This Past Weekend - E281 Edit Content: Raise Your Hand

Episode Date: June 8, 2020

New Merchhttps://theovonstore.com  -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This episode is brought to you by… ShipstationTry 2 months free with promo code THEO at https://ShipStation.com ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Music“Shine” - Bishop Gunnhttp://bit.ly/Shine_BishopGunn  -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Hit the Hotline 985-664-9503 Video Hotline for TheoUpload here: http://bit.ly/TPW_VideoHotline ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Find Theo Website: https://theovon.com Instagram: https://instagram.com/theovonFacebook: https://facebook.com/theovonFacebook Group: https://facebook.com/groups/thispastweekend Twitter: https://twitter.com/theovonYouTube: https://youtube.com/theovonClips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiEKV_MOhwZ7OEcgFyLKilw ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Producer Nickhttps://instagram.com/realnickdavis  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Now, I remember when I was young, they had, we played basketball on a select group in the, in a really budget basketball team and after practice, sometimes the coach would drive us home. You know, if you had, if the, if your mom had a little bit of money or she had maybe a Toyota Camry or maybe a, you know, a van or something like that, something nice, your mother come get you, scoop you up from the practice. But the remainder of us children would, coach would give us a ride home. So you hop in the coach's truck or you hop in the coach's, he had a van with a ladder

on the back. You know, and it didn't go anywhere, but you know, it's nice. It is kind of, you know, it was nice to have. And anyway, you know, you get to know the coach well when he drives you home from practice. And sometimes he would take us to do stuff, you know, he would take us to help him do some work for him, giving us those, those rides. So one weekend he, he drove us out into the country somewhere to, we were helping him move something and loading things into a truck or something.

It was me and this young fella, uh, boo boo Tyson. And this was a black gentleman and his name was boo boo Tyson and, and his brother had tried to burn his legs off, but he, he didn't, he still had his legs. He didn't, you know, he, it didn't happen, you know. And he had one leg that was a little hot, you know, but he was, he was fine and he was a friend of mine and we're driving along this road one time and on a highway, me and him in the back of the truck and maybe they had a, you know, a lawn mower back there or a little canteen of diesel or something, you know, maybe a jug of sipping water or something

back there with it. And we drove probably in the back of this little truck, this little Japanese truck, maybe a Korean truck, a little K truck, Daihatsu or something or, you know, Shizatsu or some kind of little, just a little truck, man. It sounded like under the hood, they had about 7,000 Korean people just, you know, just straining hard to keep it going. You know, one of them little Shizatsu's or something, you know what I'm talking about. A little truck and we've been going along the highway and, you know, and Boo Boo's looking

at me and he's looking at me and he just starts kind of just really looking at me kind of funny and at one point the highway came to a stop sign or intersection with another highway and so coach was driving and we're sitting in the back of the, in the open cab. And he said to me, he said, hey, he said, hey, Theo, what's it like to have your hair blow in the wind? And I'd never thought about that, you know, because he had a high tight fade cut. And I'd never thought about that, man. And I said, man, what's it like to have your penis blow in the wind?

And we died laughing, man. The two of us just died laughing. And, um, and man, it was, I don't know, something, something, I missed being young, man. I really missed being young. Let's go, I'm just sitting on your front porch wondering how could I be so far from you and my mind is somewhere else, but when I find it, I'll patch up where it's been thrown. I'm just floating on the breeze and I feel I'm falling like these leaves I must be

on a stone when I reach that ground, I'll share this peace of mind I found I can feel it in my bones, but it's gonna take a little time for me to set that parking brake and let myself unwind. Shine that light on me, I'll sit and tell you my story, shine on me, and I will find a song, I will sing it just for you. Good to be here. I am, I have me a little London broil, shout out London, shout out England, you know, for getting meats over here, we just getting through the Corvette and everybody's, you don't know

what's going to come in. And you see the articles, you see the article in the news say, hey, meats gone, no more meat, all the meat, you know, spoiled all the meat fell off a boat. You know, birds buzzered stole the meat, they just every day something else happened. The chain, the meat chain is done. Everybody will know you will never see any more meat. And then bam, here we are. You know, one week after the disease is if it ever was a disease, whatever, I don't know,

one week after it's gone, and in London's hooking us up with that Hardy Rump hitter bra that shank, because it's, you know, it's just nice to have. So shout out England, shout out UK, for getting us those meats over here, I had that London brawl set that thing up in that crockpot. Yeah, the crock, you know, and I had, this is my second crockpot. The first one too small. You could barely do two bacons in it. You almost had to do one bacon at a time and because first time I tried, you know, I was

using my crock, I threw about maybe nine pieces in bacon in there and I left. I went and drove around for a couple hours. I wanted to see if the thing worked and I come back and and it just hadn't really, it had done a little bit at the bottom. So then I realized, damn, I need one slice at a time in this little bastard. It was just like a damn, it would like the pot on it was so small, it was like somebody, it was like one person's kind of medium hand in a cup, like cupped up, like they trying to sip water to, you know, give a little water to a dog or something with their hand.

Make a, make a shape, like a little baby, like half a banana with their hand and give a dog that moisture. But anyway, now I got that. Now I got a real, just a damn bathtub for some meat. So I threw that London in there, you know, through some, some, a couple potots. Some of them orange, uh, you know, veg, veggies, those phalanges, bro, those beta caratines, brother, them Karats, son, put them in that pot and let that bad bastard do its work. What else?

Um, I watched the fights this weekend, uh, not on the news on, not on, or on Twitter. I'm talking UFC. I watched the UFC. It was, it was enjoyable, shout out, uh, sugar Sean out there, busting them down, hitting them with the fricking straight up glucose to the chin, bro. Um, oh, I enjoyed watching, uh, Cody Stamen too, young fella. And it was just so sad. He had lost his brother the week before and, and he was fighting Brian, I think killer her.

And I thought he showed him a ton of respect as well. I mean, just, uh, you know, uh, both of those guys, um, but man, to get out there and fight after, you know, just a family tragedy to be able to still show up, uh, for yourself and for your team and, and for your brother's spirit. I thought it was, oh, it was really touching, man. It was real, real touching. Um, what else is going on? Not, not, you know, everything really or nothing or, you know, we're back in business.

It seemed like they got some restaurants open. Um, and you know, they've, you know, this whole, this past weekend was a lot of, you know, a lot of unrest in the media, in the news and, um, and we had a lot of voicemails about it. We talked about some of it and, and, um, and you know, I want, I want to say, if you, if you come to this podcast and you, you know, if you were, you know, this isn't like a controversial type of place here. You know, if, if you come here listening to, you know, um, oh, Theo's going to say something

wrong or we're going to catch you. This is that, you know, it's a type of environment where people are, you know, uh, you know, where I'm going to prove to him my point or something like that, man, I'm not, I don't have any answers. I don't have any answers, you know, and, um, and I don't know how people can 100% have an answer, you know, cause the time is really, time is kind of a long question. So if you, you know, but I'm just saying, if you, you know, and I look, there's a lot of great people in here and just, I don't know, I've just gotten a lot of social media

comments and stuff this past weekend and if you, I don't know, if you come in here to say, oh, I know better than you or you don't know, or this, you've already won. I'm not trying to be right. You know, I'm trying to be alive. I'm trying, um, I'm trying to stay in contact with, with life, I think, and stay in contact with just the long question that is life, you know, um, and this show, you know, everybody's welcome on this show, you know, you could be Arabic, you could be, uh, you know, you could be homosexual, you could be, uh, in a wheelchair, you could be from Spain, you

could be black, you could be, uh, you know, um, what else, you could be a spirit, you could be a, uh, uh, vapor, I don't, you could be anything native American, unnative American, um, you know, you could be whatever you want, you could be, uh, tired, you could be mental, anything, you could be somebody who welded their legs together on accident and shop, and now has to play a, a mermaid every year, you know, in a local play, uh, everybody's welcome here, man, you know, I just want to let you know that you could be anything, you know, Spanish, Mexican, Latino, uh, Latina, you know, Latina, Latina Vida, brah, you know, your female Christmas, baby, you could be anything, and you're welcome here, man, you

know that, um, but yeah, a lot going on out there, and, uh, and so yeah, thank you guys for showing up, a lot of people had calls that came in about it, um, and so I want to get to some of it, uh, get to some of those calls, man, and just kind of talk about what people are talking about a little, um, hear people's points of views, um, and what's my experience been like this past weekend, uh, you know, I had a rough instance, we, um, you know, the Rat King came to visit because obviously, you know, your boy Tom Shug, your boy Tom Shugger Knight over there is, uh, he wanted some, and so he got some, you know, because that's how it is sometimes if you want some, then you get some, you know, knock,

knock who's there some because that's what she's about to get, um, and, and I'm on Twitter the other day and, uh, and I didn't know how bad the, I mean, I mean, Twitter is just a, it's obviously a real cesshole, and you know, I see Drew Brees in there because I follow all saint stuff and so Drew Brees comes up in my feed and so I'll click on the video and I'm doing something and next thing you know, I hear Brees talking about how he supports the American flag. So I share it, you know, I retweet it, put some strong arms with it and just retweet it.

Well, you know, we're doing work about an hour later, I get a text, uh, from Brendan Schaub, you know, um, or Baskin Robbins, whatever people call them, different nicknames. And he says, uh, hey man, people are upset about your tweet. And so I look at it and, and I didn't realize that, um, that Drew Brees had been talking about people's reaction to Colin Kaepernick, Neyland, you know, I, I didn't watch the question from the guy in the beginning from Yahoo, which I don't, I do not like, I used to work for Yahoo, but I don't like their website, man. I think it's a bunch of garbage.

Um, but, uh, but anyway, next thing I know, I look on there and it's like, oh man, people, people that I know are just dragging me through the mud. Just dragging me through the mud, man. And, um, and it was just kind of crazy, you know, and so I just took my tweet down, you know, I didn't feel like dealing with, I didn't feel like dealing with it. Um, you know, I watched the video fully that Drew Brees had up and I thought, man, he, he could have expressed himself differently. Who knows if he heard the question fully.

He's over, you know, the things over Skype or zoom, you know, I don't know. He, you know, he could have probably expressed his answer differently. Um, but people were ripping him a new head and I had no idea, you know, I'm a Saints fan. I see Drew Brees. Um, he's talking about supporting the flag and so I share, um, you know, that's where I'm at. That's where I'm at with it.

I didn't, uh, I didn't know it was in correlation to Colin Kaepernick, et cetera. Anyway, so next thing I know, there's just so much hateful stuff. People that I know just ripping me up. And so, uh, I just realized, man, I'm some of this social, social media stuff is just, it's too much. You know, it's not a place where you can converse. I thought about saying, Oh, uh, you know, I'm a Saints fan and you know, I just saw the part where he said that he's excited, you know, that he respects the flag and why

he likes and why he supports it. Uh, but people don't want it. There's no, there's no discussion on Twitter and there's really probably, it's really tough to discuss anything anywhere on social media. There's really not a lot of discussion. There's not a lot of conversation. Um, you know, uh, I had another rough experience this week. Everybody's posting black squares and this was, um, and people say, well, you could stand,

you know, you could fight for yourself and this and that. I'm like, I just don't want to spend all they doing that. You know, I don't want to be in a place where I can't just, where there's no conversation. You know, I grew up my whole childhood not knowing how to express myself or when I could or what, you know, when it was okay to talk, you know, or have feelings about something or how to express them. And I'm still not great at it. And, uh, but to be in a vacuum where you can't even raise your hand, uh, that's what it feels

like. It feels like you're like Twitter feels like a place you can't even raise your hand. So, um, anyway, so then the same thing, a similar thing kind of happened with the black square. People put up the black square and, um, and I put up the black square and I felt, you know, I support black lives matter. I support any lives matter. I support everybody's life.

Um, you know, I, I felt bad because it became this thing where everybody's doing it. You know, when I started looking at people that I admire, I said, are people that I admire doing this? Do I need to do this? Is this a real thing? I don't know. You know, I don't know. I don't know what to do.

Um, and I probably should have just done nothing because I don't like to be forced to, you know, I like to be unique. You know, I was trying to think of a way, how can I support my black friends and support black community and support the fight, the fact that I don't think that anybody should let the hands of police brutality, um, and I realized that that's what I didn't like about the black square is that it didn't give me a chance to be unique. It didn't give me a chance to be, you know, kind of find a unique way to express myself. And then I got messages from people, um, from people of color.

I don't know if that's the right term. Um, telling me that I had done it wrong, that I didn't do the right hashtagging. Uh, and so I just said, screw it, man, I'm not dealing with this shit. I'm not dealing with something where you have to get it. Like you can't even have any, you're a millimeter off from the exact way something's supposed to be done and you didn't, and you're wrong. It just didn't rest well with me, man. And, um, so that's kind of, you know, how I ended up feeling about a lot of the social

media stuff. I had a lot of people ask me about it, um, you know, and I'm not going to argue with the, with the lady. I'm not going to argue with, uh, you know, I don't know. I don't like feeling, um, forced. I don't like feeling forced. Uh, like to try and be unique, um, so those were just some of my thoughts. I'm not saying that those thoughts are right.

I'm not saying that you have to do anything or you don't just kind of telling you what happened with me. That was kind of my experience, um, uh, and it upset me that people that I knew didn't call me to say, Hey man, this, do you, do you don't understand what's going on here? Like this, you know, people are upset because of this or it didn't. They just like just hung me out to dry like they were trying to use me to get their clout up, their online clout up and that hurt my feelings, man. So I just said, I don't have to say anything, but then you see stuff that says silence is

a, I don't even know. It just became so impossible, um, it just made me realize the best way for me to be involved is to be involved in practices in my life, uh, that this stuff online, a lot of this stuff is, it's not even for a movement. It's for the individual sometimes is for people trying to look a certain way. That's even why we don't, when I thought about it too, about the black square, am I? Yes, I support black lives. I would never want to see anybody hurt, um, you know, uh, so I called my friends.

I called my friends that are black. That's what I did and I spoke with them and I heard their voices and I talked with them and I let them know that I love them. That's what I did. I think that's about four guys, uh, that I spoke to and, um, and it was nice, man. It was nice. It was nice to know that, uh, on a, in a real place and a one-on-one connection place, everything was pretty comfortable and so that's, you know, that's really what I've been doing.

And I know a lot of people had a lot of different thoughts, um, you know, but I spoke to my friends. That's what I spoke to them. And, uh, and I enjoyed it and, you know, there was some laughter. There was some, you know, touching moments and just checking in with each other, um, you know, that's kind of, so that's sort of how, you know, this was a tumultuous weekend for a lot of people. Um, and again, I'm not telling you how to live your life or do anything.

Uh, but I am saying that this podcast is a place where people can communicate and it's not, you could raise your hand here. You know, this isn't a place where you're not allowed to, to speak or to think or to feel, um, you know, uh, because I don't want it to be that for me. You know, I was scared to even do this episode a little bit. I'm scared to talk about some of this kind of stuff because so many people, you get one word wrong. You're going to hell.

You're doing this. You with the devil now, boy, you hate black people. You hate leopards. Somebody said you hate leopards. If you don't get this right, what the fuck are you talking about, huh? You know, just, I just, it just, um, I just don't want to play that game. I don't want to live in that game. I don't want to live in that space.

And that's the space that's created online a lot. You know, when I got out of there and I got into the real humanity, uh, and checked in with my friends, things were, it was, it was a lot safer than that than, uh, than the world where they want you to believe that everything is, is, uh, all over a clamped, you know, or lopsided or that the whole world has flat tires on it, that, that every human heart is rolling around with a flat tire on it. I don't believe that. Uh, you guys had some thoughts, man, let's get into a couple of them.

Sorry to be serious. So on here, uh, but sometimes, you know, shit hit you, bro. Sometimes you running down a block and a turd catches you in the neck, you know, and that's God, right up to you. This is Mike. Hey, brother, I just wanted to give you, uh, a couple of comments about our current environment. Thank you for calling Mike. I appreciate it.

Man onward. Give you a little bit of a perspective from a police officer up here in California. Hey, man, first of all, I just want to say that, uh, you know, what took place out in Minneapolis with this officer, it's pretty disturbing, um, and I'll tell you on behalf of everyone I know in the law enforcement community, that's just not how we do business. Um, you know, we, we're governed by strict policies and procedures that guide how we have to use force against somebody that's combated. And I'll tell you, man, under most circumstances, we try to use the least amount of force as

possible for every given situation. Oh yeah, brother. LF baby, least force baby onward. Um, our goal is definitely not to, um, to hurt anybody. Um, but unfortunately those things happen and, uh, it's just sad man that, uh, you know, that we take a hit on that on one guy's action. Our whole, uh, law enforcement family have to take a hit on that. I guess the most important thing and the message I really want to get out there, man, is that's

just, that's just not who we are. There you go right there. And that's an adult man right there. That's an adult male police officer. Uh, I'm assuming could also be female. You do not know 100%. I don't want to jump to conclusions, but it could be Mike, you know, female Mike, Miss Mike.

Um, but thank you for the call. Yeah. I'm sure that's really tough. You know, you applied for a job, you're part of a group. You know, it's just, I mean, it's heartbreaking when one person ruins things for people. You know, it's heartbreaking and, um, and that's got to be tough, man. It's got to be tough for you as well. You know, being on, you know, being at a job where you have to go out and you're, you know,

your responsibility is so much heavier than somebody that's going to do electricity is pretty, that's, that's pretty hardcore whenever, you know, you know, voltage is basically the burglar right there and that shit's about just trying to steal your soul every time you around a cable. But yeah, like somebody that works at the pool or somebody that works at a, um, dairy, you know, they got a easier path than, than, uh, than a police officer, man. Thank you for the call, uh, Mike, and thank you for, uh, thank you for your service, man. Let's take another call here.

Here we go. It's 9, 8, 5, 6, 6, 4, 9, 5, 0, 3, uh, Hey, what it do, Theo, it's boy Kenny from the far Florida. What's up Kenny from the beach, baby sandcastle, Kenny's son, draw bridge Kenny down there. Baby sitting in beauties in them alligators, baby. Them Spanish, alligators, onward just bringing up, uh, what's going on in the world today. You know, obviously you see a lot of people think it's white versus black and whatnot, but in actuality, you know, it's, it's top versus people of color, people of oppression

and whatnot. So a lot of people like to combat like blue lives matter, like, okay, black lives matter, you know, stuff like that, but they're trying to make it seem like blue lives, like cops are a race, like they wake up blue, like they are smurfs or something. You know what I'm saying? Pop a smurf out here, and speaking of which, the smurfs, low key, I think, was a racist TV show because if you look, they're all the same color, they're all wearing white hoods, pop a smurf man, he got the red hood on, okay, but that's a whole different story.

So yeah, they're acting like, you know, cops are a race. They don't wake up black, you know, they don't wake up brown. They don't wake up Latino, Hispanic, you know, they, they, it's a choice for them to have that job and whatnot. So I appreciate that, man. Yeah, that's a good, uh, yes, people do try to make it real racial. You know, people do, people try to make it racial. Uh, yeah, cops wake up and they're all different color people too.

Cops come in all different shades. You know, the George Floyd, um, the gentlemen's that, that took his life, I mean, they had the main man and he looked white as a white guy, I think, Chauvin. And then they had, uh, then they had another guy, a black gentleman, and then they had another white tall guy, maybe Dutch practically, and then a Vietnamese guy, Tom Tom, I think. So they have a multitude, you know, it's, you know, it's, it's, uh, yeah, it's not, it's not like it's white cops versus people of color. You know, and, uh, I believe, yes, some people try to turn it into that.

Um, it's, it's police brutality. And I think it happens sometimes because, and I could be wrong and I probably am wrong, but I think it happens sometimes because you have more poverty in diverse communities. You know, and I'm sorry to say that if you, you know, if you were extremely diverse and that, you know, it hurts you to hear that, uh, you know, I don't mean anything by it. I'm just, you know, it's statistically that it's tougher. Um, so in the end, I think it even comes even into a poverty, a class issue. You know, I don't know if you see a lot of wealthy, um, black and Latino people having

trouble with the, as much trouble with the police, like actual to the point where you're seeing death. Um, now you still probably have more racial profiling. But I don't know, you know, I don't know all the statistics on that, uh, and I'm not trying to get into that, you know, um, but yeah, it's interesting. I don't know if we, if making it out to be a race thing doesn't help. I think, and there's two things that it's going on, you know, you see a lot of race stuff going on and you see things that are just really focused on police brutality.

Um, this next gentleman that called in, damn, this hat is tight, man. My hair is so long right now. I got to get a dang cut, um, but I appreciate you calling, man, you know, uh, this next gentleman called in and this, this guy had a suggestion that I thought was super interesting. Let's take it right here. You know what I feel is, uh, rich Raleigh, North Carolina, rich out of Raleigh, Raleigh rich, huh? Rich got that cash.

Rich got them coins, baby. Bankroll Richie, uh, Richie with that bread, uh, stags on stags on stags, Riggity Rackets, Racks, Richie, Racket, Racket, Rack, he is Richie Racks. Richie with them, Racks, Howard. Hey, look at the former 82nd Airborne Pair Trooper, uh, serving Iraq twice at the end of San Luis. I've dealt with angry mobs and, um, unfortunately that's how you, you, you, uh, calmed down this disobedience was with, uh, a hammer and, um, people don't like that.

But what I was going to say was, you know, I'm not a mayor, a police chief, I'm just saying that you have female, the same age, female insurgents that just prevent any kind of investigation or anything, you know, misbehavior that may happen. We had a female that conducted the search, you know, that handled that. And maybe that's what, you know, it has to come down to is if there's a black, you just need more black cops, black cops, black cops to deal with the black people, perpetrators, whatever, black lives matter. Gang brother.

Thank you for the call. That's, that's, that's, um, you know, that's something to think about there. I was thinking about this as well, man, what if you call a police station, you say, Hey, you know, I have, you know, I got two white guys over here. I got a, you know, I got one Latino and I got a, you know, one Neapolitan, you know, and that's who, so that's, they send you that style of officers. And you have just to find a way to take the race element out of it, you know, to take it and to make it not, uh, you know, to make it not a racial thing, um, it'd be interesting.

You know, you're like, uh, hey, can you send somebody over, um, yeah, I need a guy, I got a Dutch, somebody over here that's Dutch and I got a two vets over here, you know, throwing rocks and they're like, oh, shit, we understaffed over here. All we got is, you know, we have a black guy and we have a, uh, Croatian female. I don't think we can help you. We can't help you tonight, you know, that'd be crazy, wouldn't it? But would that be interesting if they had, um, you know, if they had certain, uh, ethnicity officers, you match it up, you match this, you match that, you know, I'm just thinking

outside of the box here, thinking of different ways, because if, if things continue to be a problem, then, then you have to try and, you know, think of some different options. You know, like I used to work at that place, what was that place called in Charleston? It was called, uh, frozen options and you could get a different something, a little, you know, frozen candy or a frozen, uh, ice treat or something, get you something, get you a little cousin, a little, you know, grape, uh, something, a little Eskimo, sour sauce or something, sipper, um, what else we got, man? Let's hit this other call that came in right here again.

Hey, what's up, Theo? Uh, my name is Eric. Uh, I live in Sacramento, California. Uh, follow your posts on Instagram, you know, thank you for calling Eric and yeah, I post on Instagram if you have thoughts about what's going on to give a call, man. I know, I mean, after I found it so hard to try in, there's just not a lot of room for communication out on social media. Uh, it's a, it's not, it didn't feel very welcoming.

Uh, and we got so many calls. It's so many calls. Onward. No, um, it's crazy out here, man. Um, I live, I actually work in a police department, uh, not as a, uh, officer, but as a janitor and, you know, I've been a big fan of the podcast and keeps motivated, keeps me working. Anyway, yeah. Thanks, man.

And congratulations on your work over there. You know, uh, it reminds me of that movie, um, Good Will Hunting and that, uh, you know, that guy was a janitor for a little bit and then bam, he's, uh, you know, he's driving an El Camino out, you know, and he going to get the girl. So gang, bro. And we're down there and like, I'm here and I'm just kind of walking around doing my own thing and you know, I overhear cops, some cops talking shit about what's going on and like bashing other people and I hear other cops like, you know, uh, just being, you know,

a little bit more mindful about what's going on. Um, you know, I know that a lot of people say that all cops are bad, but me working here, I've been working here for a little bit over a year and I think it's pretty safe to say that really not all cops are bad. There's some that are total dickheads to me. I'm a Mexican and they do me mug, you know, they me mug me and they give me dirty looks, but there's some that are trying to get to know you, trying to give you opportunities. And, um, yeah, man, it's crazy out here.

Uh, I hope everybody stays safe. Gang brother. Thank you. And that's from BTS, the police department behind the scene. So. Yes. Uh, you know, it's heartbreaking, man. What happened to the man and George Floyd and, and you see him, you know, just that stuff

is heartbreaking. And it hits you in a place where, you know, it just hits you in a human, it just hits me in a human place. And I don't think that that place that's inside of me has any color in it. You know, there's a place inside of us that doesn't have any, that doesn't even know what color we are. You know, there's a place inside of us that, uh, there's a place inside of us that really, I mean, just really can, that, that feels each other's pain.

It's like a, it's not even our heart. It's not our brain. It's just, um, I don't know what it is. I don't even know if they have a name for it. I mean, I know they have a name for it, like empathy or sympathy or understanding, but I don't know if they have a name for this. This, uh, I don't know, it's like a, it's a place where when I, when you have it and, and, and when you see pain, it hurts even if it's not yours, you know, and it hurts

you at a place that's deeper than your skin and bones. Um, you know, one thing I was thinking, uh, before we get into this next call, they had was what if maybe it's time to kind of rebrand the police, you know, maybe it's time to have, to not have police departments. Um, and to have just National Guard or just, uh, you know, a different type of force. Um, just because you start to wonder, has the, has the, has police gotten too much of a negative connotation with it now that it just makes the whole job even tougher? You know, it makes the whole job even tougher that I don't, I don't know if you got a man

out there and he's coming at, you know, and, you know, and now you got a different name. You got a different color suit. You got a different, you know, I don't know. Maybe you make it so the weapon, you got to answer a trivia question or something for you can use it or something, you know, you got a, I don't know. But I'm wondering just if, you know, if it's to police, the police, so for so it's had too much of a, it has too much negativity with it attached to the name, not attached with all the officers, but just that it has too much negativity attached with the name or

too much bad branding that maybe you do use a national guard or you use a military police or something like that. Of course you have to change their name. Uh, I don't know. I'm just thinking out loud and I don't have any right answers, man. Um, you know, I thought it was beautiful to see, uh, oh wait, let me get this call while we're on National Guard. Onward.

As going on Theo, this is Andrew out of, uh, Virginia. Hey, how's it going, man? I'm in the military and I just want to bring light to, uh, you know, a certain situation. I don't think anybody's really talking about, you know, those guys in the National Guard. I'm sure they all want to protest too, but us military people were held to, uh, a different standard. We can't really protest like everybody else protests or it's federal charges at that point. Take our livelihoods away though.

Wow. I didn't even know that that. Yeah. You see a National Guards when you see them, you know, court owning or court on court owning off an area and yeah, you immediately, I feel like people immediately feel like, oh, these are the bad guys. That's correct. And that's crazy.

Isn't it? That people immediately, they'll see a man in military get, oh, he's a, that's the bad guy. That guy's just you or me. They just put a different outfit on him and he, he has to do his job. He can't even protest if he wants to. You know, I didn't know that, man. It's, you know, so it's like, uh, there's feelings behind the, the outfit onward.

So you want to put that in your ear and what, and see what you think about, you know, the position that they're in. It's hard for us because we can't even speak out on things like social media and certain be caught out in the streets like that because, you know, they can catch us up. And, uh, you know, I'm an avid listener of this past weekend, a King of the Sting. I'm a Theo Vaughn fanatic. Well, I appreciate that, man. Thank you, bro.

Thanks for saying some of that nice stuff at the end. And, um, you know, thank you for your service, man. You know, it's hard. I'm sure it's hard for you guys. You know, it's, uh, I'm sure it's hard. It's hard. You know, things are hard for a lot of people. Different things are hard for a lot of people.

And, um, and it is unfortunate when, you know, there's that Chris Rock bit going around. You can't have a bad apple on a police force. You know, you can't, that's a job you just can't have it on. Um, and I'm sure a lot of these forces, they don't want it to be that way. You know, uh, but that job has just got to be so, that job's got to be tough, man. It's got to be really tough for a lot of people. Now, if you're, some people might be out there just wanting to be an ego maniac and just wanting to play Robocop and do this and that. Um, you know, uh, it's unfortunate when, you know, there's bad.

There's, there's, there's police officers that don't do well and, and that, you know, that, uh, that use extra violence and extra brutality and just enforce their will at a, you know, at a unfair and even deathly amount sometimes. It's just, it's heartbreaking, man. I don't think anybody, I don't know anybody who doesn't agree that that's heartbreaking. You know, uh, it's heartbreaking, man. But yeah, you don't know. We don't, we don't know what these people in the uniforms are thinking. You know, these people are, they don't even get to protest if they want to. That's kind of interesting that you got a man right there.

He can't even, or a woman right there who's serving the country and they can't even protest if they want to. Um, what else? What else? Let's take another call that came in right here. Dio, what's up, brother? Hope everything's good. Hope all is well. Nick, shout out to you, man. You're a beast on the producer.

Yeah, I just, he's right, man. The crazy, everything's crazy right now. It's crazy times. I actually, uh, you know what I mean? I just want to say rest in peace. George Floyd, justice for George Floyd, that man that stood on his neck with his knee. He deserves to be executed. That's 100% fat.

Yeah, it's me. But I just want to say, they, uh, they were riding on the main avenue in, uh, my neighborhood. I was, I was down there. I was right in the middle of all of it, just watching. And, uh, it was really heartbreaking to see because I didn't get the vibes that anybody was really out there protesting. There was more, uh, vibes. Everybody was kind of having fun in the chaos. So, I don't know, kind of, pretty heartbreaking.

In the center of my city, though, there, it's mostly peaceful protesting. It was beautiful what they're doing. Hey, man, brother, thank you for that message. And that's out of Philadelphia, that man called in and, um, yeah, the, the, the protesting, uh, a lot of the writing I get, the looting and stuff. I do not, I don't get it. Um, I just don't get it. I understand that, you know, it's people that say that they, you know, they have nothing and they can't, you know, uh, I just don't get. I just don't get it.

Um, it just doesn't equate to me how, you know, how you're burning down or how you're taking from a small business owner. That kind of stuff. I just don't get it. You know, I just don't get it. Now, an old Navy fucking break into an old Navy, dog. You know what I'm saying, dude? Break into an old Navy because bruh, you'll probably help the place out. Get in there and help.

You know, they just, they got a whole bunch of shit they selling in there and steal that dog. They always got that little dog statue too. Steal that. But somebody using a flamethrower at a damn DSW shoe store or fucking, uh, hiding, you know, put covering a, uh, uh, uh, Cinnabon. Or a shake shack and a kerosene and lighting that bad burger bitch up. I just, what are you doing? That's not helping anything. Now I do think though that people could have chaos in them and they've been having it pent up.

And then this is just a place where, you know, it was a real perfect storm for chaos to get out there. Um, we got to call it came in right here. Here we go. All right, man. I live in Delaware. Fucking the motherfucking first state. First. Right.

And we've been having all these riots. Motherfuckers want to break into the mall. We only got two of them. You want to break into the closest one in our, in our state capital? Like, how do I, I understand that they want everybody wants like black rights and everything. But why are you breaking into the mall? That ain't helping you now. Gang, bro.

Yeah, man. When you breaking into that mall, you know what I'm saying? You shooting up an American Eagle or something. Are you in there? You throwing a hand grenade into an hour. Pistale. Right. You blowing up a damn set of gene shorts or something that ain't doing nothing.

You know, you in there, somebody throw a bowling ball into a damn Claire's boutique, man. But you ain't doing nothing. You ain't doing nothing. But now I understand a grip. I understand aggression. I understand anger. I understand. Now, if you don't have anything, bro, I remember when I was young and we didn't have anything.

Dog, if it's a little bit of chaos started, it's easy to just hit your ride on that chaos cart. It's easy. So, you know, you have people that have been inside for months. They can't even meet up as a group. The first thing they're allowed to do to meet up as a group is burn down a dam. You know, it was burned down a dam, whatever that place is called. What is that store in the mall where they can do that thing to your face? The art of shaving, bro.

And now if you want to get in there and you want to, you know, take a Tommy gun to an art of shaving. Bro, I'll freaking load the bullets back behind you. But you over there and you, you know, you taking a chainsaw to freaking Luzette's sandwich sandwich, um, you know, shop or somebody selling homemade licorice's or licorice's bro. And you're going to run in there. And you're going to, you know, shank somebody because they over there, you know, at the hot air balloon outlet or whatever. Come on, man. You're going to run into a Donna Karen, bro. George Floyd didn't even wear Donna Karen has nothing to do with him.

But now I understand that if people get upset enough and they don't get there, they feel like their voice isn't being heard. And they're like, well, how do I, how do I get my voice heard? You know, let's hear more. Here's another call 985-6649503. And actually, let me tell you right now. Thank you for being here for this episode. I do want to tell you that. You know, thank you for supporting my podcast and this podcast and this group and our group.

And, um, you know, uh, I'm grateful for that, man. I really am. You know, I don't know what I would do if I didn't have this job right now. And, you know, you bet you help make that possible, you know, and, you know, I have friends that listen that I didn't even know. You know, it's funny, I was talking to a friend of mine the other day, a black friend, actually, and I am black dropping right now. My friend Stan and, um, you know, he said, we're just texting and he said, you know, I've listened to every episode of yours, even when you were doing two a week. And, and that just hit me heavy, man. It hit me heavy, man, to think that, uh, just that people listen, that people listen to me.

You know, um, it just, I don't know. You know, it made me think a lot of stuff. It made me think, man, wow. You know, how much, what do I, what do I, what do I consume with my friends? You know, am I paying attention to what they're doing sometimes? Um, you know, what do I listen to a people that have a different skin color than me? You know, am I checking in with other stuff? Do I, you know, what am I supporting?

But that was just, you know, that hit me really in a, you know, it just hit me in the heart. Um, you know, in this whole, in this all, all of this stuff, all of this stuff going on, let me get here. Let me get to this ad first and I'll get back into this. Um, you know, if you're struggling, people struggle and you know, I'll be on the struggle ship, baby, and I'll be saving room for you. People struggle and you can be one of those people as well. And if you are one, better help will assess your needs and match you with your own licensed professional therapist. That's right. You can start communicating in under 24 hours.

It's not a crisis line. It's not self-help. It is professional counseling done securely online. You know, sometimes you, you might live in an area where like, man, I can't, you know, my cousin's wife is the damn therapist. In town, I can't go there, you know, or, or shit. My wife is the therapist in town. I can't go there. She'll know.

Now you have the opportunity to get therapy. The service is available for clients worldwide. Better help was committed to facilitating great therapeutic matches so they make it easy and free to change counselors if needed. It's more affordable than traditional offline counseling and financial aid is available. That's right. You can communicate over text. You can communicate over FaceTime. You can communicate over the phone.

You know, they offer as many ways to communicate. They've got them. And our listeners can have a happier life today by visiting betterhelp.com slash Theo. That's better H-E-L-P and join the over 500,000 people taking charge of their mental health with the help of an experienced professional. That's right. Special offer for this past weekend listeners get 10% off your first month at betterhelp.com slash T-H-E-O. What are we talking about? Oh, I know that.

You know, I thought a lot of things is, you know, I thought a lot of things once. You know, things got real racial as well. You know, this past week, things have got real racial in. And America is tough. You know, America is a country that has diversity in it. Some countries, it's not like that. Diversity is, it's not easy. Apparently, apparently diversity is not easy on planet Earth.

I'm not saying that it's impossible or that is, I'm not even saying that it's hard. But, um, and I'm also saying this is just my perspective, man. You know, I try to keep an open heart in mind, but it's hard. I only have my own experience with the world. Um, but, you know, it's, uh, but I definitely asked myself this week. I said, well, am I racist? You know, and it's a good question to ask yourself. Man, am I, am I racist?

And what I don't like is I don't like things you see online. It says, if you have to ask yourself, then you, if you have to ask yourself, then you are racist. If you have to this, then this, man, stop. Stop with that. You're shutting down people's voices, man. That's the worst. But yeah, I definitely asked, I said, man, am I, or do I have racist ways that I'm not seeing? I know I have some behaviors.

You know, I feel like some of those are based on experience on experiences. You know, um, you know, I think I get nervous if I go into a group where I'm the only one of a certain ethnicity. You know, if I go into a group of Mexicans, or I go into a group of blacks, or I go into a group of Asians, or I go into a group of women. You know, I go into any group I get, I do feel, sometimes I guess it's a nervousness. Sometimes it could be more scared. Now, if I know people in the group and stuff, that's different. But I don't feel that because, oh, I hate these people, or I have hatred. I feel it because maybe I, maybe you've had an experience.

Maybe you walked, maybe I, you know, when I was young, I got jumped by a couple of groups of guys who had darker skin than me, man. You know, and so I think, uh, you know, I probably have had experiences that leave me, you know, kind of lead me to be feeling a certain way sometimes. But, but I think it's a good question to ask ourselves, man. Um, you know, sometimes it's like you're just, you may have had experiences that leave you feeling a certain way, but that doesn't make you racist. You know, uh, so, I don't know, it's, it's, it's a lot, you go online also, and it's, everything online is extremely, you know, you feel white shamed a lot. You feel a lot of white shaming and I, shaming, I don't like that shit, man. You know, uh, and that's, that's scary. It's scary to navigate.

Okay. Is this just something that I'm just, do I just need to stay off of this kind of social media that, you know, what's going on here? Um, and then also, how do I not make this about me? This has nothing, you know, this is a movement supporting black, uh, or people of color. I can't, I don't know. I don't even know what to say sometimes, but supporting, you know, police brutality, um, it's confusing, man. It's very confusing, but I do think it is a good idea to ask your heart sometimes what's going on. Uh, and I'm grateful to protests like this and stuff because it makes me do that. You know, I literally, I said, man, am I, am I racist?

You know, where do my racial experience, where do my experiences come from with race? You know, it's interesting to think about those things. Um, what else we got, man? We had some beautiful calls that came in. Sorry to just be going through calls this week, but, you know, I put on Instagram and so many calls came in that, uh, that it was a lot, man. That it was a lot. Um, here we go right here. The hotline is always 985-664-9503.

Yo, brother. This is Beatcake here in Virginia. What's up, Beatcake? Let's hear it, baby. Thank you for calling, sir. A George Floyd murder, 100% wrong. Peaceful protests for equality, 100% right. Riding, looting and hijacking the movement of the peaceful protesters.

100% wrong as well. An overwhelming majority agrees. Time would leave the police at the station like we do firefighters and EMTs. We'll call you if we need you. So leave us alone. That's an interesting way. That's an interesting way of doing it. You know, um, we'll call you if we need you.

Leave them there. You know, not having patrols does patrols make people feel a certain type of way. We got this call that came in here from a young lady. Um, where do we go right here? Hey, uh, this is Miriam. I'm in Diego, California. What's up, Miriam? Thanks for calling.

Uh, San Diego down there. And I've been down there. Good place to, you know, they got a lot of bulldogs, uh, doing sex down there. You could, you know, get you a little pit bull and get you something, you know, get you a little cut of watermelon or get you a little slice of, uh, you know, they got hoagies and everything down there. Taco's down there. What I'm talking about Pacific Beach, get you a beautiful treat onward.

Um, this is a first time caller. Uh, I believe this is an important time to speak up. Um, I'm Mexican American and I've been very affected with the whole thing going on. And I'm speaking up because I'll be mad if I hear another white person honestly complain about the riots being too much and saying that there should be another way. But, um, I don't think there is in the past in 2014. Kobe Bryant wore a T-shirt that says, I can't breathe. And he got a lot of hate for that.

And that was peaceful. Um, in 2016, uh, the NFL took a knee during the national anthem and you saw the backlash. Um, it, it will continue. And I think this is the only way I believe that can really get it under people's skin. And even if people are complaining about the violence, just maybe consider the fact that people of color never fully felt a part of society. And people ruining nervousness may be the one way to get to people who are racist or the system. Thank you for that call.

Young lady appreciated. I believe that's the young lady. You do not know a hundred percent, but I'm going to go, I'm going to stick with that. Uh, the assumption there. Yeah, you know, it's, uh, you know, it's, if you feel like you can't, you're not heard. You know, when Boosie was in here the other day, he said, one thing that I thought was interesting that he talked about, and thank you to everybody. I got so many nice messages, man.

I was so excited to have him in that I was so excited. Um, and that crazy that when started this podcast, I talked about, man, if Boosie came in, man, man, it would be great. He could even imagine, and then there he was. Um, man, it was cool too, man. It was cool. He was cool, bro. It was, I was nervous. I was kind of, I mean, I wasn't, well, big baby said that he, that Boosie, that is a gangster.

So I was definitely nervous. That's what I was. Um, and, and he said something that was interesting, man. He said that, you know, about black people having their own, their own towns, their own infrastructure, their own schools, their own laws, their own, um, their own, you know, everything, their own everything. And when you just said that too about people not feeling a part of society, um, you know, that's interesting. I wonder if, you know, because there's probably people that feel like that. There's probably people that feel like they would like to just have their own society. So it's like, how do you get that?

You know, maybe they're in the future. You know, you have places where if people want to just live with people like themselves, um, then they can, and then that's a choice, you know, and I'm not talking about segregation. I'm not talking about anybody being forced to live anywhere or I'm talking about if people choose, this is the old, this is the what we want. This is what I want. Um, I don't know. You know, I don't know because America is just a system. It's just a, you know, it's just a, it's just a system and it's a system that's always kind of changed over time. Um, and the more it gets diverse and the more people stand up for what they, you know, that groups protest, it's going to continue to change.

You know, it's kind of like a chameleon, I think. I mean, I like to think of it as that. You know, um, and I'm, there's so much, there's so many voices. There's so many voices. But I feel like the protests and stuff this weekend and last week seemed really magical, a lot of it. You know, seeing a lot of the humanity, just the people getting together and, you know, it seemed a lot more diverse than pictures. You see a protest of, of other protests for me anyway. It seemed really, I don't know, it seemed like a movement.

You know, and I think you have most people agree that, you know, you want that people deserve to feel safe in their country. Um, I don't know what I'm talking about, really. But yeah, if you felt like you have nothing, like, yeah, what would you do if you feel like nothing else is working to get your voice heard? You know, Bruce, you know, we're also talking about how Atlanta now is such a prosperous city for African Americans. And I believe a lot of stuff is time, a lot of stuff is time, and a lot of stuff is money. You know, uh, you know, when I was young, I could relate a lot to poor black children because they didn't have anything like we didn't have anything. You know, when it was such a, you know, and then you get to places like Atlanta and you really see like a blooming prosper. I mean, it's just, it's, it's great. It's, it's amazing. It's awesome.

Um, but that's money. You know, that's money, man. Uh, what do we got right here? Here we go. Let's take a call that came in. Hey, yo, what's up, Theo? This is Maurice, all the way out in Maine. What's up, Maurice from Maine and Maurice up there, baby. And I'm fricking met a girl up there who let me touch that sea roach one time. Maybe I can't remember, but, um, but I remember a bat was flying at us, bro. And we was up there in an abandoned house and I hit that bitch with a tennis racket, man, not the girl, the, uh, the bat. So that little bastard, a little dirty bastard, that little fucking air bastard, bro. That little fucking cough smuggler came at us, bruh.

And I clipped that bitch out the sky with that Andre Agassi, bro. Hit that bitch, John. Uh, onward, sir. Real far other side of the country. Uh, you know, I, a lot of people are pissed. A lot of people are upset. A lot of people have good reason to be upset. But the vast majority of people are seemingly doing this, eluding, uh, terrorizing, vandalizing, defacing a property, all that shit. It seems to be just a way to put themselves out on, on Instagram or social media to get attention, you know, to be part of the group, to be one of them, you know, stand out, even though everybody's doing the same thing. But people do have a reason to be upset and some of this will help with change. Some of it won't.

A lot of it's just going to be awful, tax money through the, through the drain, down the drain. But that's what I feel. It's a little crazy out here, but I'm ready for that boogaloo. Let's do it. Gang, gang. Gang, man. Thanks for calling. Um, yeah, so, you know, I don't know, man. I don't know how you get, you know, I don't know really if there is a solution. It's just a slow evolution. And, and I think there's that awareness is key. And, you know, I definitely think, yeah, a lot of people out there for social media, a lot of people trying to get social media, just trying to just get the right thing, the right picture, the right, um, well, for one, the right thing to express what they're feeling. And I understand that. But other stuff, yeah, people just trying to, you know, I'm trying to get my cousin to fucking, you know, hit somebody with a skateboard who's stealing a bag of oranges and shit.

And you're like, damn man, that's crazy, bro. You know, that's really, that's some Don Mattingly citrus type shit right there, man. Um, but yeah, let's take this call came in, man. And I felt like that a little bit with this call right here. Here we go. Hey, this is about the protests in Atlanta, the protest blackest city. Um, can't believe I got home safe tonight. Um, we don't know what the next, you know, the next step kind of thing is like, how does this all end? And we were asking police to just say the word Black Lives Matter or just take a knee and they refused. And I was looking them straight in the eye. And they were looking back at me with, with kind of a look of just like, you know why I'm not going to say it. Um, like they were racist. And so that, I mean, we just have to keep pushing because you, they have to be able to say it, right? I don't know why they won't, they won't respond. I don't know why they just refused to respond. We're supposed to be a team.

Yeah. I mean, that's interesting kind of, you know, that I don't know if on duty police officer, I mean, trying to get them to do something, you know, I just don't. I mean, that sounds like it's something for you. Um, you know, I don't know. Trying to get an on duty police officer to take a knee or do Black Lives Matter. That sounds like it's something for social media. You know, that man's at work. And also he's at a stressful, probably the most stressful day at work he's ever had. And trying to get something for social media is just, you know, or that doesn't make him racist because he doesn't want to be a part, because he chooses not to. That man's working. He's at work. Um, you know, maybe catch him when he's off at work and talk to him. Um, and then police officers, I don't know if they can just be racist like this man saying like police officers aren't just blue, you know, they're police officers are every color and every type of person.

You know, one of my good friends, Red Grant, his wife is a police officer. Um, you know, if you watch that television show, um, it's called, uh, it's a show for TV. It's a TV show. It's called, um, where the water where they couldn't drink it, where your boy daddy long neck is from. Oh, Grant. No, uh, murder. No, it's. Damn boy. Let me see this shit. Don't drink the water. We can't drink it. Flint is called the Flint police show, basically something like that. Flint PD or something. And it's just interesting. It's interesting to see what those, what those people's lives are like all the time. You know, uh, it's real interesting to see.

Um, but yeah, I mean, I don't know if, um, you know, I think that would be the best thing to catch them off duty and see how they feel. But they're, it's very diverse. These police forces, most of the police officers that I see here in, uh, Los Angeles are probably Latinos, you know, or Mexicanos. Dude, one thing that gets on my nerves when somebody is Mexican and people call him Spanish, dude, don't do that shit. Spanish, bro. He's Mexican. Don't do the Spanish thing, man. Come on. That guy ain't Spanish. That guy's a Mexican guy. Have some respect, Mexican, you know, for the Mexicans, man. Spanish, dude. That's some fucking. This is my Spanish friend. Somebody said one time, dude, you don't know shit. That ain't your fucking friend. If you don't know your, your boy's Mexican right there. That's an hombre, papa. Just that kind of stuff, man. Um, what else, man? Oh, let's get into one or two more calls, man. Yeah, sorry to focus just on this stuff this episode, but I felt like, uh, you know, I committed to it by having people call the hotline and, um, and, and so I wanted to honor that.

Uh, but yeah, I don't know if trying, yeah, it's just, I don't know, man. I don't know. It's a, it's a, it's a choppy time. Uh, let's take another call that came in right here. Hey, Theo, it's Miller calling from Canada. You told us that we can leave a comment on, uh, all this protesting when we think of it, and, um, you know, I'm a white kid from a small town, and, uh, I always grew up feeling like I was lacking a certain perspective. So I moved to a big city and I studied criminology for four years and, you know, I haven't really been saying much on social media these days because I just feel like everyone should tend to their own garden. And, you know, I don't want to tell anybody else what they should or shouldn't be doing, but I've gotten some comments from people saying, you know, oh, you know, violence is an inherent form of racism and stuff. And, you know, like a lot of people don't know other stories. I spent 50,000 of my own dollars and four years of hard work to better understand and gain a better perspective of what's going on in minority communities and their experiences with police. And, you know, I hope to be a police officer someday and I just feel like doing things like, you know, building a relationship with this homoerotic man in my community and mowing his lawn, you know, I'm better suited, you know, just focusing on myself and not telling other people what to do. So these are some of my thoughts. Thanks for creating space for us to leave thoughts like this and gang gang.

Gang brother. Yeah, man, I think, yeah, I think that's one way to to make things better is to try things a little bit different. You know, touch out, you know, touch a gay friend. You know, touch a gay friend, touch, touch them, hug them, hold their hand, do the yard, do something blow up a, you know, help help them, help them do something, change the garden, change the house. You know, get the mail, get the mail for somebody that's Latino, you know, or not Spanish, you know what I'm saying? You know, do something nice, go and knock on that person's door, say, what's going on? You know, this the disconnectivity these days, we do, I think, start to wonder more. We start to wonder, am I okay? Are they okay? Are they thinking these things? Am I thinking these things?

You know, you start watching the news or you start getting caught up. And then I start wondering, man, I don't feel good. You know, the news make me feel like I'm a bad person. You know, or the news just wants to keep showing the same thing. You know, you got a call, check in with a buddy. Check in with a friend, say, man, this stuff had me thinking about you. You know, and I'm sorry it took for this kind of thing for me to call, but I just wanted to let, you know, I just wanted to say, hey, you know, check in with somebody that maybe has a different experience.

Yeah, I mean, it's, because I just, there's so many good people out there and it's wild to me that the news makes money off of this whole thing. That's the craziest thing too, that the news is making money off of this. And they keep telling us this same story and they don't, and the news doesn't, if you just watch the news, you think that people are bad. Isn't that crazy? If you've just watched the news, you think people are bad. And I just do not find that to be the truth. You know, the only choice is to be hopeful. But thank you for the call, young man. Yeah, tend to the garden that you can touch.

You know, talk to your friends, communicate with people you care about, communicate with people that are different than you. You know, take a little, take a, take a, you know, take a couple, take a thing of soup to a black friend. Take a, you know, take a piece of art to a Mexican friend. You know, take a do something. You know, extend the hand, a pat on the back, just an extra, hey man, you know, just an extra look in the eyes, man. Hey man, I care about you. You know, I care about that your experience here on earth is good. You know, if there's something that you feel like I don't do personally, that could help that, or that makes it ungood, let me know what's up.

But yeah, I mean, I don't know. I just have my own perspective. But I appreciate the people calling. I appreciate, you know, it's, this is life. This is life. And I choose a lot of times also to see all, see a lot of the positive things going on. You know, I look around and see a lot of good stuff going on around in America for people of all ethnicities. I mean, see every, every music, every so much music is black influenced. You know, so many of the top athletes, entertainers. I see a lot of diversity.

And people could say, you can, you can pit it. You can say, you don't know, you don't listen to that. And it's hard. Yeah, I can look at all that too. But, but that is, it doesn't make me blind if I choose to look on the bright side. You know, sometimes it's like online, like people don't want to, they don't want to hear you. They want to control you. That's something I didn't like on social media. People want to control you. They want to control you, man. No, this is what you say. This is how you say it.

I'm not a part of whatever this, this uncomfortable thing is where I don't get to be myself or you're not where I'm not. I'm just a piece of some fictional puzzle that, you know, that's, is that doing anything? I don't know, man. I'm thinking out loud. I'm sorry if I'm complaining a lot or something. I don't know what's going on. I should probably go home soon. We got one more call that came in from this young fellow in North Carolina gang. I've been going through a rough time recently and been trying to keep the booze, brother. Thank you for calling Eric, man. And I'm sorry to hear that you're having trouble with it, man. I know that, uh, I know, uh, I know some stuff about that onward.

I just can't seem to bring myself through it. More isn't that case. It's like the Richard Pryor joke. Your first heartbreak, your first everything. I was with the same girl for seven years. We broke up, unfortunately. Now I'm running back to the same issues always. Just the coping mechanism I have, essentially. Just the heartbreak, just the betrayal feeling of how everything then changed from one second to another. Man, I can relate to that feeling when, when you part ways with somebody, uh, especially when you're young. And man, it feels like you have nothing. Man, it feels that is such a, if you're really sensitive like I was when I was young and still him. Uh, God, man, that's a deep, it's a deep cut when you're young onward.

How your world can just shatter and everything just falls apart. I'm trying to get clean. I'm trying to do everything right. I got hooked on meth and coke from a young age, about the age of 14. I moved down to Mexico and just really fucked me up, you know. Just all messed me up and right now I'm trying to get clean. I'm trying to do everything. I can't get out of bed. I can't do anything. I can't bring myself to go to work. I'm at the point of, I have a little money put up. I'm at the point of just my whole world collapsing and I want to understand. I've heard your podcast in the past, but, and I've listened to you throughout the years. I saw you in Charlotte. I saw you do all of that. And it's just an amazing person. I want to know how you can remain so charismatic even when you've gone through so many hardships throughout your years, your addiction, you overcoming it, your father's death and everything. Hey, brother, I appreciate your call, man. Let me, uh, let me see if I can call you. Get you on that line, baby. Get something real going on here. You know we're about as real as I can get since you're over there in North Kackalack.

Hey, Eric, man, what's up, bro? This is Theo. Um, I got your voicemail, man. I just wanted to say thanks for the voicemail. Uh, yeah, uh, man, uh, yeah, I just wanted to, I just wanted to chat with you, bro. Uh, if you get a chance, man, give me a call back. Uh, it's the number that I text you from as well. Um, yeah, man, I just, yeah, your voice message was, I just appreciate it, bro. You know, it was, uh, yeah, let's just circle up, man. Hit me up. All right. Yeah. Oh, man. Um, yeah, what else? You know, I know a lot of people out there are, uh, you know, I know it's been a hectic week. And, you know, there's so much involved if you really get into the racial side of things and I'm not discrediting any of that or discounting any of it. Um, you know, I appreciate everybody's calls and everybody's thoughts. Uh, so many points of view. Um, you know, and I didn't want it to get it too heavy where, you know, where people get angry, there's so many people think about a lot of different things, you know. Um, but I believe in the end, you know, I just believe the only thing we can do is just, you know, one step at a time. And, you know, I was talking to my friend Glenn and he was saying, you know, I think that good is going to come from this. And I agree. I agree. You know, I believe that good is going to come from this, you know, after tough things and after tough things, good stuff happens, you know, that's how, you know, nothing changes if nothing changes, you know.

Um, and sorry, I don't have a ton of, you know, introspection for you guys. Uh, you know, I've been thinking about, you know, what people's lives are like, you know, um, I've been wishing that we could have more honest conversations about stuff. You know, we could have more, you know, real dialogue about things. You don't see it that much in the news. They can't do it. Um, and so maybe we'll get into more some of that stuff next week or in the future over time. You know, if you had some thoughts or suggestions or constructive criticisms about this episode, you can always hit the hotline [phone]. Um, you know, that's all I really got, man. Uh, that's all I really got over here. Um, what's something sweet that could take us out today, man. Um, and yeah, I think just us, us trying to tap into that part inside of us that doesn't have a color. And you know, if you have it in you already, you know, if you already spend time hovering over that place. You know, uh, you know, I think that's the good place. And I think that, that, that that place is, is really, it's really big inside a lot of us. I really do believe that. Um, let's go out with a little Evan Bartels, man. He's always got something beautiful going on and, uh, and this song I feel like, you know, is always something special for me. Uh, you guys be good to yourselves, man. You deserve it. And, and just know that, uh, you got this, you know, take care of yourselves. You know, let's, let's, let's tend to that garden we can touch, you know.

Man, if we all did that, or what if we all prayed at the same time, if we all prayed to a higher power, doesn't have to be a specific one. But if we all just, you know, what, what could happen, you know? Maybe the world cracks open then and, and then, you know, and we all get the candy, you know? I mean, because, you know, we're all barreling towards beige, man. It's beige power, man. It's all in four decades. It's everybody's Patrick Mahomes. That's it. Everybody's a Super Bowl MVP, man. That's what I believe. Uh, you guys take care of yourselves, man. And this song really gets me, man. Evan Bartels promised land is his EP. And I watched you from a window. I built inside my mind. I wonder why I am the way I am. Every man that's walking will fall from time to time. Every time I feel the thunder, I remember I'm just a child. I would die a thousand times for I ever let you down. T-14 and I for I ain't with the trouble that they cause you, so I pine.

I ain't burning the candle at both ends. I just throw the whole damn thing to the fire. And I tell myself this will all be fine. I would die a thousand times for I ever let you down. I wish it was easier. I wish I had more that I could give. I would die a thousand times for I ever let you down. I wish I had more that I could give.