Oral History Interview with Tiy Reed Part 2

Title: Oral History Interview with Tiy Reed Part 2
Interviewee: Tiy Reed
Interviewer: Kaleb Seay
Description: Tiy Reed of Washington D.C. was interviewed by Kaleb Seay, a Sewanee student, on November 30th, 2023 on Zoom. While their conversation was primarily on the Black Lives Matter Movement, other topics included discussing Reed’s athleticism and upbringing in New Orleans, Louisiana. We hope that this conversation will assist scholars with a further understanding of race in the United States during the early twenty-first century. Please click on the link to see the full interview.
Transcript: 0:00 KALEB SEAY: Alright, we are back again with Ty Reed, AKA, I know him as Deuce. I know him as Deuce man from Georgetown, not from Georgetown. He attends Georgetown obtaining his masters, but he's originally from Nashville. When we say Nashville, I don't mean outside outskirts Mount Julia Franklin Bellevue. I mean, he's from Nashville, the heart of the city. But getting right back into our conversation, man, I want to ask you, how do you receive news on the Daily? Where do you get your source of news? That can be from campus news to news going on in the world? Where do you get your information from?

0:44 TIY REED: Social media and emails. Okay. Yeah. Social media and emails, I would say are my leading sources of

0:55 KALEB SEAY: News. What social media sites, you're saying?

1:01 TIY REED: I'm saying Twitter, Instagram, yeah. Those are the main two. Twitter and Instagram.

1:10 KALEB SEAY: Do you see a, how do I ask this? How has social media affected our generation? Us,

1:35 TIY REED: As much as social media makes us more connected, it makes us more distant in person because you always have a place to connect to beyond where you are, present, where your feet are. So things are more accessible, but yet people are more anxious and have more anxiety because they aren't present where they are. They always have a place to go that beyond where they feet, and it's just about finding that balance, man. How can you utilize such a tool to gain more outreach and access to people beyond where you are, but also you got to understand that you got to make the most of where you are presently, simultaneously. One doesn't exist without the other, or it ain't going to be built to last. You know what I'm saying?

2:38 KALEB SEAY: Do you think social media has, I guess I agree. I agree with you on that one, bro. I never thought about it as social media driving this more distant as well. When you say distant, almost living in the present, I feel that, do you think social media makes people compare, I guess, compare themselves to where they should be? Is that what you mean when you talk about being more distant?

3:09 TIY REED: What I mean by more distant is that kind of feel to people live more on the media than they do in their real life. You know what I mean? People are more expressive on air than they are in air. You feel me? People got a voice online, but ain't got nothing to say at the table. So yeah, that's really what I mean by distant.

3:47 KALEB SEAY: Now, do you think social media has more of a positive saying that, saying what you just said, and I wrote that down, that was powerful. More expressive in air than on air or more, what would you say? More expressive on air than in air. Yeah. Now, do you think that social media has had a positive effect or more of a negative effect?

4:12 TIY REED: You can phrase it as more expressive online than in person.

4:16 KALEB SEAY: Okay.

4:17 TIY REED: You know what I'm saying? And I think it has social media overall have a more positive effect or negative effect on people or individuals,

4:31 KALEB SEAY: And you can kind of talk about it socially as well.

4:39 TIY REED: I mean, overall, I'd say overall I'd say it's good.
4:49 Just from an entrepreneurial perspective, I'm using social media as understanding that it's my brand. You know what I mean? I'm not on here exposing myself and using it as an escape from real life and you know what I'm saying? Hide in front of real world on there. I'm using it as a platform to create a brand, create an image, create a reputation. You know what I'm saying? That helps. Boom. Business helps business, boom. You feel me? So I'm thinking about social media and business. It's people who don't attach social media to their business. It's people who attach social media to other things. You know what I'm saying? But I usually, if it wasn't for me wanting to grow a brand and they tapped in with different creatives that I learned from and things like that, then I wouldn't really be too much on there in the first place.

5:51 KALEB SEAY: Yeah, I feel that. I understand that. Now. When you talk about brands, we've seen, I think, the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, especially through social media and these news outlets. What has your opinion or your experience been seeing the Black Lives Matter movement?

6:11 TIY REED: Man, honestly, I haven't heard Black Lives Matter in a minute. I still see some of the people have the little hashtag and their profiles, but when it comes to Black Lives Matter, it ain't really been what it's been called. I think we understand that the Palestine Israel conflict is Black Lives Matter. You know what I'm saying? But they calling it Hamas, and I forgot the other word for it, but they're not labeling that conflict as a Black Lives Matter thing, although we all the same. Black Lives Matter is an international, it's a global term, you know what I'm saying? Because there are black, marginalized, oppressed people everywhere fighting the same, fighting, similar oppressive regimes. You know what I'm saying? Governments and things like that. So I see that as something that's related to the Black Lives Matter, but that really kind of, I feel like it demoed down after we threw it in everybody's faces. Everybody was forced to sit with it because it was on lockdown. But then once things got back right where it been going, and I kind of feel like that's something that do need to always remain relevant. You know what I'm saying? Always remain relevant. I don't like how it's kind disappeared recently.

7:42 KALEB SEAY: Yeah. One thing, when I was interviewing somebody else the other day, they talked about how Black lives have always mattered to us. It's always been a Black Lives Matter. It's always been trying to play in this game that we weren't really set up to win or even be a player in. But when this Black Lives Matter movement came to fruition, came to real life was when white people actually started to see it. That's when that came, and that just gave me a new perspective on things, and I kind of just started thinking. Now, when did you first encounter the Black Lives Matter movement? When did you see, did you march in dc? I know it was a lot of things going on there. You were at home, but DC was a prominent place for Black Lives Matter movement. Where did you first encounter the movement?

8:34 TIY REED: I first encountered the movement in 2016 when Trayvon Martin was killed, and I was 15 years old. That was my introduction to the Black Lives Matter movement. It wasn't during 2020, but although what was going on in DC was back home in Tennessee. But I've been to the same block where they created a Black Lives Matter street Boulevard where it's painted, you know what I'm saying? Black Lives Matter is painted on the street. It looks cool. But yeah, I actually wasn't there to march for that, but I did go to the Palestine support rally, the largest one ever held in DC a few weeks ago. I was out there by myself in support, and so yeah, I did go to that.

9:35 KALEB SEAY: What was the community's reaction? And you could be talking about Nashville where you was, or in 2016, when you was 15, what was your initial reaction to the movement? What was your reaction to seeing, I don't know if that was your first experience seeing it firsthand and in front of you, but what was your experience seeing when it came to real life, the oppression of black people?

10:02 TIY REED: Can you ask me those questions again?

10:04 KALEB SEAY: Okay. How did you react or how did you feel? What was your emotion like after you seen the incident with Trayvon Martin? I think it was Zimmerman. Zimmerman or something like that. Yeah. Okay.

10:16 TIY REED: Yeah. My initial reaction was like, wow, that could be me and him just being a young black man. He is like, that's what I saw on the media, and that's kind of how I could perceive myself too.

10:36 KALEB SEAY: Yeah,

10:37 TIY REED: This is a real issue. It's a real problem. And just witnessing the trial of that case and how the court found Zimmerman innocent of murder of a teenager was just very shocking, and that led me to understand my place in this world and how society views me. You know what I'm saying? Things like that.

11:07 KALEB SEAY: Would you say the Black Lives Matter movement, the movement in itself, would you say that has changed how you interacted with people on campus or back home from different backgrounds, or how has that affected how you, I guess, act in the community?

11:26 TIY REED: Yeah. How does that affect how I interact with others,

11:36 KALEB SEAY: Or if it didn't? It didn't. It didn't, but

11:39 TIY REED: I mean, I definitely always have had a sense of black pride and black empowerment and leadership. So I mentioned that I'm a president co-president of our Black Student Athlete Coalition. That's where I can express those Black Lives Matter feelings. That's the place where I can activate that. Even before that, we in the Bridge Club in high school, either I'm doing these things in environments that we're marginalized in, and so that's just how I do it. So I definitely feel like I try to put myself in positions where I can impact and keep the movement going. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. On contributions.

12:42 KALEB SEAY: Yeah. Would you say the Black Lives Matter movement has succeeded or failed in a way? I mean, it's still going on, so you can't really, I guess, judge it like that, but would you say the movement has succeeded?

13:02 TIY REED: I'd say it's a work in progress. I haven't failed, no. Failing's not an option. Of course, it haven't failed, but it's a work in progress. It's not a finished job, so just got to keep going. You know what I'm saying? It's a continuous movement. It's a continuous restraint. It's about endurance and just keeping it going. You feel me? Yeah.

13:35 KALEB SEAY: You talked about the hashtags for a little bit. Did you ever kind of feel the sense, I guess me, myself, I kind of started feeling a sense of, I don't know who's genuine and who isn't genuine when they do post Black Lives Matter or they were doing the blackout photos for the profile pictures. It kind of seemed to me that people started to, I guess I started to get the feeling, I don't know if this was true or not, but I started to get the feeling, the question in my head saying, is this more of just people doing it because it looks worse on them if they don't do it? Did you ever question, did you ever start to see the Black Lives Matter movement as, I don't even know how to phrase the question.

14:20 TIY REED: How it became stigmatized? Yeah. Became an identity. It became an association for certain people. I don't know if it comes to, do I know if people are really being genuine or not? I never know, but actions speak louder than words. So different things pop up where situations happen, racially motivated things happen. Are you in real life impacting the situation, or are you just take life support? You know what I'm saying? That's where it comes where just because you doing one thing on the net don't mean you actually doing it in real life.

15:19 KALEB SEAY: Yeah, yeah.

15:23 TIY REED: But I mean,

15:26 KALEB SEAY: Now most people talk about when they was talking about Black Lives Matter, my previous interviews, they talked about it being a social movement, social media movement. Did you see Black Lives Matter as a social media movement, or did you see people really in the field getting things done and trying to change for the better?

15:45 TIY REED: I'm never going to try to discredit those who are actually doing things because I know there is people that are, if they're being recognized or not, I know they exist. I was just on a phone call yesterday with a lawyer from Nashville who was telling me about her work and her specific nonprofit based law firm and that superhero work, that superhero work. You know what I'm saying? That doesn't get the public credit. You know what I'm saying? That we really recognize on for, but I understand people saying that Black Lives Matter movement was a social media movement and all, and that makes sense because we were in quarantine. It was, you know what I'm saying? It was popular during the time where social media was our streets, and yeah, I mean, that makes sense. How impactful is the social media movement? I mean, I say it has impact as much as media has impact on everyone, but yeah, I do understand how it can be considered a social media movie because we were in quarantine.

17:02 KALEB SEAY: Yeah. Yeah. Now we coming up on the end towards the end of our interview, but I did want to ask a couple more questions. We've got a little more time for it. What do you think, shifting on a bigger scale, what do you think the state of race relations, how do you think that is in the United States right now?

17:31 TIY REED: The state of race relations?

17:33 KALEB SEAY: Yeah. How do you think, where do we stand right now?

17:39 TIY REED: Where do we stand? 5%.

17:43 KALEB SEAY: No, you good? You good, bro?

17:51 TIY REED: We going to see, we about to get a new president soon, supposedly,

17:56 KALEB SEAY: So

17:57 TIY REED: You know how that process goes, and you know how those decisions impact our future leadership. So we going to see, man, I'm interested to dive into what our race relationship talk about, because this time of the year comes around, we get to figure out some things about how people feel. So yeah, man, we'll see, bro. But I'm not sure.

18:17 KALEB SEAY: Yeah, that's one thing that Black Lives Matter kind of made me really, really take a deep dive into who I'm voting for, who that is, and not really just going with the masses and really saying that my vote matters and our voice matters more than just a vote, man. My last question, bro, before we get up off this thing is what do you think the future for the Black Lives Matter movement Live, what do you think is in their future?

18:48 TIY REED: What I think is in the future? Just continuous resistance, continuous empowerment to the movement. That's what I hope for. Yeah.

19:03 KALEB SEAY: Yeah. Well, man, hey, I appreciate you for your time, man. This is Caleb C once again interviewing Ty Reed. He has obtained his undergraduate from Georgetown, and he's going to, and here in the near future obtain his master's from Georgetown. Was it school of business or School of law?

19:25 TIY REED: School of Continuing Studies.

19:27 KALEB SEAY: School of Continuing Studies. Yeah. Man, we going to have to wrap up for a little bit. We're going to have to talk for a little bit, bro. I'm really starting to see what this law school stuff is talking about and what's the requirements and stuff like that. For that. I do want to dive into that being an English major, but we'll wrap, man. I appreciate you for your time, knowledge, and wisdom a whole out of

19:47 TIY REED: It. You thinking about going to law school?

19:49 KALEB SEAY: Yeah, bro. Yeah, man, I'm seeing what, I don't see another route right now and I'm actually interested in it, but I just want to see the different branches and different things, different opportunity it presents to me, but I'm weighing everything out and that's one thing that's been on my mind heavy lately, but we'll figure that out as it goes. But we can wrap it up that, yeah, man, just trying to be impactful. These interviews has really helped me really get the thinking and stuff on things. How I can impact my community, not just my community, but every community I come in contact with. But the wheel's turning. I won't be too mad if the clea is done after this semester, but we'll see. We'll figure it out.

20:35 TIY REED: Yeah, man. Just move full speed, man. Be present, bro. I'm facing that. I'm facing that for great now, you know what I'm saying? I just cleaned out my locker before this interview, bro. I just went to school, packed my duffle for my, luckily everything went to keep. Yeah, for real. So I mean, it's real, bro, but you really got to back on yourself, man. You got to keep your spirits up. I can't fall into that postseason depression. Yeah,

21:06 KALEB SEAY: I feel you.

21:08 TIY REED: Nah, I am too blessed for that. God doesn't prepared me for this. Now it's time to go now. It's time to be free. Now it's time to really

21:16 KALEB SEAY: Go. Yeah.

21:18 TIY REED: Feel me? So looking forward to this next phase in my life, man. I'm excited, bro. We up.

21:24 KALEB SEAY: Yeah, bro. I'm

21:25 TIY REED: Excited. Know what up? You know we just getting started, bro. You know that ain't shit ending, bro. God closes doors and then he opened so many more, bro. I know you done heard somebody say, oh yeah, that door closed, but when I had turned around, the blessings don't stop just because I took my police off around. If anybody was hating on me, they should be worried about my life now. Yeah. You feel me?

21:52 KALEB SEAY: Because you got time Yout.

21:53 TIY REED: Think I'm done. Come on man.

21:57 KALEB SEAY: Man, I appreciate you, man. Thank you. Deuce, bro. For your time, bro. Taking time out, your busy schedule just to sit and rap with me for a little bit, man, and hopefully one day we'll be doing this in our own office building 20 stories high during our podcast in the morning just to get the world woke up and started. But feel

22:16 TIY REED: Me. Good morning. Good morning.

22:17 KALEB SEAY: Yeah. You know, let's

22:19 TIY REED: Go people, let's go. Let's go. Get to work. Let's get it. Yeah. It's our time of day. We on fire.

22:26 KALEB SEAY: Yeah, we to make it happen. I feel like we don't got that right now. Right now that the narrative through social media, it is a little negative, but we going to bring that back. It's all perfect timing and I feel like we, the puzzle pieces for this thing, so let's do it man. Appreciate you again, but I'm over here logging off 3, 2, 1. It's one 14 and we're ending it now.

Part of Tiy Reed