Latest / TMI / "Learning How To Heal and Protect Our Communities."

Transcript

"Learning How To Heal and Protect Our Communities." · TMI

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: And we are your hosts of street politicians, the places
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: in the streets and politics me. So it is it
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: is like always something happening. First of all, the government,
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: it's gone wild. That's all I had in today's show.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: We're still sticking with the six episodes um the series
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: that we're doing on gun violence. So I'm not gonna
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: take up a lot of time talking about all the
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: other things that's happening. But people need to know that
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: our government is in crisis. We've been in crisis for
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: some time. You will will be in crisis, but we
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: certainly are in crisis now. We now have seen that
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: over the last weekend. Uh, there has been um a
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: lift if you will, on the band um or what
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: is it? I guess it's the moratorium is the right word,
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: the moratorium on evictions and people are out here like
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: you know, hell, folks had p p P and they
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: had this, and they had money and they should have paid. Okay,
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: you can say that, but at the same time, we
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: want the violence and the crime out of our communities.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: You can't have people out homeless who you expect to
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: live a certain way to live righteously, because folks are
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: gonna find a way to eat. Okay, they're gonna find
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: survival mechanisms. And so in the midst of a pandemic,
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: where we're they're saying that there is a surge in
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: uh COVID cases, that people are getting sick. The pandemic
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: is not over. We should not be in any way
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: removing people from their homes at this time. So I
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: believe in personal responsibility. Hell yeah, we believe in personal
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: responsibility because I paid my bills the whole pandemic, no
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: matter what I had to do. But at the end
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: of the day, there's a lot of people out there
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: that can't make that happen. And what you always say,
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: my is the there the exception, but not the room.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: And we understand what we're dealing with. The government knows
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: what's happening. You know, a lot of people in the
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: home from for months, you know, most a lot of
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: businesses have didn't return. You know, businesses didn't return. A
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: lot of people still haven't going back to work. A
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: lot of people are just traumatizing skinned to go to work.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: So we we have to you it take time to
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: undo a pandemic, to undo the just the the long
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: term effects of it. You know, the trauma that people
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: are then, so now on top of that, you're gonna
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: add rent back, you know, and talking about they need
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: to pay these bills, you know, after you suspended it,
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: like it's just like, this ain't the time to do it,
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: especially when, like you said, we were there's a resurgence
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: of COVID and a eighteen different strains and people just
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: didn't People are just starting to get back to normal,
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: you know. So you've got to give people some grades,
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: gotta give them some opportunities, you know, you got to
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: give them a little bit of time to get back
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: and to the blow before you start threatening them, tell
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: them they need to get out and being stret they
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: went on vacations, I'm like, yeah, and so the landlords, right,
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: So did some of the landlords. They took some of
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: the money that they received and didn't do with it
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: what they were supposed to do. Everybody is at fault.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, we all in
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: I thought, they said, we were all in this together.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: A little bit of vacation that somebody got that they
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: ain't been on vacation their whole life. They probably never
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: went to Toulon, in this place, in that place, and
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: can coom or whatever. They got a little check for
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: five thousand dollars and spent a little bit on a vacation.
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: The sneakers that their child has been asking them for
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: a little bit of summertime in the city, and we
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: seemed to be criminalizing and demon demonizing those individuals. Now,
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: the system might criminalize some folks that got them p
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: P P P p p P loans. They might be criminalized,
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: But we know that evicting people from their home is
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: a real serious and we don't want to see people homeless.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: If nothing else, you don't want to see people homeless.
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: But it brings me to my thought of the day.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: My thought of the day is why are grocries so
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: damn expensive? Like? What is is it not possible to
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: find some type of way not to have groceries, especially
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: healthy food. Now, some people say, well, it's not that
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: much more to eat health It is the milk that
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: I drink zero percent milk, right, which I probably shouldn't
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: be drinking it at all, And and you know, other
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: others who are extremely healthy tell me that I should
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: be doing a whole bunch of other things instead of
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: drinking milk. But nonetheless, the zero percent milk that I drink,
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: the fat free milk, right, my milk is almost nine
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: dollars for a half a gallon. Nine dollars. So what
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: I'm trying to understand is like we didn't want people
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: to be healthy. We're saying that America is obests. We're
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: saying that Americans rather are obese. We're saying that the
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: health crisis is this matic preexisting conditions and all this
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: and that. And still when you go to the grocery
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: store a little bag of groceries, one bag could be
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: a hundred dollars and you hardly have anything in it.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: How are people surviving? Because I know, for me, I
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: have the resources to do it, and I still feel
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: uncomfortable spending the type of money that I'm spending in
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: the grocery store. You're experiencing this because I'm I'm I'm
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: struggling now. Groceries are very high. Like for real, every
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: time every time I go to the store, I can't
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: believe the amount of money I's been for the few
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: things that's in the bag. Like you said, it just
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: really doesn't make sense. Thirty dollars and you'll be having
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: like four things in the bag and those things ain't
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: gonna last through through the night, you know. So it's
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: it's really crazy. Like when you look at air flights,
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: everybody's trying to make up for what they lost. Everybody
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: has played double. It's like it's a drought. Like you
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, Like when we was in the
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: street that you were hustling and you were selling weed,
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: and when it was a drought, you double. You made
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: the weed a double two times where the normally was
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: because people knew they couldn't get it or people knew
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: they really needed it. The same thing they was doing
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: with the lights of whites. Remember there was charging people
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: all types of money for things like that. So you know,
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: we're we're in those times where you know, the economy
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: has suffered and people who have things that they know
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: are you know, commodities and things that people want, and
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: they feel like, you know a lot of people got
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: those little p P P loans and they're gonna they're
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: gonna spend it fast. So they're trying to get their
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: money back while they feel like it's a couple of
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: hours out there. But all of that is drying up
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: right now. Man, It's all drying up. It's drying up,
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: for sure, but it's kind of like, what do you
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: do if you are somebody who's really struggling but you're
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: trying to take care of yourself and your family. It
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: scares me to think that a single mother who doesn't
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: qualify for food stamps, because they demonize people who get
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: any type of subsidies. So if you work on a job,
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: let's just say you are um an assistant maybe at
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: a college or you know, you're you know, a pretty
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: decent job where you dressed nice every day and you're
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: going into an office and you're making maybe seventeen eighteen
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: dollars an hour, maybe even twenty an hour. That sounds good, right,
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: That's that's nice. But if you go to the grocery
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: store and most of your money is being spent on that,
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: and also transportation because now that people are going back
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: to work, it is expensive to get on the train.
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: I think the training thing is like two dollars and
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: seventy or something like that per ride per day. You
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: have kids that want to have, you know, snacks and
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: different things. Maybe you want to get your hand your
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: nail sounn because you need to keep yourself up to
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: be able to go to work, your children need a haircut.
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: How I don't understand how we could even be having
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: a conversation about just now getting to the point where
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: there is a debate that has not in any way
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: been passed on fifteen hour. So it's people that ain't
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: even making that, and they they hustling every day trying
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: to make ends meet. But then you have folks who
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: are making above that, who are still living very far
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: below the poverty line. And if you will go to
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: the grocery store and you have to spend three and
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: four hundred dollars for your family of four, even your
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: family or three, even the family or two, just to
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: get the things that you need to be able to
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: have lunch every day, have dinner every day, have juice,
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: and things in the refrigerator, and don't start with washing
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: clothes and buying like detergent it maybe you know the laundry,
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: the cleaners for you like this. This is a very
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: expensive life that people are living. And you can see
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: why people are frustrated because we fix it up nice.
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: We fix it up you. You fix it up with
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: a good crispy white T shirt on a nice hat.
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: We always keep our feet fresh. You know, we I
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: like to wear nice clothes. People look at us and
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: there's and there's a level of resentment that builds up
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: because you look like you're doing so well while your
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: community and the people that come from where you come
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: from are struggling. And I get white folks are so
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: damn frustrated because it's really expensive to survive, especially if
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: you live in the re ord. And by the way,
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: I just came back from Cleveland, and it's no better
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: day when you go to the school. Right, it is
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: really hard out here, and it makes those who are
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: have a little bit look like you start looking like food.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: People get mad at you that you become target. Like
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: I'm telling you, like, robbery is a big thing, right,
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: you know, it's a big thing. People are robbing people
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: because some people have looked like, you know, they progressed
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: during the pandemic, they kept up, they looked like they
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: have more. And there's a lot of people like in
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: the dictment area. You know, my little brother hangs out there,
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: goes to a lot of these clubs, and he's telling
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: me how, like every other night you're going to the
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: club and people are getting robbed. Women a woman got
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: snatched at the car, literally snatched at the car and
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: they're taking jury. So that's it's at an old time post.
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: So you know, it's it's very dangerous out here for
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: people who who look like they got a little more
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: than left me. And then it's very hard out here
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: for people who just don't have it. So, you know,
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: we just said some these are some difficult times. Man,
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: We're in real difficult times. And hopefully this administration and
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: the government tried to get together. I don't really have
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: much faith in ane of that, but we're gonna keep fighting.
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: So in keeping about that and itself and need sort
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: of write into the conversation around the gun violence that's
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: happening in our community. And today I'm really really happy,
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: um and and really honored you will to have two
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: giants with us. And so my son, let me keep
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: it to you, and let's introduce our guests before we
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: go to the next segment and have our special guests joint.
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: We're gonna take a quick break for our sponsors. But
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: as we've been promoting, this is our fifth episode on
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: gun violence and what it's gonna take in order for
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: us to combat it. We've been interviewing and you don't
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: have the conversations with a lot of grassroots organizers. We've
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: had different organizers, we've had people from law enforcement, we've
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: had government officials, and now today we want to have
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: a penel like discussion. And today joining us are two
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: grassroots organizers who are really doing the work. People always ask, oh,
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: you know, why ain't nobody doing the work about gun
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: violence that happens in our communities. People always want to
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: tell about the gun violence that the police is doing,
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: and and it's really what's going on our community is
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: more important, and we do do that. We talk about
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: that as well. And these are two people who are
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: living testaments to that who's worked proceed them, who have
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: been victims, who have been family members, who have been victims,
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: who have been surrounded by utilize their pain and turned
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: it into purpose. One of them have already been on
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: our show. We have my brother, Mr. San Duke mcfader,
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: who is the founder and CEO of g MAC Gangsters
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: making astronomical community changes, which the organization that he founded,
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: you know, coming from prison and he understood the need
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: to transform his life and also utilize his experiences to
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: be one of the people who used to be the
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: ones who started the violence of the community. Now he's
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: once to interrupt with so we want to say thank
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: you and and I'm welcome to the your again. To
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: our brother Shan Duke, thank you for having me. I
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: appreciate y'all. Yes, sir, as usual, this is our friend.
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: Like you know, we always have friends with the show.
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: So let me get this way because I don't want
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: to not say her name properly. But this young lady,
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: I've read her rio and she is amazing as well.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: Joining us today is Ms Tabell from the Tribute Project.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: She's also a grassroots organizer and who focuses on gun violence.
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: She's been impacted family members, friends, and she utilized her
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: pain and she also turned into purpose. So thank you
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: Tibell for joining us today for this in depth discussion
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: that we're gonna have on gun violence in our committee.
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: Thank you Tia and Shand for being with us. Um
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: you know, Shand we asked you to come back today
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: because I think you have a very very unique position
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: that you sit in. Being an organizer is clearly one
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: part of it. But I'll so watch being around you often.
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: How many men work at work with you who are
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: recently returning or you're trying to help them stay out
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: of the truth. And right now, what we're seeing happen
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: UH is a resurgence in violence in our community in
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: a way that we can't ignore it. We can't act
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: like it's not happening. We can't turn a blind eye.
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: It's a real serious situation. And it's cool to talk
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: to all the folks who think they know, but there's
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: some people who actually do know. And I think that's
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: why we want to focus on this, this conversation with
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: the two of you today, UH, tr you and I
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: recently became acquainted. Um, you've now become my sister. I've
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: learned how much you know, how much you've been doing UH.
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: And you know, oftentimes, unfortunately we as women in this
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: work are overlooked because we know that violence definitely is
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: a larger issue for our men, but we also know
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: that women are star and to become the fastest growing
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: population going into prison and also having violent issues, whether
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: it be domestic issues and or street violence issues, and
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: so UM, we can't ignore that. And the first show
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: that we did five shows ago, we talked about and
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: had Maggie carry on Shan Duke and others where we
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: talked about women and how they are impacted by this
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: epidemic that we are in. And so this we're speaking
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: on the backdrop of a shooting, multiple shootings or one
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: incident um that happened in the last weekend in New
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: York City where ten people were shot. And I think,
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: Shandon Do, you were bringing us up to speed that
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: there were three people who were the alleged intended target,
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: but at least seven people who were hit surrounding this
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: incident um, and clearly that's it's serious, you know. And
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: I think for me and what I appreciate about duty
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: A and you Shan Do is that you guys get
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: the intersection between police accountability and what we are fighting
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: for there and what we're doing to raise awareness and
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: to really curb the violence in our community. So it's
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: so important that we talked because if we don't, the
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: solution from government officials will be to put more police
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: in our communities, and we know that that will not work.
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: So talk to us and do let's get started with
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: you just talk about what's happening, what you know that
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: happened in New York um, and then what's what is
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: the organizing UH idea concepts that are happening among the
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: crisis management system and others who are working in New
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: York to try to address the surgeon violence. All right,
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: thank you. So when we look at the surge, we
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: have to frost be aware of the fact that we
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: are still recovering from a pandemic. A lot of things
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: that happened through at that time went unaddressed. And one
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: of those things we know priorly that we had Beall
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: reform and then Ball reform. There was an attack on
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: Bell Reform from UH prosecution where they just felt to
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: release anybody and everybody, not really assessing the cases, but
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: just releasing people just as a this is what we're
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: gonna do since you want Ball reform. So there were
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: a lot of people who didn't deserve to be in
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: our communities, out in our community because they didn't receive
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: any type of mental rehabilitation, and we have to be
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: acceptance of that. So there were also people who released
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: from state prisons who received no type of services. Everything
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: was shut down, right, So imagine someone doing a year
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: or more and coming right back into our community and
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: only option that they have is those in the community
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: who are on the violent or criminal mindset offer them
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: of those criminal activities. So we have to really look
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: at that as part of the problem, and a lot
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: of trauma not being addressed, including the fact that we
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: have a whole bunch of police brutality still in our
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: community that we don't see no justice for. Recently in
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: New York City and Corona Queens. Yes, there was alleged
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: tend people's shot seven bystanders with them Leslie identifying and
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: I always said, Leslie, because I'm good, I'm in Chicago,
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: and I'll getting information based off of what has been reported.
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: So in our work we like to go into the
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: field and understand and get our facts to be sure
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: who was causing the violence. So in this instance it
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: has been said that it's the Trinity Daddios. I'm gonna
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: go with Potios because if you know, stay prisons there
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: and I stay prisons and we call them Potio And
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: there's there's a history allegedly where they also were part
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: of the killing of Junior years ago in the Bronx.
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: So if you look at issues, you have to understand
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: what is causing these issues. So if there's a problem
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: with the Potias, and I will work. That's who we
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: look to engage, right and if we're not engaging them
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: in those areas, there's no way we'll be able to
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: mediate the conflicts that they're having. Was according to this
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: last incident, they were allegedly shooting at three people who
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: were shot who are supposed to be rivals. We have
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: to determine what those who those rivals are and determine
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: what we can do to mediate any retaliation in our community,
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: as the christ Management says, And we also have to
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: look at those seven innocent people and their families and
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: how someone may not be affiliated, may not be living
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: no life of crime, but may feel a certain way
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: now because they had an innocent family member shot. Right,
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: So this is what our world looks like. Putting a
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: bandage on that those issues right now, why we continue
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: to work on a bigger issue of why that group
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: feels that they have to respond in broad daylight to
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: a group of individuals with depraved and difference for the
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: other lives around those individuals that they want to attack.
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: So it's a lot of work that we have to
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: work on preventing, not just folks on the issue after
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: that happens, you know, That's why I like and I
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: understand because we come from the same you know, pretty
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: much the same background and understanding how intricate the work is, right,
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: understanding that you have when you when you come from
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: a game culture, you know you are, you are personal,
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: accept and acknowledge that he's a blood and you bring
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: your bloodness, your blood um title into this work and
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: utilize it to transform right because you identified with the
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: culture of the game culture, you identified with the the
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: actual rules and laws, and you play the real rules
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: and laws, and what it was actually founded for was
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: protection of our communities in our neighborhoods, and you're transform
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: his minds. So having those understanding that and being able
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: to connect with the game culture and understanding how these
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: things happen, how who you need to talk to, how
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: do you intercept understanding why we're saying that it's not
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: about police be in our community because they don't stop.
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: They are unable to have that intel, they're unable to
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: have respecting those connections in our communities that could actually
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: further stop further violence. So I just want to commit
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: you and that and say that's why I always say
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: that it's definitely needed. But Te, I just want you
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: to give us your perspective about the violence that's going
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: on in the communities and all over. What what what
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: is your perspective coming from your background and the work
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: that you do. What do you see? What do you think? Yeah? Yeah,
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: I want to again just say I'm grateful to to
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: be on this platform and share my unique perspective. UM,
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: I'd like to believe that God designed my life to
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: join this fight and really ending gun violence. And and Shan,
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: do you said something so powerful? I don't. I don't
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: even think I breathe. I took a breath while you
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: were talking, Um, But it just it. It's reaffirming, unfortunately
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: that our deep wounds require deep, deep, deep killing. And
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: until we get the voice of who Shan Duke is
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: advocating for and GMAC and who Trigger is advocating for,
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: really at the table, we're gonna continue to see this
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: manifestation of despair and using the gun as a solution. Um.
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: The Trigger project stands for true reasons. I grabbed the gun,
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: evolved from risk and as a survivor. I almost lost
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: my mom when I was ten. She was shot twice
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: in broad daylight. It wasn't a shock, you know, UM,
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: I knew who had did it um, and there wasn't
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: a shanduke to come to me and say, hey, let
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: me get a full understanding of what you know that happened.
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: Let me get you on the basketball or so you
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: can release your feelings, let me um support you, mentor
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: you so you can figure out what you want to eat,
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: so you don't think you're burdening your mom who's healing.
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: You know, I didn't have that. So just with the
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: combination of losing friends after I'm almost losing my mom,
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: losing my stepdad, now losing young people, I realized that
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: the voice of the shooter is missing. So when you
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: say trigger project you you you you embody the voice
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: of the shooter because we all have a trigger finger,
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: But no one's asking the question black or white? You know,
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: wife just the best guys? Was just or stick? Says
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: My baby's like to say, was land in the middle
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: of the street. Why would some people be able to
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: just walk past them like they're nothing? And why would
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: some people see it as a commodity, see it as
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: a resource, see it as a language. You know, we're
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: criminalizing our culture and our music versus really getting to
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: the source of our pain and and that's what the
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: Trigger Project is about. Tell me when you say you
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: know that it's a language that for me, that's powerful,
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: because I know that's loaded. And I think both of
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: y'all can talk about the language. I mean, you've already
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: been speaking to it. But there is a language chan
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: do and and Tia that is coming out of this pandemic,
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: and we hear it loud and clear. In fact, I've
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: been saying that the violence that we see you taking
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: place in our communities, it's not really While I understand
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: that that those engaging in it do have to have
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: some responsibility, I think it's a mirror to all of
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: our faces. Is about where we have failed um as
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: a society. I think that our young people and whatever
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: they're going through is an indication of how well we
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: have done to give them the resources and the things
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: that they need. So when you say it's some language
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: and you want both of you to talk about this,
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: tell me what that means when when we look at language.
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: For me, right, we have to understand that mentality, that lifestyle. Right,
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: and when you have a lifestyle that you don't see
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: as criminal, nothing you do is is looked at is wrong. Right.
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: There's no more rules and remorse for your acsents because
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: you're living a lifestyle that you believe everything you're doing
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: is right and language. For me when I was in
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: the streets was when I got up in the morning
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: as triche gangster, I put two guns on my waist
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: in Brooklyn, New York, even though there was no right
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: to carry, And I didn't do that with the intent
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: to go out there to shoot or murder anyone. I
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: did that to make sure that no one would be
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: able to shoot and murder me. So when you hit trigger,
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: talk about the response and the reasons and why we
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: carry guns. We have to understand that language. So if
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: someone is growing up in Brooklyn or New York City
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: and we know that they never had the right to carry,
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: but all they're seeing is people die at the hands
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: of gunfire, we have to understand that the language tells
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: them that the best way to protect themselves is to
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: carry that gun as well. Absolutely, I asked my young people, um,
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: because young people aren't the problem, they are a resource
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: at the trigger projects. So my masters is in youth development. UM.
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: Gun valance tried to impede my life, but I went
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: to NC State I was first in my family to
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: finish high school go to college, and then I told
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: my knee up. So you guys know what that meant
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: to my hoop dream in my hood. Um, but I
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: landed in my master's of youth development. So I learned
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: very quickly that Um, America has this language for black people.
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: We got single parent, household, black on black crime. You know,
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: they got the language that just keeps us oppressed. And
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: there's also a language that the CDC research that says
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: gun violence is a disease and all these things that
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: sort of make us black make us prone to gun violence.
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: So when I learned this, I got mad as hell. Um,
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: I'm a cancer, are very emotional. I'm also a young
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: lady who was very dark and had a lot of
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: responsibility on me because of trauma. So I refused to
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: be angry again. Um, and I want to be graceful,
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: but I just seill that to say we only a
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: gun is a tool. A gun is like a cell phone.
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: My young people are not the problem. Again, they are
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: resource and when I asked them to use their voice
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: and advocate for what they're going through or what their
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: families going through, because the exposure to violence can lead
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: to vinance, to just exposure. So that's in movies, that's
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: in real life, that's in police brutality. We all saw
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: the public lynchings. Like, just exposure can lead to this
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: disease too. So um, when we say language, we we
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: we definitely just like any languages. Things you're accustomed to
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: is go is things you say, is things you know
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: you can do, is the way you think. Um, And
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: no one in America is really understanding there's still public
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: safety and our way through you know, the same day
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: are our city made announcements that certain organizations would get
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: money to prevent gun violence was the same day she
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: put a left. Our leadership put eleven million dollars into
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: over time for police. So, um, we we have to
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: get to a common language so that we can really
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: disrupt this this this because it's spreading um viciously, and
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: and now it's becoming the narrative, it's becoming that it's
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: a young people problem. You know, But like Tamka said, uh,
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: what's the African problem? The young people in order to
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: feel the village warmth for young people will burn it down,
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: you know, So I can't it go something like but
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: that's that's what we're going through. And that's why I
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: try to put young people on the front so that
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: by they're they're exposed to the risk factors and protect
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: the factors that lead to being a perpetrator a shooter
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: or being a victim. You know, this disease those both
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: ways in our community, and it's in a person when
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: we understand that, like it's such a thin line, and
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: they just put us in cages. So ideally, I would
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: love if we could go to like a health clinic
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: and really cleanse this disease out of us, because um,
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: it's we were moving slightly in the right direction and
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: funding it's slightly coming in our direction, but it's still
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: not tailor for the people closest to do. We think
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: that we can just pour money on the problem and
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: it will go away. I don't. I don't believe it
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: is pouring money on the problem. I believe it's given
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: the justice, the funding justice that we need to the
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: to the issue right. And I talk about New York City.
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: While we've been fighting and everyone's been behind defunding police,
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: we still saw a city council that added two hundred
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: millions to n y pples budget and the number they
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: added funding to on prevention organizations but in nowhere matched
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: a number of two hundred million dollars, right, And we
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: are not getting what we're asking for, right. So they're
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: continuing to add a divide right between the community of
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: police by not fully funding the services that's needed for
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: our community. And and when we talk about that, we're
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: talking about on a different level because we don't have
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: enough funding to not just employ people, but to add
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: to the shifting of the messaging. Right. An example of
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: that is my song right when when I talk about
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: the Brother all the time, I get people understand his
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: shift in his music, right, And his shift in his
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: music was a determination that he made to not continue
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: to push that music to our community. And that's where
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: we talk about part of the problem, because we're fighting
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: against a system that's continue to fight against what we're doing.
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: And our young people just like me, the mice, and
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: the young people coming up and up, the ones who
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: came up for us, who went through the system, who
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: were inconcentrated reports, who who are part of the violence.
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: It wasn't by happening. It happened because they pushed it
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: into our minds at a young age example, I like
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: to use his music and that's why I burned myce
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: LP in the conversation. I believe that music it's more
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: potent than drugs. That's something I always say. I used
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: to unfortunately have to sell drugs. That's what I believe
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: back and have to sell drugs. And when I sold drugs,
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: I so drugs to people that you would never know
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: we're doing hard crack cocaine because they just went home,
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: went to work, came and got the crack and went
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: upstairs because their tolerance level was totally different. But then
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: you have the young person who is coming up in
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: a deprived home. I had no farther, went to force
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: to care, grew up in the projects. And the music
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: it's telling my prefrontal cortex that this is how I'm
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: supposed to live. So music is more potent than druggs
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: because it shoots straight to your soul no matter what
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: you're going through. If it's a all and B song
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: and I started talking about I heard it all before,
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: a woman is gonna relate to that if she's going
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: through something she believed that man is lying. So it's
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: the same difference if a young person today it's throwing
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: on the drills. Nobody wanna talk about it, but throwing
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: on the drill music in New York City after popping
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: that prop, there's no remorse in what they're doing because
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: they're not even in the same mind. So working on
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: and ot of like we're having to the trap nis
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: that you're talking about that's promoting these these drugs in
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: our kids. Mind has to shift. So we need the
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: resources to be able to change the messaging. You can't
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: drive down Manhattan or anywhere broken in anywhere New York
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: City and really see prevention shift mind shifting resources for
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: our kids in our community to be devoted to you
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: see everything else, no disrespect. I'm gonna going through an
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: airport and all I saw is nothing but fifty and
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: power of being promoted. I was like, you don't need
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: that much promotion. How much money were spent on that
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: versus helping us have somebody go through a go coming
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: into New York and to live I mean Jeff k
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: or La Guardia and seeing nothing but violence prevention organizations
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: that are in that community when you come and know
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: that you have a resource when you come to that community.
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: So we have to look at being able to fund
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: the resources and a whole different level. People will say, right, well,
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: white folks have poor communities. Also, it's not like we're
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: the only ones that have projects, poverty and this and that.
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: But when they watch TV and listen to their music,
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: they have bounced. They're able to listen to a little
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: heavy metal, They're able to listen to a little bit
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: of our hip hop and other music. But they also
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: get to listen to things that speaks to their intelligence
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: and helps to build them up and make them feel
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: like they're you know, helped build their character. I even
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: think about when I was a young girl, clearly walking
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: into a room in a Catholic school where all of
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: the presidents and different important elected officials and leaders were
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: all over the walls, and they were all white. They
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: were all white. I think they had because I lived
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: in Harlem and I went to school in Harlem. I
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: think Charlie Rangel was probably the only black man Congressman
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: Charlie Rangel, who I love very much, but he's also
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: a very fair skinned man. So they're basically looked like
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: all white people. And let's not even talk about all
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: men for the most part, who were being displayed before us.
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: It's not until recently that you get Barack Obama. But
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: that's one. So there's a balance that while they're in
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: school they may be listening or whatever. When they're at home,
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: they may have drugs, they may have violence. And when
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: they go to school, the schoolbooks, the the the images,
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: everything is an affirmation versus what we received, which is
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: a denigration, if you will, of our communities and and
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: and and of our of our of our humanity. That's right,
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: And you spoke on You spoke on it, right, Tondu.
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: And I say that all the time. These are conversations
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: that I have with these UM radio execs, you know,
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: and I say the fact that you you salute our
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: work and you tell us that we do this work,
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: but you don't give us the same platforms right to
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: promote the work and promote the message that we promote.
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: Artists who are talking about positivity and and still being
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: have relevance to understand what's going on the street. Were
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: giving them a different perspective to move away from that.
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: You don't give us the same platforms and the same
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: notoriety as you give the people. That's poison in us, right.
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: So the poison is incentivized. They have an incentive, right
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: because they understand if you wrap about killing and robbing,
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: right if you if you literally robbed somebody and shoot
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: somebody and you rap about the song and do a
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: video about it, you're signed. If you look about if
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: you look at the last probably six or seven artists
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: that they signed from Chicago, the streets know that these
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: are really the songs that they're putting out about real
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: beef that happened, like literally, and they're saying, why these
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: kids getting killed and all that because they're talking about
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: the people who they killed on the record, or they
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: shot or they robbed or they did this, and the
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: family has to see this on the internet. The Internet
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: is pretty much exacerbating this vibe. They're promoting it. You
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: got you got um blogs like DJ academics and them
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: who literally gas light violence. They literally go on their
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: their blogs such and talk about, Yo, this he's running
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: around here after he shot this person. YEA better slide
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: on him. He too comfortable outside? Like this is what
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: you got. These people have never been in the streets,
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: They have no credibility, have no understanding, but yet and
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: still they're able to agitate and instigate real violence in
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: our communities and these record companies are only signing you.
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: If that so what we have to do, and then
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: that's why I started. I ran out and get this
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: is that we have to start really like guerrilla marketing again,
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: Shan Duke like, we have the memories to put posters
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: on the walls and stickers like they it means something
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: every neighborhood. Um, this is where I'm starting this week,
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: every neighborhood. We're running through the communities and we're putting
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: these posts in the stores. We put them everywhere possible
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: because we gotta retrain the mondstate. We need a boy
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: hard black murder. I can't kill my brother. They gotta
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: constantly see it the same way they look at these
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: commercials and they go on the internet and they constantly
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: see visions of did somebody shooting each other? And they
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: constantly hear music about kill kill, I blast you all,
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: rob you. We have to give account of narrative. We
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: gotta be able to to try to shift and try
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: to get you know, get them back on a different trail,
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: or else we're gonna lose because violence is promoted. It's
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: promoted everywhere we go, and they get paid to do it.
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: It was just so loaded. We want you to kick
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: the young black youth for the young black people. Young
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: black people understand that there are moving parts around you
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: and and their relationships that um their connection and they're
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: moving parts around you. I eat your schools, you go
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: to health clinics, hospitals, you attend churches, the media, you
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: watch policy plitics. There's all these things moving around you
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: that develop who you are. And as to me can
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: mentioned earlier, not only have we failed you, but we
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: haven't worked intentionally. Like Sandu said, we're throwing money, but
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: it's so deep rooted, like we need them to part seize.
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: You cannot release a young man who's traumatized in jail
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: for for being convicted of doing the crime that in
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: In the ideology of America, crime is is synonymous with choice,
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: and we don't develop that frontal cortex until win Shandu
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: until we twenty six. But how many of us are
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: locked up for the idea that we made a choice
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: and our brain isn't It isn't even fully developed. It
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: makes me sick. So the media is a huge part
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: of it. Um. What you're talking about, Misha's is being
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: the protection So they risk factors that lead to it,
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: but they're also protect the factors. That is the reason
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: why I'm standing the day I had connect connecting this
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: to adults outside my family to help me build my resilience.
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: But I'm six before, so people believe in me because
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: they could see the potential, you know. But every young
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: person needs that primary prevention and protection. You wouldn't go
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: tell a young person that has sex without giving them
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: a talking connors, you know. So we can't go out
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: here and let them let the accessibility to guns be
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: the way it is. Let the government not take accountability
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: for the infiltration of what they've given to us. If
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: they gave us produce, we would have been throwing a
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: lot of fruit, you know, it would have been a
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: lot of fruitfulness in this community. But they didn't. They
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: gave us drugs and guns. So we understand that it
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: is a disease um. But at the same time, I
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: want to address my black brothers and sisters who do
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: feel alone, entire frustrated because you just see us taking
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: each other's life. It's no way we're supposed to be
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: less than twelve percent in this country, um, but it
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: is by design, and you have to understand that it's
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: very basic needs that were met in your life, from
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: sleep to rest, to food, to belonging to the safety,
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: to shelter. You had things that were aligning your life
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: that allow you to make decisions and beat your best self,
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: like telling them, telling the police what you saw happen.
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: You gotta be your best self. We can't expect our
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: community to be accountable and when it's not a lot
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: of self actualization taking place. So I just think we
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: gotta give ourselves grace. We gotta know that what's happening
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: now isn't a result of our movement, because the movement
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: has been steadied, but now it's starting to take high reach,
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: no limits, So we gotta I think I see a
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: lot more homeless young people, but maybe maybe not, But
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: I'm thinking. And I and I was in DC recently,
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: and I you know, I go to when I go
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: to d C, I don't just of course, we go protests.
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: She and who comes with us and and it and
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: holds us down every single time that we have super
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: disobedience there in DC. I don't just go to that area.
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: We always go to. In fact, uh, one of our mentors,
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: Core Masters Berry, the wife of the late grade Mary
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: and Ferry mayor. Mary Ferry owns the on our own,
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: but run Z owns whatever. I don't even know with
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: the right terming altitude. But she runs the Southeast Learning
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: Tennis Center in Southeast d C. And she actually lives
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: in that part of DC as well, And so when
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: I visit with her, I happen to go past there's
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: a liquor store at a chicken spot and some other things.
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: That's the same in every schoolhood, and it's it's it's
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: really to me, it's painful. I won't say it's scary
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: because I'm not scared of black people. I'm it doesn't
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: matter what community we go to, we find our people
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: and we're not afraid of them at all. And generally
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: what I've learned, you know, I have people in my
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: family who say you can't go there, and you can't
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: do this, you can't do that. Generally, I don't care
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: how tough a dude is. When I say hello, how
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: are you doing, and looking in his eyes, he always
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: always gives me the respect and says, okay, you know
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: you you about something. He might try after that to
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: get my phone number, and that go on, you know,
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: what I'm saying. But but generally he's like, yeah, okay, cool,
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: we have a connection. But I'm seeing people who are
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: looking dingy, broken hi, And they're young cats, real young
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: and young girls who look like they are already prostituting
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: themselves at these young ages. And we know sex trafficking
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: is an issue, so all of this can't You can't
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: ignore these things and say we're just gonna lock everybody up.
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: There's no way that that is the solution for dealing
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: with homelessness, first of all, in this pandemic, and my
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: son and I talked about it all the time, right,
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: the pandemic either made or broke you in terms of
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: you being in the household with your family, where everybody
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: in the house was on the schedule of being outside
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: most of the time and they only had to be
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: in the same house for a few hours. Maybe Dad,
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: if he was in the home um permanently, he might
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: be out working overnight. He might be hustling overnight. Who knows.
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: Mom has to go to work, somebody might go to school.
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: The pandemic caused everybody to have to come inside of
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: the house and deal with people that they don't even
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: really know. They may not even trust, they may not
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: be safe around from sex, it will assault, to drug
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: abuse to just depression to not having the proper resources.
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: I'm trying to understand why folks don't get this. I
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: really am so do you are y'all seeing this's with
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: the young people that you're working with? Or am I
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: just you know? Maybe I'm not. My finger is not
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: on the post. Your finger is directly on the post.
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: They're they're not paying attention to the fingers that they're
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: supposed to paying attention to. Right, And what we see
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: is exactly what you're talking about. And that's what we're
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: talking about when we are discussing risk reduction in our organization. Right,
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: it's not just about identifying a shooter. It's about identifying
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: a shooter and then working to reduce that risk of
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: that person. And that person risk may be different or
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: definitely would be different from a lot of people, right,
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: and it could be those issues that you're talking about,
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: and we have to now work to pull them of that, right,
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: And that's what we do every day. So once we
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: locked eyes on you build a relationship, build the rapport.
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: It's it's not an overnight success. Right, we had we
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: we've had a recent this wasn't spoken about recently. One
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: of my guys got a call from a participant that
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: we've been working for a while and he's supposed to
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: be a young and created kid, and he called because
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: he was in his house and somebody he was arguing
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: with his mother and him his mother is always going
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: at it, but we a stabigation with him and his mother.
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: So what one day they come to the house because
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: somebody alleged called the police on him, and it wasn't
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: his mother, it was a neighbor. So he's thinking his
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: mother called the police on him while he is alleged
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: that have a gun in the house. According to the
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: call sixty seven precinct, it's outside his house looking out
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: the window, ready to rush the building. But he's on
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: the phone with one of my outwas workers and the
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: outwas worker gets to the scene and and because we've
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: built a relationship of a special working late ship with
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: n y p D, he informed them, Hey, I have
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: him on the phone, give me a moment. I'm going
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: to get him out of the house, and and we
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: were able to do that without anything happened. This wasn't
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: highly reported, but contact system in pieces and they'll tell
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: you this happened, and the commanding officer respected that we
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: were able to do that right, and we after that,
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: we had to assure that young brother, don't go at
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: your mother right because it wasn't your mother that call,
• 46:32
  Speaker 1: even though you are arguing with her. So now we
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: still have to work with ovations. So this is an
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: example we're talking about, and this is a kid that
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: is continue to have issues, but we put him in
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: programs and we have in programs were able to work
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: with him right. So we have to look at that
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: because he's also been outside of the home where we
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: had to get him into a shelter at times. So
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: we understand the issues we need to society understand that.
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: This is how we work on bringing down the conference
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: that's having our community. But when we're talking about our
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: young people, we have to remember, like you said, we
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: left them, there's a piece mission there, so we have
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: to grab them. We have to understand what pieces mission
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: in their life and see what we can do to
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: supplement those mission pieces. Yes, I do a lot of
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: fundraising and and asking and and presenting and proposing because
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: my young people need beds, they need legos for their
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: brothers and sisters, so they don't go rob somebody to
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: get the money to do it. I'm competing with the streets.
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: And so earlier you asked, is money a solution? Um,
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: It absolutely is, because first, I think doing things that
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: we do should receive uh compensation. You know, I worked
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: as a full time high school counselor. I'm often the summertimes.
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: I go hard in the summer because I'm paid for
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: my nine the five and and I got free time,
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: you know, but I'm also the mother of a three
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: year old, and this work is non stomped. You know.
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: Young people don't have boundaries. They're not supposed to, you know,
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: they're asked the in requests are are substantial, and it
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: may be from fixing a broken nail to during a
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: college application. But my time, my opportunity, and and and
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: my counseling, my supervision, my team who also pours into
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: these young people. That's the solution, um. And we need
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: the government, we need city officials, we need philanthropists to
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: really get on the side of thinking outside the box. Um,
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: because it may look like intervening and stopping the police,
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: but it also may look like just giving a young
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: person a hundred dollars because they just misplaced the ZIP
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: and they gonna do something to get it back. And
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: so I need Um, I needed this platform and I
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: needed this opportunity because I do believe public health in
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: our way through this is this oution. And UM, I
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: do believe that I am in addition to violence interruption
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: into just this progressive transformation that all Black cities have made.
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: Returning citizens are running the city. And UM, I do
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: believe that I am in addition to violence interruption into
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: just this progressive transformation that all Black cities have made.
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: Returning citizens are running the city. You know, um, And
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: it's a beautiful thing and it shows that transformation is real.
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: Tell us how people can support the Trigger project. Same
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: thing for GMAC. How can people give um, you know, cash, afts,
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: whatever you have. We're also going to make sure that
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: we put it on the screen. UM. I want to
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: make sure that folks know that. As we are in
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: this conversation right now with Shan Do, he has pulled
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: away from a conference that is happening in Chicago. Again.
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: People seem to think there's no work being done, nobody's
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: getting together, They don't care about gun violence. What about
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: the violence in our community. Well, there are individuals that
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: are at a conference right now working together on on strategies.
• 50:08
  Speaker 1: And then we have our sister Tia in um Tia
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: bell In in d C. And guess what, it's not free.
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: It's not free. It costs money to get there. I'll
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: see you in a nice little clean hotel shining through.
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: You supposed to be in that. We're not. We're not
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: staying at the Motel six. We're not doing that. But
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: let me tell you, let me tell you something about that. Right.
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: I had to. I had to work on of the
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: sources of funding to make this happen for fifteen of
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: my team, right, and we submitted to the Mayor's office
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: to prevent gun violence, that we're going to the conference,
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: and they said they didn't deem it necessary. We're gonna
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: send two people, and they didn't understand the need for
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: me to take my team to the national game crime.
• 50:53
  Speaker 1: We sent to national conference and we're Gangster is making
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: astronomical community changes dealing with issues of gang violence. There's
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: always something there to try to prevent us from moving forward.
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: But we had to continue to fight for solutions, right,
• 51:06
  Speaker 1: So in that we had to make it work, and
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: that's what this work is about. But at the same time,
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: not just on that level, if we're talking about working
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: on with individuals in our community. If to like look
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: at the incident with the TEND people's shot, if we
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: had a post on that neighborhood and we knew that
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: conflictence bruining, it takes resources to take those two groups
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: who have no space to to mediate. And when you
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: think about the conference, nobody wants to sit on the
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: corner with TEND people on this side Tipically that's side
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: of anybody got guns and trying to mediate the conference.
• 51:37
  Speaker 1: It's not gonna work. There's no mediator there. Somebody's obsessing.
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: So we have to create mediation spaces for then wherever
• 51:46
  Speaker 1: there's conference of gangs or whatever clicks in our city.
• 51:49
  Speaker 1: And in that there's times where we had to take
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: a group of individuals and sit down and pay for
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: dinner or lunch to have that conversation. Then go get
• 51:59
  Speaker 1: the other group and have dinner on lunch with them
• 52:02
  Speaker 1: and they don't want no pizza because they in the
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: speech husband they want a pizza, And then work to
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: bring that group together right and that these are different
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: types of resources and just like the systems said, you know,
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: how how can I not have to count the city
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: if I see a person who was upset about a
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: hundred fiftiesip that somebody got him for and if I
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: know I could save a life by being able to say,
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: here's a gift car for two hundred hours. Bro, It's
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: not even that serious, right, We got that, yo, Bro,
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: don't do that again. You see what I'm saying. He
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: still want to do what he wanted to do regards,
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: but we want you to know that our world has
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: been been that you made a bad mistake, and let's
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: work with you to make sure that you don't make
• 52:37
  Speaker 1: mistakes like that because that's gonna lead to somebody dying.
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: So we had to look at all these things and
• 52:41
  Speaker 1: understand that the resources are extremely important. And on top
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: of that, because I've been attracted about my salary before
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: and they don't know the level of work that I do. Right,
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: I'm I'm the CEO, and I'm in the train in
• 52:53
  Speaker 1: two with my team. Right, it doesn't stop, but it's
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: it's about also understanding that this is what I do
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: twenty four steps it there's no stop point for me.
• 53:02
  Speaker 1: And in that work I have to provide for a family,
• 53:06
  Speaker 1: and I cannot be looking like I'm starving in the street,
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: hurting and telling somebody that the positive life is the
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: way to grow. And man, that's I'm not trying to hurt,
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: like yeah, yea, look at but I'm not with that right.
• 53:18
  Speaker 1: That doesn't make sense to the people. So it's about
• 53:21
  Speaker 1: understanding that there's value in the work of of of
• 53:24
  Speaker 1: of who we are and what we do, and that
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: it takes resources to keep us working right, because I
• 53:29
  Speaker 1: can't I got a bunch of I got kids, So
• 53:32
  Speaker 1: how do I provide for my kids? I chose this
• 53:35
  Speaker 1: work right, and I chold to build up the ability
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: to be able to finance myself and anybody else in
• 53:42
  Speaker 1: the community that I can finance to do this work.
• 53:44
  Speaker 1: And that's where we have to grow. We grow more
• 53:47
  Speaker 1: provincionists and we're able to fund more provincionists on different levels.
• 53:50
  Speaker 1: It's not just about the street work we're doing, but
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: on different levels the mental health perspective, right, that's not
• 53:57
  Speaker 1: getting the resources that it needs. So when we get
• 54:00
  Speaker 1: people understand we need so many different levels of resources
• 54:03
  Speaker 1: to deal with these issues, then we'll really start to
• 54:06
  Speaker 1: see the changes that we're looking for and we're working towards.
• 54:10
  Speaker 1: I said it all the time. I said, those directly
• 54:12
  Speaker 1: impacted pollution man. And like you said, if these young
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: most of these young kids are committing acts of violence
• 54:20
  Speaker 1: out of poverty, poverty is violenced, you know, and you
• 54:23
  Speaker 1: and these communities a lot. They on the corner, hustle
• 54:26
  Speaker 1: in the skin and making a couple of hundred dollars.
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: And we have organizations and I say all the times,
• 54:31
  Speaker 1: like you said, gangster is making astronomical changeing. Gangster's stopping violence.
• 54:35
  Speaker 1: Right when you gangster, you can tell somebody, yo, we're
• 54:38
  Speaker 1: not beefing. Ain't nobody shooting on this block. We're gonna
• 54:40
  Speaker 1: hold this block down. The ladies gonna feel safe, the
• 54:42
  Speaker 1: kids donna feel safe, and the fun. And when we're
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: able to fund that mentality, when we're able to give
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: these young kids, that the the ones who have the
• 54:50
  Speaker 1: reputations in the hood, the up and coming ones who
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: would normally have been the shooters, and say, look, we
• 54:55
  Speaker 1: want to fund you to make sure that this block
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: is safe. This is your block, you think it's your block,
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: making sure you don't. We don't need nobody shooting out here.
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: We make sure these kids got opportunities, they got on resources,
• 55:06
  Speaker 1: they got after school, they got basketball, they got traveling teams,
• 55:10
  Speaker 1: all the things that keep you out of them the streets.
• 55:14
  Speaker 1: Like if we can, if we can fund our communities
• 55:16
  Speaker 1: to do those things, then we can change the narrative.
• 55:19
  Speaker 1: Then we then we we we create with cool is
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: right now? Cool is you shoot you the shooting you
• 55:24
  Speaker 1: and you man down somebody you call the stain as
• 55:27
  Speaker 1: they said, that's being cool. So when we when we
• 55:30
  Speaker 1: start saying, yo, the cool dude right here ain't going
• 55:33
  Speaker 1: to jail. You know what I'm saying, He ain't going
• 55:35
  Speaker 1: to jail. He got more money than you, and he cool.
• 55:38
  Speaker 1: He got the same girl you're trying to get, and
• 55:41
  Speaker 1: he ain't doing nothing negative. Then we can compete. I
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: told you my my message is to take the positivity
• 55:47
  Speaker 1: out of negativity and put the positivity and positive right
• 55:49
  Speaker 1: exactly what you said. We have to now show him.
• 55:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah you see me, I'm looking good. I might gotta
• 55:54
  Speaker 1: pare this and that. Yeah, I'm doing positive right. I
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: got people who see me that year a rapper. It
• 55:58
  Speaker 1: happens all the time, you know. I got the chain
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: on that looks like a wrapping something, right, and I
• 56:03
  Speaker 1: say no, guess what I do. I prevent violence and
• 56:05
  Speaker 1: they all struck like you're serious? Yes, right, the perception right,
• 56:09
  Speaker 1: So this is what we have to get in going
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: back to what you said, Mike, think about and that's
• 56:13
  Speaker 1: what we gotta get a society think about. Think about
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: going to all these neighborhoods with the resources to say
• 56:20
  Speaker 1: all you, you, and you and you. I know you
• 56:22
  Speaker 1: got a reputation out here. I know they respect you
• 56:25
  Speaker 1: out here. I'm going to make sure that you have
• 56:27
  Speaker 1: a yearly salary to make sure these these shootings do
• 56:32
  Speaker 1: not happen. So when you were gonna do the neighborhood, listen,
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: don't mess up my money with no shootings, right, that's
• 56:38
  Speaker 1: the mindset you gotta have. Right, you're a gangster, right,
• 56:41
  Speaker 1: you're saying you're a gangster. All right, As a gangster,
• 56:43
  Speaker 1: you should baby tell So don't shoot out here. We're
• 56:45
  Speaker 1: not doing that, right, don't mess up my money. Look
• 56:48
  Speaker 1: at how you want to especially women and children are outside,
• 56:52
  Speaker 1: especially the window especially, And that's that's the messaging right
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: once up at the time, as we get the to
• 57:00
  Speaker 1: understand one, don't shoot two if you have a problem
• 57:05
  Speaker 1: and you feel that you have to respond, we want
• 57:07
  Speaker 1: to find an outlet for you. But if you feel
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: like that's the demonster says, we gotta check our women
• 57:12
  Speaker 1: and children. So that is our main messaging, right, If
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: somebody is not of that life, then you should wait
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: for any type of action. I don't give as a fight.
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: You don't go up into a public restaurant and engage
• 57:23
  Speaker 1: in a fight because you're now gonna engage people who
• 57:26
  Speaker 1: have nothing to do with that, and an innocent person
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: will get hurt. So the messaging has to change overall. Right,
• 57:31
  Speaker 1: the people who are pushing this energy we have to
• 57:35
  Speaker 1: reach out to, including our state prisons. I want us
• 57:37
  Speaker 1: to remember that there are people are sitting in jail
• 57:41
  Speaker 1: with life oppressed, with no money, and they're using their
• 57:44
  Speaker 1: reputation there. There's their status that all of that to
• 57:48
  Speaker 1: push those young brothers in the street to keep moving
• 57:50
  Speaker 1: like that because that's all they got, right, So we
• 57:52
  Speaker 1: gotta get on top of them as well. Information how
• 57:56
  Speaker 1: people donate and if you take us out, Yeah, you
• 58:01
  Speaker 1: can find g MAC at www dot Gangster g A
• 58:05
  Speaker 1: n G S T A macin m A c K
• 58:07
  Speaker 1: I and dot com UH and Our donation button is
• 58:11
  Speaker 1: right on our page PayPal. You can find us on there.
• 58:14
  Speaker 1: Look up shandonly Fatther to see the work that we're
• 58:16
  Speaker 1: doing in New York City and what I'm going to
• 58:18
  Speaker 1: do for Brooklyn as a whole. Bless you brother again.
• 58:24
  Speaker 1: In the perfect world we would be able to operate
• 58:28
  Speaker 1: in a way that is and that's that to who
• 58:31
  Speaker 1: we're serving, not the grant tour you know, um, But
• 58:36
  Speaker 1: I'm Tia Bell, founder to Trigger Project. Check to true
• 58:41
  Speaker 1: reasons I grabbed the gun eball from risk were the
• 58:44
  Speaker 1: voice of the young inns and the shooter. And our
• 58:47
  Speaker 1: website is www dot the Trigger Project dot org. We're
• 58:52
  Speaker 1: on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter at the Trigger Project DC.
• 58:57
  Speaker 1: And we do have a cash shop because we're not
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: that big. So it's dollar sign Trigger Project. And you
• 59:03
  Speaker 1: are donating to and supporting again the nourishment, the enrichment, UM,
• 59:10
  Speaker 1: just the betterment of the young people that I served.
• 59:14
  Speaker 1: We make. It's just that and work together. Yeah, you
• 59:18
  Speaker 1: gotta connect man. We want to thank you all for
• 59:20
  Speaker 1: being a part of this conversation. Um. Continue to do
• 59:24
  Speaker 1: the work you do. We do the work so we
• 59:26
  Speaker 1: understand what it takes. We understand how unfunded, undefunded this
• 59:30
  Speaker 1: work is, how unglamorous it is, how it's criticized. You know,
• 59:35
  Speaker 1: I understand definitely what Shand goes through, being somebody from
• 59:39
  Speaker 1: that life, coming from the streets and really wanted to
• 59:42
  Speaker 1: do something better. And people don't want to see you
• 59:44
  Speaker 1: do better. They don't want to see you evolved. They
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: don't want to believe that you can evolved because you're
• 59:48
  Speaker 1: able to utilize you know, soliloquy, I mean colloquialism and
• 59:53
  Speaker 1: and and understand the language and understanding where the uniform
• 59:57
  Speaker 1: of the culture and be effective and really change. I
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 1: want you to know that when they're attacking you and
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 1: it's and it's and they don't believe and you being
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 1: able to do what you do, one of the main
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 1: reasons is they don't believe in themselves and they can't
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: do nothing but ridicule someone else. Family, We want to
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 1: thank you all so much. It took a lot of
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 1: your time today. Um, this is gonna be a really
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 1: powerful episode that I think a lot of people will
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 1: gain information. And you know, generally we do ten minutes,
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 1: fifteen minutes. It's kind of moving along quickly because we
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 1: do live in a society and in a time where
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 1: everything in media is fast fast, but today we want
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 1: to slow it all the way down and really be
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 1: able to give folks the opportunity to YouTube, the opportunity
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 1: to express the real nitty gritty of what's happening. Anybody
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 1: who wants to get this thing right. If you are
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 1: somebody who's out there and you say, listen, I have power. UM.
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 1: I am a corporate leader, I a philanthropist, I'm an
• 1:01:01
  Speaker 1: elected official, I'm whoever, and I have the ability to
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 1: make a change. These folks know what they're talking about.
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 1: And these are just two of thousands of people across
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 1: this nation who do the work every single day and
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 1: they know not just the communities that they know the blocks,
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 1: they know the buildings, they know the apartments, they know
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 1: the people, they know the hospital, they know the intricate details,
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 1: and they need our support. So until freedom, our organization
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 1: UM is you know, working very uh diligently. My son
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 1: is leading the campaign to black boycott, black murder, but
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 1: also street politicians as a platform these six episodes. I'm
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 1: proud of them, my son, because you know, we really
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 1: have focused in and honed in on what we know. UM.
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 1: But street. Politicians will not stop here in terms of
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 1: getting out being using our platform to share a message
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 1: about the work. We have to do it for ourselves.
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 1: We can't wait for any else to tell our stories.
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 1: Very very powerful individuals. That was dope. That was dope.
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 1: They had a little synergy there, you know what, they
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 1: had good energy, man, they both respected each other. It's
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 1: this work is you know, it's not glamorized. You know,
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 1: it's not even understood the time. But when you see
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 1: people like them who really are passionate about the work,
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 1: who come from the community, who who understand, Like when
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 1: you listen to them, you know that they understand what's
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 1: needed to stop violencing the community. Have the right level
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 1: of passion, skill and love that is needed. Man. That
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 1: when I'm listening to t I can tell these young
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 1: boys and girls sit around her and she treats them
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 1: with love and tenderness and she and she pours into
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 1: them and she wants those resources to be able to
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 1: give to them. Listening to Shan, do I know that
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 1: he really wants to change? I know, you know he
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 1: identifies with his own mistake and you know, being led
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 1: astray and and the mind state that it took when
• 1:03:05
  Speaker 1: he was involved in that street life, and he really
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 1: wants to be able to give back and redirect a
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 1: lot of our youngsters in our communities right now. So
• 1:03:13
  Speaker 1: it's really dope to have conversations like that with people
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 1: like that. Yeah, I feel like I felt like there was,
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 1: as you said, synergy between Tia and Shan Duke. That's
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 1: really important. Right. It's like this is the first time
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 1: that they met, but they talked about that language and
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 1: they both speaking and you would think, well, if you
• 1:03:34
  Speaker 1: didn't know that, they just today UM on our platform
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 1: had their first conversation. If you didn't know that, you
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 1: would think they've been working together for years. Because the model,
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 1: the model and the depth of knowledge is the same.
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 1: Yet different places and spaces mean that you have to
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 1: be creative and how you approach things, and we can
• 1:03:58
  Speaker 1: learn from one another. I think that there is something
• 1:04:01
  Speaker 1: to be said about the to me they UM they
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 1: to me, I felt like they were in a beautiful dance. Uh.
• 1:04:12
  Speaker 1: In conversation. It flowed so well that at times I
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 1: lost myself in trying to understand and digging deep with
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 1: what they were saying, because there was nothing fake about it.
• 1:04:23
  Speaker 1: It's extremely authentic and it's coming from a place of
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 1: real understanding. And you can only get that understanding when
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 1: you're out there knocking doors, talking to people, saving lives
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 1: and really working with our people. And guess what, none
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 1: of us are perfect, right. I'm sure that within their organizations,
• 1:04:41
  Speaker 1: within their lives, they struggled with all types of things.
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 1: I think we're all constantly in a battle with ourselves before,
• 1:04:49
  Speaker 1: you know, how can we do better? How can we
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 1: be stronger? How can we support more? How can we
• 1:04:54
  Speaker 1: be supported more? Um? But at the end of the day,
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 1: I know for sure that these two individuals are doing
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 1: some real powerful work. And the other thing I was
• 1:05:02
  Speaker 1: gonna say is that there are other folks that I've
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 1: reached out to when you've reached out to and not
• 1:05:08
  Speaker 1: long after we talked to them, there's some drunk Oh,
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 1: you know, why did y'all come to my town and
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 1: you didn't call me? Or why did you do this?
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 1: Or you know whatever, which you try to respect people
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 1: all the time and when they say why did you
• 1:05:21
  Speaker 1: come downtown? And we make sure that we work hard
• 1:05:24
  Speaker 1: to to to mend those relationships when we feel it's necessary,
• 1:05:28
  Speaker 1: and when those individuals have a certain left of respect.
• 1:05:32
  Speaker 1: But the thing about Tia and and why I know
• 1:05:35
  Speaker 1: we're not crazy is because as soon as I've reached
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 1: out to her, she was like, we have the late.
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 1: All of these connections have to be made. I'm gonna
• 1:05:44
  Speaker 1: introduce you to my people who introduced me to yours,
• 1:05:46
  Speaker 1: because she never ever started with the old Well, you know,
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 1: y'all came the d C one time and stepped on
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 1: my toe and hurt my mom is back and did this.
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 1: It was straight from the beginning, y'all what y'all trying
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 1: to do? You know, tell me more about who you are,
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 1: and we beginin. We jumped right in and you could
• 1:06:07
  Speaker 1: see that energy from her in this conversation, which tells
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 1: me that it's a lot of other people out here
• 1:06:13
  Speaker 1: that really don't have our community's best interests at hard.
• 1:06:17
  Speaker 1: And and that brings you to what I don't get.
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 1: You know, I don't get why people see the need
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 1: to try to hate what tis somebody down that's doing
• 1:06:30
  Speaker 1: work that they don't do. You know that they that
• 1:06:33
  Speaker 1: they're not even willing to do. Like if you look
• 1:06:35
  Speaker 1: at most of the people who criticize, you know, brothers
• 1:06:39
  Speaker 1: like Shan do or brothers like myself or sisters like you,
• 1:06:43
  Speaker 1: you know, who literally on the front line doing this work.
• 1:06:46
  Speaker 1: They are doing nothing, you know. And I don't understand
• 1:06:50
  Speaker 1: how people think that they even have do they have
• 1:06:55
  Speaker 1: the authority, they have any level of credence who have
• 1:07:00
  Speaker 1: to critique people who are actually doing work, like this
• 1:07:03
  Speaker 1: work is a day and night job. Man, You know
• 1:07:07
  Speaker 1: what Shan Duke was breaking it down, how this is
• 1:07:09
  Speaker 1: his lifetime's work. You know, this is his lifetime's work.
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 1: I've seen the article in the paper about Sean King
• 1:07:17
  Speaker 1: and his house and him having a house, and people
• 1:07:20
  Speaker 1: want to criticize, and it's for me like, well, why
• 1:07:23
  Speaker 1: should a man who gets death threats, who puts his
• 1:07:25
  Speaker 1: life on the line, who we've seen do work to
• 1:07:29
  Speaker 1: to get people of death roads to who we've seen
• 1:07:32
  Speaker 1: raised money for people who's been in jail to come
• 1:07:35
  Speaker 1: home and buy them houses, who we've seen raised money
• 1:07:38
  Speaker 1: for different situations and people we've seen him fight, you know,
• 1:07:44
  Speaker 1: and get police officers who have done things, identified them,
• 1:07:48
  Speaker 1: found that the new the number of them, found people
• 1:07:51
  Speaker 1: who are who are wronged and and and somehow got
• 1:07:54
  Speaker 1: the address and got them to charge. Like when people
• 1:07:57
  Speaker 1: are literally doing work to that that significant in that
• 1:08:01
  Speaker 1: real and that threatening to your own life. Why should
• 1:08:05
  Speaker 1: they be starving? Why should we not want to see
• 1:08:08
  Speaker 1: them happen? You know? And it's and it's and and
• 1:08:11
  Speaker 1: why do people what do? What does it get? What
• 1:08:13
  Speaker 1: does it give you to to to tear people down
• 1:08:17
  Speaker 1: and hate on people that are doing work? Literally, even
• 1:08:20
  Speaker 1: if you don't agree with everything, like it's people, I
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 1: don't agree with everything. When I see somebody is doing something,
• 1:08:27
  Speaker 1: especially something that I'm not willing to do or able
• 1:08:30
  Speaker 1: to do, you know, or don't know how to do.
• 1:08:33
  Speaker 1: You know, I could could, I could partigue it or preticithering. Ah, well,
• 1:08:36
  Speaker 1: I think this is never at the end of the day,
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 1: I'm not trying to tear you down because I know
• 1:08:40
  Speaker 1: whatever it is that you do, if I'm not able
• 1:08:43
  Speaker 1: to do it or doing it and it's actually helping
• 1:08:45
  Speaker 1: or done something to somebody attests to the fact that
• 1:08:48
  Speaker 1: you're really doing work. I don't have anything there going
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 1: to say about that, you know, as long as about
• 1:08:54
  Speaker 1: evolution is about saving our communities are gonna build and
• 1:08:57
  Speaker 1: it's about community and I'm all for man and I
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 1: think more people should have that monstery. You want to
• 1:09:06
  Speaker 1: know what I think what I don't get it. You
• 1:09:12
  Speaker 1: don't get it because it ain't to be That's it,
• 1:09:17
  Speaker 1: because if we don't get it, we're supposed to get
• 1:09:19
  Speaker 1: it because it ain't to be got. So once again
• 1:09:23
  Speaker 1: we had another make shoot that you follow, Shan Duke,
• 1:09:27
  Speaker 1: Mike Fatter, g Matt and Tia Bell the Trigger Project
• 1:09:32
  Speaker 1: doing real phenomenal work. You hear you hear it. You
• 1:09:35
  Speaker 1: see who they are, dope individuals and I'm your host,
• 1:09:40
  Speaker 1: my song this is Tamika Mallory. She's not gonna always
• 1:09:43
  Speaker 1: be wrong and I'm not gonna always be right, but
• 1:09:45
  Speaker 1: we will guarantee you of the time will always be authentic.
• 1:09:54
  Speaker 1: Number one show. That's how we owed it. That's how
• 1:10:02
  Speaker 1: we owed it. That's how we owed it. That's how
• 1:10:08
  Speaker 1: we owed it. That's how we owed it.