Season 2: Episode 2: Aaron Myers

Please tune in to hear about Aaron Myers. From his site Aaron2.me
Entertainer. Artist. Veteran. Entrepreneur. Believer.
These are just a few of the titles claimed by DC-based jazz artist Aaron Myers, whose life story is anything but typical. Originally from Goodlow, Texas, Myers found his passion for performing at an early age while playing music in the church, eventually choosing the piano as his instrument of choice. His soulful baritone voice, second-to-none stage presence and captivating personality make him one of the most exciting up-and-coming acts in jazz!

As a young man, Aaron joined the United States Army where he served for 2 years before enrolling at Navarro College where he majored in business and theater. While at Navarro, Aaron ran for Mayor of Corsicana, the town where the school was located. Despite losing a closely contested election, Myers decided then and there that politics and advocacy would continue to play a major role in his life.

After college, Aaron packed up and headed out west to Los Angeles where he got his first taste of life as a professional entertainer. While in California, he was the featured talent at the Fashion TV's 10 year Anniversary Party, made his rounds as a studio musician and served as a Music Supervisor for the film “A Song and a Prayer.” Within ministry, he was the Assistant to the Youth Pastor at West Angeles Church of God in Christ while also serving as the musician for the Youth Department - never straying too far from his gospel roots.

After a life-altering accident that almost claimed his right hand, Aaron decided he needed a change. So, he joined the Obama Campaign for Change in 2008 as a Field Organizer in the battleground states of Texas and Florida, finding his love for community organizing and engagement, and slowly working his way back into playing shape. After the campaign was over, he moved to Washington D.C. where fostered his gift for advocacy and began establishing himself as a musician-to-know in the vibrant jazz scene of Chocolate City.

Upon Aaron’s arrival in our Nation’s Capital, he immediately began activating spaces for live performances around the city, ultimately serving as Resident Artist at the Black Fox Lounge for 5 years while producing over 150 shows before becoming the current Resident Artist at the storied Mr. Henry's Restaurant in Capitol Hill. He remained committed to his role as an activist as well, becoming the National Director for the now defunct Global Family Program headed by the late Linda Grover, staying active with the DC Young Democrats and by forming the DC Jazz Lobby in 2016 which focuses on music and arts policy initiatives at the federal and local levels.

Mr. Myers is a stout advocate for Mental Health and LGBTQI Rights. As part of his advocacy, he chairs the Board of Directors for the Capitol Hill Jazz Foundation as well as serves as Board Secretary of Crittenton Services of Greater Washington. He sits as a member of the board of directors for CTE Vision Foundation and Covenant Full Potential Development Center. During the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, he has led the DMV Music Stakeholders cohort as they share resources, offer relief, and advocate for community needs to help strengthen and preserve Washington’s music ecosystem.
Please visit his site and tune in for more about Aaron Myers!

Transcript

Unknown: 0:05

Hey everyone, welcome to Share Your Sparkle and I'm your host, Dr. Darline Berrios. This is season two, Episode Two. Aaron Meyers everybody, thanks for tuning in. We have a great guest today so let me get right to introducing him. This is Aaron Myers. This bio is from his website aa r o n two dot m e. He is an entertainer artists veteran entrepreneur believer. These are just a few of the titles claimed by DC based jazz artists Aaron Meyers, whose life story is anything but typical. Originally from goodloe, Texas, Myers found his passion for performing at an early age while playing music in the church, eventually choosing the piano as his instrument of choice. His soulful baritone voice second to none stage presence and captivating personality make him one of the most exciting up and coming acts in jazz. As a young man, Aaron joined the United States Army where he served for two years before enrolling at Navarro college where he majored in business and theater. Well let Navarro Aaron ran for mayor of Corsicana, the town where the school was located. Despite losing a closely contested election, Meyer decided then in there that politics and advocacy would continue to play a major role in his life. After college, Arun packed up and headed out West Los Angeles, where he got his first taste of life as a professional entertainer. While in California, he was the featured talent at the Fashion TV's 10 year anniversary party, made his rounds as a studio musician, and served as a music supervisor for the film, a song and a prayer. Within ministry, he was the assistant to the youth pastor at West Angeles Church of God in Christ, while also serving as the musician for the youth department never straying too far from his gospel roots. After a life altering accident than almost claimed his right hand, Aaron decided he needed to change. So he joined the Obama campaign for change in 2008 as a field organizer in the battleground states of Texas and Florida, finding his love for community organizing and engagement and slowly working his way back into playing shape. After the campaign was over, he moved to Washington DC, where he fostered his gift for advocacy, and began establishing himself as a musician to know in the vibrant jazz scene of chocolate city. Upon Aaron's arrival in our nation's capitol, he immediately began activating space for live performances around the city, ultimately serving as resident artists at the blackfox lounge for five years, while producing over 150 shows. Before becoming the current resident artists at the story to Mr. Henry's restaurant and Capitol Hill. He remained committed to his role as an activist as well, becoming the national director for the now defunct global family program, headed by the late Linda Grover, staying active with the DC young democrats and forming the DC jazz lobby in 2016, which focuses on music and arts policy initiatives at the federal and local levels. Mr. Meyers is a stout advocate for the for mental health and LGBTQ rights. As part of his advocacy. He chairs the board of directors for the Capitol Hill jazz Foundation, as well as serves as board secretary of critten services of Greater Washington. He sits as a member of the board of directors for CTE vision Foundation, and covenant for potential Development Center. During the ongoing COVID pandemic. He has led the DMV music stakeholders cohort, as they share resources, offer relief and advocate for community needs to help strengthen and preserve Washington's music ecosystem. Meyers has been lucky enough to have had his share of performance festival and hosting opportunities throughout his career as a musician. He's played numerous events in his hometown of DC, including the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps, the National Legal Aid and defender Association 100th anniversary, rehearsing, directing performing with the 100 voice choir at the World AIDS conference, performing at the Library of Congress Congress, and having the pleasure of being a repeat featured artists for the DC Jazz Festival. In 2019, Myers was invited to participate in the folk Alliance festival in Montreal, Canada, speaking on a panel that discussed the intersection of arts and activism before embarking upon a six week 24 jazz revolution tour that saw him playing in 20 different cities throughout Russia, a once in a lifetime experience that reinforced his belief in his craft, and his ability to make his dream come true. His credits include three albums, Leo rising the lion's den, both included on the Grammy voting ballot The holiday album snowing in Vegas. He is a voting member with the Recording Academy and also the host of jazz stories on WP fw 89.3 fm. You can listen to his music on Pandora, Spotify, Apple Music, Google, Amazon, and other digital streaming services. It takes courage to begin, but the art is finished. Without further ado, people, Erin Meyers. Okay, Aaron, your bio is impressive. Thank you so much for being here today. I mean, from your varied experience in different careers, like the military, I mean, your advocacy work, your music, your books. I'm so glad you're here on share your sparkle. So thank you for joining us today. Thank you for letting me share my sparkle with. Great, great. So let's actually get started. Let's talk about music, a true passion of yours. Because coming up later this month on April 30, also international jazz day, you're releasing the pride album, which is an audio and visual event. So first, congratulations. Thank you very much. Congratulations. Um, can you describe where the inspiration or like name for the album came from? Give us a little bit of background about that. Well, that was a pretty much saved my life. Because at the beginning of this pandemic, mentally, I was completely out there. It was, I live with anxiety, I'm very end depression, and not bipolar. And a lot of people think for some reason, when a person says they live with anxiety and depression, immediately, they think bipolar. Bipolar is very distinct, and very specific situation, right. But um, this helps anxiety specifically. So imagine living with health anxiety, right. And then you enter a pandemic, and you also have antibodies from you were actually sick with this, and your family member and friend, family members and friends are dying from it as well. I was frightened to live leave my room, and I was seeing my therapist, therapist, Counselor. And my psychologist was, you know, as the very distinct question is, as far as what is it that is causing? You know, what are you? What are you frightened of, there's something to stick with. And I guess I've always had dead things, I mean, completely, you know, the end, it comes primarily from being raised by older people. And so when you're raised by people in their 70s, in their 80s, a cold could lead to death, right? So, and my grandparents lived both to be 99. So with that, I didn't sleep with my phone off until 2016. Because I was always concerned already to receive that phone call in the middle. And so my therapist said, it seems to me that one should focus on living and what you're doing while you're alive. And if you're consumed with doing that particular work, that anxiety, we won't have time to focus because on that, because anxiety is when you think the end is near, you're thinking the worst, you know, impending doom, that type of thing, right. And so I began to write out quite a bit about feelings and about the different things and different yields. And I began to really take a look at this project. And as an independent artist. I put out albums before, but I put on great albums, and not a lot of people heard at least domestically. Internationally, they'd heard they'd heard the music and respected and appreciated and celebrated the music. Yeah. And so I wanted to ensure that if I was working on a project, I wanted people to hear it. I wanted, I wanted people who may deal with some of the same issues that are dealt with, to understand me and it hopefully would resonate with them. Yeah, I thought of the pride like Alliance pride. And the lions pride is a group and a cohort of animals or people, their species in this in this instance, that sleep together, hunt together, work together, live together, love together the entire thing as a unit, but together they rule. I'm inviting people to join my global family and I'm hoping that they'll enjoy inviting me to join their global family. We can be a part of each other's pride. And the pride album came from him from front to end. We've been given in literally we begin with Make them hear you from Ragtime, that's the first song opens the album as a call to action, you know, going down by the river side of spiritual that is requesting the ancestors, you know, permission to speak. And then the first topic we address, the song that I wrote called New Jim Crow, which is third, and we go all the way through. So this has been, it has been a labor of love, I raised $22.5 thousand in two months to finance this project nice the right way. And working, still working considerably hard, it was up to about four o'clock last night, ensuring that all the backend work is done. And we've done the proper marketing outreach. And jazz represents 1.1% of consumers music in the United States, which is very small brain in that small amount that that demographic of people ranges from 16 to 90. You're really trying to target that now to do what we can to make it happen. But that's the pride album. And I was as you were speaking, like, those song names that you mentioned, like gave me the chills, you know, when when you spoke, it really resonated. And thank you for being honest about like mental health, because I really think that if anything, this is a time of healing, whatever the healing that needs to happen for individuals, as a group as a collective, you know, in humanity. So I think it seems like this album is like this is the perfect time for it. Right? I'm hoping that it No, not only does it does it resonate, that people will be first able to acknowledge the hurt, right. Maya Angelou once stated that when her son when she went to Africa, to college, believe in Africa, and she with him and he was involved in a terrible accident. And he she was distraught, worried, and this African woman stayed at tears and someone needs you need someone to watch you cry, not to console you, as you cry not to try to stop you to stop the tears to just simply watch you cry to be vulnerable enough to cry openly, and allow someone to watch you cry. And I think this entire time, we have been trying to move past skirt around keep from having to feel these deep emotions. This deep pain we saw with the death of George Floyd that took to the to the streets, but oftentimes going to the streets was too not avoid dealing with a pain. But it was it was only a part it was a some part not some and dealing with the pain. So I'm hoping this album will allow us to first resonate with and say there's one song on this called Don't ask me to smile. And it basically it tells how many people of color, many people who've been othered asked to smile so that other folks can feel happy, comfortable safe. Okay. nurtured, right? absorbed absolved, right. And so we smile to mask those things. And even sometimes we protest to match those things. We write the whole entire thing. And I was on the front line of the protest here in Washington, at least during the pandemic. And so I don't want people to take away that will you say protesters? No. protesting is only some part, right? The sum total is saying I am hurting. I want to heal. Yeah. And I am not healed yet. I am still broken. I am still in pain. And I won't be healed in a calendar amount of days. And 40 days, this will not be okay. And so I've been talking to a lot of my LGBT cohorts. I was talking to a friend of mine. Was it Wednesday and went to pick up since we talked I received the Whammy of Washington area Music Award. Congratulations. Yes. Yeah. And one of the conversations we had is that like LGBTQ people still do not have safe spaces really to record. And then LGBT people, LGBTQ people who are on the production side of entertainment, do not have a safe space at times to work. And so we were discussing like, what do we do those? Those of us who have platforms, what would what do we do to extend that? our platform and Linden also to them, but then once it's lit, since we now have a platform, we don't have a calendar amount of days. To say well, we start feeling the pain of being othered for so long. That still hurts I don't care if I have a doctor in front of my name. I do not care if I have gotten a great position. I don't care that other things still hurts and just because I've attained Certain status, whether it's music or what have you, it doesn't mean that that pain has gone away. And to those people who have been other because their sexuality and also other because of their skin color. Alright. That's a double whammy we do not get to. You don't have to get to tell me just smile. And right. You protested last week. So you should be good. You got that all out of your system? Yes. No, we are pain in every song. Yeah, every poem and every design and every our pains in architecture, the entire gamut. Our pain is there, hoping that our pain will be moved, removed from the peripheral to the purview. And it's not been done yet. But hopefully this album will do it. I Amen. Amen. Let's talk about your ancestors. Because you mentioned that a little bit and when we talked prior to this, I really loved what you were saying about their role, like yes, currently and throughout your life. But specifically, like, not just in your life, but related to this album. And and it seems like everything that you touch, your ancestors are there with you? Because so can you speak more to that because I in the past year or so I've been feeling my ancestors more than I have in my whole life. And it's a very different experience for me right now feeling that? So can you talk more about that? Oh, yes. So I'm a comedy of errors. And I'm the oldest of 13 children, but my mother and father only had me. So I know what people say half brothers half I don't believe in half the term half anything. But I am the only product that that union. So I am I like to say a comedy of errors. Once one realizes how many people it took to create you, I was reading a article the other day would say that your grandparents, your grandmother actually carried you and your mother at the same time. Because when a woman is born, she's born with all the eggs will ever have. Which means when your mother was conceived, she already had the eggs that contain view, which is an amazing thing to think about. So I think of it if you think of your ancestors in terms of grands, so you know your grandmother, and then your great great grandmother, and then your great great great great grandmother, I The Comedy of Errors it took for you. You alone to get here. They do not leave you. Right. I mean, I'm in a crowded space now. With them all around me. I have felt them uplifting. Me. Cicely Tyson said we don't sit on their shoulders, we sit on their backs. Which is different, very different. Yeah. And I know for this album, when I think of the pride, I think of my ancestors, being a part of my, my pride. These, what I think of the African tradition, when one is addressing the group, or the community, the organization or you're in a congregational setting, you ask the ancestors for permission to speak. First, you ask them first for permission to speak. And I feel like during this particular time, I have found myself constantly asking and referring back to my ancestors for permission to speak, permission to speak permission to speak permission to speak. And that and that permission at times is greater than time it's not granted. And one has to be sensitive to hear and understand that this is not a to the Christian listeners, you know, is do not think of ancestor worship, I guess you could say, he says that takes away from one's faith. As long as you're talking about the father, you're drinking one's blood and eating bones and your flesh. And speaking of the Holy Spirit in this, that there, please do not begrudge your own ancestors that are right there readily available to you. That does not take away any power away from whatever faith tradition You are a part of. Right. And so I have found myself really relied on the ancestors and their times I'm sitting on the porch. And I feel that presence is undeniable. It's undeniable, right? You are sensitive enough to allow yourself to feel the presence of your ancestors, it stays you in moments. I remember when I was getting ready to go on stage for my first time in Russia and during that entire tour hadn't I had my own dressing room, the band and they were just remember. And I was looking in the mirror and I was, you know, getting ready. And I was doing the International House of music in Moscow, and getting into work out my gestures, I just looked in the mirror. And for a split moment, it's almost as if there was a crowd around. Wow. That I'm like, okay, we, we got this. People who are listening, when you're getting ready to encounter certain, either challenges or projects or tasks. Just say we got this, because your ancestors have not only lived and endured, but they've they've already paid the ultimate price. They don't they've already completed their cycle. Yeah. And they're continuing their cycle in this in this form, supporting you VMA wise, they are literally with you. Right? They your ancestors are literally, with you, especially for those people who are people of color. Even their fear and pain has been passed down. Right. Right. Right. So they are a living part of you. So the ancestor worship is not just something beer theoretical, or something you're worshiping, like this. It's simply acknowledging and being sensitive enough to allow that allowing that energy to be filled. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you I just what I call t storm, when your eyes well up when you said we've got this, you know, like that. I usually think well, maybe this is my own personal experience going into something like, oh, I've got this, but I going forward will now say we've got this because I'm not alone. Because in in, like our bone marrow is the people that lived before us, you know, are the people that live before us. So that's, I love we've got this. That's we we've got, we've got, yeah, you made me cry, you made me. My great, great, but my grandmother would tell the story. Tell me a story that her grandmother would tell her about her mother. So it would have been my grandmother's great grandmother. Okay. And she said that they were This is when they were on the plantation. So this would have had to have been in South Carolina, my family's long my family's been in Texas, since the 1850s or early 1860s. So this wouldn't would have had to be when she was a little girl in South Carolina on the plantation. Which would would have meant that her mother may have been a first may have come on the slave ship over I'm not positive. Okay. We got here nonetheless, though, says that her mother was a cook in the big house. And being a cook in the big house. The slave master was not kind and the people, the slaves did not have a lot to eat. So when she made dinner, she made a small cake. For take home, okay, think back to the cabin. And she was discovered, it was discovered. And the master told her that he was going to be a person, what's the first thing in the morning, there was a soothsayer, who was on the plantation, or one of the women who had brought the traditions from the motherland with. And so she went to her. And she expressed what had happened. And the woman told us that I want you in the morning before the sun comes up to go to the big house, I want you to blow in the keyhole three times. And then I want you to walk back home, but don't look back. And so she did this. And that next morning, she was not worked or worked ever again. Now, this is we don't know that the slave owner could have just forgotten him and like, whatever, you know, just you know, good or bad, have nice change of heart, whatever, what have you. But this story resonated with my great, great grandmother, so much so deeply. That she shared it with her grand mother with her grand daughter, right, then shared it with her grand son. Something that happened well over probably 150 years ago, was so strong and resonated so deeply within her DNA. Yeah, it resonates still with me today. Right? That that coincidence, comedy of errors, what have you resonates with me today? Because we did it because of spirits with me, my wife, she's she's right here with me. And I remember when my grandparents would tell me stories. My grandfather would tell me stories about when they were in the cloud. And in the field was my grandfather was my grandparents were sharecroppers, and he told this story of this oak tree that was in the middle or near this cotton field. And there were so many that tree was the point of life for those workers, you know, it's worth it shade you had Yeah, lunch, your dinner this, my uncle, we'd had a heart attack, he walk to it in collapse. And I remember my grandfather would take me on these drives. And he took me to the oak tree. And it was as if I can see in the field, all these people working to see these stories come to come to, to live. And it shows you just how much how just how much we're renting space, or leasing space. Here, if the trees could talk, and do do rings, they would tell so many stories of people who work these very grounds before us, right, but I think it's a it's an amazing thing to, to take in. And if you do take it in you. It helped it's helped me through my anxiety. Yeah, it's helped me through my depression. I can say that. Yeah. That's amazing. And to think about, like nature and trees rooted in one spot forever. And what they witnessed throughout their lifetime, you know, that could be like 100, over 100 years, over well over 100 years. That would be an interesting book, if someone wrote from the trees perspective. You know, I wanted to ask the tree who planted you? Oh, hey, it might be a bird. It could be a bird. I've always wondered like, you know, who to hear. You know, look, as you seen things, I think if you if you really think of things from a trees perspective, historic, a tree story does not start from the perspective of towering over anything, writing down thoughts, it speaks and it starts from breaking through Earth, it starts from breaking out of a shell out of the sea out of something, to break out of something and still be below ground. Right. And then to clump up, everything is towering over you. Yeah, and every storm could be your end, right. You know, every small animal could be your end, you know, all of a sudden, you are this mighty being that starting over, but still, you know, the larger things are the more sought after as prized possessions once they once they fall. Right. Right. Right. That makes a good point. Yeah, you know, so it's, it's, it's, is the different challenges one attracts, the larger one gets, you know, it's not often that a shrub is concerned about lightning. Right. With a tree me, of course, may be concerned with that, you know? Yeah, yeah. Um, there's a quote, I can't remember who said it, but from like a from a seed and mighty trunk who might grow or will grow, you know, just like somewhat just from something and when you look at the acorns, yeah, that's it like this big, you know, like the size of my thumb, bam. A big oak tree or elm tree. Yeah, it's my grandmother was huge in gardening. And many people, many older women, especially women of color, were really into gardening because those are things that if you just simply took care of him the beauty was free the earth provided that for the universe will give it to you, you know, if you just a good caretaker of it, that simple beauty can bring joy in it. Right, right. Really to have but I remember my grandmother when they moved into their last home well the next the last home on the property they had bought, she had planted these trees you know, around so the time I came around, about these trees are adults about the time my grandmother died. These trees are huge. Yeah. And I just thought about it like you know, as we were leaving out of the house, you look back at around the the foliage of the shade that's being provided. You're like, oh, my goodness, she she did this she did that. Yeah, she started it started that and yeah. And she she was a good caretaker. She She cared for it enough or to the point to where it could care for itself. Right. And really be one with the universe. I mean, and Texas is not the it's a Texas heat. East Texas, East Texas, the ground is what they call black dirt. I'm not sure if people know but black dirt become so dry that it cracks open it times during the summer. Especially when there's been a lack of rain, you can walk out and look down in the earth. And so it's also very fertile ground once it is tended to and properly watered, and, you know, that kind of thing. And so I think, if a tree can survive that, yeah, right, lack of rain, or moisture and cracks in the earth, you know, and that dry that dryness and survived, you deserve to be there. And I think that's what we have to kind of just take notion that we deserve to be here. Thank you, does that lead with that, with the moments in the droughts without the droughts of encouragement, the droughts, without nurture the droughts without being affirmed? drought without being included? We deserve to be here, and especially if we've survived all of those things, we deserve to be here. And we are here, we got this. Exactly. And especially the resilience piece, right, that when you have these challenges that happen, that he just makes you a different tree, or a different person, like, you know, speaking of Well, I mean, not Yes, but activism, but like, you know, trying to stand up for things you see, music or the arts as activism. Can you say a little bit more and speak a little bit more about that, because that's such a, I think, a powerful theme, using your strength, whether it's your writing your music, your art, to change the world in a positive way. So can you talk to us about that a little bit more? Well, you know, in Make them hear you the first song from the album. And that's from Ragtime. And you know, there's a line in there that says that your sword could be a sermon, or the power of the pin. Right. And so, I've always believed that one should advocate for their audiences, both onstage by giving stellar music, and then by offstage, using that platform to speak truth to power through your art. And so, and I'm grateful, I mean, this week alone. Last week, that is, the jazz journalist Association, awarded me acknowledge me at least as being a jazz hero for Washington for advocate, I saw that I saw that you're on a roll. I mean, do you feel like things are coming at you? And they're like, yes, yes, yes. Thank you, thank you. Well, you know, and I will, you know, when it comes to when it comes, anytime you can receive your, your flowers, right, while you can smell them, is, is a great thing, you know. But it also goes to show that there, you don't get this without doing the work. And I've also, I've often told young advocates because I, the advocacy that I believe in is an advocacy that I saw, I watched on Sundays, when they would announced the church, the the sick and shut in those who were sick and shut in, then I would watch on Monday and Tuesday, as my grandmother walked the community, to those homes, clean and to offer food and to sit with people who were sick. I watched growing up as my cousin and my mother worked with NAACP to remove the Confederate flag above our our courthouse. I watched growing up as my grandparents planted a garden in the back of their home and said anybody could come and get what they wanted. Just don't take too much, basically. Yeah. Without paying, you know, free. I watched my grandparents can preserves and then give them away. You know, I think of those out. So the advocacy that I know, younger advocates like Well, how do you get paid for this? I say, Well, first of all, I schedule for myself, the amount of time I want to donate and dedicated to certain things. The moment you feel resentful towards the cause you're working for it is the time that you need to re evaluate your your balance. Good point. Yeah. I do not feel as if any of the advocacy work that I've done has robbed me of any time away from my career or anything else because it's time that I willingly and purposely set aside to do that advocacy work. And I always say that I advocate in a very selfish way because I advocate for things that have touched me personally. And I know that these things could literally help other people. If someone who has been through it in it seen it could offer some type of support to it. Right, so that people could be aware Have it. Yeah, that it can be changed for the better. Oftentimes we asked, we offer help and support to communities without asking the community, how do they need help or and or support? Right? You know, and I often see people who speak of those who are homeless who ask for assistance on the street, in their home, basically. And people say, Well, you know, I'll give them food, we'll ask you for food, or she asked you for food, or they asked you for food, give it to them. But if they ask you for cash, give them cash. If you're in the orphans, well, I don't want them to go and get drugs with it right? Often as your employer, you asked you what you were doing with your money? The point? Right, right. How often Has that happened? You're, you don't give your employer a ledger of how you spend your dollars. And you're really funny, you know, and so we should not so if the person is, you know, asking for money, I if I have if you have it to spare, do it. And then if you don't have it to spare, simply say, I don't have it to spare, spare, acknowledge the presence. Yeah, there's nothing worse than something you asked him for. We have become so accustomed in this country, to walking by and not acknowledging someone who asks for help. So we should not then be surprised when we see mass shootings on television, we do not rally ourselves together to help. That helps all that situation. We have become we have grown callous, to those people who are on the street, we drive past them, they have cardboard, they're sitting there. And sometimes we become resentful if we don't have it to give, and we become angry at them. And then you get out on them, you know, by being ruined? Yeah. To them when that is not called for. Right? You know, and so I just, I believe advocacy starts, I was talking to the Chief Diversity Officer at Twitter. And I asked her, I said, What can I say on stage that can perhaps have a CEO of an audience reconsider hiring women in leadership? What can I say? What can I do? It's my goal, to understand the full breadth of my platform. And then to understand with that platform, exactly how I can help who I can help when I can help. You know, and most importantly, what I can help, it's important for you to know what you're some people use their social media to lend support, some people will, they will watch because they will curate their shows the songs of their shows, to lend or to spotlight a certain issue. Other people actually say something verbally about it on on stage. So people will put things in programs, people will go a step further and start learning about what the solutions look like, I do not believe and I do not believe in alerting people to problems alone. If there's no solution there, I there's not much I can do. I would love to alert people to either those people who are searching for the solution, trying to find the solution or to the solution. But to yell, you know, join the chorus of people yelling. Yeah, there's a problem does not offer a solution. Right. And that's, that's, I think that's a part that's part and parcel of what where people may be confused or where frustration may be with people who want to advocate but don't know how. Because all they see is the problem, right? People are surprised when we got the vaccine so quickly. And oh, well, I don't trust it. I'm like, No, no, no, no, no, that's what it looks like when your government puts full attention and force behind an issue and a problem. They want to see a solution. Then we saw had we seen this type of concerted effort behind HIV and AIDS, right. pandemic. We would have had prep in the 80s. Yeah. Yeah, that's a good point. You know, prep in 1981. Right. But it was a marginalized group that was being affected mostly right. And so so then that gets to be put on the back burner, right? It doesn't really need how long we were on the blog. We were on the back burner. burner. decades. And still today. Yeah, do right now. And within that group, people feel as if just because you're LGBT, that you're all together, there is marginalization that happens within that group. Right? To so women of color, who are a part of the LGBT community are ostracized, people of color are ostracized, it's still a white man's world when it comes to what's right. As far as being LGBT in this country. So that is HRC was a white boys club. And they just hired last year, their first black executive director for the Human Rights Campaign. That should say something. Oh, absolutely. Right. There's a lot of healing and work to be done. But you should be that as your advocacy, you know, where that what is the solution? I always ask people, what would you like? Or how would you like to feel or be treated? Because if you're in a situation now, where you feel like you're being overlooked, then your solution is there, you need to be heard, accepted? acknowledged the step near the What does that? What does that look like? What I'm doing some diversity training at times, people forget that as new hires, you can advocate when you've you've gone through the hiring process, and you're not talking to one woman or person of color, you can ask in that moment, well, why haven't I not seen this? Right? Right. What is your diversity? Like, visa? My diversity expectations? Yeah. Before you Come on, board, you know, before you start negotiating salary, you should you can ask those questions, then? Absolutely. Yeah. And then if you get if you get hired somewhere, you can then a ask, asked, Where is the shortcoming in my company? What does the solution look like? And then when you address your director, your address your board of directors, you address your leadership, you address them with the solutions? These are my proposed solutions that I have, because they will be just as frustrated with you that there's a problem, or they're being called out on a problem. Right? Right. Because being called out on a problem only leaves a type of accusation, white people often feel as if they are being blamed for creating racism, when they were born into it, just as we were right, you know, the Queen of England. And we and, of course, today we give her our respect to her majesty and the loss of her husband. But she had no more choice as being born to the lineage that she was born into, as the person who is it who is now homeless on the street. Yeah, neither of them had the choice in being born in the position that they were born in. As you grow. And as you learn and develop, you do have a choice of seeing if the status of which you have been born into can lend its privilege to others, didn't its privilege to others? Or will I continue? The tenants of racism, not benefiting from the systems that other people, right, versus tearing down those systems? And there's, and then these systems exist? Is this within the homeless community as well. Just because the people are homeless, that mean that the biases are not still there, right. There's still a large level of safety that's not extended to people of color in the LGBT community, especially our trans homeless youth. Mm hmm. Yeah, that's a lot, a lot of healing and work to be done. And we know there's, there's progress, right, but it takes, it takes people like you it takes, I mean, that's one of the reasons why I started the podcast was to share people's stories. Because I think that everyone's story is really important. And there are some voices that just haven't been heard before. You know, and this is, this is the platform for that. Speaking of stories, June 10, so not only do you have music that's coming out soon, and then some, you know, singles have been released, but one, it's a special day for you June 10. It's been a holiday my entire life, your whole life. And if you want to be a little bit more about that, that'd be great. But your book, by the way, is being released. So not only do you have your album coming out soon, but then again a couple months. Your your book, by the way. So you've already written a book, titled white people talking to white people, but give us the inside scoop on your journey of writing. By the way. By the way, is going to be released on what what my grandparents were married for 71 years old man died. They married June 10 1940. And so the entirety of my life, I've known that to be a day to celebrate. I have my grandmother died in 2016. And I have to stop myself from caught trying to call her because it's just so natural for me to you know, reach out and do. And what are we doing? Well, what are we all doing? What did you get granny? What did you get? Like this whole thing. And I remember looking at pictures from different weddings, or different family reunions, that union brought about all of us write comedy of errors. That's amazing. In this book, I wanted to always say the book is called VR the way by the way, I wanted to let people understand the full humaneness. You know, one sexuality is not is only part and parcel, not the sum total, sorry, part is only the sum part of who we are. And there's so many other influences and things that played a huge part of who we are. And then by the way, this is our sexuality, that that is not to take away from one sexuality is that it's not to take away from that part of us. But it is to show the depth in all of the things that makes us who we are, and my family was was part of that. And I like to say that this book really became real, I was writing the chapter on my grandmother. And the chapter on my grandmother, he speaks that you know, about smiling, you know, being able to smile, and my grandmother had a smile. That was so comforting. But I had to think of like, all the things she smiled through, right. And I remember sometimes she would be in the kitchen, you know, and she would just be humming away. I could hear I can still hear her humming while she was cooking, you know, and she hummed all day long if I, if I think of it. And there are two different particular moments that outline in the book that really made this book real for me. One of which was when her brother died. And he, Uncle J. Uncle j was born in 1906. He died he was in his 90s. We were at the repass, and I happened to be sitting at the table with her her sister, last surviving sister, and their cousin Julius, their first cousin, I was sitting there, and I was looking around the room, I looked at the table, I thought to myself, this, this may be the last time they all sit together like this, this, this, this may be it. And my grandmother looked at me, and she said, Are you okay? Oh, I'm fine. And she smiled. And she said this. She said, There's no time to think about that now. And she smiled. Maybe she was aware, maybe she was not aware. She was last one to survive that table. Wow. You know, of her. Right, in a sense, you know, and I also think of when my aunt called me, I had she, I was in New York, writing the book initially started and I done the outline and I was working on her chapter. And I was in New York, and she called me She said, Aaron Grant has developed what they call a Kennedy ulcer, and it's when your organs are starting to decay and the fluid or the toxins. It comes either on your chest or your bum, different parts of the body, but usually, it's a sign that the end is is nearing, so I caught a flight, went directly to Texas went right to the facility where she was staying at and I stayed a few days with her in the facility. I just needed her room and tried to help her best I could and I flew back to Washington and she was in some pain and discomfort. I just wanted her to be at peace. And my mom called me She said, you know, love is gone. You know? When she when she went to look at her and she had a smile. Wow, she had a smile. She was laying there with a smile. And I imagined that that smile. Her father died in 1931. a month before her grandmother died. Her mother died in 1977 You know, I think of all the people in friends, she must have missed that one moment, she had a smile, knowing that, hey, I'll get to be reconnected in some way with these people according to her faith tradition, right. You know. And so I think of that, you know, that's when the book became real, that things of that nature shaped me far more than my sexuality did. Yeah, I would say, not withstanding my sexuality at all. But that played a part of that, that that's it. I think of that more so than I think of the last Grindr hookup I had. Right. Right. Right. Yeah, mind, you know. And so I wanted to write this book. And I wanted people to know that there's different elements of my life that I'm not, there's not germane only to me. There are other people who were born in small communities, who had to develop and learn and had lives, oftentimes, people who were who were, who are from smaller communities and villages throughout this country. We are just, we are the extra We are the leader, the statistic, we are not considered when loans are created. I had when Malcolm X's daughter came here to do a lecture, there was a public comment, you know, and people were talking about the civil rights movement. And I simply stated, you know, the civil rights movement did not extend to my community. We did not witness the marching, and we did not witness the sittings in the counters. That didn't happen. My folks are still picking cotton, up until the 60s. Got it. They didn't integrate into 64. You know, 70 and one, one place. And so this is this, this history is not a history of my grandparents. This is the history of my mom. Right? You know, and this is the history of me. Yeah, you know, when I ran for office, in the racism I experienced during that time, are going to the going to the bathroom and high school and seeing the inward in the mirror. Not just graffiti on the exit in the mirror, you know, being leaving having to leave a friend's house because his uncle was coming in his uncle didn't like, black people are seeing the Confederate flag. And being told Aaron, you know, this is heritage or not hatred, and oh, Aaron, you're dead black people. You're not one of the you're not one of those. You know, you're so well spoken. Oh, we love that news articulates that type of need. This happened in my lifetime. I remember being called the N word. I was in fourth, fourth or fifth grade walking to school. On a set, I was going to an extracurricular activity on a Saturday, which was my white friends and the path we chose to walk. There was a sidewalk and there was a there was grass, a ditch and then a yard. And as we walked, there's all that grass. This white man walked out of owners front porch. So you get that in out of my out of my yard. You know, that I'm simply walking, right? But this is in my lifetime. I. So this is something when I hear people talking about the civil rights, movement and progress or whatever. I know what I know, my lived experience, lived experience now is history. But it is recent history. And it's not a long ago forgotten time. So things like this insurrection we just saw. And you hear about the new name of the proud boys. These this is this is scratching or tearing off a recent wall that's not yet healed. Absolutely. Not even removing a scab. It's poking out an open wound because we still with it, I have problems paying tax. I just paid my taxes last week, and I always feel bad doing so because the services in which our taxes paid for people of color still discriminated against in receiving. That's not been rectified. So we paid for poor treatment. Yeah, we're paying our tax dollars not to receive the full, the fullness, the full respect that that we are promised. You know, it's sort of like when our grandparents would go in go to certain stores and The bad goods, but then their change would be given put me put on the table, they would you know, or they would be shortchanged when it was time to weigh the cartons. Right, right, right. You know, the whole nine, you know, this is just something that we still deal with in this country. And that weighs upon me. And then I tried to do, by the way, because when it comes down to my sexuality, there are certain inequities there that he deserves his own book. But there are certain things that because of where I was raised, I was not raised around healthy LGBT people, I didn't know what a healthy relationship would look like, to LGBT people, I didn't know what a happy person in the community would look like an out person in the community. I didn't know I didn't have any examples of that whatsoever. And I often tell people, my first time my first sexual experience, I should, I could have contracted HIV. It was unprotected. And it was in the bath house, because there you go. And I didn't know any better, I felt that I would not need protection because God couldn't get pregnant. So and but I had no one had told me this information. Imagine if in the small towns and hamlets and villages, and places, if this education alone, that what happened, how many lives could have been saved? Right? Right. You know, things, simple things like that. And I own I write the book, in hopes that young queer people and people who are just coming of age in a sense, won't have to go through part of what I went through, understand what I went through, it's not our responsibility, as people who have been in the Civil War, who have had the privilege of surviving our time being authentic to who we are, to force the hardships that went on upon young people as a rite of passage. Right? They will, they will deal with their own challenges without our without our help in that area. So I feel that what I see here, a 14 year old guy or girl who is discovered who they are, and they are engaged in a relationship, as it should be, as you're coming, as you're developing, as it should, this is naturally how it should happen. I don't want to say well, they're too young to No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, there right age, when I hear about that six year old who is transitioning. That's when most people and that I've talked to who that who have transitioned, that's when they start to feel different. They feel like something's wrong. Well, let's rectify the problem as it's happening. Right. Right. So that they do they may grow to it to the fullest of who they can be. Yeah, it's it's a very akin to what our grandparents went through who were left handed, to right with their right hands. so that they could get by so their teacher would not punish them or so they would not feel other if there was something wrong with them if left handed, so if anyone here every day, twice daily, I write an affirmation with my non dominant hand. Yeah, I love I love that. I love it. I do that so I can focus so I can really, it causes you to concentrate. But I'm fortunate that I only have to do that twice daily. I could not imagine if everything I did to be done with my non dominant hand. Well, if that's how that feels, imagine how a person of color feels trying to operate in this country and how a person the LGBT community, right? Or how women feel. Yeah. So many layers and speaking like so many puzzle pieces that make up who we are, you know, and us being part of the queer community. Let's explore that a little bit. You talked a little bit but as a bi male as a by mail of color. Right? They're almost like two different Converse that they come together. But they're nothing but redheaded stepchild letters. We're not invited to any of the parties. I always I was tell people's like, you know, the other acronyms of you know, the Al you know, get together like I called g so we're gonna go he's already there. You're like, Oh, my God would be happy to come. He was coming and he was gonna be fun. He's gonna be great. Be this beat, but must be well, we won't tell you will tell me the party is a 10 Oh my goodness. We're gonna stay until 12. Okay, so like the be part for both and what I've seen, at least for both men and women. Men, women endure this deal themselves to understanding but from my experience, being bi has not been the most welcomed sign in either side of things. But then being black by, I have to point to something I always believe it or recent. And I've said this often here recent history, because it makes dating crazy. I was on hinge, which is a dating app and a girl matched with me or whatever. And in my profile, I'm open. I say that I'm by it. Yeah. And she said, I did read over your profile. However, this happened yesterday. And by comment made me pause. And I simply said, Why pause that I'm a Christian. I noticed you are too. Yes, I am. Okay, Praise the Lord. Amen. She said, no judgement at all. And I appreciate your transparency. If you serve God and know his word, I'm sure you can understand why as a Christian, that I that isn't something I personally could welcome or support. I just want to be transparent about that as well. And I simply replied, I serve God and I know God's word. And I do not understand why one wouldn't welcome or supportive person. But that's your prerogative. One, sexuality does not cancel out or exclude someone from having a personal relationship with the Christian God, and God from being in relationship with that person. There is so much scholarship done where the subject of spirituality and sexuality has been dissected, and one could simply do the research and see the antiquated and problematic interpretations of Scripture has occurred and cause great harm to people and systems so much. So it's permeated into self hate for many people who are LGBT, but also desire a relationship with God. No, I will not pretend to understand your logic, nor will I hate you for your logic. But just as you may not agree with me, please know that I cannot welcome more support your logic, no judgment. And then you should end with God made me why, wow, that was good. That was a great response. So but this has just happened yesterday, that was a great response. I want people to know that, um, that experience in the black community, specifically by men, have been closely associated with being down low. And coming out in the black community, whether you're gay or anything, is not been supportive in the African American community until much until now. And even now, that's not fully realized. I'm very fortunate in my family, that I have a family that is a support, supported and loved me, I've never questioned their support or their love. I've never, ever even with an anomaly. It's wonderful. Lucky, lucky you because people have such varied experiences when it comes to that. Yeah, I'm there. And I acknowledge that. And it's a privilege, and I don't try to squander that particular privilege. But it's amazing that I'm calling a privilege, which should be normal. Exactly. Exactly. Right. That should, that's how it should be, you know. And so when I think of the download brothers, download brothers are usually download because they know that they are there, or they are frightened of their masculinity being questioned or the lack of support they will receive or they grieve, before it's happened there loss of community. And that has to be a scary place to be. And until we fully dissect these things, these are going to be issues that are not going to be solved, until we dissect them fully until we acknowledge them. 100% and I hope this book helps people get closer to it. I'm hoping that this helps humanize your son or your daughter, or yourself. If you're reading it, right. June 10. Everybody, June 10. Especially in so many different ways. Exactly. So what closing thoughts do you have for our listeners, last words of wisdom, anything you want to say before we wrap up? shadow him? And we got this? Yeah, this is what I want you to know. We got this. We got this. And trust me, we got it. Nice. Where can listeners learn? Listen or hear more about you. Go To www dot arod ar o n the number two.me or you search for Aaron Meyers on all your streaming platforms and Amazon. Excellent everybody. You better better search Aaron. He's wonderful. Now I wrap up the show by like I say this phrase all the time. It says accept your sparkle surrender to it and allow it to be so and then. I say until then keep shining but I yell it would you mind your Oh okay, so I'm gonna, I'm gonna alright except your sparkle, surrender to it and allow it to be so until then keep shining