The Resilience Series - Unboxed Conversations Part 2: Still in the Game - Guest: Ali Ballard

Speaker 0 (0:03): I feel like we are all here for a purpose. Yes. Like, you could be entertainment. Could have 15 letters behind your name, degrees. Yeah.

Speaker 0 (0:11): You could be pretty handsome. All of that is that's nice. Mhmm. But why are we here? And a part of this conversation that you've highlighted on could also play a role with mental health.

Speaker 0 (0:27): Yes. And if there's any families that's watching this Mhmm. And they have similar conversations going on within their household Yeah. And they wanna help protect their child because this is their journey, what would you say to them? Encourage them.

Speaker 0 (0:46): What do you, what did you have said to you that encouraged you or what do you wish you could have been told to help you become stronger on this journey?

Speaker 1 (0:59): I'm gonna give a lot of props to two people. First my mom and my wife, the mother of this child of said human being. My mom has the superpower to love you unconditionally. I have disagreed with her on the support I've seen her give, know, in certain ways. My mom could care less about my opinion.

Speaker 1 (1:26): She the elder, the power to love unconditionally and I understand that that has That power has changed the world. That has made people marry people of different religions. Taboo. Different races. Oh, different ethnic groups.

Speaker 1 (1:48): It's brought countries together, warring tribes. Love. It's crossed those taboo lines, the centuries, decades, hundreds of years. The Sutus are never married to Zutus. Love is like backseat fam.

Speaker 1 (2:09): And that's when I see evidence of God's love. We're gonna we're gonna bridge all of these beautiful divisions that humans love to create to separate, to put up here and down here. Love is like it doesn't respect any of those things. It is a higher vibration. It is a higher frequency and it carries change that the world needs.

Speaker 1 (2:36): So you will stop warring with the other rival faction through the power of love and love will bring with an understanding and compassion and humility, that freaking giant of a word. You don't know everything. You ain't been taught everything there is to learn. Keep a humble mind and a humble spirit. God ain't done with you yet.

Speaker 1 (3:01): You don't know. Everything known ain't been written yet.

Unknown Speaker (3:04): There you go.

Speaker 1 (3:05): No. There's more mysteries that the spirit of grace can reveal to the human spirit to us. So I love that word, keep an humble spirit. I love that word of old school, keep an humble spirit son, boy, you know what I mean? And see what else you can learn.

Speaker 1 (3:22): And I think that and anyone that has a family member that's has a different walk than the one you're used to.

Speaker 0 (3:30): Right.

Speaker 1 (3:31): The one you're taught to respect and people have it like you're gonna be an artist in the family of engineers and people that get ostracized, you know, for being an artist like people, you know, the small mindedness tries to keep, you know, what's in the spirit from going forward. You didn't wanna date somebody outside of the tribe or the race. Oh my God, you're destroying us. Not so much. Relax.

Speaker 1 (3:53): Love is leading here and you can love someone that's outside of the box. You've been taught that all people come in, you know, either this or you that, you know I'm saying? Like, nah, fam. And it helps us to break those chains, I feel, that humans create to separate, to oppress. You know, we're heavy on the judgment, we're heavy on the condemnation, and we're real light on the love.

Speaker 1 (4:26): We're light on the compassion. We're light on the humility. And we need to be heavy on the humility. We need to be heavy on the love. We need to be heavy on the kindness and compassion.

Speaker 1 (4:39): We're we're quick to attack, to hate, and to harm. And I don't I don't that that's not the future of humanity.

Speaker 0 (4:50): This is representation, and this is why we need to protect our black men. This is powerful, and we need more of this. We need more of these conversations so people can feel comfortable. When you're exposed to conversations like this, that will allow people to change their mindset that this could be a possible way to approach situations like this. And you are definitely showing leading with love is so powerful.

Unknown Speaker (5:21): Thank you.

Speaker 0 (5:23): But being a man, being a man Mhmm. Speaking

Unknown Speaker (5:29): I know. Yo. Go ahead.

Speaker 0 (5:32): Very intuitive, I But must whew. So

Speaker 1 (5:40): Can I say something? This was very Yo. Like, alright, so let me I said my mom, you know, my wife, you know, was in charge of all the reading, all of the, you know, my buddy Mark Sterling sent that, you know, piece about the two spirits. But, you know, my wife, you know, always give respect, you know, to the mother, you know. Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (6:03): Women lead and they lead big time.

Unknown Speaker (6:06): Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (6:06): And she was like, yo, you know, they were nervous. My family was nervous. My younger son was nervous about how I was gonna react, you know, because fathers are leaders too. And you set a huge vibrational tone in your house, and they know how strong you can be, how strong I am in my household. So they were there was a lot of nervous energy when my son was gonna make this announcement, you know, the other kid had rashes, he was really breaking his nose, this is gonna fracture us.

Speaker 1 (6:33): Is this gonna break us? That was a real concern for my youngest. Exactly. I think my wife, you know, knew me better, you know, you know, I'm thinking be some nervous concern, well, first of all, she didn't really know, that's the thing. She didn't have time to be like, oh my God, how you're gonna react.

Speaker 1 (6:49): I think afterwards she could have been concerned, but she didn't know, you know, only the two young, in real time, only the youngest that he, my eldest confided in the youngest. So, but he was exhibiting, you know, nervous energy. I was like, what's going on? Like it's happening at school. But they were concerned not about their mom, they they were concerned about me.

Speaker 1 (7:07): You know, the male energy. Will you become, you know, aggressive? Are you going to harm? You know, and I'm like

Speaker 0 (7:16): That's a possibility.

Speaker 1 (7:17): That's a possibility, you know. And so when I travel, you know, as an actor, you know, you know, I'm at the airport is when I usually meet a lot of people, you know, and when women come up to me, I'm I'm like, okay, it's either Sabrina the Teenage Witch or Queen Sugar. I'm like guessing which show they wanna talk about. Guys come up to me, I'm like, alright, this is gonna be CSI, this is gonna be Queen of the South, this is Latin dude, he gonna love Queen of the South, you know. And then the brothers come up, I don't know what they gonna do, right?

Speaker 1 (7:42): And so some guys would come up to me and be like, you're my man. And I'm like, what's up dawg? What up king? How you doing brother? Like, you know, I call a dude, I call because of my New York City background, I call you king, I'll call you brother, right?

Speaker 1 (7:55): So that's like my standard if I meet a brother, you know, or any guy almost. And I always look doc, I always love this interaction. Yo man, I saw that thing you did on Black Love, which is new because we only did it a couple of years ago. I love what you and your wife talked about. I love that.

Speaker 1 (8:17): And I know that the guys know I'm a regular guy. So, you know, like nobody, you've to Hollywood for a long time, but when you talk people kinda can get where you from. They kinda, oh you a neighborhood guy. I'm yeah yeah, I'm a neighborhood guy. So I don't, Hollywood didn't do nothing to me, homeboy.

Speaker 1 (8:39): You know, didn't change a damn thing about who we are here. So it's always good to hear from somebody that you, you know, that come from where you come from and because you know they're talking, have experienced it and they're not the fake thing that people say that people who think that way are. Know, White Plains Road, Gun Hill, get at me.

Unknown Speaker (9:13): There you go.

Speaker 1 (9:13): That's what it is homeboy. And so I love when brothers come up to me and they wanna chat and then, you know, and that happens a lot.

Unknown Speaker (9:20): Really?

Speaker 1 (9:21): It happens a lot. It's happened to famous people who have kids and they wanna call you like you get a call. He also wants to talk to you like, oh, okay, cool. So just walk you through real humble because I ain't no expert at all. I'm an expert dad, you know what I'm saying?

Speaker 1 (9:38): But I'm no expert in anyone's, you know, psychological, gender. I'm just gonna talk to you about my experience And people do love that. They love the humility.

Speaker 0 (9:47): And that's, it's necessary, it's needed, and it's a form of support.

Unknown Speaker (9:50): Yes.

Unknown Speaker (9:51): So, whew. That's powerful.

Unknown Speaker (9:54): We went down that street.

Speaker 0 (9:56): Powerful. So we're walking through, and so I have a nonprofit, Parole Health Foundation. Yes. I focus on autism awareness and mental health advocacy. And one thing I've learned that so many families are navigating these unexpected journeys with their children, whether it's neurodivergence, gender identity, mental health challenges, and what connects all of it is, is that we love our children fiercely.

Speaker 0 (10:25): And we'll move heaven and earth to make sure that they feel safe and seen So and with that being said, how do you think this ties into the mental health advocacy? Because you explained that one of your children displayed other signs of distress.

Unknown Speaker (10:45): Yes.

Speaker 0 (10:46): And many times people don't recognize that as a form of a symptom, that they're having some challenges or, and even when this is happening within a household, there could be a form of secondary depression or people can become withdrawn, isolated. There are so many ways that people could possibly, you know, digest and this then the mental health sets in. In terms of advocacy, how does that sit with you? How do you think that this could be a way for us to highlight that and provide that support and also point out some more of those symptoms that you did notice on this journey?

Speaker 1 (11:33): To answer it, the first part I would say what I found has been that has been tremendous. What I have found that's been tremendous is listening to your children. Listen. Not for what you wanna hear but for what they're saying and then quite possibly what they're not saying.

Unknown Speaker (11:55): There you go.

Speaker 1 (11:56): Right. I'm I'm from New York so I'm really tough on security locking doors, locking windows. One time I accused my wife of, you know, plotting with the kidnappers because she closed the windows but she didn't want to lock them. She was like, you're a psychopath. I'm like, I'm not serious about security.

Speaker 1 (12:11): You know what I'm saying? Second amendment, all that. Run up in the house, that's on you. Right? God bless you.

Speaker 1 (12:15): Hope the Lord is with you. You know I mean? I'm real, but that's my background. Make sure everything is secure, And you so I had to move my whole beingness to be as diligent about listening, which is a receptive quality, not a Marshall quality. So you have to listen.

Speaker 1 (12:37): So you had, you were marked about hearing this from a man and I was laughing because it's taken so much effort for me to not, to also not not be Marshall, but to work in that space of being receptive and listening. And that's not a Marshall quality. That's a receptive quality. And you're gonna have to lean into that space if you're be a good dada. If you're gonna be a good papa, you're gonna have to open up that heart muscle and just listen.

Speaker 1 (13:07): Not fix, but listen. Wait them out till they're ready to tell you and then listen to what they not saying. Try to figure it out and find ways to gently approach these kids and make sure that they're healthy and whole. And people work in their lives are experiencing things that, you know they don't know have a name for. I you know I encourage anyone or they're not familiar with you know a go to way of being is to listen and listen closely.

Speaker 1 (13:40): And then, you know, for what she's not saying or what he's not saying because you're gonna be like, you know, catching in a medical profession catching something early before it gets real crazy. Right?

Speaker 0 (13:50): Nonverbal communication is powerful.

Unknown Speaker (13:52): Yes.

Speaker 0 (13:52): That's a key as well. Yes. So I think that is important, but what's important is also preventing homicidal, suicidal ideation with these conversations, right?

Unknown Speaker (14:04): Yeah.

Speaker 0 (14:05): And especially with AI now, people are turning to AI for that connection and conversation, especially when they feel ostracized from their family unit.

Unknown Speaker (14:16): Yes.

Speaker 0 (14:17): So thank you for that.

Unknown Speaker (14:18): Because you see it, if you're not, if you're so busy you're gonna miss it. You're gonna miss that on ramp or that off ramp.

Speaker 0 (14:24): You could easily miss those verbals or a small minor change in that routine or if they're telling you they have a companion, you're not knowing it's a a rogue AI, like Yeah. Because that's new

Unknown Speaker (14:40): Yes.

Unknown Speaker (14:41): For us.

Unknown Speaker (14:42): Yes.

Speaker 0 (14:42): We we we that's new. So that's the even different layer of challenges that we have to navigate through because that was never a part of our conversation that, you know

Unknown Speaker (14:53): It didn't exist.

Speaker 0 (14:54): Your child could possibly romantically be involved with AI Mhmm. Bot.

Unknown Speaker (14:59): With with a soft with software.

Speaker 0 (15:02): And that could also influence them to

Unknown Speaker (15:05): Yes.

Speaker 0 (15:05): Be depressed or commit suicide. Yes. These are real conversations and real life situations that we're being faced with that we otherwise never And had to

Speaker 1 (15:14): human history that I can Yeah. Think of, That that'd be something to be cognizant of and to be watchful for. You know, that catch all for me is pay attention, listen to them, don't force them. And when you have a vision for your kids above what's speaking to their soul, you kinda put things on them. But if you'd be like, okay, their soul's gonna inform me about their mission on earth.

Speaker 1 (15:38): And if I pay attention, I can help them with the God given mission that they on earth to reveal and express. Then I'm not in a make you into what you're supposed to be, but listen, watch, and support, and reinforce it. And that puts you in a position, it won't be fail foolproof, but you'll be closer to catching what, you know, it's subtle there at the beginnings if there's some harm happening, if there's something that feels like, you know, that's eating them, you know, from the inside.

Speaker 0 (16:10): Wow. Okay. So I think that with that being said, I think we did highlight and touch on that mental health, which is very serious. I wanna transition to you running on the beach.

Unknown Speaker (16:23): Oh, perfect transition though. Perfect transition. Hold on. Me

Unknown Speaker (16:29): wanna transition to

Unknown Speaker (16:30): what Sorry about that.

Unknown Speaker (16:30): What type about health? I'm sorry. I mean,

Unknown Speaker (16:33): adjust myself.

Unknown Speaker (16:34): No. No.

Unknown Speaker (16:34): My man flesh shove me. There we go.

Unknown Speaker (16:36): Because all respect to your life. We see you posting these videos and I see the comments. Come on. Come on. Because we run to the comments.

Unknown Speaker (16:48): Really beaded.

Speaker 0 (16:51): So what is hype about health? What are you doing these days to stay healthy? Because that that transitions from 20, like you can't do the same things, you can't eat the same amount of carbs, your metabolism changes,

Unknown Speaker (17:04): mean, it's

Unknown Speaker (17:05): just facts, right?

Unknown Speaker (17:06): Yes, facts, human. I mean for the most part, human biological facts, you know what I'm saying? It's so funny that like running on the beach is my That's

Unknown Speaker (17:16): not a thing.

Speaker 1 (17:17): Yo, it is so weird man, like as life will you know, press you, stress you, different dimensions, kids, some people I got grandkids, you know, so what do you do for yourself? You know what I mean? Because you don't go to the club, right? Yeah. You don't go out, your outlets, the 20 year old outlets, they don't fit at 30, 40, 50, 60.

Speaker 1 (17:40): They're going to you're going to have to get some new some new dudes, homie. You won't be able, you know what I'm saying, to go wild and just get all of the tension out of your system the way you used to do it. So what is healthy? What can you do? And I found, like I've always, you know, been working out, but it was for cuteness, it was for sexiness.

Unknown Speaker (18:02): And then like, let some years pass and it'll be for mental health, It'll for cardiovascular health. It'll be for your cholesterol. And it's like facts. You'd be like, no. Be like, yes fam.

Speaker 1 (18:13): You out there keeping your inner organs tight. You know what I'm saying? The fringe benefit is you look good, but I think you'd be lying or you're not paying attention if you don't clock that you're doing it for your mental health.

Unknown Speaker (18:29): Definitely.

Speaker 1 (18:30): Oh, know my every hot yoga, I know cats didn't give a shit about yoga. Like we be laughing at the dudes in yoga studio, now my man be like, alright, Oli, hold on. You know, after my hot yoga, I'll holler at you. You're like, yo, like we used to send each other booty pics, you know what I'm saying? Like when in your twenties, you'd be like, yo yo, you'd be like, you'd be sending your dudes in like it's so crazy how the text thread between the homies changes through the decades.

Speaker 1 (18:56): It's sad, man. We used to be, you know, we used to be brolic, we used to be like spicy. Yo, we be sending affirmations on the dude text thread.

Unknown Speaker (19:07): That is not sad.

Speaker 1 (19:10): Homeboys, ain't that sad? Like, on. Let's weigh in. Look at your old Nokia phone from '98 to the one you got now. You at that stage where like you checking on your man's, like how y'all doing?

Speaker 1 (19:22): How the kids doing? How's your youngest doing? And you'll be literally spending sending prayer, prayer verses, man, to keep each other empowered, to keep you in your right mind. You'd be like, alright, man. Saw you limping the other day homeboy.

Speaker 1 (19:36): What you doing, dog? What you doing, dog? You teasing him for his health. You trying to elicit health amongst your crew, your council of kings, your circle of queens to make sure y'all good in this world. Like as a guy, I've like, I watched the evolution.

Speaker 1 (19:50): I've just been like, my hair's gone. You listen, you be like, your vanity, I know, I know, I gotta speak it though because guys will know, like you gotta tell the truth. Like you be like, you'll watch, you'll see yourself on paper and you'd be like, and you're happy, you're proud of yourself but you also go like, oh my gosh, it's such a different world than I had imagined, you know, from my twenties, you know, and it's a beautiful one. It's a great one. It's as it should be, you know, so but I like to keep it spicy.

Unknown Speaker (20:20): So that's why I'd be topless on the beach. You know what I'm saying? I'd fighting. I'd be raging. I'd be raging against, I'd be raging against my position.

Unknown Speaker (20:27): You know what I'm saying? I'd be like, I gotta flex, you know, because I'm always gonna be a kid brother, you know what I mean? I like to kick at it a little bit. I like to, you know, find ways to not be pigeonholed, to not, you know, you know, to stay current, you know what I'm saying? To do the things that bring you joy, you know what I mean?

Speaker 1 (20:44): And fitness, you know, is is a is a beautiful thing.

Speaker 0 (20:46): And you it's important to I encourage to embrace every season Yeah. Of The age. Yes. Whatever you're going through because you're gonna have happy seasons, you're gonna have sad seasons and you're gonna have seasons that are completely wild. Yes.

Unknown Speaker (21:03): Yeah, baby. Unexpected. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker (21:05): Yes.

Speaker 0 (21:06): But and so that's why I call myself, you know, I'm I don't mind being seasoned.

Speaker 1 (21:11): Oh, I love it. But don't get me

Unknown Speaker (21:13): Oh, no. No. I don't think you

Unknown Speaker (21:15): do it. Oh. Oh, no. No. No.

Unknown Speaker (21:17): No.

Speaker 0 (21:17): I definitely I definitely encourage embracing all of those seasons because it's a it's quite a journey.

Unknown Speaker (21:25): Yes.

Speaker 0 (21:25): But how are you keeping yourself mentally fit, sharp?

Unknown Speaker (21:30): Yeah.

Speaker 0 (21:31): And you're on all of these television shows. You're on another television show, with Yachty. Family business.

Unknown Speaker (21:39): The family business, yes. Yes, the family business. Detective Thompson, yes.

Speaker 0 (21:44): And so how do you stay mentally sharp and remember all of these roles?

Speaker 1 (21:50): The first thing that comes to my mouth is mind is water. You gotta drink a lot of water. It purifies, it gets rid of toxins. There's so many toxins that we ingest from, you know, just plastics in in in in in what we drink out of. The, you know, there's so many studies about the drinking out of paper cups.

Speaker 1 (22:08): What keeps a paper cup from dissolving is a coating. A coating is not good for you. It gets into your bloodstream. You gotta keep, you know, your body hydrated and with good quality water to get rid of toxins. And so that's one of the first things, but I do Irish moss, soursop is the cancer killer, I take B complex for the nervous system, all the stuff for for for dudes, you take stuff for your, what's it called?

Speaker 1 (22:34): What not with the prostate, take all your prostate stuff, but I'm on I eat green, I make carrot, beet, ginger juice for the household, you know what I'm saying? Because we're gonna be pretty forever, like that's just Forever. That's really what's gonna happen. Because if

Speaker 0 (22:49): she Black doesn't crack

Unknown Speaker (22:50): anyway. No. Fam, if you take care of that, come on. If she fine in her thirties and forties fellas, she gonna be fine To just find a way to deal with that. She gonna be good looking forever.

Speaker 1 (23:01): You go forever. And for brother, if he's he good in his fifties, he's his forties, he is a good it's a good me and my boys are planning No, are planning a calendar, a 68 year old calendar. Like I want it 68, not a day, not 65, 68 because you're looking down a barrel of 70, you know, because you can live a healthy life. You can celebrate your biological age. You can celebrate God's gift that you're still here.

Speaker 1 (23:31): You can celebrate how beautiful you think you look. Know, and put that on display. So me and my my dudes is if we all still alive, that's the that's the plan. Okay. We're for it.

Speaker 0 (23:41): And I encourage people to make sure they stay up on top of going to the doctor's office because in the black community many times we don't have that confidence with the health care providers and let's keep it real, we've been used as test dummies over the years and there's facts to support that. So when we have, especially the elders in our community

Unknown Speaker (24:05): Yes.

Speaker 0 (24:05): They do not want to go for prostate exams, breast examinations, and they think that possibly the syphilis project, things like that that has happened historically, it has given them loss, you know, hope. What are your thoughts about that in terms of trying to encourage our community to stay healthy going for those checks because even health is not just physical. Yeah. It's mental, it's emotional, social, all of those things matter. It's dynamic.

Unknown Speaker (24:36): Yes.

Speaker 0 (24:36): What what are your thoughts about people encouraging people within a community? Because you're doing a great job, but let's encourage too.

Speaker 1 (24:44): Yes, ma'am. I I encourage people. I one of the first thing that let me just start here. The first thing is you cannot run your fork. So we have to watch what we're putting in our mouths and watch what we're putting in our heads, you know, your diet, your spiritual diet, your mental diet and what you are eating.

Speaker 1 (25:04): Very often in our country what we're eating is killing us. We eat a lot of processed food, that's just the way our country has gone in the last thirty years. You know, a Chips Ahoy cookie, a Ritz cracker, it's not the same Ritz you ate in 1975. It's a whole different thing. It is not.

Speaker 1 (25:24): Breyer is the same ice cream, it's the same name brand, but it's not the same food. True. Oh, and a lot of the things we're ingesting, it's not for our well-being. I encourage people to take a look. If there's more than 50 ingredients in what you're eating, I I recommend, I I encourage anybody to stop eating that thing.

Speaker 1 (25:44): Find a substitute because, you know, because you ate it as a kid and I've shared videos on, you had mentioned some of social media, I've shared videos of people were like, you know, it's not the same thing you ate when you was a kid, it's made differently to process, the food processing industry in our country of birth has really taken over, you know, what we consume. And so certain things are carcinogenic, know, you know, items I won't, you know, Many. And if you read certain labels, they'll say it on the labels because by law, least the laws until they change under the current administration quite possibly, but they have to list the carcinogenic items and food and you'll see some of the things we're eating. And I think that's a big, a big thing in America with obesity and then with chronic health organ failures. So get your checkups and watch what you are putting in your mouth.

Speaker 1 (26:39): It very often is causing you chronic disease.

Speaker 0 (26:44): Yes, especially with so much that's happening in the media with maternal health and unfortunately African American women having poor outcomes.

Unknown Speaker (26:56): Let me tell you something. Have personal experience with that. Likewise. Personal experience with that. And this is, you know Was

Speaker 0 (27:04): it with your wife?

Unknown Speaker (27:07): Yes.

Speaker 0 (27:07): Tell me about that because

Speaker 1 (27:10): I haven't talked about it too much. You know, it was during a hard season in life. You know what I mean? This was a lot going on. It's about ten years ago.

Speaker 1 (27:19): That hospital has been sued by another person for something that we got close to experiencing, you know, I won't name the medical institution but systemic racism can only it can only be systemic if it's a lot of places. Like it can't be off the cuff of one another once in a while racism. But it's systemic because it's

Unknown Speaker (27:46): you Definitely.

Speaker 1 (27:47): In in each aspect of American society and you'll find it in the medical profession. You'll find black women dying in hospitals, not being given care pain medicine at a systemic level. Each and every situation those people need to be brought to account, sued underneath the floor. They need to be brought to account. That is about the welfare of, it's like a human rights issue.

Speaker 1 (28:17): You know what I mean to target or to be negligent for a demographic of people whether you don't like blonde people, you don't like brown people, you don't like tall people, short people, fat people, you know, people with accents, whatever it is your peccadillo to put upon that person poor negligent healthcare is criminal.

Speaker 0 (28:40): It is criminal.

Speaker 1 (28:41): And it should be challenged and met by all your colleagues there, the nursing staff there with no thought, you know, to repercussions but you make sure you you make a system. We already have a four profit medical system in this country. One of the only civilized, I'm sorry, first world countries with a for profit medical system. Are we great yet? You know what I mean?

Speaker 1 (29:12): And in this for profit, the big country where most people go to bankruptcy for medical debt, are we great yet?

Speaker 0 (29:21): Homelessness.

Speaker 1 (29:21): Homelessness, are we great yet? And even in that system of for profit, the nerve to target a demographic or group of people with negligent care that they're being charged out the out the nose for is obscene, it is evil.

Speaker 0 (29:43): We I want us to be seen as humans.

Unknown Speaker (29:48): We are.

Speaker 0 (29:49): And oftentimes it's not happening. And being in healthcare, I see it on both ends. I see it being at the bedside, being on the medical side, and I see it as a patient. And it's really shocking to me that this is still prevalent, that women are going into the medical centers asking for help, being in pain, being in labor, and they're being intentionally ignored. We are mothers.

Speaker 0 (30:23): Yes. We are daughters. Mhmm. Wives. And at the end of the day, we all believe the same.

Speaker 0 (30:34): And I don't know why that's forgotten when we enter the health care system. I see the difference when certain patients enter the door and how they're embraced and how they're addressed.

Speaker 1 (30:55): Any society that teaches that there's a tier to humanity, there's a favored people or a master group. The spiritual spiritual wickedness of it, the the spiritual adolescence, the spiritual foolery of it, really on a spiritual level without being too condescending. It's foolery. It's wickedness. It's evil.

Speaker 1 (31:23): It is bargain. It is devoid of spirit to have a philosophy, a psychological framework of superiority. And the way to express that is to try to inflict it in any way you can to push down on whoever's not a part of this phantom group, this phantom leader, this phantom caste system that you've been indoctrinated with. It is beyond and people lose their lives behind it. It needs to be challenged, it's spiritual At

Unknown Speaker (32:00): alarming rates.

Speaker 1 (32:01): At alarming rates. And it visited my family personally through the grace of God. It didn't go to the other place. I did an episode of All Rise on ABC or whatever I forget what station I was on. And I played it was a hard role to take because of what I went through, but play a husband who loses who's lost his wife to the medical to this phenomenon in America.

Speaker 1 (32:37): And the writer of the episode had lost a family member. It was such a personal thing for him to write. It had happened in his family, and it had happened close to me. And we had a moment, you know, and I forget the young man's name. Sometimes art gets a chance to put a spotlight on what needs to be healed in our society.

Speaker 1 (33:03): And I love it True. When grace allows me to participate in that. When when the when the spirit of grace allows me to be used in a story that sheds light on where the healing needs to go, where the love needs to be increased, where the evil needs to be released and dissipated.

Speaker 0 (33:23): I'm glad you highlighted that because that is one of the important roles and factors with entertainment because you really can utilize your

Unknown Speaker (33:33): passion Oh, yes.

Speaker 0 (33:35): To storytell and highlight what the concerns are

Unknown Speaker (33:41): Baldwin.

Speaker 0 (33:42): Especially in underserved populations.

Unknown Speaker (33:44): Yes.

Unknown Speaker (33:44): People who don't feel like they have a voice.

Speaker 1 (33:47): Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, Maya Angelou, people using that space, you know, for decades to highlight, you know, how we need to be more human in our society, more humane and that people doing it right now. So you find it in a lot of great places and it I always part of my prayer when I pray, you know, for the you know, for the work that I do as an artist, as an actor is to be in that space, in that orbit where what I'm doing is of a greater service. I mean, it certainly makes me money, it's great for me as a career, like to invest my career, but I also put that little extra bit in the prayer that when possible to allow what I'm doing to resonate and move love forward to be a part of what heals us as a people, human.

Unknown Speaker (34:41): Yes.

Speaker 1 (34:42): The human people. Earthlings.

Speaker 0 (34:46): My gosh, so this was an amazing discussion. I could obviously talk to you forever and they're gonna Yes, out of your action.

Unknown Speaker (34:54): Okay. Do that then. Be about that.

Speaker 0 (34:57): But, gosh, it was so many highlights of, you know, in this conversation. I'm so glad that we were able to speak on so many needs, that resonates with us. Right? Then so much alignment, so many things Yes. We'll discuss off camera as well.

Speaker 0 (35:21): But one thing that I haven't spoke about publicly is I personally did have a crisis and I was rushed into the hospital. And prior leading up to that crisis in the acute care unit is that I was speaking to the medical team, telling them that something wasn't right, my breathing was off, you know, the edema was really, you know, really bad. It was very severe. When you're pregnant, you do have a minimal amount or trace edema, things like that. But I really knew that I needed to have more monitoring.

Speaker 0 (36:01): And for some reason, the medicals, it just did not translate and they didn't feel like I needed, you know, a special

Speaker 1 (36:11): Their lack of humanity showed And

Speaker 0 (36:12): was just a moment where understood that regardless of what your background is, regardless of how you present, the what you the the support, the evidence that you have to, you know, back your claims, it was just interesting to see how, you know, they responded to me. And I knew at that point it was nothing but the color of my skin.

Unknown Speaker (36:38): Oh, yeah.

Speaker 0 (36:39): Which led me into having an emergency c section and almost dying in the hospital with a blood pressure 200 over a 100 and them pushing emergency medications through an IV line to keep me from crashing. And all I could think is, God, take me or not my baby. But to have to be faced with that because of the lack of medical attention, the lack of support, and the way that I was, it was a level of coldness. And it needs to stop, it needs to end.

Unknown Speaker (37:20): It will.

Speaker 0 (37:20): Thank you for highlighting that.

Speaker 1 (37:23): You're welcome. Before we go, the only the only argument I ever had with Jesus Christ was about my wife's life. Argument. We had a full out argument in the car about this. So I'm driving over Laurel Canyon and, you know, the phone rings after leaving the hospital, after a surgery, and it's like a scene at the ER, you know, Grey's Anatomy, yelling people in the background, what's going on baby?

Speaker 1 (37:55): I'm going there, rushing me in, after night of complaining about stuff.

Unknown Speaker (37:59): Right?

Speaker 1 (38:02): And then the phone hangs up. I'm driving home like to relieve, you know, my sister-in-law who's in heaven now, hey auntie, and to take the kids to school in the morning. And I'm like, what the is going on here? So I take them to school, I'm numb, it's surreal. So like it's like all of the sound got drained out of the world.

Speaker 1 (38:23): I'm driving back over the hill. I don't think I've ever shared this story. Not publicly anyway. I was like, just like you, I have a it's not a thing you talk about all the time, I you was like, this woman leaving Earth? And I distinctly and I don't care what anyone has to say about it.

Speaker 1 (38:49): I called on Yeshua, the Christ. Say, listen homeboy, I don't know where you at in the universe, what you doing, Karen, you know, conflicts in The Middle East, I don't know what you up to. I'm gonna need you to use a portion of what you do because all things are possible. You can do all things. And I know, you know, people have been in crisis and had to, have those kind of talks and I didn't know what my life was going to look like when I drove back to this hospital.

Speaker 1 (39:24): But I was like, I need you to figure out a way. And I used a lot of different kind of language, a lot of colorful New York City Bronx language.

Unknown Speaker (39:32): Out of the frustration and

Speaker 1 (39:34): You know, I was like, fam, listen, I work for you all the time, you know. I mean, you know, you got me on this life journey, like, but we've already established that. I'm a need, you know, I'm a need you to whatever rules get bent, whatever, however realities get stitched together, whatever you can do, I'm a need you to go to that hospital to sort that out.

Unknown Speaker (39:57): Right.

Speaker 1 (39:57): Fam. I'll see you when I get there, dawg. And I don't know, I've never talked out of my tongue to the, I have never had any cause to, to, you know, to like, felt like I was in the matrix.

Speaker 0 (40:13): That you knew your wife needed that

Speaker 1 (40:15): Right now. Protection. Right now. Because you know in miracle space, the human world is lights be on and off. The spirit, changing human biology, changing vessels, that's nothing to the higher to the higher power.

Speaker 1 (40:33): And I don't mean to go all off script here, but we know what miracles and blessings. We've enough people have know they shouldn't be on earth without a miracle to know it's possible. They wouldn't be on human earth, they'd be somewhere else. There's enough people around to be like, yeah, that gun didn't fire because well

Unknown Speaker (40:53): That's true.

Speaker 1 (40:54): No, I know people who like that on 10/08/1988, I should have been gone off so there's enough we've seen enough evidence knowing miracles are real so I'm like I'm gonna need one of those today and we're gonna be solid for life and I don't know how that you know if who was listening who was not listening but that was a conversation I was having around this issue

Speaker 0 (41:15): No, I completely get it. Death visited me as well that

Speaker 1 (41:19): day You gotta be like, listen fam, no. Yeah. I need you to come over here. That's not on my docket. Our time is our time, but sometimes you're in the space where it's like, hold on.

Speaker 0 (41:33): No. God, I need your divine energy.

Speaker 1 (41:35): Right here. Move this. Move this now. I'm not even talking for myself. I'm just like, I'm like, I'm alive.

Unknown Speaker (41:45): I'm in this car. I don't even know how I drove. You know, you're not even piloted in the car at this point. You don't even know how you get back to the hospital. You just, you in the parking lot, you know, people listen, if you don't live long enough more than forty five days on earth, you know what the hell I'm talking about.

Speaker 1 (41:58): And I'm like, I pull up, I'm like, I'm going up in the elevator like, oh yeah, what's up? All right, come out of surgery, doctor come out here, I'm looking at doctor, I'm like, all kinds of things going through my head. I'm like, y'all just tell me what I need to hear. And I just sat there, silent, just like zombie afterward. I'm just like, surreal.

Speaker 1 (42:23): She alive, she at the house right now. You right here, looking amazing, both looking beautiful, living your God, know, journey, you know what I mean? And you know, when you, these are the things, you know, we try to pass on to our youth, how to invoke the great spirit, how to call forth Christ if you need it, how to call forth your angelic, your ancestral support. There's more to this world than just, you know, that cup, you know, my phone, these sneakers. There's a there are final vibrations in the ethers that sometimes you gotta lean into.

Unknown Speaker (43:04): Let

Unknown Speaker (43:07): him work.

Unknown Speaker (43:11): That's it. Yes, ma'am.

Speaker 0 (43:13): So we're gonna be wrapping up, but just to highlight any projects that you want at this moment, please do so. Let us know how we can continue to support your platform.

Unknown Speaker (43:26): Oh, thank you queen.

Unknown Speaker (43:27): Beautiful family.

Unknown Speaker (43:28): Thank you Queen.

Speaker 0 (43:29): All of those things. Let us know that.

Speaker 1 (43:31): Alright. I'm I'm at Aladdie Ballard at all of the, socials. Working on, of course, Law and Order as, attorney Della Hunt, you know, a high powered defense attorney. And the family business as a detective with with duplicitous motives and there's a few other things but I think those are the major ones to look out for. But I like to surprise people.

Unknown Speaker (43:59): The things that I'm on regularly, I like to know about, but there are a couple of other things that I'd be, you know, if you I like to surprise my family.

Speaker 0 (44:05): Okay. And then you mentioned to me you had some advice for retaining those lines. Yes. You want to help people be successful on their journey.

Speaker 1 (44:16): Yeah. As an actor, we were talking about how how the the process of learning lines and how to make that more, easier or to make us stick better. Write out how you feel. Don't even look at the lines, next to the lines write down, how do I feel? How do I feel about who I'm talking to?

Speaker 1 (44:33): How do I feel about what I'm talking about? And once you know how you feel, the lines are secondary. I'm mad, I'm pissed, oh my God, I want to strangle that person, oh my God, I like this person, I'm trying to get over there, I'm trying to get this money. Once you know your motives because we run on emotion, we run on intention. But very often you'll have an intention in which your lies are a lie, your lines are a lie, you're not even telling your real intention.

Speaker 1 (44:58): You're saying a story to get what you want because you gotta have an objective. So when you know how you feel about what you're doing, why you're there, and what you want out of there, and how you feel about the person you're talking to or about what you're talking about, The lines are secondary, you got an objective you want. So learning the lines becomes like a way to express your objective.

Speaker 0 (45:17): Focus on the feeling, the emotion

Unknown Speaker (45:21): Yes.

Unknown Speaker (45:21): And everything else.

Speaker 1 (45:22): What do you want out of the scene? I want him to come home with me. Okay, that's what I want at the end of the scene. That's what I want him to come home with me, whether that's my husband or my son. I need him from those cops, I need him from that lady over here with me, I need him to make up his mind, whatever it is, I want him over here with me.

Unknown Speaker (45:41): I know what my objective is. All right, now what are these lines talking about? How am I gonna get there? Like that like as clear as day, that's my son over there, these cops have him on his car, I need him over here with me. How do I make that happen?

Speaker 1 (45:54): What words I need to say or not say, what I need to do or not do to get that. And you want you to know what you want, you know how you feel about all the players and how they affect you getting what you want. And the words are secondary, that just a means to get your objective to you. He with that lady, she a bum. I need him to say no and come over here.

Unknown Speaker (46:14): How do I do that? Hey, how are you mister John? So good to see you. Wah wah wah wah you with me.

Speaker 0 (46:22): Okay. Five questions. Yes. Fill in the fill in the blanks. Yes.

Speaker 0 (46:26): Okay. My biggest excitement in life was?

Speaker 1 (46:32): Discovering my purpose and why I came to Earth.

Speaker 0 (46:36): My biggest heartbreak was?

Unknown Speaker (46:39): I don't know if I've had that yet. I don't know if I've had that.

Speaker 0 (46:42): My most spontaneous moment in life was

Speaker 1 (46:45): Deciding to walk into Mind Builders Creative Arts Center at the age of 16 and leave the streets and discover I was an artist.

Speaker 0 (46:53): The most beautiful actress you've worked with was?

Unknown Speaker (46:58): Dawn Ballard. I'm I'm I'm and Debbie Morgan. Okay. Dawn Ballard and Debbie Morgan. How about I do it like that?

Unknown Speaker (47:08): I was not setting No. You

Unknown Speaker (47:11): Oh, it's all good. Dawn Ballard and Debbie Morgan. Get at me.

Unknown Speaker (47:17): What else? Gosh.

Unknown Speaker (47:21): Mhmm.

Speaker 0 (47:22): The next artist I would love to work with, I have not yet to work with is

Speaker 1 (47:29): Ryan Coogler. Denis, the director of Dune, Michael b Jordan, are these two, I was gonna say, Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan. And they have they have just fundamentally just blew me away as artists in their commitment to cinema and to what they wanna put out in the world, and, both of them. And a buddy of mine, Omar Benson Miller, did Sinners, and I just saw him recently.

Speaker 1 (47:59): He was like, Ollie, it is everything you think. They are that. And it's like, you know, they did have this they have a they'll say, never meet your idols. Don't don't meet your idols. Let them stay idols.

Speaker 1 (48:09): So when you hear people meet people that you are so moved by and they tell you you couldn't be in a better room. Right there. Alright.

Unknown Speaker (48:22): Well, that's a wrap. That's a wrap. I wanna appreciate you for being here. Yeah. And, oh, gosh.

Speaker 0 (48:29): We've learned so much from And you just keep shining your light.

Unknown Speaker (48:33): Yes.

Speaker 0 (48:34): You keep on with this journey impacting others and being a source of advocacy, a source of strength, a source of motivation.

Unknown Speaker (48:43): Yes, ma'am. Please do the same. I I return that spirit right back to you.

Speaker 0 (48:48): So for now, stay unboxed and fearless.

Unknown Speaker (48:50): That's right. I shall.

Unknown Speaker (48:51): Thank you.