Les Talk: Assimilation pt. 1

On this special 2 part episode, the hosts reflect on their past understanding of why their parents raised them under the blanket of cultural and systemic assimilation.  Did assimilation serve them or did they realize it’s just another instance where their parents did the best they could with what they knew thus preparing for another journey of unlearning? Follow Unc and Auntie as they discuss and compare how assimilation has affected them and the lessons that brought them to their current understanding on life today.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Let's talk. We wanna hear from Lester and Leslie. Let's talk. Well that journey come along with me. Let's talk. We're bringing news back there. Let's talk. Let's talk. Let's talk with Lesnar and Leslie.

SPEAKER_01 0:34

Hey, Leslie.

SPEAKER_03 0:38

Hey, Jay. I'm sorry. Hey, Leslie.

SPEAKER_01 0:45

I've been feeling very nostalgic before we came. I was singing um, I feel like chicken tonight, like chicken. And not because I actually want chicken. It's because I'm thinking about a lot of nostalgic things. Because we've been talking about a whole lot of throwback stuff, and now I'm just in a world of nostalgia.

SPEAKER_05 1:06

You know what song I had, an old song I had in my hand today?

unknown 1:09

What?

SPEAKER_05 1:10

I am stuck on a bandaid. I am st wait. I'm stuck on a band-aid brand. Yeah, yeah. Oh my god. Because I had to like up, I was updating my first aid kit.

SPEAKER_01 1:28

Your what? My first aid kit. Oh, you have to update those?

SPEAKER_05 1:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:33

Oh my God.

SPEAKER_05 1:34

You gotta just replenish things.

SPEAKER_01 1:37

Just for anybody that is listening to this, the other thing has been happening a lot is Leslie has been given really it's is she's been in her mom mode. I call her, I mean, I call it my mode, but it's more like responsibility mode. Like this is someone who owns her home, she's got a family, children to think of, all these things. And so her mind like operates differently than than mine sometimes.

SPEAKER_05 2:08

You got the bachelor brain.

SPEAKER_01 2:11

Yeah. Yeah. That's that's unfortunate, I guess, in certain cases.

SPEAKER_05 2:19

I mean, no, but you basic things like clean, so like yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:29

First I was afraid. I was petrified.

SPEAKER_05 2:35

And oh my god, look, my city is gentrified.

SPEAKER_01 2:42

Lord. It's funny because it's true. Oh yeah. Yeah. Well, it's all good. How what you been up to lately? How have things been going?

SPEAKER_05 2:57

Oh, well, yeah, things have been going, they've been going really good, I should say. Like I'm I'm grateful, I'm just exhausted. So I did my first stage managing like I don't want to say gig or whatever, but why not? Because it's not uh usually gigs are something that you get paid for.

SPEAKER_01 3:17

Well, a gig could be an internship too.

SPEAKER_05 3:20

It's not quite internship.

SPEAKER_01 3:23

Yeah, like something I always look at internships as like free work to learn the skill or something.

SPEAKER_05 3:29

Okay. I wonder if that's like an equivalent of like apprenticeship. Is it yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:34

That too.

SPEAKER_05 3:35

I don't know, I don't know. But like it's the way my community theater works is that you have the opportunity to serve different or be different roles in all aspects of the theater. So you not only do you have an opportunity to be casted in a show or in a production, you have the opportunity to like work backstage as far as like being here in makeup, you can do props, set like yeah, set design, um stage managing, assistant stage managing, which is what I did. And I had the opportunity to do assistant stage managing.

SPEAKER_03 4:15

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 4:16

And, you know, I had like the headset on there and like learning all the cues and seeing the production, being on book for actors, and you know, all that. I didn't have so much experience or I didn't have a whole lot of learning time when it came down to creating a book as far as like the whole what play is organized and like blocking and keeping track of that.

SPEAKER_01 4:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 4:42

I just had like the literal cues, but also you got the yell at people in the little earpiece. Yeah. Yeah. So Where are you at? I asked I I asked if I lights up in two seconds. Well, not like that. That's so dramatic. It is no let me stop. It's kind of like traffic control, you know.

SPEAKER_01 5:05

Okay. All right.

SPEAKER_05 5:06

When you hear them on the plane.

SPEAKER_01 5:08

Right.

SPEAKER_05 5:09

That's what it was a lot. That's a lot of it's like. So I had the opportunity, I asked the stage manager, I'm like, hey, uh, can I call the show? Can I call the last show? So he let me do that, and I'm the one in the booth calling the cues for lights and sounds.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

Big shot.

SPEAKER_05 5:27

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:30

Nice.

SPEAKER_05 5:31

I'm the eye above. I'm calling the shots.

SPEAKER_01 5:37

Getting getting that little taste of power to rev you up for the um the take the what is that, the cult takeover.

SPEAKER_05 5:46

Well, you make it sound so nefarious.

SPEAKER_01 5:48

Well, I'm trying not to. I'm trying to try to sugar it up as much as possible.

SPEAKER_05 5:55

That's just that's not good for your teeth.

SPEAKER_01 5:59

I thought that was a part of the process.

SPEAKER_05 6:01

Well no.

SPEAKER_01 6:04

Well, anywho, it's something different. Well, that's good. You got uh so is this like a rotation thing? So you you'll be doing different roles throughout the year, or is it like optional? How does that work?

SPEAKER_05 6:20

You just volunteer and sign up.

SPEAKER_01 6:21

Oh, okay. Amen.

SPEAKER_05 6:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:23

So you can do it at ad hoc and how you want.

SPEAKER_05 6:26

Yep. I mean it's a collaborative, yeah. It's a collaborative.

SPEAKER_01 6:29

I mean in terms of like uh the the role you're able to you've got autonomy over.

SPEAKER_05 6:34

Oh, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:35

What you do.

SPEAKER_05 6:36

Yeah. Yeah. As far as being a member up there, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:39

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 6:40

So that's my that's my dojo. My my precious dojo.

SPEAKER_01 6:44

Amen. Come on, dojo.

SPEAKER_03 6:47

Well, I haven't had much go well, have I had rewind.

SPEAKER_05 6:59

I'm so sorry.

SPEAKER_01 7:01

You got it.

SPEAKER_05 7:02

So hey, what about you? Have you had anything going on? You've been busy this week.

SPEAKER_01 7:08

Um, I I mean, I have I been busy, yes.

SPEAKER_05 7:13

Don't forget about our fun time last night.

SPEAKER_01 7:16

Yeah, we went out to that the concert, I thought yes. So I was actually gonna bring that up when you mentioned the back-to-back schedule you've got, because I think you had just come from like rehearsals, and then it was like rehearsals to concert, and then we got a little taste of that concert, and it was like, oh, let's go somewhere and get something to eat with the white palace, which that food was so good.

SPEAKER_05 7:41

That was fun over there.

SPEAKER_01 7:43

Well, I mean I had an open face turkey.

SPEAKER_05 7:45

It was so that looked really, really good.

SPEAKER_01 7:48

I love open face turkeys, and I seem to only get them in the South Loop. That's weird. But yeah, that was dope.

SPEAKER_05 7:58

The service was good.

SPEAKER_01 7:59

The service was good.

SPEAKER_05 8:00

The company ambiance was amazing.

SPEAKER_01 8:04

Anyone who has been at White Palace after a certain time of night, so you may get even like a Wednesday night. There was a Wednesday night. It was, but yeah, you're right. Because it's because it's 24 hours and just like us, you can So like two months ago. You can do an event and it can be during a week and folks still get drunk and anyways, there was anyone who's knows knows White Palace.

SPEAKER_05 8:37

Like That was my first time there.

SPEAKER_01 8:40

Yeah. So you got you got a very authentic experience. I don't think it's one time that I went except for maybe the that band photo shoot that I told you about some years ago where there wasn't any but I think we were there early.

SPEAKER_05 8:51

Like we weren't there at Like early in the morning or late at night?

SPEAKER_01 8:56

It was like uh early evening. Something like a four or five or six, like the sun was just going down. Yeah, early dinner time, the sun was just going down, so that might have affected it. But usually if you're there after a concert, after the club, 11, 12, 1 o'clock, you're gonna run into some interesting folks that are leaving the club, and some of them might be a little loud, but just remember the food is great and it's open late, so get you a plate. So that was cool.

SPEAKER_05 9:37

Sometimes it's fun to take a date. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 9:40

Yes, that's right.

SPEAKER_05 9:43

Do too much, become an inmate.

SPEAKER_01 9:48

Come on, rhymes.

SPEAKER_05 9:49

I know, I'll quit.

SPEAKER_01 9:53

You want to roll.

SPEAKER_05 9:54

Well, that would just just describe like what was going on that evening.

SPEAKER_01 9:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 9:59

Yeah, but it was fun. I liked it. This I this concert.

SPEAKER_01 10:04

Oh my god. I didn't even under I didn't even know until I got the ticket that that was an artist that I had in my playlist already. Frank Moon Frank Mooney.

SPEAKER_04 10:13

Mooney, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:14

Yeah. There were uh men of a certain age, and there was a a a black female uh bass player up there. I think the youngest guy may have been a drummer.

SPEAKER_03 10:25

Probably.

SPEAKER_01 10:26

Right? But like the two main guys that's playing the guitar and the little synth keyboard instrument, they had some grays on their face. And I didn't know that that was the makeup of the band because the song that I have in my playlist is like a picture is is in the front. It's not like like pi a picture of them. It's like they just use graphic art for the the covers.

SPEAKER_05 10:51

Yeah, most of their covers are graphic art. There's some of them that has like both the the two dudes that are the like the lead.

SPEAKER_01 10:58

So I I was completely surprised both at the fact that, oh, I know this band, because it initially, I think when you texted took me, it didn't quick. So I was just like, oh, I'll learn about a new band out there. And then I got in there, I'm like, hey, I know this band. I've got it's I have a song in my, it's called Charge Me Up. That's like my chill song.

SPEAKER_05 11:21

Yeah, I love that song.

SPEAKER_01 11:22

It's like an instrumental, it's like a jam song.

SPEAKER_05 11:24

There's so many others though now. You know what I'm saying? So I'm glad I introduced you or reintroduced you.

SPEAKER_01 11:31

Yes. Always a beautiful thing.

SPEAKER_05 11:32

So I'm glad I didn't go by myself.

SPEAKER_01 11:37

I mean, not for nothing. You that that that was a theme. The one thing I think I told you when we were out of college, I remember we had gone to you used to do like this fine dining stuff. What was it? Was that restaurant week? Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 11:54

We went to someplace where like oak and leaves or something, maple and oak.

SPEAKER_01 11:58

I just remember that the serving sizes of what they were serving.

SPEAKER_05 12:02

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 12:03

Were like palm size and not my palm, like your your baby's palm.

SPEAKER_04 12:08

At that age.

SPEAKER_01 12:13

It was it was just like super, super fine dining. I was just like, what the hell is this? This is not gonna fit. But I remember we had a conversation and you were just like, yeah, I do stuff like this all the time. And I'm just like, wow. I remember being so impressed by that.

SPEAKER_05 12:29

Well, not like going to fine dining establishments, but like just doing what I want.

SPEAKER_01 12:34

Yeah. This whole idea of whatever, whatever I do what I want, that has been an ongoing thing for your life. So that's dope. But I haven't really been doing a lot, but working and I'm getting ready for some work trips coming up. And also I'm getting ready for the wedding season coming up soon. I have some bookies coming up. I gotta update my website, but I have a few more this year, like public dates with different groups. So LesterJ.com, Shameless Plug.

SPEAKER_03 13:06

Nice.

SPEAKER_01 13:07

Check out. I'll be I I know on we're we're doing something at Oak Park this year during the summer. Oh, fun. I'll be in Arlington Heights. What's up? It's it's a lot it's a few suburb things going on, like West Suburbs.

SPEAKER_05 13:22

Like a bunch of uh festivals that you're um I don't know if they're festival, because this is I think these are like like live programs.

SPEAKER_01 13:35

That's one of the things about like Chicago is that we have live music everywhere. Usually if you're in the city, it's like festivals in in in the suburbs. They have like summer concert series in certain parks and libraries and things like that. So one of my group, Shape Brother, is the name of the book, spelled C-H-E-Z-B-U-T-T-E-R. They do a lot of those kind of dates. But last year we were we seem like we had a lot like out of the state. This this year we got a few coming that are in the burbs, so check me out this this year somewhere near you. Anyways.

SPEAKER_05 14:15

Yeah, make sure that'll be in the caption.

SPEAKER_01 14:18

Yeah, and we will uh put those links in there. We and we'll readdress too towards the end when we, you know, talk about like what's coming up. But speaking of nostalgia and being in the mindset of nostalgia, that uh rolls us into our topic for today. One that we have been well, you have been bringing up a few times in other episodes. This whole definition, this whole idea of assimilation when we talk about our coming ups, our our upbringings and humming ups. It's terrible.

SPEAKER_05 14:57

Maybe we can call it that. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 14:59

The coming ups.

SPEAKER_05 15:00

The coming ups.

SPEAKER_01 15:03

But coming ups. Wait, hold on now. Yeah, you say that too quick. God got back.

SPEAKER_03 15:15

So assimilation.

SPEAKER_01 15:20

Yeah. That is the word that of the curb today. That's a word that we I just uh shout out to uh Black Inquiry. That word just came in my mind. Word on the curb. That's a word that they use on their podcast. I hope we get next season we get to collaborate with some of our friends and stuff who have different podcasts. We can all kind of chat about stuff.

SPEAKER_05 15:42

That's a good idea.

SPEAKER_01 15:43

Season two is going to be dope. But simulation.

SPEAKER_05 15:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:49

You have mentioned this usually in context when we're going back and we're talking about like how our families raised us, the environment that we were in, things that the messages that we got that were either direct or indirect. So, I mean, I feel like this is this is your this is your time.

SPEAKER_05 16:12

Well, see this is a little bit like that there's some nuance to this because it's not quite assimilation, but assimilation is a base word for what we're gonna discuss right now. And it has a lot to do with our upbringing. And what our parents did for us was teach us how to survive.

SPEAKER_01 16:39

Right.

SPEAKER_05 16:40

And give to make sure that we had the best opportunity possible because if we couldn't get ahead based on what we look like, we could at least look good on paper.

SPEAKER_01 16:50

I like that.

SPEAKER_05 16:51

You know?

SPEAKER_01 16:52

Yeah. So just the idea of just setting, like you said, setting us up in the best way possible to have the most optimal life. Another coin term I think that I heard you mention in a prior episode as well.

SPEAKER_05 17:06

Yeah. Yeah. I like that word optimal. Optimal. So it I mean, so a lot of it for me was the cultural as both actually. And you were just saying for you when we were just doing our pre-show chat, you're saying it wasn't so much cultural as for you, it was how to survive like financially, like class as as far as get ahead and class.

SPEAKER_01 17:38

Yeah, it was more so like you gotta if you're if you want a chance at a job, you have to make sure you have a bachelor's degree. It doesn't matter what you go and get your bachelor's degree in, just get a degree and get a job.

SPEAKER_05 17:53

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:54

So just little things like that was so you could compete on a Right.

SPEAKER_05 18:00

How like what is be what that would be like a a a level of like capitalism or oh for sure because you gotta pay for the higher education. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:11

Right.

SPEAKER_05 18:12

And you have to read everything as far as setting yourself up for the retirement plans, insurance, making sure that you're getting the best insurance as far as like what's best for you and your family with any kids. And you know, staying on top of that because you know those rates change and you know, being aware of your options, whether you want to pull it out or not, based on the way that different governing administrations are at the time.

SPEAKER_04 18:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 18:47

So you have to be able to be aware of making those types of decisions, which requires a level of paying attention and reading.

SPEAKER_01 18:55

Awareness. You've definitely got to be aware of what's going on. And as you were talking about that, it made me think about the fact that both my parents, your parents, your dad get involved with the government in into some capacity. And remember when we were pregaming, I told you how we had always been fed the message that government health insurance is the best is is the most optimal health insurance that one can have. Little things like that, and the fact that if you work for the government, it's more of a guaranteed job position to have again, hard to get in and hard to get out, I think is what I've is what I've heard when it comes to government jobs. So little messages like that. So it what what it made me think about when you're just talking is like, damn, we have had a level of autonomy that our prior generation didn't have even through the autonomy of picking a career, right?

SPEAKER_04 20:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:01

Because damn, they may have not actually wanted to serve or may have not actually wanted to be in government.

SPEAKER_05 20:13

Did your ma want to enlist? Well, or was it one of those choices where it's like, okay, this is how I can get out?

SPEAKER_01 20:21

This is how I can get out. It was like, this is what the opportunity is after moving up north. This is my opportunity, and then that transition to a the serving transitions to support her in getting that government job, which is like, again, that's like the goal, that that's the good insurance, that's the job security, and all of that that will benefit both me and my my family, you know. And they both went that route. They both went their route. Mom transitioned from serving into and that was her gateway into FAA. Dad served and helped transition into getting into police work.

SPEAKER_05 21:04

But all just crazy because it was the same thing with my dad.

SPEAKER_01 21:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 21:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:09

So but then I'm so like again, I'm just thinking about like, what if they wanted to write poetry or and not actually say that particularly because when I when I remember when I was 16 and starting to get into music and like starting to write actually 14 is when I started to write lyrics on on on paper off of uh beats that I downloaded off of Kazar, which was like a pirate thing.

SPEAKER_05 21:35

Yeah. One of those pirate programs. Totally fried my uh compact computer, my compact laptop, remember that?

SPEAKER_01 21:43

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 21:44

Yeah, so that tells you how long ago that was.

SPEAKER_01 21:47

Yeah, yeah. But um I found out with one of the first songs I wrote in my teens when I presented it to my my family, my mom, that she said, Oh, I used to write poetry. And there's just Like, oh, you got that writing bug for me. It was some sort of thing like that. But so yeah, like I say writing because my mom mentioned that she used to write poetry when she was younger. Dad used to hum around. That's how I think I told you, like, I've analyzed my voice against my appearance, and like my high, my highs come from my mom, ironically. And m when I'm in my mid-voice to low range and it's real thick, and that I get that from my dad, because that's he used to speak like that. They use very um he had an airy tone, and I have the same airy both me and my brother speak the same with the the airiness in our voice. That's why it's hard for me to yell. It's hard for him to yell. Like it gives and if it and if we get there, it's it's it punches because of that thickness in the timbre. Anyways, I'm going off on a ramp.

SPEAKER_03 22:57

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 22:57

I'm going off on a ramp. Yeah, it may be only voice T voice folks will probably hear it and be like, oh, I know what you talk about, but yeah, I won't go too deep. But it just in that moment when you were talking, it just made me think like, did they ever do work that did they ever desire to do something else?

SPEAKER_03 23:19

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 23:20

But uh and it's kind of on par with assimilation, because it's like, hey, I want to sing or I want to do whatever, but in order for me to take care of my family, the most optimal way using that term, right? I have to do this thing that I know is gonna be more of a guarantee and more of a anyways.

SPEAKER_05 23:40

It's gonna guarantee stability. Right. My thing was when when I went when it was time for me to pick what I wanted to do because I didn't have a choice about going to college. It was either go to college or join the military. So we went to the that was I was just like, oh, maybe not. My dad was like, Well, it's okay. You're a little too fat to join anyway.

SPEAKER_01 24:01

So No, he didn't tell you that.

SPEAKER_05 24:03

Not in those words, literally.

SPEAKER_01 24:06

But he implied it.

SPEAKER_05 24:07

Oh, that was very implicit. He's like, Oh, well, before uh you can uh get in shape before you go to uh to the uh to office over there. I'm just like all right. Wasn't like wasn't the slap in his hand. Well, yeah, wasn't the most tactful instead of the point and it wasn't like necessary of a point to make.

SPEAKER_01 24:36

No, you're right. I'm not validating the point, but say just get get to the whatever his whatever his punchline is, get just get to it versus having a lot of fluff.

SPEAKER_05 24:50

Well no, my yeah, my dad, he he he flouered everything up. That's the way he spoke. That's something that I get from him too, as far as that and and writing. Because I liked it. I like talking with flourish.

SPEAKER_01 25:04

Okay. Yeah, dang it. It's it's a beautiful skill.

SPEAKER_05 25:08

It is. And he was a writer and he wrote lots of things. He wrote mom like really beautiful love letters. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:18

Oh, did you ever see any of them?

SPEAKER_05 25:20

Yes, I did. And he gave me one of his favorite ones. I'm just like, how do you have a favorite love letter that you wrote to my like? See, that tells you how what kind of people I'm dealing with here, too. Maybe things are that good and proud of it, but that's just that's just one of those, like, really. This is a favorite note that you get.

SPEAKER_01 25:44

Anyway, so He was his his best work. Well, I was gonna say he's his biggest probably critic in in audience.

SPEAKER_05 25:53

His his number his own number one fan. Yeah, I'm I'm sure he was, of course. Because how could he be? He had to be the best of everything.

SPEAKER_01 26:03

That's right.

SPEAKER_05 26:04

The the highest ranked, his whole thing was like, what is the highest position I can get? And how do I get there?

SPEAKER_01 26:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 26:13

And he got there.

SPEAKER_01 26:16

Because that's what we did. And that's what I mean. That's what we do. But in order Did, do, and will do all day. Right.

SPEAKER_05 26:26

So, I mean, but that's but that's what he did. He said to me, he was just like, look, you either join the military or you go to college, you don't have a choice. Because he was making sure, because like in order to get a good job, you had to have a degree. Right. And he had an idea of and this is just anyway, because now you you kind of have to need it. Before when we were in school, we had a choice and had some options because the job market was not that good anyway by the time that we were graduating.

SPEAKER_04 26:54

Right.

SPEAKER_05 26:55

So, because there was people who had master's degrees who were working at like a coffee shop.

SPEAKER_01 27:00

Yeah, that was me a year ago.

SPEAKER_05 27:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:03

Not uh replaced coffee shop with raid ride sharing.

SPEAKER_05 27:06

So, you know what I'm saying? And like, and this was this was oh my uh 20 years ago. So he was saying he was trying to set me up to get the best opportunity to take care of myself or create my own security for me by saying, Hey, this is what you need on paper in order to survive here.

SPEAKER_01 27:28

Right.

SPEAKER_05 27:29

Which is I'm so grateful for it.

SPEAKER_01 27:31

Yeah, me too. I'm so grateful. Oh my God. Are you serious? Me too glad, and you know what? I I'm not just gonna say them, but just the yeah, I am gonna say them because I feel like when you instill the right values, they put value on having higher education right from the get-go. And I the privilege came in saying, Oh, you could choose whatever you want to, it doesn't matter, just get a degree.

SPEAKER_05 27:58

Well, I my thing was like I was like trying to segue from one of the things that you were saying was that yeah, I wanted to be a writer, but what can I do to make it make me some money?

SPEAKER_01 28:12

Journalism.

SPEAKER_05 28:13

There you go.

SPEAKER_01 28:15

Thinking that I was gonna be some type of mom saying that you could be Oprah.

SPEAKER_05 28:21

I know. I don't, you know, people dreams for other people might not be the right dreams for that person.

SPEAKER_01 28:28

Right. And it was But I feel like that's one of the things, yeah. That was I feel like she was just trying to say that I can be on that level. Right. Like, oh, you're interested in writing.

SPEAKER_05 28:39

Yeah, who's the closest writer I know of? Who is the most successful black lady journalist? Oprah. There you go. And if and and that's what that's what sealed the deal for them because they had someone who looked like me who made it. They had someone to who who was at pinnacle point or that beacon right there. The peak. Yeah. So we had something to look up to in that field, and that's what that's that's what uh said, okay, that's what they said, like, okay, that's not a waste of money.

SPEAKER_01 29:14

Right, right. And see, that that I think they went more in depth with you and more prescriptive than like what I got, because like I said, they would just like get a degree.

SPEAKER_05 29:24

Right. At this point, it doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_01 29:26

I mean, it it is and it wasn't even like at this point, it was I I don't think that they really vested time into like, oh, maybe a like you get more value from a business degree versus a a performing arts degree. Like it just wasn't they were just looking like you need a piece of and in hindsight, they were right.

SPEAKER_05 29:47

Yeah. I didn't I didn't have to specialize, but they were saying that don't just get a liberal arts degree. Not that one.

SPEAKER_01 29:55

Well so uh I say in hindsight, they were 2020 because community college first. Because like after having been in corporate America all these years and things like like the strongest thing that I have to me is not my education. It's not even my experience, but it is a good cold second. It's it's my relationships and the networks that I've built throughout my career. That is what saved me from unemployment. It got me back as employee. It wasn't my degree, it wasn't my experience. I interviewed for dozens upon dozens of top 10, because I that's the background I have is working with Fortune 500 companies. It Googled all of like I've interviewed somewhere with all the companies that you probably know. And the thing that saved and salvaged me was a former colleague working at a company that was doing massive hiring in the field that I just so happened to do well at, and them saying, Hey, apply here, we're hiring. And and that was an opportunity that came to me versus what all these ones that I sought out trying to stand on my degrees or stand on my even, like I said, my experience. None of those things mattered with me getting, but then it's not to say my case is um all-encompassing because it's not. It just so happens to be my particular story.

SPEAKER_05 31:22

But anyways, no, that's so funny because my dad was trying to see this is something I had struggled with too, was networking. That's why I do a lot of things alone anyway, because it's hard for me to it's hard for me to actually go out and look for other people to do things. Yeah, I just I'm fine with being on my own. And sometimes it's a little hard for me to just talk to people, you know, with unprovoked.

SPEAKER_01 31:57

This goes into I think the assimilation thing too, because one of the things that I noticed my parents liked about me, my mom always said, like, oh, you got the gift of gap. Just the the gen the general I feel where you're going, yeah. The general work that I do, I mean it's I it's it's it's more complicated than this, but I basically do corporate sales, right? Business B2B sales is if you is is what the title is. And that came from having a diverse group of friends that they encouraged that came and being able to know how to conduct yourself in certain spaces, you know, how the code switch, those kind of things came in to serve, those little things came in to serve more than the accolades. But again, those are things that they gave us saying, hey, you need to know how to navigate in here in order to be have the most optimal life that you can that you can have. And they were right in this particular case. Like I said, coming from a strong sales, corporate sales background, the thing that is has been my biggest savior and accolade is the networks that I have built in my career. Like, I like to go to work, but I also like to like the people that I work with. So it's not uncommon for me to try to connect with employees that I and that's what happened. Like, these are people who I have created whether it be big or small, some sort of relationship with outside of work. We've gone out together, kicked it together, had conversations outside of work, that kind of thing. And those those are the things that have helped later on.

SPEAKER_05 33:45

But if my dad was really good at that, but I couldn't do that.

SPEAKER_01 33:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 33:49

I couldn't do that. I think I would have been a little bit more successful at things if I learned how to build a network or learned the value of building a network. But like a lot of times I spent a lot of times with my mom.

SPEAKER_01 34:02

I feel like you do do that in the spaces that you value. Well, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 34:09

I I it it's okay.

SPEAKER_01 34:11

So like the art stuff, you've got a lot of network folks that have become friends or things like that. It's the same thing, just replace the corporate things. Well, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 34:20

Well, now, now it is. I've looked into that now.

SPEAKER_01 34:23

It wasn't always like that.

SPEAKER_05 34:24

But I wasn't no, I wasn't always like that. And even now, it's not that I went to these places to make friends. I went there because I wanted to do stuff.

SPEAKER_04 34:34

Right.

SPEAKER_05 34:34

I went there because there was a purpose to be there. Sure. And because I liked being there, I might as well talk to the people who are there too.

SPEAKER_01 34:46

Can we back up just for two seconds? Because I feel like we haven't given a proper definition, especially with what we talked about at pre-gaming.

SPEAKER_05 34:54

Yeah, because there's nuance to this too.

SPEAKER_01 34:56

Can you go into that with kind of like what Webster says about assimilation and then how we are using uh how our conversation is shaped around the soci sociology around Yeah, assimilation. Assimilation.

SPEAKER_05 35:12

So the the dictionary.com definition or the first definition and then general definition of assimilation is a process of adopting the language and culture of a dominant social group or a nation, or the state of being socially integrated into the culture of a dominant group in a society. Maybe that wasn't like the first definition, but there's different types of definitions of assimilation because it means like you can apply this word to different types of things.

SPEAKER_01 35:40

Sure.

SPEAKER_05 35:41

And speaking on what we were talking about as far as assimilation into being able to compete in society or to survive here.

SPEAKER_01 35:51

Survive, I think, is probably more feeling especially now.

SPEAKER_05 35:55

We have to survive and assimilate administratively on paper. So we we've learned administrative assimilation.

SPEAKER_01 36:08

Baseline assimilation.

SPEAKER_05 36:09

Yeah, baseline. And that's what you've like when we talk about assimilation on a general like level, on a general sociological level.

SPEAKER_01 36:18

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 36:19

Here. And I think that that's like one of those definition. Yeah. Cause cause there assimilation can mean the joining of two different things together or to or one into something else kind of thing.

SPEAKER_01 36:33

Can I read the second definition? Because I feel like that's what you you you you're using language as in the so s sociology definition, and there's a lot of big words here. So let's see. The merging of cultural traits from previously distinct cultural groups, not involving biological amalgamation. Did I hit that word?

SPEAKER_05 36:54

You did. You did.

SPEAKER_01 36:57

Hey.

SPEAKER_05 36:58

See, that's that cation. I mean that education.

SPEAKER_01 37:05

I got exactly what you mean right from the onset.

SPEAKER_05 37:08

I need a vacation.

SPEAKER_01 37:11

But I I I love both of those uh definitions, and I'm glad that you you added that s sociology one that provides more context.

SPEAKER_05 37:22

Yeah, yeah. More context as to what like we're talking about what we mean when we say assimilation.

SPEAKER_01 37:29

So in general, I feel like we've we've mentioned so much and the way that this conversation has shifted. And I don't know if this was the goal that you had, but the way that we're talking about it in in our experience is like this this is how assimilation, I have air quotes up, has served us. This is how it has come up and helped us to survive or helped us to do this, helped us to do that. So we're speaking in a way that that's way more positive than how the the the term is usually used. And I know in prior conversations we've had in prior episodes, I feel like just from my perspective, you have used assimilation as a excuse me, the term as a means to kind of explain how you how your upbringing might be different from the atypical black exp upbrinking or experience.

SPEAKER_05 38:31

Yeah. Yeah. There was a different kind of assimilation that was uh encouraged in my household. Yeah. At least during the time where I was being when I was being brought up, because each of my brothers and sisters had different versions of my mom because we were like a couple generations apart. So the version of my mom that I got was the one who pretty much was like trying to protect me in a way where I could assimilate culturally culturally with the majority. I was not allowed to say ain't in the house.

SPEAKER_01 39:18

If I so language, the assimilation.

SPEAKER_05 39:22

Yeah, I yeah, I I couldn't I the way that I'm talking now is the way that I was supposed to talk at home and the way that I'm supposed to talk in public. Or especially around my mom.

SPEAKER_01 39:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 39:34

Or anybody else who talks to my mom.

SPEAKER_01 39:38

And I want to add that I think there's some baseline things when it comes to parenting that apply to all. Because I know you mentioned that each of your siblings got different versions of the parents, but like you and Siobhan talk very much similar. So that what that lets me know is whatever the values were, at least when I've experienced I mean for the girl children. And then also, too, right, it could uh be a sex thing too, where maybe in that that I grew up in a household where it was just boys, so I never experienced like a shift of pretty much me and my brother were raised the same.

SPEAKER_04 40:17

You know.

SPEAKER_01 40:18

Right, because of the age difference. But Siobhan's I hate to say this because it's a you where they say speaks well, right? Speak very well, right? Both of you guys s speak pr uh fairly similarly to me. So I feel like that was a baseline.

SPEAKER_05 40:38

Yes, yeah. Because we I I think it was just like a way of presenting yourself r as respectable.

SPEAKER_01 40:46

Mm-hmm. So that And educated.

SPEAKER_05 40:48

Yeah, so that we don't sound it's like it's like something that set us apart.

SPEAKER_01 40:52

Those little things.

SPEAKER_05 40:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:54

Have you ever taken a speech class? No. That's one of the things I always wanted to do because I always felt like I always felt like like my co-switching, I used to feel like this. I don't feel like this anymore, but I used to feel like it was such a it was such such distance and such variance between the cold switch and just how I regular talk. So I was always like, oh, I want to take a s a speech class and so I can get my co-switching in order. So I can so I can present like this more often and enunciate and do the all the things that have to do with uh delivering speech. So yeah, that was that was definitely but anyways.

SPEAKER_05 41:39

I mean I I read a lot of scripts in theater and and obviously the shows that I was allowed to watch because I was not allowed to watch shows that were black shows, except for the Cosby show.

SPEAKER_01 41:54

Right. No nails. What'd you say, Amos and Andy?

SPEAKER_05 41:58

Oh my god, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:59

Which I never watched this show, but uh you said that in an earlier podcast, and it's always stood out.

SPEAKER_05 42:04

Well, those two were all right.

SPEAKER_01 42:08

Were they black?

SPEAKER_02 42:09

Oh, yes.

SPEAKER_01 42:10

Okay, amen. I mean, that's before my time. Both of our time, but you oh yeah, not my time. Well, you got your parents were older than than mine. Yes, they were.

SPEAKER_05 42:21

Yeah, they were.

SPEAKER_01 42:22

I mean, they uh in another lifetime, they'd probably be your grandparents.

SPEAKER_05 42:26

Yes, because my niece and nephew are the same age as me. That that's a possibility. Yeah. I was a what? Okay, I can still have it's she's the same age I told you last year.

SPEAKER_01 42:42

Sarah, what was it, Sarah in the Bible?

SPEAKER_05 42:44

Wait, Sarah was like 80 or something. Maybe maybe that was an exaggeration. Like she looked old. She looked about like she was eighty years old. This old can you imagine? That's a whole nother bit for me. Like, what if what if we're interpreting this whole thing this very wrong? But anyway, different topic for different days.

SPEAKER_01 43:09

Save that for another episode.

SPEAKER_05 43:11

That'd be funny. But like, as far as you know, the way that I was taught or in our household, like we were not, it was kind of frowned upon for me if I wanted to engage in anything that was that was black. Like a lot of time, like I would get more like praise and and and pats or whatever because of the fact that I had white friends.

SPEAKER_01 43:35

Yeah, when you showed when you showed up with in in DEI, that's and that uh we you and I both talked about that where we've had our own points. I think yours were a little bit deeper. I've mentioned on prior, I think a prior Pac episode, but I'll re mention if I didn't. I had my own episode in in college. It wasn't an episode, but it was just something that I noticed, and like I told you when we previously. Gaming when this thing initially happened, I just thought that it was so dope how my friend responded. So, what happened? My grandma was having her retirement party. I was in college. My mom wanted to give my grandma the best experience, and she always does. She, I was in the blues band at the time, and she paid to break put my put my guys on tour, essentially, and bring them down there to Forth City and perform for her retirement party. And the last morning before we hit the road to go back home, we had breakfast at my grandma's house. My grand grandma was being overly hospitable in a way that was almost kind of weird to me because how I've experienced my grandma my entire life has been kind of like a real, real strong, rigid, like so for breakfast, it'd be like, come here and eat. Like you, it's she's not fixing plates or anything like that. Like by the time she yells that come here to eat, she's already sitting down eating. So that and then little things too, like she used to have the kids go in the back room whenever elders came over, like comp uh grown folks came over, the kids had to go in the back. Little stuff like that, like shoe the kids away so that the adults can talk and freely, that kind of thing. So there's a certain there's a certain way that I experienced my grandmother. I even joke with my niece and nephew, I'm saying, like, the way that the grandma that y'all have talk about my mom is way different than the grandma that I had talking about her mother. It may be the grandma we had was the nice patted down version of what she was to my parents, my mom is a mother or whatever, when she was young, I don't know. But swinging her arm down. Because they always say the next generation is who they soften up for. And I'm just like, if if this is the soft version, I can't. Love my grandma. Love my grandma, love my grandma. I'm just saying, she grandma didn't play and she was very lovey, but from a f from a distance. Anyways, so going back to the point, so when it came time for breakfast and my band was there, and I had a very diverse band, most of them were non-black members, she kind of got up and started trying to serve them, which I never saw her do, and that just blew my mind. Like, you're serving?

SPEAKER_02 46:41

Was it the first plate too? Before she ate.

SPEAKER_01 46:45

I don't, I can't remember. Just the fact that she got up trying to serve. I was like, what? And again, the what made the moment in the back when I was in my 20s when it happened, was my the other singer who was in that band, who's now past my my dear friend Jennifer Lockery. God rest her soul. My grandma was trying to serve her. She may have been the first one. And uh, this is a pasty white girl from Florida who came to Chicago for her music dreams and went to school with a dope, very talented individual. But, anyways, she tells my grandma, no, we're supposed to be serving you, you're right, because my grandma is an elder and she was and Jennifer was raised right. Whereas like we as the younger generation are supposed to respect our elders, whatever, even though she comes from a different background and culture. She told my grandmother that me even telling this story is giving me goosebumps and almost making me want to get emotional because I knew even then in my twenties that that was dope to to do.

SPEAKER_05 47:48

Yeah, and that was that was beautiful. Wish that that was the standard, you know.

SPEAKER_01 47:53

Yeah, she was raised right by i in that respect by because I think her parents might be jumpers now, because they like I said, she grew up in Florida. But anyways, in that respect, super dope. But later on, when I thought about that moment, I was just like, did she kind did grandma go into some default from her upbringing? Did she where at where we it was a different time when you did, you know, you you mammy and you the and those were the jobs down south is cleaning up after white folks and stuff like that. I just later on there was just a thought like was that a a form of assimilation in just kind of going getting up to serve these folks? But then again, it could also be that these are guests who are not family who's in their house, and that's I think But have have you brought over people who were not family? We have, but again, they used to shoe us in the back, so I don't I I've never seen her serve anyone.

SPEAKER_05 49:00

So what I was saying when we were when we were having our late night dinner over at the White Palace.

SPEAKER_01 49:07

White Palace.

SPEAKER_05 49:08

I was I was asking, I remember saying, was this like a trauma response where you see where she saw white people and that was what she was supposed to do? And then you told and then maybe not a trauma response, but like a muscle memory. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 49:23

Because that in that time it was like let's I mean, getting into the things, this was a different time where they expected black folks to act subservient. And that was a means of acting of being respectful, or there was consequences. Not just the time, but also the location. Yeah. Arkansas. Yes, yeah. Bible Belt.

SPEAKER_04 49:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 49:47

Yeah, it yeah. Now that I'm thinking about it that way, yes, there were consequences back then if you did not speak a certain way.

SPEAKER_01 49:53

Or act a certain way, acknowledge the all of that. So and one thing I can say, I've never I can I cannot recall ever seeing another white person in my grandmother's house except for when my band was there for her retirement. So that that's been the only instance I can think of. Like I mentioned, I don't believe that there was any anytime I got it. There was disdain that I know my dad had for blues music and just for secular music in general. I say in general, because there were some moments like I remember when it the the group Escape came out with a song Run to the Arms of You just you just run to the arms of the one who loves you. That was the song. And my dad liked that song. He asked me, I bought this is back in the day when you bought singles on cassette tapes. Oh I used to buy singles, I used to love reading the liner notes and all of that.

SPEAKER_05 50:56

Yeah, that's what I loved. I loved those jackets.

SPEAKER_01 50:59

Seeing who was involved.

SPEAKER_05 51:00

There was lyrics in there.

SPEAKER_01 51:01

Lyric, yes, the lyric book was in it, so you can sing along the right words. So I would uh the single just came out, I bought it, and I was blasting in my room like I did, in my little jukebox, and my dad was in the other room. I didn't know he was there, I thought he was at work, and he asked me to come in there and sing the song. It just came out, and I but that's what I used to do back in the day. Like I used to, that's what I love music. I used to, I was the boy who would get the songs, get the CDs, get the tapes, and lock myself in the room and keep playing it over and over and over and just get lost in in the music. It literally would take me to out of the Fantasia if we're talking about a never-ending story. I would go to Fantasia, bitch. Bitch, I would be lost in Fantasia. You come in that room, you are literally pulling me out of my dream. You know what I'm saying? When he first called me, I was just like, ugh, you are interrupting my. I'm in here vibing. They call it vibing now. I was in there vibing. Yeah, so that was me. That's why I know I love like you can't tell me that that's not a love of mine. I had too many instances where too many intimate moments with it. But anyways, that's been the only thing that's connected to a trauma when we talk about assimilation, is just that moment that happened. Have when you think about the assimilations, like I said, whenever I've heard you mention it in prior podcasts, it's always been around when you talk about like something detaching you from your own culture that you found out about later or got more perspective about later. So do you look do you look at it sometimes as or some of those things as trauma points?

SPEAKER_05 52:49

Well, you're not like not so much trauma point, but maybe like a pain point. Because see, a lot what happened was was that because of the fact that I was intentionally excluded or sheltered from anything that was like black culture. Yeah, I'm gonna blame I'm gonna blame my maternal side, I guess. Cause Mama fault mom and her. I'll call it out. I'll call it out because this is my experience. And that's right. Yeah, this is this is this isn't my thing. So a lot of times I was very thought of from watching anything that had to do with like black culture. Like I wanted to watch Living Single, I wasn't allowed to watch that because that sucks, because that was such a good show.

SPEAKER_01 53:46

Well, I know the root of shows like what Friends, is that what they said? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 53:52

Yeah, it was there before Friends, and they got like five seasons out of that show, I think. But yeah, I could I wasn't allowed to watch that. I wasn't allowed to, and maybe it was because of an age thing, maybe. But a lot of a lot of times there wasn't a whole lot of black programming for children my age, so that's why I just sunk myself into cartoons, you know.

SPEAKER_01 54:16

It it it could also be like you said, the how they looked at those shows.

SPEAKER_05 54:21

Right, but I could watch the white sitcoms, you know. I I I did not have a whole lot of I want to say exposure willfully, because it was just like, okay, what can I watch, you know?

SPEAKER_04 54:33

Right.

SPEAKER_05 54:34

And most of the shows, I don't know if it had to do with like subject material, but there was a theme going on. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? Even with the music, if it sounded anything like remotely like RB or rap, especially not rap, yeah, music then, or anything that was associated with the cult like the culture.

SPEAKER_01 54:57

And so they didn't listen to like old school music.

SPEAKER_05 55:01

They did, they did. I all green and I grew up I grew up on everything like reruns Nick at night, all music that was from like 1949 to 1971. So like jazz and jazz, no, like Motown, oh, okay. Disco disco stuff, okay. Stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01 55:28

Okay, you said Motown, so like Diana Ross and Stevie Wonder.

SPEAKER_05 55:35

Stevie Wonder.

SPEAKER_01 55:36

So your parents did play that stuff in the house.

SPEAKER_05 55:38

Well, they had that stuff in the house, and I had got a hold of a tape, and then my dad understood that he'll oh, I was interested in this music too. So he would we talk we'd have conversations about it and like tapes and stuff, and so yeah, at least I had that, but then there was like this other side where anything with current culture I was excluded from, or I was I was told that it was bad. And I'm not sure if it was because of the fact that it was current culture or whatever, like it was always associated with gangs, gang violence, drugs, prostitution, the whole like welfare queen aesthetic. They wanted me as far away from that as possible.

SPEAKER_01 56:26

You missed out on a lot of good shit.

SPEAKER_05 56:29

I know. So I I have free will now, I caught up. Ish, but because I really love underground hip hop right now. Like oh my god, I love like hardcore rap, like where they just go so hard, so nice. I like those things. Um you said it's so pretty. I love it. It's pretty much like poetry.

SPEAKER_01 56:55

It is, yeah. It is, and you know what?

SPEAKER_05 56:58

Fuck passionate poetry.

SPEAKER_01 57:00

I don't want to quick side note. I think it's Gene. Is it Gene Simmons that was part of the KISS? Yeah. Yeah. Fuck Gene Simmons. What'd he come from? Do you not do you know what happened recently? Well, I him talking shit about like anyone who's not in the quote unquote rock and roll genre that's getting Hall of Fame rock and roll.

SPEAKER_05 57:20

Oh, the one who got oh, really?

SPEAKER_01 57:23

Yeah. Because they announced they announced the 2026 Hall of Fame. And who was it, Jay-Z? Somebody in hip hop, I believe, is is being honored.

SPEAKER_05 57:34

And it's like Is it Wu Tang Quinn?

SPEAKER_01 57:36

I think it's is because I'm down if it was Wu.

SPEAKER_05 57:40

Is it Wu-Tang? Hold on. Can we look it up right now?

SPEAKER_01 57:42

Yeah, you can look it up right now. But he spoke out against that and is this whole thing, like, oh, the way that uh a song is that he he I think he mentioned when talk about hip hop, like ghetto, he used the word ghetto. I'm just like, bitch.

SPEAKER_05 57:57

Yeah. Fuck I do.

SPEAKER_01 58:00

Yeah. But it but uh old guy from uh run DMC, I think I forget his name, I think he spoke out against he's it he said something to the fact like, oh, he does this every couple years, almost like referring to him like an old ass man. Just let it just let him holler on his little porch. It was hilarious the way you don't worry, his gun ain't loaded. But see, and that also talks about tolerance too with bullshit. Older generations are able to tolerate a lot more when it comes to that kind of stuff. Because they dealt with it.

SPEAKER_05 58:31

Yes, Lauren Hill and Wu-Tang clan.

SPEAKER_01 58:33

Yes, Lauren, yeah. Mm-hmm. This is 2026 inductees.

SPEAKER_05 58:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 58:39

Yeah. And he just has such a big issue with a mess. Even though they made clear, I guess, decades ago, that it's open to all genres.

SPEAKER_05 58:51

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 58:51

Right? It's just this is like just a music hall of fame. It's not just rock and roll. These they use context of rock. The way that I heard them explain it is that they use the con uh the term rock and roll almost like how we use pop. Like this is just artists who have reached a certain prestige in their music career. Cause you've got our RB artists, Brandy, and folks like that that are uh I believe she was considered or she's supposed to be one of them as well. And they should all be con everyone should be considered. At the time that they start this, I think rock was a genre that we use more like pop, and we know pop is very ambiguous.

SPEAKER_05 59:30

Right.

SPEAKER_01 59:31

In the 90s, pop was house music. Now it's bubblegum type.

SPEAKER_05 59:36

Yeah, the the criteria, I was looking at the criteria of like who who can get inducted or who can be in the Rock Hall of Fame. And it's very high level criteria. It's like who an a musician and artist who is like impactful with their music and their artistry and the musicianship, not just in hitting charts, but as far as their impact in pop culture or in culture in general. You know what I'm saying? Like their music has moved things, have been used in movements, have like uh overplayed and commercial I don't know, but whatever. So like how how impactful have have they been as far as like with their art?

SPEAKER_04 1:00:16

Right.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:17

It's a very high level a very high level award. Yeah. Or high high level criteria.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:27

So I'm sorry I kind of derailed you when you mentioned music, it made me think about music, yeah. It made me think about that recent happening, even though by the time this comes out it'll be probably in the March.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:39

But yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:40

Anyways, so we talked about traumas.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:44

Well, yeah, yeah. Uh pain points.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:46

Pain points.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:47

Yeah, and the the pain point was the sheltering and just it it got to the point where I'm I started to equate like anything black culture as negative.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:00

Negative.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:01

You know? So I was kind of I call it a raised on a Candace track.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:08

And that's Candace Owens, by the way, for the folks in the back who may not know.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:12

Don't curse on the podcast, please. So I don't condone profanity.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:22

Although I recently heard another quick derailment that whatever that pod wherever that station, that network that was housing her, has replaced her, and the host that they have on there now is like going through all her old stuff and basically discrediting it, saying how foolish she sounds, talking about this, that, and the other, since she's kind of made this pivot away from the MAGA Republican. They've been coming at her, but anyways, yeah, Candace track. Got it.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:53

You gotta be accountable to the soil. But the seeds you just want to do.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:58

And what and what you sow, bitch, you better know you're gonna reap. Anyways.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:05

That was said.