Yale Psychiatry Grand Rounds: November 20, 2020

November 22, 2020

Information

"Music at Grand Rounds with Lecrae: A Discussion on the Intersection of Race, Culture, Faith and Mental Health."

Lecrae, hip hop recording artist, songwriter, music executive, actor, and entrepreneur.

ID5919

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00:00Everybody to the Department grand rounds.
00:02This is a musical grand rounds.
00:06We're almost at Thanksgiving.
00:09And every year at Thanksgiving,
00:11we as a Department and as a
00:14community try to reflect on the
00:16things that we're most grateful for.
00:20I can't think of a
00:22harder year. In all of my years at Yale,
00:26to be focused on things that we're
00:28grateful for when we have had such a
00:32difficult year over the past year.
00:34Where where we've been
00:37dealing with isolation.
00:40We've been dealing with
00:42sickness and pandemic.
00:43We've been dealing with the loss of
00:47friends or relatives to Covid we've
00:50been dealing with the murder of young
00:55black men by and women by police.
01:00We've been dealing with our own
01:04internal struggles around building
01:06a community that is diverse,
01:09equitable and inclusive.
01:10Um and and many other challenges,
01:14it's it's been a very tough
01:17year for everybody and and and
01:20when you have a tough year.
01:23Yeah, it's hard to to find resources
01:26to be hopeful and and to think about
01:29those ways that we can care for
01:32ourselves and care for others that
01:35help us to be resilient and to cope
01:38with with what we're dealing with.
01:41I think today's grand rounds is
01:44just a wonderful opportunity.
01:47For us because the intersection of race,
01:51culture, faith and mental health.
01:55He is really. So.
01:58At much at the heart of what we're
02:02all dealing with at this moment,
02:05and and I want to thank.
02:09Doctor Nii Addy for bringing
02:10this discussion to us,
02:12and I wanted to thank our grand rounds.
02:15Presenter Lecrae.
02:17For joining us today,
02:20we really tremendously appreciate you
02:23joining us and sharing your work with us.
02:26I. At this point.
02:31I understand that my responsibility
02:34is to introduce the next introducer.
02:39Which is a tradition in our Department
02:42also and grand rounds and I'm really very.
02:47Pleased to welcome back home Doctor
02:49Myra Mathis Myra was a completed
02:52her psychiatry residency at Yale,
02:55completed her addiction Psychiatry
02:57fellowship at Yale before leaving
03:00us to go to the University of
03:03Rochester which is her hometown.
03:05Now I can't think of a better person
03:08to be involved with a musical grand
03:11rounds because as everyone who's been
03:15to our Department holiday party knows.
03:18Mathis is also gifted singer who.
03:26And we hope that just because
03:28you've moved to another Department
03:30doesn't mean that you can't come
03:32back and sing with the Department
03:34band Myra, we count on you.
03:37Anyway, so at this point I want
03:40to introduce Doctor Mathis to lead
03:43us into the grand rounds today.
03:48Well, thank you so much Doctor Crystal.
03:50For that introduction.
03:51It is wonderful to be with you all
03:54this morning to be able to join.
03:56Via this virtual format,
03:59and to be back in my academic home.
04:04With the Department.
04:05So as you mentioned in,
04:07in addition to my role
04:10with the Department band,
04:12as an alumni member,
04:13music and Grand Rounds series has always
04:17been an exciting time for me as a trainee.
04:21I looked forward to these presentations
04:23an during my time as a chief resident.
04:27Conversations with Bob Rohrbaugh
04:29led to the sort of the nitis of the
04:34development of this grand rounds.
04:36Doctor Addie and Addie Lab has
04:39partnered with Lecrae to Tooele,
04:42Dan and produce successful town
04:44Hall events that discussed this
04:46intersection of race, culture,
04:48mental health,
04:49and faith.
04:50One took place on the Yale undergraduate
04:54campus and another partnering with the
04:57Faith community in New York in New York City.
05:01An out of those two events,
05:04this grand rounds.
05:06Discuss the discussion to host
05:08this grand rounds came about so
05:10we're really excited to see this.
05:13Finally be put forward.
05:14It's been almost two years in the making
05:17in terms of our thinking about this,
05:20planning for it and we're glad to be
05:23able to have these pieces come together
05:26even in the midst of a pandemic.
05:29For us to be able to engage
05:31in this virtual space.
05:33So at this time, I will do some.
05:36A further introductions of our speakers.
05:41So first Doctor Nii Addy,
05:43who is an associate professor of
05:46psychiatry and of cellular and
05:48molecular Physiology here at Yale.
05:50He directs a federally funded research
05:53program investigating the neurobiological
05:55basis of substance use disorders,
05:57depression, anxiety,
05:58Doctor Addy's team also studies the
06:01ability of tobacco product flavor
06:03additives to alter nicotine use behavior,
06:06an addiction.
06:07He is widely published in a variety.
06:11Of journals he serves on.
06:13The Journal editorial Board
06:15of Neuropsychopharmacology,
06:16Biological Psychiatry,
06:17Nicotine and Tobacco Research
06:18and Neuropharmacology,
06:19and is a grant reviewer for the
06:22neurobiology of motivated behavior.
06:25Study section of the National Institutes
06:28of Health Center for Scientific Review.
06:31That guy had continued contributes
06:33to graduate student and
06:35postdoctoral training faculty.
06:37Mentoring and diversity,
06:38equity and inclusion
06:39programs and initiatives.
06:41Through his work on campus and in his
06:45professional scientific societies.
06:47In addition,
06:47Doctor Addy has built unique
06:49partnerships between scientists,
06:51clinicians, faith leaders,
06:52entertainers,
06:52professional athletes and community groups
06:54to address the intersections of neuroscience,
06:57mental health,
06:57faith, culture,
06:58and social justice.
06:59An it is in this role that Doctor Addie is
07:04joining us for this grand rounds today.
07:08He has led landmark partnerships
07:10with individuals like Lecrae who
07:13will be further introduced later.
07:15Allan Houston of former NBA
07:18All Star and New York Knicks,
07:21the New York Knicks Doug Middletown
07:24Jacks from the Jacksonville
07:26Jaguars and Dream Pot the Dream,
07:29the Impossible Initiative and the
07:32National Alliance on Mental Illness.
07:36He has also been featured on NPR in Newsday,
07:40in the Source magazine,
07:42Relevant magazine,
07:43Proto Magazine, and others,
07:45so we appreciate Doctor Addy
07:47not only for the scholarship in
07:50the heft of his scholarly work,
07:53but also thinking about creative
07:55ways to link that work to the public,
07:59to promote mental health and
08:01Wellness in the broader public
08:04and in particular to think about.
08:06Issues of diversity,
08:08equity and inclusion and the
08:10intersections of race, racism,
08:12mental health and culture and faith.
08:16And now also our special guest who
08:19we are very pleased to introduce
08:21Lecrae before I give a little bit
08:24of introduction in terms of his bio,
08:27I would just also like to say that this is,
08:31I believe, a historic music in
08:33grand rounds for our Department.
08:35To my knowledge,
08:36I don't know that we've had a hip hop
08:40artist in for music in grand rounds,
08:43so this is likely the first although.
08:46Someone may have a longer
08:49institutional memory than I do.
08:51Also, someone with who is currently on.
08:56Billboard charts,
08:57and so I'll give a little
08:59bit more and lecrae's bio.
09:01He is a multi Grammy Award winning
09:04platinum selling artists and has evolved
09:07into a New York Times bestselling author,
09:09entrepreneur, Speaker,
09:10thought leader,
09:11philanthropist, philanthropist,
09:12and is the Co owner and president
09:14of Reach Records,
09:16a catalyst for restoration in faith,
09:18music and popular culture.
09:19He is a part of a new weight new wave of
09:24thought leaders who are engaging culture.
09:26And taking their faith outside of traditional
09:29houses of worship into the wider culture,
09:32to engage with people where they are today,
09:36Lecrae has sold more than 3 million
09:38copies of his music and been
09:41nominated for five Grammy Awards,
09:43including a Win for Best Gospel
09:46Album 5015 double Wards,
09:471 Billboard Music Award and
09:49received both a Soul Train Music
09:52Award and BT Hip Hop nomination.
09:57From his 2017 album,
09:58All Things Work together, his.
10:00Single I'll find you featuring Tori
10:02Kelly is now certified platinum by
10:05the RI a selling over 1,000,000 copies
10:08and blessings featuring Ty Dolla sign
10:10is now gold selling over 500,000
10:13copies in addition to his new book,
10:16I restored how I Lost My Religion
10:19but found my faith.
10:20Lecrae has released a new album
10:23restoration and the road to restoration.
10:25A three part video narrative approach,
10:28allude to his forthcoming documentary.
10:31Restoration is more than an album,
10:33a book or documentary.
10:35Lecrae is involved in partnering
10:36with several community initiatives
10:38that are rebuilding.
10:40The Westside of metro Atlanta.
10:43We are incredibly happy and thrilled
10:46to have Lecrae with us this morning.
10:49We are very excited about this
10:53particular grand rounds and we hope
10:56that as Lecrae shares his music
10:58and a personal narrative related
11:01to these issues of race culture.
11:05Mental health and faith that it will
11:08continue to complement and accelerate
11:11the discussions within the Department
11:13related to our anti racist agenda.
11:16How we can become anti racist clinicians,
11:20researchers and citizens to remember
11:23that the incidents that we see.
11:26Impact our lives personally,
11:28individually and that that does
11:30impact our mental health that a
11:33personal narrative communicating
11:34that in through the creative means
11:37of lecrae's artistry can highlight
11:39it and hopefully further imprint
11:41that in our minds as we engage in
11:45our clinical and scholarly work.
11:47So at this time I will share our first
11:51song entitled Welcome to America.
11:54Following that, you will hear from me.
11:57And Lecrae a few points on zoom etiquette,
12:00as Trisha has already placed in the chat.
12:03We ask that all microphones stay
12:05muted until the end of this grand
12:08rounds when we will take questions.
12:11There will be a link posted into
12:13the chat window if you would like
12:16to submit questions anonymously,
12:17you can follow that link and submit
12:20your questions or comments anonymously.
12:22And Lastly,
12:23in order to help simulate something
12:26more of an intimate interview style
12:29a session while over Zoom and we
12:32have spotlighted Lecrae Aniny and we
12:35recommend that you use the speaker view.
12:41For viewing on Zoom,
12:43which you can find in the upper right
12:46hand corner of your zoom screen,
12:50click on view and then select
12:52speaker to allow you to better
12:55appreciate visually our discussion.
12:57So at this time with no further ado,
13:01I will share our first song.
13:04Welcome to America.
13:17Correct?
13:21One second, sorry.
13:28We do these test runs to make sure
13:31everything is all set, but. One moment.
13:55From America.
14:057000 feet we just passed our coast.
15:06It's late.
16:09I'm still in America.
16:13I want to. Change home
16:18central.
17:17How much?
17:24I'm hitting your area.
18:22Alright, hold up.
18:30Excellent, well thank you so
18:31much for those introductions.
18:32Both Doctor Crystal and Doctor Matheson.
18:34I want take take them up on that and
18:36just extend a warm welcome to Lecrae for
18:39being here with us on this virtual stage.
18:41Definitely appreciate your time and
18:42your willingness to be able to jump
18:45into this conversation with us.
18:46I'd also want to bring onto the onset.
18:48The diversity in equity and
18:50Inclusion Office and also diversity,
18:51inclusion and community engagement
18:52and equity office, which both those
18:54office correspond with this if.
18:55Van with us,
18:56I'm so this is a great place to start.
18:59At first, I really appreciate the
19:01comment that you made just in terms of
19:03everything that's gone on this year.
19:05Clearly this has been unprecedented
19:06year in several different ways,
19:08with everything that we've been
19:10dealing with with COVID-19 with all
19:11of the the amplification of the
19:13ritual and just says that we've had
19:15a focus on ongoing conversations
19:17about your social justice related
19:18to mental health care and access,
19:20and then everything relates to the election,
19:22which I think a lot of ways still
19:24highlighted leupp selection.
19:25All the divisiveness that.
19:27Really still exist in this country,
19:28so I think they started out with this
19:31song in terms of welcome to America.
19:33That's really poignant because I think
19:34in a lot of ways we're still asking
19:37those questions about what does it
19:39mean to live in America and how is
19:41that experience shaped by one's race
19:43once culture and socioeconomic status.
19:44Once faith backgrounds,
19:45most gender and so many other
19:47different aspects of identity so
19:48that we can start outlook right?
19:50Just talking a little bit about when
19:52you wrote this song and what was
19:54happening in the country at the time.
19:56That really led you to reflect.
19:58On what life in America is like?
20:00Why you want to reflect on that
20:01in the song? Yeah, well, first of all,
20:05thank you for having me so
20:08I'm gonna be here Ann. I am a.
20:13You know there's there's so much I could
20:17say in light of of that particular song,
20:21I do remember around that time
20:25processing the death of Trayvon Martin.
20:29And also having to some famously
20:33do a military tour and.
20:36And realizing just the discrepancies
20:38in the things that I was seeing,
20:41so society and so on one another spectrum.
20:48You know, voicing my concern
20:51with the death of Trayvon. And.
20:54Realizing that there are segments of
20:57society that the humanly disagree about,
21:00the circumstances surrounding
21:01the death of Trayvon Mark an
21:04and that was disturbing to me.
21:07Because I'm in my mind,
21:09I I didn't have the contextual
21:12understanding that we live in different
21:14parts of the of society and so you
21:18know there are many people who don't
21:21have access to circumstances or
21:23have never seen circumstances like.
21:26What happened with Trayvon Martin?
21:27You know they may live in a
21:30particular part of society where
21:32there are only exposed to the news
21:35you know and and so that's the only
21:38way of being informed and for me,
21:40just just having seen it and having
21:42lived in environments like that,
21:44it was very real to me.
21:47Very near my heart,
21:48but simultaneously I understood because
21:50I've done plenty events in rural areas.
21:53I've done a military tour
21:55so I knew there were these.
21:57Competing perspectives also traveled
21:59abroad and understood that there's all
22:02these different perspectives about America,
22:05its offerings and and how we process.
22:10You know race, faith,
22:12culture, justice,
22:13and the best way I could say without.
22:18You know,
22:18prolonging the answer here is
22:20that my first time visiting Paris,
22:23I was struck by a couple of things.
22:27Well, a handful of things.
22:28The first thing was that nobody
22:29wanted to speak English to me,
22:31so I realized very quickly that I
22:32needed to learn a little bit of French.
22:34I want to move around.
22:37And the other thing I notice they
22:39were very candid about their history.
22:42They didn't hide and I was
22:44very striking to me.
22:45If they felt like they made
22:47a mistake in the past,
22:49there were actually monuments.
22:512.2 mistakes that the you know the
22:53country or the city of Paris had made,
22:56which was my blood.
22:57Because you couldn't imagine America
22:59ever erecting a monument to demonstrate a
23:02mistake or something that we had done wrong,
23:04as it as a country.
23:06But back to me not being
23:08able to speak the language.
23:10I could not speak the language and
23:11it was so frustrating because I
23:13couldn't do anything I couldn't.
23:15I tried to go to an expensive restaurant,
23:17couldn't get into the restaurant
23:18'cause I didn't understand it.
23:19I finally got in.
23:20I read the menu.
23:21I couldn't understand the menu
23:22and I was so frustrated I walked
23:24out of the restaurant and went to
23:26McDonald's because I knew the menu.
23:28At least I could understand the
23:29menu at McDonald's an and what I
23:31realize is that I didn't want to
23:33wrestle with the nuances I didn't
23:34want to put in the time,
23:36effort,
23:36and energy of understanding a different
23:38language in order to enjoy the
23:39beauty of of this new culture and I.
23:41And I say that to say that oftentimes
23:44in America we don't want to dig
23:46into the nuances of culture and
23:48city faden race because it's
23:50too complicated for many
23:52of us to wrestle with,
23:54and so will will air toward these kind
23:58of categorical or black and white.
24:00Areas instead of dealing with the Gray,
24:02red and blue instead of purple.
24:04And so I wanted to write assault on that,
24:06put all those categories up there
24:08and allow people to kind of have
24:10to wrestle with the nuances
24:12within every verse of the song.
24:13Yeah, it's really powerful.
24:14I mean, there's so many ways
24:16that you did that throughout this song too.
24:18I'm thinking about all the dichotomy
24:20that you put in all in one place. I mean,
24:23you talk about America being the land,
24:25the free at the same time we
24:27have sex trafficking happening.
24:28We talk about people fighting to.
24:30Along here and people getting
24:31kicked out of the country.
24:32So I think in a lot of ways you
24:34really that just a position really
24:36really helps in a lot of ways.
24:37And I know this song Noah few years back,
24:39but what are some of those juxtapositions
24:42that you see even right now in 2020?
24:44Oh man.
24:47You know, obviously we are looking at.
24:53You know a country who around the world
24:57is propagated in and propped up as the
25:01most prosperous, the most powerful,
25:03the most advantageous place where you
25:06know economic empowerment is ideal,
25:09idealistic, and Ann.
25:10And that's pretty much the vantage
25:13point that many people have.
25:15But but here.
25:18You know we're still seeing the residue in
25:22evidence of you know a post slave society.
25:26We're still seeing the resident, the residue,
25:30and the evidence of a still very.
25:35You know ethnically and faith oriented
25:38prejudices that still exist here.
25:40It's still very segregated,
25:42though you may live in a very diverse city.
25:47That city is still broken down,
25:50probably in communities,
25:51ethnic communities,
25:52and so there's not that that intermingling
25:55is not the paradise that I think people
25:59imagine it to be and then and then.
26:03Probably Lastly,
26:04what we're even seeing now.
26:06Even in a.
26:07Political or socioeconomic ways
26:09that there are far more qualified
26:11and educated individuals?
26:12Then there are opportunities for
26:14those qualified educated individuals,
26:15and so that's creating an uproar in another.
26:17So yeah, yeah, that's so spot.
26:19I mean,
26:20there's a particular layer
26:21that you had this
26:22on that relate to that too.
26:24I mean, you talked about,
26:26you know people trying to earn their
26:28rights here, fighting for home here.
26:30Then you followed up by this lyric.
26:32But I wouldn't know anything about that.
26:34All I know is drugs and rap.
26:36I probably could have been some kind of.
26:39Doctor instead of holding guns and crack,
26:41so I mean, that's a powerful social
26:43commentary in and of itself.
26:44I'm just curious,
26:45did you hit this already?
26:46But when your thoughts about how we
26:48got to this place in the 1st place,
26:50like how is it?
26:51How is it even possible for
26:53this narrative to exist?
26:56Yeah, well, unfortunately I believe that.
27:01A front center is the idea that this
27:04is the land of equal opportunity.
27:07And the reality is that that's that's
27:10that's improvement to not be true.
27:12I think many people would say that.
27:15You know everyone has an equal shot here,
27:18and So what are we complaining about?
27:20You know everyone?
27:21Can you go to school and do
27:23well and it'll workout for you?
27:25I mean look at Doctor Knee,
27:27he's doing well, you know what's the?
27:29What's the argument an and what I would say?
27:32You know, I started off the song saying
27:35great Grandpa brought from a strange land.
27:37He was stripped away giving bricks delay.
27:39I guess you could say he is slave hand
27:42and that is that is not an imaginary or.
27:46Tale an awesome often want to
27:48paint this picture for people.
27:50My three times great grandmother in the line.
27:53She was brought as a 9 year old from Africa,
27:57stripped away trafficked
27:58as a piece of property.
28:00She was enslaved.
28:01She gave she was forced to marry someone
28:04or forced to procreate with someone like a
28:07wild animal or like a domesticated animal.
28:11Scuse me in order to produce more
28:14slave children for the master.
28:16One of those slave children is my
28:19great great grandmother alien.
28:21So now Alias is born a slave just
28:25like her mother.
28:26She is trafficked,
28:28she is forced into a particular way of life.
28:32No quality education,
28:34no opportunities whatsoever,
28:35and then it gets to my great
28:39grandmother who is.
28:41Born after slavery, right?
28:42A slavery ends and there's two options.
28:45There's the option a that they can be freed,
28:48but they will be homeless,
28:50literally vagabonds.
28:51There's no way for them to earn money.
28:54There's no one trying to hire them.
28:56There's no education opportunities,
28:58so they're literally there.
28:59Will be wandering the Woods of Texas.
29:02Or they can stay.
29:04On the plantation of their former
29:07slave owner and continue doing slave
29:10labor in order to get a roof over
29:13their head and the scraps of the food
29:16left and so they chose that option.
29:20Fast forward to my grandmother who ends
29:22up running away from the plantation
29:25because she doesn't wanna live that way.
29:27At 13 years old,
29:29no opportunity for education,
29:30no no access to any of that.
29:33She wonders Southwest for years
29:35working on jobs and not having a
29:37quality education has my mother who
29:39was born into poverty object poverty
29:42because her mother did not have any
29:44opportunities because her mother did?
29:46Her mother did and her mother was
29:49stripped in traffic and so my mother now?
29:52Has to start from scratch.
29:54She's grown up in the civil Rights era.
29:57No quality, education, racism, civil rights.
30:00Jim Crow all of this stuff is her existence.
30:03She gives birth to me and some would say,
30:06well, the credit you have.
30:07You had equal footing.
30:08You had all the great opportunities and
30:10this is the history that I'm having out.
30:12There's no financial opportunity
30:14for me because my mother didn't
30:15have an educational opportunity,
30:16so I'm literally having to carry the
30:19weight of all of my family history
30:21on my back and try to make something
30:23out of myself while the rest of
30:25the world looks at me and says,
30:27hey, you have the same thing,
30:29equal opportunities that everybody else has.
30:30Make the most of it and that's the picture
30:33that we exist in currently in there.
30:35Yeah, that's so powerful.
30:36I mean, I appreciate you know.
30:38Sharing your story in that sense too,
30:40because I think it's important for
30:41people to recognize the realities.
30:43I mean, as you said, this is not.
30:45This is not a hypothetical situation.
30:47This is the situation that you came
30:48from and for us to really make sure that
30:51we don't ignore that and knowledge it,
30:53especially with all the conversations
30:55that we're having today to to
30:57say that it's not starting from
30:58equal footing and we really have
31:00to do better about making sure.
31:01Those things are put in place and we can't,
31:03as you said, ignore the past when
31:05it's so powerful and so potent.
31:09So I'm getting the Q from Doctor Mathis.
31:11I know there's much more that
31:13we could talk about here. We're
31:15going to move into the to the next song.
31:17Yes, thank you so much for
31:20those powerful comments.
31:21What since we're not joining in person,
31:24I am envisioning folks in their
31:27offices or at their homes bopping
31:29their heads to these beats. You know,
31:32trying to follow along with the lyrics.
31:35I hope that you're enjoying both the musical
31:39presentation as well as the commentary,
31:41and we are sharing the lyric videos
31:44intentionally so that you can
31:46appreciate the message. In addition to.
31:49In addition to these tracks.
31:51Alright, so.
31:52I am also going to share the
31:55link for anonymous comments.
31:57We will have an open question and
32:00answer period at the end of the
32:03grand rounds and the Lincoln is
32:05available for anonymous comments as
32:07we set up our next song entitled.
32:12Can't stop me now destination.
33:19Yeah.
33:22I just want people stealing money from you.
33:26Strange. Such a mess that could shake it off.
33:33Somebody go shut it off.
33:38These people have.
33:41I guess I'm
33:42just another black.
33:45And they just go on with their life.
33:52Bitch.
34:16Fly away.
34:55Everything. Is my identity.
35:02Still on that crack.
35:05What is the weather man? Rihanna track.
35:12Karen
35:16being. Tell. Kill.
36:06I don't know.
36:23No delays. So another powerful song I'm
36:27in lot of ways and I have to
36:29know little personal style here.
36:32Look great when you did that with a
36:35little Hathaway on Fallon that was.
36:37That was equally powerful and just
36:39just so strong to see that come to
36:41life and that life setting with both
36:43of you and with her voice there.
36:45So just want to knowledge that as well.
36:49Recenter and obviously there's so.
36:52I mean, there's so many important heavy
36:54topics that you brought the in that song.
36:56I mean, even even from the get go
36:58you can talk about social justice,
37:00talking bout betrayal,
37:01talk about mental health, depression.
37:02But then also talking about faith
37:04and hope so we know before we
37:06jump into some of the you know,
37:08the details of the sauce.
37:09Curious, just if you could let people
37:11know where that song came from.
37:13Was that a personal journey?
37:14Was it a societal commentary?
37:15Was a little bit of a mix of both and how?
37:18So?
37:19Like how how that song come about?
37:22Yeah, it was definitely a very personal.
37:25It was a limit. And it was the
37:29anticipation of something greater.
37:31You know, I would classify it as
37:35something similar to the old spirituals.
37:38That they saying, you know,
37:40acknowledging the current state of pain and
37:42frustration and hoping for something better.
37:44And I think that's that's the
37:46mindset that I was in as I,
37:48as I wrote that song.
37:49Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.
37:51And even
37:52though the way I mean,
37:53he's talking about your lament,
37:55the way that you start things out.
37:57I mean talking about I was still depressed.
37:59I was such a mess I couldn't shake it
38:02off another murder on the television.
38:04Man, somebody go turn it off
38:06and there's a lot there.
38:07But can you talk?
38:08A little bit about the either the
38:11relationship or distinction that
38:12you feel between your own mental
38:14health and everything that's been
38:16going on society around the ongoing
38:19killings of black men and women
38:21unarmed at the hands of police.
38:24Yeah, um, you know?
38:28Often talking with my.
38:31Majority culture, friends, white friends.
38:34They tend to see the world
38:37through a lens of individuality.
38:39An ethnic minorities tend to
38:41see the world collectively.
38:43We usually feel as if you know if there's
38:46a person of color in a restaurant
38:50who does something particularly embarrassing,
38:53we look at that as like what are we doing?
38:58Because we're a small
39:00represent representation.
39:01Within within society.
39:02And so, because we tend to think
39:06collectively and see each other as a
39:09part of a whole and not individually.
39:11When something happens to one of us,
39:14it's as if it happened to all
39:17of us and to see you know,
39:20a unarmed black person killed.
39:24Is it?
39:25Is it to us?
39:26Were such a we make up such a small
39:29piece of the population at that?
39:31That's literally family that just got killed.
39:34That somebody we could know or
39:36couldn't relate to because these
39:38stories are so prevalent within
39:39our community and this is it,
39:41man, this keeps happening.
39:43And what I didn't realize as I was,
39:45you know,
39:46washing murder after murder after
39:47murder was I was ingesting trauma.
39:50I was ingesting racial trauma
39:52and I didn't even realize the
39:54effect that it had on me.
39:56And then on top of ingesting that trauma,
39:59I'm also deal.
40:00Playing with the lack of empathy from
40:02society at large majority culture,
40:04who tends to see individually
40:06and say well that that doesn't.
40:08That's not even.
40:08It doesn't affect you that happened in
40:11Saint Louis that happened in Minnesota.
40:13How does this affect you?
40:14And we don't even know all
40:16the facts and you know.
40:18Whereas if your cousin was killed you know
40:20it's not about knowing all the facts.
40:22It's about morning that someone
40:24you know has been killed and you
40:26feel as if it could be avoided
40:28because you've seen this happen
40:30so many times before.
40:32Yeah, that's the point in powerful
40:34and I appreciate the way you.
40:36I mean, you're being honest about the
40:37way different people that you interact
40:39with have responded differently to
40:41the same situation. How you know,
40:43as a community of people of color,
40:45is that collective community aspect,
40:46which really goes a long way. In this.
40:48I mean, you also talked about,
40:50you know, speaking your minds
40:52and getting attacked for it.
40:53Obviously you're using your art.
40:55You're using your voice both
40:56within the artistic expression.
40:57Other ways to really highlight things
40:59that have been going on for years,
41:01decades, going back centuries
41:02and bring it to the forefront.
41:04But then that always having
41:06that receptive iti.
41:07So I'm curious what your perspective
41:09is and what you think the role of
41:11artistic expression is and really
41:13talking about some of these things in
41:15the mist of everything that's going on,
41:17and what other roles,
41:18artistic expression can play even
41:19outside just speaking about it.
41:22Yeah, well in many ways.
41:24You know art even even to look back
41:26at those spirituals are in artistic
41:29expression is sometimes all you have is
41:32the only power that you do have is the
41:35only thing that you do have control over.
41:38You don't even have control over
41:40your own body. You don't have
41:42control over your fate in society,
41:44and so you're using your voice, you know.
41:47It's a way of what I would
41:50call constructive anger.
41:51You know, there's destructive anger.
41:54Which Doctor King mentions that
41:55riots are the voice of the unheard,
41:58and so you use your anger destructively
42:01because you don't have a voice,
42:04you have no power,
42:05so you want to exert some sort of self
42:09of independence of like hey, I exist.
42:12You know the signs I am a man it's like hey,
42:16I I. And wonderfully fearfully made,
42:19I have rights.
42:20I am a human, and so are for the
42:24artist is a way of saying I exist,
42:27and I will be heard,
42:29and I have a voice.
42:30And for the listener it can be very
42:33cathartic because they don't have a wait,
42:36so they may not have that artistic ability
42:39to express what they are experiencing,
42:41and so you know very similar to how.
42:44I'm sure everyone in the mental health field
42:47understands the importance of support.
42:49The importance of having friends that
42:51you can connect with and oftentimes
42:53hearing these artists say these things
42:55that you can relate to become a
42:58virtual support group of virtual voice
42:59that says what you are experienced.
43:01Yeah,
43:02that's really powerful.
43:03I mean just the way that you encapsulate all
43:06that in your music and give people
43:08something they can relate to.
43:10And like you said, to really bring
43:12some of those things to laugh.
43:14They may have not been
43:16able to express themselves.
43:18On that note, in the song you also
43:19talk about getting to a place of peace,
43:21and so I'm curious how you
43:23got to that place of peace,
43:24'cause you also talk about.
43:26It's not as if all the injustices stopped.
43:27It's not as if all the challenges just stop,
43:30but then somehow in the midst you
43:31were still able to get that place.
43:33So how did that happen?
43:36Yeah, that's a great question.
43:38I think you know some of it is first
43:42acknowledging that what you're experiencing
43:44is not imaginary because the lack of
43:48empathy around you can make you think
43:51you're losing your mind can make you think.
43:54Well, maybe I'm just crazy
43:57and I am seeing things wrong.
44:01So you know there are.
44:04Now you know there's there's
44:08great books I think of.
44:11You know healing racial trauma by I
44:14believe it's us, Sheila Wise Rose.
44:17And then there's a post traumatic
44:20slave syndrome by joining.
44:22Ride, and so there's there's,
44:24there's books and things now that
44:25that you know I didn't realize so.
44:28So just one is it not is the realization
44:30that what I'm experiencing is real.
44:33And so when you know what you're
44:35looking at you can attack it.
44:37If you don't know what you're looking at,
44:39it's you know there's no way to even
44:42know how to point at it and approach it.
44:45So that was step one and then
44:47realizing that I wasn't crazy,
44:49realizing that there were other
44:50people who are experienced in this,
44:52that there.
44:53There, there are some realities
44:54to what I'm experiencing.
44:56There is a thing called racial
44:59trauma there is,
45:00you know,
45:00a reality of you know that manifesting
45:03itself in depression or anxiety or whatever.
45:06I can now approach it an I believe you know.
45:10Obviously as a man of faith,
45:13I believe that every everything
45:15that I see is because I was I was
45:18created is I believe that healing
45:20is necessary because I'm at and I
45:23matter because I have purpose and I
45:26have purpose because I was created.
45:28So I'm merely a cosmic accident
45:31and who cares, right?
45:32Just particles doesn't matter,
45:34just there's no depression.
45:35There's no bad or good.
45:38I did believe I matter.
45:39I believe I had purposes so for me it
45:42was important to investigate healing.
45:44You know,
45:45because my healing matter and finding
45:47peace was one acknowledging that I
45:50did have a God who cared about me
45:52who loved me and wanted me to find
45:55peace and that he created people
45:57and specialists and experts and in
45:59realities in that I can lean into to find,
46:02hoping to find healing.
46:03And so it was a journey.
46:05I won't say you know it was like.
46:09Peace is found.
46:09It was.
46:10It was a process at of realizing and
46:12recognizing what what needs to take place.
46:14Yeah,
46:14that's really powerful and I appreciate you
46:16know, taking us through part
46:17of that journey as well.
46:19I mean both the realities of it,
46:20the challenges of it,
46:22and then the reliance that you have
46:24on God and all these people that
46:26innocence he's put in place for you to
46:27be able to deal with the realities,
46:29and to announce that they are they
46:31are real things that are there.
46:32These are things that you're just making up,
46:35but it sounds like the education
46:36was also a piece of it as well.
46:39Oh absolutely.
46:41Excellent, well,
46:42I'm sure there's many more questions and
46:43topics that can come up with this song too,
46:45and definitely feel free if people
46:47have questions for those in the chat
46:48and we'll come back some of the Q&A,
46:50but with that I think we're going to
46:51move on to the last song.
47:29Please give me.
47:32Tom.
47:35Still down.
47:40Comma Mama say.
48:02Honestly too lazy guy say taking less before,
48:04but I'm such an October baby.
48:06Need you to hold me down,
48:08slow me down no me now know my
48:10face is crypted nights they
48:11entice me to slowly drowned dama,
48:13holy ground fighting battles alone
48:15they get them home day after my
48:17mind my time you said I'm in edit.
48:21Maybe I'm wrong.
48:25City, but most of us.
48:48Give me a Mesa. Watch it. Still down.
49:15Charge. How do you speak the stars?
49:22That was last night. Carla said.
49:27How many chemical elements?
49:30So when they go to me giving
49:32my sentence so he moved in,
49:33I don't have opinions on.
49:34I got his patients in a couple pennies.
49:36I ain't independently newspaper.
49:39Send a message.
49:47Baby.
49:51Paint. I got it, I do this.
49:55Make it to where he gave me
49:56the beauty for Ashes I blew it.
49:58When I look at my life.
50:01I already knew it.
50:49Another powerful song is
50:50getting out of love in the chat.
50:52I don't know if you can see all that,
50:54but people are definitely
50:55definitely feeling the music.
50:55And again, I mean you hit on so
50:57many topics in this song to do
50:59I mean even even the get go,
51:01you know the the first hook.
51:02Just kind of talking about
51:03successes and failures.
51:04Doutzen confidence the back
51:05of 4th process you aspects of
51:08forgiveness aspects of guilt,
51:09thankfulness but also trying
51:11to prove oneself.
51:12So there's a lot there.
51:14I'm curious in this song itself who you
51:17were talking to was this is a prayer
51:19to God is this a personal reflection?
51:22Is the comments that people
51:24all the above like who are
51:26you talking to when you wrote
51:28this song so? Actually, great question.
51:32The way this song was composed was
51:36and I've spoken about this before I.
51:39You know, after going through a bout with
51:43clinical depression and very acute anxiety,
51:45I took a trip to get away and during this
51:50trip I was journaling a lot to just,
51:54you know, do mindful practices an
51:56telling my story and writing my thoughts.
52:00And so this was actually a Journal engine,
52:04right? It was really me.
52:08Trying to practice creativity and write
52:11out what I was experiencing and the
52:14unique part about you know what art is
52:17and creativity is that you know you.
52:20You initially probably start as a form
52:23of expression and then what ends up
52:26happening is pressure similar like that.
52:29With Dave Chappelle has talked about
52:31is the pressure of an audience kind of
52:35stifles your creativity and you're now
52:38writing for their approval and not.
52:40For your own kind of cathartic needs,
52:43so that's how this song was written.
52:46Was written as me expressing what
52:48I was experiencing an,
52:49and then the last kind of verse where
52:52I was recognizing that healing is
52:54available is that I got to a place where
52:58I realized probably toward the end of
53:01my my trip that if I can hope I can
53:04hear if there's no hope on the end of it,
53:08then I am.
53:09I have put myself into this prison of.
53:13You know terror and and in pain,
53:15but for me what was important was to
53:18not wish that I could change the past,
53:21but to imagine what the future
53:23could possibly hold for me.
53:25And that was how this songs was created.
53:27That's really powerful in a lot of
53:30ways. I think you touched on that
53:32part of writing for the audience,
53:35or writing for yourself,
53:36and I think that's something that
53:38definitely speaks through in the music too,
53:41and that just that level of.
53:43Both authenticity and that
53:44level of vulnerability,
53:44which I think is one reason
53:46it's so powerful for so many.
53:47So many folks, and it sounds like
53:49you know that you really kind of
53:51walk through all those pieces too.
53:52I mean, even the way that you can
53:54start out this song talking about
53:56you all know prescription for
53:57your broken this an no pill that
53:59could deal with your helpfulness.
54:00But hopelessness.
54:01But I'm getting to that place of
54:02hope later on, I think is really,
54:04really powerful in a lot of
54:05ways in terms of lyrics.
54:07I mean there's so many bars in this
54:09in this song that we could pull out.
54:11And for anyone who doesn't
54:12know what that means,
54:13I'm giving you some homework.
54:14Go look that up.
54:15It'll be a little hip hop education for you,
54:18but one that I want to pull out because I
54:20thought it was so powerful was the lyric.
54:23We talked about running from
54:24trauma and poverty.
54:25I hit the lottery.
54:26I thought they'd leave me alone.
54:27Look at me richer than ever,
54:29but poor as a beggar.
54:30When you look inside of my soul,
54:32so you might you put a lot of
54:34points just positions there.
54:35Can you just unpack that for us a
54:37little bit in terms of what aspects
54:39of that journaling and journey you
54:41were going through when you put
54:43that piece together, yeah?
54:44So sitting in therapy,
54:46it's been educational process for
54:48both my therapist and myself.
54:51My therapist, who is not you know,
54:54a minority is now having to understand that
54:57the the unique environment that I come from
55:01and and one of the things that I I wanted,
55:05my therapist understands that.
55:07What to some would be a value?
55:11To me was not ideal, and what for me was
55:16ideal to others would be a ridiculous.
55:20Pursuit and when I say that I say I grew up,
55:24college was not a value
55:26as an ideal is like me.
55:28Now I'll be crazy if we went to college,
55:31you know, and representation matters.
55:33Because if I hadn't seen other college
55:36students at some point in time in my life,
55:39my high school career,
55:41I wouldn't even imagine being
55:43able to go to college.
55:44And what was of value was being a
55:47gang leader was being a hustler
55:50was being revered and tough.
55:52Community and so other people say,
55:54that's that's why that's such
55:56a ridiculous pursuit.
55:57But that's the environment
55:58that you're coming out of.
56:00And so.
56:01I say coming from trauma and poverty,
56:04I hit the lottery.
56:05I thought they leave me alone.
56:08I thought the problems would leave
56:10once I made enough money to get
56:12out of my current circumstance.
56:14But some of these things have
56:16been so embedded in me that is
56:19taking time to unwind them.
56:21A mistake,
56:22it's hard to pull these false ideals
56:24and narratives out of my perspective
56:26and to deal with some of the trauma
56:29that many of us don't realize.
56:30This traumatic you know,
56:32we I grew up experiencing every
56:34type of abuse under the sun,
56:35and so did a lot of my friends.
56:38And so we did not think of it as trauma.
56:41We thought of it as life and so
56:43now coming to the reality that all
56:46these are traumatic experiences
56:47that have left an impression on me.
56:49That money will not fix that
56:51fame and success will not fix.
56:53And are continuing to suppress and one
56:56of the things I say is that for me.
57:00Um, you know,
57:01they talk about the attachment styles.
57:04Oftentimes in in psychology an an
57:06I never had one of those positive,
57:09secure attachment styles growing up.
57:11So what I what I did was I looked
57:14to perform in order to to find
57:17validation to find my security,
57:19and as long as I was doing well
57:23and performing well,
57:24then I was valuable and what I'm
57:27ended up doing is I'm putting on this.
57:30Armor that's not really protective at all,
57:32because it can.
57:33It can fault him so I don't have cell.
57:36I don't have a sense of security in who I am.
57:40I have security in what I can
57:42insulate myself with,
57:43which is money and an acknowledgement.
57:45And the problem is that none of that
57:48can protect you. When mom dies.
57:50None of that can protect you when
57:52you see someone murdered on television,
57:54and so it's just coming to that
57:58reality that I'm not. Sure,
58:00yeah, that's definitely real talk,
58:01and I think it's so important.
58:03I mean, even talked about,
58:05you know you and the person
58:07that you're working with,
58:08the education that you both have to
58:10kind of learn things outside of your
58:12current perspectives and just the
58:13norms that you experienced in norms
58:16that the other person experiences.
58:17Whether those are true norms expands across,
58:19or whether they are based on your experience.
58:22And I think a lot of ways you've given a
58:25lot of voice to those realities as well,
58:27and helped other people have
58:29access an acknowledgement.
58:30Of different circumstances,
58:31I think it's really powerful,
58:32so I'm sure there's lots of
58:34questions that are coming and
58:35we're going to transition to that.
58:37I'm going to pass things back
58:39over to Doctor Mathis.
58:42So thank you Nyan Lecrae for
58:44this really powerful discussion.
58:46There are so many comments coming
58:48into the chat and an folks are
58:50resonating with your words and
58:52resonating with your narrative.
58:54Many of us feel it very
58:57personally and very deeply.
58:59So we would like to open up the
59:01floor for comments and discussion
59:03in our last comments questions
59:05in our last 15 minutes or so.
59:08I thank you for using the raise
59:10hand function if you can,
59:12that will be helpful to me.
59:14I see Doctor Jordan's hand
59:15and so we will take a comment
59:17from Doctor Jordan again.
59:19You can use the raise hand function if
59:21you would like to speak your comment.
59:24You can all enter a comment
59:25or question in the chat or
59:28submit something anonymously.
59:30I'll be brief. I think I just wanna I
59:33just put out gratitude in this space
59:36to Myra to knee and definitely need to
59:40Lecrae because I think this is what
59:43can happen when you have different
59:45faces involved and who is deemed an
59:48expert and how we can promote healing.
59:51And so I just I'm so grateful
59:54it never ceases to amaze me.
59:56The pure breath and depth of
59:58black folks based IT system.
01:00:00Matically try and take us out
01:00:03still our joy and yet we still.
01:00:07Process, and so Lecrae.
01:00:08I am just amazed by you have followed
01:00:12your work for years and I think
01:00:14if you could just provide some.
01:00:19Expertise and how to bridge two
01:00:22totally seemingly different worlds.
01:00:24I remember growing up in the Black
01:00:28Baptist Church an having access to you
01:00:31and not being a loud to listen because
01:00:35you were deemed to hip-hop, right?
01:00:37And now we're to the point where what
01:00:41you've been able to do is seemingly bridge
01:00:45two totally different worlds, right?
01:00:49Into one to where you're celebrated
01:00:51and making money so that really is.
01:00:57A miracle indeed.
01:00:59And so being someone who is
01:01:03systematically minoritized.
01:01:05Working with majority white folks.
01:01:08Experiencing the weight
01:01:10of white supremacy daily.
01:01:12And wanting to care for my people.
01:01:17I would love for you to
01:01:19just offer some guidance.
01:01:21On how you've been able to do that,
01:01:23and really.
01:01:26Just be just be successful
01:01:28and then I'll stop.
01:01:29The last thing I just have
01:01:31to say is I got so emotional.
01:01:36I just I'm just so grateful.
01:01:38I mean that ear I'm feeling.
01:01:43Just so grateful because this is.
01:01:48The dream right tactic to bring
01:01:502 totally different worlds
01:01:52and to have some discussion.
01:01:54So thank you brother, I love you.
01:01:57May God continue to bless you.
01:02:01That means a lot. Thank you so much.
01:02:03I really do appreciate you.
01:02:05Thank you for your ability as well.
01:02:08And yes, to ask you a question.
01:02:13What I have? I think where I
01:02:18have found success is obviously.
01:02:21First and foremost,
01:02:24understanding myself because I cannot
01:02:29endure the weight of bridge building and of.
01:02:36You know, mending and educating.
01:02:38If I am not in a healthy state,
01:02:41the microaggressions.
01:02:42And if you don't know,
01:02:44my progressions are just
01:02:46Google is your friend.
01:02:49The micro aggressions on a daily
01:02:51would just exasperate me and take me
01:02:54to a very dark place if I did not
01:02:57experience some type of healing and.
01:03:00And then I think, for me,
01:03:02it's it's beginning.
01:03:04First with what I would say is that.
01:03:09You know? Um?
01:03:12Engage the curious, you know educate.
01:03:16Those who who are genuinely
01:03:19interested and ignore the critics
01:03:21because some people simply want to.
01:03:24They don't want to understand,
01:03:26and you shouldn't spend your time
01:03:28trying to get them to understand
01:03:30something that they're not
01:03:31interested in understanding.
01:03:33And so I think there are various groups of
01:03:36people who are curious and it's alright.
01:03:38Let's engage them and put some
01:03:40stuff in front of them,
01:03:42and hopefully they'll wanna know more
01:03:44and then those who are genuinely
01:03:46interested and want to grow if you.
01:03:49Obviously it's not your job
01:03:50to be their educator,
01:03:52but maybe you can point them to the
01:03:54resources and be available to have
01:03:56conversations with them in that process,
01:03:58and that's kind of where I found myself is.
01:04:01I educate as much as I feel comfortable,
01:04:03but I don't feel like I have to do that
01:04:06as much as I feel comfortable at educate,
01:04:09but only those who I feel like
01:04:11you're genuinely interested.
01:04:12Otherwise, I'll exasperate myself.
01:04:17Thank you for that.
01:04:19We have the Next up is Doctor
01:04:21Jackson and then Doctor Childs.
01:04:23So first doctor Jackson.
01:04:29Sorry, I was muted. Good morning y'all.
01:04:33Let me just say it is the best grand
01:04:36rounds I've ever been to hands down
01:04:39never have I felt more scene never have
01:04:43I felt like my people have or event or
01:04:46more seen than you know the this very
01:04:50point discussion that we're having today,
01:04:52Lecrae I want to thank you for your artistry,
01:04:56Ann. Just willing to, you know,
01:04:59talk to us and I think that.
01:05:02One of the most important things that
01:05:05that you've said in your discussion.
01:05:08Was your having to, you know,
01:05:10educate your therapist as well because
01:05:13you know there's so there's such a you
01:05:16know a lack of of black therapist.
01:05:18You know culturally competent
01:05:20therapist that you know it was a
01:05:22learning experience for them too.
01:05:24So just finding someone who was
01:05:27willing to go there with you.
01:05:30That's fantastic.
01:05:31I actually wrote down the the points that
01:05:35you just said the educate the curious,
01:05:38engaged the curious.
01:05:39I think that's a great kind of model
01:05:43for a lot of us to to embrace,
01:05:47especially as we,
01:05:48you know,
01:05:49are are called too and pulled to
01:05:52do a lot of the heavy or work in
01:05:56anti racism and education.
01:05:58And you know in all aspects.
01:06:01So I really I don't.
01:06:02I don't have a question per say,
01:06:04I just wanted to express my gratitude.
01:06:07Thank you, appreciate that.
01:06:09Thank you Doctor Jackson and Doctor Childs.
01:06:15Hi everyone, good morning Ayana.
01:06:16I resonate with what you said
01:06:18about having access to Lecrae or
01:06:20remember my granny way way back
01:06:22in the day my brother and I snuck
01:06:25into the back of our van to listen
01:06:28to a CD back when things are on CD
01:06:31because my Granny said that was rock
01:06:33and roll and I was like it's not,
01:06:36it's right. But I
01:06:39I'm also so grateful to be
01:06:41here and so appreciate Lecrae.
01:06:43Hearing your thought leadership
01:06:45and and hearing your story.
01:06:47I work primarily with youth,
01:06:49primarily with teenagers.
01:06:50Anna number of the youth that
01:06:53we work with have experienced,
01:06:55just incredible, incredible trauma.
01:06:59Very interested both personally
01:07:00and professionally and in the work
01:07:03that we can do to sort of interrupt
01:07:05that cycle for the next generation.
01:07:06And I hear in the seeds of your
01:07:09comments a lot of thought about
01:07:11those formative experiences for you,
01:07:12and you know, I think
01:07:14about our youth and I think about
01:07:16what they've been told about
01:07:18how it's going to be different
01:07:20for you for your generation.
01:07:21Things are going to be different
01:07:23and then then filing in and
01:07:25coming into service and coming into
01:07:27care and saying I'm so disappointed
01:07:29because things are not different. And
01:07:32so I just
01:07:33am curious to hear some of
01:07:35your thought leadership around.
01:07:36What do we say to these youth?
01:07:38What can we do for these youth and
01:07:41how can we sort of think about
01:07:43that and do that differently?
01:07:47Yeah, that's a great, um.
01:07:52A great perspective.
01:07:55I think that. You know, I.
01:08:01Funny, because I think of like
01:08:04Tanahashi Coates and his outlook,
01:08:07an though he is.
01:08:10He embraces the reality
01:08:12of what we're looking at.
01:08:14Um, I think he just has
01:08:16more of a kind of cynical.
01:08:20View of what the future can hold.
01:08:22Anan, he kind of disagrees with
01:08:24folks who buy into faith of the
01:08:26faith community because we believe
01:08:28in some buying by religion.
01:08:30Then one day it will be better
01:08:32brother than gods coming back and.
01:08:36And where I would disagree
01:08:38with him is that for me,
01:08:40my hope is not purely in a spiritual
01:08:43reality that is going to take place,
01:08:46but but in a physical reality that
01:08:49my ceiling is the floor of the next
01:08:52generation and that's what I want
01:08:54to help them understand is that it
01:08:57may not be a completely alternate reality,
01:09:00but but my let my ceiling at least be your
01:09:04floor as Martha King ceiling is my floor.
01:09:07Things are not.
01:09:09Completely different,
01:09:10but they're not completely the
01:09:12same because of some of the work
01:09:14that has been done historically,
01:09:16literally just yesterday,
01:09:17the day before yesterday,
01:09:19I was in a juvenile detention center,
01:09:22Speaking of both boys and girls,
01:09:24and.
01:09:26Anne.
01:09:26You know they began to resonate with me
01:09:29because they saw a picture of what could be.
01:09:33They saw a picture that someone in
01:09:35their circumstance can have a different
01:09:38outcome in a different future,
01:09:39and I think that's why representation is
01:09:42so important for people to see examples.
01:09:44If you can't be it, you can't see it.
01:09:47I mean, you can't see you can't be it.
01:09:50You become with you through the hold.
01:09:53My son is exposed to lawyers and doctors.
01:09:55I never knew a doctor until I
01:09:58was a grown man. So I I think.
01:10:01It is just them having access to
01:10:03different perspectives and narratives
01:10:05in so for me it's been very
01:10:07important to go back and re Carter G.
01:10:10Woodson so that his ceiling can be
01:10:12my floor and that we can continue
01:10:14to say hey we we can't change
01:10:17all of the realities,
01:10:18but but at least take this amount so you
01:10:21can have more than what I currently had.
01:10:27Thank thank you for that.
01:10:29For that response,
01:10:30look right and thank you for the question
01:10:33Doctor Childs to really censor center.
01:10:35Our youth and center the next
01:10:38generation in this discussion.
01:10:40We had just a couple of minutes left and
01:10:44there was a question posted in the chat,
01:10:47which I think is a great place
01:10:50for us to end to reflect,
01:10:53particularly given our audience.
01:10:54As Doctor Jackson said,
01:10:56there aren't enough black
01:10:58therapist black psychiatrist.
01:10:59There aren't enough to treat the
01:11:01needs of the black community,
01:11:03and so we need allies.
01:11:05We need individuals to educate themselves,
01:11:08to be curious too.
01:11:12Do their own introspective
01:11:14work so that they can.
01:11:16We present in the room with those
01:11:19of us who experience racial trauma
01:11:21on a daily basis and are looking to
01:11:25find a space of hope and healing.
01:11:27And so the question is,
01:11:29how were you able to decide to
01:11:32trust a non black therapist?
01:11:34Can you speak to what it was like
01:11:37to engage with someone who is
01:11:39not from your cultural background
01:11:42and can you give us some tips
01:11:44if this audience and tips?
01:11:46On on how to really meet the needs
01:11:50to meet to meet folks where they
01:11:53are and to create a safe space.
01:11:57Oh man. You gotta practice what you teach.
01:12:02Practice what you preach.
01:12:03If Eugene genuinely believe in
01:12:05worldview transformation and not
01:12:07simply behavior modification.
01:12:09You gotta practice what
01:12:10you preach on yourself.
01:12:12You gotta believe that your
01:12:14worldview can shift as well that
01:12:16you are continuing to grow as well.
01:12:18If you want to see that happen
01:12:21in your clients. So that is.
01:12:23That's going to be key for me, I I struggled.
01:12:28Um to sit in the chair of a
01:12:32non black therapist I wanted.
01:12:34I was going through too much racial trauma.
01:12:37I want it.
01:12:38I did not have any intention on doing it.
01:12:42I was not going to do it and.
01:12:46I went out of my way to find
01:12:49black therapists.
01:12:49The reality is,
01:12:50as we all know that you know a therapist is.
01:12:54It's like trying on clothes and so it's kind
01:12:57of like I don't know if this is a good fit.
01:13:00And so I had a couple of experiences where
01:13:02it's not that they weren't good therapist.
01:13:05They weren't good therapist for me.
01:13:07And I still wasn't willing
01:13:09to go to a white therapist,
01:13:11but a friend of mine,
01:13:13a rap artist named David Banner,
01:13:15had told me that sitting in the chair
01:13:18of a small white lady changed his life
01:13:21and and I was like, are you serious?
01:13:24You?
01:13:25There's nobody more pro black
01:13:26than David Banner you telling me?
01:13:29He said, trust me, it changed my life.
01:13:32So I took his wisdom,
01:13:34took his inside and met with
01:13:37this particular therapist Ann.
01:13:39She was indeed curious,
01:13:40and she was indeed malleable,
01:13:42as she saw herself as someone
01:13:45who who could have her worldview
01:13:47shifted and in over the course
01:13:50of the time I've been with her,
01:13:53she's now hired and been intentional
01:13:56about finding black therapists
01:13:58took to put in her practice.
01:13:59She's been intentional about
01:14:01reading books to understand,
01:14:03you know,
01:14:04the cultural nuances that exists and
01:14:06what racial trauma can look like.
01:14:09And and that's just someone who cares
01:14:11about people because at the end of the day,
01:14:13you're not in the psychiatry
01:14:15or psychology business.
01:14:16You're in the people business.
01:14:17And if you care about people,
01:14:19you will be great at your
01:14:21profession and what you do.
01:14:25That's awesome, thank you so much.
01:14:27Lecrae me, I'll turn it over
01:14:29to you for some final words.
01:14:31I know we've gone one minute
01:14:33over this has been phenomenal.
01:14:35My heart is full of my heart is full.
01:14:41Thank you Mara. That was well
01:14:42look through that last comment.
01:14:44I was dropping my comment right there.
01:14:46I mean seriously.
01:14:46Not that I'm surprised, but I think
01:14:48this has been rich in a lot of ways.
01:14:51I mean, I've been getting, you know,
01:14:53private chats from folks about how moving
01:14:54this whole thing has been so again,
01:14:56really deeply appreciative
01:14:57to you for your time.
01:14:58I guess I would encourage us also
01:15:00as a community not to rush away.
01:15:02From this moment.
01:15:03I know it's something we've
01:15:04talked about a lot in this year,
01:15:06but to really let some of the comments
01:15:08that have come up really sit with you.
01:15:10So this isn't something that just.
01:15:12Just becomes like a momentary.
01:15:14Conversation,
01:15:15but something that can really affect
01:15:16you and help you think about these
01:15:18things on a much broader scale.
01:15:19I mean,
01:15:20there's so much that we've gone
01:15:21through so much that's been
01:15:22poignant and really important,
01:15:23and I think you know, it's like Ray said,
01:15:26being in the people business.
01:15:27I would extend that even to the
01:15:29researchers among us as well.
01:15:30Even as we're thinking about different
01:15:31aspects of what happens in the brain,
01:15:33really thinking about oftentimes how
01:15:34that can influence people's lives.
01:15:36And so,
01:15:36with all the topics that have come
01:15:38up today with all the anti racism
01:15:39efforts that we have in Department,
01:15:41I'd encourage you to really sit
01:15:42with some of these comments
01:15:44have come today and then.
01:15:45Really soak them in.
01:15:46Take time to reflect on it.
01:15:48Take time to talk to others as well.
01:15:50If there are questions that come
01:15:51up things that you are thinking
01:15:53about for the first time or you
01:15:54want to talk to people about more.
01:15:56I know Doctor Cindy Cousteau
01:15:57is always available.
01:15:58She wasn't able to make it
01:16:00today because of conflict,
01:16:01but his extended herself because
01:16:02that's part of the importance to that.
01:16:04If there are things that are
01:16:05new and that come up,
01:16:07there is a grace that we take the time
01:16:09to learn and to grow so that we can
01:16:11be even that much more effective in
01:16:13our work that we do in the communities.
01:16:15So deeply appreciative to the Department.
01:16:17All of our sponsors to Lecrae,
01:16:19for your time join us here in this unique,
01:16:22unique venture.
01:16:22I hope that you all were ratified by,
01:16:25enjoyed it and are able to
01:16:26continue to walk through.
01:16:28You know there are these really
01:16:29important topics as we kind
01:16:31of go forward from here.
01:16:33And thanks to everyone for being here.
01:16:35Deeply appreciative.
01:16:51Thank you Lecrae. That was great. Honored
01:16:55sincerely as a great hub.
01:16:59Do that all day. I enjoyed.
01:17:03Listen him talking and hearing
01:17:04perspectives is great, excellent and
01:17:06we will be sharing the
01:17:08recording to sorry Buddy knows.
01:17:11Just to thank you for all
01:17:12your are all your support
01:17:13being the backbone of this.
01:17:16Not a problem honored.
01:17:32I want to make sure you get a chance
01:17:34to see all of these comments in chat.
01:17:36Look right before I shut the
01:17:38grand rounds down. Will do.
01:17:47Now they're really coming in, that's great.
01:18:57Now I'm also getting emails.
01:18:59Probably people that couldn't do chat
01:19:01saying this was the best grand
01:19:03rounds they've ever attended.
01:19:05Wow, that's saying
01:19:06a lot. That's great to hear.
01:19:10That is phenomenal.