Malcolm X discussion, book 'Just Like Compton', poetry

I get up if you really want to help me I get up, but in Jesus' name I'm gonna get up if you get off of me I get up if you want to understand me I get up if you really want to help me I get up, but in Jesus' name I'm gonna get up The people who are talking to me Are we going to let it ride us down? And then whatever we say will come true Good for nothing, they all figure Just a boy who's grown, my ship is a jigger Now we gonna stand for that? Or is that really what we say? I'm your brother As you stand in your glory I hope you don't mind And I tell a whole story Part of your sister I know you think you've come a long way I know you think you've come a long way As I walk the streets to see it roll You can see my hands ain't shaking And my legs ain't trembling I turn the coin, keep it for trash Look up at the street sign It says San Julian Look back down and make eye contact with your brother And now I'm feeling like I'm standing somewhere I shouldn't be He looks around a thousand of his friends That raised their crackpipes to the lips And there's some simultaneously Telling me, yeah, I'm getting high I'm feeling good And sister, don't you know you need to try And I'm standing But I'm standing up for the world And the visions of crooked politicians And Michigan records Lying in their greedy pockets So make a situation Darker than blue by Willis and Shante Welcome to the Qumran Report Coming at you live from Skid Row Studios May the peace and blessings of the life-giving creative spirit be upon you and upon your family My name is Melvin Ishmael Johnson And I'm in the studio with my co-host Early Dean Anthony This week on the Qumran Report I am delighted to have with us in the studio A hidden artistic treasure In the downtown and surrounding areas Of Los Angeles Truly a dramatic enunciator Dr. Mongo We also have with us In the studio We're delighted to have him The producer, writer Keevan Gullery He's working on a new movie Dealing with Compton, California And he's going to tell us about it In the last portion of our show And then in the latter portion of our show We will be treated To a sounding off open mic performance By Jamal Asalam Andrea Ross And Dr. Mongo I'd like to start with a short talk With Dr. Mongo Dr. Mongo, welcome to the Qumran Report Thank you very much, Ishmael Now, before we get into a discussion Of you and your artistic form I would like to take a little time And honor the birthday of Malcolm X He was born May the 19th, 1925 In Omaha, Nebraska I want to take some time To talk about the importance Of Malcolm X What he was trying to achieve And then later on in our round table discussion We would deal with the question Of what did Malcolm X mean To each one of us Now, I think it's important to understand Two separate aspects of the life of Malcolm X If we're going to understand And utilize his teachings correctly First, the Malcolm X Who was an intricate part Of the nation of Islam And the Malcolm X Who was expelled by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad And separated himself From the nation of Islam Dr. Mongo, can you comment on that? Well, you know One thing I liked about Malcolm X Is when he decided to go before the United States And he decided to go before the United States And he decided to go before the United Nations And declare that it was not about civil rights But human rights Because civil rights is something That is given to you By government, so to speak Human rights is something That's given to you from the creator Right, to be a human being Like what Malcolm X said Now, how about the two different aspects Of the life of Malcolm X You know, the one when he was involved With the nation of Islam Honorable Elijah Muhammad And the one in which he was expelled And separated himself from it Any comments on that? Well, being expelled From the nation of Islam Because of the statements He made Was a very bad mistake On the part of the nation of Islam Because it was exactly What Malcolm said The what had come home When the chickens came home The chickens had come home And the chickens had come home And the chickens had come home And the chickens had come home And the chickens had come home And the chickens had come home And the chickens had come home And the chickens had come home And the chickens had come home So it was a factual statement If you read any of the biographies On Kennedy You will see that He wasn't the pristine person That he was made out to be He was very flawed He, his brother And the head of the FBI At that time Terribly flawed Yeah, J. Edgar Hoover Yes Mm-hmm Now, also you mentioned earlier When I talked about the two sections You see, you can actually break it down Into four sections You want to comment on that again? Yes, well, you know We must remember that Malcolm was a product of the environment When he was a pimp, et cetera He lived the way he had been raised To live in Detroit When he was called Detroit Red And then When he was called Detroit Red When he was penalized By being thrown in prison He learned He didn't just sit back And rest on the laurels Of being a pimp He started reading In dim light And he was enlightened And he was further enlightened When he returned to the streets Mm-hmm And got into one of the Best movements at that time I don't think The Marcus Garvey movement Was still in prominence And then Moving away from there Like I said When he made the statements About the chickens coming on the roost Being expelled from the nation of Islam And getting into another phase Of humaneness Mm-hmm Before the Wanting to go before the United Nations And declare human rights Mm-hmm Mm-hmm Now, a lot of people Are going to be A little late on We're going to get into In our roundtable discussion We're going to talk about Malcolm a little more Before we leave And get into a discussion I want to talk a little about The Hoover memo Now, the Hoover memo Was a memo that came out About 30 days before Dr. King was assassinated And Hoover sent this out To the Most of his trusted FBI agent And mainly what it dealt with Was to prevent the rise Of a messiah Who could electrify The black militant masses And in that memo He mentioned He mentioned Stokely Carmichael He mentioned people That would aspire To the throne That Malcolm had left behind He mentioned He thought Elijah Muhammad Was too old for that He mentioned Stokely Carmichael And then the one That he really Thought was a threat Was Dr. King That if he ever changed His tactic In terms of that And hey Less than 30 days later Dr. King was assassinated And also we had talked In some of our early discussions Too on how Hoover Used the Marcus Garvey movement The Universal Negro Improvement Association To study that movement And develop the tactics Of infiltration And disinformation That became the COINTELPRO program That he used To even use it today He really used it On a lot of the gangs And stuff And split them up Into a lot of sectors Used it in Chicago Because it was a brother There, Fred Hampton That they looked at him As being a threat also Well, when Congress Met him a little on that Talk about the Hoover Memoir Oh yes, you know Strangely enough I wrote my thesis on Martin Luther King The dual aspects of Martin Luther King J. Edgar Hoover Was a very smart man He realized that King was Martin Luther King Was in fact A Mark Anthony Pyramid Before the Senate So to speak To give praises To Caesar You know the story I've come here not to Praise Caesar But to bury him And Martin Luther King Though he preached Ghanaian philosophy And nonviolence In actuality He was addressing A younger group of people To a situation That they would They found intolerable Like in Chicago Other places New York Turn the cheek If you see a police Hit your mother Don't be offended Turn the other cheek And this left A lot of black people Inflamed And this is why Mostly when Martin Luther King Came into an area There were riots That followed He spoke with So to speak A two-edged sword A two-edged tongue Okay We're going to get into that now Roundtable discussion So we can get everybody here Involved in it But Dr. Muller Let's talk about you for a while Tell us about your roots And how did you get into Writing and performing Well actually Basically the church Number one And then a period Of incarceration The two of them And so basically My roots can be Traced to the church And to different Penal situations Now is it something about When a person Is incarcerated The matter Is it the fact that They have a time On their hand They be moving so fast When they out here In the world And then when they Incarcerate They have to go out And have a chance To reflect And that leads to A lot of great writers That write from the inside You know we're talking About George Jackson Who extraordinary Produced some extraordinary work From inside of the penal system And so did Marcus Garvey A lot of that Never came out also What do you think? Well I don't know about today But mentioning George Jackson Yes during that time During the 60s Over the 60s When one was incarcerated They saw the means To better themselves Better themselves As individuals As revolutionaries As people Wanting to You know bring about change There wasn't a thing At that time I don't believe As Crips and Bloods And Pius And et cetera Et cetera You know I came up During a time When there were Gangs too And I think That's what I'm saying But yes to answer your question Back in my day Anyone incarcerated They felt that they had An obligation To better themselves Educationally And many of them Many of my friends Attended schooling College During their incarceration And after their incarceration I can't speak of How many are doing that Nowadays I can't speak of that I can't speak of that I can't speak of that I can't speak of that Yeah It's a great pleasure I can't Yeah Go ahead You want to say Something about it I graduated in college I mean I graduated From college in prison You know and It depends on your mind state Yeah You know because There's going to be Older brothers That see something in you That don't see nothing in you Yeah If they see it in you Like Asante and Matata Saw it in me That's who gave me books That's who said You know before I give you this I'm going to give you this You know and they wanted Book reports They wanted you to be able articulate what you read and i started going to prison in the 90s so it's still happening it's happening a lot less than when this brother was doing it because i think a large majority of the brothers had a military mindset back then you know now it's scarce because we're so divided you know the hoover memo worked yeah you know yeah we got we got chopped up into little bitty pieces yeah even the crips are chopped up into a thousand little pieces yeah you know that's why we can't get along definitely definitely good comment i'd like to add right there too uh i'm proud to be sitting here with brother k von uh so many brothers have been incarcerated didn't take the opportunity like you were uh mentioning in regards to malcolm x malcolm studied and became a wonderful orator uh through his studies in prison read the dictionary backwards and forward yeah he knew you know words that uh walter concreta didn't know you know what i mean uh he was out there and so uh i applaud uh this kind of motivation this kind of self-discipline that you acquired definitely that's what it is it's self-discipline when you decide you're sick and tired of being sick and tired it becomes easy great statement yes um dr mongo again let's talk about a dramatic enunciate can you talk a little about that art form okay um uh enunciator is someone who uh reads with the uh uh this visceral uh effect instead of necessarily it doesn't have to be cerebral uh i can think of uh quite a few people paul robeson for one uh he was really a uh hell of a enunciator uh i think of others like uh isaac hayes you know ozzy davis ozzy davis yeah ozzy davis he's from my hometown people like that you know i mean price vincent price and then you have richard burton and a few others yeah but you know yeah quite a few james earl jones oh my god don't mention him the greatest one of the greatest let me get your thoughts on skid row you know skid row you know it's it's like the sore spot of los angeles has second largest city you know in the united states and then also to be known as the homeless capital with so many people laying up in the streets and stuff like that and and and i know you lived in the area for a long time can you what are your thoughts on about what's happening in skid row well um it would take hours you know what i mean but uh trying to sum it up uh what is happening on skid row is what uh the powers that be perpetuate uh what they want uh they want dissension they want uh corruption they want uh uh people against each other uh one of the biggest uh drug places on skid row is right across from the police station as many people know it's the police drug place and if you want to go there and buy drugs you know and i'm talking about crack cocaine you go there you uh you can only buy uh a dub or an eight ball or etc but right there right there but the police will look for people just walking down the street and busting people with maybe a nickel or something like that when quantities is being sold right across from the street let me ask you this and what do you think could take um you know average person if you was getting giving them some advice how to get up out of uh skid row and get into some um housing well you know not so much housing but knowledge i would tell people just to get the hell from down there and maybe two or three hours a day uh go somewhere else go to uh anywhere else skid row you know and see how other people are living and what other people are doing go to parks instead of the parks that they have on a skid row like uh st julian yeah you know forgot forgot forgot forgot forgot forgot forgot forgot forgot forgot forgot forgot forgot forgot forgot forgot forgot forgot forgot forgot forgot forgot forgot forgot forgot forgot forgot forgot forgot forgot forgot forgot forgot forgot forgot forgot forgot forgot forgot studio with us. We heard a little from him a little earlier. He's known as the in-house boy. Jamal, what are your thoughts on what's happening in Skid Row? What do you think about Skid Row? Very similar to Dr. Mongo's. We definitely try to do a lot of work around community organizing with L.A. Can. Our friend Belial down there, Pete White, we've known them since the 90s. You're talking about Skid Row, right? Yeah. Because there's a lot of things we need to talk about in regards to Malcolm. But definitely we try to reach out to identify more so, I think, those who have medical needs and separate them from those who are the predators down there. Or down here. I fear more for the predators than for the people who have who are handicapped for various reasons. And the security of Skid Row for women and children. I mean, that's what the Nation of Islam is supposed to be patrolling the streets, reaching out to the brothers, sisters, anybody who has needs. That's one of the things that they're used to. I grew up as a fruit of Islam. I grew up reaching out to our community, cleaning it up, patrolling it, making sure it's secure. So I do that naturally wherever I go. And, you know, we were prepared. I was thinking about when I was coming up, not only did we feed younger people, which they adopted, you know, Black Panthers used to feed children before they went to school, so they wouldn't squirm around, right? And so, you know, we used to do that. Great, bro. When I was in the 7th and 8th grade, and then we got to studying, one of the great things about the Black Panthers is that they were showing us martial arts, how to defend yourself without a weapon. This is very important for a young man today. You're not going to be able to defend yourself. Okay, we'll be back to it. Okay, now, Dr. Mongo, can you do a piece for us before we take a break for the community camp? Okay, this is a piece I normally don't get a chance to do, but I'm going to do it. I normally don't get a chance to do it, but I'm going to do it. I normally don't get a chance to do it, but I'm going to do it. I normally don't get a chance to do it, but I'm going to do it. I normally don't get a chance to do. I seldom get a chance to do. But it's about Katrina, and we know what happened in Katrina. And this is a very culturally diverse poem as it hits the whole facet of Americana. And it kind of smacks at why I call myself a reportage poet. I'll try and rush through it a little bit. I was there when the words came down the pike, evacuate, evacuate, Katrina's coming. Get out of Dodge. The pronouncement prompted an exodus where throngs of believers took to the sky highways, freeways, and back roads. By all means necessary, posses of evacuees tightened rings, shifted gears in survival mode, packed themselves into minivans, SUVs, stagecoaches, and covered wagons, manned bikes and motorcycles, and made a hasty retreat from the Crescent City, the Big Easy. Ignored the upturned thumbs of carjackers posing as hitchhikers. And they dealt with the carbon monoxide and gridlock. The oracles had spoken, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, WPAP, UPL, EURS, NYT, LAT, the mouthpieces of mainstream news. From media Olympus, haters of blacks and losers tossed Natalie and Cindy aside like flimsy rag dolls and extolled Katrina, Katrina, Katrina. Evacuate, evacuate, clarity, clarity, all was clarity. Hunker down and die was the mode or leapfrog over the dead. Dead and dying. Questions taxed by mine. Not so much of Katrina, but the 1803 purchase, the Napoleon Jefferson connection signed, sealed, delivered, land sold and brought from the Mississippi to the Rocky Mountains and from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. Sold 15 million for mere $360,000. 17 year old. A nation unto itself in a bowl below sea level. An acquisition of mulattoes, creoles, octarines, quadrants, and paltrons. Acquired the French tongue, pigeon, ebonics, voodoo, hoodoo, superstition, and Mardi Gras. Gumbo, Cajun, Jambalaya, King Oliver, Kid, Oldry, and Old Hickory Jackson. And the thieving Huey, and the The walls of Jericho were breached. Casinos and churches surrounded by a moat. Body and debris all afloat. Six feet high and rising. Water, water everywhere. Water, water everywhere. And not a drop to drink. Children waded in the water. Adults holding babies in possessions. Waded in muddy waters. No bridge over troubled waters. A-season TVs, power lines and traffic signs, surfboards and skateboards, tampons and condoms, vomit and feces toiled in the rising waters. Water, water everywhere. And not a drop to drink. More so than her elders' siblings and those under incubation, Katrina was mean-spirited, irascible, incorrigible, temperamentally tumorous, unpredictable, a robust tropical storm whose full-blown strength commandeered the swirl of whirling winds. Dared Neptune and that old man river to the sea. And the waves of the sea were so strong, so strong, so strong, that they were so strong, that they could not do anything but impede her advance as she stormed ashore. How high's the water, Mama? Nine feet high and rising, ten feet high and rising, twelve feet high and rising. Many rendered powerless, rowed, rowed, rowed, their boats packed with knapsack dreams. Wearily, wearily, wearily, life split at the seams. Water, water everywhere. A-season TVs, power lines and traffic signs, water, water everywhere, not a drop to drink. Afloat, rats and roaches, cats and dogs, magnolias and seaweeds flooded the house of the rising sun, Blueberry Hill and Ward 9, adrift, Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico. Yes, I was there when the words came down the pike, evacuate, evacuate. Katrina's eye is on us. And I was there when the entrance beside the golden door of the super amphitheater closed. Refused the tired, the poor, the huddled masses, the wretched refuse, the homeless refugees, exiled to highway ramps and rooftops to wave the red white and blue dingy sheets and crayon signs begging to be rescued by any means necessary. Vigilant watchers through anguished eyes look for chariot buses and iron horses, look for UFOs and whirly birds to Lord Jacob's letter. Pray for Moses to part the waters, lead them to Noah's Ark and La Amistad, safely home out of harm's way. Yes, water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink. Yes, I was there when the words came down the pike, help is on the way. And heard desperate inquiries, how long, how long? And the repeated answer, not long. Not long. Not long. Keep the faith, baby, and help came. National Guardsmen hardened combat troops, some from Fallujah ready and armed to the hilt. Tanks and Blackhawks circled the super amphitheater for unknown, unidentified snipers, looters, murderers and rapists said to have existed by the media merchant spinning half-truth from media Olympus. Yeah, you know ABC, CBS, NBC, NBC. Agenda-driven, truth and fact distorters, propagandize, sensationalists, hypocrites. Yes, I was there. I was there when the words came down the pike. All right, Dr. Mungo. Hi. Okay, I think we got a call on the line right quick. Who am I speaking with? I'm calling with information about this coins and stuff that's going on. Is this a book I'm hearing? It's part of a book, and you getting ready to be here in another hour to keep on. I'll be speaking in just a minute. What's your name? My name is James. I want to speak to the book author. Which one? Keevon or Dr. Mungo? Yes, sir. Okay, Keevon. Yes, sir. How are you, man? How you feeling, bro? I'm good. I'm doing well. Since you're the book writer of Just Like in Compton? Yeah, Just Like Compton. That's the name of it. Yeah. All the people that you named in the book I was raised with. I'm a former United States Marine. I was raised in the neighborhood. George Jackson, Tiki Bebby, them are related to me. Okay. All the people that you named, you left some out that did a lot too. Otto Johnson, Ray and them. The southern part of the Black Panther Party, which no one really talks about, and I think you did a good book, to identify the black people who represented the black men at that time and the way society back then was set up for today. It's set up the same way, bro, except now we don't have those leaders. Well, the thing of it is, they took the chains off of our legs, but they haven't took it off our brains yet. We haven't got it off. Exactly. You're trying to reveal that to the world, and we got to wake up sooner or later, my brother, you know it. And you know Bird. I know you know Bird. Why not? Hey, you know the attitude I have is, why not us? Yeah, come on with it, because why not us? I mean, we've been here the longest. Why not us? All right. You know, it's just the idea you got a great book. You know, and I hope that you, you know, will write another one like that. Yeah, it's coming right out, bro. As soon as we shoot this movie, that's next. Yeah, well, Andrea Ross is my best friend. Okay. That's right, Mr. Gord Lee. Oh, this Mr. Gord from the last time. That's right. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. I remember the Marine. Yes, sir. There you go, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. I need to really talk with you on the program too, good sir. Yes. About veterans and boys and girls clubs. But, you know, Miss Ross, you know, she's a great friend, my brother. And you got a great person in front of you that you would just truly love to get involved with. I've been with her for eight, ten years, and she's a grand person. Yeah. Well, stay listening to the program tonight because we're getting ready to get into the interview with Keevon right now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But, Keevon, you just keep pushing, but I remember you, sir. Okay. I remember you on 62nd and San Pedro. Okay, bro. All right. Thank you, Mr. Gordley. Thank you very much. Okay. Hey, Miss Andrea, you have a nice interview. My computer's down. All the computers up north are down right now. That's all right. We still got much love from Odessa. But I know you there, and I thank the radio station for allowing y'all good people to be on there to wake the world up about the world situation and who are some of the great players, black players, that was in the world. So, I'm really happy to be here with you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. May and June. Thursday, May the 24th from 6 to 9 p.m. The Veterans Community Theater Workshop. Melvin Ishmael Johnson will be conducting a free seven-week workshop for men and women who are veterans. In the workshop, you will be taught how to mount a stage play and many other aspects of the theater. At the end of the seven weeks, there will be a dramatic performance of the play Surviving the Nickel. Also at the upcoming Arts Walk in June, the workshop participant will perform excerpts from the play. The space is limited for the workshop to 15, so if you're interested, please contact Melvin as soon as possible. And the location is the Vortex 2341 East Olympic Boulevard. This is at the corner of Santa Fe and Olympic. And the Metro Bus. Number 60 and 66 stops right at the corner. Or for more information, you can call 323-850-4436. Sunday, May the 27th at 3 p.m., Drama Stage Coon Run, the Santa Play Reading Series presents the first public reading of Filthy Rags, a stage play written by Daryl Phillips. And this play has been developed through the Robey Theater, the company's playwright lab. The location will be the Exchange, 114 West 5th Street, Los Angeles. And for more information, 323-850-4436. Sunday, June the 10th at 2 p.m., Drama Stage Community Outreach Program will be passing out hygiene kits and clothing to the community. And the location, also the Exchange, 114 West 5th Street, Los Angeles. And the location, also the Exchange, 114 West 5th Street, Los Angeles. And Thursday, June the 14th from 2 to 10 p.m., this is the Art Walk that is held every Thursday of the month. And Drama Stage Coon Run will be hosting the Arts Walk at the Exchange. And we'll be presenting live music, poetry, stand-up comedy, and much, much more. For more information, call 323-850-4436. We have a community event that you would like announced on our show. Send the information to DramaStage1 at yahoo.com. Attention, Earlene Anthony. And once again, our call-in number for the show is 800-893-9562. Now, back to our host. Thank you, Earlene Anthony. We're back with our guest coming in. to you live from Skid Row Studios. We're delighted to have with us in the studio, Kevon Gulley. He's the author of the great book, Just Like Compton, and he's in the process of producing as a movie. Kevon, welcome to the Coon Run Report. Thank you, everybody, and I'm happy to be here. Now, can you tell us a little about your background and how you ended up writing Just Like Compton? Okay. I'm a product of the 80s, you know uh you guys know very well will make me probably a grandma's baby you know because our parents were either participants or victims of drugs you know either or you know i don't i don't make excuses for people you know so i ended up with my grandmother so i'm one of those generational where i grew up with my grandmother so i'm a grandma's baby there's a lot of us you know a lot of us also ended up in the system foster care group homes because a lot of grandmothers couldn't handle us you know they had raised their kids already so here you know you had a woman that was born in 1919 you know that raised her children and then here you got this crazy 12 year old coming in our house you know with a whole different set of rules so i ended up in the system juvenile hall group homes and like i said in my book in the epilogue you know the foster care system is preparatory for the juvenile hall system juvenile hall system is preparatory for the youth authority system and youth authority system is preparatory for you know where you so i graduated in steps you know i wrote the book mostly out of anger you know and some boredom you know and i felt like there had to be a book done by somebody that did it not a lady that grew up in iowa then once you say la and decided to write a book about content yeah you didn't live it exactly you know so you can't you can't speak about the hunger you know or the problems with the hispanics or having to walk through three neighborhoods to get to school and then three neighborhoods to get back you know you can't talk about this stuff because you didn't live it you can interview me and then repeat what i said but you didn't live it so that was that was why the book was born okay now how about the process you know the screenwriting and the directing and the development of the movie how did that come about that's a very strange story because i mean please understand that i wrote this book for the homies you know that's a very strange story because i know nobody else i wrote the book for the homies and the book ended up taking off uh the first 30 days the book was out i was in five newspapers and they were more curious about my backstory of course than the book so i read the book don't fall in love with me fall in love with the book yes and so when they read the book you know i was in more newspapers and i got ended up on kjlh on dominique the prima show a couple times and doing other other big things one of the teachers uh who had a book and i didn't know was a teacher at the time he got a hold of the book and he uh talked to me about using it possibly as one of his course texts and at the college at compton college and uh dr ikewibabunting ended up doing a forward to the academic edition of the book i went and did a whole another edition you know i added a glossary and he did a forward and i added a academic matrix in the back to make it teacher friendly you know because like the lady coming from riverside don't know what suwoop mean she don't know what a crab is true so i had to put that in there and i was a teacher and i had to put that stuff in the book break it down right i had to break it down the book to help her communicate with the students and it's revolutionary for them because now they get it versus before they didn't get it and the greatest the greatest compliment i've ever received and my whole little tenure as an author is dr bunton said he finally got his entire class to read a book from cover to cover wow and it was that one that one yeah now how have the book been received by the homies they love it because they can read it they know the streets they know the people they remember some of the things they know the streets they know the people they remember some of the things they remember some of the things they remember some of the things they remember the incidents yeah so it's not like reading about your own you know if the sister right here happened to write a book and then you happen to read it you're going to be happy about it you know my folks wrote that well my folks happen to be a whole bunch of people because out of my 35 years i spent 13 and a half of it in prison so i got a whole lot of friends let me ask you this how do the compton that you grew up in compare with the compton of today it's actually better today better and i say better now because the black and brown problem i don't really address the creeping blood problem because it's really kind of non-existent you know you got creeps killing creeps and bloods killing bloods now so it's not really a red and blue thing anymore people don't you got to be in the streets to know that you know we don't worry i'm more worried about my homies than i am about the creeps but the biggest problem and you know from 2000 2000 2005 2006 market company had the highest murdering in the nation yeah it was black and brown it wasn't encryption bloods so bad that the company sheriffs had to come in they put the company in a It was black and brown. It wasn't encryption blood. So bad that the Compton sheriffs had to come in. They put the Compton Police Department out of business and brought in the sheriffs because the Compton Police Department couldn't handle it. Now, the black and brown problem, you think that has a lot to do with the economic system or what's happening inside of the penal system that comes back out to the community? This is what happened. I'm going to tell you what happened verbatim. Somebody that's really important in the Hispanic community, as far as the gangs go, wrote a letter. The letter hit the streets, and a forever change Compton. I can't repeat what was in the letter, but trust me, that's where the change Compton. And they're smart. Make no mistake about it. When I say they, I'm talking about the Hispanics. They're not killing us anymore. Now they're breeding us out, and they're buying us out. You have the old black man who sold his barbershop when now they turned it into a panderia, and now it's a Mexican bakery. They bought the shop next to that, and the house on the corner, so now all that's Hispanic. You look at the demographics, Los Angeles is now dominated by the Hispanic. Not a bad thing, but that is the truth. It used to be predominantly African American. Now we have become the minority, and it gets worse. What's beautiful about the Hispanic now is that if you walk outside your house, wherever you live, you'll see a group of Mexican kids and black kids together with their skateboards, with their skinny pants on and all that. That's good. It warms my heart to see it. Neither one of them have a rag. They're not going to play with that. His uncle can't poison him and tell him, don't play with that mayate, which is the translation for the N-word. He don't want to hear that, because Jamal is his friend. They walk to school every morning. We couldn't do that. So these kids are coming up now to have a better chance, and I love it. And the N-word is no longer a black word. I looked at my window the other day, it was five Mexican kids saying it. It's ugly, but it's beautiful, because now it's become, a ghetto thing, not a black thing. It's not a color, but it's a kind. Like Northern California. They share the ghetto. The Norteños. They share the ghetto. They don't have the crippling blood problem what they do now, but overall, they share the ghetto, like we used to. When we had the Brown Berets and the Panthers, had the same ideal. Now, my generation got poisoned. We poured the ink in the milk, and I was part of the problem. I didn't help it either, because I was poisoned by the people. They told me that mess, and I told it to somebody else. The kids now are like, we don't want to hear that. So that makes it a lot better. Great, great. So you see some kind of alliance for the future, the better the community. The future is much brighter. Okay. Because, you know, I came to Los Angeles when I was in the Marines, in, I think, 1969, 71, during the Vietnam period. And the thing, the thing that I used to always wonder about coming out here and thought that it should be pushed is why African Americans never picked the Hispanic language. Because I saw that you speak Spanish, French, and English fluently. Yeah. Yeah. But French, I grew up speaking French. Yeah. I'm Haitian Creole, and my grandmother didn't allow speaking English in her house, so I didn't have no choice. In the book. Right. I had no choice. But Spanish, it's a weapon. Yes. You know, and once you understand that, you use that weapon. You know, and I'm a favorite when I hit prison yards, they're like, oh good, he here. You know, now they can't say certain stuff and get away with it. Well, they've got smart, just like we got smart. Well, we said, well, you know what, we're going to speak Swahili then. You know, because y'all want to say stuff that we can't understand. Yeah. So we started teaching ourselves Swahili. Right. Okay, so what they did was they switched. Now they speak Navajo. You know, seriously. The Native American tongue. It's warfare. You know, so now we have to go buy Navajo books on Amazon to figure out what they're saying because they can walk right by and say stab him in the face and you ain't going to understand what he's saying. Yeah. They learned Swahili. I know Mexican gang members that speak Swahili better than people in Africa. Hmm. Interesting. Interesting. It's warfare. Okay, now, we also have Andrea Ross in the studio with us. She's over here real quiet and she would be performing a piece for us later on, but she's also part of the movie that's coming out Can you tell us a little about your involvement, Andrea? Well, it all happened on the 20-year anniversary of the L.A. unrest and Kevon was a guest there and our paths intersected. He saw a picture of me, a headshot, and he said, wow, you kind of look like my grandmother. You know, you got that blue eyes and that Creole look. I might be able to work with you. And the rest, as they say, is not his story, but her story. So, I'm working hard on my grind to try to interact and be a part of this great venture of Kevon's and I'm looking so forward to it. I'm very excited and I must say, for one that read the book, I couldn't put it down. The only reason I put it down is because I had to sleep. Other than that, I would have read the book in one reading, but it took me two days to read it and when I tell you people in the listening room, listening audience, go out, grab this book. A lot of it is about the area that I was in for 26 years. Carver Park, 118th Street, and I just, everything, I know people in the book and much more than that, it's a, it's like a guide for those that don't know. Well, now you will know and on the cover, he says, the names have been changed to protect the guilty. No, guilty. Yeah, what I'm, what I'm gonna do, what I'm gonna do is, great book, you guys, go out and read that book. Get that book. What I'm gonna do, I'm gonna get up to, Esawan, have it all sold out. Everybody sold out. Yeah, I'm gonna have, oh. No books sold out. Sold out? Everybody sold out. Good for you. Esawan carries it. Yes. But the only place you can get it right now is on Amazon or BarnesandNoble.com because they're all sold out. Wow. Go get me a copy. Good job. I called and nobody has books. Yeah. They're like nagging me to death. I'm like, you guys gotta wait. I can't give them to you Now, Andrea, this is an appropriate time for you to do your piece, What's Real. Why don't you do your piece now? And we'll move right on. Thank you. Okay. My name is Miss A.D., formerly out of the NYC. Now I'm coming at you from L.A.'s infamous CPT, getting ready to drop a trilogy of social commentary, otherwise known as What's Real. And I am telling what's real and what's real I ain't telling no lies because it's a day-to-day struggle in this ghetto. Here's why. Man, child born to an underage mother. Before he got her name, the little kid, he got a number at a county office in that welfare line. Mama sits all day for pennies, nickels, quarters, dimes, board weight till the whole day is through. The social worker thinks she got nothing else to do. Mad stories told on a thousand and four faces. Futuristic slavery of the minority races chained to a system that is bound to fail. But you don't give a damn because your check's in the mail. But it's mental. G-E-N-O-C-I-E. You know the deal. I ain't telling no lies. I'm simply telling what's real. The man got a plan. Black mind kill. I ain't telling no lies. I'm simply telling what's real. I'm telling you what's real. Miss A-D spelling to Y-O-U and you and you what's real. So check it out. I-B-E speaking it. B-E teaching it. B-E preaching it. B-E because it's so real. Tell me what's real. Telling to you. Spelling to Y-O-U what's real. Now check it out. Her child grows up. He want to be a man. Age of nine to Mac 10 in his hand. He ain't seen his daddy since he was three. Don't even know that fool's name but they spell it T-R-E-E. The story gold. Tree was tall and he was stout. Yolked up, tatted, ripped, knocking enemies out. Devastating on the trigger. Twist, pill your cap. Send you straight to your grave for your R-I-P nap. But late one night in that hood of South Park. Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop. Rang out in the dark and Tree got off a couple but he was overmatched. Just like that. His life was snatched. Now his mother's left here burying her son. Another tragedy but only one of those scandalous tales yet to be revealed. I ain't telling no lies. I'm simply telling what's real. I'm telling you what's real. Miss A-D is spelling to Y-O-U and you and you just what is real. So peep my game because I, B-E addressing it. B-E professing it. B-E confessing it. B-E cause it's so real. I'm telling to you and spelling to Y-O-U what's real. Look what happened to him. Now his childhood is lost. That's the number one fact. He's frontin' gangsta style. He don't know how to act. Instead of games like hide and go seek, gaming was ditchin' school five days a week. He did. Hangin' out on the block scene. Pants saggin' low. Yo, he tryin' to be mean. He wanna be tough. He wanna be bad. Want to have things that his daddy never had. Rope chains, dope chains, Versace, Vuitton. But where, oh where have those simple days gone? Jackin' ill and then chillin'. Almost killin' on the run. Lying, cryin', inside dyin'. Dyin' to be. Way back when he stood one inch from his mama's chin because now his lesson is learned the hard way. He's locked down. He's doin' time day by day ten years. They stretched him out and gave him ten years. Put them bracelets on him for ten years. He put mama through hell starin' at her baby in a jail cell. Ten years till you know how great your freedom do feel. I ain't tellin' why oh you no lie. I'm tellin' why oh you what's real. The man got a plan. Black mind killin'. I ain't tellin' no lie, people. I'm tellin' what's real. Thank you. Andrea Ross. Nice piece. Nice piece. Hey, he's in the house. Yeah. And you know this. Thank you. Okay. Okay, we still got a little time. Jamal, why don't you do your piece now? And then we'll wind down with our round table discussion and wind this out. Again, thank you, Ishmael, for allowing me to come into Skid Row Studios and be introduced to my good friend, Dr. Mongo, and meeting Kayvon, and of course, my lovely, lovely, lovely AD, Sweet, and Miss Earline. That's right. Thank you. So, you guys, this is a treat. The poem I'd like to read is called, Lake of Fire. The sin where we begin, never mind a pig foot and a bottle of gin. And God said, throw him into the lake of fire. And quick as a wink, deeper into the brink, the sadness and despair singed all bodily hair. And yet, deep down, like dolomite in a pressured ground, when stuck, in the fire, cleansed of all carnal desire, the clay men break, the straw men burn, and we count the lesson as learned. The lake pours in all majesty. Call clearly to your own destiny. Be forward and foretold. God's word is good as gold. And then, make no foolish mistake, as sure as the California earthquakes, this lake of fire, this fire of lake, will take your eternal fate. So, my children, heed my word. Sure as cool waters. And God bless the fools. For life has many doors and consequences. Be careful what you choose. Right. Word. Jamal, I said, OK, we got a call online. Who we have online? Hello? Hello, hello. Who am I speaking with? This is Sharla. OK. Sharla, do you have a question for one of my guests? Is Andrea in the house? Andrea's here. Do you have a question for? Andrea is in the house. Sharla, what's going on, girlfriend? Hey, queen. Oh, you got it. What can I do for you? I'm just calling to send my love and shout you out and see what's going on. Hey, well, I'm in the studio with all these fabulous, fine people here. And I'm being enlightened. And I'm hoping that you will come out. And when we have a book signing for the Just Like Compton book, come out and patronize the book. It's a very dynamic project that was going down with Keevon. And I hope you'll be a part of it. And thank you for calling in. Yes, I will, Drea. You know I will. Always full of support. I just want to let you know that from that day I met you at that poetry event, and you blessed the audience with that poem, Wordhole, I knew you were someone to connect to. I was like, this woman got game, and I'm about to be on her team. All right. I'm taking application for all players, and I'm about that. Thank you, boo. All right. So I just want to let you know, congratulations on all your success, your future success. And I want to let everybody know that even when she speaks, she hits you with that rhythm and that rhyme time after time after time. And I love it. All right. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much for calling in, Charla. All right. Have a good night. Thank you very much for calling in. You're welcome. Peace and blessings. Thank you. Okay. We're winding down right now. I think we just might have a little time to go around for some comments. Kayvon, what are your plans? What are you working on now? I know you're writing. The writers is always right. Yeah. We start shooting a movie trailer early June, late May. And we're going to screen it. We're going to screen it. So I'll make sure you guys get tickets to screen it. We're going to screen it at the Bridge. You know, it's going to be a really big deal. Wonderful. It's a shooting location in Compton? It's all over. The book is entitled just like Compton, but it takes place all over Los Angeles. That's where I happen to be from. Yeah. Okay. Looking forward to it. I'd like to just say, we have to embrace brothers who come out and, you know, make some kind of contribution, explaining their experience. This is their voice. This is their time. You know, I'm out the game. You know, but by the same token, you know, I applaud you trying to encourage other people to pull back, to use their time wisely. Again, Malcolm X is who I point to, to all the brothers that I meet, you know, who have been incarcerated. You know, he used his time well there. I have a nephew right now who's facing life. And I encouraged him a long time ago. I said, listen, you can go there, but as long as you're living and breathing, opportunities can present themselves in ways you never imagined. So brothers, keep working on yourself, your own self, and make yourself a great person or a contributor to the society. Brothers need to let go of the crutches. Get off the crutches. You know, stand up and be grown. Stop looking for excuses. Okay. You know, that's what I mean by the crutches. You know, let them go. Yes. And this is exactly the kind of voice we need to hear. Exactly. I agree with that. You saw the need, and when I was asking you before, you saw the need, and that was your niche. Right. That was what your answer. You're filling in the story that was missed. Uh-huh. And I've been living in Los Angeles since the early 90s, and I'll tell you, you know, I know brothers who are out of Compton, and they told me, man, I never went to sleep a day in my life without hearing gunshots. Okay. So. Talk them on, though. Go ahead. And what's so beautiful about this is that he was, in fact, he's a modern-day Malcolm X, so to speak, as far as I'm concerned, because here's a man giving away his food or portions of his tray so he could have some paper to write on. And, you know, this is like Malcolm X, man, by the dim of the cell light or whatever. He was straining his eyes. And here's a man, he's giving away food and writing and remembering. Trading food for paper so he can finish this book. I've never. And not losing your mind, your beautiful mind, brothers. You have a mind to fight, to learn languages, to, you know, to fight this, you know, on many levels. All right. Okay. Now, I would like to thank you. I would like to thank my guests very much. Thank you for having us. Thank you. Thank you. It was great. Now, I would like to extend a special thanks to our in-studio guests, Dr. Emongo, Keevon Goley, Andre Ross, Jamal Es-Salaam, and a special thanks to Jeremy, Sonia, Nicholas, and the Skid Row Studio. And Earline, Anthony. Of course. Of course, Earline. Goes without saying. Now, you can check out our past shows of the Qumran Report on iTunes, Facebook, Twitter, skidrow.la, or www.dramastage-qumran.com. Thank you for tuning in to the Qumran Report. And I'll leave you with the song that opened the show, Darker Than Blue by Willis and Shante. Great show. Yeah. I got to read. All we know.