The Blerd Spectrum
The Blerd Spectrum
Us vs. Them
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We're kicking off the #MelaninatedSolstace and Juneteenth with a winding journey down the road of Black representation that's been mapped out for us. Ride along with us as we try to course correct.
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Welcome back to the Blurred Spectrum podcast. I'm coming to you live. No, I'm not. I'm actually pre-recording. Uh, yes, so we're here today to start. Start? I mean, technically our anniversary episode started it, but this is our official start of the melanated solstice. We're here to bring you episodes and topics for all your melanated viewing pleasure. Um yeah. Uh, we may not bring you love talk and slow jams, but we will bring you the topics that will uh enthrall your loins. No, I'm joking.
SPEAKER_07I didn't scratch your OnlyFans for that part.
SPEAKER_03I think I'm on, I think I'm on the right episode today.
SPEAKER_00All right, so honestly, so today is uh is an episode we've been we've been meaning to do for some time now. We're really uh it's really important, I think, to all blurts. All I would like to say to all people, but you know people. So I'll just say all blurts and all uh people we people individuals who uh you know believe in representation. And it's our episode called Us versus Them. And no, we are not talking about you know us and I knew you were gonna do that, and them. Um we're talking about how these either we're talking about how we want to view us versus how they or them view us. So no, we're not talking about the black McCoy. Um, we're we're talking about we're talking about representation, uh visibility, uh uh um just how we're viewed in pop culture and movies and TV shows and video games and anime, um, cartoons. I mean, it took some years before you know we wasn't somebody's Uncle Ben, Aunt Jemima uh uh dancing. Uh, what's that song that Kaze always sings? I like the singer about the Muna and the Juna and the Swinger.
SPEAKER_08First of all, that owl is iconic and we love it. We're just glad it was an owl. But still, like you get it. The the jigger boo aljumama black caricature lips. Okay.
SPEAKER_03You only see the ankles of the um them the fucked up stuff, and that's all that you saw, and the the two color flip-flops.
SPEAKER_00Jasper Jasper, get out of my kitchen, Jasper.
SPEAKER_05Um bottom bank, bottom ankles. You knew the food was good though.
SPEAKER_00No, you didn't. I got brothers.
SPEAKER_05That's not what this episode was.
SPEAKER_08Butter in them grits, buttermilk in them biscuits. The honey was homemade somehow because you know, she's fine, black folks find away.
SPEAKER_00But we have, you know, uh this topic is very, you know, not necessarily sensitive, but it is something that I feel like a lot of people need to not only know about, but you know, try to let's move forward and try to make a change, make a difference. Because, you know, with with representation, a lot more people can enter into these different industries and we can see more people of color uh in these different roles. But before we go too far into the topic, let me introduce our panelists, starting with myself, Suchi no shogun, uh Kaze Shinryu, the Doctor. What's good, the black McCoy, darling, uh Sayone, and I believe somewhere in the back is Talonflame.
SPEAKER_07Hello, I'm sure he is in the back.
SPEAKER_01Oh, what'd he do? Don't be talking about it.
SPEAKER_03Nigga, I'm in the bathroom with a bonnet. Don't even start with me right now. That's the best way to do it.
SPEAKER_00Once again, us versus them. Oh no, you didn't. I just said representation, we are not attacking our own.
SPEAKER_03Okay, don't do not come for me. Okay.
SPEAKER_08It's a nice bottom. It is. Wait a minute. Hold on. That's a cute color. See, mine is just black. I need a purple one, but I couldn't file it for the one I went to the beat supply store.
SPEAKER_03Okay, I got you. Yeah, I went to, I think I got this from um Walmart actually. So Walmart.
SPEAKER_08I mean, I hate this Walmart that I'm here, but go for it.
SPEAKER_03Go fine.
SPEAKER_00All right. So what we want to do is we want to, you know, first, you know, talk about different um films, different shows, cartoons, etc. That we, I mean, we were already kind of mentioning some, but that we feel like we've seen some of the worst um uh uh uh tycasting or or bias placing or you know, um just selection of a role. Like I was mentioning to our panelists earlier about how some of our favorite actors or actresses, or well, you know, all of them are actors, um, the roles that they win their awards for, their Oscars, their Emmys, what have you, are in the roles of slaves, thugs, pimps, uh, pos. And it's like, why is it that when they play the types of roles abusers?
SPEAKER_08I thought about precious.
SPEAKER_00I was like, why is it that when they play what why can't we why is it that when we play roles of their Caucasian uh counterparts that they aren't awarded with the same medals of honor and trophies and awards and um accolades?
SPEAKER_08So I just white people love black trauma porn.
SPEAKER_03Yes, absolutely. That's a good thing.
SPEAKER_09Yeah, I agree.
SPEAKER_00But uh, I mean we we do, that's the problem. That's it, because us and them.
SPEAKER_08But uh I think it's a combination of that, and we're kind of used to it at a certain point.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, definitely. But why I think we're tired of it actually now. I mean, we can't do it. Right now, we grew up in it and we were so used to it, but now we're like we're tired because like I don't even want to watch anything that has black women, children, you know, black people, anything that has to do with any trauma at all. I just can't do it. I don't even want to watch it. I've never watched Precious in my entire life, and I never will. Um, I I just can't do it because for me, it's like there's so many genres out there. Why are we just subjugated in this tiny box? It's like they're telling us this is the best that y'all can do, and that we're gonna allow you to do, and you're just gonna have to just take it because that's the only awards that you're just gonna receive as a fucking slave. Because basically, what is that telling us? They that's their perception on us. That's the best, that's the pinnacle, that is the wall that we can reach. It's just us being this having this horrible, degrading sub subcategory that they want us to stay in, and that's why I love Lapita. Lapita, she broke out of that shit, and you know, she of course I I I couldn't stand seeing her in 12 years a slave or 13, whatever the fuck the damn movie is called, and whatever time.
SPEAKER_04Oh, right, whatever years, not the baker's dozen, not the baker's dozen, right?
SPEAKER_03Whatever years a sleeve, but you know, she didn't stick to that. She's like, you know what? I'm gonna do us, and I love Jordan Peel. I love how Jordan Peel really wants to put people of color, black people especially, in roles that we're not used to seeing. I remember seeing Sinal Lathen in Alien vs. Predator, and Alien vs. Predator was a kind of cheesy movie, but I was so enthralled to see a black person play a sci-fi. Never in my life have I ever seen that shit before. That had nothing to do with you know her being a slave and she escaped or you know, nothing, nothing like that. No, she she was this warrior person that you know befriended a fucking like predator. What like that shit was so fire to me. And I'm like, okay, this is the this is it. I need to see more of this. That was a catalyst for me. Because, you know, like everyone said, like one said we were just used to it, but I was tired. I'm like, why can't we be like the Sandra Gullocks? And why can't we be like the Anthony Hopkins? Like, we have all of that talent, but they just don't want to give us the opportunity. They want to give it give the opportunity to other people, and so I really love to see, you know, these these new um actors and actresses, um, like you know, seeing that the um, I think the French, I don't, I don't know if he's a French actor, um, but um uh for Lupin, I was so I knew I I I knew in my spirit, I was like, that's the only French black man I know right now. Oh, I I loved, I loved it. And then murdered, murdered the whole entire thing. Like, I'm like, look at this is wonderful. Um, seeing Luther, um uh with Idris Elba.
SPEAKER_08Um, you know, Miami, uh One Not a Man was amazing.
SPEAKER_03Oh my god. Yes. So I'm I'm like, look at all this, look at all this melanin, look at all this magic, and that we had to be held captive of our art just because of racism. Like, look at all this shit that we have to push through. And even when we still push, we we we have a lot of a lot of pull pushback, even still. Um, so you know, I I can't wait to see you know the continuation of this movement of more black people just not giving a fuck. Like, no, you're gonna take what the fuck I'm giving you, and not you're not gonna put me in a box. And and and you know, especially with the Oscars, seeing, you know, how basically it's it's fucking racist. Because the only time they give us a award is if we are, you know, basically have to take a lot of torture and pain, and and you know, oh yeah, nigger, stay in your place. Oh, she she did it so well. Yes, that nigger stayed in her place, you know. No, no, enough is enough. We're tired. The actors and actresses are fucking tired, and they they know that they deserve better and and they're asking for better and they're demanding it. And I'm starting to see this change, you know, it's it's a little change, but it is a change, and and a lot of people are really boycotting the Oscar, like fuck your Oscars. Like, I know my fucking worth, I know what I deserve. And now what's happening is that you're having a a lot of people collectively coming together and they're voicing their opinions and and starting to make it make a change. They don't want to put us in these movies, we're gonna make our own fucking movie. And um, there was a I forgot, she was a beautiful, um, beautiful young actress, and she she was the youngest actress to uh be a director, I believe. Marside Martin. Yes, and she I remember, yes, I love her. And she said um in a recent recently, I will not do any black um play black paint, you know. So every movie that I have, I refuse to do black paint. I'm like, look at look at the younger generation grasping onto this because everybody sees it, you know, as much as they want us to think that we're blind to it, we see it and we're changing it. And that really makes me helpful because there's so much wonderful art out there, and we're just at the tip of the iceberg for it to be exposed. So I really hope to see more of that um now, actually. I don't want to wait.
SPEAKER_06Absolutely. And you know, I'm so glad that now we have this really visible vocal movement that's focused on okay, we want to elevate black voices and you know, highlight black actors and black media in a way that is not completely centered around like slave narratives, you know. Um, because I've always felt somewhat conflicted about those and that, well, there are racist reasons to pigeonhole black people into you know slave-related media, but there's also racist reasons to dismiss slave-related media entirely, you know. The whole like, oh, well, why are we talking about racism? It doesn't exist anymore. So why do we keep, you know? So I do see that there's some value to, or it's you know, definitely some value to talking about our stories through slavery and our experiences through that, and contextualizing our media through that, but it's just so overdone. It's so overdone only areas we keep getting pushed into constantly. So, yeah, so even something like Alien vs. Predator, which, you know, it's a fun movie. It's but it might seem as like a somewhat mundane or like, oh, it's kind of a typical movie. But black people being centered in typical movies is revolutionary. Not actually something that, you know, we've really had like consistent exposure in in mainstream media, just you know, a lead who's black in an otherwise, you know, standard movie. That's actually a really exceptional thing. And I love that we're doing that. And I love that we're centering black narratives in other ways that aren't, you know, aren't necessarily focused on slavery, but still really focused on the black experience. So very, very hopeful about where we're going and the direction that we're heading in as far as representation. So yeah, I mean, I'm just I definitely did not think that we'd be as far as we are even now, like 10 years ago. You know, that's out of my scope of perception. So yeah, like I'm really glad for where we are right now, and I'm very excited for where we're headed.
SPEAKER_08All the points both of y'all have made are like why. So like I I keep thinking about one night of Miami, first of all, that first of all, the writing, immaculate, the the acting, absolutely phenomenal. Um Regina, Regina King, Regina King. Amazing. She put her foot in directing that film, and it it shows. And I love that she was able to pull these black figures from out of out of time and put them into this narrative or and put them into this narrative and portray it in a way that was that showed nothing more than than than the depth that it deserved. And like you didn't see, like you knew that there were problems happening around them. You knew what their, you knew what their environment was, you knew the world they lived in, but you weren't so aggressively immersed in like in the black trauma that we're used to seeing that somehow that was the focus of what was going on. It was really just a conversation between four major figures in black history and their relationship to their position within the black community and within black history. It's like they didn't talk about explicitly, like, oh, like this is what I'm doing in black history. Like, no, it was because you know that would be really trite and a terrible movie. But like they had the conversation that the film had was so beautiful and so impactful, and it had resolution. And the resolution that it had amongst the characters wasn't the resolution for the entire film, of course, but it gave so much perspective about like black humanity that we haven't gotten in a very nuanced or even you know compassionate way for a really long time.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I agree. One of my favorite things about this, like this new wave of like black representation and black agency is that um I'm I'm I'm I'm very rarely like uh you know, uh looking for it or like staring at it, but just out of my periphery, I'll like I'll hear like raging and screaming, and I'm like, oh what's going on over here? And it's and it's and it's and it's people mad that they made another character black. I'm like, won't he do it? And you know, and you know, and I would uh you know, I would never like you know want them to because you know they you know sometimes they do it just just because they want you know they want they want attention or they'll just do it mindlessly and then not not actually have anything about that person be black. It's like, oh look, hey, we we you know we're we're we're woke too. Did we do it?
SPEAKER_08Token ticket purchases, right?
SPEAKER_05And then don't do nothing else for the next 15 years. Like, okay, we get we did it, guys. We got our brownie point. Literally, uh but no, no, I definitely like I definitely appreciate the way um things are going. Like, you know, cause because honestly, I want uh because I I want I want like the whole pile, like not only do I want these meaningful, um, purposeful roles, like I want I want the I even want like the stereotypes that they don't even consider black, like I want the manic pixie, manic, manic pixie girl.
SPEAKER_08Oh um, manic pixie girl.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I want you know, you know, like we we we we've been doing the jock thing for a while just because of us. Uh but you know, like you know, I also want you know the Valley Victorian, the uh the the uh you know the nerd girl, the all the all the things that you don't that that we don't get to be. Like I want I want to be like all the all the stuff like like tell all the stories you've been telling, but make it black. Right. You know, stuff that we we complain about for uh for other people. Like we we playing catch-up, so give it, you know, I'll you know, I'll take it you know for a little bit. But um, but no, it's uh it's definitely um it's definitely an interesting uh place uh place to be in like spec like comparing comparing to like growing up in the 90s and seeing things uh seeing how things are now, just like literally just like comparing look looking at the covers of of the of the of the movies at like Blockbuster. I'm gonna say the VHS. Uh yeah. And then and then versus like going to a Netflix or Disney Plus and then just looking at at the at the uh the thumbnails and saying like who's casted and what like is it is a stark difference.
SPEAKER_00It is it is I mean I think uh I mean one thing I was gonna say uh relating to the doctors and Sayone's um points was uh based off the movies that they you know cast us in, you know, slaves, pimps, hoes, who have who, what have you. It's it it almost for me, it almost felt like they were casting us in movies that they felt were believable. And when they saw us in other roles, it was like, oh, that's not believable. You could never be that. But oh yeah, you were a slave. Oh, I know I've seen a black pimp. I I know for a fact as a black hoe. I slept with her last week, so you know, those those roles, in my opinion, they award us for those because they are believable. We are it's almost like a biopic, and we're playing the role of somebody who really existed, even though it may be, you know, uh a fictional story. And when they see us in movies, unless it was an autobiography, like uh hidden figures or something of that nature, unless it's auto not I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say autobiography, unless it's a you know, uh it's a movie based off a document, not even a documentary, but a movie based off. Thank you. I'm looking for the word, I'm saying all the other words. But when uh when we're when when we're you know, unless we're doing one of those movies where you know it's obviously a story about a black person, so a black person should should should play the role of the black person, then you know, then maybe they'll give us you know a uh uh an academy award, you know, or one of the lesser awards, like on MTV.
SPEAKER_08Um but MTV video popcorn, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um but like when it's when it's something larger than that, when it's something that they feel like should never be you know placed within the hands uh of a person of color, uh they go beyond poo-pooing it. Like people don't even clap at the award shows, people don't even show up to watch the movies, people don't even you know celebrate it on uh other platforms. And it's it's sad because it's like I remember when we were younger, maybe 15 some odd years ago, when you know, I forget who it was, but they were it was it was the source awards. And uh one of the actors was on the stage and said, they're not going to, and I'm definitely paraphrasing, but it was like they're not gonna give us Oscars, they're not gonna give us Grammys, they're not gonna, well, maybe not Grammys, but they're not gonna give us Oscars and Emmys and things like that. We have to, if if they won't give it to us, we have to award ourselves at our own award shows. So because Source was supposed to be the black man's Grammys or the Black Man's Oscars, that you know, they were saying, Yeah, support the source, support the magazine, you know, tune in, watch it, you know, come out, da da da. And I'm like, I get it. But the sad part is, in not in a perfect world, but in this world, if you have a source award on your shelf, will that get you more work? Or if you have a Grammy nomination. Never won. The weekend still ain't won. All them videos and music he put out last year didn't win a Grammy. But he's Grammy nominated because of something from four. So he could still win awards because of the nomination, because it weighs more. Grammy's way more. Oscar's way more. Emmy's way more. So it's it's sad because you know, we want to do better, we want to change it up, we want to be in different roles. But and even people are not even acknowledging their ward shows shows anymore. Like when yeah, they people still using it as a meme when Beyonce won the uh uh most uh Grammys of a female artist of all history, it's just standing there, stuck face. She was like, What I did what I didn't what like just confused because at one point it wasn't even that important. It was like I'll show up, I'll get the awards if they give it to me. Beyonce didn't even, I don't even think she won a Grammy last year. I believe I believe, huh? She didn't last year, I don't believe so. This is but this year she did. Wait, wait, yeah, yeah. This year she did, and she was confused when she won the most ever Grammys of a female artist. I'm like, or no, any artist ever. I think she outbeat the Beatles or whoever it was.
SPEAKER_07So I'm like I mean that's not hard to do.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, uh, but it's I mean, but it's Beyonce. Do you see anybody else winning something like that? You see Cardi B winning something like that? Random name, I know. I'm sure Adele is on her way. I'm sure Cardi's on her way. I mean a person of a color.
SPEAKER_08I'm sure, I'm sure Cardi's on her way.
SPEAKER_00I'm sure Megan's on her way too. But Megan and Cardi don't sing, they don't do rap or Ryon R B or pop or soul or any of those. So they can only win in the rap section. So unless they rapping for the next 15-20 years, which is possible, will they be up to that point? I mean, Beyonce can release another album next year and win another 15 Grammys, and then there's the cap. So, and the reason why I say that is because you know I mean as far as like more than the Beatles.
SPEAKER_08That's all I'm saying. That's what I meant. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get that. No problem. Um, Beyonce has set a standard, she's basically hoarding at this point.
SPEAKER_00She's just wow, she's the standard. Um, but yeah, no, no. Uh the the reason why I say all that is just because trying to fit ourselves into their mold has been what most entertainers have been trying to do for years, for decades. And then somebody came along and said, Well, let's create our own mold. It's funny, I was just it's it's very interesting. I was just looking at a meme before we started about the um the circle and the brick wall with the other shapes. I think I shared it to some of you. And it was, you know, on one side of the wall, it was a triangle and a square, and then on the light side of the wall, it was a circle with a and the wall had a circle shape in it. And somebody expounded the storyline and was saying, well, let's see let's say, for example, more circle-like holes were built, so all the circles can pass through the wall as they pleased, but the triangles and the squares and everybody else still all the other shapes still couldn't fit through. And after years and years and years and years and years, the triangle finally built a whole triangle shaped that they can fit through with help from the circle. But then once they did, the circle says, Wait a minute, this doesn't fit me. This isn't fair. You you're being this is uh this is the inequality. You're supposed to build something that we can all fit through, and the triangles are like, but you got all these circles, just go through a circle. This is the one triangle, and we're just trying to get one person through at a time, but that's not fair. I I I give me my drill back. This is our drill. You gave it, you helped us build it, you helped us get it. Why are you trying to take it back? That doesn't make any sense.
SPEAKER_08Can't build anything. You have to make a whole little metaphor. You could have just said, hey, I need my can't build anything.
SPEAKER_00Oh uh Bob the Builder. Anyway, so you know it's it's those types of it's those situations where um you know it's it's difficult for you know us to fit into the mold of them. And the I I mean before we go on to the next segment, I have a question for the panelists is which is the more important fitting into the mold of them or trying to build our own mold, or trying to crack the entire system and say there is no mold whatsoever? Because I feel like all three of those things are nigh impossible because we've been trying for quite a few thousands of thousands, quite a few years, and uh it feels like thousands. Uh it it's been some time, and it it doesn't feel like either one of those things is a possibility. Uh, but what should we which which one of those things do you think is a better option? You know, fitting into their mold, building our own mold, or just doing away with molds altogether?
SPEAKER_08My answer to that is yes. Yes. My answer to that is yes. Um, and I I say that because I'm always an advocate for I'm always an advocate for fitting into the mold insofar as I can do this. That doesn't make it, that doesn't mean it's it's a good mold, that doesn't make it okay. It doesn't mean there aren't any problems with it, but I can do it because you thought I couldn't do it. And then there's breaking the mold uh and making our making our own mold because you know, who else can make a mold for black folks better than black folks? Who else can tell our stories? Who else can relay our experience? Who else can add the poetic understanding or the poetic the poetic nuances to what it is to be black and portray that on screen or portray that authentically through voice in a way that anyone like except us and also break it entirely? I think breaking it entirely is the end game for me personally. Um and I say that because I I have while maintaining a very you know real practicality and pragmatism about the you know the relationship between you know human beings and um just the understandings that we have of our existence socially, um politically, etc. Like there the the the kind of system of different signifiers and symbols that we have inevitably needs to be deconstructed to uh non-symbolism, if that makes any sense. To the to uh and when I say that I mean to the point of like the the the like when you have like the idea of like not like not liking labels is a dialectic one, right? Um I'm using that as an example. And so it's this idea that you live in a world of labels for a reason, right? They you put labels on things to understand things, they make sense. Um and as you the the kind of dialectic part of that is as you start to go through more, right? As you start to kind of in some way, shape, or form, uh kind of ascend through this process of understanding, you start to deconstruct those labels or you start to make more of them because you find that those labels in and of themselves are insufficient, right? And then by the time you reach the end of that process, there's no need to have them in the first place. Um, I think that's the end game to not have to have to do any of this at all. Um, that is a long ways off. I think that's one of those like utopian style ideas that you know can only truly exist once we destroy all white people and ascend, um, intellectually speaking.
SPEAKER_00Uh no, no, no, no, no, no, we cannot say that. This is the reason why in parts of the country they are stocking up for a war. We cannot, we can't. So I'm I'm definitely redacting that. Um even that it's not on paper. I'm definitely bleeping that part out. Um before before before you continue. Um I don't mean to cut you off. That's literally what I was about to say. So let's take a moment. No, wait, wait, wait, no, no, no, wait, wait, wait. She walked out of this room, right? Walked down the hallway. No, no, no. But when she hit that light and it looked like Solaris mixed with Starfighter had appeared, because it just like popped. I was like, girl, you you ain't you you trying to distract us in the name right? Look at it, look at it. Like she's saying, quickly. I'm not too bad. You should have turned your camera off, girl.
SPEAKER_08And Miss Skittles just dropping her most recent like photo shoot that she did for her most Lord. Both of them are just trying to like fuck everybody's Sunday up.
SPEAKER_00Niggas about to turn straight. Women about to turn lesbian. I see what you're doing with Pride Month. You're trying to, you're trying to increase the numbers. Okay, I think you I am.
SPEAKER_03I am. Well, oh yes, I am queer. So you know that's true. I think hey, you know, I I'm I'm I'm A, you know.
SPEAKER_08She said Alan likes to watch.
SPEAKER_04All right.
SPEAKER_00All right, the Black McCoy.
SPEAKER_08Sorry, you can you can sorry, you could um no, I think I think that the the the end goal there is to really not have to engage in so many of these dialogues or engage in, you know, um uh a social, I'll call it a social system where there is this disproportionate this pro this disproportionate way in which narratives are told and represented, um, as well as this uh this um kind of rat race towards um a representation that a representation from a population of folks who could never represent us in the way that we need to. Because only we have the capacity for that.
SPEAKER_03I agree. Um, there was something I believe um the Black McCoy and Rod had mentioned, you know, and I've also seen it on Instagram, and people are saying, you know, you should be a black person doing mundane shit and getting millions of followers. And I live for it, and it's true because you're seeing all these beauty ads, or just people just chewing on bubblegum. Oh my god, you're so beautiful, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, please tell me like not doing shit and getting paid. Who you listen, move who you in the listen, right? I'm like, what the fuck? Like, no, listen, black people should be able to just see me in this fucking robe with this lip gloss and the spotlight, and I'm just getting fucking paid.
SPEAKER_00And not on OnlyFans. It should be just on your Instagram. No, no, not only just on your Instagram on Twitter, just taking a picture. That's it.
SPEAKER_03That's it. That's it. And um, you know, it it it's kind of hurtful. Um, it is hurtful seeing you know, black people and all their excellents trying so hard just to really uh show their talents. And you have a lot of non-black people who ain't doing shit and who has all this given all these accolades for for bullshit. And and it's very tiring. You see it in every community, you see it in the cosplay community, even more so. Um, you know, and it's it's it's it can be disheartening. Um, but also it's like you have to really find a place where you have to love what you're doing, right? Because if you were if you were seeing the bullshit and really kind of vibing off of it, you don't even want to do it. Because like what's what's even the point? But you kind of have to be like, you know, internalizing this is something that I love to do, you know, this is who I am. And you know, if I'm gonna have these, these uh these people out here, I'm gonna I have to wash my mouth because I was gonna say some real fucked up shit. I'm gonna say because I know we we have we have various view, you know, listeners of what you mean we have a live censorship.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, just have to censor after censor myself. But baby, why are you why are you here like this? What is this?
SPEAKER_03I'm crazy. You see that shit? He just walked up like we just had sex. No way.
SPEAKER_08I mean, if if if Kaz over here with his titties out, Tyler can have his titties out too.
SPEAKER_05I I I I learned I learned from Tyler. That's good. That is true. I know this is that type of channel. I tuned in one day and then and it was hot ties. I'm like, oh, it's right, laying down.
SPEAKER_03So we can be free in your work, okay.
unknownThat's free.
SPEAKER_08Yes, we can be real free. You see, black people in white, the sun is shining, melanin's glowing. That's that that is that is what we need to see. We need to see black freedom and black liberation in that way. We need all kinds of light, and maybe not white, because I got she made him put us put a shirt on. I'm about to say he got a shirt on, still got the right. We know you ain't got nothing on under there.
SPEAKER_01Right, you see that. That's truth. Don't drop the towel. Don't drop it.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, is that like another relationship anyway? Um no, but um, no, like I mean, you know, all jokes aside, like, you know, that moment there, you know, was uh uh was very much what we need to see, like what we want to see. We want to see our our beautiful black people just in their fullest and most authentic selves, you know, the sun is hitting in all the right ways, the hair glowing, loving, everything, like it just pure in our blackness and without any intrusion of you know whiteness in all of its categories. I'll say categories, categories.
SPEAKER_04Caucassity.
SPEAKER_08Caucasian. Caucasian. It somehow somehow just doesn't even encapsulate the the grandiose sentiment I want to get across. But we'll go with it. We'll go with it.
SPEAKER_05I'm proud of you.
SPEAKER_08I gotta I gotta be aware of the the living FCC on our so the doctor, did you have an answer to the question?
SPEAKER_06Not much more than I think has been said. I think everyone else has like really covered it, but you know, I think it's it's just so generally important that you know we are able to be free in every way, you know. So, you know, not confined to one particular box or one particular presentation, you know, and something that just means, you know, like I love the discussion around black people, you know, just you know, getting monetized for hey, having channels that do, you know, kind of like I won't say mundane, but like, oh, you know, it's like just things that seem like simple, you know, but that people are getting paid for. Like it shouldn't be an expectation that, oh, black people have to go above and beyond 10 times everyone else in order to get representation. Because that's not a fair standard at all. Like, you know, if you're getting, you know, if you have a channel that, you know, you do ATMR for like, you know, eating eating food, like black people should be able to do that. Like, it shouldn't have to be something where we have to work, you know, a hundred times as hard. So yeah, like I think that's that is a part of being black and free. Like, and freedom is not you know simply, oh, this constant rat race, freedom just being able to, you know, exist and you know, thrive in a way that everyone else gets to. So I think that's uh incredibly important.
SPEAKER_00Kaze, did you have an answer?
SPEAKER_05Uh repeat the question for me real quick.
SPEAKER_00No problem. Uh I was referring to uh the appointments for later. I was referring to the uh different answers to how we can find ourselves in a place where we want to be. Do we, you know, create a mold of our own? Excuse me, create a mold of our own where we can exist. Do we uh try to fit the mold of you know the uh others, the them, um, or do we break all the modes and you know just say we're all in this you know environment, which one would work or do none of them work?
SPEAKER_05Gotcha, gotcha. Yeah, uh definitely uh similar uh answer to the black uh Black McCoy. Um you know, like you know, like some some people have to uh have to get through the mode to gain leverage to give themselves and other people the the power to you know make their own modes and and just uh and and honestly just show people because a lot of because a lot of people they don't you know they don't they don't know why things aren't happening, they just know things aren't happening. You know, some people don't think about black people at all, but they know they don't see black people doing certain things. But as soon as they as soon as they see that thing, they're like, oh, okay, now I know this is a thing, and you know, and that's for black people and and other people too. And so you know, sometimes you just got show, you know, sometimes you know, some we we had to kill some of those slave movies and be like, you know, I I I want to do this, but I'm a but I'm a I'm gonna act my fucking ass off, and I'm a you know, and I'm gonna make you cry, I'm gonna take you on this journey and I'm gonna do this thing. You know, now we didn't we didn't kill enough of them, we're done, we're good.
SPEAKER_08Uh can you can you give the same speech to Lena Waite, please?
SPEAKER_05But you know, I do think you know those were you know necessary. Like you kind of have to you you you have to make all these kind of uh uh granular granular changes, and it's just kind of like after after a while the stat you know the status quo will just we'll just move on because you know we're it's not like it's not like we're moving against some kind of you know centralized, you know, force of fuck you. It's just really just a a bunch of a bunch of assholes and a bunch of dead white people.
SPEAKER_00Um I mean that's that's a very accurate statement. There's a lot of rules, regulations, red tape, uh just systems, but from people who don't even exist anymore, yeah. That are still the reasons why certain things are happening. And until somebody goes back and looks in a dusty old box in the back of a Hollywood studio and sees, oh, this bylaw expired like 40 years ago. She probably put one in place.
SPEAKER_08So I mean, that's at that at this point, that's just how America works in general.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, nothing about computer.
SPEAKER_08That's why for some reason, it's still there's still this purism around the American Constitution itself. Like, you know how long that was written? Y'all, y'all, y'all just wanna don't want to try and update it at all. Like we have to update regular laws all the time. You think the constitution doesn't need that?
SPEAKER_07Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, this I mean, honestly, the sad part about it. No, no, no. The the the sad part about it is as as it stands, and I'm not gonna speak for anybody else, realistic. I honestly can't even speak for America, but I will say a lot of their systems are nothing but um how uh uh a high rise with a very extremely old foundation. Like, and I was talking to it's funny, I was talking to one of my students um about you know computers. They were like, well, you know, how come the base level of a computer is still based off of its exist its uh initial construction? And I was like, well, realistically, the construction of how computers work started at one point and they just built on top of it software, hardware, but the initial foundation of how it works is still the same. But people are like, well, isn't that bad? Won't like there be some faulty areas? I was like, there may be faults that are found, but the issue is the difference would be if they just change it all together, that means they have to reset how computers work, which means things can't be backwards compatible, which means certain things can't communicate with one another, which means certain things can't integrate into a different system. So, and that's a lot of people's arguments is if you take it out of technology and now put it into let's say Hollywood, well, this is the system that we started on. If we start from scratch, what is gonna be the new system? Who's gonna take the time to set it up? We barely can agree on this uh uh uh uh different shaded people going to the same school in this age, in 2021. Different people of color and Caucassity can't be in the same school. If we can't even agree to that, how are we gonna reset the system of Hollywood of how people get jobs, about how people get uh uh casted, about how people get paid? People could be in the same role playing a black and a white twin, and you know for a fact the black person will still get paid less. Let's say it's a black woman twin and a white man twin. You know for a fact she's gonna get paid 75% less because she's a woman and she's black. But to restart that system, how much work will have to be done and who is most of the motherfuckers is lazy. They're not gonna sit down and be like, oh, I'll sit down and do it. I'll go through all that red tape, I'll look through every single box, I'll look through every system and document and bylaw and change every single one of these things. It ain't gonna happen.
SPEAKER_08So I agree. So the interesting part about that is that what's going on. Sorry, go ahead, Doctor.
SPEAKER_06So it's interesting. Like when we talk about this. With restarting a system or creating a new system and trying to find agreement. I see the problem there as something very different, which is, you know, if you're going to restart a new system or create a new system to replace something that is broken and flawed and racist, that will only change anything if you alter the power structures that are creating that system in the first place. So this part of the problem when we talk about, you know, all these initiatives to improve, you know, say address diversity or, you know, try and address um, well, yeah, like a diversity and a lot of diversity initiatives that have failed, to be honest, because they're still being led by people who have the same interests, and that has not changed. So if you don't have like people who, let's say, more black people at the top of that, you know, kind of structuring that, or you don't have people who are really invested primarily in the advancement of marginalized people, then you're not going to alter the marginalization in any way, shape, or form. Like you have to change people's, you have to have people who have different motivations. So, you know, yes, it's hard to get people to agree and whatnot, but there's also this issue of, yeah, I mean, you you're not going to change people's minds when they're the ones in power a lot of the time. That is just the reality, you know. So that often means replacing people that are in power, you know, and that's something that's often honestly a lot more difficult. It's a lot more entrenched, and it's a lot more spanning, you know, several different structures and institutions. Um, can't just be changed even just at the top. You have to change it from the top down or the bottom up, but just all the way through. And that's complicated. But I think that's probably the biggest actual barrier to making these substantial changes and teardowns. Literally, a lot of things just do need to be torn down and replaced. That would requires tearing down those power structures as well. Exactly.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, no, I absolutely agree. Like uh, if you ask Sushi, like Sushi knows that I'm always an advocate for just completely destroying something and putting and like restoring something new together. Um, but that's not even just like in the sense of you know, tangible things, right? Ideologically speaking, I'm always um I'm always ready to just throw something away. Um, partly because, you know, of the very reasons the doctor stated, like there are always going to be issues and inconsistencies and problems that are either so deeply entrenched or creating more, more problems for those who don't have the power already. Um and I think the one of the most impactful things is that you know, you can change as many, you can change as many uh ideas and can change as many minds as you, or even legislation. You can change as much legislation as you want, but you can't, legislation doesn't control people's minds, it just makes them follow rules. It doesn't necessarily mean that what they truly believe other outside of the law um is going to be anything that's impactful. But um, but I wanted to respond to what you were saying earlier. I I think it was interesting that you kind of brought that up as like no one's going to you know go back and look at all these bylaws and policies and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But I think that they won't do that when it comes to having to um overturn a lot of what they already know. Like one of the if there's one thing that I've learned just studying philosophy and dealing with a lot of different sociological, psychological texts and um thinkers and things of that nature, is that people generally um do not have a strong affinity for change. Um on individual levels, it it's already very difficult. Um, but when you start looking at mass um like social structural change, it's a lot more difficult because people are very um one, I think in general, like people don't do well with people generally as like a collective don't do very well with like criticisms, especially intersectional ones. Secondly, I don't think that it's going to be something that people will, you know, buy into if they feel like they're losing a quote unquote right to do something with when it when in actuality it's just expanding the space that we already have to make room for everyone. Um but I also wanted to add that I think that that is something that they will do, like, you know, go back and do all that research and point out these different, different kinds of red tape and you know, um policies and bylaws and things of that nature, when it will benefit them or when they can find an out. And that's part of the reason. That's one, that's one personal reason why I'm not a huge fan of people in power and the rules that they abide themselves by and want others to abide by. Because at the end of the day, when, regardless of what you know, it's on an individual level or on a you know a structural or institutional level, there is always going to be some degree of out for someone who makes the rules. And it is very easy for them to manipulate that information in their favor versus actually, you know, really engaging with the problem itself. Um this is a random example, but I think like Facebook is a great example for this, right? Because Facebook has all these policies of engagement, or you know, there are rules, the things you should, you can and can't say things that violate this, that, and the other. And they have these petty, um, petty enforcements of them, um, regardless even for things that would never fall within those parameters in the first place, or that could arguably fall within those parameters. It's almost as like, it's almost as though there is a vague, a very vague set of laws put in place that you that that folks can turn to when they need to have um a way of justifying the actions or the the reasons why they can't do something. Like people or in let me not let me backtrack a little, let me back up backstep a little bit and say not people, but like institutions and you know, organizations, companies, blah, blah, blah. Any like large body um has a very strong habit of having things that make sure that that cover their ass. So if they get in trouble for anything, they they can't be held accountable in any real way that satisfies anyone but themselves.
SPEAKER_00I could, I would like to expound on that, but I don't want to get too far from the subject. So what I will do is um uh I do want to give us all the opportunity because we've talked about the different, and that's uh I hate the fact that we just have to like stop there because that's like a really good topic, but that's not the topic we'll talk about. Damn it, Black McCoy, every time. Um, no, but uh I do want to get to the point where we're talking about, you know, the opposition, you know, where do we want to be seen? And we've been talking about it a little already, but you know, we've talked about the the negative places where we're being seen, the different roles that we you know have been in. But where where do we see ourselves and where do we want to see ourselves? The uh Kazi was actually already talking about a lot of these different roles, actually. But you know, how do we get there? Do we, you know, do biopics? Do we, you know? That was petty. I had to, I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_08Um you did not at all.
SPEAKER_00Um do we, you know, set up different systems? Um, you know, we talked about all of this, and it's difficult to, you know, try to come up with a theory or try to come up with a system, especially when, you know, we're not in Hollywood, we're not, you know, high-level powered people who can make these types of changes. You know, it's always interesting when people say, you know, you are the change, you can be the what is it? You be the change you want to see. There it is, be the change you want to see. But you know, I I work in IT. This is kill call it a spade, and I'm on a podcast. I do a couple other things, but you know, I'm not in Hollywood. So I don't I don't draw anime. I I I don't I don't currently make video games. So it's like if I want to be the change I want to see, how do I do that? And how long will that take? So it's like, do I go find people who work in the film and uh the film industry? Do I, you know, take the next five years to work on a uh TV pilot so I can see myself on TV the way that I think we should be seen? How do we make the change? How do we become the change if you know because people have tried boycotting, people have tried, you know, changing the channel, people have tried you know not purchasing it. But for every five people, or six if you call count Talonflame, that you know you have, there's gonna be several hundred thousand that are still gonna go watch, that are still gonna download, that are still gonna buy, that are still gonna stream, therefore not making a essential change. One thing I always thought about is that the million the million man march uh down at Washington, millions of people, right? How many more millions of people couldn't come or didn't even want to come? So thinking about that disparity is like if a million people came go decide that they're not going to do something, how many more million people decide or don't even care and still end up doing it? So, how do we effectively make a change if it's uh and I hate to do this, but if it's not if we're not all in this together? Like, how how do we do that?
SPEAKER_08I took it took everything in me for one to not start singing that full song. Two copyright and friends to to not do the choreography because I know both by heart.
SPEAKER_00I mean, I just did it actually with the best. No, no, no, no, no. Okay, no. Answer the question, please. Uh, we'll go to the doctor because I feel like you're gonna break out in song.
SPEAKER_06Um, you know, I think this is one reason why it's good to have individual actionable items when we think of ways in which we can lead towards greater change. Because, you know, we always talk about as far as these large brand ideas and large brand goals, which you do want to have those in mind, but it does feel daunting, you know, and you know you have to reconcile that with the idea that, okay, no one individual is going to, you know, end racism or single-handedly dramatically increase our representation. There has to be this huge collective effort. But that collective effort is made up of smaller individual actionable items that you can take. So it'd be something as simple as supporting a black artist, for instance. That is one way in which you are putting money into the black economy, essentially. And that's something you can immediately do as an individual. And that does have an impact because you know, the more people that do that, that adds up. And so we think of our goals as far as, you know, well, how can we do these huge things when yeah, it is an extremely daunting task, essentially. Like just I think it's much more e much easier and more pragmatic to really focus on what is an individual thing I can do today to get us closer to this larger goal, you know, um, not to reach it individually, but just to get us closer to it. So, and I think, you know, supporting uh black businesses, especially black artists, um, you know, watching black, you know, watching black media and like, you know, media that highlights us and showing that, oh, you know, we are supporting this. That's another thing that we can do, you know, to help advance. And those small actionable things do make a real impact. So, you know, anytime we think it's too big, just think of what is the biggest thing you can do right now. That's one good way to look at it.
SPEAKER_05Okay. Yeah, and I'll bounce bounce off uh what the doctor said. Um uh, you know, a lot of a lot of times we uh you know, we kind of laser, we kind of laser focus on uh color when in a lot of a lot of cases the the the the biggest color that matters is green. And no, you didn't, and we just spend our money on any what we want, what we've always done, and then we'll complain about all these things. And it's like well, you didn't buy it. You you you taught you you you want this thing to succeed. You didn't go you didn't go watch that, you didn't go pick that up, you didn't tell your friends about it, you didn't campaign, you didn't do any of these things. So then it's kind of like and you know, and it's kind of like the people who like who like stayed, you know, stayed stayed home, but then complained about Trump. And it's like, well, there were steps to be taken. Like, you know, I you know, I hear that I heard a lot about I heard a lot about it, like uh, you know, and all in all these like in in the NCU movies and even going back to the comics, they'll they'll be like, Oh, we need you know, we need more black this and black that, like you didn't buy the storm comic. You you didn't you you ain't by storm, you ain't by Black Panther, you don't you don't the you you ain't you ain't do Luke Case, you don't even know half the black characters, but but you but you want black skin the they didn't sell they they they're gonna put on the screen who they know sell and you didn't buy it so why so you know you could you could be frustrated and you could be bad, but it's kind of like what do you if you're not doing the thing and you don't even have an expectation of yourself or other people to do it, then how do you how do you expect this thing to come up?
SPEAKER_00And that kind of was a close, not as it close, but it's kind of what I was about to say, which is you know, with all of these different you know things that are that we want to see and we want to do, you know, with the people uh kind of bouncing off of what the doctor said about you know, one person isn't going to make that complete and utter change. Like one person is gonna end slavery, one person's not gonna end the bias in Hollywood, one person's not gonna change the music industry. But not only is one person not gonna do it, if like Kazay was saying, we don't individually try to do something but still complain. And then, even sometimes worse, the one person that is starting to try and make a change, we tear that person down, then it makes it even worse. Because it's like, well, you're not even it like if I'm looking at a group and I'm looking like maybe I'm playing soccer and I'm looking at the other team, and one person is saying, si se puede, yes, we can, but everybody else on the team is like, nah, it's not gonna happen. I'm like, the one person who's trying to encourage you, you're not even listening to. Y'all gonna lose the game. Same thing. If we're in a situation where one person is trying to encourage everybody, show them what to do. Yeah, you're saying, but two years ago, you were doing this, Y, X, Y, and Z, or you was just saying that you don't like this. I'm like, what does one thing have to do with the other? I get it. That person is not a great person. I get it. They didn't do all the things, they don't believe in all the things you believe in. Uh, I get it. There may not be a Christian or Muslim or whatever it is that you are, but at the end of the day, if this person is trying to push us forward in an avenue that has nothing to do with the things you're complaining about, why is it that we can't look at what they're saying and utilize it as an as a craft to take us forward into that direction? And I've said this in the Black McCoy notes, I've said this multiple times about how certain celebrities or you know individuals will be pulled back or pulled down, kind of what's that crabs in a barrel effect, be pulled down when they're trying to showcase where we should be going. And instead of somebody latching on and coming up, they're trying to pull them back down or make not make them a martyr, they're trying to remove them as a person who can take us into the next step. I ain't gonna name no names because I feel like any one of our panelists will rip that person to shreds, therefore causing what I don't want to happen. So I'm just going to say, let's try and look at when an individual says, hey, we can do this, let's look at what they're saying, not the person who's saying it. Because at the end of the day, all you have to do is do the research on what they said. Because you're you can take it as a grain at a grain of salt or sand, but if you research what they say, I know, if you research what they say, I didn't know my face like jolted that much within some sand, what the fuck? Um, but if you research what they say and you you you put in the effort to to understand whether or not this is a good direction or not, you can make your own conscious decision. Nobody is saying be a sheep and follow this. Uh it's not even a shepherd, it's a wolf in sheep's clothing, potentially. But I all I'm saying is if they're coming up with an idea, a plan, research it. Do the actual work, figure out if this is something you can do and this will help you get into a direction. Like people are quick, quick, quick, like Sonic the Hedgehog with all the rings and all the uh chaos emeralds, quick to jump on a white man who is saying, Hey, do this. Why? Because the white man and he got the money. He got the green, he got the marketing, he got the catchphrase. But as soon as somebody else who may have a past, may not believe in the same thing you believe in, who's a person of color, who does something completely adverse to what you're saying, they could be LGBTQ, they could be uh uh a polygamist, they could be uh uh uh uh um uh atheist, they could be whatever they want to be. But as soon as that person who hasn't uh hasn't done anything that has killed somebody, this white man that just is trying to lead you into what you think is the promised land, uh uh uh is doing drug trafficking and and sex trafficking. Yet, because he looks great on the outside, you're following him instead of the person on this side who just because you believe they don't believe in your beliefs, you're not gonna listen to. Oh, I'm not saying that was not say the nay, but that is my rant for today.
SPEAKER_03Uh uh saying to apply uh pressure. Um and when when you see us as a collective applying pressure, that's when we start to see change, especially when we don't have the avenues on um you know kind of contacting the higher up, so to speak. You know, we don't we don't have those those contacts or those connections. So what we do is we apply pressure. Um look at Black Lives Matter movement, um, look at all these movements that that is coming to pass because of injustice. And you know, it wasn't that we we had to be in Congress to make a change. We applied fucking pressure from social media because that was the only way that we were heard, that was the only way we were getting our news because the news wasn't sure what the fuck was going on. And so what happened is that we're in this wonderful, it's it's a double-edged sword. We're in this this age of social media, and I've learned more world news through social media than on fucking TV. And so it's because social media spreads like wildfire, it's very quick, it's very portable. You know, you can be anywhere and see it. And so when you have a collective starting to apply pressure, when you have all these sharing and reshare and reposting, you have Twitter, you have Instagram, Facebook, it used to be not not anymore because it all no more, no more, not anymore, not anymore.
SPEAKER_01I did not take you off a fucking news to be causing.
SPEAKER_03But you know, um, when you start to apply pressure, that is when there's change. And I think we we have done a great job on trying to find other avenues to be heard and to be seen. Because, you know, writing to governors and trying to contact the high, it wasn't working, you know, we were being disregarded. So we're like, all right, we're gonna be loud so you can fucking see us and we're going to have this movement, we're gonna do these marches, we're gonna, and look what happened. You have people now in Korea that are supporting Black Lives Matter. This is a world event because of social media, because of the pressure. Um, you know, you have people, you know, the people in India, you have people around the world that are really that are really seeing what's going on. And because, like I said, we American news, they do we do not like to have world news at all. You know, I I've only known things that's been going on about Myanmar, about Syria, because of social media, not because of the news. And so that I think is a is a really interesting dynamic. So when you when you really start to to make people uncomfortable, meaning you actually start to make people see what the fuck's going on at a very quick rate, like social media, that is when a lot of eyes are starting to open. And that's when you start to see change. And the change is is a lot quicker now compared to how you know it was before. And nothing was being done about it. It was being hidden. Shit that that we knew in the back of my mind that was still going on, was going on and and even things like um there was a gentleman uh in Louisiana that was that was killed um by police and and taser, and they still killed him anyway, even though he said, I'm you know, I'm sorry, I apologize, I will submit and they had it on video. And that happened two years ago. Two years ago. But look at all that's just one person. Look at look at hundreds or thousands of cases that we will never fucking know because social media was not as big as it was today. So um, you know, I really think that you know, keep using these platforms, uh, keep exposing the bullshit, and change is starting to happen because now the higher-ups are fucking uncomfortable. Like, oh shit, it's a spotlight. All right, now we have the choice. And that's that's what I love about it.
SPEAKER_09Like narcissists, narcissists was one of the benefits.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_09Because they don't want to be seen in a negative light.
SPEAKER_03Exactly. And it's not because it they they'll change because, like the black McCoy said, to to help them come out because everybody it's not because they they they want to, is it now they don't have a fucking choice? Because now you're having endorsements taken away, their money's at jeopardy, and like I better fucking do something now because now it's starting to go in my pocket. So it's like you're forced to. I don't fucking care as long as something changed. You can't unfortunately change people's minds and have that mindset, but as long as shit happens, whether you like it or not, it should have to change, you know, whatever type of mentality you have, but really forcing people to see it, whether they like it or not, is is starting to accelerate a little bit more than what I would say back in the 90s or in the fucking 80s for sure. Even the early 2000s.
SPEAKER_00My final thought.
SPEAKER_08Um my more radical inclinations um definitely lead me to say that, you know, some some we in order for us to achieve some of the things that we want to achieve, unfortunately, you know, regretted be by some people, maybe not by me, um, some people may will have to get left behind. Um I was thinking partly about um what the doctor was saying, what Sony was saying, but what Sushi was saying, but so so starting kind of there, just like one of the things that I've personally noticed as we have continued to evolve as a community, right? As you know, generations are coming up, they're learning more, they're um they're experiencing and being exposed to more liberative aspects of our lives that we never that we had to spend more time trying to wrestle and fight for and be comfortable in and be open about, that they are, you know, they're they're getting that stuff a lot earlier than um we did in a lot of different ways. Um they have a greater understanding at much younger ages about certain things than we did at um in our younger years. Um even if we had the awareness, we may not have had the language, and they also have that luxury as well. Um I do not think that, no way, let me back up because I think I jumped to a completely different thought. No, so with that being said, um, I do think that we are evolving to be um not less accepting of people who want to lead and offer, um, but we are much more critical and careful of who we allow the opportunity to lead and follow despite whatever um goodwill or good graces they may bring along with some of their very specific and particular actions, partly because we've seen so many, just kind of keeping it into the context of black people, we've seen so many black people who have been in positions of power and positions of leadership have fucked up views and fucked up ideals, not simply because they, you know, just don't agree, but because they're very dangerous ramifications of those beliefs. Those beliefs that continue to leave people behind that are already extremely disenfranchised, those um opinions and thoughts and um, you know, I'll call them, I'll call it the diarrhea of the mouth that uh really just continues to undermine undermine the larger community that is that they want to buy in. And I think it's okay to want to suppress those people. Um I think it's okay because I don't believe, I personally do not believe that it is just to want to elevate someone with a good idea simply on the basis that it's a good idea. If that elevation means an ascension to a position of economic and social power that will continue to perpetuate a lot of the same problems and a lot of the same issues that we're still having to deal with. I don't think that, I don't think that it's worth the risk. And I don't think a lot of people believe that it's worth the risk. So for all intents and purposes, if we had if we had like a black judge who made it all the way to the top of the Supreme Court and we're all proud of them because they're a black judge and you know they have this, you know, relationship to knowledge and so on and so forth that um you know really puts them in a position to be to to do some good for black people, right? But not all black people. And I don't think I think that's the part that people don't want to stand for anymore. If you're not in it for all black people, literally all black people, if the if the way in which you function ideologically is to set other black people back in some way, shape, or form, I think that I know that I personally, I think that a lot of people uh don't want to stand for that and don't want to support someone who doesn't want to support their existence. It's that that fine line, that that, I don't want to call it a fine line, is that imaginary under is that imaginary thought process that there's some distinction between your, you know, your personal beliefs and your political beliefs. That's not a real distinction. It's not a real distinction because your political beliefs are influenced by your personal ones. And if your personal beliefs align with what you what you have the choice to vote on, then those will absolutely influence what you vote on. It's like it is it's almost, in my personal opinion, it's almost an uh it's almost a delusion. Not uh that's because that's the only word that came to mind at the at the time. It's not the appropriate word, but it's weird. I even I just tried to think of a Yu-Gi-Oh card that would be more appropriate to describe it, but I couldn't. Nurdy to my melanated core. Um but no, um, I think that to that in particular, I don't think that people want to stand for that anymore. Like if you regard, I don't like I don't think I don't think people give a fuck what you have. If there is a, if if it's not for every, if it's if you're not for everyone, then giving you power will only put you in position to continue to disenfranchise those who are already suffering, not even just for being black, but from experiencing all these other things. Um, I do think, however, that um the doctor and Sione made uh and um Kaze made good points in that um there is a need for action. And there is a need for restructuring because I I think more specifically, the doctor, like those actionable items, like when you when we said actionable items, I think about every meeting I'm in. I'm like, by the time we get to it, I'm like, so what are the action, what are we doing? What are the next steps? What are actually what what what can we check in on next time we come together to make sure that we have done something? Um and I agree with Suchi as well that like being everyone doing something on that individual level. Um, I know Kazai said that as well. Like everyone doing their part is extremely important. Um, I don't think that any war can ever, interesting. I don't think that any war can ever be won in this capacity on one front. There needs to be multiple fights on multiple fronts. Um, if marching in the streets ain't your thing, then writing things and writing writing think pieces ain't your thing, then you better be doing something that can contribute to the liberation of your people that doesn't fall outside of the capacity of which you can. Um, everyone has a place. It's interesting because while I believe that everyone has a place and everyone has a function, that does not necessarily mean that you are fit to move forward or even that you are inherently willing to move forward for the progress of all black folks and not just the personal agenda you have for black people. I think that's also a very important distinction to make that the the personal black agenda and the collective black agenda has is always going to maintain a degree of dissonance. And that's because what some, you know, there's always gonna be, you know, there's always gonna be distinctions between, you know, what black people believe individually and what you know black people believe collectively and or should be, should be, or ought to be, or don't, or you know, that little mixed bag of um issues and philosophical discussions. But um, yeah, I guess overall my point is um wrapping back to I I I absolutely think that, you know, despite all the wonderful things you all said, that the unfortunate truth, in my personal opinion, is that some people will need to get left behind. There will need to be sacrifices for not even the greater good, um, because I I don't know if I believe in uh a notion of the greater good, but that's a per internal conversation for later. Um but for the the the sake of um a more uh egalitarian way of living for black people, um, more black equity in every in every capacity. I think that is the goal, or that should be the goal. Black equity for folks economically, socially, um, as far as the education is concerned, as far as as far as opportunities. The the what Nina Simone said, like free freedom means no fear, the the capacity to be able to live your life in the way that you want to, and the way that you need to, without fear of any repercussion or harm. Um, of course, as long as you're not doing harm to others, um in a way that really allows you to ground yourself in the joy that is supposed to be life or that we purport to be life, um, and not have to sift through the the ashes and the dust to find the nuggets of gold that we try to stockpile together to validate the the very process we're going through.
SPEAKER_00I thoroughly agree. Um, I I I I definitely feel that is I mean, one of the things I was gonna say once you were done was the fact that, you know, going back to the topic title of the episode, which is us versus them, I feel like you know, summate, not summating, I'm not gonna summate what you said at all, but for us to be able to function with them, we first need to become an us. And the point you made about leaving some people in the dust may be required for us to be an us even without them.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, yeah. And it's not even so willfully doing so, but it's just that I know so many people who try to bring folks along. And I am also trying to be that person to help bring folks along with us so that we can all be in the similar place, we can all be on the same footing. We can all, you know, that's what a lot of nonprofits are for to help people. Well, that's what a lot of social. I'm sorry. That's what a lot of like other like forces, social forces and institutions are supposed to be for, right? That's supposed to help bring people along. But if there's one thing that I've learned, you can't make people do anything. You can give them you can give folks, you can give, no, you can you can legitimately give folks as much as you want to, but they still have to be willing to do it. And after a certain point, like we can't continue to we can't continue to utilize energy and time to bring folks along the continuum with us to this place of liberation and equity if they don't want to come along to that place of liberation and equity, especially if it conflicts with who or what they think deserves that equitable treatment.
SPEAKER_00Very true. Okay. So we've learned a lot, actually, from uh this particular topic. And I think we have like several branch off side story spin-off episodes that we definitely want to tackle. Um, but I did want to make sure we closed out uh and gave you all time to think about what we said and give us a report about what we said next week. No, no, I'm joking. No, seriously, give us a report. You know, direct message us, send us an email. You're really doubling down really quadrupling, triple, double, quadruple. Check your math. Um, yes, but anyway, so to yeah, I did. So just gonna wrap up the episode. Thank you everyone for uh listening to our episode this week, Us versus them. As I said, we are starting our melanated solstice. Uh, this is a series of weeks and months where we are going to bring to you black content um of a variety of different things. We really saw some pros. I was like, what happened?
SPEAKER_08Um no.
SPEAKER_00For our next two weeks, I'm excited. I hope you're excited because I'm really excited. But within our next two weeks, it's our black food and music episode. Uh, so we're gonna be bringing to you uh a different uh black-owned restaurants, uh uh artists, uh musicians, uh chefs, uh with their different styles of food, foodies, thank you, of the different styles of food, their treats, their gifts, their talents. Uh, we'll also have a couple of things on our social media. So please check out our Instagram. Uh, if you're not already following, I recommend you follow because you will be hit to some new things that you may not have seen before. Um, of course, you know, we're based out of from for the most part, we're based out of the DMV area. So we're gonna be giving you a lot of what the DMV has to offer as well as outside of the DMV. So please, please, please, please be ready for the uh melanated solstice music and food edition. Uh also, go ahead.
SPEAKER_08I was also gonna say, um, just because we're the DMV doesn't mean we don't care about other black businesses outside the area. So if you all know some that we should feature or, you know, people that we should post on our page during the June during the month of Juneteenth, then please send them to our Instagram, send them to our Facebook, um, send them to our our mailbag, um, the Blur Spectrum at Umbralstar K.com so we can make sure that they get exposures so people know about them, period. Because you know, you know how the DMB folks are, they travel a lot, that's the thing. So a lot.
SPEAKER_00Silent.
SPEAKER_03We're actually going to Miami next week.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_09So uh no.
SPEAKER_01Shut up.
SPEAKER_08Um we um I hear that Zach Snyder's actually curating Miami, so you might want to be careful, Mercy. Stop it. Go ahead and finish.
SPEAKER_03Go ahead and finish.
SPEAKER_00Don't even listen.
SPEAKER_03So uh we're actually looking at uh we had a couple black owned businesses that we wanted to visit while we're down there. So, you know, we might uh showcase a little bit all of it.
SPEAKER_00It is I I am actually willing if if our listeners decide to give us some black owned businesses all throughout the country, really. It doesn't have to be on the Easter Seaboard, but if you give us some to visit, some businesses or some restaurants to visit, I think we can make a a blurred spectrum road trip across the country, you know, trying some of these places out. So if you give us a list of different places, send it to our mailbag.
SPEAKER_08Now, road trip is a strong word, it doesn't how far it is, but we can talk about it.
SPEAKER_00I said if I got it. Lord have mercy. I'll buy I'll buy the charter bus and it will be a road trip and we will go for it.
SPEAKER_03We'll bring some snacks then, you know. What snacks?
SPEAKER_00We're gonna be going to places to eat.
SPEAKER_01We need snacks on a road trip.
SPEAKER_00All right, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, find the blurred spectrum, melanated road trip charter, but coming to a city near you.
SPEAKER_03You should be like the king of snacks, then you should have a snack door.
SPEAKER_00I have a snack trunk completely different.
SPEAKER_08Okay, you see, enzyme oil, oil cans for your own.
SPEAKER_00No, no, there's a there's a latch under where you see the stuff in my trunk. You don't know about the snacks.
SPEAKER_08Um latch. I'm gonna hold a bunch of several latches.
SPEAKER_02Anyway, so thank you for thank you for the food trunk.
SPEAKER_00Oh Lord, that's thank you for listening to our episode this week. We hope you do come back and tune in for the next one. Um again, uh, if you uh have any uh businesses, black owned businesses, restaurants, artists, musicians, uh anything blackity, black black that you want to add to the melanated solstice, please send it to the blurred spectrum as uh the black one, please say the blurred spectrum at umbralstarcade.com, or you can send it to any of our social medias. Please direct message us uh Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, um, or you can send it to uh myself um at Umbral Starcade um on uh YouTube, Twitch, on Instagram, uh Facebook, and then um Tsuchi No Shogun on Discord. Uh Kaze uh Kaze Shamrayu on YouTube. The Doctor Rod RT on Facebook, Sayone and Tyler Deflame.
SPEAKER_02Sayone cosplay on Facebook, Sayone underscore cosplay on Instagram, Urkel Fitness on Instagram and the Black McCoy.
SPEAKER_07Um, but yeah, check me out at the black McCoy um on Instagram, the Black McCoy Cosplay on Facebook. And um, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Awesome. So once again, other platforms soon to come.
SPEAKER_00But thank you. Uh, we are very excited that you are here for the melanated solstice. Uh, stay tuned to all the fan and fancy and uh uh dark chocolate and caramel complexioned and ooh uh the uh uh Solaris covered uh uh I mean something I can't be on the page all the time. Oh my god.
SPEAKER_01Yes, yes, yes.
SPEAKER_08Thank you, thank you, thank you.
SPEAKER_01Is it about but is it?
SPEAKER_00Um, but thank you, thank you, thank you. See you all next time.