WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.360 --> 00:00:03.440 Dear listener, there's going to be some language that might 2 00:00:03.440 --> 00:00:05.279 be offensive in this episode. 3 00:00:05.800 --> 00:00:10.520 I don't think I identified as prominently as Latino as I 4 00:00:10.640 --> 00:00:13.480 do now, But for me, it's always going to be black. 5 00:00:13.720 --> 00:00:17.560 I think apparently recently some people started capitalizing black, and 6 00:00:17.600 --> 00:00:20.960 I was like, is it not capitalized? Because I've been 7 00:00:20.960 --> 00:00:25.400 doing that since elementary school. I went to call myself Blatino. 8 00:00:26.640 --> 00:00:28.400 It was a capital B Blatin. 9 00:00:28.520 --> 00:00:29.600 Yeah, I should do that. 10 00:00:29.720 --> 00:00:30.319 I should do that. 11 00:00:30.800 --> 00:00:34.360 The thing about it is that we were never separated 12 00:00:34.360 --> 00:00:37.199 from being black. We always knew we were black, and 13 00:00:37.200 --> 00:00:38.880 it wasn't just because of the color of our skin. 14 00:00:39.240 --> 00:00:40.080 It was our culture. 15 00:00:44.280 --> 00:00:49.040 From futuro media, it's Latino usay, I'm Marie no Hoosa. Today, 16 00:00:49.440 --> 00:00:53.159 a year after George Floyd's murder, a family lets us 17 00:00:53.159 --> 00:01:03.240 into an intimate conversation about race and Latini dad. On 18 00:01:03.320 --> 00:01:09.000 May twenty twenty, George Floyd, a dad and a friend 19 00:01:09.080 --> 00:01:13.000 to so many people, was choked to death in Minneapolis 20 00:01:13.400 --> 00:01:17.720 by a white police officer, Derek Chauvin. His murderers sparked 21 00:01:17.760 --> 00:01:27.560 outrage across the United States and beyond. In the middle 22 00:01:27.680 --> 00:01:32.080 of a shutdown and a global pandemic, George Floyd's murder 23 00:01:32.400 --> 00:01:36.960 focused attention once again on the systemic racism so many 24 00:01:37.000 --> 00:01:41.160 people are experiencing daily in this country at the hands 25 00:01:41.440 --> 00:01:47.000 of the police. His death also sparked difficult conversations within 26 00:01:47.280 --> 00:01:51.960 the Latino community, where race is still often a taboo 27 00:01:52.000 --> 00:01:55.720 in many families, or at a minimum, race can be 28 00:01:55.760 --> 00:02:02.040 a very uncomfortable conversation. A year after George Floyd's death 29 00:02:02.400 --> 00:02:05.880 and the massive protests that followed, we wanted to bring 30 00:02:05.920 --> 00:02:10.960 you a family conversation on race and Latini Dad. Today 31 00:02:11.200 --> 00:02:15.720 we're joined by two Afro Latino cousins. First, there's Umar 32 00:02:15.880 --> 00:02:17.000 Malik Williams. 33 00:02:17.480 --> 00:02:20.880 My name is Umar Malik Williams. I am forty five 34 00:02:20.960 --> 00:02:21.480 years old. 35 00:02:21.800 --> 00:02:25.240 Umar is a musician and radio host. He's lived in 36 00:02:25.280 --> 00:02:28.600 the Twin Cities for close to twenty years, and he's 37 00:02:28.639 --> 00:02:32.320 been involved in the racial justice movement in Minnesota for years. 38 00:02:33.280 --> 00:02:36.400 And this is his younger cousin, Alex Newton. 39 00:02:36.760 --> 00:02:40.079 My name is Alexander Manson Newton. I am thirty one 40 00:02:40.160 --> 00:02:40.880 years old. 41 00:02:41.080 --> 00:02:45.760 Alex is a strategy and analytics consultant and he lives 42 00:02:45.840 --> 00:02:51.560 in Washington, DC. Umar and Alex are maternal cousins. 43 00:02:51.840 --> 00:02:53.440 Both of our mothers are sisters. 44 00:02:53.880 --> 00:02:56.760 Their mothers grew up together in Panama. 45 00:02:57.080 --> 00:03:00.639 They were born in Panama City on Thirteenth Street. 46 00:03:02.720 --> 00:03:07.880 But Umar and Alex's black identity doesn't end there. It's 47 00:03:08.200 --> 00:03:13.040 much more complex. Umar's father is from Guyana in South America, 48 00:03:13.639 --> 00:03:17.280 and Alex's father is from Ghana in Africa. 49 00:03:17.720 --> 00:03:19.280 I grew up black as beautiful. 50 00:03:19.600 --> 00:03:22.040 We are black here in the United States. We are 51 00:03:22.080 --> 00:03:26.040 black in Central America, black in South America, black in 52 00:03:26.080 --> 00:03:30.079 the Caribbean. Regardless of the language, our family is very, 53 00:03:30.200 --> 00:03:34.400 very incredibly plar out of being Panamanian, being Latinos, we 54 00:03:34.560 --> 00:03:36.960 cousins are the only ones that don't speak as much 55 00:03:37.000 --> 00:03:38.400 Spanish or any Spanish at all. 56 00:03:39.160 --> 00:03:41.600 Spanish. I didn't learn it from home, but I learned 57 00:03:41.640 --> 00:03:44.360 it eventually, right right, right same here. We're same here. 58 00:03:44.400 --> 00:03:46.600 They didn't speak to us in Spanish that much until 59 00:03:46.760 --> 00:03:47.920 we had to learn in school. 60 00:03:49.040 --> 00:03:52.240 Bumar and Alex grew up close in New York and 61 00:03:52.360 --> 00:03:56.040 in New Jersey in a tight knit family of eleven cousins. 62 00:03:56.640 --> 00:03:59.400 They still chat all the time on their phones. 63 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:04.000 The cousins considered ourselves siblings. There was no such thing 64 00:04:04.040 --> 00:04:07.840 as a nuclear family with us, and we were also 65 00:04:08.920 --> 00:04:16.920 steeped in who we were as black people and as Latinos. 66 00:04:17.880 --> 00:04:21.400 In this conversation, Umar and Alex are going to dig 67 00:04:21.440 --> 00:04:26.240 into their nuanced relationship with race, culture, and identity. It's 68 00:04:26.320 --> 00:04:30.279 the kind of conversation that probably many Afro Latino families 69 00:04:30.279 --> 00:04:35.240 were having even before George Floyd's murder, but among Latinos 70 00:04:35.360 --> 00:04:38.440 who are not Black, this was a moment to engage 71 00:04:38.720 --> 00:04:42.599 in these kinds of talks as well. Umar and Alex 72 00:04:42.640 --> 00:04:47.839 begin their conversation by remembering that tragic day. Here's Umar, 73 00:04:48.200 --> 00:04:49.640 who was in Minneapolis. 74 00:04:50.440 --> 00:04:53.480 It was kind of chilly, kind of rainy Memorial Day, 75 00:04:53.520 --> 00:04:56.360 as it always is out here in the cities. Friends 76 00:04:56.400 --> 00:04:58.840 was right sometimes it knows. In April, it does know 77 00:04:59.000 --> 00:05:01.479 that April he had a little bit of a cold snap. 78 00:05:01.480 --> 00:05:03.760 It started to get warmer again. We're like, ooh, my 79 00:05:03.880 --> 00:05:07.719 world is gonna be fun. And then we wake up 80 00:05:07.760 --> 00:05:08.040 to that. 81 00:05:10.200 --> 00:05:13.000 Following breaking news this midday and we have just learned 82 00:05:13.000 --> 00:05:15.680 the name of the man who died while in Minneapolis 83 00:05:15.720 --> 00:05:17.640 police custody late last night. 84 00:05:17.880 --> 00:05:18.960 He is George Floyd. 85 00:05:19.480 --> 00:05:24.080 It's weird for me. I honestly don't know. I don't 86 00:05:24.080 --> 00:05:27.320 have a specific memory of when I first discovered that 87 00:05:27.960 --> 00:05:31.240 George Floyd was murdered because I had so many memories 88 00:05:31.320 --> 00:05:34.800 of black men being killed by police in the streets. 89 00:05:35.240 --> 00:05:37.919 I was thinking about it for a while, and I 90 00:05:37.960 --> 00:05:40.400 was just like, I don't know what got white people 91 00:05:40.480 --> 00:05:44.719 so excited about this particular one, because this has been happening. 92 00:05:44.920 --> 00:05:47.919 You know, Trevon Martin was not a drug dealer, was 93 00:05:47.960 --> 00:05:51.520 not a big threatening, quote unquote black man. His sixteen 94 00:05:51.600 --> 00:05:54.919 year old kid getting skittles in an iced tea happens 95 00:05:54.920 --> 00:05:58.400 every day. People get shot every day. I was just 96 00:05:58.440 --> 00:06:01.960 surprised that George Floyd became such a movement, right. 97 00:06:02.200 --> 00:06:07.120 I think what's important is that there's a series of circumstances. 98 00:06:08.520 --> 00:06:12.480 I could whittle off the names of people who were. 99 00:06:13.360 --> 00:06:18.800 Brutalized to death or shot and killed by Minneapolis or 100 00:06:18.800 --> 00:06:25.400 Saint Paul police. The significance with me about George Floyd 101 00:06:26.640 --> 00:06:31.239 was the full camera footage about a year before George 102 00:06:31.240 --> 00:06:35.880 Floyd was Kobe Heisler. There was no cam footage of that. 103 00:06:36.480 --> 00:06:43.800 What happens with a lot of the other murders also 104 00:06:45.640 --> 00:06:49.640 is that the time stamp is too quick. For example, 105 00:06:49.640 --> 00:06:52.760 Filando can steal The first video we see is his 106 00:06:52.800 --> 00:06:57.040 girlfriend's cam video of it already happening, and it happened 107 00:06:57.400 --> 00:07:02.520 within a couple of minutes right before Filando Castill was 108 00:07:02.600 --> 00:07:04.880 Jamar Clark again. 109 00:07:05.320 --> 00:07:06.440 Dashcam footage. 110 00:07:06.920 --> 00:07:10.040 You don't hear what's going on, just really confusing what's happening. 111 00:07:10.080 --> 00:07:11.880 You see a flash of light and then you see 112 00:07:11.880 --> 00:07:20.840 a body put into the petty riding. The same thing 113 00:07:20.880 --> 00:07:24.920 with what happened with Makaiah Bryant, and we still see 114 00:07:24.920 --> 00:07:26.320 the body of cam footage. 115 00:07:26.440 --> 00:07:30.360 It's twenty seconds long. He shows up, bam, bam, bam. 116 00:07:30.480 --> 00:07:31.440 She down on the ground. 117 00:07:32.080 --> 00:07:36.080 So all these things are like just just rapid fire, 118 00:07:36.640 --> 00:07:39.640 and you don't have a chance to really. 119 00:07:40.960 --> 00:07:41.520 Process. 120 00:07:42.200 --> 00:07:47.520 It's a different kind of disbelief. George Floyd over nine 121 00:07:47.560 --> 00:07:57.679 minutes and you're seeing his humanity and then you see 122 00:07:58.320 --> 00:08:04.200 the callous treatment of his body. 123 00:08:05.240 --> 00:08:07.760 Part of me was starting to think that's definitely what 124 00:08:07.960 --> 00:08:10.960 changed it is that people could see Chauvin was looking 125 00:08:11.640 --> 00:08:16.280 directly at the camera. If you're gonna review bang bang bang, 126 00:08:17.600 --> 00:08:20.720 most people like try and avoid the camera or they're 127 00:08:20.760 --> 00:08:23.000 like turn the cameras off. But it was just so 128 00:08:23.160 --> 00:08:26.200 brazen and in your face. The time thing is definitely 129 00:08:26.240 --> 00:08:28.240 part of it. Then anythink back to Eric Carner, and 130 00:08:28.440 --> 00:08:31.840 that was seven years ago, and it's like the whole 131 00:08:32.080 --> 00:08:35.000 I can't breathe movement, like creating all these hashtags and 132 00:08:35.040 --> 00:08:38.640 these new quotes that are hipping cool and easy snippets 133 00:08:38.640 --> 00:08:42.400 to capture this system. Every time, it's hard to identify 134 00:08:42.480 --> 00:08:45.400 it as a unique moment because you know, we've been here, 135 00:08:45.800 --> 00:08:46.240 done that. 136 00:08:46.320 --> 00:08:49.439 It's again and again and again and again. 137 00:08:49.760 --> 00:08:51.360 It's true, man, it's true. 138 00:08:51.679 --> 00:08:52.920 Umar. I do have a question for you. 139 00:08:52.960 --> 00:08:55.960 Do you think if the pandemic wasn't this year and 140 00:08:56.040 --> 00:09:01.040 people didn't want an excuse or desire to leave the house, 141 00:09:02.240 --> 00:09:03.280 that they would have protested. 142 00:09:03.960 --> 00:09:06.400 That's a very good question. That's a very good question. 143 00:09:06.480 --> 00:09:06.680 Yeah. 144 00:09:06.880 --> 00:09:09.600 I've been trying to think about what finally mobilized white 145 00:09:09.640 --> 00:09:12.160 people because maybe they just wanted to get not to 146 00:09:12.360 --> 00:09:14.800 you know, discredit people, but maybe people just wanted to 147 00:09:14.800 --> 00:09:15.520 get out the house. 148 00:09:16.000 --> 00:09:22.000 I mean, yeah, yeah, it wouldn't surprise me because there 149 00:09:22.000 --> 00:09:24.520 was so man, Okay. 150 00:09:26.320 --> 00:09:27.920 I don't know if it makes me more comfortable or 151 00:09:28.040 --> 00:09:29.040 less comfortable, but. 152 00:09:29.000 --> 00:09:30.880 Like no, nope, nope. 153 00:09:30.960 --> 00:09:32.800 You don't need to find a way to justify it 154 00:09:32.920 --> 00:09:35.840 or find validity in it, because it is valid and 155 00:09:35.920 --> 00:09:39.160 not that there weren't white people protesting this race when 156 00:09:39.200 --> 00:09:41.960 Jamar Clark happened, when Filando still happened, et. 157 00:09:41.920 --> 00:09:43.679 Cetera, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. 158 00:09:44.200 --> 00:09:49.319 But then we stopped, and fine, if it took a 159 00:09:49.480 --> 00:09:56.280 pandemic that people still deny, then cool. Finally, I'm still 160 00:09:56.360 --> 00:09:58.559 holding people's feet to the fire about it. 161 00:09:58.800 --> 00:10:02.719 But I think the other thing that really. 162 00:10:04.880 --> 00:10:13.640 Helped in the mobilization is people taking control of that intersection. 163 00:10:15.760 --> 00:10:20.520 It was something that had never been done. George Floyd Square. 164 00:10:22.480 --> 00:10:25.000 That was the game changer. 165 00:10:26.960 --> 00:10:33.880 The occupying of that intersection was the real deal. Out 166 00:10:33.960 --> 00:10:35.880 in West side Saint Paul and the East side. Saint 167 00:10:35.920 --> 00:10:40.480 Paul's a big Latin community and they've always been on 168 00:10:40.600 --> 00:10:47.520 the forefront of organizing and protesting. We've always connected ourselves 169 00:10:48.480 --> 00:10:50.959 as black and brown folk. And it's not just the 170 00:10:51.040 --> 00:10:53.480 black and brown people, it's the white people there too, 171 00:10:54.280 --> 00:10:57.280 And we want to blame the pandemic. Cool because at 172 00:10:57.400 --> 00:11:01.720 least people have mobilized and organized in a small fashion 173 00:11:01.960 --> 00:11:05.040 as much as we've been mobilizing and organizing for over 174 00:11:05.640 --> 00:11:11.840 seven years. Finally we've organized and mobilized to take ownership, 175 00:11:11.920 --> 00:11:17.040 autonomous ownership and create a sacred space for us to 176 00:11:17.120 --> 00:11:19.160 say this is ours, and if you're gonna try to 177 00:11:19.200 --> 00:11:21.240 take it, we ain't gonna just let you take it. 178 00:11:21.559 --> 00:11:22.520 We put some real. 179 00:11:22.440 --> 00:11:27.400 Fear into the police force by destroying the Third Precinct. 180 00:11:28.440 --> 00:11:31.719 My daughter's mom, she lives five blocks away from the 181 00:11:31.800 --> 00:11:35.679 Third Precinct, and the high school that my daughter went 182 00:11:35.760 --> 00:11:44.160 to is right there. But to give a full visual, 183 00:11:44.800 --> 00:11:48.160 we walk in and then there's the major mural that 184 00:11:48.320 --> 00:11:52.880 everybody knows of George Floyd's face and chest and then 185 00:11:52.960 --> 00:11:54.080 all the names. 186 00:11:53.800 --> 00:11:57.959 And it's so beautiful. I actually witnessed the creation of 187 00:11:58.120 --> 00:11:58.600 this mural. 188 00:11:59.000 --> 00:12:02.959 Across the street where Dragon Walk is where he was 189 00:12:03.040 --> 00:12:06.640 first removed from his vehicle, and right in the center 190 00:12:06.760 --> 00:12:10.960 there is the big paper mache's fist and it's grown 191 00:12:11.120 --> 00:12:12.400 to be what it is now. 192 00:12:13.400 --> 00:12:15.840 Right where he was killed. 193 00:12:16.640 --> 00:12:20.160 There's an outline of his body painted but like as 194 00:12:20.240 --> 00:12:29.920 a talk outline, and there's a lot of pictures, paintings, prayers, blessings, flowers, 195 00:12:29.960 --> 00:12:36.320 everything surrounded there. There's a manifesto, the People's Manifesto about 196 00:12:36.600 --> 00:12:37.400 the bottishment of. 197 00:12:37.480 --> 00:12:38.640 Police on the street. 198 00:12:39.120 --> 00:12:45.040 The names names full on names, George Floyd, Sandra Bland, 199 00:12:45.720 --> 00:12:51.240 Jamar Clark, all the names that we've been hearing since Trayvon, 200 00:12:51.880 --> 00:12:56.280 and it became this thing that is like a monument now. 201 00:13:00.920 --> 00:13:03.079 Out of the Bible gets tired of the fact that 202 00:13:03.200 --> 00:13:03.880 we can't breathe. 203 00:13:03.960 --> 00:13:04.439 I was in DC. 204 00:13:09.640 --> 00:13:11.559 I had just started a data science boot camp, and 205 00:13:11.600 --> 00:13:13.600 I was sitting in front of the computer and staring 206 00:13:13.600 --> 00:13:16.000 at the screen, and I'm like, what the hell am 207 00:13:16.040 --> 00:13:22.240 I doing in a basement staring at a computer typing 208 00:13:23.160 --> 00:13:28.079 Hello World into Python? When there's huge protests outside for 209 00:13:28.280 --> 00:13:30.240 my people being killed. It's like, what the what the 210 00:13:30.320 --> 00:13:32.319 hell are you doing? Get the hell up and go 211 00:13:32.480 --> 00:13:37.440 out and protest. So I finally made it out one week. 212 00:13:38.120 --> 00:13:40.839 I went down to Black Lives Matter Plaza with a 213 00:13:40.920 --> 00:13:44.120 couple of black friends of mine as well. It was 214 00:13:44.240 --> 00:13:47.280 weird because the fence leading up to the lighthouse was 215 00:13:47.360 --> 00:13:50.439 covered in memorial There was a lot of tributes to 216 00:13:50.960 --> 00:13:53.320 the several dozen black people that had been killed by 217 00:13:53.320 --> 00:13:57.400 police violence, and there were people that were actively curating 218 00:13:57.520 --> 00:14:01.360 that museum content, so to speak. The occupation of a 219 00:14:01.440 --> 00:14:04.400 space was a big thing that was different about those protests. 220 00:14:05.000 --> 00:14:08.319 Mayor Bowser basically right in front of the White House 221 00:14:08.360 --> 00:14:12.760 when Trump was in office, renamed that entire plaza Black 222 00:14:12.800 --> 00:14:18.160 Lives Matter Plaza to Washington, DC avenue's worth of blocks 223 00:14:18.760 --> 00:14:21.680 spelled out Black Lives Matter leading up to as close 224 00:14:21.680 --> 00:14:23.800 as you can get to the White House. But it 225 00:14:23.920 --> 00:14:26.720 was the first time I had seen an official capacity 226 00:14:27.320 --> 00:14:30.800 support for the Black Lives Matter movement. It didn't happen 227 00:14:30.880 --> 00:14:34.240 with Shaymon Martin, no mayors, no governors, nobody spoke out 228 00:14:34.680 --> 00:14:36.840 about these moments in their official capacity. 229 00:14:37.560 --> 00:14:39.480 And then I got there, it just kind of it 230 00:14:39.520 --> 00:14:39.960 felt weird. 231 00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:42.160 It felt like the protest part of it had faded 232 00:14:42.240 --> 00:14:46.080 away and we had now leaned into protest tourism, and 233 00:14:46.160 --> 00:14:48.760 I felt like a protest tourist taking pictures, even though 234 00:14:48.840 --> 00:14:50.680 I personally just want, you know, I want to be 235 00:14:50.720 --> 00:14:53.040 able to tell my little niece what it felt like 236 00:14:53.280 --> 00:14:56.000 being in Washington, d C. During the George Floyd protests, 237 00:14:56.640 --> 00:14:58.840 even though it was black and there to celebrate black 238 00:14:58.920 --> 00:15:01.000 lives once you got there, like, okay, so what am 239 00:15:01.040 --> 00:15:01.840 I doing about this? 240 00:15:02.040 --> 00:15:02.160 Right? 241 00:15:02.280 --> 00:15:04.880 Like, it's one thing to document, but this is what's 242 00:15:04.960 --> 00:15:05.600 the next step. 243 00:15:06.320 --> 00:15:08.280 It's one of those things that is a fine line 244 00:15:08.600 --> 00:15:11.680 because you also want to honor and respect those who 245 00:15:11.720 --> 00:15:15.240 are there to document, to see it. At the same time, 246 00:15:16.080 --> 00:15:20.920 are you here to look at this as a museum 247 00:15:22.120 --> 00:15:25.240 and post on social media about how cool it is 248 00:15:25.320 --> 00:15:25.840 that you're here. 249 00:15:26.360 --> 00:15:29.000 What is your purpose in that moment? A lot of 250 00:15:29.080 --> 00:15:31.760 it was, you know, it's not for social media. And 251 00:15:31.840 --> 00:15:33.800 the only thing that got me through the tiers and 252 00:15:34.040 --> 00:15:35.920 the data science boot camp and sitting in front of 253 00:15:35.960 --> 00:15:38.280 a computer is that the most effective thing I can 254 00:15:38.360 --> 00:15:41.080 do to just demonstrate black lives matter is to just 255 00:15:41.280 --> 00:15:44.080 to demonstrate black excellence, black beauty. I think the only 256 00:15:44.120 --> 00:15:45.800 thing that got me through taking those pictures with my 257 00:15:45.880 --> 00:15:48.240 friends was you know, this is for me. This is 258 00:15:48.280 --> 00:15:51.840 to reinforce strength in my identity because no one else 259 00:15:51.920 --> 00:15:53.640 is going to do it for me. Where I was giving, 260 00:15:54.400 --> 00:15:57.960 it's to the future, it's to the next generation. 261 00:15:58.360 --> 00:16:03.040 Data Minnesota plaintiff versus Derek Michael Chauvin, defendant Bert to 262 00:16:03.360 --> 00:16:06.080 count one. We the jury in the above entitled manner 263 00:16:06.120 --> 00:16:09.520 as to count one unintentional second degree murder while committing 264 00:16:09.560 --> 00:16:14.200 a felony buying the defendant guilty verdic count two guilty three, 265 00:16:14.480 --> 00:16:15.840 guilty three. 266 00:16:16.920 --> 00:16:21.160 It came some tears flowed, breathe a bit, and then 267 00:16:21.280 --> 00:16:28.640 I'm like, yeah, cool, what's next, and we have a 268 00:16:28.760 --> 00:16:29.400 cousin chat. 269 00:16:29.680 --> 00:16:31.520 I'm not gonna lie umar. I put you guys on 270 00:16:31.600 --> 00:16:33.080 a mute for a big I don't know if I 271 00:16:33.160 --> 00:16:34.360 was working or what I was doing. 272 00:16:35.680 --> 00:16:37.280 No, it's all good. It's all good. 273 00:16:38.440 --> 00:16:40.680 I joke about muting you guys. But part of it, 274 00:16:40.760 --> 00:16:42.160 too is just like how much of it can you 275 00:16:42.320 --> 00:16:44.640 can you take? I remember sitting in front of the 276 00:16:44.680 --> 00:16:46.920 computer and crying and it doesn't feel good, and despite 277 00:16:46.960 --> 00:16:50.160 how many times we've been through it, it still does 278 00:16:50.280 --> 00:16:52.480 not feel great. The only thing I want to hear 279 00:16:52.520 --> 00:16:57.760 about this trial is if and when Chauvin is in 280 00:16:58.040 --> 00:17:00.840 jail and not getting out. That's what I want to 281 00:17:00.880 --> 00:17:03.480 hear because that's the effective stuff that matters. Right, I 282 00:17:03.480 --> 00:17:07.440 will go through the retraumatization of that experience if that's 283 00:17:07.480 --> 00:17:09.639 the outcome. I'm not going to re engage with all 284 00:17:09.680 --> 00:17:13.040 this stuff. It's just to hear sentencing in eight weeks 285 00:17:13.320 --> 00:17:16.359 in his New York home on a ranch where he 286 00:17:16.440 --> 00:17:18.320 has to wear a bracelet and can't leave a forty 287 00:17:18.359 --> 00:17:22.159 five acre radius, and then he's up for probation in 288 00:17:22.240 --> 00:17:24.080 two years. Like, I'm not going to be engaged with 289 00:17:24.160 --> 00:17:26.280 that unless I hear the actual verdict. 290 00:17:27.080 --> 00:17:33.359 Realistically, I just need money away from the police. I 291 00:17:33.400 --> 00:17:37.320 would like for this to actually be a catalyst. I 292 00:17:37.359 --> 00:17:41.080 don't want police reform. I want a full restructuring to 293 00:17:41.160 --> 00:17:46.720 abolishment of police, learning a new way of dealing with 294 00:17:46.840 --> 00:17:54.200 conflict and preserving life and culture. Let's all be able 295 00:17:54.280 --> 00:17:57.440 to have food, Let's all be able to have a home, 296 00:17:57.920 --> 00:18:01.719 Let's all be able to communicate, making sure that everybody 297 00:18:01.840 --> 00:18:02.360 can live. 298 00:18:05.280 --> 00:18:09.040 Coming up on Latino, USA, Umar and Alex discuss some 299 00:18:09.200 --> 00:18:12.639 of their struggles with race and Latini Dad as they 300 00:18:12.680 --> 00:19:05.400 were growing up. Stay with us not yes, Hey, We're 301 00:19:05.440 --> 00:19:12.960 back Afro Latino cousins. Umar Williams and Alex Newton continue 302 00:19:13.000 --> 00:19:17.439 their conversation about race and Latinidad one year after George 303 00:19:17.480 --> 00:19:21.200 Floyd's murder, and now they're going to go deep into 304 00:19:21.240 --> 00:19:25.600 their childhood and their teenage years. And also a quick note, 305 00:19:26.040 --> 00:19:28.639 You'll notice some difference in the sound quality in this 306 00:19:28.760 --> 00:19:31.800 part of the conversation because it was recorded on a 307 00:19:31.880 --> 00:19:35.880 different day and in quarantine, so still not in the studio. 308 00:19:37.480 --> 00:19:39.760 Here are Umar and Alex again. 309 00:19:42.119 --> 00:19:44.600 I grew up in Brooklyn, born in nineteen seventy five. 310 00:19:44.800 --> 00:19:48.440 Golden Asia hip hop, Lot of You know the crack era, Alex. 311 00:19:48.560 --> 00:19:52.360 You guys are Brunswick, Princeton Junction area. 312 00:19:52.800 --> 00:19:54.560 Yeah, Jersey, Jersey. 313 00:19:56.119 --> 00:19:59.040 We grew up in New Jersey, so it seems kind 314 00:19:59.080 --> 00:20:01.760 of like our parents like ran away to the suburbs 315 00:20:01.840 --> 00:20:03.239 to avoid the crack era. 316 00:20:03.680 --> 00:20:05.200 One thing I will throw in is that my dad 317 00:20:05.320 --> 00:20:07.720 is actually from Ghana. He and my mother met in 318 00:20:07.800 --> 00:20:08.200 New York. 319 00:20:08.560 --> 00:20:10.280 My mom used to explain to when we were younger, 320 00:20:10.680 --> 00:20:12.600 my dad dragged her away from from her. 321 00:20:12.600 --> 00:20:15.840 Family in the city and we moved into a New Jersey. 322 00:20:16.440 --> 00:20:17.919 I grew up very. 323 00:20:17.800 --> 00:20:21.159 Closely with my African cousins, so the Newton side of 324 00:20:21.200 --> 00:20:23.800 the family that they were literally a bike right away. 325 00:20:24.560 --> 00:20:27.000 The one interesting thing I will say about, you know, 326 00:20:27.080 --> 00:20:29.879 the black culture is, and especially given the time that 327 00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:32.280 my parents were born and the time that they decided 328 00:20:32.320 --> 00:20:33.040 to move, is. 329 00:20:33.119 --> 00:20:34.679 This whole idea of Pan Africanism. 330 00:20:34.800 --> 00:20:38.480 In the sixties, all these African countries were gaining independence. 331 00:20:38.760 --> 00:20:44.159 I think Marcus Garvey was huge, grew up years that 332 00:20:44.280 --> 00:20:46.480 has worked bothered, and there's this. 333 00:20:46.560 --> 00:20:50.919 Whole movement and feeling of Pan Africanism that extended itself 334 00:20:51.000 --> 00:20:56.160 into Jamaica and Barbados, made its way into Panama obviously, 335 00:20:56.520 --> 00:21:00.520 and I think that's what my mother was very much too. 336 00:21:00.640 --> 00:21:03.240 You know, she got herself some kente cloth, got herself 337 00:21:03.280 --> 00:21:07.200 an African husband, and like really leaned into the whole 338 00:21:07.280 --> 00:21:11.359 idea of you know, black people being united across the world. 339 00:21:11.880 --> 00:21:15.080 And what's funny is that your mom she reps Patama 340 00:21:15.280 --> 00:21:21.280 like nobody's business man. It's like, you know all about Badama, 341 00:21:21.880 --> 00:21:26.000 but is you know, definitely steeped in that Pan Africanism 342 00:21:26.640 --> 00:21:31.800 and the extension of preserving culture. 343 00:21:32.400 --> 00:21:33.520 My mother is the same way. 344 00:21:34.280 --> 00:21:37.760 I always grew up thinking we were West Indian before 345 00:21:37.760 --> 00:21:41.159 we were Latino, right, the whole Latino part of it. 346 00:21:41.680 --> 00:21:45.680 Because you go to West Indian Day Parade, which was 347 00:21:45.920 --> 00:21:49.720 always an event for our family. Our grandparents' home was 348 00:21:49.960 --> 00:21:55.720 literally blocks away from the epicenter of the parade. It's 349 00:21:56.080 --> 00:22:01.760 mostly the West Indian Caribbean energy and culture. You know, 350 00:22:01.920 --> 00:22:06.639 Trinidadians and Jamaicans and Saint Lucians and you know all that, 351 00:22:06.760 --> 00:22:10.280 but there's also Panamanians and Puerto Ricans and Cubans and 352 00:22:10.359 --> 00:22:14.639 Dominicans and brought the celebration of Carnival. 353 00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:18.960 Into that strip of the Parkway. It was a way 354 00:22:19.240 --> 00:22:24.200 for us all to gather together and celebrate. 355 00:22:24.160 --> 00:22:28.080 You know who we are, right and the minority identity 356 00:22:28.080 --> 00:22:33.879 with identity with which you probably most frequently identify is 357 00:22:34.359 --> 00:22:35.520 the one that's most attacked. 358 00:22:35.880 --> 00:22:37.240 For me growing up in New Jersey. 359 00:22:38.119 --> 00:22:39.760 First of all, you look at me and people were like, 360 00:22:39.840 --> 00:22:43.480 you're black, and nobody's like, oh, your dad's Ganaane. I mean, 361 00:22:43.920 --> 00:22:46.479 it's like you figure out that Africa is not a country, 362 00:22:46.720 --> 00:22:50.080 nobody's gonna specifiye that your dad's Ghanaan, and it's even 363 00:22:50.359 --> 00:22:53.119 Panama for your Latino. It's like people aren't used to 364 00:22:53.200 --> 00:22:57.119 seeing a black Latino. Amar was talking about, you know 365 00:22:57.160 --> 00:22:59.200 how he always grew up knowing that we were black. 366 00:22:59.320 --> 00:23:01.720 For us, it was at first and for me, just 367 00:23:01.800 --> 00:23:04.159 when I started being able to have in memory, we 368 00:23:04.280 --> 00:23:06.360 had just moved into a house in one of these 369 00:23:06.800 --> 00:23:10.440 white Italian suburbs, this is North Brunswick, and I don't 370 00:23:10.520 --> 00:23:14.240 remember exactly how it happened, but as soon as we 371 00:23:14.320 --> 00:23:17.920 moved in, people broke into our house and wrote get 372 00:23:17.960 --> 00:23:18.600 out on our wall. 373 00:23:18.760 --> 00:23:20.800 I remember that. I remember that distinctly. 374 00:23:21.200 --> 00:23:22.960 Yeah, I mean, if you, if you get explained, you 375 00:23:23.040 --> 00:23:24.320 probably know better than I do. 376 00:23:24.760 --> 00:23:27.680 Yeah, you were very young when that happened. I was 377 00:23:27.760 --> 00:23:31.720 literally like the day or the day after you guys 378 00:23:31.840 --> 00:23:36.240 moved in. I came to visit with my mom, who 379 00:23:36.280 --> 00:23:38.920 wanted to see what was going on. And again, we're 380 00:23:38.960 --> 00:23:41.960 close fit family. You mess with one, you're gonna mess 381 00:23:42.000 --> 00:23:45.040 with the whole family. So we coming in and be ready. 382 00:23:45.760 --> 00:23:49.720 I was just in college at that time. No, I 383 00:23:49.800 --> 00:23:50.960 was in high school and. 384 00:23:53.080 --> 00:23:56.840 Spray painted all over the world. Every room, every room, 385 00:23:57.960 --> 00:24:01.840 Get out, just get out. They moved in there, and 386 00:24:01.960 --> 00:24:06.880 it was really the first time my younger cousins, Newton cousins, 387 00:24:07.480 --> 00:24:11.359 had ever had to really experience it that blankantly. I 388 00:24:11.960 --> 00:24:15.760 I'm from Brooklyn. That would the cops a lot. I've 389 00:24:15.800 --> 00:24:20.240 been called before, I've been called baboom monkey. Got into 390 00:24:20.280 --> 00:24:24.480 a few fights in my youth because of that. But 391 00:24:25.280 --> 00:24:31.200 his parents made sure that they were as sheltered from 392 00:24:31.280 --> 00:24:32.600 that experience as possible. 393 00:24:33.080 --> 00:24:35.280 I can't see it visually, and maybe it's one of 394 00:24:35.320 --> 00:24:37.639 those things that my parents told me directly after that. 395 00:24:37.800 --> 00:24:40.960 But brother Ryan, like we grew up just being kids, 396 00:24:41.040 --> 00:24:44.760 not being black kids, until like that memory was brought 397 00:24:44.840 --> 00:24:47.239 for them, and it's like we didn't really talk too 398 00:24:47.320 --> 00:24:48.040 much about race. 399 00:24:48.760 --> 00:24:50.280 It's always as balanced. 400 00:24:49.920 --> 00:24:52.280 You know, and black families of how long can I 401 00:24:52.400 --> 00:24:55.240