The Morning Sip Ep

The speaker starts by introducing themselves and their podcast, expressing gratitude to the listeners and encouraging them to engage with their content on social media. They then discuss the importance of appreciating the blessing of being alive and not taking it for granted. The speaker emphasizes their role as a journalist in disseminating important and timely information, while also providing their own perspective. They discuss the need to have confidence in oneself and not let others discourage or define them. The speaker then explains their job in a broadcast newsroom, where they gather and provide information to reporters and help in the production of news stories. They mention the prevalence of death in their line of work and how it can lead to desensitization. They share personal experiences of encountering death and express the emotional impact of losing people they knew. The speaker acknowledges the responsibility of their job in reporting on deaths and the role it plays in k Good afternoon. Good afternoon. I know this is supposed to be an episode of the morning sip But you can also have a sip in the afternoon as well. So This is how we rocking today Again, this is another episode of the similar thoughts podcast the morning sip edition I'd like to thank you all for tuning in I'd like to thank you all for listening If you could give me a like give me a comment and subscribe when this goes out on all of my social media platforms And please follow me as sit my thoughts everywhere So I'm sitting my thoughts on Instagram. My podcast page on Instagram is the sip my thoughts Mg. I am also on Twitter. It's it my thoughts and Facebook on Facebook is also sit my thoughts as well. So let's be back here again. Good to be in a land of the living It is an underrated blessing that I think a lot of us are starting to take for granted, unfortunately, and This is just kind of something that was on my mind that I really wanted to talk about So if you've been listening to my podcast, you know that I'm a journalist and I know I've said this countless amounts of times but the reason for this platform is for me to be able to Come to you guys and disseminate information that I think is important. I think is timely and things that I can give my own perspective about From not just a journalist perspective, but I want to give you like an outside Perspective in regards to anything that I'm talking about. I try to take my my journalist cap off Got me a fresh cut if y'all can see that So, yeah, I try to take my journalist cap off from time to time when I'm doing the pot and That is what I plan on doing again here today. So you're gonna get that type of content continuously going forward and more But I kind of first thing I want to start with I want to start with some words of encouragement. I have been Involved in a couple of conversations over the last couple of days Today with my uncle and Just some overall advice when you know you're scrolling social media and you know, if you see something that kind of strikes you or Adheres to you in some shape form or fashion. So I just like to share That with you. So one of the things that me and my uncle was talking about earlier this morning was just A lot of times the world can make you feel inadequate and That can be in your field of choice going to work every day dealing with people that Always have some type of opinion about whatever it is that you're doing in regards to your work and You know a lot of times you can walk in some rooms and you can feel some pressure And you know a lot of times you can walk in some rooms and you can feel small Or you can feel like you don't belong in those particular rooms, and I would just like to encourage you to know what you know know who you are and Don't let anyone discourage you from doing what you know, you can do If you've been listening, I've been telling you that I've been dealing with some issues on my job and things like that But one of the things that me and my manager actually had a conversation about was that I Need to use my voice more. I need to Express myself. I need to put myself out in the open more for People to hear me at work But what I took that as is for me. I Know that I'm talented at what I do I know that I have the skills and the capabilities to execute any idea That is placed before me whether it be an idea of my own or it is something that is placed before me at work I feel confident and capable capable enough to do whatever is asked of me So when you're at work when you're on your job You're obviously doing what's necessary and what is asked of you because for one it's your job and for two You just want to do a good job in general I know one of the things that my parents always told me was that when you walk out the house every day You are a reflection of me, and I've always tried to carry it along. You know the journey of life Doesn't matter what I'm doing If I'm working out, I'm trying to be the best that I can possibly be If I am creating an idea or trying to execute an idea I keep that in mind because I know that I'm good at what I do But most importantly I know that I'm representing others outside of myself So long story short Don't go into a room not feeling as if you belong there If you're in that room you're in that room for a reason once you're inside of that room make your presence known Let them know who you are Speak up for yourself advocate for yourself Don't allow someone to advocate for you if you're not willing to do it for yourself So I would just encourage you to do that and that is something that you know I want to start off with on this episode, but then I want to get into the meat of Why I'm here and what I want to talk about today One of the things about working in media, and I work in a broadcast newsroom So just to let you know a little bit more about what I do and what my job consists of So we're going to broadcast newsroom and my job is to basically provide Reporters producers and management with the tools that they need to execute the newscast for the day. So for my particular job my goal is to Take phone calls Listen to what our viewers have to say they might have a story idea that I can pass along to a reporter And it'll end up turning into something bigger than you might have originally thought that it would be So a lot of the stuff that you might see on your news I have had a role or I've had a hand in making sure that I bet the information I get the information to the reporter is then a reporter's job to reach out to Whoever it was that provided the story idea and then it's their job to vet that material as well decided it's worth a New story and then if so they pitch it They talk about the ways to Come up with an idea in order to help better tell the story whether that be logistics Which is something that I personally deal with or putting them in the best possible position to tell a story in the best way possible So again that comes along with answering phone calls passing along information betting information Looking up people's backgrounds requesting mug shots. They have something to do with crime or anything like that. That's particularly my job So Again one of the things that has been really prevalent And it's something that I deal with every day and I feel like we are starting to become desensitized to it And that is death Obviously, we know that death is a part of life. We can't live forever unfortunately, and You know, it's just something that We're all going to experience one day in some shape form or fashion Working in news, however is Interesting and weird in that regard I Have seen my share of things that I probably shouldn't have seen. I hear things on the police scanner When it comes to these certain types of actions and You deal with it Not you, but me personally I deal with death On a day-to-day basis, so it's not something that Is uncommon to me death is a part of my job to be honest and I'm at a point now this weekend. I was at work And like I said, I listen to police scanner, so I'm well versed in Deciphering things that are being said on police scanners, whether it's police using code with one another In order to try to get someone on the scene to check something out or come in to investigate it things of that nature but Once you hear it so much It hits you and it touches you in a way in which you can become desensitized Because you deal with it so much I've Seen I've seen dead bodies before unfortunately I have heard calls where You know Someone is being shot or you know Like I've heard the very gruesome details that goes along with it and this weekend. It just kind of hit me like I've been dealing with death in my own personal life A guy I grew up with in my neighborhood was shot and killed a Couple weeks ago His funeral was this past weekend Like I said, this is somebody that I grew up with somebody in my neighborhood that I knew Whenever we saw each other it was always so, you know, what's up? What's good that type of thing? He wasn't someone that I hung around personally, but we grew up in the same neighborhood He just seemed like someone who was trying to find his way and He was just on his own particular path and journey in life trying to figure out what was best for him and how he could best be of service to people and Also a guy that I went to school with was killed about a week ago We didn't have much conversation in school But I Knew him well enough that over the years when we saw each other, you know, I might have been on a particular path Everyone is on their own particular path. Everyone is on their own journey But whenever we saw each other it was always so what's good brother? How you doing? How's your kids things like that? How are you doing personally? You know and it was always it was cordial, you know, it was just a good time Like I've seen bro enough over the years to where we had a rapport so when I saw people saying rest in peace to him on The internet over the last week. It was just kind of I Don't know I Think it hits different for me personally when it's someone that you know Someone that you've grown that you've grown up with Someone that you've grown that you've grown up with someone that you went to school with it's different and With me working in a particular job and in a particular field where death is just prevalent I'm not desensitized to it personally but when I hear a deaf call over the police scanner, I I Just immediately spring into action. I called a police Try to get information so I could send a reporter and if it deems Serious enough to send a reporter out I can do that or likely I'll just send a photographer out to check it out See if we can get some video And things of that nature in order to help us, you know memorialize this person Or I wouldn't even say memorialize a person to be honest It's a sick part of my job because It's not me memorializing him or her is more so about us Telling you guys when I say you guys I talk about you all who are watching the news It's more so about us telling you what's going on in your community What's happening? When did this crime? Occur when was it committed? Is there a suspect things like that? So it's like I'm going through My day-to-day in regards to the processes of reporting the news telling the news and things like that So I guess it death is not uncommon to me And maybe it should be It's it's a really it really makes you think when you're working in media and Specifically working in the newsroom whether that be broadcast or print and this is the way in which you report the news. I deal with death so much to where It's just like I Don't know I don't have a good way or a good analogy to explain it but I think the thing that's most important for me is for us to Stop being desensitized to it. I would say and When I say being desensitized for an example a man was killed Here in Atlanta outside of a Well, it was inside of an apartment complex at the pool him and another guy Had a discrepancy over an undisclosed amount of money. I still don't know how much money It was but they were at a pool and the guy The guy that killed him like they were familiar with each other so they had a dispute or whatever over some money and I guess the other guy pulled out a gun and Shot and killed the other guy, right? So, you know when you're on social media there tends to be you know, there's an algorithm obviously so you can just be scrolling But if the algorithm algorithm is kind of set to your location of where you live or where you might reside There is a good chance that you can see, you know, some of the stuff that's happening in your area so if you live in Mississippi for an example Like you're basically a part of Mississippi tick-tock if you are on Twitter for an example and like you're from Mississippi You're from a big demographic Mississippi is going to be the majority of the content and the post that you see on your social media feed. It just is So I just so happen to be scrolling on tick-tock the other day and The guys the guy who posted the video he didn't necessarily say where it happened or where it occurred But it was him and somebody else they were having a conversation and they were talking about man We've been sitting outside the pool. This isn't this the next thing I know gosh gunfire rang out And I can look at the cake at the location and I knew that they were talking about the things that I was reporting on and the things that I heard on the police scanner and Then there was something else another thing that I saw where it looked like a woman was running out of a house of Some sort and it might have been an apartment complex in that same apartment complex And it was a woman running outside of the apartment complex And she had a like a bathing suit and stuff like that And the woman the way the video was the woman got out the house or the apartment and she was running she was running She was running and whoever this guy was. He was filming it from like a bedroom window or something like that and I Saw the woman running and then she ran out of the frame Next thing I know so And I'm hoping because I'm hoping that she got away but the next thing that I see Is a man running out of this same apartment complex or whatever whatever it was and then he stops And next thing I hear is Gunshots Now If I'm putting two or two together this man was shooting at this woman Who was running from whatever it was she was running from I'm not sure But We need therapy Black man need therapy and yeah, you're probably saying I'm reducing this to black man, but I Just gave you two examples, right? Whatever he shot and killed that man for however much money it was for At that pool and who else like who knows that there were other people out there I could clearly there was just based on a tick-tock video that I saw You just pull out a gun and start shooting Bullets don't have no names on them So you can just hit and kill innocent bystander and It just makes me think like What's up with our community Like I'm never the one to talk about respectability politics and What is crime is happening in our community? and What's going on in their community and stuff like that? So it's a source of that's what people tend to do when it comes to talking about violence in the black community They'll point out certain circumstances in certain instances in certain situations and try to interject What more police needs to be in this area and this is this is me When it's more so of a inequality issue than it is a crime issue Yeah, you have those instances was where people do foolish stuff and there are foolish consequence Well, they're not foolish consequence. There are consequences for their foolish actions. Let me say that that's what I meant but This isn't a situation of respectability politics Our community needs therapy the black community needs therapy black man need therapy We cannot continue to keep running the guns and killing fathers brothers sons When it comes to having a dispute It's sickening bro and the fact that bullets don't have names on them is the biggest problem for an example a month ago a young lady a Young lady was attending a vigil for someone in her family who had died, right? Somebody came through that community where the vigil was happening and I don't think it's like a drive-by or anything like that, but Wherever they were from they were on another street or something They were firing shots gunfire rang out people started scrambling, right? This girl got hit in the head by a straight bullet and died Had just graduated from school I think it might have been high school. If not high school, I think it might have been college But like she was in nursing school She pulled up to the vigil to support her family Or a family member who had been killed And she inadvertently dies because somebody's firing a straight bullet it's firing gunshots But you're firing straight bullets in the vicinity of something like that happening and the innocent bystander just got killed Just for attending a vigil for a family member now, she's dead How do you live with yourself how do you You just kill somebody you didn't intend on killing first of all But to know that a bully can just end your life in that manner You know, I mean, I don't know how to explain it. I don't know how to explain it But to know that a bully can just end your life in that manner is Careless bro It is careless and it's an unfortunate and it needs to stop So the reason that the title of this episode is black man need therapy we need outlets, bro Because the man just threw his life away this weekend over however much money you're not coming home You couldn't go to jail for second degree murder were you in jail for second degree murder And you shot a man at a pool of all places Another video I saw that guy ran out the house and was shooting at a woman. Hopefully she was zigzagging and she got away And another thing that i'm hearing on a police scan is also Domestic violence is really big in our communities that needs to stop Don't put your hands on nobody they don't want their hands on you Or whatever However, I said that just stop putting your hands on people. You don't own people If you married you don't own that person Y'all are in a relationship that is supposed to be a bond for life If something happens in that regard you don't have the authority to kill them That is not your place So when I hear these things on police scanners It is extremely disheartening Especially when it's innocent people dying over nothing And then you might can have unintended victims because a bullet don't doesn't control where it goes I mean unless you are a victim of a crime You can't be a victim of a crime Doesn't control where it goes I mean unless you are, you know, you aiming for whoever you aim for That's different But if you just firing bullets recklessly, bro, you are endangering someone's life, bro And when I hear these types of stories when I hear these things I'm not i'm not desensitized to it Like I said, I deal with it so much to where it's almost like I compartmentalize it and I just go about doing my job. I go about reporting it. I'll go about taking the necessary steps to make sure that We have that information on the news so you can be properly informed about what's happening in your community and stuff like that But we just too desensitized to them, bro Yes, it's gonna happen naturally The way that it's it's the way god intended it to be it's going to happen that way and in that manner But A lot of y'all are out here speeding up the process bro. That ain't cool Especially when you're not hitting your target that is not cool, bro Granted you shouldn't be shooting at nobody anyway, so i'm not saying to go out and shoot at nobody. That is not what i'm saying but Don't affect somebody's life that don't have anything to do whatever you got going on with this with the next individual Or with your op or whatever We are taking people away from their children their mamas their daddies That ain't cool bro, it's just not It's just not So Black man, what what can we do different? What can we do differently to to stop this stuff at a head? A lot of us are too prideful, bro We too damn prideful We gotta stop trying to inflict hurt harm and danger on others and try to get yourself together first black man If God intended us to be the head of the household the head of the community and things of that nature Then when when did we stop doing that when did we stop When did that stop becoming a priority for us and granted there are extenuating factors that Has placed us in these situations you talk about. Oh, i'm a product of my environment things like that That may be true But just because you're a product of your environment does not mean your environment has to stay the same You have to hang around the same people that you grew up with You have to hang around the same people that you was with in your neighborhood at one point God gives us free will he gives us the responsibility and he gives us the choice to make our own decisions now Depending on whatever that decision might be there might be some consequences for those decisions But he gives us free will to make our own decisions and our own determinations in order to alter Anything that we need to in our life So when it comes to Crime and a black man kill another black man What are we gaining bro? We losing more than we gain and there's nothing to be gained in a situation like that But it's really disheartening when It's real disheartening man when I I'm doing my job. And again, I know this is a part of my job. This is what I signed up for but A lot of this stuff is real senseless, bro And another thing that's real senseless is the fact that we just cool with recording everything, bro We are so desensitized to death We are so desensitized to death that when it happens we record it And we don't care nothing about what nobody else sees That's strange behavior that's weird behavior, bro When did posting death become cool Now again, I work in news. I'm a journalist. So this is just unfortunately a part of my life Until I decide to to get out of the news business, which I'm actively trying to do. Um This is just a part of my job so Some of the stuff is kind of unavoidable for me to see Like I saw a shootout between two men at a wing spot a couple weeks back I've seen a man shoot another man and his body just went limp as he fell on the ground The other guy who started it came in And he the one to pull out his gun and fire out his shots And a man and i'm watching a man bleed On the ground Both of them were in critical condition last I saw so i'm not sure What are the condition of those men if they survived or anything like that? But like these are things that i've seen bro, unfortunately for me So i've seen stuff that I should not have seen But for y'all to just up and be shooting and and and killing people where's your conscience at bro Where's your conscience bro Where is your conscience bro This ain't no video game and I really I really don't think people understand that When you are a victim or something like that when you close your eyes you are closing your eyes for good And I don't I don't think I don't know if some of y'all think this is a video game if life is a video game or something I don't get it. I really don't But when you do stuff like that You tearing up families you tearing up generations Like you are completely ravaging Someone's life Now the kids gotta grow without a daddy or a mama or whatever So this is specifically Our community in general needs therapy. So let's let's let's get that understood But for black men i'm talking specifically Specifically to us black men i'm talking specifically to us we need therapy bro We need an outlet We need to learn how to communicate our community in general needs to learn how to communicate more effectively men with women Women with women men with men children with children. It's our job to be the teachers The stuff that was passed down from my grandparents our parents to us It is then our job to impart that wisdom to the next generation And for those who don't want to listen to that You can't do anything with that. I was a college professor for two years I can't tell you that I touched every student that I had in my classes over those two years But I had a good couple That I know for sure are working in the field working in the industry and they're having a successful start to their careers So you can't save everybody and i'm not saying that you're going to save everybody But what we need to do Is find outlets we need to find better ways to communicate with one another To just mitigate some of the stuff that's happening in our community Our community cannot thrive without us and each time one of us takes another one of us away You're ravaging a bloodline You're ravaging a generation You are forcing that generation to go through trauma That they didn't even ask for And I just don't think that that is something that we think about And it is a problem it is especially a problem for me Just hearing some of the stuff that I hear Crime is crime and crime is going to happen. Unfortunately It's just a part. It's just a part of the fabric of this country. It's unavoidable. It's inescapable But when our best and brightest Are being killed by straight bullets Or you thinking you own somebody And you decided you want to commit a murder suicide or something like that which I have seen a lot of And I hear a lot of You don't own nobody bro You can experience people but you don't own them I Know we like to have like these little Little trends like there's a trend on tiktok right now Honestly, if i'm i'll be a hypocrite if I didn't say this. I thought it was funny. Um, what was it? Uh, uh, uh, uh Y'all probably know what i'm talking about I can't think of of it right now And it's it's funny But it's not funny Because you don't own anybody So this this this episode is specifically for us We've got to find a better way to communicate First of all, we need to communicate in general because if you can have a conversation with somebody they can kind of mitigate Or resolve whatever it is or whatever issue that you and that individual might have even had A simple conversation can can do wonders for a situation If you put pride and ego aside And just have a conversation with the next person or have a conversation with whoever it is that you might have an issue with You can solve and mitigate a lot of problems Violence is a fabric of this country, but it does not have to be There are some things that happen and that occur that are extremely avoidable That are extremely avoidable If you just have a conversation if you just can communicate if you could take a step back breathe Put your pride to the side And not allow yourself to be consumed by emotions A lot of us are not emotionally competent and that is a problem Because if you jump at everything Or everything just triggers you when are you ever in control of yourself? Losing control of your emotions is a human thing Everything that i've talked about so far in this episode is a human thing Now when it comes to taking someone's life Because you think you own them or because you're in a relationship with them. You don't want to see them when nobody yells That you they ran out with your money you feel like they playing you Like god don't always spin the block, bro sis It's just not your job to ravage a community and a generation Therapy Communication Put your pride to the side Think Think And don't make a permanent decision based on temporary feelings If we can start doing these five things I swear that crime will go down in our community Our little ones will grow up with both parents in the household Pride is a hell of a drug, bro, and it does not have to be Think Communicate Please This has been another episode of sit my thoughts podcast if you could please like comment subscribe i'm on youtube Send my thoughts Facebook send my thoughts Facebook send my thoughts um Instagram send my thoughts. My podcast page is the sit my thoughts mg Twitter send my thoughts tiktok send my thoughts Let me know what you guys think Please like comment subscribe leave a comment. I would love to interact with you You can follow me on all those Channels that I just named And shoot me an email send my thoughts at gmail.com if you want to have some more in-depth conversation I would love to know who i'm interacting with out there because I want to Continue to cater my content to you guys Thank you all for tuning in. Thank you all for listening till next time