to be one that says that I understand that, you know, my path is going to be created both through the cop collaboration of you know, me wanting things and me being able to self propel and self motivate and be ambitious, but also it's going to be a path that is sown into you know, just the universe and things that are unseen, things that are unknown, things

that you know, we don't have ultimate and complete control over. Yeah, we don't have ultimate and complete control over. Lately, a number of people I love, including my son, has told me that I have to work on trying to control every situation, and that is you know, it's hard to hear that because you feel like you're doing everything out of a good place, like trying to make sure that

things are running and moving. But sometimes, you know, I guess you do have to listen to people when they're basically telling you that instead of been feeling like love, it feels like control. Absolutely. I think that what ends up happening is, you know, a lot of our relationship with control is really born out of a previous trauma. You know, you have um you know, been exposed to

environments where there was a lack of control. There was a lot of chaos and you didn't really know what the next moment or the next day was gonna bring. Sometimes what ends up happening is that you need everything to be in control, right, So, you know, I think it there's a little bit of a miss uh perception there because people will take that as you're being controlling, But what you're really looking for is everything to be stable,

everything to be accounted for. You want to know where everything is, what's going on, what your role is in things, and that delivers a sense of safety, um and security to you. But you know, what I oftentimes tell my clients is that everything that's functional isn't sustainable. Right, So, at one point in life that may have worked for you, you know what I mean, it yielded positive you know results, You are able to progress and gain success by operating

the way that you operate. However, you know, trying to control absolutely everything again is ultimately debilitating to your psyche. So there will come this eventual moment where you can't continue to move forward like that. It starts to you know, put too much strain on your body, too much strain on your mind space, too much strain on your relationships. Even so, we have to dial it back when we have to concede to you know, what is or what isn't and then what we can control control, what the

things that we can have impact on. Mm hmm. That's so prolific right there. You know, I find myself going through the same thing. Like we all want to control, especially you know, especially in the work that we do. We want to be able to control our situations. We want to be able to constantly say that we could

do the work. And sometimes it gets it gets overwhelming, you know, especially dealing with social media in this world that we live in, where it always feels like you're not doing enough, you know, it always feels like it's more to do, and it's more to do and you could be doing I find myself going through the constantly like I'm not doing enough, I'm not doing enough. I should be doing this, I should be doing this, and then trying to take on all these things by yourself.

And it's because I think for me, it's because I've always I've been used to doing things by myself. I've been used to. If I don't really do the things, if I don't put all of these things in to it, you know, it's not gonna happen. So you know, it's hard. It's hard, you know, to let go work. It's hard to ease. Like to me, it's been saying, Yo, we need to take a read. People need to take a vacation.

I need doing nothing else to after Christmas, and I'll be and me hearing that, it's like, what would you mean? That's a old you know, you know, And I guess for me being imprisoned come has a lot to do with it, right, losing seven years of your life and not being able to do anything for those days that I wanted to do things and watching life past and watching people that I was would progress to certain levels and then feeling like I was stagnated and I feel

like I have to make up time. But it's impossible for you to make up anything. You just can only move at the pace and that and deal with the time that you have now. Yeah, absolutely, And that's exactly what I mean by expectations. You know, you're already successful. You you're already you know, putting things in motion. Things are going to happen. And I'm not saying to, you know, take the pressure off of the situation at all. I'm just saying that it's the concept of that mission in

your head. You know, you're hyper present with the reality that you lost time, you know. But at the same time, one could say that you're right on page, you know, because one could say that, you know, at a different time, you know, things that you're manifesting today may have not manifested, you know. So that's what I'm saying about there. The ballot starts with your mindspace first, where you can say that you know, yes, this is the this was not

the course that I necessarily wanted to take. And also I recognize how it's put put me in position for certain things to happen. So I'm going to you know, apply the pressure. But I'm also not going to guilt myself. I'm not gonna shave myself for what has come to pass already. Let's thank you. I gotta, I gotta, I gotta take much church to us. I'm that part, you know. But we're taking a lot of stuff very serious, and

there's a lot to be serious about. You know, often times say that we wake up to be oppressed, we wake up to be attacked, we wake up to be invalidated. You know ta maka mention, the call writtenhouse um trial happening right now, that's abrasive. You know what I mean to me, that's injurious. When I watch that, it injures my spirit. It it impacts me, right. So we're collecting all of that every single day just by way of our awareness. We scroll on social media and you know,

there's someone living lavish that makes us feel insecure. There's someone getting murder that makes us feel at risk. There's someone talking about COVID that makes us feel completely out of control and susceptible to something that you know, we we can't even tell which direction is coming from. So at the end of at the basis of anything, just has to be wellness. We have to create a regiment to where we're tending to our mind space on a regular basis. Listen, I know, I know you gotta go. Oh,

I'm sorry, my sign. I want to ask one more things before. So you know, I was just hearing in the New today something that happened with La La where she has some hard complications and some people are saying it's attributed to stress and things of that nature. Like what warning signs because I don't know. I'm so used to just being on a hundred, I'm so used to moving, and I don't I don't take the time to to to even acknowledge when I'm when I'm birthed out, I

don't even know how to feel. I know i'd be tired, so let me just get some rest. After the rest, I'm back at it. So, like, are there warning signs and things that we should just look for and notice that tells us like you're burning yourself out, you might need to just relax and get into a different space. Yeah, I'm so glad that you asked that question. And let's send some healing and loving energy towards lalla Um for her recovery. But stress is and has always been the

number one killer. You know. We hear that, and I feel like we're a little dismissive to that fact. But there's so much that we can be doing to counter the effects of stress um as far as you know.

One of the things that you said that was really vital to your answer actually was that you don't take the time out, you know, And that's why I'm often I promote meditation and mindfulness so much, because it's really the stillness that we need so that our psyche can catch up to everything that we've been enduring all along. You know, you just have to let yourself be still. All of the warning signs are there for you. You know, all of the signals. Your body is so communicative all

of the time. It's telling you what's going on. Those little strains and pains in the back of our neck. You know, the headache that you have for two days. You know, your stomach is upset, your your your limbs are aching, your your fingers, your toes, everything is is in pain. That is the warning sign to let you know that your body is in distress and to understand that you at least seem just stand still long enough to make the connections and understand what's going on. UM.

I will say this that sleep is a non negotiable. UM. Something that is well known in my field is that sleep alone can you know, induce you into psychosis. It can induce you into depression, it can induce you into anxiety. The first thing that we do when someone comes into the hospital is give them a sleep aid, and the next day when they wake up, almost about of their symptoms have decreased. So, UM, being able to have a good sleep regiment, being able to have a balanced diet diet,

being able to have an exercise regiment. You know, just getting those endorphins in can really impact how stress is impacting you. So just those fundamentals first, I know you have to go and and sleep is a non negotiable, which is something that I don't get enough of, so I know you know, UM, And the other day, uh, LaToya says to me, you text late and early. I just can't figure out, like, at what point does the

sleep happen? You know what, I do sleep sometimes, But anyway, UM, the my last thing for you is do therapists have it all together? Like if you're a therapist, psycho therapist. You're a psychiologist. Do y'all have it all? Absolutely not. Therapists are people too. And that's another thing that you know, was was what I wanted to denote, what I created the modern therapist persona. I wanted people to see me

being a regular, magular person that has issues. I say this field to my clients when I have a consultation, I said, she got issues too. She is not here to be the example of how to be perfect. She's here to be the example of someone who wakes up every day for challenges and uses the same skills and tools that she you know, imparts to you to make sure that she can have a balance of life and she could wake up for the next day thereafter. You know, when I have a client come in, I say, I'm

not the expert in the room. You're the expert on you. You bring what you have. I know human behavior, I know life, I know you know being a human and trying to figure out your psyche and we're gonna put that together, and we're gonna figure it out together. And so absolutely not well, because I ain't crazy. You know, at least you we all got to lose here, No, we all got some stuff. Thank you so much, precious,

I appreciate you so much. And um, you know, the knowledge that you're imparting on us that we want to share with the broader audience is something that should just be uplifted every second of the day. Like every space you turn to they should be places to get little nuggets about how to manage just our lives because there's so much that's controllable and so much that is not, um,

that's happening to us every minute of the day. And if you're a parent, if you work in the world, especially in my p you know this is my thing out. You didn't say this, I am saying it. If you work around white people every a you stressed out. If you're a person of color, absolutely, because it's a very difficult place to try to manage all the microaggressions, all the misunderstandings, you know, trying not to speak too loud,

be too threatening, um. And you know, and also dealing with the injustice of just trying to climb ladders and seeing people that are not even as good as you be able to rise above you. That's a lot. And you know, we we do find ourselves working, working ourselves to death, literally working ourselves to death, trying to be as good, trying to be as noticed, trying to be as fly you know, trying to just because you gotta be ten times flyer in order to compete with us.

That's the stronger and and whatever I was gonna saying longer, but I think that's for a different show. So for today, thank you so much pressures a lood. Precious, why today today? Just because I said, you always get it right? That's it. It messed you all up. I love you so much, thank you for thank you so much for having me. Your skin is looking beautiful. Thank you than that melon and popping. I appreciate you guys so much. Have a good day day. That's how we own it. That's how

we owned it. Precious is just so dope, man. She she has a energy and you and you can realize certain people just have callings on their life, right like when when I used to when you know, when I work with Precious and she calls and we got to communicate. She's just so easy to talk to, right. She just seems like she's just so serene. She has this energy

that makes you just feel comfortable. So when all of these things that she do these allergies, knowlogists, they really fit her, man, So it's it's dope just hearing that and her being able to actually confirm some of the things that we know about our own selves. You know. I think when it comes to mental health and meditation and just having someone who psychoanalyzes you, I think what they actually do is make you realize things that you already know. I think that's what the good ones do.

M h Yeah, No, I agree with you a hundred percent about that. I think sometimes when we hear things about ourselves, it hurts because you think that, you know, wow, I didn't know that I was doing this, So I was presenting myself in a certain way to people. But having the safe space of a therapist to try to help work through what it means and and you know, and and being in a space where it's not contentious but rather it's supportive and reassuring is important. And that's

what Precious is. She's the type of person that could take well, you know, I'm and and in fact, my relationship were Precious becomes as strong as it ever has been. In two thousand and nineteen, when I became addicted to pain, pills. That's when she and I got to be really close because I saw the addiction as my weakness, as the worst place that I've ever been in my life, and not not to say it's not, you know, it doesn't

mean that it's not. But I saw it as being not the end of me, but I saw it as being like a real tell tale sign that I wasn't

the person I believed. And she took it and reaffirmed me and really walked me through all the steps that led to that moment that were beyond the crisis that out the public crisis that I was going through, but even things from when I was younger, from moments in my life when I felt not included, not good enough, when I felt like I wasn't doing whatever my family needed me to do, or the man that I was with, or whatever, and she was able to show me that

the breakdown I was having was a culmination of many things. And the public terror, if you will, the public moment that I had was only like the what do you call it? The top of the rock. It was the top of the rock, you know, And I didn't think about that, so I was, oh, my god, how could people do this? To me. It broke me down. And then she was like, yeah, but what about this and that in the third and I was like, wow, I have a lot of processing to do. So I think,

you know, she has a skill set. And and by the way, even the psychiatrist that I worked with now, which is different from what um Precious does. Um. This psychiatrist that I'm that I've worked with every day or not every day, I needed every there. But the psychiatrist that I work with, you know, he's amazing. And recently I was going through something and I called to him, was like yo, dude, like for real, like just this and that and he and he was there for me.

But it's not the same thing like having a black woman understand other black women. It's not the same thing. It's not the same thing. Even when I'm speaking to him, he is so firmly clear about what I need to do, so firmly clear, like every other black man that I'm close to, firmly clear. But when speaking to Precious, she's as a black woman is willing to get in my mess and and and whittle around and all of my Oh I don't know, I don't know. So I think

you might need to therapists in your life. Yeah, I gotta give me one, because you know, I've been trying to psychoanalyze myself and be my own therapist for you is man, So some I need somebody else to pour into. So I gotta start searching into that professional skills. So now, um, the other thing that drives us crazy is what we're going to right. The other thing is our money, you know,

spending it right, spend it wrong. Uh, you know, holding it forever, thinking it's gonna somehow another just double itself, triple itself. You know, I know family, I have family members, I have an uncle. His money is buried in the yard somewhere, and there are people by the way who's sitting around knowing it's got to be somewhere around, so

they'll wait. You know, they don't want him to die, but if he does, they're gonna tap everything looking for it because they know he's been sitting on his money. That's how he That's just how he is. You know. So people, some people. Everybody has a different relationship with money, and it can be very stressful. It can be even not enough, having too much and not knowing what to do with it. All of those things can be very,

very stressful. And so today we're gonna be talking to another friend to street politicians, UM, Shaquira Green, who is she calls herself a financial activist, a final activist and good and she's coming right up to talk to us about our money because Saira tell me some things about this chiner. That's so. As we mentioned another one of our friends joining the show today, this Shaquira Green, who is a financial expert for eighteen years. Over eighteen years

she's been in banking and finance. But she's on this show today as the finance activists, the financial activists we need. So Shaquira, thanks for coming on. You know you you're my pretty friend. Thank you, Thank you to me to thank you, my son. Thank you so much for having me on today. A conversation that's much needed to have, especially in our community. That's fact. So how do how do we get money? We just want to how we go get rich? What we need to do right now

to get rich? What we need to do well? The first thing we need to do is begin to shift our mindset. You know, it's how you think about money. How do you view money? Um, money is for me an avenue for UM freedom right. UM, it's a it's a It's a tool that we can use to UM create the business that we're passionate about. UM, travel the world, you know, get experiences, UM, send our children to college,

whatever it is that you're passionate about. For me, money is a tool and a vehicle to help you get there, UM, to give back to our community, to help other people who are less fortunate. And so I think the first thing we need to do, whether you have money or you're trying to acquire it, is begin to shift your mindset and evaluate what's your relationship with money. You know, for years, my relationship with money was funny, and so I had to be honest about myself. UM. You know, UM,

how was I showing up in that relationship? UM? And they started with me taking a look at how was I, how was I raised? And what were some of the things that were installed in me? UM. My grandmother, UM, for instance, I'll take her. You know, she told my mother and my gran my aunt to never move out of the projects because in her mindset, that meant that they would always have a roof over their head if they could live and subsidize living, you know, Um, she

couldn't fathom her granddaughter probably owning multiple properties. You know, I remember, um, she used to say to us when we was little, when you walk out this house, you represent us. And so that means you always look your best. And so in translation, every time I went out and had an interview or a new job or somewhere to go, I was running out and I was buying a new outfit.

Whether I could afforded a not, it didn't matter as long as you look good, because that was what my grandmother taught us, right, And so I begin to just kind of shifting the mindset and think about how am

I using my money and my lifestyle. If you if this pandemic didn't teach us anything, it taught us how much we were spending frivolously, between brunches and just shopping and just being just being outside period is gonna cost you, right, So, UM, I always tell people it starts with you shifting your

mindset and reevaluating your relationship with your money. M So we're so The reason why I thought the financial activist component was so important, and particularly in the context of this show, is that we were just talking about working

ourselves to death. Um, with our friend Precious, who is a psychotherapist, right, And so I also think we can worry about money as well in a way that's unhealthy, either either either worrying about not enough or having much and either not knowing what to do with it or worrying about losing it. I find myself hoarding my money, and I've learned that that is not the right thing to do, because the I r s just loves it.

It's like the best thing in the world. People who don't know that when you get money, you should spend some of it, but you got to spend it the right way and be because I don't necessarily always know. It's so many people in my ear telling me how to spend my money. I've got marijuana investors asking me to put money there. I've got uh people saying, let's with these houses. I've got people saying do this business that thing. My son has ideas everywhere I turned, and

I also have ideas. So I find myself just being like, to hell with it. I'm just gonna hold my money and and you know, and hopefully God will come and tell me in my ear in the middle of the night what I to do, which is not healthy and you're you hit it right on the nail. Money is the number one stressor UM that people have. It's also the number one reason why folks get divorced. UM. You know, forty six percent of Americans say that they don't have

four hundred dollars saved for an emergency. Prior to the um pandemic happening, eight percent of Americans was living paycheck to paycheck. God knows, I'm sure that number has uh skyrocketed since then. UM. But all of these statistics go

back and show you why it's important. And the reason why I call myself a financial activist is because I'm on this journey to continuously educate people about their finances, particularly in communities where you and I come from, where this information is not taught to us, it's not installed in us. You know, my mom was a single parent, you know, raising two children UM in an urban community, and so I didn't go to college. I didn't go to school with the twols and resources to understand credit,

to understand UM investing. And as I got into the banking industry, this is where I began to learn it became a self aware that wow, this is this is not taught to my people. You know, when I went to school, there was someone on college campus giving out applications for a credit card. And that's how I got my first credit card, which was discovered, and boy did I discover. I discovered everything got shouldn't have done. I went straight to the Gucci store. I only think I

had enough for the bag. But those are some experiences that I know many people in our audience could relate to of just not being taught the knowledge from home. And this is why I think it's important that now I love it that everyone wants to have the conversation so to you, and all those things that you mentioned are great things to invest in. You just have to figure out what works best for you and what's in

your risk tolerance. What's in your risk tolerance. I can't lose nothing, but jorganed me a short thing because I can't risk nothing at all. But you know what the old saying, scared money don't make no money. So you do have to be willing to do some type of investing. So let's talk about it right. Like for me, the one thing that I always promote is um homeownership. I think that for the average person in America. Homeownership is the eassiest way to start building wealth and to build

a legacy. Um. I'm an I'm an investor, real estate investor, and I mean there's multiple ways that you could do it. Um. I'm super conservative like you, my son. So I get it. I don't want to lose any money that I need to sleep good at night with some of my investments. Um. But homeownership is a way that you can get in. Your home is going to appreciate. It's going to build value, cash value that you can pull out and you can you know, purchase other properties or start that business that

you want. Um. So I always say, go sit down with a financial advisor, talk about homeownership. How could you get into it? So many different programs that will all you to get in there, to put three and a half percent down, five percent down, there's so many different vehicles out there. Just got to do the homework in the research. I got to do the homework in the research,

my son. That's what we've been saying. We've been, you know, we've been as an organization, we've been looking into a lot of different you know, ventures that we want to tackle into. I've been looking we all been coming back to the table, Hey, we should probably do this this, so you know, it's it's it's a process. But I think we're moving in the right direction, you know, and some things that we want to get into. So we're we're forty plus, so we we were out the game.

It's too old, Like should we have been doing it so much earlier that now we're so far behind we can't catch up? Like, these are things that people really do feel. Absolutely, it's never too late to get in the game. Of course, if you can get in there earlier, please There's twenty of times I'm like, I wish that I started investing when I was in my twenties, but I wasn't. I didn't have the knowledge. So when you

know better, you do better. But to that person that feels discouraged, that feels like I'm I'm too old, or you know, I can't get in or I don't make enough money, it's never too late to get into the game and start investing. Another thing I think we need to think about is how how do we leverage our credit Our credit goals and our savings goals need to be aligned. Let me give you a perfect example. These are basic tips that the average person can imply. I

pay everything every month on my credit card. At the end of the month, I paid the credit card off before the twenty eight day. The reason why I do that is I accumulate points, and then the points allow me to offset my gas expense. I'll go get gift cards, I'll redeem my points for gift cards, and then I'll that will offset my gas expense. Or if I'm traveling,

that's how I'll compa airline ticket or a hotel room. UM. When I pay my Verizon bill with my a card, UM, it allows me to not have cell phone insurance, which I'm saving forty five dollars a month by avoiding paying revising fifteen dollars per line. I have a line for me and both of my daughters. But if you pay with your credit card, your credit card gives you cellphone insurance and you're allowed to put two claims a month.

These are little tips that people don't know and don't leverage. Also, there's a lot of folks that have children that are going to college. Right if you have a child and you really aren't prepared to pay for college, if you have good credit, you can put them on one of your credit cards as an authorized signer and have that child at age sixteen to eighteen start to build up some credit so when they go to college and they fill out applications, they now can qualify for the best

student loans or get the best interest rates. So again, small you use your credit card. It's like everything I learned, it's up in the air whenever I talk to financial experts because and I'm doing it now now, I am using my my, my, my, um. My finance manager is so desperate for me to use the credit card for everything. Yet my relationship with my credit card is so scary because I have I was proud of the fact that if I don't have the cash, I'm not gonna buy it.

Like that was my mindset. And y'all are saying something completely different, completely different, completely different, and pay the whole card off before the So yeah, so full disclaimer, because this isn't for everybody. You have to be organized and you have to be disciplined. You want to pay that bill off within the twenty eight days so that you

do not assess any interests. You know. So I'm paying the whole thing off, but I could afford that and I'm also structured and organized with the financial calendar, you know which every week I'm analyzing my finances and I'm going on line checking my online banking right and I could be anywhere whether I'm traveling. I get alerts on my phone. So it's a very or. You have to be disciplined and organizing, structured. But I paid the whole bill off. I don't accrue any interest, but I get

the points, and the points allow me. Like I said, if you, if you live paycheck to paycheck, that person's mindset is how can I save My bills? Are my bills and what I make is what I make, So you have to find creative other ways to save money. So now you can redeem those points. How much do you spend on gas? At least a hundred and fifty dollars a month the average person. So now those gift cards pay your gas. Now you didn't talk. You saved yourself a hundred and fifty dollars. Put that away every

month and start saving. So again I'm thinking white people know about this stuff. Of course, I met a lady on a plane. We were I want my way to Costa Rica, and they were celebrating your twentieth year anniversary. It was she, her husband, her mother in law, and three children, and she told me she paid five d hollars for that trip. I said, well, how did you do that? By utilizing her points, she was able to comp all the airline tickets and get a major discount

on the hotel that she was standing. One more thing, one more thing on you. This is my interview because you're my friend, and I'm just I have one point five million miles one airline, and I not. You can't pay me to use my mouse. You can't like you. You could be like, I'm gonna give you cash if you would use those mouths. I will not use them. Everybody tells me I'm crazy. I have another colleague that I worked with that has two point three million miles

and he feels the same way. Scanty blues to use the mouth But other people just be using their mouths, just flipping them. And what are you here? What are you afraid of? You? A million? My? What do you? I don't know what about? So I don't really listening. You don't want to use them? Give them to me them over. But it's also too a lot of people don't know. You can use your points to donate to organizations.

So you know, I sit on the board of the Urban League of Essex County and you know you have an amazing you guys have an amazing nonprofit organization until freedom. Folks can also redeem their points and donate to your organization. So I know, given Tuesday is coming up, that's a great way to plug in and and to allow people to give back to an organization that is doing the work. And that's at the front of the four lines. So think about that as well. So use the mouse. Use

the mouse. Use the mouse, very important, all of them. Or get it down the two hundred thousand, like, what would you what would be your comfortable space I need? It depends that the power. Often do you do? You do? You travel? You always on the plane, so I don't understand you're always travel, especially for work. So use your points. But we could set up some time offline if you want. And I hope and now you want to help me,

I hope you transfer them to me. No, thank you, thank you, thank you you brought I gotta start thinking about my relationship with money, you know, relationship with money, that's the thing. Yeah, starting in your relationship with your bank is important. His relationship with money is don't ask him for none, don't ask him how much he has, and he ain't spending it unless he has to. And anybody to ask him for anything gotta work for it because they're just not gonna get his money for free.

That's just that's literally it. I come from nothing, So when you come from zero, you know how it is to to have zero. You know, you just want to make sure that you comfortable. You want to make sure the things that you need to do that you're able to do. I don't like to just waste money because I don't have you know what I realized for me, I don't I don't have value from me. Like money is something that I use as a resource. It ain't something that I idolized that I chase, You understand, thing,

I don't chase. Like there's a lot of people do things just for money. Like I know a lot of people that make a lot and they do it because it drives. That's what drives. The money is not my driving force, you know. My driving force is about you know, the work that we do, just seeing things progress, trying to just make things better. So when I when I accumulate money. I understand that the work and the things that I do, it's not the things that just automatically

bring you a lot of money. So I gotta make sure that money I got does the things that it needs to do. So, you know, that's why I understand. My relationship with money is like I don't really we don't we cool. We date from time to time. Wing I ain't married to money, you know what I'm saying. I ain't even thinking about getting mad, but I understand that they're cool. And when I lead up, you know, I realized that we need to have some level relationship.

But I have never been married to money. Yeah, and a lot of people have that mindset, especially I could totally relate to not coming from it and struggling. And so when you do get it, you want to build it protected and preserve it. But you must think. And then I'm gonna tell you why. I posted something on my page today so for you guys to please go follow me, I am underscore shacare a green on Instagram. But the inflations. I went to the Gversary store Sunday

and a turkey with sixty dollars. I was blown away. I said, I don't care how much money I have. Sixty dollars inflation work inflation about sixty dollars six or six? Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, So inflation is through the roof. The cost of living is through the roof. I mean eggs have tripled in price, a milk. These are things that we need, you know, to survive. So you have to be thinking about how your money is doing, my son, because your money needs to work for you so that you can continue to

just survive. To be honest with you, it's no longer an option to have multiple streams of income. I think everyone needs to have the mindset of how am I generating different multiple strings of income just to live comfortably. So something to think about that I cannot get the newest when when when our mes restocks working for Christmas? You're trying to tell me, because I'm like, I'm in line. Okay, I'm in line, and you're saying take it and do

something different, invest in it. You know what I'm You know to me that I'm that girl too. I love a nice Chanel bag, but buy your house first. I buy your property, and then I get a Chanel and my tenants pay for my chanel back. It's not money that I'm paying for out of my incore, right, it's it's being generated from multiple properties. And so that's my ask for everybody just to go out and just think about other ways that you can invest. Me. We all

like nice things. I'm not saying that, um, but you need to make smart decisions. And um, I'm not out here spending five thousand dollars on the bag my tenants are paying that I have eight different properties that bringing income for me. Okay my question, and will let you go mm hmmm. So I have tenant, I had a tenant, okay. And it's always some druma right. Some of it is my fault, right, Some of it is my fault. Some of it is um just old houses. You know, it's old,

it's broke down. That's just where it is. Right. What about that fear of people being like I want to get, I want to own, but then I gotta fix ship. I gotta fix ship. I gotta stay on top of it. It's another thing to manage in your life. But the thing is, once you start to understand, and then you start seeing the risk versus the reward, you see how much is it actually caused to fix these things versus

how much you actually make. And then you get you have certain um people that you hire that that unders that you know, we're gonna be able to do those things at a certain time. So it makes it's gonna make sense. You know, the money that you make is gonna supersede the amount of work that you pay somebody else to do. Anyway, so then you know, once you know that, you can just pick up a phone. Okay, this is wrong, Okay, let me call such your sense.

We have this contractor that's going to this. We've got this contractor to do this, and I think it starts to be become like a well oiled machine exactly. And then Tamika, there's situations where you know, like my I don't have the time, I don't manage these properties. I have a property management company that may to them. In fact, most of them are out of state. There's only one that I personally and hands on with, which is the one in New Jersey. So that property management company takes

care of everything a piece of mind. If something goes wrong, they call a vendor, they take care of it. Comes out of my cash flow. But it's not something that I have to deal with and and it's it's few and far in between. So um. To my son's point, I think he hit a spot on. It's gonna the cash flow that you're getting on a monthly basis. Will oversee if something pops up here and there. Um. But of course we gotta do our homework, and you want to You don't want to be a bad some landlord.

Someone knows some lords, right right, Thank you, Shikire, thank you, thank you very much. We'll be in contact. Oh wait great, wait, wait, wait wait, I know we have to go, and I'm I have the nerve to be making this interview longer. I am knowing that I have to go. If the holidays we didn't talk about the holidays a coming. It's Black Friday. They already. Listen, we went from Halloween to Christmas and Thanksgiving. It's gonna be a stop in the middle.

But it's hybrid Christmas. There are Black Friday sales already and we're not even at the week of things. Give We're just a week away. How people about this? You know, people have this real, this real, this real thing happening. Two years been in the house. You haven't been anywhere. I really wasn't you know, going out doing the things that things weren't in stopped you couldn't get things. Now, I want to enjoy myself. I want things that make

me feel special, happy or whatever. What's your this is how we can close? Is what's your message about this holiday season and how we should be spending. So listen, people are gonna buy right. Like you said, we have children. We don't want to take away from the kids experience or traditions and different cultures through differ and things. If you're gonna spend, get the best deal, spend responsibly, use those points that we talked about today, and try not

to put it on credit. If you could afford it, pay it cash or put it on your card. And what I mean by pay cash is pay it back off on your card right away. But don't accumulate interests. Don't accumulate more debt, because then January is themna come around, and then here you are right in your financial goals again, and you're gonna be back talking about this debt that you've accumulated that you have to pay off. I also

like to say pay yourself. When you pay yourself automatically, then you have a certain amount of money set aside for our holidays or travels in the summertime. So get in the habit and start figuring out what could you afford and set up some type of auto transfer into a separate saving account, and that will help you during the holiday seasons where you'll have extra cash put aside and don't have to have that extra stress or burdening

or accumulate unnecessary debt. Put money aside all year for your your moments, your how day, your summer, your splurge is you gotta take that little whatever a hundred and fifty two hundred dollars and tuck it away so you're not like, oh my god, we can't pay the rent because we gotta buy Christmas presents. Exactly exactly. That's good stuff, isn't it. She is smart you going on, yes, thank you. This is why we have to share with our community,

because we want everybody to have it going on. Well, thank you with the street politicians community, and we will certainly have you back. Shakira. Thank you, right, take care holidays everyone. That's Shakira. She's so fly everything really, I mean, you know, I know her um have spent time with her on trips in different places, and we didn't get to talk about her story, but she often tells them because she's not here. I won't um get too deep into it, but she's got a story, a real story

that will really just blow your mind. And she's so inspiring. So I know when she says that she didn't come from much, she really really didn't. And yet she's in the position she's in now. She's saying eight properties. Anybody can do it. Really, anybody can do it, but it's a mind state and and and not everybody has the mindset. So anybody can do it, but not everybody has the mindset to get it done. And I think, I think it's a discipline and and really just setting your mind

and say this is what I'm gonna do. It's like anything else. We make up our minds. It's okay this, I'm really focused on this, and we do it, and we we buckled down. And then once you start to see it working, it becomes natural. Right, once you start to see it, you do it, and you start say, oh, I just made tens out. It becomes fun, it becomes the normal. Thing is it's routine. It's like they say you gotta do something for two weeks straight to become

make it will come to happen. So I think you gotta do is really sit down and then really say, Okay, this is what I'm doing. I'm focusing this two weeks straight to doing this and accomplishing it, and we'll start seeing, you know, we'ping the benefits of it, you know, and start making our money, make money for for us. You know, that's the key. Make your money, make money, make your money, make money. That's the thing. It's like the you know, I'm not I can't say that I'm risk adverse, you know,

because I'm not. But certainly I find myself being paralyzed because of having too many options. And I think that's also the thing is she she actually made a very good point, which is to decide what is your risk level? Like how much can you lose? Can you lose fifty tho can you lose a hundred thousand? And because I want to lose anything. But I get the point about you know, being able to do a risk assessment. But

then also um really decided what works for you. Do you want to be the person that gets a phone call that something is wrong in the house. Do you want to be the person that doesn't know exactly where the marijuana industry is gonna go, Like there's so many ways that it can go, but yet you believe that, hey, this might work for me, So this is something I want to be in. Do you want to be the crypto? I see the n f T s all of these things, like are you prepared to learn the industry and park

your money and maybe lose? I feel like that's why I don't get it. I don't get While we as people have no problem putting our money into something that ain't gonna make no money. We'll spend fifteen thousand, We'll spend two or three thousand on some jeans, a new jacket, We'll spend five thousand on the purse, all types of things, and have no problem just losing that money. But when we talk about investing some money that could quadruple, that

could triple, we we have to think about it. We don't have to think about spending our money into our ten thousand on the bag we want. We don't have to think about putting fifty thou on the call we want. We don't have to think about putting on the chain we want. But talk about investing that money into something that could possibly turn into five and six times what it was. We gotta sit there and be like, damn, I'm scared to lose my money, but you lose it

when you watch it. That ain't gonna come back anyway. But I have an answer for that. I don't know if that's true. I don't know if that's true. Number one, I don't know who's buying two thousand dollar genes, but I know I have none of them, and hopefully you want. They talked about how the genes course two thas because those are Mary's like this this expensive stuff. So I

guess you're right. I think that the thing is that you have a product in your hand, right, So people, you know, I'll say what you want, like, oh, Tunique the Mallory, you know she has expensive bags. Yeah, I do, and I worked freaking hard to be able to have whatever it is that I want. And so for me, well, first of all, my perkins and everything that I had that's related in the Ers family. The resell value is crazy. I'm not reselling it, of course I'm not. I'm keeping

them for the rest of my life. But not everything depreciates, So don't that's not it's not true that everything depreciates. I bought a bag and resell value is more than what you paid. WHOA, I bought a bag that was X amount of dollars. Not you, not you. I went back and looked at like what people are selling them for, because you know, there's sights out there where you can post your stuff, and people do that with watches. People hold onto things and when they're in trouble, they might

go sell their stuff. Guess what four times the amount, four times the amount. Now that's today. There may come a time when there's racism in the store, or there is you know, some other issue animal um, you know, cruelty, or you find out where the stuff is being made in a factory. There are different things politically and morally that can get in the brands way, and at that point it hurts the brand's image and therefore people don't

want it and they've moved on to something else. Right. Uh, what's that liquor that we were talking about that the other day, that j Crystal. They still can't get people to really put it back in the rotation of the clubs and what have you. And we see as Spades is a thing right, Jay said, to hell with Crystal, and then here we are, so that can happen to the brand. And so your quote unquote investment might not be as um as uh valuable as it could have

been at one time. But if I sold my Birkins right now, I could make X amount of dollars that is way more. So I'm only bringing that point up because that's one Yeah. No, I'm just bringing that up because that's one aspect. That's one aspect. Doesn't mean still that we should do more shopping in stores than we

do investing, And I totally agree with you. So I just want to make sure I say that because I don't want anybody to get the impression that I'm talking about bags being more important than investments, because I ain't even that's not even a question. And I'm certainly in my life I have enough stuff that I've accumulated enough that I don't need another thing. So we're not talking out that. But what I will say is that people

want something in their hand for their money. So when they go to the store and their shirt is a hundred dollars, two hundred dollars, two thousand dollars, they're going home with that shirt. The shirt might not be good in two months, three months, or whatever. All of those things. I get it, But they have the shirt in their hand at the time for the money they spent with certain investments. You said, your point is it could do this,

that and the third it could. And I think for some people it's the thought that I'm like, I could take this two thousand dollars and go on a vacation and have my memories and my experience. Or I could go online and transfer two thousand dollars to Robin Hood and stashing all of these websites and then some ship that happens in the atmosphere I don't even know about.

Other people are manipulating numbers and this and that out in the world, and the next thing, you know, the two thousand dollars that I had turns into zero dollars. You know, I hear what you're saying. But for for the most part, most products depreciate. Of course they do. But I'm just saying, I still have the thing. Even if you have it, you know you have for you probably have or and a lot of people probably have things that they've spent ten and fifteen thousand dollars on

that they don't wear it all. It's probably completely out of style. You like, I would never wear it again, but never out of style, out of rotation, okay, is out of rotation. It's probably you probably don't even like it no more. You know. It's things like that. But we have I'm just saying that we have this block investing and it's a mind state that you know, I don't want to put my money because you know, what if I lose my money? What if you know, I'm

not sure about this? And we don't we don't really have the same fear of just spending our money that its objects and and you know, and items. I know I and I agree with you a thousand percent that we spend frivolous money on frivolous things that can't do anything for us in terms of the larger goals that we have in life. And I have learned my lesson

about that. I agree with shakira Um and what she said that you know, our relationship with money can be based upon what we didn't learn, what we didn't know, and it's and and and and it's not personal. My parents didn't know, right, They didn't know they had little check book and they put their information, you know, they put their information in the lined up how much they spent. But it doesn't mean that they realize rather than getting a co op, which I really don't don't necessarily own,

I should go ahead and buy this house. Right. My mom was like, I want to buy this house. I want to buy this house. But my father was like, we don't need to do that because he's the type of person that his relationship with money is the same. He want to make sure any emergency he good. You know, my father is the man, he gonna be good. He's gonna say if you call him right now and say, Daddy, I'm in trouble, he might not have five hundred thousand

to get you out with ship. He might I don't know, you know what I'm saying, but but but that might not I'm not talking about at that level. But certainly he can pretty much get his family members out of any situation that they're in, his children, his grandchildren, because he always keep keeps his money situated to be able to do that. There are other people that toss it all to the wall and then they and then they end up having even more. You know what I'm saying,

but some people lose. So it is a very touch and gold situation. And the point that she made is so important about that risk being able to decide what is my risk level? How much can I lose? And I think it's in comparison mice too. Or it goes

along with what Precious is talking about. The trauma that we had set the tone for for so many things, the way in which we move and operate every single day, and a part of why we are we're why I am unwilling to just invest in certain ideas and certain things that I don't know or understand enough about is because I do want to control the things around me

and have safety. She says, safety and security, and that's what it makes me feel unsafe to just put my money in the world and hope it works out well. We gotta, I think we just we have to start enhancing and building our mentality, especially when it comes to money.

Just I noticed in the black community a lot of us do get it, but there's a lot of us that just are still more consumer base then you know, then then invest s ment based and you know, and I think that mindset, that's what we have to flip and get more in investment in saying like she said, I'm not gonna buy this broken bag. I'm gonna let this real estate that I brought and let these you know, the ri that they pay me for it by the bags. And when we start thinking like that, we started thinking

three steps ahead. I think it's gonna you know, it's gonna point paying out a lot better for us acts. And with that said, another dope episode. Shout out to both our guests who had a lot, a lot to offer us. I need me somebody to get in my brain and I definitely need me a couple of few more dollars. Man. So thanks Precious and Shaquira for coming on our show. We're not gonna always be right to me. It's not gonna always be wrong. We both always and

I mean always be authentic. Thank you for tuning in to the number one show in the world, Street Politician Number one our heart, but take us the number one on the chart, baby, Download, subscribe, subscribe, click, click, click and share with your friends. Listen to Street Politicians on the Black Effect Network on I Heart Radio and catch us every single Wednesday for the video version of Street Politicians on I Women dot tv,