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2022...It's a Wrap!
26 Plays2 years ago
A lot has transpired in the year 2022! Join us as we discuss the recent events in the last days of the year, such as the release of Brittany Griner, the firing of Emory Hospital Labor & Delivery Nurses, the effects of hair relaxers on black women, World AIDS Day Awareness, transitions in the black media, notable individuals we lost in 2022, and more!
To share your thoughts on our discussions or if you have any questions to ask our hosts, email podcast@snma.org for a chance to be featured on the show!
Disclaimer: The opinion and views expressed on our podcast do not reflect the official stance of the Student National Medical Association.
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Transcript
Introduction and Conference Overview
00:00:00
Speaker
The views expressed on this podcast represent only those of the hosts and do not represent the views of the Student National Medical Association. The annual medical education conference 2023 will be held in person in Hartford, Connecticut at the Connecticut Convention Center from April 5th to April 9th, 2023. The theme for this year's AMEC is brilliance embodied, elevating the mission and revitalizing our purpose.
00:00:29
Speaker
This year's theme reflects what each element of our organization represents, how our initiatives uplift the SNMA's mission and the importance of reviving our overarching vision as we fully transition into a post-pandemic space.
00:00:46
Speaker
The largest gathering of underrepresented minority medical and pre-medical students across the United States and the Caribbean, AMEC gives attendees several days of innovative programming geared at preparing the next generation of physicians for successful careers in medicine. With tons of educational workshops and programs focused on academic and clinical success, professional development and personal growth,
00:01:14
Speaker
AMEC is a premier experience that catapults attendees toward becoming clinically excellent, culturally competent, and socially conscious physicians. Attendees will also enjoy the unique opportunity to network with colleagues, physicians, medical school, residency program representatives, and partners from all over the country. Everyone is invited to register for AMEC 2023.
00:01:43
Speaker
The regular rate ends on March 1st, 2023 at 11.59 PM Eastern Standard Time. For more information, visit snma.org forward slash page forward slash AMEC 2023.
Podcast Introduction and Hosts' Favorites
00:02:17
Speaker
Welcome to SNMA Presents to Lounge. Whether you're in the student lounge, doctor's lounge, or lounger around at home, get ready to join SNMA for meaningful conversations on topics affecting minorities in medicine and groups that often sit at the margins of healthcare.
00:02:37
Speaker
My name is Dr. Aldwin Samari, White Coat Poppy, Bronx Neuro-Dio, you know, all the athletes. Get it? The year of 2022 is coming to an end. So one of our questions for today is, what's your top five songs slash artists that you've played in 2022?
00:02:58
Speaker
Now for me, my top five, so, you know, I got to give it up to, Burnin' Boy had a fantastic year. His album, Love Daimini, came out earlier this year, and I really, really be rocking with it all the time. One of my favorite songs on there, it's called Cloak and Dagger. My second is Nas, King's Disease, 3 Killer, The Thunderous, Nas, I love that album.
00:03:24
Speaker
Third would probably be the Drake and 21 Savage album because they were shooting shots at everybody. He was making Swiss cheese out of everybody. You know what I'm saying? It was all about the drama. Y'all know I'm all about that drama. You diggy, diggy, diggy.
00:03:44
Speaker
You know, shout out to the King, the Don Dada in Jamaica. You know, I got to go with Vibes Cartel. Somehow he's amazingly enjoying his life in prison there. He got married, but he's doing his thing. So, you know, Vibes, I always got to rock with my boy Vibes. And then last but not least, I love the Black Panther Wakanda Forever album. One of my favorite songs on there is called, On La Brisa.
00:04:10
Speaker
You know, and every time I listen to that song, it reminds me of the scene where they're going into the Atlantis and they're swimming. It's like a very melodic, smooth, they can hear the harp playing. I don't know if you guys remember that scene, but it's one of my favorite songs by a Mexican artist. I forgot her name, but she's amazing. But anyway, so what about
Music Highlights and Segment Introduction
00:04:31
Speaker
you guys, though? What's your top five that are live?
00:04:35
Speaker
So I'm student Dr. Isabella, and I'm actually looking right now at my top five replay from Apple Music. They said my top song was Crush by Duckworth.
00:04:50
Speaker
And that is so true because that song is like, I don't know if you guys have ever heard it before, but he's an LA based artist and it's really good. My top artist is Drake. I mean, I don't think that's ever changing. As long as Drake is alive and well, Drake should be like the number one artist. Top album they said for me was Renaissance by Beyonce, which I think is also spot on. That was the album of 2022, in my opinion.
00:05:13
Speaker
And let's see what else are they saying for me? I think that's what's relevant. And then they're just talking about top genres, hip hop, R&B and soul pop, worldwide contemporary R&B. And then they're about to show me what music moved me in 2022. So let's just give it a second. All right, so
00:05:33
Speaker
Yeah, that was pretty much what I said. They didn't really give it like a top artist thing. Like they did like top song, top artist, top album. And that was pretty much it. I don't really want to use Spotify because I feel like that's not going to be accurate because I use Apple Music more. So yeah, Spotify, Spotify, they have their their times, but I think Apple Music is just it's better. Yeah.
00:05:58
Speaker
I like Apple Music too, a lot. Hey, so this is student Dr. Erica Dingle. So my top five, I will not say dead, dead or alive like always. No, but my top five is clearly just one album. Beyonce, Beyonce, Beyonce, Beyonce, Beyonce. That's it. It's easy enough. No, I ran that Renaissance album into the ground.
00:06:25
Speaker
And so it's funny, I had a conversation about this album because everybody has a top five from the album. But what I did notice is that my top five changed. So like my first top five when the album dropped was like with the exception of maybe three songs, the songs rotated out. So again, just to kind of show how amazing of a body of work that album really is.
00:06:52
Speaker
So yeah, no, but that's probably, when did the album come out? That was what, like, August? End of August? Yeah, sometime in the summer. Yeah, I won't say August. I know it was hot outside still, and everybody was wrapping up their summer party. So yeah, I don't think I listened to much music before the album. Music prior to the album doesn't resonate in my head. Oh, Drake. Drake does. Drake.
00:07:19
Speaker
July 29th is when Renaissance dropped and from July 29th until now, I've been playing that song, that album every day on my commutes to work from work. Drake is an honorable mention though, the dance album that everybody was kind of like, what is this? Zara music? No, I actually bumped that as well.
00:07:40
Speaker
No, I can imagine them playing it in Zara though. It is very much mall music. It is it's giving that so. Elevator type. Yes. I know. It's funny how we all have kind of similarities in our music choices. But you know, I think with that, let's get right on into our favorite part of the show. It is time.
Brittney Griner's Release and Reactions
00:08:04
Speaker
to run the list. So for our preclinical students, running the patient list on the wards allows the team to address pressing matters of the day. In this segment of the show, we'll be discussing some recent events in medicine and beyond affecting our communities and the populations we serve. So just to start off with some really, really great news, we are so happy that after being detained in Russia for 294 days, being sentenced to nine years,
00:08:28
Speaker
And recently being transferred to a panel colony, WNBA superstar Brittany Greiner has been brought back home to our beloved United States. Well, not really beloved, but you guys get what I'm saying.
00:08:43
Speaker
But basically, I guess a backstory, because I actually, I've been following her case too, but I was a little bit confused. But I know when we were kind of talking offline, I was trying to figure out, so what really happened to Brittany? And to our listeners, I also would like them to know what happened to her. So basically,
00:09:00
Speaker
Originally, she was traveling back to Russia on February 17th to kind of finish her overseas season. And that's when she was detained at an airport outside of Moscow. So custom officials allegedly said that they found vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage. I think it was called like Shisha oil or something like that.
00:09:16
Speaker
And basically, you know, WNBA players kind of all came together and broke their silence on March 30th with player Brianna Stewart explaining that because WNBA players get paid an average of one hundred and thirty thousand dollars per season, many players could have actually been in her position. And so basically since then, the US has been in contact with Griner since March and they've been working toward an agreement for her release. Ultimately, Griner was offered back to the US in a one to one prisoner swap with Victor Baut, who's a Russian arms dealer known as the merchant of death.
00:09:44
Speaker
And he was serving a 25-year prison sentence for conspiring to kill Americans and for providing weapons to terrorist organizations. So that's kind of just the really quick spiel as to what happened to Brittany and why, you know, what led to her being detained and how she's ultimately been released. But kind of people across the political spectrum have been criticizing this deal, especially because another American citizen, Paul Whelan, wasn't included in the deal. Like, what do you guys think? Is that kind of a fair trade or, you know, what's kind of you guys' thoughts on the situation?
00:10:16
Speaker
Well, let's say with the situation, yeah, I'm really, I'm happy Brittany Griner has had the opportunity to come back, spend time with her beloved wife, her family, and the prison sentence in my eye wasn't appropriate to the actual action that she committed. But that's not neither here or there. You know, they have their own system in Russia, and we have our own system here.
00:10:43
Speaker
What truly amazes me though is that because of the publicity and the support from the NBA players to celebrities, if this was a case where it was, for instance, me, my mother, one of your family members,
00:11:00
Speaker
They're probably undoubtedly we would be spending those nine years in prison. And no, like, honestly speaking, you know, and I'm not trying to take away from the fact that she did deserve to be freed. I'm trying to I'm trying to speak to the fact that there are other Americans that unfortunately their families may never see again. They may never even come back in the same capacity or the same state. Who knows what, you know, torturous, unheard of things that are going on out there. You know, Russia got the KBG.
00:11:27
Speaker
They're all for doing torturing tactics out there. And luckily Brittany Grindon seemingly looks like she's okay coming back. But I think that beyond the story in itself is the fact that we are glamorizing the situation. Yes, she's back and we appreciate that. But we're undermining that there's more work to do for other Americans that are being detained.
00:11:49
Speaker
And I don't think that it's fair that we neglect those people and forget about their lives just because we have a celebrity, that's because we have a WNBA player and the like. So I think that we have to take an appropriate look at this from the governmental politics and whether it's fair or not, I mean, who's to say? I'm not here to judge that particular aspect, but I am here to say that
00:12:11
Speaker
there's more that we could do. If we have the energy for Britney Griner, then we can have the same energy for other homies that's in prison over there or other detainees that are even around the world. Not everyone is Britney Griner. Not everyone got the clout like Britney Griner. Not everyone is making $130K like Britney Griner and got the bread and the support of the American government and the American political system and the like. So yeah, it's unfortunate. I'll be really tight if I was somebody else, to be honest.
00:12:38
Speaker
It's interesting the the support slash
00:12:46
Speaker
people that were very like, what are y'all doing? I've seen, it was very split on my timeline. And I mean, from our people, like my feed is straight up black people. I'm no foreign policy, foreign trade, nothing foreign expert. But in speaking with other people, the real issue a lot of folks had was
00:13:15
Speaker
the, the prisoner swap with Victor bout, um, because Victor bout was like, he's bad. He was the, the target or if you will, of like a major CIA initiative back in the day. Cause he was flying arms to so many countries. Um, and
00:13:37
Speaker
I said arms, like artillery, guns. So it's kind of like y'all, and he's not going back into prison as far as I'm aware. Like he's released. So this person who, I mean, they worked years on this, is who we sent back. And he looked very stealthy and healthy walking across that tarmac. So, you know, it's just kind of like,
00:14:07
Speaker
Okay, we got back Brittany, great. But did we just do something else that we have not seen? Eyes have not seen, ears have not heard of the repercussions of yet. So yeah, I mean, I try to remain neutral.
00:14:25
Speaker
with regards to some of these issues that we face in America, because no matter where you land, somebody's always going to have something to say about your opinion. But I am happy that she's home. And I do think there should be harsher laws for
00:14:44
Speaker
drug users in that sense, like marijuana, like, come on, it's 2022. Right. Everybody's smoking. Yeah. I do. I'm not saying anybody on this podcast smokes. No, that, yes. Nothing said here represents the views of these, and just, we're going to say it again for everybody listening.
00:15:02
Speaker
We're talking general, right? American people, like people are, there are pastors talking about growing marijuana nowadays. Okay. Like, so let's just know there are all that to say, it's just, we got to do better with these laws so that we don't have issues like this with our people being locked up over.
00:15:23
Speaker
something so frivolous. People kill people every day. That sucks. That's all. Yeah. And not to belabor the port or anything like that. But you know, I think also her release, we have to think about what does this have to do in a way of how you know, Russia or America could gain in this situation. I was just actually for her own benefit of going back home because
00:15:43
Speaker
Another thing to note is that the Russian armed forces invaded Ukraine on February 24th, which is just seven days after Grindr was obtained. So it's kind of like once they obtained her, it was like, why did y'all even obtain her in the first place? It was looking already sketchy, you know? So it's kind of like, even thinking about that, like was she even like obtained on grounds that made sense? And like now that we started kind of doing some digging, it's like you don't look, things aren't looking right on that end. So I definitely think that we need to
00:16:12
Speaker
keep in mind kind of the how she even ended up there in the first place and like probably why she ended up getting released because it was probably on some shady stuff. But yeah, and I think another important question to ask you guys as well is what implications does that have for Americans just traveling abroad in general?
00:16:30
Speaker
I ain't traveling abroad to Russia. So, I mean, it just depends, like Russia is not on my list of places to visit. That's a five. And I'm likely going to travel to the places that will, at this point, because life is so crazy, I'm going where people look like me in majority and that's it. And it'll probably be warm climates for a little bit, just because
00:16:57
Speaker
you know, the way the way the world is going. So I need to implement that.
Professionalism in Healthcare and Social Media Issues
00:17:03
Speaker
No, I was going to just say like a quick little tip because that's exactly what happened to me when I traveled to Nigeria. Like we went through Germany or something like that. And listen, the way they were behaving with our luggage, like our luggage was delayed. We were the only people who flew like to Nigeria through there. Like most people were just going to Germany. Like we used it as a layover and like our luggage was delayed for like two, three days. And they took things out of my mother's luggage.
00:17:26
Speaker
Like they like I this the last time I'm flying through Europe like you know, they see a black person and like or if you're coming from Africa, they're already thinking certain things. So it's really ridiculous. Yeah, it's ridiculous.
00:17:41
Speaker
That's facts. I mean, when you go to other countries, just follow their law, bro. Like, don't try to be extra, do anything like significantly different than what they're accustomed to. Even a similar situation with the reporter that went to Qatar, with the World Cup, it was he, one of the journalists was wearing a pride shirt.
00:18:00
Speaker
He ended up dying, you know what I'm saying? Like a couple days later after posting that. So you just got to move carefully and recognize that you're in a precarious situation when you're off soil. Like the law system, the criminal justice system is completely different in these countries.
00:18:16
Speaker
And you'll find yourself at the chill end of a situation. Instead of coming back home, you're going to be there 20, 30 years for something you think that is really minimal to them. Even situations where Americans go to Saudi Arabia or a lot of these Arabic-speaking countries and they don't wear the hijab, you can get the death penalty for that as a woman if you don't wear that. So you've got to be really smart the way you navigate these situations. Please look up the law before you go to these places if you want to act up.
00:18:46
Speaker
Speaking of precarious situations, listen in. Yeah, look, all right, look, disclaimer, we're in medicine. We are black. Exactly. Look, everything does not go for us. Okay.
00:19:02
Speaker
So all that to say, there is something on TikTok called the labor and delivery nurse ick challenge, where there was some labor and delivery nurses that are now formally affiliated with Emory University Hospital Midtown Atlanta. Well, these young ladies recently lost their jobs after posting a viral video to TikTok detailing their icks or things that are turn offs when dealing with patients, for example.
00:19:32
Speaker
My ick is when you ask me how much the baby weighs and it's still in your hands. Or another voice mocking a patient that says, excuse me, excuse me, excuse me, can I have some water? Excuse me, can I have a blanket? And you know,
00:19:47
Speaker
This is the job you signed up for and there are hospitals that are strict. Jobs now have a contract, a line or even a page paragraph detailing social media, what you can do and what you cannot do. It's that serious. I'm certain this was shared.
00:20:10
Speaker
You got to be sensitive as well to the patients. I mean, who knows? Like your social media is act, it can be sent to anybody unless you're super private. I don't know if TikTok allows you to do any type of privacy settings to where everybody can't see your video. But imagine I just delivered and now I'm seeing this nurse.
00:20:32
Speaker
share, you know, one of my ex potentially. What if I have postpartum and that triggers me? You know, like it's just, you got to be sensitive and that we have lost such sensitivity in America. Maybe, maybe, was it always gone? I don't know. I just feel like over the years people just say, you know, I don't care. I'm going to just act how I want to act. And, um, it's, it's, it's just trash. What do y'all think about it though?
00:21:00
Speaker
I mean, I think that this is just more collateral and more reasons why people, especially Black people, say they don't trust the health system. And then, you know, it makes me realize now so women who
00:21:16
Speaker
go and this is what labor and delivery Wow, wow. And we already have black maternal mortality rates that are like sky high like this couldn't have been worse. This couldn't have been a worse situation in terms of the kind of nurses who made this tick because like, there's already so much like,
00:21:33
Speaker
horrible statistics with black women getting pregnant and not coming out on the other side of life, like just to be frank with you. So if I were to add a baseline, you're desensitive to my concerns. If I'm coming in pregnant trying to give birth, like what is why won't I call up my doula to do a home birth at this point? It doesn't make any sense.
00:21:53
Speaker
Like now I know that this is how some people are moving, so then why would I now feel comfortable to put my life on the line with someone who is willing to go on TikTok and make some kind of caricature of giving birth, which is crazy. Sensitization, I'm telling you. Nobody is sensitive anymore. Like you said, maternal, black maternal mortality rates sky high. A human nurse,
00:22:15
Speaker
And we should be able to, like, I know freedom of speech and, oh, we were just, but nah, like, this is, you decided on this career to care for people in a vulnerable situation, for what it's worth. Like, one of the most vulnerable from start to finish. It just, have some respect, Aldwin.
00:22:38
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it's just prime example. Gotta be careful what you put out there. People are watching you. Even if you don't think you're gonna go viral, you can go viral. I've had this situation where, you know, people, you know, reported me for a video I put up, you know, and
00:22:55
Speaker
You never realize in the moment what it could mean and how people can misconstrue or construe their own thoughts and perceptions about what you're saying. But I also think we got to also understand, of course, what they said is abhorrent, but I also wanted to know the context of why they said those things. Because we know oftentimes in the healthcare environment, it's very stressful, lack of wellness resources,
00:23:23
Speaker
Nurses work really, really hard. Shout out to the nurses. But I also wanted to understand what was going behind the scenes, behind their thought in putting that video. Because there might be some other issues that are implicating them to do such things. And they even work together to do that in such an environment. But it doesn't excuse that behavior and that tactic. Like you guys mentioned, a black maternal mortality.
00:23:45
Speaker
We're talking about Atlanta, which, you know, is 40, 50% black. So that could, you know, exacerbate a lot of issues, but also it's a look at what about how other nurses are feeling. They may be represented how nurses are feeling, but they, that may not be something that we're aware of, you know what I mean? Like in the LND unit. And so, um, you know, it's unfortunate, you know, they lost a lot of jobs. You got to do what you got to do.
00:24:09
Speaker
and figure it out. But I think oftentimes at the landscape of health care, there's always a disaster waiting to happen when you have those kind of thoughts. So be careful, social media. Make sure you watch our videos over before you publish it because someone somewhere out there is going to put it out there and they're going to try to
00:24:28
Speaker
you know, mess up your situation. You know what I mean? Keep those thoughts to yourself. Put your joint on private. Put it on your only friends unit or send it in a text to somebody close to you. Or don't send it at all. Just write it down in your journal if you're feeling that way. That's what
Challenges in Medical Training and Advocacy
00:24:44
Speaker
I'm saying. What happened to journal writing? Like, what happened to journal writing? Journal writing? No. Journal writing is now social media. That's the thing. That's the fact. People post everything about their personal life on social media. It's like, yeah.
00:24:57
Speaker
I mean, it's an unhealthy form of cathartic expression, and it's doing more damage than good. I want to pause for a second to all, but you did say something that I was like, you know what? I didn't think about it from that perspective. What if these nurses were trying to collaboratively share
00:25:17
Speaker
you know, their gripes and maybe they were looking to get something like not recognition in the, in the sense of like, Oh, clout, but recognition of, Hey, this is what's happening. Like I heard you say something, something similar to that. Like this is what's happening in labor and delivery, blah, blah, blah. But I think.
00:25:38
Speaker
And that's valid, right? Now, that could be the case for medical students, for example. I've read reports about medical students and how during rotations they have to work X amount of hours and they're not, right? Nobody's getting paid, even in residency, just overworked, underpaid. Now, let's say you have a subset of medical students that wanna actually
00:26:07
Speaker
bring shed light on this. Like I like solutions. So what would you suggest in that case? Like if these women really had an issue, cause I don't think this was it. I don't think this was them trying to voice their, their issues and say, Oh, help us. I think they were just being nice, nasty. And they decided to post the video and they wanted some clout, but
00:26:30
Speaker
you know, hypothetically speaking, how would you inform a group of people in medicine that wanted to use social media to kind of maybe inform others about the issues they're experiencing? And right before you actually hit that, although let me just say one thing, though, the board of nursing directors, they're not watching tik tok, I'm telling you that right now, or whoever, you know, supervises, they're not watching. They're not trying.
00:26:54
Speaker
They're not using TikTok as their quality improvement metrics. Like that's not a part of their job, you know? Like you have... Exactly. If you have an issue, you're going to put in a formal complaint. You're going to go through whatever union that nurses have. And that's what you're going to do it from a practical standpoint. You're not going to go on TikTok. And that was completely clout chasing. I don't care who says different. No it was. Absolutely.
00:27:17
Speaker
You know, like there's no, there was no structure to what they did or said to, to try to voice anything constructive. It was just, let me blow off steam on TikTok and hope and pray that people laugh with me and, and come on, like it's ridiculous. But sorry, go ahead.
00:27:32
Speaker
Well, you mentioned the important part. Nurses have a union that they can go to, but residents, they don't. Medical students, they don't. Like was mentioned, you're underpaid, you're undermined, you're in this cogwheel.
00:27:48
Speaker
that oftentimes perpetuates toxicity, stress, anxiety. And I think one of the things that we need to do is simply, and it's not simple, but start off with creating unions. We have a system in the Bronx, Montefiore, that's actually trying to advocate to the actual presidency of the system, Dr. Ozark or something like that, Ozawa, something like that, Nigerian guy.
00:28:13
Speaker
And what they're finding, they even have assembled the support of state politicians to even write on behalf of the resident union that is trying to be formed at Montefury. And you find that these challenges are very common in the medical system. We don't have a place to go, and we standardize just getting through the process, going through long hours, not sleeping, sleep deprived, and the like.
00:28:38
Speaker
But I think that we have the power to say no, we have the power to say we can challenge the system if we work together. So many people are fearful of speaking. Like for me, for instance, I'm very transparent. Anybody that follows me on IG, I'm truthful about my experiences with residency and the things that I despise and dislike about the whole process. And people be DMing me like, bro, I appreciate that. You keep it real.
00:29:04
Speaker
And a lot of people, they don't do that. You see them in photos, they smiling, they're on vacation. But meanwhile, in the back, when they're at work, they crying in the back room, or they're depressed, or they're having seasonal affective disorder because it's always snowing. So you see this glamorization
00:29:23
Speaker
in medicine, but we don't see, like Erika mentioned, the solution in regards to what's going on behind the scenes. And so I think it starts with being able to advocate, being able to collaborate with other residents, other hospital corporations around the country, and standardizing what this process should look like, and not allowing us to be scapegoated in this process. You know what I mean? Like, when I started residency two, three months in, I gained like 15 pounds. You know what I'm saying?
00:29:52
Speaker
like is my sleep was all over like I was I was getting up in the middle of the night panic attacks I was tight got to get up at like 5 30 every day and do the same thing stay in the hospital 13 14 hours I just was it just wasn't for me you know at that particular time and it's a whole adjustment process
00:30:09
Speaker
So I think creating those resources for the unions, but also creating the resources for also our residents and giving people grace, because I see it all the time. A lot of people don't give people medicine grace at all. It's like you've got to be here on 100, be on go. We need to understand each other. We need to have a form of compassion.
00:30:28
Speaker
for each other. And we are unable to discuss or talk about that. Like if a doctor attending screens that you're supposed to take that, you know what I'm saying? No, not supposed to take that. That is not appropriate. That's not that is not what I came to medicine for. I came to help people not to be criticized and ridiculed, berated.
Keke Palmer's Announcement and Societal Expectations
00:30:47
Speaker
You know what I mean? So it's a it's a complex issue. But I think that that's kind of like where we need to start and not being afraid and tackling this together. Good. Like it.
00:30:57
Speaker
Totally agree. And at the end of the day, the nurses have been fired. Emory put out their little statement, and yeah, we move on and up. And at the end of the day, despite this issue of labor and delivery nurses kind of just doing a free-for-all on TikTok, they cannot
00:31:14
Speaker
they cannot affect what it means to actually experience the beauty of pregnancy. And we still appreciate it when we have people that we know, love and respect, such as Kiki Palmer, who recently announced that she actually is pregnant on Saturday, Saturday Night Live. And it's her first child, as we can all know, considering that this is such a big deal with her boyfriend, Darius Jackson, the brother of Insecure star Saranis Jackson. You guys remember the brother and the role he played? He was like one of Molly's
00:31:45
Speaker
boyfriends, a really tall guy, like a really, really, really, really tall guy. I forgot his name, though, on the show. But yeah, so that's his his brother. But basically, while many folks kind of celebrated Kiki's wonderful news, there was a few backhanded comments on social media kind of suggesting that the pregnancy news would have been better if Kiki was married and that black woman seemed to be the only demographic that get praised for single motherhood. So what are y'all thoughts on that? Because
00:32:13
Speaker
That's a difficult, a difficult statement to make, you know. Live your life. Let her live her life, man. Let's celebrate this black queen and whatever decision she makes. Yeah, I went on, I was on YBad, this group on Facebook. It's called Young Black American Doctor. And this guy posted about the pregnancy and said, there's marriage in outdated institution. And they dragged that man to work.
00:32:40
Speaker
Whoo, if I told you how to comment, it was Suze. Yeah, he self-sacrificed on that one. But I cannot. He did. But, you know, like, I really love that Kiki's living in her truth. She's living in her beauty. And I'd rather be in this situation, people oftentimes think, oh, she's not married, whatever the case may be. But she's in a situation where she's with a loving partner
00:33:07
Speaker
And it's a full household. Forget the title of marriage. And you don't know what, like, her thoughts and ideations. Maybe she's going to get married when the baby gets born. Like, that doesn't matter. We could neglect that fact. What we can focus on is that we have a woman and a man that is going to empower their child. They're going to be active.
00:33:25
Speaker
in this beautiful baby's life and that they're going to help develop this baby into productive citizen of the world. And so I think we should focus more on that, but also we should focus on the fact that, as we mentioned earlier, people need to mind their business, mind yours, live your life. That's it.
00:33:43
Speaker
Kiki's representation of a positive, optimistic woman and being on this earth. What is she doing to you that you got to go and, you know, dismantle all of her positivity, right? And we talk about black women in the media. We got to uplift them. You know, we're not doing that enough. And this is a prime example. When a woman is proclaiming her happiness, we're taken away from that. And that's a no-no. I mean, like, we need to help
00:34:08
Speaker
bring this queen to the level and the standard that our community needs to see. And I feel so ashamed that we continue to see this, you know, commonly over and over and over again. So shout out to Kiki. I'm very happy for her and, you know, her boyfriend. And, you know, I look forward to, you know, seeing what pops off of them in the future in regards to this. So what's happening? I'm happy for her, of course.
00:34:31
Speaker
She's like, well, for me and my generation. No, I'm joking. It feels like a niece. Oh, you're niece is having a baby. Oh, baby Kiki with a baby. So there's that. Also, I think, right, whenever I do that, a deal. This is why it's a podcast. We got to hear all the opinions and signs of it. I just, I feel like
00:35:02
Speaker
At some point, either in college, like right before you graduate, everyone in the US needs to take a class on what marriage is in the United States. And I even want them to maybe not necessarily actually fake marry people in the class, but like make them go through a divorce proceeding.
00:35:25
Speaker
And what all goes into that because everybody is talking about marriage, marriage, marriage, marriage is a business contract at the end of the day. Like I know that's not necessarily what maybe it was supposed to be, but in 2022, it is a legit straight up business contract. And that comes with a lot of
00:35:51
Speaker
ups, downs, things that are gray, it's not black and white all the time. And Kiki with her money, her success, whatever she decides to do, whether she gets married down the line or not, I don't think we should be shaming her either into being married or being ashamed of her that she did not make the decision to get married before she had a baby.
00:36:17
Speaker
Additionally, it's important to note that Kiki has had polycystic ovarian syndrome, right? And we know that, so let's break it down a little bit, a condition that's an important cause of ovulatory and menstrual irregularity, sub fertility,
00:36:34
Speaker
and infertility. That's like the main things about the infertility, like keyword, clinically evident, hyperandrogenism, and metabolic dysfunction in women. Essentially though, women with PCOS are infertile a lot of times and have to go through rounds and rounds of IVF in order to actually have a baby. So here we are again.
00:36:56
Speaker
The backlash is coming from where? The black community about this young girl who actually was able to overcome this disorder, become pregnant, and she's not married so we're upset and does marriage still exist anymore? Can people in 2022 actually carry out a marriage?
00:37:18
Speaker
Listen. Talk to them. Talk. Listen. We are looking at the entity. Look at the people that make the entity. Can it be successful with those people? It's very layered. A lot of these conversations and topics that come up I find are not just linear.
00:37:40
Speaker
And I just, I hate, sorry, go ahead. I was going to say, I teach all Obama, she's already been telling us like these kids of today, I love it. I'll say kids, I'm kids of today, but this generation can like, they cannot handle a marriage because she literally talked about basically hating her husband for 10 years. Mr. Barack Obama, she basically hated this man for 10 years. And it was during the time of child rearing that that occurred.
00:38:05
Speaker
which is usually the most vulnerable time in a marriage. So can these people who are opening up their mouth up and wide saying, Oh, you even handle it, like that's the that's the gag, like, because most of the time, it's not a walk in the park. It's not Oh, holding hands, honeymoon face forever, you have to really deal with some real adult issues on top of having kids. So like, you know, what you're getting to is a very important point.
00:38:29
Speaker
Yeah, I just, we, and like I said, it really came from our community again.
Health Concerns and Beauty Standards
00:38:36
Speaker
And yeah, we do seem sadly to have a higher demographic that
00:38:43
Speaker
that are single mothers. And you know what? These single mothers be raising their sons and daughters. So I'm not about to give them any backlash for doing their jobs, whether someone decided to be present with them or not. But just aside from that, I'm happy for her. I know I said a lot. And people need to get some business in 2023 and stop mine and others. Again, I'll say it.
00:39:14
Speaker
Yeah, honestly, I think they congrats to Kiki. Listen, girl, just let the haters, you know, fall to the side. Because at the end of the day, they're not going to be the one to raise your child and experience, you know, the happiness that's going to come with being a mother. So, you know, congrats to her. And, you know, once again, in terms of just talking about things that we want to be mindful, mindful of when it comes to our health, because we just talked about Kiki having PCOS and like how that can lead to different issues in terms of fertility and all that stuff. There are other things too, in regards to just women's health, that we're
00:39:33
Speaker
But I'm happy for her.
00:39:44
Speaker
becoming privy to in regards to other facets of the body. There's actually a recent study that came out by the NIH, which found a possible link between hair relaxers and other straightening chemicals and uterine cancer, basically. These findings were published in a journal of National Cancer Institute on October 17, 2022. Basically, just after an average of nearly 11 years of follow-up, women who have reported using hair straightening products were almost twice as likely to have developed uterine cancer than those who did not.
00:40:13
Speaker
after adjusting for other factors that might affect risk. And so women who had reported frequent use of straighteners, which is more than four times in the previous year, are about two and a half times more likely to develop uterine cancer. I think that is so scary. That is so scary. Considering. Yeah, yeah. Just for me. For how many years?
00:40:34
Speaker
That's a relaxer. Oh, I'm sorry. The girl on the box and her hair is all, mind you, apparently those girls didn't even use the relaxer. It was a silk press. They don't goof this up. So this whole time y'all had me relax my hair. You was just getting a silk press. Like see that. These are the terms that evade me.
00:40:58
Speaker
Um, yeah, like, so, you know, what are you guys's thoughts on this? Cause I think this is just really scary. Like, you know, cause I can probably guarantee that almost every black woman at least once, I don't want to say like every single, but at least majority have at least used relax or at least once in their life. Like I have to say, that's just like super scary. Well, I'll listen age nine to about 27, 28. Well, and this is four times.
00:41:28
Speaker
in the previous year. I was getting relaxes every two months.
00:41:32
Speaker
for that amount of time. So these numbers scare me. And like, I'm scared for me and my homegirls. No, seriously. And it's just, I'm always interested when studies like this come out, cause I didn't realize how many black people enroll. Like this makes me happy because it's like, okay, clinical trials, black people.
00:42:02
Speaker
or well, people in general, but we know that black people use straighteners, relaxers, et cetera. But it's really scary to know and I don't know.
00:42:19
Speaker
stay grateful at this point? What do you mean? Oh, sorry. Go ahead, Aldwin. I was going to say that. I really would like to know with this study, like they said, there's a correlation, but what exactly in the hair relaxes, what is it that's actually increasing the likelihood of uterine cancer? What chemical, what is the mechanism of action in this whole process?
00:42:47
Speaker
So I guess like digging deep into that. But I think that obviously the greater issue is communicating the importance of, you know, taking care of yourself and being mindful of what you do to your body. And, you know, even on my own podcast, I interviewed a hair transplant surgeon, which is your subsection of dermatology. And we talked about like at odds and at evenings about, you know, women taking care of their hair. A lot of women, because of, you know, these kind of issues, have alopecia defects, you know,
00:43:15
Speaker
the psychology and mental health of many women as well. But I think, you know, the context of it is just realizing, you know, like educating yourself and being knowledgeable about this. But I think they need to really break down, like, what is that mechanism? Like, how does that? To me, it's just like, okay, there's a correlation, but what does that correlation signify? You know what I mean?
00:43:36
Speaker
Yeah, I do think that's important. There's actually a whole list of names of women who have actually put in personal injury lawsuits in their respective districts. Oh, wow. You know, with the with the brands of the relaxed group. So Dark and Lovelies here just for me is here. Carefree, Curl, Motion, that's everything, man. Shops, Sheen, like that's the whole beauty supply. So and they all have everything is almost saying uterine cancer. One person said breast cancer as well.
00:44:04
Speaker
Another person, uterine fibroids, endometriosis, I mean, this is crazy. And you know, given how many black women actually suffer from like gynecological issues, I'm not surprised to see that it could be relaxers that could be the maybe the link, you know, who? Yeah, this is this is actually really important. And I think that's unfortunate for these relaxer companies, because all you all you guys are going to go under as far as I'm concerned.
00:44:26
Speaker
They're going to be paying. There's going to be billions. They're not going to see them. They're not going to be on the shelves anymore. I'm going to walk into the beauty supply and they're all going to be gone. I'm about to get here, relax and get my check. I'm done. I actually have a story that ties into this and it's interesting and crazy. My aunt and I were talking recently about
00:44:53
Speaker
just the natural hair movement, how it's progressed, right? And how now our natural hair, whether you have legit like one C, one B or two, whatever curls are not like the loose curls versus the tight curls. Like everybody's hair is now being considered curls, right? Back in the day, that wasn't the case. And she was telling me about a temp worker that
00:45:21
Speaker
where her old job, she used to work for Ernst & Young, they would make sure like when they hired people to work the front desk that they looked like sleek. You couldn't have Bantu knots, for example, somebody came in with Bantu knots, very professional woman, but another black woman sent her home, called the temp agency, like she's not professional enough to work here.
00:45:44
Speaker
And then the next day, in comes somebody with slick back hair. So, these relaxers were almost like pushed on us to an extent. For the sake of professional look.
00:46:00
Speaker
Because really, I used to get my hair straightened for an interview or for a big event because my natural hair state couldn't have been professional. That wasn't good enough for a job interview or to land a position. It's interesting now the perpetuation of
00:46:22
Speaker
this professional aspect of our grooming, if you will, being linked to this, like, hmm, all along, we were just trying to look our best. And where did that even stem from? Like, where did the idea that straight hair was professional come from? And now we're suffering for it after just trying to make ourselves fit the mold for so long.
00:46:49
Speaker
No, this is important. It's an important
World AIDS Day and HIV Treatment Advances
00:46:53
Speaker
case. And I'm glad that they shed light on this because for the most part, things that affect Black people don't typically get all of this attention. So I'm glad that
00:47:00
Speaker
you know, this is something that they're making us aware of, you know, but kind of staying on that point of just making awareness to different health issues. This is actually World's AIDS Day slash HIV AIDS Awareness. So, founded in 1988, World AIDS Day was the first ever International Day for Global Health. Every year, United Nations agencies, governments, and civil society joined together to campaign around specific themes related to HIV awareness-raising activities take place around the globe.
00:47:29
Speaker
And, you know, I'm not sure how useful it is kind of for us to go into the whole background of HIV AIDS. So we all know when we hear the word HIV AIDS, it's always a negative kind of connotation, right? AIDS is pretty much just a late stage manifestation of HIV. And it basically just makes a person more vulnerable to receiving common infections as well as other infections that a regular person otherwise wouldn't have if they weren't immunocompromised from that.
00:47:56
Speaker
from that standpoint. And we know the history, right, kind of behind when it was first recognized among men who have sex with men in 1981, and just have since then disproportionately impacted low income queer people of color in otherwise economically advanced countries like the US.
00:48:11
Speaker
And also in sub-Saharan Africa, like 60% of the world population is actually living with HIV. But back then, they kind of saw HIV as a death statement, right? And now it's like people live years and years and years with HIV, given all the advancements in medical technology that we've done so far.
00:48:32
Speaker
I think it's just important to kind of give awareness to the disease because it was a real, it was a disease that was heavily stigmatized in the past. And I think it's nice that now people can live with the disease, even celebrities like Magic Johnson and, you know, other people of the like who can live with it and still, you know, have a full life because they are on anti-retroviral therapy. So I think that's really important.
00:49:01
Speaker
I remember in my, what was it, second year of med school, it was crazy. I was in class, one of my classes in the doctor, it was a doctor up front and I remember him saying, HIV is a black man's disease and he had a picture, a caricature.
00:49:16
Speaker
of a black man in a slave ship. And I'm like, that's how you really feel. I was sitting there, I was shaking, I'm about to run over here and drop kick this dude, I'm in WWE. We actually went and reported it, me and several of the other black students in my class at the time.
00:49:36
Speaker
But I'm saying that to say that is the perception of what HIV and AIDS represents. The standard, there's a model. Yeah, that's a black person's disease. But no, the reality is that it affects everybody. Everybody could get it. So engaging in protective sexual practices is important. Yeah, 60% of the people that have it are in sub-Saharan Africa. But there's 40% of people also that it does not include, which includes the rest of the population as well.
00:50:05
Speaker
But also, I wanted to talk about, you know, I was on my infectious disease rotation a couple months ago. And speaking to the fact that people are living longer, I had a patient who was diagnosed with HIV AIDS in like the late 80s, you know what I'm saying, or mid 80s. And he's still living at the age of 60 something years old. And now there's over 30 drugs that have been marketed
00:50:29
Speaker
to for HIV and AIDS that are currently active.
Media Personalities: Departures and New Beginnings
00:50:33
Speaker
And now people thought initially, like, you know, the last 10, 15, 20 years, people would have to take six, seven, you know, different pills at a time. Now you could take one or two pills as well. And they're also working on injectables as well in the market as well. So things are significantly improving. Now, I'm not saying, you know, just go all out because there's medications that could help prevent the
00:50:57
Speaker
progression of HIV and AIDS, like don't be wilding out here, you know what I mean? So protect yourself. But the fact of the matter is that even if you don't, and we are seeing all of these commercials and the like, that there are options for you to be able to live a very full and long life in this process. So, you know, I think it's amazing, you know, what the UN and all of these organizations are doing to bring their awareness to this
00:51:23
Speaker
and really be able to combat this disease and create an optimistic outlook on this. Right. Great. Yeah, so happy AIDS awareness slash HIV awareness day. And yeah, I think let's transition, though, back. We've kind of been in a medical headspace for some
00:51:49
Speaker
time now right now in the podcast, we got to kind of circle back to media and what's going on from that standpoint, but there's actually been a lot of transitions right now and just black media in general. Trevor Noah from The Daily Show actually just left his host his kind of his hosting position on late night talk show and
00:52:11
Speaker
as well as Angela Yee, who left the Breakfast Club. So it's kind of just some some transitions we've been having so far. And yeah, like I wonder kind of what's causing the shift, why, you know, maybe people want new opportunities or just kind of
00:52:28
Speaker
tired of same old, same old, what they've been doing for years. They just want to try something new in their life. You know, I think it's interesting that two kind of very notable talk show hosts just left, you know, their positions. So anyways, Angela is getting her own show, right? Yeah. Okay. Way up. And I mean, she's had she's been with them for a while. So yeah, we're serious. I don't that I know power 105.
00:52:57
Speaker
Do they, they have Angela, was Angie Dave, wait, Angie Martinez, I couldn't think her name, Jesus, that's terrible. Angie Martinez, who was at high 97 and was like their prominent and probably solo host for years, the voice of New York, not even self-proclaimed, like she really was for years. And then she went over to Power 105 once. So maybe they're just trying to grow their female presence with regards to, you know, having,
00:53:27
Speaker
you know these time slots and solo shows so I mean a good move for her and I think honestly the breakfast club like she was she contributed but I feel like I would like to see her
00:53:42
Speaker
you know, expand into her own space and talk about the things that she maybe would want to talk about more. And, you know, we get to see more of just Angela. So I'm excited about that. And then with Trevor Noah, I mean, man, like these shows, I think with a lot of these shows as well, and I'll say this for Angela too, like it's best to get out before like, you know, you're
00:54:05
Speaker
Well, one force to go out, you know, to bow out. I think just bow out gracefully. Like you always want people to crave more. Right. Right. Like every show that has ended.
00:54:17
Speaker
like sitcom or whatever, it's like, oh my gosh, y'all are ending. And they could have given us way more seasons, but what about the time when, if the time comes and it's like, oh, that show is still on, like you never want to be just the has been. So I think it's cool that he made his exit. I watched the show. It was really, really nice to see him give flowers where the flowers were due to the people who brought him on.
00:54:46
Speaker
Trevor Noah was just, he was really pivotal in a lot of these conversations that we've had over the last few years about race, race relations, black lives, mattering, you know, and everything. And I do want to mention that
00:55:05
Speaker
he honored black women. Like he said, you know, if you truly want to learn about America, talk to black women because they don't have the option to mess around and find out essentially. And he, I mean, he really, he got teary-eyed and you could tell he was so gracious for the black women that have raised him and shaped him and nourished him. And it was beautiful.
00:55:35
Speaker
to see and to hear. So I don't know whoever's coming behind him has big shoes to fill. And it's interesting cause Jon Stewart was different in how he managed and hosted. And then Trevor Noah came in, who was he was doing standup too. I didn't realize that like he was on a tour doing standup when he actually got the call from Jon Stewart for the position. And I mean, you can tell he has a little bit of comedic
00:56:02
Speaker
gifting in him in the mirror, which he hosts. But it'll be exciting as well to see like where he goes with his career moving forward. Yeah, yeah, I think for both of them.
00:56:16
Speaker
You know, it's important. Sometimes you just phase out a certain positions and I want to celebrate both of them for taking that initiative and taking that challenge to say, you know, I'm kind of, I've matured and I've learned from this experience and there's another direction that I want to grow in. And also there might be a bigger bag on the other end of that too, right? That's right.
00:56:38
Speaker
For Angela Yee even, being able to continue to work and market her own personal brand. And like you mentioned, being in her own space and comfort. And I remember listening to her talk about that, how excited she was to be in a syndication where it's everything that she wants to focus on. It's really critical for her in her evolution.
00:57:02
Speaker
And for Trevor Noah, I think he's done a tremendous job of continuing to be truthful and be honest and not afraid to talk about the topics that we sometimes question or are afraid to touch or taboo. He was relentless in his pursuit of representing what it means to be black as well. And I agree with you. I did love the ending of the show. I mean, I watched that the tidbit in terms of his excerpt to black women and honoring them.
00:57:32
Speaker
And I think these two shoes, it leaves something remarkable for other people to place themselves in. I hope that they, I hope that with the Daily Show that they bring in another black sister, actually, you know what I'm saying? Maybe like Kiki Palmer or something, you know what I mean? Like to pull up, like switch the game up. You know what I mean? I think that we need also a lot of black women in these spaces too. And there's a lot of opportunities. So I really don't think Kiki's coming though. She already has her own media.
00:58:01
Speaker
I was just saying, put that, someone, someone.
Scandals and Media Bias
00:58:06
Speaker
That's an interesting thought though, like a black, who would, I don't even, I would have to sit and like ponder for real, for real. Like who would actually be good on that? Right. Well, whoever they put in that space, I hope they don't, you know, fumble the bag and, cause you know, sometimes I,
00:58:25
Speaker
I wonder, do we remember when we are blackening these spaces that we do not have the option to just find out? Let me do this, find out how it goes. We don't have that option. We've seen this happen a few times this year, where you have a black man
00:58:50
Speaker
the center of a scandal alongside somebody else, whether we know their race or not. So right now, the third hour of Good Morning America is experiencing a shakeup of sorts after tabloids and many other outlets revealed that two of its hosts, TJ Holmes,
00:59:13
Speaker
and Amy Robach were exposed for allegedly having a months long affair. So since these photos have been released, you know, internet, Twitter has gone crazy with these images. It is just so funny to watch, but I feel so bad for laughing.
00:59:30
Speaker
But yeah, executives at ABC have pulled, since pulled the two anchors off air while news of their affair dominated the headlines. Now to note, both hosts were married. Not surprising. Though at the time of the news break, Robach was allegedly said to be separated from her husband. However, there was no such word about TJ Holmes and his wife, though he has admitted to cheating on his current wife,
00:59:58
Speaker
They said he was separated too, though, from his wife. Oh, okay. Separation, not separation. The whole thing looks messy as it could, as it will be, you know? It's messy because you think, because, just because they had the title of marriage associated with who they were with, but it doesn't exclude the fact that if you're separated- Wait, hold up.
01:00:18
Speaker
Here we go. You said that you said the title of marriage? The title of marriage? They might be getting divorced. They might be undergoing that, but they're not living together. They're not with that individual. All these people were out here, like, playing daylight.
01:00:34
Speaker
played daylight, didn't even care. Like holding hands, going on secret trips. Like, I think also at some point he had something of hers on air. Like, there was not even a, there was not even a trying of trying to be discreet with it. It doesn't matter how, whether there was the worst marriage of life. If you don't want to be with a person, you break up with the person, clean cut, and you know that you can do what you want. But when you do these things, you embarrass families.
01:00:59
Speaker
Who bears family? Who's to say that he didn't do that though? We don't know if they clean cut. Why did they get fired then? If it's not a situation, then why is it a situation? You understand what I'm saying? They're still married. They're legally married, but they're separated, which means they're not in the same house. We don't know. We don't know if Homeboy is separated though. We only know that the white lady is separated.
01:01:21
Speaker
Hold up. Wait a minute. No, listen, I just heard a really good point and I'd like to focus us. Yeah. So they did not both get fired. If I am not mistaken, TJ Holmes, the black man was replaced. Discrimination. Amy still has a job. There we go. There we go. It's discriminatory.
01:01:46
Speaker
Just to my point earlier, I feel like we, as Black people, have to do a way better job at being messy. First of all, they tell you, you don't go to the bathroom where you eat. There's a term, and I cannot really say it. It's way more, you don't do that. That's just something you don't do, right? It's just, it gets messy. Aside from professionalism, like, it just gets messy. But,
01:02:13
Speaker
Again, we are seeing that we are not afforded the same opportunity of grace in these types of situations. Were people really surprised that Amy remained on air? I wasn't. I was waiting for the announcement. Am I tripping? I thought they said they pulled both of them off air though. They pulled them and then they replaced one, TJ Holmes with another anchor from, I forget,
01:02:40
Speaker
what area, but I feel like she has not been released yet. Interesting. Okay. Well- I could be wrong, but- I mean, I don't feel bad for him. Am I supposed to feel bad for him? The same way that I didn't feel bad for Yime Udoka. That is not what we're saying.
01:03:00
Speaker
It's grown adults, it's grown adults making decisions for themselves. You know that as a black person, you're entering a relationship outside of your marital vows, you know that and she knew that too. At the end of the day, you also know where your place is in society as a black man, what you can and can't do. So then why am I going to sit here and sympathize with you when you had like, you know what the circumstances are, no one needs to tell you that, you know, so it's kind of like,
01:03:23
Speaker
We need to give these people grace. I don't feel bad for him. I don't feel bad for him. You made your bed now lie in it. I just think it's funny is my point. Like it's just, we're always shocked by, okay, this is what get, this is what happens. Well, no, like no grace will be extended. And I don't think he deserved any grace in this case.
01:03:43
Speaker
Like I said, we don't know what the true scenario is like. Listen, listen, Mr. Aldi, Mr. Aldi. Yo, y'all don't know what the agreement was with him and his wife, though, at the end of the day. We don't need to know it. We don't need to know that. We don't need to know that he was fired. But she married too? You can't make it up. We don't need to know the backstory.
01:04:06
Speaker
We don't need to know the back story. What we know is that both parties were married and that only one person allegedly separated. The other person may or may not have separated. That's all we know. So regardless, we know that they weren't single people. That's just
01:04:23
Speaker
I mean, maybe she can argue that she was single since she was separated. But we don't know for a fact if he was single. That's what makes this a tricky situation. Like, OK, if you're single, no one's going to be putting their eye on what you're doing in your life. But you're literally on air. You are literally representing Good Morning America. You think they want to have hosts? Don't you guys watch the morning show on Apple TV?
01:04:43
Speaker
No, it's like the same. It's like the same type of like watch the morning show on Apple TV. It's the same premise like a scandal that happens on On like the air like two hosts like are on the air They cheat like they cheat with each other and they're both married and then they get like the they get fired It's the same premise like so if it's happening in fiction, why won't it happen in reality?
01:05:04
Speaker
You know, like that's just that's kind of the situation. So, I mean, here we go. I beg to differ, but, you know, he lost his job. It's unfortunate. But moving forward, like we mentioned earlier in the episode, you got to just move and navigate these situations in the public eye very smartly. There are always going to be people watching, you know, even when you try to be discreet and secretive with what you got going on. So.
01:05:29
Speaker
From my perspective, I think we should still extend him some grace. Yes, he made that decision consciously, but also in the realization that on the other side, we have a woman who has suffered a minor consequence relative to him. And I think that's unfair. Regardless, yes, may have cheated, may not have cheated. It is what it is. But at the end of the day, I think it was discriminatory. Well, I have a question.
01:05:59
Speaker
Because I feel like we're seeing kind of some themes within relationships that go public are very exposed on social media, et cetera.
Relationship Advice and Public Scrutiny
01:06:10
Speaker
So you guys remember Derek Jackson. Yeah. Right. Yeah. So Derek Jackson and his wife that, you know, did that video sitting next to each other holding hands. So they're now getting a divorce.
01:06:29
Speaker
Um, I believe the divorce, I did not realize that they were getting a divorce for this reason. I just, I thought they were getting a divorce, but apparently blogger Tasha Kay exposed him for being with another woman at a Miami event. And bigger than that, this comes a few weeks after Ms. Denaya posted a video to her social media. Did y'all see it? No. Okay. She, uh, she was really like,
01:06:56
Speaker
hammering prayerfully condemning and cursing people. I mean, like she was speaking, like pulling scripture y'all. And like, it was like, I actually was like, Oh no, I can't watch anymore of this. Cause it made me feel like, you know, me and spirit kind of feels like, Oh no. And I'm not even talking about y'all in a bad way. I don't care about you guys for what it's worth. But weeks after
01:07:21
Speaker
she was condemning publicly and cursing people who had negative things to say about their marriage. Um, they're getting a divorce divorce. Yep. Typical, it's a typical line of events. And I want to, I want to ask Aldwin though, because I feel like a lot of men either banged with or did not bang with Derek Jackson. So like which side were you like one of the people that did not bang with him?
01:07:45
Speaker
No, I'm sure you want to ask Aldwin. Hey, OK. Why? Why? I'm just playing. I'm just playing. Because I'm a nephew today. I like it. Spicy. Ooh la la. We always want to hear. We always want to hear what you have to say, Dr. Aldi. You got to always say spicy. It makes me laugh. But yeah, so you didn't bang with him. No, I didn't bang with him at all. OK, OK. So I mean, I guess that I mean,
01:08:13
Speaker
With this situation, he's the standard of a hypocrite. The man talks about this and that, treating a woman, this and that way. Some things I agreed with in terms of taking care of your woman, protecting her, and things of that nature.
01:08:28
Speaker
But the fact of the matter is that what you're saying and what you're doing is completely different. So what you're saying, I can't really resonate with or I can't really listen to or respect because your actions say otherwise. And the fact of the matter is that he engaged in some, it seemed like abuses toward his wife in terms of not maintaining integrity, you know, embarrassing her. We're seeing this situation. And again, I don't know the context, but we're seeing this situation. I saw the photo of the woman that he was with, clearly wasn't his wife.
01:08:58
Speaker
beautiful young woman. But to say that he said, was it his wife? Yeah, I'm glad you saw that. But but to say like, you know, it's just funny to me that after the photo started coming out, that he was like, yeah, I've gotten divorced in all of this, like explaining everything that's going down. But when did this happen? When that when it obviously didn't have to make that publicly.
01:09:24
Speaker
But the way he was moving was, like, he was still married to Shorty, you know what I mean? Like, y'all still, like, taking photos. Y'all still still in videos with her and the likes. So it's interesting how he's been navigating the maneuver in this. And I think I don't I still don't understand how people, women are still listening to him, still following his lead, following along with what he's saying. Do not listen to this guy. He's a hypocrite. He clearly has cheated on his wife and all of that stuff. So
01:09:50
Speaker
Why? Why is he getting all of this attention, bro? Like, why is people even recognizing this dude? Block on the needle. It's like a argument of his name for Kevin Samuels, too. But we don't got to get into that. Kevin Samuels, that was your guy. That's not the topic here. We're not talking about Kevin Samuels. Rest in peace to you, Dan.
01:10:07
Speaker
I still watch his videos last night. Kevin Samuels had a mission. In my opinion, he was really trying to do something to help. He was. He was lifting black men. Listen, I'm going to send you video recording footage of him talking about black men being out. This is not slander against Kevin Samuels. No, no, no, no. I've watched his videos too. I've watched his videos too. There are some things that sometimes he said that did make sense, but I think
01:10:34
Speaker
The energy he came with was a little bit toxic sometimes, but I don't think like, you know, everything he said was like wrong. I'm just saying that, you know, if we want to talk about Derek Jackson, sometimes Kevin, he was getting a little bit problematic, too. That's that's just my that's like the recipes to him, too. Like I don't I don't expect any dead. He wasn't married and he wasn't like being hypocritical. What he was saying was what he was actually doing. You know what I'm saying?
01:10:58
Speaker
Like, he was working out, telling men, empower yourself, take care of yourself, like, dress up. Saturdays, you dress a certain way, like, dress up, dress to impress, move with integrity and confidence, things like that. You know what I mean? Derek Jackson is not doing what he's saying. So he's not a standard of what a man I would want to be. Yeah, he's on that. Mm-mm. And it's crazy that he had... Take away his blue check. What is he saying? I can't.
01:11:28
Speaker
Yeah, it's been an interesting, um, end of the year.
In Memoriam: Influential Figures of 2022
01:11:33
Speaker
Um, I feel like a lot, like, you know, like the end of the year, you just get hit with a lot of stuff. Um, it just seems like everything is a little crazy, either the relationships. Um, we have a few deaths that have happened that have just kind of been like, wait, why, what, what's happening? Um, in the world cup, which.
01:11:54
Speaker
going on right now. Right. The final face off is between Argentina and France to day. Right. Right. So I think everybody's been watching though and discussing favorite teams, players, et cetera. But to note, there was a reporter, we mentioned him earlier. He's been reporting for the World Cup for a lot of years. I don't remember exactly when he started, but
01:12:21
Speaker
grant wall. Um, and he was 48 years old. So he ended up passing away from a ruptured aortic aneurysm on December 10th while in Qatar, Lucille, Qatar, as he was covering the 2022 world cup. So just kind of crazy. Um, I know we mentioned earlier, when we go to these countries, you got to behave yourself. He was the one that was running around with the
01:12:50
Speaker
Yeah. What was on his shirt specifically? I don't remember. He had like a pride shirt basically. Yeah. The colors and stuff. Yeah. And there was like some suspected conspiracy theorists saying, you know,
01:13:04
Speaker
Maybe they did this to him because he's in such a strict country. I'm happy. I'm not happy that he passed away at all, but I'm happy to learn that there was actually a diet, like, you know, something that came of it in terms of, can you say a diagnosis post-mortem? I guess so. Because some people, yeah, it is. Yeah. Some people get diagnosed after they die. Yeah. There we go.
01:13:30
Speaker
But yeah, it's been a crazy year, honestly, and, you know, rest in peace to Mr. Grant Wall, you know, that's a devastating thing that could have happened to him. There's other people, of course, who died as well, take off. That was like, that's my world too. I mean, like he... When I think about like the Migos and just that entire group and like how they really pushed forward their own kind of sound in hip-hop, especially representing Atlanta, I think that's like,
01:14:00
Speaker
that's just so tragic that he died in the way that he died too, which is gun violence, you know, like, and take off doesn't even speak like, take off. Yeah, like you'll just I only heard his voice in music. I barely heard this man speak in interviews like he's a very you could tell he's a very quiet, you know, keep to himself man and he didn't even make it out. Like, it's just really sad to see and we really really kind of gives attention to
01:14:24
Speaker
just the epidemic of gun violence, especially in hip-hop. All these people who are still kind of one foot in the hood, one foot in music, and that line is such a tricky line to tow, so rest in peace to take off. And Twitch being a very unexpected death as well. I know he was the DJ, I think, of the Ellen show, so that really shook
01:14:50
Speaker
that shook a lot of people. And you know, his own was, you know, unfortunately by suicide. And that just kind of speaks to calling attention to mental illness, depression, and just how you have to continuously check in on your folks. You know, there really aren't any signs when somebody is dealing with a lot. So, you know, rest in peace to those two. And, you know, I'm hoping, you know, that there's peace to their families and everybody who's really suffered their loss. I agree.
01:15:16
Speaker
Well, there's a lot of notables that we lost in, excuse me, this year. Honestly, a very long list. Clarence Gilyard, Trouble, Tracy Braxton. We just mentioned Kevin Samuels who lost Coolio. Coolio, man. Reverend Calvin Cudds. Yeah. I mean,
01:15:46
Speaker
Bill Russell, Mary Alice, Jalen Ferguson, like there's so many. And we always hear at the lounge, you know, pay respect, honor those who came before us and are praying for your families, holding space for you guys here. Let the essence live forever.
01:16:06
Speaker
with the people that they touched and the lives they've impacted. Ah, man. Rest in peace to them. And, you know, this is, it's unfortunate that we have to run the list on kind of this note, but I think in the end, we can say that we've learned and gained a lot, I think, from 2022. And hopefully all the lessons and all the both good and bad things that have happened to us this year, we can carry forward into 2023 with a more positive outlook. So, I agree.
01:16:36
Speaker
This was our run the list.
Conclusion and Listener Engagement
01:16:38
Speaker
Take it away, Dr. Aldi. Well, you know what it is. That's our show. Good looking out for checking out this episode of SNMA Presents 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 our show by emailing us at podcast at snma.org.
01:17:02
Speaker
Be sure to follow the SNMA on all our social media platforms to stay up to date on upcoming events. Be safe, be happy, be merry, and we'll see you in 2023. Bye guys. Deuces.
01:17:33
Speaker
Bye!