The chasm between white and black Americans is growing wider with each passing year. Views, culture, and general outlook on life are so different that even living in the same community, sharing the same space, is something that is almost unfeasible. At least, that's what you d believe if you're an avid consumer of legacy media.
00:00:13.000The chasm between white and black Americans is growing wider with each passing year.
00:00:20.000Views, culture, general outlook on life are so different that even living in the same community, sharing the same space, is something that's almost unfeasible.
00:00:30.000At least, that's what you'd believe if you're an avid consumer of legacy media.
00:00:37.000If the world falls apart, trust should not be doled out easily to anyone, especially white people.
00:00:43.000Here's the thing I've noticed, and you can comment if this is the same for you.
00:00:47.000It doesn't match up at all with my lived experiences, and that's what's inspired me to actually do it for the likes of these legacy media outlets.
00:01:12.000In the latest installment of this series, I've made my way to a cultural mainstay in modern black American society, the barber shop.
00:01:20.000Because really, what better place to find authentic, unfiltered perspective than the place that's iconically known as the breeding ground for conversation in the black community.
00:02:31.000Like I said, I, one of the things I agreed with you with was, so what you're saying is, so for all this time that this has been correct, now this short amount of time, everybody's got to change on the dime and come to the other side.
00:04:00.000If you're attached to anything where they can cut you off, that's the power they have over you.
00:04:05.000But if you're independent of that, if you can't take my bread away, you know, you get a little more freedom and a little more leeway to kind of operate like that.
00:04:58.000Yeah, oh no, yeah, a lot of people don't realize, like my booking agent, he's a gay Cuban.
00:05:03.000And he's the, you would think if you didn't know, like super gay.
00:05:06.000The most homophobic motherfucker you've ever met in your life, just because he'll be like, these trans people are out of their, I watched him, I swear to you, we were at a steakhouse right here, and he's gay, he's there with his boyfriend, he's against gay marriage and he's gay, but it's just really, he's like, well I just don't understand, I'm just gay, I don't want to get married, it's like this, they're pissing me off.
00:05:27.000I'm like, William, you can't say that.
00:05:29.000He's like, no, you can't say that, only I can say that.
00:05:32.000But he was sitting there, he had two drinks in, and the server was a white woman.
00:05:36.000She goes, I don't really understand the whole, like, the new gender queer, like, pansexual.
00:05:41.000And she's asking him because he's gay, so she thinks he knows.
00:05:44.000And he's a gay Cuban guy, and he just looks at her and he goes, they're all murderers.
00:05:50.000I'm like, I'm just telling you, having lived in these... It used to be drag queens were funny.
00:06:08.000It's never absolute, but the loudest, the squeaky wheels get to all.
00:06:11.000So, you know, if you get enough loud ones that are on that side, they kind of drown out the ones that are, you know, a little more sensible or a little more amenable to other people's ideas.
00:06:24.000Yeah, you would think it's one of those things where there's a real disconnect.
00:06:28.000Like, Connell, you were talking about in the military, like people who are, you know, people with pens versus people with guns.
00:06:33.000There's a real disconnect between elites in power and the average American citizen.
00:06:56.000It's like, no, hold on, there's a middle ground where a lot of people are like, no, do whatever you want, that's fine, but you can't just say there are limitless genders and then in Canada they'll fine you for hate speech if you use the wrong pronouns.
00:07:22.000And it wasn't even like, it wasn't even a racist joke, or it's not that I would make it acceptable, it wasn't racist, it wasn't sexist, it wasn't homophobic.
00:07:28.000It was a joke about a kid from a Make-A-Wish Foundation who, he was like on their version of American Idol.
00:07:35.000And, uh, what happened is, you know, everyone supported this kid.
00:07:39.000So I'm butchering the joke because I don't remember it, but he literally got fined, put before a human rights tribunal.
00:07:43.000His joke was like, okay, we all supported this kid.
00:07:46.000We all wanted him to be on Canadian Idol.
00:09:06.000And there's a responsibility in the person that's saying something to be able to be cognizant of how what you're saying has an impact, period.
00:09:40.000Everybody finds a different level of what's playful.
00:09:42.000To some people, playful is, I'm just gonna, I'm gonna walk behind you and I'm gonna kick, you know, kick your feet and make you trip over yourself.
00:10:19.000It's another thing when you're trying to tell venues that they can't host him when other people want to see him.
00:10:24.000Like, he's, I mean, he's one of the... Well, and then on top of that, you got to factor in that the whole foundation is that his art form is based in It's being just that.
00:10:59.000It was crazy, but there aren't many people who could... Here's the thing, for every Dave Chappelle you see, right, who's able to do it, like you said, because he's independent, there's 20, 30, 200 more who are just getting started, and they get absolutely shut down, where they can never build a career, because someone says, no, no, you said that, you're not allowed to be at the party.
00:11:16.000I mean, look at Kevin Hart and the Oscars.
00:11:19.000Yeah, because he made a gay joke eight years ago.
00:14:27.000Well, they can say it, but the problem is... I mean, yeah, but... Like, the problem is you have people who amplify, like, the people who try and suppress a voice like Chappelle, then they amplify a voice like whatever it is.
00:14:36.000It could be Sexy Red or, you know, f***ing Cardi B, whatever it is.
00:14:40.000They're like, oh, no, this is... I mean, the fat pride thing is a big thing now, too, where you're like, oh, we have a health problem in America, and then we're like, no, no, you can't say doctors are not allowed to say you're obese.
00:14:49.000You don't want a body shame in it, right?
00:15:09.000Once again, if somebody's able to attach a level of offensiveness to any Any conversation that you have, they put you in peril of being ostracized and alienated.
00:15:24.000Oh, I got sued by one of those fat models.
00:15:27.000Yeah, because the problem is she was out there saying, like, this is healthy.
00:15:30.000I said, no, your blood type's pudding, bitch.
00:15:34.000And she said it caused her irreparable damage, mentally.
00:15:37.000I'm like, no, what's causing irreparable damage is your liver right now trying to keep up with the enzymes that are flowing through your, like, it's one thing to be overweight, right?
00:15:45.000We all agree, don't just beat the shit out of, or make fun of someone because they're struggling with their weight.
00:15:50.000It's another thing to tell everyone, no, no, you have to say that everybody is beautiful and healthy.
00:15:58.000People attach so much of their own feelings to what everybody else is supposed to feel.
00:16:06.000Once again, for anybody that's obese or whatever, if that's truly how you feel, as long as nobody's exacting any punishment upon you, they should be able to feel how they feel about that.
00:16:20.000Insult you or badger you over that, but I also don't have to go along with you saying that this is healthy and this is, you know, if that's your measure of beauty, so be it.
00:16:36.000Yeah, but now the problem is, yeah, I mean, we have, like, it's also a problem, too, when you're paying, right, your taxes pay for healthcare.
00:16:43.000Like, we have a strange system, you know?
00:18:14.000I get paid to open up for somebody, but I wanted to because like a big audience at that time and
00:18:19.000I didn't know he came out with like an entourage like it was a fighter you ever seen him live yeah
00:18:24.000It asin yeah, yeah, so you know like he has like the lights And he comes out with like his whole crew and he walks out
00:18:30.000slowly So I was like you know that's not something I was like hey
00:18:32.000Bruce Bruce, and then he's nowhere and the music starts I'm like, hey, Bruce Bruce, ladies and gentlemen.
00:18:38.000And then he comes out of the back room, and he just looks at me, and he starts walking up slowly, and I'm like, hey, keep it going, Bruce Bruce, Bruce Bruce.
00:18:45.000And I was standing on stage, I had no idea he was gonna do it.
00:18:49.000And boy, when he got to that stage, you could hear, like, it was like thunder.
00:21:28.000The problem that you run into, if I'm remembering Madison as the right person, is culturally, like, white women, if they yell and they shout at you, they think they win.
00:21:37.000Because a lot of dudes are like, okay, they get browbeaten, like, alright, I don't want to upset her, because they don't want to be accused of being sexist, or...
00:22:17.000We're conditioned to just react to stuff instantly.
00:22:21.000A lot of that conditioning comes through.
00:22:27.000The environments we were raised in, or, you know, stuff that we, you know, brought in as entertainment throughout our lives or whatever, or just, you know, like I said, just whatever factors that created the environment we were in growing up.
00:22:40.000I know, and it's like, if you just say, let's say there's a mass shooting, or whatever it is, a tragedy, and if you just say, hey, hold on, let's just wait a minute for some information.
00:25:32.000Like I said, when you said the blackface, I said, and then you said sporting events, I said, okay, well maybe he's out there like the football guy with the half blackface.
00:25:39.000No, he's actually imitating the black dude, black dude, okay.
00:26:08.000But like Megyn Kelly, we were just talking, Megyn Kelly, you know why she got fired from her job?
00:26:12.000When they were talking about blackface, it was a conversation.
00:26:15.000So you see that guy's the Prime Minister of Canada, and they say, oh, it's okay.
00:26:19.000Megyn Kelly said, well, I think there's an important difference between, like, blackface or, like, when I was young, you know, Diana Ross was really popular.
00:26:25.000So, like, my friend who was white dressed up like Diana Ross with the big wig for Halloween, like, that's not racist.
00:27:18.000Like, I will tell you this, like, a lot of politicians, I, I watch it and I go, they're using the trans, they're using the black community.
00:27:25.000The black community, when it's convenient, they go, oh, you know, they go out, they say black lives matter, they do that, and then what do they do is they go back to redlining, or they don't do shit for the black community.
00:28:04.000But you do have some, like in everything else, you do have some that are working towards the right stuff, but they just get overshadowed by some of the bullshit that you don't really get to hear about them.
00:28:15.000Well, that's one thing that I definitely Like, as there are certain things that, first off, I think a lot of the idea that people think is white privilege is bullsh**.
00:28:22.000If you want to ask me about it, I can tell you.
00:28:24.000But there are certain things, like for example, young black boys.
00:28:28.000I had a good friend who was black, and he loved metal.
00:28:32.000So he was really into Slayer and Iron Maiden.
00:28:34.000And I watched his black friends tell him, like, what the fuck are you doing?
00:29:08.000Sometimes, like you're talking about, where they'll say, like you're saying, if someone's trying to do good work, sometimes they'll say, like, well, you're not really black.
00:31:00.000So, wherever we go, it is a work that we have to do to make ourselves accepted.
00:31:10.000So, I mean, this is what I was talking with them back there.
00:31:13.000So, if you have to, like in 2023, in America, Who do you think, like, do you think that people are in an even playing field and everyone has their own different struggles or hurdles to overcome?
00:31:25.000Or do you think that... Playing field's different.
00:32:57.000I will say, I was surprised to find, because I grew up with the misconception, growing up in back rooms with the divide between Southern and LSU.
00:33:10.000I grew up with the misconception that LSU, you know, when you go to LSU, it was always going to be racist because, you know, grew up with that misconception of bad rules.
00:33:18.000Like you got that side of town, they don't fool with us.
00:33:29.000But when I first went to an LSU football game as a kid and was working, working the parking lot, scared out of my mind because I'm like, Oh, yeah.
00:34:14.000So the headline is, we as black people are over-expanding.
00:34:18.000Now, let me follow up with that by saying, I'm from New York regionally, and I travel the world, you know, and live in many places in this country.
00:34:25.000So everywhere you go, there's a Jewish community.
00:36:02.000Detroit went from the wealthiest city in the country to an absolute war zone.
00:36:06.000The government came in, engineered it, and screwed that whole place up.
00:36:10.000So typically speaking, my answer is whether you're white, whether you're black, whether you're Latino, whether you're LGBT, like, when the government says, hey, we're gonna fix this, it usually makes it worse.
00:36:30.000Which, I mean, I think now we're separated where people are able to have different opinions and it's pretty good, but let me ask you this, because you said you think, okay, so the playing field is not even.
00:36:36.000And I think that that's true in some ways, certainly, like, culturally.
00:36:40.000I don't know that I believe in, like, systemic racism in the government.
00:36:44.000But why do you think, this is something that always, it's just a curious question to me, why do you think suicide in this country is exclusively a white male problem?
00:36:54.00070% of suicides in the United States are white men.
00:36:57.000White men are twice as likely as black men to kill themselves.
00:37:03.000I can tell you a little bit from personal experience, but a lot from just... Black people, we consider, just in general, taking yourself out is a non-negotiable.
00:37:43.000But that wouldn't account for two times the rate.
00:37:46.000And I think, I think one thing that definitely that I've, we were talking about this, like this is why we, we do this and talk like in groups and places like this.
00:37:53.000The one thing that white men, a lot of white men lack in 2023 is community.
00:38:00.000So like, this is, for example, like I was just talking with, um, with Maya and Jasmine about this, where she was talking about single parent households.
00:38:06.000And she said, you know, and sometimes it's a deadbeat, you know, dad who doesn't want to be around.
00:38:10.000And she said, but sometimes it's true.
00:38:11.000You have a mom who doesn't want him around, you know, and he wants to support his kids, but she wants to take the money for herself.
00:38:30.000And so, white men, typically, they just isolate themselves, and that's the biggest contributing factor to suicide, is you have a good social support network.
00:38:38.000And that's, that was the thing is, The experience of historically being black in this country, you've had to recognize strength in your people.
00:39:10.000Yeah, right now in the white... But still, you have to think about, like, the isolation.
00:39:13.000That's... I know that, you know, especially if you're telling, like, if you're telling a white man... And I say this because this is taught in universities.
00:39:26.000You're like, well, I just must be a screw-up because I have every advantage, right?
00:39:30.000We don't have anything tough going on for us.
00:39:32.000And if you tune into the media, and it says, like, yeah, what are you bitching about?
00:39:36.000You literally have people, right, saying, like, white tears, which, I'm not saying everyone, but I'm saying I know from experience, having had suicide, especially coming from, you know, military family and friends, where a lot of them take themselves out because they feel lonely.
00:39:50.000You don't have this, typically, where, like, white men go, and they're comfortable just being themselves.
00:39:56.000around people there's no community and so they take themselves out and it's a it's a real problem especially since covid suicides numbers are different like there's a more white mouse than our black mouse too so right no i mean even its percentage yeah it's crazy high i mean it's like you're twice as likely just to take your own life and uh yeah I think a lot of that has to come with distance traveled as well.
00:40:19.000Most black people, and I'm not saying all because there's always levels to it, but most black people, we face struggle throughout our lives.
00:40:28.000So when struggle and hard times hit, the adversity doesn't affect in the same manner as somebody that's had much less adversity.
00:40:40.000You know, if you grow up poor, inner city, less than, you lose a job, shit, that's just another time.
00:40:49.000But if your life has been somewhat privileged, maybe not top of the line, but middle class or whatever, and you hit those hard times, where have you been trained to deal with that adversity?
00:41:00.000So when adversity hitting you at 27, 28 years old and you've never had adversity, it's going to hit a whole lot harder than somebody that grew up struggling.
00:41:13.000They're not going to look for the end game or the end way out because they're going to look at it like, Well shit, it's just another time I got to get back up and dust myself off.
00:41:22.000Whereas, if I've been bred to be a success, and I've been taught that success is all I'm about, when I do fail, I'm going to take it a lot harder.
00:41:31.000Because now, Talked about the expectations of the black person.
00:41:35.000Now, what you sound like you're saying is, the white man has expectations.
00:41:42.000And when you don't do those things, now, you in your mind, you're taking it as, I'm a total and complete f*** up, so, why do I need to stay here?
00:41:51.000Whereas a black dude gonna look at it, it's just Wednesday s***.
00:41:57.000I think there's some... I mean, it wouldn't account for, like you were saying, because there are more white people, but as a percentage.
00:42:02.000In other words, there are more poor white people, too.
00:42:04.000So the percentage still, they're still in any social class.
00:42:07.000So even, in other words, a poor white person or a rich white person is still twice as likely, generally, to commit suicide as a poor or rich black person.
00:42:15.000A lot of white people have adversity, just like there are black people.
00:42:18.000But they're still more likely to kill themselves, no matter what.
00:42:20.000White people don't highlight poor white people.
00:42:25.000White people highlight white people that are doing well.
00:42:28.000The outliers, the trailer park white people, the people that are on the welfare, white people never highlight those people.
00:43:42.000Yeah, because once again, like they said, God's not going to forgive you for that.
00:43:46.000And if black people, if we haven't had anything, we've had a heavy dose of God.
00:43:51.000So we understand, well, I can't do that because I'm not going to get into heaven.
00:43:56.000So, you know, that's usually, that's going to be one of your last, last options.
00:44:01.000But I guess, in other words, if you could, you know, there's the old story or the allegory of, you know, everyone wrote their problem down on a piece of paper they put into a hat and they could pick any problem that they want out of the hat, right?
00:44:13.000And invariably they picked out their own problem.
00:44:16.000Because then you know how to deal with it.
00:44:17.000So, I guess the question would be, if we all, I think what we're agreeing on is like, God, faith is way stronger in the black community, and community in general, right?
00:44:24.000There's a stronger sense of community, black community.
00:44:27.000Would you rather, if we accept the premise, right, just assuming here, that, okay, there's this white privilege as far as, let's say, wealth or a starting point.
00:44:36.000Would you take that over having the faith and the strength of community that you have?
00:44:41.000Would you take that as a greater, would you take what white people have as a leg up as a greater privilege or the
00:44:52.000And because that's how I was raised, so that's, that's what I'm gonna stick with.
00:44:57.000But I'm not gonna lie, I peek at that other side, don't be like, well s**t, if you mean to tell me I'm gonna get pushed to the head of the line in a lot of instances, start from a farther up place, that is appealing to you.
00:45:11.000But because I've been so deeply entrenched in what I came from, that's all I know, I'm gonna go with the familiar.
00:45:17.000Like you said, I'm gonna pick my own problem.
00:45:19.000Well, I'm saying at this point, pick your own blessing, right?
00:45:21.000Pick your own blessing, like raising a wealthy family or raising a family that values God and community.
00:45:26.000If that wealthy family not gonna be filled with love and faith, I don't want that.
00:45:30.000I'd rather come from where I came from.
00:45:31.000Ugly things happen in pretty houses, man.
00:46:18.000But the problem, you gonna have problems with God.
00:46:22.000I would rather have an attachment to a community and a family with a faith and an opportunity to give me some money to have bread and then kind of be somewhat detached.
00:46:48.000So if you think of what we see with where suicide is highest, and it's in people who are isolated, every one of all racial groups, they're all isolating themselves now, looking at a screen.
00:46:58.000I don't know when the stats come in, but I don't think it goes well.
00:47:01.000In 20 years, man, what the world will be, I haven't the slightest idea, because like what you said is, people, it's too easy for a person to isolate themselves.
00:47:13.000Stand outside and just watch your phone then truly interact you know we because we work in a barbershop This is not forced interaction, but this is, uh... Abnormal.
00:47:37.000I mean, it's like 40%, depending on the stat you use, of young men who aren't interested in even dating women, because they're afraid of being falsely accused, or now they have porn on the internet, so they don't even care anymore.
00:47:48.000Where are you going to get that interaction?
00:47:50.000Because that's pivotal as human beings.
00:47:52.000And we see it all the time because the younger generations as they grow up now, their interaction skills are very poor.
00:48:01.000They don't really know how to hold a conversation with someone, you know, male to male, male to female, female to female a lot of times.
00:48:09.000They don't know how because it's much easier for them to express themselves Digitally than it is for me to actually sit out and engage.
00:49:30.000You know, if a person was... If you were gay...
00:49:34.000You definitely wasn't gay at 10 and 11 years old, right?
00:49:39.000You know, if you wind up being an adult that was gay, or either you hid it extremely well, or like you said, if you're going to inundate kids with that message, and not only the message, but let them know that it's okay, don't let anybody tell you you can't be this or you get to choose to be these things, you're giving them options.
00:50:20.000But when you open up and give children options, you're doing way more than what they need to be allowed to do, because a child's mind is there to be shaped and molded, and it's going to be shaped and molded by what you give them the opportunity to.
00:50:33.000We grew up in a time where, you know, you couldn't watch that movie.
00:50:41.000If you just let them have everything, and you give them the option to be whatever they want, Well, you taking your chances on the wrong thing, Sticky.
00:52:13.000Like, you can have these conversations here.
00:52:14.000I'll tell you, like, in the white community, you just... Like, Dave Chappelle experienced what white men have been experiencing for a very long time, where it's like you are not allowed to have an opinion.
00:53:48.000See, I've never, I've always assumed that, you know, when the white guys go into barbershops, I've always assumed that it's like the Mafia movies.
00:53:55.000When you see them in there, again, they are good.
00:53:57.000They in there talking with the hot cow.
00:53:59.000Well, yeah, they're like guineas from New York.
00:54:01.000Yeah, see, that's how I've always envisioned.
00:54:03.000That's what must be what the white barbershop is like.
00:54:05.000You know, but like you said, because they're a subsection.
00:55:03.000This guy over here, he might be well-versed in something that I'm having a question or issue with, and he able to really just drop some game on, and I really don't even know him.
00:55:12.000But he can just say that, and he can be comfortable, and he feels comfortable enough in here to express himself.
00:55:18.000The conversation we're having about the alphabet mafia, you can't have this conversation everywhere without fear of retribution.
00:55:25.000And you see it, you know that because you're experimenting with it by talking to people.
00:55:31.000People get turned sideways if they feel offended.
00:55:34.000But this is one place, you're going to have to check your feelings at the door when you come in here.
00:55:38.000Because you're going to get a lot of real.
00:55:42.000I don't want to say insensitive, but nobody's going to be, uh, we're not here to badger you or to disrespect you, but you're going to get a dose and a level of truth from this place that you're not going to get in a whole lot of places.
00:56:44.000They're not willing to see it from the other side.
00:56:47.000You know, just like you said, you open my eyes on a lot of white perspective just in the time you've been in here.
00:56:51.000The white male thing, you know, I've never been one, so it's a lot I don't understand.
00:56:56.000Because the lack of community, I never thought about that.
00:57:01.000I never thought that a white guy could go most of his life and not have a clique or a spot where he can come and really truly just let his hair down and be vulnerable, because that's what most people don't recognize.
00:57:12.000So you can come in here and tell, you know, come in here and tell your boss, man, I lost my job today, man, damn, I don't know what I'm going to do.
00:57:33.000You'll get it like, you know, military and that's why you see, you know, you see black, white, like if you're in the military you're all in it together.
00:57:38.000Or you'll see it like in certain sports.
00:57:41.000So like, you know, coming from like a grappling background.
00:57:44.000If I go into a new city, it's like okay I can go to a grappling school and we're gonna have something in common.
00:57:51.000It's not a race thing, it's just we all share this in common, the hard training, getting your joints blown out and all that stuff, you know, because you're wrestling dudes.
00:57:58.000Like, wrestling teams, I'm sure it's the same with football or, I mean, in Canada, hockey, it's like, these guys just, they bleed for each other.
00:58:06.000But as far as just day-to-day, like, once you're out of college, once you're, okay, you don't have sports anymore, you don't have a school to go to anymore.
00:58:12.000Yeah, where do I find that commonality?
00:58:13.000A lot of people just, they drop off that community aspect.
00:58:15.000If they're not doing church, like you were saying, faith, if you don't have church, what is it?
00:58:24.000That's, that's something I think, you know, beyond the, whether black, white, like just we need to get back to communities, strong communities of people who care about each other, man.