FREER Donor Rockstars 4
We appreciate EVERY SINGLE LAST ONE of our donors. Not only people who give money, but also give time volunteering, and give access to their information and resources. You're all priceless. It’s an honor to highlight those who have participated in building us to this point. Thank you all! 💯
This month we’re highlighting FREER matriarch & die hard supporter, Fury’s mom; Mrs. Alizah Brozgold!
Our Co-ED BL Shirelle sat down with Mrs. Brozgold and got to know her a little better & give her her flowers for all her support! Thank you Mrs. Brozgold!
BL: I'm interested in the person who birthed the person who started FREER. How was that dynamic?
Mrs. Alizah: Well, Lee [my husband] and I knew that Fury was always extremely creative, extremely dynamic and it was obvious that he found his “jawn” when he started Die Jim Crow. I mean, you may have heard some of the crazy stories about him in high school. Have you?
BL: No, please tell me. (laughs)
Mrs. Alizah: I think it was in like, 10th or 11th grade, he was in the library, and he jumped up on one of the library tables and started singing at the top of his lungs. He did a lot of things that were like that. I think it was a mixture of boredom and hypercreativity. He didn't want to finish high school. He wanted to drop out. Lee and I said, “No, you have to finish high school. You don't have to go to college if you don't want to, but you have to finish high school minimum.” So we were trying to encourage him to find activities in high school that would keep him motivated. Luckily, he found this film teacher. Fury wanted to be a film director. I remember him working on his first long film and the intensity of his work, his motivation and drive was unparalleled. It took him awhile to pick up the social justice aspect of his interests and passion. I think having parents who were both mental health professionals, for whom social justice was clearly important; Lee and I made sure to instill that as best we could. I think when you have kids, sometimes you can tell them things, or you can try to teach them things, but they need to hear it from someone else before they integrate the importance of a particular topic. So I think that when Fury went out to LA and attended LA Community College and he took this course on genocide, that was someone else telling him how important those topics were. Having heard that pretty much all his life, but now hearing it from someone with a different kind of authority and a different kind of lived experience, it hit home in a different way. So once the activist side kind of married the creative side - it was full speed ahead. You knew something great was going to come out of this person, but you just didn't quite know what. Now we see where he is and where it's leading, both in his own music and also with FREER.
BL: What motivated you as parents to emphasize social justice how y’all did? Do you think that the source of your social justice spirit is because you're Jewish, or your own upbringing or what?
Mrs. Alizah: Yeah, I think it's both related to being Jewish and also my own parents, who both worked helping other people. Helping people who needed help was something I was taught from a very young age. That was really important. In Judaism, there's a belief in repairing the world. That's why we're here. We're here to do something to repair the world in our own way, however we can. So that was very much instilled in me and Lee as well. Those values were critical to pass on to our kids.
BL: I know you're of a particular age. No one could ever guess because you’re STUNNING. I've sensed a generational divide in what's going on with the war in Gaza. How do you feel about the climate in regards to the state of Israel, its relationship with America right now and the Palestinian people and how do you reconcile with that?
Mrs. Alizah: Oh God, it's so complicated. Well, I think we have to walk a very difficult line here because I feel that we have to do what we can to make sure Israel works with the Palestinians to end the war In Gaza; and also that the hostages are returned. Both peoples have to learn to live together. I mean, that's the bottom line. Both have claims to live in that part of the world. Both belong to that part of the world and at different points in history, were able to coexist, so that's something we need to work toward. I have an emotional and intellectual understanding of the Israeli perspective that comes out of a different time when the awareness of the Holocaust and the need for Jews to have a place to go, survive, live and thrive was critical. We're not at that point. Now we're at a different point in history. Just as with black Americans and slavery, trauma persists over generations. You have this transgenerational transmission of trauma from the Palestinians as well. It's for everybody. We're all dealing with generations of traumatic loss and oppression and living as an American Jew; I have more of a distance, more of a perspective. My cousins, my family in Israel, see it differently. They're right in the middle there, but I feel it's really important as a Jew in general to hold the plight of the Palestinians at the same time as I'm holding the plight of the Jews and the Israelis. I cannot be a Jew and a humanist and someone who believes in the sanctity of life; I cannot say these people don't deserve to live and these people do. I won't. You will never hear me say that. So that's where I stand. How we get to peace, how we get to collaboration, that's going to take generations. But I hope, I pray, that we get there. That's all I can say, really, amen.
BL: You are so on point. It's a challenging balancing act to balance history accurately, while not taking on the trauma of that history too much. I see it in my community. A lot of Black people have so much resentment towards white people sometimes, because of the things that Black people have gone through, the things that we've been taught, but not necessarily what they’ve personally experienced. Every Black American gets that wake up call where they realize they’re Black, but It's usually nothing to the extent of what some of our ancestors went through. So with that being said, I feel like sometimes we hold on to a lot of things that our ancestors have been through; the things we’re taught about different races and different people. And we harbor that energy and it turns into a hate for other people, and it may not necessarily reflect that Black person's reality. A lot of the time they’re actually upper middle class black folks. I feel like there has to be a balance between learning about your history and literally taking on your historic trauma. I think we have to do better with it as people. Not just Black people.
Mrs. Alizah: Yeah, I agree. What comes to mind is a German playwright, Bertolt Brecht, who was a refugee who came to America during the Second World War. He said, and I always find this really powerful, “I carry a brick on my shoulder in order to remember what my house was like.” So he came out of trauma. The idea of carrying a brick on his shoulder to remember, but that's one brick, we're not talking about an entire building that you're carrying that knocks you over. We're talking about one brick. So I think, to me, what that suggests is that, yes, we have to remember, we have to carry it to some extent, but we can't let it overwhelm us. Being formerly incarcerated, it's similar, right? You're never gonna forget your time, right? But do you make your current life only about that now? Because then you can't move forward.
BL: Interestingly enough, I went to one of Toya's [my wife] Christmas parties recently, and there was a gentleman there that asked me what I did for a living. I told him what I did. And he said, “Oh, wow, that's amazing.” “How'd you get interested in that?” And I said, “Well, all the talent is behind prison walls. The ingenuity is in prison. The extent that they go to create anything is unparalleled. It’s a creative’s dream, while also being a human's nightmare.” That was the first time I ever answered the question without saying that I actually was incarcerated, and it wasn't because I was embarrassed or anything. I didn't answer it that way because what I do is great enough that I don't have to lean on the fact that I was incarcerated to talk about it, and it has little to do with what I actually do right now. There comes a time where you want to be known for what you do, who you are; not your most traumatic experience. I didn't even do it on purpose. That felt like….
Mrs Alizah: A milestone.
BL: Yes, very much a milestone. Yes.
Mrs. Alizah: There’s a phrase used in AA that people have told me which I think is great, “look back, but don't stare.”
BL: I like that.
Mrs. Alizah: If you're just like, fixated on the past and trauma, you're not looking at where you are now. That's not healthy, but, I think looking back is important at times too because I think it's important to know how far you've come.
Mrs. Alizah and her son, FREER founder Fury Young
BL: Absolutely. So now on to some FREER stuff. What is your favorite FREER song?
Mrs. Alizah: Of all time… oh god, that is so hard.
BL: Yeah, I'll give you a top three. If you want to do a top three, I'll take your top three options.
Mrs. Alizah: Okay, my top three is much easier. I mean, I cannot hear “Plastic Bag” without practically crying each time.
Then there's your song [on the same album Die Jim Crow EP], “First impressions.” I think that’s incredibly powerful too. Then The Masses song, “Da Movement,” the voice of the voiceless, soldiers of fortune - I’m still blown away every time I hear that. Just incredible!
BL: I might task you to memorize one of those verses, because you probably might get us to go viral if you can memorize one. (Laughs)
Mrs. Alizah: That is an incredible song. And then there are some from the Tlaxihuiqui album that I love too.
BL: My favorite Freer song of all time is on Tlaxihuiqui. “America The Merciful,” I think that is a gorgeous song.
Mrs. Alizah: I'm not good with favorites, because there's so many that I really like. Definitely “America The Merciful” is one of my favorites. “First impressions” and “Plastic Bag” are tied. They're very different feelings and different music, but I would say they're tied. And then would come “Da Movement” and then “America The Merciful”.
BL: That’s a pretty darn good lineup right there. Pretty good lineup. I'm impressed. When did FREER or Die Jim Crow become real to you in the sense of, this is now outside of just Fury's passion? When did it become a professional, real thing for you?
Mrs. Aliizah: That's a good question, there's been so many moments. I was thinking maybe when you got the big grant from Art for Justice. In a way that felt like, okay, this is big. This is going to be able to get really solid and expand in a kind of concrete way. What about you, Mo?
BL: For me, it was when we hit the goal of the Kickstarter. I was such a negative Nancy about the KS because I just did not see the world in the way that a nonprofit runs. I just didn't understand why somebody would donate money to something that they have nothing to do with. I was coming from the opposite side of the world where people will take your money for being an innocent person. They will just take your shit. When he actually achieved the goal, I was like, “Oh, wow, there's really people that want to see this thing happen.” It shocked me.
Mrs. Alizah: Yeah, and that's something to really take to heart, that lesson; because in order to continue, you're going to be needing to continue to ask for money, right? You have to do that task with confidence and a sense of empowerment and knowing that there are people out there who really want to contribute. They're waiting to be asked.
BL: Well, thank you for being one of those people and always supporting us through it all. We definitely appreciate your willingness to not only donate, but bring all your friends to our shows and show up in more ways than you know. We love you and deeply appreciate you.
This month we’re also highlighting diehard FREER supporter Kari Shaw!
Our Co-ED BL Shirelle sat down and spoke with one of FREER’s most consistent supporters for the first time!
BL: We started this conversation and I didn't even introduce you - so who is Kari Shaw and why do you support FREER?
(Kari takes a deep sigh before beginning to speak.)
Kari: These are always so performative and weird to me. I have my money, I have my things that I like donating to, and I don't know, I feel it's performative when you talk about it, but I understand it's a good PR tool for you to help raise more money.
BL: Well, I want to talk to you because I want people to see our supporters, who they are, what they’re like, what they like about the org. I feel like a lot of times with nonprofits, the supporters are faceless and not actual people who are human beings who have different experiences. There's no one type that can lead you to wanting to be a supporter of an arts organization. Yeah, so I think that's why I wanted to talk to you because I believe art is the thing that connects us all.
Kari: Don’t get me wrong, I think it's a good thing to put out there because I think people who donate to FREER will have a better understanding of what the community is like. So, I grew up around Oakland, California. I was born in ‘63 at the very end of the boomer generation. In the 90s, I did the whole dot com bust and boom thing, so I had several different jobs. One of the times I was unemployed, I was kind of bored so I went and started volunteering at the local public access station in Berkeley and learned how to work a camera efficiently. Public access was a great introduction to community work for me because it really is about learning the video production side of it; helping other people get their shows done and then they help you get your show done. Through that process I got very involved with the community and the different local initiatives we covered. So I spent a lot of time being involved with other people and eventually I ended up being on the board of directors there.
Our family had a typesetting business, but that went out when computers came in so from there I jumped around professionally and I didn't have a lot of savings. I had to live on credit cards for a while, but I got this job that I've been in for over 20 years now and I'm just so lucky because my company still has a pension. So I have a 401K, I have a pension, there'll be social security. So I think I'm setting myself up very well for retirement and everything is paid off. Because I live in Berkeley, and I've been living in this apartment forever, I have rent control. So I pay under $1,000 for a two bedroom in Berkeley. I'm very, very fortunate. I have extra income because I don't have any kids. So, let me put it to good use. And then the first Trump presidency came and Issa Rae said that thing for the Emmys, she said “I’m rooting for everybody black.” I just thought, you know what? I hope all black people win too. So I just looked to donating things to black people, because the white people are going to be okay, we're all going to be okay.
BL: First let me say thank you for your willingness to sacrifice to make the world a better place. You could easily take your extra income and put it towards your own personal comfort. I also love your example because you aren’t rich; you just just want to contribute to society in a tangible way and I respect that.
I also appreciate you wanting all black people to win. I understand why Issa Rae said that at this historically white institution, in that environment. But I do think (I don't know if you’ll agree with this) but I've seen a lot of my white friends; well their children start to kind of feel bad about being white and I don't know how beneficial that is to the general public because that's how you get Trump. I’ve been seeing people (particularly good hearted white males) trying to disassociate from being white and maybe attach to something else. Attach to being some kind of other, so that they can be under the oppressed umbrella. So while I agree and understand why Issa said that in that super white space where white people always win, I think I would prefer if the person who did the best job for that movie or show - regardless of what background they have - win that award.
Kari: I understand where you're coming from, but are we being led to believe that white people need to feel guilty about being white? Like personally, I don't feel guilty about being white. That's just what happened. I was just born that way. But I can see where whiteness has played a role in my upbringing, my education; because all the history books are created by white people, and I remember going to high school and we learned a little about slavery, and then we jumped to the civil rights movement. We didn't do anything in between. I really was never taught real education around it. You know, when you go to therapy, the first thing that they tell you is that you have to acknowledge your issues to actually resolve them. If you're an alcoholic, you have to come to the realization that you're an alcoholic. That's the first step. America has chosen to not talk about slavery in a real way, not to talk about the black experience in a real way. Even now, there's black farmers who have been sold bad seeds so that their crops won't come in and then their farms are gone. When we speak about racism white America needs to get over themselves. We're not talking about you specifically. Why can't you separate yourself? White people need to grow a little thicker skin.
BL: I think it goes back to the generational divide. The younger generations haven’t seen the things the older generations have and the demographic that are feeling bad about being white aren’t the bigots. The bigots are doubling down so we’re affecting our own allies in the fight when things go too far. We’ve been adding so many more boxes of identity and adding more boxes is not helping. We need to be trying to figure out how to get rid of the boxes. Race, sexual orientation, religion, it’s all just indicators we use to divide between one another. At this point we all know they're banking on our division to prevent them from being held accountable. When I say them I mean the government and their donor class.
Kari: LGBT, Black people, Brown people and trans people… all they want to do is have the same audacity that a white man has. George Bush was a C student and he became president - it would be great if that could happen for everybody, you know.
BL: For sure. Damn, gone are the days where a C student was the lowest bar for the presidency… sheesh. Is there a particular reason why you invested in prison initiatives?
Kari: I think FREER Records is very good because it gives opportunities. I'm very much of the belief that if we have to have prisons, then it should be for rehabilitation. I think prisoners should be able to vote. I think bringing a music program in is great because we want people to get out of prison and be part of society. That's what they want to do as well most of the time. I think people don't understand. People don't want to get freedom so that they can be destructive. They want to just live their lives and be in peace.
BL: Also, a lot of us are the most well versed in certain parts of the political system, such as the DAs and judges we vote in. The general public usually has no clue about these public officials and a lot of people who are DAs become Mayors, Attorney Generals, etc. Typically, when you get to jail someone will ask you who your judge is and you’ll say “Judge Hill,” and they’re like, “If you have a drug case you should get that moved because his daughter ODed from fentanyl, but if you have a gun case - take a judge only because he’s a major gun enthusiast. He a member of my father-in-law's gun range.” You be like, “Well damn! OK!” We know these things like the back of our hand and it gets passed from generation to generation. I am trying to tell my people why it's so important that they stay involved in the political process. We have so much political power and knowledge if we mobilize like I know we can.
Kari: That's one of the things that I've always wanted to do when I retire. I might be retiring to Nevada, and I hope they have the same laws because you can walk into any courtroom in California and sit in on it and watch the judges. So what I wanted to do when I retire is go and watch these different judges and then be able to give reviews on them. Because a lot of times you vote on judges you have no idea about. I mean, the internet is great because you can at least get some information, but how judges set the tone prior to the trial really determines how that trial is going to go. If they're bad judges, typically it's going to be a bad outcome, but if they're good judges, you might get a good outcome. So I’ve always wanted to do that when I retire.
BL: At the beginning of my trial, my judge geeked on the prosecutor. He went off on her for whatever reason and he felt so bad about it for the rest of the freaking trial that he kissed her ass the remainder of the trial. Oh my god. And then, you'll be in trial and everybody going at it, they‘ll take a little recess, and everybody laughing and joking, they got inside jokes and shit. Like, this is my life and y'all are not taking this seriously enough. Joking with these motherfuckers like that video of Trump and Obama that went viral yesterday.
Kari: People are figuring out more and more and the Obama-Trump thing was a perfect example. You guys were all calling him Hitler just a month ago and now you're sitting there all laughing jokey with him. Is he Hitler, or is he fun to hang out with? What?!?
BL: What is your favorite genre of music or your favorite artists?
Kari: I've never been one to really just have one favorite.
BL: Well give me your top three, or whatever.
Kari: So in my top three has to be Jack White.
BL: Oh, okay, that's a good one. I love The White Stripes.
Kari: I love him very much. Some of my old timers that I love, I love Nicolo and I love Elvis Costello, Prince and Bowie always have to be mentioned. I also love the new female rappers like Cardi B, Meg Thee Stallion, I even like Nicki Minaj.
BL: Do you have a favorite FREER project or story that has really stuck with you?
Kari: I don't think so. I've tried to buy as much as I can find on Apple just as a support but I don't think that I have spent too much time listening to it, as much as I should. Especially last year with the election. My life was very much politics.
BL: Well if that's the case I have to get you familiar. We have some DOPE bodies of work! Now that I know you love female rap, I'm going to hold off on your assignment until B. Alexis' album comes out in June. It's one of the best female rap albums since The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. It's great. You're gonna love it! B. Alexis is an amazing lyricist. She’s from down south and she’s serving 30 years in prison. Her single, “I Can’t Lie” is dropping the same day as your interview. It’s a record she wrote to guide her son through real life shit. Unfortunately, he was murdered at the school bus stop before it could be released. She’s dropping the record on his birthday in his memory. She's better than Meg, she's better than Cardi, and I love these girls. I'm putting it on record. So you're gonna freaking love this album. So yeah, we’re gonna get you tapped in for sure! It’s been great talking to you Kari.
Kari: You too, BL! It was great talking to you, great getting to know you. I’m looking forward to hearing this project!