Mahogany

This episode speaks on classism and how it effects things around our community

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SPEAKER_01 0:02

The world is complex. People are people. As our community is struggling with life itself, I am here in the attempt to approach, discuss, and unpack some of these nagging concerns. Thank you for joining me, your host Fleetwood, as I rethink and respond to the thought of maybe we should just remove the crowd. Hello, hello, hey, what's going on, everybody? Welcome back to episode four. Remove the crowd. Lot going on. Father's Day just passed. It's Men's Health Month, and I'm choosing mental health of our men. It's a beautiful month thus far, though. You know, I got a lot of things shaking and begging, and I chose, let me sit down and let me get another episode out. And this is the fourth, and this one is entitled Mahogany. Mahogany. And I'm gonna attempt to speak on classism a little bit in this episode entitled Mahogany. So let's get into it. Classism, is it is it more a male-female issue? Or is it a social issue? You know, sometimes we have disagreements. Sit back and look at the disagreement. Is a disagreement really about gender, male versus female, about how a male sees it versus a female sees it? Or is it about two different classes, two different social classes, about how the optics are in their classification in society, which is absolutely possible as well. Somebody who has more opportunity may see something different who have more of an open view versus more of a closed view, and vice versa. I think that that's a viable, if you will, that's a viable intersection when we're talking about disagreements. I noticed a lot of uh conversations or a lot of talking points that tend to be uh labeled as you know, male versus female, female versus male. When you get into the context of the conversation, the viewpoint of the person who's speaking may not agree with another person or align with another person that's of a different social class. So then the conversation isn't about the topic, it's about the opportunity and the optics that each person saw or did not see about the topic. So that'd be interesting to kind of try to get into this and kind of shed some light on this, see what you guys think, you know. So this is what I uncovered so far. So I got some information, and it reads like this different social classes may have different expectations and norms regarding gender roles. Working class families potentially adhering more to traditional gender divisions compared to middle or upper class families. Working class families potentially adhere to more traditional gender division. Gender division. Because of social messages around poverty and class, people are discriminated against, excluded, and ridiculed around perceived social class. Many workplaces, organizations, and education spaces are built on classist structures, making it difficult for lower socioeconomic people to navigate and succeed. That's a lot. So let's back up a little bit and look at a couple of these things they said. So the first thing I want to touch on, they said working class families potentially adhere to more traditional gender division compared to middle-up. So I think what they're saying is gender roles are more prominent in working class. Um they're saying that gender division uh is what I get from gender division is expectations of a male versus a female of the home. There are certain expectations that I I'm not really into gender roles myself, but you have people that were that were shown and grown in a gender role family, and it works fine for them. I don't I think I think the whole premise of people who believe in gender roles should date someone else who believes in the same household formation. A lot of times, I believe when you have a disagreement is because you're trying to stick a square into a circle hole. This person doesn't necessarily agree with gender roles or how that home is ran or the expectations of said home and duties. And that's okay. Again, we're talking about the differences in social classes. You may have a man that is used to contributing to the home, who may be used to cooking and also doing, you know, cutting the grass and doing different things. He may believe in more of a support role where everybody does everything to enrich the home when you have a young lady who believes, hey, you stay out of my kitchen, you know, you don't know where anything goes, and this is how I have it set up for me. And that's more of a traditional, you know, um, a traditional role of the homekeeper or the domesticated woman. Um, I think that's more of that. Again, tomato tomato. I believe that how people are raised and what they believe in coincides more closely to their expectations when they share their lives with someone who believes in the same beliefs they have. Next, it says social messages, social messages around poverty and class. So there are messages that are indirectly and directly, and you have things that are omission, you have a lot of things that are used in society to identify someone or to attempt to identify someone that's from a specific classification or maybe a specific area or a specific mindset. Um, one thing I like to use is I know in in some urban cities, I'm gonna use where you know I'm at a lot in DC, certain stores, they give out these black plastic two-handle bags. And I call these things social markers. I don't see them as a positive thing because I only see them in certain areas. Certain people carry them, certain people have them, and I see it as a marker. I see it as if you have this bag, you went somewhere that is unsavory based on someone else's perception. Hence, you have this black bag. That's just what I saw. I don't see black bags in affluent neighborhoods or affluent shops that other people shop at. I just see them in a certain specific area that have a certain demographic and a perceived economic footprint that have these black bags that they give out to their would-be customers. So I understand that notion as well. And there are other things that people use that I call social markers. And and people, some people understand that some people don't. There are some things that you do, that you wear, that you associate with that will deem you in a social class fairly or unfairly, it's a social marker. Many workplaces. Now, this is huge. It is true, and I know mostly everybody knows this, but what about from the other optic? Let's let's investigate the other optic. Many workplaces, many organizations, and educational spaces are built on classist structures. So, again, that same impoverished neighborhood. I just made a comment about this. It's amazing how you go to some neighborhoods that are impoverished that seem to have the same footprint, which is, and again, I'm speaking in where I see a lot in DC. It seems to be vapes, carryouts, vape stores, carryouts, liquor stores, nail salons. Those are the same things in the same neighborhoods, and and it's a lot of the same repetitive business from people who don't look like you. And they, for me, I'm saying that that's a system that's designed to keep you down. They are there to pluck away at your finances because of a need that's in that economical footprint, apparently, because if it wasn't a need, it wouldn't be a vape store every other door. It wouldn't be a liquor store in every corner, and it wouldn't be a carryout on every other corner. These things, people don't invest in businesses unless there is a customer that has a need. So I absolutely believe in in the footprint of specific things that hinder the growth of a person, of a class, of an of a neighborhood, and which in turn trickles down to the level in which the school is expected to succeed as well. For years, the numbers don't lie that schools and uh schools and impoverished neighborhoods perform at a much lower rate than affluent schools in a quote unquote affluent neighborhood. Schools in impoverished neighborhoods have severe problems with um overcrowding. Uh they they they have a shortage of teachers, they have a shortage of efforts from the from the families, from the parents, from the support. The resources are scarce and they have tuancy problems, they have safety problems. And this doesn't mean that other schools don't have it. We're speaking of the consistency of a specific footprint where this happens more so than not. And all these things are considered to be part of the class's structure where a certain level is only expected to reach a certain height. And this is what they call social classification. A lot of people can disagree with it, but this is how society has been formulated. Society's formulated through social classifications. Different people have different levels of classification. Some may say they're five, some may say they're seven, some may say there's some set subsets within that, but I'm building this podcast on you understanding social classification because it's it's a huge caveat to moving forward to what we're talking about when you're speaking about the optics of social classification when you're having uh when you're having um dialogue, you will more than likely have a difference of opinion when you have two people who are speaking on something from two different sets or two different views of life and how it was presented to them. That's simply all I'm saying. I'm just trying to get specific about some things to open other people's eyes and to give them a different optic of when you're having conversations with people, or sometimes when you're enthralled into a very passionate conversation about something with someone, and you all can't seem to get on the same page, or I need you to step back and understand their optics versus your optics, and vice versa. That may lend to let you know that there is no resolve and there is no right and wrong in this conversation you're having. It's simply a conversation that's going to be highly spirited and passionate because the two of you are explaining your view of what is right based on how and what you were exposed to. That doesn't make them wrong, it doesn't make you wrong, but it makes the conversation kind of go into a circle because each of you is really having a passion discussion about trying to get the other to understand your optic, not the question on the table. You're actually trying to get them to see whether your view is higher or lower or different versus whatever the question is. That's what I'm trying to present with this podcast. And that's why this is called mahogany.

SPEAKER_03 13:59

Where are you going to? Do you know? Do you care? Are you hoping for? What are you hoping for? Do you know?

SPEAKER_01 14:29

Welcome back, welcome back. So, in the new format of Remove the Crowd, I I often speak of this portion of it. I'm very proud of it, and it really has opened up a vessel of understanding and also has challenged me to align what I'm attempting to do more so with the word of God as well. So I look for scripture that I believe speaks or sheds light on the subject. So for this episode of Mahogany, we're talking about classism. I found First Timothy six, nine and ten in the New Living Translation. First Timothy six, nine and ten and new living translation, and it reads, But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. Ten reads, For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, and some people craving money have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows. I don't think that really needs a lot of unpacking, but for the sake of conversation, let me, you know, let's speak on this just a little bit. So we're speaking of a specific social class, and some people may understand what social classification is without knowing the specificities of how it works or or the proper name. They just know I want more. I want to be of a certain person, I want to ride with them, I want to be seen and I want to be heard and I want to be recognized. So what's some of the words the kids use? Clout chase, social climbing. You want to be around the right people. And this is this is what leads to what First Timothy is talking about. First Timothy specifically is talking about people who long to be rich. Now, for years, myself and some other folks, and this is a very good conversation or very good topic of discussion, understanding the difference between wealth and being rich. The Bible specifically says rich. And it says that long to be rich, fall into temptation. So when you are hyper-focused on the aesthetics of a would-be different social class, uh, a lot of people, right or wrong, I don't know. This is you know a touchy subject when it comes to people talking about classifications. A lot of people who do not have believe that money is a stepping stone or necessity to be in a different social class. I personally don't agree with that. But there are some people that believe that you need money, or money is a prerequisite to be in a higher social classification. That is one of the main caveats in which First Timothy is talking about. People who want to be seen and revered more respectfully and want to be seen as someone of upstanding citizenship within society, they may resort to some things that will give them the optics of a different social class. They want to appear to be of a higher pedigree. And some people will stop at nothing. You know, I I'm gonna loosely, but not so loose, say this is one of the fueling drives to the crack epidemic that I lived through. People who subjected themselves to selling drugs, a number of them, not all of them, a number of them did so so they could get the recognition they wanted the cars, they wanted the lifestyle, they wanted the the clothes, they want to go to all the clubs and they want to fly all over and do different things and give the optics of I have money. Money still doesn't give you social classification, it gives you money. You're rich. Wealth. Wealth is so much more defined than rich. Wealth is not shown by something that can be brought. That's a different conversation, but I just wanted to say that really quickly so I can let you know how I feel it's different. Wealth is not something to be acquired very quickly. That being said, there's a number of things that people do and cannot do, or they're very you have a group of people who are sick and tired of being deemed poor or deemed um in the lower class of society, and they hyper focus on anything they can do to get up the ladder, the social ladder, because they believe it has something to do with money. And the and God is saying, You're gonna fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. So being being hyper-focused, going back to the drug era, you were hyper-focused on being rich and having the optics of being someone more important than who you are, who you think you are, got you in jail, got you shot, got you robbed, and perhaps may have gotten you killed, hence destruction. Matter of fact, the song of that time said self-destruction. A lot of these words are parallel to that time and parallel to the efforts of people who just want to social climb without understanding how the structure is set up. I'm not, for one moment, I'm not saying that the structure is fair or that the structure gives to anyone on lens. I'm not saying any of that. But I can say you can use social tiering as a tool to strive to be better based on quote-unquote society's standards. Because if you're chasing society standards, meaning you want your piece of apple pie, you're probably gonna have to use their standards to get it. You can't use your own set of rules and then get upset when you want society to ordain your or to congratulate or to accept your efforts in their society. You I think what they call that, code switching now? You you can't use your own rules to come into somebody's game. If you want to get into something, you have to go by their standards because it's theirs. I think that's important to understand. A lot of people want to bend the rules and do what they want to do. You can't. It's theirs to do so. So be careful. Be careful about getting caught up in being rich just to uh what did uh guru say? Just to get a rep. You know, be be careful with doing things just so that you can have the appearance of being important or whatever, whatever adjective or verb you want to apply to it, just be careful. Anything in life, anything you want to do in life is substance based. Spend the time and get the substance for whatever you're trying to do, and you'll be okay. It may take a little longer, it may even deem something you can't do or you don't know how to do. But take your time and get the substance. Again, I'm speaking on this because it's going back to classism. We're talking about different classes, and then we're talking about conversations and talking points you're going to have with people, how to identify and when to identify, that you're having a conversation with someone who's in a different class than you. It doesn't make them better, it doesn't make them worse. But classism, being in a different social class or having different optics is an actual thing. And the reason I'm saying it's not a good thing or a bad thing is simple as this. Social classifications, you let's use middle class. If you have someone middle class that was raised in an urban environment and someone middle class that was raised in a rural environment, they're in the same social class, but their optics are different. So you have to understand, you have to yield to a person that's in a rural area doesn't have or has a different set of experiences that someone in the urban area does. So when you ask a simple question, it's simple. If the person from the rural area is asking a simple question to them, it may not be so simple to the person that's in the urban area and vice versa. I'm just saying that we need to be more cognizant of how we're asking or who we're asking about conversations that may be personal or you may be trying to get some understanding, understand who you're talking to and how the optics work. Now, of course, on the on the far side of that, if you operating on or trying to be better or trying to be, you know, middle class, then you can't really have a conversation or trying to be better with someone who's happy with being in lower class or impoverishment. I'm not saying it makes them a bad person. I'm simply saying that you have a different opportunity or a different experience than they do. And you have to understand that. A lot of times people may come to you and ask you for advice because they deem that your experience is something that's helpful to them. So in their mind, they're saying you may operate on a higher social level with them and they're intrigued about how you move and how you got there. That's, you know, that is such a compliment to you. But we have to understand when people are ingratiated by us to be humble enough to just speak to them because everybody matters. I'm not saying any of this to make somebody feel like you're better or less than somebody. I'm simply saying how to recognize how we all are the same, but we all are different as well.

SPEAKER_00 25:11

What's up, everybody? You know, when I first started pastoring, someone came to me and said, People don't want to change. They only want to be entertained while talking about it. So find a way to entertain the people. And simply to say, as the years went by, I found that statement to be more true than I would have liked. You know, so many people are just looking to be entertained. They're trying to look for the next best thing, the next thing to be a part of, the next to create. You know, but if you really wanted to see a transformation in your life, if you really wanted to experience more out of life, you would just commit to what's in front of you. You would engage in the now and be present, commit to the process. Growth is not always entertaining, but the blessing is always sweeter. So stop looking just to be entertained. Let's commit to being better. Let's commit to growing. Let's commit to engaging. Let's commit to the process. Let's do it. Be blessed.

SPEAKER_01 26:08

Welcome back, welcome back. So here's the part where I'm going to use some experience where, you know, a lot of things that we do, there are examples and experiences that may replicate what we're seeing or may offer some insight. So for this, I'm going to show my age and I'm going to speak. We're talking about classism there, and I'm going to speak on the cartoon Fat Albert as a reference point. Now, for all my old heads who understand, and whoever doesn't, I'm talking about the original cartoon. I talk about the movie and think about the original cartoon. And there's a character in there. His name is Rudy. And he is portrayed as being the most affluent of all of the members. Meaning, not even meaning, just he's portrayed to be the most affluent because he's well dressed, and he always seems to have the upper hand on the happenings of the in-crowd. He always wants to say, hey, look, I know what's going on, and you guys don't. You know, he's he's famous for always knowing the know of who he deems to be the in-crowd versus them. So the in-crowd being a different social class. You know, they're hip, they're this, they're that. He deems them more in than out. So he brings the information back to his grassroots, who he he believes is not on the same social level acceptance as where the information came from. Now, one of the famous, famous receiving points of his information is from Russell. Russell always makes a reference to Rudy in all of his allure, in all of his fine threads, and his knowledge of the upper class. And Russell always says to him, You have no class. What do you think that comes from? Talking about classification. He's saying no matter what you have on, no matter what information you have, no matter how snazzy you think you are, you still don't have class, i.e. substance. Income and quality continues to also further polarize the opportunities of communities. You know, it's we're talking about a guy that is, and a couple of times I think they they showed his home, but we're talking about a guy that hangs with other guys, and he always has something smooth or whatever. And the income is an issue, but not an issue. It's the unspoken issue of the gang. It's the unspoken issue. So when Russell says to him, even though the sentiment is he's more polished, he has more money, he has more opportunities, when Russell gives him the sentiment of having, you know, no class, that supports no matter what money is spent, nor appearance that is portrayed. Social class has very little to do with optics or finance. It has very little to do with it. It has very little to do with it. It this is what I was talking about in a second before this about people trying to dress the part. You're trying to dress the part. And that only works so far. Sometimes that gets you in the door, but you can't maintain because it's not who you really are yet. I'm not saying nobody can't reach any kind of level because it's open to everybody. But everything requires work. It just does. Social class is more predicated on your support system and community placement that aligns with society. That's more important. It it's let's say that again. Social class is more predicated on social, or I'm sorry, on support systems and community placement that aligns with society. In short, how do you show up in your community? Who's around you? Who are you influencing? Because a person's a person's ability to influence has a lot to do with their social class, because it's like who's listening to you? And and you have some people that say, I don't, you know, I don't do anything for nobody else, or it's not about anybody, it's all about me. I absolutely agree. But we're talking about if you had something to say, if you decided to go to church or if you went to a PTA, who would listen? No, nobody's saying you have to be a prolific speaker, but I'm saying that what does your presence bring? There's a time, there should be a time in everyone's life where you may come to a place you have to stand up and say something. You got to stand for something. Who is gonna listen? Who is gonna listen to you? That's what's that's a big point. Classism is a real thing and it's a negative thing, but it's fixable. But you have to have the ability to do the work and not cheat yourself about trying to slide up the scale. It's not easy. There's a lot of things that are required about a life we know nothing about, and that's all of us. Because if all of us are trying to be better, which just just in just trying to be better, that's fine. And sometimes in being better, that will allow you opportunities in a different social class. Sometimes that happens naturally. But it's work. We all have to put in work, we we just do that's what needs to happen, that's what we have to do. Like it or not, being better, being better has a little to do with social classification. It does. Man, look. As a parent, as a parent, I I say this and I know for a fact, some parents don't believe this based on what they do. As a parent, your primary goal is to ensure that your children are better than you. So if you were born into the working class, which there's nothing wrong with that, you make it your duty and your passion to get them to the top of that class to give them a chance at a better life than you. That's what parents are supposed to do. I've I I say this and I'm not gonna for the life of me, I don't know why people celebrate a many them. Oh, well, you know, he's just like me. Whoopdie do. What did you do to ensure that your child is better than you? You you don't get any credit for making a clone. You're supposed to, unless, now let me tell you, unless you are, you know, you have your bachelor's and you have your master's and you have it all together, or you have a proficient job where you can get him in and get him a leg up so he can become a provider before 25. Hey, all those things are great. But more times than not, when I hear somebody say that, that is not the case. Because people who do for their family don't talk about it. That's what I've learned. People who do for their family, they don't talk about it, they just do it. That's just that's just what it is for me. Again, classicism is not it's not a positive thing, but I think enough people don't understand it to use as motivation to make it's an actual thing. But I think enough people don't understand what it is to give them fuel to understand it, to navigate it, and to manipulate it to their good. I don't think enough people know. Hence, that's why I'm trying to have this conversation and try to protect people from I'm trying my best not to use negative language. You know what I mean? Let me try this. I'm trying my best to get people to understand that some conversations are never gonna go anywhere because you're talking to people who aren't home. They don't understand the context of your question, they don't understand the depth or the different views of the question. They're simply giving you what they have, which may not be enough to sustain the conversation or the debate. It becomes an argument because they get into their emotions because they don't understand what you're trying to create. Some people love healthy dialogue, but you can't have healthy dialogue with an unhealthy person. That's a bumper sticker. So continue to uphold social classifications is not a bad thing. You just have to understand what it is. Understand what it is and make it work for your good. And again, some people may say, I'm comfortable, I don't need to, you know, I don't need to be on another level, whatever. That's great. But I tell you what, if you choose to be on the level you're at, be there because you want to, not because you have to.

SPEAKER_03 35:57

Do you know? Do you get what you hoping for? When you look behind you, there's no open door. What are you hoping for? Do you know?

SPEAKER_01 36:24

Alright, I got a few more than I'm getting out of here. But I got a couple of juicy ones and I'm getting out of here. I've I've been doing my work on this because I'm passionate about this. This is a really good one for me, and I hope you're enjoying it as well. And again, thank you again for tuning in to Remove the Crowd fourth episode entitled Mahogany. So, I got some statistics for you. Got some statistics, some statistics, some statistics. It says, according to Stanford Student Affair Affairs, a write-up they did, according to them, it says income and quality, income and equality is largely associated with health problems, social immobility, e mobilization. E-mobility says both of them, but I'm gonna say emo e-mobilization. And turning to alternative economics. I've never heard it dressed up that way before. That's kind of cute, which are heavily policed and criminalized, especially in communities of color. So let me do the let me do the cute one first. Let me do that first. Turn into alternative economics. So automatically, a lot of people are gonna say, you know, drugs. This is true. But for people who've been in impoverished neighborhoods, we're talking about piracy, which is the, we're talking about the, you know, back then in the day, the DVDs, the CDs, we're talking about the the fake cologne guy. We're talking about the fake watch, all the boosters, we're talking about all of these things are part of things that unravel a community. All of this, all of these things are ill-gotten economics. It's you you it's Robin Peter to PayPal. And this and this is what they're speaking of. And that's why I said it. They didn't just say drugs. There's a lot of different things that are in our neighborhoods of impoverishment that is beneath the table, selling food stamps, claiming kids in our chores. It's a lot of hustles that we know happen in our neighborhoods that we don't speak on. So I appreciate them for giving the totality of the breakdown of economics in our neighborhoods. It isn't specifically tied to drugs, social immobility, immobility. Now they're saying socially, you just you can't climb, you can't move, you can't do anything because you're comfortable where you're at. You're comfortable. You socially, you don't want to grow. Socially, you're stagnant, you're stuck, and you're happy where you're at, and you become a creature of habit. We know this to be true. We we see this. And I go back to what I said before we went to the break about being better. I don't mean if you ran the if you ran the block, you're gonna fly your son in to run a different block when he becomes of age. That's not what I'm talking about. But that's social immobility. That's what that is. You didn't do anything. You didn't you didn't make sure that your child had a different chance or a different opportunity than you. You just made sure they was alright. That's that's that's not the same thing. Health problems. Again, we're talking about earlier when I said about the neighborhoods impoverished with the vape shops, with the liquor stores, with carryouts, fast food. These things are heavily, heavily, heavily duplicated in impoverished neighborhoods, which leads to health problems. How do you have the most unhealthiest habits in the poorest neighborhood? That's a recipe for health problems. These people have, they're they're underemployed, they don't have health insurance, they have poor health insurance. There's this is a recipe for disaster, which we know, which we call inner city living. They're speaking about it in this student's affair write-up at Stanford. They're talking about it. Within the first sentence, they've covered 90% of the problems that plague impoverished African-American neighborhoods. It plagues them. Next, they said income and quality continues to also further polarize the opportunities and education that children receive, making social and economic mobility difficult, in turn, widening the gap between rich and poor. That probably is the most prominent sentence in the entire podcast. Let me read that again. They said income inequality continues to also further polarize the opportunities and education that children receive, making social and economic mobility difficult, in turn, widening the gap between rich and poor. They're saying this system is set up for children to fail early. If you fail early, then you can't succeed later in most cases. In most cases, they're saying that education is horrible, which we already know to be inner cities. They're saying they do their studies and they're agreeing with me. They're saying that education is just horrible. They're saying that it's the opportunities are not there for kids to receive a decent education so that they can have a better life. They can have a different optic, they can make a difference. Again, this is all these things are centralized in one neighborhood, and this is how it becomes, this is how it becomes a cycle. They don't have a sense of making it out because the system is making sure they don't get out. Hence social class, hence classism. They're saying that your school system is meeting where you is going to meet you where you're at, not inspire you to be better than who you who you think you are. They're admitting it right here. Also, they said, they're saying, they said, many workplaces, organizations, and education spaces are built on classes structures, making it difficult for lower socioeconomic people to navigate and succeed. I just said that. Their system is built on low expectations. In other words, they're saying, well, they don't want nothing no way, so why should we put money or put a structure of education into the school? Why should we do that when they don't want anything based on their social class, which is not true? This is the negative part of classism. It's almost like stereotyping. It isn't even like almost, it is, it's stereotyping. And that's why I said it's important to understand what classism is so you can break the stereotype. Don't fulfill their prophecy. You can let people say, you know, you're sorry, you're this, and it's only true when you believe it yourself and you don't use it as motivation to prove them wrong. Prove them wrong. And for anybody who does not believe that any is possible for anybody, look at LeBron James, one of my favorites. He has the same odds as most of our children in our impoverished neighborhoods, and he sits on top of the world. It is possible for anybody when you stay disciplined and you have a plan and you have a passion to be better. That's simply what it takes. You have to, and of course, you're gonna need some help. You're gonna have to have it, you have to understand how to get around the right people. You have to understand how to seek help, how to seek people. Being better. How to leave negative people alone. Sometimes it's your family. You gotta leave them alone. You're gonna come through different spaces and places in your life where you have a chance to be better or you have a chance to be a part of your family. You can't drag them to where you want to go. News flash. Everybody does not want to be better. I'm gonna say that one more time for the people in the back. Everybody does not want to be better. Accept it. You have to accept that they don't want to be better. And your affiliation, your bloodline has nothing to do with their need or their desire to be better. They just don't want it. And you have to be okay with that. You have to. And final, with this statistic that this write-up that I'm reading on, they said continue to uphold these structures create dire and mortal consequences for all of us. Because the line of divide between the rich and the poor is growing wider and wider. So they're saying that it's creating a whole subset of inferior people because they're so far removed from the opportunity to live in a world, an opportunity to provide for their children. It's almost like creating a third world country in the United States. And if people don't understand it's happening, they're going to be subjected to it. That's why they did this piece. That's what they're talking about, classism. That's why it's so important that you at least understand what classism is. You just need to be better. That's it. If if you have the notion of saying, I want to be better, you constantly tell your children, they tell their children, just think we would be at. Do you understand where we could be at right now if each generation learned what being better is and actually stuck to it? Do you understand where we could be right now? Something as simple as be better. There's no pressure with that. It's just a it's just it is. Being better is simply as simple as this. If I did 200 steps yesterday, I'm gonna do 201 today. That's it. It's just simply being better, something small every single day. That's it. That's it, that's all. I got one more. I got one more, and I'm getting out of here. And I'm gonna go ahead and run it. I'm not even gonna, I'm gonna go ahead and run it. So I'm gonna talk about right now. I'm talking about expectations versus the norms. Expectations versus the norms. This is the sentiment of this is the the underlying sentiment of what I've been talking about this entire podcast. And it goes like this it says some of your disagreements may exist because of difference in social classes and not whatever the face of the disagreement is. If the folks involved in the conversation have different views based on their social classification, there will almost always be a disagreement or misalignment of a meeting point in the conversation. African Americans have eroded the faint lines of social classifications within their community by saturating the stale sentiment we are all the same. And we're not. We're not all the same. I believe that came from the unity fight when it was slavery and discrimination. I believe it was then that we were all unified because the world all saw us as one. The world saw us as nothing. So I think we had to galvanize and unify then. That is an old sentiment that has since, should have since eroded. We're not all one because we all have different opportunities that we're not taking advantage of. Some of us have, some of us hadn't, have not, are not, will not, and therein lies the differences right there. It it I believe the one of the things is said earlier is the social immobility. That means you are happy where you are, and some of us aren't. That and that in itself makes us different. Some people are fine uh being a lifetime renter, other people are just emphatic about not renting nothing. That makes us different. So we're not all the same. We're not, and it's okay. We can have our own social classifications within African-American community. Instead of everybody thinking we're all the same, we're not. And it's nothing wrong with that. The notion, I think that again, I was speaking of this, the notion came from the civil rights movement when the unity was based on how we were seen by as nothing by our oppressors. Once we began to climb and stabilize the structure of social classes, the less motivated began to guilt the others with the thoughts like, you think you're better than me. Hmm, you're judging me. You forgot where you came from. And a lot of times these naysayers are your close friends or your family. And I know you've heard somebody say all three of those. You think you're better than me. You know, oh, you forgot where you came from. Well, maybe they want to forget where they came from. Maybe they did the amount of work it takes to get to go different than where they came and they don't want to remember it. That's not a bad thing. It's not a bad thing. Look, it's it's their choice. If somebody wants to move on and not be reminded of something that's traumatic to them, that's on them. You can't guilt somebody to come back into the hood because they don't want to. Just as though it works the opposite way, too. You have some people who don't like being in the suburbs. They want to go in the inner city. You can't make them feel bad. Oh, you want to live in town with them. Who is them? They might want to live an urban life around different ethnicities and a lot of music and a lot of things going on. That doesn't make them any worse than anybody else. But we all have to accept the fact that people want to do something different in which they believe is improving their life and stop guilting them because you're stagnant, because you don't want to do anything. There are so many people in our specific culture, African Americans, who don't want to do nothing with their life and they get and they want to sit here and try to hold you down and guilt you about what they're not doing. And then because you're not motivated, because you're happy with being, if you're happy with being in section eight, I don't want to be in section nine. I don't, and I'm okay with that. Let me go. And that's it. You know, it's the shaming of education and growth has crippled the structure of our culture so badly that is needed today. Yes, that is a fact, and that comes within. We shame education and growth, and it has crippled us how we show up in the world. We make fun of people who articulate clearly. We make fun of young males who may be more sensitive or more intact with their emotions than the other ones who don't have that. When in reality and the studies show you weren't given that. So now you're mad at this young man because he's more emotionally stable than you are because you didn't get it. You're making him feel bad because he has a better balance or better, uh, I don't want to say better. Let me let me not say that because it doesn't mean that. He has an understanding of his emotions more so than someone else. That doesn't make him worse than you. It doesn't make him better either. But it's not a it's not a talking point to make somebody feel bad, but that's what we do. You know, it's oh, you have an education, you think you're better than me. No, your lack of education makes you feel inferior to me. Two things can be true in the same space. So let's start talking about that. If you bring up my education or you bring up something I'm doing and you tie to me better than you, what you're saying is your inferiority is making you speak right now. And that needs to be addressed. It does. We have to stop tearing each other down and understand what it's gonna take to move our entire, our entire race to a better place. We do, and we have a lot of work to do, we have a lot of mud to get off of us, we have a lot of knife to take out each other's backs, we have a lot of stuff we have to do, and we got to get going on it because it's just not gonna get any better. That's all I got. I appreciate everybody tuning in. And this is a very passionate and sensitive topic for me. I appreciate you guys tuning in. And if any point I feel like I was rambling, I'm sorry. It's it's also personal, but I just want to get it out about classism, about social classes, and about how we can be better and how we show up in the world and how we owe our children the opportunity to be better. We owe that to them. You guys enjoy yourself. Enjoy this podcast. Tune in next time. Thank you again for all your support. Everything and anything you ever wanted to do in life comes through God. I appreciate you all. Until next time, I love you guys.