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What Happens in 2021...
19 Plays3 years ago
Join us as we recap some of the biggest moments of 2021! Sending you all lots of love and wishes for a Happy 2022!
Disclaimer: The opinion and views expressed on our podcast do not reflect the official stance of Student National Medical Association.
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Transcript
Join SNMA Board & Intro to SNMA Presents
00:00:00
Speaker
Are you a natural born leader? Do you have a passion to serve? Do you want to foster change in your community?
00:00:08
Speaker
Then consider joining the SNMA Board of Directors. Learn more about the roles and responsibilities of the national board positions at snma.org slash page slash elections committee. Applications are due January 30th, 2022 at 11.59 p.m. If you have any questions about the application process, email elections at snma.org. Now let's start the show.
00:00:41
Speaker
Bye!
00:00:59
Speaker
What's poppin' everybody? Welcome to SNMA Presents and Lounge. Whether you're in the student lounge, doctor's lounge, or lounging around at home, get ready to join SNMA for meaningful conversations on topics affecting minorities in medicine in groups that often sit at the margins of healthcare.
Student Memories & SNMA Connections
00:01:20
Speaker
But before we get into it, we got to give a special shout out to student Dr. Erica. Unfortunately, she couldn't be with us here today. Shout out to the queen, our matriarch, the woman that bears love to us. But she'll be back on the next episode. And we'll see her soon. But we love you, girl. And we hope to see you soon. All right? Love you, girl.
00:01:40
Speaker
but I'm student Dr. Aldwin and fitting in with the end of the year vibes, you know, 2022 was upon us pulling up. Like we got a little icebreaker, you know, like it's been a very special year and you'll see, we got many events that we're gonna rehash and recap, you know, some special moments, some tragic moments, some moments that are near and dear to us. But the question the icebreaker have today is what is your favorite personal memory from 2021? And I'll go first and I'm gonna have to say,
00:02:08
Speaker
The versus battle with D block, you know what I'm saying? The locks versus Jim Jones and dip set. How he just murdered them and Jada just straight fired.
00:02:20
Speaker
kill them off of a freestyle. That was for me, when I was growing up in the Bronx coming up, those are the two factions that I always listened to when I was going to school. When I was outside on a block playing ball, that was like dip set and the locks were representations of what it meant to be out of the hood. You know what I'm saying? Although the music, granted not necessarily the most positively provoking music,
00:02:43
Speaker
It is music that has ushered and inspired many of a generation to come into music and many of a generation to accomplish their goals. And they've been very successful at what they do in many arenas. And so for me, just seeing them get up on stage and really, I'm really into and de-block and see them just drop them, you know what I'm saying? Drop the mic on them. It was like the most beautiful thing to behold. How about you, though, Erica? What's been your favorite moment for 2021?
00:03:09
Speaker
Oh, well, Erica's not here. So I mean, Isabella. See, I miss her. Sorry. He has such a big presence on the show. Like, it's natural for everything to go next. Like, that's our float. That's what we do.
00:03:24
Speaker
That's all good. But hey, guys, the student Dr. Isabella and definitely all deny agree like versus I love the whole first thing. My favorite was actually the bow Wow soldier one. That was hilarious. I was that was hilarious. I was like, what are you like? Like soldier knew he did not have like bow actually had hits.
00:03:43
Speaker
But you know, it was cute soldier did his little whatever and it was nice but um, for me personally, my favorite memory from 2021 would definitely have to be like this past summer where I did my internship in Los Angeles, that was just a great time and like
00:03:57
Speaker
given everything that's been happening now with COVID and these surges that are occurring and things getting walked down again, I'm glad I gave myself the chance to just get out from the East Coast, just be in a different environment for a good part of my summer. It was just great energy. I was just enjoying the sun, the beaches, the
00:04:18
Speaker
just everybody just like really think it was it was work, but it wasn't work that was stressful. I enjoyed doing what I was doing and I just really love the fact that I got to like go and explore like outside of my usual comfort zone. So that was like a great memory for me for 2021 for sure.
00:04:33
Speaker
facts. I mean, you know, like being able to go to the west side too, I was there like for two months out of the year doing my way rotation and trauma psych and neurology at UCLA and Stanford and West Coast LA is definitely a vibe. Now I got to meet with our EP Skender while out there. So shout out to Skender. You know what I mean? We had a good time and it's just a great way, you know, SNMA allows us to just connect in many different ways, but you know, speaking to you, I'm proud of you.
00:04:58
Speaker
you know, being able to travel and experience something different at such an early stage in your life in regards to your professional career. You know what I mean? Thanks Aldi. Appreciate it. Yeah, no doubt.
Capitol Insurrection & Racial Disparities in COVID Vaccinations
00:05:10
Speaker
Moving on to the recap of 2021. This is our run the list. It's a little short segmented version of what we got going on usually, but we just gonna rehash some of the most important topics and themes that have happened over this last year. Starting with the January 6th insurrection, which was disastrous, which antagonized the patriotism that we found in our country. Countless mobsters went.
00:05:35
Speaker
and decidedly wanted to threaten and be engaged in such malicious acts against our Congress people. Imagine like we talked about this earlier in the year, but imagine if it was us. You know what I mean by us. If it was us doing that, you feel me? Like we have people literally in Congressman offices, like looking at personal documents, like security information.
00:06:02
Speaker
could threaten our country and our nation's stability as we know it. We had people, you know what I'm saying, sitting on desks, having folding a legs on the desk. The man with the Viking drink like that was walking around, parading around. And unfortunately, we had some people unfortunately die. Remember, we had one individual who was in I believe in the army or some military service that was there that ended up getting shot. And so, you know, we saw a whole spectrum of disastrous things going on.
00:06:28
Speaker
But this was naturally, as you mentioned, incited by Trump and everything that he got going on. Literally, these people waited their whole lives for this. Isn't that crazy? This is the peak of their support, or not even their support, but the peak of protests that they've ever
00:06:47
Speaker
wanted to reach in terms of being a Trump supporter is probably this action that they did, which was literally tearing down a whole Capitol house. I just want to understand why situations like this, they never get blown out of proportion when
00:07:02
Speaker
They just happen to be white. And like, you can't even imagine as a black person even doing some nonsense like this, because you know, that's your that's your body, possibly on the ground, maybe even dead, depending on, you know, what we know about things that have happened in the past, when black people have protested, we can talk about what happens in like Birmingham, Alabama, when MLK did his thing, or what happened when the Black Panthers ever tried to hold some type of a gathering of, you know, like,
00:07:29
Speaker
trying to protest injustice. We don't have the liberty to just be jumping up and waving flags and tearing down monuments just because we're Americans. We can't just do that and everything's going to be fine. And so I think that this is just, like I said, another
00:07:46
Speaker
revelation of what the differences are in our country when it comes to who can protest in whichever fashion they deem necessary and who can't. Because when there was protesting for George Floyd, there were all sorts of critiques as to how that was going on, versus with this insurrection, we barely heard any type of
00:08:04
Speaker
like, oh, what they did was this, that and the third, like, you know, like, it never got blown out of proportion. And so I think it's just really unfortunate that this was even a thing because it really, it really speaks to, you know, our country and the way that we move when it comes to white supremacy and all of these other, you know, historical injustices.
00:08:23
Speaker
Yeah, 1%. But yeah, but then that's one thing that happened in 2021. And we're still going through other nonsense too, right? We're going through COVID, like that's a whole nother like burden to share in itself. And thank God, like thank God we had these vaccinations ready to be distributed widely. I think it began, yeah, mostly during like early 2021 was when vaccines really started getting pushed out and people started getting vaccinated.
00:08:48
Speaker
And so that was great. A lot of health professionals got vaccinated. A lot of immunocompromised people got vaccinated. A lot of ethnic minorities got vaccinated. And I think it's just great that that was able to be done. And I know just one significant statistic on it was just that there was definitely racial disparities that existed with the vaccination rates, with black Americans being vaccinated at rates two to three times below white Americans.
00:09:15
Speaker
pretty sure that has to do, of course, with our medical mistrust that exists within the Black community. When you have Tuskegee, when you have Henrietta Lacks, when you have all this other nonsense, you have to push it a little bit harder, right? But I think that overall, it was just still good. I think we got a lot of people vaccinated that we didn't even think we could reach, and so I think it was still successful.
00:09:35
Speaker
Yeah, I think, you know, even for me, like, I've had four or five people that I've known that personally reached out to me and was like, bro, could you put me on with what's going on with the vaccine? Like, I'm very hesitant. Like, I'm scared, apprehensive. Like, should I take it? Should I not? What's the benefit and what's the pros and cons? And I think, you know, giving people the opportunity to be aware and educated and informed about what the vaccine is, what is makeup,
00:09:57
Speaker
how it can protect them is just as crucial and critical as it is for a person to make their independent choice, and I believe in autonomy. I do want everybody to be vaccinated, but at the same time, I do want everybody to have the opportunity to say, hey, look, this is not for me, or this is for me, and promote self-awareness and self-education.
00:10:16
Speaker
Unfortunately, seeing that we're two to three times below white Americans, it is a travesty. I was looking at an article that I was talking about in certain areas around the world. They found that areas that were more developed countries, they had higher rates of vaccination. So there was a wealth disparity.
00:10:36
Speaker
associated and affiliated with also vaccine disparities. They found that in well-developed nations, on average, there were 52% of the people that were vaccinated versus developing countries, it was on average about 13%, 14%. So you could see that in itself can even translate within America, not saying those statistics, but it probably would be somewhat similar as we find a lot of
00:11:00
Speaker
a lot of us in urban underserved areas that don't have enough financial resources. So I think that is also another issue on top of the medical mistrust and the medical misinformation and people just relying on anecdotal evidence. You know what I mean? That's so true. Yeah.
00:11:16
Speaker
an important point that you made, like the overlap between economics and race, right? Because sometimes it's not just the fact that the person's black, but it's like, like, how much did they even see a primary care physician? Or how much did they even like know about these are like the importance of getting vaccinated or not getting vaccinated? I think that like, those do overlap a lot of the time. So I think that's an important note to make, like, how like, like, which communities are we even really advocating this to? Is it just the ones that we know are well to do and who like,
00:11:40
Speaker
who can understand the importance of getting vaccinated are just the ones that, you know, like, or are we ignoring, like, internal, so ignoring those who actually probably need it more because they're putting their lives more at risk, right? Those are probably the blue collar workers who are working as janitorial staff, working as cafeteria staff, they're putting their lives at the risk every day.
00:11:58
Speaker
So I think that is an important point to make. But yeah, thank God that the vaccines came out, that this was able to be implemented and that we hopefully are going to move forward with this whole COVID surge into a more positive direction if we have this added on protection that people won't have to be in ICUs, have to be ventilated, all
Kamala Harris's Historic VP Role
00:12:18
Speaker
of these things. Because I think that was the main point of the vaccines was if you even get COVID, at least don't die from COVID.
00:12:24
Speaker
I'm hoping that that will really provide the barrier that we really hoped for. But yeah, in addition to the COVID vaccines, we also have to talk about, go back to what was going on in DC because we know that when Joe Biden came in, and we know that the insurrection happened because Joe Biden won, right? They couldn't handle it.
00:12:45
Speaker
Kamala Harris came in too and that was great because this was like our first black woman VP was sworn in like she was this like it was just a great feat to know that not only was she the first woman but also the first black woman to hold a position like this and so she was sworn in and she was also the first black woman to assume presidential duties when Biden is under anesthesia for routine colonoscopy so she was like
00:13:09
Speaker
basically having to play president when Biden couldn't even, you know, when he wasn't even of good health. So I think that's like such an important feat as well. Right. I think that was a special moment, you know, and she, you know, I recently watched an interview with her, with Charlamagne, and she talked about how one of the most important things for her during her tenure so far as vice president was hearing stories from other people, other parents saying their daughter looked
00:13:32
Speaker
looks, they look at Kamala Harris and are like, that's who I want to be. That's someone that I can achieve to be in that position to accomplish like she has. And I think it's incredibly important for us to acknowledge that she's faced numerous barriers, you know what I'm saying? And shout out to her, you know, went to Howard and did her thing out there. But, you know, your connect, that's your plug right there. There you go. There you go. There she goes.
00:13:57
Speaker
But at the end of the day, her story in itself, no matter how people feel about our current president and vice president, we have to acknowledge the truth is in the pudding that she is in a special position and a special place, and that she's ushering in the next generation of wonderfully competent black women to be in numerous arenas of political office, business, physicianhood. I mean, I talk to many people.
00:14:24
Speaker
Like, oh, that's so dope, you know what I mean, how she's representing. And I even like, like, she got a, like, a spin, like, a certain, like, like, flavor to her, like, because when I watched the interview with, what's his name, like, she, like, she brought out, like, that black side, like, because he was trying to push on her in regards to certain, certain individuals in a Democratic party. And it's like, yo, you will not, you will not try to play me right here.
00:14:47
Speaker
during the debates, she would show her confidence. When she wanted to be, I think with Pence, she was like, don't interrupt me. And that's what I knew. That's what I knew. That's it. God bless black woman. That is a strong black woman. She fierce. Beyonce fierce type. So I really appreciated that. And I love that she's bringing that spiciness to the office, which we've never seen this before, this different level.
00:15:16
Speaker
of accomplishment. So it's definitely amazing.
00:15:20
Speaker
Right. Yeah. And then, like, you know, it's we have such we had such like great things happening in 2021 with like the vaccines being pushed out. Kamala Harris taking office. But then, you know, it's still this like it's so disappointing because it's like as you have like black progress, you still have white demise. And those two just kind of coexist like in a way that it can never not happen at the same time, because when one black person is like being raised up, there's a white person who's trying to bring us back to a level that's just like
Justice System Bias: Rittenhouse & Chauvin Verdicts
00:15:50
Speaker
You know, back to a level of like, let's go back to slavery if you want to, you know, be that extreme with it. But the Kyle Rittenhouse trial to me was very disappointing. It was just very disappointing because you have here this, I don't even know how old this guy was. I think he was like 17. 17. Like, not even a legal adult who somehow had access to a rifle.
00:16:13
Speaker
can't make it up like you can't that's my first that was my first like why do you have a rifle like at 17 what are you doing like you're 17 you have a rifle and then you're a part of some kind of i don't know what they called that group that the uh like neighborhood watch or whatever the heck they were talking about the useless group that's what it is
00:16:34
Speaker
whatever role they claim to have that day, that night or whatever like that. He was a seven, like I don't, I, in no life, I have my 17 year old child carrying a rifle and joining some type of people who's supposed to be control, who's supposed to be protecting the neighborhood. That makes no sense to me. Like you are 17, go apply for colleges, go home, go to, go to your football or basketballs like practice. Like what are you doing outside with grown folk? Like that's my first thing.
00:17:00
Speaker
So, when I heard about that, and then now hearing that he not only was a part of it, but then he actually fired the rifle and killed multiple human beings. Like, because of, I think, what was happening again during, it was like a, like protest, right? It was a protest and they were essentially, they were assuming that people were trying to break into businesses and trying to loot and rob. And so, these, these several individuals had approached them.
00:17:27
Speaker
essentially and they got into a little altercation. There's like misinformation regarding the exact specifics because obviously there's a side that we don't see obviously because those people died. But from his side, he said that they were threatening him and so he had to protect himself and he shot the shots that he shot.
00:17:46
Speaker
So just a lot of, it's to me, there was just a lot of misinformation being spread about that situation. I don't even know if we have enough footage that shows everything like what happened before, what happened after. It just sounds like a very, like, like just a small amount has been said about what actually occurred that night. But to me, the red flags for me was just 17 year old rifle.
00:18:03
Speaker
and then neighborhood watch. To me, it just sounded crazy, you know? So like, he, like you said, he killed two people and then also another shooting that occurred in Kenosha, Wisconsin. And then he was acquitted on everything. And it's like, like, I'm just trying to think about the fact that like, one, like, if, like I said, similar to the insurrection, if we flip the race, is there any chance that that black boy would have received the same type of clearing of his name? We know that wouldn't be the case.
00:18:31
Speaker
And we know in the criminalization of the court that he received, you know, at least a million dollars from donors and sponsors from all over the country. I mean, that in itself, when we talk about, you know, facing certain charges, you got to have someone to represent you that you got to put bread into. And a lot of times, oftentimes we have, you know, local defenders, people, community defenders that come
00:18:52
Speaker
and take on cases for people of color, because obviously you don't have the financial resources. And that affects the trajectory and outcome of many of these criminal cases. In his case, it was very politicized. There were a lot of people backing him, donors that, you know, common celebrities that we see and know, they funneled money to him to ensure that he's acquitted of his charges. And it obviously truly worked out in his favor. But like you said, in what world is, why, like, I never understand, like, why,
00:19:18
Speaker
What is the purpose of having a rifle? Like, I don't understand why do people need a right, unless you're in the armed forces doing guerrilla warfare or something like that, or hunting, you know what I'm saying? And even that, sometimes I get a little frustrated with that. I mean, I don't even like hunting, but at least it would make sense as to why you're carrying a rifle. Like, you know, like,
00:19:34
Speaker
We're like, what? Just have a regular handgun. Like, what is the purpose of like you going above and beyond having that? You know what I mean? And then the thing that Travis see behind it and that's so distasteful with this kid is that he goes on all of these interviews and he's just smiling and laughing like, bro, you let me to.
00:19:51
Speaker
two people's lives. It's serious. At the end of the day, whether you protected yourself or not, people lost their lives off of that. And that's not something to be celebrated. That's so true. And then LeBron came out and was against everything with him in the trial. And he was like, LeBron's not my favorite basketball player no more. Bro, be quiet. No one cares. You don't care, bro.
00:20:21
Speaker
He thinks it's a game. He thinks it's a game. And that's why I'm just like, the whole thing makes no sense. He should, to me, not like, I don't know if I would have charged him with every single thing that I would have charged him with, but he definitely should have received some kind of charge. It's like, yes, I can understand 17 year old boy frontal lobe, not fully developed. Yes. I can understand
00:20:38
Speaker
Because as people who's in the medical field, we can understand that, yes, this is a minor. I get that. Like, don't think his entire life has to be wasted. I'm not saying that, but I think the fact that he had no accountability taken for this is just plain wrong, you know? And I don't agree with that. And it's disappointing that it happened that way. But cowering house is just like a small, a small blip compared to the nonsense that we experienced when it comes to black death.
00:21:03
Speaker
And we know with the George Floyd death, what happened with that, right? Like it was a whole movement when George Floyd died. Like everything changed, everything changed. Like the way every single day was protests being televised, like public figures coming out and speaking out against this tragedy, like this is the first time that they, oh my gosh, like the first time I really knew that black bodies are really just being endangered out here. Like, no, it's really a thing.
00:21:28
Speaker
It really, yeah, black squares on Instagram. It was a whole like social media. We went hard. Like everything changed. And you know, our main culprit, the main guy that we were trying to hold accountable for this, you know, being Derek Chauvin.
00:21:45
Speaker
Right. Thank God was found guilty on all three charges in relation to his death. And so I'm so grateful that we were able to finally get justice for something as monumentous as this. I mean, it would have been so disappointing if George Floyd did not get the justice he deserved because we know like we were there. We like we were we saw it happening right before our eyes when we first saw the first like CNN like
00:22:05
Speaker
like televised, oh my gosh, like this guy was beaten brutally in the street. And then now everybody coming out and talking about like, like this happens, like who was there? Like who was involved in this? And like all these questions came out. And so I'm just grateful that it wasn't a Rodney King situation where no one gets justice. I'm glad that we saw justice.
00:22:25
Speaker
Right. I mean, just then that in itself, that whole situation was traumatizing for me being a black man. You know, Brunswick, Georgia, where, you know, Ahmaud Arbery died is a couple hours away from me. And when that situation happened, it was like, oh, even me walking outside right here in front of my in my neighborhood in Norcross, that could happen to me. You know what I mean? It could be any black man in that same situation. And no matter what, you could be a physician, you could be a salesperson.
00:22:47
Speaker
People in those scenarios, they look at one thing, they look at the color of your skin, and they automatically deduce that you are inferior to them. And from that, they automatically deduce that they could, like you mentioned, harm black and brown bodies. And this is not the first time that this has happened. Think of the countless cases that have been silenced.
00:23:06
Speaker
and having voice. Nigga Emmett, too. I forgot his name, but in the 1940s or 50s, there was a 14-year-old that was falsely put to death in Everly, South Carolina. He was electrocuted to death. And those are the ones that we know about. But today, in this instance, seeing that this trial went on, and we saw the ramifications of it, and there was a positive outcome. And it's crazy to say that it honestly surprised me, because I thought they was going to get away with this.
00:23:36
Speaker
here in 2021, it's crazy to feel like we have an equal justice system when obviously when we talk about cower in house, the justice system does not play fair, right? Right. There are some challenges and persistent, unfortunate events that surround the justice system, especially as pertains to black and brown bodies. And a model, Arbery, he could have been here still today with us accomplishing other things. You know what I'm saying?
00:24:00
Speaker
Like even, and people always want to bring up all like his history and all that. This guy was a human living being. This guy was a son. You know what I'm saying? Like he was a cousin, nephew. This, this, he was somebody that meant someone, something to somebody else. You feel me? That was somebody's baby that was taken away. And so I'm happy. And I hope that this sets a precedence in the future. You know what I'm saying? If you go after and kill somebody, right? And you do it in an illegal manner.
00:24:26
Speaker
You will be charged. Period. No matter. It doesn't matter. Justice will be served for whoever thinks that they can get away with it. And that's just that on that. And I think that we like you said, it's important to like think about the other people who were also killed around the same time who didn't receive the same justice. Breonna Taylor still never got a justice. And that speaks to, of course, crazy that black women are like not even seen sometimes as like
00:24:50
Speaker
of a valid human being in society who also deserves to receive justice and also deserves respect and all of these things. She didn't get a justice, unfortunately. But we did our best to still give her, I guess, visibility and making sure that her death was also seen as wrong. And we know that
00:25:11
Speaker
the ramifications that happened for her was not fair compared to the fact that George Floyd got his, you know, justice. She deserved her justice too. And I think it's sad that she didn't get it. But like I said, like what you said, you know, this, this system doesn't play fair. Everybody doesn't get justice. It doesn't happen to everybody. And I think
00:25:27
Speaker
this is just a more of a motivation for us to continue to push through and make sure that whoever is like, wrongfully killed, right? Like, let's make sure that we do a thorough investigation and know that they should be held accountable, whoever killed them and whichever manner this woman was killed in her home sleeping on a couch. How do we how how has she not received like how you know, right? All I can think of is just that she's a black woman. That's literally all I can think of the reason why no one cared about her situation. But
00:25:56
Speaker
I still care. I still talk about her anymore. I still care. And I'll still always bring it up anytime it comes into conversation, because I think it's horrible that that happened. Right. And I'm glad that you're bringing that up, because again, you know, so many people's stories are silenced and then we move about our life and we forget there. There are families behind these situations that have to sit back and face this on a daily basis. Like, where is my baby? Like, where is my mom at? You know what I mean? Like, this is something that's critically missing in their life. And the trauma that they deal with
00:26:26
Speaker
is something that's unspoken of, right? We go about our lives not worrying about that as of right now, but they every day have to relive that moment and think about it and relish in that even when they don't want to. And so, you know, it is our duty and our job even being future physicians to continue to advocate and utilize our platform to talk about this. Like you mentioned, like I'm always going to talk about Breonna Taylor. I'm always going to talk about George Floyd. I'm always
00:26:52
Speaker
going to talk about Ahmaud Arbery because these are the spaces that are critical to uplift and propel these topics to the place where we won't have to deal with this anymore, where we won't have to question our justice system, where we don't have to feel traumatized that this could be us, right? Or that this could be our sister or our loved one walking down the block in the Bronx or walking down the block in Minnesota. You know what I mean?
00:27:12
Speaker
Right. So with that being said, you know, I think it's oftentimes, you know, we are at a place where the discourse has to continue to evolve. And we can't relinquish any of this to the powers that be. It's truly in our hands. It's in our
School Shootings & Prevention Failures
00:27:29
Speaker
hands. Exactly.
00:27:32
Speaker
Go ahead, Aldia. I don't want to take your shine. Yeah, so good. But yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:27:44
Speaker
But, you know, unfortunately, we talked about, you know, negative circumstances regarding, you know, Derek Chauvin, but we also need to discuss what's going on with our children. You know, our children aren't being safe. I mean, I recently saw and I believe it was Connecticut that there was somebody did a spam or prank, you know, stating that they were going to go and shoot in the schools in Connecticut.
00:28:03
Speaker
And now we see, you know, prior to that, you know, the Oxford High School shooting, you know what I mean? Yeah. That just happened a couple of weeks ago, you know, where and in twenty twenty one, there were at least one hundred and forty nine incidents of gunfire on school grounds, you know, and the Oxford High School shooting was one of those incidents where a kid, you know, saying and their parents were in full support of this kid having a gun and them even realizing that he had the gun and them even realizing that he had plans.
00:28:30
Speaker
We had the gun because they bought him the gun for Christmas. They got him the gun for Christmas. And his mom is texting him. He got in trouble for saying whatever he was going to do and playing. And his mom's like, Elowal, you should keep that to yourself. Why is that an Elowal? And now you have several children that just lost their lives. It's just amazing. How do people possess this mentality?
00:28:54
Speaker
mental state and capacity. I think the parents were sicker than the child, to be honest with you. They gotta be sick. Because what? And you know, the parents got charged too for involuntary manslaughter. Yeah, they should. Because how do you, you bought the, you bought the gun for your kid, one. Right. Then two, the, the teacher showed you that he was writing some type of drawing, like saying blood everywhere, like laughing emojis, all these things. And the parents said that, oh, we don't want him to remove from the school though. Like it's fine.
00:29:19
Speaker
What's wrong with you? Like, are you okay? Because your kid is literally admitting to the fact that he wants to commit a school shooting, you're aware as parents and you did nothing. And then the school too, was, what were they doing? Because they had prior knowledge. They had knowledge. Right. Take that kid out. Exactly.
00:29:38
Speaker
like any threats or any kind of nonsense going on or any thoughts like any pervasive kind of manifestations of whatever he's doing reactions immediately like get on that you know because it's critical it's the it's the difference between life and death you know and so oftentimes schools they just same thing with bullying you know they just don't acknowledge it you know right they're like oh he's just joking nothing's gonna really happen until it actually happens and it happened everything's like
00:30:03
Speaker
all the major things occurred within the span of a day because the teacher saw the drawing, the teacher brought it to the administration, brought the kid in and told the parents, we said, Oh no, it's good. Like it's fine. This boy had his backpack like on him. The gun apparently was in the backpack. Nobody knew. They didn't even search the backpack. Like what kind of, like what kind of school is this that there's no
00:30:23
Speaker
No, they're all like investigation being done when you are brought to the attention that a kid might have ill intentions towards, you know, well, it's towards the school. Like, what, like, what I said once again, if this was a black kid, could he have even gotten away with the first step? Like, and, huh, like, it's so frustrating to know that this was a completely preventable shoot. Like, like when you think about it, most shootings, the only difference is that most shootings usually are not that preventable because people had no clue that the kid, but
00:30:52
Speaker
This was so professable. You had all the evidence in the world. What? Oh my gosh. And now they have all those deaths on their hands, those young children. It's just a disaster overall. And it just beckons the question about our school system, are our children truly safe? I can imagine being a parent right now.
00:31:14
Speaker
Should I send my child to school? I mean, it might be, you know, it's really randomized because it's these like you said, these things just happen. You know, I mean, and it's and oftentimes they're not they're preventable. Oftentimes they just happen in situations where people just one day just go off and they feel like they got to do what they got to do. Unfortunately.
00:31:32
Speaker
And people are victims of that. So there's a lot to be said about that in that arena. I think from the political perspective and gun control, gun laws and all that, that's another topic. But we need to continue to work on that. Our children deserve to be safe. If anyone else in the country, our children, first and foremost, my child shouldn't be scared to go learn and educate in a system where I'm paying taxes for them to be safe. I'm paying for police. I'm paying for them to learn. I'm paying for them to be in situations that will empower them.
00:32:01
Speaker
You know what I'm saying? No, that's so true. And it's unfortunate. Rest in peace to all those who lost their life in that high school shooting because that's so disappointing. I cannot believe that parents who are trusting adult figures to protect their children couldn't even have that
00:32:19
Speaker
You know, it couldn't even be, it wasn't held up on their end. Like you do your part, you drop your kid off at school, make sure they get there on time. You pay your taxes, like you said, you do your part. And somehow the school completely just fumbled on their part. And that's just so disappointing. So rest in peace to all those who lost their lives in that, in that shooting. But, you know, ending out this episode and making sure we wrap it up on a good note, because we've talked a lot about
00:32:42
Speaker
good things, like crazy things. But you know, I think it's always good to like, remember those in 2021 who lost their lives, who really meant a lot to us in this society.
Tributes to Influential Figures of 2021
00:32:51
Speaker
And so we have to shout out all the big icons who passed away this year. There's a couple names, but you know, I'll just run down the list. And if any, you know, either you and I want to say our own little piece in terms of how we felt connected to these figures, I mean, feel free Aldi.
00:33:05
Speaker
But yeah, just going down the list, we got Larry King, who passed away on January 23rd. Apparently, it's from a complication of sepsis due to COVID. And Larry King, to me, is like, that's my challenge. He's a girl. Right. That is us. That is where we're going to be at. You know what I'm saying? In the future. I remember, like, my mom used to always watch his interviews, watch his show, Larry King Live, at 10 PM on CNN. I would just sit there and, like, watch him, like, do his magic. You know, he's a phenomenal, whole series, phenomenal interviewer.
00:33:34
Speaker
you know, shout out to him and all the things he's accomplished in his life. You know, he lived a long life. Yeah, no, recipe. So great guy, because he lived a grateful life. Ceasily Tyson, I loved her like beautiful, dark skinned black woman. People like her just make me want to. Yeah, people like her just want to keep going. Because I'm like, listen, if she was able to be such a powerful figure all the way back then, and she died, like, like just like Larry King,
00:33:57
Speaker
90s. Late age and like, she just did so much recipes to her award winning film, television, a stage actress, and she's just great. So recipes to Cecily. Still acting. And she was still acting too. She was still acting. Still outside and active. You know what I mean? Right. I know this is a big guy for you at DMX. All doing DMX.
00:34:19
Speaker
definitely you know one of the childhood greats you know grew up on DMX you know he you know it's just unfortunate you know with the cocaine induced heart attack he passed away on April 9th 2021 for so many people again in my neighborhood you know we always used to be bumping DMX going down the street you know like pulling up on a block and everything
00:34:37
Speaker
And even like so many songs, he did a lot of songs, the videos in the Bronx, too. So I was watching and reminiscing of who he was. And also DMX did so much for other people outside of himself that people don't know. He was paying people's tuitions. He was sending kids to school. He was doing giveaways, backpacks. He was supporting up and coming artists. And we did talk about this in the past, but that led to a lot of the demons that he faced.
00:35:05
Speaker
So shout out to DMX, man. The dog will live forever on. Right. No, shout out to DMX. And also we got a shout out Biz Markey. I'm not too familiar with him, but he died on July 16th following complications from diabetes. So this is also awareness for diabetes. That is a chronic disease that a lot of black
00:35:24
Speaker
Americans, you know, deal with in our country. And so this is definitely also awareness to those who are struggling with diabetes. You know, we hope you guys do your best to stay healthy and you know, everything like that. But you know, rest in peace to biz as well. Rest in peace to Colin Powell, another guy who's like, that's like my childhood, you know, like,
00:35:43
Speaker
He was the first black secretary of state. He died also at a really good age, 84, but unfortunately was due to complications of COVID-19. So maybe you could have some more years in him, but still lived a full, great life. And he was just a, he was very powerful figure. You know, I always used to hear about Colin, so rest of the peace to him. He was directly from the Bronx too. Born and raised, you know, not too far from where my mom currently lives at. So just hearing, you know, someone that represent our community and live the standard
00:36:11
Speaker
that so many people fathom and try to accomplish. And he was able to manifest that, especially in an era where many black men did not reach those levels of professional accomplishment in the military, you know, coming forward, star general and rise to the ranks. I had a chance to read one of his autobiographies a couple of years back.
00:36:30
Speaker
just seeing some of the unfortunate things that he encountered, but he still persevered. It's really a very telling story of what you could do if you put your mind to it. Right. No, literally. Yeah. So rest in peace, Colin. And also rest in peace to Greg Leakes.
00:36:45
Speaker
who is the husband of Nene Leakes. You know, I definitely know Nene and that's like somebody who's definitely like she's a great figure. And so condolences to her losing her husband, you know, due to a battle with colon cancer and, you know, prayers out to her. But rest in peace to Greg. She already moved on to somebody else, apparently. So really? Oh, my gosh. Oh, man. She posted that man. She posted that man already.
00:37:12
Speaker
I ain't trying to be shady, but you know, I'm just saying that's what that's what happened. You know, I mean, I let people live their life. You know what I'm saying? I ain't judging him, but I'm just saying, you know, apparently he had given her, you know, the his best wishes to move forward to do what she got to do. You know what I mean?
00:37:28
Speaker
I'm sure she loved him in all of that, but you know, everyone, everyone handles, you know, grieving differently, right? So maybe for her, that, you know, that's her way of moving on. But yeah, rest in peace, Greg. And rest in peace to young Dolph. I also not a figure. I'm not a like, I'm not super. I didn't really like
00:37:46
Speaker
read too much up on Yongdol for at least I don't know that much about him. But I think Alden, you've mentioned him a couple times before in some of our episodes, right? He's a he's a rapper. Yeah, he's a hip hop artist, you know, from Memphis. And he's, you know, been in the game for years and years, you know, connected with people, you know, like GZ, you know, people like all over all over the hip hop world. And although he's not like, you would say like a A-list like rapper,
00:38:11
Speaker
He is particularly known in that area, you know, in the in the Memphis, you know, Jackson area, Jackson, Mississippi area. You know, a lot of people really rock with them. He he was kind of like the biggie to them. You know what biggie was to like New York City and Tupac to the West Coast.
00:38:26
Speaker
But Memphis, that's what he really represented. And he was really active in his community. Unfortunately, you know, he died, you know, he was shot and killed in front of a cookie store while purchasing cookies for his mom. And he was getting ready to do a turkey giveaway for Thanksgiving. So it's crazy. I had a conversation with one of my mentor's husbands the other day. And I'll tell him, like, I'm gonna go back to my hood and give back. But it's like the hood don't love you. You know what I mean? Like, you go in and give back. And it's like you kind of, you know, putting yourself in a very
00:38:53
Speaker
you know, precocious position, you know, oftentimes. I mean, that's not a discussion to have, but thinking about that and his particular situation. And that's why oftentimes we don't see a lot of our, you know, celebrities and people who have the will to change, be in the communities that right. You know, it's really threatening to their livelihood. You know, it's unfortunate that he got murdered at such a young age, you know, at 36. So really rest in peace to him. And apparently he also, like you said, he did a lot of work in his community. He was always giving back. So
00:39:19
Speaker
That's always something to be respected. And so, you know, rest in peace, young Dolph. And moving on to our last icon, rest in peace to Virgil Abloh. So apparently this was the artistic director of Louis Vuitton, menswear, and the founder of Off-White. And so he died at 41, so also at a young age due to a long battle with actually a rare aggressive form of cancer known as cardiac angiosarcoma. So that's, you know, that's unfortunate to hear. But
00:39:46
Speaker
to be like in such a big position, like working with Louis Vuitton, that's definitely like admirable. And so rest in peace to Virgil. And you know, thank you for the service that you provided with your time here on this earth.
00:39:57
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Shout out to him. You know, I mean, Kanye West and Pharrell, they actually hosted a event, a musical event, a musical hearing for him on behalf of Virgil and some of his accomplishments. And he was really well known in the fashion industry, but also in the music industry as well. So it's just unfortunate you hear, you know, so many, especially of our black men and women just dying of devastating diseases. You know, Black Panther, you know, Chadwick Boseman, similar.
00:40:23
Speaker
kind of situations where they're just young, but they accomplished so much in their lifetime and have given and produced and inspired so many people. And so their legacy continues to live on. But with that being said, speaking of legacy, we got a legacy that we're going to manifest in 2022.
SNMA Plans for 2022
00:40:41
Speaker
You hear me? You know what I'm saying? Like, there's some of the things that y'all gotta look forward to in 2022, you know what I'm saying? We got this new segment that's pulling up called Consults, you know, where we gonna answer your most burning questions, bring it, bring it, bring it back, you know what I'm saying? So make sure y'all hit us up. Any questions y'all got, you know, we gonna keep it 100 and transparent, you know what I mean?
00:41:01
Speaker
And then we're also excited to be exploring other forms of media that we can use to deliver content to you. So be on the lookout for that. We got a lot in the works. Be patient. It's coming around. And then we're going to be partnering with other branches of the SNMA to give you relevant content at every step of the medical journey. So whether you pre-med, medical student resident, attendant, you know what I'm saying? We're going to empower you to have the resources
00:41:27
Speaker
to be as successful as you want to be. You know what I mean? Because we all about here on the podcast, success, success, success. Period. And that is our show. Thank you guys so much for joining us for this episode of The Lounge. Let us know your thoughts about the discussions we had today or ask us a question for a chance to be featured on Consults by emailing us at podcast at SNMA.org.
00:41:53
Speaker
year, be sure to follow us, follow SNMA on all our social media platforms to stay up to date on upcoming events. So you can search us. It's not that hard. You know what I'm saying? Look it up. We're on Twitter. We're on IG. We're on Facebook. Make sure you follow us. Stay up to up to date on all the events. Amex pulling up. It's so much going on that y'all got to get geared and dedicated to because SNMA, we're on the up and up. You know what I mean?
00:42:16
Speaker
Okay, I'll do that. And let's do this together. Let's do it together. Yeah. Two, one. Happy 2020. See y'all next year. All right, guys. We'll see you guys next episode. We holla at ya. Love ya. Peace.
00:42:51
Speaker
Bye!