SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome back, everyone. On our last episode, we were discussing the current state of black lives in the world today and how we have personally been affected. We thank you for tuning back in to round off our discussion on this sensitive topic. There will always be more to discuss, and we hope you all will continue to do so for the benefit of black lives. And then, of course, uh Kaze. Let's go ahead and uh round it up with the wind. Give us give us some wind, let us understand what's going on, man. What's good? What's been your experience? Um I I know you uh have experienced quite a lot in your tenure on this planet. Um, you've worked and um interacted with a variety of different uh skin tones and colors and backgrounds. Uh so tell us about your experiences and um uh what are you feeling about what's going on right now?

SPEAKER_02 0:56

Yeah, uh, I've about 15 years of like retail experience. Uh and I'm in and to be honest, most of my uh racially charged interactions have been pretty pretty on the light side. Like I think uh I I think even even if I was young, even when I was young, not too many things jump out at me. But honestly, knowing who my mom was, if something did happen, she probably just would have told me something else happened and you know, kind of kept that kept that away from me. Uh and then you know, cut somebody out on the slide while I was doing something else. But um, yeah, at work, you know, it'll it'll be like a lot of um, you know, microaggressions. Uh you know, especially like uh working in um you know downtown uh uh DC. And uh, you know, a lot of time, you know, you don't know, you know, people come at you a certain way, you don't you don't know if they're having a bad day, you don't know if they're c if it's his classes, and they're just like, oh, this this dude making me coffee, he ain't, you know, you know, he ain't nothing, he's dumb. Or, you know, or or it's like, oh, this this poor little brown kid. Uh I know uh I know one time this guy, he uh he gave he gave me his money for his coffee, and then and then he gave me uh and then he gave me a bigger bill. And uh, you know, and the you know the register does the math does the math for you. And and you know, and he changed the money he gave me, you know, and I gave him his change back like immediately. And he was like, and he was like, oh, you uh you count that up fast. And I was like, yeah, me, I gotta do this all day. Yeah. And he was like, hmm. And I was like, well, it was just like, who math is complicated.

SPEAKER_01 2:53

Um how to add and subtract, I don't understand.

SPEAKER_02 3:01

Um yeah, and and I and honestly, it really, it really came off as uh as like I was like, oh that's that's a smart monkey. Like that's a I was like, oh that one that was doing this and doing the tricks, and you can tell the difference between this and this. And I was like, and it's really, you know, really touching on the uh like you're one of the good ones, yeah type deal. Um uh I know I've personally uh really really wanted to uh one you know go join a protest, but you know, but between uh the uh an issue with funds and also I don't have health insurance. And it'll be just my luck if I come down with something. Um and then something happened, and especially since I have to go check on my grandmother pretty daily, so I'm I'll try to keep my contact with the humans uh you know as far down as possible. Uh you know, also I don't like people anyway. So just kind of uh mixing in with that. But uh yeah, I thought I thought it was really interesting. Uh like I like that uh say and they kind of touched on the like the overt and the and the covert racism. Um because like kind of like how uh Hordack and Attrap Light Touch, like when it's when it's overt uh it brings people the opportunity to uh to be challenged and to reflect. Because they can you know, because the because they'll they'll just naturally run into situations where they're you know their thoughts are gonna be challenged. But when it's covert and you know, you get the you get the sidestep that you can um, you know, you're either, you know, either either you're not admitting to it or you're lying about it. So, you know, so you don't even you don't even get that opportunity to like really challenge your biases and and what you're thinking. And and and honestly, and I think a lot of the uh a lot of the like races like issues, it's like you know, it's kind of like a Scooby-Doo villain. Like it was like, you know, they rip the mask off. Oh, it was racism, and then they rip another mask off, and I was like, oh, it's classism. And you know, and I and I think that's and that's and I think that's one of the things that makes it really insidious because you know, because someone who might not, you know, they you know, they might be they might have been raised a certain way, but they're not like super racist. But then, you know, their friends and family and teachers and uncles, they tell them, oh, hey, these people over here, they're attacking your values, they're trying to take away this, and they're trying to take away that. And they end up, you know, fighting for something that doesn't even like you know support them. It's kind of like for like all the people, it's like a lot of people voted for Trump. Trump's not doing anything for them. Like, you know, like they're you know, they're voting for policies and things that just really keeping them down.

SPEAKER_03 6:01

And say that again for the people in the back.

SPEAKER_02 6:08

So, you know, so this is really, you know, it's really sad. Uh uh, you know, like when like when a line gets drawn in the sand, in the sand, like a lot of people I think find themselves on the wrong side, and just because of, you know, you know, it's just like you know, it's like a mob mentality, it's just you know, it's group think, it's you know, you're gonna do what the people around you are doing. And it's and it's really difficult to, you know, like to sit there and really self-reflect and just you know, decide like where you are and all this, how it affects you, what you really think, and and if every if most of the things you've been taught are wrong. Like those those are really difficult things to uh to ask of people. Uh and it's and and again, it is it's it really touches on how deep and insidious and disgusting racism is. I think that's mostly it.

SPEAKER_00 7:10

Okay. You know, that's there's so many different levels to, you know, I mean, I think each of us have, you know, we went into the the response to the question, kind of just trying to give our own experiences, and then it turned into, you know, why or how or where or who or what if or what can we do? There's so many ways we can look at it, and it's it's it's disheartening. I think we said earlier on, it's disheartening that you know there's certain levels of expectations when it pertains to not only racism, but the individuals who could potentially be racist. And as Sayone was saying, how you know it's expected of our counterparts because of you know what we grew up with, what our parents have told us and taught us. But then when it comes from the inside, it's it's out of left field sometimes. And then also, you know, we try to do our best to support and acknowledge and you know be behind uh everyone who may be facing these things, but some people just either don't get it or don't want to get it. You know, um, one of the things a lot of people use is you know, ignorance or naivete to prevent them being involved, like, well, that isn't that doesn't have anything to do with me. Uh, there's no racism over here. I have black friends. And that goes uh off of what Kase said about how the overt versus the covert, the covert uh will specifically either say it's not racism or they'll deflect and they'll say, okay, well, not over here. And, you know, it's it's those types of moments where, you know, a lot of a lot more of us are shining those lights on those things. As I said about, you know, the um Nickelodeon comments. Um there was another uh comment about uh uh uh going back to what uh Hordak and the trap were saying about you know how to speak with children is you know, one one of our counterparts was saying, well, you know, this whole thing is stealing my children's innocence. And I was listening to a reaction to that actual uh that comment and the um the um I think it was a podcast actually, and the um individuals were saying, you know, you're saying that this situation of George Floyd and uh Brianna Taylor and everything that's going on with the protest is stealing your children's innocence, but not only mine, but my children have to go through this situation where me as a parent and our parents as a parent had to literally not allow me to be a child. I wasn't we we were not enabled to just go outside and have fun. We weren't able to just live our lives as human beings because we had to be certain things had to be instilled in us to keep us alive. Certain things had to be instilled in us to make sure that things didn't go left. We had to have a certain, like not standard manners, we had to have a whole nother level of manners, not uh uh uh proper etiquette. We had to have proper etiquette and then on the bus etiquette and then in the schoolyard etiquette, and then dealing with this type of person etiquette, and then dealing with these types of people etiquette to make sure that in no matter what environment we're in, we're safe. And for those who weren't even taught by their parents, had to figure it out themselves. These are all the things that we had to go through. And you know, it's it's it's exhausting to have to it's man, I I heard one person say it and it it really it touched me because it was like, you know, it's it's exhausting to have to go to work each and every day, nine to five, and then come back home. But you have to leave your house as something. That something may not even be yourself, depending on where you work, where you're going. So now you have to, it's like everybody, every person in the African American or black community, everyone is an actor, everyone is an actress. Everyone has to put on some type of face, some type of uh some people it's a facade for them, some people it's uh another demeanor, some some people it's a character. I've learned so much about introverts and extroverts over the last few years, where you know, introverts when they're going outside, you know, um and Brandon, uh not Brandon, sorry, the trap, actually Kaze as well, as well as uh the Black McCoy, each of them have explained to me how, actually, even the doctor have explained to me how, you know, there's certain varying levels of introvertness when you're inside the house. And then when you have to go out, there's a there's a there's a there's a level of energy that you have to expend to deal with everything that's going on. That it could be the activities that you're encountering, it could be work, it could be school, it could be children, it could be family, it could be anything. But to have to put on so much excess energy, unnecessary, that's the key. Unnecessary energy just to protect your life. Walking down the street, exercising, riding your bike, living in your house, sleeping in your bed, chilling with your children in the park, minding your own damn business. So much excess energy that you have to put on just to survive.

SPEAKER_02 12:31

It's like putting on armor.

SPEAKER_03 12:35

Because we can do everything that we've been taught, but it seems like now it's the time it does matter. Like the pillow was asleep, chilling, thinking she's gonna wake up, plan her day out, what she's gonna do the next day. And then, you know, for her not to wake up, she probably woke up wherever she was. Um, hopefully she went to heaven, and was like, what happened? You know, you don't go to bed thinking you're gonna get shot up, or if you get pulled over, you do what you're supposed to do. And then next thing you know, a cop's coming over to you with a gun saying, You look like a suspect. So it's like, what do you teach your children that are growing up how to act now? Because the how we grew up and what we were taught, that doesn't even relevate to today's times now, because it's not enough. So what do you do?

SPEAKER_04 13:25

Well, I think I think that's where the the issue comes into play is that we were raised with the idea that that was enough, but there's a part to this that was never included is that when we were told that it wasn't enough, it was really that our parents were protecting us and having us believe that it was. Right. It's not that times have changed so much that it's like, oh, it's not enough. It was never enough. Never enough.

SPEAKER_05 13:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 13:47

And now with social media, it's a thing of it's more out there now that everybody's seeing it. But it was never enough. People get shot, they're holding jump. People get shot that doing what they're supposed to do for jump. Like people get shot for daywalking for jump. That's been a constant thing. It's just that now when everybody has a camera, everybody is a loser. So it's like, so now it's like it's like you do that dumb shit if you want to. And that's what it really gets scary is that at one point the police were afraid because of cameras. Now they don't give it to you.

SPEAKER_03 14:18

They don't. And they got their own body cameras on and they're like, fuck it, we got that charge nowhere.

SPEAKER_04 14:23

So why the hell it matters? And now it's a thing of our generation is just understanding what the older generation has just accepted. We're fighting against it, they accept it, and that is the system isn't built for us. So we're trying to fight for it to be built for us. The older generation is just like the system isn't built for us. So fuck it. But anyway, but the the newer generation, what we're trying to do now is change it so that this injustice is even if it's still here for us, it's not here for our kids, our kids' kids, and so on and so forth. But there is more of an equality uh for them. And I think that's where the big difference comes into play. None of this has ever not been there. It's just never been on touchdown.

SPEAKER_00 15:06

As visible as it is right now.

SPEAKER_04 15:08

As visible, yeah, as visible as is the black one coin.

SPEAKER_00 15:12

What were you saying?

SPEAKER_04 15:13

Yeah, it's that all I gotta do is I'm getting pulled over. Uh if I'm getting pulled over, Apple has a whole, I don't know if y'all heard about this, Apple has an app or has a function. It's very pulled over. The fact that that has to happen is wild. Yeah. For the sake of I'm getting pulled over.

SPEAKER_03 15:33

Yeah, like you don't know if you're gonna have like a cop that actually wants to do his job correctly, or you get a trigger happy cop that's like itching to just shoot somebody today, like who has a finger twitched. Like, you shouldn't have to do that.

SPEAKER_04 15:46

Like, people are going live just to hope for survival. People go on Facebook Live, Instagram live.

SPEAKER_03 15:51

But somebody died on Facebook Live.

SPEAKER_04 15:53

Yeah, if somebody died on Facebook Live, they didn't know that they were, they they just want the evidence. They don't know, the cops don't even know that they're alive. They just want the evidence of if I die, y'all know who did it. The fact that that's a thought process with interacting with police is fucking crazy.

SPEAKER_03 16:09

I also thought that I think the guy that died on live was a vet. So it's like you survived tours in Afghanistan and where else they they sent you only to come home and get stopped by police.

SPEAKER_04 16:23

Funny part about that, we actually had a saying when I was in was at least if I'm overseas, I know who my enemy is. I don't like at least if I'm overseas, I know what the enemy looks like. I know who's coming after me and this, that, and the third. It's different here.

SPEAKER_05 16:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:43

Yeah, you see, think about that. It's like at least if I'm overseas, I know who my enemy is. I don't know that anymore.

SPEAKER_03 16:48

So pretty much you're saying you're safer in a war zone than you are on your own turf, which is sad.

SPEAKER_04 16:53

I slept better in Afghanistan than I have ever slept in the past two years.

SPEAKER_00 16:57

Wow. The black McCoy, you were saying something?

SPEAKER_01 16:59

I was thinking about um a story from when you all were talking about how our parents have tried to prepare us for the world that we live in right now. And I remember I was when I was with my ex, um, she was she she was like so kind of facetiously, mind you, just against the idea that I was actually from Georgia. And we called my mom and we were on the phone, and she could hear this kind of accent or this kind of like twang that both my, we called both of my parents, that both of my parents had in their voices and the way that they spoke, and even in even some of my other family members that she met. And I remember when we were on the phone with my mom, and she was trying to she was trying to get like an explanation why I sound the way that I sound, given that the rest of my family sounds, for all intents and purposes, they sound Georgian. And my mom said at the time, but now I'm thinking about it in a much more critical way, she said she didn't want me to sound like a moron, she didn't want me to sound like an idiot. And as I process it more now, it's like she wanted me to sound intelligent, she wanted me to be able to speak in a way that was acceptable or in a way that was digestible for everyone who was not black and everyone who was black to protect me in some way from some level of discrimination when as I was continuing to navigate going through navigate going through school, going you know, going you know, through jobs and stuff like that. And it's disheartening to think about that my own mother invested so much into tailoring and sculpting and molding how I sound and how I speak today just to protect me from potentially being immediately criminalized or immediately shot gunned down or like being discriminated against just based on how I look. But being giving me the or giving me the tools or not even not even giving kind of like force feeding me the tools necessary to be able to articulate myself the way that I do is insane and it's depressing, but it's it's empowering and depressing at the same time. Empowering because I now because of my mom, I'm I now know how to move about, excuse me, I now know how to move about certain you know, spaces and people and navigate those things, but depressing because she really had to go out of her way through the education system, which my entire family for the most part has worked in to make sure that I am this kind of like standout, I am this kind of um quote unquote magical Negro in some way to be able to not be like everyone else. And my next thought following that was that I think that one of the things that we will continually have to deal with is that regardless of whether it's the north or the south, it's that the politicization of this entire movement, of this entire conversation, is that I is that something something's missing. And I think the part that's missing is that I think that people very easily forget how they translate in a political sense. And when I say that, I mean people love to have their opinions voiced. People love to have their opinions and think that they don't actually affect anything particularly political. But I think people neglect the fact that when they go to vote for things, or when they go to town halls, or when they go to um any sort of like congregation of some sort of political stance or communal agreement of some sort, those opinions become bylaws, they become legislation, they become amendments, they become ratification, they become something so much more tangible that affects other people's lives, and that very crucial relationship between an opinion and a law is lost on a lot of people. Because people, you don't just go and vote for something because you think, oh, this is logical or this is practical or this is pragmatic or what have you. You vote for it because it somehow aligns with not only your values, but your wants, your desires, and your needs and your visions for whatever you see for yourself, for your community, for your race, what have you. And to to be so negligent to think that those those opinions have no effect on the political climate whatsoever completely negates the fact that you that not you yourself, but like that one person that actually is, you know, they they have a they Have a very necessary relationship to this overall quote unquote political agenda that Black Lives Matter has. But it's it's it's I don't I don't get how to make people understand that just the very thoughts that they deposit or the very thoughts that they have so easily translate to a ballot, which further translate to legislation. And I don't get how people don't understand that relationship. That's how the system has always been, and that's how it always will be, because we the thing about democracy is that everyone is supposed to get saved, and everyone gets a say because what they choose to do with their opinions is vote on them. And whoever comes out on top in mass is who affects how the system itself is constructed.

SPEAKER_00 22:57

But I mean, I hate to say it, but most of the individuals who make those statements about things being politics or things being policies are the main people who don't understand those points. The main people who vote for people based off of popularity and based off of who can talk better than who. So when the vast majority don't understand what the like that's why a lot of people don't vote. When they don't understand why it's important that they vote, when they think, oh, well, you know, he said he's gonna vote, she said she's gonna vote, they said they're gonna vote, so I don't have to vote. It's those individuals who at the end of the day, at the end of the day, uh feel as though it's unnecessary. But, you know, we could talk about this all day. We truly can, we are almost so. But what I'll do is let's let's go ahead and wrap it up right now. Um, I want to thank everybody for uh being able to share their experiences, sharing their sharing their life moments, as I call it sometimes. Um just giving us a moment to peer into um what peer into what you have seen, peer into what you know, peer into what you hope can potentially change the future. Um so uh let's go ahead and uh for those who have um social media handles, uh we can go ahead and shout out real quick. I'll shout out Umbral Star Cades, which is Umbral Starcades on all platforms except for Snapchat and TikTok. Uh from our special guest, Mr. Eric Owusu. You can find him on IG at eric.k K A Y dotowusu or Twitter as the Owusu Kid, uh Miss Skittles.

SPEAKER_05 24:47

Um Miss Skittles M V V S K I T T L E S T R underscore Cosplay on Facebook. Facebook, Instagram, um Kofi, if you want to check that out.

SPEAKER_00 25:05

And then uh Miss Sayone.

SPEAKER_05 25:08

Sayone cosplay on Facebook and Instagram.

SPEAKER_00 25:14

And then uh the black McCoy?

SPEAKER_01 25:16

The Black McCoy on Instagram and Facebook and TikTok, even though I don't post TikToks that often, but when I do, so I would like to thank everyone who listened.

SPEAKER_00 25:30

Um, I know this was a more heavier uh topic than um our other episodes, uh, but it is information that we want to make sure you hear, make sure you know, make sure you realize it is important. Um, it's important to us as blurds, as black people, as people. It's important that these topics are heard and that you know individuals hear and understand them. Um if you have more questions, we'll you know, follow each and every one of us on social media. We'll be sure to answer any of your questions. Um, or uh we'll have a space soon for us to be able to discuss a lot of the topics that we have here on our podcast. So um without further ado, we will talk to you guys next week. Uh thank you very much for listening.