← Shannon Cason's Homemade
Shannon Cason's Homemade
The Joys & Fears of the First Warm Day | Homemade
00:46:46
This isn’t just about heat—it’s about community, tradition, and breaking cycles. Let’s transform our First Warm Days.
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- [00:01]
Shannon Case
I remember block parties in my old neighborhood. And then they just stopped. What happened? Let's talk about it. Hey, I appreciate you being here with me. This is a homemade stories. Well, homemade. Shannon Case is homemade. I still not hot in Detroit. It's like almost June and it's still a little nip in the air. I just came home and I had on my. My puffer vest. It's still a little cold outside. But I hear it's supposed to be like close to 90 this weekend. And if it is, I'll pull out all the air conditioners. You know is getting hot when people start. Well, people always drive crazy on 94, but when they really, really start with them jet engine cars, the. The chargers and the challengers start zipping in and out of traffic, then, you know, it's especially 90. So this weekend when I cut the grass, I'll pull out the air conditioners. We don't have central air. We got air conditioners. And this is a super old house. So I put the air conditioners in the room where we put the air conditioners. And air conditioners are the heaviest thing on earth. I don't know how dense air conditioners are. Have you ever looked at air conditioners? Just a little small box, but then you try to pick it up. It's crazy heavy. And then it's awkward. And it don't have handles. Who came up with the idea? Erica? Did they know we got to pull them out? Why don't they put handles on air conditioners? I know I'm arguing about crazy stuff. I used to say the same thing about TVs, like why they don't put a handle on this heavy ass tv. Eventually we're gonna have to move this thing. All right, let me stop talking and get to a story. Let me see how I turn this thing off. All right. Welcome to Homemade. I'm Shannon Casein. Block parties. We used to have block parties all the time on 19th street in E course I grew up. I would say I grew up in E course. I'm from the west side of Detroit. But when my mom and dad split up, when they split up, we moved to E course in on the 1919 block, the 19th Street. And on 19th street, they would shut down the block on both ends and we would have this big block party. And it was. It was exciting. Like when you're having a block party, it's exciting. All the kids on the street, we talking about the races. We talking big stuff like who will beat who, go win in the race. The bike race that we have, and then the older people talking about who go in with the best barbecue is all competition still competition. Soul music, people playing soul music, putting their speakers out on their porch, sort of blast for the whole neighborhood. And it was just like a. A neighborly fun vibe. For every block party that I had been a part of, the biggest part of it. This is like a big event that we would have during it called the Michael Jackson dance contest. Like whatever Michael Jackson song was popping at that time, I think it may have been Thriller at the time that I'm. And everybody would know all the dance moves to all the Michael Jackson videos. Like if he had a video on MTV or something like that, everybody knew all the dances. If it was Beat It, Thriller or whatever. So that was the big, big event for the. For the block party. And all my friends, me and my friends would be bj, who you met on the last episode. It would be. Or Beach Tootley. Rest in peace. To Tootley. Nate. Nate. I talked about Nate on my last episode. Me and him got in that little fight, but we was always, always boys. Ryan would come in and out. He. He lived on the block, but he would be there sometimes. Big Duke. Big Duke. Big time in the. In the record industry now. And then Vern. I wonder what's up with Vern and Kia. Kia. Even Kia would come out. She. She would be stuck in the house most of the time, but her mama let her out for the block party. And all the little kids on the street. Now Beach. Beach was always a star. That's why I still look at him in that mindset. Because beach would killed a Michael Jackson dance contest. And it was almost like we wasn't really, like, looking for a contest as much as we was looking, like, just for a Beach performance. Because nobody really wanted to go against Bej. I can't dance like that. You know, I just do a mean two step. That's about all I do. But Beej's family is the Gordy family. He's from the Gordy family, so it's like his. His cousin is the Gordy's. Like his. I think he got pictures with Barry Gordy. You know, it's just a part of his family, his musical family. And when they would have the. The Michael Jackson dance contest, bees would go all out. He'd get the jacket. I don't think he had the jacket. So he'd just get like a red vest or something to put on. And then he'll put on like one of his. His grandma's gardening gloves or something like that. I don't know if he had a real shiny glove, but he'll just get it like a gardening glove. And he already had the Jheri curl. That was back in the Jheri curl days. So he had a little curl. He probably put a little curl down in front of his forehead or something. But bees would always kill the dance contests. So it's the Michael Jackson dance contest time. They playing the Michael Jackson songs, but then the record just stops. And everybody runs to one end of the block. So we all run with the people, you know, and like, you know, black folks, when one person run everybody. So we all run to the end of the block and at the end of the block and actually. And actually BJ's driveway, there's a man on the ground. And the man was Joe, BJ's neighbor Joe. And I say a man, but Joe was probably around maybe 20. He probably about six, seven years older than us. We were probably like 12 or so. And he probably 19, 20. And he was on the driveway and he had been shot. Now, Joe and Keith were BJ's neighbors, and they were the freshest kids on the block. I mean, even to this day, when I think of fresh, I kind of see Joe and Keith in my mind. Like, Keith was a little closer in age to us, so he went to the same way. When we got to high school, he was going to high school with me. But Keith had a whole thing like they had the freshest Adidas suits. He was the. Keith was the first guy I ever saw with the Jordans. Like he. He had sky Jordans because he has small feet. And he was the first person I ever saw was Jordans. And then I went to go get Jordans and I had big feet. I had to get the Air Jordans, but always the freshest. And Keith had a way. Keith and Joe, they had a way that they walked and it was like a cool walk. Even they walk was fresh. Like he had like a double step to his walk. I remember his foot would go up and down when he walked. And I always thought that that was just. Even his walk was fresh. But here it is. Joe was in my best friend's driveway and he had been shot. And everybody was. Was yelling. There was a lot of commotion and I was just right there in the middle of it. Then they called the paramedics and the ambulance came. And I remember when that. When the. The EMT workers were. Were with them, they had a pair of scissors and it were. He had on Joe had on Adidas, like one of those leaf Adidas shirts, like just a T shirt, because it was hot outside. And they had some scissors and they had to cut the Adidas shirt. And I remember in my mind, I was like, dang, that's a fresh shirt. And they just cutting it. I remember thinking that it was a white and blue Adidas shirt. I can see it in my mind. Another thing I remember is his mother made the worst sound. The sound of a mother crying about her son is like a jarring noise that I can still remember that noise to this day. It stays with you. And they did what they were doing. I could see the hole in his chest. And they took him away.
- [10:10]
Reverend Robin Hood
And.
- [10:13]
Shannon Case
That was our block party. And me and BJ sat on the curb eating hot dogs. And the music was turned down low. And we had got word. It was just like a somber feeling. We had got word that Joe was a doa. And I didn't know what DOA meant, so I. I asked be, you know, what's doa? Beach told me that Joe was dead. And it was just. Just a surreal feeling because we were just getting ready for this Michael Jackson dance contest. So that year, there was no Michael Jackson dance contest. In the following year, no Michael Jackson dance contest. And then they just stopped having the block party because some other things that happened, they just. They just stopped doing block parties. That was the end of it. I want to say condolences to The Day family, Mrs. Day, condolences. You know, she. She passed away. And then rest in peace to. To Keith. Keith Day as well. He. He passed away a few years ago as well. And that was my man. I saw him not too long ago, too, at, like an event in E course. And he was just so happy to see me. He was always. During the kid. When we was kids, he was just super nonchalant. But then when he saw me at this event, I mean, he couldn't even, like, walk away from me. He just kind of just stayed with me the whole time. Shannon, man, I ain't seen you in so long. So rest in peace to the whole. To the whole day family. Yeah, that's my story. That's my story. So Summertime. I'm happy that it's finally coming. They say this weekend, what I'm doing differently this year than last year, right? So I'm six three. I'm. I'm tall or short? Tall. You know what I'm saying? 6:3 is like the start of being tall.
- [12:39]
Reverend Robin Hood
And.
- [12:41]
Shannon Case
I'm about £235 right now. And that was where I was at all last year. Like all last summer I was at 235. So this year I'm starting early. I'm gonna drop down in the 220s for this year. And then for my workout, I'm not going to the gym. I, I go to LA Fitness. Usually that's my gym. I'm gonna do my workouts here at home, the backyard. I'mma set up a nice little workout spot. It's already kind of started, but I'mma set it up a little bit more and do all my workouts at home. The only problem is like gaining muscle. So I got to make sure I had the right work, weights and all that kind of stuff. And then you have to do. If I don't have super heavy weights, I have to just do higher reps to get the tension in the muscles that I need. The people out there who, you know, lifters, y' all know what I'm talking about. But the thing is, I'm working out in the sun this year and I'm geek about it. That's, that's gonna be my, that's gonna be my thing about this year. If you do that, let me know, let me know your routine or, or you know, share some tips on routines. Because it's not as many routines, like when I look online to find out more information about at home stuff, it's not as much stuff online, but they do like when I take my walks. So this may be a part of it. When I take my walks around the neighborhood, they do have certain pockets that they'll have these like gym areas, like outside gym areas where they have the pull up bars and the different kind of bars that you can use to, to get other exercises that I may not be able to do here. So I just take a short walk and do some outside. But I want to, I want to work out outside this year. So that's my plan to be out, out on the streets. And we're gonna talk about that a little bit in this next, in this next segment. Let me get everything ready for that and let's get into it. Let's get into it. All right, let's see. I got some questions. When did violence become a tradition in the summer? When did Memorial Day in Chicago become bloody Memorial Day? Let's talk about it.
- [14:59]
Reverend Robin Hood
Come quietly or there will be trouble.
- [15:04]
Shannon Case
The trouble with Memorial Day weekend in Chicago, every city has an unspoken calendar. Days when you can feel the shift in the air before the news even confirms it. In Chicago, Memorial Day weekend has become one of those days. Not because of the parades or the barbecues or the flags or the three day sales, but because there's a brace for something else. Violence. If you're from Chicago, especially the south or the west sides, you know what I'm talking about. I'm from Detroit and I lived in Chicago over a decade and I can feel it. The weather breaks, the coats get put away, the windows roll down, and then it begins. In 2021, Memorial Day weekend in Chicago ended with 39 people shot and nine people killed. In 2016, 69 people were shot and six killed. It's a pattern that stretches back for years and still continues to repeat itself. The numbers fluctuate, but the media headlines, though bloody start to summer Memorial Day mayhem. On Tuesday morning, there's news reports with crime scene tape blowing in the breeze like confetti after a parade. But it wasn't always like this. I came from a time when Memorial Day meant family. Your uncle on the Grand Real, your cousin came in from out of town. You saw family you hadn't seen since Christmas. Maybe there was that one auntie that came outside to. To eat some hot dogs and hamburgers with the rest of the family for a little bit before she went back upstairs. Maybe I'm just talking about my own family there, but. But we'll ride bikes and run around and dance to music. Michael Jackson dance contest. Memorial Day meant it was to kick off the summer. The signal that school was almost over and everything was about to open up. But then something changed. Maybe it was slow at first. A shooting down the block, a fight in the park, a cousin who didn't make it to next year's cookout. Then, over time, Memorial Day became something different. Different. Something darker. A weekend of worry. It's easy to point fingers. Gangs, guns, poverty, the city, the cops, the schools, the system. Yeah, and all that plays a role. But beyond all of that, there's something else that we don't talk about. Enough. Tradition. Because violence can become a tradition, too. And that's the real trouble. The tradition, the expectation. We've reached the point where some people expect Memorial Day to be violent. They talk about it like it's a season, as if it just happens when the weather turns. A twisted kind of ritual. The media contributes to it. News cameras wait, rush ready on the corners, and they count the bodies like his sports scores. The other sides of Chicago and downtown, the north side, the north suburbs, they just shake their head at it. And the cycle repeats year after year. It's Become a tradition. How can we shift the tradition? Because the same streets where bullets flew is also home to block parties, kickball games, double dutch competitions. And they still are. They're not always just bullets flying. People are having a good time on the same blocks. Then for every headline about shootings, there's. There's 20 people who stepped in to break up a fight, who fed the whole neighborhood from a barbecue grill, who passed out flight liars about community events while walking down the block. There is resistance happening, but it doesn't make the news. Teachers checking in on students before the weekend, pastors keeping their churches open late, activists and OGs like. Like somebody I'm talking to later on, who connect with people like, nah, not this weekend. Not on my watch. Even the young people, they know that this is getting old. Most of them are sick of it and tired of it. They just might not know how to say it. But if you listen, you can hear them. And maybe that's where we come in. Those of us who remember the old cookouts, who remember the real Memorial Day weekend, those of us who saw the turn happen in real time, maybe it's time we start telling those stories again. The cookout, the bike races, the Michael Jackson dance contest. Not as fairy tales, but as reminders. Proof that there is another way. Proof that our neighborhoods were never meant to be war zones. Memorial Day should be about remembrance, about honor and sacrifice, not adding new names to that list. So, yeah, there's a trouble with Memorial Day in Chicago. And it's real, it's tragic, it's frustrating, it's layered, but it's fixable. All it takes is enough of us deciding that we're tired of that tradition. Let's start a new tradition, a peaceful one. I saw it happen in real time. A couple of shootings stopped all block parties, and everybody started to be fearful. Instead of enjoying our community, and we all enjoyed the community, but it was this turning into our own families. Instead of opening things up to everybody, people became more insulated. And I believe that the media has something to do with that as well, because these stories started just to be so prevalent that people started to be scared. You know, I enjoyed my childhood even in the 80s, you know, when the crack. The crack era and all those kind of things, and people paint that picture as though it was always bad. But honestly, the bad was just like this much in my life. This much. But playing basketball on at the center, and we had our fun. But people, like people remember the bad, even. Even far as. As a writer and as A storyteller, you tell the stories that get the most attention and people's attention go towards the bad. Failure is more. Is more interesting. That's what one of my. The author that I listened to, he said failure is more interesting. Despair is more interesting. Violence is super interesting. But we got to change the story. We got to tell some good stories too. So thank you for listening. I tell you one thing I miss. I miss Chicago in the summer. I'm in Detroit right now and summertime shy is just something special. All the festivals, everything that's happening, how big and beautiful that the city is. I used to walk by the water pretty much every day. That was part of my like my daily walk to walk by the water in the beaches every day. And I will, I will miss that. All the beautiful women too, you know, just being on all the beautiful people. I should say, let me stop there. All the beautiful people. But I'll miss Chicago this year. But I, I will probably go visit at some point. And then the one thing about Detroit, Detroit is beautiful too. So I gotta. What I gotta do is change my mindset because there's so many new things in the city here in Detroit. I gotta look at Detroit as a visitor. I think many times. I've been here most of my life. So I don't see it the way visitors see it. And it be places that I haven't even visited yet. Like I know we're doing a lot of renovation to our riverwalk or a lot of addition to our riverwalk. I gotta go hang out there more. I'm gonna start taking my walks in Bell Isle, you know, so you go see me around city. The city in Detroit. You're gonna see me around. Let's get to our next section. Let's get to our next segment. All this talk about gun violence in the summer. Is it really real or is it all just hype and clickbait? Let's talk about it.
- [24:25]
Reverend Robin Hood
What's the capitalist I am? I don't know that keeping it real.
- [24:30]
Shannon Case
Does crime really spike in the summer? I seem to always call BS on the news. When I see news, I'm always. I'm more on the side of bs but does it really spike? Let's see. In cities like Detroit and Chicago, when the first 90 degree temperature approaches, the headlines start writing themselves. The city brace for a summer crime wave. Mayhem in the heat. Another bloody Memorial Day. If you grew up with flashing news tickers and front page stories, you might believe that violence is always exploding when the temperature gets hot. But if we Take a closer look at the data and see how the news is packaged. It shows a stubborn gap between reality and the story we're being told. Here are six things that might change your mind about this summer crime wave. Number one Seasonal bumps are real, but they're not apocalyptic. Yeah, crime goes up in the summer. The Bureau of Justice Statistics looked at almost 20 years of data and found that violent crime usually rises around late spring and summer, then drops in the winter. But here's the thing. It's only a 10% increase, not double or triple digit like the news sometimes makes it sound. The way it's covered can make it feel way bigger than it really is. Number two Heat headlines get highlighted. A study from Pew Research showed that local news talks about violent crime, especially shootings, a lot more than it actually happens. In one year, homicides were only 1% of the crimes reported to police, but they made up 60% of the news time. Another study from Marquette Law found something similar. In one city, murders were less than 0.5% of real crimes, but they showed up in over half of the crime stories. Why does this happen? Because shocking stories get attention. There's an old saying, if it bleeds, it leads. And in the summer, more people are outside as longer daylight, so there's more video to capture, more chances to grab views. Number three perception versus reality. When FBI shared this 2024 report, it showed that murders had dropped by almost 12% across the country. Crime is actually going down, but at the same time, most people believe that crime was worse. Why is that? Researchers call it the mean world effect. If you're seeing crime stories on the news, social media, and even on podcasts, you start to think that the world is more dangerous than it really is. You feel like there's trouble everywhere. 4. The Heat Story is bigger than the poverty story. Researchers at UC Berkeley and UC UC San Diego found that even a small rise in temperature, just one degree, can lead to more violence. People get irritated faster, so there's more chance for conflict when everyone outside is hot. But the heat isn't the whole story. Things like poverty, rundown neighborhoods and lack of support services make the problem worse. It's all connected. Still, the headlines skip the deeper reasons than just say, the hot weather summer is causing violence. But the truth is a lot more complicated than that. Number five, don't believe the hype. It can all seem like crime gets worse in the summer, but a big part of that is how the media is telling the story. Fear gets clicks. News often focuses on violent weekends. Even when Crime is down overall. For people living in already stressed neighborhoods, seeing their zip code on repeat and crime coverage is exhausting. It drains hope and makes change feel impossible. Cities also pour money into the emergency policing patrols and any programs that they have, but they ignore long term solutions like economic opportunities. It's a money grab. So the quick fixes keep getting all the funding, but the lasting change gets nothing and gets left behind. Number six, we need some narrative shifting. Some news outlets are starting to shift how they tell the story. In cities like Philadelphia and Minneapolis, stations now include simple context banners like year to date shootings is down 14%. It's a small line, but it brings honesty to the headlines. And in places like where I'm from in Detroit, a few stations have begun to tell their summer news stories with footage of block parties and neighborhood events. Before talking about these crime stories. It's a reminder that most warm weather stories stories are joyful, not violent. So summer does bring out more people. It's more heat, more chances for conflict. So yes, crime goes up a bit, but the media makes a small spike seem like a big surge, making tragic events feel like a yearly pattern. The truth is we're safer than the constant consistent headlines make it seem. If we start asking for news that shows the full picture, not just the fear, we can shift this story. Maybe the next generation won't grow up dreading Memorial Day or just a sunny day. The real headline would read brighter days ahead, Falling crime and endless sunshine in the city. Yeah, when I think about this talk, I never really believe the news when the news is just saying. Because when they say Detroit in Chicago, you know who they talking about? They're talking about black people. And when they tell these stories, even, I'm gonna tell you, even some of the TV shows that they have where they have these crime TV shows where it's a drug dealer like Snowfall or, or BMF or all these shows. Sometimes I, I don't, I don't like those shows that much. To be real with you. I watch them and some of them, the story lines are okay. None of them are done in really good storytelling, but they, okay. But many times they'll, they'll over emphasize the crime. Now I grew up, I grew up in the BMF neighborhood. I did see shooting and it was dangerous at times, don't get me wrong. But that ain't the gist of my childhood at all. It was playing bikes and playing basketball and it wasn't like we was fighting every day. Now the people who say they were, I Don't believe them. There's a lot of liars out there too, who claim that every day was a bad day. Some stupid idiots who got themselves in trouble. But most of my childhood was not ducking from gunfire, even though the news would make you believe that in these TV shows that make you believe it. So I just had to look a little deeper. And when I looked a little deeper, it's not as bad as they say it is. And actually it's getting better. So. All right, well, let me shout out some of the friends of homemade stories. These are the friends who, who, who support the show on Patreon. It's, it's patreon.com backslash Shannon Casein or on cash app $sign Shannon Casein. You know, however you find a way to support me. I appreciate my friends, so I gotta mention them. My friends, Jennifer H. In New Jersey. That's my moth friends friend. Thank you for joining the Patreon. Robin W. Appreciate the Cash app Reiki os. Thank you for the Cash app. Long time listener, first time supporter. I appreciate you. Thank you looking out. Susan H. Boca Raton, Florida. You in that nice weather. Okay. Thank you for the PayPal. I appreciate that. In the kind words said you said you were a long time listener, first time supporter too. So I appreciate you. I appreciate all the friends of homemade stories. Like I say, patreon, patreon.com backslash Shannon Casein and then cash app is $sign Shannon Casey. See me there and let's get to a phone call. I had a phone call with a real one if this is a real episode about real issues. So I talked to some, somebody doing some real work in Chicago. So listen in to this phone call.
- [34:09]
Reverend Robin Hood
Hello.
- [34:10]
Shannon Case
Hey, Reverend Hood.
- [34:13]
Reverend Robin Hood
What's up, bro?
- [34:14]
Shannon Case
This Shannon.
- [34:15]
Reverend Robin Hood
I know who you is, man. I know your big head is, man.
- [34:23]
Shannon Case
I'm doing good. I'm doing real good. I was thinking of you. How you doing?
- [34:29]
Reverend Robin Hood
I'm doing great, man. I'm doing great.
- [34:32]
Shannon Case
I'm thinking of you because I was doing the episode and I just, I don't wanna, I don't want to put you in the, in the, in the wrong, but I know you do this work right. So this been a, it's been a late summer this year, you know, like it ain't gotten hot. I usually say the heat turn on on Memorial Day, but it didn't this Memorial Day. It's still, it's still a little nip. It ain't really hot yet. But I was, I was doing the episode on how to Heat brings other things along. You know, I'm in Detroit, so it brings other things along with it too, man. Is it not real? Or is. Or am I just imagining? But is it like a tradition, a gun violence that happens in the summer months that we see?
- [35:23]
Reverend Robin Hood
There's a correlation between, usually Memorial Day, when the heat get the hottest at the beginning, between spring and going into summer. In Dallas, it's been forever, but in particularly the last 20 years, I could tell you how it. It, It's, It's. It's like. Seems like it's part of a equilibrium of our air. Like, it's like, turn everything up. My attitude, my anger, everything gets turned up. And it usually happens around Memorial Day.
- [36:13]
Shannon Case
Yeah.
- [36:14]
Reverend Robin Hood
So, you know, I wasn't in Chicago this Memorial Day. I just started doing this stuff. It was so bad that about four years ago, I made my business not to be in Chicago during Memorial Day.
- [36:30]
Shannon Case
That's something else. Okay.
- [36:32]
Reverend Robin Hood
I made him because one time I had to turn around and I had crossed into another state and I had told them, don't call me for nothing because it was just too much.
- [36:47]
Shannon Case
Your phone gonna be ringing off the.
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Reverend Robin Hood
Oh, my God.
- [36:49]
Shannon Case
Yeah, I understand. Because you taking care of all the families and everything else.
- [36:53]
Reverend Robin Hood
Yes, man. We got across the state line and, and the brother called me. He was a former gang. You see red, you know, I know you didn't want nobody to call you, but I gotta tell you, man. He said, a couple of people here got shot. The ambulance came over there to get them. Then they started fighting with the ambulance driver. Then the police came about 12 quad cars and six other paddy wagons. And then the police was out there fighting. I said, okay, I'm turning around, right? Oh, man. I talked about Chicago Police Department so bad that they, even the gang bangers felt sorry.
- [37:36]
Shannon Case
Let me, Let me warn you. I'm. I'm kind of. I'm kind of family into this because I'd be doing this with my mom and my, my dad and stuff, but I'm. I'm recording. I ain't gonna use nothing you don't want me to use. But I'm just.
- [37:50]
Reverend Robin Hood
I ain't gonna say nothing you can't use.
- [37:52]
Shannon Case
I'm letting you know ahead of time. I'm family in it. I'll be doing it with my friends. But I, I, I'm letting you know, so, you know.
- [38:01]
Reverend Robin Hood
Let me tell you something about me. I, I even told the feds, okay? I say I'm not gonna say nothing. I can't say again.
- [38:11]
Shannon Case
I hear that. I Hear that? I hear that.
- [38:13]
Reverend Robin Hood
Because it's too hard to, to try to remember.
- [38:16]
Shannon Case
Yeah.
- [38:16]
Reverend Robin Hood
Right.
- [38:16]
Shannon Case
So to try to remember what not to say around this person and what to say around this person. Just, just be real about it, though. And that's the one thing about you, I would say, 100%, you the most real approachable person in this work that I, beyond me, I just be like, like me calling right now, just kind of just having to open ear for me, just right off hand, you know, I asked you this one, one other question, like what, what role does the media play in that, though? Because it's, it seemed like it get touted up so much and sometimes I, I, I have a, I don't believe the media totally. All the way, all the time, you know, but then the media always plays up this gun violence that happens in the, in the summertime, the memorial, daytime and beyond, you know. What, what?
- [39:07]
Reverend Robin Hood
Well, do you think I'm gonna tell you what's getting ready to happen? And I want you to remember this? Okay, so I'm gonna use Chicago. Case in point. It didn't happen on Memorial Day in Chicago. Violence was down for the first time in my freaking lifetime. Between me and you, you know, people only can go by media and stuff like that, but for the first time in my life, I can remember. But why is that? I don't know yet, but I am very interested, you know, and I'm just talking about Chicago, but any major city, every year, this time between Indiana and Chicago, a train get robbed full of guns. Every year.
- [39:56]
Shannon Case
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think there's something to that. I agree with you. I agree with you. Yeah. So how this happened every year and then it becomes like this big media story every year on the same time. And then they got all, they got almost like a, it's almost like a, a sports thing. How many guys.
- [40:17]
Reverend Robin Hood
That's, that's my point. So I think it's more than the media. I think it's part of the white elites. It's part of their enjoyment. It's part of their enjoyment, man, because, and I ain't just started thinking like this. I've been thinking like this for years. And I, I would tell people exactly what's gonna happen, when it was gonna happen. They said how. You know, I said it happened every year. You don't pay attention.
- [40:49]
Shannon Case
Yeah, you can almost like, you can call it, that's why, that's what I'm talking about it, because I, I called it the first warm day. Like, the first warm day is, is, but it's all like delivered over the media. You saying it's a bigger, it's a bigger machine that's at work. I get what you're saying.
- [41:07]
Reverend Robin Hood
Right. I think it's a bigger machine but the media plays a role in it.
- [41:10]
Shannon Case
Yeah, yeah. Let me ask you this. I got because I'm going my mom birthday today. We, we're about to get over.
- [41:16]
Reverend Robin Hood
Okay.
- [41:17]
Shannon Case
But I, I, I'm gonna ask you this and I don't want to hurry through this either. Tell me, tell me about Rashan.
- [41:25]
Reverend Robin Hood
My grandson.
- [41:26]
Shannon Case
Yeah.
- [41:28]
Reverend Robin Hood
The average 15 year old just made the basketball team. Well, he had made 16, just made the basketball team. Starting guard, 4 foot 11, you know, became the point. God. Yeah.
- [41:44]
Shannon Case
He said sure he could play. Yeah, yeah.
- [41:46]
Reverend Robin Hood
Oh my God. For the first time he turned me down. I ain't gonna say he turned me down. He said, look grandpa, I need to be practicing on my, my skills and I'm going to, you know, to hang out with my basketball crew, you know and you know, that's what we're doing now. And this is a true story. For the first time in his life, he got on the train and went to the south side from the west side of Chicago and came up dead in alley. First time in his life.
- [42:30]
Shannon Case
The west side and just traveled to the south side.
- [42:33]
Reverend Robin Hood
Yeah, because you know these schools.
- [42:35]
Shannon Case
No, that's how you do when you're a baller. You go to other neighborhoods. You ball. That's right. I'm an old baller back in the day, you know, you probably, yeah, you go to other neighborhoods and ball that.
- [42:46]
Reverend Robin Hood
That's why I couldn't say nothing because I was a baller. I couldn't say nothing because I was saying, I, you know, I wanted to say something. Man, your butt used to go. And I was younger than him. I was 14. I used to travel from the suburbs, from Bearwood all the way to the west side of Chicago just to play some basketball at college, high school or up there in Malcolm X. Ain't nothing but Vice Lords and stuff in there, right? I don't care.
- [43:23]
Shannon Case
I was the same way. Other neighborhoods, we didn't have a gang culture as much here. But the thing was just you just go to other neighborhood. We go to the white neighborhoods too. Oh, they had the threes. They could shoot the threes. That's man, but that I, I, I'm so sorry to hear that story. And then I know so much of the community had came out too, but good talking to you always, man, but, but thanks for taking the time we got to do this longer. One day. I'm, I'm, I'mma sit that up. And that's Reverend Robin Hood. He's a longtime community activist and organizer and, and pastor, anti violence advocate in Chicago. For decades, he's been on the front lines mediating kind of conflicts, comforting families and holding public officials accountable. He's big on that, real big on that. And when I think about, even the way I describe him, we, we kind of got to change that narrative. Yeah, those are all things that he does. But he's just like one of the realest people I know. I just called him on the fly and just a person who loves his community. You know, when we talk about it, we talk about it in these militarized terms, you know, like anti violence advocate and mediating conflicts. We say these things, but taking care of his family, taking care of his community, taking care of his neighborhood, you know, and I, I think we have to change that, to change that tradition. It's an awareness. It starts with that awareness. Reverend Robin Hood, he, he lost his grandson Rashawn Hood to gun violence. And that, that was a sad story. Condolences to the family for that. But one of the realest guys I know. For real. One of the realest guys. So we, we're gonna be, we're gonna call him more often since I know he pick up the phone whenever I call. But I want you all to enjoy the warm weather. They say the weather's supposed to break this weekend. I'm excited about that. I gotta get outside to the backyard, get my workout routine together so I can hit that on a daily basis, probably four times a week or so. But let's talk about these stories in the comments and be respectful. If you wouldn't say it to my face, don't say it in the comments. I know that don't work, but I'm just telling you that. Don't say it in the comments if you won't say it to my face. Let me put this back up here real quick. Make sure you like and subscribe to Shannon Case is homemade. Be a friend. Leave a comment down below. Let's have a conversation. I'm at Shannon Casein on Instagram, Tick tock all the different social media media sites. I'm at Shannon Casen. Join the Patreon patreon.com Shannon Casen $sign Shannon Casing on Cash app. And if you're interested in workshops, speaking engagements or merch, go to shannon cason.com I love to see you over there too. All right. Where my mom at? Where my mom at? Enjoy the rest of the day.
- [46:45]
Reverend Robin Hood
Now, that's homemade.