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Transcript

For the Record - Chasing Freedom: · TMI

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, everybody and your boy my son in general, and
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: I'm Tamika D. Mallory and this is a little deviation
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: for him our regular format and our regular programming, but
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: we thought it was necessary to address some online accusations
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: that followed Tamika's Grammy performance, which was excellent, phenomenal, I think,
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: you know, so we wanted to come out and address
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: these issues. A lot of people have been asking for statements,
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: and you know, we just won't oblige. From my perspective,
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: I want to make sure that as a mother that
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: I speak directly to Miss Rice, and and also just
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: so that folks know I have reached out through some
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: other individuals. I don't have a direct contact for Ms Rice,
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: but I have reached out and let some other folks
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: know that if she wants to speak with me, I'm
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: a veil to do so. Unfortunately, the world we live in, UM,
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: everything hits social media uh so quickly, and it doesn't
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: give us an opportunity all the time to have direct conversations. UM.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: And I've I have seen a lot of you who
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: have been asking me to do what I always do,
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: which is to be authentic and to come to you all. UM,
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: and and talk about some of what you have heard. UM.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: You know, I want to just make sure that we
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: start off grounded and the fact that nothing UM we
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: say today is an attack against UM miss Rice. UM.
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: I want to make sure that that is stated from
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: the very very beginning. Quite frankly, ms Rice is right. UM.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: I support one hundred percent how she feels UH and
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: what she has stated in terms of her pain UM
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: related to her son. Right. And in fact, UM, I
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: think and I was gonna say to you, Mi set,
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: I feel like we all have failed her. You know,
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: I was thinking a lot about this coming here today.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: We all have failed her UM as a nation. I
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: think that whenever a child or any person, but particularly
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: a child is killed, UM, we should this nation should
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: have erupted. And the fact that UM she did not
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: get the proper justice for her son would make anyone angry.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: And so I totally understand and respect the trauma and
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: pain that she feels as a mother. UM. The second
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: point is that I think for far too long, the
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: issue of divisiveness has been used in every single movement
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: and it has actually destroyed movements. And UM, I don't
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: participate in it. If you know anything about me, and
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: you guys get to see me up close and personal.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: We're on lives, we go into communities, we work with
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: people directly, we're on the ground. Uh, and so you
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: have an opportunity to see me up close and personal.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: And the one thing that I try my best not
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: to do is to get caught up in the divisiveness
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: that I know can happen in this movement. So again,
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: if people are watching looking for some aha moment of
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: me uh speaking uh negatively about or to Miss Rice,
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: it's not gonna happen. UM. I will never ever allow
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: my organization, my team, UM and until Freedom, or myself
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: to be used as a tool in the master's box.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: I will never allow that. So UM, if that's what
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: you're looking for, you might as well turn away because
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: it's not going to happen. I will, however, say that
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: I think it's important to clarify the questions around whether
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: or not we have used Miss Rice's child, her baby
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: UM in campaigns or in speeches or fundraising or any
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: of those types of efforts. We have not UM my speeches,
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: my son's speeches, and the work that we do it's
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: very very public. Um. You all can go back and
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: and look through speeches, look through my page. I encourage
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: you to do so. UM. Other than potentially calling the
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: role of all the people UM that that we can
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: think about at any particular time who have been killed
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: by the state, I have been very very careful, have
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: always been careful not to speak about cases or individuals
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: that I have not worked directly with the families. And
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: in particular, in this situation which Ms Rice has already said,
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: we've never even met UM. If we have, UM, it
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: has been something like maybe at a conference, I may
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: have been introduced, or we may have seen each other
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: in that way, but we've never actually sat down, had
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: a phone conversation or met in any way. And so
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: there for I would never be so disrespectful as to
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: speak about her child or to have a campaign that
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: addresses her child or that uses her child's name to
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: uplift any cause UM. And so I think that's really
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: really UM important to state UM. I you know, to
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: to that end, I guess UM. Miss Rice has said
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: that she does not want she wants me to you know,
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: not speak of her child UM. And while I may
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: not have been doing it in the past, I will
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: be very very very careful going forward to ensure that
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: I respect her wishes. I think we both can say that,
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: you know, we will be very careful to respect her wishes,
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: even if we feel that we're using all the names
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: in order to make a bigger point, we will be very,
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: very very careful not to disrespect her wishes. Now, although
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: what Miss Rice has said, UM calling me out my
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: name and speaking to me, speaking about me without knowing me,
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: has absolutely hurt. It definitely hurt me. But again I
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: understand and because of the fact that I do this work,
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: that we do this work from a very very very
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: sincere and authentic place. I may not have lost the child,
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: but I did lose the child my child's father, and
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: it wasn't a police brutality. But I understand lost and
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: I also want to and I fight every single day
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: to ensure that I don't have to experience what so
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: many mothers of young black men have experienced, and so
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: I do come from a personal perspective. Although I have
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: not lost the child, and because I understand that pain
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: and trauma working with families for so many years, I
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: would like to tell miss Rice today UM that I
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: am available to be supportive if necessary. I'm here for
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: or phone calls. I'm here to have any types of
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: conversations with any family, UM that would like to reach
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: out and talk about the death of their their child
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: or some tragic situation that has happened to them. Um,
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: We're just one small group, right. There are many organizations
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: doing work, doing great work, but until freedom is one group,
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: we can't help every family. We wish we could, but
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: we don't have the resources to help every family. UM.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: And there certainly are our situations that have been heartbreaking
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: that have kept us up at night that we have
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: not been able to get involved with. But again, just
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: to reiterate, under no circumstances would we ever be so
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: disrespectful as to use the name of a person, child,
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: or otherwise that we have not met, work with, and
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: talked with their family, and have not been directly asked
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: to uplift their's name or their family member's name while
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: we are out doing our work. UM. I don't know
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: if you want to have a response to because I
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: have some other things on. Yeah, pretty much, you know. Yes,
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: so miss Rice lost her son. I remember it was
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: a year and I just entered into the space of activism,
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: you know, and and I remember hitting the world hard,
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: and I was I wanted to see justice family, you know,
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: so I understand how she must feel as being his mother,
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: you know, so her sentiments are felt just from just
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: being a human being. You know. When I heard her sentence,
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: I didn't take it personal, you know. But what I
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: what I did take person who was the attacks of
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: the media, of people that I've known for years, of
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: people that have been around us for years, of people
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: who had direct contact to us, who've seen the work
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: that we've done. I did personalize those things. I never
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: thought about miss Rice in anyway. The work that we've done,
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: I've when I've done for the last eight years and
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: you've done for twenty five years, has spoke spoken for itself.
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: You know. There has been this quote unquote fake activism,
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: you know, and I asked, what is real activism? You know,
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: if going out standing by families who have asked you
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: to stand with them, uplifting the voices of the people
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: who have lost their lives, standing in communities and taking
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: guns out of hands of kids who are killing each other,
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: you know, going in communities, starting programs and organizing in
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: different communities to bring peace, treaties If that's not real activism,
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: then what is real activism? You know, when I looked
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: at the media, I was disgusted because they highlighted the
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: trauma and pain of a woman who lost her child,
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: but they didn't highlight when she was telling them to
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: get justice for her child. None of these many of
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: them did not. They didn't post any of the post
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: when she was saying, we want justice for a child,
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: But they decided to post as she put poured pain
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: and trauma and talked about her her opinions because we're
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: all a tied to our opinions. Her opinion of me,
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: her opinion of you is is valid for her, but
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: you can't. You can have your own opinions. But people
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: don't get it. They don't get the opportunity or the
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: right to make those opinions. Facts like she said, we
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: have never I would never, as a man of principle
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: and integrity, I would never utilize the name of anyone,
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: not just a person who's lost their life, but of
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: anyone that I didn't have any connection to, a prior
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: commitment from, to raise any money or to catapult myself
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: in any manner. You know, I lived my life on
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: the level of integrity, and those things actually bothered me,
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: you know, and they were coming from people that I
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: actually knew, who have been attacking us for way before that,
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: and they utilized this moment. You know, I want to say,
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: I want to say this about you, you know, I
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: want to say that we were proud to see you
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: on the Grammy stage, you know, not for the glitz
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: and glamor, but the fact that you were up there
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: talk in truth to power. You called out the president
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: and demanded that he gives black people equity and justice
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: in this world. And if we don't utilize those platforms,
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: if we don't utilize every platform, we can't keep screaming
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: from our you know, our soapbox about what we need.
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: We can't keep going to the same communities that are
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: impoverished and telling them that we need something to change.
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: We have to be able to speak to eighty million
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: and ten million people. I'm going to advocate every time
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: I can, on every platform, that we stop police brutality,
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: that we stop mass incarceration, that we stopped um gun
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: violence in our communities, every opportunity, and I don't care
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: what how people think about that. You know, people they
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: asked you to go to the Grammys because you have
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: made one of the biggest speeches of this error. They
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: wanted somebody to deliver a message, and you have made
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: one of the biggest speeches of this err and you
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: do not have to apologize for that. You do not
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: have to apologize because you have done the work for
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: twenty five years. You have done the work, and you
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: don't have to be sad. You shouldn't be attacked because
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: you have done work that has put you in a
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: position to be able to speak in terms of people
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: saying that we are using the names of children or
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: that we're cloud chasing, as they say. I wanted to
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: be clear that if anyone, especially when you talk about
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: the media, when you say, well, you know, these folks
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: have not necessarily been there to support um miss Rice's
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: family and the ways in which they should, it's important
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: to also challenge the media to do real work and
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: real because we put stories out into the world without
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: actually doing the research. If you actually talk to families
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: that I have worked with for twenty five years and
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: that we have been working with since my son, Linda
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: Angelo and I UM came together to form Until Freedom,
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: you will not here. And I am a hundred percent
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: sure of that that you will not hear UH sentiments
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: like we are cloud chasing and we use their children.
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: You will not hear that. Um. Many of those families
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: have reached out to me over the last few days
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: to check in and to to offer their support. So
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: when you think of folks like Trayvon Martin, Um, you
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: think of Shakisha Clemens, you think of Joe Guzman and
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: Sean bell Um, you think of Brianna Taylor. Of course
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: you think of the family of Ramarley Graham, Uh, Sandra
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: bland Um, Jordan Davis. These are individuals that I have
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: actually worked very closely with and that our organization has
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: been supportive of, especially in the case of Brianna Taylor,
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: and of course George Floyd's family. These individuals, if you
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: actually do your work as a journalist and you speak
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: with them to find out what or to ask them
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: about our character and our work ethic, I can promise
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: you that all of the individuals that I just name
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: our people who will tell you that we still stay
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: in contact. I'm thinking about Christopher Lloyd Morgan Jr. Who
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: was a four year old child that I helped to
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: bury some years ago. We still speak to these families
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: on a regular basis. We still are very much so
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: a part of their families, and we work together. We
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: invite them to come out and and and be a
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: part of activities that we're doing. We work with these
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: individuals and try to support them all the way through
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: and guess what, they support us as well. So it's
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: important for people who are looking for uh ways to
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: just jump in on the attacks that you do some real,
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: real homework. I wrote down some points because I wanted
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: to make sure to keep it um, you know, really
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: tight and shut. There's several misconceptions that I think need
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: to be stated on the record today. Number One, my
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: activism did not start with the Women's March. It did
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: not start with the Women's March. The Women's March did
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: not make me. The people who worked together to gather
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: five million people around the world we made the Women's March.
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: The Women's March did not make me. Now, it is
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: true that in the last five years the media has
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: begun to pay attention to my work on a larger
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: scale because we organized five million people. But if you
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: again do your research and you check your facts, you
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: will find that I have been an activist since I
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: was fourteen years old, and that my parents actually started
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: me in the movement as a young young child, very
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: very small child, because the two of them have been
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: activists all my life. I was born into this work.
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: I did not jump up one day as a hashtag
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: person who just decided to run to the movement, which
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: is okay, I'm not taking away anything from anyone who
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: did do that. I'm just talking about my story. Okay.
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: I have not been a hashtag organizer. I have been
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: doing this work since I was a very very young girl,
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: and my parents again helped to get me started in
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: the work. Can say something please, you know, And she's
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: not a hashtag organizer. I started this work after I
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: came home from prison after being incarcerated for seven years
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: for a crime I didn't commit. I decided to understand.
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: I decided to change my focus, you know, being a
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: hip hop artist. A lot of people know me from
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: hip hop, and there's been a lot of questions, Oh,
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: is this some type of skin You're just trying to
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: get some money. You know, he's a failed rapper, so
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: now he moved into activism. Listen, rapping and hip hop
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: is my passion. But I realized that activism was my
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: purpose when I sat in those sales with these young
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: boys that kept coming in and revolving door, and a
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: let of them didn't even understand why they was coming
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: to jail after the streets had lied to them, had
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: that they've been sold dreams and thought coming to jail
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: with some type of badger honor. And they listened to me,
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: and O G sat me down and talked to me.
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: I realized I had a different purpose. So I came
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: home with a different purpose. And you know, and by
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: the grace of God, I got in tune with Tamika
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: and the likes of the Gathering for Justice in which
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: they brought me in and wet. I started out in
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: detention centers and I started talking to young boys and
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: telling them how to utilize music as an alternative to violence.
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: This was a process for me. You know, so a
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: lot of people I get that you questioned that you
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: don't know you know my song from the street. You've
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: seen me in the streets. You know I was a
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: hip hop artist, So I don't I don't have any
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: problem with the skepticism, but I want you to understand
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: that for the last eight years. My record has been stellar.
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: I've been on the front lines of this movement. I've
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: been taking guns out of hands. I've been side by
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: side with families. I've cried with families. I've been on
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: the front line. I've been to jails, I've organized, and
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: I've mobilized, and I've been doing this work. So to
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: keep questioning whether it's authentic, that's something that you got
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: to deal with yourself. I would not apologize for doing
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: work and being recognized. I would not apologize for being
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: unapologetic and standing on the front line. Absolutely, I'm you
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: shouldn't apologize. None of us should. In fact, all of
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: us should be. But the problem is people want to
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: see you. They want to see you unsuccessful. I've seen
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: a video where Brothers said, Yo, you've got a dorman
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: in your building. So I'm not supposed to have a dorman.
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: I had a domain in my building before I started
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: doing activism. But you want to make it seem like
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: we're taking money from somebody. People hate to see that
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: you have some level of success. I say all the time,
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: I don't want donations. People who invest in our organizations
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: or investments because they see the work that we're doing.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: I don't want you to think that you're pitying us
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: or we're not grifters. This quote unquote world a grifter?
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: What the hell is after I'm going to point number
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: two because we have to wrap this up and get
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: into our regular show. Um. The And I've said it already,
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: but I think this is very, very very important, and
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: this is a it's a sensitive topic for a lot
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: of people. Our organization. We say this every other week, um,
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: but sometimes people seem to miss it. And maybe today,
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: now that most folks are listening, they can actually hear
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: and understand. Our organization is called Until Freedom, Until Freedom.
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: Our organization is called Until Freedom. We are not part
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: of the Black Lives Matter organization all we are not
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: part of the Black Lives Matter organization. We all believe
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: that black lives matter. And you probably have heard all
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: of us saying black lives matter. Um. I think that
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: is a statement, a mantra that is really held from
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: the highest part of the land, and a beautiful It's
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: beautiful that three sisters came up with such an important
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: way to frame our movement. But there is a such
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: thing as the Black Lives Matter organization, and we at
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: until Freedom. Are not part of it. We are not
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: engaged in the finances of Black Lives Matter, we are
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: not on the board, We're not a part of the administration.
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: We are not funded by Black Lives Matter UM, we
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: are not in any way affiliated with the business of
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: Black Lives Matter. Now I personally know the founders UM,
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: and I also know very well Patrice Colors, who is
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: the current UM leader of Black Lives Matter, and I
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: love them all. So this is not about trying to
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: separate ourselves in any way UM in a disrespectful way.
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: But it is important to have clarity about who we
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: are and where UH and and where we operate from
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: and what our organization does. It's very very important because
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: once we start to gather and loop and put everyone
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: together UM, we lose the clarity among who is actually
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: in which positions and what folks are actually doing. The
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: next point is that you know that I've heard this comment,
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: and I can tell that a lot of people don't
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: necessarily understand the highway, if you will, of activism and
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: and and of the movement right and UM and the
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: fact that there are actual lanes that people are in,
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: things that folks specialize in. Until Freedom's job on this highway,
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: our lane is to motivate, mobilize and educate people on issues,
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: on cases and things that's happening UM in the movement space, right,
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: that's our job. So we create a climate by keeping
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: the streets hot, by organizing people, by training people. That
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: really allows our friends and and and associates and other
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: people that we work with who do policy work. It
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: gives them the fuel that they need to go get
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: laws passed. Right, and so we've been involved in a
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: number of those things in New York. UM. We have
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: helped to change UM the issue of of unarmed individuals
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: being killed by police or being shot by police too.
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: Instead of it being an issue that is handled by
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: the same prosecutors who work with police all the time,
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: we have been able to push for legislation that was
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: actually passed where there is now a special prosecutor. We
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: also have been a part of efforts to UM raise
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: and to to secure from the City of New York
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: forty million dollars and it's now more than forty million
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: dollars for anti violence programs. And again that is from
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: the mobilizing efforts. Now I'm not a politic, but I'm
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: extremely politically savvy and so therefore you will see us
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: at times moving in and out of spaces. But in
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: terms of our day to day work, our job is mobilization.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: That's what we do. We train people and we do mobilization.
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: We also are very much so involved in getting Brianna's
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: Law passed across the country in different cities, which is
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: a band or no knock warrants. It's being led locally
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: in Kentucky by Representative Attica Scott and also Katura Haran,
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: who was an organizer on the ground until Freedom helps
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: to create an environment where the two of them and
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: others are able to go into the halls of the
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: legislature and get the actual policy um in place. I
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: have seen people on my page and people who have
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: text and called who really are concerned. They're really trying
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: to understand one because they want the language that they
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: can use to talk to family members, friends and others,
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: naysayers because they believe in us. And so that is
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: why we sat down today to be able to discuss
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: and dispel some of these things that are being stated
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: that just sort of catch like wildfire without people actually
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: doing real work and real research. And we do feel
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: that we have to and we should be transparent and
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: accountable to the community. We do ask for your investments.
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: But I will say this to get to your other point,
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: and I'm done after that. I will say this just
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: to get to the last point. In terms of the Grammys,
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: I don't owe anyone an explanation for why I was
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: invited to the Grammys because for twenty five years of
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: my life I have worked, and for twenty of those
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: years I was you know, I was basically working for
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: other individuals and being sort of behind the scenes. Uh,
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: the fact that I made it to the Grammy stage
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: or was invited to be. I didn't call the Grammys.
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: I didn't call a little baby who I appreciate, she
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: ate so much for including me in and for Tima
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: Robinson and Jesse Collins and others. I did not call them.
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: They called me, and they called me because for twenty
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: five years of my life I have been on the
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: ground doing the work of UM in communities and they
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: know that, and that's why I was invited there. I've
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: heard people say that somehow I'm canceled. You cannot cancel
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: what God has called. And the reason why I know
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: I have been called is because there have been so
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: many attempts to destroy me, to discredit my work, and
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: to try to move me out of the way. And
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: I'll be honest with you that when situations like this happened,
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: I don't always feel like getting up and getting back
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: in the fight. But every single time that I begin
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: to feel weary, God comes and instills in me and
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: puts in me and motivates me to get back in
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: the fight. We all get tired, sometimes, we all get
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: beat down sometime. But every single time that I think,
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: you know what, that's an I can't do it anymore.
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: I need I'm pretty smart, I could go work anywhere,
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: But for whatever reason, God continues to elevate me and
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: to put me in position within the work that I
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: am currently doing. And I know again that I have
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: been chosen to do this work and that I have
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: no choice but to do this work because every single time,
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: every single time that the naysay is get together and
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: that people try to take me out, instead of me
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: actually being buried, I continue to grow. And I just
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: want to say to all of you, those of you
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: who are saying that I need to stop and I
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: need to move out the way, and I need to
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: do all these things. Growth is exactly what I intend
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: to do. I'm not going backwards. I'm going forward, and
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: every single opportunity that I believe in that God puts
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: before me, I'm going to take it. And I'm going
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: to bring the voices of those who have asked me,
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: the people who I do represent, as well as my
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: own family, my own struggle, my own desire to save
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: my child and to save his children. I'm going to
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: bring that message to any place that I believe is
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: deemed a space where we can expand the awareness for
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: the issues that we're fighting against. So that for me,
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: is really the statement that the bottom line is you
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: cannot cancel what God has called. And I know that
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: I have been called to do this work. That's I mean,
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: that's gospel, you know, And I just I just want
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: to end it by saying this. You know, when you
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: come from where I come from, they make you believe
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: that you can't grow, you know, and they want to
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: continue to pull you down. A lot of people call
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: it crabs in the battle, you know, And I say,
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: I used to say it was the crab out the
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: battle mentality because a lot of these people feel that
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: when you get out, you're not coming back to get them,
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: so they're not happy for you to leave. But what
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: what happens when somebody who's actually getting out and they're
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: coming back to help, they still want to pull you back.
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: And don't let these people believe that you can't evolve,
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: that you can't grow, that you got to be a
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: street dude your whole life, that you can't see things
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: and you can't evolve your mind state, and you can't
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: speak for our people, that you can't fight alongside me
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: in this fight. Don't let these people feel that you're
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: not supposed to be successful. They question your success because
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: you're not doing negativity. But when you're doing positivity, I mean,
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: when you're doing negativity, they're happy to see you success.
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: They're not mad. When they hear rappers talking about killing
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: and drug dealing, they don't ask them why they got money.
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: They don't ask them why you got a house or
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: why you got a call. But when you're talking about
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: positivity and you're talking about uplifting your people, you're a
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: fake activist. You know the mind state we have to change,
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: And don't let these people make you believe any such thing.
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: You are supposed to grow, you are supposed to evolve,
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: You're supposed to come from the bottom and go to
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: the top. So don't let anybody hold you back, young King,
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: because I'm not letting them hold me back. Well that's that,
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: on that on period as my sister Leslie Redmus, and
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: though we owned it,