- Hi everyone.

Steve Adubato.

We kick off the program with a compelling important author.

She's Tamika Mallory, author of "I Lived to Tell the Story."

That's one book and the other book is "The State of Emergency: How We Win in the Country We Built."

Tamika, it's an honor to have you with us.

- Thank you so much, Steve.

I'm excited to be here with you.

- You got it.

The main message of this book is?

- My book is really a coming to age story, you know.

My first book was about my sort of theory of change, what I believe America needs to do to heal so many open wounds, but this particular book is about me, and why I am where I am, why I do what I do, and how I came to where I am today, which has been through trials and tribulations, but also through great victories.

- You're recognized by so many, and particularly in the community of activists who try to make a difference, particularly in the area of civil rights and liberties.

Yes, I was reading about you, not just the book, but reading about you, Tamika.

The murder of George Floyd on camera changed your life how?

- Well, I think it was the first time in my life where I chose to speak from my heart, and not from a prepared script.

Not so much that I had not been passionate in the past and that, you know, I had been scripted, so to speak, to where I was not free to speak my mind, but I was always very careful, and I had tried my best to be as politically correct, if you will, as possible, even in my outrage, but on this particular day, after watching George Floyd be killed, and more importantly after watching some of the media try to make him the cause of that moment, I lost sort of that sense of having to say the right thing, and trying not to get in trouble 'cause I'm always in trouble.

And I just went ahead and said what was in my heart.

Because I did that, it resonated with people all over the world, and my speech went so viral that people in Africa, people in Europe, people everywhere, when I travel they see me and they walk up to me and say, you know, we appreciate you for saying what we all feel, and what we were feeling, especially after watching George Floyd's life be taken from him in the way that it was.

- Your background, you said that this book, "I Lived to Tell the Story: A Memoir of Love, Legacy, and Resilience" there's so many parts of your life that are tragic, are powerful, are defining moments, including the murder of your son's father.

Talk about that.

- Yeah, you know, my son's father was killed a long time ago now.

My son is now 25 and his father was killed.

- You have a 25-year-old son?

- I do, and I have a two-year-old granddaughter.

And my son, his father, Jason, was killed when my son was two years old, so it's been 23 years.

It's been a long time of trying to navigate raising a young Black man in America alone.

There've been a lot of people to step in along the way.

Certainly my parents and my father, especially, taking on a father figure role for my son, but there's nothing like having your own parent there, and having his own father to be there as a part of his life.

And I tell you, when my son's father was first killed, I really didn't understand the seriousness of gun violence in America, you know.

I knew it existed, but it had not touched me, and impacted my life directly.

And once it did, I began to open my eyes to see that a young Black man being shot in America was just as American as apple pie, you know.

It happens often.

It actually is the number one reason why young Black men die across this country.

And I made a commitment to get involved, and to really do what I can to fight against this epidemic that is happening in our community, and to really look for ways to identify it as a public health crisis.

- We don't do politics per se.

We don't engage in who's ahead, and who won this election, and why do they win, and polls, but I'm more interested in people, and policy, and issues of social justice, but I am curious about this.

Why do you think more African-American men than ever before in American history voted for a Republican candidate for president, particularly Donald Trump?

What do you think the appeal is for those for whom he's appealing?

- Well, you know, first of all, I wanna make sure we put into context the numbers.

Still, Black men were the number two group of individuals to vote against Donald Trump and to vote for- - And Black women were first.

- Right, always, we lead.

And Black men are always right there with us.

And so I just wanna make sure that's stated because the media began to sort of paint this picture that Donald Trump had picked up some enormous amount of Black men and men from our community, and that just did not happen.

However, I think there is something to be said about the challenges that the Democratic Party has with being able to keep the attention of Black men, and to ensure that Black men feel included in the conversation.

Donald Trump, whether it was true or not, whether it was misinformation or not, and a lot of it was misinformation, they did attempt to reach some Black men.

They played on weaknesses that they could see from social media and from other places where they knew that Black men are disturbed with what is happening, or what is not happening with the Democratic Party.

And I think a lot of our brothers are looking for economic stability.

They are looking to really hold up their communities in a way that they should be able to do.

And so they're looking for other options.

And, you know, I think that that means for the Democratic Party, and for just people who are running for office candidates in general, that some of our men are up for grabs, and they're looking for real conversation around the stability of their communities, and of their particular, you know, their pockets.

And so I think that has a lot to do with it, but, again, Black men for the most part did not vote for Donald Trump.

- If you just joined us, we're talking to Tamika Mallory, the author of "I Lived to Tell the Story," and also her original book, "The State of Emergency: How We Win in the Country We Built."

And, also, one of the forewards is by Cardi B.

We've had Eddie Glaude from Princeton, a scholar, historian, one who understands issues of race from a historical perspective, many times.

Look on our website to check out those interviews with Professor Glaude.

From your perspective, Tamika, where do you believe race relations, particularly between Blacks and whites, it's more complicated as you bring in other folks, Hispanics, Asians.

- For sure.

- Where do you think Black-white race relations are in 2025?

- We still have deep challenges, and I think that the most recent presidential election has shown us, once again, that we are deeply divided.

And there's a lot of work to do for particularly the white community to look at itself, and address how we as Black people do not feel that we can trust and rely on folks from the white community to support us and to protect us.

And so I think that's important, but there are many white people who I meet every day across this country who are doing all that they can to try to stand with the most marginalized communities, and people who are unsafe, people who desire more opportunities.

And they are speaking out.

They are speaking up, and they are standing with our communities.

- Well, Tamika, lemme follow up on that.

You said, disappointed in the results, but, what about if a high percentage of people who happen to be white, male and female, voted for Donald Trump, and their vote was about economics, their sense of where they are, where they're not, where they wanna be, issues of immigration, other issues, the border, et cetera.

Why would that give you a sense that those folks would not care about the Black community?

- Well, we don't have the time today to sit and go through the litany of things that Donald Trump has done and said to harm Black communities.

And so while I understand that it is important to some, some of the individual things that we need, individualism is a huge problem in this country that exists within more communities than even just the white community, but, nonetheless, I hear you on the individual needs, but as a community in general, when you think about the racially charged violence, and at times very racist statements that Donald Trump has said, and the way in which his administration targeted Black people, you can't say you stand with us.

- You mean the last one.

- The last, exactly, his first administration.

- How much are you worried about this one?

- Well, I mean, look at his people.

We have, actually, people who are even worse than the first time who are going to be taking cabinet positions in his administration.

I'll just give you one example.

Just thinking about the Department of Justice, understanding the difference between William Barr, who at the time created a list that targeted people like me who are fighting for justice, and fighting for the civil rights of Black people.

And you compare it to what we just saw, which was Kristen Clarke and Garland, who had a different process for looking at civil injustice and the civil rights of American citizens.

There's a big difference in those two.

And, in fact, the other administration was hostile towards our community under William Barr.

And so if you support him, if you support Donald Trump, I have to question how you can say that you support our communities understanding that he wants to give police immunity on knowing what we have experienced.

You brought up George Floyd.

How can we allow someone like Derek Chauvin to have immunity from being able to choke, and kneel in the neck of a man like the way that he did, and what we all saw, what we witnessed.

So when we hear that, when we understand what Donald Trump stands for, if you stand with him, I cannot in any way accept you saying that you somehow care about, or stand with our community.

- I wanna thank you for joining us.

Tamika is the author of "I Lived to Tell the Story," and "The State of Emergency."

Thank you, Tamika.

- Thank you so much, I appreciate you.

- Appreciate you.

Stay with us, we'll be right back.

- [Narrator] Think Tank with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by RWJBarnabas Health.

Let’s be healthy together.

New Jersey Children’s Foundation.

Kean University.

PSEG Foundation.

The Fidelco Group.

Valley Bank.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

New Jersey Sharing Network.

And by PSE&G.

Promotional support provided by Meadowlands Chamber.

And by ROI-NJ.

- At the New Jersey Children's Foundation, we believe all children should have access to a high quality public education regardless of where they live.

We believe schools should place students on paths to success, and we invest in schools and educators who are meeting those needs.

Whatever your seat on the bus: student, parent, teacher, business leader, you have a role in our mission.

In Newark, district and charter schools show great education is possible.

We're working to unite people across the city and state to provide students with the schools they deserve.