Speaker 0 00:00:00 Ones who could discern and tell me the difference.
Speaker 2 00:00:14 You can burn a whole thing down. I don't care if y'all uncomfortable. We can burn a whole thing down. Couldn't care about a another zone. You can burn a whole thing down. Y'all don't really care about a brother till we burn whole thing down.
Speaker 2 00:00:35 Yeah, we about to go to work. Yeah, we about to let it burn. Send Quill. Yeah, I bet you will. Trying to skip a they've been lynching nothing in till and that's really freaking generous cuz honestly they have been killing us since we were property. No stopping me from saying how it is. Aint the whizz, ain't no easing down the road where we live the biz, we can't go out for a or a swim. A dog fall asleep in the car, fall asleep where we live. So we about to let it burn just like gusher. Say baby trying Butler do not care what gusher say. Put him back, screens up, make a few bucks. My life isn't market Daniel. Who you think you trying to play? Um, I like it better when like, nerdy was all fun and stuff. This is really angry. Like don't you think you said enough? Well that's freaking tough cause I'm being loud and the people are not playing with you now. Yeah, you can burn a whole thing down. Yes. Yeah. I don't care if you are uncomfortable. We can burn a whole thing down. You can burn a whole thing down. Couldn't care about a another zone. You can burn a whole thing down down. Y'all don't really care about a brother until we burn our whole thing down. Burn down. Yeah. We about to go to work. Yeah, we about to let it burn.
Speaker 3 00:01:48 No, come on the youngins. What I'm focused on. I'm so old then go then. I ain't know you was talking about Pokemon huh? But I'm more like me and nerdy next to a burndown system with a candle of gas and a handful of matches and know we ain't miss some famous. Now my mission ladies be so complic here watching all the leaders leading banking Nona Minions. But we torture enough to take us and we give into survivors city liars making black people compliant. Coon Rapids. Who are you asking? I'm crew. Survive the boomba trick bro. Ethics got me laughing at your message in Black Lives Matter. You would not get so defensive. We got cops and ths and robberies and gas light us. We are not the same. We on the scene, we passed typing cuz y'all care about us and we ain't come ask. We just mind up businessing and people be so stuck and mad. So pastor, the gun and mask and pastor, the athe Nu y'all can really kill us for anything. Y'all just bend the laws the same performance art, the same performance is saving the racist head of normative. You can
Speaker 2 00:02:46 Burn the whole thing down. I don't care if you are uncomfortable, we can burn a whole thing down. You can burn it, burn it, burn it down, couldn't care about it. Another zone. You can burn a whole down. Y'all don't really care about brother. We burn our down. Yeah, we about to go to work. Yeah, we let
Speaker 4 00:03:35 Views on the ground,
Speaker 5 00:03:36 Views from the damn ground views from the ground views from the damn ground views from the ground views from the damn ground. And that's on that, on that on that.
Speaker 4 00:03:46 All right. So, um, my name is dj, I'm your host and uh, um, I use day them pronouns.
Speaker 6 00:03:54 My name is Brandon. I use he him pronouns.
Speaker 4 00:03:57 Yeah. So, um, today was, uh, we actually right down the street here from K F A I, we actually had a raid happen, um, yesterday. They gave them, uh, it was a legal raid. They only gave 'em 24 hours and then they ended up showing up and ripping, um, you know, 30 to 40 people's tents down and you know, and it was just, it was just a lot. They showed up right when they said they were gonna do it and told them that they were on state property and the state patrol were there. So, so yeah, it's just, it's just been a long day. Um, you know, this right here as far as I'm concerned is attempted murder. Um, you know, you
Speaker 6 00:04:43 Know, knowing that there's gonna be a snowstorm in the next couple days, knowing that the temperature's dropping right around the corner.
Speaker 4 00:04:48 Yeah. Yeah. And so this is, this is just disgusting. They did a whole operation. We, uh, we saw state troopers, we saw, um, Minneapolis, um, public works workers. Uh, we, we saw buses in the background waiting and the Yeah, you could just tell like it was just like a lot of departments working together. Um, M P D was, um, helping at first as well. And so yeah, it's just like a lot of, um, talking, you can tell, there's a lot of meetings. You can tell they're wasting a lot of money to, you know, raid these people who are just living and sleeping. Um, stating that somebody was, um, murdered the other day and I'm like, yo, someone was murdered down the street from my house. Are you gonna come like, you know, raid my house because of it and kick me out? Like, you know, that's just, yeah. So it's um, real unfortunate. So
Speaker 6 00:05:52 Yeah, in a state with what, a 17 billion surplus right now we're spending money on taking away what little shelter these people do have as opposed to giving them any options for housing. So, you know, shows where the state's priorities are, shows where the city's priorities are from the mayor who said that he was gonna end homelessness in his, in his term before he's outta office. So
Speaker 4 00:06:16 Yeah, his fifth year's up. So <laugh>, I I guess he just gave up. He doesn't care anymore. So, um, well with, uh, with that being said, we are going to jump straight to the nerdy segment. Uh, so take it away. Nerdy.
Speaker 8 00:06:37 Hello Mike, guys, gals and non-binary pals. It's your boy nerd de back again with another episode of the Artist's Spotlight. That's right. We out here and just like every month we take a little bit of time in our evening to celebrate some of our own musical artists here from our community. Give them a little bit of flowers. And tonight, just like we do every week this month, we're talking about X. That's right. E x, X E. Now if you're talking to me, one of the most amazing things an artist can do is be versatile. That's right. Have a lot of different sounds, a lot of different vibes. And X is bringing all different types of vibes with his music. And this song tonight is really gonna show that. It's called Muse. Get your dancing shoes on.
Speaker 7 00:07:42 I think I might just be in love. It's that this feeling that the sun won't stop shining every time we cut along. It's like your perfect baby. No, I'm not lying. You were sent here from a boat every time that we church.
Speaker 1 00:07:57 Can't feel it more and more. I need you baby. I've never felt
Speaker 7 00:08:02 This way before. I think I might just be in love. Is that the reason why I just can't stop smiling? This is something like a drug. You thought you knew it, it was like then you tried it. Now it's nothing like it. Was it something Now your day just gets brighter. This is more than just a crush. This is more than just a crush. I think I might just be in love. Is this really just a trick that should try and don't play with me? Oh no, no. As if I take another break, then I'm dying. We could keep it on the low speak. You nobody knows. We should try it. I just want you for my own. I
Speaker 1 00:08:46 Just want you for my for
Speaker 7 00:08:50 Cutie. Cutie. You the one for me. And I think you knew it. We should do it. Take the jump. Me and you. We can prove love is real. I know lately people, they doubt the movement. They just scared, scared to love again and just go and lose it then. It's fair. I get it. I've been there. I did it. But life ain't really worth it if you be too careful with it. I know you got baggage. If you think I cared, I did it cuz I got baggage too. So if you trying to share, I'm with it. I pretty little love a girl. Put no one above your girl when you got me open. They've been like this with another girl. I'm the biggest fan. Get my idol. Get my cover. Girl Griffin takes around you. I'm the mooning. Get my cause I just need for you to understand something special happened when you take me by the hand girl, you make me feel like I could be a better man. So yeah, this is right here forever. Hope that fit inside your place. I think I might just be in love. It's that this feeling that the sun won't stop shining every time we cut.
Speaker 1 00:09:41 It's
Speaker 7 00:09:41 Like your perfect baby. No, I'm not lying. You were sent here from a,
Speaker 9 00:10:19 Have you noticed the vending machine selling lottery scratch games at the airport as if getting to the airport, making it through security, finding the right gate and the weather not canceling your flight wasn't enough of a gamble. A kfa. I isn't risky at all. You know, you are always going to get the coolest mix of music because every program is personally crafted by the show is host. And you know that your
[email protected] will always go into keeping the station strong K f a i, the community's true voice and we won't lose your lugg.
Speaker 4 00:11:10 Um, I just want to thank nerd D for bringing x. Ooh, I like that song <laugh>. I think I might be in love <laugh>. That all of a good song. I like that. Um, coming up next we're gonna have the words for freedom segment here with Brandon. So,
Speaker 6 00:11:26 So yeah, welcome to the words of freedom segment here on views from the ground. Views
Speaker 4 00:11:30 From the damn ground where
Speaker 6 00:11:31 We give local poets the freedom to liberate themselves with their expression. And again, this month we have Lenore Elaine, who is an educator and artist hailing from Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Slam champion has been teaching children for 14 years and is the founder of Horizon Arts and Wellness, an organization with services, products, and events dedicated to the holistic health of all earthlings. She has performed on stages across the country. But you can have her right at right at home by purchasing her first book. Everything is everything. The philosophy of Lenore Elaine on Amazon. So this week we're gonna listen to a couple more of her pieces before we have her in next week for her interview. Um, the first piece that we will listen to is titled Black Woman Speech.
Speaker 11 00:12:16 This cumbersome tongue can conjure up magic like Come rain, come then soon. Come the harvest birth from these full lips. These tongues makes os and As and use. They are powerful molecules. They're around vials, dusting a night sky. They make a sun rise like good daughters do. Synchronizing to the moon subduing the violence that rap dark minds and dark matters. Rather been here a long time. The mitochondrian d n a of all them who dead to speak. This speech was made to seven, eight. The black sheep of a land that comes conquers and deletes your a love when a black woman speak a love. When a black woman make a speech in her silence, she snaps your synaps collapse. She does you off, make you rises again with sopranos and Beverly tones like Mahalo Jackson and your headphones. Hear the rhythm secret painting on your eardrums realigning you to the most high and most tribe, but can't be she to create king's English.
Speaker 11 00:13:17 If you do not hear it, you will surely fill it and or it this black woman's speech bek in dragon tongue hot. It is mopped during summers in Mississippi's. It is Fannie Lou's exhale in a southern hell saying Nobody's free until everybody's free. This diction be just enough friction in lavender oil on baby's skin like weight in the water. Children like follow the drinking God be life sourced and protection. It is prayer and resurrection every seventh day. It is 25 hour work days because we who believe in freedom do not rest until it comes. So we go on and on. Yes, this black woman tongue is cumbersome and some say this universe started with a word. Word. Well, Audrey be Lord. And she say, when we speak, we are afraid our words will be not heard un unwelcome. But when we are silent, we are still afraid. So speak goddess for God is speaking through you. I'm sure spit shine unto your pure. Again, you are mother to all can and humankind. If they do not hear you the first time, then rewind. And when you only have words of prayer, when they try to make us lose our mind, remember our blessings always come on time. They always come on time, don't they?
Speaker 6 00:14:37 And the next piece we'll listen to is titled Dance Black Man.
Speaker 12 00:14:42 When you come from a spot where your future is gridlocked or basketball shots or hip hop aspirations as if there is no hope after graduation, for you are seen as a man and thus you end up as a patient or a convict or a felon or a dead weight end. Everywhere you go, there seems to be death waiting. What can you do? What can you do when anger and sadness are glued to your face and your feet? And so you walk at a slow pace with mask or tired and beat, then they keep you in bad kitchens cuz your skin is too dark or your voice is too deep. And though you too sing America, you keep wondering how to hustle so you can eat or sleep or feed your seeds or you do everything right and you're still the bull's eyes for police. What can you do?
Speaker 12 00:15:30 Something happens when a black man dances overstanding the futile circumstances he was forced to live by in this world. Something happens when he let himself free to. Abe. Chains come off, feet limbs me in greet. Atmospheres have come conquer and elite as if he knows there's a higher power that always wins. You see this a trend. There's a trend of making victims of the Mai. And so truth is hidden and laws become noose. And brown skin is forced to play duck, duck and always be the goose. And then the strange fruit. There is something wrong with a land that becomes frightened when we refuse to stay mute. Like we supposed to stay slave, but we just keep being happy and dancing anyway. So dance, black man, dance and exercise your right to be free. Dance until it is the only way to be. Cause when the black man dances, birds may trap music and treetops to celebrate freedom being recognized from the black man dances, ghost of Nat Turner and his troops give high fives.
Speaker 12 00:16:30 They know their lives are meaningful. When a black man dances, the son gains one more year of life, knowing things can't be that bad cuz some black man's dancing when a black man dances, Supreme Court justices have nightmares and brown people taking their place. They lose one year of life knowing things ain't bad enough. Cause a black man's dancing. When a black man dances, their mothers unconsciously smile like blue skies and butterflies and sunshine with one white year of life to give Black World War II veterans clap their hands some their feet and shimmy nuisance off their neck. Black on radio stations become more clear in suburban places. The Atlantic Ocean giggles inspiring reggae music on its shores. And for a nanosecond, for a nanosecond, black women for the now river and their tear ducks, they recognize joy. They hope it stays around this time when a black man dances.
Speaker 12 00:17:25 Police sirens become inspiration to beatmakers, handcuff claps to come. Snare, Drumm and Martin and Mega, and Malcolm and Fred and George Jackson and Harry Moore and Emmett Till. And Jesus Christ himself laugh worldly knowing their lives swim meaningful when the black man dances, the nighttime stars become a disco bar. The moon becomes walkable and black holes throw peace back onto the earth, no longer needing to keep peace to itself. Car when the black man dances, Oscar Grant Sean Bell, Trayvon Barton Jordan Davis, Tamir Rice, Mike Brown, and black boys and black men lost and found, decide to get on down to knowing the lives are meaningful.
Speaker 6 00:18:23 The last piece we will listen to is titled Still Love.
Speaker 12 00:18:37 I made myself a Red Sea and split at the seams hoping I was doing a godly day, hoping I was leading a lost child to freedom. Even if he only gives footsteps when he leaves, I still love. I displayed myself full of beauty and divine intelligence on a diamond plate. He eats without saying Christ. I still love they say. They say as women are made up of too many thunderstorms, too many oceans, too many moon hot tides. And it makes men run. So it makes me hot. I still love, I make myself an oasis. My watches nourish Todd Bones, but he has long journeys and he cannot make home here. I still love. I teach him how to navigate my maze. I make myself clay, even though I know I am a gem. And perhaps will, perhaps I'm too good for him. I still love. He says, I'm maid out of fire. He says, I love in a way which turns my beloved into ash. And so I swallow my flames like a well-trained dragon. There's ne furo in my belly making ghost of my ocean. So there is no sweats when I work. And there are no tears when I hurt. But I still love, I still love I I'll.
Speaker 6 00:21:06 So again, that was Lenore Elaine. Um, clearly some amazing, amazing work. Uh, a brilliantly talented writer, um, brilliantly talented performer, speaker, um, curator as well. Um, make sure you check in with her on social media. Um, if you go to her Instagram, that's at Leno Elaine, that is at L E N o R A E L A I N e underscore, um, tap in with her and you can go to her, her, uh, page of her organization, horizon Wellness, horizon Arts and Wellness, um, and see all the, all of the dope things that she's doing. So as long as you do that, and as long as you tune in next week, you will hear, uh, uh, an amazing interview we have sitting down with her and talking about her and her art and all the amazing things that she does. So stay tuned and, uh, yeah, I appreciate y'all for listening.
Speaker 15 00:21:59 Yeah,
Speaker 4 00:22:00 Well, thank you Brandon. Uh, I really, uh, appreciate you doing the Words for Freedom segment and also that, uh, I really love that last one. Still love. So, you know, a lot of love going on. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I like that. Starting out the year with some love, you know? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, so, uh, joining us today is, um, our guest. My guest, um, actually Nico. So hey, hey,
Speaker 15 00:22:24 Hey. Always everyone, always everyone.
Speaker 4 00:22:27 <laugh> good. So, um, I'm just so excited to have you here. You know, usually a lot of people are used to seeing you behind the camera, you know, documenting what's going on locally here with like Unicorn Riot and all the other work that you do for the community. But, um, it's just really nice to actually, you know, have you here and be able to talk with you. So yeah,
Speaker 15 00:22:49 Hey, I'm super excited to be here, and thank you so much for thinking about me and having me on your show. And I, I love your show. This is dope. Like, I love, love that you all took the reins of this and having something from the ground, right? Boots from the ground, <laugh>, boots from the ground <laugh>. So, hey, thank you all for inviting me. Appreciate this.
Speaker 4 00:23:05 Of course. So, so, so let's just get to it. Like what got you into journalism
Speaker 15 00:23:11 Word. Yeah. Uh, again, thank you. Um, my name is Nico Giorgis, um, co-founder of Unicorn Riot, and I live over South Minneapolis. Um, what got me into journalism, really when I was a kid, I was in, I was a big athlete, and so I was, I was like into football, basketball. Um, something happened where I broke my neck when I was 12, basically, that was the end of my, you know, athlete career. And I really, I really wanted to follow my brother's footsteps in the process. And he was a, like, he was a professional, uh, football player, essentially. He went and played in Europe. And so, um, during this time though, I wanted to be also a sports broadcaster because I'm playing all these sports together by myself or with a friend, and I'm broadcasting the sport like as I play and I know all the players, I know all the stats and all that stuff.
Speaker 15 00:23:56 So in my back of my head, like I had always been into journalism on that aspect, um, of some aspect, right? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And then I was also into, you know, just the world and understanding like how things are going. My dad always pretty much brought me up with a decolonized sort of white settler knowledge. Like, you are on stolen land, you're white, and this land wasn't yours. So you need to understand that as a young child, I was sort of taught that. So that also helped me have a joy for certain parts of journalism, uh, because I was able to read some of that stuff a little bit later. But it really wasn't like a thing until I became well into my twenties that I really like, thought about it as like, oh, I could actually do something like that on the level of what I am a part of now.
Speaker 15 00:24:42 So I went through, you know, I worked with, uh, wewe Institute after I broke my neck, had a troubled youth, like I was, uh, my, my youth times. I was in and out of ju juvenile prisons and different institutions. And, uh, I was probably home like two of my teen years. The rest of it locked up. And so then I started working with youth in my twenties. And from there at We Win Institute, um, I was learning a lot of, a lot of real life lessons, right? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Then there was a time where I got into my thirties and, and, and it's like, hmm, uh, I'm starting to like veer away from some of the youth work a little bit in my head, like, cuz I'm not even that young anymore, and I'm starting to get a little bit, you know, burnt out, I would say.
Speaker 15 00:25:27 Right? So there was this time in my life where different circles of friends, um, sort of enacted themselves. Uh, we, we go through this period of time. We had 2008, the R N C was here, public National Convention here in St. Paul. And that was a massive thing where a huge military load of police were on the streets. That was a huge eyeopener for me during that time also was, uh, uh, a time when the police raided journalists houses before the R n c, the people who were independent journalists who were going to record, uh, and, and sort of show the world what's happening here in St. Paul. Their house got raided before the events. That to me was a eye-opener. Why are they raiding these houses? Um, why are they going after independent media? What, what do they have to sort of hide, right?
Speaker 15 00:26:13 Mm-hmm. <affirmative> in, in essentially sort of the thought, but also that became like a, a focal point for me in my head where I was on the ground seeing the police, and then also on the ground, seeing how deep, um, how deeply entrenched the police were into sort of controlling the narrative of everything and everything that they were doing. Also, here locally, there was RNC eight, uh, which were, you know, eight people who were protestors of the rnc who were charged with terrorist charges. And so that's sort of how the police and the authorities were, were dealing with situation. It was a big eye-opener for me. I was already sort of on the ground, very involved in the, like, el at least the thought process of protesting in a way where I was like, I felt like I was a revolutionary understanding that the reality, you know, I wasn't really a Democrat.
Speaker 15 00:26:59 I wasn't really a Republican. I'm not really on one of those sides, but I just felt like this country needed an overhaul. It was sort of built on the premise of genocide and slave labor, and how do you, how do you have, you know, something good come out of that? So essentially my interpretation of that in my twenties was like, we need a full revolution to have a better, more equal society. And I, I still stand by those now, you know, hey, definitely stand by that, right? Because it's like, if you're born off of this premise of, again, genocide and, and, and white supremacy and anti-blackness and slavery, that's, how do you grow outta that? That's born into the fabric of this country and society and everything we're grown in, in, in veered into all the institutions, everything, right? So, the only way I saw and, and still see, basically you can have small reforms, but on the whole, we need a whole system, whole system overhaul.
Speaker 15 00:27:47 So anyways, I was on that level of things. Hey, hey. Uh, so I was on that level of things and really wasn't getting out like, um, joining groups or anything like that, but I was seeing some things happen. Occupy Wall Street happened in 2011. So that was like, you know, if, if you're not really familiar with Occupy Wall Street, it was sort of every big city, maybe not every big city, large cities in every state, almost every state usually had like an encampment. That encampment was people sort of looking for and trying to create this direct democracy within themselves. And then looking to better the country, uh, from a, a banking standpoint, from economic standpoint, from a job standpoint, from like, sort of like that whole aspect of things. And me, um, that was sort of my introduction to also like, uh, the, the banking side of things, the housing side of things.
Speaker 15 00:28:33 I was more, as I said, sorry, revolutionary sort of on the street, um, sort of thought process, whereas this was like a different aspect of, you know, fighting the system. Um, but that brought me into this whole new aspect of, uh, life. Because as I was saying, those circles of friends, uh, one of the circles of friends that I got, everybody, you know, when you have movements, people's lives change, right? So you saw it here with, uh, you know, Jamar Clark with Philando, with larger movements, obviously with George Floyd, the uprising. Everybody has certain aspects of that, those moments in those movements that changed their lives, right? So Occupy was one of those things in the early 2000 and tens. And, you know, uh, locally I ended up having, uh, different friendship circles come out of that. Some of these friends were deeply involved in independent media.
Speaker 15 00:29:23 Some of them were creators of Global Revolution, which was a global revolution. Revolution TV was like, uh, if you ever heard of like woke.net, which is like the new age version of it, I think it was a little bit more organized back then, uh, with Global Revolution TV was you have different protests, different encampments and different occupy sites, and they would put it all on one website and you could just watch that and you could have like, you know, eight different views of all these protests going on. And then they would, you know, showcase one of 'em and then come back to the other one. So they had a director literally at the computer doing it all the time. Oh, wow. Some of these cats are the same cats who helped create unicorn, right? Huh. So I was able to get involved on that aspect of things, understanding who they were getting to be friendships with them, or getting to be friends with them.
Speaker 15 00:30:06 Um, there was different flash points within the period of the next year, every year, 2012, 2013, 2014, uh, where I then was taking part in being an independent journalist, even though I was like still in my head not to that level of like, yo, I'm a journalist, right? Um, but, uh, it mostly came to a head where I was like, okay, I'm, I'm now really stepping into this. After Mike Brown was killed, uh, obviously Trayvon Martin and the situation with Trayvon Martin's killer, uh, him coming out non-guilty, uh, George Zimmerman, and then you had Darren Wilson, the killer of Mike Brown coming out, not guilty, that really got the movement for black lives in the streets hard, right? And that was 2014. And during that time also, uh, right before that, we had a movement here in Minneapolis, Terrence for Franklin Justice for Terrence Franklin movement. Terrence Franklin was killed uptown Minneapolis police, very sketchy situation.
Speaker 15 00:31:03 Um, basically, uh, I won't get into that, but he's also, his family's gotten settlement, right? So, like, the police have lied so many times locally on the local scene, it's wild. But they specifically lied about the killing of Terrence Franklin. Um, during the movement for Terrence Franklin, uh, I was also seeing the mo the real importance of having an independent media basically come to find out, like I was also video videotaping a lot of those movement spaces or actions that were happening in 2013. I go back and I was looking at some of the film and I found King D in some of them <laugh>. I was like, no way. This dude is out there too, eight years ago, 10 years ago. This is wild. So anyways, um, shout out to my uncle. Yay. Listen, king Dimitri is Pendleton. If you don't know anything about him, check his, uh, check his workout always in the community filming, uh, live streaming.
Speaker 15 00:31:52 Very, very important. So anyways, um, I bring that up. I bring that in because this is all part of the journey, right? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And so 2014, Mike Brown's killed. They Ferguson they call out for a Ferguson, October. And in the sixties there was like this Freedom summer where they were calling out for basically like white allies that come to the south to help people register to vote or to help people vote. Not to help people, but provide a safety buffer for people if they were to vote specifically black folks, right? Cuz there was a lot of threats, a lot of real racist embedded in America white folks that are like, yo, I'm gonna kill you if you vote. It's like, holy shit. And actually, excuse me, holy. And so actually, um, when it comes to, uh, uh, uh, even murders, they killed some of these folks, right?
Speaker 15 00:32:39 Some of these white folks lost their lives during the freedom summer. And in, in, in comparison, you could go back in history and look, even right now, the time we're in, those white folks are held up in history. Like, yes, these were people who actually lost their lives fighting for black rights or fighting against anti-blackness. You could say the same re right now with, uh, Deanna Marie, with Heather Hier, with Summer Taylor, who are three white women who were killed in these last five years in, in America fighting against anti-blackness. And so, like, you could almost draw the similarities to that right now. So anyways, go back 2014, they call for Ferguson, October, a bunch of people come out to the, to Ferguson, which is a suburb of St. Louis, if you're not familiar with it. It was a big thing. Um, right after that or during that time, we were actually contracted.
Speaker 15 00:33:27 So it was my first time sort of acting as an independent media, um, getting contracted to do something. And I was totally under the wing of other people. Like I was getting tutored along this whole time. I was not the one that was like organizing any of this. Like, oh, okay, let me just go along. And so I was able to see how this collaboration was done sort of from an independent media aspect, but also from a corporate aspect because we were the contractors going through this corporate entity that then we made 22 videos for the whole week, and they put out 10 to 12 of 'em. What happened to the other 10? Why are you picking and choosing those other ones? Uh, we had, we made a lot of them that didn't get put out. Black women leadership, black queer leadership, all these different ones.
Speaker 15 00:34:07 Never put out, never put out, like why, why, what, who's making these choices? Why is it taking two, three days for the piece to get published? Like, there's all these situations where we're like, just scratching our head, we're in the streets doing all this stuff, and, and you're not able to make this happen. I think that was a big impetus on the co-founders and other people who were around us. We really, really need to get our own independent media thing going on. So I was sort of tagged along with that. Um, I brought a lot of my nonprofit knowledge, uh, to the, to the group once we were at this point where, what do we wanna do? We want to be a llc. Do we wanna be a corporation? We wanna be a nonprofit. What do we end this for? Why are we doing this?
Speaker 15 00:34:45 And essentially, uh, we became a nonprofit. But, so that was my journey into journalism. And I think that there was a moment for me where I had to also make a distinction. Uh, you know, some of the people who were sort of tutoring me into this, uh, I would shout them out, one of them being Andrew Nef and another being Lorenzo Cerna. Um, there was this point where we had this conversation like, when, if the police start shooting at the protestors, and you are in the midst of it, are you gonna continue recording? Or what are you gonna do? Like, what's your reaction gonna be? And my initial reaction was like, I want to hand the mic off to you and like protest type of thing. And it's like, no, you have to make a separation, right? You can't, you can't be one and then the other at the same time.
Speaker 15 00:35:26 So that to me was like, okay, now I am, I'm done being like on the front lines as a protestor, I'm gonna be a journalist. And so that to me was like maybe eight years ago. So that, that's when I decided, okay, I'm gonna make this, uh, a thing for me. I didn't go to school to get for journalism. I did go to school for history. I wanted to be a history professor. Um, but also, like, I dropped out at the time. We were sort of creating unicorn, right? And I had also turmoil happening in my life at that time. Like, my mom died, my dad died. All these things were happening right around 2015 or right in 2015. So to me, uh, also creating unicorn, right? Helping create Unicorn Riot, um, and, and becoming like fully immersed in journalist lifestyle or like, uh, career, it was, it was huge for me.
Speaker 4 00:36:15 Yeah. Um, yes. Thank you for dropping all that knowledge there. Um, and so, is Unicorn Rio still a nonprofit
Speaker 15 00:36:23 Or, yep. Unicorn Rides at 5 0 1 Cun <unk> educational, nonprofit, um, creating in 2015. And basically the idea behind Unicorn Rio and the mission behind Unicorn, right, is to provide context, social, environmental struggles, um, with the f the folks on the front lines. So look, we want to hear from the folks on the front lines fighting against these struggles. And we don't want to, we're not in it to hear the police story. Like there's already enough corporate news telling this police story. We don't have the community's version of the story is enough. So that was the premise behind Unicorn, right? And yeah, if you want to check out any of the media Unicorn, right dot Ninjas the website, and then we're on social media across, uh, most of the platforms.
Speaker 4 00:37:00 Yes. And I just wanna say, um, this is your host dj. We are on, um, views from the ground, views from the Damn Ground, and I am here with my guest Nico. Um, we're just talking about how he got into journalism and a little bit about Unicorn Raya. Uh, what keeps you coming out? Because you've been coming out for so long and you know, you're out in like, you know, it's not like, like you're, you're out there when there's like marching and there's like peaceful stuff, but you're out there with stuff that's going down too, right? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And so like, what keeps you coming out? Like,
Speaker 15 00:37:35 That's a good question. Um, the really, like a love for the community. Uh, there's, there's times where I don't come out where I feel like King D or like Louis Tran or somebody will be out there, so I'm okay not coming out type of thing. But that's also like, that's because I feel like it's, it's born from a love for the community. Uh, uh, first of all, I would maybe be there if, if I wasn't, you know, a journalist in, in the past life. I was there, right? 10 years ago, 12 years ago I was there. So, but, but now as a journalist, there's this this point where it's like, okay, I am, I, I feel like also it's a responsibility to make sure, uh, that the community stays safe. And I think that like, not make sure the community stays, make sure when authorities enact violence on the community that is recorded, make sure investigations are happening on certain levels to where we have some transparency.
Speaker 15 00:38:32 Make sure that the community's voice is being heard over the narrative of the corporate news. I think that's the biggest part of it. It's like, that's why I think that I really like talking to people on the ground, being alive with people, hearing the voice of what they have to say, asking them questions. Because I think that that's where you'll find the truth of these movements. And to find the truth of like, really what's going on. Because, um, you can get little sound bites. We can have little cut up videos and that's all great and, and, and Grandy and, and and Dandy. But like, when it comes to really unfettered truth, I think that that's, that's a niche, um, that really independent media is able to fulfill because we don't have that editor over us telling you gotta cut it. You got two minute segment, you're done.
Speaker 15 00:39:18 You know? No, we don't have that. And so I think that anybody in independent media, having those live streams just mega important. And so I think like, it'll probably be the same thing for King, uh, for King D It's like, what keeps you coming out is the love for the community. Um, and then for me, for being to be in those hotspots if the police are shooting, you know, at people, it's never about me in my head. Like I'm, I'm trying to get that best shot to where we can make sure that people are like, uh, that the police are being transparent about what's happening. Because so many times we'll see the police use violence in, in protest situations. They'll blame the protestors we saw today, uh, police killed somebody in Atlanta, cop City, they killed somebody. Yep. Like the police killed somebody today. And their first thing is what they said the protestor was shooting at them. Do we know, do we know? We only know the police story here at this point. Uh, I know Unicorn, right? We've been, we got people on the ground sort of working on that situation and we got a post up about it on our website. But like,
Speaker 4 00:40:15 It's post
Speaker 15 00:40:15 Yeah. That's still, it's still one of these situations where it's like, yo um, independent media is needed. If there was independent media in the forest at that moment, we would sort of have a better understanding, but we don't. So Yeah.
Speaker 4 00:40:28 Yeah. And, and it is just wild because like, like it's like day and night when you put like the cops or the city workers on film or when they're being recorded. I mean, I was once again outside, um mm-hmm. <affirmative> Balls on theater today and, you know, no one's recording and the city workers are saying, they're gonna beat me up, they're gonna pop me, blah, blah, blah. I turn the camera on, they're like, oh, I love you. Oh, wow. I didn't say that. Stop being silly. And I'm just like, oh, okay. So we're really day and night right now. And so I think it's really important to be able to hold them accountable. Um, especially considering, you know, how, how they never want to release, or like when they do release the, um, body cam footage is usually really bad. And so it's really important to have you out there and, you know, just appreciate, you know, all that, you know, you and the other independent media does. Because, you know, I, I've been out there and I've witnessed it. The cops, the National Guard, none of them are nice to the media. They mm-hmm. <affirmative>, they like to mess with y'all. I've seen them literally take people's mics and throw it in the yard and tell 'em to go fetch it. So, um, so yeah, I just wanna say I appreciate that. So,
Speaker 6 00:41:41 Uh, one question I have since we're talking about Unicorn Rio at the moment is like, so many independent media organizations, platforms, stuff like that, they'll do the live streaming or they'll do like the recap videos, or they'll do like a written piece on things that happen, but it seems that Unicorn Riot does all of those things, right? Um, how important to you guys, the co-founders and the members of Unicorn Riot is, is it to make sure that you get all aspects of, while it's happening, a recap of what happened both in video and written, like, you know, you come up with these articles and these, uh, uh, reports on like things that are happening undercover and all this stuff. So like how important is that whole, uh, variety of, uh, mediums, um, to you guys? Oh,
Speaker 15 00:42:26 That's a very good question. Um, we, we try to provide, like, we try to pride ourselves on being an independent media organization. And so that means to us, uh, I'll speak for myself, but it mostly means to us is that we do encompass all those, uh, media, you know, uh, uh, serves like mm-hmm. <affirmative>, we have, we have the, the video, we have the articles. I think our next real accessibility feature is trying to craft a way where we're having an audio version of each article, right? But yes, so I think it's just very important for us. I think that one, one of the things that we didn't, we didn't want to be as mo uh, multi-dimensional or one-dimensional, excuse me, wanted to be multi-dimensional and show our multi-dimensions. Um, I think that also it, it boils down to we don't have to like, as in as unicorn rs, uh, organized, we're organized horizontally.
Speaker 15 00:43:19 And so we have different working groups that have different sort of processes within those. We don't have a leader saying, you can't do this and you have to do that. And so each person that's also making their media has the ability to be like, okay, uh, I also want to make a video on this. I also want to make an article on this. Um, we do want to do those things, but sometimes capacity doesn't allow us to do all those things. And so sometimes we will just record something and we actually won't even get something out for a while on it. And so, like, those things, those times, like, it, it's like, ah. Um, and so we have quite a few of those types of projects, uh, that, that we still have like, alright, we're still working on it type of thing. Um, and it just sort of clogs up the stream.
Speaker 15 00:44:00 So I think it's just mostly like a capacity thing. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And then when it boils down to, um, uh, making sure that I think that all of the, you know, all of the proper uh hmm. Documentation of a situation is there, right. If we have a situation that's a, a major situation that happens, police killing, um, uh, community coming out to that police killing community, protesting the police, reacting to that protest, we want to try to bring a full picture. Because as we've said that with the narrative, right, the narrative can be just controlled so easily by the mainstream. And we might just be talking to our own echo chamber mm-hmm. <affirmative> of our own, you know, people who already understand us and would trust us. But also if at some point that reaches out to that next layer, layer layer and that next layer is able to read, oh, this is actually what happened, this is actually contradicts what one of the corporate news said that the police said mm-hmm.
Speaker 15 00:44:56 <affirmative>. And we have it on writing. Whereas if we just had the live stream, you gotta watch two hours of that live stream and find that one minute, 50 seconds at the 42 minute mark and it's like, yo, nobody's really doing that. Maybe five people, you know? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So like, yeah, I think it's, it's, it's very important for us to have, uh, more capacity even which we're building to do more like, uh, pulling out those chunks. But yeah, I think it's just really important. And I think it's really important also to just get down to the nitty gritty of the investigations like white supremacist database investigations that we have with discord leaks and just police and, and FOIAs en FOIA in record requests against the police officers, uh, record requests and, and the city. I think it's just very important to see what they're up to that they don't keep, uh, transparent about.
Speaker 15 00:45:42 And then to also be like, okay, well what are you doing behind, you know, behind these closed doors with taxpayer money? Cause this is all taxpayer money, as you said, with even you DJ with, uh, the people who were, uh, out on the streets today. Those people who are cleaning up after, what'd you say? Almost like an attempted murder on these folks in an encampment after their stuff is evicted and thrown out, these folks are getting paid by taxpayer dollars. Yes. And so how can we, we have to provide some kind of transparency around that, in my opinion. So I think that, yeah, I think it's just very important. And I think even like video pieces, we want to be able to, to, to go to people who meet people where they are. Uh, you want to watch this video on this, this is a four minute video.
Speaker 15 00:46:24 It might not be 40 seconds, cuz I know people's, you know, at this point, everybody's attention span is almost like four to 12 seconds mm-hmm. <affirmative> with TikTok and everything else Yep. Which we're trying to adapt to as well, but we haven't got there yet. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, we're still sort of dropping four minute videos, but at least a four minute video is better than a two minute, uh, two hour live stream. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So, but anyways, yeah, we're like trying to do those things. Um, even talking about Cop City, right? Where, where they killed the protestor today that we, we, we had, we had different contributors coming out there, uh, into Atlanta this year. And we have actually a documentary on Cop City, like, why are people there? And so if you're actually at this point where you're like, why are people at Cop City? Why are they trying to defend this forest from becoming this cop training area? We actually have a documentary on that that says really exactly why they're doing it. And so I think that's very important as well. Yeah.
Speaker 4 00:47:12 And, and I, I watched that, um, recently within the last, uh, two and a half weeks and I thought it was, um, extremely informative. So hell
Speaker 15 00:47:20 Yeah. Yeah. Hell
Speaker 6 00:47:20 Yeah. Um, so when it comes to, you know, unicorn Rio as the group, there's also Nico as like the person, the contributor. Um, where do you find like your specialty or like what do you feel you are the best at? I'm sure you have, you know, a a foot in many doors and many rooms and you have a seat at many tables, but like, where do you find yourself doing most of your work, um, within that organization?
Speaker 15 00:47:46 That's a good question. Um, you know, it's like I go back to Webern Institute and so I was there for like 17 years and I was a youth worker all the way up to like a program supervisor, I think even some, some other lofty titles. Right. Um, but I, I didn't realize like at that point how much actually power did I had dealing with you. So I'm, I'm, I'm picking the youth up at their house. I'm, I'm bringing them back to the program. I actually have the ability to make the curriculum at the program. From there, I'm bringing them home and I have these conversations with their parents, right? So like, I almost have these, this section of youth two days a week for, you know, five hours a day. So almost 10 hours a week. And, and I had crafted a quite a, like, I thought I was an incredible like, uh, crafter of like, oh, here's our plan, but, but the reality is like, I had more power than I really even understood, and I could have even done more.
Speaker 15 00:48:40 I bring that up because there's points in, in unicorn, right? Which, as I said, we're horizontally organized, so we don't have a boss, we don't have anybody telling us what we, what we can and cannot do. And because I had that experience already where I sort of felt like, oh, I sort of left some things on the table. Like I could have done a little bit more, uh, for the youth where instead of like having 10 minutes of organized activity in the van while we're driving, I could have had 50 minutes and we could have been, you know, learned about this whole other topic of things. Uh, but instead I hadn't reached to that aspect of maybe maturity in understanding the power that I was holding. So, um, like I said, I bring that all that up because as unicorn ride is, is functioning horizontally organized without a leader, you have a lot of leeway and a lot of power and a lot ability.
Speaker 15 00:49:21 And so I feel like, uh, for me, I've, I've ebbed and flowed where, um, sort of life has taken me partly reacting to certain situations. Jamar Clark being killed, Philando Castile being killed, you know, Thurman Blevins being killed, you know, specific life-changing things here locally, we got the uprising and all that stuff. But then also, um, there's like moments where I'll just veer towards what's needed in the org. Uh, because we're a small org, I'm able to fill in a lot of the nonprofit side of things that I was, you know, talking about before with the admin stuff. I'm able to do a lot of that and I feel comfortable and, and good doing that. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> because it's also takes me away from crying every night when I'm editing videos of moms talking about their son, you know, being killed by the police or something like that.
Speaker 15 00:50:05 That's along those lines. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, because a lot of what we do cover is pretty heavy stuff. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And so, yeah. So like for me, what I really enjoy at this moment, um, is the ability that we have now, uh, to field in international contributions from Brazil, from Palestine and from Greece, those three countries specifically, I'm just loving the opportunity to have like the, first of all, the people with trust enough to allow unicorn, right. To tell that story, second of all to, to allow us to have it on their platform and then for us to work with it. So this is just like, those are three of the countries to me that are very important. Um, sort of in the scheme of, you know, solidarity aspect and like international relations. I just look at those countries as like flashpoints. You know, Brazil is in South America, that's the South America Flashpoint really in the Middle East to me is like Palestine.
Speaker 15 00:50:57 You know, we got D over in South Africa doing some African coverage and that, I think that that's like the next level where like we really need to bring in African coverage a lot more. Um, and then we got the Greece. And so I have family in Greece, so like, my family's actually from Greece. So to me it's like this connection also to my homeland or whatever else Right. That you wanna say. And so like, I think that there's this aspect of like, uh, I find right now my big mm I love part is working with this international contributors, but there's also this big piece that we kind of coming up, uh, the case in Marvin Haynes and we've been working on this for some months now, and we have like a five part series at least. Uh, it's gonna be some articles and videos and just talking about how Marvin Haynes was basically wrongfully incarcerated on a murder charge that he said he didn't commit from the start.
Speaker 15 00:51:47 Um, and I think we have ample proof that shows that he d did not commit that murder as well. So that's one of the things I'm actually like, you know, it's not work to me mm-hmm. <affirmative> at this point. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, it's like when I'm, when I'm able to pick and choose what I'm doing on a specific task for that day, uh, it's not like, oh man, I have to do this, man, gotta finish this up, man. Yeah. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, no, it's, it's like, okay, let's do this. This is actually like, let's get to it, you know? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Yeah.
Speaker 4 00:52:13 Um, I just wanna say that we are here on views from the ground, views from the damn ground. Um, I'm here with, um, uh, unicorn Riots co-founder Nico, and yeah. And like you're saying, you have a lot of projects going on at the same time and you still are able to show up to protest. And, and the thing is, when you show up, you're like really nice. You're super kind and warm and friendly and like, everyone's just like, loves Nico <laugh>. And so sometimes I've, I've had people ask me like, what does Nico like, does, does Nico do things for fun? Like, you know what I mean? Like, does Nico have free time? Like, cuz we just like are used to seeing you all the time. So, so do, what do you do in your free time Nico? Like, when you're not like, and, and don't <inaudible> go and be like, oh, this movement thing because, you know, like, no, no. Like, what do you do for fun? Like when you're relaxing? All
Speaker 15 00:53:03 Right. All right. Bring it to me. Uh, no, I appreciate that. For sake to go back real quick, um, <laugh> <laugh>, no. Okay. Okay. Okay. Um, no. What I do like for fun is, so I talked about, I was into sports when I was a child, right? Yep. Um, so there's still like this aspect I, I sort of got away from even watching, uh, professional sports, but I still do, I've now sort of come back to that I sort of enjoy some of that aspect of life. So there's some times where I'll watch the Timberwolves and, eh, it's hard all the time. <laugh>, you know, to be a timber wolf professional, losings. But, you know, I, I love watching timber wolves every now and then. Um, I like reading, uh, I like, you know, doing extra things on the internet that maybe are work related but maybe aren't, um, <laugh> because some of that stuff is like, okay, like to do this side of work is actually fun and this, uh, hobby in a way. Um, what else? There's like, COVID Ruins Social Life for me, co like, oh my God. Like, I feel you. So one of my things, uh, this year is like, I really want to get to talking to people again. I want to get out and meet people again. I, I've been, I ain't there
Speaker 4 00:54:10 Yet. Yeah. <laugh>.
Speaker 15 00:54:11 Yeah, I'm still at the house. <laugh>. I hear that too.
Speaker 15 00:54:16 And it's hard to even break out of that, you know? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And so that's, I need, I need to get back out and, and see people, I think. Um, but also, yeah, like, and that happened during the uprising, right? And I think a lot of people also locally are still suffering through a lot of different stressors from that. And like, that was not like, people didn't want to come out, you know, to burn the precinct down. The people didn't want George Floyd to be killed, you know what I mean? Like, that's not why people were doing it because they wanted to do it, you know? I think it was like a, a reaction from people that they had to, and now people are dealing with the repercussions of the police actions, uh, to that reaction and the police action in the beginning of that. So, yeah. Anyways, um, what else I like to do for fun and not shovel, <laugh> <laugh>, now that there's the city of
Speaker 4 00:55:03 Minneapolis <laugh>. Okay. You over there by St. Paul. But we ain't gonna talk about, we ain't gonna talk about. So, um, what protest stands out in your mind that like really made an impact on you?
Speaker 15 00:55:17 Oh my goodness. Uh, there's so many. Uh, I'm gonna go overseas with us real quick. There's two of 'em. December 6th, 2018 was a 10 year anniversary of Lexus Greg Gregor Opolis being killed by Greek police in Athens. He was 15 years old. Um, it's wild, those Greek police, when they killed somebody, they actually get life sentences. Um, but actually the dude who killed him, CORs, he's out of prison now after he won his appeal. So it was like, their system was a little different. Anyways, um, the riots were there, immense, like, uh, the whole neighborhood of Exia was in enclosed by barricades from people. And then the police were like 5,000 deep with a water cannon and the amount of bombs and molotovs that were thrown and made, like in front of like, it was, I can't even tell you what I saw there, like it was so wild.
Speaker 15 00:56:07 But like that's every, you know, every other protest there in the 2010s was similar. Um, but that was in Athens. I, I really almost like we, we got into some really hairy situations with the police that night, uh, with a lot of tear gas and a lot of police action and a lot of fire. And luckily, uh, we were able to get escorted away by, with help from Greek journalists, uh, to not be snatched up. And then there was other time in, uh, similarly in Germany, I don't know German, I'm not German, I don't know whether you're speaking to me, Mr. Cop. But I got beat up by cops, like literally pummeled, punched in the head multiple times and like just kicked like these. And then they stopped and then they just like, it was wild. Like, uh, at the end of the G 20, one of the days, three, four in the morning, most of the protestors had left.
Speaker 15 00:56:57 Uh, I was just sort of, uh, documenting my phone, had just ran outta juice. I'm running away. They caught up with me. I was like, oh my goodness, I did one of those. I just get to get down and, and get in a fetal position. And I took a lot of hits and they grabbed my phone and my press pass and threw them and started speaking in all this German and got up and left and I was like, oh my God. And then they told me to leave cuz I, they were clearing that street, so I had to like leave. So I like, you know, tripped over a couple times, falling off like, just like halfway knocked out, grabbed my stuff and then, and I realized I didn't have my phone. Oh my God, I gotta go with my phone. Where's my phone at? So I had to go back to the cops like, where's I gotta find my phone? Anyways, wild stuff. Um, those two situations. And then I think, you know, obviously the, the uprising here. Um, so I would say those three, like immensely intense, um, sort of riotous situations, but also those were moments. Um, I think I felt here it was way more dangerous, but I felt way more safe. I think part of it is because I knew English and I didn't know Greek or German in those other two instances. But also I think that in general, um, uh, I felt really safe during the uprising, which is wild. Yeah.
Speaker 15 00:58:08 But thank you. Thank you. I know we're almost at this time and I, I I'm telling you, we gotta have a hour and a half of this <laugh>,
Speaker 4 00:58:16 So yeah, we'll definitely have to have you on, um, again, sometime here in the near future. So well done. Um, yeah, so I just really appreciate you coming out and um, talking with us. Um, a unicorn, uh, RT is a local treasurer, but also your also an amazing treasure. Oh, thank you, uh, for this community. Um, but you know, for showing up to like a bunch of stuff and you know, also like being a journalist, but also just being like an amazing person and just a knowledge of information. Just so much information and so willing to share it. So just really appreciate that. Um, with that being said, I also wanna give a shout out to Brandon and Nerdy for doing their segments today. I really appreciate it. This has been DJ your agender host. Um, and with that, we are out of here.
Speaker 16 00:59:06 Organize, organize lights. All the lights. All the lights. They come in with the ti and glass and the 45 in between the protests. We protest this every your lies. Yes. You have to follow me, follow me, follow me. It's my philosophy that white law monopoly makes democracy. Hypo in a capitalist economy. It's no democracy. I demand to return to my sovereignty. No apology, independence, autonomy. No need to mommy me. I could run my own country. If you could just stop bombing me, give my lamb back, gimme my gold back, my heritage, my birthright. You outright stole that. Organize, organize, organize to away with all the lies. All the lies. All the lies. They come in with the of the black and the 45. In between the protests, we protest lawyers. Yes, we are, we organize, organize with all the lies. All the lies. All the lies. They come in with the tear as blocks.
