For most of my 42 years, I've aimed to take the thing that we call "the high road." I wouldn't even say that I fully regret it, because I meant well.

But 42 years of taking the high road has made it such that anybody, anywhere, can attack and spread dangerous information about my family without any consequences. Normally, I will defend myself, and my own reputation, and I will continue to do that as I need to, but now, I am going to use the same strategies that have been used against me, against those that have caused us harm. I am returning your strategies back to you.

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I wouldn't say that I'm shocked that the NFL only suspended him for 6 games, but I am absolutely disgusted. Men have been suspended more than that for having fights on the field.I believe he did every single thing that the women said he did. I've spoken to some of these women directly. They are honest, hardworking Black women that were cornered and sexually assaulted by Deshaun. He's a disgusting pervert.

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I am a HUGE fan of the brand new phone number, 988. Save it in your phone as "LIFELINE" or whatever else will help you know what it is.

You can call or text them 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, if you or a loved one is having a mental health emergency. They have 200 crisis centers across the country staffed and ready to support you the best they can.

My hope and prayer is that all of us will use this number as we need it. Our tax dollars are helping to pay for it. And we've seen way too often that when we call 911 for mental health emergencies police show up and get violent.

Make 988 the new default number you call or text in a mental health crisis, OK?

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Hundreds of micro-factors impact what makes a home safe. A neighborhood. A community. A side of town. An entire city. But NOTHING impacts the safety of a place like the health of its economy. The economy is the single biggest factor impacting public safety in America.

When a home, a block, a neighborhood have true economic security, crime absolutely plummets. And, of course, the inverse is true. Without true, deep economic security, where people earn enough money to make it through the month, to care for all of their needs, and to grow and thrive, where that is missing, the toxic mix of poverty and despair rises.

Nothing would solve drastically reduce crime more than addressing the root economic issues at play that cause it.

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I am HUGE Dave Chappelle fan. I've met Dave. Been to his shows. I am friends with many of his friends. But it is absolutely time for him to move on from telling trans jokes.

Here's the thing - in America - we do indeed have freedom of speech. And because of that freedom, Dave can continue to tell trans jokes for this rest of his life if he wants to. And people can protest Dave for the rest of their lives if they want to.

But here's my rub... you can really only crack jokes about oppressed groups that you ARE NOT A PART OF a few times before people get irritated. Dave has hit that threshold.

This is true for all comedians. Jewish comedians can crack jokes about Jewish people for the rest of their lives, but limits exist for anybody else that wants to move into that space.

The same is true for white comedians telling jokes ABOUT Black people, at the expense of Black people. I don't wanna hear that shit AT ALL. Do it once or twice and you can get away with it, but anything more than that, and a line has been crossed. Does that make sense?

Generally speaking, I want all of us to have broad freedoms about what we are able to say, myself included. But sometimes we have to censor ourselves when our words are doing more harm than good.

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Did you see the video where the pastor in Brooklyn got robbed at gunpoint during a church service? I don't wish that on anyone. However, the truth is that it's foolish to wear a million dollars worth of jewelry ANYWHERE in public. And it's doubly disrespectful for a pastor in a poor and working class neighborhood to do such a thing.

Listen, again, I am not condoning armed robbery, but let me frame it another way. Would it be unethical for a man to walk down the middle of street in the hood with stacks of $1 million in cash? I say yes. It's inviting danger and it's tempting people who are struggling from day to day as it is. If you walked through the hood with a million dollars in cash in your hands, I would stop just short of saying you deserve to get robbed, but you damn near do.

Wearing $1 million in jewelry is the exact same thing. It's flossing. In the worst way.

Let me unpack and explain it. Listen to today's full episode here, and hundreds more, on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or at TheNorthStar.com.

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I get it. Joe Biden is terrible. 82% of Americans don't want him to run again. And he shouldn't.

But it is FOOLISH to allow our frustration with him to cause us to stop caring about who our District Attorney is. Or who are Mayor is. Or city councilperson or school board leaders.

Don't fall for that trap. We all must be simultaneously frustrated with the President AND fully plugged into important races.

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In America, our deepest wounds rarely heal because the wrongs that have been done here are rarely made right.

Verbal apologies are rare when it comes to racial injustice in this country, but anyone who thinks a verbal apology is enough is sorely mistaken.

Enter Bruce's Beach. This week, the descendants of the original owners of the Los Angeles beachfront property that was stolen from a Black family 100 years ago, were given the deed back to the land - the first known time this happened.I commend the Bruce family, their attorneys, local organizers, and all of the government officials that helped make this happen.

Now, let's see it duplicated in every city, county, and state in America.

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We all deserve to be safe in our homes, neighborhoods, and communities. And we all want this. But it is NOT police that make communities safe.

STOP FALLING FOR THIS LIE. The safest communities in America hardly have police. They have these 3 things...Wealth, access to resources, and quality education from pre-school to grad school. That's ACTUALLY what makes communities safe.

Let me unpack and explain it.

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My blood is BOILING. And I cannot believe that the same sorry ass organization that is still holding millions of dollars that people gave to victims in Buffalo is now holding $14 million for families in Uvalde and REFUSING to distribute it.

Please. Whatever you do. DO NOT WORK WITH THE NATIONAL COMPASSION FUND. It is an almost exclusively white organization in suburban Virginia. They either do not understand the unique struggles of Black and Brown communities or do not care. And in both Buffalo and Uvalde they have left devastated families that desperately needed financial support without a dime.

And then heaped more pain and frustration on top of it all.

They are now saying it's going to be November, at the earliest, until they give any money that was raised to victims in Uvalde. And I don't care what they say. IT DOES NOT TAKE THIS LONG. It should not take this long. I have literally spoken with them and told them this myself. I told them exactly what they need to do to speed up the process and better distribute the funds to families. And they refuse to do any of it.

Now, families of victims in Buffalo and Uvalde are literally already going back to work. And many are on the brink of financial ruin, while this organization continues to give ridiculous excuses on why they can't speed things up.

ACTION STEP: Please email [email protected] and let him know how you feel about this.

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