Fredrick Douglas was a Real One

you

the great vine and we're about to pick some grapes and thank you again to maybe Shannon and the Ray nitty.

Yes, we got Zach on the ones and twos and threes and fours.

He's all man.

He's I think he's ready to take a break man.

Straight up.

So we all going to take a break and before we take this break, I'd like to thank you all for tuning in to 101.7.

The truth because we are

We are happy that you are here.

We are happy that you're listening and we love the fact that you are in Milwaukee and tuned in Milwaukee It's almost the fourth the grills out Somebody's cousin already started the playlist argument talking about I'm gonna play T-Pain Or whatever whatever they playing they playing bow

By Ray Nitty.

And somewhere else, somewhere else, somewhere else, some IT is already guarding the potato salad.

Talk about, don't put no raisins in it.

She guarded it like it's Fort Knox.

But before we get to the fireworks, let's get to the fire.

About 7174 years ago, just about a man named Frederick Douglass stood up.

Yep, he stood up.

in front of a crowd on this exact holiday.

And he asked him straight up.

He was like, what is the fourth of July to a slave?

He ain't sugarcoated.

He ain't called it a sham.

He said, he ain't, you know, he said the fireworks, the flags and the parade, none of it was for him.

None of it was for his people.

I'm gonna read a little bit what Frederick Douglass said.

He said, who could,

address this audience without quailing a question, quailing a sensation, has stronger nerves than I have.

I do not remember ever to have appeared as a speaker before any assembly more shrinkingly, nor with greater distrust of my ability than I do this day.

A feeling has crept over me, quite unfavorable to the exercise of my limited powers of speech.

The task before me is one which requires much previous thought and study for its proper performance.

I know that apologies of this sort are generally considered flat and unmeaning.

I trust however that mine will not be considered.

Should I seem at ease, my appearance would much misrepresent me.

The little experience I have in addressing public meetings in school country.

in country school houses veils me nothing on the present occasion.

I'm going to read one more thing.

The papers in placard say that I'm to deliver a fourth of fourth July oration.

This was the beginning of Frederick Douglass's speech to a group of folks that invited him out to talk about.

They thought that he was going to talk about.

the 4th of July and how happy we were to be on the 4th of July.

And he said the quite opposite.

He said, what was it?

What was the 4th of July to a slave?

In 1776, we were still slaves.

And so now we're here, 2026, and we got the cookout, we got fireworks, we got the flag flying along our porches.

So the question today is, isn't, do we celebrate, right?

Because we celebrate as people, we celebrate everything.

We celebrate everything.

We celebrate everything that's in our blood.

It's straight up in our blood.

The question is, what are we really celebrating?

And who earned the right to ask that question out loud?

So today between one and four, we're gonna do both.

We're gonna laugh, we're gonna eat good in spirit, in spirit.

I'm not eating on the air, which I might have a little bit of chocolate or something, but I'm not gonna eat that much.

Even if you can't smell it through the radio, we're gonna argue about cookouts, cookout songs.

Like it's a title fight and We're gonna get real about what freedom looks like when it's still catching up to son of some of us so this is fireworks and freedom papers and Milwaukee we need you to pull up so pull up from the YouTube channel Hit us up on YouTube live hit us up on the chat Want to hear what here?

We're gonna hear from you.

This is Thursday.

This is thirsty Thursday.

This is our last day of the week

Basically for some a lot of us or you could text me at eight three three two one two one zero one seven you can pick some grapes or You can give us a call and we're gonna find out what's on your mind.

I don't want I want to know like you can tell me whatever Straight up it doesn't matter so 1852 it's 1852 is right you in Rochester, New York shot the Rochester

Y'all got a great dope hip hop underground hip hop scene.

Fantastic underground hip hop scene.

So if you know about hip hop, go ahead and check out Rochester, New York.

Frederick Douglass gets invited to speak at a Fourth of July event.

And instead of giving them that flag waving speech, they expected he flips it on him.

He flips it so cold.

So he basically says and I'm I'm gonna paraphrase I'll probably read a little bit Just to give you a little context And not reading and I'm not gonna read it all but I want to give you our little context He said the celebration itself And he's trying to what he's trying to do in this if you ever read the speech if you ever read the speech what he's trying to do

He's trying to reveal the gaps between America's promise, like the promise of independence and America's practice.

And there's a difference between the promise and the practice.

You could promise something, but until you put it into action, then that becomes a whole nother thing.

So if you promise one thing and then you don't put it into practice, then you just, it's falling on dead ears.

It's falling on.

It's dead weight.

So we, him looking at the people that were listening, he flipped the whole, he flipped the whole party.

So that's the, and more than any day of the year, he had to, he had to make the switch.

And that's the celebration itself to someone still in chains, you know, like even.

20 years, 30 years prior, he was, he was trying to free himself.

20 years prior, he was trying to free himself from the, from the modern that at that time, the modern whips and chains of a slave master straight up.

He was trying to get himself free.

So for him not to, for him to have that opportunity and for them not to, um,

for him not to speak on the ideal of independence and its promise and the actual practice of independence, it will behoove him not to do it.

So at that time, he's just proclaiming that the Independence Day for 4th of July was a party that he wasn't, that they were having around him, but he wasn't invited to.

Like it's happening in your own front yard.

Imagine this, like it's a party, people kicking it.

They got barbecues, you know, all this other stuff and it ain't going down for you.

In certain areas, they would use, they use this celebration to go and lynch people, lynch black people.

This was a part of the celebration.

They was going to pick me.

That's what it was.

So check this out.

I'm going to read just the last part of his speech because I want people to really get this context.

He said, what did he say?

He said, the far off.

and almost fabulous Pacific rose and grandeur at our feet.

The celestial empire, the mystery of ages is being solved.

The flat of the almighty, let there be light has not yet spent its force.

No abuse, no outrage, whether in taste, sport or average, can now hide itself from the all-pervading light.

The iron shoe and crippled foot of China must be seen in contrast with nature.

Africa must rise.

and put her yet unwoven garment and put on her yet unwoven garment.

This is literally what this man said in 1852.

He's telling a room full of people that don't look like him at all.

That Africa must rise and put on her yet unwoven garment.

Ethiopia shall stretch out her hand unto God.

in the fervent aspirations of William Lloyd Garrison, I say, and let every heart join in saying, so he's telling people to, he's telling people to, to repeat after him.

But listen, he's telling people that things, things are going to flip.

He's saying Africa must rise and put on her yet.

unwoven garment.

He said, Godspeed, the year Jubilee, the wide world over when from their galing chain set free, the press show vile bend the knee and wear the yoke of tyranny like brutes no more.

That's from William Lloyd Garrison.

I'm not going to read the whole thing, but you get my dress.

You get my drip.

Now.

The speech this speech is almost dang near 200 years years old and yet Y'all tell me if I'm wrong, but when you scroll past all these fireworks these pictures these you roll past the fireworks It's you know, you got these fireworks pictures and you on your phone.

You looking at all the fireworks Does this does any part of this?

Still feel like the gap that he was talking about

or has the gap closed enough that it doesn't sting the same?

So it's not a rhetorical question Milwaukee.

I'm just like the phone lines open.

I want to hear it.

Is it still the same or is it different?

We just closed the gap.

The phone lines open 833-212-1017 and you can hit us up on YouTube chat on the Truth Radio 101.7.

We'll be back in two.

Not completing high school is more of a social thing than it was an academic thing.

Welcome back.

Welcome back.

Welcome back.

I'm your host but not severe.

Yes.

And this is the great find.

We're going to pick some more grapes straight up.

We're going to pick some more grapes because I'm excited.

I'm excited because we fight in the power.

We fight in the power before the 4th of July.

We fight in the power.

Those lyrics were from Public Enemy Fight the Power.

He said 1989.

I mean, you know, they ain't 89, but it's all the same, right?

The number.

Another it's a number another summer sound of the funky drum music hitting your heart cuz I know you got soul brothers and sisters Listen if you're missing y'all swinging while I'm singing Giving what you getting knowing what I know while the black band sweating and the rhythm rhyme rolling Got to give us what we want got to give us what we need

Our freedom of speech is freedom of death.

We have to, we got to fight the powers that be.

And it's, it's real.

Like this ain't, this is not, um, this ain't, we're not, we're not going to sugarcoat it.

We can't sugarcoat it.

Yeah.

Straight up date.

They were right.

Swinging while I'm singing.

So this is your, he's saying to, to, to everybody like.

He's saying to everybody that you That this song is my connection to you and it's also your theme song It's your it's your theme song.

So I'm and we're gonna switch gears for a minute We're gonna switch gears, but we're gonna stay on top stay on theme and Stay with me because I yesterday I was invited to watch the

The team USA congratulates the team USA soccer team Straight up Y'all did your thing if y'all listening.

Thank you so much.

I really appreciate y'all we appreciate y'all for for doing your thing fighting for the country and I I noticed it was you know The team was team got a little dark Got a lot more froze on this on the squad

So this week we sitting here asking and I would start asking myself, I started asking myself who America really claims.

Team USA is at the World Cup.

And the reason why they're still alive in this, in this tournament, you know, in the World Cup is because of a kid named Malik.

His name is Malik, a kid named Malik Tillman.

buried what they call a free kick.

So if you don't, if you're not used to soccer, he buried out, man, he buried a free kick and he had blood coming through his sock.

He didn't even care.

Kick that ball.

Man, he kicked that ball and it went, it was like three inches above one player and the ball just dropped past the goalie and in and the team was down.

You know, in soccer, you play 11 on 11.

The goalie is part of the squad.

So they had 10.

It was the team USA had 10 people, 10 players on the team because one player named following.

Um, he, he was another black player who was playing cold.

He got kicked off.

He got, he got a, got a, what they call a red card.

So he had to, they penalized the team and then he had to leave the, leave the field.

So he, you know, went to the showers.

They had 10 men, they down a body, everybody in the stadium literally counting USA out because they like, all right, 10 men, you know, they got 20 minutes left.

These dudes are about to, and these, it was, these kids were like, especially the black kids, a lot of them.

It's like.

60% black on this squad.

So they probably look at each other like, man.

Nah, not today.

Not today.

So this isn't just sports.

I'm not necessarily talking about sports.

And I'm not, this is not just a highlight, but this is a metaphor, you know, it's a metaphor walking around in cleats, walking around some soccer cleats.

And there's a thing that gets me, this ain't new.

Black kids have been grinding on soccer fields in this country for decades, including yours truly.

Getting told to go play basketball, that's your sport.

Getting looked at sideways when they showed up to travel teams because with soccer, you travel just as much as you do AU basketball and or more.

Not only do you play at younger ages,

internationally, but you play with people that aren't even from your, you know, your genre, your culture, you know, your race, nothing.

You play with people who are completely different from you, right?

So it overseas, you know, it's, it's worse.

You get chance slurs thrown at you, bananas thrown on the field.

It's a whole ugly history.

But what it costs black players just to be allowed to play at the highest the highest of all high levels and and remember soccer is a very international sport one of the best sports you can lean into for You know for investment or To just play as a kid and to be able to travel the world.

This is one of the best one of the best sports you can do And we won't talk about that enough we won't talk about

how you can play at the highest level, how these black players are allowed to play at the highest level.

Because the highlight reel only shows the goal, not the years.

Nobody's believing in you before the goal.

So here's my question for the highlight.

I want you to sit this on your mind.

I want you to really sit this on your mind.

America loves us out loud when we're winning something for them.

scoring the goal, getting the win, waving the flag in the post game interview.

You draped in it, you know, yeah, America, everybody, everybody cheering.

But does that love hold up over the other 364 days of the year?

When there's no scoreboard, there's no trophy, there's no trophy on the line.

It's just us walking through the world.

as who we are with nothing to win for anybody.

Yes.

Like, like when, you know, the black folks came home from now, they came home from the war and they were sitting back like, yeah, you know, I'm back home.

They came back and it was like, it's like how they, how they showed depicted in, in, uh, dead press, their presidents and how the rents take came home, whoever, whatever his name is in the movie came home and he.

you know, had his thing and you know, he's proud to be home and his mom was trying to ask him questions and she, all he, you can see on his face, all he wanted to do was be celebrated just a little bit, but she trying to ask him what was going on.

His dad was like, calm down lady.

I just got, you know, this guy got out of five years of the service.

Calm down.

So when it's just us walking through the world, nothing to win for anybody.

I already got my answer.

When there's no scoreboard, I'm going to ask this question again.

When there's no scoreboard, no question, no trophy on the line.

Does that same love hold up over the last 364 days?

When it's just us walking through the world, who we are?

Nothing to win for nobody.

I got my answer, but I want to hear yours.

The phone lines open.

The phone lines open.

The phone lines open.

The.

YouTube chat is open.

Go to the YouTube chat.

You could text me 833-833-212-10117 if you still at work and you ain't celebrating your 4th of July or the 4th of July.

It can be everybody's.

My granddad, I'm pretty sure he's ready to celebrate too.

He served two wars.

He did two straight up.

He did the Korean War and he did the Vietnam War, 90 something years old.

He knows what this is about.

He only celebrates it because he likes to have the day off.

He would like to see when there are people in there off of work, but he knows the history.

He's also his story.

But the phone lines open and just don't tell me you like to go.

Tell me what it makes you feel because I guarantee it was a nice shot.

It was a cold shot.

But when you look at it.

When you really really look at all of this We had people I remember going to a soccer soccer game and My a friend of mine Jamal was A friend of mine Jamal was playing he's playing he's a big old

You know, big old guy, he's six, six, two, six, three.

He's running up and down the field.

He's about 200 pounds and he's fast.

And he's doing this thing and he does a sliding tackle on somebody.

It was legal.

Sliding tackle gets the ball.

Kid.

Kid falls down.

He flops.

The kids dad.

Then says, calls us the N word, then calls us monkeys.

Now we are team full of kids.

whose parents just came out of the, like, civil rights.

With the weather?

Well, it's beautiful out there, sunny and 75, almost a little chilly in the shade.

Now, let's get a read on the inside of your car.

It is hot.

You've only been parked a short time, and it's already 99 degrees in there.

Let's not leave children in the back seat while running errands.

It only takes a few minutes for their body temperatures to rise, and that could be fatal.

Cars get hot fast and can be deadly.

Never leave a child in a car.

A message from Nitsa and the Ad Council.

Man hey, somebody text me the other day about these beats They were like these are fire Zach they a look literally he hit me twice

dude was like, man, these are some fire beats.

And then he hit me again was like, yeah, these are some very, very fire beats.

So I really appreciate it, man.

I really do.

Cold, cold producer.

What the business is looking to discover and support local businesses in our community.

Then make sure you tune in every Friday at eight AM to truth in the morning with home or blow.

and Bailey Coleman for what the business is, powered by WeEnergies.

Each week, we'll hear from local business owners as they share what their business is, they're located, where they're located, and one valuable lesson they've learned along the way.

WeEnergies is proud to help power local businesses and the communities they serve.

Don't miss what the business is every Friday at 8 a.m.

only on Truth in the Morning with Homer Blow and Bailey Coleman, powered by WeEnergies, delivering the energy.

that powers local business.

And now we're back.

Welcome back to the Great Vine.

I'm your host, Manon Sibirian.

Guess what we're talking about?

Guess what we're talking about?

We are talking about the 4th of July.

My boy, Looney always, he probably would say the 4th of July.

So yes, 4th of July, we're talking about Frederick Douglass.

We talked about...

I read some some lyrics.

His I read some lyrics from his speech his fourth of July speech and y'all got to read it, man.

Y'all have to read it.

Those those words from that speech are relevant to today.

Still relevant because if you if you look at how relevant those words are, you'll learn a lot about who you who you are right now.

You will definitely learn about what's going on.

with you, not just the system.

So I had an odd then we started talking about the team USA and the story and how.

The story of having black players on a squad on a on a. Supposed to be a predominantly white squad.

Ultimately, it was for a while.

Now is now is.

full of black players.

And I was thinking before I even get back to my story is that, you know, I want you to feel this soccer was not invented by Europeans.

It wasn't soccer was from what I know, invented by natives.

So for it.

to be a backdrop of racial superiority for so long is an atrocity in itself.

But they kept it was there is a boatload of of racism in a sport that is doesn't even belong to the people who hold power in this sport.

They kept so many people out of of its graces.

You have people who broke into it like Jimmy Banks.

A local from Milwaukee who got international attention for being one of the best soccer players almost in the world.

Fast, strong, athletic, all that.

But he was able to make it happen.

And he has, you know, children and, you know, it's, it's, that's what it is.

So now this team, I'm, I'm, I'm going to give you the backdrop for this team before I go back into the story.

The backdrop of this, of this squad is, is amazing.

They got, you know, they got 66, basically 60% black players on the squad.

Um, and they are.

They're, you know, fabulous individuals.

They're probably some very athletic kids who didn't just play soccer.

They probably grew up playing all the other sports, but soccer happened to stand out for them.

They were, some of them come from different backgrounds.

You know, probably have dad who ran track for Ivy League school at Ivy League school, PWI.

Yeah.

And he probably got a, you know, cold.

You know, high level degree.

Then you probably had a dad who gave his jeans to his son who was, you know, had a past.

He had a past.

He didn't run track.

He just hop fences.

Now you got a son who's playing on the highest level.

And people want to tap into that.

But it's not just it's not just Team USA that's tapped into.

It's not just Team USA that tapped into how important black players now are in the sport of soccer.

It's people all over the world.

If you look at the if you look at the majority of the top European players, top European players, the top players that are.

in Europe, playing in all those leagues and also some of those players that are playing in the World Cup today.

I'm going to take an example of far, not a far cry, France.

Francis squad is full of African.

Players that speak French that happen to have a national nationality in France.

Mbappe.

And whoever but ballet or whatever it's got these guys names are like these guys are some of the best in the world and they're playing for a European country.

Very, very interesting.

So you can't deny the I'm not even going to say.

The superiority, but you can't deny the fact that.

You have to tap in to the people you kept out.

Straight up.

It's, it's almost inevitable.

It took for our, for team USA, it took a coach from, I think he's Uruguayan or Paraguay, wherever he's from to play with these black players from America and recognize that they are some of the highest level athletes that you could.

you could get from out of America and teach them brand new skills and allow them to play at the highest level.

It just happens.

And there's no shade against any other information, any other person, any other race of individual or individual.

No, it's just what it is.

This is just what it is.

The genetic code, the genetic code of.

African born and also.

Genealogically, African American and European Africans is it's undeniable.

You got people who are playing in favelas.

and ghettos and they playing with rocks, like literal, literal rocks and socks.

And then they coming out and they like allow me to play soccer and I had to fight for my life.

No, I'm a play.

Yeah.

And I ain't letting it go.

Sign that contract.

A hundred million dollars.

Like this, that's what some of these guys getting paid in soccer.

They can pay way more.

That's why you got basketball players that are investing in these even BC League soccer teams.

Yo, these players are getting paid straight up.

So back to my back to my story back to my story.

When I was playing soccer and I must update everybody when I was playing soccer, I had had a guy.

Um, named Jamal on my squad, six, three, six, two, whatever, 200 pounds fast, able to play soccer.

He played.

He was good.

And man, he did a slide attack on somebody.

The kid happened to be white.

He was a little smaller, but he wasn't, he was my, so I'm five, seven, five, eight.

And the kid did a little flop and his, his dad.

who was, I think even his dad sounded like he was from Australia or something like that, but it didn't matter.

You know, a word is a word.

He called us the N word and he said monkeys and Jamal looked up.

He looked like the incredible Hulk.

He was like, what did you say?

And man, you should have saw the entire crowd.

Our crowd, we were probably, it was probably our, it was probably us, our coach.

And our van that was black.

That was it.

And then the rest of the crowd was white.

And so we were way out like middle of like we probably a hour away from Milwaukee.

And this dude said this and we 30 minutes into the game.

Jamal took one step and we had this guy we called him 65 Jason shot up to Jason runs out.

The goalie box he's playing goalie runs out the goalie box grabs Jamal Jamal shakes him and Jason about 140 soaking wet at the time.

And they're like holding Jamal back.

But other people start going after this dude.

This the parent, the parent jumps in his Porsche and peels out and leaves his son.

He peels out and leaves his son.

On the field Man and when I say it we had it out for that kid It was a wrap It was a wrap for him.

We did not it was he was his kid his son was being aimed at the entire time so This is these are some of the things that this is just a microcosm of what black players in

Soccer had to deal with.

This is what this is just a small smidgen of what.

Players had to deal with soccer players.

So.

If I'm a go to the chat line after after our break, but I guarantee you that if you.

If you look at this sport and you look at the the World Cup.

and

establish the field of neuromuscular medicine.

And until that day, when this is all a thing of the past, you couldn't stop us

if you tried.

Join us and celebrate 75 years of breakthroughs at

mda75.org.

Yeah, shout out to Cuckoo Cow.

Minimize, man.

Straight up.

I hope this song is part of the theme of the cookout.

Straight up.

I hope y'all are gonna, if you're gonna get together, my daddy always said, if you're gonna do it, do it all the way.

Shout out to Mohammed Sabir.

If you're going to do it, do it all the way.

Just go, go all the way in.

You know, if you're going to go extreme, just go all the way in on the extreme.

That's probably why people like this.

Some of this extreme is that's in this office.

They like, all right, man, somebody's not going to tote the line on extremism.

He's going to make $2 billion last year, 2025, 2 billion, 2.2.

He made a meal eight on some watches or something of that sort and some books man Let me make that But up welcome back.

I'm your host Manon severe you on 101.7 the truth and this is the grapevine We are picking some grapes and we're talking about the 4th of July the 4th of July Yes, we're talking about it.

We're in it this this thing is

Is real.

We talked about.

I was talking about Frederick Douglass and how he had a speech that he was supposed to give on the Fourth of July and he didn't cut any corners.

He didn't cut any corners.

He told them straight up of.

Yeah, he told him straight up.

Like he said.

He said to these, these folks, the iron shoe and crippled foot of China must be seen in contrast with nature.

But this is really, this is really what he said was this is, he put this, he put this on a room full of folks that wasn't even, that didn't even look like him.

He said, Africa must rise and put home, put on her yet unwoven garment.

Y'all remember that because what he's saying is the origin of mankind is in Africa.

And he's telling these people who are possible descendants, maybe a generation away from slave owners and or people who come from different parts of the world.

He's telling them and citizens of the United States.

He's telling them that your nation is not as superior as the continent that I come from.

And he's telling them to relay this message to the people that they fit.

They think that they're going to free.

And he says, Africa must rise and put on her yet unwoven garment.

Ethiopia.

shall stretch out her hand unto God.

Ethiopia, he's saying, is Abyssinia.

Abyssinia houses a very large nation of individuals that are closely related to Jesus the Christ.

Yes.

Man, lit bars.

bars.

So I'm glad y'all back.

I'm glad I'm, I'm giving little, I'm dropping these bars on you.

And here's my take.

Y'all could come for me in the chat if you want to, but I think the cookout is the answer to Douglas's, all the Douglas, its question and his statements, not instead of the hard conversation alongside it, walking hand in hand with it.

Let's think about it.

People that were never supposed to survive.

They were never supposed to build wealth.

We were never supposed to have joy on purpose.

Never turned an entire summer holiday into a full on cultural institution.

It's in our system.

It's in our blood.

The food, the music.

The family reunion energy the cousins you only see like maybe twice a year You know the FaceTiming all of that Like your uncle that show up like it's his own place like the uncle to show up on the bat in the back of the in the back of the You know he show up and he come through the back door The uncle that shows up and he's like man, what's up y'all?

That is that's us saying you tried to break us and we still found a way to have a good time on an exact day You claim was about freedom that's defined and that's dope That's really that's resistance with the paper plate in your hand and the red cup that probably definitely Ain't got water in it

But I want to go a layer deeper because I think I think it's more than just like defiance.

I think it's it's preservation Every recipe and just look at it every recipe Passed down without a written measurement like it's to taste you ever you see your grandmother and she You know take some flour and she put a little little on there.

I don't know that that's called like

It's a little pinch.

That's a pinch.

Yep.

So every, every recipe that ain't got no real measurement.

Every, you know when it, you're like grandma, when every grandma, is it done?

You'll know when it's done.

You will know when it's done.

Get out my kitchen.

Every playlist that somehow got that gets everybody on the dance floor.

Like every playlist they probably got the people some people very got the same playlist for years That's culture.

It's our culture surviving on purpose.

It's actually thriving Because we have to take something and make something out of make that something out of nothing It's really this really isn't our holiday and we made it we made it ours so That's us say say saving

and saying our joy doesn't need permission.

And it definitely doesn't need an invitation from somebody who's checking for the other 364 days.

Now, don't get it twisted.

Don't please get it twisted.

Resistance doesn't mean somebody didn't bring store bought potato salad to the cookout.

and try to play it off like it's homemade because they they probably put like a little bit of mayonnaise in there and then you know, using a lot of juice.

That's that's treason.

That's like you need to leave that potato salad is not getting eaten.

If you got homemade potato salad, that's the potato salad is getting eaten with a side of like Doritos.

So that's a whole different conversation for a whole different show.

And honestly, might need his own three hours for that.

One person who's bringing potato salad from pick and say.

But for real, I want collars on this, though.

Is the cookout just a party to you?

Or does it mean something bigger?

Like when I when I go down south to, you know, hang out with some of my folks down south, I know that when they doing they cookouts, like.

It ain't just a party, man.

It's like a time to resist.

There's a book called, and don't get me wrong, there's a book called Rest is Revolution or something like that.

That's a part of the resting from the stress and the system that had one enslaved us to is keeping us on the hamster wheel.

This is part of our resistance.

This is part of our resistance.

And there's so many documentaries about food as an act of defiance in black culture.

The sweet potato pie, like all of that has an act of defiance embedded in his recipes that your grandmother ain't passed down because she did everything by hand.

So.

You can tell me about a family member Who makes it what it makes it what it is?

Tell me about the tradition that nobody's allowed to mess with I want I want people to call in 833-212-1017 Call in let me know let me hear the phone line up phone lines are open Don't be shy Don't be shy at all Somebody put somebody's name on blast for that potato salad situation Put somebody's name on blast for making some

Wack fried chicken puts like if they bring baked somebody, you know the problem is somebody bring a baked chicken to the.

To the cookout don't bring a baked chicken to the cookout barbecue that joint barbecue it and I'm the health guy I like but you know today this is about resistance.

I wanna be free.

I wanna be free.

I wanna be

Free.

Free.

Welcome back.

Welcome back.

This is the Truth Radio 101.7.

You are on the grapevine with me, your host, Manon Sabir.

And we're about to pick some grapes on the grapevine.

That's right.

We're in hour number two and we've the first hour, man.

Look, we got to talk about it.

We gotta talk about it.

First hour we talked about Frederick Douglass.

Talked about how he did his thing before the July.

He told them people, especially the folks.

He told them where to go.

Where to go to find happiness.

Give us free.

Give us free.

Matter of fact, he was like, we're just gonna take it.

He said, if you read the entire thing.

He said we're going to take it and it came out, came out.

You can't hold strong people down.

Can't hold them down.

And we talked about team USA talked about how majority of the team USA is pretty much black.

60% majority of the soccer right now is being saved by black people.

If you are, if you are a politician,

I'm gonna say this if you a politician and you ain't leaned into the power of soccer As a platform bro, it's all I'm saying It's beautiful.

It's a beautiful sport.

It's a great stress relief One of the best stress reliefs you can have Soccer is a great sport.

Thank you soccer love it, but

And then we jumped into some of these lyrics, public enemy, singing while I'm singing while you're swinging.

Yes, fight the power.

And we talked about how food, the food is revolution.

That's what I'm gonna get into today.

We got a few more topics.

We're not stopping.

We got a poll, take the poll.

Take the poll on on our YouTube channel.

Take the poll right now go to truth radio.

Take the poll Is a cookout just a party or was the rest of it?

Sorry Is a cookout just a party or is there a deeper meaning when we have cookouts?

Is it a deeper meaning?

I'm gonna ask that question.

Is it a deeper meaning when we have cookouts?

And this is actually a powerful for July conversation because it kind of flips the traditional narrative.

The story of black food isn't just about recipes.

It's about survival, innovation, identity, economics, politics, resistance.

This is where like real thriving happens.

These conversations when all these people get together, people, when people get together, it's, it's.

Things happen, you know, you may have a few fights.

Man, I tell you about my family, though.

Or not, I'm not going to expose, but there's a couple of fistfights here and there.

Shout out to shout out to Western Peace Day, Big Day.

Every barbecue.

Found reunion, fish fry, church picnic in the cookout.

The cookout is resistance.

It carries, to me, it carries resistance.

It carries pieces of the American, the black American history that go, usually go untold.

Straight up.

But millions of of us are going to fire up these grills.

They're going, we're going to eat the watermelon.

We're going to, you know, queue up the barbecue, eat the sweet potatoes, baked beans.

Cornbread greens, peach cobbler, pound cake.

But how many people actually know the history of black survival?

The fool was one thing that couldn't be taken like completely.

You had to lie.

If you wanted to take it, you'd have to really, really, you had to fight us.

So.

You have to fight.

It'll be a problem.

It'll be a real life problem.

Hard, a hard problem.

Africans had everything stripped away.

Had everything stripped away.

Languages.

Names changed.

Let's say you came over as Abdullah.

Abdullah Bengali.

And they changed your name to Anthony Williams.

That's wild.

Instead of your name being Abdullah Bengali, Ben meaning son of, they changed your name to

They changed your name to, uh, what is it?

Um, Anthony Williams.

What?

Man, that's crazy.

Family separated.

Magic coming over and a magic coming over and you, you got a whole family and you walking by the river in Africa, somewhere in one of the countries they were divided by.

colonization anywhere.

So I'm going to say one of the territories in the villages and or cities and then you, you know, you fishing and then all of a sudden somebody's like, yeah, and this snatches you gone and nobody knows where you at you on and then you get put on the boat and you recognize some people you recognize some folks.

and they may be part of your family.

And then you are on this boat possibly for two months or less.

And you don't know where you're going.

And then you land in a place that's just named South Carolina.

You land in South Carolina.

And when you land in South Carolina,

When you land in South Carolina, guess what?

People would snatch you away and they put, they continue to put more change on you.

Not only they put change on you, they put a thing around your neck.

They put a brace around your neck with four extensions so you can't move around.

You can't leave, you can't go through a fence or, you know.

It's it's locked That's crazy and then you had a religion whatever the religion is and you just They give you something else they give you you know the The religion that they that they worship they practice it they give you they give you that that religion do you not even that religion wasn't even in

Africa.

It wasn't, that wasn't the, the prominent like religion.

It wasn't a part of, it was, sorry, it was a part of Africa, but it wasn't in Africa predominantly.

So food traditions survived.

Food traditions after things being stripped away, changed, attacked, separated, food traditions survived.

They even said.

people would put rice kernels in their, in their braids or in their locks in order to, in order to, uh, so they, the Africans would bring, have brought certain types of rice that weren't native to the United States over the, those channels, the, those bodies of water here.

Amazing.

Absolutely amazing.

They,

African cooking techniques survive, spices, seeds, all without the internet.

Agricultural knowledge crossed the Atlantic.

Women and men secretly preserve recipes through memory.

Every meal became cultural preservation.

Food became history, like the collard greens.

The collard greens.

To pick a...

a leaf.

Let's just call it a leaf.

All right.

To pick a leaf and then add another leaf to add another leaf on into that a different type of leaf to balance out the bitterness.

You add two different two different leaves, the mustard green and the collard green.

You're adding these things together to add a little that mustard green adds a little spice.

and then the collard greens add some kind of bitterness, but it's like tasty bitter, right?

And then it's nutritious because then you boil it down in some water and you add a whole bunch of other, you know, garlic and, you know, hot spices and whatever else you put in there.

And then you say, all right, you know what, grab me that smoke.

I call this smoked turkey.

Yup.

You got that smoked turkey.

You put that smoked turkey in there.

And boom, you got some great collard greens.

That's an act of resistance.

Is it not how those how those like that's a not only is an act of resistance, it's a chain link.

Bridge to where you came from.

It's chain linked.

It's right there.

is right in your DNA and you pulling recipes out of your DNA.

How do you think grandmas were able to cook things that they weren't even familiar with?

They were able to be like, they were able to go into the kitchen without any customized cordon blue, late cordon blue training and they were able to do what?

Cook something that everybody could eat from the baby.

Love you and you're just not ready yet.

Now get in the back so I can get you in your car seat please.

Putting your kids in the right seat for their age and size is an act of love.

Check that your kids are in the right seat at nitsa.gov slash the right seat.

Love protects.

A message from NITSA and the ad council.

to the grapevine.

We're about to pick some more grapes.

I know y'all love the grapes.

Yes, I do too.

Well, those grapes time to pick them.

Yes, let's pick them out.

What's up, man?

Hey, how you doing?

First, I want to wish everybody a happy.

for for July until the people who start crying when they drink, please stay at home.

Nobody's dealing with that drama.

I

heard you talk about slavery.

The thing we have to understand during slavery, they push Christianity on Africans because Christianity is what kept Africans in line.

Obey your master is okay for master to hit you because that Christianity is not even what slaves was even practicing.

They wasn't even speaking English.

They were speaking toot.

That's why during the time of slavery there was over 200 slave rebellions because they knew they had more power in God.

Just like when they cut the slave head off and they told master you're still gonna die.

So if you really want to push back

on this holiday don't practice Christianity because the Christianity for black people is to keep them in submission.

That's why every holiday they never talk about the people who push back against slavery and talk back against Christianity like your ancestors who was practicing hoodoo and voodoo because you are the God and you have more power than God because the God sat and watch.

You're the guy that's on earth who can change it.

Just remember the power of your flesh.

Now have yourself a happy four to eat all the pork, the greens, the drinks, and everything you want to do.

I'd enjoy.

Buzz Bond 2 and if you want to have sex have that too because they did all that in Christianity as well.

They just told you you were going to hell while they was raping your kids.

The boys and girls that have intercourse killin' but keep the versions for

yourself.

Y'all have y'all a good one.

Appreciate it, Al.

Thank you.

Man, always opinionated.

Yeah, that caught me off guard on the last part.

Thanks, Al.

I appreciate it.

But you know, there is some to what you said about forced slavery and then changing the narrative, the mental narrative of the person that you enslave.

You have to put up as many barriers as you possibly can in order for them not to realize that they're a slave.

Because once they realize that they are,

in danger, in slay, in captured prisoner of war.

Once they realize it and they know it, and then they start to plan against it.

So that's what I'm asking everyone is our food, the way we cook, how we cook, what we cook is part of the revolution.

No matter what part of the diaspora you are from.

No matter what part of diaspora you are from, I'm gonna say this again, no matter what part of the diaspora that you are from, what you cook is a part of the diaspora resistance.

And I'm gonna take it from the people that I grew up around, my grandparents, the sweet potato pie, the sweet potato is,

This sweet potato is an African import.

The watermelon is an African import.

The golden rice is an African import.

The way people make collard greens, because you got to put, I'm not even talking about the recipes.

I got a bunch of recipes that I literally have.

I got collard green recipes that will blow.

Some people's grandmas of collard green recipes out the water and I haven't tasted anything like mine.

I got it from my grandma.

Black eyed peas.

Yes, black eyed peas, African import.

Okra African import.

Field peas.

Some of them African import.

The way we smoke turkey.

African import.

The way we cook cornbread, cat, the way catfish, these weren't poor people's, these aren't poor people's food.

It's a cuisine.

It's, it's how, it's how it happened in the, in the, in the full scope of things.

And, and yes, of course I'm talking to, I'm talking about, I'm talking about.

And then when I say poor people's foods, these definitely weren't poor people's foods.

Like I have to reiterate that.

Because we made it, we made it what it is.

We made it a delicacy.

Now people have taken our delicacy, our cuisine and made it into delicacy.

Sorry.

Straight up.

We turn, we turn scraps and this is the truth.

And you know, more power to us.

But we turned scraps into celebrated dishes.

We turned the side dish.

We turned the main food side chick into a declaration that dignity could not be taken away.

We turned it into a, uh, we turned it into something of freedom.

The fourth of July are like, yeah.

Thank you for coming because with this, this conversation is needed.

So after emancipation, one of the first things a lot of black families did was do exactly what you about to do on fourth of July is gather.

They gather, you know, at the church, they did the Juneteenth celebration, you know, we gather at the fourth of July, family reunion.

So basically.

These weren't these weren't just parties.

These were declarations because we had to come together We all we own our people are saying we own our time We we we we're gonna feed ourselves what you what you thought What you thought this is what our folks were saying to eat either this the the slave master This is what they were saying to the share crop landowner.

This is what you were saying to your

Boss at the Industrial Factory, Islas Charmers, Ford, whatever, back in the day.

This is what you're saying to the people that, this is what they were saying to the people that held our voting rights away from us in the early 60s.

When we was on the picket lines, this is what we were saying.

After we came home, guess who had that plate ready for you?

Yep.

Oh, Annie Mae.

Annie Mae had that plate.

She had navy beans.

She had maybe some collard greens.

Maybe some maybe some green.

She probably had if she had the collard greens, she had them.

The green beans, fresh picked green beans with gravy and smoke turkey.

She had that.

So.

Gathering isn't just.

an act of freedom.

It's a way of life.

It's resistance.

Many Americans, many Americans even think barbecue is simply southern food and it ain't.

I know people in the South right now.

No.

Historians like they increasingly recognize that an enslaved black pit masters help define the American barbecue traditions.

They mastered and this is a black pit masters people who actually took care of the took care of the food on the grill the pit master, you know, uncle Charles Charles with the 40 ounce Oh Charles, he's the pit master.

He probably put in You know He probably put in the 40 the some of the beer on the on the on the grill

Pour it out to the homies.

But the pit masters, they mastered the black ones, mastered whole animal cooking, be it a pig, because it was the only animal around.

They need some proteins.

So boom, they got the pig.

Whole chickens, goat, man, they probably got, had some, some other bigger animal.

They, they mastered the smoking techniques.

They mastered the smoking techniques.

There's a tradition in Africa right now where they take They they take they use I don't know what the I'm not a cook so y'all correct me, but they dig a hole they put some Charcoal in the hole whatever it is they would Then they take some leaves they wrap up.

They make a grill.

They take some leaves Right and they take fish they put

fish in the leaves and they put fish on this, this little grill piece.

That's this is in the ground and then they cover it up.

They bury it and it smoked for like days.

Then they take it out.

They take like a day and a half, two days, whatever they take it out and they feed the entire village.

That's what happens.

Yes.

That's like that smoking.

They.

They did seasonings.

Man, listen.

Black pepper and salt is not seasoning.

It's not.

It's basic.

If you got pepper and salt, you at the wrong house.

You at the wrong house.

Don't go to somebody.

Don't go to somebody's barbecue.

And the first if the first thing you eat is has a little bit of salt.

And a little bit of pepper.

Just walk away.

Walk away.

Just easy.

You know, if you got your kids, hey, y'all, I'm.

Yeah, my stomach hurt.

I'm leaving.

Just bounce.

Now, y'all, it's time.

It's time to go.

Because they if they got the, you know, it ain't got the seasoning, salt, the oregano, the, you know, whatever, the.

The lemon pepper, like if.

Like all of that.

All of that is African based.

A lot of these, all the seasonings are African based.

If you ain't got, if they ain't got that, man, bounce.

Cause you, you're not going to have a good time.

It's not going to be tasty.

So there are a lot of famous, we invented a lot of famous barbecue traditions across the South, leaked on into the North and it was built on.

Black Pit Masters expertise.

But a lot of these guys went unnamed.

And this is what I'm what I'm trying to get at.

And I want you all to understand is that we.

We revolutionized.

The the the barbecue game, but it was an act.

It was our act of resistance.

All in all, the psychology behind it.

is absolutely ingenious.

And we're going to continue to talk about the engine.

for themselves.

Find resources for breaking through barriers at TaylorPaperSilling.org.

Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council.

Welcome

back to the grapevine.

Man, I have a lot.

That song, when play gets me hype.

Man.

Power.

Power.

Man.

that song.

Whoo.

Y'all don't realize, man.

That's some shout out to outcast, man.

Shout out to outcast.

You and the truth.

101.7 Bombs over Baghdad, baby.

They need to play that.

That needs to be at every cookout straight up.

That's it.

That's another one.

That's another one.

Bang bang.

It's another one.

Bombs over Baghdad.

That that one is is that song right there.

Definitely gets me up at that song.

I usually play regularly and I'm, I'm, I'm gonna see if we can play this other one later on, but that song regularly gets me hype.

I can play that song regular, like over and over again at the gym and it'll, it'll, it'll, it'll get me going.

So add that to your playlist and we're back.

We're picking some grapes.

on the great vine.

I'm glad y'all are tuning in, hitting us up on the chat.

Make sure you call in.

Call in 833-212-1017, 833-212-1017.

If you want to text me or tell me your favorite cookout tradition.

Or if you don't want to text me your favorite cookout tradition, text me which relative is

You can say the name text me which relative is gonna show up in clown.

That's the I'm gonna say man listen.

There's a few that I think but From my side of the family, but text me which relative is gonna is gonna show up and clown like Absolutely give it all they got come in and they are three sheets to the wind But they are the they are the some of the funniest individuals that

you want around.

I want to know.

Text me or call 833-212-1017.

If you want to tell me about a tradition that you can't wait to encounter during your time with your family, hit me up.

It's all good.

Or hit us up on the chat, the YouTube chat.

We've been talking about how food is an act of resistance in black culture, black cookout, black food.

Food is definitely an act of resistance.

We've been proven that.

Africans bought agricultural knowledge that transformed America.

America is definitely saved by the rice that we eat.

They bought rice.

But okra is a lot of things that they bought set the sesame The watermelon black eyed peas sorghum like For example South Carolina's rice economy relied heavy on the expertise of Africans

from rice growing regions in West Africa.

Yes.

So they not only plucked Africans from West Africa, but they were searching for people that could grow their that they were searching for people that were that could labor.

and grow their economic power in a certain commodity, which happened to be, in this case, we're talking about rice.

Rice.

They plucked the people and was like, all right, come on, y'all.

They weren't less like, come on, y'all.

They were more like, get over here.

And pow.

Here we are.

Trying to.

trying to survive with rice.

May y'all making money.

Really?

Really?

You started to think about it.

We need our money back.

Give me my money.

What are receipts at?

Y'all ain't had no receipts on this?

Give me my money back.

Straight up.

Give me my money.

Where is, where?

Run my chips.

What do people say?

Run my chips.

Run the bag back.

Run the bag.

Give me my money for bringing from my ancestors, bringing rice over here and funding your empire.

And I ain't get nothing.

Run me my chips.

Nah, they not gonna do that.

Watermelon was a watermelon.

Watermelon was a symbol of freedom.

is also still a symbol of freedom.

We bought watermelon.

Watermelon, heavy and citrulline can help individuals who have prostate issues, women who have hormonal issues.

Watermelon, eat a lot of it.

We bought that over here.

Watermelon is an African product.

It is not an American product.

We bought that over here.

If you taste watermelon, if you taste watermelon from Africa, wherever it is grown, there was different.

There's many different types of watermelon and shout out to Baylor.

Mr. Baylor, thank you for bringing the watermelon from and he got seated watermelon, which is really good.

He, uh, he seated watermelon.

It comes brings like trucks, boatloads of watermelons from the south to the north.

But back to what I was saying.

Watermelon in Africa, if you taste it, tastes exactly like cherry Kool-Aid.

Lord God.

Lord God.

Tastes exactly like cherry Kool-Aid.

No joke.

If you taste, if you want to taste some, some fantastic, because this watermelon grown on this soil is good watermelon.

If it's or if it's organic like the black diamond watermelon and big watermelon all at the seeded watermelon If you taste the water, it's good watermelon.

It tastes, you know, like watermelon But that watermelon over there We know, you know, if it's grown on this soil, there's probably like an offshoot so but because of the climate but that watermelon over there tastes like Cherry Kool-Aid, I promise you not

promise you, you will not be disappointed.

And watermelon was, what watermelon was, was a sense, was a symbol of freedom.

So after the civil war, many newly, many newly freed black Americans, black people grew and sold watermelons because it represented economic independence.

That's something that they knew how to do.

They knew how to do it.

The fruit became associated with prosperity, black prosperity.

I know to this day, I know the guy who was making a million dollars a year, bringing watermelon from the south to the northeast coast.

He runs up and down the east coast and this is what he does.

This is his business.

So, but how they, how they leaped

the white system, their economic barrier system leaped into our food and tried to weaponize the watermelon as, and they made images of black people to mop.

basically mock our success.

So they made these images to mock us and they were aiming to, they use these images to block our success in our independence.

They use the watermelon image to say, we're going to market that the watermelon, if you want to eat watermelon,

Go ahead, but this is who you're gonna be Looking like you're gonna look like this individual who is who doesn't have any you know teeth don't have much hair who got like all of that All of that When in reality the watermelon is a staple in Cultures that have one survived

Heavily from it economically, but then also eating a watermelon keeps you full is full of full of water And you can work all day Just eating watermelon last night.

My dad my daughter had watermelon for dinner This is literally what she had and she went right to sleep Right to sleep Yeah, it's healthy it can be dinner

So not only is a symbol of freedom But it's also a pathway to resistance.

So go ahead eat that watermelon Everybody make fun of you.

So what eat the watermelon eat a lot of it have a watermelon eating contest eat it All types of watermelon seeded seed list if you can put everywhere type of watermelon you get just get it Our food is resistance

And we're going to continue to talk about our food as resistance.

And then we're going to get into some fun things, like our military and how they feel about this.

We'll be back in two.

At Milwaukee College Prep, we believe brilliance lives every time.

Here, students are challenged, supported,

Welcome back.

Welcome back.

This is man.

What's this song right here?

Man.

Wow.

1997.

Y'all don't know, this is Wu Tang.

They second double CD album.

This is resistance too.

Straight up.

Man, shout out to Wu Tang, shout out to my guys.

They laid it out.

Today we talking about resistance.

Food is resistance and you're on the grapevine.

You know, in the grapevine, we'll pick us on grapes.

I'm your host, Manon Sabir.

We're talking about food as resistance today.

Food is resistance.

I'm going to go to the chat because the chat we go down, man.

Looney 504 said, where's my African necklace and X hat?

Jasmine West said, great topic.

Hey, y'all.

Babar Babar said, popsicle on debt.

Jasmine at Jasmine.

Looney said, just like the Clippers players were playing for a racist owner and making the team billions.

That's right.

They weren't making the team billions.

Matter of fact, this, aw man, there's a whole nother, there's a whole nother story right there.

It's a, it's a ceremony to have five, uh, Baybar, Baybar gave an emoji.