The Breakfast Club - TMI: Lets Get Ready to Vote feat. L Joy Williams

Episode Date: October 26, 2024

The Black Effect Presents... TMI! In this episode, Tamika D. Mallory and Myson discuss the intersection of racism and sexism in politics, particularly in relation to Kamala Harris. They emphasize the importance of civic engagement and voting with L Joy Williams, who has created a guide for empowered voters. The conversation explores the significance of local elections, the challenges faced by black elected officials, and the need for accountability in politics. The episode highlights the necessity of understanding the political landscape and the power of collective action in driving change.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I'm Tameka D Mallory and it's your boy my son in general we are your host of TMI Tameka and my son's information truth motivation and inspiration new name new energy but same old us what's up my son Lennon what's up Tameka Mallory how you doing today I'm doing good I got my just water I'm brother Jaden Smith you keep you me some Just Water. I love my Just Water. I don't got no water today. But I got my Actively Black. We got our Actively Black. Me too.

Shout out to my boy, Ishmeth, man. Look, he got, look, man. It's so good. I love this sweatsuit. I love the way it feels. This is quality. Listen, make sure that you get you some Actively Black. Yeah.

I'm black from the head to the toe today. We support Actively Black. You know, I wear, first of all, I don't wear Nike. Let's be clear about that. But I wear some of the other brands for workout clothes. And by the way, I wear workout clothes every day, every day that I don't have something special to do or a reason that I have to actually dress up. And, you know, I find that those clothes those are cool all the other brands y'all know the names we ain't giving them free advertising but i feel proud when i wear

actively black so it still feels good i still got some sexy leggings i got the whole thing my pilates body and my pilates clothes i'm a little bigger than pilates body i need to work on that but i still feel um you know i on that. But I still feel good. I still feel good. Still feel sexy. But I feel proud because this is a black-owned company. We support Actively Black 100%. And right now

go and click on the links and go get you some Actively Black. Support them. And also support Until Freedom. We need the support we have merch you can go pick up sweatsuits um from us they cool they look good they feel good you can wear them with shoes you can dress them up dress them down do your thing but not men men cannot wear them with shoes i think women can wear them we should think about that until freedom

that would actually be dope dope we're gonna hit. We're going to hit you up, Ish. We're going to hit you up, baby. I love it. Actively back until freedom. Listen, so we got to move quickly today because we have a guest coming up that's going to educate us. And, you know, we're going to learn a little bit of something. So I want to talk about my thought of the day. So there was an interview that I did a while back where I was talking. I was on TMZ and Kamala Harris was selected as the vice presidential pick.

And I remember I was in a car. I was on my way to Brooklyn to a photo shoot. And while I was talking to the folks on TMZ, they asked me, do you think that Kamala Harris can become president? Right. Do you think she can also be president? So she's vice presidential pick, but do you think that she can run and ascend to the presidency? And I said, I don't know. I said, because, you know, racism is terrible. So that's already bad enough. And sexism, when you bring that into the equation, it's even worse, right? So if you listen and I I and a couple of people started

attacking me they went crazy not a lot of people but you know there's a certain segment a couple people called me up like I'm just trying to understand your perspective because a lot of people are very sensitive about that racism and then comparing it with sexism and it felt like I was including all women white women this woman that woman or whatever over black people and what black people have experienced and specifically black men and so I was explaining it to a good friend um and he was like why are you like you are you seriously trying to explain to me what you meant like I'm stupid like I understand exactly what you're talking about it's not that I was saying that racism is not the most horrific horrendous disgusting atrocity of American culture

that is not what I was saying what I'm saying is when you are black and then you had maybe let's just use another example you black and you have a disability or you're black and you are, I don't know, you're black and you're trans, you're black and you're whatever, poor, you're black. element onto it that really sort of deepens the hate and the oppression and the disgust that a person has to endure. And so when I look at Kamala Harris at that time, this is prior to right now, this is years back, like a lot of times we are ahead of ourselves when we speak on issues. So I'm looking back at that time and I said that sexism is even worse. So what I was saying is that as a black woman, not as a woman in general,

even though you see Hillary Clinton also more qualified, didn't win the election, but that's a whole different set of circumstances. But when you look at Kamala Harris as a black woman, she's going to deal with being black and then having on top of that, her being a woman as another way for people to disrespect, discredit and even our own people, even our own people. And let's just keep it 100 men in our community and women, men and women, but a lot more men who are unwilling to support her just because she's a woman. That's right. Like there's some people who have policy disagreements with her.

There's some people who are they look at it and they like, listen, I have issues with Kamala Harris, with things that she may have done or things she said or things, the positions that she supports right now. And I'm not arguing with any of those. But when I have people on my page calling her a thing calling her a wench calling her all these disrespectful names and then i also see that there are people who could be helping her but because of the way that you watch them treat women in general you know why they are unwilling to support her because they never when i'm asking certain people they like oh no I just don't think I just don't. They don't really have a real answer. OK, so anyway, I just want to say to myself, right, like how Snoop said, I want to thank me. I just want to say to me, I was not wrong in what I said. And it's playing out for us to see it happening in real time. And I know that when I spoke on it, I spoke on it, not just as a black person, but as a black

woman who I even know in spaces where we're doing, you know, in civil rights spaces and social justice spaces in business spaces. I know that I am treated a different way than some of the black men who are my counterparts or black men who may not even be as effective or as progressive or as whatever as me. But just because I'm a woman, I deal with another layer of disrespect and of of the sexism that is also ingrained in American culture. Well, I have to agree, man. You know, I've said the same thing.

And I think shout out to Plies, man. He had to give an apology to black women because he didn't even understand the level of hate that black women have experienced and and i've listened to dudes just tell me yo she's a woman she just shouldn't be leading you know what i'm saying and she's nobody's gonna respect her and this and that and it's like wow why i respected my mother my grandmother was one of the strongest people I knew in my life. So when we have these conversations, there is definitely a facet of America where men do not respect women, and they definitely do not respect black women. Malcolm said it, the most disrespected, unprotected, and neglected woman in the world is the black woman.

So person in the world, not just a woman. The most neglected person in the world is a black woman so we are able to see this in real time so like when you said it to me i understood exactly what i know i was trying to explain it so it was mark thompson he was like what like why are you explaining this anybody with good sense knows exactly what you're saying they are trying not to know or their emotion and it's funny because some of these same people always are like oh let's not move with emotion and then when i speak to something that is my experience as a woman then it's emotional that's cute but anyway let us move on i um let's this is a point we're not going to do tmi because

we got to go so you go to your music segment all right so we're gonna go to my music segment shout out to marvin bing you, we was out in Detroit. Super organizer. Marvin Bing. Marvin King Bing, man. He put us all together. You know, he had a panel in Detroit with Icewear Vezzo, Killer Mike, Pusha T, Beanie Seagull, Freeway. You know, it was so many different people.

Nipsey Hussle's brother. The brother's name, it always escapes escapes me but I love him so much Black Sam we had a beautiful panel shout out to we can't be leaving people out since you want to name people say all the names Pastor Mike McBride

what's our other brother's name oh lord but listen it was a dope panel there's a soundtrack Pastor Mike McBride. Pastor Mike McBride. What's our other brother's name? Oh, Lord. But listen, it was a dope panel. And there's a soundtrack. And the first song off the soundtrack is called Still Here. And it's the Vote or Else soundtrack. And it's featuring Benny the Butcher. It's featuring Jay Electronica, Freeway, Black Thought, Metal Feet, and Joe Taker.

Edie, shout out to Joe Taker. Joe Taker. You know, she wasn't singing on this, but you know the sis. She out here, she thinks she a singer. Yes, she definitely thinks she can sing. But she's actually speaking. The song is dope and it's really touching. So make sure you go.

It's on all platforms still here. It's Vote or Else and it's featuring all artists I just named. A shout out to Phil Agnew. Oh, Phil Agnew. See, I knew it was somebody important. And Phil is our brother. That is our brother. Yellow Pain.

Yellow Pain. Shout out to Yellow Pain. It was a powerful, powerful discussion. It was a very, very powerful discussion. My boy Smoke Dizzy was on there. And so much music came. I mean, music is coming out it's gonna be a dope i'm gonna be on the soundtrack so and tamika's gonna be on the

king bing king bing shout out to king not me king so make sure that you go and listen to that song still here the soundtrack will be out very soon and it's still here still here that's what's up that's what's up and today we are joined by a super friend uh who has some information i mean as we've been saying this election is really important for us we don't really care who doesn't like it right we we don't care who is not interested and who's mad at us and who said we shouldn't be and don't this and that, go talk to somebody else because we're really deeply into this thing. And TMI has really been turned into a show to discuss all the elements of the election for the next several weeks.

And so in our super friend world, L. Joy Williams, who's joining us today, is somebody who, of course, is very special to me. And now, you know, over the years, she's become special to you as well. President of the NAACP Brooklyn Network. And also she and I serve on the board of Higher Heights, which is an organization that does a lot of political education and raising funds for black women candidates uh we do so many things she's a consultant super brilliant you got all the things in this one woman but what's important for why she comes here today is because uh joy has created joy is an educator an educator and so she's created a guide for the, it says a journal for the empowered voter called Get Vote Ready. Get Vote Ready. And so today we're going to be hearing from our assistant,

L. Joy Williams, and I'm excited about that. Just her story, just when we're talking about the kids. Like even though she's doing all this leadership in the community, she also is fostering several children at the same time. That's why I love doing this podcast, right? Because we get an opportunity to interview and highlight our friends who are doing so many dope things. So shout out to Eljoy for educating us about civics and about what it looks like to vote and what we need to know about voting. And they're also educating us about humanity. Right. It is humanity when you're like, I'm going to take, not only am I out here fighting for our rights, but then I learned that children need help.

And like she said, out of a personal situation came her story. So when people ask me, well, what's the first thing that I should do? I'm like, look at your life. Look at the things that are near and dear to you and make decisions about how you can get active based upon that because people who jump in the stuff that has nothing to do with what they're really interested in or because they get in it because they're like oh there's a check or oh there's you know or or everybody else is doing it i think i could do it better than you're in an area that does not really really make you feel like you're you're getting to your passion like you're serving your purpose so there's that there's that yes we definitely do have our sister l joy she is an educator she is a friend she is one of those

individuals that when you think of her she's smiling, but you know she's about business. So we have our sister, the one, the only, Eljoy in the building. Oh, man, I love that introduction. I've got to come here more often. That's it. Thank you for both of you for inviting me today. I appreciate it. Thank you for being with us. Joy, tell us, you know, first of all, let's just get straight on NAACP Networks chapters.

Branch. Oh, my gosh. Yes. Okay. So, listen, we did not have a rivalry with Nan, right? You know, it's just, you know, we birthed everybody. You see? You see?

You see shade and shot already. That's what I love so much about you, Joy. Like, I think so many people feel like in the movement, we are just stoic and boring. And we're not. Like, we enjoy one another. We make jokes. We snap like we did at the house back in the days when we were kids. And we have a good time.

And, you know, you're one of those people who, like my son says, you're always smiling, but you be serious as hell. You be scaring me. You say that and the elected say that, too, sometimes. They don't know the difference between if I'm coming and being like, hey, how you doing? And like, hang out to like, oh, no, what did I do? Well, you come in in the tradition of our queen mother, which is Mama Dukes, Hazel N. Dukes, who is the president or the former. I saw somewhere the other day that I guess she's kind of like,

kind of, kind of become 92. Yes. You know, she said that she's not going to do it anymore as state NAACP conference president. Okay. You know how she said that. She in charge. Okay. But you know how she said that. She in charge. Yeah. Okay.

Got it. So tell us about your book, this guide for, you said, a journal for the empowered voter. Yeah. And I love the fact that you're speaking into people because I don't be feeling like people that empowered. So, you know, but talk about what your journal is all about. Well, you know, one of the missions of what I do, sure, with Sunday Civics,

which is every week I sort of use what's happening in the political landscape to empower people with the knowledge to get involved and engaged in politics. Because, as you know, part of our work as organizers, the first thing we do particularly when we're going into spaces is helping people understand how the system has worked where you know who the decision makers are and then what you can demand what you can do and in starting Sunday Civics I realized that was a lot of even in working inside government I would still go into spaces whether it was in the controller's office or the city hall or whatever.

And I would do the back door. I'm like, OK, this is what you need to ask for. This is what's possible. This is what can happen. You know who this is, the person you need to push. And I realized that that is something we take for granted a lot, that everybody knows, like, who the decision maker is, what I should be asking for. And that's why I started Sunday Civics. With the Get Vote Ready Journal, you know, notice as we go through the journal, there's no emotion in it. There's no,

you know, one party over another party. It is helping you make a strategic decision for you to prepare yourself and make sure you have the information to engage in the election. And then two, starting with yourself and not with the candidates. You start with, in the book, what are the issues that matter to me? You know, what moves me? What is the, you know, kitchen table issue that I'm most concerned about? Then you go to the candidates based upon those issues to determine, okay, now which one most aligns with who I am.

So based on this book, you know, what was like the, what made you say, you know what, I really need to make this book? What made you sit down and say that? Two reasons. One, you can always go to family. say you know what i really need to make this book what made you sit down and say that two two reasons one you can always go to family so this is for my cousins who call and text me on election day to ask me who we voting for or to ask me when is the election again or oh they got there they may know okay i know who i'm gonna vote for mayor i know who i'm gonna vote for president but then they get there and they'd be like uh it's some question right

like there's some question on here right like that i don't know nothing about and to my dad you know god bless his soul who literally he would call me tamika from the voting booth i've made those calls right and I'm like dad you can't call you're not supposed to that's actually illegal and then I hear him arguing with the people in the poll booth and I'm like because they're doing this job

you're not supposed to do that so this is for them I took a picture and sent it to somebody and said I'm waiting text me back what I'm supposed to do and that's like illegal you're not supposed to take a picture of the ballot. Yes. I bet you didn't know that. I didn't know that.

Yeah. I took a bunch of pictures. So this is for them. This is for, you know, my cousin Candace and them, you know, so that they have, okay, this is my journal, this is my guide to prepare myself before I go into the voting booth. And it's designed and meant not for me telling you what to do, but for you to put together prompts and questions and spaces there for you to contemplate, you know, what matters to me might be different

than what matters to you. That's a fact. Right? And so it's space for you to put that and then to, you know, teach you this is how I should engage in a political process, in the election process. You know, not so much to be swayed by celebrities. And I know that's the thing that everybody, well, my favorite celebrity endorsed this

person or did not. Right. But no, they're voting their own interests. They're voting their own money in their own pocketbook. Like, this is how you vote and make your decisions for you. I had to really get into the book. As soon as I saw you promote that it was ready, I called immediately. I was like, did you even listen? Because I know it's necessary because even, even though this is a very contentious time,

and let me tell you, I am so ready for November 5th to come and go. My spirit and my stomach and literally my body cannot sustain two or three more months of all this arguing and people writing crazy and you falling out with friends and family. My cousin and I was in a big blow up about this at a family occasion. We ended up being back love, but still we had to go through this like really difficult conversation. And the one thing I realized is that civics 101, like basic understanding of politics and electoral politics and all of that, a lot of our people don't have it. And it was done on purpose to us.

And we have to really understand that it's not that you don't know just because you weren't paying attention or you're not smart or whatever. It's literally that it has been designed that we would not know. And that for me, it almost makes this moment, while it is incredibly stressful, it makes it like I'm glad that we have this type of race where people get to pay attention and start asking the questions even if it's the most ignorant conversation you've ever been involved in yeah so i know you had to be like oh no we're not gonna do this right we're gonna learn something because this ridiculous yeah well not only that and that this shouldn't be the only one that you

do because the work that you all do, right, until freedom and talking about the district attorneys, talking about governors' races and things, those are where we need to get engaged. And that's one of, you know, I said to someone recently, it's something I say all the time, when we throw back to the modern civil rights movement and talk about the right to vote, particularly in the South, you know, people are like, oh, we got the right to vote and, you know, that's it. That's what our ancestors died for the right. And I think we do a disservice by not following that, not giving context and qualifying that

and saying they weren't just dying to be able to go in the booth. That's right. Right. They wanted to elect sheriffs, district attorneys that would protect their communities that they were building that weren't members of the KKK, that weren't members of the White Citizens Council and would actually prosecute people if someone came through and lynched their brother or their cousin. Right. They wanted, you know, just think about Brown v. Vorden, the original cases that led up to that. They wanted they were paying into a system that weren't properly providing resources for their children's education. And so they wanted the ability to be on the school board to say, OK, our district, our schools need a bus.

Our schools need proper books and materials, right? And so they knew, that generation knew that it was tied to their vote to be able to elect people that were making those decisions. And we lost that. As you said, it was deliberate. We lost that knowledge that these things of depressing our communities were tied to these elected positions, that we needed to be in those rooms and we needed to have our voice in those rooms, even if we weren't the ones elected. And so that's what I try to do with Sunday Civics is to remind our communities, right, that this isn't just about electing somebody popular that looks like you. This is electing someone that will listen to you,

that is responsive to your advocacy efforts, that has the wherewithal to come back and engage with the community or be within the community, and understanding those tools and how to exercise, right, that civic bone that we all need. I think it's really, really important. So, Ujo, I want to ask you you this just based on local levels right like what do you think the most important elections that people don't even really focus on because i know there are certain elected officials

that that control so many different things financially that you know the the resources within the community the the um programs all those things. What do you think, just on a local level, because everybody's going to talk about the president and the mayor. What do you think, as a person that just goes to work every day, that lives inside a community, what are those jobs that you think in civics that we should be focusing on voting for? I like that you brought up that point because it depends on where you live. And that's why I provided the space for that, because, you know, in some places, depending on how your town, how your city is incorporated or structured, the power of the budget, you know, may be with the county executive.

Right. Not the city council. Not the city council or the, you know, or the mayor. The mayor may be a ceremonial and he sell carpets on the weekend. Right. Right? Or some knows. That's a whole different day.

Right, and so that he's just there as an administrator or she's just there as an administrator. So part of that education is also understanding that you start local. Don't start at the top. Don't start at president. Don't start at the top. Don't start at president. Don't start at governor. Start local. How is my town incorporated?

And where is the seat of power? You know, is it the city council? Is it the state legislature who has control over the issues that I care about and about my budget? Like, who makes those decisions? My brother lives in an area over in the Poconos incorporated a little differently than like us here in New York City and he sits on a board that makes decisions about the town's you know money on whether or not they're going to do sidewalks or they're going to invest or whatever those things are important and once he got on there he was like oh

something really had this is not rules that just come from the sky there are people attached right and there's regular people that are my neighbors that are sitting around the table making a decision and no one's ever there right but they're making the decision and he may be at a barbecue or something and hear people complain about something and not realize that oh that is a decision i made you made, you know, or didn't make. Or didn't make. And so that's, I think, what's important is looking at how your town, how your area is incorporated.

And I provide examples of that in the book of, like, how you can find that, how you can find that out and learning what is the seat of power in that instance. Because particularly nationally, everybody focuses on the big cities, Chicago and New York and the top 100 cities, and more than likely a lot of them are incorporated the same or organized the same. There's a mayor, there's a city council, or, you know, some balance or whatever.

But people live in a lot of different things, and you could work in one area that's a town or a county and live in another one that's rural. And it's a group of your neighbors who are making those decisions. And so that's why I think it's important for you to understand. And it may not be that you're going to engage daily, right? You're not going to be me and Tamika and you're going to be like every event, every protest and things like that and every town meeting. But at least the issues that you care about and the things that you care about

and understanding who makes those decisions, where the money comes from, who's it directed to is important. And you can look at some of our poorest states like Mississippi and a place like that. If you look at how money and contracts bounce back and forth, it's like the same people. Just like, oh, you got it for two, three years, and then we're going to vote for it over here. Meanwhile, you have some of the worst education outcomes. You have some of the, you know, utilities, all of that kind of stuff that are depressed. And so that's why it's important for people to understand that.

So is there a portion of the guide, the journal, I want to call it a guide so much, but the journal, because I guess the guide tells you what to do. The journal gives you the opportunity to write things and think through the process. So I got it. Trying to get it right so it sticks. Is there a part in there, or at least can you speak to, when you don't like either candidate, right? And you're like, I don't want to vote for none of these folks, but yet somebody going to be in charge. So what would you say to that, or is that in the book? Yeah, that's a very, very

important part, and it's something I just talked the book? Yeah, that's a very, very important part, and it's something I just talked about on Sunday, because that's one of the things that people give pushback, right? They're both crooks. Like, I'm not a voter for neither one of them. Right. But elections, and if, again, you take the emotion out of it, and even those of us who are celebrating, you know,

that it's the first black candidate or the first black woman or whatever, let people experience that. That's right. Stop trying to tell people that's not okay. Let them experience that. That's perfectly fine. If you're on another wavelength, that's cool, right? But then it's what candidate, and I lay out four ways to decide to pick a candidate for yourself, but ultimately you're deciding where can I push progress forward

and do the least harm to my community. Harm reduction. Right, like that is the thing. But I lay out my four steps of picking a candidate. One, again, you start with yourself. What are the issues that matter to me? And then looking at the candidate's records, not who you want to be on the ballot but who's actually who's actually on the back right and who can really win yeah and then decide

okay which of these candidates you know most aligns with my values because nobody is going to align 100 unless you run it that was that was a bar unless you run it. That was a bar. Unless you run it, nobody aligns. And even then, you might have disagreement with self, especially when you realize that a big part of politics is about compromise. And knowing that is important. That's why I'm not running for anything. Right.

You say, okay, based upon what this person said, what their track record is, this is who most aligns. This is what their record is on the issue. The other thing is, who are you more likely to move or your advocacy efforts be receptive? Like, are you going to elect someone that's just like, I don't care. I doubled down. Right. Like, this is what I believe. That you don't even have access to anything. Right. And when we say access, we're not saying like going to the White House and flag surfing.

Right. Right? Like, we're not talking about that. We're talking about when you have people inside the administration that actually got hired to do jobs, that you can have a communication with and say, hey, that's close inside of that administration. And say, hey, look, these are the issues that we're dealing with in our community. Right. And they know you and they can relay that message to your elected official

and probably get you some type of meat or get something to actually materialize from, you know, actually making this vote. Yeah, well, and sometimes because you're speaking as a person who's very close to the top of the food chain. So you can make the call. But if you're Johnny and you live in a certain community, you might not be able to make a call ever that gets to the people you want. But you can be a part of joining with others that have that power and pushing because there's power in numbers. So when we say we're going to Washington about gun violence or women's rights or whatever,

whatever, ceasefire, whatever the issue may be, you need to be able to say, I can send out tweet, text, a MailChimp, whatever, all the different things, phone calls, and there's going to be 100, 200, 1,000 or more Johnnies from a particular community that will be there. That's how we build power. And a lot of people, because they don't see themselves being able to call Kamala or call whoever, Joe Biden, whomever, even if it's your your mayor because they can't make those phone calls they feel very detached now one one phone call you can make and one place that you can walk into anytime you want is the campaign office and or the district office of your city council person your state of your state legislator exactly congressional member. You can walk right in the door

and the squeaky wheel gets the oil. Because we know you go in there every other day, send letters, write. They will have to respond to you because you are a constituent in their district versus you trying to talk to President so-and-so. And I think that's important because you're evaluating, is this person responsive to those advocacy efforts?

Right, right. Are they doing a press conference and they're saying, I don't care how many people come to my office, I'm voting this way? Or are they like, after deliberation with constituents in my community, you know. After I got my ass kicked. Right. And got embarrassed. Or even, you know, or got my ass kicked and got embarrassed or even, you know, or even got better understanding of the issue because we assume that politicians know everything

about every issue and they do not. They don't even read. We went to Washington, you know, we walked 250 miles from New York City to Washington, D.C. with Karma Perez and our family at the Gathering for Justice, Justice League. And why did you join us? You did. You came somewhere. You was at the beginning.

No, no, no, no, no. Staten Island is where most people met us. Okay, so when we got to Washington, the last part of the march was to do our advocacy day where we went and talked to all the legislators and there's a congressional members. I'm not talking about, we went down, like you said, to Alabama to talk to some, no, no, no, no. We were in Washington, DC at the Congress. Baby, we were having to tell congressional members what their colleagues in Congress have on the table in terms of bills. They did not know they had to be educated.

They were like, Oh, we were bringing them together. We've done that. I know you've done it in Albany and the state capital of New York, especially around for us. It was around raise the age when we had to go shut it down, like completely bust into the meat.

And like, what is the problem up here? Two in the morning yeah so people think i mean you were basically living up there dealing with these issues people really think that these folks know and that they're smarter than you or that they know they just had the courage to go run yeah and they could raise the money and if there's and if they're experts on an issue it's probably one or two. That's not on it.

It's not. And all of us are in that situation. Although the Internet would have you thinking, you know, everything, you know, everything. That's what I want to ask. Does it frustrate you just watching misinformation, just being this civically engaged and knowledgeable, does it frustrate you on the internet just seeing people just say things that are so outlandish and seeing people grab onto it like it's actually fact? Let me tell you something. This is when I feel the most old. Yeah.

Because I scroll through and I'll see stuff and the old woman responses come out of me. Now, you know that don't make me that. You sound like hazel for real right and you know i'll tell again my cousins or other people calling me and i'm like use your common sense now why would that like now why would some why would that happen just think like just let's think that through right what you're saying right you know it's the same thing i use on my kids you know and i'm like let's think about this a little bit you know and play it out and see how so that kind of thing does absolutely frustrate me but it's also well you're a person that you can't take

stupidity it's like it really doesn't it aggravates you to the point oh no and it's i've come from a long line people that my grandmother who i'm actually named after joyce would say that like you say something or whatever just why would you just bring stupid into the house like it was like it was a cancer or something um and so that it makes it extremely difficult to because it's there's so much things that are true to fight against to like to engage that when you make up stuff it's like you don't even got to make up you don't have to make it because you don't have to make that all the time like i could find you five things that's true that we should be challenging about whichever candidate including kamala harris i got five or six things and you want to make up some story about you talked about celebrities and

their impact we just finished talking on the show about janet jackson and like how she's like well i heard that her daddy's white like sis what right are you? We heard some things about you and your family, too. And we still rock with you. And we also try not to spread it as intelligent people who have the best interest of all of us in mind. Yeah. And, you know, one thing I say about, you know, as you're saying, issues that you even want to address with a candidate that you support. You know, and I always say, you know, I say it to electors today, Faith, I look forward to protesting you. Right?

Like, I look forward to it. We say this all the time. Being engaged and visiting, right? Because it's part of, and literally, I have said that to Kamala, and she's like, come on. We got to do what we got to do. Because that is your role. That's my role. Like, that is your role to educate me on the process.

Every photo line that I've been in, I've talked to her about something else. And she has said, she's like, every time Joy come in here, she got something else. Some other people, so, so, whatever. And to people like her that are committed to public service in that way, it's just like, that's your job. That's your role. So, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, intersect and we may be on different sides on different issues and then we can come together on you know on different things absolutely and and i think that that's we have to think about those we elect as our utility players right um and that you know you pull them in when you need to you rally against them if you need to um but going back to that harm reduction as you mentioned is really important and the last one is thinking about the political landscape. What is happening?

That's the one. In the country. What is happening in your state? What is happening in society? And based upon who's running, their record, their disposition, is this the person I want to lead during this time? That's the realest thing. And I want to just say we always say that.

We say we're not fighting for allies. We're fighting for a better opponent. Right? That's who we elected. We want to elect the best opponent because we understand that in government, you're going to make decisions. The government is going to have different ideologies and understandings and have different point of views and needs that they think.

And we represent the people and have to make sure that we argue on behalf of the people all of the time. So if we understand that process, then we should always feel like we have to challenge our government officials always. But what I want to say is this. This whole ideology, like, you know, I've just become civically engaged in like the last 10 years. You know, I'm from the hood. So I really didn't pay that much attention. But there's this ideology in the streets that either we shouldn't vote. Right. We shouldn't vote or, you know, just mainly we should. But I'm not going to say to all because that is it. That makes absolutely no sense.

Even though shouldn't vote makes no sense to me. But what do you tell the person that says they're going to sit home and just not vote? Yeah. So we're not going to vote for the third party? Oh, I got to answer that too. Because there was a whole thing. Like there was a thing today where, you know, it was on The Breakfast Club and Angela Rye was talking to Jill Stein. She asked her a lot of questions, you know, it was on The Breakfast Club and Angela Rye was talking

to Jill Stein. She asked her a lot of questions and there was both pushbacks. So I want to hear your perspective on another party, you know, and then the people that say don't vote. Okay, this is where I might get a little nerdy. So, you know, I'm in community all the time, you know, in Brooklyn. And I get that question all the time. Either I don't do politics or voting doesn't matter't matter the systems rigged and all that kind of

stuff and it's something that I address all the time out in the street one I never start with as an organizer I need you to come out and vote I never started that way I always started where people are. Like, you know, what do you need? You know, like, what's happening? What's your concern? Sort of in that way. But even when I do get to the point where someone says, I don't do politics, we shouldn't vote anyway because it's, you know, all race,

then I ask the question, then what do you do? Like, you know, what do you do? Right? And more often than not, know people might say oh i volunteer here or things or whatever and i was like what is the reason you have to volunteer for kids to have um food for lunchtime because there is a someone making a decision that those kids don't need the resources for them not to eat so you not doing politics meaning those kids don't need the resources for them not to eat. So you not doing politics, meaning those kids don't have another advocate to make sure that they are eating and

their bellies are full for them to learn. So you're depriving those kids of your voice. Yeah, you're actually going against what it is that you actually want to do. Yeah. Counterproductive. Right. And then talking to people, which is, I think, you talk about is deliberate of taking civic education. Right. It's also deliberate that we took the word power and political power out of civic. Because civics is like, oh, let's go volunteer at the library or pick up trash. It's like these passive actions rather than

it's about control and wielding your political power. Me, you, and others in our community coming together are a powerful voice to push back against money-grabbing landlords.

Super local. Right, super local. are a powerful voice to push back against money-grabbing landlords, right? Like us, so they diminish. Super local. Right, super local. We're diminishing because people are afraid of the power. And that's what you're doing with voting. That is what you're doing with organizing. You are collectively coming together to wield your political power. And in Brooklyn and AACP, I go a step further, where I tell people we're doing

an action in Brownsville and stuff like that, I was like, come with me, let's build black political power, right, and see what we can do with that collectively in the state, on the city level, and then, you know, on the national level. That is scary to people, that people would come together to build back black political power. We've seen that all throughout history. And so helping people to understand that, that this is about power, and part of your vote, that's what I want to talk about that political landscape,

is where will I have the most power, right? Not only in pushing this elected, this advocacy or what have you. So then when you get to the third party, will I have power if I vote for a party that can't get the 270 electoral votes? Do you believe, like we do, that it's time to create other options, like viable options to open up our political process. Yeah, this is where I get a bit nerdy because this is part of the problem. I don't have a problem with, like, folks like Jill Stein and others or whatever running.

Like, you know, do you, whatever. What I have a problem with is that there are, because these are state-by-state processes in terms of ballot access, getting on the ballot, and we have defaulted to two parties, not only on the national level, but on the statewide level. And so you have to break that stronghold of two parties in order to get to more viable options. There's absolutely no reason why Hillary Clinton and AOC should be in the same political party. There's absolutely no, like from a political ideology standpoint. And depending on how you feel, you might want either one of them. Right, depending on whatever. But there's no reason why Bernie Sanders, right, and, you know, Barack Obama are in the same political party.

That's right. It doesn't coincide. And it really turns people off because the messaging is mixed. And it seems like there's a fight going on, like internally. Right. And that is because we've defaulted as a country to a two-party system. And in order to get to a more representative thing, we do need to break that stronghold. And that comes with changing state laws and changing the national process.

And that's hard work that people don't want to, you know, accept. So, you know, you could say, oh, the third party option, but that is hard to do. That takes much more money. And the person that got the closest was Bernie Sanders, right? But he also did it using a two-party, using one of the major political parties. He didn't use a third party option. Right, right, because it would never have worked. It wouldn't have worked.

And we know that. Listen, I know we have to wrap up. We could do this for a while because there's so much. You might need to do it again, too. Yeah, there's so much to learn. One, I want you to tell folks where they can get your book. Sure. But when you do that, the next thing I want to ask you about is your own advocacy.

Like your personal advocacy with your husband has been to take children into your home who are in the foster care system. And all of us, that's why I always tell people we don't have to do things the same way. You don't have to sit in your home right now and say, well, I'm not going to do what Tameka Mallory does. Well, I'm not going to do what Eljoy and my son do. You can figure out your own ways to impact so much of people's lives who need help. And you all have taken on children who need need homes and i just want you to talk a little bit about that process and why you all decided to do that yeah yeah so first of all you can get get vote ready on amazon the journal the journal for the empowered voter and i say empower voter because you are already empowered right um we don't have to give you power. You already have it.

You just have to learn how to harness it and use it for yourself, your family, and your community. Absolutely. So you go to Amazon and search Get Vote Ready Journal. It's actually number two right now, and it just debuted. That's it. It's number two in political advocacy. People are thirsty. It's a great thing for someone who may be voting for the first time or not a regular voter or even a prime voter.

You know, like it's a really good exercise, I think, into, OK, let me go through the process of making sure that I'm engaged. And it's for any election, not just this one. You know, so it's something that you can use for that. Love it. The second piece in terms of what my husband and I do, it started from a personal space. It started from, you know, a family member needing care and the government, you know, ACS showing up saying, we taking a baby. And I was like, taking who baby? Like, not like, you know, and it said, no, you know, we're going to take care. And then, you know, once my husband and I started that process and realized how many other, you know, and it's said, no, you know, we're going to take care. And then, you know, once my husband and I started that process and realized how many other, you know, young people are caught up, particularly black and brown children, right, are in the system.

And a lot of it is because of poverty. A lot of people's children are taking because of poverty. Not because they didn't love the child. Not because of, and they classified neglect as, oh, you don't have enough food in the refrigerator. Or do you have a stable place just because you're couch surfing or something like that. Like there's so many different reasons why children end up in the system. And it's not to say that there aren't very real cases of neglect and abuse, because there are. But for, there's a large portion of it, it is because of issues of poverty. And then after that family member who's now, you know, permanently with us,

we kept our license open. And so far we have fostered children, their parents are under 25 or 25 and under. So you chose that area. Well, it just so happened to be. And, you know, when I talked about like one of the things I say in a photo line to the vice president, every time I talk to her about foster care, right? And even though it is a process that is governed by states, it is a national crisis. Yes. Certainly that was exasperated by COVID.

That needs to be addressed in terms of the resources because it's an ongoing cycle. Just our brief time of 10 years doing it, we've seen the vicious cycle of a young person in care. They not having the adequate supports or resources. They then become parents sooner than they need to be. And then they don't than they need to be. And then they don't have basic supports to be able to support. So now their children are taken. And it's sort of an ongoing cycle from that standpoint.

And so we really have to focus not only as a state but as a nation in how we are addressing the needs of people 25 and under in this country. Because we, for a lot of things, we leave it up to just the parents and what happens when there are no supports, or the parents need additional supports in order to continue to raise them and engage for their livelihoods. Well, Donald Trump said you just need a day to purge and just beat them up when they steal. You know, just beat the kids up, they steal.

You rough them up real, real violently, and then everything will go back to normal. So I guess that's how you do that. No, no, no. You know, I wrote on your page how I feel about that. It was definitely some, what we call expletives. I'm just so tired of it. But I just want to thank you, Eljoy, for coming to be with us today.

Get this book. It is the Get Vote Ready Journal. The journal for the empowered voter. And I hope that everybody who's like, what do I do? How do I do it? Instead of us becoming so anxious that we disengage because you just overstimulated, there are actual tools, and I believe that your book is a tool. Let me touch it so I can feel it and put a little bit of the blessing that I have on it.

Thank you. You know, that there are real people who have sat down and said, let me help you so that you are not anxious, but you're actually ready. That's right. Ready to go. That's, but you're actually ready. That's right. Ready to go. That's why we got a smart friend. That's it. Well, you know, she's one of our super friends.

A super friend. L. Joy Williams, the president of the NAACP Brooklyn branch, but also so, so, so much more. And also an author here. Okay. That's what I'm talking about. Thank you, L. Joy. Thank you so much for joining us. Thanks. So with that said, we're going to go into my i don't get it since we're talking about civics you know and um i haven't really said anything about the eric adams charges because i don't

really know a lot about it right but i read the indictment and then i read the article that i read today just talking about you know what he's being accused of and just getting a breakdown and um i don't get how someone who is an elected official right and they have lobbyists we i've heard about having lobbyists and they lobby for certain things and they lobby on behalf of certain things. And, you know, the elected officials, the campaigns are funded. They have dinners. They raise money.

And all of these things are supposed to be that you build a relationship with the elected official, that you advocate on behalf of yourself. And now, when it seems to me, right, because I've heard this a few times, that every time there's a black elected official, those things become criminal, right? And I'm not saying it is because I don't know all of the intricate things. Like, we don't know all of the evidence. We don't know all the things. as if you being close to an elected official, you know, raising money on behalf because you want to see that person in power, that you believe in that person,

and you having a relationship which puts you in a position to where you can say, hey, these things are wrong in our community, or these things we need in our community, and him being able to advocate on behalf of you, now is something that's illegal. It's a bribe. Well, I'm glad you're being vulnerable and i'm not listening and i don't know and i don't agree with eric adams on a lot of things and we like we just said we pushed back and i've had you know if you look at our drink champs interview i

sat down i explained him the things i didn't agree with but as a man and as a black man i understand that it's hard especially in politics i've watched this situation happen this is not the first time it's not the second these this same situation i've seen happen to like four elected officials black elected officials right right so i'm i'm really don't get why the you know the um the threshold right right Why the criteria for advocacy and fundraising and things seem to change when black officials are involved? Yeah, it doesn't change. And that's why I said I'm glad that you asked because I think, as you said, that TMI is

a forum and should be for us to educate people. But also, sometimes we just don't know. And when we don't know, we should not feel like, oh, we can't talk about that because we don't know. No, it's OK for us to say I don't know. And so here's the thing. First of all, yes, there is an attack on black elected officials. We see it happening all over the country. What's our sister's name in Maryland, in Baltimore, Marilyn Mosby. She is on house arrest right now for something that is completely asinine, right? Using her own money in the purchase of a home, her own money, not stealing from the taxpayers, not and making a mistake on the application.

Even if that mistake was something that some people will say is intentional. She says that it wasn't. In fact, she says that it did not even happen the way in which it has been portrayed, especially in the media. But now she's on house arrest. And, you know, I think it's asinine. You now see that Angela Asselbrooks, who's running for Senate in, uh, also in Maryland. Uh, she is being accused of, uh, uh, not registering her grandmother's property the right way, which looks very to me as an oversight, but nonetheless, she's also experiencing this. You see Brian Benjamin who, what, who has never even purchased marijuana. Okay. This is a man who Brian is our friend. He's probably the cleanest clean person. who has never even purchased marijuana, okay?

This is a man who, Brian, as our friend, he's probably the cleanest, clean person I've ever, ever, ever met in my life. I know Brian, and you know Brian, and we've looked at his evidence, and we've looked at all of that, and this young man's life has been destroyed, even though he's rebuilding and he will be fine. But for the moment, Brian,

as the lieutenant governor of New York State, who was about to go on and become the governor. Right. He was definitely going to be the governor. There's no question about it. He had the he could raise the money. He had the relationships. He had the posture of not being like a he'll say I'm a black capitalist. Right. And that's something that he and i have gone back and forth on nonetheless when he says i'm a black capitalist i know there's some people who like to you know who who are looking at more uh their interests in politics they're like okay i can get with him he's not the liberal super progressive you know against people making

money type of person so he did all the things right he checked all the boxes and still they took him down over something that when you look at the evidence first of all they've had to walk back some of it and second of all the the individual who was accusing him was a white man who's deceased now uh but also he was somebody who was a criminal already in charge in trouble for some other things. And Brian seemed to become the fish that he could give to the prosecutors and to the United States, the feds, basically, to why can't I get the U.S. U.S. attorney's office to get them to to to maybe back down or for him or just to ingratiate himself with the system so this goes on and on and on and we could keep going kim foxx this one people running for

office and people in elected office all over this nation black people so cool the charges for uh eric adams if there is evidence for those charges, real evidence that sticks on him, they are charges that are serious. Because number one, it's not that it's just people advocating for themselves the way that you and I do. These are business folks. These are not community advocates who are like, oh, I want to see more community centers and whatever.

These are people who are making a lot of money. And by the way, Turkey specifically is not on a good list with America. I don't want to give the wrong title, but I know they're on some list of like not being our friend or not being a nation that America has a strong relationship with. So when you're in relationship with them and then they are able to do business with the city. And then they said that the fire codes in the building that they wanted, um, were not up to par.

And it was like 90 different issues. And they claimed that mayor Adams called the fire department over and over, even after they declined to give them the building and they made it happen. This is what they, this is what they're saying. I'm just, you know, so if there's evidence to prove that, if there's evidence to prove it, then we will be able to see whether he was actually involved in these things that they say happened for 10 years or a longer period of time.

The main thing, though, which is the same kind of issue or the same charges that they bought against by Brian Benjamin is the straw donations, which is the 10 million dollars that they speak about where they say he stole 10 million dollars. And it's also the way that the media talks about these things is stole 10 million dollars. Makes you think that he siphoned it off and put it in his bank account and spent it on his family and friends and was out partying with it but what they're saying is that the the these connects that he had in turkey they had relationships they they took their relationships with other people gave them money and then those people made donations on on their behalf to boost their support for him so that he would be indebted to them. And, you know, and so I look at that.

And if there is, like I said, real evidence for it, I can see why he would be in real trouble. Now, he says that the allegations are lies and it's a bunch of slander and things that's being made up or that is being blown up to make it look like he's running some type of criminal enterprise, which, by the way, there's all kinds of investigations flying around his office for different things. A couple of things I know is when I look at people who are also in the administration, like David Banks, who's the chancellor of New York City Public Schools, and also Sheena Wright, and just a bunch of people there, I could go on with the names.

These are people that I know, I know, especially the two that I named, I know that they would never be involved in a criminal enterprise. I know that there are many people within that administration that they would never, ever, that's just not their character, it's not who they are, and I could say that, and if I was ever proven wrong, I would have to come back and say, I apologize. But I know I know able to see whether or not this evidence is true and is tried and tested in the court. Because my perspective on this is even though Eric and I have many, many different things that we disagree on, many, his support for Israel and unfortunately

the way in which he either will not even address the Palestinian community or the way in which it's almost like he mocks it. I don't like that. I don't I don't support that. I don't like his consistent support for police officers that we believe are rogue and disrespectful and harmful, very dangerous in our communities. So there's a number. There's a list of things that I could sit here like we said, you don't got to make anything up because there's a list of things but I also want to challenge those people who jump up and they're like oh that's it you out I want to challenge those people you but you want pokey though who goes through who gets arrested and all of that to be able to go before a court of law and for the evidence to prove they're wrong but then when it comes to him we want to have a different standard.

And I just, that's something that you can be mad all you want with me, but I just don't support it. I'm not mad at anybody who says we don't like Eric Adams, never did. And therefore we feel that this is a moment when his leadership has been shown to be like ineffective and he needs to step down. But I do think that there is something to be said about these investigations that happen to be going on all across the country to our elect or black elected officials i just i'm not with it so there's a side of me that understands what you're

saying but then there's also a side that we have to be very clear that the charges against him are not a joke they are serious charges no and I understand what you're saying. I'm just saying based on what I was reading when I read the article. The article. You're talking about an article that says that the charge, like it's an overcharge, like it's an overreach, which is the same thing they did to Brian Benjamin. And it's because it basically described what exactly happened to Brian Benjamin. So when I'm listening, I'm like, well,

this is the same thing that happened to Brian Benjamin and it's like how do and what they say the main thing that they say about these cases that there has to be quid pro quid pro pro I never say quote yeah quid pro quo no quid quid pro quo yeah the main thing they say about these cases, they have to be quid pro quo. And that means that there has to be an established agreement between two parties that if you do this, then I'll do that. Right. And that's what has to be established. And based on this.

And they couldn't establish it for Brian Benjamin. Not really at all. Not at all. It was like trash. There was no not really at all. Not at all. It was like trash. There was no not really at all. All they had him doing was actually just giving the grant to the organization for him to do what he does with the kids. There was nothing that you do this and I'm going to do that. Right.

So what I'm saying is this. And the judge said that. Let's just be clear that the judge was like, where is the quid pro quo? That's what I'm saying. When I'm reading this article, they're saying the same thing. It's okay. Most of the time people do things for elected officials. If this is the elected official that you're trying to get in,

then you're going to try to get everybody to. But you can't take. But the law, the law. The law says that you have to know. That's where quid pro quo comes in. I would have to be aware that something is happening. If you decide, you're one of my constituents, right? You want to make sure I'm running for mayor.

You want to make sure that I get it. And you go to all the whole block. Like, listen, we need to donate to my songs. And you get everybody and you rallying up and they all donate and they come from you and this and that. And you decide, I don't have any understanding or I haven't promised you anything. Yeah, but the problem is, well, I mean, but still, again, it's all about evidence because if you allege that someone knew or that there was conversations between a staff and team members where they were coordinating that, it's one thing to rally up your community.

I remember one time I said to an elected official, I can't remember who it was, but I said, oh, okay, you want my mom and dad? I didn't know. I was very, I didn't know. So I said, oh, my mom and dad. I said, oh, well, I'm not going to make them spend their money to donate for you. I'm going to give them money. And the elected official, I can't remember. I know it was a man, but I cannot remember who it was, stopped me immediately and said, it might have been Jumaane.

Stopped me immediately and said, that is illegal. You cannot do that absolutely not and if your parents are to give me it has to come from them you can ask them to donate to me but that's fundraising but you cannot fund them giving me money so again that would be something where there would have to be evidence of it now we can speak to it as it relates to brian because we with brian we know from talking to him directly we ain't talked to eric about this eric adams the mayor but we have talked to brian we know that he had if it was done he don't know a dang one thing about it was never involved in anything like that so i'm sure that that is this maybe maybe that's i don't know where eric's i'm not going to try to deliberate his defense but that would be a problem that you

cannot give people money to give and it's not just being around somebody my son it's also a person like one of the things i saw in the evidence is they're saying like okay you wanted to get you want to go to on a plane a plane and instead of you paying fifteen thousand dollars which is the cost of the ticket you're paying a thousand dollars now should people and it's a lot of people that don't even care about that because i don't care about that like that doesn't move me at all because i do understand that if i'm in relationship with you and you have the ability to give me a deal on a plane ticket i don't see anything wrong with that but the law says that that is illegal see i didn't know that i didn't know that the law says that that is illegal. See, I didn't know that. I didn't know that. The law says it's illegal.

You taking on somebody funding you. A fare. Yes, you can't do it. No, no. Now, you can. You can't even go out to dinner. I cannot take. You know, we have many friends in the administration.

When we go out to dinner, they have to pay for themselves. They cannot even take a dinner from us if. Now, they could take it from me as a friend, but you know how you applied to the city for, which ultimately puts me in it, but you applied to the city for the youth centers and all of the youth operations that you do in Newark, you're trying to do it here in New York.

Well, when you, as soon as that application is in, you no longer, because now that would mean that you are providing favors for something in return. Now, because I'm friends with these people and there's clear evidence of us partying together, you two hanging out. They know we are friends. I might pay the bill at dinner and that's OK. But even then, depending on when it is, what the conversation at the the table was because if the next person who's sitting at the production crew this gentleman is sitting there and he said oh they over there

talking about whatever you can't even do that so it has to be very very you you could be talking about twerking and whatever you think and that's cool but as soon as you say well you know we put this application in for the city that and we're trying to figure out that that becomes that that elected official has to pay for it and the reason why they do that is to cut back on people being able to pay to play so well that makes sense you know so what i what i will say is that that's how i'm with you with the everybody black thing though but it's definitely everybody but i said i said this the other day black man down bad man it's like when we look at the news it's just being from we just being taken down from all angles man and i and i want to give the benefit of the doubt right i want i want everybody's case

to try out in court right right i'm not i'm not convicting anybody people like why you don't speak on diddy why are you speaking because i don't know what happened with Diddy. I know I spoke, when I seen what happened with Cassie, I spoke about it. I said that it was cavalculture. I said that I didn't condone that. I said, whatever he had to deal with for that, he should need to be held accountable for everything else. I don't know anything about, and I'm going to let it play out in the court of law.

And I would think that's what men supposed to do in this situation. Just like with Eric Adams. I don't know what he did, and I'm not going to sit here and pile on another black man who's dealing with whatever he has to deal with, because I would want somebody, I went to trial for my life, right, and I was facing a bunch of time, and I blew trial for a crime I didn't commit, and I had to deal with that, right? So I understand those realities. So don't ask me, don't

come to me and ask me to pile up on another black man about something that I don't know about. I'm going to let that man have his day in court and if he's found guilty then he'll be held accountable but he's not going to be held accountable for me because I'm not the judge or the jury in those situations and that's why I have this segment

called I Don't Get It Because I Didn't Get It so you gave me some education about certain things. Well, there are some people who will say, well, what about Tory Lanez and why was that different, right? And what I would say is, first of all, we were looking at the case. We were looking at the case. So we knew a lot more details than most people knew because we were actually getting, we were like out there looking and calling around trying to find like because for for for a woman to like lie on a man and say that he shot her that was something that

really disturbed me like i was really like nah this can't this can't be but what i and so we were looking at it but one one of the things that i did if you ever go back and you look i never say he did it or didn't do it i just said stop lying and saying that she wasn't shot because she was and she was being antagonized. And after I did my due diligence and my research, it became very clear to me what was going on and what happened to her. But what I can appreciate about you is that you did say after you first was like he did it, he did it, he did it. Because, you know, sometimes we get passionate and overzealous. You said, you know what, actually I'm wrong for posting this and I'm going to take it down. Because it was wrong for me to even come out here saying these things without this man being able to go through his day in court.

Yep. And, you know, and it was wrong. And I said that as a man. And I learned from that situation. Even though that's how I felt in my heart. Even though I knew certain things about the situation. And we watched things play out in court. It was like, you know, a man got caught with a gun.

He did this. And I heard the videotape, I mean the audio tape of what was happening. Like there were certain things. And then I watched when he said a friend did it and then said she didn't do it. Like I literally watched and said to myself, I've seen this behavior before. So I made my decision based on that, and I was willing to stand by it. But I still didn't want to come out publicly and say what I said. I was frustrated, and I was watching.

I felt like the woman was being antagonized, and I was trying to stand up for her. And I moved in a way that I normally wouldn't move. And I apologize for that as a man. So moving forward in this situation, I'm going to give everybody the same grace because I have way less information about these cases than I even had about that case. Because we literally were online digging for court documents. We were calling people like, do you have this? And I was having a dialogue with Torrey and just explaining to him

and just the way that he carried it to me was wrong. And, you know, I don't wish jail on anybody. You know, I hear a lot of things that he's doing things for inmates in jail, donating to their funds. You know, hopefully he comes home and he's more successful. He's learned from whatever mistakes he's made in the past. I do not wish jail on anyone in the world. But I understand that there are consequences for your actions, right, and you need to be held accountable.

And if you did something, then you've got to deal with it. And as men, we fall down, we realize we made mistakes, and we get back up and we move forward. So, you know, I just want everybody to just understand, we're dealing with a lot of dark forces right now. There's a lot going on, and black men are under attack, and I keep saying black men are down bad. So I'm just saying just hold the complete judgment.

You cannot like somebody. Say that you don't like somebody, but just hold off from piling on, right? Because when you pile on to somebody and you don't know what's going on and you just completely convict it's hard to eat that crow yeah you know it's hard to say i was wrong yeah but and i mean you know what i feel as a woman i i feel many different ways and this is not something that i have not said directly to puff to others that are close to the situation after not just watching the video of cassie but also listening to some of the stories.

It's disturbing. That's it. It's nothing else. It is disturbing. It's painful. I, you know, my heart goes out to Cassie because even in the midst of all of this, while it may seem like, you know, justice is coming, she still suffered and experienced something that I watched happen with my eyes on that videotape that couldn't have been the first time. It just couldn't have been. That's the way I feel about it. And I have no problem saying that in public. Nonetheless, I know how these prosecutors work. When they give you an indictment, baby, the charges got stuff in it that you like, whoa, what is this?

How is that? Oh, and they make it, you know, because even having a thousand big bottles of baby oil and lubricant or whatever. Now, while that may give you some type of thought about what could be happening, it's not illegal. And I don't believe that a jury is going to be like, oh, that's it. That's the convicting thing. And that's what this but but that's and that's also but that's how we know from reading indictments. That's how it works so when you actually get court documents

and you are in court and you can hear what is being said and how information is being translated that's when you start to understand like what it boils down to what is the real truth in the end of the day so that's what we all um will see and and have to wait to see not just in that case but it's a many of them i I mean, we got this. It's a plethora, man. It's a lot going on. But anyway, so we out of here today. We out of here, man.

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