INTERVIEW: Mysonne Details His Role On Zohran's Transition Team, Influencing Policy, Justice + More

Summary

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The Breakfast Club: Interview with Mysonne on Zohran’s Transition Team, Justice Reform, and Hip-Hop & Politics

Podcast: The Breakfast Club (iHeartPodcasts)
Date: December 19, 2025
Episode: INTERVIEW: Mysonne Details His Role On Zohran's Transition Team, Influencing Policy, Justice + More
Guests: Mysonne (Justice Advisor)

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Overview

This episode features an in-depth conversation with activist and artist Mysonne, recently appointed to Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral transition team as a Justice Advisor. The hosts—including Charlamagne Tha God and Lauren LaRosa—discuss Mysonne’s role bridging grassroots experience with governance, the backlash he has faced as a formerly incarcerated leader, the importance of advocacy inside and outside government, and what hip hop culture’s involvement means for real policy change.

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Key Themes and Discussion Points

Mysonne’s Role on Zohran Mamdani’s Transition Team

• Policy Influence & Community Representation

  • Mysonne describes his duties as providing policy advice, particularly on criminal justice and public safety, suggesting staff appointments, and ensuring community voices shape the administration.
    • “We sit down and we talk about policy...all we can do is advise and give recommendations...he makes his own decisions.” — Mysonne (05:00)

• Community Engagement Initiatives

  • Intends to hold roundtables with formerly incarcerated people to ensure their perspectives inform policy.
    • "...doing roundtable meetings and convenings...to actually get a real understanding of what's happening inside the system." — Mysonne (06:07)

Backlash and Public Perception

• Media Stereotyping & Resilience

  • Discusses personal offense at being labeled a “crime boss” by the New York Post, and the ongoing struggles of escaping the stigma of past incarceration.
    • “You a forty-seven, forty-eight year old grown man now, you've done nothing since you came home but giving back to your community...and you still can't escape that.” — Charlamagne (07:15)
  • Mysonne reframes the criticism as affirmation of his work and resolves to set a positive example for the justice-impacted community.
    • "I'm not going to allow them to utilize that to discourage me from the work." — Mysonne (08:00)

• Blind Spots and Urgency

  • Media attacks reinforced an urgency for advocacy and visibility for formerly incarcerated leaders.
    • "It definitely was a level of urgency...a lot of people...don't believe that they can be successful." — Mysonne (09:30)

Why Lived Experience Matters

• Expertise from Experience, Not Optics

  • Argues that lived experience within the criminal justice system produces understanding academic training cannot.
    • "Those closest to the problem are closest to the solution...Sitting in the cell for seven years...seeing how the injustice system works." — Mysonne (11:11)

• Rehabilitation and Stigma

  • Stresses the need for genuine rehabilitation and the hypocrisy of denying opportunity to those who’ve served their time.
    • "If a person does his time and he comes out and he's productive, why do we act like he can't be productive?" — Mysonne (10:45)

Navigating Politics as an Activist

• Maintaining Integrity in Government Spaces

  • Mysonne assures the community he isn’t “getting a check”—he’s volunteering to maintain autonomy and credibility.
    • "This is a volunteer. I'm not getting no check for this...if they do something wrong I'm gonna be outside protesting." — Mysonne (13:38)

• Balancing Collaboration & Accountability

  • Describes activists’ ongoing responsibility to hold politicians accountable, even if it means protesting those in office they once supported.
    • "The minute he stops then we're going to be outside with the people." — Mysonne (15:20)
    • "I work for the people. I do not work for the government." — Mysonne (17:10)

Hip Hop, Culture, and Political Representation

• The System’s Debt to Hip Hop

  • Discusses the power—and limits—of hip hop culture’s involvement in politics and the risk of both politicians and the community turning their backs when controversy hits.
    • "What happens is when something goes wrong or...you standing up there, I've had this conversation with Papoose...these politicians left me out to dry." — Mysonne (18:17)
  • Emphasizes the need for community first, not blind party allegiance.
    • "I care about people and especially black people in our communities." — Mysonne (19:36)

• Non-Negotiables & Red Lines

  • Mysonne lists areas where he refuses to compromise, like support for violence interruption programs, proper resources in schools, and community protections.
    • “Once you start allowing the police to abuse our community...that's where I draw the line.” — Mysonne (21:40)

Judging Zohran Mamdani’s Authenticity

• Authenticity and Coalition Building
  • Mysonne describes how direct, candid listening sessions convinced him Mandani is serious about change—not just paying lip service.
    • "He sat there, he said we're going to get criticism and we not going to all agree...because I don't want everybody that agrees with me." — Mysonne (28:33)

Navigating Tribalism & Transactional Politics (Trump Meeting)

• On Meeting with Trump as Mayor

  • Supports Mandani’s pragmatic approach; he’d meet adversaries for the city’s good without sacrificing agenda, even if he personally would avoid such meetings.
    • “Now if he stops his agenda...then we got an issue with him.” — Mysonne (32:44)
  • Charlamagne critiques the confusing optics of activist language meeting political compromise.
    • “If you're going to use language like fascism it does look confusing...when you say you can work with a fascist.” — Charlamagne (33:15)

• Inside-Outside Game & Philosophy

  • Mysonne advocates for strategic engagement: combining protest with policy for real systemic change, citing civil rights figures as models.
    • “If you don't respect Dr. King's peace then you gonna get what we got over here—we the alternative.” — Mysonne (33:41)

Lessons for Young Organizers

• Protest Must Become Policy
  • Encourages young activists to be savvy, strategic, understanding both protest and policy, so they don’t just “fight for nothing.”
    • “If you just protest and you don't see things going anywhere...you're just fighting a fight for nothing.” — Mysonne (38:20)

Mysonne’s Final Reflections on Change

• Collective Power Over Individualism
  • Discusses the myth that disengagement leads to change and that individual success equates to collective progress.
    • “You don't have to do none of this...but I understand that if I don't do this and I don't utilize my voice...then generations of our people are going to be suffering.” — Mysonne (42:51)

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Memorable Quotes & Notable Moments

• On Lived Experience & Policy
  • “Those closest to the problem are closest to the solution.” — Mysonne (11:11)
• On Politicians and Accountability
  • “The minute he stops then we're going to be outside with the people.” — Mysonne (15:40)
  • “I work for the people. I do not work for the government.” — Mysonne (17:10)
• On Inside/Outside Strategy
  • “If you don’t respect Dr. King’s peace then you gonna get what we got over here—we the alternative.” — Mysonne (33:41)
• On Strategy, Not Just Protest
  • “I'm tired of moral victories. When do we actually see some change for our people?...I'm tired of just dying—I really want us to win the war.” — Mysonne (39:05)
• On What Politics Owes Hip Hop
  • “If you ain't at the table then you on the menu.” — Mysonne (19:42)
• Charlamagne on Stigma
  • “You've done nothing since you came home but give back...and you still can't escape that.” — Charlamagne (07:15)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [05:00] — Mysonne defines his transition team role
• [06:07] — Importance of community input in policymaking
• [07:15] — Charlamagne on media’s negative framing
• [09:30] — Mysonne discusses urgency & visibility for the formerly incarcerated
• [11:11] — "Those closest to the problem..."
• [13:38] — On activist integrity & remaining uncompromised
• [17:10] — “I work for the people, not the government”
• [18:17] — Hip hop in politics: risks & responsibilities
• [21:40] — Non-negotiables in criminal justice reform
• [28:33] — Zoran Mandani’s authenticity and coalition
• [32:44] — On meeting Trump and sticking to agenda
• [33:41] — The necessity of both protest and policy (“inside-outside game”)
• [38:20] — Advice for young organizers: strategic engagement
• [42:51] — Collective action vs. individual advancement

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Conclusion

This frank, incisive interview with Mysonne illustrates the complexity of bringing grassroots experience into policy spaces, the necessity for courageous, honest representation, and the continuing tension between activism and government. Mysonne issues a powerful call for the next generation to move beyond protest alone, embrace strategy, and insist on being at the table—or risk being on the menu.

Transcript

[Podcast Host]

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[DJ Envy]

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[Podcast Host]

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[Event Announcer]

Program your alarm.

[Mysonne (Justice Advisor)]

To power one hundred five point one.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

On iheartradio yep it's the world's most dangerous morning show the breakfast club charlamagne tha god dj envy jess hilarious envy and jess on here but ll cool bay lauren larosa is and we got a special guest man he was recently appointed to zoran mandani's transition team definitely a friend to the room the good brother mice on his what's up mice.

[Mysonne (Justice Advisor)]

Thank you for having me what's going on with y' all you autographed this for me man this is the first let me see this is the first time i actually see i don't even.

[Podcast Host]

Have you ain't see it no i.

[Mysonne (Justice Advisor)]

Didn'T even see it like in person i just seen it online wow well.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Before before we get into that what does your role on zoran mandani's transition.

[Mysonne (Justice Advisor)]

Team entail it entails being an advisor being able to talk about policies that we think should be implemented from criminal justice from public safety also appointments people that we think should be a part of his staff in that area that we feel best fit what it is that he wants to accomplish and what represents us in the community so what.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Power do you have to actually influence policy because you know people will be like oh this is just optics you get somebody like my son who's well respected in the city like what power do you have to actually well it's.

[Mysonne (Justice Advisor)]

Twenty of us it's twenty of us on in that committee right so we sit down and we talk about policy we have different meetings we and we we send okay this is the policy we think we shouldn't act and he gets to look at that based off you know what we come together and he makes his own decision we don't just tell him what to do we all we can do is advise and give recommendations hater love mom donnie right.

[Podcast Host]

People have been yelling that they want this they want people in the community from the community helping to make decisions why are people so upset that it's.

[Mysonne (Justice Advisor)]

Happening because you know people don't like change especially the people that don't want to see change they want to make it seem like it's a bad thing it doesn't make sense that you mad that somebody who's experienced the criminal justice system on both ends who was wrongfully convicted inside prison for seven years came home and started working with youth inside prison started you know dealing with reform organizations who has influenced policy within prisons who knows you know the the mind state of the young kids that's going in and out of these prisons that's actually working with him that doesn't make sense that somebody would be mad so i love what mandami is man lech right now is doing right now because he's really trying to encompass what what new york looks like the people inside new york the voices of new york i'm about to do start doing roundtable meetings and convenings with formerly incarcerated individuals in which we sit down and we talk about what it is what it looks like to actually be productive members of society what do we want to see what do we realize is wrong with the system so he can actually get a real understanding of what's happening inside the system i try not to.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Take too many things personal man but when i saw this on the front page of the new york post you labeled as a crime boss mandani appoints rapper who served seven years for armed robbery as justice advisor it actually offended me as a person with a criminal record because it's like damn my son went to prison in what nineteen ninety nine how old are you twenty yeah twenty one twenty one you a forty seven forty eight year old grown man now you've done nothing since you came home but giving back to your community but tried to teach others not to follow this same path and and you still can't escape that well you know.

[Mysonne (Justice Advisor)]

I say all the time what the devil means for bad god are used for good they got a good picture so i actually like this picture you're wearing your boycott black that's exactly what i'm saying when you look it's boycott black murder on the shirt and the hat and we actually sold out so you can you can go buy some more on the website if you want to at untilfreedom dot com but it actually shows what it is that i represent so what happened was for me when when i see i received so many congratulations it's like people didn't even realize that they were actually trying to you know discredit and defame me people were just like wow you you you're doing something with the mayor you're actually you know part of the justice advisory system with the mayor so it was it was it didn't even get the effect that they wanted to get so it was for me it was like you know what i'm not going to utilize i'm not going to allow them to utilize that to discourage me from the work that i've been doing for the last over a decade you know with until freedom we've been doing this anti violence work we've been doing criminal justice work for the last over a decade so if for me it's like i'm going to continue and i'm going to utilize this this notoriety and which i mean for bad i'm gonna utilize it i'm gonna make sure that you know the world gets out i'm gonna make sure that i represent formerly incarcerated and justice impacted people properly so when they say oh we can't do i want i want to be a representative to say that my son showed you that it's definitely possible then you can.

[Podcast Host]

Be successful did that because i mean you've been doing this for a long time like you know what i mean but did this moment and how like a new york poster you know wherever else mentioned you did it turn up something new or like make you think of like okay we need to make sure we're doing this over here too like was there like a blind spot that like you saw through all this.

[Mysonne (Justice Advisor)]

I don't know if it was a blind spot but it definitely was a level of urgency it made me feel more you know motivated to do the work that we've been doing to motivated to bring certain voices because you know i say this all the time there's so many formerly incarcerated people who are doing so many positive and you know just really good things that nobody talks about you know and that's the thing i want to highlight i don't want because a lot of people formerly incarcerated don't believe that they can do certain things they don't believe that they can be successful and most the the public perception is that too as well so i want to be able to highlight people that come home that have been doing this work for for years who've been doing positive things for years who've been productive members of society you know they always people act like they don't know allen iverson was formerly incarcerated you know like it's so many people that we talk about that was formerly incarcerated malcolm x malcolm x was formerly incarcerated and it's like we just we look down on the stigma and when we talk about formerly incarcerated a lot of people don't act like they know that black people are the highest falsely accused and exonerated people in the world too so a lot of us like i said i was falsely accused of a crime i spent seven years in jail for for a crime i didn't commit i went to trial for my case so it's like a lot of us just because there's the stigma of us being arrested and incarcerated they make it seem like we are threat to society and we just criminals and some people have committed crimes but some people like when you go to the justice when you go to the prison right it's supposed to be rehabilitation so if a person does his time and he comes out and he's productive why do we act like he can't be productive and.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

They'Re focusing on your past but that is the very thing that qualifies you for the role how do you feel.

[Mysonne (Justice Advisor)]

About that i think that is so ironic or it's just disingenuous to say that when we got a president that got thirty four felonies and his whole cabinet is full of criminals right so but we don't we look at especially black people we act like we can't do certain things and i say all the time this is those closest to the problem are closest to solution you know sitting in the cell for seven years you know seeing how the injustice system works seeing how inmates are treated and how people are sending a brother just was was killed you know he was executed and they found out four or five years later that his dna didn't match and he was actually innocent so these are things that happen every day in the justice system and people like myself who've actually experienced it who understand that and see the blind spots because somebody who just went to school and studied law never understood those realities a lot of times i i i've watched a lot of elected officials i've watched people who studied the law and then they actually got incarcerated and they came home and have conversation with me like i didn't realize what was going on and they becoming biggest advocates for prison reform and for you know those type of things so i just think that i've i've been blessed with the opportunity you know and god created for me for such a time as now you know i never understood when i was incarcerated when you sit in jail for seven years for a crime you didn't do you don't understand what you in there for especially you got a million dollar record deal you sitting in the jail cell and you like why the hell am i sitting in jail and it was days that that was my conversation and you know but i always said that i'm not going to allow this system to break me because every day that i don't grow and i don't learn and i don't do things positive then the system one so when i came home and i started realizing oh while i was in there i started realizing that that our people are overly incarcerated especially young black and brown men they're overly incarcerated some of them are just lost they don't even identify with things so i came home with a different perspective is to say you know what i'm gonna pour i'm gonna empower these young boys i'm not gonna make them think that prison is somewhere to be but i'm also not gonna make you believe that because you was in prison that you can't be successful and i wanted to come home and model that behavior and i think for the last twenty years that i've been out of jail you know my crime happened in ninety nine it's twenty six years later and y' all still talking about a crime that happened twenty six years later but you're not looking at the track record for the last twenty years that i've been home and i've been on this ground putting put boots on the ground i'm doing this work are you are you going to.

[Podcast Host]

Take any legal action against some of the headlines and stuff that came out.

[Mysonne (Justice Advisor)]

I mean i don't know i'll you know i'll discuss it with some lawyers and see what happens but really right now i really just want to focus on just doing this work you know shout out to me and my dummy and his team you know my team until freedom we've been doing this work and you know like i tell people this is this is a volunteer i'm not getting no check for this this is a volunteer and because i really believe in what's supposed to be going on in our communities you you know we're going to start forums where we talk about civic engagement with formerly incarcerated we talk about you know how hard it is for them to be employed you know the collateral damages and causes that happen so you come home from jail and you can't be a barber you can't be a door all these things that happen we want to talk about those things and then we want to talk about how what's the next step forward you know women that's being incarcerated we're going to start these conveners and we're going to have them all at the table like that is one of the biggest voting blocks in the world that nobody is really tapped into formerly incarcerated people a lot of them don't even realize they can vote you know how strong they are it's millions of people who are formerly incarcerated that have really just lost belief in the system so i me being on the inside understanding how it can make change how somebody like when when you get somebody like mandami in in mandani in office right now and you you get behind them and you you push the agenda of what it is you know because we're going to push the agenda people think oh you you and you if they do something wrong i'm gonna be outside protesting mondame too because that's what we do like we've been just like when de blasio was in there we helped de blasio get an office when he didn't do what we did when he was at the presidential we stood up inside the dnc and screamed that what happened to eric gardner arrest daniel pantaleo when eric gardner just like when mayor adams got elected i was with him too when he started doing things and letting the poll loose police do things to community members we was outside protesters so it's no different as long as he's doing what he's supposed to do for the community and agenda for the community we're going to stand with him and we're going to give our input and we're going to stand beside him but the minute he stops then we're going to be outside with.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

The people i'm glad you touched on that because a lot of activists often fear being absorbed by politics so how you protecting your voice and integrity while working with this transition team i mean.

[Mysonne (Justice Advisor)]

You have to work with people that that actually are in positions to put policy to make the real changes you want and i've seen it done shout out to my brother jumani williams like we work with jumani williams you know we worked with numerous different you know my brother yusuf salaam from the central park the exonerated exonerated five exactly so it's people that i know in positions that have actually done things in our community so i know that you have to have those levels of relationships but those people they also know that when you do something wrong we gonna be outside your office saying that you gotta get it right we're not gonna we we understand that you have our best interest but the minute that you don't then we always gonna hold you accountable so i i i understand people's you know fear that because activists get aligned or or stand next to certain politicians and people in office that they're gonna you lose their autonomy but we just not those type of people we've been fighting against anything that's not for our people we're gonna fight against every time.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And mayor young well i said mayor young andrew young was up here and andrew young said the same people who supported him and helped him get elected he said soon as he won they were outside protesting in front of his office and he was like what are y' all doing he goes they said you the man now yeah so we gotta push you to make sure you do what you said you was gonna.

[Mysonne (Justice Advisor)]

Do and that's what it is man it's about accountability it's about understanding that i work for the people i do not work for the government when i'm inside these rooms when i'm having conversations when i'm at these tables my ob is always to get what's necessary for the people you know so it never changes no matter how much status that's just not how i'm built you know i've done too much time i've been in the streets i know the ills and the spills inside our communities and i know i want them the community to know that every time that i'm at a table our voice is there it's not just for me like i said this is a volunteer i don't get a dime to do this work it's not for me it's for me to make sure that the work and the people are represented popular you talked.

[Podcast Host]

About until freedom like you guys standing next to mayor adams and now what you're doing with mom donnie right i think when hip hop gets involved or anybody from the culture gets involved in politics people pay attention a bit more but then like now people are easily flipped right like how you're on the front of the new york post and the support isn't the same what do you think politics or the system owes hip hop or people from the culture like you that you don't get i.

[Mysonne (Justice Advisor)]

Think like it owes proper representation right what happens with a lot of politicians is shout out to mandami again he didn't run from when i got when this happened and they talked about it he talked about the necessity to have somebody who's been through the system you know at the table with other like you said is a whole transition team of four hundred people it's twenty in our in our criminal justice and and community support but it's over four hundred people and everybody at that table has a voice and everybody represents somebody different or a different genre a different demographic inside of new york city and those voices need to be at the table what i think that politicians need to do is elevate certain people especially in hip hop don't leave us because what happens is when something goes wrong or they don't and you standing up there i've had this conversation with pat poos pat was like i was on the front line and i was standing and these politicians left me out to dry you know what i'm saying when you start getting political too political for hip hop they move away from you and the politicians move away from you too because they don't longer have the value in you no more because you lose your value in your community but for me i've always stand on what i stand on so i don't care about what politics think if i stand by a politician that means that that politician represents what i feel at that moment the minute that that politician politician doesn't represent what's the needs of my community or what i stand on then i don't stand on them so i don't deal with no blanket like you always say i'm not with no party i don't care about the democrats repub i care about people and especially black people in our communities because that's what i am and i know that we are highly impacted by anything that goes on the government so when people talking about oh i'm not political listen if you ain't at the table then you on the menu because that's the reality of the situation these people are making laws there are going to be laws passed that are going to affect you if you looking at this if you're looking at this administration right now and you don't see how our people are being affected how people can't afford groceries how they taking away everything that says black anywhere they're black women are getting unemployed unemployed at the highest rates ever like we getting locked up they everything that i told you they was going to do is what they doing now so if you still want to play this that you not political and you not going to be involved in the game then cool you're just going to be a victim of circumstance i'm not going to sit around and be a victim.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Of circumstance what's one compromise you're not willing to make even if it creates political tension between you and mondan i'm.

[Mysonne (Justice Advisor)]

Not willing to make compromises where you take away things in our communities that are necessary i'm not willing to make compromises where we know that violence interruption and cms work has been doing phenomenal work over the last decade in our communities and you don't support that i'm not willing to compromise where you don't put certain things inside schools because this is one of the things i want to implement is where we have emotional intelligence class we have alternative to suspension class we we know that once you start putting kids and putting them suspending them in junior high school they're not coming back to school so if you're not willing to if you're not willing to get the root causes or what crime is in our community if you're not willing to educate and put the resources in our communities if i if i see that those things are you not doing that's a line in the sand for me me if you if you're willing to stand by and allow police to abuse people like mayor adams police officer punch the woman in the face and he told me she shouldn't have been screaming once you start doing that right there at that point then me and you we on we on different sides of the spectrum so i don't i don't that's where i draw the line when you when you're willing to allow the police to abuse our community or you're willing not to make sure that resources that need to come into our community to prevent violence and prevent crime if you're not willing to do that then that's where i draw.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

The line yeah what convinced you that zoran mandani was serious about transformational change and not just using like progressive language.

[Mysonne (Justice Advisor)]

That'S that's a good question right because i watched zoran for a while and you know i i think i had after this last election i had just really much just been kind of done with politics and just you know politicians in general but just listen just i listened to him for a while right and i just kept paying you all.

[Podcast Host]

Know this time of year is my reset season new energy new plans new ways to grow my brand and if you're trying to start twenty twenty six ahead of the game like really ahead now is the time to get moving for me shopify has been the platform that keeps my whole merch business tight as a creator as a businesswoman i need my tools to work hard and shopify is like having a chief of staff a personal assistant and a co founder all in one and look i always tell other women building their own brands especially small independent black creators don't overcomplicate it whether you're running a side hustle or you're trying to run a full storefront selling in your community or around the world shopify takes the guesswork out of everything shopify also like my favorite thing about it is they teach you as you grow you can look up anything get information on anything and it's simple they give you like easy one two three steps i used to juggle ten different logins and apps now one platform i manage my store sell online sell on social even tag products right from my phone wherever i am and shopify sidekick listen you keep hearing all about ai let me tell y' all this ai is a lifesaver it gives me reports content ideas helps me edit images it's literally like having a smart assistant in my back pocket guiding me to my next move so let's be real it's time to stop thinking and start doing and there is no better way to do that than shopify use our link shopify dot com b e n now to start getting serious about building your future hey what up.

[DJ Envy]

Y' all it's dj envy and the holidays are here the time of year that's all about connecting with loved ones in person or over the phone in fact hearing someone's voice can evoke a similar emotional response as a hug and while most of us can hop on a video chat to really bring that connection to life using tech isn't easy for everyone especially some of the older folk in our lives at and t has been doing something special here to help they offer digital literacy workshops that help older adults learn how to use technology to do things most of us take for granted like video conferencing and sharing photos take nancy shand she joined one of at and t's workshops to learn how to video chat for the first time this holiday season nancy won't just be hearing about family gatherings she'll be a part of them sharing stories opening presents and making memories all through a screen nobody should have to go through the holiday season alone so be sure to connect and stay connected to your loved ones this holiday season connecting.

[Podcast Host]

Changes everything at and t whoo what.

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[Mysonne (Justice Advisor)]

Eighth watch the trailer on trainergames dot com attention and then when he won the democratic nomination i said to myself well he's going to be our mayor right so i want to have a conversation with him and through the resources that i have and people that i know i say you know what i want to set up conversations shout out to tamika i want to set up conversations with black men and people from our community because they don't even hear him and he sounds good but i want to be able to look him in his eyes and have real conversations with him and he came into those conversations we had about two or three of them and he was very attentive right and he was on board with the things that we were saying and it didn't sound like it was political jibber jazz like the average person does i've been around a lot of these politicians and he seemed really authentic and he stayed true to that i watched him be attacked for it all the time and he kept saying we need violence interrupters we need to make sure that we have mental health inside our communities we need to make sure that police is not the first line of defense in every situation like those are things that were intentionally he said we need to make sure sure that a school programs that black boys graduates all these things that he was talking about and when he sat down with us everybody felt that same authenticity and then when he built this transition team and i walked into auditorium with four hundred people a lot of them grassroots organizers that i've seen throughout the years for the last over a decade and everybody was in that room and he sat there he said we're going to get criticism and we not going to all agree and i know that and that's why i'm putting this team together because i don't want everybody that agrees with me i want different walks of life i want different ideas ideologies i want different ideas and i want us to come up with what new york actually looks like and that for me was the first time that i've ever seen somebody do i watch three or four men's coming office they get their regular they get their homeboys in the transition team they get their homeboys in it but he really put together apparatus that really is going to represent new york city so i'm hopeful i believe that he's really going to try i don't think that he's beholden to a political system i don't think he needs money or anything i think he really wants to see change you know so if i'm right if if my gut feeling is right then we're gonna be good for the at least the next four years but if not then i'm gonna be outside protest i heard he'd be.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Getting really challenged behind closed doors i keep hearing about this one call with miss erica ford you know erica don't play she don't care on his head.

[Mysonne (Justice Advisor)]

She is she came into the transition meeting right and she called them out she's like well i see certain people in here that's been a part of the status quo that you got in your system already and and and they ain't been doing nothing you know all they doing is these people is they investigating these kids at thirteen and fourteen for four and five years instead of coming to us and say yo this was going on so we can redirect they just want to put cases on our babies like we trying to save these babies and they putting cases on these kids and he stood up and he said what you're saying is really i understand what you're saying and that's what we need we need your voice because those are the things that needs to be heard because a lot of us don't have that perspective and and she's gonna always do that and even her she was like okay well maybe we got something but you know erica ain't gonna she ain't gonna at all she's not gonna submit to nothing but you know i think at this point it's a lot of us who are skeptical there's a lot of people at that table who not here they don't want status quo they don't even agree with government or nothing but they believe that this situation is possible you know but once again if it ain't possible then we're gonna be outside tearing you.

[Podcast Host]

Up what about when he like when mom donnie does things like when he goes and meets with trump i know he got a lot of like pushback from some people because they were like really smiley smiley in the meeting or whatever and until freedom y' all are very much like if we don't rock with you we don't rock with you what we say is what we stand on in your face or behind your back whatever right how do y' all deal with conversations with him about stuff like that because now people are like but you guys are sitting next to him and that we know of for until freedom y' all we wouldn't see you guys hehe haha end up meeting with president trump well that's why i'm.

[Mysonne (Justice Advisor)]

Not the mayor right that's what when people that's why when they say run for political office i don't want to do that yeah because i don't want to do politics but i understand that being the mayor understanding that this is the president and federal aid that's needed for new york city has to go through the president i'm gonna have a conversation with you i'm gonna sit down as the mayor i understood it would i have done it no that's why i wouldn't be the man but understand it but i believe when i watched that it looked like trump was happy to be in his presence it didn't look like he was just happy to be in trump's presence and he called him a fascist in his face and to me that's what that he didn't waver from what he said he was doing he said he sat down he told him this is what we need inside of new york city and this is when now we've had the conversation right just like two warriors going to war you see two generals go to war don't mean that we not at war no more discussing terms of war i'm explaining to you look if you stop this right now then we don't got to go to war and you saying well i'm not going to stop that and you say okay so you sure you're not going to stop that all right we've met we shook hands robert de niro and al pacino they they respect they might have had a level of respect and they shook hands but it didn't stop you know al pacino from shooting him down at the end of the movie so that's what happens in these type of situations he met with the president now if he's now if he stops his agenda if he stops trying to push his agenda because now he's trying to be you know cool with trump then once again you just one of those that fell by the wayside because we watch eric adams do that right so if you follow them for that i would be disappointed i just don't really see it i think the meeting was you know par for the course it was saying hey i met with the president right i told him what i wanted and i'm still going along my agenda now don't say that i didn't try it ain't nobody gonna be able to say oh look you you and you you're not even savvy enough to sit down with the president no i sat down with him him and he said he agreed right so but my agenda has always been my agenda now if he changes his agenda then we got an issue with him but if he doesn't that meeting with trump is just supposed to be what it's supposed to be as just being the leader that's why.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That'S why i don't like when politicians adopt the language of activists you know what i'm saying if you're going to use language like fascism it does look confusing to people when you say you can work with a fascist because that's never worked in the history of mankind and vice versa you called him a communist that's why you saw trump's people so up in arms like like yo you told us this dude was a communist but now y' all just buddy buddy inside the oval office but that is politics but i think i'm just a person that think words matter man.

[Mysonne (Justice Advisor)]

I think words do matter i think it matters more and that's why we have an inside outside game right it's just like what malcolm said you know if if you don't respect doctor king's piece then you gonna get what we got over here we the alternative right like when they show this tamika talks about it a lot they show stokely carmacher walking alongside doctor king and they both talking about what's going on and doctor king said you know we're gonna rally and we trying to unify and stokely carmichael's like burn everything down no and they walk in the same path so the reality is everybody's words may be different but we still got the same agenda and as long as his agenda is to stop fascism i don't care if you stand in and have a conversation with him if you saying yo because you know what i've studied right and i didn't understand it and shout out to i forgot i went with organization and we went to study the principles of nonviolence doctor king's kenya non violence and i never was on board with it but when i really got down to how strong and how mentally strong it was what the principles are and how you go about it how you you identify what the issue is you you don't attack the person with you attack the issue you and then there's a level of reconciliation after i attack and we go to war and even when i win it's not me winning over you it's me winning over the situation and then after i went over situation there's supposed to be a level of reconciliation because a lot of times people don't even identify their wrongs and sometimes after they lose then they they may be able to have reconciliation and when you really sit there and think about it it takes real strong minded and leadership that to have that type of foresight so when i when i'm thinking about this right now of course trump to us is the antichrist we looking at him everything he's doing is just wrong to us but man my dami seems to have a level of understanding and vision that most leaders don't you know he's able to sit there and call you the truth and still smile and still go about what he's doing and and then make you like it i've never seen somebody get called a fascist and say well just call yeah yeah that's right i'm fast this guy's great you understand what i'm saying how who else has that level of charisma only person i've seen do that was when they told martin luther king he said we need this to happen and he said make me.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Well we also gotta remember trump is a con artist too exactly so so trump might be playing playing i think.

[Mysonne (Justice Advisor)]

Everybody'S playing you understand what i'm saying but the thing is at the end is who gonna win i think what happened is mondami has became the star and trump loves the star he he cozies up to anybody that's a star that's what he is he's a groupie so he you know what i'm saying he cozies up to anybody that's this is the fact it's just a fact you know but at this time i think mondami has a real agenda and he has the people behind him like he's literally going outside in the streets and just putting a mic outside and talking to random people just trying to figure out what do you want inside new york city you know what i'm saying like i've never seen a man that's that interested in really galvanizing the people you know so you know we'll see like once again i could be wrong but you know i'm really usually a good judge of character you know sometimes i get people to doubt the benefit of that when they never really benefit but i'm giving her the benefit of that hopefully you know he will but lex again if he not we're gonna be out there protesting how do.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You want young organizers watching this moment watching you watching tamika watching the erica ford's on this transition team how do you want them to understand the relationship between protest and policy shout out to.

[Mysonne (Justice Advisor)]

Angelo too he's actually he's on the criminal justice but i want want young protesters to understand organizers right because i don't want you to just be protesters i want you to be savvy i want you to be intelligent i want you to be strategic i want you to look at this moment as progress right because we all got to do different things there's an inside outside game you know for years we sit outside and we was the protesters and people said yeah y' all can go out there and they made jokes you got your picket sign and it was cool but we watch incremental change happen right we got we got incremental change and we protested enough people to where they say okay what do y' all want right and then they sat down with us and then we start saying okay we want this and they saw and we saw watching capitulate when we look at talk about the cms tamika and erica ford and at those they sat out there and protested the mayor until they got millions of dollars put into that cms system too when there was nothing you know when they was told that there was no data and they would never get a dime and now it's up to over one hundred million that's given to cms inside of new york city because people did that work so i want you to be understanding i want you to be relentless i want you to be fearless but i want you to understand that there's the process and that there's an ultimate goal and if you just protest and you don't see things going anywhere if you don't get yourself if you're not in positions to actually make change if you don't have the ears and the the the wherewithal to touch the people who can actually give policy to actually do things for the communities you fighting for then you just fighting a fight for nothing so it's cool i told people i'm tired of having you know victories that you know just being the leader that died we we celebrate our leaders dying at thirty and they ain't got nothing and they but they kept on i want to win you know i don't want moral i'm tired of moral victories when do we actually get the victories where we see some change for our people i'm tired of the story of we watching our people run out in glory and they say yeah y' all gonna be the first ones we know all y' all gonna die but it's gonna be brave you brave because you went out there and i don't want that no more like when we gonna be strategic and we go through the back door and we actually take over the castle and we put our people in position when we gonna start doing that like i think our strategy has to change and it has to evolve with what we dealing with it's just like when we look at at trump and we look at jasmine crockets and we look at the people that are meeting fire with fire we can't keep having the conversations about oh this is not how it's supposed to know this is how it is you can't fight a fight with one hand behind your back where people got four and five hands and they jumping you and you saying but i fought with honor and i did it the right no actually you fought and they killed you like i'm tired of just dying like i really want us to win the war so i want black people and our young activists to be strategic and figure out how do we actually get the things that we fighting for i.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Agree with you i got one more question because you made me think about something just now what's the biggest lie people believe about how change actually happens and what's what's the hard truth they.

[Mysonne (Justice Advisor)]

Need to accept about that the biggest lie is that people act like if they do nothing things are going to change right they say yo i'm not voting you you don't even need to be involved in that system i'm not going to be there i'm not no when you take yourself out and you don't have a strategy like people been not voting for years right there's a million i know a bunch of people that say i ain't never vote but so what have you ever got for not voting what have you never got for not fighting and i think you know when people think that if you don't go out there and you're not out there if you protest and it doesn't know i've literally watched protests turn into policy i've literally watched people turn into protesters get into power i watch literal frontline activists get into office jumani williams was an activist outside with us you know what i'm saying yusuf salon was they were activists on the front line with us at times so i watched those people get in positions to where they can actually do things so telling people to not be involved in this system and if you take yourself out you more valuable then they got to come to you no if you take yourself out then they don't even they don't even account you right because when they start doing votes they only account for the people that's voting so if you wanted to other million one hundred million that ain't voting they don't care right so how do you make yourself valuable right if you don't add value to something then you don't have any worth so i think that that's the biggest lie is that we act like if we not involved with the system that the system is going to somehow change and it's going to benefit us or we can or another thing is that we can money ourselves out of our problem money has never changed black people's situation not individual we think individual i know people i've had conversations oh over here doing this and we over here okay but still ninety percent of black people don't have nothing and you got that right you and you and twenty people got that right and y' all invested in that so how where is the the strategy for ten and twenty and thirty percent of black people to be empowered to be in positions to where they can create generational wealth to where the majority of us are not struggling right to where we see power to where we're more than one two percent of the wealth in america we've been two percent of the wealth in america since we've been here when are we gonna grow what is the strategy for that right so that's what i don't want us to individually think our individualism and our individual success and our individual money and worth is gonna help black people it does not it's how do we collectively come together and create a strategy to where we're building something and we creating something in structures and organizations and schools and all these things that are really going to change our people so so if we not doing that and we just because i can people i don't have to do none of this i'm good you know what i'm saying but i understand that if i don't do this and i don't utilize my voice and i don't utilize every platform that i have then generations of our people are going to be suffering word well it's my.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Song man where can they find you.

[Mysonne (Justice Advisor)]

My brother you can find me on instagram at my song nygeneral you can find me on youtube same thing facebook same thing yo keep holding them accountable tmi podcast that we're gonna get get ll on real soon so make sure you follow us on tmi podcast on.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Iheart yes the black effect iheartradio podcast network my man my son it's the breakfast club yes sir every day i.

[Mysonne (Justice Advisor)]

Wake up wake your ass up the.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Breakfast club.

[Podcast Host]

This is an i heart podcast guaranteed human.