00:00:14.990 --> 00:00:15.820
All right.

00:00:19.300 --> 00:00:20.970
First question. First question.

00:00:25.560 --> 00:00:29.010
Shit, I had the question. That's the
first one. What was the first question,

00:00:29.200 --> 00:00:33.570
Theo? How do you feel about operating a
business in New Orleans in a black city.

00:00:34.110 --> 00:00:37.610
As a white entrepreneur? Do you think
about that? Is that something that you,

00:00:37.690 --> 00:00:38.520
I think about all the time.

00:00:38.560 --> 00:00:43.450
It's a black city also with a
really rich food history and a lot

00:00:43.450 --> 00:00:48.010
of that food history comes from black
cultural traditions and all of a sudden I

00:00:48.010 --> 00:00:52.610
come in and I open up a
healthy restaurant. I'm not
from you, green juice, kale,

00:00:53.330 --> 00:00:54.610
quinoa, both things like that.

00:00:54.680 --> 00:00:58.410
Sometimes I think about your success and
I feel like you tapped into the soul of

00:00:58.410 --> 00:00:59.240
white people.

00:00:59.600 --> 00:01:01.450
Like you love juice and you love salads.

00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:05.330
Yeah. What do you think.

00:01:06.330 --> 00:01:11.210
I kind of feel like you're
approaching this more sometimes

00:01:11.210 --> 00:01:15.930
like an art film and that the way you
guys are going meta and you filming me now

00:01:16.210 --> 00:01:20.570
watching the film while I'm
watching you guys at some point,

00:01:21.840 --> 00:01:26.090
it's more about you guys being clever
and the craft of filmmaking than getting

00:01:26.110 --> 00:01:26.940
to the issue.

00:01:27.240 --> 00:01:31.050
Stay with us for a second because
this might be a lot confusing.

00:01:31.590 --> 00:01:33.490
You just watched our
consulting producer, Karen,

00:01:34.020 --> 00:01:36.050
watch the fourth episode of this series.

00:01:36.960 --> 00:01:41.010
What you didn't see is her ask what
everyone who has seen this series has been

00:01:41.010 --> 00:01:41.360
asking.

00:01:41.360 --> 00:01:44.970
What am I really watching here? Am
I watching filmmakers make a film?

00:01:45.190 --> 00:01:47.890
You are making it interesting
for yourselves, which is great,

00:01:48.070 --> 00:01:50.170
but that's just you guys jerking off.

00:01:50.630 --> 00:01:53.290
So it's preempt all the many
questions we know you have.

00:01:53.520 --> 00:01:56.490
Open it up to the audience
for any comments or questions.

00:01:56.680 --> 00:02:00.010
What would people learn from this
documentary? Smart, thoughtful people.

00:02:00.360 --> 00:02:04.130
Your audience is like, I don't get it.

00:02:04.540 --> 00:02:05.770
We're letting you know upfront.

00:02:06.240 --> 00:02:10.330
This is a show about trying
to make and sell a food show.

00:02:17.760 --> 00:02:21.490
It's November, 2019, some months
before the whole world lost its mind.

00:02:23.710 --> 00:02:24.650
It is cold in New Orleans.

00:02:25.750 --> 00:02:29.210
The kind of cold that makes you want
to cuddle with a lover or snuggle into

00:02:29.410 --> 00:02:31.530
yourself. If lovers have passed you by

00:02:41.910 --> 00:02:45.810
my friend Theo and I are just starting
to film a food documentary about quotes,

00:02:46.270 --> 00:02:50.210
the social and political consequences of
the production and consumption of food.

00:02:50.580 --> 00:02:53.210
Let's talk about black people. What
do you think about reparations?

00:02:53.390 --> 00:02:57.970
We cleverly title the project hard to
swallow because it is going to be raw

00:02:58.190 --> 00:02:59.020
and combative.

00:03:02.060 --> 00:03:05.440
New Orleans is our first stop with
plans to crisscross the country.

00:03:07.280 --> 00:03:09.040
Arguably America's greatest food city.

00:03:09.460 --> 00:03:13.240
New Orleans is famous for its food and
that food would not exist without black

00:03:13.240 --> 00:03:14.070
people.

00:03:16.220 --> 00:03:19.760
Yet there are few prominent black chefs
and restaurant owners in the city.

00:03:20.380 --> 00:03:23.960
The complimentary note to this story of
underrepresentation of black folks in

00:03:23.960 --> 00:03:28.720
New Orleans kitchens is a simple
question Who benefits from the

00:03:28.960 --> 00:03:30.240
marginalization of black folks?

00:03:31.020 --> 00:03:35.960
The answer to that question is as pale
as the moon and as prickly as cotton.

00:03:37.070 --> 00:03:37.900
It's white people.

00:03:38.470 --> 00:03:41.000
Yeah, it's a great idea. I send.

00:03:41.000 --> 00:03:43.840
It to you right now
actually. What is it called

00:03:47.340 --> 00:03:51.800
to just filming and talking to
people? I'm meeting with Bo.

00:03:53.060 --> 00:03:56.600
Oh yeah. Voice that Paul. Yeah, he's
really good. Next. He's coming here.

00:03:56.600 --> 00:03:58.720
That's the next, oh, is he the
next one? I like him. Yeah,

00:03:58.720 --> 00:04:02.640
we had lunch a while back. Yeah. I liked
his story on St. Rock, but I kind of,

00:04:02.640 --> 00:04:05.240
yeah, tell me about it. Tell you about it.

00:04:05.460 --> 00:04:09.280
Gentrification was a big topic in New
Orleans and restaurants were the center of

00:04:09.280 --> 00:04:11.760
the conversation. The story was the same.

00:04:12.160 --> 00:04:16.040
A new white owned and
patronized restaurant moved
into a predominantly black

00:04:16.040 --> 00:04:20.840
neighborhood and then it went downhill
for the black folks. That is soon.

00:04:20.900 --> 00:04:23.680
The newer, richer and white residents
were filing noise complaints,

00:04:23.680 --> 00:04:27.080
calling the police on neighbors
and just outing longtime residents.

00:04:27.620 --> 00:04:28.960
100 40-Year-old St.

00:04:28.960 --> 00:04:33.080
Rock Mark and reopened this year thanks
to $3.6 million in federal rebuilding

00:04:33.080 --> 00:04:34.840
money and 1 million in private funds.

00:04:34.980 --> 00:04:39.880
St. Rock Market was a gentrification
flashpoint. It was an upscale food hall,

00:04:39.940 --> 00:04:42.640
the few black vendors and
lots of white patrons.

00:04:43.380 --> 00:04:47.480
It pledged to bring fresh produce and
jobs to the area which had gone without a

00:04:47.480 --> 00:04:49.240
grocery store since at least Katrina,

00:04:52.860 --> 00:04:56.920
but years after its opening. Some of
these promises were still unrealized.

00:04:57.540 --> 00:05:01.360
We found Boce a journalist who had written
a well-researched and critical essay

00:05:01.360 --> 00:05:02.190
on the food hall.

00:05:07.130 --> 00:05:10.440
Give me a succinct
condensation of the piece.

00:05:10.590 --> 00:05:12.520
Yeah, I mean it's about the
economics of food halls, right,

00:05:12.520 --> 00:05:15.040
and it's about it's who do they
serve, who do they not serve?

00:05:15.310 --> 00:05:19.360
This food hall in particular is being
marketed as sort of this business that's

00:05:19.360 --> 00:05:22.920
doing good Will talks about a mission
oriented company and really working hard

00:05:22.920 --> 00:05:26.320
to build this veneer of
goodness, right virtue.

00:05:27.260 --> 00:05:29.560
Is this the region for gentrification.

00:05:30.060 --> 00:05:31.000
Or is this.

00:05:31.280 --> 00:05:33.120
A byproduct of gentrification? I mean,

00:05:33.120 --> 00:05:36.760
I don't think that seeing rock
fal caused gentrification here.

00:05:37.630 --> 00:05:39.000
Symptom of it. Yes.

00:05:39.180 --> 00:05:42.840
It was a fantastic chat because boys
shifted the emphasis away from racism to

00:05:42.840 --> 00:05:43.800
capitalism. When.

00:05:43.800 --> 00:05:45.880
You just dig past that
surface a little bit,

00:05:46.260 --> 00:05:50.080
it goes back to being just capitalist
where it's like he's a guy with and he

00:05:50.080 --> 00:05:52.440
says it pretty explicitly what
you start talking to and he says,

00:05:54.540 --> 00:05:57.120
it takes money to get money and I have
money and so I want to tell help you,

00:05:57.120 --> 00:05:59.080
right? I can get the
money the chefs can't get,

00:05:59.100 --> 00:06:01.440
so I'm trying to help
them and that's not wrong.

00:06:02.180 --> 00:06:03.600
He is given some people an opportunity,

00:06:03.700 --> 00:06:05.840
but he's also making quite
a bit of money himself.

00:06:05.980 --> 00:06:09.120
In the moment. I was
unconvinced with his analysis,

00:06:09.660 --> 00:06:13.040
but a strange thing happened later
to prove boys rights and wrong,

00:06:25.120 --> 00:06:28.180
the crock market has spawned
other copycat developments.

00:06:28.600 --> 00:06:30.020
The second was the Pythian market,

00:06:30.580 --> 00:06:34.460
a multi-story redevelopment with
residential units above a food hall.

00:06:36.240 --> 00:06:39.420
We chatted to one of the vendors
and a developer on the project.

00:06:40.010 --> 00:06:43.060
They were both black.
Unlike the St Rock market,

00:06:43.130 --> 00:06:45.700
this project was more ly race conscious,

00:06:46.080 --> 00:06:48.340
but those concerns were
still subordinate to profit.

00:06:49.320 --> 00:06:52.820
It was funny because I got into an
argument with both of them about the

00:06:52.980 --> 00:06:55.300
responsibility of black
folks to black folks.

00:06:56.100 --> 00:07:00.820
I took it for many reasons to be incumbent
upon myself to try to find as many

00:07:00.820 --> 00:07:05.500
people to fill the pit and food
hall with vendors to lease it up

00:07:05.920 --> 00:07:10.100
and I also saw it as an opportunity for
people of color to get into a situation

00:07:10.160 --> 00:07:14.940
in a location where they
might not otherwise have
access and that is how French

00:07:14.940 --> 00:07:19.540
cheese an existing food
truck business came to be.

00:07:19.680 --> 00:07:21.460
The first tenant in the 50 market.

00:07:21.470 --> 00:07:24.660
Julie responsibly. To me it was a personal
one. It wasn't like a general one,

00:07:25.080 --> 00:07:28.460
so it was one where he knew me and he
decided he had an opinion on me and he

00:07:28.460 --> 00:07:30.500
wanted to help me and put
me in a better situation.

00:07:30.840 --> 00:07:32.980
We have employees that we feel
that way or we have employees.

00:07:32.980 --> 00:07:34.140
We don't feel that way. About what.

00:07:34.140 --> 00:07:38.740
Do you pay people? An hour between eight
and 12. Okay, so he pays market rates.

00:07:39.430 --> 00:07:43.380
Given the skillset and the
prevailing wages in the community,

00:07:43.980 --> 00:07:48.140
I can tell you that the analysis says you
need at least $15 an hour for it to be

00:07:48.140 --> 00:07:49.860
a livable wage in this market,

00:07:50.520 --> 00:07:55.020
and that's not what the value
of labor is and any good

00:07:55.180 --> 00:07:59.700
businessman he is trying to do his
job effectively and stay in the game.

00:08:00.310 --> 00:08:00.660
Let's.

00:08:00.660 --> 00:08:01.400
Talk about that.

00:08:01.400 --> 00:08:04.260
You created an opportunity for.

00:08:05.520 --> 00:08:06.200
Him.

00:08:06.200 --> 00:08:10.740
To have to expand and grow his
business and then you are hiring

00:08:11.310 --> 00:08:12.140
black folks.

00:08:12.160 --> 00:08:12.990
Yes.

00:08:14.000 --> 00:08:18.300
But paying them at a wage that for you is

00:08:18.810 --> 00:08:22.420
competitive for your business,
but it's not sustainable for them.

00:08:23.090 --> 00:08:26.260
Good question. I don't know. In
terms of it's sustainable for them,

00:08:26.290 --> 00:08:29.580
it's sustainable for them in terms of
it's more than they would get somewhere

00:08:29.580 --> 00:08:29.950
else.

00:08:29.950 --> 00:08:33.980
Jason, the vendor was especially
stubborn in his idea of solidarity.

00:08:35.920 --> 00:08:38.060
He was a Republican, so maybe that's why.

00:08:38.680 --> 00:08:43.340
I'm cynical. He's straight up
Republican now I'm from Massachusetts,

00:08:43.520 --> 00:08:43.940
so I'm.

00:08:43.940 --> 00:08:44.980
A conservative Democrat

00:08:47.250 --> 00:08:50.980
that everywhere else you think you're a
Republican and you move to the south and

00:08:50.980 --> 00:08:52.900
you realize you're actually
not. You're pretty liberal.

00:08:54.040 --> 00:08:57.800
Anyway, it seemed Bo was right
after all black or whites,

00:08:57.800 --> 00:09:02.160
all that mattered was green in the real
world and my perspective was fantasy

00:09:02.720 --> 00:09:03.550
documentary world.

00:09:03.780 --> 00:09:07.360
If we don't break into the capitalist
system and be good at capitalism,

00:09:08.150 --> 00:09:11.440
then we're never going to thrive
in a capitalist system as a group.

00:09:11.870 --> 00:09:15.280
This idea of black capitalism,

00:09:15.650 --> 00:09:18.000
which you all are practicing.

00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:19.560
Nobody has pure capitalism, right?

00:09:19.560 --> 00:09:21.280
There are subsidies and
interventions every place.

00:09:22.080 --> 00:09:24.120
I think this country
needs more interventions

00:09:25.670 --> 00:09:30.600
both to make up for income
inequality as well as historic

00:09:31.120 --> 00:09:35.160
deprivations of people of color, of women.

00:09:35.940 --> 00:09:37.520
We need some reparations.

00:09:37.860 --> 00:09:39.960
But we are vocalizing,
no, not reparations,

00:09:39.960 --> 00:09:41.760
but we're vocalizing
a lot more as a group.

00:09:42.430 --> 00:09:43.840
What do you mean by non reparations?

00:09:43.910 --> 00:09:47.120
When your man right here
gave you you in a position.

00:09:48.100 --> 00:09:51.840
You talking, I think it's reparations.
This comes with a different connotation.

00:09:51.840 --> 00:09:54.880
Everybody's like, well, I want my new,
I want my 40 day kids. He's like, no,

00:09:54.880 --> 00:09:56.960
homie, I don't want that. That's
not what we're asking for, but yeah,

00:09:56.960 --> 00:09:57.800
you take your opportunities.

00:09:58.870 --> 00:10:03.440
What Julius did for Jason is what
happens all the time everywhere as the

00:10:03.440 --> 00:10:05.560
aphorism goes, your
network is your net worth,

00:10:06.700 --> 00:10:09.360
but black folks just can't play
the game as good as white folks.

00:10:09.870 --> 00:10:11.840
When black folks use social capital,

00:10:12.140 --> 00:10:16.680
it rewards only an exceptional
minority. A brother gets a food saw,

00:10:17.300 --> 00:10:22.120
but when the white folks do it, the
consequences are magnificent to behold.

00:10:27.350 --> 00:10:28.180
What

00:10:30.880 --> 00:10:34.400
I had been living in New Orleans for the
last four years and the city reminded

00:10:34.420 --> 00:10:37.480
me of Lagos, my home, the
way the weather worked,

00:10:37.500 --> 00:10:40.880
the concrete bridges leaving
humid stains was just like home.

00:10:41.340 --> 00:10:45.720
The petre followed by a sudden and
torrential rainfall reminded me of home.

00:10:46.580 --> 00:10:49.520
The crisp grass blades were like home.

00:10:59.710 --> 00:11:04.690
No, no immediate living As
a mercenary chef and rider,

00:11:10.390 --> 00:11:14.090
my work was focused on race and I used
my food and writing to discuss the issue

00:11:14.090 --> 00:11:14.920
at length.

00:11:14.950 --> 00:11:17.450
1, 2, 3, 4, 4 6 And three seven.

00:11:17.590 --> 00:11:20.010
New Orleans was where I developed
a critical race perspective.

00:11:20.550 --> 00:11:25.370
The city showed me clearly how race
was America's organizing principle and

00:11:25.370 --> 00:11:28.530
New Orleans restaurants were
blatant sight of this physical,

00:11:28.600 --> 00:11:30.650
psychic and economic segregation.

00:12:02.580 --> 00:12:06.160
So we're going to start the
conversation. My name is Tunde.

00:12:07.260 --> 00:12:09.240
I'm a marginally famous cook and writer.

00:12:10.660 --> 00:12:13.440
My infamy came from pointed
critique of white people.

00:12:14.320 --> 00:12:16.960
I used my cooking and writing
to slay their sacred cows.

00:12:17.100 --> 00:12:21.600
Who here considers themselves a gentrifier
and who is willing to be a little bit

00:12:21.600 --> 00:12:23.960
uncomfortable to pay extra.

00:12:23.980 --> 00:12:28.040
Gas money, extra taxes so that
communities aren't gentrified?

00:12:29.180 --> 00:12:32.120
That's my perspective. Thank
you guys so much for coming.

00:12:32.240 --> 00:12:36.560
I hope you guys continue
these conversations, maybe
even get to know each other

00:12:38.300 --> 00:12:43.280
and do more of this in places where
they're need it and educate yourselves and

00:12:43.580 --> 00:12:47.280
all that wonderful stuff, but
for tonight, this is GUI end,

00:12:47.580 --> 00:12:48.760
so thank you so much.

00:12:56.980 --> 00:12:57.810
You're good, bro.

00:12:59.300 --> 00:13:04.160
Are we just B rolling or I'm just going
to go do my thing or do I talk about

00:13:04.160 --> 00:13:04.990
that.

00:13:05.880 --> 00:13:09.880
Documentary filmmaking is as much about
luck or fortuitous timing as it is about

00:13:10.160 --> 00:13:10.990
anything else,

00:13:11.730 --> 00:13:14.960
being at the right place at the right
time to capture the perfect moment.

00:13:16.100 --> 00:13:18.560
Six months into filming
this series, COVID Hit,

00:13:19.820 --> 00:13:23.760
we paused work on the long
form documentary series
to focus on digital shorts

00:13:23.910 --> 00:13:26.160
that were released on
my social media account.

00:13:31.420 --> 00:13:35.560
The first episode released was about a
Palestinian chef facing backlash for her

00:13:36.200 --> 00:13:41.080
anti-Zionist messaging. Can I fire
up some stuff for you guys? Oh yeah,

00:13:41.750 --> 00:13:45.440
yeah. Is the revolution
going to pay for it?

00:13:49.860 --> 00:13:53.360
The name letter Die was taken from an
essay I had written around the same time.

00:13:53.610 --> 00:13:57.000
There was a critical essay about the
restaurant industry's reaction to the

00:13:57.160 --> 00:13:59.680
pandemic. That little essay went viral,

00:14:01.060 --> 00:14:05.120
at least to the extent that a critical
essay written intent parts as Instagram

00:14:05.210 --> 00:14:08.560
posts can go viral. It was
picked up by the New Yorker.

00:14:08.870 --> 00:14:11.760
They interviewed me about the
essay and the digital series.

00:14:12.180 --> 00:14:16.040
The attention from the New Yorker got
us over 20,000 views on the episode,

00:14:16.290 --> 00:14:19.440
which was huge for us,
but even more important,

00:14:20.180 --> 00:14:24.600
it got us the attention of Hollywood.
Hey, I'm Maloney. I'm a food writer for.

00:14:24.600 --> 00:14:26.640
The time speaking. I
really appreciate you.

00:14:26.640 --> 00:14:27.000
All coming.

00:14:27.000 --> 00:14:30.320
Here tonight. We're excited
about this conversation.

00:14:31.860 --> 00:14:33.440
I'm Todd Price and the dining writer,

00:14:33.740 --> 00:14:37.160
one of the dining writers for
the paper for nola com time.

00:14:38.090 --> 00:14:39.680
We're really glad to have this first time.

00:14:39.800 --> 00:14:40.800
We've really done something like this.

00:14:41.300 --> 00:14:44.840
We hope to do more panels
on all kinds of subjects,

00:14:44.900 --> 00:14:46.640
but great to see the turnout.

00:14:46.780 --> 00:14:50.040
The interviews Theo and I were filming
in New Orleans were based on a panel

00:14:50.040 --> 00:14:50.600
discussion.

00:14:50.600 --> 00:14:55.400
I helped organize a few years before a
discussion about why there were so few

00:14:55.720 --> 00:14:57.000
prominent black chefs in New Orleans.

00:14:58.580 --> 00:15:01.680
The event title was
poorly worded is truth.

00:15:01.910 --> 00:15:06.880
America continues to exploit
and not compensate Black
labor and the event itself

00:15:07.200 --> 00:15:10.640
fu the premise. It was
full of black chefs.

00:15:11.150 --> 00:15:15.480
Some I knew and some I didn't. One of
the chefs I didn't know was Chef Jeff.

00:15:15.740 --> 00:15:20.440
My friend Zee introduced me to him.
The city was full of black chefs.

00:15:20.440 --> 00:15:23.680
They were just not getting the recognition
or the investments despite the fact

00:15:23.830 --> 00:15:26.440
that it was the black hand
that flavored New Orleans pots.

00:15:30.970 --> 00:15:32.350
How long has this place been open?

00:15:32.940 --> 00:15:36.150
Four years Before you opened
here, what were you doing?

00:15:36.530 --> 00:15:41.390
Before I opened here I was a
server for restaurant August for

00:15:41.390 --> 00:15:44.390
Chef John be. How did you raise
money to open up this place?

00:15:44.710 --> 00:15:49.470
I was on my job for 27 years. 27 years,

00:15:49.490 --> 00:15:53.150
so I had to live four one K. So you
catched up the four one K. Yeah.

00:15:54.690 --> 00:15:56.630
Say like this year, this is a Superdome.

00:15:56.930 --> 00:16:01.870
My son came up with putting names
on the dishes and before I had

00:16:01.910 --> 00:16:05.550
a name, it really didn't draw any
answers. You could describe it all.

00:16:05.550 --> 00:16:10.030
It's backing fish with a lobster sauce
and some potatoes and onions and people

00:16:10.030 --> 00:16:13.870
are just like, ah, okay. Yeah, this is
my favorite because creamy is crunchy,

00:16:13.890 --> 00:16:18.830
is flaky everything. Only in one
dish. This is a family affair, huh?

00:16:19.130 --> 00:16:23.230
The family affair. I love it. About
to put the grandkids on the dessert.

00:16:24.010 --> 00:16:27.310
The grandkids. Oh, they
made the desserts. Yeah.

00:16:30.260 --> 00:16:33.830
Yeah. They 10-year-old. They like they
chefs too. Oh really? They everything.

00:16:34.050 --> 00:16:36.670
Is it hard to be a black
chef in New Orleans?

00:16:37.090 --> 00:16:40.110
In 2030 years I worked the business.

00:16:41.820 --> 00:16:46.190
I've only actually worked for two
black chefs and that was probably

00:16:46.650 --> 00:16:51.510
in the last 10 years or
so. Oh wow. Chef John Bs.

00:16:52.370 --> 00:16:57.110
He has 12 restaurants and not one black

00:16:57.260 --> 00:16:58.110
executive. Chef.

00:17:16.140 --> 00:17:18.030
Katrina was the end of
history for New Orleans.

00:17:19.100 --> 00:17:23.430
Many black folks didn't return after
Katrina and many more white people moved

00:17:23.430 --> 00:17:25.630
in. We as black people.

00:17:26.770 --> 00:17:30.470
It is time. It's time
for us to come together.

00:17:31.540 --> 00:17:34.150
It's time for us to rebuild a New Orleans,

00:17:34.370 --> 00:17:37.870
the one that should be
a chocolate New Orleans,

00:17:38.810 --> 00:17:43.670
and I don't care what people are
saying uptown or wherever they

00:17:43.690 --> 00:17:47.870
are, this city will be
chocolate At the end of the day,

00:17:54.190 --> 00:17:57.640
this city will be a majority
African-American city.

00:17:59.030 --> 00:18:01.440
It's the way God wants it to be.

00:18:02.580 --> 00:18:05.880
You can't have New
Orleans no other way. It.

00:18:05.880 --> 00:18:08.160
Wouldn't be New Orleans. Historically,

00:18:08.160 --> 00:18:11.600
black neighborhoods and establishments
we're seeing ownership shift to white

00:18:11.600 --> 00:18:14.320
folks and there was resentment about that.

00:18:15.170 --> 00:18:19.120
There was even more resentment about how
federal money was distributed towards

00:18:19.140 --> 00:18:23.280
the redevelopment of the city with
white owned businesses like the St.

00:18:23.280 --> 00:18:25.320
Rock market receiving significant funds.

00:18:25.780 --> 00:18:30.280
We were trying to come to
film the meeting this evening.

00:18:31.500 --> 00:18:32.560
You are going to be there, right?

00:18:36.860 --> 00:18:40.120
If that's not possible, I'm still
going to try and tell the story,

00:18:40.420 --> 00:18:43.680
so I was just hoping that would
get you as part of the story.

00:18:46.860 --> 00:18:50.600
He doesn't want to be
filmed usually the target

00:18:52.020 --> 00:18:56.360
of I guess reports and stuff
and so he thinks it's not fair.

00:18:56.760 --> 00:18:59.320
I do understand where he's coming
from. Who wants to be way late

00:19:02.580 --> 00:19:04.560
the day after Will
declined to be interviewed.

00:19:04.690 --> 00:19:08.520
There was ironically another town hall
meeting bringing public attention to a

00:19:08.520 --> 00:19:12.240
new food hall development less than
a mile away from the St. Rock market.

00:19:12.750 --> 00:19:15.680
Good evening ladies and gentlemen.
We're going to start our meeting.

00:19:15.900 --> 00:19:19.640
We don't want to interfere with the
evolutionary growth of this neighborhood.

00:19:19.700 --> 00:19:21.200
We want to enhance it.

00:19:21.540 --> 00:19:26.000
The first floor will be a
international cuisine food court

00:19:26.670 --> 00:19:29.520
with numerous vendors inside.

00:19:30.060 --> 00:19:33.920
I'm wondering what kind of market research
you did in the community to determine

00:19:33.920 --> 00:19:38.440
that a food court was the best
thing. There's a food court at St.

00:19:38.470 --> 00:19:42.600
Rock and there's another food
court going in at Circle Foods.

00:19:42.920 --> 00:19:45.640
I shouldn't say one or two. I
guess service to food industry,

00:19:45.640 --> 00:19:50.360
which seems to be more marketable
and more viable of an entity than

00:19:50.660 --> 00:19:51.490
the retail.

00:19:51.740 --> 00:19:52.570
So what you're saying,

00:19:52.670 --> 00:19:56.160
what I'm hearing is that it's in the
owner's best interest to do a food court.

00:19:56.210 --> 00:19:56.870
There.

00:19:56.870 --> 00:20:00.560
When is white folks objecting
to development because
of gentrification fears.

00:20:00.670 --> 00:20:02.440
Then the shit's gone too far.

00:20:02.440 --> 00:20:06.640
Entrepreneurs who want to
start a restaurant or a
business and there's something

00:20:06.640 --> 00:20:10.240
more of like a jumpstart to their
career. How will this help the.

00:20:10.240 --> 00:20:13.560
Neighborhood? Well, it won't help
the affordable housing situation.

00:20:14.380 --> 00:20:17.400
Are y'all going to be dedicated
to paying 15, $20 an hour?

00:20:17.590 --> 00:20:22.440
We'd like you to put it in paper on
that sheet. I would like to put this on.

00:20:22.820 --> 00:20:23.650
You could.

00:20:25.490 --> 00:20:27.920
We'll put it on paper once we
understand. We really appreciate that.

00:20:28.020 --> 00:20:31.160
Do you need me to write this down in
order to remember that Sustainable wages

00:20:32.620 --> 00:20:33.450
buying.

00:20:35.200 --> 00:20:39.480
I love you guys' food. Oh good.
I'm telling you. I love it.

00:20:40.990 --> 00:20:43.000
Alright. Dad, do you
go to the yoga classes.

00:20:43.810 --> 00:20:48.320
Still? I need to go. I I
just still getting time, man.

00:20:48.520 --> 00:20:50.280
I would love to take it
early in the morning. Yeah.

00:20:50.620 --> 00:20:54.680
That's compliments of the
chef ski shrimp. Great.

00:21:00.590 --> 00:21:04.800
Okay, I see you. Did I
get something my brother?

00:21:05.480 --> 00:21:08.360
I put my own troubles though. Yeah.

00:21:08.380 --> 00:21:11.760
The most celebrated individuals in the
city of New Orleans are generally white

00:21:11.810 --> 00:21:15.280
chefs. There are very few black
chefs that recognize in the city.

00:21:15.780 --> 00:21:18.600
You have Nina Compton and you had
Mr. Leah Chase before she passed,

00:21:18.860 --> 00:21:21.320
but it's many other great
black chefs in the city,

00:21:21.340 --> 00:21:22.840
but they don't get any
kind of media attention.

00:21:23.140 --> 00:21:26.520
It makes me angry because this is
black people's shit. The food here,

00:21:26.520 --> 00:21:27.640
the reason why people come here,

00:21:28.270 --> 00:21:31.400
it's for black people and then you
don't want to give black people.

00:21:31.500 --> 00:21:32.330
That's crazy.

00:21:32.670 --> 00:21:34.520
This food should be served
in the French Quarter.

00:21:34.750 --> 00:21:35.580
Yeah.

00:21:36.940 --> 00:21:41.680
Sir. What's going on with you man?
See? Good. See you sir. See, hit this.

00:21:42.060 --> 00:21:43.200
Oh no indeed.

00:21:46.040 --> 00:21:49.200
I like fine wine baby. What do you
like that your mom used to cook?

00:21:49.480 --> 00:21:51.760
I used to like the
speckle trout. The fries.

00:21:51.820 --> 00:21:55.640
She would split it down the middle
with leader bone in it. That's okay.

00:21:55.640 --> 00:22:00.000
She would send us to the river
catfish or send us to sit. Yeah,

00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:03.440
we would go right under there and we
would have a spark plug and a piece of

00:22:03.440 --> 00:22:08.040
chicken given What was the purpose of
the spark plug to make it just go fall

00:22:08.320 --> 00:22:11.480
straight down? Oh, the spark plug was
like a sinker. Sinker. Yeah, it was like,

00:22:11.480 --> 00:22:15.080
yeah, we wasn't buying no sinkers. Yo
we're buying. No sinker got like that.

00:22:16.010 --> 00:22:19.560
Black people were so
resourceful. I grew up earlier.

00:22:19.740 --> 00:22:23.840
Boy had said that gentrification in the
crock market neighborhood was motivated

00:22:23.840 --> 00:22:27.000
primarily by economics. However,

00:22:27.410 --> 00:22:32.040
there is no capitalism without racism,
so an not so topsy-turvy world,

00:22:32.740 --> 00:22:37.240
an alternate universe where race did not
exist, but capitalism did. Chef Jeff,

00:22:37.800 --> 00:22:42.320
a native new orian might be the one
receiving millions of dollars for his

00:22:42.560 --> 00:22:46.360
restaurant while the white owners of
the same rock market transplants to the

00:22:46.360 --> 00:22:50.400
city might be the ones forced to cash
out their 401k to fund their business.

00:22:50.620 --> 00:22:55.360
So it's kind of a multifaceted
approach to using the building as an

00:22:55.520 --> 00:22:56.350
economic engine.

00:22:56.380 --> 00:22:59.920
But all of this is hypothetical and
we can't make judgments based on the

00:22:59.920 --> 00:23:02.680
multiverse, right? Well,

00:23:02.820 --> 00:23:07.560
we can because Bo eventually reveals
how race and capital are two swans

00:23:07.630 --> 00:23:09.960
braided at the neck in the love embrace.

00:23:10.640 --> 00:23:15.360
I think capitalism is questionable
in general, but I participated.

00:23:15.520 --> 00:23:18.200
Right? It's like I've benefited
from it. I participate in it.

00:23:18.420 --> 00:23:21.840
Can I get you to scoot down both here
just because there's a bright a light.

00:23:21.870 --> 00:23:24.040
Yeah. That good.

00:23:25.730 --> 00:23:30.270
How long have you been
writing full-time writing?

00:23:30.270 --> 00:23:32.750
Three years. It's what
I always wanted to do.

00:23:33.450 --> 00:23:37.150
And your work is this sort of
investigative journalism? Yeah.

00:23:37.220 --> 00:23:40.150
More and more so I feel like after I won
the Beard Award for that, I was like,

00:23:40.150 --> 00:23:43.310
well, I guess I am an investigate.
You good? I did, yeah. Did.

00:23:43.310 --> 00:23:43.990
Your volume of.

00:23:43.990 --> 00:23:45.270
Work increase yesterday?

00:23:45.620 --> 00:23:48.040
I'm so excited to figure out that finance
ads are, that's always the fun part.

00:23:48.140 --> 00:23:49.160
Is this what you do full time?

00:23:49.230 --> 00:23:51.360
Yeah. But you are the of the money.

00:23:51.750 --> 00:23:53.640
Yeah. I'm also, I come from
a world bit of privilege,

00:23:53.660 --> 00:23:56.920
so there's money come that but
helps. I don't any student loans.

00:23:57.360 --> 00:23:58.640
I am really aware that I am a J, right?

00:23:58.640 --> 00:24:01.560
It's like I am in Upper
ninth Ward running.

00:24:01.620 --> 00:24:03.800
I'm the only white owner
occupant on the block,

00:24:05.380 --> 00:24:09.560
and so it's like a question I am wrestling
with myself of, okay, for my home,

00:24:09.830 --> 00:24:10.720
what do I want to do?

00:24:10.720 --> 00:24:14.000
Do I want my known values to go up and
do I want my whole values to stay the

00:24:14.000 --> 00:24:16.440
same? Fuck you want voice? I don't know.

00:24:16.500 --> 00:24:19.280
Family comes from not
extraordinary privileged,

00:24:19.280 --> 00:24:21.040
but that's what everybody's here.
Everyone privileged is like,

00:24:21.040 --> 00:24:22.360
I'm not the most privileged person.

00:24:22.620 --> 00:24:26.520
My father passed away a couple of years
ago and we had far more money than I

00:24:26.520 --> 00:24:27.350
knew we had,

00:24:28.260 --> 00:24:33.120
and I now receive a cash
gift each year to the maximum

00:24:33.300 --> 00:24:37.920
extent from my mother that can
go on tax in parts because in

00:24:37.920 --> 00:24:41.880
Connecticut where she lives, the estate
taxes are so high that she's like, oh,

00:24:41.880 --> 00:24:43.440
if I were going to lose less money

00:24:45.020 --> 00:24:47.000
and it's something that
I grapple with a lot of,

00:24:47.160 --> 00:24:49.840
I probably couldn't be doing what I'm
doing if I wasn't getting that gift every

00:24:49.840 --> 00:24:50.260
year.

00:24:50.260 --> 00:24:50.480
But.

00:24:50.480 --> 00:24:51.200
That is such a rare,

00:24:51.200 --> 00:24:54.200
extraordinary experience in this
country that has so much to do with my

00:24:54.200 --> 00:24:58.360
privilege and I believe
in taxation and indeed

00:24:59.580 --> 00:25:02.200
and I'm like, oh, but I'm
benefiting off of this,

00:25:02.260 --> 00:25:06.040
my family's own manipulation of the tax
code so that we are going to have to pay

00:25:06.040 --> 00:25:06.920
less of a elephant.

00:25:09.520 --> 00:25:13.360
I am ultimately one more actor in the
system where until the system is humming

00:25:13.360 --> 00:25:16.880
and taking the money
out of my pocket, the.

00:25:16.880 --> 00:25:19.440
System is trying. Will you
say no, you can't get it.

00:25:21.270 --> 00:25:26.240
Basically you have the veil on the media
to investigate and question this issue.

00:25:26.790 --> 00:25:28.080
Will you, in a sense,

00:25:28.340 --> 00:25:31.840
you a projection of it on a different
scale in a different sort of sphere,

00:25:32.300 --> 00:25:35.600
but it is the same thing?
Would you say? No? Yes. Maybe.

00:25:36.190 --> 00:25:36.880
Then different.

00:25:36.880 --> 00:25:40.000
I hope is that I try and operate
with some self-awareness of them.

00:25:40.190 --> 00:25:43.280
It's a journey. There's more
I can and should be doing.

00:25:43.340 --> 00:25:46.880
And how far does awareness go?

00:25:47.430 --> 00:25:48.260
What do you mean?

00:25:49.960 --> 00:25:54.220
Is it enough to just know
that is a problem? Oh no.

00:25:54.260 --> 00:25:56.460
I mean just knowing doesn't
fix it, right? Yeah.

00:25:58.510 --> 00:26:02.780
There seems to be, what's
the word? A dissonance that,

00:26:03.360 --> 00:26:07.740
how do you personally deal
with that deal with this sense

00:26:08.320 --> 00:26:12.700
of dissonance? I mean, do you
have a sense of dissonance?

00:26:12.760 --> 00:26:15.100
Did you have that in writing the piece?

00:26:15.250 --> 00:26:16.460
Yeah, I did. Yeah.

00:26:16.460 --> 00:26:19.860
I think one of the hard things about a
system like capitalism that we're all

00:26:19.860 --> 00:26:20.690
participants in it,

00:26:21.640 --> 00:26:26.620
and I am certainly relatively much more
privileged than many other participants.

00:26:31.410 --> 00:26:35.780
It'd be interesting to
see how to watch that

00:26:36.170 --> 00:26:37.340
hypocrisy dissipate.

00:26:37.450 --> 00:26:41.740
What can I ask you? What do you see as
those ideal actions? Give me your house.

00:26:41.970 --> 00:26:45.280
Give your house. Give me your
house. Sign it right now.

00:27:07.180 --> 00:27:10.840
What's amazing about the Saint Rock
market is my mom used to send us there

00:27:10.840 --> 00:27:14.600
because that was the only place she
would get a girl crab from. She was like,

00:27:14.600 --> 00:27:17.320
there's always falls. And then I seen it

00:27:18.900 --> 00:27:23.400
see hide that I see coming
down and just nothing at all.

00:27:24.020 --> 00:27:28.960
But again, I felt some type of way that
I went because again, I was like, wow,

00:27:29.200 --> 00:27:30.960
I wish someone could
have done this for me.

00:27:33.030 --> 00:27:36.280
Jeff, how did it feel to
ask someone address this?

00:27:37.760 --> 00:27:42.280
I think it a real good thing,
but again, like Bill said too,

00:27:42.820 --> 00:27:44.840
he used to ask a real tough question,

00:27:44.980 --> 00:27:49.040
so they kind of put you on the spot
because I'm not that out front.

00:27:49.780 --> 00:27:52.280
So he would ask a question and I was

00:27:53.840 --> 00:27:54.880
afraid to answer that.

00:27:56.440 --> 00:27:59.520
I feel great about where I
started from and where I'm at now,

00:28:00.220 --> 00:28:03.600
and I know where I'm
looking to go as well.

00:28:04.180 --> 00:28:08.120
But when you start from the
bottom and you work your way up,

00:28:08.330 --> 00:28:09.760
think you appreciate it more.

00:28:10.400 --> 00:28:15.040
I took on one of my young dishwashers
the day I told him, I said,

00:28:15.700 --> 00:28:20.080
you don't realize the tears that I
dropped in this dishwater at nights after

00:28:20.080 --> 00:28:25.000
being closed and everyone's gone and
I'm still cooking and I have to clean

00:28:25.020 --> 00:28:29.160
up moist dishes at the end of
the night. So I tell myself,

00:28:29.160 --> 00:28:33.600
I go up on the field real good
when I'm sitting up high because

00:28:34.080 --> 00:28:36.240
I know where I came from.