Can we go back to that moment that you were describing where you referred to yourself as being magical for the first time? When did you realize, yeah, I am? Was it right in that moment? Was it before that? What led up to you owning it?

It was right around that moment.

And I think...

Honestly, the definition of me being magical at that time was based on all the things that had tried to kill me that hadn't succeeded.

I was talking with my hairstylist the other day, and Krista Pike is happening in the news, the woman who was in Tennessee.

And I'm preparing a video to talk about it.

Like, I come from abolition work.

I'm curious how curiosity also plays into how you interpret that data that helps you move the way you do.

Mm

...

May 16th, 2023 until the most recent one.

Um, almost seven hours of interviews and, uh, almost 80,000 words, uh, in the transcription that I cross-referenced to pull out.

I needed to aggregate this because I'm like, "Are y'all making...

I know I'm not a dummy bitch like this.

It just can't be." And y'all are saying, talking to me like I'm a dummy bitch.

Mm

Learn more at geico.com.

My kind of big burst onto my career scene, I was the executive director of Black and Pink National.

Black and Pink is the largest prison abolitionist organization in the world.

And when I took it over, I think Black and Pink's budget was like $250,000 a year.

When I left, my budget was $3.2 million.

I had raised almost $20 million.

Okay.

good

Okay.

I think it's more about there were components that I was trying to figure out where it fit into ... what kind of my platform had become.

Mm-hmm.

Because I had mentioned, like, I did not, you know, there are some girls who are like, "I'm going out here, I wanna become an influencer, I wanna do the things," this, that, and the third.

"I got a album coming out." That was not my strategy.

Mm.

It literally was based on I wanna find a space to express myself, and things happened.

Mm

Yeah

... representing systems and larger things in our society outside of, you know, the way we talk about queerness and other things we feel like they represent? Because this, that's how patriarchy moves.

Y'all are connected to me.

I need y'all here.

You may be sacrificed, but I really am prioritizing these claws and, and what that means for me.

And you should, you should prioritize it too.

Don't get mad that I tried to risk your life.

[laughs]

Mm-hmm.

You know, I always...

You know, we have these conversations all the time.

I think it is us being more community-oriented, right? I think it's us coming together.

I think it's us crowdfunding, right? So that we can create this space where we're able to m- make these opportunities available.

So for instance, um, me and you, we're friends And say, let's just say we're single parents because I think that people just look at it...

I do believe in, in marriage and partnership, but say we're both single people.

Yeah

Shut up.

And his whole life, you know, really had changed.

And so, like, I...

Prison, yes, I've gone to Georgetown.

Yes, I went to Stanford.

Yes, all those things.

But prison gave me, like, a doctorate in understanding people.

And surround them.