 Thank you again for tuning in to Will Mega TV. Please subscribe, click like, drop your thoughts in the comments area, and if you really want to see us continue to push out great content, support us. Cash App Will Mega. That's Dollar Sign Will Mega. Dollar Sign Will Mega. Thank you. It's so beautiful to see so many, so many people here for the opening of a live. It's a beautiful day, and we're blessed to have Elyon Sashivao here with us. I know. I saw you February 21st at my father's memorial celebration. I'm so honored to have Dr. Mark Lamont Hill as our emcee, while we welcomed Dr. Angela Davis to the Shabazz Center and several others, and to have you as our emcee was a dream come true. It was an honor, and we hope to see you again May 19th at the next celebration. That is both compliment and request. Yes, I got you. I got you. Just a blessing. You know, I had a very busy week that week, and then you asked me at home, and I said, yeah, I mean, how can I say no to that? Now who makes his daughter say, hey, can you come up and emcee the event memorializing your father's tragic passing? But it's not just that your father means so much to me. It's what you mean to us. It's what you mean to us. And interesting, because your father's one of the most significant figures to ever be produced in this country. Yes. He means so much to everybody in this room, everybody around the country, everybody around the world. And yet you managed to follow in that tradition in your own way, not just your father's tradition, but also your mother's tradition. What does it mean for you to be in that tradition? What does it mean for you to follow the legacy? And you know, honestly, it wasn't like I set out, I guess we don't need my default, right? It wasn't like I set out to follow in anybody's legacy or to be my mother or father's footsteps. But I think it's the way my mother raised us. You know, when she lost her life, I took a step back and I looked at this woman, you know, who was just in her 20s when she witnessed her husband's assassination. A week prior to that, she lay in bed with her husband as a fire bomb was thrown in a room where her baby slept and she was pregnant. And to have been able to raise six girls, you know, with specific values, you know, to be proud of who they were as women, as Muslim, as people of the Africa. To be able to stand on my own, I just felt was amazing, you know? And I often question, how did she do it? Because she never accepted no or I can as an answer for herself because she understood who she was. You know, she knew her history, her identity, and her girls did not rely on other people to determine our self-worth because of what she instilled in us. And so that's what I set out to do with my books, to make sure that when a child opens up a book that they could see a reflection of themselves and also that they could learn the truth about Malcolm X, about Betty Chavaz, about our ancestors, our four parents. I love your books because they attempt to tell the proper story of who your parents were and who all of us can be. Who was young now? Right. Who we are, right? So my father, you know, there's this whole notion that you go, that you're in the literate, right? And that you go to jail and miraculously walk out as an icon, right? And so the reason that my father was able to walk out as Malcolm X is because his father and his mother instilled specific values and provided a family. And it says that it does take a village to raise children. And that it is our responsibility to provide a foundation for all of our children, whether we biologically birth them or not, rather than think that somehow, magically, their education curriculum is going to do the right thing, you know? But instead of thinking and sitting back and waiting and complaining about our education curriculum, we know like Malcolm's parents and like our four parents that we have to do the work. And so Malcolm's father was a member of the PTA. He purchased land that was reserved for whites only during the height of Jim Crow. They told him, you can buy the land, but you can't live on it. And so we know that he said, okay, but he and his family lived on the land. And that's how Malcolm, you know, seeing these parents that he perceived to be invincible, his mother instilled the desire to read, you know, she was a polyglot. She spoke many languages. And so she instilled these values of excellence in her children. They knew who they were. Her father was the chapter president of the Garvey Movement, University Negro Improvement Association, which was very important during that time of our history, of our contemporary history in America. And, you know, so they instilled great value. We, as a family, knew that our history didn't begin in slavery. But that we were trafficked, our bodies were trafficked, we were kidnapped, we were held in bondage against our will and all of these horrible terror, you know, these things. And the reason that I, you know, wanted to go to the Whitney Plantation Law, I was in New Orleans. But just understanding, you know, the trauma that happened, but knowing that the reason the trauma happened is because people, you know, unfortunately try to crush us. And it makes me think of Toni Morrison, when she said, Who are you without your oppression? Who are you without your racism? Who are you without the ability to imprison me, right? You're just an insecure little old self, right? So, so it's, it's having the conversation like my father said. Do you think about, well, I think about, I'll ask you, I'd say what I think about. I often think about who your father would have been. His trajectory is so extraordinary. From 48 to 52, 52 to 65, just, even from 64 to 65. Nineteen. Yeah, I'm sorry, yes, come with these years, not today. Oh, in these specific years, I think we saw these radical changes in shifts. And I'm off, and I think the saddest part, I thought about this yesterday because Carolyn Bryant, the woman who lied on Emmett Till, because of that, she got to live to be 88. 88. And poor Emmett Till. Yeah, 14. When he died at 55, I think how profoundly unfair it is that we never got to see the Emmett Till could be, what he could be. And I think about that with your father. I think, you know, God, what he means to us as a martyr, but what he could have meant to us living. Yeah, so much more. Is that something that you think about? Like, what is it? Is that even possible? No, I don't think of that. You know, I accept the life that we have, and try to learn from the challenges. I'm grateful that my father lived the time that he did, that he got to go and make his hajj and experience the first world nation, you know, the land of the Bible, the land of the Koran, the land of the Torah. You know, I'm so grateful for his experience, you know, things that sometimes we take for granted. But understanding that he was just a young man, he was only 39 when he was born. So to have this enormous contribution at such a young age and sacrifice because of his love for his people and his belief in our humanity. So I don't, I don't really think about that. I, you know, try to be as realistic, you know, as imperative as possible. I'm talking about you, I'm talking about you know, one of the things, and I don't think Bernie's came about this as well, there's a way that we think that these larger than life men navigate the world alone or that their wives are just kind of like side or not, they're sort of additions to the story, but they're not central to it. And there's no Martin without Coretta, there's no Nelson without me, and there's no Malcolm without Ben. But I think we don't tell that story of who was Betty Shabazz. So you know, I wrote this other book, Betty, before I added it. And I just, you know, while writing it, like I learned that my mother played the drums as a child, you know, just so many things I learned that she, her household environment comprised of women, you know, ending in the church, who were the leaders of the Housewives League that challenged the meat packing industry that would not hire black people. And they said, these are women. And they said, if you, if you can take our money, then you can employ our children and our husbands. And they were women who challenged this, I think, billion-dollar industry, you know, to ensure that we were hired. And, you know, my mother grew up in the church, you know, so many things. I remember when I was, you know, maybe in the 90s, I said, gosh, Mom, you know, you need to read Deepak Chopra's universe, seven principles of spiritual success. She said seven, seven principles of spiritual success. She said, you need to work. And so I said, gosh, you know, she needs to be softer. She needs to feel the spiritual world. Of course, when she passed away, I said, of course she was. That's how she survived. Right. And so writing, I'm betting for X, just help me see why my mother, why my father chose her. I did some writers in the room, I'm sure. I mean, anybody hear a writer? I end up in the library when you're writing. And I want to make sure that the next generation of young writers are sort of prepared for that journey. What does it mean to you to be a writer? And why do you write? So, you know, when I was growing up, I loved writing. I loved storytelling. I loved choreographing. I loved the arts and music. And but I thought, because I loved it so much, that that wasn't going to be my job. That my job had to be something that I didn't like. Right. And so I thought, okay, I'm going to go to, I was started off as a math major until I went to college. And I was like, what is this? And then, you know, I decided I was going to be a medical doctor. And, you know, I'm not really fond of blood and germs and all that stuff. That ain't the business. But, you know, what I realize is that for our young people, that when we choose our careers, that it shouldn't be based on how we're going to, how much money we're going to make. Right. But what are we passionate about this? And I just enjoyed writing and creating stories. And especially because when I grew up, I didn't really stick to Jane and Spock. Right. We learned about the Mali Empire. You know, they created books that they wrote the first books, had it not been for them, we would never have had a book. Right. And we learned about the scientists and archaeologists and farmers of the continent, about the founders of civilization. And so we were really, you know, balanced. And when I went to an old girls prep school, boarding school, I would mentor tutor math, because that was my subject to young people. And I didn't understand why they were withdrawn. Right. But they weren't animated and live. Right. And then going to college and going and working in a lot of facilities. And again, seeing young people who weren't animated and loving and excited about life, like my sisters and I have five sisters, six of us, close in age growing up together. We were animated and lively and we loved ourselves. And it dawned on me that they did not have the same upbringing that I had. And so I made sure that whatever it was I did, that I provided a curriculum where they could know their value, their worth, and find their joys and their passions. What would you go right next? So now I'm actually, so, you know, I have to take it off my social media because I'm like, oh, maybe I better wait till I have it, because I don't know why anybody did stop me from making it happen. But we are with Sony Tristar doing television series about the awakening of mountainecks, just to make sure that that is pretty accurate. I mean, my father grew up in the Midwest, in the rural Midwest. He was, you know, and it was a really exciting childhood. And when I wrote the Malcolmville, the White Goats of Malcolm X, the rest is illustrated. The images that they were bringing were of this little boy with cutoff or ripped off overalls and baffling. And I was like pulled the pants down to his ankles and put his shoes on. You know, and so it's so important that we can control the narratives I'm going to ask one more question, and I'm going to take two questions from them. Do you ever feel as a writer, and I feel like this sometimes, that because of who you are in the world, you can't, there's certain things you love right but can't. Yeah. I mean, I write about what I want to write, you know, because I believe, you know, God is the judge, you know, not people. And I want to be in tune with what I like and what I don't like. But then I know that, like, say if I posted something about a new pair of shoes, or, right, you know, that, you know, you have those people who make the remarks, sister, sister, you know, whatever about shoes or, or when I was in college and I had a lipstick, and the, you know, someone said, just, you know, that's swine on your lips. And so I asked my brother, can I wear a lipstick? She said, girl, if you want to wear a lipstick, you can wear a lipstick, enjoy it. But again, that's being comfortable in the skin you're in. That's an important lesson for everybody, particularly young writers. Don't confine yourself, don't constrain yourself. Write about what you want to write, but that doesn't mean that you have responsibilities. It doesn't mean that we shouldn't think about our people, think about justice, think about freedom. But there's space for joy, there's space for love. You can write a novel, you can write a romance novel, you can write a children's book, you can write an adult book, you can write a research paper, you can write a poem, like these are range of ways to be a writer and don't limit yourself or let the world tell you that you can't do those things. We got time for just two questions before we wrap. Yeah, we'll go right here. We have time for just one single question. That has to be an actual question. See, that one I'm gonna do with the other one. Hey, listen to my thoughts after this. This counts. I'm fully, if you ever get a chance, go to Uncle Bobby's, call me John. Talk as long as you want. Talk, talk, talk. I'm gonna be tired of this. I'm gonna run into it and I'm gonna just grab hold of the most people here. Your father was a big influence on me. I never met him. I was one of the founders of a natural black holistic society. I spent Labor Day weekend, Memorial Day weekend, and usually the week between Christmas and New Year's for years with your mother. Okay, and I'm gonna tell you Malcolm had a big impact on me. Sister Betty had a bigger impact because most people don't know how great her mother really was. And the fact that she ended up at Megersegars College in New York, Brooklyn, T.V., was a fantastic movie. And the fact that when she passed the place called King's Lodge in New York, that we held retreats at, changed the name to Betty Shibas Holistic Center. You know, and I just want to say, you are absolutely right. And there are so many times when I take a step back and I look at the woman, not the mother that I have, but the woman that I have the opportunity to know, to learn from, you know, that I have the opportunity to learn what the importance of self-love, when she taught her girls, the environment that she provided for us was very strategic and retrospect. We had a statue of this woman that was carved in Haiti in a walking emotion, holding a child in hand, a basket on her head. And it said that you can do anything that you want. And all of these things that I learned, it was because she wanted us to understand to first love ourselves. Because if you don't love yourself, you can't love others. As much as I love me is how I love you. And so it is the reason that I can step away from New Orleans and come here for this moment out of love, and then go back. Because if we don't love ourselves, we don't know how to love ourselves, we can't love one another. We don't even want to be with each other. And I think that that was a really important lesson that my father provided us. And it was a great lesson that my mother said she learned from her husband as much as she had such an impact on her husband. So thank you so much for sharing that. Thank you Dr. So wanted to just, we're all just in all of you. There's a lot of girls watching virtually. We have an initiative called Girls Can Do Anything here. You talk about self-loving. My question is like, you know, you have this confidence to write what you want, do what you want, wear your bright red lipstick, you're beautiful, but you also not only have that self-love, but you have a sisterhood of six and well beyond of women. There's so many girls who struggle with self-love and sisterhood, not just girls with women and building sisterhood with other black women. That how to, can you say more about that for people who didn't grow up with strong parents like some of us, but the secret to self-love and sisterhood for our girls and when a particularly black girl's in there? You know, again, I think it was the images that my mother provided, right? Because I know even joining a women's organization sometimes you're even though we're in these sisterhoods, you know that there's still some challenges. But I think it's just so important not to forget what history has shown us as far as believing, right? And all of the effort that went into the self-destruction, right? All of this effort that went into crushing hope and so forth. But I think, you know, as my mother made sure that we grew up with the images and the historical perspectives and being proud of those individuals. He spoke about Phyllis Wheatley. We talk about Harriet Tubman. Let's also talk about Cleopatra. You know, let's talk about Queen and Zynga. Let's look at the women king and find you know, in these women and and love on all of these women so that we can love ourselves and you know, everybody. And I think it's important to when we go into these sisterhoods that we bring this kind of information with us. I love that information. Thank you so much. Everybody, this is an honor. Oh, yeah. Thank you. I consider you a friend and I still feel honored every time I meet your presence. I'm grateful that you all shared time with us. We're going to head downstairs and get some books to sign. But I just want to encourage everybody to keep reading, keep writing, keep building, and that next generation is going to be a little bit closer to freedom than even we were. So thank you.