- My mother, on her death bed, said to me,
"Son, are you ready to roll over and die?"
And I said, "No."
She said, "Well, then don't roll over and play dead."
(upbeat music)
- [Interviewer] What's the best advice you've ever received?
(exhales)
- Oh my goodness.
- Ooh.
- Ah.
- Best advice I've ever received?
- (indistinct) I need a moment with this one.
- [Female Off-Camera] It can be one word
someone said to you.
It can be something funny.
- Well I have more than one.
- When you're 71,
you've had a lot of advice.
(laughing)
- I was actually diagnosed with leukemia
about 11 years ago.
And so I had a pastor come
and visit me at one of my darkest moments.
And she just told me to live every day
as if it was your last.
- Ooh.
- Stop asking questions that you already know.
- Listen more.
- You can't make sense out of nonsense.
- Welcome to the big leagues kid.
- Don't be afraid.
- Always be running towards something,
and not away from something.
- Be upright, independent and fearless.
- One advice when you see it
when I was in the Navy,
if you have an (indistinct),
fall out,
button your shirt up,
take your head,
and put between your legs
and kiss your A-S-S goodbye.
(laughing)
- What is the best advice
you have ever received?
- Um.
- Hmm.
- Just try,
you can always come home.
Knowing that I always have a place to go,
I'll never be homeless.
- Follow your vision.
- Never lose your integrity.
- Acknowledge your biases.
- Who gives a fuck?
- Never quit.
- It gets hard before it gets easy.
- Don't give up.
Don't give up.
- Do your best.
(speaking foreign language)
- Best advice I've ever received
- Give yourself time.
- You always have time to do the things that you wanna do.
- You don't get the time back that you've already spent.
- Just plan for a better tomorrow.
- Question the source.
- The smartest person in the room
is not the person who knows the answers.
It's the person who has all the questions.
- Being encouraged to question authority
as a black child
was a revolutionary thought.
- My father, he was a Black Panther.
He said, don't trust a man.
And that's the fucking true shit right there.
- Stop letting white people have so much power
over your life.
- What is the best advice you have ever received?
- Let them tell you no.
- Who told you that?
- That's my mom.
- My mom.
- Mom.
- Mom's cousin.
- My spiritual advisor.
- Coaches.
- One of my teachers.
- Teacher.
- Mentors.
- Whoever it was appreciate you.
- What's the best advice you've ever received?
- Oh!
- Ummh..
- I don't know.
Just everybody just shut up.
Stop trying to give people advice.
That's my advice.
- Advice is just advice.
- Have fun and make money.
- Don't be old and broke.
- Don't lend money to people and expect it back.
- Always keep in mind what another person is going through,
what they're feeling.
- You never know who you're going to need in life.
- Treat others the way you should be treated.
And that's so important y'all.
It's the easiest thing in the world.
- What other people think of me
is none of my business.
- Make them want you and then leave.
- If your vibe is not with someone
nothing's wrong,
you just gotta keep moving on.
- When we first got married,
my husband and I,
we were having some issues.
It was just, it was hard.
One of my husband's mentors,
she and her husband
invited us over to their house.
- Me my wife and her and her husband
were having dinner one night
and she said to us,
you know, don't let..
- Don't let..
- Anyone
- Anyone else
- Define your
- Marriage.
- So we've embraced the hiccups.
- It's our marriage and I'm happy in it.
- What is the best advice you have ever received?
(exhales)
- Burn all the boxes that you try to place yourself in.
I had a lot of rules.
Like fairness and decorum.
And I think a lot of that
stemmed from internalized oppression.
- Don't forget whose child you are.
- And who told you that?
- My mother.
- My sister.
- Shout out to dad.
- My father.
- My cousin.
- My great aunt who raised me.
- Grandparents.
- Grandmother.
Mother
- My mom
- My mom.
Yeah. It doesn't matter what knocks you down.
It matters that you got back up.
- Don't be shaken
- No to give two F's about what
- Anybody else
- Think about you.
- I am all that is
- Don't be anyone else, like just
- Be me.
- It was actually from a professor who just figured out
that I was homosexual.
He was like, you have to love yourself.
- You can love people, but you have to love yourself first.
- [Interviewer] What's the best advice you've ever received?
- Be yourself
- Be myself
- To just
- Be yourself.
- No one else is ever going to be you.
- Reflect and learn something
- You know a lot more than you think you do.
And your body knows
- Joy is a revolution.
You have to find it
cause they don't want to see a nigga happy.
(laughter)
That's the last thing they want to see.