You are not Alone ! - 914 United

Jonathan Alvarez sits down to share the raw, transformative journey that took him from Yonkers streets to a 13-year prison sentence and ultimately to founding a movement that's changing lives throughout Westchester County.Growing up in Southwest Yonkers' predominantly Latino neighborhoods, Alvarez navigated territorial conflicts and street life before a violent confrontation at 17 resulted in manslaughter charges. Rather than allowing prison to define him, he turned to education, progressing from his GED to a bachelor's degree through the prestigious Bard Prison Initiative. His academic explorations led him to study the connections between urban fashion trends and institutional racism, analyzing how communities use style as resistance against systemic oppression.The conversation delves deeply into Alvarez's post-release struggles with mental health, family reconnection, and the pressure to return to familiar street activities despite his educational achievements. His emotional breakdown became the catalyst for founding 9-1-4 United, built on the simple yet powerful mantra: "You're Not Alone." This organization now provides crucial safe spaces for formerly incarcerated individuals and at-risk youth to process trauma and build new lives.What makes this discussion particularly powerful is Alvarez's willingness to challenge traditional masculine expectations about emotional vulnerability. As he explains, "We can't do life alone," addressing how the stigma around mental health for men of color often leads to destructive outcomes. His work as a credible messenger—someone with lived experience who can authentically reach those in similar situations—demonstrates the vital importance of representation in community intervention.Want to witness the transformative work happening through 9-1-4 United? Visit their YouTube channel or website at 914united.or

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• 17:50 (Cont.) You are not Alone ! - 914 United

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:11

what's going on, everybody? It's ron brown lmt, the people's fitness professional, alongside my co-host mikey fever, I know you're tired bros.

Speaker 2: 0:19

For the long I even hit the wrong sound effects hold on.

Speaker 1: 0:23

I even hit the wrong sound effects hold on a long week. A lot going on this podcast is picking up a lot happening with this podcast work life and all of that man, thank you for coming out. Jonathan Alvarez J-O, that's the name. Uh, you know you met mikey fever. Can y'all explain? You were just explaining how you, how you guys met, yeah bro go ahead so it's.

Speaker 3: 0:59

It's great how you know people can connect right just in like happenstance. So, um, where he was at getting his sandwiches in a community called pelham, where I just moved into here in westchester, and we were hosting an event, um, a couple weeks out from the day that I met him, I was handing out flyers and just happened in the store he took a flyer. Whatever, I'm like yo, let's link. I told him what I do. He's like yo, I got a podcast, y''m from Brooklyn, boom, we connect.

Speaker 3: 1:24

And then again by happenstance, the day of the event, he's at a red light while me and the team is outside the movie theater. Just happened to wait for the guests to come in. And I'm like yo, what up when we connect? Like yo, yeah, I'm like listen, come in, man, free ticket for you. Man was like all right, whatever, he hopped out. Then he got to see, like you know what I was putting together and kind of like the story behind the movement. You know I'm saying so it kind of was dope where it lined up right before the interview. You know I'm saying giving him real insight because I could tell you, I could show you, coming into a space in real time is like it's the best way to get to know a person powerful powerful bro for sure.

Speaker 1: 2:02

So you, you just moved to pelham, so are you from brooklyn nah, I'm from yonkers originally.

Speaker 3: 2:08

Okay, I mean, I'm a yonkers native, right? So, as you hear from my story, I kind of told the realm yeah, why, uh, why you're in the building and um, yeah, man. So I happened to just move from the bronx. I was living in thrice net with my partner and we came close to my office for now, before United is in Yonkers, we do a lot of work throughout the lower Hudson Valley in Westchester, so I came close to the home in Pelham. It's a great community, great village. There's a lot of affluency here. Plus, it's really like kind of that suburban vibe, low-key out the way. And so now we here. You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 1: 2:41

Right, Indeed, you know what I'm saying. Right, indeed, indeed, indeed. So you're from, you're from Yonkers, but you moved to the Bronx and then went to Pelham.

Speaker 3: 2:52

Basically so in real terms. Me, you know, I traveled. I did a lot of times. So, coming home, I parked in Yonkers. I was living in Yonkers for a while and then, when I got my independence, I moved out on my own. I lived in Bronxville, borderline of Yonkers, another wealthy village. I got plugged in there. Then me and my partner got together in 2020 and then we moved to Throsnick and I was there for two years and then now we're here in Pelham.

Speaker 1: 3:19

That's peace, that's peace. I love Throsnick man. Throsnick is my spot. I like it over there, yeah, beautiful section.

Speaker 3: 3:26

We had a great situation. Private beach in the backyard man. I love the East Tremont area. You have a little bit of everything over there, like the food, the spots.

Speaker 1: 3:36

Good vibe Indeed, so you look about around 30.

Speaker 3: 3:40

Man, that's a compliment, brother, I'm 36.

Speaker 1: 3:44

I turned 37 this year, yeah yeah, yeah, so you around that area, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, all right. So you came up in, so you kind of came up with us, but you didn't come up with us. We're a little bit older than you. We're a little bit older than you, but you know the Jada Kisses, you know the Little Bra. You came up in that 50 Cent, all that era, for sure. You still with us.

Speaker 3: 4:06

All right, cool, cool, cool For sure I was on Get Rich or Die, try and Tatted Kisses From my Town. Stassby was one of my favorite rappers. So was Lil Wayne. I was on that call to three and all that. Yeah, man.

Speaker 2: 4:17

None of that.

Speaker 3: 4:20

That Lil Mumble rap yeah.

Speaker 1: 4:24

So break your journey down, like so you're from YO, how is it, how is it out there in YO? I go to YO from time to time, from time to time, and YO, to me, is like it's like. It's like it's like Newark mixed with the Bronx.

Speaker 3: 4:45

I mean I can't speak for the Newark part, but I definitely speak for the Bronx part. You know what I'm saying. But that's kind of a good distinction. So you know, at one point Yonkers and the Bronx was actually one borough, right. So they consider Yonkers the lowest borough, like in the 1800s there was a division.

Speaker 3: 5:05

When I get asked that question, it's kind of interesting because I always refer back to my times and I think of Yonkers as like a mix of the Bronx, a little bit of like different parts of the city. I feel like we're a combination of everything in the city, right. But then you look at right now today with Yonkers, look like it look different. I won't even know what to call Yonkers in terms of a borough, but at one time I felt like we kind of got like always associated with the Bronx, a little bit of Harlem, right.

Speaker 3: 5:29

You know, it's kind of like, you see, depending where you at in the town, kind of gave you like a reflection of a certain borough. You know what I mean. But it kind of like its own hybrid combination approach, right, but depending where you at, man, man, like you got certain parts of the town that's like seems suburban but there's a whole underground economy, right like outside the trenches, is right in front, but you wouldn't like kind of like see it. Then you go to a certain part of town where it looked like you wouldn't be more. You know, I'm saying like, meaning it's like the wire right like it's like it's obvious, like over here it's gonna be trenchy, so kind of like, depending where you at right, indeed, indeed.

Speaker 1: 6:06

So so coming up in yonkers, how is that exactly like? I mean, I always reference this every time I speak to people about their history. Uh, I always go into the crack era. Why? Because it was just, it was impact. It impacted my life. You know, I'm saying, and I saw a lot in that era. So I like to kind of like hear where what other people saw and how their life turned out after seeing that or having that experience. Did you experience that era?

Speaker 3: 6:43

yeah, nah, not the crack era. Um, I mean, brothers in my like in my hood we would, they were selling crack, right, but, like, when I think of the cracker, I think about like the epidemic where everybody was smoking. It was a different experience, connection to the trenches, right, right. Um, now I feel like my like when I think about my life as a young teen because, mind you, I I left young, I did time young, so I don't really think of the crack ever as something that's like impactful, right, and then, given my experiences with my father, my mother, like you know, they weren't really on that. You know what I'm saying. So, yeah, I feel like I don't really have a connection to the crack ever in that way.

Speaker 2: 7:23

Probably the aftermath. Probably the aftermath. You know what the destruction that it did For sure 100%.

Speaker 3: 7:30

I grew up. I seen crackers Don't get me wrong. We seen crackers in the hood, people selling crack. I never sold crack, I sold weed. That was my thing coming up. I was a weed dealer. I was moving weed, but not really for some reason. The one thing I could say then, if anything was being a young dealer, was like you knew, crack was a different level of crime. Right, it came with a different level of attention. The feds was on it, like them, boys was on it, like you could sell weed. I mean then it was a big deal. But like crack and coke was a different hit. I kind of like knew how to navigate that Plus the weed was still moving. So I kind of was like I could stay under the radar. I touched this, not that. So I kind of knew the level of like in terms of I'm different.

Speaker 2: 8:14

The degree, the degree of um crime definitely, most, most definitely. There's no coming back from that crack. Like you know the imprisonment, the time, the rock full of drug lords, you know the war that it brings, like weed, you know it's not really at that level but yeah, the crack it comes with a lot, a lot of repercussions with that, most definitely indeed.

Speaker 1: 8:31

So now coming up in yonkers, what was it like growing up then? So, was it like a hip-hop town? Was it like? You know? Like, because I'm from harlem? Harlem is about getting fly, you, you know girls, you know what I'm saying, hustling things like that. You know what I mean. You know. Fighting, of course, fighting, and then you know we know how to go further than that.

Speaker 1: 8:54

You know what I mean. So that's what Harlem is about. You know what I'm saying. So you know. And Brooklyn, you know Brooklyn keeps on taking it. They have their reputation. You know I'm saying. So what? What is why? Your experience about?

Speaker 3: 9:12

I mean definitely hip-hop, right, especially where we come from. Right, we got mary j, we got dmx, we got the locks right. So, like, when I think about so, my experience is a little different. Right, so I grew up in the southwest, southwest of yonkers was more predominantly latino. You know what I'm saying. But we, the different latinos, like we not know, you know Latinos, like we brothers of long hair, we be on timing, so we kind of, you know, we wore, we was of the trend, right, like when champion hoodies and ACGs was popping, like you know, we look like state property when state property was popping, like we are basically imitating what the world's imitating, right, when you know, camera on the whole hauling way was moving. We were wearing long tees too, right, like long tees, yeah, remember that. Right, long jerseys, big tees, right, you know.

Speaker 3: 9:53

So I look at yonkers like kind of again a reflection of the barrels, right, like we kind of imitate in the um trend of the times. You know I'm saying so. But yeah, I think we know different. I just think what you could. No, let me not say that we know different in that we just like the Berbers, but what you see is a little bit of Harlem, a little bit of Bronx. You might see a little bit of Queens vibes, depending on what groups you're dealing with. You know what I'm saying from yonkers hung out in harlem or hung out in queens right, or are originally from the bronx but now they moved up and grew up in yonkers. So, like you kind of get a little bit of everything if that makes sense yeah, for sure, for sure.

Speaker 1: 10:31

So I mean. So you said the southwest is more, more latino, right, latino?

Speaker 3: 10:38

right at one point. At one point, yeah, kind of changed because of gentrification right, indeed.

Speaker 1: 10:43

so now, um, let's say in harlem, we know Spanish Harlem, that's basically Boricua, we already know that, right, el Barrio and all that. So now in Yonkers, what is the groups? Is it Puerto Rican, dominican, mexican? I mean, like you say, latin, but how many different Latin groups? A?

Speaker 3: 11:08

hundred percent. Yeah, so right now I think so. One thing about my hood so we have more. It was Puerto Rican, dominican, primarily. So if you think about the Southwest at a certain time, like the 90s, early 2000s, two hoods come to mind Lawrence Street, elliott, like the Bloods and the Crips. Lawrence Street Elliott, like the Bloods and the Crips. I'm originally from Lawrence Street, lawrence and South Grove is my stomping grounds. I caught my case on that side of town. I was trapped on that side of town. My brothers, my old comrades are still on the corners, right, they still from those communities, right. So always kind of like Latino Puerto Ricans, but a little bit of Blacks, kind of mixed in that group right On both sides.

Speaker 3: 11:41

Some may argue that elliot had more puerto ricans than dominicans versus lawrence, right, but again, those two groups. Then we had, on saint andrews, you had the vato locos, right, that's the mexican gang, right south america, yeah, and then their like, like, like their adversary was aztec prize. So, and this is interesting Aztec prize and Elliott kind of was like on the same side, while Vato Loc was at one point and Lawrence Street was on the same side. It's not like that today, though. So, yeah, you had the Mexican South American groups and you had the Puerto Ricans, dominicans primarily, but no big groups of like Cubans, no big groups of Colombians, no big groups of like El Salvador, no big groups of Colombians, no big groups of like El Salvadorians, right Like it was more Puerto Ricans and Dominicans, kind of. When we talk about the southwest side.

Speaker 1: 12:32

So Puerto Ricans, dominicans and Mexicans, so now, so that's what I'm used to. You know, I'm saying like how I came up, how I grew up. I was always around Puerto Ricans, dominicans, and then you had Mexicans as well. Also, you know, I grew up in the city, so we had some Peruvians and Ecuadorians and stuff Very diverse.

Speaker 1: 12:52

Yeah, but mainly Puerto Rican, Mexican and Dominican. So you said that you had Bloods and Crips up there, and that was the Latin, that would be the Latin faction of Bloods and Crips there, and that was the Latin, that would be the Latin faction of Bloods and Crips.

Speaker 3: 13:06

No, the magnitude of the war between Elliot and Lawrence was like Bloods versus Crips. Oh yeah, the magnitude of when you say Lawrence or Elliot, you know old time of between I'll say 30s and up and you're like yo, what's up with this Lawrence or Elliot war? It was bloody war, it was serious. So that was the and as I got to see both sides and I can speak more, for my side started to adopt more of the blood culture. You know what I'm saying. So where right now in my hood the young boys is Mack Ballers, primarily Mack Ballers, but that's the younger generation. They all primarily black, African-American. Now some of the brothers my age, even like a year or two older than me, some of my bros, they were blood as well and I remember a time where I was told some of the brothers was like converting over in my hood to being blood. But I don't know how far, how deep they was in that, because today they not repping that, you know what I'm saying Absolutely.

Speaker 1: 14:07

That was all Mack Ballers over there. So that's all Mack Ballers in Lawrence Street. You're saying yeah?

Speaker 3: 14:13

right, yeah, yeah so that's crazy.

Speaker 2: 14:16

As you said, that gang epidemic basically spread throughout the whole state, basically.

Speaker 3: 14:21

Oh, 100%. It looked crazy, like the work I do I'm involved in gang intervention work so like it's hard to keep up with, right? So we know evolution is constant, it's going to happen, exactly, but what it looks like could be mind-blowing. Right, you have hybrids. Right, you have crypts hanging out and merging with bloods versus crypts and bloods. Now, it's not even what we, you know, it was the kings that you know. Blood, the crypts, now things are merging. So, yeah, time is weird, man.

Speaker 1: 14:51

Yeah, can't hold it yeah, times is weird, man, yeah, can't hold it, okay. Okay. So now things are merging and uh, I think, uh, nowadays, you know I'm not, I'm not really in tune with what was going on. Uh, I'm, I'm like still in the 90s, basically early 2000s, you know what I'm saying like I know the, the woo and the cho and all of that I know is that popping up here?

Speaker 3: 15:15

Nah, that was more Brooklyn thing. That's more Brooklyn, yeah, yeah, that was more Brooklyn, unfortunately.

Speaker 2: 15:21

I feel for the young and this is why, like, I respect what the brother's doing up there. You understand he's bringing guidance to them and you know, when we go further into the interview you hear a lot more and I wish you guys could have seen the short film that what that was played Like. It was a lot, a lot of good testimonies, man.

Speaker 3: 15:39

You could direct the audience to our YouTube channel. We got the videos on the YouTube for 9-1-4 United. You could Google 9-1-4 United and the two short films will come up 9-1-4 United.

Speaker 1: 15:50

I want to get to 9-1-4 United. I want to get to 9-1-4 United. But before we do, I want to kind of, like you know, break your history down a little bit. Just give us a little bit and a little bit of Yonkers. So you grew up in Yonkers, you know you was trapping weed and all that, and then you got knocked right. And then you did how long got knocked right?

Speaker 3: 16:14

And then you did how long I knocked for man one, not for weed, really. I did almost 13 years. Okay, 17 to 30. Wow, yeah. So I was trapping from like 12, 13. I got kicked out of school. 15, 17,. I ended up in prison.

Speaker 1: 16:31

Wow, okay. And then when you came out Well at your stay In prison, you went up north. Where up north?

Speaker 3: 16:44

I did like six facilities. I traveled a little bit. I was in Sing Sing, I was in Comstock, I was in Katsaki, I was in Easton, I was in Woodburn. You know what I'm saying? I went to the box one time. So like I definitely had my travels, Indeed.

Speaker 1: 16:57

So your experience up there, of course, up there, is still blooded out right, you mean like the gang up there.

Speaker 3: 17:45

Yeah, it's a different world up there, right, it's not blooded out, right, I mean the bloods are overwhelming. But yeah, you got so like burrows hold a lot of weight too. You know what I'm saying. Like the brooklyn court was strong, yonkers and sing, sing, now for united. I mean I said now for united, now before had a court. Um, albany strong, right, rochester strong. Then you got the rat hunters, the kings, they got their own situation. Then you got the jamaicans and the caribbean brothers over there, like.

Speaker 3: 18:16

So it's like a whole segregation, you know I'm saying and so brothers might be from the bronx but they blood, so they with the bloods brothers might be, you know I'm saying from manhattan, but they came there with the kings. Brothers might be from the bronx but they dominican, so they were the dominicans. You know what I'm saying. So it's like very segregated. And then you got your neutrals, that kind of navigate. Like myself I was neutral, you know what I mean. I never became a formal gang member. The only gang I banged was my hood, but that was like a brotherhood, that was a local street thing, right, and then coming up north kind of early on, due to my situation due to being told on like we get into all that and how I kind of ended up in prison and traveling for almost 13 years for stepping up for somebody else's situation and then it going left and I ended up with all the time.

Speaker 1: 19:04

Ooh, okay. So you know, since we're going there you know, I didn't know if you were comfortable with talking about all that Okay, let's get it. Okay, cool. So so what happened? Yeah, not for sure, I got articles, bro.

Speaker 3: 19:20

I got articles, podcasts, on my story. Bro, I spoke on earn your leisure. Like I've done a lot of storytelling, I own it right. So I'm 17 at the time. I was trapping, I was really getting some money and I was like the leader of my little crew basically. So when a lot of things happened, I was the first call Long story, short brother who ended up telling on me had. So it's crazy.

Speaker 3: 19:41

I kind of learned the call of what sparked the incident years later, like through the great round of getting the piece together. But I get a call that some brothers came through my certain that came through my hood and they jumped three of my bros on some off guard, right like physical combat. We get the call, we go handle it and, mind you, like we could have had it, you know, when it got the grip and handled it one way. But at the time, like my team was wild, like we fighting all the time, stabbing, shooting, like things is normal, right, even though for me and I always said this like every time I went to go put in work I never liked it, it wasn't my thing, but I was always on the front line. Of course, below you I'm also got a lot of heart. I was always wise for my age, you know I'm saying so we could talk it out. We talk it out, we got to knuckle it out whatever cases, right. But in this situation was like I, we don't need that the grip, let's go, just go take care of this. I knew one of the brothers that was involved. I called the brother. I'm like yo, what's the word on this? Like I'm hearing that you just came through, y'all violated y'all, come see y'all. Now. We framed the situation like yo, tell someone come downstairs, you're gonna shoot the fade with the bro and we already was armed up, we and we get there and like just what it is.

Speaker 3: 20:51

I tell people off the strength, like of the truth, right, like I didn't go to this scene with the intent of murder. I'm saying I went there to put in some work. This was normal. So, interestingly, like there's a part of my story where, so my case was he died by the bat. I beat him down. You know what I'm saying, but that was his back.

Speaker 3: 21:14

So, interestingly, on my way over there I picked up this is crazy, like I was thinking about that. I picked up a battle for a random, uh, uh, front yard, somebody that was with me, like yo, bro, you don't need that. Like we never use that right, like you, right, I'm hot, I'm walking with this big old bat. I toss it when I get get there. You know, god rest his soul, because I also got my remorse for the victim he came with that. He's the older brother of the brother that transgressed on my brother. You know what I'm saying. And then we get to the situation and I kind of saw a reg, you know what I'm saying. So I charged the situation Kind of rumbles, kind of happening.

Speaker 2: 21:49

I beeline to the brother and you know, know, he made a decision, got disarmed eventually and I made a series of decisions that you know, I'm saying, took his life it's crazy how you said that, like you know the dialogue, you know it could have went to the point of having a dialogue, but they already inflicted pain on your brother. So I understand. So it was just being young charged up, you just, you know it's a natural reaction. Instead of responding, you just reacted. You know what I'm saying. So that's understandable, right there, right?

Speaker 1: 22:25

So he passed on. Like so, what was the scenery like after that? Like so, after you did what you did, right you know, you defended yourself because he attacked you, right?

Speaker 3: 22:38

so you, know I try to, I try to use a self-defense, but the consequence, the wounds and everything, it was self-defense is like you hit the person, he died one time, right, but this was like kind of an overkill. In essence, you know I'm saying so, it wasn't. The defense went out the window once I was ready to be aggressive. You know what I'm saying. But yes, it was more. I mean, it depends how you frame it right, because I'm charging him and he's on time and two, and then he's backing me down. You know what I'm saying. So it wasn't like he hit me and it's like and I just kind of woke and kind of turned to something else yeah, well, it's like this right, like, if you hold on, what did you?

Speaker 1: 23:16

you did what you had to do. That's what I was saying yeah, it happens, combat I mean, what are you gonna do, like it's either your life or his?

Speaker 2: 23:23

you know, and so facts and people gotta understand.

Speaker 2: 23:27

Whenever men engage in combat you know I'm saying from what saying how I was raised is that either somebody got to go to the hospital or somebody got to die. This is why men don't like engaging in combat. If we could have dialogue first, be respectable towards one another as adults, that's cool. But once it leads to arms it never ends pretty. It's quick to escalate because it's passion involved. You know what I'm saying now. I'm angry, you're angry and we just you know yeah, it's preventative, indeed, indeed.

Speaker 1: 23:58

So now, after that happened, you go, you get arrested. Where's the first place you go?

Speaker 3: 24:05

uh, first I go to bookings, obviously, then I go to county right and once they up my charge, um, it's a murder. Like now I'm sitting in the county fighting a whole situation. I sat in county for like a little less than a year before I copped out to manslaughter and I was there and then from there I traveled to the state okay, now what had you moving different spots?

Speaker 3: 24:32

So when you first land in depending like when it's 07, I'm landing in Sing Sing You're given a certain status. You're either transit or you're GP general population At the time. Transit means you can stay in Sing Sing for one day to a year. Some people were able to convert their status over to GP so they could stay, stay close, because since thing is like 15, 20 minutes from the town, so people trying to stay close to the home I was transit for seven months basically got shipped to uh, comstock. Right now I'm in comstock. It's a whole nother world gladiator school. Everybody know about comstock, it's a whole nother world. Up there I'm navigating, getting a lot of experiences though you know I'm saying connecting with some brothers and then I got an educational transfer. So when you're staying out the way, you're trying to get closer back to home, you just don't catch a ticket for x amount of time and then you could put in for educational transfer and that's like I want to further my education. So they'll send you back to a school where they got education. So Sing Sing was the school I was trying to get back to. So I made that my first option and I got plugged into Sing Sing. So I went back to Sing Sing.

Speaker 3: 25:38

I was in Sing Sing for like three years. I was doing good. I had a couple of situations going on. I was married, I was trying to get into college. I got into my first kind of real situation with the older brother and I went to the box for four months. Now my brother told on me, right, so I go to the box for months. But I only did like 80, like 70-something days. Out of that I got shipped to Katsaki from the box. I went to long-term keep lock. So now I'm in Katsaki. Katsaki is a whole nother world of oppression. It's a mental war. I was there for like about two years and then some brothers trying to really get out of there. They take all kinds of means, attempt new charges, all kinds of things to get up out of there.

Speaker 3: 26:26

I'm like I understand the system. It's like you digging yourself a deeper hole. So I stood out the way I navigated, I ain't getting to nothing I was. I was real chill and militant, like in my bed. I wasn't, you know, I wasn't doing nothing too crazy. And, um, I put it for education transfer to get out of Kassaki, and that that landed me in Eastern. So now I'm in Eastern.

Speaker 3: 26:46

Easton was viewed as like an honor gym, like everybody trying to go over there. The food, different trailers are more frequent. Closer to home you can wear certain things, the freedoms and luxuries, the workout that's just one of the best gyms in the state. So it was one of those like appealing gyms, like you didn't worry about violence and a lot going on with police. You could navigate it real easy. And then from Easton I got shipped to woodburn because my classification dropped and then from woodburn I went back to eastern because I had got accepted into the bachelor's program. So that's part of my journey.

Speaker 3: 27:24

Yeah, word that I got into a college program. Um, yeah, called bar prison initiative. From bar college once I got my associates born went up to the ba program and they only at the time had the bachelor's program at eastern, so I got shit back to eastern. So basically the transfer is due to some. It was only one real incident that, like I got myself involved in one other scenario, was I had no choice because of my status and then everything else was me navigating the system intentionally trying to get to a certain job. I got you. I have a question.

Speaker 2: 27:55

I have a question, brother. First, what inspired you to get back into the education? And two, did you find, like most brothers go to prison, they find religion or anything like that. What was the inspiration to make you want to further your education?

Speaker 3: 28:08

Yeah, no, that's a good question. I think I've always. I was always a curious learner. I think I always wanted to learn, right like, even as a young kid, I think I always was relatively smart, but I never tapped into that. And I think when you got a lot of time on your hands, right like, I think, naturally you're going to gravitate to certain things, right? Some people gravitate to writing poetry, some start doing art. I went to reading and the more I started to read, I started to learn.

Speaker 3: 28:34

The more I learned, the more I fell in love with learning yeah but then I kind of was like just fond of the idea of learning and spending my time building my mind basically. And then when kind of I kind of foresaw like yo, in order for me to come home and really level up, I gotta level myself up, I gotta invest into myself. So you know whether it's me believing into the dominant you know ideas around college. I saw college as a way out I'm like you know what I'm gonna get?

Speaker 3: 29:02

my gd I got because I went in with no education, got my gd. Now I'm motivated like what? Once you achieve that first goal, you're like wait, I could, I could up it, you could do more. And part of the inspiration that spoke to my internal interest was like brothers that I have a lot of respect for, that were in college and these are gangsters and I'm saying that's walking the yard like lions and well respected, but they polishing themselves up. So now they giving me what it looked like and now I take this route. This is actually where's it at. Now I'm like you know what, looking at that and then me wanting to learn, I saw opportunity and I just jumped on it. You know what I'm saying. Then I got into a really great college program and then that really opened up my mind. Religion, the only religion, like I went to the mosque and I kind of like was fond of islam and you know I wasn't converting.

Speaker 3: 29:55

It wasn't my thing. Same thing with christianity study christianity and catholicism wasn't my thing. Where I really got connected to was buddhism. You know, man the zen. Yeah, it was more of an individualized kind of like religion where it was like you versus you. You know what I mean and I felt like I didn't really have to respond to no master. I felt like my thing against religion is the way the structure is set up, where it's like there's this higher.

Speaker 2: 30:24

Talk about it.

Speaker 3: 30:25

Humanized. Talk about it. Humanized right Kind of idea of what is controlling man, and I kind of got into my whole energy believing in the universe and buddhism kind of just in its own way fit into that. But I kind of started practicing meditation. I was like I kind of jacked it, started reading on it and I kind of got. But I never really became like a full buddhist right, like I just take some of the principles right, so we're, you know, you walk around with the instant sticks and just yeah, I never really became like a full Buddhist right, like I just take some of the principles right, so work.

Speaker 2: 30:52

You didn't walk around with the incense sticks and just yeah, nah, Nah, I respect that. That's beautiful man, that's very you know, because I see, like a lot of brothers that go through that situation of being incarcerated, they don't take that time to use it as transformative and you are the epitome of that. You represent that. Watching you when you're conducting that show speaks so poised you couldn't tell this dude has been incarcerated unless he tells you. You know what I'm saying, Ron. I know some brothers walk around. They be like he doesn't display those characteristics.

Speaker 1: 31:29

I'm going to tell you what he does have, though. He has that heavy New York accent, though Straight up. Yo you know he's from New York, really I never.

Speaker 3: 31:44

Yeah, I can hear it.

Speaker 1: 31:45

I can hear it. That's what I was thinking. I was thinking maybe from Brooklyn, but then 914 United, I was like, okay, I'll put it together. I mean then you yeah, me too. I never realized that. You know, I never realized I had a New York accent until I moved up here and I was around people and they was like that's how you say that, that's not how you say it, you say it this way. I'm like, oh wow, I'm just using it like this.

Speaker 2: 32:12

You know what I'm saying. I work out there. I see the difference man with some characteristics, with some individuals, I'll be like, yeah, I don't really fit in.

Speaker 1: 32:21

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I see in that area where I met the brother at.

Speaker 2: 32:24

You know that area is just so calm, so working up there is different. It's just so calm, so working up there is different. When I'm up there I'm like, yeah, they probably see me as aggressive and I'm not even aggressive, I'm very slow-spoken, but it's just to them. They're like, yeah, he can tell you from the city.

Speaker 1: 32:39

That is an interesting word, indeed. So now, after going through what you went through then, you went through college. So you got your GED, you got your associates your GED, you got your associates and you got your bachelors.

Speaker 3: 32:52

Yeah, I got my bachelor's in social studies.

Speaker 1: 32:55

In social studies, that's peace Black on black. Peace man. Islam. Salaam shalom hotep ashe blessa.

Speaker 2: 33:02

All that good stuff.

Speaker 1: 33:03

All that, all that.

Speaker 2: 33:04

Bindi Sean.

Speaker 1: 33:07

What did they say in the Buddhist community?

Speaker 3: 33:11

I wouldn't know.

Speaker 2: 33:13

That was the Santeria Ifa stuff Like Bindi Sean yeah.

Speaker 1: 33:19

So after doing all that right, then you get home. What's the first thing you did when you got home?

Speaker 3: 33:26

Man, I came home to a lot of love my bros, you know family, my moms, and it's crazy, like I I laugh about it, but I wanted steak and eggs. I wanted steak and eggs and and my bros really take me to like five stars. I'm like man, we go to yonkers diner. So we went to yonkers diner. They, like you, really want to eat this. Like I'm like yo, this is, this is a five star for me right now. Like you know, I kind of um, yeah, we went to the diner. You mean, like my first thing I did, like that, oh yeah, yeah, that too, that too.

Speaker 1: 33:56

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that all count, yeah for sure no.

Speaker 3: 33:59

So that that's the first thing I made it, but not in terms of coming home and transition and I think, like so I came home with a plan right and it's kind of interesting, what I'm doing now was not the plan, what I was wanting to do then. So so, speaking to my undergrad, I studied fashion trends and urban poverty, so I got to really understand why, like black and brown communities dress the way we dress conspicuously high-end designers and I'd spent two years of independent research for my senior thesis and I traced what I argued was the origin of what of what we was known as ghetto fashion to the jim crow south early first great migration period, early 1900s oh, we gotta bring you back on yeah, he asked, bro, I told you man mind to take my hat when I, when I connect, we talk, I'm like nah, I gotta, I gotta talk to this dude bro.

Speaker 3: 34:47

Yeah, now I appreciate that. So, long story short man like I really delved into fashion differently. And y'all from Brooklyn, right? Nah, he from Brooklyn, I'm from Harlem, okay, so you definitely know about the low-lives. Yeah, oh, sure, so my. So I was there with the founders, but with two of the founders Dark Low and Ralph Lowe. Ralph Lowe's my big bro. He's one of the founders of the Low Lives. He was in Eastern with me.

Speaker 3: 35:12

So I, actually one of my brothers was like yo, you should look at the Low Lives as a movement and their influence on fashion, of fashion as it relates to different forms of institutional racism. Because I kind of delved into how certain trends that we look at, looking at the zoos, the 80s, during mass incarceration I use al poe as an example a lot of us were reacting to, to form, to different forms of exclusion, and looking a certain way to tap into a certain space right became why we start to really kind of adopt and really material like, have so much love for materialism. And it's because it's a coping mechanism, right, when you're dealing with systemic inequity for so many years. We feel good when we dress a certain way, but we could be poor as hell, right, there's a psychology behind it, right. And I got into the history to help us understand why certain people dress the way they dress. And I looked at the low lives as an example how big fashion companies, fashion empires, start to basically capitalize on what black and brown communities use as a way to kind of counter express their resistance against institutional racism. This isn't always a conscious effort. Sometimes it's a subconscious effort, right. So we look at, like, even the way fubu was kind of merged, what it stood for it was exclusive, it was countering white culture. Yeah, right so. But then you got companies like ralph florin that would capitalize on that trend and make it their own. And that's exactly what happened with the low life. So there was like this unspoken dialogue between both the fashion empire and fashion groups. So I kind of got real deep into this whole situation. So it inspired for me to really I want to be a fashion curator. When I came on I was like I'm gonna be a curator. I want to translate my senior thesis. The name of the thesis was called um a dialectic between ghetto fashion and structural violence and ongoing struggle for power and capital. So it's kind of looking at this kind of historical thing and fashion is how. That's how that's how it emerged in a lot of times and periods in american history.

Speaker 3: 37:21

So, coming home in 2018, my first move was like yo apply to apply to Parsons, because Parsons, the new school, was the heart of the fashion and I'm like I'm going to go for the gusto. So I came home, I caught a little odd job Quit that. The first day. I was like, nah, that's not me. And then I started getting connected to opportunities, but none of it was in fashion. And that was my journey. Coming home and I think you know, mike, you've seen the video Like, basically, me in school, I'm working here, I'm working here trying to get into the fashion industry, but it was like really hard. I'm over here serving tables, you know what I'm saying and, mind you, the whole time I got brothers in the streets, six-figure cars and jewelry, like. So the influence is ever-present. I'm waking up every day saying no to the wrong things and yes to the right things I'm still trying to say.

Speaker 2: 38:11

I'm going to get into this school. I got awarded nearly a full scholarship. It's a must Salute. Give him a gunshot man.

Speaker 1: 38:15

We give him applause, brother we give him applause yeah yeah yeah, my bad, you know, I'm just saying. Look at that man. Look at that, Come on, Look at that man.

Speaker 3: 38:32

So so yeah, that was the early journey man like, and then that kind of ultimately, you know, evolved into the movement I built now with my team. You know I'm saying, but my first, my entry into the world was man, have a good time, but get into this lane, turn your thesis into something. But it's funny, my feet like what I've done for fashion. Just FYI, before we move on, I've also studied prison fashion when I was an undergrad. This is interesting. So fashion became a thing of mine and that's what I've learned in my post-release journey with fashion. Fashion is not something I want to get rich off of or become a start, a career. It was more of a creative passion and more about learning it and then maybe creating shows around it. Right, like, not necessarily trying to launch a career in it.

Speaker 3: 39:11

So for my freshman year in college, one of the first classes you have to take is called cultural anthropology. The final project is you doing your own ethnographic research. Ethnographic research for many who don't know, is basically you going into a certain culture, understanding the culture, observing the culture, interviewing people in the culture. Because all of us were in prison in college, the only culture we could really analyze is prison culture, so. So some people were analyzing, like the meaning of the visiting room, uh, the phones, the gym there's a whole culture in all those spaces, the do's and don'ts, you know the unspoken rules, like it's really deep when you analyze different space and what birthdays mean in prison.

Speaker 3: 39:55

But nobody studies fashion. So I was like yo, I want to study, I'm a fashionista, I like to dress when I was in the town, like the dress right in prison I was fly like I used to always, but there's a meaning in that right like. So I kind of delved into a whole 20 page project on this. You know what I'm saying. So that was my earlier interest in fashion. Then, when I graduated my BA, fashion was the topic I picked up on and interestingly, it wasn't something that I thought of. It was inspired by the Trayvon Martin and the hoodie incident. That's what inspired my whole. Let me look at what the hoodie meant. And then the two-piece suit, and then it just evolved with the low live and it kind of just took a life of his own that's deep, the philosophy behind that very deep, you know it sounds.

Speaker 2: 40:36

It sounds like um. That thesis right there sounds like the um. It's very similar to this the buying of a negro, selling of a negro, psychology on how to like, as you say, the market of black and brown people. Like we're basically buying back our self-esteem, like the inclusion, like I'm in the upper world, even down to what we say to each other. You ain't up on this.

Speaker 3: 40:56

Yeah, you know what I'm saying you ain't up on this. Yeah, no, interesting how language plays a crucial part in that, definitely.

Speaker 1: 41:03

Indeed. So so now, how did you connect? Connect with the with the low lives.

Speaker 3: 41:12

What you said, that was your comrade or or somebody you met in prison, yeah, yeah. So one of the brothers started to reggae. Right now he's actually um, he's from the bronx where I think he's going to columbia now. The brother reggae, um, he's like yo, you know, he was really interested in my um thesis and was like yo, you, shahab lab, like low like ralph, low like you know, low like Ralph, low like you know. They got the whole low lives Like and I ain't gonna lie, I never heard of those low lives Me like really. So he like yo, I want to plug you in. So he introduced me to bro and I sat down with bro, bro telling me his story. He got literature, they got a podcast, they had a bunch of things that they were doing. My brother's a solid stand-up dude.

Speaker 3: 41:44

So I really was already kind of admiring bro and we just started building and it made sense. I was like, damn, this would be a dope topic, because I was going to look at Ralph Lauren. I already was going to analyze because the thing about, well, at least then maybe I don't know now things changed, but Ralph Lauren was one of the biggest brands. People were in prison. To have a Ralph Lauren or a Nautical on was like you were him. To have a Ralph Lauren or a Nautical on was like you were him. You know what I'm saying. Like it fit the trend of the time, it showed you was like in tune. So Ralph Lauren, for me, was always a thing, and finding out Ralph Lauren, one of the founders he's one of five founders of how many founders there was of the low lives, I'm like this is a rich, like this is access to, like you know real, you know qualitative, know qualitative data.

Speaker 1: 42:40

So we kind of got into that, okay, okay. So ralph low, um and uh. So shout out to ralph low too. That's the bro. Shout out to ralph low. So now, after that, after that that journey, going through that, now what did? How did we get to 9-1-4? United the?

Speaker 3: 42:50

magic question huh yeah. So definitely gotta watch those videos, man, because it kind of tells you that story visually, right? So I'm now in paul since 2019. I've been home like already at the time 10 months. I'm on parole. Still, I'm trying to catch up with life. School was real, right. I wasn't financially independent, took full time. I went in full time taking four classes, four different days, a lot of work and I'm in a toxic environment at the same time, right? So, like I'm dealing with a lot of pressures, traumas being triggered, I'm not realizing this is trauma.

Speaker 1: 43:34

I'm just, you know, know, going through the motions oh wait, hold on, hold on, hold on, let's talk about it. Let's talk about it. So yo, so you, yeah, because I go through stuff myself. So I try to like hear with other people. You know, I mean like sure, like like I'm hearing you, I'm like damn hold on triggers, like what happened to me at certain points. So like, so you didn't realize you were in a toxic environment where there was a lot of triggering going on there. So can you I don't, you don't have to go on super detail, but if you could kind of like break that down a little bit so I could better understand.

Speaker 3: 44:01

Yeah, I mean. So the toxic triggers is that, like, literally, what was where I lived at, like everything, a lot of negative things was happening, right. Yeah, some of it that would wall my loved ones, right. So that kind of was tempting for me to get involved talk about it right.

Speaker 3: 44:18

So you, you kind of like know like I can't risk my freedom, but all my brothers is in the field. This is the space. Yeah, so that's a little challenging man again saying no to the wrong things, yes to to the right things. I kind of started framing my story as this is what the battle is when you really trying to move on at the right time. But the trauma for me was more because I've been so much time and I was abandoned by family for so many years. So living with family and then kind of feeling like not connected and being an outsider with family, but you're with family, get it. There's like not connected and being an outsider with family, but you're with family, get it. There's a whole process I never.

Speaker 3: 44:51

I never understood it. Then you know I'm saying so I'm still processing, that we connect with my moms, like there's a lot that I was dealing with that I never really wanted to face. You know, that's just like this emotional struggles, then the environmental influences that I mentioned, the triggers, right, whether it's like family at war or you know things happening that you're not approved enough because you come home with this jail mindset. That's like very structured. And I'm also real educated too, and nobody in my family got educated. So I see the world differently. You know I'm saying, when they see black, I see white, so we clashing. That's all underlying a lot of the uh, emotional turmoil. But I think what really brought it to an end for me was like I got into this major school. I was probably the first formerly incarcerated people to get a near full scholarship with this top fashion school. So now I feel responsible for those coming behind me.

Speaker 2: 45:45

Salute.

Speaker 3: 45:47

Right, I'm in this space bougie school, beautiful experience but now I'm like yo, I really can't manage. I'm behind in school because I'm working two jobs. Then I got to let both my jobs go to keep up with school and there was a moment where I was still broke. I was broke, told my no money to my name and I was still behind in school. I couldn't find my way out and I started to flirt with getting back into the streets. I literally was on calls and I'm a call away from anything I wanted and I was starting to really flirt with those calls and having those conversations. Man, but I ain't going to lie, I never jumped in, thank God. So what led to the movement was that moment in my life was so dark that I had my first mental health breakdown, where we wake up every day and we're going to continue pushing. We're going to figure this out, even if emotionally, you feel like you failed yourself, because that's what I was carrying for like a month. So now we're in December 2019.

Speaker 3: 46:41

I feel like I failed. I jumped into school. I know I got to fold my cards, but do I got to fold my cards? Am I just not strong enough? Now I'm questioning myself. So I'm going through this self-doubt, this failure. I never felt lost, like I was lost, and I come off the platform one day on my way to school you know what I'm saying To start crying. I just break down on the platform and it was a moment of me like, yo, you can't do this to yourself, no more, this is not for you. Like the universe is telling you, this is not for you, and I had counsel prior to that time.

Speaker 3: 47:14

But really, that day I got to reach out to my brothers, my comrades, some of them who did 20 plus years that been home, four or five years. Some of my brothers who helped me when I was in prison. Some helped me when I came home. They all came to my aid. I in prison, some helped me when I came home, and they all came to my aid. I opened up a group chat. Like yo, I'm going through it, mind you. None of them know this, though, because I'm carrying my cross, but nobody know it's heavy. You know what I'm saying and I'm not showing it, and I'm in a master grad and I did the 13th. So they got this, like this vision of me that I'm like nah, you get it. I really don't got it together, man, I need help. So they all came to my aid like yo, bro, we got you whatever you need and that, right there, made the difference in the world.

Speaker 3: 47:53

I called the colleague of mine that same day. She was in the class, she called me to the lobby and she's like you should go to counseling, like you know. I mean you should like speak to him about your situation because you really are in a bond. Like you don't got no money, you won't parole, you're transitioning, you're behind in school.

Speaker 3: 48:06

I lost motivation to try to keep up with schoolwork and then that's the first conversation I had with the counselor, who he taught me it was okay to say yes to a note of education, yes to mental health, like make a decision, and it felt good. I walked out of there like yo, you right, why am I being hard on myself? I turned it off, I withdrew from the program and I felt like I walked out of there like yo, you right, why am I being hard on myself? I turned it off, I withdrew from the program and I felt like it was a relief Coming out of that, even though I said what I said about religion.

Speaker 3: 48:38

I do believe in a God, right. So I don't know if it was God's grace or just a natural leader in me, but I was like I want to get involved in organizing and I want to get involved in organizing and I want to create spaces. So, brothers like myself, right, but for people who didn't have that root chat to reach out to, you know what I'm saying. So we organized. You know, I went to my brother who became the co-founder of the movement Like y'all want to organize a support group, and we called it the you're not alone brotherhood and it was a first time we attempted to organize, to create safe spaces for brothers to come to that space and build right, you ain't got to carry that cross by yourself.

Speaker 3: 49:15

And I wanted to help brothers coming home like yo, this is a space for y'all. So we started doing that. And then I'm like a natural born entrepreneur, like I'm like I gotta figure this out. So I reached out to who was the principal when I was 15. That expelled me. He was a superintendent. When I came home, got his information, shot him an email, had a meeting with him and, boom, he sent me to. My first speaking engagement was at the same school he expelled me from.

Speaker 3: 49:42

I didn't know how to tell my story, so I already organized a male support group. I'm like I want to get involved in mentoring. They had the NBK my brother's keeper um, the one of the brothers who was on the panel was from my brother's keeper. Uh, so it's an Obama foundation born organization that actually resulted, as a result of Trayvon Martin's death, helping young men of color prosper. And I knew they was big. I'm like I want to get involved with them.

Speaker 3: 50:04

And then I did my first speaking engagement. I didn't know how to tell my story and I remember walking in there. I'm like I want to get involved with them. And then I did my first speaking engagement. I didn't know how to tell my story and I remember walking in there. I'm all polished up, I got the speech I'm trying to write off of and I kind of got lost in the speech and I'm like man, listen, it's my story, was like yo, we are missing. Leaders like you who did that time that came out with your story to come back, talk to these kids. And that was the beginning journey of Now I'm Before United, right before the pandemic hit. It goes on and on and on, but I don't want to.

Speaker 2: 50:39

Yo, I just want to say, man, everything that he says is so pivotal and so important is that, as men as they put us, men is color we never have a safe space to express what we're feeling, Because we were always taught to be tough, strong, resilient, and not knowing inside is eating us up. Like you know, I had to learn that, like to start going to therapy in my like mid thirties and just to have somebody to talk to because around me they, you know we have a stigma about mental health. You just write over. That's crazy, not understanding. I got some triggers that I'm dealing with, you know. You know personal, like self-doubt or feeling inadequate at times, or things that I have experienced witness that that's eating me up. I can't. I can't express it because if I do, you're going to view me as weak. So when I lash out in a form of violence in this respect, you get what I'm saying.

Speaker 3: 51:36

It's weird like that.

Speaker 2: 51:38

It's beautiful what you said. Mental health is important.

Speaker 1: 51:41

For sure. I'm interested in 9-1-4 United. I want to kind of tap in and see what's really going on. I'm going in a 9-1-4 United. I want to kind of tap in and see what's really going on. I'm going to watch the video and everything like that. As you said, mike. You know men, excuse me, we don't have like a safe place to kind of like talk about things. You had the chat at the time when you really needed it and sometimes I go through things, man, I don't have a chat, you know, I just you got me, brother, I tell you to call me.

Speaker 2: 52:12

but, ron, be on some Sure, I'm strong.

Speaker 3: 52:16

Mike, but that'd be, but look, but that'd be. It, though, right, and we trying to de-stigmatize that or no, I'm sorry, demystify that right, like that, I'm strong mentality a lot of us come home with or we just adopt due to our own experiences, and that also contributes to the pain. Yo, one thing I know is that we can't do life alone, no matter what we think, who we believe in, you gotta lean on. You gotta lean on either faith or your counsel. We can't do this alone. None of us lived it before. We live in this for the first time, so that's why my movement became what it became, and if you see behind the logo, it says you're not alone. That became the creed, because that was the first message that I thought of when I thought about that space.

Speaker 3: 53:05

So now, when we deal with young brothers coming out of corrections, coming out of gang life, coming out of streets, people just be creating a space where we, like yo, you're not alone on your journey. That's the core of our work and what your journey look like. We here to get you there, right, and we do a lot of, you know, curriculum based work, and we've got a whole framework that we do around a credible messenger model and stuff. But the core of it is that we are people building a tribe, opening doors for others to join the tribe. You know what I'm saying? And because we all human, bro, we're going to go through what we go through, man Like, that's why I shout out my partner, I'm with now my girl, like I couldn't have gotten this far if I didn't have a queen that was supporting me. You know what I'm saying? Absolute.

Speaker 2: 53:43

There you go.

Speaker 3: 53:45

Yeah, it all goes full circle.

Speaker 2: 53:49

Let's make that clear too, man, Shout out to the women. You know there are times. You know, men, we make these mistakes. Sometimes, you know, coming up, we may take them for granted, but yo, when you have a rider, that's with you, man, that's it bro. That's it. That's it 100%.

Speaker 1: 54:06

That's it, man, for real. Indeed, that's it. That's it 100%, that's it for real indeed. Yo, thank you, brother, for coming up. Jo, really appreciate you. We gotta bring you on again. We have a lot more, a lot more to talk about. We can't, we can't, we can't fit it all in an hour, because you know, you got a lot going on, you know what I'm saying and and you, just you, just now, now you got my mind blown.

Speaker 2: 54:27

I'm now you got me thinking why you do that, bro yeah, no, he has an effect and people go check out the website. It's 914 united. You watch thisorg. You watch the films. You'll see the testimonies.

Speaker 2: 54:41

I witnessed it myself at the speaking engagement that he had the amount of like people that had testimonies, the, the affluent people that came out to support him. He had business owners, politicians within that area that came to see him and they are very they are they magnetized and they love his work Because, just like every other inner city, yonkers is in the same place as the five boroughs. Man, you got people that are disenfranchised, that need guidance. The young are lost out there and all they need is just hope, somebody just to reach down and pull them up and you go out there, you support these brothers.

Speaker 3: 55:16

Man for real yeah, no, no, I appreciate that. Definitely go check out. Our youtube channel is not really like too uh strong, but definitely some good content on there. You see some of our community events our recent gala. We had two galas and I'm tell you it was a sneaker gala. Dallas p was our first guest speaker and then the second year we had um rashad from earn your leisure and we had over 430 people present. Amazing, fly like the. The content's on there, but really, come learn.

Speaker 3: 55:44

You can look us up on instagram, facebook, uh, look us up on like Facebook. Look us up on, like you said, your website, the website wwwnowinfordneticorg. The story's behind it, but the videos is on YouTube to show you the work that we're doing, because we're trying to change, we're trying to shift the culture and change the narrative. I think that's one of our biggest things, man. That's what, bro, yeah, and we could do that together. You know what I'm saying, so for sure. This is why these conversations are so powerful where I get to meet, you get to meet me, I get to meet the brother and whoever's watching and hearing. Man like tap in, man, like we, only stronger together, man. So the door's open. That's a fact.

Speaker 1: 56:18

That's a fact indeed on that note, thank you for coming out this evening, bro. Salute. Peace to you, peace to everybody in the chat and we are out of here. Peace.