Good morning, welcome to Community Voice. I'm your host Keith Parris. I want to thank everyone for joining us this morning. Good morning Clark Kent. Hey, what's happening y'all? What what up apostle? Man, did you see that game yesterday? Yeah, we're gonna get to that But Yeah, we all these have all these rules when you're growing up so
I was physically assaulted by my co-worker.
Y'all remember the Bugs Bunny cartoons? What he said, you can't hit a guy wearing glasses. And then the next thing you see, the glasses all broke up because he had got fired on. So, man, you can't hear a guy, you can't, I should have had glasses on when I was a kid in school. No, no, that really would have, you really would have, oh man, wearing glasses when you were a kid, that really got you beat up. Go back Thursday.
Let's clear up the name of the co-worker so no one thinks that it's me
Alright, so I was trying to figure out what was going on with the Republican Party. They can't get close to the bad. I didn't know why they were having such a tough time. Now I know.
You know, when you get close to the bag, well, one, he was charging with 100,000. So was it 100,000 to 25 grand? It was 25 grand. So when did 100,000 come from? I don't know. And here's the crazy thing. The whole upper bowl was empty.
Oh, yeah. Now, if you watched it, it looked like all the places packed because they had it right in that little area. You know, that's how they learn how to shoot those with the United Football League where you have no crowd shots is all on the field. No, that's actually true because I was playing at this church one time and it was funny because, you know, they had the camera shots on them people and the preacher said,
I need about 300 of y'all to stand up and I looked over the crowd Because the camera was right there it looked like it was a whole bunch of people But boy I was like yeah, okay, so these are the camera tricks that people use good morning Barbara Smith. Good morning Sheila Watson. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Oh Man, so I did watch that it was it was interesting little Timmy was on
at two o'clock in the afternoon. There was no black people at the real show. Did y'all see any black people? I saw one lady. One lady. And then they're down in the Trump, what is it? The Trump, what do they call? The dudes always in the front used to be in the back. Anyway, there was that one brother. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
And what's this deal? Look, I'm a hater. I don't care. How come every time the camera is on Erica Kirk, she looked like she getting ready to cry? Because she's because they are pulling on the hearts of the people. Man, as soon as they and then she said, oh, I'm getting ready to cry again. What? And look, and I understand what yesterday was today, today anniversary. So that's what I was about to say. Do you think that this whole thing is set up in stage?
to pull on the hearts of the people because Charlie Kirk a year ago was killed today. They have the event yesterday and today and today and they got Charlie Kirk's wife up there looking like a sad puppy. So if you if you play on the hearts of the people you soften the heart. Where's Melania? She ain't there because you know a badly heart. I mean I'm sure she was there.
So, uh, yeah, if you play on the hearts of the people and if you soften them, you can get them to fall for you. This is and John Fetterman. I don't know what you want. Please say it. I don't know what you want. Please say it. But say it. You can't be trusted, dude. You cannot be trusted. It's an enemy in the camp. It's an enemy in the camp.
It's an enemy. And then they say that then on top of that, you don't even do your job as a senator. Because the most important thing you do, Michelle, can tell you this. Constituent concerns. You have to address the constituent concerns. And man, that ain't happening. You know, there's an enemy in the cap when John Federmann's staff is now revealing.
That he would not go to constituent events. He tried to say if it was worth his time or not Yeah, he didn't want to be like I think was it a memorial service or something He thought I don't that three hours. He didn't want to be there. He didn't want to put a suit on He didn't want to do any of this the things but that you literally are screening who you're gonna help that cause your office That's madness. Yeah, but he's been a problem
So, how did he get an office? He got elected. You know, regular guy. Yeah, yeah. You know, reminds me of when Jesse Ventura got elected in Minnesota. But the fact that he comes to work in the dirty looking sweatpants and believes that he shouldn't have to wear a suit on the floor, Congress. Oh, he been doing that for a minute. He just blind me looking. Yeah, that's the dude. You knew what the job required when you signed up for it. Well, it seems like they're moving the goalposts all the way.
Well, thank you. That's a great analogy. Yeah, because we're Trump doing what he's doing and what they it seems like that they are really moving the goal. But Federman, who was passed himself off as a Democrat. Yeah. Oh, he definitely is an enemy. So yeah. What? Trump talked for two hours last night. Yeah, he got up at 812 and then they played opera music after he was done. OK, but wait a minute. He's supposed to already. What is he going to talk about tonight? And they said, man, that is the big speech.
like it's the big bang. I think they had to have him both nights to draw a crowd to get get people to actually come because I just don't think as many people are showing up for these rallies and these events. Oh it was obvious this morning CNN and MSNBC actually showed the upper bowl. It was empty. So I think that they have had to use him to be the star power for both nights.
Well, it was his own thing. It wasn't like the Republicans called this. The last thing they wanted was to bring attention to their lack of accomplishment. But there's some that were happy to be those who were tethered to him. Yeah. And then let's see how much money he actually spends. And then if I'm Ken Paxton, when he got up and talked about Ken Paxton, it was like, was that an endorsement?
Because he talked about his appearance. He talked about the suits he wore. You know, see, y'all, I have to do this because I have a professional responsibility as a journalist to cover this. But I'd be wanting to take a shower afterwards because it's just like this. I'm so glad you take your job because I can't do it. I can't watch. I can only do sound bites. I cannot watch. But as I was listening and I would tell you somebody who's really impressive. Don't
I mean, she looks good as Brooke Rollins. Oh, yeah. She's good. No, no. No. No, she's the devil's spawn. Thank you. But no. I was going to say all of it. So all the people who really, really kind of shine and you're not allowed to really shine when Trump is involved with the situation, she really did. But I was listening to the speeches.
And there was a recurring thing. And I found that you heard liberty. And I kept going liberty, but shouldn't the Pledge of Allegiance says and liberty and justice for all. I found that admission glaring that it is not really about justice. It's not even really about liberty, though.
It's liberty for a select few. Because if I'm able to have liberty, then a lot of these things go away from me. There are people trying to restrict my liberty every day. So I think that you can put it in the same vein. It's not liberty for all. Even though I don't care how they phrase it, it's liberty for a select few. I get that. The practical application of the ideal is lacking. So I'm clear on that.
I thought the omission of justice just stood out to me because I kept thinking if you are about liberty if you are about christian you know god values one of the things that I know we have as part of our theology is this idea of justice jesus talked about justice and I don't know how you I do know how and I do know why because you're not about justice that whole liberty thing is just what michelle pointed out
For the few select folks it's liberty and then I guess it's back to Brooks Rollins when she began to get up and glorify colonization Right tell people exactly what you mean or how that was done because I don't know that everybody appreciated the moment Can you can you speak to her for a second? What do you mean when you said she got it to glorify colonization? She began to talk about the founding of the country
And she was trying to say how she's trying to make it like we can't do you can't look and cower So when our ancestors looked out and they saw the ocean they didn't let the ocean Get them so where they got here and then we talked about here and then when she said when they looked out on the continent They said that they wouldn't see I'm paraphrasing she would they wouldn't let fear stop them from expanding throughout as I as I'd listen I'm like
know what you're saying is we look out and we see other people and we're deciding we want what they have and we're not going to let those people stop. She didn't even mention the other people. No, but it was all inferred for me. It was inferred. Because I don't think they care. All of that was a metaphor for we take what we want. Exactly. That's what it was a metaphor of. Exactly. We don't let the water stop us. We don't let...
You know, the continent, you know, I don't care how massive you are hollering about this UN map now. If we want it, we are not afraid. We go in and we take it. But you know, and that's, that's, there's no, there's very few pure things in the world. I remember having a sister on, I can't think the sister's name, I have her book.
They were in Jackson, Mississippi. They had a confrontation with the police. Their whole thing was give us the five southern states, you know, for black people. And so, but then they had to shoot out with the police. And so that turned into it was in Jackson, Mississippi. I can't think of the sister's name. Now I got her book every day as I'm leaving. I'm looking at her book, but I asked her a question. I said, you know, let's just take what you said. So you want to take the five southern states.
and make them a state for descendants of enslaved Africans. Had you ever thought about the indigenous people whose land? It was in the first place. And she said, you know, you never thought about that. Right. You know, in some ways, and like I said, that's why there's so very few pure thoughts or pure positions because you might find a contradiction. Now the question becomes,
How glaring or how big of the contradiction but this idea that you know, Michelle can be that idea of just a pure political thought There's things called circumstances Context history culture all those things begin to play into it. So And my good friend Jackie Zelladon's dad used to always say watch out for true believers
It's a true believer is a dangerous at some point if your position is so rigid so dug in That means that reason and truth has a difficult time Penetrating your position because guess what maybe my position made since today But upon further review or because of other circumstances now there has to be a modification of that and I look and I hear people always talk about their core values, but you know
Truth be told, many of us have had core values where we violated our own core values. Truth be told. Now, all you peers out there, all you peers, you ain't never did it. Ain't never done it. Let me say something. I love what Otis Moss III says and I refer to it. Let us deal with AI in this situation. Ancestral intelligence.
That now keep on living You know now I don't know if he's absolutely pure evil Well, okay, let's see happiness donors. Well, why didn't Brooke address how Pete Hesse terminated all of the season US military? Is that a rhetorical question? Of course they're not gonna address
anything that would negatively impact on this presentation that they have. And that's the other thing. You can have great style, but at some point substance matters. And I've said this from the very beginning. I've been saying this since January 21st, 2025. These folks are not serious. I mean, wasn't that what Kamala Harris said? This is Donald Trump is an unserious man. Yes.
And, you know, the folks that are behind them, and I believe that there are serious agendas, but the willingness to actually, and I always say this, if you believe in stuff so much, be willing to defend it and go toe to toe. And if you lose, i.e., the majority of people don't support what it is you're pushing, then be willing to accept that or deal with that or figure out how to come back and fight again. But the willingness to cheat,
To to lie to bring up all these wedge issues you like right now There I just got this poster of I think it's 12 black people that have been found hung hung or hanging from a tree One most recent recently this little young biracial girl her mother is white down in Mississippi and her mom was like No, she didn't hang herself
And so you have people that are willing to look away from all of this, everything that we see, because I'm advancing whatever that personal agenda, that thing, that goal is that I want. And the rest of us are left to sit here. And I mean, and it permeates through law enforcement, through every arena, because all of these cases quickly were called suicide. And you just sit there like,
How are we here right now? But let me do this. In the wide open. And even I'm concerned, because I don't even feel like black people are looking at what's happening and being concerned. I think the part of this whole idea that, and this was a myth in our community, and I'm only doing this as
This is a myth and maybe why they might there's a myth in our community. Black folks don't commit suicide. That was a myth, right? And it was widely that black folks just don't commit suicide. I always think it was that we don't commit suicide on the scale that you see other people. But we found out statistically, statistically, especially among young people, there is there. And let me be clear, though.
This this is something that has changed and evolved over time. Yeah, so there was a generation of black folks that Suicide was not really a thing other than me escaping off that ship on Africa coming in the transatlantic slave trade I think that generationally as we have seen things change our kids paying attention to what other kids do You know, you got a lost generation of kids whose parents was addicted to drugs So they didn't get some of that foundational stuff. So I think
At one time when we used to say that it was true. We didn't commit suicide like that, but because of all these cultural changes and generational shifts now we have people because like how we talk about kids now they saw Well, what we say when the AC was out at the schools and people's like I was in the school There was a hundred and twelve degrees and we went to class. Can I can I can make a comment?
It wasn't cool then. No pun. It wouldn't. We wouldn't like sit up here going like, you know what? They didn't have to cancel school though. They should probably. They weren't going to cancel school. Look, we had to go to school. Well, how many times a day do we talk about that the kids in terms of makeup are different from back in the day? Now, I don't know how much that's true and real, but think about how we talk about it. I think it's the circumstances. Look, man, if you had to be tough, you had to be tough.
We would have loved to been sitting in the air-conditioned school. Look, I went to a school, my high school, where they didn't turn the heat on. That's what I'm saying. Until November 1st. Our best thing is the affinity to the fact that at one point when we said we didn't commit suicide, it was true to that. Okay. We didn't really do it. But what I'm saying is it's happening now. We got these new people.
We got new people. We do. We got new Negroes. New Negroes. They doing other people stuff. Right, right. Because we didn't always do that, man. Come on. Well, I don't know if it's, I think that's a human piece. And we, and I'm going to say this, we definitely ain't hanging ourselves. I don't believe that. Okay. I don't believe that. How are we going to do that? From trees. How are we going to do that? And you got young 19 year olds that they talking about, they got up, got the rope and hung themselves from a tree in some very public situation.
What? Why? Man, black folks don't like themselves. I don't care when nobody's we hanging ourselves. I'm just like, I can't entertain no aspect today.
Now in the bathroom or something like that garage. Yeah, but this very public
Themself isolated incidences. Okay, do we don't we didn't do that? We don't hang ourselves in trees though You find know that you can't tell how these people got up in the tree, right? Where's them the video of them going in the store the bottle rope you don't have none of that
But for somebody like I said that girl went home for a family reunion and then into my own But what I'm saying is that and this is a whole Different subject matter in terms of mental health and let's talk about mental health of descendants of enslaved African people and in a lot of ways The conversation there there are people out there dealing with severe depression
Right either undiagnosed untreated. They're trying to and and and here's what we do key we know Michelle We can look like key everything is okay. My depression ain't having me hang myself for you not from a tree Keith But for you none of these people Keith. I don't believe it Keith from a tree Yeah from a tree from a tree in some remote And then look at the places where it's happening
Mississippi then had an overrepresentation of all of a sudden black folks. We're going to hang ourselves from a tree. Come on, Keith. Make you try to make sense out of something that I'm not what I'm trying to do is use.
the factual things that we know about these locations, the uprising, hate groups, the way people have openly now reverted back to, you know, calling folks out their name, racial hostilities. Just like I said, when I went back and review the information that both the defense and the prosecution purposely kept out of the trial with Carmelo Anthony and the young man Metcalf who got killed.
And they said, Metcalf, you spray paint and KKK, kill niggas. It's a different, I mean, not a different, but that mentality has resurfaced and it has increased. And the justice system, it is the critical race theory. So it's all baked through. And so if I factor all of those things in, I'm going to lean more towards people are harming Black folks than I'm going to lean towards Black people are self-harming by hanging in a tree. But if I do that, and I'm only playing devil's advocate here.
If I do that, then I also then not deal with the real issue of people in our community who are suicidal. I put a qualifier on it. So if you killed yourself in the garage, if you killed yourself at home, if you killed yourself somewhere, but if you tell me that the people hanging in the trees, I refuse to believe the key. They're working the effort to get rope.
Okay, nobody show when you but they just what's the difference if I do it in the garage Some little 19 year old young girl. I'm gonna go find a rope and I'm getting ready to figure out how to climb this tree Yes, and then I'm gonna why yes, you know the so many easier ways to do the case in Massachusetts though shows you That when people want to do harm to others or to themselves they will use
any means necessary. That's true. The planning that goes into it, where people say, well, it was premeditated. And then the question legally is too many people. It's too many. One is too many. But it's too many people, Keith. OK. And we ain't seeing no white folks hanging in trees. We ain't seeing that. Maybe white folks commit suicide. So how has hanging yourself in a tree become the third method? But the fact that we have this conversation, we haven't no white people hanging in trees. Maybe white people are hanging in trees. But wait a minute.
It ain't news. Of course it would be news. No, it would not be. Why wouldn't it be news? You find a white kid hanging from a tree on a college campus. Because people don't attach lynching in a tree to white people. You know, we attach it to black people. It would be it would be news even on Brown Street. No, if some white people came out of their dorm room at Penn State.
UCLA, and it was a white kid's body hanging from a tree. It would it would be news. People would be talking about it. But you wouldn't have the same reaction because we attached that. I get the historical reference. No, but that historical reference is influencing how people might view it. I get it. But Keith, but Keith.
There are other mental health professionals and folks who pay attention to suicide who'd be able to weigh in somewhere down the road already and say we've seen an incidence in death by suicide and they can give you the stats for the white community. They can give you the stats for every other ethnic racial group. Nobody's doing it. It's Google it. It's hanging. It's hanging. And I should use it. Well, Google it, Clark. Right, Clark. It's hanging.
Is that one of the things that people do, regardless of race? That's what I just said. Somebody that does suicide data and research would be able to tell you we are seeing a new trend, particularly among younger people in which suicide, I mean, death by hanging is becoming, because remember we were seeing suicide by cops?
No, he didn't they kill that boy. Okay. Okay, stop playing but allegedly We can't even have it allegedly. Yes, you can allegedly They have they have not released all the files. Jeffrey Epstein was a narcissist who loved himself. They killed Jeffrey Epstein But it's too many people keep renamed the show to but Keith
It's too, forget y'all. I'm getting ready to go. But it's too many people. It's too many people. And statistically, it might be. Have you seen that photo? That collage? All of these black people who have been found. It's too many people. But then there are other people who hung themselves. Just like them two black boys down in Georgia, who were supposed to be on their way to the airport to go visit a family member, never made it. And then they find them in some remote park.
on the other side of Georgia, dead, talking about the kids didn't drive, they was twins, it was a murder suicide, but you ain't found no gun. You found nothing that indicates it was a murder suicide. Come on, Keith. They're killing us. You're listening to, but Keith, we're going to take a quick break and we'll be right back.
And I had not been drinking and I looked across titty corner across the street
And it was three toddler-sized people smushing themselves down and getting into grade and going into the sewer system. And I stood in my car like, was that was cheese? For sure we appreciate you and your vast collection or library of books as an effort to certainly enlighten the people.
Uh, just share that knowledge, uh, because we don't want them to be bobble-ated at this moment. I know. That's what I kid with. I use the word too. I'm with him. Just bobble-ated. What's that to say? Dude, I'm all kind of bobble-ated.
I ain't bad at it for that one. You know, sometimes you gotta create a word for where you are in your life. I tell you, somebody came and came. Somebody came. It's funny when they think they done got one in. Right. And I came out of the back, man. No, hilarious. And Michelle tried to move past it. Jermaine, he looking like just as crazy. And I'm like, I know y'all nothing to let this dude get away with that. This can't came here. He was chiming in, you know, he was trying to be a part of the conversation. Yeah.
He was, uh, this, I don't know what he's saying. No, he said, he just bobbled it, something he just hollered, bobbled it. See, when he seen me hit it this way, he said, sit down. Don't come in here. Don't come in here. He knew I was getting ready to get him. Let me say this, man. Clark, Clark always has a great insight. And if he makes up a word.
That's all right, because I'd be sitting up here making them up, too, so. Don't nobody know if you're making them up. I have the cowhoo tubs. Made a word up. You want to hear it? Yeah, so I don't have a problem. You know, my grandmother could never say spaghetti. It's always spaghetti. It's always spaghetti. He looks so crazy.
It is a distraction. Hey, boy, you look. It's called my Smurf hat. You look a fool. La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la
Brothers that single don't don't appreciate about brothers. They got got spouses at home. Oh men can cry. You want a real life story? My father was killed when I was 10 and my mother and father were divorced, but so I come home from school and My mom said I need to see you in the bedroom now normally my mom called you in the bedroom
That's usually not good. And so she called me in and she said, I got a letter from your aunt. And she said, your dad was killed in Kentucky. Now, really, I didn't have much of a relationship with him, but I just started crying. I'm 10. My mother says, stop crying. Men don't cry. I was 10. Now, I know she meant well. Yeah. You know, we don't want to raise soft boys.
And so after that, it was very difficult for me to cry because my mom had told me that, you know, men don't cry. I'm sorry you had to go through that and experience that.
Welcome back to Community Voice. And I did do a little, it's really surface, but hanging, hanging and suffocation along with firearms. And then they said pesticide. So I mean, there must be some type of poisoning. Yep. Yep. So, but hanging is one of, if not number one, it's, and that's throughout the world. So, and you know, hanging is a, it's,
What's the word an effective means of death? You know, um, anyway, all right, let's do this. Um, who do I want to start with? I haven't, I haven't heard from Arizona. Um, it ain't that the Seahawks are that good is just the Patriots are just that bad that the true Patriots showed up last night. And man, when the game was on the line and you throw three interceptions, Mr. May.
in the fourth quarter. And I mean, oh, but it started with Romeo Dobbs. You know, when he got hit wide open, dropped the ball, you know, now he used to make incredible catches for the Packers. But man, so maybe, maybe they just, you know, they were an aberration last year.
in terms of how good the Patriots were in making it to the Super Bowl. Caller, welcome to the program. Good morning. Hello? Okay, I didn't know that, but I thought that was another caller. But listen, we're talking about the hanging situation. Listen, brother, right now, we have to be very
careful and very cautious. I was trying to catch Michelle before she get out of there because she wants to lay at the feet of every hanging, uh, some Caucasian, not, no, I'm not advocating or standing up for, for, for long or through the Caucasian race, through the white race. But I want you to understand something to disguise a murder now, especially in the South, uh, to hang a person, whether you black or white.
It was seen like white supremacists did it. Now you remember James Cooper, the young man that was from Milwaukee, 23 years old. He went down, his girlfriend called him and she said she was supposed to be pregnant or something. So the young man went down and this was like in 2023 or something like that.
He went down, he went down about 10 days, okay? And he was found, huh? The girl called him down there. She said, I'm pregnant and all this old stuff. And the boy went down there, man. And now she might've been involved with another yacht, okay? And so, I don't know, you know, that's still kind of like open. I bet you the boy's family at first, he was all involved because it seems like maybe white teeth had got a hold to him.
but you know some if you want to kill another brother and you hang him in a tree down south uh it's going to look just like uh like righty did it if you want to hang somebody on the indian reservation i mean if you want to kill somebody get away with it on the indian reservation you hang them on the indian reservation you know they got some i mean some terrible hanging uh just right up north like like the flambo man uh or the uh bad river uh uh um
not plantation but you know reservations where they have found men great like deers man and home and that's to make it look like an Indian savagely did it. But I'm saying overwhelmingly in the problem that you have, and maybe I need a more precise word than problem, but how we view a situation
History and context matters, right? So if if if it's in Mississippi and you find a black person hanging It's gonna be real different for some folks their reaction then you find a black If I want to throw the trail off of me I just and me and a brother and two and I hang the brother Listen out avoid Listen out avoid first of all the suicide is on the rise regardless throughout the world. So let's not
kind of because that's the mental health piece of talk much the mental health piece of this so we're talking about that but unfortunately now look if you find somebody hanging in a tree in Central Park you're not going to have the same reaction you're going to have and like I said if white people are hanging from a tree we're not going to have the same reaction to white people hanging from a tree as we will from black people hanging from a tree in Mississippi
Because that's the number one reason for people that's the number one means of people committing suicide It could be but then sometimes it could be just that the person committed suicide and they chose to do a tree
Okay, and you know what? Some people might choose to do it. Do whatever they cause it. But listen, Michelle brought up something about Epstein. Now, this is what made Raisin' Our Brow about Epstein, is that before Epstein committed that, remember who was his sale mate? His sale mate was the serial killer out there in New York. Okay, remember that now? I'm only going on officially.
It was determined a suicide by hanging. Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. I'm not trying, I'm not here to litigate, I'm not here to litigate, but me, me, me, I'm not here to litigate whether or not he did it or not. I'm just saying because it was designated as a suicide, I use it as an example, it was hanging. That's all. Y'all can go down. Well, whether they say it's suspicious or not,
What I'm saying is that it was ruled on the edgy. Okay, look here. You don't need to educate me on, on the f-steen and the f-steen files. All I'm saying is the files, but we talking about let me, let me, let me, let me, now here's one I didn't accept. Hold on, wait a minute, wait a minute. Hold on, hold on. Here's one I did not accept. Um, Eric Abway. Okay. Yeah. Remember, he allegedly hung himself.
In his cell a lot of us didn't accept that a lot of us didn't accept that one I'm just saying and when was that that was in the 80s? But remember this I just want to say this was the studio killer, right?
Okay, man. Look, I don't I don't I don't want to I don't want to give me air to that That's that you know, that's what I'm saying And I'm just doing it now from a if I can use this loosely from an academic perspective When you look at all the factors of how we look at a situation You know
our experiences, history, all those things will go into where we are in the situation. That's all I'm saying. So yes, black people are committing suicide. Yes. And look, y'all gave examples of things that happened, what, in the 80s and 90s? I could give you examples of people I knew in the 80s and 90s who committed suicide. So I'm saying, so when we have that discussion, you know, that hurt us with COVID.
Cause I had black people calling in black people ain't gonna get COVID wrong. First four black people, first four people died in Milwaukee County were black. So, you know, our beliefs, our feelings runs up against the science and the facts. And then you might have a problem. All right. You're listening to community voice caller. I see you. I'm going to grab you right after the break. We'll be right back.
Come back. All I used to tell my staff is when I got a complaint, just don't let what they say be true. I'm going to defend you until what they said is true. And now I got a pivot. Man, yeah, boy. And then told you what they was going to do. But you go anyway. Call them. Welcome to the program.
Welcome to the program. I said, good morning. I said, oh, you got you kind of peppy for barely getting through the game last night. Listen, let me tell you something. A win is a win barely or not. A half a point or a point. But our difference is a win. Okay. Hey, but our difference is still good. Now we gotta go about our quarterback situation. Yeah, you do. You do. All right.
Yeah, and look and it wasn't that y'all was that good. It was that the Patriots were just that awful No, I'm not in the game though. You say when I they have the highest paid cornerback in the game right now
Yeah, yeah, but hey, we didn't hear from them either, did we? Okay, keep on talking man. Keep on talking. We didn't hear from them. You don't have to and that's when you know it's like you never heard anything about Deion Sanders on defense because they never threw the ball that way. Listen, listen, we threw the ball that way. They threw the ball that way. Jackson Burcham three times. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate you man. All right.
Let's do this. I'm gonna, we're gonna get Cecilia set up. You're listening to Butt Keith. We're gonna take a quick break and we'll be right back. Welcome back. So Butt Keith. Butt Keith. We're joining the studio first time. Mr. Cecilia Gore. You are the president.
Director of Bruce Community Foundation. You know, we sit here having this conversation. Did you walk a baseball fan? No. When I applied for the job, I remember Mark Atenazio looked at me and he said, are you a baseball fan? And I knew he was going to ask me that question. And I was like, well, I enjoy going to the suites and hanging out with friends.
eating cheese and crackers, and he was like, I didn't think you were a fan. I said, but I do know community and philanthropy, and I think I can do this. Would you date a baseball fan? He liked it, but we really, I mean, you know, he had a respect for Hank Aaron's or The World, but we didn't go to games. Yeah, generationally, what baseball was for that generation and a little bit for us, you know, that that was, it was still America's game.
Right. And for a lot of black folks, you know, that that was the game we played. But then football became a little bit more popular than basketball just really blew up. Yeah. And but baseball was because we had a little league here, really strong little league here. But then people talked about just how expensive it is. So when you do see and I used to turn black, but you do see folks who are descendants of Africans, they tend to be from the Caribbean.
Yes, though there are some there's some American Black folks who are playing baseball again. We do we fund a lot of kids and hope that they will play we have the Beckham's of the world Who did such a good job James Beckham for 54 years making sure the kids play baseball in Milwaukee? So I mean
If you look at these last games, we should be watching baseball because we are. We are having a blast. And I think we do have a lot of fans in our community. And I can't. I'm almost. This takes me back to 82 with that team and everybody know that team ended up going to the World Series losing to the St. Louis Cardinals seven games, one of the weirdest World Series ever. But you know.
And then they had a million people downtown and they didn't even win the World Series. So I think that this team has gotten people's attention. How well they did last year. And how well they did this year. You know, now I was a little, little guy when the Braves moved from Milwaukee to Atlanta. And so again, Hank Aaron, I want to say
What's his name? Mr. Patia on the south side. Oh God, yeah, they were all part of that of that team that had moved and Felix Mantilla, Felix Mantilla that they had moved to Atlanta. But then Hank Harris came back and finished his career in Milwaukee, which I thought was really interesting. He had a really good experience here. Okay. And he had a good relationship with Bud Selig. Okay.
And so Bud Selig asked him to come back here in this career in Milwaukee. And he did. And so then a lot of work with the Brewers who, yeah. So that kind of gets us to now there is a statue. No, yeah. Well, we have a statue at the ballpark. That's what I was going to say. But recently we put up a mural at Clinton Road Senior Center.
that depicts Hank Aaron and celebrated his 755th homerun and the 50th anniversary of that homerun as a Milwaukee brewer. So what was the, well, you gave the reason for doing it. Historically, I remember watching the game where he broke the record.
But everything he went through the death threats I mean it was even when that that kid ran on the field he didn't know yeah, you know that he was able to do it and this thing about baseball and They have this thing statistics and records are really important in baseball. I mean it is a statistically, you know
We do analytics and basketball, football, but nothing like the analytics that they did in baseball. I think people like Billy Bean out with the Oakland A's to do it. So the numbers really matter. But there was also this whole mythology around baseball in America, right? But baseball has a fraught history, especially when it comes to black folks.
We had the Negro Leagues, which MLB finally decided to take all of those analytics and include them in the MLB history records. It went through the same thing that our country went through, or is going through. And so to have that conversation around it historically, what it
what it was, what it meant to our community. A lot of those Negro League teams were never compensated for the talent that they lost. But that was people's desire. You want to play in the major leagues, so-called best. We come to find out that maybe part of the best wasn't all because it need to be inclusive. You talk about franchises like the Yankees and the Red Sox.
where they were the last teams to integrate. And it was all these things. And yet, black people still love baseball. Yeah. Well, you look at somebody like Dennis Biddle, who is here in Milwaukee. He has literally kept the history of the Negro Leagues alive for the last what? I don't know how long he's been at it.
But one of the things I've always appreciated with the Brewers is that we continue to celebrate the Negro Leagues. We were traditionally bringing in Negro League players every year up until last year when I think there are three living players that are in their 90s and it's been difficult to travel.
We provide funding for the Negro League Museum. We provide support to Mr. Biddle. I think there is a sincere respect for the Negro Leagues and the contributions that Black people have made in baseball. But there's a ton of work to do. Well, you said there's a ton of work. Well, I think that we can continue to
you know, run our returning baseball to inner cities programs, RBI, to make sure that kids are exposed to the game, to be welcoming when people come to the ballpark so that they'll have a good experience and just help people embrace what is, in my opinion, an amazing sport. If I look at it in general, we think about those of us who are part of the diaspora in the Western Hemisphere.
like the reality is that the United States of America had relatively the least number of enslaved Africans here. Other places like Brazil, Brazil had the most, but then you have the Caribbean. And right now, many of descendants of Africans who play Major League Baseball are from the Caribbean. Venezuela, the Dominican, Mexico.
And it's their life. I mean, they start playing baseball early. We have an academy in the Dominican and you know, young kids come there, they learn it's their life. And so that's why we have so many people from those countries that are playing and they'll be baseball. And really internationally, when you think about countries like Japan and the best player.
in baseball now is of Japanese descent, you know, and that was like the American soldiers teaching. But in the Caribbean, you know, it was, it's still people's way out. You know, when you, when you, you know, they began to see some basketball, but it doesn't look like baseball when you see people and countries that you would even think of. I was just looking at the little country.
Just won the world's little league world series. Oh Of course I got a was a cursor No, it's a I remember cuz there there's a player in the league from that country look little country but what they're turning out in terms of baseball players and so you kind of look out and Do you
You talked about the sports you guys do for for you know for children getting them involved in the sport I don't know if you're able to do this pronunciation But is there where we will see a growth? I know in Florida is big. It's still big in the south But do you think that we'll see more African Americans or that next group is just those descendants of Africans who come from the Caribbean I think that you know
If you look at Milwaukee, for example, the team is doing very well now. So it attracts attention. It's a cool thing to do. More young people will get involved. If we're a losing team or it's not being featured in various places where kids are, then they won't play. But we try to make it accessible. I don't know that we will have the same level of interest because we have
competition, and now soccer is a competition. People are playing golf far more than they ever were before. There's also basketball, football. I was surprised this year the U.S. opened the number of tennis. We always talked about the Wii of the Sisters, right? But no, they have, as a matter of fact, Ben Shelton is in the semifinals. I didn't know who this guy was until the U.S. opened.
Can we pivot here a little bit? Sure. Talk about some of the work then that the Brewer's Community Foundation does. Brewer's Community Foundation is the charitable arm of the club. So we raise money so that we can support the community. We focus on health, education, recreation and basic needs. And we fund about 200 nonprofits annually. I've been there for 17 years.
So, from the beginning of Brewer's Community Foundation, when I started, we rebranded the charitable arm. Mark Athenazio said, we should be doing more in the community. And he said, just do what you can to make things happen. And so that's what we've done. Brewer's have been fortunate. They've had two, I think, two very good ownership groups. You know, you mentioned Batsili started with him, but...
and I hope I'm not Mark Anasio. Really came in and he made a commitment to this community I mean from day one and you see you know footprints all throughout the community which I think and maybe that's why again they're winning so you have brand loyalty and you know and I sometimes I can be kind of myopic in my thinking and I remember one time I was gonna just take a drive up the Marthley Lake
and I went too far and I ended up in Fond du Lac. To see all the brewer gear that people were wearing, I know the Packers statewide. I mean, there's no question about, but when you look at the brewers that people throughout the state. Yeah, we are definitely a statewide team. Our fan base, if you look at a giving game,
They're probably more people at that game from outside of Milwaukee than Milwaukeeans. People travel here, they enjoy it, they stay for a home series, and then they spend money and leave. But they spent money. Spend money. I was up in Minneapolis for a conference that I drove up, so I'm driving back. And I should have known something was up.
because for a long time in Minnesota, Bud Selig was the devil. Remember, because he talked about when they were going to contract the league that they were going to lose their franchise. Yeah. I'm telling you to see, it seemed like every sports broadcast started with a negative Bud Selig story, right? I mean, they just worried about something driving back. And I see all these folks in the summertime, I'll just drive them back and I see all these Minnesota tags.
So, you know, of course you get the Hudson, but then when you get to like Tomah and these folks are still, you know, a lot of Minnesota people, then get to the Dales figure. Oh, they're going to stop at the Dales. No, Madison. No, no, they came down specifically for that Brewer's series. Oh, yeah. Yeah, which I thought that's a seven hour drive. Yeah. Well, we treat.
people well when they get here. People love coming to what is now American Family Field. They have a good experience. There's never a rain out because we have a roof. So you can rely on coming, having a great seat, good food, and hopefully we send you home with a big L. Well, again, I was looking at the folks from Illinois. One of the comments that they made was, wow.
Food is relatively cheap compared to Chicago. Yeah, which is a major city. So you're gonna just pay more but again, I know the Third Ward is really benefited. Mm-hmm. You know that that people from that area go down spend a lot of money at the restaurants down there Yeah, they're spending money now. I don't know if the White Sox fans ever did seem like we dealt more with arrest and other things with the White Sox I kind of missed that rivalry Because when the White Sox fans came in it
Cup fans a little bit more better behaved now. I think they were they were very aggressive for a while But now I think they they come they enjoy it. They like to call us What am fam of the south or? Wrigley Wrigley's north or whatever they call us, but they're a little bit better than they have been in the past
That might change, though, because that was a tough whooping we gave them. Yeah, yeah. Well, with that first game in the series, last week in Chicago, they put a whooping on us. So it was kind of like the fact that they were able to recover. Let's just be clear, though. Did we sweep the series? Yeah, we did. OK. We did. All right. That's all. That's all that matters. And in my mind, last night, now here's the question. Did the Dodgers win?
Did the Braves win? Because those are the two teams we're competing with for best record in baseball. So there's something for them to play for, I mean, with a 10 game. To lose this league, 10 games up, what about 15, 16 games left? Yeah, 14, I think. Seven at home, at least. Yeah, and if we gave that up then. We're not giving that up. I said yes.
And I'm still on the bandwagon. So yes, I think I should have came in here with a good hat for you to wear. I'm a brewers fan. I've been a brewers fan. Um, man, since they were the Seattle pilots and moved here at 69, I even have one of the baseball caps to the original in.
So, yeah, I mean, of course, you jump off the bad wagon when they suck, but that hasn't been, they have been competitive. They have been competitive. And so, and again, it's been to the playoffs for what, seven out of eight years. And it says a lot about the farm system.
as they said that they have the best farm system in baseball. And that was the case back in the 80s where they had a very good, so the fact that they have such a good farm system, great talent that you can tap. I think before we came on the air, we were talking about, unfortunately, we'll be able to afford them. Now, I think if we win a World Series, we will be.
because the amount of money when the Bucks won that championship, the amount of money that that, the value of the franchise went up, but the amount of money associated with that franchise went up. And so you're able to go in. Are you all, is this like Milwaukee or are you statewide in terms of the Brewer's Community Foundation? We're statewide, but primarily greater Milwaukee.
So, it started with the five counties because of how the ballpark was funded. It was really focused on that. I would say primarily Milwaukee, but we do look for opportunities statewide. And again, who did you commission to do the mural down at Throws Park? Rosie Petrie.
She is a local artist. She's done some beautiful pieces. She was an artist and resident down at the Fister. But Rosie did a series of Negro League player pieces. And she had done this Hank Aaron piece that I loved for years. So finally, I just decided we were going to buy it. And then the team started this mural project.
and 755th came up and I'm like, I want a mural of this piece right here in our community. For me, you know, Milwaukee, you know, Juneteenth Day, it was kind of the center of the universe. When I worked at the gas company, our little booth was always at Clinton Rose. People are always good people there, so.
I thought it would be a great location. And we partner with the county. And they liked the idea. And there's a ballpark there that historically. That's softball, yeah. Yeah, a lot. Well, I think the other thing is, and it's aligned with just King Drive and the development that we see on King Drive, which every time I get a chance to...
speak with Malayla, always compliment her on that we probably had the best king drive in the country. Yeah. You know, most people you go through like, okay, here we go in through the, you cannot believe this. That's not, and there still is. And maybe that stretch is so important because of the importance of Third Street in the community back in the day. And until 1967, we know the world changed 1967 with the riot, but
It, you know, literally when I was a kid, you didn't have to go downtown. No. And I remember walking from right here, actually, all the way down to North Avenue during Juneteenth Day. It was just a great time. Yeah. And so for me, that was a perfect location. I, um, um, Fred Carter, who was a pro basketball player, played for the Bucks for a little bit, his wife is from DC.
And so when he came back to our alma mater, the coach, his wife said, you're from Milwaukee. And I go, yeah. And she said, what's that thing y'all do when y'all shut down all the streets and there's thousands of people? I said, that's Juneteenth. Now, they weren't even doing that in DC, right? And I thought, so people remember Milwaukee, you know, every city has its negatives.
But there's so many positives here. Yeah, we have some great traditions. Great tradition, great history here. I mean, in terms of things. And so the fact that you all continuing that with that tribute to Hank Aaron. And Brewers Community Foundation has supported for the last 17 years, Norcott, Juneteenth Day. You know, we have made some, I think, good investment in the community, the library.
many organizations that are benefiting from our funding. So, I feel really good about our work. They made an excellent choice when they chose you to lead that effort. Thank you. Really, yeah, it's an excellent choice. Thank you. I enjoyed it. You've done a great job and certainly,
Mrs. Cecilia Gore, thank you. Thank you. I really appreciate that coming back. I will. You know what I should do though? Should have you and your husband come back. Y'all come back together. Could y'all do it? Sure. You sure? Yep. Because I don't know if me and my wife, okay, because me and my wife would be like, can we take a break? I need to talk to her in the back or? We will do that too.
But I think we compliment each other well. Like we talked about Small Walk, he come to find out that her husband, Mr. Randy Bryant and I were classmates. And so when he was on, I was telling us a series where he came in and said, we sit out here and talk for 45 minutes. But he can remember Mr. Sharp giving us the eight parts of speech.
I can remember everybody in the class. I gave him every name in the class. I bet he loved that too. Yeah, you know, as my mother said, you know, you're such a savant. You can remember that, but you can't remember what you did yesterday. Right. Yes, Cecilia, thank you. Thank you. All right, you're listening to Community Voice. We're going to take a quick break and we'll be right back. I get a chance to talk to some of the most fascinating people.
Cecilia was talking about her husband, her husband's really involved with the arts. And I think about just some of the conversations and how they can turn into, first of all, my wife thought our conversation with Ryan was a great conversation. But when we were talking to Michael Schultz,
and he began to give us the backstory. You know, a lot of times we see da da da da da da da da, and this is what, and then you find out there's the backstory. And when he said, and I'm still tripping, he said Daddy Rich in Car Wash originally was going to be Reverend Ike. Oh, from Chicago.
Yeah, he was gonna be it was gonna be Reverend Ike and then surprisingly cuz Reverend Ike seemed to have no shame So when his people around him said no man that you probably don't that's too far That's a bridge even too far for you. Yeah, but when he when he when he told me I was like Wow, that's great. Yeah. Wow. That was that was crazy or when he talked about the The original soundtrack to coolly hi
and he said that he got all that music for five grand from Motown. Five grand. He said, but when they went to VHS, he said the price went up. He said, so a lot of that music that you heard in the original movie, you didn't get with the VHS. So you know what, I don't understand about that whole deal. You know, when you purchase the rights to use it,
You know, he paid five grand to get everything. I wonder, in this contract, in this clause, was it only for a certain amount of time for him to use... No, I think they said for the movie... Now, remember, when that movie was done, there was no VHS, right? Right. So when they released VHS came along, what, in the late 70s, early 80s? So it was like 10, 15 years later?
Ah, Cooley High was done, what, 75, 74, something like that? Maybe a little earlier. By the beginning of the 80s, you began to get VHS. Now, y'all will do a little backstory. I'm such a geek. Y'all will do such a little backstory of VHS. The reason why movie companies got into reproducing on VHS was that it was the porn industry.
that originally used the technology. I can believe it. I can believe that too. So they went in and you know you could get everybody remember they called it like the brown package, right? That brown nondescript package and that you could send it then. So it was a foreign industry and then the movie people going like hey this is where it's going. Yeah as you would have thought. So when people kind of
You look at um, um, what's my guy's name? He did hustler magazine Oh Yeah, I know a lot of people don't realize that one of the biggest protectors of First Amendment rights Was done when Larry Flint got sued by Jerry Farwell
And they said that, you know, whether it is pornography or whether it's religion, you have the right to the expression. And then I think the whole, because the original whole pornography thing was based on community standards. And it was up to the community to determine what was.
Obscene, I think that's the word that it was obscene But yeah, it was the porn industry that originally did VHS tapes and then regular studios so about this time I'm sure the contract they had some lawyers who went and said wait a minute Okay, you were able to do it in that form, but you're gonna have to do a whole new licensing with this form So and even when you like go out and buy soundtracks, you notice that certain songs
Might not be part of the soundtrack you can buy was part of the movie. That means they were negotiating and they can negotiate the rights to be able to include that in the anthology. Of course it wasn't beta out before VHS. No, no, beta came out after beta was the little tapes. Yeah, they were in the 80s. Yeah, they were the little tapes. And then they went beta, laser disc. Yeah, that was way after beta. And then
DVDs. Yeah. Because CDs have become. Yeah. Because you know, if I remember original hip hop and I have some throwbacks, it was the cassette tape. Yeah. It was cassette tape. There's still some people out there use a cassette tape. Listen, I found some of my music that was recorded on a cassette tape and I'm actually looking for a tape player just so I can convert it from
there and put it at least on MP3 because that stuff that's on tape that if you don't take it off from there and if you don't keep it in a warm place and cover it, you're going to lose it. That's what they're doing. A lot of movies where they had to go in and restore them because some of these movies are 50, 60 years old. But I'm going to tell you and vinyl is coming back. Yeah. If you get as expensive as it's coming back. Yeah. But if you can
I have my late friend, Clint Green, gave me X number albums. He bought over 50 years ago. They're still in great shape. I mean, $100,000 worth of music. You don't even know it. No, it ain't that much. You never know. I was out at, what is it, Wrecker hit? Yeah, I'm going there today. They had the original Watts Stacks box set. Oh, really? It's 10, 15.
So what they wanted a couple hundred for? Yeah. And then I got, uh, and I've given it to my buddy, Motown's greatest hits going from the very beginning to Lionel Richie's. You got that now? I brought it in. Oh, that's what you remember? I brought it in. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But I gave it to my buddy and, uh, I made a commitment. See, keep you talk too much. I made it.
No, no, no, he's a Motown look dude. When it comes to Motown, that dude is, he just, don't get him started on the temptations. Oh my God. I mean, but that album, that actual album was hard to find. Yeah. And that's the cool thing about going down to Squeezebox is I find, first of all, there are books that, you know, again, but then you never know what they're going to, what they're going to buy. And for some people,
You know, one man's garbage is another man's treasure. You know, so you're able to go in. I was able and I was just thinking about it. They showed this young lady, she bought this cookbook that was over 100 years old. I have a Bible that's over 100 years old. As a matter of fact, it's about 150 years old. That I found down there. I also found
the Jerusalem Bible down there, which is the Old Testament, both in Hebrew and English. Yeah. You don't gotta like see how much is worth or something. Yeah, I would say, man, you gotta be worse. No, I mean, I wouldn't. Look, books and music is my love, right? So that is really my little selfish. I know you got that put away somewhere, right? Cover it up or? It's right under.
It's under my ordination. Oh, OK. My ordination certificate. Carla, welcome to the program. Oh, good morning. Good morning. I hope you this morning have number, you know, suicide. And I understand sometimes suicide is a horrible thing, because some people can't be helped. And, you know, we find them people who's been lynched. There's two things that black people know how to roll. They know how to roll blocks.
$50 bills and 20s when they want to blow some good cocaine. They don't roll a notice. Okay? There's no way in any hell or any Jesus, anything that they're going to lift a 200 man, a 200 pound man up on a tree. And he's going to say, Lord, take me with a noose that he's going to push you back on that.
I'm pushing back on that. And look, we are. Can you do it? I could. I mean, yeah, I think if you determine said, that's the other thing about human will, you know, now, you know, if he would have, if this person would apply human will to say, I'm going to get through this, but human will also, when it comes to sir next.
the level that we put in to make sure that that act happens. Now, they said, look, a lot of suicide attempts are just that. They're attempts. They're not successful, but there are many that is. So yeah, I found myself the hard way, man. So you think they can climb up a pole and never climb a pole in their life. They barely can tie a tie correctly. Yeah. And I'm gonna tie a noose and hang myself. Yeah. Which we think behind your back.
You know, that was the crazy because now your hands are tied up. Yeah, that that obviously but yeah But yeah, that's what we saying because some of these people down south was found with their hands tied behind their back They hands in front of them tied and you mean to tell me you gonna call it suicide say they hung themselves And I got and again we look at it through the context of our history and our experience in America But let's not do this at the danger of neglecting
That there are people we're talking about black people now and if anybody would want to commit suicide in this world I would think it'd be black people No, no, no, no, no what I'm saying in terms of what you've gone through. Oh, yeah, what you experience if anybody, you know, you would but then you realize that my Experience is not unique to somebody else dealing with their experience and I was telling the brothers off air Al
I don't know if you've ever been to a dark, dark space in your life and this is my testimony. Dark, dark space where death was more appealing than living. Now that might not have been your experience, but it was mine and that's a real experience and thank the creator for bringing me from the brink because look man, every day folks are going through some things and we cover it up, we self-medicate.
But what happened to that point where now is just you and you? Well, I find it to be so odd because I know a lot of racist people or wealthy people will kill themselves and their whole family when they get down to their last two dollars. When they find out that the dog don't want to live on them no more, they want to kill the whole family. I had a brother right here, killed his baby, killed the mother of his child, and then set the house on fire. This is a human condition.
I'm not putting it more on white folks. And that's the great danger, right? Because now look, other than serial killing, we understand that that is not us. Right. That's still ain't us. What in the movie Barbershop was said to be entertainer said that the DC sniper was the Jackie Robinson of crime. Right. Because we had a group of kids on retreat. When we found out this brother was black, we was like, what? So my question to you, Mr. Parris. Yes, sir.
Is it considered to be a suicide because the people who's doing it is behind law enforcement since the KKK has infiltrated? Because you know, some of these people who will come, they would miss an eyeballs, penises, so you telling me they can do that too? Yeah, I'm not saying that that's not a possibility, and maybe it did happen.
But if we do this, we walk away from addressing the pain that let's just talk about Black folks. No, the pain the Black folks are experiencing to the point that, you know, there was five Black people in my graduating class in high school. That was only four because in the 80s, one of the guys who were in our class who we thought had everything together committed suicide. So I mean...
I'm just saying let's not let's not I understand that whole race in America piece. I'm down with that. We need to deal with that, but we're not doing a very good job of dealing with mental health struggles in our own community.
I understand that, but I still don't understand how he can tie a noose, but can you tie a tie and tie his hand behind his back and gravitate his self at ten feet like he did with a plane? I can tie a tie. I could roll a joint. What's the point? Well, you can roll a joint if you put your mind to it. Oh, okay. So I could, if I put my mind to it, I could really hang myself, right?
Yeah, but it's, but rolling the blind in the news is two different things. All I'm saying, you just said, and I struggled, right? But, but if you put your mind to it, well, it could be the same thing when a person is determined to kill themselves. Okay, well, well, if anybody's listening, can you show me how I can levitate like Jesus in here?
Because some of these people are awfully high. And I can't even jump that high. But if they know the secret, let me know. So I can start studying witchcraft. Because there's a couple of fields I want to care for. And I ain't talking about screaming Jenkins. Appreciate you, man. Have a good one. I can't even tie a Boy Scout knot. Really? And I don't do the Boy Scouts. Yeah, some of those knots were hard, man. You got a mere badge for knots, though, didn't you?
I can't remember. Yeah, you did. Yeah, you did. I was in Boy Scout for three months. I ain't gonna tell you what I there was. What? What? What? Speak up. Hey, nothing. How y'all doing? All I know is I struggle rolling the joint. And you know what got me to get good at it? What? Having to share the weed.
So So if I had a nickel bag or a dime bag, I can't roll it. I can't take it to Jamaica. What you may go down for?
No, you would ask for a joint. Oh, I'll roll it for you. Well, just give me a joint. Well, first of all, anybody that asks for a joint out of a nickel bag, you ain't getting nothing, because you already ain't getting nothing on a nickel bag anyway. Stick to seeds, stick to seeds. You're right, you're right.
They were kind of fat back then. They were half ozzy. Hey, yeah, half an hour or so. Yeah, let's maybe, was that a lid? What did he for five? Well, Rhonda and I were out in California. We went out there for a honeymoon and business. We did, we mixed Rhonda had, she had a medical conference and we had
Congress of Christian Education in San Diego, we went up to San Francisco, and then we're going to drive down to Carmel. And just so you know, Carmel is where Clint Eastwood live. Carmel is Pebble Beach, right? The Monterey Peninsula. So we're driving. This is the first time we had this, this Lexus where had memories. It was incredible. And so we're driving down.
You know what song they was playing? It seemed like... I got five on it all down. All down California one. I got five on it. They were playing that here like this. Let's go half on the side. When I went to my aunt died and my buddy and I, we drove from Pennsylvania to Tennessee.
Two songs that there was in the rotation if what it was that Leo Sears song But the other one was Gloria Now everybody was No by enchantment. Oh, okay. Oh everybody everybody was playing it. Yeah, I like Jesse Campbell's version of Jesse Camel redid it Gloria
I didn't hear that. Oh, you ain't heard Jesse Campbell's song? No, that's, that's a bit of a Campbell song, right? From Chicago. Okay. Yeah, Jesse Campbell. I think he passed away. I think Jesse passed away. And then my buddy and I, we drove out to his grandmother's funeral in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. And the song that was on repeat was The Barge.
Oh God, what was that? The barge or switch? No, it was the barge. There would be another love of switch. What was that? All this love. Thank you. Yeah, man. From Milwaukee to Union Town to Union Town to Milwaukee. Man.
I mean, the travel like that, man, you gotta have some hype music. No, well, that was before satellite radio. Oh, yeah. You know, you had to pick up like when you get close enough to a... Oh, yeah, a tower. Yeah, you go through a tower where you could get it through the town. Yeah. Now, you set up a thick band now with satellite radio. Oh, man, you can musical everywhere. Everywhere, man. You know, I'm gonna tell you the song I listened to from Milwaukee to Louisiana.
My cousin was loved with Prince 1999. We listened to that whole album. We listened to that whole album from the time we left. And to the time we left Louisiana. I think I knew every word on that album by the time I got to Louisiana. So did you desire the jeans with the chinks out? Oh, no, I wasn't that. I wasn't doing that.
I always explain why you know I hate ribbon in the sky beautiful song oh man hey you know what now that you say that when I started to play it and Curtis started to sing I thought about you saying that
especially at a wedding, especially at a wedding because it was a break up.
You know you can't afford the tickets Stevie Wonder is doing a song in the key of life 50 years Rhonda and I saw that concert six seven years ago songs in key of life. He did the whole album He did the whole album every song on the album and then In his encore he did his other hits
From the other out. Yeah, he ain't lazy. That's what I like about he ain't lazy. I appreciate that spending money to come see that Give me energy. Yeah, you know cuz cuz that that was the whole thing that album is considered what I know it's in the top five albums ever, you know, so him to do it and The only glitch in the show was that he had he didn't have a are they called harpist
There's a song If It's Magic. Oh, yeah. And there's a harp, right? And so they couldn't sync the track of the harp. But other than that, that show was flawless, man. Oh, I like that song. It's pretty good. If It's Magic. I mean, they're using the right key. I can't love you ever lasting. Yeah. Hey, once that song that Stevie wrote, what's that? I think it started off as a magic.
but it's like I think I think Tyrese and Pam did it on Martin. If it's mad, I think it I think it goes magic. So out of the chorus part go. No, no, no, no, just a melody of it.
I just remember because it's really the heart that's carrying the song. But that chorus part, once I hear that chorus part, it's gonna spark what the song is. I love McClellan good for us. You know exactly what I'm talking about.
Pam and Tyrese song it on Martin. Oh, yeah, but that can't get for course. I wish you tried to get him the same for the show. Is it not something about magic out of that course park. It's going to bother me, man. Yeah, it's going to bother me until I get in front of my keyboard and play. Oh, now I'm going to be at home playing like that's it, right? That's what I'm going to call a key key. That's it. I can't think of it though. Stevie.
I know what you're talking about. I can't thank you. If it's mad. Yeah. If it's okay. Oh, I can't do it because we're on YouTube. Hold on. I'm I'm pulling it up right here. That's it. That's it. Yeah. That's it. Yeah. That's it.
All right, let me thank Ms. Cecilia Gore. Clark Kent, thank you. Thank you. Michelle, thank you. Jermaine, thank you. Indeed. And I guess you can hit a guy wearing glasses. Maybe. Good Lord Willow. The Greeks don't rise. I have to talk to everybody tomorrow, as always. Go for this place of peace.
Good morning, welcome to Community Voice.
I'm your host Keith Parris.
I want to thank everyone for joining us this morning.
Good morning Clark Kent.
Hey, what's happening y'all?
What what up apostle?
Man, did you see that game yesterday?
Yeah, we're gonna get to that But Yeah, we all these have all these rules when you're growing up so
I was physically assaulted by my
co-worker.
Y'all remember the Bugs Bunny cartoons?
What he said, you can't hit a guy wearing glasses.
And then the next thing you see, the glasses
all
broke
up because he had got
fired on.
So, man, you can't hear a guy, you can't, I should have had glasses on when I was a kid in school.
No, no, that really would have, you really would have, oh man, wearing glasses when you were a kid, that really got you beat up.
Go back
Thursday.
Let's
clear up the name of the co-worker so no one thinks
that it's
me
Alright,
so I was trying to figure out what was going on with the Republican Party.
They can't get close to the bad.
didn't
know why they were
having such a tough time.
Now I know.
You know, when you get close to the bag,
well, one, he was charging with 100,000.
So was it 100,000?
Oh, it
was 25 grand.
It was 25 grand?
Yes.
So where did the 100,000 come from?
I don't know.
And here's the crazy thing.
The whole upper bowl was empty.
Oh, yeah.
Now, if you watched it, it looked like all the places packed because they had it right in that little area.
You know, that's how they learn how to shoot those with the United Football League where you have no crowd shots is all on the field.
No, that's actually true because I was playing at this church one time and it was funny because, you know, they had the camera shots on them people and the preacher said,
I need about 300 of y'all to stand up and I looked over the crowd Because the camera was right there it looked like it was a whole bunch of people But boy I was like yeah, okay, so these are the camera tricks that people use
good morning Barbara Smith.
Good morning Sheila Watson.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Oh Man, so I did watch that it was it was interesting little Timmy was on
at two o'clock in the afternoon.
There was no black people at the real show.
Did y'all see any black people?
I saw one lady.
One
lady.
And
then they're down in the Trump, what is it?
The Trump, what do they call?
The dudes always in the front used to be in the back.
Anyway, there was that one brother.
Oh
yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And what's this deal?
Look, I'm a hater.
I don't care.
How come every time the camera is on Erica Kirk, she'd look like she's getting ready to cry?
Because they are pulling on the hearts of the people.
Man, as soon
as they, and then she said, oh, I'm getting ready to cry again.
What?
And
look, I understand what yesterday was
today.
Today anniversary.
So that's what I was about to say.
Do you think that this whole thing is set up in stage?
to pull on the hearts of the people because Charlie Kirk a year ago was killed today.
They have the event yesterday and today and today and they got Charlie Kirk's wife up there looking like a sad puppy.
So if you if you play on the hearts of the people you soften
the heart.
Where's Melania?
She ain't there because you know
a badly
hard.
I mean I'm sure she was there.
So, uh, yeah, if you play on the hearts of the people and if you soften them, you can get them to fall for
you.
This is and John Fetterman.
I don't know what you want.
Please
say it.
I don't know what you want.
Please
say it.
But say it.
You can't be trusted, dude.
You cannot be trusted.
It's an enemy in the
camp.
It's an enemy in the camp.
It's an enemy.
And then they say that then on top of that, you don't even do your job as a senator.
Because the most important thing you do, Michelle, can tell you this.
Constituent concerns.
You have to address the constituent concerns.
And man, that ain't happening.
You know,
there's an enemy in the cap
when John Federmann's staff is now revealing.
That he would not go to constituent events.
He tried to say if it was worth his time or not Yeah, he didn't want to be like I think was it a memorial service or something He thought I don't that three hours.
He didn't want to be there.
He didn't want to put a suit on He didn't want to do any of this the things but that you literally are screening who you're gonna help that cause your office That's madness.
Yeah, but he's been a problem
So, how did he
get an
office?
He got an office.
You know, regular guy,
you
know, reminds me of when Jesse Ventura got elected in Minnesota.
But the fact
that he comes to work in the dirty looking sweatpants and believes that he shouldn't have to wear a suit on the floor of Congress.
Oh, he been
doing that for a minute.
He just blind me looking.
Yeah, that's the dude.
You knew what the job required when you signed up for it.
Well, it seems like they're moving the goalposts all the way.
Well,
thank you.
That's a great analogy.
Yeah,
because we're
Trump doing what he's doing and what they it seems like that they are really moving the goal.
But Federman, who was passed himself off as a Democrat.
Yeah.
Oh, he definitely is an enemy.
So yeah.
What?
Trump talked
for two hours last night.
Yeah, he got up at 812 and then they played opera music after he was done.
OK, but wait a minute.
He's supposed to already.
What is he going to talk about tonight?
And they said, man, that it's the big speech.
like it's the big bang.
I think they had to have him both nights to draw a crowd to get get people to actually come because I just don't think as many people are showing up for these rallies and these events.
Oh it was obvious this morning CNN and MSNBC actually showed the upper bowl.
It was empty.
So I think that they have had to use him to be the star power for both nights.
Well,
it was his own thing.
It wasn't like the Republicans called this.
The last thing they wanted was to bring attention to their lack of accomplishment.
But there's some that were happy to be
those who were tethered to him.
Yeah.
And then let's see how much money he actually spends.
And then if I'm Ken Paxton, when he got up and talked about Ken Paxton, it was like, was that an endorsement?
Because he talked about his appearance.
He talked about the suits he wore.
You know, see, y'all, I have to do this because I have a professional responsibility as a journalist to cover this.
But I'd be wanting to take a shower afterwards because it's just like this.
I'm so glad you take your job
because I can't do it.
I can't watch.
I can only do sound bites.
I cannot watch.
But as I was listening and I would tell you somebody who's really impressive.
Don't
I mean, she looks good as Brooke Rollins.
Oh,
yeah.
She's good.
No, no.
No.
No, she's the devil's spawn.
Thank you.
But no.
I was going to say all of it.
So all the people who really, really kind of shine and you're not allowed to really shine when Trump is involved with the situation, she really did.
But I was listening to the speeches.
And there was a recurring thing.
And I found that you heard liberty.
And I kept going liberty, but shouldn't the Pledge of Allegiance says and liberty and
justice
for all.
I found that admission glaring that it is not really about justice.
It's not even really
about liberty, though.
It's liberty for a select few.
Because if I'm able to have liberty, then a lot of these things go away from me.
There are people trying to restrict my liberty every day.
So I think that you can put it in the same vein.
It's not liberty for all.
Even though I don't care how they phrase it, it's liberty for
a select few.
I get that.
The practical application of the ideal is lacking.
So I'm clear on that.
I thought the omission of justice just stood out to me because I kept thinking if you are about liberty if you are about christian you know god values one of the things that I know we have as part of our theology is this idea of justice jesus talked about justice and I don't know how you I do know how and I do know why because you're not about justice that whole liberty thing is just what michelle pointed out
For the few select folks it's liberty and then I guess it's back to Brooks Rollins when she began to get up and glorify colonization Right
tell people exactly what you mean or how that was done because I don't know that everybody appreciated the moment Can you can you speak to her for a second?
What do you mean when you said she got it to glorify colonization?
She began to talk about the founding of the country
And she was trying to say how she's trying to make it like we can do you can't look and cower so when our ancestors looked out and they saw the ocean they didn't let the ocean
get them.
So when they got here and then we talked about here and then when she said they looked out on the continent, they said that they wouldn't, I'm paraphrasing, they wouldn't let fear stop them from expanding throughout the continent.
And as I listened, I'm like, no, what you're saying is we look out and we see other people and we're deciding we want what they have and we're not going to let those people stop
us.
She didn't even mention the other people.
No, but it was all inferred for me.
It was inferred
because I don't think that all of
that was a metaphor for we take what we want.
Exactly.
That's that's what it was a metaphor.
We take we don't let the water stop us.
We don't let, you know, the continent, you know, I don't care how massive you are hollering about this UN map now.
If we want it, we are not afraid.
We go in and we take.
But you know, and that's that's there's no there's very few pure things in the world.
I remember having a sister on I can't think the sister's name.
I have her book.
They were in Jackson, Mississippi.
They had a confrontation with the, with the police.
Their whole thing was give us the five Southern States, you know, for black people.
And so, but then they had to shoot out with the police.
And so that turned into, it was in Jackson, Mississippi.
I can't think of the sister's name.
Now I got her book every day as I'm leaving.
I'm looking at her book, but I asked her a question.
I said, you know, let's just take what you said.
So you want to take the five Southern States.
and make them a state for descendants of enslaved Africans.
Had you ever thought about the indigenous people whose land?
It was in the first place.
And she said, you know, you never thought about that.
Right.
You know, in some ways, and like I said, that's why there's so very few pure thoughts or pure positions because you might find a contradiction.
Now the question becomes,
How glaring or how big of the contradiction but this idea that you know, Michelle can be that idea of just a pure political thought There's things called circumstances Context history culture all those things begin to play into it.
So And my good friend Jackie Zelladon's dad used to always say watch out for true believers
It's a true believer is a dangerous at some point if your position is so rigid so dug in That means that reason and truth has a difficult time Penetrating your position because guess what maybe my position may sense today But upon further review or because of other circumstances now there has to be a modification of that and I look and I hear people always talk about their core values, but you know
Truth be told, many of us have had core values where we violated our own core values.
Truth be told.
Now, are you purest
out there?
I would say never.
Yeah.
Are you purest?
You ain't never did it.
Ain't never done it.
Let me say something.
I love what Otis Moss III says, and I refer to it.
Let us deal with AI in this situation.
Ancestral intelligence.
That now keep on living You know now, I don't know if he's absolutely pure evil Well, okay, let's see happiness donors.
Well, why didn't Brooke address how Pete Hesse terminated all of the season US military?
Is that a rhetorical question?
Of course, they're not gonna address
anything that would negatively impact on this presentation that they have.
And that's the other thing.
You can have great style, but at some point substance matters.
And I've said this from the very beginning.
I've been saying this since January 21st, 2025.
These folks are not serious.
I mean, wasn't that what Kamala Harris said?
This is Donald Trump is an unserious man.
Yes.
And, you know, the folks that are behind them, and I believe that there are serious agendas, but the willingness to actually, and I always say this, if you believe in stuff so much, be willing to defend it and go toe to toe.
And if you lose, i.e.
the majority of people don't support what it is you're pushing, then be willing to accept that or deal with that or figure out how to come back and fight again.
But the willingness to cheat,
To to lie to bring up all these wedge issues you like right now There I just got this poster of I think it's 12 black people that have been found hung hung or hanging from a tree One most recent recently this little young biracial girl her mother is white down in Mississippi and her mom was like No, she didn't hang herself
And so you have people that are willing to look away from all of this, everything that we see, because I'm advancing whatever that personal agenda, that thing, that goal is that I want.
And the rest of us are left to sit here.
And I mean, and it permeates through law enforcement, through every arena, because all of these cases quickly were called suicide.
And you just sit there like,
How are we here right now?
But let me do this.
In the wide open.
And even I'm concerned, because I don't even feel like black people are looking at what's happening and being concerned.
I think the part
of this whole idea that, and this was a myth in our community, and I'm only doing this as
This is a myth and maybe why they might there's a myth in our community.
Black folks don't commit suicide.
That was a myth, right?
And it was widely that black folks just don't commit suicide.
I always
think it was that we don't commit suicide on the
scale that you see other people.
But we found out statistically, statistically, especially among young people, there is there.
And
let me be clear, though.
This this is something that has changed and evolved over time.
so there was a generation of black folks that Suicide was not really a
other than me escaping off that ship on Africa coming in the transatlantic slave trade I think that generationally as we have seen things change our kids paying attention to what other kids do You know, you got a lost generation of kids whose parents was addicted to drugs So they didn't get some of that foundational stuff.
So I think
At one time when we used to say that it was true.
We didn't commit suicide like that, but because of all these cultural changes and generational shifts now we have people because like how we talk about kids now they saw Well, what we say when the AC was out at the schools and people's like I was in the school There was a hundred and twelve degrees and we went to class.
Can I can I can make a comment?
It wasn't cool then.
No pun.
It wouldn't.
We wouldn't like sit up and go like, you know what?
They
didn't have to cancel school though.
They
should probably.
They weren't going to cancel school.
Look, we had to go to school.
Well, how many times a day
do we talk about that the kids in terms of makeup are different from back in the day?
Now, I don't know how much that's true and real, but think about how we talk about
it.
I think it's the circumstances.
Look, man, if you had to be tough, you had to be tough.
We would have loved to been sitting in the air-conditioned school.
Look, I went to a school, my high school, where they didn't turn the heat on.
That's what I'm saying.
Until November 1st.
Our
best thing is the, is
the
affinity to the fact that at one point when we said we didn't commit suicide, it was true to that.
Okay.
We
didn't really do it.
But what I'm saying is, it's happening now.
We
got these new people.
We got new people.
We do.
We got new Negroes.
New Negroes.
They doing other people stuff.
Right, right.
Because we didn't always do that, man.
Come
on.
Well, I don't know if it's, I think that's a human piece.
And we, and I'm going to say this, we definitely ain't hanging ourselves.
I don't believe that.
Okay.
I don't
believe
that.
How
are
we going to do that?
From
trees.
How are
we going to do that?
And you
got young 19 year olds that they talking about, they got up, got the rope and hung themselves from a tree in some very public situation.
What?
Why?
Man, black folks don't
like
themselves.
I don't care when nobody's
we hanging ourselves.
I'm just like, I can't entertain no aspect
today.
Now in the bathroom or something
like that
garage.
Yeah,
but
this very public
Themself
isolated incidences.
Okay, do we don't we didn't do that?
We don't hang
ourselves in
trees though You find know that you can't tell how these people got up in the tree, right?
Where's them the video of them going in the store the bottle rope you don't have none of that
But for somebody like I said that girl went home for a family reunion and then into my own
But what I'm saying is that and this is a whole Different subject matter in terms of mental health and let's talk about mental health of descendants of enslaved African people and in a lot of ways The conversation there there are people out there dealing with severe depression
Right either undiagnosed untreated.
They're trying to and and and here's what we do key we know Michelle We can look like
key
everything is okay.
My depression ain't having me hang myself for
you
Not from a tree Keith, but for you none of these people Keith.
I don't believe it Keith from a tree Yeah from a tree from a tree
in some
remote And then look at the places where it's happening
Mississippi then had an overrepresentation of all of a sudden black folks.
We're going to hang ourselves from a tree.
Come on, Keith.
Make
you try to make sense out of something that I'm not what
I'm trying to do is use.
the factual things that we know about these locations, the uprising hate groups, the way people have openly now reverted back to, you know, calling folks out their name, racial hostilities.
Just like I said, when I went back and review the information that both the defense and the prosecution purposely kept out of the trial with Carmelo Anthony and the young man Metcalf who got killed.
And they said, Metcalf, you spray paint and KKK, kill niggas.
It's a different, I mean, not a different, but that mentality has resurfaced and it has
increased.
And the justice system, it is the critical race theory.
So
it's all baked through.
And so if
I factor all of those things in, I'm going to lean more towards people are harming Black folks than I'm going to lean towards Black people
are self-harming by hanging in a tree.
But if I do that, and I'm only playing devil's advocate here.
If I do that, then I also then not deal with the real issue of people in our community who are suicidal.
I put
a qualifier on it.
So if you killed yourself in the garage, if you killed yourself at home, if you killed yourself somewhere, but if you tell me that the people hanging in the trees, I refuse to believe the key.
They're working the effort to get rope.
Okay, nobody show
but they just what's the difference if I do it in the garage
Some little 19 year old young girl, I'm gonna go find a rope and I'm getting ready to figure out how to climb this tree Yes, and then I'm gonna why yes,
you
know
the so
many easier
ways to do the case in Massachusetts though shows you That when people want to do harm to others or to themselves they will use
any means necessary.
That's true.
The planning that goes into it where people say, well, it was premeditated.
And then the question legally is too many
people.
It's too many.
One is too many.
But it's too many people, Keith.
Okay.
And we ain't seeing no white folks hanging in trees.
We ain't seeing that.
Maybe white folks commit suicide.
So how has hanging yourself in a tree become
the third method?
But we
haven't no white people hanging in trees.
Maybe white people are hanging in trees.
But wait a minute.
It ain't news.
Of course it would be news.
No, it would not be.
Why wouldn't it be news?
You find a white kid
hanging from a tree
on a college campus.
Because people don't attach lynching in a tree to white people.
You know,
we
attach it to black people.
It would be it would be news even on Brown Street.
No, if some white people came out of their dorm room at Penn State.
UCLA, and it was a white kid's body hanging from a tree.
It would it would be news.
People would be talking about it.
But you wouldn't have the same reaction because we attached that.
I get the historical reference.
No, but that historical reference is influencing how people might view it.
I get it.
But Keith, but Keith.
There are other mental health professionals and folks who pay attention to suicide, who'd be able to weigh in somewhere down the road already and say, we've seen an incidence in death by suicide and they can give you the stats for the white community.
They can give you the stats for every other ethnic racial group.
Nobody's doing
it.
It's Google it.
It's hanging.
It's hanging.
And I should use
it.
Well, Google it,
Clark.
Right, Clark.
It's hanging.
Is that one of the things that people do, regardless of race?
That's what I just
said.
Somebody that does suicide data and research would be able to tell you we are seeing a new trend, particularly among younger people in which suicide, I mean, death by hanging is becoming, because remember we were seeing
suicide by
cops.
No, he didn't they kill that boy.
Okay,
okay,
stop playing
but allegedly We
can't even have it allegedly.
Yes, you can allegedly They have they have not released all the files.
Jeffrey Epstein was a narcissist who loved himself.
They killed Jeffrey Epstein
But it's too
many people keep
renamed the show to but Keith
It's too, forget y'all.
I'm getting ready to go.
But it's too many people.
It's
too
many
people.
And statistically, it might be.
Have you seen that photo?
That collage?
All of these black people who have been found.
It's too many people.
But then there are other people who hung themselves.
Just like them two black boys down in Georgia who were supposed to be on their way to the airport to go visit a family member, never made it.
And then they find them in some remote park.
on the other side of Georgia, dead, talking about the kids didn't drive, they was twins, it was a murder suicide, but you ain't found no gun.
You found nothing that indicates it was a murder suicide.
Come on, Keith.
They're killing us.
You're listening to, but Keith, we're
going
to take a quick break and we'll be
right back.
And I
had not been drinking and I looked across titty corner across the street
And it was three toddler-sized people smushing themselves down and getting into grade and going into the sewer system.
And I stood in my car like, was that was
cheese?
For sure we appreciate you and your vast collection or library of books as an effort to certainly enlighten the people.
Uh,
just share that knowledge, uh, because we don't want them to be bobble-ated at this moment.
I know.
That's
what I kid with.
I use the word too.
I'm with him.
Just bobble-ated.
What's that to say?
Dude, I'm all kind of bobble-ated.
I ain't bad at it for that one.
You know, sometimes you gotta create a word for where you are in your life.
I tell you,
came and came.
Somebody came.
It was
funny when they think they didn't got one in.
Right.
And I came out of the back.
No,
hilarious.
And Michelle tried to move past it.
Jermaine, he looking like just as crazy.
And I'm like, I know y'all nothing to let this dude get away with that.
This can't came in.
He was
charming in, you know, he was trying to be a part of the conversation.
Yeah, he was.
I don't know what he's saying.
He said, he just bobbled it.
Something he just hollered, bobbled it.
See, when he seen me hit it this way, he said, sit down.
Don't come in here.
Don't come in here.
He knew I was getting ready to get him.
Let me say this, man.
Clark always has great insight.
And if he makes up a word.
That's all right, because I'd be sitting up here making them up, too, so.
Don't nobody know if you're
making them up.
I have the cowhoo tubs.
Made a word up.
You want to hear it?
Yeah, so I don't have a problem.
You know, my grandmother could never say spaghetti.
It's always spaghetti.
It's always spaghetti.
He looks so crazy.
It is a distraction.
Hey, boy, you look.
It's called my Smurf hat.
You look a fool.
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la,
la,
la, la, la,
la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la
Brothers that single don't don't appreciate about brothers.
They got got spouses at home.
Oh men can cry.
You want a real life story?
My father was killed when I was 10 and my mother and father were divorced, but so I come home from school and My mom said I need to see you in the bedroom now normally my mom call you in the bedroom
That's usually not good.
And so she called me in and she said, I got a letter from your aunt.
And she said, your dad was killed in Kentucky.
Now, really, I didn't have much of a relationship with him, but I just started crying.
I'm 10.
My mother says, stop crying.
Men don't cry.
I was 10.
Now, I know she meant well.
Yeah.
You know, we don't want to raise soft boys.
And so after that, it was very difficult for me to cry because my mom had told me that, you know, men don't cry.
I'm sorry you had to go through that and experience that.
Welcome back to Community Voice.
And I did do a little, it's really surface, but hanging, hanging and suffocation along with firearms.
And then they said pesticide.
So I mean, there must be some type of poisoning.
Yep.
Yep.
So, but hanging is one of, if not number one, it's, and that's throughout the world.
So, and you know, hanging is a, it's,
What's the word an effective means of death?
You know, um, anyway, all right, let's do this.
Um, who do I want to start with?
I haven't, I haven't heard from Arizona.
Um, it ain't that the Seahawks are that good is just the Patriots are just that bad that the true Patriots showed up last night.
And man, when the game was on the line and you throw three interceptions, Mr. May.
in the fourth quarter.
And I mean, oh, but it started with Romeo Dobbs.
You know, when he got hit wide open, dropped the ball, you know, now he used to make incredible catches for the Packers.
But man, so maybe, maybe they just, you know, they were an aberration last year.
in terms of how good the Patriots were in making it to the Super Bowl.
Caller, welcome to the program.
Good morning.
Hello?
Okay, I didn't know that, but I thought that was another caller.
But listen, we're talking about the hanging situation.
Listen, brother, right now we have to be very
careful and very cautious.
I was trying to catch Michelle before she get out of there because she wants to lay at the feet of every hanging, uh, some Caucasian, not, no, I'm not advocating or standing up for, for, for long or through the Caucasian race, through the white race.
But I want you to understand something to disguise a murder now, especially in the South, uh, to hang a person, whether you black or white.
It was seen like white supremacists did it.
Now you remember James Cooper, the young man that was from Milwaukee, 23 years old.
He went down, his girlfriend called him and she said she was supposed to be pregnant or something.
So the young man went down and this was like in 2023 or something like that.
He went down, he went down about 10 days, okay?
And he was found, huh?
The girl called him down there.
She said, I'm pregnant and all this old stuff.
And the boy went down there, man.
And now she might've been involved with another yacht, okay?
And so, I don't know, you know, that's still kind of like open.
I bet you the boy's family at first, he was all involved because it seems like maybe white teeth had got a hold to him.
but you know some if you want to kill another brother and you hang him in a tree down south uh it's going to look just like uh like righty did it if you want to hang somebody on the indian reservation i mean if you want to kill somebody get away with it on the indian reservation you hang them on the indian reservation you know they got some i mean some terrible hanging uh just right up north like like the flambo man uh or the uh bad river uh uh um
not plantation but you know reservations where they have found men great like deers man and home and that's to make it look like an Indian savagely did
it.
But I'm saying overwhelmingly in the problem that you have, and maybe I need a more precise word than problem, but how we view a situation
History and context matters, right?
So if if if it's in Mississippi and you find a black person hanging It's gonna be real different for some folks their reaction then you find a black
If I want to throw the trail off of me I just and me and a brother and two and I hang the
brother Listen out avoid Listen out avoid first of all the suicide is on the rise regardless throughout the world.
So let's not
kind of because that's the mental health piece of talk much the mental health piece of this so we're talking about that but unfortunately now look if you find somebody hanging in a tree in Central Park you're not going to have the same reaction you're going to have and like I said if white people are hanging from a tree we're not going to have the same reaction to white people hanging from a tree as we will from black people hanging from a tree in Mississippi
Because that's the number one reason for people that's the number one means of people committing suicide
Sometimes
it could be that the person committed suicide and they chose to do a tree
Okay,
and you know what?
Some people might choose to do it.
Do whatever they cause it.
But listen, Michelle brought up something about Epstein.
Now, this is what made Raisin' Our Brow about Epstein, is that before Epstein committed that, remember who was his sale mate?
His sale mate was the serial killer out there in New York.
Okay, remember that now?
I'm only going on officially.
It was determined a suicide by hanging.
Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on.
I'm not trying,
I'm not here to litigate, I'm not here to litigate, but me, me, me, I'm
not
here to litigate
whether
or
not he did it or not.
I'm just saying because it was designated as a suicide, I use it as an example, it was hanging.
That's all.
Y'all
can go
down.
Well, whether they say it's suspicious or not,
What I'm saying is that it was ruled on the edgy.
Okay, look here.
You don't need to educate me on, on the f-steen and the f-steen files.
All I'm saying is the files, but we talking about let me, let me, let me, let me, now here's one I didn't accept.
Hold on.
Hold on.
Hold on.
Here's one I did not accept.
Um, Eric Abway.
Okay.
Yeah.
Remember, he allegedly hung himself.
In his cell a lot of us didn't accept that a lot of us didn't accept that one I'm just saying and when was that that was in the 80s?
But
remember this I just want to say this was the studio killer, right?
Okay, man.
Look, I don't I don't I don't want to I don't want to give me air to that That's that you know, that's what I'm saying And I'm just doing it now from a if I can use this loosely from an academic perspective When you look at all the factors of how we look at a situation You know
our experiences, history, all those things will go into where we are in the situation.
That's all I'm saying.
So yes, black people are committing suicide.
Yes.
And look, y'all gave examples of things that happened, what, in the 80s and 90s?
I could give you examples of people I knew in the 80s and 90s who committed suicide.
So I'm saying, so when we have that discussion, you know, that hurt us with COVID.
Cause I had black people calling in black people ain't gonna get COVID wrong.
First four black people, first four people died in Milwaukee County were black.
So, you know, our beliefs, our feelings runs up against the science and the facts.
And then you might have a problem.
All right.
You're listening to community voice caller.
I see you.
I'm going to grab you right after the break.
We'll be right back.
I used to tell my staff is when I got a complaint, just don't let what they say be
true.
I'm going to defend you until what they said is true.
And now I got a pivot.
Man, yeah, boy.
And then told you what they was going to do.
But you go, anyway, Carla, welcome to the
said, good morning.
I said,
you kind of peppy for barely getting through the game last night.
Listen, let me tell you something.
A win
is a win barely or not.
A half
a point or a point.
But our
defense
is a
win.
OK.
But our defense is still good.
Now
we got to just worry about our quarterback situation.
Yeah, you do.
You do.
All right.
Yeah, and look and it wasn't that y'all was that good.
It was that the Patriots were just that awful
No, I'm not
in the game though.
You say when I they have the highest paid cornerback in the game right now
Yeah, yeah, but hey, we didn't hear from them either, did
we?
Okay, keep on talking man.
Keep on talking.
We didn't hear from them.
You don't have to and that's when you know it's like you never heard anything about Deion Sanders on defense because they never threw the ball that way.
Listen, listen, we threw the ball that way.
They threw the ball that way.
Jackson Burcham three times.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Appreciate you man.
All right.
Let's do this.
I'm gonna, we're gonna get Cecilia set up.
You're listening to Butt Keith.
We're gonna take a quick break and we'll be right back.
Welcome back.
So Butt Keith.
Butt Keith.
We're joining the studio first time.
Mr. Cecilia Gore.
You are the president.
Director of
Bruce Community Foundation.
You know, we sit here having this conversation.
Did
you walk a baseball fan?
No.
When I applied for the job, I remember Mark Attenhouse here looked at me and he said, are you a baseball fan?
And I knew he was going to ask me that question.
And I was like, well, I enjoy going to the suites and hanging out with friends.
eating cheese and crackers and he was like, I didn't think you were a fan.
I said, but I do know community and philanthropy and I think I can do this.
Would you have a
baseball fan?
He liked it, but we really, I mean, you know, he had a respect for Hank Aaron's or the world and, but we didn't go to games.
Yeah, generationally what baseball was for that generation and a little bit for us, you know, that that was, it was still America's game.
Right.
And for a lot of black folks, you know, that that was the game we played.
But then football became a little bit more popular than basketball just really blew up.
Yeah.
And but baseball was because we had a little league here, really strong little league here.
But then people talked about just how expensive it is.
So when you do see and I used to turn black, but you do see folks who are descendants of Africans, they tend to be from the Caribbean.
Yes,
though there are some there's some American Black folks who are playing baseball again.
We do we fund a lot of kids and hope that they will play we have the Beckham's of the world Who did such a good job James Beckham for 54 years making sure the kids play baseball in Milwaukee?
So I mean
If you look at these last games, we should be watching baseball because
we are.
We are having a blast.
And I think we do have a lot of fans in our community.
And I can't.
I'm almost.
This takes me back to 82 with that team and everybody know that team ended up going to the World Series losing to the St.
Louis Cardinals seven games, one of the weirdest World Series ever.
But you know.
And then they had a million people downtown, and they didn't even win the World Series.
So
I think that this team has gotten people's attention.
How well they did last year and how well they did this year.
Now, I was a little, little guy when the Braves moved from Milwaukee to Atlanta.
And so, again, Hank Aaron, I want to say,
What's his name?
Mr. Patia on the south
side.
Oh God,
yeah, they were all part of that of that team that had moved and Felix Mantilla, Felix Mantilla that they had moved to Atlanta.
But then Hank Harris came back and finished his career in Milwaukee, which I thought was really interesting.
He had a really good experience here and he had a good relationship with Bud
Selig.
Okay.
And so Bud Selig asked him to come back here in this career in Milwaukee.
And he did.
And so then a lot of work with the Brewers who, yeah.
So that kind of gets us to now there is a statue.
No,
yeah.
Well, we have a statue at the ballpark.
That's what I was going to say.
But
recently we put up a mural at Clinton Road Senior Center.
that depicts Hank Aaron and celebrated his 755th homerun and the 50th anniversary of that homerun as a Milwaukee brewer.
So what was the, well, you gave the reason for doing it.
Historically, I remember watching the game where he broke the record.
But everything he went through the death threats I mean it was even when that that kid ran on the field he didn't know
yeah,
you know that he was able to do it and this thing about baseball and They have this thing statistics and records are really important in baseball.
I mean it is a statistically, you know
We do analytics and basketball, football, but nothing like the analytics that they did in baseball.
I think people like Billy Bean out with the Oakland A's to do it.
So the numbers really matter.
But there was also this whole mythology around baseball in America, right?
But baseball has a fraught history, especially when it comes to black
folks.
We had the Negro Leagues, which MLB finally decided to take all of those analytics and include them in the MLB history records.
It went through the same thing that our country went through or is going through.
And so to have that conversation around it historically, what it.
what it was, what it meant to our community.
A lot of those Negro League teams were never compensated for the talent that they lost.
But that was people's desire.
You want to play in the major leagues, so-called best.
We come to find out that maybe part of the best wasn't all because it need to be inclusive.
You talk about franchises like the Yankees and the Red Sox.
where they were the last teams to integrate.
And it was all these things.
And yet, black people still love baseball.
Yeah.
Well, you look at somebody like Dennis Biddle, who is here in Milwaukee.
He has literally kept the history of the Negro Leagues alive for the last what?
I don't know how long he's been at it.
But one of the things I've always appreciated with the Brewers is that we continue to celebrate the Negro Leagues.
We were traditionally bringing in Negro League players every year up until last year when I think there are three living players that are in their 90s and it's been difficult to travel.
We provide funding for the Negro League Museum.
We provide support to Mr. Biddle.
I think there is a sincere respect for the Negro Leagues and the contributions that Black people have made in baseball.
But there's a ton of work to do.
Well, you said there's a ton of work.
Well, I think that we can continue to
you know, run our returning baseball to inner cities programs, RBI, to make sure that kids are exposed to the game, to be welcoming when people come to the ballpark so that they'll have a good experience and just help people embrace what is in my opinion an amazing sport.
If I look at it
in general, we think about those of us who are part of the diaspora in the Western Hemisphere.
like the reality is that the United States of America had relatively the least number of enslaved Africans here.
Other places like Brazil, Brazil had the most, but then you have the Caribbean.
And right now, many of descendants of Africans who play Major League Baseball are from the Caribbean.
Venezuela,
the
Dominican,
And it's their life.
I mean, they start playing baseball early.
We have an academy in the Dominican and you know, young kids come there, they learn it's their life.
And
so that's why we have so many people from those countries that are playing and they'll be baseball.
And really internationally, when you think about countries like Japan
and
the best player.
in baseball now is of Japanese descent, you know, and that was like the American soldiers teaching.
But in the Caribbean, you know, it was, it's still people's way out.
You know, when you, when you, you know, they began to see some basketball, but there's nothing like baseball when you see people and countries that you would even think of.
I was just looking at the little country.
Just won the world's little league world series.
Oh Of course I got a was a cursor No, it's a
I remember
cuz there there's a player in the league from that country look little country but what they're turning out in terms of baseball players and so you kind of look out and Do you
You talked about the sports you guys do for for you know for children getting them involved in the sport I don't know if you're able to do this pronunciation But is there where we will see a growth?
I know in Florida is big.
It's still big in the south But do you think that we'll see more African Americans or that next group is just those descendants of Africans who come from the Caribbean
I think that you know
If you look at Milwaukee, for example, the team is doing very well now.
So it attracts attention.
It's a cool thing to do.
More young people will get involved.
If we're a losing team or it's not being featured in various places where kids are, then they won't play.
But we try to make it accessible.
I don't know that we will have the same level of interest because we have
competition, and now soccer is a competition.
People are playing golf far more than they ever were before.
There's also basketball,
football.
I was surprised this year the U.S.
opened the number of tennis.
We always talked about the Wii of the Sisters, right?
But no, they have, as a matter of fact, Ben Shelton is in the semifinals.
I didn't know who this guy was until the U.S.
opened.
Can we pivot here a little bit?
Sure.
Talk about some of the work then that the Brewer's Community Foundation does.
Brewer's Community Foundation is the charitable arm of the club.
So we raise money so that we can support the community.
We focus on health, education, recreation and basic needs.
And we fund about 200 nonprofits annually.
I've been there for 17 years.
So, from the beginning of Brewer's Community Foundation, when I started, we rebranded the charitable arm.
Mark Athanasio said, we should be doing more in the community.
And he said, just do what you can to make things happen.
And so, that's what we've done.
Brewer's have been fortunate.
They've
had
two, I think, two very good ownership groups.
You know, you mentioned Batsili started with him, but...
and I hope I'm not Mark Anasio.
Really came in and he made a commitment to this community I mean from day one and you see you know footprints all throughout the community which I think and maybe that's why again they're winning so you have brand loyalty and you know and I sometimes I can be kind of myopic in my thinking and I remember one time I was gonna just take a drive up the Marthley Lake
and I went too far and I ended up in Fond du Lac.
To see all the brewer gear that people were wearing, I know the Packers statewide.
I mean, there's no question about, but when you look at the brewers that people throughout the state.
Yeah, we are definitely a statewide team.
Our fan base, if you look at a giving game,
They're probably more people at that game from outside of Milwaukee than Milwaukeeans.
People travel here, they enjoy it, they stay for a home series, and then they spend money and leave.
But they spent money.
Spend money.
I was up in Minneapolis for a conference that I drove up, so I'm driving back.
And I should have known something was up.
because for a long time in Minnesota, Bud Selig was the devil.
Remember, because he talked about when they were going to contract the league that they were going to lose their franchise.
Yeah.
I'm telling you to see, it seemed like every sports broadcast started with a negative Bud Selig story, right?
I mean, they just worried about something driving back.
And I see all these folks in the summertime, I'll just drive them back and I see all these Minnesota tags.
So, you know, of course you get the Hudson, but then when you get to like Tomah and these folks are still, you know, a lot of Minnesota people, then get to the Dales figure.
Oh, they're going to stop at the Dales.
No, Madison.
No, no, they came down specifically for that Brewer's series.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, which I thought that's a seven hour drive.
Yeah.
Well, we treat.
people well when they get here.
People love coming to what is now American Family Field.
They have a good experience.
There's never a rain out because we have a roof.
So you can rely on coming, having a great seat, good food, and hopefully we send you home with a big L.
Well, again, I was looking at the folks from Illinois.
One of the comments that they made was, wow.
Food is relatively cheap compared to Chicago.
Yeah, which is a major city.
So you're gonna just pay more but again, I know the Third Ward is really
Mm-hmm.
You know that that people from that area go down spend a lot of money at the restaurants down there Yeah, they're spending money now.
I don't know if the White Sox fans ever did seem like we dealt more with arrest and other things with the White Sox I kind of missed that rivalry because when the White Sox fans came in it
Cup fans a little bit more better behaved
now.
I think they were they were very aggressive for a while But now I think they they come they enjoy it.
They like to call us What am fam of the south or?
Wrigley Wrigley's north or whatever they call us, but they're a little bit better than they have been in the past
That
might change, though, because that was a tough whooping we gave them.
Yeah, yeah.
Well, with that first game in the series, last week in Chicago, they put a whooping on us.
So it was kind of like the fact that they were able to recover.
Let's
just be clear, though.
Did we sweep the series?
Yeah, we
did.
OK.
We did.
All right.
That's all.
That's all that matters.
And in my mind, last night, now here's the question.
Did the Dodgers win?
Did the Braves win?
Because those are the two teams we're competing with for best record in baseball.
So there's something for them to play for, I mean, with a 10 game.
To lose this league, 10 games up,
what about 15, 16 games left?
Yeah, 14, I think.
Seven at home,
at least.
Yeah, and if we gave that up
then.
We're not giving that up.
I said yes.
And I'm still on the bandwagon.
So yes, I think
I should have came in here with a good hat for you to
wear.
I'm a brewers fan.
I've been a brewers fan.
Um, man, since they were the Seattle pilots and moved here at 69, I even have one of the baseball caps to the original in.
So,
yeah, I mean,
of course, you jump off the bad wagon when they suck, but
that
hasn't been, they have been competitive.
They have been competitive.
And so, and again,
it's been to the playoffs for what, seven out of eight years.
And it says a lot about the farm system.
as they said that they have the best farm system in baseball.
And that was the case back in the 80s where they had a very good, so the fact that they have such a good farm system, great talent that you can tap.
I think before we came on the air, we were talking about, unfortunately, we'll be able to afford them.
Now, I think if we win a World Series, we will be.
the amount of money when the Bucks won that championship, the amount of money that that, the value of the franchise went up, but the amount of money associated with that franchise went up.
And so you're able to go in.
Are you all, is this like Milwaukee or are you statewide in terms of the Brewer's Community Foundation?
We're statewide, but primarily greater Milwaukee.
So, it started with the five counties because of how the ballpark was funded.
focused on that.
I would say primarily Milwaukee, but we do look for opportunities statewide.
And again, who did you commission to do the mural down at Throws Park?
Rosie Petrie.
She is a local artist.
She's done some beautiful pieces.
She was an artist and resident down at the Fister.
But Rosie did a series of Negro League player pieces.
And she had done this Hank Aaron piece that I loved for years.
So finally, I just decided we were going to buy it.
And then the team started this mural project.
and 755th came up and I'm like, I want a mural of this piece right here in our community.
For me, you know, Milwaukee, you know, Juneteenth Day, it was kind of the center of the universe.
When I worked at the gas company, our little booth was always at Clinton Rose.
People are always good people there, so.
I thought it would be a great location.
And we partner with the county.
And they liked the idea.
And there's a ballpark there that historically.
That's softball, yeah.
Yeah,
a
lot.
Well, I think the other thing is, and it's aligned with just King Drive and the development that we see on King Drive, which every time I get a chance to...
speak with Malayla, always compliment her on that
we probably had the
best king drive in the country.
Yeah.
You know, most people you go through like, okay, here we go in through the, you cannot believe this.
That's not, and there still is.
And maybe that stretch is so important because of the importance of Third Street in the community back in the day.
And
until 1967, we know the world changed 1967 with the riot, but
It, you know, literally when I was a kid, you didn't have to go downtown.
No.
And I remember walking from right here, actually, all the way down to North Avenue during Juneteenth Day.
Oh, yeah.
It was just a great time.
Yeah.
And so for me, that was a perfect location.
I, um, um, Fred Carter, who was a pro basketball player, played for the Bucks for a little bit.
His wife was from D.C.
And so when he came back to our alma mater, the coach, his wife said, you're from Milwaukee.
And I go, yeah.
And she said, what's that thing y'all do when y'all shut down all the streets and there's thousands of people?
I said, that's Juneteenth.
Now, they weren't even doing that in DC, right?
And I thought, so people remember Milwaukee, you know, every city has its negatives.
But there's so many positives here.
Yeah, we have some great traditions.
Great tradition, great history here.
I mean, in terms of things.
And so the fact that you all continuing that with that tribute to Hank Aaron.
And
Brewers Community Foundation has supported for the last 17 years, Norcott, Juneteenth Day.
You know, we have made some, I think, good investment in the community, the library.
many organizations that are benefiting from our funding.
So, I feel really good about our work.
They made an excellent choice when they chose you to lead that effort.
Thank you.
Really, yeah, it's an excellent choice.
Thank you.
I enjoyed it.
You've done a great job and certainly,
Mrs. Cecilia Gore, thank you.
Thank you.
I really appreciate
that
coming back.
I will.
You know what I should do though?
Should have you and your husband come back.
Yeah, come back together.
Could y'all do it?
Sure.
You
sure?
Yep.
Because I don't know if me and my wife, okay, because me and my wife would be like, can we take a break?
I need to talk to her in the back
or?
We will do that
too.
But I think we compliment each
other well.
Like we talked about Small Walk, he come to find out that her husband, Mr. Randy Bryant and I were classmates.
And so when he
was on, I was telling us a series where he came in and
said, we sit out
here and talk for 45 minutes.
But he can remember Mr. Sharp giving us the eight parts of speech.
I can remember everybody in the class.
I
gave him every name in the class.
I bet he loved that
too.
As my mother said, you're such a savant.
You can remember that, but you can't remember what you did yesterday.
Yes, Cecilia, thank you.
Thank you.
All right,
you're listening to Community Voice.
We're going to take a quick break and we'll be right back.
I get a chance to talk to some of the most fascinating people.
Cecilia was talking about her
husband, her
husband's really involved with the arts.
And I think about just some of the conversations and how they can turn into, first of all, my wife thought our conversation with Ryan was a great conversation.
But when we were talking to Michael Schultz,
And he began to give us the back story.
You know, a lot of times we say, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah.
And this is what, and then you find out there's the back story.
And when he said, and I'm still tripping, he said, Daddy Rich in Car Wash originally was going to be Reverend Ike.
Oh, from Chicago.
Yeah,
he was gonna be it was gonna be Reverend Ike and then surprisingly cuz Reverend Ike seemed to have no shame So when his people around him said no man that you probably
don't that's
too far
That's a
bridge even too far for you.
Yeah, but when he when he when he told me I was like Wow, that's
great.
Yeah.
Wow.
That was that was crazy or when he talked about the The original soundtrack to Cooley
and he said that he got all that music for five grand from Motown.
Five grand.
He said, but when they went to VHS, he said the price went up.
He said, so a lot of that music that you heard in the original movie, you didn't get with the VHS.
So you know what, I don't understand about that whole deal.
You know, when you purchase the rights to use it,
You know, he paid five grand to get everything.
I wonder, in this contract, in this clause, was it only for a certain amount of time for him to use...
No, I think they said for the movie... Now, remember, when that movie was done, there was no VHS, right?
Right.
So when they released VHS came along, what,
in the late
70s, early
80s?
So it was like 10,
15 years later?
Ah, Cooley High was done, what, 75, 74, something like that?
Maybe a little earlier.
By the beginning of the 80s, you began to get VHS.
Now, y'all will do a little backstory.
I'm such a geek.
Y'all will do such a little backstory of VHS.
The reason why movie companies got into reproducing on VHS was that it was the porn industry.
that originally used the technology.
I can believe it.
I can
believe that
too.
So they went in and you know you could get everybody remember they called it like the brown package,
right?
That
brown nondescript
package
and that you could send it then.
So it was a foreign industry and then the movie people going like hey this is where it's going.
Yeah as you would have thought.
So when people kind of
You look at um, um, what's my guy's name?
He did hustler magazine
Oh
Yeah,
I know a
lot of people don't realize that one of the biggest protectors of First Amendment rights Was done when Larry Flint got sued by Jerry Farwell
And they said that, you know, whether it is pornography or whether it's religion, you have the right to the expression.
And then I think the whole, because the original whole pornography thing was based on community standards.
And it was up to the community to determine what was.
Obscene, I think that's the word that it was obscene But yeah, it was the porn industry that originally did VHS tapes and then regular studios so about this time I'm sure the contract they had some lawyers who went and said wait a minute Okay, you were able to do it in that form, but you're gonna have to do a whole new licensing with this form So and even when you like go out and buy soundtracks, you notice that certain songs
Might not be part of the soundtrack you can buy was part of the movie.
That means they were negotiating and they can negotiate the rights
to be
able to include that in the anthology.
Of course it wasn't beta out before VHS.
No, no, beta came out after beta was the little tapes.
Yeah, they were in the 80s.
Yeah, they were the little tapes.
And then they went beta, laser disc.
Yeah, that was way after beta.
And then
DVDs.
Yeah.
Because CDs have become.
Yeah.
Because you know, if I remember original hip hop and I have some throwbacks, it was the cassette tape.
Yeah.
It
was cassette tape.
There's still some people out there use a cassette tape.
Listen, I found some of my music that was recorded on a cassette tape and I'm actually looking for a tape player just so I can convert it from
there and put it at least on MP3 because that stuff that's on tape that if you don't take it off from there and if you don't keep it in a warm place and
cover it, you're going to lose it.
That's what they're doing.
A lot of movies where they had to go in and restore them because some of these movies are 50, 60 years old.
But I'm going to tell you and vinyl.
It's coming back.
Yeah.
And it's expensive.
It's coming back.
Yeah.
But if you can
I have my late friend, Clint Green, gave me X number albums.
He bought over 50 years ago.
They're still in great shape.
I mean, $100,000 worth of music.
You don't even know it.
No, it ain't that much.
You never know.
I was out at, what is it, Wrecker hit?
Yeah, I'm going there
today.
They had the original Watts Stacks box set.
Oh, really?
It's 10, 15.
So what they wanted
a
couple
hundred
for?
Yeah.
And then I got, uh, and I've given it to my buddy, Motown's greatest hits going from the very beginning to Lionel Richie's.
You got that now?
I brought it in.
Oh, that's what you remember?
I brought it in.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But I gave it to my buddy and, uh, I made a commitment.
See, keep you talk too much.
I made it.
No, no, no, he's a Motown look dude.
When it comes to Motown, that dude is, he just, don't get him started on the temptations.
Oh my God.
I mean, but that album, that actual album was hard to find.
Yeah.
And that's the cool thing about going down to Squeezebox is I find, first of all, there are books that, you know, again, but then you never know what they're going to, what they're going to buy.
And for some people,
You know, one man's garbage is another man's
treasure.
You know, so you're able to go in.
I was able and I was just thinking about it.
They showed this young lady, she bought this cookbook that was over 100 years old.
I have a Bible that's over 100 years old.
As a matter of fact, it's about 150 years old.
That I found down there.
I also found
the Jerusalem Bible down there, which is the Old Testament, both
in Hebrew
and English.
Yeah.
You don't gotta, like, see how much is worth or something.
Yeah, I would
say, man,
you
gotta be worse.
No,
I mean, I wouldn't.
Look, books and music is my love, right?
So that is really my
little
selfish.
I know you got that put away somewhere, right?
Cover it up
or?
It's right
under.
It's under my ordination.
Oh, OK.
My ordination certificate.
Carla, welcome to the program.
Oh, good morning.
Good morning.
I hope you this morning have number, you know, suicide.
And I understand sometimes suicide is a horrible thing, because some people can't be helped.
And, you know, we find them people who's been lynched.
There's two things that black people
know how to roll.
They know how to roll blocks.
$50 bills and 20s when they want to blow some good cocaine.
They don't roll a notice.
Okay?
There's no way in any hell or any Jesus, anything that they're going to lift a 200 man, a 200 pound man up on a tree.
And he's going to say, Lord, take me with a noose
that he's going to push you back on that.
I'm pushing back on that.
And look, we are.
Can you do it?
I could.
I mean, I can
hang yourself on the tree.
Yeah, I think if you determine, said, that's the other thing about human will, you know, now, you know, if he would have, if this person would apply human will to say, I'm going to get through this, but human will also, when it comes to sir next.
the level that we put in to make sure that that act happens.
Now, they said, look, a lot of suicide attempts are just that.
They're attempts.
They're not successful, but there are many that is.
So yeah, I found
myself the hard way, man.
So
you think they can climb up a pole and never climb a pole in their life.
They barely can tie a tie correctly.
Yeah.
And I'm gonna tie a noose and hang myself.
Yeah.
Which we think
behind your back.
You know, that was the crazy because
now your hands are tied up.
Yeah, that that
obviously but yeah, but yeah That's what we saying because some of these people down south was found with their hands tied behind their back They hands in front of them tied and you mean to tell me you gonna call it suicide say they hung themselves
and I got and again We look at it through the context of our history and our experience in America, but let's not do this at the danger of neglecting
That there are people we're talking about black people now
and if
anybody would want to commit suicide in this world I would think it'd be black people No,
no, no, no,
no what I'm saying in terms of what you've gone through.
Oh, yeah, what you experience if anybody, you know, you would but then you realize that my Experience is not unique to somebody else dealing with their experience and I was telling the brothers off air Al
I don't know if you've ever been to a dark, dark space in your life and this is my testimony.
Dark, dark space where death was more appealing than living.
Now that might not have been your experience, but it was mine and that's a real experience and thank the creator for bringing me from the brink because look man, every day folks are going through some things and we cover it up, we self-medicate.
But what happened to that point where now is just you and you?
Well, I find it to be so odd because I know a lot of racist people or wealthy people will kill themselves and their whole family when they get down to their last two dollars.
When they find out that the dog don't want to live on them no more, they want to kill the
whole family.
I had a brother right here, killed his baby, killed the mother of his child, and then set the house on fire.
This is a human condition.
I'm not putting it more on white folks.
And that's the great danger, right?
Because now look, other than serial killing, we understand that that is not us.
Right.
That's still ain't us.
What
in
the movie Barbershop was said to be entertainer said that the DC sniper was the Jackie Robinson of crime.
Right.
Because we had a group of kids on retreat.
When we found out this brother was black, we was like, what?
So
my question to you, Mr. Parris.
Yes, sir.
Is it considered to be a suicide because the people who's doing it is behind law enforcement since the KKK has infiltrated?
Because you know, some of these people who will come, they would miss an eyeballs, penises, so you telling me they can do that too?
Yeah, I'm not saying that that's not a possibility and maybe it did happen.
But if we do this, we walk away from addressing the pain that let's just
talk about Black
folks.
No, the pain the Black folks are experiencing to the point that, you know, there was five Black people in my graduating class in high school.
That was only four because in the 80s, one of the guys who were in our class who we thought had everything together committed suicide.
So I
mean...
I'm
just
saying let's not let's not I understand that whole race in America piece.
I'm down with that.
We need to deal with that, but we're not doing a very good job of dealing with mental health struggles in our own community.
I understand that, but I still don't understand how he can tie a noose, but can you tie a tie and tie his hand behind his back and gravitate his self at ten feet like he did with a plane?
I can tie a tie.
I could roll a joint.
What's the point?
Well, you can roll a joint if you put your mind to
okay.
So I could, if I put my mind
to it, I could really hang myself, right?
Yeah, but it's, but rolling the blind in the news is two
different
things.
All I'm saying, you just said, and I struggled, right?
But, but if you put your mind to it, well, it could be the same thing when a person is determined to kill themselves.
Okay, well, well,
if anybody's listening, can you show me how I can levitate like Jesus in here?
Because some of these people are awfully high.
And I can't even jump that high.
But if they know the secret, let me know.
So I can start studying witchcraft.
Because there's a couple of fields I want to care for.
And I ain't talking about screaming Jenkins.
Appreciate you,
man.
Have a good one.
I can't even tie a Boy Scout knot.
Really?
And I don't do the Boy
Scouts.
Yeah, some of those knots
were hard, man.
You got a mere badge for knots, though, didn't you?
I can't remember.
Yeah, you did.
Yeah, you did.
I was in Boy Scout for three months.
I
ain't gonna
tell you what I there was.
What?
What?
What?
Speak up.
Hey, nothing.
How y'all
doing?
All I know is I struggle rolling the joint.
And you know what got me to get good at it?
What?
Having to share the weed.
So So I can't roll it I can't take it to Japan what you may go down for
No, you would ask for a joint.
Oh,
I'll roll it for you.
Well, just give me a joint.
Well, first of all, anybody that asks for a joint out of a nickel bag, you ain't getting nothing,
because
you already ain't getting nothing on a nickel bag anyway.
Stick to seeds, stick to seeds.
You're right, you're right.
They were kind of fat back then.
They were half ozzy.
Hey, yeah, half an hour or so.
Yeah, let's maybe, was that a lid?
What did he for
Well, Rhonda and I were out in California.
We went out there for a honeymoon and business.
We did, we mixed Rhonda had, she had a medical conference and we had
Congress of Christian Education in San Diego, we went up to San Francisco, and then we're going to drive down to Carmel.
And just so you know, Carmel is where Clint Eastwood live.
Carmel is Pebble Beach, right?
The Monterey Peninsula.
So we're driving.
This is the first time we had this, this Lexus where had memories.
It was incredible.
And so we're driving down.
You know what song they was playing?
It seemed like... I got five on it
all down.
All
down California one.
I got five on it.
They
were playing that here
like this.
Let's go half on the
side.
When I went to my aunt died and my buddy and I, we drove from Pennsylvania to Tennessee.
Two songs that there was in the rotation if what it was that Leo Sears song But the other one was Gloria Now everybody was
No by enchantment.
Oh,
okay.
Oh everybody everybody was playing it.
Yeah, I like Jesse Campbell's version of Jesse Camel redid it Gloria
I didn't hear that one.
heard Jesse Campbell's song?
No, that's, that's a bit of a Campbell song, right?
From Chicago.
Okay.
Yeah, Jesse Campbell.
I think he passed away.
I think
Jesse passed away.
And then my buddy and I, we drove out to his grandmother's funeral in Uniontown, Pennsylvania.
And the song that was on repeat was The Barge.
Oh God, what was
that?
The barge or switch?
No, it was the barge.
There would be another love of
switch.
What was that?
All
this love.
Thank
you.
Yeah, man.
From Milwaukee to Union Town to Union Town to Milwaukee.
Man.
I mean, the travel like that, man, you gotta have some hype music.
No, well, that was
before satellite radio.
Oh,
yeah.
You know, you had to pick up like when you get close enough to a... Oh, yeah, a tower.
Yeah, you go through a tower where you could get it through the town.
Yeah.
Now, you set up a thick band now with satellite radio.
Oh, man, you can musical everywhere.
Everywhere, man.
You know, I'm gonna tell you the song I listen to from Milwaukee to Louisiana.
My cousin was loved with Prince 1999.
We listened to that whole album.
We listened to that whole album from the time we left.
And to the time we left Louisiana.
I think I knew every word on that album by the time I got to Louisiana.
So did you desire the jeans
with the chinks out?
Oh no, I wasn't that one.
I
explain why you know I hate ribbon in the sky beautiful song oh man
hey you know what now that you say that when I started to play it and Curtis started to sing I thought about you saying that
especially
at a wedding, especially at a wedding because it was a break up.
You know you can't afford the tickets Stevie Wonder is doing a song in the key of life 50 years Rhonda and I saw that concert six seven years ago songs in key of life.
He did the whole album He did the whole album every song on the album
and
then In his encore he did his other hits
from the other album.
Yeah, he ain't lazy.
That's what I like about
him.
He ain't lazy.
I appreciate that.
He's
gonna spend the
money to come see the artist.
I appreciate that, man.
Give me energy.
Yeah, you know, because that was the whole thing.
That album is considered
what
I know it's in the top five albums ever, you know, so him to do it.
And the only glitch in the show was that he had, he didn't have a, are they called Harpist?
There's a song if it's magic.
Oh, yeah,
and there's a heart, right?
Yeah,
and so they couldn't sink the track of the harp But he but other than that that show was flawless man.
Oh, I like that's not a pretty good if it's magic Last day
The steam you wrote what's that I think that's I think it started off as a magic
but it's like I think I think Tyrese and Pam did it on Martin.
If it's mad, I think it I think it goes magic.
So out of the chorus part go.
No, no, no, no, just a melody of it.
I just remember because it's really the
heart
that's carrying the song.
But that chorus part, once I hear that chorus part, it's gonna spark what the song is.
I love McClellan good for us.
You know exactly what I'm talking about.
Pam and Tyrese song it on Martin.
Oh, yeah, but that can't get to court.
So she
tried
to get
him the same for the show.
Is it not something about magic out of that course park.
It's going to bother me, man.
Yeah, it's going to bother me until I get in front of my keyboard and
play.
Oh, now I'll
be at home playing like, that's it, right?
That's what I'm going to call a key.
Key.
That's it.
I can't think of it though.
Stevie.
I know
what you're talking about.
I can't thank you.
If it's mad.
Yeah.
If
it's okay.
Oh, I can't do it because we're on YouTube.
Hold on.
I'm I'm pulling it up right
here.
That's it.
That's
it.
Yeah.
That's it.
Yeah.
That's it.
All
right, let me thank Ms.
Cecilia Gore.
Clark Kent, thank you.
Thank you.
Michelle, thank you.
Jermaine, thank you.
Indeed.
And I guess you can hit a guy wearing glasses.
Maybe.
Good Lord Willis.
Don't rise.
I have to talk to everybody tomorrow as always.
Go for this place of peace.