There Are No Girls on the Internet - She Called a Black Child a Slur — Then Raised $700K. Kiandria Demone Is Saying ‘Not Today.’

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00:00:34.940 I survived nine months in captivity,

00:00:38.460 and I've spent my life exploring how other people survive what should have destroyed them.

00:00:43.680 I'm Elizabeth Smart, and these are The Survivor Files.

00:00:47.300 Every week, I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable,

00:00:51.020 abducted, stalked, controlled, and nearly silenced.

00:00:54.640 These are stories about what it takes to make it out alive.

00:00:58.720 Listen to The Survivor Files with Elizabeth Smart on the iHeartRadio app,

00:01:03.280 Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

00:01:06.600 If your bookshelf and your For You page are equally important to your personality,

00:01:10.800 welcome home.

00:01:12.380 Pro Society is a weekly podcast that's part book club,

00:01:15.520 part group chat for anyone who thinks Pride and Prejudice and Love Island

00:01:18.560 deserve the same level of discourse.

00:01:20.600 Each week, we're connecting the dots between books, the internet, and pop culture.

00:01:24.160 with your favorite writers, book talk creators,

00:01:26.860 and plenty of overthought opinions.

00:01:28.920 Yeah, I'm obsessed, I'm obsessed.

00:01:30.700 Listen to Pro Society on the iHeartRadio app,

00:01:33.420 Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

00:01:36.760 If the people who want to silence me know my name,

00:01:40.580 I need the people who will protect Black women

00:01:43.620 to know my name too. 1.00

00:01:50.840 There Are No Girls on the Internet

00:01:52.220 is a production of iHeartRadio

00:01:53.760 and Unblossed Creative.

00:01:59.000 I'm Bridget Todd, 0.93

00:02:00.220 and this is There Are No Girls on the Internet. 0.52

00:02:04.420 The video is hard to watch. 0.97

00:02:07.660 That gives you the right to call a child,

00:02:09.280 five-year-old, and the n-word.

00:02:11.060 If that's what he's going to act like.

00:02:12.080 That's what you're going to call him.

00:02:13.200 If that's what he's going to act like.

00:02:15.100 A white woman in Minnesota, Shiloh Hendricks,

00:02:18.340 was caught on camera in the aftermath 0.99

00:02:20.240 of hurling a racial slur

00:02:21.940 at a Black child on a playground. 0.56

00:02:24.940 What happened next is even more upsetting.

00:02:28.400 Shiloh Hendrix launched a crowdfunding campaign

00:02:30.940 on the Christian platform Give, Send, Go.

00:02:34.500 I called the kid out for what he was, she wrote in her plea.

00:02:38.920 As of today, Shiloh Hendrix has raised over $700,000.

00:02:44.180 She's just the latest figure to be embraced

00:02:46.360 as a right-wing folk hero, or anti-hero,

00:02:49.620 depending on who you ask.

00:02:50.540 after a moment of very public, very ugly behavior.

00:02:55.240 And once again, the wagons are circling,

00:02:57.760 all in the name of fighting so-called cancel culture.

00:03:00.980 But what kind of society rewards racial slurs being hurled at children

00:03:05.000 coming with a six-figure payout? 1.00

00:03:08.140 Not one that Keandria Damone is fighting for.

00:03:11.500 What about this situation spoke to you?

00:03:13.800 Like, how did you first find out about this situation?

00:03:16.440 So one of the things I do on my social media

00:03:19.760 is I'm known for exposing racist people on the internet.

00:03:23.380 That's just kind of my niche. 0.99

00:03:26.380 Keandria is the Black woman leading a growing movement 1.00

00:03:29.260 to make sure Shiloh Hendricks never sees a dime of that money.

00:03:33.620 It came to my attention because my followers were bringing it to me saying,

00:03:38.540 hey, here's somebody who you need to expose.

00:03:41.060 Here's somebody you need to target.

00:03:42.220 They're like, Keandria, did you see this, right?

00:03:44.080 So I went and I checked out the video and I was just disgusted by it.

00:03:49.800 I was so disgusted and it was so disheartening.

00:03:53.240 Like, and originally it just made me sad.

00:03:55.600 And I sat on it like there were a few days that went by and people were like, oh, I know you're about to drag her.

00:04:00.780 I know you're about to drag her as the story continued to grow.

00:04:03.680 But I was so sad.

00:04:06.100 I was just so sad.

00:04:07.360 I was silent about it for a while.

00:04:10.000 I know that silence.

00:04:12.000 When this story first hit my feed, I froze.

00:04:15.720 It was so upsetting, I couldn't even bring myself to click into it, not right away.

00:04:20.660 Because what was there to say? What could we do?

00:04:24.040 Wasn't this just the state of the world now?

00:04:26.980 A world where someone can shout a slur at a child, a baby, and walk away with a huge payday.

00:04:33.900 It didn't feel like there was much to be done other than ignoring it and kind of moving on.

00:04:38.080 In this moment, I have often found myself feeling sort of disempowered, like, well, what can we do? Like, this is the norm now. What can we do? But luckily, you had a very different reaction. So what was it that made you be like, I am not going to, like, just sit in my sadness and feel disempowered. I am actually going to do something. What made you take that choice?

00:04:58.900 right so initially i was like you i was choosing not to engage with it i was i wouldn't share

00:05:05.680 anything i wouldn't comment on anything i did not want to put her on my page because i felt like okay

00:05:12.060 same old saying you know another racist person getting famous for being a racist so originally

00:05:19.220 i saw people outraged but i felt like the outrage was really just amplifying her and then she had

00:05:25.840 the gall to monetize it. And I'm just like, okay, no, enough is enough. You know what I mean? Like

00:05:32.860 you have to draw the line at something. It's not enough that you did it. It's not enough that you

00:05:38.380 are unapologetic and you've done it publicly. Now you want to make money off of it. An entrepreneur

00:05:44.940 with a background in web development, Kandria starts digging, searching for anything, something

00:05:50.360 that could be the key to stopping this payment from going through. I was hoping to catch something

00:05:55.600 that could potentially stop give, send, go from operating.

00:05:59.360 So I thought about it and I'm like, you know what?

00:06:02.360 Even if I find something,

00:06:05.060 because I'm just down this rabbit hole

00:06:06.380 on their website at this point.

00:06:07.640 I'm like, even if I find something,

00:06:09.500 they're just gonna fix it.

00:06:11.340 The minute it comes to their attention,

00:06:13.060 they are gonna fix that same day. 1.00

00:06:15.160 And then they're gonna be right back on the same bullshit. 0.98

00:06:18.660 And so I started thinking like, where is the money at? 0.98

00:06:23.580 Like, we may not be able to stop them from operating this website, but somebody somewhere has a bank.

00:06:31.000 And in this country, banks do have policies.

00:06:34.580 You can't just do what you want to when it comes to monetizing something.

00:06:37.640 And that's what a lot of people don't understand.

00:06:39.600 I have heard a lot of people arguing, free speech, free speech.

00:06:44.280 This is protected under free speech.

00:06:47.040 Her actions are not protected under free speech once it is monetized.

00:06:51.780 And that is two completely different things.

00:06:54.040 Once you start making money and selling it, there are laws that you have to adhere to.

00:06:58.740 And so I just started thinking about that and trying to find who is processing these payments for her.

00:07:07.060 So I want to talk more about that.

00:07:09.080 Can you tell us a bit about how you went through that process of like figuring out like, oh, Square might be involved here.

00:07:14.960 Like, who was the payment processor?

00:07:16.020 Yeah. So I was again, I was on their website and I went to their checkout page and I'm trying to figure out who the payment processor from was from the checkout page.

00:07:27.700 And it wasn't really clear like who it was. Right. So I'm looking at the checkout page and then I think I know how to break down their code.

00:07:36.900 Like, I remember this old dusty skill that I used to use years ago.

00:07:41.400 If only someone were to break down the entire code of this website, then I could find what plugins are attached to it.

00:07:49.940 And I knew that because when I had clients who would maybe have an issue with their checkout or there's a bug on their site, it's lagging, whatever.

00:07:58.380 We'll have to go and break that code down and find where the bug is or where the issue is.

00:08:04.260 Right. So that's something it was just second nature to do that because I did that as a job for so long.

00:08:09.260 And so I started thinking like that. There's a plug in. Right.

00:08:13.260 This is an online website. Gives and Go is not the bank.

00:08:16.500 They're not that big of a platform. Right.

00:08:18.240 So I thought they have to have a third party payment processor.

00:08:22.220 And that third party payment processor is going to be a plug in and plug ins can be found in your HTML code. 0.86

00:08:29.460 When you learned how to do this, you certainly weren't like, one day I will be exposing the payment processor for a racist. 0.59

00:08:36.420 Like the way that we develop skills and retain those skills, then you never know how they're going to be useful.

00:08:42.000 Like that is that's I mean, it's almost like you've updated the way that an earlier generation of activists and organizers were is like for the digital age.

00:08:51.800 Right, absolutely. And that's something I've spoken with activists in my area now, like prominent activists in the area. And also I've connected with the local and national chapter of the NAACP. And that is one of the things that they not only commended me for, they're excited for me to step into this space and join and partner with their organization to bring.

00:09:16.880 really I don't want to get I don't want to say oh we're bringing protesting to the digital age

00:09:22.460 because it's bigger than that we are bringing an entire civil rights movement and merging it fusing

00:09:27.580 it with the digital age because social media is such a powerful tool right now it's arguably one

00:09:33.120 of the most powerful tools to sway the masses so if you can use social media you can really do

00:09:40.380 anything on the show we talk a lot about changes to social media platforms you know threads

00:09:46.140 Facebook, Instagram, we can Twitter slash X is a whole other thing. But like the changes that

00:09:51.860 they've made, I would say specifically to keep marginalized people. So like black folks, women 1.00

00:09:57.820 from being able to use those platforms to organize. Like right now, if you talk about anything 1.00

00:10:02.200 political on Instagram, you do like they've been they've been explicit about this. They are

00:10:07.300 suppressing that kind of content. And so honestly, your work and really trying to build this momentum

00:10:12.420 on social media was one of the first organizing moments that I saw this year that really seemed

00:10:18.340 to connect and take off. It was maybe this and the Target boycotts, which have also been pretty

00:10:23.180 successful. So one, I want to lift up the importance of being able to cut through on social media at

00:10:28.780 all when these platforms have been so clear and explicit about trying to suppress exactly that

00:10:34.840 kind of organizing content. Like Mark Zuckerberg works hard, but Black women work harder. But also 1.00

00:10:40.120 So it kind of turned the tide a little bit because it's been a depressing year of what feels like great losses.

00:10:48.280 And I don't know. Now I'm kind of feeling like, OK, maybe we maybe we have this right.

00:10:52.700 Like determined, skilled black women in tech, knowing how to look at the code like we might we might have gained a little more ground than I sort of was was feeling at the beginning of the year.

00:11:02.480 Do you know what I mean?

00:11:03.180 I know exactly what you mean. And there's something in that that's so powerful in remembering who we are,

00:11:09.260 Because like you said, we were in a space where everybody was sad, everybody was defeated, and they want us to feel like that.

00:11:16.260 They don't want us to know how capable we are.

00:11:18.680 And one thing I love about this whole thing is I think it woke a lot of black women up to who they are.

00:11:24.000 I've had other black women reach out and they're like, oh, I don't know how to code, but I do know law. 0.99

00:11:29.580 Right. And the law says ABCDE. Right. 1.00

00:11:32.920 So they're like, hmm, I didn't I knew I had that skill, but I didn't know where I could apply it to.

00:11:38.220 And now I know how I can apply it to make a difference.

00:11:41.300 We've had people reach out about taxes, accounting.

00:11:44.600 They're like, you know, she has to report this.

00:11:46.500 She has to report that.

00:11:47.740 So blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

00:11:48.800 And it's just been such an eye-opening experience for a lot of people that once you have a plan

00:11:55.060 and you decide, you know, we are going to fight back.

00:11:58.540 I'm not going to be defeated.

00:12:00.140 I'm going to fight back.

00:12:01.500 And I think that's the difference it made for a lot of people.

00:12:04.160 so what is the current status of the donations today so the status of the donations the

00:12:12.280 site is still operating a lot of people get discouraged by that but i want people to remember

00:12:17.880 we are not targeting give send go right so the site is still operating but the ceo of give send

00:12:24.240 go made a statement publicly to the press and he said it in an interview that she has not cashed

00:12:29.720 the funds. They have not been collected. She has to undergo a very rigorous verification process.

00:12:36.920 And from my experience with these payment processors, anytime something is under

00:12:41.480 investigation, I've done a lot of assuaging people and just assuring them it's going to be okay,

00:12:46.100 because not everybody has the experience I have. But if you've ever worked with a third payment,

00:12:51.240 third party payment processor, be it Stripe, Square, PayPal, if there's an investigation

00:12:55.820 open they are going to protect themselves as a company to freeze those funds so let's use our

00:13:01.960 deductive reasoning here even though they didn't explicitly and probably can't explicitly say

00:13:06.640 we're not paying her they he confirmed he has not paid it out and from my experience with these

00:13:13.500 payment processors any sort of investigation will freeze your funds so the funds as of now

00:13:19.220 my understanding is it's sitting in limbo and we are pressing these payment processors not to pay

00:13:24.380 it out to her. Let's take a quick break. 0.99

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00:14:20.700 If your bookshelf and your For You page are equally important to your personality, welcome home.

00:14:27.140 This is Prose Society, the weekly podcast that's part book club, part group chat for thought daughters,

00:14:33.260 pop culture obsessives, and anyone who thinks Pride and Prejudice and Love Island deserve the same level of discourse.

00:14:39.320 I'm Eli Rallo, and every week we're connecting the dots between books, the internet, and the conversations everyone can't stop having.

00:14:46.300 I'm going to have to look up this story. I'm obsessed. I'm obsessed.

00:14:49.460 from best-selling authors and your favorite book talk creators to the latest pop culture moments

00:14:54.460 nothing is off the table it's like if you can hide some real messages inside compelling

00:15:01.000 characters and that is a trojan horse whether you're looking for literary deep dives smart

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00:15:11.020 you're in the right place listen to pro society on the iheart radio app apple podcasts or wherever

00:15:17.500 you get your podcasts. See you between the pages. When I was 14 years old, I was kidnapped and held

00:15:24.900 captive for nine months. I survived and I've spent my life exploring how other people survive what

00:15:31.360 should have destroyed them. I'm Elizabeth Smart and these are the Survivor Files. I just remember

00:15:37.700 this low taunting voice next to my ear saying, shut up, don't say anything. Every week I'm with 0.97

00:15:46.580 survivors who lived through the unthinkable. I knew if he woke up, without a doubt, he was going

00:15:53.400 to hurt me. I started feeling that there was someone at the end of my bed and I just started

00:16:00.100 screaming. They are abducted, stalked, controlled, and nearly silenced. But these aren't stories

00:16:06.820 about what's taken from them. They're stories about what it takes to make it out alive.

00:16:12.180 Listen to The Survivor Files with Elizabeth Smart on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

00:16:26.320 And we're back.

00:16:29.000 As of this recording, the funds have still not been released.

00:16:32.920 Shiloh has yet to receive her nearly $1 million.

00:16:36.000 The CFO of Send Give Go, Joshua Wells, defended Hendrix.

00:16:40.440 When you start going down the road of cancellation and cancel culture, it actually breeds the very things that we say that we're against.

00:16:48.680 There's a difference between cancel culture and canceling someone and giving them a platform to raise a million dollars.

00:16:55.920 I mean, there's a difference.

00:16:57.080 No, it's not. It's actually the same exact thing.

00:17:00.780 Saying the company's mission is to show the power of Jesus's light in dark times.

00:17:05.600 Shiloh is going through a dark moment just as much as this other family is.

00:17:08.940 And we want to be a light in all of these moments, he said.

00:17:11.860 But even if the funds are released, Candrea has a plan.

00:17:16.840 So here is the plan.

00:17:18.120 Now, if they continue to collect the funds and let's say worst case scenario, she does receive that payout.

00:17:25.660 Her collecting those funds and monetizing hate speech is against all of their policy, whether it's PayPal Square. 0.98

00:17:31.900 I don't give a damn anymore who she attaches that campaign to.

00:17:35.100 Any bank in this country that I know of, if they pay her those funds, they have violated that policy.

00:17:42.720 And so what we're going to do is get other people involved because there are so many people, myself included, who have utilized these payment processors.

00:17:50.640 And we have had our funds frozen. We have had our accounts closed. We have had financial delays.

00:17:55.740 We have had hardships to our life and businesses all in the name of this policy.

00:18:00.000 so we have to adhere to this strict policy and we have to bear the consequences but you're willing

00:18:07.000 to make an exception for racism and white supremacy so if they choose that then that's

00:18:11.940 them but we do have a battle strategy and we have a gang plan and that plan is to collect signatures

00:18:17.520 and to have people create a paper trail so keep following those reports document everything that

00:18:23.240 happened to you and the widespread harm it has caused and we are gearing up to sue them in a

00:18:28.960 class action lawsuit if they pay that out and we have attorneys willing to get involved as well

00:18:33.780 volunteering pro bono if they paid that money out to her anybody who has ever ever been affected

00:18:42.860 negatively by their company and that policy will have legal grounds for a lawsuit because in this

00:18:49.500 country you don't get to pick and choose who you apply your policy to and you damn sure cannot make

00:18:55.100 exceptions for racism. Wow, that is brilliant. We've done episodes on the show before about

00:19:00.720 how payment processors, how payment processors will just freeze your funds and really not give

00:19:06.480 you a lot of explanation. It's happened to me. It's happened to a lot of people, a lot of

00:19:11.140 entrepreneurs, a lot of business owners, frankly, a lot of people at the margins who they I think

00:19:15.500 suspect are not really going to push or really going to fight. And so I love how you're how

00:19:19.700 you're organizing this. I'm like, OK, so if they say we can make this exception for someone who

00:19:25.440 called a black child a slur, then like, why did I not get an exception as an entrepreneur?

00:19:30.480 Where's my money at? Right. And we're urging everybody to start asking that. Where's my 0.83

00:19:35.080 money at? Not just the lawsuit. Let's hold them accountable. Hey, that money you froze indefinitely.

00:19:40.640 If she can get hers, y'all need to run me mine, too. Yes. Run me my money. Run it. 0.97

00:19:46.640 When someone becomes a right-wing folk hero online after a very public display of bad behavior,

00:19:53.840 one of the first things they sometimes go looking for is a big payday.

00:19:58.140 And that payday depends on digital infrastructure, crowdfunding platforms, payment processors, and more. 0.79

00:20:04.940 But Keandria isn't just trying to stop Shiloh Hendricks from cashing in. 0.85

00:20:08.800 Oh, no. She's going after the entire ecosystem that makes it possible. 1.00

00:20:14.100 The digital pipelines that let people like Shiloh turn hate into profit.

00:20:18.380 So you are not just targeting any one payment processor.

00:20:22.680 You're also targeting Cash App, Afterpay, Weebly, Tidal, Spiral.

00:20:27.640 And you say if they're funding hate, they are fair game.

00:20:30.340 How do you see all of these as sort of connected?

00:20:32.740 I see them as connected because it has become commonplace and it has been normalized to profit off of hate.

00:20:43.460 and racism. So whether it's Stripe, whether it's Square, we want to make an example out of them.

00:20:49.140 And we want these companies to know they will be held accountable. Right. So the goal is and

00:20:54.460 they've been scrambling. We've seen it happen in real time. It's been documented on my social

00:20:58.620 media and in other places as well. They've been scrambling, trying to make excuses, trying to

00:21:02.700 deny it. And now she is using a different payment processor. Right now, she's currently using Stripe

00:21:07.600 that the can the campaign is connected to stripe now but we want anybody involved to know like hey

00:21:15.800 i don't care if she switches to stripe paypal i don't care who she connects

00:21:20.640 you are getting your hands dirty by getting involved and we will hold you accountable so

00:21:26.360 what we are aiming to do is to pretty much make her persona non grata right this lump sum of money

00:21:34.960 from Give, Send, Go, if you pay it out, we are going to cost you way more than that. 1.00

00:21:41.200 It probably won't surprise you that Kandria is facing attacks online for what she's doing. 1.00

00:21:46.500 She says she's been doxxed, threatened, even had her businesses targeted. To her, it kind of comes 0.95

00:21:51.920 with the territory. But what stings even more is being erased from the very movement she's helping

00:21:57.620 to build. She's expected to carry the weight of the work without even getting credit for it.

00:22:02.460 people are attacking your your business your work because of the organizing that you're doing around

00:22:08.320 this and so like it is not without cost what you are doing like personal cost personal stakes and

00:22:15.620 still i've seen people essentially like erase the labor that you're doing like like the expectation

00:22:21.840 is that you absorb all the all the cost and the risk and the doxing and threats associated with

00:22:28.680 this work, but also get none of the shine. Is that how you felt? It is. And to me, it wasn't

00:22:36.360 even necessarily about shine, which I'm not apologizing for that. Yes, I want recognition

00:22:41.360 and I want the accolades for my work, regardless of what it is. You're not going to erase me from

00:22:46.600 a narrative that I created in its entirety, especially when it is about racism. Like that's

00:22:53.100 So it's it's so ironic that it infuriates me because they have pushed us to the background and they have they're expecting our later labor.

00:23:02.620 They are needing our labor. They are depending on our labor, but wanting to erase us from the narrative.

00:23:08.820 And that is not leadership. That is exploitation. That is what has been happening since the beginning of our existence in this country.

00:23:18.960 We're keeping everything running. We're holding everything together. We are literally building everything, but also being mistreated and disrespected and treated as less than people.

00:23:28.400 And I don't like that. And one of the things that I'm adamant about is people saying my name.

00:23:34.000 And it's not because, you know, I want the clout and I want some type of like it's not I'm trying to be a star. 0.87

00:23:40.780 The fact is, before this even blew up, those racist white supremacists, they knew my name. 0.78

00:23:46.720 They knew exactly who did it and who we're targeting. 0.88

00:23:49.680 They started organizing and growing before we even did.

00:23:52.720 Honestly, before this went viral, they were targeting me.

00:23:56.880 So if the people who hate black women, if the people who want to silence me know my name,

00:24:02.980 I need the people who will protect black women to know my name, too.

00:24:07.540 Because it's not just the cost.

00:24:09.520 It is the risk.

00:24:10.780 That's why I was intentional about amplifying my name, because you can't just make Keandria disappear now and nobody's going to ask questions about it. 0.98

00:24:21.060 Yeah, I mean, it is it has really been something the way people I mean, I've seen people straight up say like, Keandria, I don't know her like this, like, like, and it's it's so silly and petty and stupid. 0.97

00:24:33.740 And like, come on. But also people will straight like take credit for it, which I find really shocking because it's very clear who or who is the organizer of this.

00:24:45.680 I just I just I don't even really have a question. I've just been really surprised by how the quickness with which people will erase your name, erase your labor, erase your voice, even as something as small as like people tagging some of those big kind of like call out accounts.

00:25:02.020 And it's like, do you think that I don't think I don't look at you and think like, oh, you're someone who needs help doing this.

00:25:07.600 You're someone who needs help calling out racial injustice. Like, I feel like you're handling it quite well.

00:25:11.540 No, I'm actually really incredible. I'm actually leading in that. Right.

00:25:16.360 So whether or not they know me by numbers, whether or not there's a million people here just watching the 40,000 that were there, baby, they were engaged.

00:25:27.760 okay the people who were there and have been there and have been supporting me they are they know I'm

00:25:32.740 no nonsense they know the work that I do and they support me completely and it does make a difference

00:25:38.500 it makes an impact there have been several times that's one of the things I'm known for is running

00:25:42.560 racist people off the internet when somebody is known for being blatantly racist we will expose

00:25:48.980 you and drag you and then we will have a digital funeral and people will laugh about it and we will

00:25:53.880 have fun and it's so delicious because they deserve that. I personally condone bullying

00:25:58.180 only when it's a racist person. Because at this point, they don't seem to be receptive

00:26:04.380 of anything else. More after a quick break.

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00:27:00.100 When I was 14 years old, I was kidnapped and held captive for nine months.

00:27:05.980 I survived, and I've spent my life exploring how other people survive what should have destroyed them.

00:27:12.480 I'm Elizabeth Smart, and these are The Survivor Files.

00:27:16.100 I just remember this low, taunting voice next to my ear saying, 0.96

00:27:21.520 shut up, don't say anything.

00:27:24.280 Every week, I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable. 0.98

00:27:28.380 I knew if he woke up, without a doubt, he was going to hurt me.

00:27:33.180 I started feeling that there was someone at the end of my bed,

00:27:37.920 and I just started screaming.

00:27:40.240 They are abducted, stalked, controlled, and nearly silenced.

00:27:44.700 But these aren't stories about what's taken from them.

00:27:48.160 They're stories about what it takes to make it out alive.

00:27:51.760 Listen to The Survivor Files with Elizabeth Smart on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

00:28:00.220 If your bookshelf and your For You page are equally important to your personality, welcome home.

00:28:06.160 This is Prose Society, the weekly podcast that's part book club, part group chat for thought daughters, pop culture obsessives, and anyone who thinks Pride and Prejudice and Love Island deserve the same level of discourse.

00:28:18.620 I'm Eli Rallo, and every week we're connecting the dots between books, the internet, and the conversations everyone can't stop having.

00:28:25.740 I'm going to have to look up this story. I'm obsessed, so obsessed.

00:28:28.860 from best-selling authors and your favorite book talk creators to the latest pop culture moments

00:28:33.760 nothing is off the table it's like if you can hide some real messages inside compelling

00:28:40.300 characters and that is a trojan horse whether you're looking for literary deep dives smart

00:28:45.580 pop culture conversations or a community of readers who love to think a little too much

00:28:50.340 you're in the right place listen to pro society on the iheart radio app apple podcasts or wherever

00:28:56.800 you get your podcasts. See you between the pages. Let's get right back into it. Shiloh's story has

00:29:08.620 been everywhere, blasted across social media, shared and re-shared. But Keandria's work?

00:29:14.260 Her organizing efforts have gotten far less attention. And to her, that speaks to a deeper

00:29:19.620 problem. A problem with how stories driven by outrage and emotions tend to play out online.

00:29:24.960 We started this conversation talking about seeing the whole Shiloh Hendricks story everywhere online.

00:29:30.940 And it really, a lot of ink online has been dedicated to this woman and what she did.

00:29:37.000 Something that you said, you said, aside from this particular situation, I feel that if you share news that incites extreme outrage and emotion in people like racism does, you have a responsibility to follow up and give updates regarding a possible solution.

00:29:48.180 And that really stuck with me because there for all if for every news outlet that covered what happened, far less of them are covering covering your organizing effort and like what's happening now.

00:30:01.420 How do you how would you want this story to be covered in a way that really tells the full story?

00:30:08.080 That's a great question, because I just had an experience today with a black news outlet, a black news outlet that covered this story.

00:30:16.620 they have a large following and the bias in that article was so insane right and the this is what

00:30:24.760 stuck with me and what bothered me when I read this article it presented the narrative as if

00:30:31.740 okay Andrea tried but she was still unable to stop and she's been receiving death threats and

00:30:39.960 this fighting them back is taking a toll right they positioned me as defeated and positioned

00:30:46.440 her as the hero and that is not the reality the reality is right now in our plan of action we have

00:30:53.660 accomplished our first goal she has not received that payout we have not been defeated and regardless

00:30:58.780 of what the outcome is I have been showing up day in and day out online and offline at this point

00:31:05.200 I have been showing up and I have been fighting this tirelessly right so when people are telling

00:31:10.520 this story it's not even about mentioning my name I want you to say we are fighting back

00:31:14.740 We are fighting back and we will hold them accountable.

00:31:18.520 And that's one of the reasons why you mentioned earlier.

00:31:20.880 So I wanted to circle back to that.

00:31:23.200 You mentioned how these platforms suppress us, right?

00:31:27.140 This story was viral for days on another platform.

00:31:31.060 It was unfolding for days before a lot of these bigger platforms even picked it up before

00:31:37.140 a lot of like Instagram that literally just happened like yesterday.

00:31:41.500 Nobody on Instagram even knew what was going on.

00:31:44.280 And I appreciate the people who support me and the people who tagged me because it was word of mouth.

00:31:50.220 What I know for a fact is word of mouth, aside from technology, word of mouth is still the best form of marketing.

00:31:56.580 Right. So there were so many people saying, hey, you have to check out Keandria.

00:32:00.560 You have to check out Keandria. You have to go and look at what Keandria is doing.

00:32:04.780 It got to the point where on the Internet, from what I saw, you could not mention this case.

00:32:09.980 You could not mention Shiloh Hendricks.

00:32:11.680 you couldn't mention what was going on without people tagging me. And I wanted that because it

00:32:16.840 brought the traffic to the solution, right? And it brought the traffic to the people who were

00:32:22.660 actually fighting back. I didn't like that. I think that a lot of the time in the media in general

00:32:27.800 and content creators, if I'm being honest, even some of these larger accounts, they want the views

00:32:33.040 and they want to feel like they want to do enough to say I was engaged enough to talk about it so

00:32:39.220 that they could get the views but they're not really doing the necessary like journalism

00:32:44.460 that should be involved which content creators aren't journalists so that's understandable but

00:32:50.000 I think that's across the board if you're going to talk about it talk about the solution

00:32:54.580 if you don't talk about the solution let me say that because I want to make that clear

00:32:59.000 if you tell this story and you don't tell that we're fighting back that is intentional we perceive

00:33:06.480 that as intentional. That's not just me. My entire following, this consensus is if you don't tell

00:33:12.620 that we're fighting back, if you intentionally minimize that or leave that out, you are making

00:33:17.460 it very clear which side you're on. We are, look at the state of the world, look at the state of

00:33:21.840 our country. There is no more straddling defense. There is no more playing it safe in between. You

00:33:27.400 have to pick one and your silence will be taken as complicity. Why would anyone donate to Shiloh

00:33:35.000 Hendrix in the first place. For some, at least based on the comments left on the crowdfunding

00:33:40.240 campaign, it's pretty explicitly about race. Give Sin Go eventually disabled the comments because

00:33:45.900 so many of them were filled with outright racial slurs and references to Nazism. But it's not just

00:33:52.160 about race. It's also about this perceived racial retribution. Back in April, some teenagers got

00:33:58.920 into a fight at a swim meet. Austin Metcalf, who is white, was killed. Carmelo Anthony, who was

00:34:05.960 Black, cooperated with police and claimed self-defense. Still, he's now being charged with

00:34:11.920 first-degree murder. His family launched a crowdfunding campaign on Give, Send, Go to raise

00:34:16.980 money for his legal defense. Shiloh's story and Carmelo's story aren't really alike in any

00:34:22.280 meaningful way. But that hasn't stopped some of the most toxic voices on the far right from drawing

00:34:28.280 of false equivalents white supremacist and trump dinner guest nick fuentes posted quote black people 0.83

00:34:34.800 just raised five hundred thousand dollars for a cold-blooded killer who stabbed a white teenager 0.78

00:34:39.540 to death so i don't want to hear one word about the shiloh hendricks fundraiser either everybody 0.80

00:34:44.560 gets to be tribal or nobody does they're saying well you know black people raised all this money 0.99

00:34:54.400 for him this is the same what do you say to people who feel that way I usually don't say shit to them 0.96

00:35:01.520 I usually block them immediately but if you want to know my stance when it comes to that I've had

00:35:07.240 a few people ask me just barely like how do you feel about Carmelo like do you not feel like that's

00:35:12.220 the same and no I don't feel like that's the same at all one thing I know about this other side that

00:35:16.780 we're fighting white supremacists or racists overall one thing I know about them is how petty

00:35:21.420 and childish they can be they thrive off of that there usually is no real logic behind the things 1.00

00:35:27.680 that they're saying like if you were really a logical thinker you wouldn't be a fucking white 0.99

00:35:31.960 supremacist you know so a lot of the time it's just nonsense that they're spouting overall so 0.98

00:35:38.080 I don't engage in that but anybody who is even on like supporting me but wants to understand

00:35:43.980 Carmelo and Austin were children

00:35:48.440 they were children

00:35:49.960 and that entire situation is a tragedy

00:35:54.820 if I'm being honest

00:35:56.500 I feel transparently that Austin

00:35:59.480 I do feel if they attacked Carmelo

00:36:02.540 I do feel like that was wrong

00:36:04.320 and I think it's unfortunate that it led to a loss of life

00:36:08.500 but I also do feel this

00:36:10.220 and this might not be something that everybody agrees with

00:36:12.820 but I do still feel like he was a kid I do still feel like Austin was a kid you know and kids they 0.85

00:36:18.600 fuck up sometimes you know what I mean so even though even if they were racist even if they were 0.56

00:36:23.380 targeting them even if they were raised that way I don't know whatever they did they were kids and 0.99

00:36:28.060 kids fuck up so anytime I see a child being hurt period my heart breaks and in this case two children

00:36:34.520 were hurt it wasn't just him it wasn't just Austin Austin lost his life and that's heartbreaking but 0.99

00:36:40.480 Look at what this is doing to Carmelo.

00:36:42.740 And if they attacked him, he didn't deserve that either.

00:36:46.120 He doesn't deserve to be targeted.

00:36:47.760 He had a right to defend himself.

00:36:49.780 It's unfortunate that it ended in a loss of life,

00:36:53.380 but he had a right to defend himself.

00:36:56.060 That whole situation is unfortunate.

00:36:57.740 And I can understand, even though I wouldn't donate to Austin's family, honestly,

00:37:04.340 I can understand communities supporting the families on either side.

00:37:10.480 Because this is a situation that just never should have happened to begin with.

00:37:15.260 So many things could have been done differently.

00:37:18.440 And both of those kids, unfortunately, are victims.

00:37:21.680 They're like two things can exist in the same space.

00:37:25.060 And to me, that was just heartbreaking because they were kids and none of that should have happened.

00:37:28.980 And I understand both sides wanting to support them because that whole situation was just sad and messed up.

00:37:35.640 That is completely different than this. 0.99

00:37:38.660 this this person that is completely different than a grown fucking woman attacking a child 0.98

00:37:48.220 even with Carmelo and Austin these are two kids that at least were capable of speaking up and 1.00

00:37:55.140 you know advocating for themselves to some extent this is a baby she is targeting a baby that can't

00:38:01.780 defend themselves an autistic child that cannot defend themselves so for an adult to attack and

00:38:09.760 target a baby and use a racial slur and to profit off just doing it like she didn't have any real 0.68

00:38:16.480 need to raise any funds like people if people are doxing you if people are targeting you

00:38:22.540 threatening you that sometimes racism pisses people off that is the consequences of your

00:38:28.780 own action so save the white woman tears that is the consequences of you being racist and that's

00:38:36.580 not the same a tragedy and the consequences of her own actions are not the same at all

00:38:42.760 I think you put it so well and I think like how is the world made better by having a world where

00:38:51.960 there is a financial incentive to attacking a like a defenseless baby in public like whose life

00:38:59.660 and so these people who were like on her side or advocating for her I would really love to ask them

00:39:04.980 is that a better world a world where somebody will attack a baby and get half over half a

00:39:11.240 million dollars for that is that a better world for them I'm sure for them I think they want to

00:39:17.460 put black people in our place and they want to send a message that they support that and they

00:39:23.860 will uphold their racist values. That's what it was about. It wasn't just about her. It is about 1.00

00:39:29.600 them saying, I saw comments that are saying the white race will rise. Like they feel like they

00:39:35.560 are dying breed. And that is in fact, a dying ideology, white supremacy and that sort of

00:39:41.340 racism that's a dying ideology it's way way more frowned upon than it used to be so they feel like

00:39:48.180 they're essentially a dying breed and that was their attempt to send a message that they are

00:39:55.880 going to uphold that it's like the last gasps of something yeah they feel they feel this pendulum

00:40:01.840 swinging back and they're like no we have to do all we can to to to get to get more ground yeah

00:40:07.360 but they're grasping at straws for sure.

00:40:10.720 And I was watching this Pierce Morgan's show.

00:40:15.120 They did a panel on this

00:40:16.160 with like four different panelists.

00:40:18.080 There was a white panelist on the show

00:40:20.500 who basically was like saying the N-word is free speech.

00:40:23.280 She goes on to talk about how she calls Black people

00:40:25.440 the N-word whenever she feels like it, 0.96

00:40:26.920 whenever it's warranted.

00:40:28.200 And I don't know, it made me wonder

00:40:31.020 if we are going to a place where we're moving backward,

00:40:35.780 where people don't necessarily feel any kind of shame or issue with using a slur directed toward

00:40:40.420 a baby in public. Do you think that this is like a last gasp or do you think we're moving toward a

00:40:46.360 place where like, actually, that's cool again. Like, it's totally fine to use a slur on a baby

00:40:50.240 in public. Right. No, I don't believe that at all because of all of the public outrage. She was

00:40:55.560 terrible. She's just horrible. Like she's one of them people when you talk to her, you leave feeling 1.00

00:41:00.180 less than you were like how did I get dumber by talking to you so I didn't listen to a lot of what

00:41:07.740 she had to say you didn't miss anything no a lot of those people they're just not logical 0.58

00:41:12.960 and I don't think that um I don't think that the entire country is moving backwards I don't think

00:41:18.760 that at all I think that they're trying to manipulate us into thinking that we are so we

00:41:23.760 feel defeated but you can tell by the outrage that that's not the direction we're going we're not

00:41:29.240 going we're never going back to where it was just okay with no no consequence we're never ever ever

00:41:37.200 going back to where you can do stuff like that and nobody is going to check you about it so that's

00:41:42.060 the difference I don't believe we're ever going to go back there but I do believe that they want

00:41:46.740 us to think that we will so that we won't feel like we have the power to fight back one of the

00:41:52.200 things that I think about and I know this is this is gonna seem random but follow me here so I think

00:41:59.740 about you know when during slavery the slaves did not know they intentionally kept them from getting

00:42:08.100 an education reading from even leaving the plantation because they did not know that they 0.97

00:42:12.160 outnumbered them it's the same thing like they need to get a new fucking playbook like you know 0.99

00:42:17.420 what i mean well like we peeped this shit by now like we can see like hey y'all are trying to 0.99

00:42:22.220 manipulate us but the masses i don't think the masses agree with you and when people even though 0.97

00:42:28.080 they don't have any shame to me from my perspective when people just go publicly saying stuff like that

00:42:36.440 you look like a weirdo i feel like the masses either think you're tripping they're like uh

00:42:41.440 i don't know about that or they're outraged but it's very few of them that are actually siding 0.92

00:42:46.240 with you I don't want people to be swayed by that like don't think that they outnumber us

00:42:50.720 or that we're going back there no keep calling them out like the weirdos that they are

00:42:55.160 and there are more of us than there are of them that is so there are they don't want us to know

00:43:01.860 that they don't want us to know that but there is absolutely more of us and it's not just

00:43:06.680 more black people there are more people who don't want to live in a society like that 0.76

00:43:13.960 There are people who say even if they aren't like, even if their heart isn't so invested in black culture and the black community, they feel like, OK, if it's OK to target them, one day it'll be OK to target me.

00:43:27.140 And I need people to I'd need people to keep thinking like that.

00:43:30.080 If they will go after black people, they'll go after me because I'm Asian or because I'm a woman or because I'm Hispanic or whatever that looks like.

00:43:38.200 There are a lot of people who don't want to live in a society like that.

00:43:42.900 Something that you said on threads that I thought was so good, you said, although this entire movement is centered around race, race is not the only issue.

00:43:50.520 The bigger issue is allowing people to profit off of harm.

00:43:53.400 These companies have made their fortunes on the backs of vulnerable people.

00:43:56.920 Racism is just the current vehicle to do so.

00:43:59.320 So this particular situation is about whether or not companies can help somebody monetize and profit off of hate, racism specifically.

00:44:08.560 but tomorrow maybe it's immigration status maybe it's gender maybe it's sexuality you know it and

00:44:15.760 I think that was so important that like I think that is what is galvanizing people in this movement

00:44:20.800 is like I think people are smart enough to see like this is not the world I want to live in where

00:44:25.200 somebody can is incentivized to be this hateful towards a baby that wasn't doing like a baby you 0.60

00:44:32.620 know a baby doing baby shit kids they get into things you know so I agree that um there are a 0.95

00:44:41.520 lot of people who they just don't want to live in a society like that and I think that's important 0.99

00:44:46.280 that we keep calling them out because you're right it's this society in general it there's

00:44:53.960 so much of that I want to say honestly our society unfortunately is built like that

00:44:58.440 there are so many systems that are profiting off of harm.

00:45:02.780 Even I won't get into Luigi and I won't talk about what he did,

00:45:06.880 but this is the same thing.

00:45:08.200 It is people profiting off of harm.

00:45:10.940 It's all circular. 0.99

00:45:12.440 And until we start speaking up and tearing those fucking systems down, 0.99

00:45:16.180 I ain't even saying we got to tear them down. 0.99

00:45:18.200 I ain't tearing it down.

00:45:19.540 You built it.

00:45:20.420 You fix it.

00:45:21.380 How can people support you, support this work, take action?

00:45:26.160 Like what should listeners be doing?

00:45:28.440 Thank you for asking that. So first of all, taking action is one of the things that's the

00:45:32.760 most important to me. So I've created an entire Google document that you can download. It's at

00:45:38.440 the link in my bio on all my social media platforms. It's called square up for change,

00:45:43.120 which I'm so I'm just so proud of that hashtag. That is good branding.

00:45:50.100 We'll put the links in the in the show notes of the episode as well so folks can find it.

00:45:53.800 yeah i'm so proud of that hashtag that's like that's that's just one of my favorite things

00:45:59.360 so they can either search that hashtag square up for justice or they can just go to the link in my

00:46:04.580 bio i've documented and gave steps to everything right so that's the first thing they can do if

00:46:10.680 they want to stay active what i want people to do right now because this whole square back and forth 0.65

00:46:14.940 has become a whole thing and we don't give a fuck about that right they their grave has been dug 0.81

00:46:19.980 All right, Square, they didn't sign their death certificate and now they're just spiraling. 0.93

00:46:23.960 So what we're not going to do is let them let them leach our energy and drain us into a back and forth.

00:46:30.320 We're not going to be pulled into a back and forth with Square and forget about what we're doing.

00:46:34.220 So right now, Square, we've like we've targeted them.

00:46:37.240 We've targeted block. We're going to keep holding them accountable.

00:46:40.160 We're going to keep following those complaints. If you haven't already go and file that complaint.

00:46:44.280 But if you have already been active, it is time for us to target Stripe, not just target Stripe.

00:46:49.280 it is time for us to do the same thing file complaints any sort of uh any sort of product

00:46:55.960 that they have we need to be calling for a boycott if they don't freeze those funds and it's the same

00:47:00.960 thing right now file the complaint and they will be the subject of a class action lawsuit if they

00:47:07.680 pay those funds out to her now one of the things I just learned before I even got on here with you

00:47:12.640 that I'm starting to see a little bit of um I'm kind of see some scuttlebutt that I didn't really 0.99

00:47:17.580 like right i'm the type i'm really no nonsense and i'm like focus y'all like don't let this shit 0.92

00:47:22.920 get y'all off the course right so this is one of the things i want people to pay attention to 0.88

00:47:28.340 because stripe is they are big and they are embedded like everywhere somebody um sent me

00:47:34.840 a screenshot from their website and i looked on their website they have partners who they are

00:47:40.160 connected to so it lists uber it lists etsy it lists anthropology talk space they have a whole

00:47:47.600 list of partners right and so we're now calling out those partners too now we're not calling for

00:47:52.360 a boycott of them yet but we are calling out those partners and saying hey are you cool with this 0.79

00:47:57.060 shit your friend's doing we want to hold all of them accountable and we are pressing all of them 0.79

00:48:02.720 and honestly i don't have to call for a boycott at this point if you don't choose a side those 0.97

00:48:08.920 companies know, they're going to lose business. Or if they don't know, they're about to find out.

00:48:13.640 They're about to find out. I love it. You know, we've talked a lot about the movement you've

00:48:18.560 been organizing. How does it personally feel? You know, I was listening to that Sam Cooke song,

00:48:24.660 A Change Is Gonna Come. I know that that song, somebody was telling you about how that song

00:48:30.680 felt in this moment in light of the work that you're doing. How does this personally feel to

00:48:34.480 you to be anchoring such an impactful movement that is really inspiring so many folks who maybe

00:48:40.180 felt disempowered like I did coming into the year. I feel like this is a, I feel like I have known

00:48:50.720 for a while and I don't want to be a cliche, but I don't want to be cliche, but it's true. I've

00:48:55.660 known for a while I was going to do something. I have this fire inside of me and I just, I'm so

00:49:00.400 righteous and I always stand up for what I feel is right. So I've known that I had that inside of

00:49:05.460 me for a long time. So when this started unfolding, I didn't know how big it was going to be, but it

00:49:10.360 feels like, okay, that's what I was supposed to do. So to me, it's grounding and it feels like,

00:49:16.800 oh, fucking finally, because all the work that I've been doing to lead me here, so many things 0.92

00:49:22.140 make sense. There is a part of it that's a little bittersweet to me. That's the part I haven't 0.97

00:49:28.640 talked about I haven't gone on my social media or anything to talk about it because I am from

00:49:32.380 Alabama right so I do come from a family that is rooted in the south and um it a lot of it a lot of

00:49:41.340 this feels personal to me and there's a part of it where um I know I've shared before that my mom

00:49:46.460 is sick now so she's like she's medically incapacitated so there is a part of me personally

00:49:52.300 that's like I wish my mama could see you know what I mean I don't think she she's always she

00:49:59.060 calls me you're my good baby you're my special baby she always tell me go to law school go to

00:50:03.020 law school you gonna do something with yourself right and she thought being a lawyer was making

00:50:09.600 it for me she would not it would blow her mind if she could see what I'm doing now so that's the

00:50:16.000 part to me that's a little heavy when I talk about it or think about it because I haven't talked about

00:50:20.400 it at all. But that's the part that's heavy is I know my mom. I know she would be mind blown if she

00:50:26.100 could see because she is one person who always knew I was going to do something. She had I think

00:50:33.500 she probably had no idea what she was speaking into existence for you. No. Beyond her wildest

00:50:40.080 dreams. Yeah. And mine for sure. For sure. Because where I'm where I come from, people don't do stuff

00:50:46.960 like that so I know you know I'm from Alabama so obviously they have people who led the civil

00:50:51.980 rights movement but the environment I come from if you are financially successful it's because

00:50:59.380 you're a drug dealer other than that they're working dead-end jobs they're caught up in this

00:51:04.900 same cycle right and a lot of them don't even make it out of there where I'm from so for me to have

00:51:12.220 not only made it out of this town that's in the South, in Alabama, that is riddled with racism.

00:51:18.980 Like, that's one of the things I think prepared me for it. Like, I'm from the South. You think

00:51:22.800 this is the first time I've ever been called the N-word? So for me to make it out of that

00:51:27.320 environment, not only to do something that made an impact, but to specifically be fighting racism

00:51:32.820 in the way I am, it's all circular. And it's just, it's really grounding for me.

00:51:37.920 that's i mean you're it is circular because you're creating a a climate where less black

00:51:46.640 babies have to grow up being like oh it's fine to call me the n-word and you know what if nothing 0.99

00:51:52.300 else i would be happy if nothing else if people think twice before doing shit like that so before 0.99

00:52:01.880 i go and attack this little black child is it going to be a whole movement against me like am 0.99

00:52:06.360 I going to have to relocate after that? Is there anything that I did not ask that you want to make 0.97

00:52:13.920 sure it gets included in this conversation? You asked me, but I didn't answer because I got off

00:52:19.620 on a different topic with ADHD, right? But you asked me how people could support me because a

00:52:24.620 lot of people are supporting me personally. So I do have a nonprofit organization that's called

00:52:29.320 Project 92, you know, 92% club. So I have a nonprofit that will be the umbrella for all of

00:52:37.600 my activism. As of now, I don't have any crowdfunding campaign. A lot of people keep

00:52:42.520 asking me that because, you know, y'all know good and damn well, if I make a GoFundMe,

00:52:46.760 they're just going to report it and snatch it down. So I'm working with a web developer now

00:52:50.660 to add a page to my website to where we can start collecting donations and people can support,

00:52:58.040 specifically support my activism. But as of now, any product that I have, my business is

00:53:03.620 FemFindsATL. So it's www.FemFindsATL. That's not a plug for me to try to sell products. I'm not

00:53:10.600 trying to monetize this, but the reality is this is a lot of time and it is a lot of energy. So

00:53:15.980 keeping me financially stable gives me the freedom to continue to do this work. So if they want to

00:53:22.900 support me, I'm not going to create a GoFundMe, but you can shop on my site. And there's also

00:53:29.340 an option to leave a tip. And when you leave a tip, that goes directly to my nonprofit organization.

00:53:35.640 And I'm going to say, I think people should shop your site. And I think people should leave a tip

00:53:39.660 because this work is hard. It's costly. Like we were saying, it is not without personal risk and

00:53:45.500 cost. And yeah, it's like it's a marathon, not a sprint. And we have to make sure that the people

00:53:51.320 who are, who are leading these movements are taken care of and that we have, we have the

00:53:55.260 backs of people who are doing the work and like actually walking the walk, not just talking

00:53:59.220 the talk.

00:53:59.680 So I, I will, I am saying, I think people should financially support you.

00:54:04.080 Thank you.

00:54:04.380 You know what, there is something, um, that I, I don't want to say struggle, something

00:54:10.300 I deal with and battle with sometimes it's imposter syndrome.

00:54:13.940 So I almost like, I'm like, I don't, uh, I don't want to feel like I'm plugging myself.

00:54:18.580 You know what I mean?

00:54:19.040 it's crazy that I can go and I can go head first and fight them fearlessly. But when people are

00:54:25.220 like, what can we do for you? I'm like, I don't know. Well, you know what I mean? But it is the

00:54:30.260 reality that in the world that we live in, like shit costs money, bro. Like I have to be able to 0.99

00:54:35.180 work and I have to be able to pay bills. You know what I mean? I can't focus if I'm worried about

00:54:39.900 where I'm going to lay my head at. So supporting me does make a huge difference. And I am working

00:54:46.160 on that I am working on the channels that they can just directly donate but I also after taking

00:54:51.480 on all those payment processors I think it would be wise to just build my own platform on my own

00:54:56.660 site there was something in me I'm not afraid of the movement but there was something in me that

00:55:01.220 was low-key terrified of people just thinking I this was a money grab for me because I'm so

00:55:06.680 passionate I am so passionate about this work and I knew if it wasn't nobody but me doing the work

00:55:12.620 She's not about I don't want to just sit back and watch her profit from verbally attacking the child

00:55:18.460 Right, so

00:55:20.140 People were asking how can we support you? How can we support you? And I just I was afraid of that

00:55:25.920 I didn't want people like oh another grifter like cloud chaser, you know what I mean? 1.00

00:55:29.480 Because that will minimize the work that i'm doing if right now 1.00

00:55:33.820 I were to like put up a go fund me and then it gets all these donations

00:55:38.020 I know for a fact the narrative is going to be which maybe I shouldn't care

00:55:42.140 I'll talk to my therapist about that

00:55:44.200 But I know for a fact the narrative is going to be like

00:55:46.860 See, this is why she did this 0.99

00:55:49.200 She just wanted to make money

00:55:50.460 So that's why I'm intentional about the channels

00:55:52.660 That I tell y'all to go through

00:55:53.980 Because I'm not just telling y'all to just give me money

00:55:56.480 Give me money, give me money, give me money

00:55:57.920 You can support my business

00:55:59.100 But I'm not just asking for a big lump sum of money

00:56:03.180 Like y'all, like her

00:56:04.940 Like her

00:56:06.000 I mean, you're better than that

00:56:08.300 You are actually doing work

00:56:10.140 that I think is worth a million dollars.

00:56:13.360 Right.

00:56:14.620 Right.

00:56:15.100 And I told, you know, what's funny?

00:56:16.560 I told my son that yesterday

00:56:18.080 because people kept telling me,

00:56:20.940 like, you need to make a GoFundMe.

00:56:22.300 You need to make a GoFundMe, girl.

00:56:23.740 You could right now people want to donate.

00:56:26.080 And I am nothing if not a strategic thinker,

00:56:30.140 especially when it comes to my business,

00:56:31.660 because I'm going to be real.

00:56:32.700 Could I have the first day it went viral

00:56:34.460 and people like Kendra saved the day.

00:56:36.680 Could I have put up some sort of crowdfunding

00:56:38.540 and got maybe a hundred K, two, three, right?

00:56:41.700 I could have done that.

00:56:43.160 I absolutely could.

00:56:44.280 I could probably do that right now,

00:56:45.820 but I want to position myself a leader here long-term.

00:56:52.540 So the money's gonna come.

00:56:53.860 I'm not worried about that.

00:56:55.080 The money is gonna come.

00:56:56.020 There will be more opportunities.

00:56:57.880 There will be, people will continue to support my site.

00:57:01.140 The bigger my brand grows, that money's gonna come.

00:57:03.560 So I don't feel like I have to make this desperate move

00:57:06.520 to grab that.

00:57:08.540 I love this abundant mindset of like, it will come.

00:57:12.180 The timing will align.

00:57:14.020 You know, you were meant to.

00:57:15.480 I think that you were meant to be doing exactly what you're doing right now.

00:57:18.220 I think that's exactly the right mindset.

00:57:20.660 Thank you.

00:57:21.320 I appreciate that.

00:57:22.160 And frankly, I was already successful.

00:57:23.920 I'm just pissed off.

00:57:26.200 Now you're successful and pissed.

00:57:28.360 Yeah, I already had money.

00:57:30.900 I'm fine.

00:57:31.580 My business was here before this happened. 1.00

00:57:34.720 I'm just irritated by that shit. 0.99

00:57:37.340 I love it. 0.99

00:57:38.540 Is there anything else that you want to add before we stop the recording?

00:57:42.460 This has been great.

00:57:43.200 Like you're such a breath of fresh air to speak to.

00:57:45.700 Thank you.

00:57:46.060 I appreciate it.

00:57:46.800 No, I want to add that I appreciate you.

00:57:50.080 I appreciate you and any platform, any person that is intentional about telling this story

00:57:55.700 and telling it in the right way.

00:57:57.080 As you said, people erase us from the narrative.

00:57:59.640 There are people blatantly like being biased the other way, even a black platform.

00:58:05.380 You know what I mean?

00:58:05.880 And there are so many people that are just casually, casually getting this story wrong just for the sake of views because it's viral right now.

00:58:13.380 But you are intentional in getting the story right and telling the correct narrative.

00:58:17.780 And I appreciate you and any platform that does that.

00:58:27.820 Got a story about an interesting thing in tech or just want to say hi?

00:58:31.360 You can reach us at hello at tangody.com.

00:58:33.340 You can also find transcripts for today's episode at Tangoody.com.

00:58:37.100 There Are No Girls on the Internet was created by me, Bridget Todd.

00:58:39.840 It's a production of iHeartRadio and Unbossed Creative.

00:58:42.540 Jonathan Strickland is our executive producer.

00:58:44.600 Tari Harrison is our producer and sound engineer.

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00:59:42.840 I survived nine months in captivity, and I've spent my life exploring how other people survive

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01:00:17.040 Joy 101 with Hoda Kotb.

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There Are No Girls on the Internet - May 14, 2025

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