Tyra & Julius

J: I can't say none. I'd be lying if I did.

T: I ain't gonna say nobody. No one... I don't know. We got one local official I feel that has the best interests of all the children and all the schools, and that's Ms. McNealy, who sits on the school board. Oh, Ms. McNealy, what!

J: Oh, yeah. See, I wasn't considering school board. I wasn't. She definitely did her thing. But we talking about all the ones that carry out the city commission? County commission? I can't say they doing it.

T: No. Don't ask that question. [Laughter]

Is there a mayoral candidate you feel is a good choice?

T: Yeah. We support Jenn Powell. Most definitely. She's more—how can we put it? Connected in our communities?

J: Yeah. She's kinda from that area. And we definitely supporting Jenn. I think she's one that's the most passionate about the community that's in the race. I feel she will actually make a difference. So, not just for one, but for all. Because if we look at Gainesville, and we look at growth? I think the West side of Gainesville can take a year or two vacation. And we can kind of do some growth, Out East. I think she would be able to see that, because she wouldn't be driven by pressures and PACs and other people that are in your ear, that are advising—maybe financing your projects. Your visions. And have ulterior motives of what's going on. I think that's really what's the problem with politics. And I believe Jenn has it in her heart to actually make a change. And I think we can also work with her to have growth on the Eastside. And I could say she comes out here. She puts her feet in the trenches. And those are the type of politicians we need. We don't need anybody just sitting up in the office. Cause you don't know what's going on. And we can see that the world we're living in right now, it is three to eight different worlds at one time. You could live in one household, and it's four different worlds at one time. And the technology has expanded the disconnection from our family, to where our parents don't even understand us. You could have a conversation with your mom and dad, and if they don't know anything about electronics or social media, they still in the 80s! And we're in 2042. You know? [Laughter] So, it's just the generational gaps. Now, add that on top of communication and community gaps. Add that on racial gaps. With people having the mentality from the 70s, the 80s, the 60s, cause these are the people that's sitting in office. In 2019. So if they're having the mentality from 1980, 1960, 70s, and we in 2019, that's four or five generations of people. Just, mentalities that are totally different. The way that your grandparents and my grandparents thought is totally different than how we think. I was with my granddad the other day. My granddad's eighty-six. He actually lived through White-only bathrooms. Colored water faucets. His perspective of life is totally different, but it's people that's his generation that still sitting as judges, and still sitting as state attorneys. [Laughter] And these are the people that are giving people like myself a hundred years. Forty years. Thirty years. And, of course, their granddaughter or their grandson wouldn't think that way. But they don't understand why they grandson think that way, because this is how they grew up. It's different worlds and there's no communication. There's no barrier of closing that gap. And that's what a mayor's supposed to do. That's what a politician's supposed to do. A politician's supposed to bridge that gap, supposed to facilitate that through all. Not just go for one side, not just go for one type of people, not just go for one area, but for all. And where can we even stuff out? Where can we say, "Okay, we got a lot of excess supply over here. Let's go where we actually need it." It's a demand over here, let's add some of this surplus over here where there's a deficit. Let's even things out. And I think—

T: Jenn is the person to bridge that gap.

J: Yeah. And, just due to the fact that we gotta go to facts, our current mayor now—which was actually my economics teacher. When I was—I did dual enrollment. I got a economics degree! So, we know numbers. We know facts. And we look at that, let's look at the growth in Gainesville. If we're looking at the growth economically, you're failing us. If we looking at the growth, and we're looking at how we're expanding—yes, we're expanding for one side, but we're not expanding for all. So, if we're looking at numbers and tax dollars and where they're going, because that's what economists do—then if we're just applying all of our skills to our positions, to make ourselves better, then that's where I feel he's lacking at. Great guy. Great guy. And I think, actually, maybe if you opened up and saw that, "Hmm. We have so many disparities on the Eastside of town. Okay, we have less resources. Where's the increase gonna come at?" It's not gonna come in graduation! It's gonna come in crime! If we got an increase in poverty, we're gonna have a—

T: Increase in crime.

J: Exactly. And you're gonna have a decrease of people actually thriving. Success stories. You're not gonna have that. You're gonna have more drugs coming through the neighborhood.

T: I tell people all the time, when you live in a community, and crime and drugs are easier to access than opportunities or resources, then crime and drugs become opportunities and resources. And people—you have to understand that. That's the way the dynamics work. And I let them know, if nothing is done soon, because of this—we have two different cities going on here, right? So if nothing is done soon, where there's no opportunities and there's no resources, hey! The choice is gonna be, the opportunity is gonna be through your window, because the resources is in your house! And people need to understand that. That's just how it goes. Nobody's gonna starve. Okay? Nobody's gonna starve, nobody's gonna be without. That's just human nature. If I have three kids, and they hungry, I gotta feed them. I'm a mother and I gotta feed them by any means necessary, especially when they tugging on me. "Mama, I'm hungry. Mama, I'm hungry." Well, I gotta go get them something to eat. You know? And that's exactly what it is here. People are out here trying to eat. They tired of struggling. They tired of surviving. They tired of coming out their house, seeing all this abandonment and blight. Just like I said, you feel like your community is. We live in any kind of desert, you name it, we live in. We live in a food desert, we live in an economic desert, we live in a health desert. We just live in a desert. We have no grocery store out here. And so people say, "Oh, you got Super Walmart." Well, we know Super Walmart prices over there is really high. Because we have people out here who get, like, food stamps? And so they raise their little prices up cause they know they getting that influx of food stamps coming in. And then their fresh produce is nothing like the other Walmart. Whatever you can go at Walmart and get a green pepper and it look like it's about ninety-five years old. That's a problem. And so, we don't have food. So, if you live one miles or more away from a food—you live in a food desert. So, most of District 1 is in a food desert, except for people who live close to Walmart. There's no fresh fruits and vegetables. There's nowhere for them to obtain food. That's not good. And then we talk about, if you don't have food—good food—then you have health problems. And so, we already living in these conditions of high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity. Cause we have to go to the Dollar Store, and to the Dollar General store, and we buy all this processed, salty food. But what other choice do we have? If you go to these Dollar Stores right now Out East, you'll see where people are actually shopping. They're getting their money, their paychecks, and their food stamps, and they're actually going grocery shopping inside Dollar General stores. And bringing home food. And the carts are being left wherever, cause this is the only way they have to access food. So then we eat all this unhealthy food, we're sick. And if we have some type of acute health situation, well, the health department close at five o'clock. If I don't have a car, I have to call 911 to take me to the emergency room. So if I have COPD or asthma, or something that's really—I'm gonna die! By the time somebody come. Because there's no emergency health clinics over here for us to go to, and we need to access that.

J: And you know what, that's kinda sad in Gainesville, due to that UF is top in healthcare. So, these are things that we have to—this is our reality. So, when a lot of people come to school for health, and we're known. People get flown all across the world to come to Shands. And we don't have an emergency care center? Not one Out East? There's literally not one emergency care center. And we are top-ranked in healthcare. So, that's what politics—this is what our current mayor, our current politicians are doing. And I would have to say that, I actually messed up because I missed the deadline by a couple hours to file for registration to be the mayor, to run for mayor. And, that kinda disappointed me, because those are things that I should've been a little more vocal about something. I should've actually stood more on, due to the fact that I know the divide that's here. I can't blame it on my entertainment career, that I travel a lot. Those are things that should've been more important, and I shouldn't have missed the deadline. But I know that Jenn Powell will definitely understand the needs, and we can work together to have a greater Gainesville. Because, only thing—and Gainesville is great. It's just certain parts need to catch up. We just need to catch up to what's going on. The innovations, the growth. And it starts from where all the resources are at.

I mean, we got a school that generates a billion dollars. They generate a billion dollars a year. And it's a lot of, these people ain't paying taxes on nothing. What if UF just paid all of their taxes and their light bills and stuff, and that money would go to the Out East Gainesville for a year or two? What if we implemented a ten-cent tax on just UF alone? Because you've been here a hundred plus years and you're not paying! [Laughter] What could we do with one percent of a billion dollars? You know? How much growth could that come in one area? So these are things that we would have a say. So, I think it just doesn't start with politics. The politics do run stuff, but I think, like I said, it starts with the status quo as well. And accountability is holding these people—accountability is what is gonna change Gainesville. And it's gonna take radical people to stand out. We can't have people that's gonna be scared to speak against the status quo, or that's actually working with the status quo. Yeah. I'd rather have somebody who doesn't have as much experience sitting in the seat, but has the passion and the heart to stand up for the people that's never gonna be in the seat.

T: Yep. And that's Jenn Powell.

J: That's her. All day. Because what's right is right, is gonna be right in her eyes. And what's wrong is wrong, is gonna be wrong in her eyes. And what's going on in Gainesville is wrong. And I think that's what needs to be discussed, because, like I say, it's not students' faults that come here. It's not the parents' fault that send their kids here, because what Gainesville is painted is it's just such this beautiful place. Everything's going on, but nobody ever sees the reality of Gainesville. They won't know what really happens, cause most people are here for four or five years, then they're taking their degrees, everything that they'll learn, and they're moving on. So, where is the growth that's here? Where's the kids that's growing up that's playing over there on those park? Some kids don't even have tennis shoes. We do Christmas giveaways, and that'll be something that only Christmas that these kids get. But we have—I mean, it's a surplus of money. It's a surplus of resources literally three, four miles up the street. But you'll get arrested if you go on campus. And your whole wall in your room is filled with Gators paraphernalia. [Laughter] How does that make you feel? So, these are things that I think we need to open our eyes to in Gainesville, and understand that it is people that really live here. It's people that's really affected by Gainesville. And they would never actually be able to experience Gainesville, due to these lack of resources, the lack of mentorship, the lack of care from our politicians and from the people that run Gainesville. And I think it's very sad. Number one, because these are our people dying. These are our people. My friends, they get shot. They go to jail. They have kids. They kids follow the same trends. Their baby mothers and different people on welfare. This is stuff that we have—this is our reality. Everybody talk about kids. They shut down crack houses and dope houses and all that. But that's what kids call home. They have nowhere else to go! They live with no lights. Have you ever lived with no lights before? You know what it's like to have candles? You know what it's like to be looking at other little kids and somebody depending on you, and no food in here? And you know, your mother, your daddy not there, your mama on crack. [Laughter]

T: And do you know what it's like that you a mom and you go to work, and you know when you pick up your kids from school, you know you gonna walk into a dark house? You know the lights ain't on! And you know that you walking into this dark house and you have your kids. You know this. Or do you know what it's like to come home and you know it's a eviction notice on your door? And you don't have nowhere to go. And then when you call all these different services around here, "We don't have it, we don't have it. There's a waiting list." It's this, it's that. So, these are the realities that people are dealing with every day. To catch the bus. That's horrible! The bus stop—certain bus will cut off when the students leave. I used to live right down the street right here. And I used to get up at 4:30 in the morning to catch a 6:37 bus, cause I had to get up and get dressed. And long as it was student time, the busses come like clockwork. So, as soon as the students leave, if I miss that bus—and it's just horrible. How many times am I walking home from Rosa Parks in the dark? To come out here. And I lived on a dead-end street, and it was dark to get up and—you know. It's just, people go through this every single day. Our bus stops. They're not lighted. They don't have USB things so you can plug your phone up. They don't have a cover, and you can get a newspaper and read while you're sitting there. We don't have that. We lucky if we even got a bench! You gotta stand on it. And now we have to worry about the influx of homeless people, because they done ran them off Out West and put them over here. So, everything that people don't want is on the Eastside of town. The jail is over here. Grace Marketplace is over here. Everything down 39th. Just everything is over here, that you don't want. Black people! [Laughter]

J: Black people! We just gonna say it.

T: We over here. And then all that other stuff is over here. So now we have homelessness is over here. They have Grace Marketplace, so they gotta leave. They call it Dignity Village. Okay. Dignity. But anyway, they have to be gone, so now they're starting to be in our communities Out East. And we're not complaining, but what we're saying is that anytime you take homelessness, and put it in a community where we're on the verge of being homeless, it's gonna explode! We don't have any money to give the homeless. We need money! We need money, too. We need money in our community. So now when you wake up and you go to the bus stops, you have them sleeping at the bus stops. And we're like, "Wow." They panhandling. We need to be panhandling! [Laughter] I mean, I'm just gonna keep it real. I was at the store the other day, and there was a man. He asked for a dollar, and a brother just told him, he was like, "Yo, you on the wrong side of town for that, man. We need a dollar!" You over here on the wrong side of town, asking for money.

J: But you know what the sad part of that is? That the good-hearted people that, all they have, that will give it. Not only that. Now, let's think about this. Let's reverse this. Because there's no say-so that we have in what comes on this side of town. But let's just say, what if we traded places? What if Grace Market, Dignity Village, was right in Midtown? What if those people were standing by your classrooms, and what if those people were standing out there at Grill Fresh and The Swamp. Every time you went out, and they were right there at your house and your complexes, and they stayed there. You might have a late class or come home—two, three in the morning, and you've got eight people that's sitting on the corner. Like, ten, fifteen feet away from you. Every morning. Or every night when you come home. You don't know these people. You can already know they're on drugs, they're on everything, cause they done gave up. They got nothing else in life. And the only thing left for them to walk through that door is death. And they ready. They got they hand on the knob. There's nothing else that they care for living for. So, these are the people you have to deal with. And they're emotionally gone, they're physically gone, they're financially gone, they're mentally, spiritually—any way, they're empty. They have nothing left. And we're putting people that's already at a point to where they have little left. They have little left. And now they're trying to help somebody else that they don't have much to help. And they just keep draining, and draining, and draining. But, if we put that on the West side of town, that'd probably be eradicated within weeks.

T: Well, they did eradicate it. They pushed them over here.

J: Oh, yeah. They pushed them over here. They actually did. [Laughter]

T: They did eradicate them. They were over there, but they done pushed them over here. And I don't wanna sound mean, like, "Oh, we don't want them over here." It's not that. It's that we know exactly how they feel. And we know that if nothing happens over here, that we're just gonna be just like that. I've been homeless. Have you ever been homeless before? Okay. So, I've been homeless before, and when you are homeless, it takes every part of your dignity. Everything. You feel like you don't belong to nobody. And nothing. And on top of that, having a teenage daughter, to know that my teenage daughter's probably at school wondering, "Well, damn. Where we gonna go?" You understand what I'm saying? So, first of all, let me tell you how that makes you feel. It makes you feel like crap. You just feel like you just don't belong anywhere. And I had a full-time job. I had a full-time job, which that's gonna bring us into another issue, which is housing. Right? So I had this full-time job, and I couldn't make rent! I was just having a hard time making rent because I wasn't bringing in enough. I couldn't have a car, cause I had to pay the rent. I couldn't have car insurance, cause you gotta pay this high-ass light bill that GRU gives you. So either way, I wasn't lazy. I'm working. But there's not enough money working on the jobs here. The wages in Gainesville is horrible. But that's why developers, investors, they love Gainesville! Because there's low wages and there's no unions. So they come here, and they make all this money, and then we get left out. So people don't have places to live. I am an assistant property manager on a property right now. Do you know how many phone calls I get? Working people who work at Shands. North Florida. They work! And they need places to live. The rent is high. It is extremely high. And we're not making the money in order to live in a place. So instead of Gainesville bringing development that is equitable, because that's what's needed here. Equitable development is needed here. So, development where everybody can benefit according to their demographics where they live at. So that's what we need but they're not bringing that here. They're just bringing these expensive condos and apartment buildings and high rises, and you think, "Oh, look at this." No! We can't live there! I don't make that money to live there. I don't even make the money to—[Laughter] a lot of people don't even make the money to live in a one-bedroom apartment. Which the rent is going up, like, $950 for a one-bedroom apartment. How can you afford that when you getting paid ten dollars? Nine dollars? What's minimum wage? $8.49.

J: $8.47, and that's before taxes.

T: And that's before taxes! You not even bringing home eight hundred dollars every two weeks. So, how can you afford it?

J: It's slavery. I mean, and then you gotta have a side hustle. But like Ty was saying, if drugs start becoming a resource, now that's how you gotta provide for your family. Because why am I gonna try to go to a job if I just got out of jail, I'm a felon? I don't have my GED. Who's gonna hire? Now I'm gonna get hired, child support's gonna hit me. I gotta pay probation, cause I'm on probation. I gotta try to still take care of my kids. And I gotta try to pay my bills? So, how am I gonna do this on thirteen, twelve hundred dollars a month. I literally have to rob or something.

T: And if I don't do it, then you gonna put me back in jail. I go back to jail if I don't pay my probation. I gotta let my children starve, because I gotta pay you the probation cause you're gonna put me back in jail. And then, you know, we get some people—you know, the status quo. "Oh, is that our fault?" Yeah! Because, guess what? You perpetuate the issues that's coming. So no it's not your fault that that person made a choice. No it's not. But kinda it is, because you gave them no other choice, to make that choice. You get what I'm saying? So, what you need to do is you need to start putting things in place, so people can have other options besides crime and drugs. But you don't. This is what you do, right here. You just leave the neighborhoods the way that they are. And people revert back to what they know! Cause this is what they know to do. If I don't make enough money, then I'm gonna go out here and hustle. If I don't make enough money, I'm gonna go out here and I'm gonna rob somebody. If I don't make enough money, I'm gonna go prostitute. If I don't make enough money—this is what I gotta do, because I gotta take care what I need to take care of.

J: And now it's starting even earlier. What most people don't see—and in Gainesville, and I think UF should do a tour. I think it should be set to where part of your graduation is going into the community for twenty-four hours. It don't have to be at one time. But, just over a course, and get the real experience of what's going on. Because once we step outside of that world, cause it's so many resources that come here. So many people that come here, that the parents have resources, everybody have resources. That can literally take this city and be a progressive city for all. But if you don't know, due to the fact that somebody told you "don't come," or it's no reason to go. But how utilizing our experiences here? And I think we have to know what's going on in our community in order to be effective as people. Because if we don't know these type of things are happening, and these kids are dying, and people are getting more frustrated, and the gap is widening, what's gonna happen is we gonna have a civil war here. Because we have people with emotional distress. People that's already at that door of death, that have nothing else to live for. And that's gonna really click and say, "Hey, you know what? I'm tired of robbing people who robbing other people trying to rob me." Let me go where the wealth at. Let's go down here to the college, and just gonna take from all the little rich people here who know nothing about nothing. And let's just start strong-arming them every day. Let's start doing that. And then, now, people are gonna wake up because they're seeing crime increasing. But crime has been here. They just been robbing and killing each other. But once they start hitting in areas that it messes up the economic stimulus and the growth of Gainesville—

T: Then they gonna wanna do something. It become a problem, and then they'll wanna do something. It's kinda like the crack epidemic. It was all right, long as it stayed within the Black neighborhoods. But once middle class—White women started not coming home at night, and their husbands started worrying about where they was at, and found that they was in the neighborhoods smoking crack. Then it became an issue. Oh, crack is wack. And all these campaigns come out. So it's the same thing. When not having opportunities and resources in your community. Once people see opportunity and resource outside their community into their communities out there, middle class or upper middle class communities, and start seeking them out there? Then they will start to say, "Okay, well what is it that we need to do? Because they're coming over here now, and we don't want them over there."

J: And I'm telling you, it's coming. It's coming real fast. And when it come, it's not gonna be nice. Because these people are coming like zombies. They're coming with a vengeance. They're coming with anger, shame, hurt. And they're coming to hurt. Cause that's all they know how to express to their selves.

T: Because they've been hurt. And you know the saying "hurt people hurt people." So that's all—they've been hurt. So that's why me and Julius sat down, cause we've known each other from different projects that we've done together in community. We wanna do Lil Afrika. Lil Afrika is going to set out, first, to change mindsets. Because that's where it starts first. We have to change the mindset. Because we can come in with all these different resources, right? But if they don't know how to accept the resources, if they don't understand, "Well, why do we need these resources?" It's just gonna be the same thing over, and over and over again. And I know other people who've done tried these things. We gonna put resource centers in, we gonna do this. And we live in America and everything has been about repetition and doing these things. But the key to repetition is that you gotta throw something new in there every time you do something. So what me and Julius wants to do—we are going to do. We don't want to do, we are gonna do. We wanna throw something in there where we gonna change mindsets. We're gonna change mindsets by a mentor mentee program. And the mentors will actually be from the neighborhood. They will actually be from people who have been through these things. Or have gotten to that point where they felt like they wanted to rob somebody and they said, "Well, no. I'm gonna make a different turn." So, I know for a fact that when you can be transparent with a person, it helps you to trust better. Because in our communities, trust is an issue. We don't trust nobody. We don't even trust each other. Right? So talking about somebody, a mentor, and I'm sitting down and I'm telling you all my business, and what I feel, that's just not gonna happen. But it makes it easier for me to come and tell you this when you look familiar. Or when you have a familiar story. And then I might not have to tell you everything. I might look at you and say, "Well, you know what I'm saying." And we be like, "Yeah. I know what you saying." We know everything that you saying. So then that person begins to feel you, and they say, "Okay, they all right." And so then that's when the trust is being built. And then once you build trust with somebody, you got it from there. And so we wanna be able to change mindsets. Mentoring is needed in our communities. And if anybody in the community know,  I always say this. It's not the youth that needs mentoring. Adults need mentoring. Cause you have to remember, we're dealing with generations of people who were children, who didn't get to be children, because of their circumstance. And now all the sudden, they grown up and they got these children. And then it just keeps going. So they need mentoring too. They need to be taught—someone to talk to. And understand how they feel. And what direction they should go in. A lot of times you need somebody just to guide you through a little bit. No matter how old you are. So I believe that mentoring is important for children, men, and women. And once you start to get the unit... a lot of parents here don't have the tools to navigate their children toward success. They don't have it. They don't have it. So how can you expect for them to do that? So while we working with the youth, we could be working with adults. And that way we can make the family successful together. And then all of them can sit down at the table and say, "Oh, what did you learn?" And they'll all feel happy about their growth. And that's what Lil Afrika is going to do. We wanna make families feel good about growth. We wanna make people feel good about growth! So that when growth is upon us, whenever it shall come, we know how to receive it. And we know how to take care of it. And we'll know how to benefit from it, because now we have the mindset to benefit from the growth that's coming in our communities. Right now, we don't have the mindset, because all we trying to do is get some money, and pay the rent, and put some food on the table. And that's it! That's just the end of the story right there.

J: And I think with the programs that we're gonna deal with, with the youth, kids, the women, we'll also have and implement the programs to where we're dealing with all ones that were misguided. To help them get on the right track. So when you get out of jail, we can have programs to help you get job skills. Not to just be a great employee, but a great employer. Cause we need to start thriving through self-employment. Self-development. To be economically self-sustainable. That’s what we need in our communities. That's what we have to show these ones that may have took the wrong route into whatever market they may have went into. But taking your skills and showing you how to use it in a positive light. Cause once we could show you how to use your skill sets in a positive light, you now become a role model and a influence in a positive way. So I think—you might have been talking about—it's a saying. And it's all they've got. Big thing about the monkey stuff now. So we gonna even take the monkey saying right now. Monkey see, monkey do. But monkey see the right thing, monkey do the right thing. So what are monkeys seeing? What are anybody seeing? What are people seeing? What is the perception that they see? So if we show these people how to develop their selves economically, financially, and we show these people how to develop themselves educationally, they're gonna follow suit. So we're gonna start showing people how to do the right things. Because so much in our past, nobody has shown them how to do anything. And really, that was the whole key, to keep them blind. To keep the knowledge. So, we've all—not including we're dealing with a four-hundred-year problem of being behind—not just financially but mentally. Because if we go to our forefathers, and we come catch up to their kids now, they can't understand the way that we think! And we can't even expect you to understand the way that we think, because your world was totally different. Your struggles are not our struggles. Like you say, you would never have to worry about your lights getting cut off. That would never be a issue with you. That's a issue that's—

T: Facing us every week!

J: And then you get an extension this week. And everybody know to call GRU to get this extension.

T: Matter of fact, we done call so much, you don't have to call no more. They automatically just give you an extension.

J: They already know. And these are issues that are relevant. See, a lot of issue that you guys might not deal with that we deal with is, every weekend you're going to a funeral. It's a t-shirt getting made for a friend! That died. From the hands of somebody that looked like them, for something very petty. But, that's all they have. And when you at that door, what else do I got to live for? You know. So these are the things that we deal with, and that is a reality in our community. A reality in our community, that you have friends that are killers. That really kill people. And it's fine. Like, "Hey, yeah. You my boy. You really sell drugs. Yeah, I know you." I grew up with you. I can't even look at you different. That's just who you are. And, is it right? No! It's delusional! [Laughter]

T: We should never be comfortable with that. But because it's our reality, we are comfortable with it. We know it. It's like, "Oh, you know." But it takes someone like Julius and I to say, "Hey! This is not something we need to be comfortable with." What can we do that's different? Instead of you standing out on the corner selling this poison to people in the community, lemme show you how to sell socks. Lemme show you how to sell underwear. Lemme show you how to sell shampoo and soap. Because—

J: Because we get the wrong scholarship in our communities. See, the scholarships we getting, is to the wrong institution. See, our counterparts get scholarships to go to learning institutions. We go to penitentiaries. We got a five year scholarship, full-ride! By the judge or state DOC. [Laughter] You know, gonna do eight years up in prison. For something that probably was very minor, he just didn't have no representation. And guess what? That's your badge of honor. "Oh, I did seven years in the chain gang." I did five years. I did six years. Why? You coulda did four years, or you coulda did eight years in school! You could have a criminal justice degree. You could be a lawyer. But they didn't have the guidance. They didn't have the people that was in place, the resources. So, we have to switch away what our institutions and where we giving our scholarships to. Because I look at that as a scholarship. Cause it's a full-ride, and somebody's paying for it. And it's the taxpayer's dollars. But, actually, the government makes money off of us being in prison, that's why prisons are now privatized. And they're filled with minorities, which is the new modern slavery. And we're just transitioning on things moving. We just gotta identify where we at and process, because segregation has never died. Energy never dies, it's transferrable. So now instead of the power of beating people up in the streets, and the dogs really marching and biting us, now the power of the pen's getting us. The dog's still biting us! Now, instead of them lynching us, they really can just shoot us and walk away with it. But what's gonna happen when we at that door and we fed up? Cause it's more guns on the streets than it is in these precincts. And these people go out here and start purging. And I hate to say it like that, but we at a brink to where enough is enough. And this generation don't understand nonviolence. Or handling anything with no violence. Because we have actually created this monster in our communities across the country, to where these people—we thought we didn't want them to care, but what's gonna happen when they actually start realizing, "Okay. We can use our powers in the right way." And it's gonna be casualties and war. And it's gonna be some people around that just don't care. They was destined to go to jail anyways. Now they going to jail for the right reasons. We don't need that in our communities. But, we're there.

T: And it's so close, because when you put concentrated poverty in one spot? So now we got the homelessness. Now we got us. People's building all over. People don't have nowhere to live, so they're coming out here. Trying to get in places. So, you got all these people together, until—you might've had a little bit of crime over here, a little bit of crime. Now you're gonna have it in one, great, big old area. A potluck of crime just right here in one big old area. And then that creates more poverty. And it gets worse. And it creates more crime. And people gonna do three things. I figured this out. Out East Gainesville. The residents. Young, old. We gonna do three things. Okay? Number one, either we gonna stay here in East Gainesville and endure, and listen to these politicians that say that they gonna do this and they gonna do that, and things are gonna change, and blasé, blasé, blasé. We gonna stand the test of time and believe in them, and wait and see what's gonna—number two. Either everybody is gonna flight. They're gonna pick up their stuff, the ones who can, and they gonna leave. They're gonna go. They're gonna go somewhere else. And you gonna ask them, "Hey, why did you leave?" "Well, I loved Gainesville, but I had to go because they ran me outta there. I couldn't afford to live there no more. No jobs, no opportunities. Or number three. They gonna unify, and they gonna fight and try to make their communities better. So which one? At any given time, one of these three things is gonna happen. Right? So I would rather see us unify. That's what Lil Afrika wants to bring to the table. We wanna show people how to unify in their communities so they can be empowered to know how to unify, cause we don't. People think that—you'll hear a lot of young people, especially. I love it, when they say, "Man. We don't need to be marching no more. Marching, marching marching." Marching was not a solution. Okay? You didn't hear Martin Luther King and all them say, "Okay. We gonna march, and then tomorrow everything's gonna be all right. Cause we gonna march." That wasn't the—the marching was not a solution! Marching was a symbolism to show people we are unified. And when we need something, you gotta fight all of us, because we all stand for the same thing. Right? So when we talk about unity, and we talking about getting to march, or a protest, or a boycott, it's not to say, "Okay, this is gonna fix the solution." No! We're not saying that. What we're saying is that we're showing people that we have numbers and that we are all together. And when we want something, these are all the people who is going to stand and fight for this cause. We are fighting for justice and all of us is together. So that's what a march is for! That's what a protest is for. That's what boycotts is for. To show people how many of us is unified towards this justice that we seek. That's what it's for. So we have to be able to unify with one another in order to fix things. But in order for us to unify, our mindsets have to be changed. Because we have to know what the hell are we unifying for? They wanna know that! So, Lil Afrika has to give the community that answer.

J: I think that the mindset has to go both ways, too. And before we leave, this is one thing that I want to challenge the people of Gainesville—all current residents, the ones that come, the one that's leaving and the ones that be here permanently—is to explore Gainesville. Is to go down the roads that you wouldn't go down. I ain't gonna tell you to go down them late night! [Laughter] But ride down them. And see the culture. And see how people will treat you. Cause, I think fear is just ignorance not knowing. So anything you fear, you don't know, you gonna be defensive about it. You're gonna be scared of it. And I think that's the problem we're dealing with here. And I realize that with creating the friendship from the Richard Spencer rally. Me and my Nazi homie, we became great friends due to the fact that we both got kicked out, and it was reverse racism. And I saw something that wasn't right. It didn't matter about a color. It's just what stands and what's right. So, I would encourage everybody to just take out their self out of their perspective. Get in your car, ride down the street. Just like you guys that came over here? I encourage y'all to come here one day without us. And just sit out here. And watch what really go on. And not only just watch to say, "Hey, I'm seeing this, I'm seeing that. Oh, my god." Watch and see the pride people have. And the nothing that they have. How happy they are. And the situations that they are. And you can see, like, this is nothing. I mean, your mentality, this is nothing but this is everything.

T: Cause we talk about what East Gainesville don't have, but what we do have is love. We have pride. We have community over here. We have community. We have people who are tax paying citizens who live over here. People pay taxes over here, who wanna see their tax dollars work for them. We have so much talent here in East Gainesville. We have entrepreneurs, we have people who cook, people who do hair, people who are smart, people who do taxes, they help you fix your credit. I mean, we have all types of things going on Out East. All we need is for the infrastructure to start to bloom, and you will just see all these things just come to light. So, it's just not "oh, it's bad Out East." No! It's great Out East! And I wouldn't wanna live no other place else. Because this is our community and we love it. So whereas people might see bad things, there's good things. There's good things in a housing project. Even though you might see the bad, and the rent, and the apartments don't look good or whatever. But there's a community there! Ms. Mary lives next door, and I know I can go over there anytime and knock on her door and get a plate of food. She cook every week. The kids downstairs, they playing at the playground, and every Sunday they come out and I give them popsicles, and there's a sense of community. We actually love the people in our community! We wanna be here. So that's where I come in and be like, when people say, "Oh, we're gonna do mixed income." We don't want mixed income! We don't want that. We want to be able to flourish in our own communities.

J: Yeah. Just like anybody else would.

T: To me, I really don't think—I don't like the idea of you taking me out of my community and putting me in another community in order for me to grow. No! I can grow in my own community, with my own people. And show them, this is what we need to do. We don't mind diversity. Now, no. We all live together, but why should I have to go outside of my community to get growth? When we can bring growth into my community? I'm gonna keep it real. I like waking up saying good morning to Keisha and Dante. I like it very, very much. I like to see them every morning. I would love to go to a coffee shop where they are there. You understand what I'm saying? And I could say, "Hey, how you doing?" Just like people on the West side, they know each other. They come in, they speak. "Hey, how you doing?" Well, I wanna say hello to my people every morning. In a nice coffee shop. Where everybody is going to work. And we can talk to each other and see our communities, and just have a positive conversation. We want those things, too. I don't see the point of why we have to come outta our neighborhoods and mix with other neighborhoods in order to have something. I just don't see that. We can have it right here. And we've had it here before. Years ago, this street, and Fifth Avenue and Porters, they were thriving! They were thriving. You could see the people out there in their communities. Businesses and schools were just thriving. And we can have that again. We can have that again in our neighborhoods. We don't need to go anywhere else. This is our neighborhoods. And this is where we wanna be. And so we have to fight to be here. So, that's just how I see it. We gonna fight to be here. We fight for justice. That's what I stand for. I stand for justice. At the end of the day, that's what I stand for. Justice for the people, who live in our communities.

When Lil Afrika's thriving, what will that look like?

T: Take her to Lil Afrika.

J: I can take you to Lil Afrika. Oh, man. When you come to Lil Afrika, first of all, you can come at anytime because it's twenty-four hour services. At Lil Afrika, if you're coming early in the morning and you're a student getting ready to go to school, you'll be able to come inside our convenience store part. We'll be able to service you with a little bit of breakfast, things of that nature to help your education day go along. Here, if you're an adult and you're coming to an all-service store, you're able to buy all the amenities you need. Fresh produce, fresh groceries, up-to-date products, as well as get assistance and look for a job if you're here. And we'll have our computers, our resources, our printers here. And our programs somewhere in the back. There's no social media, where you just go back there and you just do work. We'll have free wifi and stuff for people so they can actually expand. That's just on our first floor. When you're going outside, you can actually get a job at the carwash that we're gonna have on our slab. So, there, with our carwash, we can employ a lot of the young men and women that's here that's just on the corners that have no direction. Kinda give them a sense of hope, give them something to look forward to, and something to be a part of. If you are a entrepreneur and you already have inspired to have your own vending, and you've already took that first step to say, "Hey, I know what I wanna do. I'm selling cakes." So, you have your cake machine or you've got a food truck here on our back property, you will be able to be your own vendor, to make your own money. Cause it be the plaza here. We're building our irrigation systems and we're gonna have electricity. So we will have tents that will be adequate enough to service people so where they can lease out space, rent out space. And they will be able to service people in the community with whatever goods they have. If you're into music, we're gonna have our music center with our studio upstairs. And that way we'll be able to help inspire artists, as well as kids, cause one thing about the studio, it'll keep kids out of trouble. So, you're keeping your grades up, different things of that nature, we can teach you the music business. From music lessons, to actually being an artist, to artist management, to how to get your music on radio, to the ins and the outs of videography. Flyers, graphics, everything, the whole shebang. So, At Lil Afrika, the whole entity, you could just come here and be one-stop shop.

T: And, so there's two parts to Lil Afrika. He just mentioned the entrepreneurship.

J: That's my side. [Laughter]

T: He's the entrepreneurship side. He's gonna be in part, cause it's like a profit/non-profit? He's the for-profit so we can keep the bills running. We gonna have to pay the light bill and keep things running, so he's gonna take care of that part. I am the non-profit side. So I'm gonna be taking care of the mentoring and the resources. And, like I said, we're gonna have mentor/mentee programs, where there will actually be people who are from the community. So, I get a sixteen-year-old young man who's having problems—his mother's saying, "Hey. He's getting in trouble. I know he's headed down the wrong road. He needs somebody to talk to." Well, I'm gonna get another seventeen-year-old or eighteen-year-old who can connect with him and talk with him and mentor him. And the same thing with the forty-year-old man or woman. They might need someone to talk to. Or they going through things. Or maybe they might be feeling depressed or something, and they need to know what to do. So, the mentor/mentee program is like my baby. So we're going to be doing that. Far as resources, we will offer some resources here, but we wanna be an outsource for resources. So we wanna be able to give referrals. To let other places like, maybe, the Blue Center across the street, or Family Promise, or something like that. Keep connected with us, so we can just call them and say, "Hey. I have a person over here, such and such." I can send him over. Lil Afrika is just not for this area Out East. Lil Afrika is for the whole Gainesville. Because we are going to acquire a van. So if you live in Majestic Oaks or if you live in Cedar Ridge, or if you live Out West and you need the services of Lil Afrika, we will be able to pick you up and bring you home. And so we are going to do that. And it's gonna be about community. I wanna do coffee every morning, and people come by. Get a cup of coffee. Maybe we can do complimentary donuts and coffee, where people can come by and get coffee and donuts and we can talk to them. And then whatever it is they're looking for, they can talk to me or Julius, or whatever volunteers we have here. Cause we need volunteers. We need people. We need the University of Florida students. We need people from the community. We need entrepreneurs. We need people that's gonna come in and say, "Hey. I'm here. What is it that I need to do?" Because it takes a village, right? And so I see Lil Afrika, like, every day in my mind. What we could be doing. When I get up and I get dressed to go to work. I be like, "Oh, god, I wish I was getting dressed to go walk inside Lil Afrika, to open up the door right now." See how many people standing outside to get into Lil Afrika. And so that's my vision. My vision is just community. One of the things that me and Julius did start is we had started a Eastside farmers market. Where we wanted to empower the neighborhood about—when they're lacking resources, how to be empowered. So we did the farmer's market, and it worked out pretty good. So we plan on doing that again. Having our own farmers market where people can sell their goods, whether it be fruits and vegetables, or bread, or food, or whatever. And then we did the youthepreneurship, where kids had their own little section where they would sell stuff. So whether it would have been something to eat, or ties, or shoes, or whatever, they could start to learn the process of being entrepreneurs. The one thing about Lil Afrika that I like, it's just not about entrepreneurship. It's about that extra step. It's about creating economic sustainability through creating jobs. And that's what's going to sustain our community. When we start to create jobs, when we start to hire people and keep the money in our community flowing, that's what we're talking about. Economic sustainability. That's what economic sustainability means. How do you sustain your community? You just don't come in and make money off your—how do you put the money back in? How do you keep the money in your community? And that's through job creation. Creating jobs. People coming in and working, so that's what Lil Afrika is going to do. And we wanna be able to push that mindset forth on other entrepreneurs that might have businesses, and say, "Hey, maybe I need to create a job." So we wanna be able to pass on these ideas and these wonderful things that we gonna have here at Lil Afrika to other people who might wanna do something in their community. Lil Afrika is just gonna be here. Lil Afrika. Why Lil Afrika? Because that's home. That's home. That's our home. Right? And so they can always come home and get what they need, which is nurture and love and education. And they can get informed. We gonna have everything. We gonna have political enlightenment, mentoring. We're gonna have a host of people just coming in and out of here. So if the students say, "Hey, I got a idea. Can I come?" You sure can! You could come right down here and we'll make that happen.

J: And that'll be our goal, to actually build relationships with the universities, with different programs. We're creating our own labor temp force. We got the labor market right out here. And honestly, thanks to Dignity Village closing, we're gonna have more people who need to be employed every day, that's looking for jobs. So instead of, they gotta go find a job, let's bring the jobs to them. Let's be more convenient. Because we're trying to tell people to go find something to have the resources, and they have no roadmap. So we're sending a blind mice in a maze. And not just to run straight, you're in a maze. You gotta take all types of turns. How do we help these people? So our goal is to make it convenient. Be an economic development hub for people. Also, the resources here adequate to be able to, like I say, mentally make sure that they're ready and they're willing to accept the change that's coming. And I think that is what Lil Afrika is gonna open the door for. Not just here, but to be a template, to where we have Lil Afrika's everywhere. And, like I say, our goal is not to just stick to one area of town, one type of person. No. It's to help everyone. But for us to identify with who we are. Cause if you don't know where you come from, you don't know where you're going.

T: And the political enlightenment class that we're going to have, I'm excited about that. Because we're gonna teach people what a city commissioner is, what a county commissioner is. What does a school board do? The vote. We gonna teach them about that. So we know that when they are ready to go out and vote, that they are informed voters. We just don't want people voting. I know I don't. Sometimes I do wish that people do just get up and vote. Because you be like, "Okay, I'll take anything. Just get up and vote." Right? But I don't feel comfortable with that. I want people to be informed voters. I want you to know who you're voting for, why you're voting for them—because you know exactly what they're gonna do and what they're in charge of, and what they do, and how they do it. And so I think once our communities learn that process, we will feel more empowered to go out and vote and say, "Hey. I live here and you're running my life, and I need to have a say-so in you running my life." So I'm not just getting ready to let you do whatever. And I don't say anything, and all I gotta do is just check a box on the ballot and put it in the box. Well, I need to know what I'm doing. And so we want the community to be able to feel empowered. Like I said, one of the things I want to do is to try to get a little—when it is voting time, we gonna put signs out. We wanna put signs out of every candidate that's running. So people can pick and choose, and say hey. Just because you live Out East doesn't necessarily mean you a Democrat or a Republican. You might be a Independent. Or you might be—everybody out here aren't Democrats. Everybody out here aren't Republicans. But we want them to be able to feel excited about whatever they choose for their lives. And their children's lives. And their grandchildren's lives. And we have to let them know that this is just not about the "right now." This is about twenty, thirty, forty, fifty years from now! Are you gonna be in this neighborhood? Is your kids gonna be in this neighborhood? And if so, how are you going to leave this neighborhood for your children and your grandchildren. What are you gonna leave here for them? So we really have to sit down and think about that. Because we're getting older. Our children is getting older. They're gonna have children. So what are you gonna leave here for them? So, the political enlightenment program I'm excited about too, because I know a whole host of people that would not mind coming in here and teaching them about politics and how it works and what they need to do, cause that's something that they need to be educated on. Lil Afrika really is, to me, a form of organizing. We just in the building! Organizing is a strategy. Okay? Community engagement is a strategy, is not something that you just can go and do. You have to know your demographic, your age, your culture, who you're dealing with. It's a strategy. You gotta sit down, you gotta plan things, you gotta write things out. You have to know what you're doing. So in order for you to go out and organize and get a group of people—some people think can say, "Hey, yo. Write this down. Come on over here." It don't work like that! Because half of the people don't show up. You gotta have—I'm sorry, but you just—sometimes you gotta bait people. You have to give them incentives. You have to make them wanna come. You have to give them a reason to say, "Hey, I wanna come." And Lil Afrika is that place that they wanna come to and get whatever it is that they need. Even if they have—"Hey, yo. I think I have a mental health issue." Okay. "Well, let me get on the phone and call somebody." You know what I'm saying? To come over here and see if I can get someone to help you. This is gonna be—I know it looks small in here, right? It looks small in here but what's gonna be happening in here is so much bigger than what you see. It's not even gonna matter how small it is in here. And as we grow, we're hoping to add on and have other things, but we need this in the community. And we need this. We need this really, really bad. And so, we've been ask people for help. We have. We got our doors closed.

J: Nah, it's just if you gonna help, you gonna help. At the end of the day, actions speak louder than nouns and verbs. And adjectives. So our goal now, and we in a city of progressiveness, and we're in a city we're making things happen. And we're looking for future growth, so I think the action is what's gonna set apart what's actually been going on in Gainesville. And now, to these points, we can't say that people haven't been informed. Cause we know what's going on. Now, it's up to the people that live here, the community, the politicians, everybody to be held accountable to do their part and their due diligence to change what's going on. And I think that will be the Lil Afrika in everyone. Just helping one another. That's where we at in process. Cause that's essentially what this is. It's just gonna be assistance to help others who need help, and bring them the help right here to where it can be most helpful for them. So Lil Afrika is just gonna be life changing I feel, not just for the community, but really for the world at large. Because it's gonna spark interest to other people across the country, across the globe. It might not be a Lil Afrika. It could be a Lil Haiti, Lil Asia. I don't care what it may be. But just to spark an interest to start a change. I don't care where it comes from, it just needs to change. And it can be your organization just started up, just help out. Any way that you can. Don't do anything that you're not a expert at, or that you don't do. If you shoot video, videography, that's your help. Don't come in and try to cut yards and do landscaping if you know nothing about landscaping. So, it's just people helping in their adequate places.

T: I think Lil Afrika is here to let the community understand two things. That they can be politically enlightened to understand that politicians control policy, but we control our communities. And that's what Lil Afrika is gonna do. It's gonna make a statement. We control our communities. So whenever Lil Afrika is here—I mean, it's here now, right? But I'm just so excited about this project. When me and Julius first talked about it, I was just like, "I'm not doing anything else but Lil Afrika." I mean, I have cut all ties with everything. I'm dedicated to Lil Afrika, and I'm always gonna be dedicated to the community. But besides that and helping Jenn Powell run for mayor, I'm not doing anything else. Because this is what needs to be done and we need this urgently. This is not something that can wait like two, three years down the road. We need this urgently. We're doing everything that we know how to do to keep it noticed. So we do do things still here, even though this building has nothing. We've done Christmas drives, the farmer's market, we're having a movie on the fifteenth. About the 13th, the documentary the 13th? You know now there's over one million felons that's able to register to vote? So we wanna have that out here. And what we wanna do is we're gonna have somebody out here—Julius, this third party, Dab the Vote. To register people to vote out here at the same time. Get them enlightened. So we gonna be doing things out here until this building is completely one hundred percent up and going. But there's some things that we need. You want us to tell you that? [Laughter]