The Real Juggle talks with WILLIE WALKER of Harlem, New York

Willie Walker:
Hi, Jack. Hey, what's up?

Jackie P Taylor:
So today we are going to kick off our Father's Dayjuneteen th episode. This Thursday. I have the pleasure of hanging out with and talking to the amazing Willie Walker.

Willie Walker:
I don't know how amazing it is. I've enjoyed it.

Jackie P Taylor:
You'll see how amazing it is before we're done. So we've been friends for a lot of years. So when I thought about the Father's Day episode and then coinciding, it just so happens it coincides with June 10 this year. I said, well, who can I talk to that can speak to the pipe and the opportunities for fathers, but then also the huge opportunity right now from a community engagement and activism perspective with all the energy that's, um, been garnered in the last couple of years. And you were the first person that came to mind. Okay, so just so everybody knows Willy Walker, I'll let you also tell us about yourself. But Willie Walker is so many things. You are an amazing father of five wonderful girls. Plus, because many of us claim him as, uh, his parentage.

Willie Walker:
A lot of daughters.

Jackie P Taylor:
Exactly. So if you see online or somewhere and somebody says dad, he's everybody's dad, it's like that kind of situation. Um, but then you also have spent a lot of years in community engagement. So anytime anybody wants to do anything or know anything about Harlem, um, even outside of Harlem, yes, you're a go to person.

Willie Walker:
Well, I've been blessed to have connections. I'm really blessed. And I, uh, can make a telephone call. It is usually for somebody that need it, and there's no charge for that. There's people asking for people need somebody to make a connection for that.

Jackie P Taylor:
Well, it's interesting because you have a lot of connections and there are a number of people with connections, but not everybody uses their connections or leverages their connections for the benefit of other people. And you do that, they're free. That's awesome.

Willie Walker:
They're free. I don't know any way to say it other than that.

Jackie P Taylor:
Why do you do it? It takes time, it takes energy. Why do you even do it?

Willie Walker:
Well, be honest. It's easy. Mainly it's a telephone call, and it's because I've done something for somebody, right. And they're paying it forward.

Jackie P Taylor:
So instead of leveraging that favor for yourself, you pay it forward to somebody else.

Willie Walker:
Right.

Jackie P Taylor:
That's awesome.

Willie Walker:
And they have to do that for someone else. And I asked that, I asked that they do that. Uh, so often people want to get paid for the things that they do. But if you're blessed I'm blessed to have the, uh, connections that I have. So how do you charge for that?

Jackie P Taylor:
Right. The relationships. And then they still have to make good on the relationship and come through on their side. Now, you are also the father of five amazing girls. Now you are a single dad.

Willie Walker:
Yes.

Jackie P Taylor:
Talk to me. About being a single dad and what that was like.

Willie Walker:
Well, you know what? Um, I was married twice. Right. And, uh, I went to court and took my daughter's. Last wife is dead, but I went to court and took my daughter. I didn't think anybody could raise my daughter.

Jackie P Taylor:
I hear that.

Willie Walker:
Okay. And, uh, my daughters wanted to stay with me. Not that their mothers was bad. My ex wife was never bad. Right. They were good women. Right. We just weren't good for each other. Right. And my daughters are my daughters. And that's not to take my daughters from their mother.

Jackie P Taylor:
Right. Because you, uh, still co parented.

Willie Walker:
Yeah. But you know what happened? My, uh, daughter primarily stayed with me. And when they were, I think, 16, they had to go live with their mother for at least two years.

Jackie P Taylor:
Is it that because you wanted them.

Willie Walker:
To, or they needed that material side of them to be exposed to, uh, their mother, to teach them that part?

Jackie P Taylor:
I, um, heard you were pretty good at teaching women how to take care of themselves in bed.

Willie Walker:
I had to learn how to grave hair. I, um, had to learn how to relax hair. I had to learn wait, you didn't.

Jackie P Taylor:
Just braid and do the hair. You actually relaxed and send them to the beauty salon?

Willie Walker:
No, my daughters wanted to have relaxed, and I bought the kit. Right. Read the instructions, and I did it. And nobody else fell out. Right. It worked.

Jackie P Taylor:
So, uh, when did you feel like you, um, hit your limitation of, like, okay, this is time for them to get that maternal when they thought that.

Willie Walker:
They was the smartest people in the world at a certain age, felt like they were the smartest people in the world. Nobody could tell them anything. Right. And they needed their mother to talk to them and got them. And not that their mother was always away from them. Right. But they needed to stay with them.

Jackie P Taylor:
So let's talk about that, because what you're highlighting is there is a role for the father and there is a role for the mother. In an ideal world, you're able to impart those gifts together, but if you can't, you still need to make room for it. So Father's Day is coming Sunday.

Willie Walker:
Right.

Jackie P Taylor:
And I guarantee you, I probably have done it in the past. You will have single moms say Happy Father's Day to me, because I'm the mother and the father. What do you think about that?

Willie Walker:
Well, people used to say, you are a good mother and a father. And I used to say, I'm a good father. Right. I'm not a mother. I can't be a mother. They have a mother. Right. And even if they didn't have a mother, you can't be of both. Right. There are certain things that a mother impart to a young lady that I could never do. Right. So you can't be a good mother if you can't do those things, right. So I could just be the best father I could be. Right. And hope that I put the best people around them that I could. When my daughter was growing up, they didn't have that. This is your aunt and staying with me. Right. Nobody stayed in my house. Uh, but I had women friends that was really nice. That would take my daughters for the weekend. Right.

Jackie P Taylor:
Would you do that now in 2022?

Willie Walker:
Like you would okay. Right. You just come and say, I know.

Jackie P Taylor:
You need to get out, get a break.

Willie Walker:
Okay.

Jackie P Taylor:
So you had your people that you trusted.

Willie Walker:
That's fair. I mean, really close.

Jackie P Taylor:
Right. It wasn't like women you were dating.

Willie Walker:
No, that's what I'm saying. My daughters didn't meet women that I was dating.

Jackie P Taylor:
Got it.

Willie Walker:
Uh, okay. And when they met women that I was dating, they were older, older young ladies. But nobody they didn't stay in the house.

Jackie P Taylor:
So what does it mean? Because I'm sure you got a lot of people saying, oh, wow, you're giving you so many accolades that they wouldn't necessarily give to a woman who's raising five children.

Willie Walker:
Right.

Jackie P Taylor:
So what are your thoughts? And so what?

Willie Walker:
That's wrong.

Jackie P Taylor:
I was going to say it gives a debate where people like, if men have their kids, it's like, Oh, my gosh, it's amazing you're doing that. And women will say, Wait, you're supposed to do that like you're the father.

Willie Walker:
I look at it this way, to be honest, a woman would take five kids and go from New York to California with no job and take care of those kids. She'll, uh, find a job. She'll find a way, figure it out. Man had one child, he got his mother sister. Everybody got to be there. And I'm not putting guys down, but I'm saying what I know. Okay? We're not willing to always jump in and do that. So no accolades to me. Right. I did what I wanted. I was raised with five sisters, uh, I mean, four sisters. And, uh, my sisters was older than I was raised. You don't argue with little girls. And my older sister had this phrase. She would say, Come here. What are little boys made of? And I had to say snakes and snails and puppet dogs and what. A little girl is made of sugar spice and everything nice. Right. Snakes and snails. Don't argue with sugar spice.

Jackie P Taylor:
She had to give you a visual.

Willie Walker:
She had to give me a visual because it was always how you can I was born in Alabama. Raising born in Alabama.

Jackie P Taylor:
So you were the only boy with four girls?

Willie Walker:
No, it was two, uh, boys. Three boys and four girls.

Jackie P Taylor:
Got it.

Willie Walker:
And I'm the baby, so everybody picked on me until I got big enough that they can't pick on me anymore. My sister was married when I was born.

Jackie P Taylor:
Right. So you were younger. So here you are, the youngest of a pretty large family, and then when you have the opportunity to take responsibility for your children, you jump in and you become the primary caretaker.

Willie Walker:
Right.

Jackie P Taylor:
That's awesome.

Willie Walker:
And now all my, uh, sisters, everybody's dead. It's me now. Wow.

Jackie P Taylor:
I'm it, um, so we got to get all this wisdom.

Willie Walker:
So I got all these nieces and nephews, right. And I'm there for them.

Jackie P Taylor:
That's awesome. What advice do you have this Father's Day to fathers out there? Either married and raising their children or even single dads like you were?

Willie Walker:
I don't give advice. I really don't. But I would say nuggets of wisdom.

Jackie P Taylor:
Did you take into consideration that somebody else might consider doing so?

Willie Walker:
Well, uh, I have girls. Right. And one of the things that we should learn as parents, when not to be the parent, and I say that as far as the authority within the house, the authoritative person, we overdo it. Right. Um, you don't want to lose your kids. So at a certain age, you have to learn how to communicate with them without being that overbearing parent, because you can lose them easy, and when you do, it's hard to get them back. So my daughter and myself, we don't argue, we don't fight, we don't do any of that. I'm the dad. Right. And I don't have to say anything about authority. Right. We grew up knowing I'm going to be the person that's going to take care of you, even to this very day. And they're all grown with children. Right. But we can laugh and talk with each other, and we have fun.

Jackie P Taylor:
So build a friendship.

Willie Walker:
A friendship. Still understanding that parenting is always there. Um, you never lose that.

Jackie P Taylor:
That's a hard balance to strike. But I'm a s really good. Even though you say it's not advice, it's a really good tidbit for fathers. Because sometimes fathers I know in my household, fathers had the reputation of boom, boom, I'm going to tell your dad of being that authoritarian, the disciplinarian. And so that puts fathers in a position of, like, good cop backup sometimes.

Willie Walker:
Right.

Jackie P Taylor:
And so what you're saying is, in addition to being an authoritarian, you never lose that because you're still the parent.

Willie Walker:
You're still the father.

Jackie P Taylor:
Find a softer side to connect.

Willie Walker:
Right.

Jackie P Taylor:
So that you don't lose them. Absolutely. They don't disconnect or not want to be.

Willie Walker:
You have to have your children to come to you. Right. Uh, and if they can't come to you, they will go to somebody else. Right. So still, uh, being a parent. Right. But in a way that your children understand that they could come to you with anything. I'm, um, your parent. I'm your protector. I'm your friend. Right. So there's no disrespect in my household at all. I don't disrespect them. They don't disrespect me.

Jackie P Taylor:
That's definitely something. As you're, um, talking, I'm just thinking how valuable that is. I can imagine other fathers, you know, digesting that and trying to figure out, how do I make that work in my relationship with my child or my children? Especially if you have a father with children that are not domiciled with them right. Living somewhere else, or multiple children, how do you see, um, our community kind of navigating that.

Willie Walker:
To tell you honestly, right. We, uh, have to step up. Men have to be men responsible for their families. You see so many single parents, but the single parent is the female, right? Where's the male? And she's asking that question. Where's the male? She shouldn't have to ask that question. We should understand our responsibility and take that responsibility serious. We don't always do that. I have men friends now. That a single parent, right. And we talk, and I say the same thing that I'm seeing now, right? Never lose your daughter, never lose your child. And these are men with daughters. Never lose your child. Right. Make sure that you're there for her, that she could come to you with anything. Right.

Jackie P Taylor:
That's big. So when you think about parents these days who have lost their way and don't have examples that they can emulate to step up, they don't even know what stepping up looks like, because they didn't have those fathers may not have had those men may not have had fathers in their lives. What's the responsibility, um, of folks at large to be the example? Even if you're not the biological, you.

Willie Walker:
Have to want to be the example. Some people are thrown into it, and they handle it well, but those that aren't have to want to be an example. And sometimes we have to learn. We have to listen to somebody, but listen to the person that you see that are doing it, not the person that say they're doing it. Right. So always get an example from what you see rather than what you hear, because you could hear anything, but what you see is, uh, usually real. So look at that and talk to people. We need to talk.

Jackie P Taylor:
Well, you've been the, uh, convener of things for, uh, men. In fact, I joke with you, and I'm like, why can't ladies come? You bring men together to talk and be vulnerable. Tell us about that.

Willie Walker:
Well, you know what? I was going to do a cigar club, right. So I did my whole garden floor really nice. And because I knew women was going to be in it. The bathroom had a urinal, and it was unisex. I mean, really unisex. Right. So when guys come, we smoke cigars, uh, we drink, we have a backyard. We talk about things that most people don't think we talk about, uh, very seldom relationships, because we all are in relationships, so we don't need to talk about that. But we talk about things. How about growth? Uh, we talk about business. We talk about men sharing with one another and it's very, uh, important if you want to be vulnerable with somebody, deal with another guy, right? Let that guy see that softer side or that weak side in you. Right. Because he'll understand it and he'll counsel you through it without saying you're weak without saying anything other than you're going through a moment and you need some help.

Jackie P Taylor:
I just think that just seeing a man talk to another man in that nurturing way is a lesson in and of itself.

Willie Walker:
Right. It's just men sitting on talking, but understanding what you're going through over a good cigar. Over good cigar. Listen, I got a wine, I bought a liquor I got a liquor cabinet and a drink with everything in it. I'm champagne and wine, but I got everything in it. That's awesome. So whatever they want to, uh, drink, they can drink it and nobody have to bring anything, right? Right. We just sit down and I mean, we kick it. One of the things we do now is that and I tell you, this is kind of problem because Eric was at my house, right? And he said, I want you guys to start counseling young people, right? And we had young men there. The guys that were there had their sons who are 25 and 30 years old.

Jackie P Taylor:
This is Eric Adams, mayor of New York. Before he was mayor.

Willie Walker:
No, he was mayor, okay? Right. But sometimes he'll stop by my house and we do this, right? So he said, I need you guys to really start concentrating on mentoring young men. Right? And we do that. Right? And some of the guys that was there, it was about, I guess about four young men that was there. And it was in their late twenty s and early twenty s. And they sit and they ask questions and they listen. And it was very intensitive to what they heard. Right. And they share things with us that we didn't know, but we learned. So parents could also learn from young people. If you want to, if you're open to hear it.

Jackie P Taylor:
Yeah, the openness. But you talk about parents being open to the conversations. But sometimes you do need folks like you guys another set of ears and eyes and somebody else to listen. You can talk to your blue in the face and someone else can say the same thing that the parent says and all of a sudden the child will listen. So having that extended community that you and Eric Adams and others talked about, that's important.

Willie Walker:
An inspiration just being there and people hearing him and his ideas and his thoughts and the thought process.

Jackie P Taylor:
And being so accessible.

Willie Walker:
Accessible. And not just accessible, they're not there, but mhm he's accessible city wide. He said he would be in his oh, that's awesome. We're all learning from one another, right? And what we learn, we share. If I tell you about the nieces and nephews, everybody that met me that knows somebody else, I'm all of a sudden their uncle. Um, and you know what happened? They don't hesitate to call me.

Jackie P Taylor:
You answer the phone.

Willie Walker:
Right.

Jackie P Taylor:
I think it's a rarity. I don't think you've ever not answered.

Willie Walker:
No, I always answer.

Jackie P Taylor:
You always, uh, answer.

Willie Walker:
Right.

Jackie P Taylor:
You're always there to be supportive. So now you're talking about connecting with other men. It just reminds me of June teens. And it's just so serendipitous that Juneteen th is the Monday and then Father's Day is a Sunday. I have to make the connection between now it's a nationally recognized holiday holiday. Many employers are giving it as a day off the 4 July that's right. Now, there's also if you look in retail and people doing the wrong thing with the holiday commercializing, it trying to monetize it. But do you think that we as a people and as a community have asserted what it should be? I see a lot of response about what it shouldn't be. Slapping people's hands. It's not that. It's not that. But have we really done enough to define and assert what we as in our family should be doing on Monday for June 8 and what it should.

Willie Walker:
Look like when you said some people do the wrong thing. What is the wrong thing?

Jackie P Taylor:
Monetizing it. And you're not a black person. You're not referencing the history of the date and what it really means. But you're creating a T shirt and selling it for your benefit. And those proceeds are not even going back into the community.

Willie Walker:
That's what capitalism is about. I'm saying this is what people do. It's a part of the world. It's a part of, um, people going to benefit or try to benefit any way that they can. Right.

Jackie P Taylor:
I get that. But how do we then I didn't say what do we do to go against that? Because like you say, it's going to happen. It's the nature of capitalism. However, even though we could still have a voice and what it should look like in the room. But how do we to me, we should take the opposite approach. We should say instead of just constantly slapping down like Whack a mole, what shouldn't be done? How are we taking the initiative to define what should be done? How do we respect the holiday and set the example for others?

Willie Walker:
You respect the holiday by learning what June 10 is about. So many people really don't know what June teen is about and don't care. Right. June 10 is about a travesty. Uh, as bad as slavery was kept in slavery and kept away from the news that, uh, you are free, not even understanding that they were free. Right. So we have to understand. And a lot of people say, how did that happen? Easy. There was no communication. Nobody's going to go and tell the slaves that you're free. And certainly the slave owners wasn't going to tell them because they were the one that kept them back. Right. So we need to understand what has happened to our people and take, um, ownership to it. And you take ownership by understanding that in passing along the kindness that the slaves did with one another, they, uh, um, couldn't have lived if that wasn't kindness and concern for one another. And that's how it was. Even when I was born in Alabama, I was born in segregated society. Right.

Jackie P Taylor:
Somebody really angry most of what slavery is.

Willie Walker:
Right. You know what? We think that things are so much better. Right? They aren't, because they're still the racism, still the prejudice, still the things that have happened to blacks always still happening. And it's happening because people don't want.

Jackie P Taylor:
To give up power systemic.

Willie Walker:
Right. And it's grown into you from the time that you're born. Right.

Jackie P Taylor:
So how do you experience that kind of trauma? Raising Alabama around segregation, et cetera. And then I know we're skipping a lot, but then fast forward to the generous, giving, thoughtful person. I don't see anger. I don't see the angry come out of you and how you behave and how you interact with people. How do people start to heal and how do you heal past the trauma?

Willie Walker:
It's individual. I've taken it in and understood it. I had to learn. First of all, I've been in martial arts for a lot of years. Right. And I did that because I need to protect me, okay? And I need to protect my family. So not that I was going to go out and beat up anybody, but if it came out of self defense, right. Um, you take pride within yourself. Who are you and what do you stand for? Right? And I mean truly stand for it. Don't stand for it when you're around certain people and when you're not, you're totally different. I wear mhm African clothes and everybody know me. This is how I dress. Right. And I'm proud of that because, um, it upset people. It upset people to see me dress in all African clothes. Right. They think I'm nonconforming. They have a lot of different thoughts about me. But mhm, they can't change me.

Jackie P Taylor:
Has that evolved? Because I would imagine 30 years ago you're doing it is different than today, where people embrace it more.

Willie Walker:
People still are the same. White people are still the same. Right. Black people like it because they feel like you're representing them in your blackness connection, which it is. White people don't like it because you're being that uppity person and nonconforming and a nonconforming. You're throwing it in their face. And I am. Right. But that's who I am. But I'm willing to take the weight for that. Right? Right. I know that there have been times that I should have been promoted on jobs that I wasn't. Simply because this is how I dress. And anybody know me, I dress like this unless it rains, if it rains of snow. I have suits out west, which is nuts, but those are my good clothes. I got great suits that I wear with the greatest, all right? And that's the confused people. Right. But I also have 120 outfits that was made. All my clothes are made. And, uh, you know what? It's a pride for me. I'm proud of who I am. I'm proud of being back. I shaved my head. I was shaving my head all my life. Because I know people want to understand. People that love hair can't understand why. Um, would you do this? It's easy to manage hair, right. I straight hair, but I could never get natural. Uh, first of all, I can never get that, let me tell you.

Jackie P Taylor:
So if your hair grew, would you have, like, a bang?

Willie Walker:
It was soft and, like, straight.

Jackie P Taylor:
Right.

Willie Walker:
I tried to get that from it's, like, October. I don't think you know what it is. Octacon salt. Okay. It was made with lie in it. Right. And I used to put it in my head to kind of kill it straightness in it. Right.

Jackie P Taylor:
Well, I thought the lie made it straight.

Willie Walker:
No, this was October.

Jackie P Taylor:
It freeze it up.

Willie Walker:
Yeah. Frizz it up. Right. Sniffing it up. At. All right. Okay.

Jackie P Taylor:
Uh, so sit up and look at the camera.

Willie Walker:
Yes.

Jackie P Taylor:
We're going to put an Afro on you.

Willie Walker:
But I could never get an Afro, right. When I was a teenager. So I shaved my head.

Jackie P Taylor:
That's the best thing.

Willie Walker:
It's the best thing, and I love it. And people always then they talk about Michael Jordan way before him. Right. People say, Why do you shave your head? Because this is my son. This is what I like.

Jackie P Taylor:
Right.

Willie Walker:
And for me, every other day, I still have to shave my head right.

Jackie P Taylor:
To keep it low.

Willie Walker:
Right.

Jackie P Taylor:
This is your look, and people know you. And the wonderful thing that folks may not know is that you are a resource not only for connections, but, like, a wealth of knowledge. You are so easy to talk to, whether it's, um, family or relationships or work or anything just shooting a breeze. If you walk down the street with this man in Harlem, you will not get a block without being stopped and having somebody strike up conversation and talk about how great you are.

Willie Walker:
That's family, though. Harlem is family. New York City is family. This is my home from Alabama. This is my home.

Jackie P Taylor:
You know I'm from Brooklyn, right?

Willie Walker:
Yes, eric out of Brooklyn people. I know about you Brooklyn people and I'm a whole night. Uh, it's New York. We're family, man. It doesn't matter where you're from.

Jackie P Taylor:
It's true.

Willie Walker:
You're black. You're family. Right. And we have to understand that.

Jackie P Taylor:
Is that like the nod? Everybody doesn't know, but we always talk about the nod. You can go anywhere if you walk down the street or Unit supermarket, especially in a predominantly white area and you see another black person, you don't even have to know them.

Willie Walker:
Uh, but we need to get back to it's. A lot of things we need to get back to, but we need to start respecting our women. Right. That is, uh, our lifeline. And if we forget that lifeline, we start disrespecting our women and respecting other women more than we do our own. Right. We do a disservice to ourselves.

Jackie P Taylor:
The most progressive communities, if you look at across the globe, are those that honor the elderly and honor the women in society.

Willie Walker:
And it's important that you do, because what you're doing is that you're giving back what's been given to you. You don't have to be alive nowadays, right. But somebody that nurtured you through that, give it back.

Jackie P Taylor:
So that's what I wanted to get to. I'm glad you got there for June team. That spirit. The only thing I can equate it to is post 911. And this is everybody, all races and genders post 911. There was a connection that we had that was do you remember that? It was amazing. People were loving on each other and respecting each other and supporting each other. And it didn't last long because then we got to the point of, like, obviously, people with hijab and, like, all those things come back to service. But there was a pocket of time.

Willie Walker:
Yeah. Because of that fear that you may die today or tomorrow. Right. And what mark did you leave and death?

Jackie P Taylor:
Didn't know gender, didn't know sexuality or race.

Willie Walker:
Right.

Jackie P Taylor:
It was a common connection.

Willie Walker:
Right. When we talk about June team, it's Muslim. Uh, Imam Pasha Shabaz, um, did Junteen in Hollum when nobody knew about Junteen. 15 years ago. As early as 15 years ago, it had a parade in Holland. Right. He started, um, at the Moss at 116th, came all the way down to 125th street, stopped at the State Office building, then came back up Linux Avenue. And it was enough to say June team means something. And people didn't know what June team was.

Jackie P Taylor:
Is there something now going on?

Willie Walker:
Something going on everywhere now.

Jackie P Taylor:
Right. But I'm just saying I'm wondering if that can be replicated.

Willie Walker:
If I'm not mistaken, I think he does it every year.

Jackie P Taylor:
And that, uh, was before the hoopla.

Willie Walker:
People didn't know what June 10 was earlier 15 years, um, ago.

Jackie P Taylor:
And now look, it's reserved. I just feel like there's a responsibility and an opportunity to further define, um, it I won't say redefine it. It is defined, but to further define, um, what it means to honor the holiday and what that should look like. So that's, like my ask of my call and ongoing discussion that we convene to figure instead of slapping the hands of what should not be done, people get annoyed if somebody's having a picnic and they have watermelon.

Willie Walker:
Don't have a picnic.

Jackie P Taylor:
Right. But that's what I'm saying.

Willie Walker:
That's worried. Exactly. Righting. But we don't, uh, have picnic.

Jackie P Taylor:
Exactly.

Willie Walker:
That June team thing. We don't have picnic.

Jackie P Taylor:
But see, that's my point. That's the point I'm trying to make. If you have a picnic with watermelon so we identify the things we're not supposed to do, which we should.

Willie Walker:
Right?

Jackie P Taylor:
We should definitely. But then the other piece is, how do we define what we should be doing? Who is the exemplar for what honoring that day should really look like in our families, in our communities, with our employers. We should just be more I just.

Willie Walker:
Think we why can't we just be who we are and celebrate today anyway? You want to you could say, I'm celebrating June 10. Right? That's honoring the holiday with the individual say, listen, I want to go out and hang with my buddies and get hired and celebrate June 10.

Jackie P Taylor:
That is not celebrating June.

Willie Walker:
Wait a minute. Who says it wrong?

Jackie P Taylor:
Okay?

Willie Walker:
There are no laws for how you celebrate. And we put ourselves in a hole when we say we do. Well, I have to be at home with my daughters and my grandkids to celebrate Julie. Is that all right?

Jackie P Taylor:
No, but I don't think it's all right to put people in a box. However, I think directionally, we should exude what we want to see. What does respect mean? What does respect for that day mean? And that could mean, you know what, you can celebrate however you want to. But maybe to your point, we're going to push forward more webinars or symposiums or parades where we talk about what the real meaning of the holiday is.

Willie Walker:
Absolutely. That should always be a learning curve with this.

Jackie P Taylor:
Right.

Willie Walker:
And if it is, like I said, if I'm sitting down with my buddies and we haven't a barbecue at all, and I said, this is our celebration June 10, somebody going to get up and say something about it. Somebody should get up and say something about it. Right. I ask questions about it. But the celebration has come from the individual say, this is how we are celebrating.

Jackie P Taylor:
So we agree because we fuck all the time about stuff like this.

Willie Walker:
You fuss. I just listen. I listen to you fussing. Right. And once you figure out that you are wrong.

Jackie P Taylor:
Once someone they can celebrate how they want to celebrate. But I do think there needs to be a really public stage and platform around, um, what it is, what we are truly honoring on that day. And then to your point, how people want to take that, I'm not trying to dictate whether you barbecue, but how people want to take that. Yeah, you personalize it. But I do think we need to socialize it.

Willie Walker:
And I'm sure people are I'm sure people are celebrating all over the country, right, for June 10. And I'm sure there are a lot of forums going on that, uh, a lot of people teach it, but then a lot of people aren't doing that, but they are celebrating privately or celebrating the way they feel. The same with quanta. People are celebrating quantum the way they want to. But they recognize that it is quantity and they recognize the period and why we have it.

Jackie P Taylor:
Recognition, respect and why and the learning curve. And addressing that learning curve. Thank you. You're welcome for chatting. I'll have you on when I have other guests because we'll just go banking.

Willie Walker:
Like we normally do. Have charge.

Jackie P Taylor:
Exactly.

Willie Walker:
Charge people. We sit down and we do this charge. Make it work.

Jackie P Taylor:
You know what we do? We should do a live broadcast. Uh, maybe on June, uh, two. So this is going to air Thursday. You guys are listening to this on Thursday releases at me. But we'll have a live that we'll do. It'll be more fun on June 18 so we can figure out how everybody got to solve it. Yeah. Ask all of you. How are you respecting, honoring and recognizing the holiday?

Willie Walker:
How are you respecting it? You know what? The owner is in. Listen, because Jack is so thorough with this. She puts you in a box.

Jackie P Taylor:
Don't listen.

Willie Walker:
She really want to know. How are you celebrating June TV?

Jackie P Taylor:
What are you doing?

Willie Walker:
There you go.

Jackie P Taylor:
Where are you? Who are you with? Wrap this up. It's too much. This is Jackie P. Taylor. Thank you so much for taking the time. As I always say, it is not lost on me that you get to choose what you watch and what you listen to. And you took the time to listen to the real juggle. In the meantime, in between time, be kind. Uh, be a blessing and be yourself.

Willie Walker:
Oh, man. I couldn't to set it better. Oh, my God.