B (44:50)
I want to see black people's take on surrealism. I want to see Afro futuristic art. Art that imagines the future we could have if we were liberated. I want to see art that's reflective of our current political state in all mediums. Through poetry, through music, through sculpting. Art is extremely important to the intelligence of a community. Reflecting the intelligence of a community. And I ain't talking about no Tremaine Emory putting cotton reefs on a hoodie and calling it denim tears. Nah, nah, nah, I ain't, I ain't rocking with that. You ain't never seen me. You ain't never gonna see me rotting her. Damn Tears, not wearing. Then you try to psychology, you know, make it be all theoretical and ideological about why you put cotton on a goddamn hoodie. Reefs of cotton. I don't care what your reason is. Because the history and the bloodshed that's connected to that cotton. And there's white boys running around wearing that, calling it drip. That, that ain't a concept you can explain to me, that's gonna make that cool to me. Then when they appropriate or disrespect our history in this country and disrespect our contributions, they say, oh well, I got on denim tears though. We gotta make, we gotta create an intelligent movement, right? Atlanta has the highest wealth gap, the largest wealth gap of any other major city here in America. There's a 96% chance that if you're born poor in Atlanta, you will die poor in Atlanta. Why is that? It's because we put all of our celebration and we exalt the entertainment that comes out of Atlanta. That only changes the lives of an individual and the people around him, doesn't change the community. And it actually generates a generation of young people that aspire to be entertainers instead of engineers, that aspire to be entertainers instead of skilled tradesmen, that aspire to be entertainers instead of politicians, politicians from the community that can actively change the community. And because we celebrate people that rap about the degradation of black people, stunting on black people, colorist niggas putting women down, putting men down, putting ourselves down, talks about. The destruction, celebrates. The destruction, celebrates the failure of our community. Then intelligence doesn't seem so cool. The way that you change that wealth gap and the possibility of overcoming poverty here in Atlanta is by putting young people in high probability outcomes like academics. And staying focused on academics, like enrolling in a trade, going to trade school. A community college is still a college, still a college. A vocational degree still is effective, if not more effective and actively participating in the community than a four year or eight year degree. We need both. We need our doctors, we need our lawyers, we need our pediatricians, we need our dentistes, we need, we need our psychologists, our psychiatrists, we need teachers, we need it all. But we also need plumbers, we need H VAC technicians, we need brick masons, we need engineers, we need electricians, we need CDL drivers, we need it all. Because that's how you effectively change someone's up mobility by giving them opportunities that are achievable. And I can call Steve down the street cause something wrong with my ac and Steve ain't gonna charge Me just to show up, man. That's my neighbor. We live in the same community. I'm having an issue with my plumbing. I can call Mike up the street. Cause Mike, master plumber, and it's probably not worth a plumbing company coming out when it's just. Probably you just need to snake that joint out. Or maybe you had a pipe loose. Maybe pipe need to be repaired. Mike can handle that for you. Man, could we offering the same community. I need Vanessa. They got the garden in our backyard to show me how to garden on my land. Agriculture is extremely important to our liberation. If we can't feed ourselves and we can't fix our own problems, we'll never be free. So cancel Christmas, boycott Black Friday. And if they give you them stamps, use them stamps for Thanksgiving.
