Latest / D-constructing Topics / D-Constructing & Unfiltered: W/Niecy on Identity, Education, and the Halo Effect

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D-Constructing & Unfiltered: W/Niecy on Identity, Education, and the Halo Effect · D-constructing Topics

• 0:38
  What's going on, everybody? And what's going on, folks? My name is David,
• 0:42
  and I'm your legendary host of this legendary name, this legendary podcast.
• 0:47
  Once again, my name is David, and these stand for Deconstructing.
• 0:50
  And today, we've got an interesting one.
• 0:52
  I've got a guest here next to me, Nisi.
• 0:55
  Welcome to my show, The Deconstructing Topic Podcast. And let me tell you something.
• 0:59
  My motto has always been that thing, saving a mind, saving a life.
• 1:03
  You look like you're about to save a mind in a live talk to me.
• 1:05
  What's going on? What's the name of your podcast.
• 1:08
  The name of my podcast is Nisi's Real Talk Unfiltered.
• 1:13
  So kind of taking a different approach on some topics, you know,
• 1:18
  world events and whatnot.
• 1:19
  Oh, yeah. I just, you know, it's interesting. I just finished doing something about ice.
• 1:23
  So I want people to kind of like understand, hey, listen, I like to trust all
• 1:27
  those bonds because, listen, I'm independent as independent.
• 1:31
  And sadly, people be like, well, how do you know, you know, what's going on?
• 1:35
  How do you know what to trust right you know
• 1:38
  so it's one of those things then and what made you
• 1:40
  want to like start doing the podcast thing i really know because
• 1:43
  i'm like i just tell people you know what i think
• 1:46
  i was born to do a podcast you know possibly yeah i'm very opinionated but on
• 1:52
  the same token you know slightly conservative but i'm breaking out of my shell
• 1:57
  so in doing so just really i think that the way of the world currently is is
• 2:02
  making people sort of break out of their shell and, you know,
• 2:05
  be a little bit more vocal, get out there and, you know,
• 2:08
  not only pursue things, but let your opinion be known. Right.
• 2:12
  Absolutely. Because one of those things that I tell people, you got to think
• 2:15
  independent. And if one thing in this,
• 2:18
  earth that we live in in a beautiful world. There's many countries that have
• 2:21
  coins. And if you look at a coin, what is it? Two flips, two sides.
• 2:24
  You know, it's not never the same.
• 2:26
  So that's why I also personally started this little podcast going on.
• 2:31
  So I could be like, you know what? I got you.
• 2:33
  Unplug yourself, whatever it is, tune into this. Look, and I got some people
• 2:37
  listening to my podcast and they'd be like on the car.
• 2:40
  And I'm like, yo, hey, listen, I love it. But you know what?
• 2:44
  You want to listen to every letter or every word that I said.
• 2:49
  So, you know, talk to me. Talk to me about your background.
• 2:52
  Let me know what's going on, how you got from point A to point B.
• 2:56
  Well, I'm one of those tricky T words and that's transplant.
• 3:00
  So transplant, I don't know.
• 3:06
  Sometimes I guess it's looked upon as like a slightly negative thing because,
• 3:10
  you know, people come here and don't know, you know. So how to conduct themselves necessarily.
• 3:15
  But, you know, I came here from the DMV area, you know, military brat,
• 3:20
  completely humbled by my experience here. I will say that.
• 3:25
  But, you know, made my way to New York. I work in psychology and as a community
• 3:30
  outreach coordinator and completely love what I do. I love I love working with children.
• 3:35
  But nonetheless, made my way here and just trying to break into this podcasting
• 3:40
  thing a little bit. and really show a side of myself that I haven't shown before. So in the sense that.
• 3:48
  You know, unfiltered. Nisi has never really been unfiltered,
• 3:52
  maybe around friends, but, you know. Right.
• 3:55
  Now, you know what's crazy? I tell people this. I was not born in this country.
• 3:58
  I came here illegally via Puerto Rico. But no, that's an inside joke.
• 4:02
  I'm Puerto Rican. I'm supposed to be a citizen, right?
• 4:04
  But the interesting is this.
• 4:07
  For some reason, I gravitated to geography.
• 4:10
  And when I was in school in the third grade or whatever, when I came here,
• 4:14
  I actually knew about more capitals and places than the kids that were born
• 4:19
  here. And I reason to say that.
• 4:21
  Can you please let us know what's the DMV and what are those states?
• 4:24
  Because some people would be like, she was born in motor vehicles. What?
• 4:27
  Yeah, exactly. And I do get that here. They're like department motor vehicles.
• 4:32
  DC, Maryland, and Virginia. And for the real ones, there's certain points of
• 4:39
  Virginia, certain points of Maryland.
• 4:41
  And if you go beyond that, you are not a DMV-er.
• 4:45
  I am tried and true. born at Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital. Oh, my goodness.
• 4:50
  Let's go. So I am a D.C. native, if you will.
• 4:55
  But, yeah, DMV, that is what it is.
• 4:59
  Right. No, I got you because I'm, you know, I'm Puerto Rican,
• 5:01
  born in Puerto Rico. So I came in here with that little action.
• 5:05
  And now I'm 30 years doing labor and I deal with members from D.C.
• 5:09
  And people in D.C. are a little different because when they are asking questions,
• 5:13
  Now, I deal with contract and job-related issues, but when they'd be like,
• 5:18
  can you help me with my insurance? And I'm like, huh?
• 5:21
  What are you talking about? I'm coming here to fight, follow insurance.
• 5:26
  I mean, are you being a grievance?
• 5:28
  And insurance, you know, insurance, but they say assurance. Am I saying it? Am I somewhere there?
• 5:35
  You're a little bit of there. Yeah, you see. Everything. Right.
• 5:38
  Listen, I think I've spoken to many of my D.C. members. I got love for my DC
• 5:43
  members out there, the VA.
• 5:46
  Guys, beautiful people. I'm just trying to understand. Insurance,
• 5:49
  assurance. I still don't get it, but that's fine. But you know what?
• 5:53
  Before the show started, we was having a conversation about school.
• 5:56
  I went to the public school system here because I always felt that the school,
• 6:01
  especially the public school system, here in New York City, we have what we call it.
• 6:05
  For those folks out there, I think it might change. where you,
• 6:09
  in order to get a high school diploma, not only you have to have a GPA of 65,
• 6:13
  but you have to pass the regents and you have to pass what they call the RCT.
• 6:17
  I'll be honest, I kind of forgot what the RCT stands for, but I'm just saying
• 6:21
  something, the T stands for the test.
• 6:23
  That's for sure. But it was one of those tests. Now, the regents being the one,
• 6:28
  that was a little bit of the harder.
• 6:29
  And then if you wanted to go to college, the SAT.
• 6:33
  Sadly, many of the people in the hood, especially so-called minorities,
• 6:37
  whatever it is, We were talking about the Black Hispanic community and so on.
• 6:42
  We were a little behind because there were some words that you'd be like, eh, what does that mean?
• 6:47
  And we were talking about that. You was dealing with that. Talk to me.
• 6:50
  And by the way, what's your background?
• 6:53
  Community Outreach Coordinator for a psychology practice. That sounds good.
• 6:58
  One of the things that...
• 7:01
  Rings true and highly that I work hard for is to provide accessibility for those
• 7:07
  who, you know, may be disenfranchised and don't have access to adequate testing.
• 7:11
  You know, you hear a lot about ADHD, ADD, spectrum disorders, things of that nature.
• 7:17
  Now, while I am not a clinician, you know, reaching out in the community and
• 7:21
  dealing with the schools directly,
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  you know, helping to provide support to parents, to administrators that are
• 7:29
  seeking to find resources for the kids.
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  And that's particularly meaningful to me, you know, not only for every child, but, you know,
• 7:40
  communities that are disenfranchised, I want to see that access and that proper
• 7:45
  diagnosis before a stigma applies to that child and is carried with that child. Absolutely.
• 7:51
  No, I like that word disenfranchised because it is true. It does ring sometimes
• 7:55
  because I'm very emotional.
• 7:56
  I still stay to certain words, certain way of thinking.
• 8:00
  And I would say it's this. And I'm like an 80s, 90s baby.
• 8:03
  See that ADD, all that good stuff that you just mentioned?
• 8:07
  Sadly, even in the 90s, it was a new thing. And what happened when a child had
• 8:11
  ADD that did not stay still?
• 8:13
  They get that pop out. I say that all the time. And jokingly. And sadly.
• 8:18
  I'm just saying. Exactly. That's trauma, but I will say that,
• 8:23
  yeah, I think that parents were of the mindset that they're going to beat the ADHD out of you. Right.
• 8:29
  So. Right. And then, you know, I'm one to always set.
• 8:33
  And I observe because, you know, I grew up in the hood. I grew up in projects and so on.
• 8:39
  That sadly, you can have the smartest kid, but everything starts at home.
• 8:43
  And let's say you're in the housing projects. from you to go here, get that trauma.
• 8:50
  To go to school and the teacher, and I think that we had that discussion with
• 8:54
  some teachers kind of want to help you, but it's more like, especially,
• 8:58
  I cannot say white teachers, people that did not grow up in the hood.
• 9:01
  They'll look at you like they want to help you, but it was more like pity,
• 9:04
  petty, not petty, right? What am I saying? Pity.
• 9:06
  Pity. Yeah. It's like, oh, well, you know, because you, you know,
• 9:09
  you're upbringing and because you don't have the resources.
• 9:13
  And sometimes that makes us like, you know. Like your pet project.
• 9:18
  Right, right. So let me know what you think about that situation.
• 9:22
  Have you observed things like that? Because sadly, everything starts at home.
• 9:26
  No matter how small, like I said, no matter how small you are,
• 9:29
  if there's something going on at home...
• 9:32
  And in between is the streets, the hood. I think during that,
• 9:37
  and I think we're around the same age that, you know, when we were coming up
• 9:40
  that you were more of a pet project.
• 9:42
  I think that teachers by and large now try to be a little bit more relatable.
• 9:46
  I'm not saying that they all are, and I certainly can't account for that because
• 9:49
  I'm not within the school system.
• 9:51
  But I think that there are small steps that have been made, you know,
• 9:57
  towards that end. And, you know, you still have the teachers that'll,
• 10:01
  you know, stick a label on you. Right.
• 10:04
  But it's a double-edged sword. The education system is so jacked right now. It's just ridiculous.
• 10:10
  The DOE is looking ugly right now, too. Right, right. And I guess it goes back
• 10:14
  to sometimes in this country, and sadly, there's a lot of people that come from
• 10:19
  other countries who you might think, oh, but, you know, you're here in this country.
• 10:23
  But their education is more. They know about capitalists from globally.
• 10:27
  And if you look at the books, and you could tell that, you know,
• 10:31
  wait, listen, I always tell people, I love America, but America is like number
• 10:35
  one in propaganda, starting from school. I take it back. I'm not going to say school.
• 10:40
  I'm going to say public school because they have more control.
• 10:43
  You know, and it's one of those things that do I feel like they do dumb,
• 10:48
  I mean, dumb the kids in terms of the education?
• 10:52
  By on purpose, absolutely. You know, so I don't know if you have observed or
• 10:56
  you feel that way, that there's a lack, there's a purpose of lack of just to
• 11:01
  state people, not that, you know, make people think outside of the box or something to that effect.
• 11:07
  Yeah, there's a certain level of indoctrination that occurs.
• 11:10
  I also believe that there's a sick level of social promotion that occurs as well.
• 11:17
  You know, again, in the capacity in which I work, you know, we try to afford resources.
• 11:22
  And I've come across children where it's just been clear that how are you in
• 11:29
  the grade that you're in?
• 11:31
  Why are you writing in a manner that you're writing in? Why can't you form complete coherent sentences?
• 11:38
  What's really going on? You know what I mean? And why, yeah,
• 11:42
  why are you really in the grid?
• 11:43
  How did you, how'd you get to that? Like, who didn't hold you back?
• 11:46
  Yeah, yeah. I mean, I mean.
• 11:48
  In a good way. Right. And I could relate to that because, again,
• 11:52
  I've always said that me coming from Puerto Rico, I had a little advantage because
• 11:57
  I got to see things from the outside in.
• 12:00
  And if you are in, you won't see things from the inside out.
• 12:04
  You're just always going to see things in this little box and that's all you got.
• 12:07
  I always remember, I mean, the time of when I was in school,
• 12:11
  I was hanging out and going and I go, you know, have you gone to Times Square? I mean, look, I don't.
• 12:16
  I don't recommend Times Square to nobody. It's overwhelming.
• 12:19
  Yes. It's just too much. Too many people. Too many people.
• 12:23
  And yeah. Yeah. Over-stimulating. Right. Right. And it just,
• 12:26
  I don't know. It's all the local places.
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  But I always remember, I'm over here hanging out at Times Square. I'm like 16.
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  I go back in the hood in the projects. And it was me and my cousin.
• 12:37
  We go back. And we see these young kids in the corner.
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  And we tell them, hey, listen. We just went to Manhattan.
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  And they look at us like if we went to another country.
• 12:47
  But the real facts is that the thing is that, oh, kids, if you go outside of
• 12:52
  this gate, there's racism and all that. Now, again, there is.
• 12:57
  But how can you educate people and still give them a path to still be able to
• 13:03
  succeed to do things outside of just standing in the corner doing that thing?
• 13:08
  You got my boy Tyrone, Jose, you know, doing that thing.
• 13:12
  So I'm with you on that situation. So I take it that you like or you're into
• 13:17
  how the mind develops and how the mind works? I am. Okay.
• 13:21
  So undergrad was sociology, criminology, and I don't work for the man.
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  Right however however
• 13:31
  yeah i am curious about how the mind works you
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  know and why people do the things that they do and you
• 13:37
  know how how the environment can you know form or
• 13:40
  shape the way that that you know right that you go
• 13:43
  about you know your life so yeah i
• 13:47
  do find that interesting when it hits you like
• 13:50
  you want to do this like okay you know what i like this then you watch the show
• 13:53
  you know i was watching that show on netflix his and hers for those people who
• 13:57
  have not watched that show it's a crazy show now i bring it up because i don't
• 14:01
  want to spoil it but it does have to do with the money and how different people
• 14:05
  perceive what's his and what's.
• 14:09
  Hers you know so is there something that trigger you that you're like hey i
• 14:14
  want to do this do you remember anything,
• 14:17
  I mean, over the years, it's been different iterations of, you know,
• 14:21
  working in a capacity with people.
• 14:24
  Largely, it's been health care in the traditional sense. And then once I moved
• 14:28
  here, it kind of shifted towards psychology.
• 14:31
  And again, I'm not a clinician, but I've always been a people-oriented person.
• 14:35
  And I've always wondered why, you know, people think the way they do,
• 14:40
  why, you know, someone may, you know, behave in a certain manner.
• 14:43
  Like, what was the catalyst? Was it, you know, the environment that they grew
• 14:49
  up in? Was it, you know, a traumatic experience?
• 14:52
  What was it that shaped and molded you to become the person that you are?
• 14:56
  And that's crazy because early on, one of my episodes that I did on Deconstructing
• 15:00
  Topic podcast, oof, let's get it, was the halo effect.
• 15:04
  I'm not sure if you're familiar with the halo effect. Do explain.
• 15:06
  All right. So the halo effect, do you know what's a halo? I do.
• 15:09
  So what happens in this, and this is interesting, and this has been proven because
• 15:14
  I'm going I'm going to tell you what happens is that if someone, let's say good looking,
• 15:18
  if you tell them, if you look at the 1940s and 50s commercials,
• 15:23
  you had these good looking people smoking cigarettes.
• 15:26
  Now, cigarettes are not good, but because they're good looking people,
• 15:29
  you put a halo around their head as in everything they do is good.
• 15:34
  If it was somebody, I would like to say it's not, they just say to each his
• 15:39
  own, right? But sadly, in Hollywood, someone who's not attractive,
• 15:43
  if you put them to smoke cigarettes, I wouldn't smoke cigarettes.
• 15:46
  And that's what they call the devil's horn effect. So when you look at somebody
• 15:51
  that has that good look or whatever, you put a halo.
• 15:54
  Everything they do is good. Right. That's why there's a thing.
• 15:57
  It's an effect. There was a study...
• 15:59
  So you're familiar with politics. I am. Okay. John F. Kennedy.
• 16:03
  Yes. Debates Richard Nixon.
• 16:06
  My understanding. So it was the first presidential debate on TV.
• 16:10
  But prior to that, they did it on the radio.
• 16:14
  If you listen to the conversation now, nobody, because television was still
• 16:18
  norm, people didn't know how John F. Kennedy looked.
• 16:21
  John F. Kennedy looked handsome or more handsome than Richard Nixon.
• 16:25
  If you hear the debate, you will have said, ah, Richard Nixon might have won.
• 16:32
  When it goes to TV, because now John F. Kennedy, right, it switches.
• 16:37
  So it's something where, sadly, the powers that be, they tap into how the mind works to at the end.
• 16:45
  I always tell people, look, listen, I love this country. I have issues with
• 16:49
  capitalism, but guess what?
• 16:50
  They turn us into consumer. And how they start us?
• 16:54
  Mind. Right. So have you noticed anything like that?
• 16:58
  Let me ask you a question. If I tell you who's your favorite actress or actress,
• 17:01
  I'm pretty sure they're good looking, right?
• 17:03
  Wouldn't you be like, oh, wait a minute. Maybe it's because of their look.
• 17:06
  You know what I'm saying? Like Denzel Washington is a good looking guy. Yes. Great actor.
• 17:11
  So it's one of those things that I say, hey, listen, perhaps it's that.
• 17:14
  But I'm just saying sometimes, and maybe you don't need to give me an answer now.
• 17:19
  Just think about it. It makes sense, though, because Idris Elba can do no wrong.
• 17:23
  Right. So it's the halo effect. So we're making it happen. That's something
• 17:26
  that I want people to understand, how the mind works. We will be talking about this.
• 17:31
  Let's see. It's a pleasure. Thank you. Make it happen. So you already know we
• 17:34
  got the Deconstructed Topic Podcast.
• 17:36
  Hey, if you see somebody, no matter what, don't give them the hate or look.
• 17:42
  Just judge the person, how they are and not how they look. Let's make it happen.
• 17:46
  And I'm out of here. Peace.
• 17:48
  All right. And let us, let my peoples, let everybody know where they can see
• 17:52
  your podcast. Tiki's TV.
• 17:54
  All right. You already know, and me too. Let's make it happen.