What's New

All right, all right. Yusef-Andre Wiley Show, Monday. It's been a while. I know it's been a little bit of a while since, um, I got a chance to talk to folks. So we here today, uh, to discuss what's new. It's a whole lot of things been going on. If you look at the news these days, you know, turn on your TV, 8 o'clock news, and you know, a lot is going on. And when you see crime happening, you have the smash and grabs. That's the, the big thing that's happening right now is the smash and grabs, right? So I have, uh, with me today my co-host, also vice president of the Timeless Group, Cortez Chandler. So, you know, go on and say hi. Say how you doing today?

I like that rhythm, brother. Uh, how you doing today, everybody?

Yeah. So tell us a little bit how your day been started so far here. Today is Monday. You know, we coming off the Turkey weekend holiday and now another Monday. They call it Cyber Monday. So how you been doing so far today?

I'm doing good, but you know, Cyber Monday and Black Friday, you end up broke before Monday, right?

So yeah, you end up broke before Monday. That's a very good point there. Um, Yeah, one of the things that's been on my mind is, you know, like I said, when you turn on the evening news and you hear all this smash and grab, and when you see whether it's on TikTok or any of these other social media platforms and you read the comment section and you just listen and hear and read what folks are saying about this, Uh, you know, you name it, you know, kill them all, you know, we need guns. That's why— and they talk really bad about us here. We're here in California where the gun law is a little bit different, you know. You're not allowed to walk around with a gun in your holster, right? So, um, they look at us as, you know, we just kind of tolerating it, like we're the reason for some of these things that are happening. Um, and as you notice, some of the things that we're reporting is, is happening, happening right here in California. What you think about that?

Well, I, I've really been looking at it myself, and I'm thinking that people want to be protected, and they don't have an understanding what true protection is, you know. We have faith, we have understanding and balance. But when it comes to protection, we automatically seek that because of our fear. And we don't know how to deal with the circumstances. And we push it towards other people. Like we said—

So you don't believe that people should have a gun?

I mean, myself personally, I don't.

You don't want to see folks walking around? That'll start the Western Uh, shoot them up, bang bang days again or something. I mean, they're already doing that.

Yeah, but I, I just don't feel that it's, it's safe for the community because say you have a gun at the house and you're angry at your spouse or, or the neighbor, you can pull that gun out and shoot, and it's just a moment of how you feel, you know.

Yeah, I hear you, man. It's just, it's kind of hard, man, because I You know, like when you see that kind of stuff on the news, don't it make you feel like, should I be out there? Or how do you feel, you know, your kids are going out there? I mean, we're just having a candid conversation about this subject, man, that's been in the news daily, this smash and grab. You know, you see law enforcement out there, you know, uh, trying to stop this stuff from happening. We, we don't like law enforcement in other instances, right? Yeah, you know, we don't want to see law enforcement, it's too much policing. But then these things happen around Black Friday and people trying to shop, they trying to be out there with their children and have a good time, pick up some gifts, and they might get robbed, or they might see one of those big, big mobs of 80 people come in and storm the store that they might be happen to be in, like an Apple Store or something. And how do you feel about that? I mean, this is a conversation I think we need to be having.

Well, I feel strongly about it, but at the same time—

Strongly in what way? What you mean, like strongly that we need police, or—

Well, we need police protection, but at the same time, imagine a police coming in there trying to apprehend them and they end up shooting somebody innocent, you know?

So it could happen, but I mean—

So go ahead, I'm sorry, even in that subject you have to think about if the police come in, they're, they're supposed to be trained not to shoot because there's innocent people. So they still would get away with the smash and grab. They still didn't take off and run. But that situation, that's a call for backup and people to understand. And I mean, if I was being robbed, I'm supposed to just give them what they need. Because my life is more valuable than anything that I'm carrying.

I hear you, I hear you on that. But I mean, this is a subject I hope, uh, you know, for those that are listening out there, um, we really trying to address this topic. And oftentimes the folks that are doing the smash and grab oftentimes are young people, uh, young folks, uh, particularly African Americans in a lot of instances. I believe most of the incidents that we've been seeing, like, that's been happening like in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, um, I mean, we— what about this incident? They had an incident recently where, um, and I know we're not trying to make this a news— we're not, we're not the news. We're, we're trying to address issues, you know. We're at heart, we, we're service providers. We serve community. But these are issues that come up that impacts our work because We're running an organization, Timeless Group, that focuses on reentry, that focuses on helping individuals that are coming out of prison, that are coming out of jail. And when people come back to us and say, see, this is why we should let folks out, this is the kind of thing that's happening, right? How do we respond to that? How do we address these issues like the incident that happened where two— a couple was sitting there in a cafe or a restaurant, and a guy just slid up under him with his hoodie on, and his partner was right behind him, behind one of the couples. It was the man and then the woman, and pulled a gun out and basically had them empty everything right there as they ate dinner at a restaurant. And when you see that, even a person that's been where we've been That's kind of tough to watch.

Yeah, it's fearful, you know, and that's what people base their communications about, is how they fear certain things. The media thrives on our fear a lot of times, and that's why they paint portraits of all Black men are criminals or, you know, abusive, whatever it is. That's a label that people put on us. So we should dig deeper into what we seek, okay? Like, like capital punishment. When we look at capital punishment, we're looking at everybody didn't commit that crime. That was one person that acted and abused his, his privilege, and he took advantage of everybody, you know. And at that same time, does he deserve to die? You know, that's what we got to look at. And it's our society built that so we could have an understanding, you know. Like, people that's been formerly incarcerated or that's incarcerated right now, we look at it as it's wrong, you know. But at that time, as a youngster or whatever's going on in your mind, they're thinking, I don't have this, I don't have that, the government's not giving this, There's no programs. So how do I go get it?

So what you saying, sound like what you describing to me is that so people that are in reentry now and people that are still incarcerated understand the wrongs that they did. A lot of us do. And I get what you're saying. You kind of, you know, you kind of speaking from your own experience, like, you know, I feel bad now and probably when I was a youngster I was just like them. —right? So into my mind, I'm hearing what you're saying. But for the person that's being victimized, what are they saying? How do they feel about that? And how do we help them to feel better about the situation? How do we make them understand that, yes, reentry is still important, services is still more important, not more policing? Not more punishment, right? But services. That's one of the things, that's the side of the fence that we're on basically, is that not more policing, but more services. And how do we pitch that? How do we sell that to folks that's really never been on that side? That's never been on the side of crime, that's always been taxpaying citizens, right, that just want to go out every day and not be worried about looking over their shoulder, that if they pull their wallet out when they go to this department store during the holidays, that they're going to be robbed by some thugs. That of course the media is going to paint the picture that, you know, it's us, it's, it's Black folks, it's African Americans that's constantly doing these things, right? And then, and we of course, we know that it's not just us doing it, it's other kids, other, other racial groups, but the focus is typically on, um, African Americans, right? It's typically on African Americans, um, that are smashing and grabbing, um, never had nothing, never go get nothing, so they steal, right? And that's one of the things that I think about, um, once upon a time when I was a youngster and I did things like that. Damage property or stole from people. I wasn't a big thief, but you know, there was times where I went in a store and took something that didn't belong to me. So it's almost the same thing, and it is the same thing, but today it's a little— it's another level now. They going in 80 deep, you know, smashing, you know, uh, these stores up and running out. And there's different arguments. And, you know, soon we would want to hear from other folks. And I know today this particular podcast is not being aired on, uh, live on TikTok or anything like that. Um, but, you know, we're going to get some of these other social media audiences involved in this conversation because it's a very important conversation. And, um, and we just want to, we want to address it. And here on the Yusef-Andre Wiley Show, we're going to talk about topics like this. It's been a while since y'all heard from me. I'm back here with host again, Cortez Chandler, for those that are just joining us. And we have support from, uh, Tyshawn Thompson, who's also, uh, one of our staff here at Timeless and This is a subject that again is very difficult and we're in a time, the holiday season, where people are really worried and they figure, you know what, I might as well just do all my shopping online. Um, so what do you, what do you, how do we help people get through this?

As being a provider, I look at the opportunities that we have to share and give people resources. Because if you have a job, you're not going to go out and rob because you had to work for your money. Mm-hmm. You know, now, and that's a lot of times we miss that. You know, we're like, just lock them up, just get rid of them. Mm-hmm. But that's why the prison systems are overflowed right now, because we didn't have that. You know, we didn't have the resources. We didn't have the opportunities of a job with living wages. You know, that's the key point.

That's the key point. Livable wages, right? Yes. One of the things that Timeless, we actually, and it ain't just Timeless Group, it's a lot of other providers, uh, service providers out there in the community. And we're here based in LA County where there's a lot of other organizations, you know, I can list a whole bunch, um, that are providing services from, you know, CEO, Chrysalis, um, St. Joseph Center, LASA, Homeboys Industry and A New Way of Life, the Anti-Recidivism Coalition. You got all these organizations out there that are doing the work, that are providing services for human beings. And many times those ones that's receiving those services from those organizations, like I just mentioned, they are not the ones out there committing crimes. Yes. So to that argument that you just made, Cortez, that, you know, if a person had a job, then the likelihood of them— a job with a livable wage, that is, you said, right? Yes. The likelihood of them going out and committing crimes is very low. There's a very low chance. So it almost sounds like what we should be trying to do here, at least on this particular segment of our, uh, show is that we should be telling folks that the people that you see out there committing these crimes, number one, they're young people. A lot of them, most of them are youngsters. Um, number two, these are not the people that when Proposition 47 or AB 109, these things were passed and put in the law here in California or in Los Angeles County, These are not the ones that's committing these acts. Those are not the folks that got out early or got out on Prop 47 or AB 109. 'Cause I noticed a lot of these things you read in the feeds of these social media platforms, they're talking about, oh, California this, LA County this, passing on the laws, or get rid of the DA, Gascon, they hate him, they hate the governor. They tried to recall our governor and all these things 'cause we're soft on crime. Right? That's the talk. We're soft on crime here in California. But, um, the reality is, is that the folks that are committing the crimes now that we're seeing, that we would consider a menace to our society or community, are not the ones that got the second chance like you and I got second chances.

Yeah. And What it costs in the system to house somebody medical, I would say it's around $56,000 if it's not higher. So that's a year to house somebody to keep them off the streets for that, you know, because they might have had a drug charge or a mental crime. But at the same time, they're getting resources when they walk out the door because they get to talk to us and other other artists. Stations. So we have an opportunity to reach these people. What we need to do is devise that plan to reach the people before they commit.

Okay, so we're talking about some added services, y'all. So hey folks that's out there listening, again, this is the Yusef-Andre Wiley Show. Um, we're talking about, you know, what's new. And yeah, this is new. I mean The smash and grab actually been going on for some, a few years now. It's become more prevalent in the last couple of years. And, um, and then we've even heard this spin that folks have put on this as it being BLM. Oh, it's Black Lives Matter that's doing this smash and grab. We've even heard that. We've read that in the comments as well. So we know that's not the case. Um, but it's just another way they're undermining a viable movement that might— can be doing some good in the community. Everybody may not agree with BLM. Um, you know, we have all these different organizations or expressions, but only point that we're trying to make here today, folks, is that resources, resources, resources, resources. People need resources. And with this younger generation that's in the public school system or charter school system, whatever school system, or if they're not in school, we need to find better ways to get information to folks so that they do know that there's a way out of the life. There's a better course of action they can be taking, that they don't have to smash and grab, that, that they can be living better. That there is opportunities to earn livable wages, right? These are some of the things that we have to discuss. And I'm hoping that, you know, with this sneak peek we're giving today on this show, that we'll be able to bring in more conversations about this and have other folks that are chiming in on this subject. We're looking forward to that. So you have any other words for us, my brother?

Well, Cortez done a lot of things and I love it, you know, but at the understanding of we have to help the community. It's not just about the people that's out there that's doing this, but in your community, your local community, you have to be involved. You have to be a part of that. You know, if you want change, You have to create it. It's not just going to be there. You have to create it. You have to join something and be a part of something that's bigger than yourselves. You know, we have to have that understanding.

Yeah. Well, with folks, if you get that understanding, I hope, I hope today, you know, again, this is the Yusef-Andre Wiley Show. Um, we just giving a little sneak peek today. Hopefully next Monday we'll be on our regular schedule time, which is 3 o'clock on Mondays. Um, we definitely want you guys to stay tuned in and to actually follow this podcast, The Yusef-Andre Wiley Show. We actually have another podcast that we're going to be airing soon called Straight Talk On Point with our YW Coach. You can find actually on Instagram YW Coach YW Consultants. Also on Facebook and Twitter, YW Coach. So that podcast is going to be starting sometime soon, Straight Talk on Point, where we're going to be having a lot of folks in the audience as well as joining us in the conversations around crime, around politics, culture, you name it, we're going to be talking about it. We're going to be getting to the bottom of it and we're going to be trying our best to address the issues and concerns. And we hope to get feedback from our, our listeners and get you guys to start sending in your topics. If you have specific topics you would like to discuss here, make sure that you send us an email, drop us an email. You can find me on WhatsApp, you can find me on Instagram. @Yusef-Andre Wiley, as well as Facebook and Twitter. So with that said, we'll be chiming out, and we hope that you'll be joining us weekly here on Mondays at 3 o'clock. I'm your host, Brother Yusef Wiley, signing off.