In the meantime, yes it's tirade time. OK, here we go. This is.gonna end. Something's gonna happen. I know what you're thinking. Let me say this...(I'm sorry Marvin, he plays it cool in the background) By the way, I'm Anthony Sloan aka T from the Patterson [unintelligible]. This is my street theme song. And right now you're gonna hear from T, cause, it's T that goes off, Anthony is calm, cool, collected - the poet, he's the poet.
But T, you really...look, like I told someone before they threatened me with bodily harm, from a contract bodily harm [Anthony is referring to Clayton Riley, who threatened to hire people for $400 to break both of Anthony's legs] Like I told that person, I'm gonna tell, I'm gonna tell everybody...
There are billions of organisms on this planet, there are billions of organisms on this planet. There's one organism you really don't want to mess with, least not in the field that he's qualified in. There's two fields: theater and radio. Unless you're a radio person, don't come with anything.
I understand dictators, ya know? I understand
that. There was a call on Bob Fass earlier that explains what happens
with a dictator, benevolent, what have you, they surround themselves with
yes men, ya know,
people do their bidding . And, they get
insulated. They refuse to have any meaningful dialog. They claim that things
are open, but yet and still they bring on to, ya know, their little
circle people they think...that can
protect them.
Now last week, I went off on Djabel Faye. Why? Cause he's incorrect, he lied on the air. Not only that, I'm gonna tell you a little...you know, there's always more than one reason. They day before, I was playing some Marvin Gaye, going out on Democracy Now, and the boy just cut it off. Hey, you can do a lot of things to me, but there's two things you can't do. Don't mess with my niece and don't mess with my Marvin. I go off.
So that happened last week.
This week, I'm engineering Democracy Now! yesterday morning, International Women's Day, I get a call on the hotline, it's Utrice Leid!
I'm trying to engineer...she goes, "Djabel?..."
Hey look, if you don't know the extension you're calling plus Djabel wasn't in yesterday. Everybody knows it a holiday - so I consider that harassing the engineer for a complicated national program. So here's my message: you want respect? Let me tell you something about Black people and America. I'm talking about Black people specifically who were brought here without any respect. I'm not talking about people that came here in subsequent years. We don't care about respect. We know we were disrespected when we were brought here. If we wanted respect we wouldn't be here. But what we do want is justice. JUSTICE.
And that's what we don't have at this radio station. And not only that, to make myself perfectly clear, PERFECTLY CLEAR, I'm saying I don't...Look, the National fight, that's the National fight. The listeners' fight, that's the listeners' fight. I'm talking about the staff in this station. THE STAFF IN THIS STATION.
There was a staff meeting yesterday, I
did not go to no staff meeting. I don't have to go. I could. But the reason
why I didn't enter that room is because there's a person in that room that...that...that
is one of the people that Utrice Leid has surrounded herself with, thinking...the
person is thug, that's the only thing I can call the person. And if the
staff allows a thug within their midst, if the staff continues to allow
Utrice Leid to wear how many
hats?...then the staff is cowards.
[At this point, his commentary seems to be addressed directly to Utrice Leid]
Now this has gotta end! You may think you're qualified to be station manager, but you're certainly not qualified to be program...now where's our program director? If the National thought that it was, that it was an emergency enough to give us a general manager, then the general manager should think it necessary enough to get us a qualified, I say QUALIFIED, program director. And don't get me wrong, I' m not buckin for no job. I was approached, in fact I was reproached, you were one of those trying to sweeten me up...I know those tactics, I was born in the sixties, I grew up in the sixties, I came of age in the sixties...you can't pull no political jive on me...and {unintelligible] yourselves...got another subject that's buckin for a job of somebody else on our staff.
This thuggism gotta stop!
If you wanna know, I'm original thug from
the south Bronx. Come on with it! Come on with it! Be courageous enough!
Don't call me in to no office either. Don't send people there, "Oh the
boss wanna see you." Come on these airwaves, just like you brought other
people on these airwaves to ask you fluffy questions. FLUFFY
QUESTIONS!
You want to deal with a radio person? Hey, I'm a radio person! Deal with me on the air. You don't want to deal with me on, OK, so let's go...deal with me in a community forum. Not in the privacy of your office, with your thugs hanging around. That's right, I called 'em thugs!
Excuse me a second. Dr. Kakai would be upset if I were not taking my high blood pressure medicine [sound of bottle of pills being handled] Let me take my pill right now.
Sending edicts through other people. Thugs and punks! Yeah, let's get down with it! Respect? RESPECT? How about some justice? How about stopping the whispering campaigns? What, I'm in your sights? You was raised...I was surrounded by women most of my life, so what? Means nothing. Thugs, bring the thugs on! You up to the task? Bring the thugs on!
What makes you qualified to do what? From flower girl to secretary to managing editor of a defunct newspaper. And then trying to bring us down? Dividing the staff. Cause people gotta get paid? Come on with it! Get in the cab and run down here right now! Come on!
Come on with it!
Yeah, Mercury is out of retrograde now, the ides of March is next week. I'm working all this next week. I gotta go away. When I come back things better be straight. Cuz you got to come with it. Radio!
Administrator? Come on, administrate then! Where's our program director? Where is a person I can talk to that knows radio? Qualified? Where's the search committee to replace the interim general manager? Where's the search committee to replace the program director? Where's the search committee to replace the development director?
I'm gonna talk to the staff one more time. Here it goes...
You know I used to be on staff. When I was arts director I told the staff the same thing that I'm gonna tell you right now. I don't blame Utrice Leid for being Utrice Leid. Just like I didn't blame Valerie Van Isler for being Valerie Van Isler. I blame the staff for allowing Valerie Van Isler to be Valerie Van Isler. I blame the staff for allowing Utrice Leid to be Utrice Leid. I don't blame nothing on anybody.
In the greater society, when we are oppressed I don't blame the oppressor for doing their natural thing. I blame the oppressed for remaining oppressed.
That's my position.
[addresses Utrice again]
Harass me one more time! Call me one more time when I'm doing a job. Do that again! You walk in this studio when you're not supposed to be here...Come on with it!...when I'm doing a national program. Must've lost your mind!
Gotta go. Mario's up next...
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