Unequal Rights and Lefts: Do We Take ALL Domestic Violence Seriously?

Space Summary

The Twitter Space Unequal Rights and Lefts: Do We Take ALL Domestic Violence Seriously? hosted by TorraineWalker. In the 'Unequal Rights and Lefts: Do We Take ALL Domestic Violence Seriously?' space, experts delved into the multifaceted aspects of domestic violence, emphasizing the need for gender-neutral approaches, data-driven solutions, and community support networks. Discussions revolved around the importance of media representation, legal reforms, and technology in combating domestic violence effectively. Addressing intersectionality, trauma-informed care, and prevention strategies were key topics highlighted to create awareness and empower individuals in the fight against domestic violence.

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Questions

Q: How does gender neutrality play a role in handling domestic violence?
A: Domestic violence affects all genders, emphasizing the need for inclusive support systems and legal frameworks.

Q: Why is data crucial in understanding and combating domestic violence?
A: Data analysis reveals trends, triggers, and areas for intervention to prevent and address domestic violence effectively.

Q: What role does community support play in assisting domestic violence survivors?
A: Communities provide vital resources, safety nets, and emotional support for survivors on their journey to recovery.

Q: How can we improve public awareness and education on domestic violence?
A: Education campaigns, workshops, and outreach programs can increase awareness and empower individuals to recognize and report domestic violence.

Q: Why is collaboration between different sectors essential in the fight against domestic violence?
A: Collaboration ensures a comprehensive approach, combining resources, expertise, and support services to tackle domestic violence from multiple angles.

Q: How does intersectionality influence the treatment of domestic violence cases?
A: Considering intersectionality helps address the unique challenges faced by individuals from diverse backgrounds and identities impacted by domestic violence.

Q: What impact does media representation have on domestic violence advocacy?
A: Media portrayal can shape public perceptions, stigma, and understanding of domestic violence, impacting advocacy efforts and victim empowerment.

Q: What legal measures are necessary to protect domestic violence victims?
A: Implementing strong legal frameworks, protective orders, and victim support programs are critical to safeguarding individuals affected by domestic violence.

Q: How can technology be leveraged in combating domestic violence?
A: Technology tools can facilitate reporting, provide resources, and offer support mechanisms for victims of domestic violence, enhancing safety and assistance.

Q: What initiatives can be undertaken to prevent domestic violence?
A: Preventive measures like early intervention programs, awareness campaigns, and support services can help mitigate domestic violence incidents before they escalate.

Q: Why is trauma-informed care essential for domestic violence survivors?
A: Trauma-informed approaches prioritize empathy, understanding, and tailored support to help survivors heal and recover from the impacts of domestic violence.

Highlights

Time: 00:15:43
Gender Neutrality in Domestic Violence Cases Discussing the importance of gender-inclusive approaches in addressing domestic violence.

Time: 00:30:19
Data-Driven Insights on Domestic Violence Trends Exploring the role of data analysis in understanding patterns and factors related to domestic violence incidents.

Time: 00:45:08
Community Support Networks for Domestic Violence Survivors Highlighting the significance of community resources and support for individuals affected by domestic violence.

Time: 01:00:27
Media Influence on Domestic Violence Perception Examining how media portrayals impact public awareness, stigma, and responses to domestic violence cases.

Time: 01:15:11
Legal Reforms and Victim Protection in Domestic Violence Addressing the importance of legal measures and policy changes to enhance victim protection and perpetrator accountability.

Time: 01:30:02
Technology's Role in Combatting Domestic Violence Exploring tech tools and solutions that aid in reporting, intervention, and support for domestic violence victims.

Time: 01:45:39
Preventive Strategies to Reduce Domestic Violence Incidents Discussing proactive measures and initiatives that aim to prevent domestic violence through early intervention and community awareness.

Key Takeaways

• Domestic violence impacts individuals irrespective of gender.
• Proper investigation protocols are critical to addressing domestic violence cases effectively.
• Emotional and psychological support for survivors is key in the aftermath of domestic violence incidents.
• Creating safe spaces and supportive communities can aid in preventing and addressing domestic violence.
• Increasing awareness and education on domestic violence is crucial for societal change.
• Using data to understand patterns and behaviors associated with domestic violence can inform prevention strategies.
• Collaboration between law enforcement, social services, and community organizations is essential in combating domestic violence.
• Intersectionality plays a significant role in how domestic violence cases are perceived and addressed.
• The media's portrayal of domestic violence can influence public perceptions and awareness.
• Legal reforms and stringent policies are necessary to protect victims and hold perpetrators accountable.

Behind the Mic

Introduction and Gathering Crowd

What's good, y'all? What's good? How you doing? It's 09:00 let's wait till five more minutes before we get a good crowd in here, and then we'll get going. How y'all doing? Haven't done a space in a couple weeks. I've been busy. I've had two projects I've had to work on that I didn't get a chance that I had to focus on and finish. So I want to talk about the situation, but again, let's wait for everybody to get in. Let's give it a few minutes, then we'll get underway. In the meantime, how's everybody doing? If you can hear me and I'm coming through clear, shoot up a 100 or put up a thumbs up. Just so we know we're on the same page, we can all hear each other. All right. It always takes a while for people to file in here, and while y'all are coming in, I'm going to put some things up in the jumbotron so we can have a base of understanding of what this conversation is going to be about. Hopefully, we should have a pretty good little size group in here. Just bear with me. All right? And by the way, you know the drill in my spaces. Just wait for some more people to file in, then we'll get right into it. It's currently 904 duvall time. Wait a couple more minutes. We'll have. Once we get enough people in here, then we'll get underway.

Engagement with Audience

What's up, Jeremiah? I see you down there. What's up, Nick? I'm using some brand new earbuds for this one. Hopefully I'm coming through loud and clear. Do me a favor just so we can do a mic check. If y'all can hear me and I'm coming through clearly, shoot up a 100 or put a thumbs up. Just know that I'm coming through. All right, cool. All right. Okay, I see y'all. Good, good. I'm going through now sending out some invites, and I think this is a necessary conversation. I think it's one that we need to have, because, unfortunately, this situation is not uncommon, and it's something that we see just in our regular lives if you take the celebrity component out of it. But nobody really wants to get into this, and I think sometimes there's a lot of blaming and there's a lot of deflection that goes on, and I feel like that doesn't really solve anything, and all it does is keep these cycles going over and over. So I want to have. I want to put this out there on the table. I want to have this conversation so people can. Maybe we can get to an understanding. I have a feeling it's going to fill up as the day goes, as the night goes on. It's 09:06 where I am now. I'm going to give it four more minutes to let a few more people come in and then we gonna jump right into it.

Addressing the Situation

I'm also inviting some people who was talking greasy in my mentions for the past day or so. I thought I'd put that tweet out and like I always do in my spaces. I see some new people, but I see some people who know how I move. I usually send invites to people who disagree with what I say, and we'll see if they come through. Nine times out of ten, they never show up or they stay just long enough to get offended and they bounce, which is funny to me, too. But anyway, we go still do this, we'll see how it plays out. All right, so nine oh, 7910, we got a hard beginning. Hope y'all are doing all right. I've been away for a while because I've been outside of the projects I was working on. I was also doing some stuff down in Florida just to be sure my people was all right because they had, you know, storms the whole way through. What's up, Travis? What's up, brother? I see you check your. Check your dm's. I sent you a speaker invite because I definitely want to get your opinion on it, and I'd love for you to speak. All right, cool. What I tell you about that white fist, bro? Go in there and change that to them. You got brothers and sisters in. Sierra. How you doing, sis? I see you.

Starting the Discussion

All right. It's 09:08. I'm a let more of the room come in. And at 910, we gonna get started. I'm sorry I don't have no music for y'all right now, but I'm actually traveling, so I wasn't able to bring my whole gear, all my gear with. But again, I think it's going to be a good conversation, and hopefully we'll get some. We'll get some black women and some sisters in here to be able to speak as well, because I absolutely want to have women speak on this because I think this is something that's. It's a situation and it's an issue that unfortunately affects men and women, and it's something that we really got to have a conversation about. All right. Shout out to the scholars in the room. All right, 1 minute and then we'll get going. It's kind of funny because normally I've been focused on politics for the past few months, but sometimes I step out and do other conversations about other subjects. And I think because this is so important, I think this is a necessary one, I wanted to have it. And again, if you're new to my spaces, well, I'll give you the ground rules. We're about 1 minute away, so you're going to go ahead and get it moving. All right? All right.

Initiating Topic of Conversation

It's 910. Let's ride. What's good, everybody? My name is Torrin Walker. I am a writer. I am a journalist. I am a content creator. I am a digital storyteller. If you look up in the jumbotron, you can see what I do. I fight misinformation, miseducation, and anti black misandria using storytelling backed by data. And if you want to support my work, click the link in my jumbotron up there. That way it'll take you directly to my website and you can donate via cash app, PayPal, Venmo, Patreon, and Zelle. All right, let's get into it. The title of this story, the title of this space is unequal rights and lefts. Do we really take domestic violence seriously? And the premise of this is because on Friday, former Disney Channel star Thai Jackson was arrested at Universal Citywalk in LA after an alleged domestic violence incident. She was allegedly seen by security pushing her boyfriend during an argument, and according to the LA County Sheriff's department, deputies determined that she was the aggressor and arrested her for misdemeanors, spousal battery. She was booked later, released the same morning, day, rather, ever since the story broke over the weekend, it's been jokes about her size compared to her boyfriend's, colorism directed in him and speculation about his manhood.

Exploring Gender Dynamics

And this is coming from some of the same people who launched crusades when the genders are reversed in these situations. So my question is, why is that? Why is it a global atrocity when a man touches a woman? But it's a joke when a woman hits a man? If we believe in a society where there's zero tolerance for any sort of physical attacks on anybody, especially in a domestic situation, why is it horrible one instance and why is it funny on the other? And I want to start this out by saying that, first of all, even though I shouldn't have to say this among adults, but obviously we have to, that nobody should touch anybody. Nobody should put their hands on anybody in any sort of domestic situation. But it seems to be very arbitrary the way outrage is selective around this situation. So that's part of the conversation. And then we'll get into some other things as we go along. So if you have anything to say about this, put your hand up, I'll come to you. I also want you to everybody to answer the question in the space, you know, do we take it all, do we take all domestic violence seriously? So I'll just go around the room. I'm going only to the hands to start with. And then if you want to speak, I will call you up.

Facilitating Dialogue

If you want to rebut what somebody says, put your hand up again, and I'll let you speak, and then we'll move on. I don't need no soapboxes. I don't want to do a whole thing where people get into their own personal issues to the point where he takes us off the subject. And I've been pretty cool about this through the rest of my space, but I've learned over the past few months, and I'm going to have to start getting the whip in the chair to make people act right. I shouldn't have to, but that's how I move. So here we go. Let's go first to Sierra Porter. Then we'll go to my man's Travis doctor Hood scholar, and then we'll go to Mister Al. So, Sierra, you got the mic. Go ahead. Good evening, everybody. How you doing? Good to. Good to speak to you and get to speak about this subject. So to answer the question, the answer is no. When it comes to domestic violence, it's not treated the same in society. And we see that definitely on social media. I paid attention to, like, the shade room comments, the spiritual world comments to this situation. And a lot of people laughed and joked, you know, joked about it and said, oh, you know, she's little.

Addressing Domestic Violence Perceptions

It was just a push. But we have to understand, and I'm pretty sure everybody knows this, like, if the roles were reversed, they wouldn't, you know, be saying that, oh, it was just a push, you know, they would have been like, let's cancel him. Let's find out. I don't know what the young man does. I don't know how. Apparently Skye is engaged to this young man, and they're expecting a child together, which is what they both told police. But regardless of that situation, nobody should be putting their hands on anybody. And what I notice, and this is why I don't take a lot of people seriously on Twitter, because we notice when a man is accused of something, it's automatically believe the woman. She's a victim. Da da da. When the roles are reversed, I was like, oh, it's not that big a deal. Oh, like, she's small. You know, I'm pretty sure her hits didn't hurt, or whatever she did to him didn't, you know, didn't really bother him, when in reality, these types of things shouldn't be pushed under the rug.

Broader Context of Abuse

And, you know, not only when it comes, I'm slightly going to go off topic and say not only when it comes to domestic violence, but even sexual assault, because when the cases of Lizzo and Kalani and megastallion came up, a lot of people I noticed who claimed to be or act like social media activists were very quiet. Now, granted, these are just accusations, but when it comes to somebody else or a male figure or a male celebrity, they're quick to jump and, you know, give their two cent on the topic, but when the roles are reversed, they're like, oh, well, let's wait for more information. And I just think. I just think it's really performative and it's B's. But back to sky. You know, I just feel as though when it comes to the topic of women putting their hands on men, it's not taken seriously. And, you know, I just think it's absolutely ridiculous how people can sit up and laugh and joke about stuff like this, but then when the roads are reversed, they want to put on their capes and act like they give a damn about social justice issues or violence against people.

Conclusion and Reflection

And I just think a lot of people just do a lot of performing on Twitter, which is why I just don't take a lot of people seriously, and that's that. All right, sis, thank you so much for your comments. I appreciate that. Stay where you at. I'm gonna keep you on here because I want to bring. I want to try to equal it up for men and women so we can get different opinions. Travis, what's good, brother? How you doing? What you got. Bro? I lost contact with you over the weekend, man. I was trying to get ahold of you, but I was traveling, too, so. My bad. Hey, you remember I was in Missouri? Yeah, yeah, I was trying to get out there, but, you know, we'll talk about that later, but I'm sorry I wasn't able to make it. You good, bro? We was moving the whole time, but, yeah, to answer your question, bro, I want to say this. I want to deliver this one line, and I want to see it as clear as possible.

Perspectives on Victimhood

We have a problem with seeing black men as victims. Let me say that again. We have a problem with seeing black men as victims. Right. That that's the first thing. Right. If there's any way in which. Any way possible where a black man is a victim, then, oh, no. It's some type of justification. It's some type of reasoning. He must have did something. It's so bad that as we release, as black male studies scholars release the information on bi directional violence, right. What is bi directional violence? Usually people think about domestic violence being unidirectional. Only one way, right. And so bidirectional violence is that both women hurt men and men hurt women. Right. As we release that information, there were actual people responded by saying what a man must have done something. Right. It was like, it was impossible. It was inconceivable for people to believe that a woman just abused or just hurt a man. Right.

Cultural Awareness

And so I just want to put that out there. The other thing, of course, I got to give you all some education because I'm a hood scholar. Let me give you all the educational component about this. I studied syllabi from undergraduate school to graduate school to the training that psychologists have to go through. All of most of the information on domestic abuse, even like CRC, including sexual violence, it automatically acts as if the abuser is male and the victim is female, right? So think about. Think about what that says educationally to the people who are receiving this training, right? Then think about what that says, how that trickles down to the legal system, the justice system, the media, in all areas of society, right? So, unequivocally, we automatically assume the abuser to be a man, the victim to be a woman. And so then when something comes out that's contrary, then that's a jolt into people's system, and it's like, oh, no, where do I place this? And this is what we see is happening, right? So when I'm trying to say it, I'll wrap it up here.

Personal Experience

What we're dealing with is a problem that's deeply ingrained to the very fabric of our society. And I close with this story, this two minute story. I actually personally went through abuse myself. When I called it one in 100 line to get help, the only place that was available were shelters for women or shelters for women and children within, like, a 50 or 100 miles radius. There was literally nowhere for me to go in my own personal abusive situation. And I shared this story before, so that's why I'm okay with putting that out there. But that's how real it is. That's what we're dealing with. Well, first of all, man, I appreciate you sharing that story again. You know, I know it, but I didn't want to say anything until you felt comfortable sharing it. So I appreciate that. While I wait for the next speaker to come in, if you look up in the jumbotron, I'm just putting up some things that people are responding to me after I put that tweet out that went viral about domestic violence.

Social Media Dynamics

And even though this is social media still, I think it's a pretty good gauge of how a lot of people feel about this issue. You know, a couple people have already deleted their stuff. Cause I retweeted it. But, I mean, I think it's a good idea for people to see this so people can see some of the general idea of when these genders are reversing these situations. Sierra wants to respond, and then we'll go to Mister Al Sierra. Go ahead. Yeah, I just wanted to piggyback off of what doctor hood scholar was talking about. Like, even, like, some of the comments. And I think you mentioned this earlier when you were speaking about, like, the colorism aspect. Like, I saw a comment where smile was just like, oh, you know, he light skinned. So, you know, he did something to, like, you know, disrespectful, says something disrespectful to her. And I'm just like, it doesn't matter.

Colorism in Discussion

And, like, even that comes into play in these types of conversations, like his, I guess, you know, questioning his masculinity and things of that sort, which that shouldn't even be. I don't even know why that was brought up, but I just kind of wanted to add that in that, you know, him being light skinned also became a topic. And, you know, people just. People just thought it was funny, which is why when you see people on here, and I know you notice because you're a journalist, I. We're both part of NABJ. You see a lot of journalists who always have something to say about, like, these types of issues when the roads reverse. But when it's something like this, they quiet. Like, they quiet as hell. And it's so fucking funny to me that when they get on here, they. They be doing all that rah. Oh, yeah.

Media Silence

Like, lead, protect black women. Da da. But when the world, when the roles are reversed, they say absolutely nothing, which I find so funny, because it's just. It's just comical. It's just abs. It's just ludicrous. That's it. I just wanted to add that you. Went dark for a minute. Could you. Could you hear me for a second? Then you cut out in the last maybe 30 seconds. Oh, I was just saying that. It's just absolutely ludicrous. That's it. Let me ask you something. I think Travis wants to respond, but I want to ask you something. You and me are in the same field. Have you had. And I know how you feel about certain issues, and I think you're a very fair person. But have you had pushback from some other sisters who work with you about that, what you just discussed?

Reactions to Discussion

Well, no, I don't think I ever said anything where somebody had. Given me pushback. What I just discussed about domestic violence. But what I will say, I pay attention a lot to people who, you know, always tweeting about certain things. Obviously, I ain't gonna harper too much on this about the mega Tory situation. And just by other situations, they always have something to say. But when the roles are reversed, I notice that they say absolutely nothing. Like when I see certain headlines about, you know, sexual. Sexual violence against men or just things of that sort, they just say. They say nothing. But when it's. When it's the opposite, it's like, oh, they have so much to say.

Impact of Gender Dynamics

We're not against it. Can y'all hear me? Yeah, we can hear. I can hear you. I can hear you. Yeah, we can hear. Something happen? She went out on my end for a second. You want me to go back out and come back in? I don't know, Torren. She's clear to us. I can. Yeah, Torrid, I can hear her. Yeah, I can hear you loud and clear. I can hear you and Travis. But for some reason, she went dead. Okay. Cause I only got five minutes left before I got to get ready to go. But. Well, I wanted to. Well, hold tight. Hold tight. Let me have Travis respond and I'll jump right to you. All right?

Valuing Perspectives

Yeah. I'm sorry, Sierra. For some reason, you cut out on my end. But if you hear, I'll bring you back in. Hold tight. Okay, Travis, go ahead. Yeah, I'm gonna make Mads quick. And I think the other part of this is a psychological component, right? Because I'm a response to some of these comments, but people keep acting like abuse is only physical. And because of that, and this is a problem, and I'm gonna say this quickly. I close with this. We don't see men, black men, as victims, and we also don't understand abuse because since we, when we can only see abuse as victim, we don't think about the psychological, the emotional, all those components, the unseen parts that are affecting men.

Understanding Emotional Impact

So I don't know how to do feel to have his girlfriend push him, what they was fighting about or whatever, but I'm sure that bother him some type of way. See, that's the other thing. We really want to understand abuse. We got to go beyond just the physical. All right. Appreciate that. Go ahead. Mister L. Mister AI can put you in your name. Yeah, what's going on, brother? You know, this story reminds me, the response reminds me very similar, what happened months ago, that one star who was sexually assaulted publicly and everything else, and people were making fun of him. When that happened to him and everything, you noticed he felt uncomfortable.

Discussing Differences in Treatment

I forgot the actor's name, but, yeah, you know, we treat domestic violence and sexual assault when it's done to a male, especially a black male. We treat it differently because, you know, they've been trained to think that, you know, black men ain't ish. Black men are trash. They're. They're savages and everything else. And sadly, the feminist organizations have basically trained, you know, even our black females for. For decades that were. That and everything else, thanks to movies like the Color purple by. By Alice Walker, thanks to bell hooks and everything. So, you know, when I hear the response of what happened to that individual who was getting reportedly being assaulted by a woman, listen, if he would have put his hands on her, he would have been charged with a felony, possibly, depending what state this happened.

Describing Consequences of Violence

If it happened in California, he would have been charged with a felony charge because they take domestic violence against women very seriously. So I'll land my plane right there. Appreciate it. Let me go to Dexter. What's up, man? Dexter, where yet? Microphone is yours? You got it. Twitter doesn't want me to be great this evening, but we gonna get around it. Sherry, you back with me? Yeah, I'm here. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. I'm sorry I missed. I don't know what happened earlier, but some reason you cut out on my end, but yeah. Oh, no. Just to answer your question is I don't get pushback from journalists who I feel go mute when the roles are reversed only because they probably know it's true.

Reactions to Gender Dynamics

And a lot of them do it like a lot of them. They won't say nothing if the headline is about a woman assaulting a man or abusing a man. But they will say something if the roles are reversed, which that's why I said earlier when I was speaking that a lot of people are very performative on here. And I don't know this because of the kind of position that they're in. I've had phone calls with journalists who gotten on me about not playing the game, whatever the hell that's supposed to mean. But it's definitely a culture where a lot of them, they do that like, they put on that cape, and then when it's like, okay, well, we need to address this. They don't have nothing to say, which I think is quite ludicrous. It's ridiculous. Let me ask you this, though, because I have a theory about that, because most people don't understand the difference between traditional journalism and social media journalism, quote, unquote, that we have now.

Reflections on Media Responses

And a lot of these stories are driven by a lot of gossip blogs and a lot of hip hop blogs and a lot of basically reality tv drama blogs. And because the majority of the audience for that content is women of a certain demographic and also some people who are gender non conforming, I feel like there's a rush to keep drama going and to keep stuff going as far as, like, melodramatic stories and violence and that sort of stuff. And because those audiences, they have to cater to keep their revenue coming in, they're going to always see those people as the vet, as the victim, and always see them in the best light. But they don't talk about things that happens on the other end when somebody who's from those communities gets violent. Do you think that's true? Well, I don't even think it's just social media.

Analysis of Media and Race

I think it's corporate media, too, because I noticed there are some female journalists who work for, like, you know, ABC, MSNBC anchors and stuff like that, who also kind of follow that thing where they don't say nothing when the roads are reversed. So, I mean, it's interesting that you mentioned that. And I thought it was maybe it was just like the social. Yes, sir, I can hear you. Yeah, I thought it was just like the social media journalism, like blog thing, but it's not. It's corporate media, too, where it's like, okay, well, when a woman is the victim or the alleged victim, you can go in, attack and kind of give your two cent. But when the roads reverse, people just go quiet. And I noticed that not only from, you know, bloggers, but I noticed that from corporate media journalists as well.

Concluding Remarks

All right, thank you. I think we got Dexter back. Dexter, you there? Yes, sir. My mic was tripping earlier. Yeah, man, so this whole thing just. Were you at the game? Yeah, I'm not practicing. My young. You at the playoffs? All right, man. Also, question in the room. Do we take all domestic violence seriously, yes or no? No, we don't. The only time we can't get serious when it happens to women, when it. Happens to men or boys. It's a social media joke. So, you know, I think that really needs to change. That really has to change for us to move forward as a society, you know, because, like. Like we have known. Even doctor TSR Johnson spoken about this. Black men and boys, we're never seen as victims. We're all seen as villains. I. And I'm sick and tired of that narrative and all the rest right there.

Gap in Academic Literature on Abuse

Travis, can you talk about that a little bit? Yeah, definitely. So, yeah, actually, this is when I notice a gap in the academic literature, because, like I said earlier, a lot of the academic literature primarily focuses on physical abuse. When you start looking into the other forms of abuse, you see, actually, pretty sadly, that actually, let me explain it this way. When I used to be in the military, right, they did some research on soldiers who experienced traumatic brain injury and post traumatic stress disorder. What they found out was some of these soldiers who experienced the same symptoms of traumatic brain injury did not get hit by an IED or hitting the arm in the helmet, hitting the head, or suffer some type of direct blow. So what am I saying? What I'm saying was that the stress and the pressure of the situation cause the same reaction and symptoms as if they have received a blow to the head. Right. And so I'm explaining that, because what we see then is as we better understand abuse, then we can see how words, gaslighting and abuse can also be financial abuse, right?

Understanding Financial and Emotional Abuse

Where if somebody just controls all the money, basically, when there's over an imbalance of control and power, where the other person is belittled and less than human some way, right, then that has the same level of effect, if not more than physical abuse. Right? And so we need to understand this, and we go back to what I originally said, not seeing black men as victim, when we start thinking about abuse this way, in these ways that we can better understand the ways in which men broadly, and black men in particular, are being abused. I want to pull some data real quick, because, again, you know, like you said earlier, a lot of these social media narratives, they're not based in any reality. They're just based in vibes, and they're just based, in a lot of, in my opinion, anti black misandrist thought about what black men are worth and what they deserve and what they can tolerate. So I want to pull these data. I want to pull this data, and thank God for data, because I love pulling out stats. This is from the National Coalition against Domestic Violence. This was data pulled in 2017.

Statistics about Domestic Violence

1440. Sorry. 45.1% of black women and 40% of black men have experienced intimate partner physical violence, intimate partner sexual violence and intimate partner stalking in their lifetimes. 31.8% of black women and 16.8% of black men have experienced one of the following intimate partner violence related being fearful, being concerned for their safety, post traumatic stress disorder symptoms, physical injury, need for medical care, need for housing services, need for victim advocate services and or legal services have missed at least one day of work or school and have had to contact the crisis hotline. 41.2% of black women and 36.3% of black men have experienced intimate partner physical violence in their lifetimes. 53.8% of black women and 56.1% of black men have experienced psychological aggression by an intimate partner in their lifetimes. 17.4% of black women and 14.8% of black men have experienced intimate partners sexual violence other than rape in their lifetimes. Basically, this just backs up what doctor Hood scholars said, that a lot of domestic violence in our community is bi directional, which is basically people attacking each other, and it's bad all around.

Acknowledging Domestic Violence for All

And I want to reiterate this again. I don't advocate for anybody to hit anybody in a domestic situation. If it gets to that point, you need to get up and leave, or you need to get away from that person. What I'm saying is that if it's bad one side of the coin, it has to be bad for everybody. Anybody who initiates physical contact in a situation like that is in the wrong, and there's no way around that. I just want this to be. I want that to be heard, because I'm pretty sure somebody's going to probably hear this space and try to make their own narrative off of it. I want to bring in a couple other speakers, because I think what we have to talk about now is the fact that a lot of times, the arbitrariness of how a victim is seen and how a perpetrator is seen is something totally different, depending on who is in which position. Let me see. Hang on 1 second. Let me bring in. And if I'm coming through, clearly, put a 100 up or let me know, y'all, I'm coming through live. Clear. Cool.

Cultural Perceptions of Violence

Let's wait for Twitter to do its thing, and then I'll bring in some more people. For some reason, everybody's scared to talk today. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's Wednesday. Travis, you with me still? Yeah, I'm with. Can I say something else, too, though, while waiting for people? When it comes to the data, right. The data, I would say, is below numbers, because. So two things. One, black men. Black men. Listening to this. Yes. You can be a victim and you can be abused. And I'm saying that because when I first realized, I realized that I was being abused. And I'm telling. I'm saying it that way because I was being abused, but didn't know I was being abused, right. And I was hurting, and I was feeling the effects of it, but I didn't know that was abuse. Right. That's the first point. That's the hugely important point.

Personal Insights on Abuse

But the second thing is this. And I talked to my father, right? And talking to my father, older black. Man. He shared stories with me that he used to always, he probably don't want me telling you all this now. He's like, I don't tell nobody this, but he basically shares stories of black men that he knew who were abused. And I'm saying that. I'm saying this because my father is in his seventies, right? And I think what usually happens is we. We almost. We think about abuse as a recent phenomenon, or we think about, like. Like, oh, yeah. Just only like young people. But how does this impact your thinking? I know it impact my thinking drastically. When I heard, oh, my father was abused or older black men. And you think about my father being abused, then we going back to color purple time, right?

Reflections on Historical Perspectives of Abuse

Cause so my father would have been 30 when color purple came out. So you think about color purple and before, so when he was pushing the narratives of mister, right, what was actually happening, where there were actually black men that time who were on the receiving end of being abused. Right. So I just want to say that because we look at the numbers, and I think the numbers are a lower estimate than what's actually happening. Right. I would say it's actually more than that, because if I was surveyed or if they were collecting data on me in 2012 or 2013 or 2014, I would have said, no, I wasn't being abused. But in 15 and 16, I would answer differently because I finally realized, oh, it's possible for black men to be abused.

The Role of Stigma in Disclosing Abuse

And there's also the fact that the average man in a situation like that is either going to keep that to himself and he's not going to really reveal that half the time limits to himself, like you said. Oh, he's definitely not going to do that in a survey or talk to somebody who may be counseling him because of the stigma of being a man who gets a. You know what I mean? And we know that. Let's go to. Let's go to Kanye. 2024. Disrespectful. What's up, man? That was going on terrain. So Sierra sub, doctor hood scholar subnets. My, y'all doing sleepy and I'm cold, but, yeah, my bad. Just came in here. Do we take.

Justice and Domestic Violence

No, we don't take all domestic violence here. And the reason why they don't take it serious is because once you create a internally victim class, it kind of is what it is. Now, there has been horrible things done to women throughout history, you know, due to the way the family was structured and a lot of people doing the wrong thing when they weren't supposed to. However, I do like to think we've evolved past that at some point. But now the scales are kind of tipping to where, like, domestic violence is bad, right. We speak out against it, but they only speak out about one kind. So when you seen Kiki Palmer, for example, right, when she beat up her baby daddy, people were trying to blame him for it. What did he do to her? Like, why did.

Gender Bias in Domestic Violence Narratives

Why is she swinging? Maybe he was cheating. And it's like there's a justification on weighing, right? Whereas men, we can say, hey, you shouldn't put your hands on a woman. If you that mad, you should definitely walk away I mean, we can make that statement without any caveat, any, you know, any asher next to it. We can just say straight up, hey, if you matter a woman, walk away, don't do it for a number of reasons. A, as a man, you're stronger, right? You can take her life, you're in the wrong place, and then b, is just morally wrong, you know, you can get out of that situation. However, women aren't always taught to keep them hands themselves. I don't know if you guys are familiar with the guy. Ysl Woody, he was on the talk show, and I was like, pop the balloons.

The Complexity of Gender Relations

Like that. And he was saying something to girl, she smacked his hand. Now, I mean, granny, it wasn't like, hard, whatever, but he was like, he kind of lost it for a second and walked toward her aggressively, and she just jumped all the way back. But it's like, why would you feel so comfortable to put your hand on this thing, right? You don't know how these people raise. Everybody wasn't trained the same way. Now, as a man, like me, I actually avoid triggers and situations like that. I'm not a violent person. My hands on woman, and never will I avoid those situations. However, some men are violent, aggressive, and they can't wait to do stuff like this. So as a policy, I say everybody should keep their hands to themselves.

Advocating for Better Responses to Domestic Violence

If you get too angry, you should walk away. And I do think we need to start taking this domestic violence thing on the women a little more serious than we are. I mean, like you say, you take the comment section, hypocrisy. You see them cracking jokes. She's cute, she shouldn't go to jail. This at the other, and blah, blah, blah. And it's why, like, that guy was a black guy, Florida. He was dating a european woman, a caucasian woman, and she murdered this. Stabbed him, like, 26 sometimes, right? But since it was her stabbing him, she got out of jail immediately. I don't even. She was arrested, come think of it. And then they finally charged with his death.

Unequal Justice in Domestic Violence Cases

And it's like, that just shows you how the stigma of men getting attacked. I'm not sure what the doctor who is calling, I was talking about, but there is a level of embarrassment for me to say, hey, my wife hit, right? It's like, well, that a woman put her hand on you like that. Like, why she feel comfortable? Like, we don't ask the question, like, hey, you sure you need help? Get out of situation. That's never something x for the man, because it comes off as we no man actually wants. Appreciate that, bro. I think Sierra wants to respond, and we'll go to the next people. Go ahead. Sierra?

The Challenge of Navigating Gender Dynamics

I just want to make sure. Yes, ma'am. Yeah. To pick you back off what chaos said, I. I totally agree. I think for some men, it is an embarrassment to admit that a woman put their hands on them. But just growing up down south, like, that was just a rule of thumb that I think my mom taught me was just like, never put your hands on a man. Like, don't put your hands on nobody, but especially a man. And if you feel angry enough where you got to do that's the situation where you need to walk away from. Now, I've had dealings with men, obviously, who have pissed me off, but I've never been to the point where I felt the need to put my hands on them, number one. And number two, the view did this a long time ago, and I.

The Role of Media in Shaping Perceptions

And, you know, when it comes to Whoopi Goldberg, she kind of hit a miss with me sometimes on her views, but she. She did hit the nail on the head right this time. And I think they were talking about a domestic violence incident. I don't know if it was with the inner NFL player or if it was with the Chris Brown and Rihanna situation. And all the women was just like, oh, you know, there are speculations that this woman put her hands on the man, and all the other women on the panel were just like, oh, well, you should never hit her. Still. She's still a woman. And Whoopi was the only woman on that panel that said nobody should be hitting anybody. And if you hit a man, you cannot be certain that he will not hit you.

Media and Gender Dynamics in Domestic Violence

Back to what chaos was talking about. Woody was on a show called 20 B one. Now, Woody, to me, although he's entertaining, I could tell the baby's a Little Bit off his rocker. And he's not even the type of guy I would even play with like that. Like, not even playfully try to hit him, because I saw his reaction as well when she tapped his hand and, you know, she ended up jumping back. You don't know this dude. You don't know what kind of trauma he endured. You don't know what kind of things he saw growing up. And when you don't know somebody, you know, just. Just keep your hands to yourself because you really don't know how they're going to react.

Promoting Healthy Interactions

I like to keep a safe distance, especially if I'm, like, debating or arguing with somebody. I keep a safe distance, because you just don't know what kind of time people are on these days, and that's man or woman. So to kind of piggyback off of that, I was just pretty much saying, Whoopi was the only one who kind of stepped up and said, nobody should be hitting anybody. They teach you that in kindergarten. They don't say, hey, boys, keep your hands to yourself. They don't say, hey, girls, keep your hands to yourself. They say, hey, class. That means, everyone in the class, keep your hands and your feet to yourself. And as a woman, you are not a child.

Accountability Across Genders

You're a grown AWs woman. And I don't understand why we hold men to the standard of controlling their emotions but not telling women the same thing. If y'all gonna curse each other out. Y'all talking shit, talk shit. But if it gets to the point where you feel like you got to put your hands on somebody, you really need to walk away. And I don't understand why that has to be broken down. Like it's damn rocket science is pretty simple. But that's all I wanted to say. Thank you, sis. I appreciate that. Yeah. You wanted to respond? Yeah.

Cultural Dynamics Surrounding Domestic Violence

Yeah. I was gonna say, yeah, that was me. Not micro chaos. His mic just muted. But I want to say, yeah, everything Sierra said, plus, like, obviously, Greece. Agree me. But it's crazy to me. Right? And it's funny how people will pick and choose who they want to hold accountable. Right? Just like. Just on this app, you see guys who have all these charges, convicted, these charges and everything, and you'll see women laughing and joking with them. I was like, you know, this guy did, you know? And it's like, hey, are we really gonna just sit back and let this happen when nobody's gonna say anything? And then when you do say something, you know, you get called a hater and stuff like that.

The Dangers of Selective Accountability

But I just wanted to speak to something Terrain said, like, I think last year or something was talking about that. It was like all this picking and choosing ends up in a bad spot. And that's so true, because you look at. Look at. Look at how they looked at that, right? And to talk on what Sierra was talking about, they were saying, whippy said, hey, everybody keep their hands on themselves. Don't hit it well. And they did not want to say women should keep their hands on itself, which is a dangerous thing, because if you. Everybody's not going to have that same level decorum. And another problem is a lot of men aren't raising their sons.

The Importance of Raising Responsible Individuals

People forget that, right? A lot of these men are raised by their mom, so they emotional and already unstable as it is. See, when you have a father in the home, he teaches you early how to control your emotions, right? That's what I even tell your son. Stop crying when he's three or four years old. It's not because you a heartless person. He needs to be able to think through his pain. You think your emotions, right? Yeah, it hurts right now, but think through that, right? Because there come time in your life where something may happen to you, and you really think. And I act off emotion. These emotional men are causing so much damage. But then you take a look at that. Now it's emotional women as well.

Highlighting Emotional Harm across Genders

Like, what's the guy named Safar was talking about how Nicki Minaj stabbed him, almost killed him. And he had to tell the police he almost killed himself. You know, I mean, just so they could, back off her. But it's like, why should he have got. Went there for, right? And then nobody ever say anything about it. Like, nobody was like, oh, she's wrong for that. I was like, oh, okay. And it's like, swept under the road, but it's like, we reversed that. Hey, he stabbed her. What? No, he needs to be under the jail. Like people. The Chris Brown situation, right? And I wish he had a say this.

Double Standards in Domestic Violence Narratives

When it happened. He was like, oh, you know, it was both swinging each other, right? He just took the brunt of that. No one ever said anything about her, you know? And I'm not saying he was right for doing that, but I'm saying it takes two to tango. So if that was the case, then it's like, we should look at this. Hey, domestic violence is wrong no matter who's doing it. That's just my take on it. All right, let me go to Mike. Let me go to micro dosing chaos, and I'll swing back around to Sierra, and then we'll move the conversation going. Go ahead, micro dose what you got on it.

Experiencing Violence Personally

Hey, I'll. Yes, sir. All right. Thank you for inviting me to the space. Yeah. Having grown up in a community and in a family in which I saw domestic violence, from my mother to my stepfather to neighbors, and many members of my community, having been raised in that, and then gone to another community where domestic violence is almost unheard of, I've seen this polar opposite in the attitude in which the community in which I'm a part of and how we deal with domestic violence. First off, if there was an instant of domestic violence, whether from a man or a woman, the amount of shame and social ridicule that would happen within the community would be almost unbearable, like, individually.

Shame and Social Repercussions

Now, I'll give you an example. A few years ago, there was a woman that stabbed a man, her husband. And the amount of shame and talk that happened within the community concerning the domestic violence was something that caused a lot of people to really reflect on it. Society, we don't really shame or shun people that are involved in domestic violence. And that's really one of the facets of it, is that a man could beat his wife. And, yeah, it might make the headlines. It might, you know, like, people might talk about it within the community, but there isn't really this shunning or this reproach that needs to happen. If a man were to put his hands on his wife within my community, man, the repercussions for doing so would be highly unacceptable.

Cultural Tolerance towards Domestic Violence

First off, members of that person's family would put hands on him within the community. He might not even be allowed to even come back in. And so in my community, man, there's not really that much domestic violence. And I see that there's a whole culture around it, wherever it is untolerable, and it's completely unacceptable. Let me ask you, what is your community exactly? So I belong to a muslim community. I converted to Islam, and I left a community that had a lot of drugs and domestic violence and stuff like that. And coming into the muslim community, man, we don't have any of those problems.

Different Community Dynamics

I see. I see. Are you noi. No, no, I'm a Sunni Muslim. Okay. Okay. Now, to be fair, now, I don't. I don't know where. I don't know exactly where you're located, and I don't know if you're in the states or whatever, but we gotta be. I'm in. Okay, now, we got to be fair. Now, there are certain communities in the Muslim community where they have rules and regulations about how to beat your wife. Yeah. And. And to answer that honestly and objectively, that isn't something that's practiced within the Muslim community.

Addressing Domestic Violence in the Muslim Community

Community, by and large, that is something that was in Islamic jurisprudence. And within those confines of being able to. Just, like, what's the best way to put it? To be able to have domestic disputes. There Islamic ruling within those confines, but in practice, it's something that hardly ever happens. And if it does happen, then it is taken to the imam of the masjid or the community, and it's dealt with, and there's severe repercussions for domestic violence even happening within the. Within the family itself. No, I hear you. I just wanted to be clear about that because we can't pretend like domestic violence doesn't happen in every community because it is there.

Reality of Domestic Violence Across Communities

I'm not saying it's not an outlier, but we can't sit up here and pretend like it doesn't happen no matter what community you're in. Now, the responses to it may be different, but it's something that nobody is free from. And also the response to it is nobody's free from as well. I mean, it may vary, but I just wanted to be clear about that. Okay. But thank you, brother. Absolutely. Absolutely. Thank you. Sierra, go ahead. I know I've been talking a lot, so whenever you want me to stop, just tell them no.

The Importance of Acknowledging Abuse

Everybody, it seems like everybody is scared to get on here. So I don't know. You, you good? Listen, listen, I'll be having some thoughts, but to kind of piggyback off of what I think Kanye had mentioned this about the whole CB situation. Now, that situation happened when I was in 8th grade. And I remember it vividly because I. I was. Chris Brown thanned out. And I remember reading somewhere, and I think they had did a news story about it back because he had went back to Tappahanna, Virginia, where he's originally from, and they had people from the community, from his community speaking on him.

Community Perspectives on Domestic Violence

And there were men and women saying that she, Rihanna put her hands on him, too, and she had been putting her hands on him throughout that relationship prior to that situation happening. Now, CB obviously took the fall for what happened because he was wrong. But people swept that under the rug about Rihanna hitting him. And then it came back out. I want to say maybe in 2017 when he did his documentary and he was telling the truth because Rihanna approved it when he told the whole story from top to bottom of what happened. Now to this day, Chris Brown still wears the title of an abuser, specifically with that situation there.

Selective Memory in Domestic Violence Cases

There have been other accusations that have not been proven, but specifically with that situation, he wears the title of an abuser. But when it comes to Rihanna, nobody ever mentions, hey, Rihanna put her hands on him, too. And it probably had to do with the fact that we saw her bruises and we didn't see his because when he left that jail cell, they had a black cloth over his face. And I remember talking to somebody about that and it was just like, why do you think we never saw his mug shot from that night? Which that's another story for a different day. But I just want to put that out there that to this day, people never say, oh, that was an equally abusive relationship because it was.

The Double Standards of Abuse Narratives

They just want to have that as an example. They continue to use him as an example of abuser, where there's plenty of men and women in Hollywood who have done the same thing, if not worse, and don't get to wear that title, ie, Doctor Dre. No. Shaded Doctor. I love Doctor Dre, but we gonna call it. It is what it is, and that's it. That's it. That's it. Everybody know Doctor Dre beat up D. Barnes. Everybody know Doctor Dre beat up Michele. And to this day, don't nobody in Hollywood say a damn thing about Doctor Dre or to Doctor Dre.

Cultural Discrepancies in Treatment of Abusers

You don't never see when he wears something or when he at the Super bowl, don't nobody bring it up. But when it come to Chris Brown, he can do whatever. He can say whatever. He can cure cancer, and they gonna be like, remember what happened in 2009? So I just feel like everything is real performative, and I'm like, we have to give everybody the same energy, if that's what you gonna stand on. And that's just period. I will say this as a sidebar. I actually went back and watched straight out of Compton a couple days ago, again.

Portrayal of Abuse in Media

And it's kind of funny how they tried to portray Dre is like this. I'm just a kid who trying to do music, and everybody around me crazy. Like, he went in the mix of all that stuff that was going on. I'm just. Listen. Charlemagne said he was portrayed as a superhero, and I'm like, bro, we would have. We would have respected you more if you was honest about your story, because everybody know the story. But I'm just like, you know, doctor Dre, we love you. Musically, we love you. But, bro, like, just be honest about your past, because everybody.

Revisiting Media Narratives

I'm just a little kid. I just want to do my music, and everybody wilding out. But, like, he went out there with everybody. You know what I find amazing is. Like, one more thing. He walk up and we should come on. I'm out, neither. That's. That was. That was a lot. But anyway. Yeah, no, that's funny. Made him look tough. But I said before the movie came out, it's gonna be about easy Dre and Q's about, I mean, other niggas didn't even exist. Despite having a large impact and keeping. The y'all be sleeping on. Don't sleep on ran was.

Cultural Discussions on Violence

Solo. Here justifies the cubie just had. Didn't have the charisma the cube had. Be he was fire with that Mike. Quiet on the set, still be hitting. Go ahead, man. What you know about that? I'll not do two sidetracked as I can talk about this all day. But, but that's what I was alluding to earlier. Like, people pick and choose who they want to hold that label to. And you take a look at it, right? I was just reading this thing earlier. I mean, I do a lot of articles and I'm sure Terrain's heard about this.

Accountability in Past Domestic Abuse Cases

This is a Blake Lively. I'm not sure if you guys know who she is, right? She is a actor Ryan Reynolds wife. The guy just played in Deadpool, right? It's a movie coming out. It's like floral or something like that. It's about a woman standing in domestic abuse situation, right? She is on tour, smiling, promoting it, making light of it. But this, the guy who plays the abuser is talking about it like, you know, this is really serious and, you know, trigger warnings and, you know, he's doing what he can.

Media's Role in Domestic Violence Portrayal

But her promotion of it is very different. And they still found a way to blame him for her being light hearted about domestic violence situation. And it's like, wait, he's saying that it's something serious and she's like laughing and telling people where floors there. And it's like, what are we doing? And it's like even portraying a domestic abuser, you know, I'm saying in a film that's supposed to be educational about it, is almost wrong, right. That's how hard we pushed against the males, right. And rightfully so. I'm just saying we got to add some of that to the women, right?

Addressing Domestic Violence Narratives Equally

Because you take a look at, I think, the doctor situation, right? Even in that, the lady, her claims, you know, Dre was like, yeah, she used to hit me, too. You know, I'm saying, well, it wasn't just one sided, but like you said, we don't hear about that. You don't hear about like even Solange in the Jay Z situation, right? She's clearly punching him, kicking him in the elevator with them heels, right? He's just putting his hands up. You know, she got very little, if any, flack about there, right? And it's like, all right, so we really gonna walk around like this?

Recognizing the Reality of Domestic Violence

And I'm just saying there's a certain danger to it because there are a bunch of men out here, right, who weren't raised a level of integrity we have, right? Who will look at that situation and say, I refuse to be this person. You take a look at some of these youtubers and stuff like that on these podcasts, and they talk all day long about how they can't wait for bits. I mean, excuse my language. I want me to try them so they can lay them out. And then you see them pushing and punching women and stuff like that. You're like, wait, what's going on here?

Promoting Healthy Reactions to Violence

Like, we have to, like. Like Sierra said, it used to be a certain level of shame. And I. When you did something like that, right? And I think the color purple, I was talking to my uncle about it. He said that was the most terrible movie up, right? He was like, that wasn't what's going on back in the days, right. It was heavily exaggerated. And of course, most people are gonna play the victim just because. Now, I'm not saying domestic violence is never okay. It's never okay. Never accept it.

The Importance of Prevention and Awareness

And that's what, like, what Terrain pointed out, certain religious groups do, okay, violence against your woman. Certain laws on the books are still there for that. Right? It's not right. We shouldn't. We shouldn't do that. But, you know, people will justify all type of stuff if you give them the outlet to do it. So I think, and I want to say this. I'm sorry. I mean, to cut you off, but I want to say this, too. I'm not for the. For the brother who was on earlier. That's not just something that's in Islamic religion, either, because there was a lot of schools of thought, like, in a lot of fundamentalist Christian denominations in the 1800s, up until the mid 1950s, where it was like, you know, you could correct.

Historical Context of Domestic Violence

You could physically correct your wife and everything. And I can pull that information up and put it up. So I just want to be clear. It's not just stuck one person. I'm just saying across the board. Actually, Sierra gave us a really good segue because I want to get into the next part of this conversation. I want to call it the black boogeyman versus master and Carolyn Bryant. And we can't have this conversation unless we compare the way Scott Jackson has been the response to Scott Jackson and her situation without comparing it to Jonathan mages, mostly.

Cultural Comparisons in Violence Perception

I don't have to get too deep into this, because we've all seen it. Jonathan Mages is the first black man I've ever seen who, damn, then went to jail for running away from a white woman. We can get into the conversation of how what looks like predatory behavior from a black man, especially a huge, large, well built black man with a tiny white woman, who, in my opinion, and according to, by the court's opinion as well, just to a certain degree, was not physically abusing this woman. There was a mutual physical altercation that happened. She started acting a fool.

Understanding the Context of Violence

He picked her up, put her in the car, and then got away from her. But she wasn't injured enough to jump out of that car and chase this man for six blocks who was running at top speed. She should have been in the Olympics if she can move like that, to run after a dude and then go hang out in a bar afterwards. But that's a whole nother conversation. But we got to talk about who do we see as victims and who do we see as perpetrators. Was Jonathan Majors a victim or was he the perpetrator? Why is he seen as the big black boogeyman, whereas Scott Jackson, who is somebody who obviously is four foot nothing and weighs ten pounds, seen as a scene as somebody who can't really do any real damage.

Exploring the Dynamics of Abuse Perception

And then we have to bring in the conversation to, like, what does abuse? What is, what's the face of abuse? Who looks, who is portrayed as an abuser, who is considered an abuser and who was able to get a pass on that sort of thing. We'll get into that. Sierra's got her hand up some. Let her speak. And then we got some more speakers who seem to want to come in. I seem like everybody waking up. Go ahead, Sierra.

The Impact of Race on Abuse Narratives

Yeah. To answer the question about Jonathan Majors. Now, I went and saw the tape. I'm pretty sure everybody here has seen it now because some time has passed. But we see how Jonathan was portrayed. And I do think with her being a white woman, that had a lot to do with how people reacted. There were a lot of unsubstantiated rumors and narratives that shifted in favor of the white woman, ironically, seemingly disregarding the black man's own experiences.

Acknowledgment of Eddie Griffin

Eddie Griffith says, I'm shout out to Eddie Griffin, one of my favorite comedians. I grew up on him. But Eddie Griffith said something during the interview. He said, no black male entertainer leaves this business clean. Whether that be Michael Jackson, Michael Jordan, Koke Bryant, whoever it is, they don't leave this business clean. They're going to put something on you whether you did it or not. They want like a dash by your name and a label.

The Jonathan Majors Situation

And so with the whole Jonathan major situation, we literally saw the media flip on him. It was like a complete 180, how he was getting all these praises from Creed and, you know, black women loved him and da da da. And when that situation happened, we saw those same women who were singing him praises, even after seeing the video, continue to label him. Something that we clearly see is him trying to get away from this woman. Now, whether certain things I've heard in the industry is true or not, the fact of the matter is, what we saw in the video of this was this man trying to get away from this woman and her literally going after him. And I just don't understand how.

Consequences of Allegations

I mean, top speed for six. Top speed for six blocks. Exactly. Like, how he was able to lose out on so many opportunities that he was clearly a victim and he was able to do. And it's just. It's just interesting. And I do think that people in media have a habit of painting black men as the boogeyman. And I said this in a whole nother space. Maybe it was, like, in a hip hop space. But I always said that I knew early on in my career, when I started working as a journalist, that I would never get to the level of Gayle King or Oprah Winfrey.

Media Bias and Victimhood

And the reason why I said that is because women who work in media, in corporate media, or black women in corporate media, there's often this push wherever, when a black man is accused of something, or even, you know, if it's looking like, okay, it may not be. What they're saying is they still continue to push that narrative. Like, oh, you know, you better watch out for him. I heard he do this, and I just. I just don't understand it. With Sky Jackson, we see people, well, she's only 90 pounds, and she's only this, and she's short and he's tall. I'm a short woman.

Perceptions of Victimhood

But I, you know, I know if I was pushed to a point that I can really do some damage today, really got enough to do with it. It's just that people just pick and choose who was a victim and who isn't. If they like you. And even if you line out your behind, they gonna ride with you. And if they don't like you, even if you innocent, oh, well, that don't matter because you probably would have did this, and you probably did something, and you probably cheated. And it's always, oh, he probably cheated. Well, if he cheated, why would you just get your shit and leave?

Simplicity of Relationships

You know how many dudes that f me over and I blocked a number, they never seen my black ass again. It's just. It's really simple. It's really simple when it comes to these situations. So it's a lot of people who play that game in corporate media and just on social media in general. But Jonathan Mages is definitely a victim. And Hollywood and corporate media in general just has a habit of treating black men like they're the scum of the earth.

Gender Dynamics and Media Narratives

Especially if you are heterosexual black man. You got to be a. You have to be a specific type of black man to get some grace and corporate media. But if you are a heterosexual black man and you have. If you believe in the nuclear family dynamic, if you married to a black woman and you. And you accused of something, they gonna be on your ass. Trust me, I've seen it. So that's what it is. Thank you for being real about that.

Discussion on Dana White

Let's go to. Got a couple new speakers in the building. We got Assata free. I like that name. And we got doctor Tony Gasket. Let me go to Assada first, and then we'll go to doctor Tony and we'll keep this conversation going. So, asada free. The microphone is yours. Take it. Hey, what's up, terrain? Appreciate you for hosting the space. Really, man, Sierra kind of touched on everything that I was going to say speak on.

Everyone's Shock on the Major's Case

So I really don't got too much to say. I just wanted to agree with her that I thought it was very weird how it just seemed. How with the Jonathan Majors, even after the video came out, I was just so shocked with. Even with the video footage, how many people was just consistent across the board and agreeing with labeling him as an abuser. And I just thought that was very weird and just the domino effect of all of that and how they, you know, pretty much messed up his marvel running everything.

Perception of Consequences

It just seemed a little too concise and planned out and just the reaction in response to it, because I feel like after watching that video, I mean, it's clear that you can't sit there and say that after seeing that video, him losing his roles and stuff like that is justified. So I definitely agree with, you know, the points here made about that. That's all. All right, appreciate. I'm gonna keep you on the mic real quick. And then before we go back around to the rest of the hands, I see you over there, Kanye.

Historical Context of Domestic Violence

But let's go to doctor Tony Gaskew. Brother, I'd love your thoughts on this. Yeah. You know, if we want to understand this better, we don't have to look any further than the historiography of domestic violence and specifically the third wave of feminism in America. I mean, I think sometimes we forget the third wave of feminism brought us the crime bill of 1994, specifically the Violence against Women act of 1994.

Financial and Penal Consequences

And what that did is that deposited about $1.6 billion directed at prosecuting primarily black males for domestic violence. We can't forget that. That was also the erade there where, you know, you had Anita Hill on tv and the demonization of Clarence Thomas as this over sexualized black male who can't keep his hands to himself. So the entire world sees that. And I think if you sort of look at domestic violence and what happens to Jonathan Majors, you begin to understand that historically, it's very easy to demonize black males when billions of dollars are being spent not just to demonize them, but to prosecute them.

His Thoughts on the Discussion

Hey, great conversation. I'm out. Appreciate you, brother. I'm glad you were able to come in for a second. Let's go to microdosing again. Then we'll swing back around to Kanye. Then we'll keep the conversation moving. And again, I see some sisters in here, so don't be scared to come into the room. We don't do wild out spaces in here. I do like solid conversations. I don't know why y'all scared.

Involving Others in the Discussion

I also see a couple people in here who was talking greasy on after I put that tweet up, but you won't show up. And Sierra, you know, every time I do this, I always send some invites to people who'd be talking greasy online, and they never come in here, but I'll leave it alone. Go ahead. Go ahead, microdose. You got it. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. No, man, those are a lot of really good points.

Discussion of Raising Sons

And with the, and with the Jonathan major situation, it was really sad to see that happend. I have a twelve year old son, and I've had multiple conversations about just the fact of allegations of rape or coercion or domestic violence. And it's something that I wasn't taught as a kid. I grew up seeing domestic violence, and nobody sat me down and talked to me. Listen, you got to be very, very careful about how you deal with others, especially with the opposite gender. You got to be very careful about how you deal with women.

The Impact on Future Generations

Nobody sat me down and gave me that conversation. Conversation. And the more time goes on, we see people, unfortunately, like Jonathan Majors, who, I mean, I hope it's career rebounds, but chances are not. And we have to educate our sons like I'm trying to educate my son so that hopefully he never, ever finds himself in a situation where his entire life, his career, everything can be stripped away from him from just a single allegation. Even if you're not found guilty, a single allegation can ruin your whole life.

History and Allegations

And I'm trying to. I'm trying to teach my son how. To move in this world, not for you. And I also. We also got to talk about the historical context of this because in my opinion, I feel like what happened with Jonathan Majors was an echo politically and also economically of what happened, you know, back from the end of the civil war up until the 1970s, and honestly still goes on today in isolated cases.

Impact of Accusations

All it took was one white woman to say you did one thing or even allude to the fact that you said one white thing in the rope, and your next stop was the rope or the bur. Getting burned at the state. Yeah. And I feel like. What's that? And I feel like, because technically. And I'm using. I'm using air quotes while I say this.

Financial Consequences

Technically, while that era isn't here anymore, they can still do the same thing to you financially and economically, either through incarceration or stopping your money or like they did with Jonathan majors are completely cutting your career right off. You know, it's like. Like Cat Williams said on the shot and sharp show, you can be Kane the conqueror, and they can slap you back down in two weekends.

Call for a Broader Perspective

And that's real. And we see. And we saw what happened with that. It's a real thing. Sierra, you want to respond? And then we'll go to Kanye. And then we got Brooklyn Israelite. Yeah, I. You know, when you were talking about it kind of going back to just. Just the history of things. I want you guys, if you ever get a chance, please read the blood of Emmett till by Timothy B.

Understanding Media Representation

Tyson. Probably one of my favorite books. I read it when I was, like, a sophomore in college. Ordered it off of Amazon. It kind of gives you in depth, like, just how things were back then. And, I mean, we. We all know what happened to Emmett Till. And even the interview that the white woman did, Carolyn Bryant, like, the bullshit ass excuse that she gave when she was speaking to Timothy. Like, just. Just really read your history, I think, to kind of piggyback on what I think Tony.

Cultural Narratives

Tony said. You know, there's an article by Jordan Livingston. It's called Predator Prey, the analysis of gender and race on the perception of black men as sexual assault victims. And if you just. And I know we talked about domestic violence, but just in general, how young black boys and black men are portrayed in Mediaev they are seen as people who want sex that always need it. And when situations are happening where they are violated, it is not taken seriously.

Media's Disregard for Victimhood

You hear many rappers I work in the entertainment field who talk about losing their virginity at 811 to women who were 1718 all the way into their twenties. And it's absolutely disgusting and it's just. It's just the way things. The way that they are portrayed as just not as human as everybody else. And I think it's sad and I think it's a conversation that needs to be had.

Discussion on Public Reactions

I just wanted to add that in. Appreciate it. Thank you for saying that. I want to go to the second part of this conversation now. We talked a little bit about Jonathan Majors and hit that in a fallout from what he hit, that situation he was in. We also got to talk about now I want to talk about Dana White. If you don't know, Dana White is the head of the UFC MMa.

Impactful Public Incidents

About a year ago, we saw Dana white two piece his wife in front of a national tv audience while cameras were going. And while that happened, we also saw people like Shannon, people like Stephen Smith and other people who work for ESPN make all kind of excuses as for why they didn't report. The first thing was how come they all didn't report on this. The second thing was how come he didn't face any consequences even though he's the CEO of the UFC.

ESPN's Silence

And people said directly they were told by the UFC and ESPN not to report on this story. Now, if we have this idea and we're going off the premise and we're going off the philosophy that there should be zero tolerance for domestic violence when it comes to women, how come nothing happened to this white man who we saw pimp slap his wife in front of the whole world and we got video of it and nobody did nothing.

Double Standards in Media

If anything, he's gotten more publicity off of that, positive publicity off of that than he did off of anything else he's done outside of the MMA. So let's talk about that. How come is how come Jonathan Mache doesn't have his career to start from running away from a white woman, but then a white can face no consequences for two. Piecing his wife in front of. In front of a national tv audience.

Perceptions of White Male Privilege

Kanye, I'm gonna pass it to you. Then we gonna go to Brooklyn Israelite. Yeah, it's cuz dan White's a white man. And not just any white man. He's a white man that they like. He's charismatic, right? He's easy to get along with fun to work with. They asked him about his punishment, and he said, and I quote, well, I have to deal with people who used to respect me, not respecting me, and I feel need to step down because I am the brand of the company, and that's what I have to deal with.

Media Coverage Discrepancies

And that's all that was said about the situation. Hadn't even brought up anymore. He's been on all type of podcasts and everything. And he was on Shannon shop a couple weeks ago. Yeah. The funny part about it is, I'm not. I didn't watch Shannon shop interview, but I'm willing to bet they didn't even come up. And the crazy thing is, I'm looking at this.

Applying Different Standards

The only time they hang Europeans like that. And I mean, metaphorically, they don't like him. Like James Franco. I don't know if you guys remember that guy. He played visit a movie, the interview. And he also played spider muse, the green Goblin. The Spider man. Right. They counseled him because he asked the woman she wanted to have sex with him, and she said no.

Conversations on Accountability

He just kept kicking. Okay, cool. Said no. Cool. Picked with her rest of the night, and nothing else happened. And then after that, she came out, and she's like, oh, well, he asked me. I said no. He didn't press me anymore, and they canceled that. But Danny way, as you can see, the jumbotrons up there now. Yeah, yeah. I click on it real quick, take 12 seconds.

Perceptions of Violence

Watch this. Look how hard he hit this lady. This wasn't. No. Oh, hey, calm down. You're drunk. Like, wake up. Slap. This was a bitch. How dare you slap. You know, I'm saying, like. But it's crazy because you look at John, the majors ran away. And the fucked up part about it is they all, like Sierra alluded to earlier, they always get somebody who look like us, do the hanging, you know?

Legal Treatment of High-Profile Cases

Now, you look at the Johnson major situation, who Alton Bragg was leading the charge on that. I remember train was holding space about it. We had a Lauren in here, lovely journalist Lauren. And she was saying that she was in the courtroom. She said she couldn't believe it. It was such a joke, right? But you see, they knew better than to speak on him when they did our Kelly.

Public Perception and Bias

He did, and he deserved it. Our kill definitely deserved. And I said he didn't. They didn't have the same response for the Epstein I've seen guy, but the guy was the guy, Weinstein guy. They didn't. They wouldn't go play mouth, say to me by him. And I don't know if y'all notice that he just got those charges dropped or something like that.

Conversations on Gender Dynamics

I don't know. Let me take the bank. He's something. I'm going over his charge where they might be drops from here, but it's crazy. And I think that the poster he posted, right. There's always been that stigma about black men in this country, right? You have to be aggressive, that they have to be read. They deserve, because they were being this.

Negations of Accountability

This is fear mongering they do about us. This propaganda and his work so well that even though they don't come out and say it these days, they get people who look like you to do it. Oprah Winfrey, Gail ran a huge slander campaign on R. Kelly. They ran it on 50 Cent, called him out on it. Then they did a thing with Diddy, but not a single peep about Harvey Weinstein.

Critique of Media and Celebrity Culture

And he was Harmon. He was harming a lot of people. Men, women, children, everything. Right? Even the guy forgot the guy. One of those. One of those kids. He was talking about how these guys are predators and vultures, and they made him do weird. And then it's like, oh, okay, we don't really care. You're not talking about anybody black, so they don't really care. So it's just.

Consequences of Speaking Out

And then you look at what the guy named Donald Sterling, how they did him, took his whole team away. Yeah, but they let. What's that dude name? I can't think of his name for shit now. But he dropping the n word like he got a g unit mixtape out. So it's not about what it's being done. It's about who's doing it.

Implications of the Jonathan Majors Case

Right. And it's John. The major situation, if that wasn't the most obvious case of. I don't even know, call it. That's definitely a public lynching. Right. And you see in real time. And then also, just real quick, want touch on something Sierra said? It's not necessarily domestic violence.

Defining Personal Boundaries

Not about how. I mean, for on the men's side, it's a dignity thing. Right. I don't want to be touched. If I tell you, don't touch me. Right. And I think every sentient being has that right. Not to be touched. So it doesn't matter that sky Jackson is small. She's trying to cause harm. It's the intent behind. Like, are you trying to harm me right now?

Defense of Personal Space

No, you shouldn't do that. Keep your hands to yourself. But, yeah, no, but I don't want that to be lost, though. Terrain. That's a damn good point. I was gonna bring that up to Dana white. Slapped the shit out of this lady and gave it. And that's not no. And that's not no small dude.

Continuing the Discussion

They know why. It used to be a bodybuilder and fighter itself. You could look at the field and she slapped it. She. Damn it. Went to the flow from that and. Gave the excuse when asked about in a press conference with the utter assured. Well, I don't think the company would benefit from me stepping down, so I'm gonna keep running the company, and my punishment is I'll have to lose some friends who are really close to me.

Perceptions of Accountability

Ain't he lost a single friend? Not even that. Not even that. You know, like, a couple months later, he started a slap. the slap league, right. I. God damn it, terrain. Get out of my head. I was just about to add that at last. Now, he make money on people slapping each other. Men, women. He went on a shattered shark podcast and bragged about.

The Impact of Public Image

I saw a clip on YouTube shorts. He's like, yeah, I got a bunch of copycat leads. And what, that makes you bigger? Yeah, it makes me bigger. Like, you got big off slapping people. That's correct, man. But let me stop. Jonathan Majors couldn't start a get her in the car routine. Oh, yeah, they say he's milking, but, you know. But thank you, terrain.

Sierra's Ongoing Involvement

That's all I wanted to say. That's crazy. But Sierra has been on point. Y'all be sure to follow her. Y'all retweet the space. Come on, y'all. It's good conversation. We not arguing, we're not fussing. It's good conversation between space.

Closing Comments

All right. Appreciate you, my man. Let's go to Brooklyn Israelite. What you got, brother? Hey, my fault, brother. Come back to me in a few minutes. You sure? I know you'd be doing that when I hit you up, man. You good? Phone good? I think I only did that once before.

Discussion on Celebrity Exceptions

My bad, brother. Now, you did about three. Two or three times. And I hit you up, and you'd be off in the z eth or someplace. Oh, that's my. I'll be running around trying to multitask. You know, the drift.

Celebrity Violence

Mm. You good to go now? You want me to swing back around? Yeah, just swing back around to me in a minute, if you could. All right, let's see. Let's go into. Even though we talked about it earlier, let's talk about celebrity exceptions, like some other people brought up earlier, you know, Solange, this is career.

Joshing Tolerance

Solanges career. Probably like quadruple after she kicked the shit out of Jay Z in an elevator. Ain't nobody call her an abuse or nothing like that. Beyond it. Yeah, there's also a million dollars. I'm like, damn. Yeah. See what I'm saying?

Exploring More Exceptions

And there's also a couple other people this has happened to. I don't know, some of y'all may remember, some of you may not, because it was like a two day story, but I got a long memory and I remember everything. The actress, who is actually tied to Hollywood royalty, believe it or not.

Anecdotes of Actors

Hang on 1 second. I just want to be sure I have this together because I want to pull this up so you can read it for yourself. Emma Roberts, who's Denise of Julia Roberts, got arrested about ten or twelve years ago because she got into a situation with her then boyfriend and on a film shoot in Canada, to the point where they would. To the point where Dude's face was bleeding from the way she had attacked him and everything.

The Continuance of Celebrity Culture

It was a two day story, got hushed up, and her career, nothing really happened to her at all. I mean, basically, it's kind of like a story that they may go away, and she hasn't suffered any sort of, like, professional consequences from that. Again, I mentioned Solange. We know how that goes on and we see it happen all the time, like some of the reality shows that I don't watch.

Investigating Celebrity Dynamics

But apparently one of the quickest way to come up is become a wild ass girl on a reality show, like on Zeus network or something like that, or get in the shade room and you good to go. Doesn't matter who you swing on. So I want to talk about that. Why are there so many celebrity exceptions to these situations if we have a zero tolerance policy about domestic violence?

Sierra's Follow-Up

Sierra wants to speak again, so I'm gonna give it to her. Yeah, I think somebody had. Thank you so much. I think somebody had mentioned that it's not the act itself, it's. It's who's doing the act and whether or not Hollywood has given you this stamp of approval.

Disparity in Perception

Some people, they get into certain clubs in Hollywood, and if they do something, they get a pop, you know, pop on the hand and then go about your business with the whole Emma story. I remember that story, and I think I literally saw it. Like, somebody had put a compilation together of domestic abusers in Hollywood and they, like, popped up.

Notable Public Reactions

Like she was a part of the top 15, top 20, something like that. And I was like, I've never heard this story before. This is my first time seeing it. But it just goes to show that type of stuff, because of who she is, got swept under the rug, even with Dana White. I think Stephen A. Smith, when the story had broke, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think he said something to the fact that, like, oh, that's my homie.

Friendship Impacts Reactions

That's my friend. Something like, just something like. Or we real close. And even though he said he was wrong, he kind of started off his whole segment, you know, making. Making it known that's his friend. Had that been somebody else, he wouldn't have said that. So I just found, like, that real, like, real strange.

Checking Media Accountability

Like, the feminists in journalism, like, the feminists and media, like, they didn't. They didn't check that shit. They didn't clock that shit. It was a lot of people quiet about that, in addition to the whole Chad Willer situation. And I just think that in Hollywood, people, just depending on who you are, they gonna let you slide, even with the whole diddy situation.

Current Attitudes Toward Allegations

Because I know there are some people speaking about Diddy, but pay attention to how quiet Hollywood got. Like, people who hang around Diddy or who was close friends with them, with Diddy, usually have something to say when there's somebody else doing some Fugazi shit. They. They just got muted.

Observed Silence

And I'm just like, we know what it is. Like, if you in that space, then you know what it is, then you know why. But if you don't know is it looks real. It looks real funny. And I just, like, I just think that a lot of people, when they're in certain positions or in certain clubs, they play by a different set of rules.

Disparities in Punishments

And when you're white, such as Dana White, when you're Chad Wheeler, they. They. I mean, people in that space and entertainment is space sports. They're like, oh, well, he made a mistake. And da da da. They may give you a punishment if it gets too crazy, like, if too many people are speaking about it, but then they'll slide your ass right back up in there, and it's never talked about it again.

Dan Le Batard

And it's absolutely crazy. Now, the only person at ESPN who was really on Dana White about that was Dan le Baytard. He was on it from the jump when this video went. Went wild. And then, like, the next day, Steven Smith and what's her face, Molly Querum was over there talking about some.

Public vs. Private Reactions

Well, we know him, and we got to give him the benefit of the doubt and everything. And let that have been. Let that have been, somebody like Natron or somebody like that, you know what time it would have been? It would have been up, but when it. When it went. Bob Miller, I think.

Reactions to Incident Reports

What's that child name? Bob? I was just about to talk. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It wasn't under that, as a matter of fact. Yeah. When. When did. He was dating that girl without him? Tattoos, I guess he had got her pregnant, whatever. And he was accused of something and they ripped him a new run.

The Consequences of Single Allegations

And, and at the time, it was just an accusation. Like, he wasn't even charged. Like, no conviction on nothing. They ripped him a new one. I'm just like, that's why we just. I mean, I have. I have problems with a lot of people who work in this business.

Domestic Violence Discussion

You remember when, bar ball got into it at ESPN on Steven show, with that other. With that chick. I can't think of her name. She said she started Molly doing. Yeah, she started doing her. Started crying. Are you threatening. Are you threatening me? And everything? Like, like Miss Miller from color purple, you know what I mean? They'll try to put you into that situation even if you ain't did nothing. You know what I mean? Shawty was, first of all, Lavar wasn't even looking at that white woman he was talking about. He was scared of her, and he should have been scared of her, because all she got to do is run to the police, say he did something to her, but he kept his back turned and kept on looking at old Boyden boy.

Tension in the Room

And just because he wasn't acknowledging her stupid ass opinion, she got in her feelings and started literally look like she was about to cry. Like, girl, like, which, like, it just be that. Why that? Why, like, when you need some types of situations and you a black man and you work at sports and entertainment, you gotta tread lightly with them folk. Cause they all they gotta do. They get all they. They start watering, they start turning red like a cherry. And the next thing you know, everybody coming after you on social media talking about, why you. Why you threatening her? Why you intimidating her, you know? Yeah, it was Christine laid, because basically she was talking greasy about him and the way he was raising his kids.

Transition to New Speaker

I wouldn't want to talk to her. Stay in your lane. Yeah, but let me go to the next speaker. We got Brooklyn, Israel. Hopefully he's up now. Brooke, what's up? Yes, long. Peace, brother. Peace to the space from the Isubk. Hey, bro, you've been killing it with these tweets lately, man. You was right on point with this one now. For real? Because this is the exact conversation that we need to have on that and to the. To the point that you were just making. Yeah, like, you know, we should expect white people to have a double standard.

Understanding Hypocrisy

We should expect the white man to cover for his fellow white man when he's beating his wife up and down the street. They've been doing that as long as they've been here in America. But this aspect of the hypocrisy and the different discussion that happens, and we all knew what was going to happen as soon as we clicked on that and looked through the comments, we knew what were going to see. Right. And this is prophesied. They have been completely successful in breaking down our community and turning our women in against us. And that's the main thing that we got to fight to rebuild our black community is to have real, true masculinity, real order, and real, actual community.

Community and Scripture References

The scripture says in the chapter in deuteronomy to prophesied what it was going to look like when were. When were in America in this oppression under this white man. It says, the tender and delicate woman among you, which would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness. Her eyes shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom and toward her son and to her daughter. And that's exactly what it looks like today in America amongst our people. And that's the top problem. They've succeeded with the shit they've been. Until we see it for what it is, they're going to keep succeeding.

Conversations with Generation

I'm going to let it rock. Good for now. All right. Appreciate you, brother. We got microdose back. And again, I see some other people in the room if you want to speak, put your hand up. I'll be sure to come around to you and everything, and I'll let you have your say. And I wish. We need to get more sisters in here. If you can't have Sierra out here being the only woman in the room that's talking now, y'all got to stop being scared. Y'all talking in tweets. So come talk in here. I'm right here, microdosh. I'll go ahead.

Need for Diverse Voices

Yeah. Facts, facts. We do need to get some more ladies up in here, because this is a conversation. And I want to say thank you for picking this topic. And thank you, Brooklyn, and thank you, Sierra. This is a conversation that there's a lot of stigma around it sometimes whenever we talk about it and we kind of get in our feelings a little bit. I mean, one of the biggest things that shocked me about this conversation is how selective it truly is. I look at Harvey Weinstein, man. For two decades, that dude was operating in Hollywood, doing what he was doing, and it was like Hollywood's open secret.

Norms of Domestic Violence

A lot of people knew about it. A lot of people kept their mouth shut because they wanted career opportunities that they could truly only get through him. Everyone knew what was going on behind closed doors. And when it finally broke and it finally came out, he was a scapegoat. But this type of culture has been going on in Hollywood for a very long time and for many generations here in the states, it's been something that's happened a lot. And only until recently has it really come out to the spotlight because we see videos of it. It affects us. We have family members that have experienced domestic violence.

Protecting the Next Generation

I'm pretty sure that many of us have experienced domestic violence or seen it within our household and seen it within our families. And it was something that was like a necessary, you know, component of growing up almost in a, in a bad neighborhood, in a bad environment in which we see it as so us, by us having these conversations and making it a part of the social conscious, we're able to shun it a little bit more. We're able to talk about a little bit more. And more importantly, just like I mentioned earlier, you know, I have a son. I have four daughters.

Navigating Complex Conversations

How do we explain this stuff to our children? How do we educate and teach them so that the next generation that's coming up doesn't have to be victims for this kind of stuff? I mean, we have to educate our kids. Like I said, my son, I have many conversations with him, but my four daughters, like, we talk about this stuff openly. I have a six year old all the way up to twelve year old daughter. And what these kids are experiencing nowadays with the perversion that's going on in school where they're openly talking about all types of sexual activities, the lines are really not being firmly set for what's allowed and what's appropriate.