E e e e e e e raise your fist together I am I am somebody I may be poor but I am somebody and yellow brown black and white we’re all precious we’re all in God’s sight Everybody Everybody Somebody Stop the Violence save the children stop bullying save the children P your head
High stick your chest out you can make it keep hope alive keep hope alive keep hope alive welcome welcome welcome and good morning everyone to the National rainbow push Coalition give yourselves a hand this morning we appreciate you all thank you all for being here with us this
Morning this morning you’re in for a very special treat Gotham City or golden opportunity think about that for a second as we get ready for this esteemed panel we have for you today talking about rescuing our children from the violence we’re all very concerned about that
Right family all of us right we’re so excited that you’re here it’s only going to happen because we make it happen because we are our own solution without further Ado I want to introduce to some and let them talk about themselves as well these are our people from our community that are on
The grounds that are doing the work consistently they care they sacrifice they love and they are here with us this morning to share those of you watching live please play close attention Miss Inglewood Barbie please share for those who don’t know who you are and how you came into this
Work I do not know how to make a long story short hey y’all good morning um I just do what needs to be done I follow my spirit um I got started in 2015 two weeks after my mom over DST on heroin um I started my organization um it was because taan Lee
Was murdered oh sorry I thought he was talking to me my bad y’all I’m sorry um I just I didn’t have any answers when that little boy was lured into the alley and shot in the head like he did something wrong but I did know the end
That I wanted to be a part of the solution I didn’t have a blueprint I didn’t have a mentor I didn’t know which way to go or how to do anything I just did what I wanted to do and somehow God just blessed it and allowed it to work
Um and because I seen the success and like even with just me galvanizing the youth and doing events and making sure they eat and get their haircut and have uniforms and things of that nature the success behind that it fueled me to keep going and keep searching for answers and
Resources so um I’ve been on the ground running since 2015 I want stop now I Mentor students in Lind Bloom Earl Elementary and uh Simeon so whenever God gives me an opportunity to reach back to the youth um I never take it lightly I never take it for granted because they
Really are our future like people are say that but it’s the truth the kids the kids the kids the kids the kids hold everything in the palm of their hands so we have to be mindful of what we teaching them and what we exposing them
To so like with my children like my kids are here right now I I don’t force them into the things that I do but I expose them to it so that they know because I would hate for them to resent this work because this is God’s work so I would
Hate for them to resent it because this is what their mama loves to do but I do give them the opportunity to choose what they want to be a part of so I think that we need to you know be openminded when it comes to the to the youth and
Just everything that they’re dealing with because they also deal with stuff just because they ain’t paying bills and going to work every day don’t mean that they don’t deal with stuff and we need to really pay attention to that so as uh community organizer I try to shed a
Light on many different things that I’m involved in youth is definitely one of them well thank you so much you all can clap for Englewood Barbie in the building this morning I remember over uh it’s been over 10 15 years ago you know when you came into the office and uh the late
Great Reverend Dr Leon finny said sister Africa come on now she’s in the building you got to do something with her and you were just working on uh hugs not slugs so again thank you so much I’m so proud of you we’re so proud of you and you are
Exactly who you say you are you’re doing the work thank you so much thank you we want to also welcome family this brother who you need to know please pull out your phones and take notes please pay attention those listening and watching live this brother is doing a
Lot of work in the healing space we need healing is that right oh we need healing we need to understand mental health and the capacity of their please welcome brother Nino Brown peace and blessings to y’all um Ramadan Mubarak uh my name is Nino Brown and I’m a minister of information with healthy
Hood Chicago uh shout out to healthy hood and um we’re based out of the southwest side of Chicago in pilson and you know I kind of personally got into this work since 2012 after trayor Martin was murdered uh and you know kind of seeing his life and my life and thinking
About the ways in which we are not organized enough to protect our young people uh also I’m a former Elementary School educator and I’ve lost you know one of my students to gun violence uh what I call horizontal violence intercommunal violence uh we at healthy Hood Chicago were very inspired
By the legacy of the Black Panther Party uh we understand that churches and the institution of religion uh it it can go two ways right it can be for Liberation or it can be for subjugation and we know that a lot of young people uh today they are leaving the church
Space uh in healthy Hood what we try to do is we try to heal that that hurt that people have and try to give them as many different Avenues to really develop themselves so we have programs for uh dancing programs for uh young people to get jobs and learn about their own
History because really we believe there needs to be a cultural shift a cultural revolution so that the minds of our young people can be changed right and the the violence that we do amongst ourselves uh we see it as violence done to ourselves right and not just among
Ourselves so um there many things I could say about healthy hood and what we do but we really take a holistic approach to trying to solve crime at the root cause uh through healing spaces through wellness and bringing bringing a revolutionary perspective to spirituality and religion because uh
Church I mean it’s all of this happens within a church but it’s not only just the ABC cookie cutter Church template um so I’m really grateful to be here with you all and talk to you all about uh the things that I know and my experiences and what healthy Hood’s perspective is
And uh peace be on to all of you and thank you again for showing up today thank you so much for being here we cannot talk about violence without talking talking about root causes children aren’t born violent no one comes out the womb wanting to be a
Killer violent angry talk to us about root causes in gwood Barbie and your own experience and how you came to know violence I’mma speak from a trouble you standpoint because I was a trouble youth I was the one that was like the black sheep of the family
I was the one that was you know always in trouble and um for me violence started in my mind because I was so isolated from everybody because of things that I was doing but nobody really cared to ask me why was I doing this why was I behaving this way so I
Really feel like when people say it starts at home it’s not just oh you need to have a good father and a good mother to make sure that your kids come out right it it’s it’s more it’s deeper than that because I did have a good mother I
Didn’t have attention we don’t give our children the proper attention that they need therefore they go on the streets and get it and when they go on the streets and get it you it’s not for you to gauge what that looks like because if I’m yearning for something if I’m
Yearning for um Sisterhood if I’m I’m yearning for um a father figure and I got somebody in the street that makes me feel like they love me it’s easy for to make me do something that they need done and me feeling like I’m doing something
Good for them because they love me we we create that that space in our kids that makes them feel like they have to go out there and get that we we are not always like conscious of that because we feel like we doing everything that we could
But I think the first thing that we need to do is ask start asking our kids questions get into their mind get into their life and figure out what it is that they have going on because I would hate for you to be the parent that
Thinks your child out is so perfect and they killing people you know and you got to find out about this on the news you didn’t even know your kid so I feel like as as a parent of a 14y old boy and a 12-y old daughter it’s my responsibility
To get to know my child there should be nothing that the school could tell me about my kid that I don’t already know you know what I’m saying and I feel like we need to spend more time doing that because that’s where really all starts
It starts with what you lack as a parent because they have to go out there and find in the streets I found a lot of things out in the streets that I wasn’t getting at home and by me being like isolated and a foster kid and a a group
Home kid and all of these different things I was I was always constantly running so whatever felt the safest that’s why I landed that’s where I stayed that’s where I listen and sometimes that’s that’s not always good but I mean if we not doing our everything that we can you know because
Not saying that you do all that you can and then it don’t work and you know your kids still turn out to be a little Menace you still did your part I’m just saying do the best that you can as a parent because it does it definitely
Starts at home it starts got you thank you so much Nino Brown root causes no one comes out the wom violent talk to us about root causes I mean so we at healthy Hood we talk about the fact that uh the system that we live under has a name and its
Name is capitalism and capitalism is based off of fierce comp competition uh and what believe we call artificial scarcity uh you know one of the earliest I would say introductions to to violence that I I remember in my young adult life was in 20072 2008 when I
Think 90% of black wealth was wiped out across this country because of the economic crisis and you know my mother she was a nurse uh did catering uh my brother had a job my my stepfather worked in a hospital but yet somehow way Bank of America told us that you have to
Come up with half a million dollars so we’re going to repossess your home and I began to think like how many jobs do you need to survive like my mom has two my stepdad got one my brother got one do I need to get a job right and we don’t
Talk about that as violence but it is violence right uh in the United States 40% of the food we produce goes to waste and as an elementary school teacher I can’t tell you how many times I see kids coming in to school hungry and maybe
They eat a bag of ships and I don’t know continue to find energies to run uh so I think the root causes really are in how our our society is structured uh because it’s not that we don’t have the resources it’s not that we don’t have
The even the ideas or the plans we just lack the political will right we have the best Minds the best black and brown Minds that have been coming up with violence intervention programs that address the root causes but there’s no political will from the political establishment to to actually push what’s
Working what has worked um so I’ll keep it brief I would say that you know it’s obviously it’s rooted in our in our system uh it’s kind of like we’re fishing water right the water is is extremely violent and I think we need to point that out so we can go from
The macro to the micro so that it makes sense in relation to each other and not separate thank you so much hey we have we up on the break everybody are you enjoying this are you learning something are they pouring out to you this morning
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Word scholarships thank you and keep hope alive National rainbow push Coalition we have our special guest in the building this is none other than the pastor Charlie dates family he is the one that came up with this topic for today got them City or golden opportunity rescuing our children from
The violence once you clap for pastor Charlie dates thank you so much thank you so much for being here and for having the vision for this to be a conversation move to action please for those who don’t know share who you are well thank you uh sister Africa for the very kind
And warm introduction let me say what an honor and a privilege it is uh to be here today and to be company of uh Reverend Jesse Jackson and Mrs Jackson uh this is a uh to be able to walk the hallway with Reverend Jackson and to be
Able to to come up uh into the room with him is a golden opportunity in and of itself and although he’s an Omega sci-fi man we don’t hold that against him uh he is he is here we go he he is a living legend and I just want to say we honor
You and thank God uh for your leadership so I grew up watching Batman uh the old Batman with Adam West and and and what seemed like fiction on TV has become reality in real life that Gotham City was a place plagued by senseless crime but they had a a hope
They had somebody that they could go to to help rescue and redeem I I actually look at aita as as that kind of sister in our city a a hope figure that we can go to uh when when we Face trouble but I think that hope is found in the very
Conditions that cause despair our world is tempted to fall apart when trouble seems to Prevail but the narrative that I want to introduce and promote is that it’s when things are darkest that our greatest opportunity for seeing the Brilliance of light actually comes through so I don’t know that we need to
Be taken by fear in our city so much as we need to see the opportunities that lay in front of us you’ve been asking this question about root causes I’m a pastor a Christian Pastor I would be remiss if I did not say that black people by and large in America have
Never separated the theological from the anthropological we’ve never made these lines between sacred and secular as it were part of the challenge with our children is the challenge with me we are born in what the Bible call Sin shapen in iniquity we come out with
A bent and the reality is had it not been for the systems that introduce Grace to me my life would be just like many others that I read about and see here in Chicago the Mount Calvary Baptist Church in the 80s Dr Donald Parson they built the first African-American Christian School from
The ground up for whatever reason in the Providence of God I was able to attend that school that education both academic and Theological oriented my mind toward the streets it gave me a code of ethics it helped me as I’m trying to help my children to discern right from wrong the
Reality is if you do not know the difference between right from wrong your natural propensity is to choose wrong because it will please you every time there has to be within the human heart therefore a restraint a power greater than oneself even as a kid now I’m not
Talking about it as an adult even as a kid that gives you the ability to choose the right so though although I have an appetite for wrong I have the ability to do what’s right we don’t judge kids for having an appetite for what’s wrong I’m
A grown man I still got appetite for what’s wrong but the reality is I do not have to give in to that appetite I have the ability to choose what’s right whatever we do from economic opportunities to educational opportunities to recreational Provisions we have to encourage our children to
Discern good from Evil right from wrong that’s why I’m here today because I think the adults in this room have got to do the same wow we thank you so much and thank you so much again for having the vision because often times we come in rooms and we talk about the
Problem how many of us are tired of talking about the problem who’s ready to get to the solution I believe the solution lies right here within us because we are our own solution Pastor dates Inglewood Barbie Nino Brown talked to us about economics and how economics plays a part I
Remember some years ago going with the pastor Meeks to do some walks all the way up North to fenworth where the tax dollars are so different to Englewood so if we understand economics if you have $117,000 in burning heels for per pupil per student and $700 in Southshore that’s a problem
That’s violence how do we connect those dots well well since you brought up the educational system since you brought up the educational system uh I think it’s worth noting that at least statistically it reads as if we are as as segregated academically as we were before Brown
Versus the Board of Education that that there is today in 2024 something like 1954 something’s wrong in how our children are almost pre-selected for failure here’s what I mean if a boy or girl does not know how to read at the third grade level by the time they are
At the third grade it’s nearly impossible for them to catch up through midle Middle School junior high and high school they are consigned virtually to poverty and and the reason that they cannot know how to read by the third grade so we’re not just talking phonics we’re talking comprehension is because
The system that’s set up to fund their education to situate them in schools with heat and safety and food and teachers with a quality education is hellbent toward destroying them it it’s as if we need a new Brown versus the Board of Education we we need a new
Lawsuit to change the way education is funded in America and when we do it we have to know that the non-blacks and the non- Browns will find private schools and other means by which to educate their children it’s the perennial sin in America however I think our civil rights
Organizations our churches our community organizations can do things like what we’re trying to do at Salem and Progressive by getting a thousand black boys to the Third great reading level by the third grade I I may not right now be able to change the funding formula but I
Can pay some of our teachers during the summer to prevent that learning slide that happens with our boys and with our girls and we appreciate you that racial achievement Gap is real Inglewood barbar you do a lot of work on the ground on the ground you know day in day out you
Are feeding our people talk to us about the connection with violence and being houseless it’s really a lot to unpack when you really think about it um you always hear about like all the systemic issues and this happened because of this I feel like a lot of times we losing responsibility and
Accountability for the part that we play in it currently right now have you ever noticed how if you go to Rogers Park you not rolling over all them potholes is if you go 66 and Justine or you in any part of the hood it’s a paole big enough to
Tell your cop the problem is is because if we run over a pothole right now we’re going to go to the nearest tire shop and get it fixed ourself if you go to the white neighborhood in Rogers Park if they roll over a Poe they’re calling 311 911 611
They’re calling a city they’re going to complain until something changes they’re going to be consistent they going to make sure it get seen all the way through they gonna cause the biggest noise whereas all we do is complain so people hate to hear that you
Know I’m and it’s like for me it’s like I’m a solution’s person so I’m not even going to participate in nothing that doesn’t end in a goal like what is our goal like okay we going to protest we going to shut this street down what we doing tomorrow oh nobody has no plans
For tomorrow we really have have to be strategic about this and we need to really think about what it is that we expect to get out of things that we are part of so for me like I’ve been sleeping in a tent to raise money for my shelter for 123 days
Whereas the migrants been here under 123 days and they at almost $200 million I’ve been stuck at $80,000 and this is not like oh you know donate to me this is just me telling the truth you know what I’m saying we have to stop we have to stop thinking that the man is
Coming to save us we got to save ourselves and a part of that is being accountable and responsible for the the roles that we play out here you can’t call yourself a leader and when there people in your community suffering you got a bans and these kids walking around
With no shoes on or they got one sock on and ain’t nobody said nothing to them or you a pastor on on this block not through this a good pastor he baptized me um you a pastor on this block but don’t nobody from the community know who
You is that’s why your congregation is so small it’s a liquor store in the church on every corner but don’t nobody know the owners don’t nobody know the past it’s like it’s a problem we always complaining about everything that we don’t like but who is willing to take
That next real step those are the people that I want to be align with I don’t want to be align with the talkers I want to be align with the movers and the Shakers the people that get things done because that’s what our kids need to see
They don’t need to see more black people just galvanizing to empower each other they need to see us actually getting stuff done they need to see results because how we going to get them Something to Believe In if all we doing is talking about it and they can’t
Actually put their hands on it I think that for me God is the only person that I believe in that I can’t see I don’t think nobody else could trick me to believe in them unless they showed me something so I feel like we need to be
More adamant about showing yes the youth what it is to be successful and that doesn’t mean going get in a big house in a nice car your success could be setting that little goal and accomplishing it wow Nino Brown thank you so much inle with Barbie you do a lot in terms of
Feeding people as well tell us about the healthy hood and how people can be more activated um so in healthy Hood we have uh a fundamental understanding that our people have been existing on survival mode for far too long and when you’re existing in survival mode you’re just
Trying to make it from day to day to day to day week to week and you cannot think about politics right this is what the Black Panther Party taught us the reason they created a a free free breakfast program was because children could not eat and they could not focus in school
And if you can’t focus in school I mean you’re kind of set up for Success set up for failure right we know in this country uh I know at least Colorado and at least Pennsylvania did this at one point where based upon fifth grade test scores they would determine how many
Prison beds they would need to build right because if a child is failing in fifth grade in their mind this is a The Economic Opportunity right America is the land of big business right I mean the the land of the you know corporate wealth so I think that when it comes to
Uh healthy heal we do uh things like crime drought uh we think we we put these installations up in Englewood and Lil Village and pilson and throughout uh disinvested communities and we demonstrate to people this is what it feels like to have access to health care access to free
Groceries uh so you know I think that’s some of the things that we do I could talk a bit more but no thank you so much stop there this is Gotham City a golden opportunity we’re up for another break family thank you so much pushing Sal’s goal is to inspire
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41444 on your cell phone and you can give us any amount that you feel comfortable giving or call us at 773 256 2775 wherever you are you can support us as we keep pushing for you and remember to keep hope alive And we’re back we’re live at the national rainbow push Coalition Gotham City or golden opportunity Nino Brown a lot of the work you do is on the ground tell us about the healthy hood and how more people can be acclimated um so healthy Hood we’re based out of pilson southwest side and
Uh one of the things I want to to stress to folks is that while the work that we do takes place in a church it is it goes beyond just the church itself one program that we have is called crime drought uh the idea is that what if
There was a drought of crime right who would who would lose who would lose who who would stand to to lose from crime declining in the city right the criminal so-called Criminal Justice System so-called Correctional fac facilities that me personally I have seen people go into prison not violent and come out of
Prison violent right I don’t know if that’s correct I don’t know if that’s correction but you know that’s up to you to decide uh so with crime drop what we do is we we actualize our slogan that we got us so we partner with some of our uh
Our comrades our friends our family our brother Dion’s dream being able to bring fresh food to people in areas that we have people call them food deserts we like to call them food apartheid right cuz you know a desert is is actually more Serene uh and there’s a whole we
Don’t want to disrespect our folks who have you know grown up around deserts but anyways uh point being we give access people to to healthy food to Medical screenings and we also train them on how to carry out young people how to carry out some of these base
Level medical checks within their own families because we know we cannot rely on the system that has been grinding us up to save us so with crime drought we we went on tour last year we went to several several different areas across the city to show people this is what a
Different world could look like because you can talk to people about it right but you know we we take our our nodes from the Black Panther Party that people learn through observation and participation right people can see you taking the streets they can participate in the future economy that we want to
Build so that’s one major thing the other thing we do is that our people need healing so we have Sunday Sunday sessions where we say bring your worst self you know uh we know that there’s a lot of church hurt you know I grew up in the church and you know there’s
Definitely some church hurt but where do people unpack it that’s right where are our young people unpacking and getting access to health to therapy to mental health to men’s men’s circles right I mean I’m 33 and maybe I don’t look it but you know I mean last year was the
First year that I was able to actually sit in a circle with other grown black men and talk about the problems that I have going on and actually build Brotherhood right and that is a that that’s a a that’s a material Force to ending violence right because you cannot
Kill someone who you see as your brother so we understand we have to get our people off of survival mode right 60% of Americans cannot afford an emergency 60% of people in this country are living check to check that’s right right I mean I would say raise your hand but I’m not
Trying to embarrass nobody right uh so we we take we focus on the the economics and try to break down economics it’s not a bunch of variables economics is survival that’s right right food shelter health and from there we move to the spirit through our Sunday sessions through our healing sessions so that
People can have a revolutionary approach to their own spirituality and stop being their own obstacle no that’s that’s huge thank you so much speaking of the spirit and uh Pastor dais is for you what role do faith-based organizations and initiatives play in addressing youth violence in Chicago and how can their
Impact be maximized I know your goal is to reach 500 plus how are we going to go about doing that cuz we’re all going to support them right well the mission of the church as explained by Jesus Christ is that the church is focused is always outward it
Is missional any church that becomes all about itself ceases to be a church I mean we come up with other names Country Club fraternity sority political action committee whatever you want to call it but it doesn’t function as a church so our efforts are aimed at the least the
Lost and the left out Jesus says that when we see him he will ask or he will say I was hungry you did not feed me I was naked you did not clothe me I was impr prison and you did not come to see me that which we have done to the least
Of these we’ve done also to him that’s a mandate it’s a portion of our uh core Mission and so how can churches do that I think more churches quite frankly need a more aggressive outward-facing Ministry to find the real needs in the community and name them and then
Determine which of our Ministries are actually Meeting those needs and where there is no direct correlation then those Ministries probably need to disappear uh the ministry of the church however is not simply just outward facing it is also internal development I I mean the the reality is we do do viol
To one another I heard Nino talk about church hurt I don’t know nobody that’s ever been to church for more than that ain’t been hurt all right but I also don’t know nobody who’s been in a family for more than three years and ain’t been hurt by a family member we don’t leave
The family when a family member hurts us however church is the place for whatever reason that people go I can’t do this anymore they put up two fingers when I could sit here right now and make the argument that every major advancement that has come for black people in
America from the abolition of slavery to the Senators sent to Congress during Reconstruction to uh the movement of the Civil Rights Movement the right to boat to live wherever we want to live the abolition of Jim Crow even the pressing against the new Jim Crow has been done
Primarily on the back of the black church not singularly that’s right but primarily that apologetic needs to be taught and propagated to our people because the truth is the church got sold for us it has something more than political power it has the ability to
Look at dogs and let dogs bite and to push through nonetheless and I think our children need that intangible invisible power from God to face the forces that ell them today wow thank you so much and you’re right I always say where will we be without the black church who are we
Without the black church the black church has been that Institution for us through generations Through Time who are we without it uh Englewood Barbie give us the scope for those who don’t know day in day out you’re out there and how did you come to this being of being this
Person there are people out there that want to get involved they don’t see themselves as after they get off from work or working two jobs or being a parent and being in school also how do you find the way to balance everything that you’re doing and where does that self-care fit in for
You so I’m it’s not um it’s not rocket science it’s just God I have no way of telling you how I get up every day and and be a mom and be a teacher and be a student and be a leader and be a follower it’s just him
Um things that drop in my spirit I pray about it first and then I do it you know uh I spend a lot of time reflecting right on like the younger version of me oh I’m getting emotional I said I wasn’t G to do this um the younger the younger
Version of me and then I asked the version right now are you everything you needed growing up and if you can answer yes then you on the right path and I have become everything that I needed growing up but that’s still not enough because although my story was
Bad just being who I am to the city and just to the world and to my children I’ve seen worse so the work has to continue so I wouldn’t even I’m not even here to tell y’all how to support me or the work that I’m doing right I’m here
To encourage y’all to start y’all own I’m here to tell y’all to do something don’t don’t don’t look for organization I mean and I do understand that everybody is not a leader some people need somebody to follow but if you can do anything do something outside yourself that’s what I would say because
Everybody has a organization or something you could support but what is that one thing that you always wanted to do what was your form of giving back what was your form of reaching why did that elevator stop in the middle why did you get off get back on the elevator and
Go back to the top and bring and send it back down for other people to come back up if they want to that’s that’s my advice Nino Brown what is that for you with everything that you’re doing you know and the people that you’re reaching how
Do you reach more people and also find that balance and have some self-care for yourself Community I would say uh is a healing aspect for me I think uh as black people we have been really alienated from the idea of community collectivism I mean we we like to think of ourselves as
Individuals and I don’t really believe that black people we can exist in this country as individuals uh I was studying uh Malcolm X and uh this brother hrat Brown who’s uh now still incarcerated as a political prisoner and he talks about the fact of how you know when uh we become so
Infected by the idea of individualism that we’re moving through America by ourselves but then when something happens to us we’re like wow this is happening to my people this is happening to all of us now we talking about we right when and and you know to just build on brother Malcolm’s wisdom he
Said when we change illness when we when we take the eye out of things and focus on the we we can move from illness to Wellness and for me being a part of healthy Hood being around primarily other black men that hold me accountable right that push me
That really want to nurture my spirit and black women as well right in people of all shades of and walks of life but I’m saying primarily black men because I think there’s really a crisis of masculinity and not not in the ways in which it’s popularly talked about but a
Lot of our brothers are committing suicide that’s right right the thoughts don’t come from come from anywhere uh so for me it’s really been tapping into community and seeing Community not as a noun something that exists but as a verb something you’re always building pouring back into you you’re pouring back into
It um so that for me that’s that’s that’s what I’m going to say community and uh black men circles Gotham City golden opportunity go right ahead I’m sorry I didn’t answer the second part she talked about self-care what is that so I always tell people like I struggle
With that I do not have a balance in life and and responsibilities everything that I do in my life is all equally important like it’s everything I do is a a priority to me that’s my own sickness that I’m asking God to help me with so as far as the self-care prior is
Concerned I have not figured that out yet because for me self-care is not going to get my hair done that’s maintenance it’s not going to get my nails done that’s something that I have to do you know that’s something that I just like that’s not nothing that makes
Me feel less stressed a self-care for me would be to tell you know and I feel bad about it that’s self-care for me to really be able to unplug and not wonder is the world still going to go on if I’m not helping that’s self-care for me so I
Have not yet arrived to really experience what real self-care is for me self-care is doing absolutely nothing I have not gotten to that point yet I had heart surgery January 31st it’s just March God is good God is so good so good and I’m back to doing
The work because I feel like when you waiting on God to do something for you sometimes you have to sit back you know and I feel like because I don’t take good care of myself I had to sit down for that time period but God knew that I
Wanted to be back out here that’s why he gave me a speedy recovery and I’m back out here and I don’t I don’t take life for granted or my relationships I don’t take any relationships that I have for granted because I believe that relationships are more valuable than
Money that’s right a good relationship could get you in the door that money can’t that’s right so make sure when you’re around people you taking care of those relationships you cultivating them and you nurturing them because that is the key to everything it’s not always about what you know sometimes who
You know can be a asset to your whole life so I have people in places that pour into me that encourag me to pour more into myself and it’s crazy because when you out here doing the work you was the last person that’s thought about even for yourself as long as the mission
Is going and everything is thriving you feel good knowing that you played a part in that so it’s not easy forg us to be like oh I’mma take me some self-care today no we we still stuck on how can I rest in this is going on you know what
I’m saying so I feel like it’s unfair but we all do have to make sure that we taking care of ourselves because now I’m in a position where I’m able to tell people if you no good to yourself if you’re not taking care of yourself how
Can you take care of anybody else and my son told me he made he made me make him a promise when I got off bed rest he was like I hear you telling everybody you good but I know that’s not true he was like that’s one of the
Things that hurts me the most is that you don’t take care of yourself so I promise we love you so much and we’re so proud of you and we thank God for you and your ministry and just know that we have always been praying for you through this surgery we
All been watching right family and we are cheering you on and you already know we here we family whatever you need you reach out to us she’s out here doing the work family just had heart surgery and she’s still here by the grace of God thanks be to
God still in my tent still in the tent spent the night there last night right come on now thank you sacrifices Pastor Charlie dates self-care do you know what that word means oh yeah uh I I I plan to run and not get weary uh
To walk and not faint uh there is a rhythm with which the world is created that is six days God worked one day he rested he did not rest because he needed the sleep he rested to enjoy his creation I understand Sabbath to mean enjoying creation I’m not sure what that
Is for everybody but life needs that kind of Rhythm so I’m I’m doing my best to model uh to my children who are here I don’t want to look at them because I’m sure I fail uh regularly at this but a day a week to do nothing and a month or whatever I
Choose a month a year to do the same uh a rhythm not necessarily uh having to hit it every time but I think that’s a beautiful picture of self-care appreciate you God City or golden opportunity thank you all again for being here if you’re having a good time
Won’t you join us won’t you look at the QR code and scan that and donate to push today thank you so much we up for a break we’re excited to get more people involved in Rainbow push supporting the programs of push for excellence and the citizenship education fund if you’re
Interested in impacting public policies if you believe in the scholarships that we give to thousands of students each and every year you can become a policy maker by becoming a member of rainbow push right now for an annual membership of $35 or if you’re a student or senior
$15 you can help us make a difference in the lives of millions how do you become a member visit our website at rainbowpush.org and press join or maybe you’d like to support us you can text the word push that’s P to 41444 on your cell phone and you can
Give any amount you feel comfortable giving you can also call us at 773 256 2775 or go to rainbowpush.org and push donate wherever you are you can support us as we keep pushing for you Gotham City or golden opportunity there’s a golden opportunity for all of
Us to be more involved you all have heard our esteemed panelists talk about the work that they’re doing on the ground we want to know from you we do have some questions here and if you have any more questions please give them to those standing around we want to hear
From you all at this today listen the national rainbow push is going through a transition with the leadership of the great Reverend Jesse Lewis Jackson who is in the [Applause] building and the Inception of the great Reverend Dr Freddy Haynes stepping into the new Rainbow push Coalition we’re so
Excited we want to continue to bring in programming like this we want to continue to bring in unique experiences like this so we need your help please donate please share and comment on things that you want to see happen presenters that you want to hear from so
We’re open to that as well I just want to make sure we made that announcement now back to the action at hand this is a tragedy we are looking for Action listen Alita talked about the migrant issue some of us are on the fence about that because we have those that have been
Here laboring and houseless for a long time but we have to care about the humanity of all of us is that right we want to know from all of the panelists right now you all have different walks of life you all were chosen at this day in time
To be here for a reason what is it exactly that you want to give to the audience today in terms of real action how can people right here in person and watching live become like more activated like seriously like some people really want to help but they don’t know where
To start they don’t know what to do they just know their day to day they’re every day trying to make end meet how do we connect those dots well I mean first I’m going to say that uh we are living in a very crisis ridden time and I believe what the
Brother over here said uh about crisis there’s a lot of opportunities in crises and one of the main crisis that we face right now is a crisis of political legitimacy we know that the Democratic National Convention is coming to Chicago the great City of Chicago right and we
Know that we are beset by migrant crisis uh homelessness crisis uh in the general crisis of crime right uh so what you know we are proposing is for us to instead of having to beg our politicians instead of having to to gravel and to continue to to lobby and what have you
The things we’ve been doing I think what we need to do what we’ like to propose is to build our own convention right a People’s National Convention where we can actually give manifestation to our desires right because if the political establishment is not going to register what we are saying and demanding and
Deliberating on then we need to do our own right that’s that’s what you know we were taught by Brother Malcolm by by the Panthers by Shirley chisen by so many others we need to build our own power so uh I would say tap in with h healthy
Hood every Sunday we have our Sunday sessions uh 10:30 uh 11:00 right now we have brother Abel from the Nation of Islam talking to us about uh uh the importance of Ramadan right the holy month of Ramadan and how we can really save our Spirits so that we can fight
The battle outside right because these these issues they’re not going to go away the crisis of migration I mean people have been migrating to this country for hundreds of years right and we know that uh uh the sanctions the the things that we are doing to these other
Countries that are forcing people to come here that is the root cause you cannot you cannot put a Band-Aid over over a a shotgun wound right and then say why why is there still blood so what we’re proposing is that the solutions exist amongst the Grassroots communities the Grassroots organizations right what
We need to do is to bring them together to to a summit so we can create an agenda that actually puts pressure right and and to move from thought to action thank you so much ing Barbie honestly hello yeah hey all right so for me like I said while I’m up here I
Represent an organization I don’t want to talk about my organization I want to talk about what you guys can do share resources everybody in here is somebody to somebody I don’t care who you comparing yourself to you know somebody that I don’t a lot of times we are
Stuck because of the people that’s around us aren’t willing to help us that look just like us so I would say be more open to being nice you know I don’t I don’t want to say come outside and feed the friends with me I do that every day anyway
That’s all I do when I’m this is an opportunity for me to actually pour into y’all and encourage y’all to if y’all see something that y’all like a PE board be more like that that’s right if y’all get if y’all pull inspiration from anybody be like that like be nice be
Kind you know when you see somebody in line and they struggling looking for some change put the Dollar on the counter for them tell them don’t worry about it that’s right you know bring people back to like knowing that Humanity exists like it’s not dead people always I’m so sick of everybody
Saying I hate Chicago I hate the people in the way that they think that are living here in our city so you have to tap in we got to tap in we got to tap in with each other and that’s all I got to say I want y’all to share y
Resources if you are a organization that’s been around for a long time and y’all see somebody up and come show them the ropes it’s free for you just help them help somebody yes yes thank you Pastor I’m honored again to be here with you Nino with you Africa and Alita thank
You all for having me I would say I think we need to re-energize rainbow push uh I I think that and I think part of the Brilliance of an organization like this is well number one we need organization but a coalition that is to say that a leader
Should not have to do what she does alone Nino should not have to do what he does alone I should not where we agree we should be able to come under one General um umbrella find covering and wisdom to push forward I would I would also say that uh
We are so in search of perfection that we do not celebrate the good I don’t know that any one of these organizations is perfect we can be good with good uh where where we agree I understand that today all of you have done this you’ve done the right thing today by being here
This is session one of three in succession the next we’ll celebrate I think the 56th uh year year that Dr King was tragically taken from us and we need to be back in this space larger bigger until we coales together as a coalition Chicago has a number of brilliant
Smaller factions it’d be great if we could link arms uh that’s my [Applause] recommendation amazing amazing please I love what you said that was amazing and push is our institution that we need to continue to serve and support and donate help push before you need help from push
Remember that yeah got them City or golden opportunity I have a question how can we unite all the organizations in this city of Chicago it’s not gonna happen about to say yeah it’s not gonna happen because it’s ego ego is involved and a lot of times people don’t want to do anything
That they didn’t spearhead if they can’t and that’s so sad that people love attention more than suc success you know and people think that having a lot of attention is Success when really that’s all it is and people get stuck there so the the reality of it is all you can do
Is galvanize the likee hearted individuals like yourself and be consistent in whatever work y’all choose to do together and hopefully the world catch on but you can’t you can’t spend a lot of time saying oh I need to work with them I feel like if we me we get together we
Could be that’s cool I’mma do this work you’re going to do your work I hope that we could come together I’mma pray on it but it might be a reason that we don’t all need to be together you know what I’m saying and I don’t feel like that’s
A bad thing I feel like as long as everybody is doing their part we’re doing the work we don’t always have to be under one umbrella because I’m telling you like in order to go higher sometimes you got to isolate and be separated from other entities and everything that you
Attach yourself to it might look good but they might be the organization that bring you down so you got to kind of ask for discernment and it’s not going to happen as far as like every organization in Chicago thank you so much we are up for a break
Sorry oh we are closing Pastor D you want to close us out well I would I would say that where we can agree we need a common agenda so that everybody can maintain their individuality and autonomy I want to be clear uh in that regard but we need a Black Agenda in
Chicago six seven things that that our voting block is interested in and hopefully those are things that we can strive for together we can agree on a common agenda and make it happen thank you so much appreciate all of you all thank you all Gotham City or golden
Opportunity please support push we need your support we need to hear from you donate now the QR code is on the screen and there are envelopes on the tables thank you so [Applause] much e
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