The Power We Hold
Welcome to The Power We Hold podcast. My name is Vanessa Albury. I’m an eco-visual artist who grew up in Nashville, TN, went to college in Charleston, SC, and moved to NYC the day before my interview for graduate school at NYU in March of 2006. I left my apartment of 13 years in Brooklyn and I now live in the world making art and focusing on healing and love. This podcast follows my journey to becoming a better and better ally to people of all our beautiful difference ( BIPOC, LGBTQAI2S+ and fellow non-normative brained and bodied friends, neighbors and strangers) and a better steward of planet Earth, our shared home.
The lovely human and brilliant artist, Caleb Williams is my season 1 co-host on this journey because of her vast talents along with her willingness to have uncomfortable conversations with me and our shared belief in our intentions, integrity and love.
We are here to support you on your journey into better allyship and Earth stewardship with us.. I understand that people tend to listen to other people who look and sound like they do, so I’ve created this podcast to provide an example of how to navigate uncomfortable and even difficult conversations about race, gender, brains, bodies and the planet as a white person.
Also I'm in the non-normative brain category. I have narcolepsy with cataplexy from C-PTSD. I am by no means perfect. I will step in it, say the wrong thing, and I’m committed that being ok and to digging deeper and learning.
For those of you listening who are BIPOC, LGBTQAI2S+ and non-normative embodied, I thank you for listening and participating in the education process of informing the privileged classes of your experience of racism, sexism, ageism, body-ism and all the -isms in America and the world. I understand that is a generous action and I’m grateful to you.
My intention is for this podcast to give you, and us all really, hope for a future of equality and faith that many white, straight, generally normative people are on your side and truly want to create a better, equal and sustainable world together.
To get there, to understand each other, we must discuss uncomfortable topics and learn how to relate to each other through them.
With deeper understanding of each other, we can truly love each other. Thank you for joining me on this journey exploring The Power We Hold.
The Power We Hold
The Power We Hold Podcast - Season 02 Episode 05: Wil Sylvince
Thank you for joining me, your host eco-visual artist and spiritual coach Vanessa Albury, on my journey to becoming a better ally to people of all diversities (bipoc, LGBTQAI2S+, non-normative brained and embodied +) and steward of the environment in podcast form as The Power We Hold! This is part of Coral Projects' work in eco-consciousness healing. In this space we have in-depth conversation together with people of all backgrounds and diverse perspectives about difficult topics full of love, healing and what it is to be a human loving on planet Earth, our only home for now.
Today we finish up my conversation with the brilliant comedian and filmmaker Wil Sylvince in Part 2. Wil is a Haitian-American who went from engineering to comedy. He travels the globe opening up for world famous comedians, the GOAT’s of his field such as Trevor Noah, Dave Chappelle and Kevin Hart. He’s making is big screen debut as a filmmaker with I Am Maurice, the first of 9 screenplays he has ready to go! We talk his health journey, strategies as a comic, acting, clairaudience, extraterrestrials and more. Wil’s integrity, discipline and ability to set up another comic to land a line are truly top notch. You don’t want to miss this 2-part conversation with the fascinating Wil Sylvince!
Recorded Oct 29, 2023 in NYC
Show Notes:
Find Wil’s comedy www.wilsylvince.com
I Am Maurice feature film www.wilsylvince.com/iammaurice
Follow Wil on Instagram
Book an Akashic Records reading with me here or via my website
The Power We Hold Podcast website
Vanessa Albury IG, website
Coral Projects IG, website + Make a tax-deductible donation
Get your Custom Sea Coin
Learn more about the doc film Coral Projects in Italy + Hyperallergic
Music Clear Skys by Wael Elhalaby IG, Soundcloud
Audio Editing by Bryan Klausing Rain Junkies website, LinkedIn
PART II
Hello, and welcome back to the Power We Hold podcast. I'm your host, Vanessa Albury. I love being here with you every week. And this week,
we have a continuation of last week's conversation with comedian, actor, and filmmaker, Wil Sylvince. He's super fascinating, so enjoy the rest of our conversation.
We talk about greater intelligence and the kind of intelligence that our conscious minds have a hard time really understanding.
And last week, over the weekend, it was Valentine's Day this week, I guess. So, thank you so much for watching. thought I would open this week's conversation with some more thoughts on unconditional love and how that directly relates to the kind of work that I do.
So would that be interesting for you? Are you curious what I mean when I say I'm an Akashic Records reader? That's really what I want to get into with you.
Just explain a little bit. because a lot of people one have never heard the term Akashic Records and two definitely don't know what it means when I say I'm an Akashic Records reader.
So is that okay? Is that something you'd like to hear about? Keep listening. So as an Akashic Records reader I I channel information from the greater version of who you are for living your best life now.
So these messages blast in from unconditional love, they're for your highest best path, for exactly what you need to hear right now.
Like, have you ever felt like this? oh, you just don't know what to do next? And like, you have a sense of it's over there somewhere. I need to do something like this, but you don't know how to do it.
You don't know what to do. And then somebody says something to you that just hits you like a ton of bricks and you have that immediate clarity, like, oh my God, that's exactly what I needed to hear exactly right now.
Like, it doesn't happen that often in our lives and our daily lives, but when you get a reading, that's exactly what happens. It's a healing of your finite being,
who you are as a physical person walking around on planet Earth, and your infinite self, the greater part of who you really are. When you pull or you receive more of who you really are,
this infinite part of you, into your finite being, you have clarity on what's next in this life for you. And it just takes a slight energy shift in that infinite space.
You just need a little, whoa, whoa, that I love, any teaspoon of that energy in this physical world to make a huge shift in your life. I've helped so many clients make big,
big shifts and just one reading. Like for example, one of my clients here in New York City. City, she had been divorced and not dated for a few years,
almost pressured by her family and her friends to do this app or to go on this blind date. She just wasn't into any of it. She was just not having any of it. But she also wanted a partner,
a good partner. And in her reading, she got exactly what she needed to hear to make that energetic shift the next week. week after our reading, she had five dates.
She had gone from zero dates for like two years to five dates in one week. Those are the kind of problems I want you guys to have. Those are the kind of problems I want my clients to have.
So much love coming in that you have a hard time managing. That's what I want. And yeah, so,
you know, Wil and I talk about this idea of intelligence and, like, intelligence beyond what humans are accustomed to,
right? And that's really what an Akashic Records reading taps into, it taps into the energy, the intelligence of God, Source energy, universal energy,
collective consciousness, collective love, really all of that isom in unconditional love. Because unconditional love is always got your highest best and the highest best of everyone else in mind at all times.
So when I give a reading, I run my life so that I'm a vessel for these readings. I'm a vessel for these readings.
I give a reading, we answer six to eight of your burning questions about your life and they can be about relationships, like someone you're in a partnership with,
a family member, relationship to people that you work with. You can ask about career, life purpose work, where you live, information about cities and places comes through a lot.
I'll hear you in a minute. specific songs that will align perfectly with that person, like, oh my God, that's my favorite song. Or that's the song that me and so -and -so listen to together,
like that's our song. And it's just the most beautiful experience, I have to say. Like, I receive information that I cannot know as a human being. Like, it's more than me.
That's why it's called channeling, right? (laughs) I channel the Akashic records. And the reason it's called the Akashic records, it's related to the Sanskrit word Akasha, which is in our,
you know, English understanding energy, right? So you have like the five elements and one of them is energy. So Akasha is the Sanskrit word. And the idea of the Kaushik records is that there's almost like a library of information across all space and time,
into the past, into the future, and in parallel realms about you that you can access. It's like your own personal infinite library.
And I have a unique relationship to the Akashic records. I don't typically channel past life stuff. A lot of people do a Kaushik record. readings because they want to know if they were Cleopatra in a past life or something.
I don't really care if I was Cleopatra in a past life. I want to know whatever's going to help me live my best life now. So if it helps me to know that I was,
you know, an Egyptian princess or, you know, a Roman Empire or Samurai or something, I don't know, in a past life, then I'm want that information, but if it's not gonna help me today and and living this physical existence Then I don't really that's not really for me that information.
It's like that's cool, bro. You know So I have that deal for my clients as well we only channel information for your highest best to live your best life now and on my website website,
theakashicrecordsreader .com, I'll drop a link in the description and the notes. You can read testimonials. I have a bunch of testimonials about getting readings from me and the magical information that comes through.
People cry a lot in readings with me, but it's that healing kind of crying. Because this is a healing, a reading in the akashic record is a healing of your infinite reality with your physical reality.
We learn as children to settle, right, to self -abandon, to give up on our dreams and really give up on ourselves.
It's like death by a thousand tiny cuts, right? Sometimes there's major cuts, we call that trauma, right? But it gets to where adults walk around and they don't even remember.
what they're here for. Kids know. Kids know what we're here for. Kids know exactly what they're here for. But as we socialize, we are taught to abandon for safety,
for protection, for love. But it's okay. We get to recover all those aspects of ourselves back. And in Akashic Records reading, you get that information to heal this infinite truth.
of your purpose, of who you really are with your physical self. So that's my summary today of what I do as an Akashic Records reader.
And I look forward to answering any of your questions about that. Feel free to email me or drop me a question on social media.
In the meantime. meantime, let's get back into our conversation with Wil and hear what he has to say about infinite energies and greater intelligence.
I think it's really interesting and I think you'll enjoy it too. So, without further ado, I return you to Wil Sylvince. - It's crazy ignorant of us to assume what it is.
the only beings out here, right? I Think this is crazy. Tell me. I bet I couldn't one up you on crazy here But yeah,
what you got? Okay, you know how these different type of lions or cats lions Tigers Panthers Leopards house cats there's different types of bear bears,
polar bears, black bears, grizzly bears, there's different types of fulcrums, there's different types of even kangaroos. - Okay. - I think there's different types of humans,
right? So there was the Neanderthals fast way, but I think there's another human that's so intelligent that the things that we learned in college,
they learned in pre -K, or if you can about that's how small they are, they're that small. And they figured how to live either in the ocean,
because the ocean is like 90 % unexplored. I think 99 % is really that. Yeah, or someone's bait, but they figured out how to communicate mentally.
I could see that. Or they have communication devices that far exceed our self, whatever. And they just know how to morph and almost like,
they say octopus are, they could, your brain can get really small, really big, change color. textures, yeah. - I feel like these human beings are out there.
- Could it, could those humans even be versions of us that we don't know yet? - They're just another form of human beings. - Well,
I asked that because I hadn't, when I was like 13, I saw what typically would be called a ghost. I was,
was in bed asleep in the bedroom that my aunt had been living in. She died right after Hurricane Andrew in a car accident on New Year's Day. And that summer we were,
she had been living with my grandparents again 'cause Andrew had destroyed her home. So I was in the bedroom she had been living in right before she died. My sister and I were asleep in her bed. That summer in like June.
I wake up in the middle of the night and I just open my eyes, I see you. light body of a woman and she's kind of slim and I assumed it was my aunt because I was in her room.
But she was a big woman when she died. Like this light energy form was not the same form as my aunt but I had no other explanation at the time. Scared the poo out of me. I threw the sheet over my head and I said to myself okay I'm going to open my eyes to the sheet.
And if I see it through the sheet, I'm just going to scream until there's an adult in the room. And I saw it through the sheet and I was just like, a few minutes later,
my grandmother comes in the room. She's like, are you okay? What's wrong? So my explanation up until just after the pandemic was that it was my,
it was an energy form of my aunt. Because it was well during the pandemic My clear audience gift turned on next level I could hear more than I was hearing before and I was meditating.
I saw in my meditation myself as The adult that I am now Visiting that version of myself To let her know that she was okay that she was safe and it was like a very powerful vision where I was literally in that perspective of that form.
It's like, oh my God, I time traveled to myself. - No. - That's my explanation for it. - Yes, interesting. - Yeah. - You show you how to sleep when you saw that?
- I was awake, yeah. - And you 100 % positive? - Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah. It's like that moment where you hear somebody say no over your shoulder and you're like,
- Yeah. know you get the chills like yeah I saw it um they also like when when people talk about aliens how do we know like like the octopus are aliens I think they could be or even insects yeah could be because you know we always think alien you know maybe these trees even they came from another planet and then,
you know, trees or certain seeds. Yeah. You know, how we know they're not from another species, but we, you know. Yeah. I think there's, there's vast amounts of intelligence beyond the intelligence that we recognize as a society and that we're contributing in ways that we don't even know.
- My friend Candice, she told me this story. She's a nurse. I'm not sure how schools are notoriously haunted. - Yeah. - So tell me the story that happened in the hospital.
This is like the 14th floor of the hospital. And there's, so when you, so just so you could imagine, when you come out the elevator,
the hospital on the 14th floor, there's a front decks that's right across the elevator. And then come out, make a left. The first room, this mother has son was staying in,
right? So you get a visual map of what's happening. It comes out, she signs, go see her son. There's a black woman, black son.
She goes inside the room and... she sees a little white girl, blonde hair with green eyes, holding her son's hand. Aw. And she goes, "Hey, little girl." What you doing?
Yeah. She found a woman. Yeah. And her son was asleep. Uh -uh. Just holding her son's hand. Okay. You don't have to say nothing. Yeah. And so then she comes out the room,
make her write, "Hey, there's a little girl." And she goes, "Hey, there's a little girl." she got lost, she's in her son's room. And the nurse gets up from the decks,
follows him into the room, girl is gone. And then she goes, "What's she look like?" The mother described it, and she said, "A little girl died in this room a week ago." Chills again.
And so, and I shouldn't have talked about black mothers, but the black mother was like... like, get my son out of this room right now. Get my goddamn son out of this room right now.
(laughing) But the reason why I say that with these details, because she couldn't go out the window. - No, 14th floor, she wasn't gonna find you. - When she come out the room,
you would have seen her. You know, it was not like you went around the corner, but you know, know so she's like you know and you know hotel rooms there's no there's no way to hide yeah you know you came in high enough because it's one of those beds you'd see everything it's like the mechanics of the bed yeah so it's like and the way the mother didn't know yeah how would the mother be able to describe the person
that was like yeah you know no I know so it was I was like wow wow. - So I've had experiences where I've helped people transition like that,
but as a living person. So before my mom, so my mom had cancer. Lung cancer is what did her end.
Actually it's the chemotherapy that did her end. She, the chemo was too much for her body to handle handle. And people, I don't think, you know, her doctor is like, do you want to be aggressive about this?
And she's like, yeah, I want to live another four years. She's like, four more years, like the politicians, you know? And he was like, all right. And then it was just too much, you know? So anyway-- - Look,
it's crazy that the doctors should know. - He should have known. - Like you went to eight years of med school, you should know-- - And I was the one who said, hey, you've got to stop giving. my mom chemo. Why are you the one who said we shouldn't go this hard?
Yeah, I know. Yeah. But so, so multiple times before she died and then even afterwards, I, I have very lucid visions,
um, in my sleep where I can, uh, act, do my own actions and like talk to people and stuff. as me and I guided her through rooms to doorways like to light portals where she would go somewhere else and um yeah it felt like I was escorting her to the end like you energetically and like showing her like it's safe to go to go this way Anyway,
we're on a tangent. I want to I want to hear more about about the film that you're working on and where you are with filming and what what your plans are for I am worries.
We which we just shot a lot of the Haiti scenes. And now we're in New Yorker now. - No, in New York and some in Haiti. - Okay.
- And now we want to start shooting the New York scenes when we always make it to New York, but we gotta raise some more money.
- Okay. - So we're just gonna put it on hold for now until we raise some money and get ready for that part. - Yeah. So yeah,
so it's coming along. We feel like the script is very ready, and it's a solid script. We got a few people that read it. They freaking loved it. Even had some people that want to play Maurice.
Wow. Isn't that role already taken? Yeah. So yeah, it's going good. It just is a process. process, you know,
when it comes to art, money is always like, you know, like, that's why I freaking love Chappelle. Chappelle has no strings,
no, he's not puppeted by anybody. Also like Kat Williams, they say and say what they want, how they want it, you know, but you know,
sometimes the artists have to find that. line between, "I got to pay my bills, but also I want to tell my truth." But sometimes you got to find a line of like, "You know." So,
this film, I want to shoot it the way I made my partner revolve it without, because a lot of times we could have gotten the money,
but but these people with the money want to change the story and tell us how to tell our story. So I was like, no. - High pass, yeah. - Yeah,
I mean, I had the craziest people, like, you know, and the one guy was only, it was like $5 million. The film cost like $800 ,000 to a mill. There's gonna be less than five mills.
Like, hey, can you make him a Brazilian because my family's from Brazil. - Oh. my God. - Like. - The whole point is like-- - It's a great script. I love the script, but we had so many of those,
like 10 or eight of those stories of people just want us to tell a story the way they want. - Wow. - And we could get the money, I'm like, I'm good.
- I love your commitment to the project in that way. 'Cause a lot of people would be like, I'm sure. - Well, you know what? The thing is, if you, I just, I feel like, I learned this from Patrice D 'Oneo.
If you do that and it fails, you fail twice. But if I do it my way and it fails, at least I fail one, I just learned a lesson about how I should do things different.
But when you change for the money or for whatever, then it doesn't do well or nothing. thing is when it fails, it's on me.
- Right. - But if it does well, then that the person put up to me, oh, I did, it's my, you know, so. - I love that. Again,
you may not see it, but I see that as discipline, I see that as commitment, I see that as a really clear ethic. And I see a lot of these choices that you've made in your life in that light.
And I wonder, a lot of these decisions you make are a lot of decisions that people make on the spiritual journey. And I wonder if you see know,
I just want to get through this so I can then look at it from a different angle of how I got here, but right now I'm just like, I just need to, you know,
focus, you know. Can't wait to see it. Thank you. Yeah. I can't wait for me to see it too. Yeah.
Yeah Well before we wrap I have a couple of like short answer questions for you What's the best advice you've ever been given One by Patrice he said We want the art of telling a story over and over again,
but it's the first time you're telling it. And it was like, remember how you held the mic, how you said certain words, because over time, it starts to get,
you know. And he said, try to remember. remember these other things when you was telling it, so you could tell it the same way over and over again,
so it never gets stale." Wow. Damn, I can't. That's a good one,
though. All right. What else you got? What's the worst advice you've ever been given? Worst advice? I gave my best. to people that thought they was gonna pay me back.
Two people, one person, only $15 ,000, and they'll want to earn $10 ,000. But that's not advice. That just made me just like, - Being very generous.
- Making dumb choices and dumb decisions. Worst advice. I can't think of it,
but anything when you're going for the money, just go get the money and I realize now that's not the way, that's not the way to do things. Money is not everything. I know I don't have money and I'm saying that.
But when a rich person says it, money is everything. Where do you see yourself in five years?
Making movies. Doing stand -up. Yeah. Yeah. Nothing crazy from now. Just, you know, hopefully in five years, I'll be on my fourth movie or third movie. Still doing stand -up.
You know? Yeah. Yeah. What else? If you could... well, you've been to a lot of places. If you could call another city home other than New York,
what would it be? - I have a few places already. There's Cap -Patient and Haiti. - Okay. - I love that city. It's Hong Kong.
- Oh, okay. - But Hong Kong is, China is like changing Hong Kong, but now we're in Hong Kong. there, it was amazing. There's Melbourne.
Ooh. I've never been to Melbourne. Melbourne was amazing. There's South Africa,
but I need more time there to call it home. Because you went to Johannesburg or how do you - I hope. yes. - Have you been to other parts? - I've been to Darwin,
Derby, Derby. And Darwin is in Australia. Darwin was super hot, I loved it. But Derby-- - You've been to Houston?
- No, everybody's tellin' me how nice it is. As to, yeah. But yeah. - Yeah. - Choose. Cap Aitian,
Melbourne, Hong Kong. It was another place. Not in America. Um,
maybe Atlanta. Oh yeah. Talk about hot. I like Atlanta a lot. DC. You like DC? I love DC. Really?
When it was more. more choppy T. Okay Good to when I'm away. I want to DC for the first time a long time ago It was like a town of black people like whoa Like we kill live on No,
cuz you know that that makes that week. Yeah, you can't you can't live by yourself The DC I found so stale,
I mean I was was, it must've been the white part. - I mean, DC, what I was, it was not, you know, the thing is like, I'm not sure you're aware of this, but you ever hear that they say black people are lazy,
black people like to work? - I mean, I've heard that, but I've never seen it. - Well, look, it was true, right? You had to understand what, I always say to myself, like the reason why history is important,
where did it come from? It might be, when slavery was over, Black people was the hardest working people in the country, right? Because there was already working hard,
so they took their work ethic and they just applied it to themselves. What happened, what was happening was, a lot of these Black towns, I'm sure you heard of famous Black Wall Street,
they were advising, they were Black people. people was coming up. They was built. There was a lot of black people started just thriving. The problem was two things,
white people was afraid that black people was coming back for revenge. And they were afraid that black people was gonna take over the stock market and make America a black place.
So that's their fear. [BLANK _AUDIO] So they did everything in their power to like destroy these black towns. Literally. And you know, I'm not sure there's one where when America was building up some white towns need the water.
So instead of bringing the water to a different way, they put water water right through these black towns, which flooded these black towns. Someone became reservoirs.
reservoirs. Wow. Well, that's kind of what they do in China, right? Yeah. Like, redirect the water through, like, yeah. Yeah. But they were doing it here, yeah, through black towns, these strong black neighborhoods. And so, the thing is,
is like, what white people forget, they instilled religion in us so much. So thoroughly. So much that black people believe in Jesus.
more than white people. That's why black people are most, you ever hear like black people are the most forgiving. You know, so the whole revenge thing, no,
we would, it was like, you know, Jesus turned the other cheek. So everything about it, Jesus is really white people's savior. It's saved, by them it's still-- - They don't even know how it's the kind of savior he is.
- Yeah, like, you don't have to worry about revenge, 'cause it's the kind of savior he is. was never coming back for revenge, but we forgave y 'all, you know? But you gotta understand why they thought like this. 'Cause when slavery was over,
a few weeks ago, some of these white people, rape, killed, separated the family, beat them. So now they just set these people that they just treated like this out there,
they're like, they're gonna come back, and they're gonna do harm to me and my family. I mean, it would be reasonable. Yeah, but I'm saying that they couldn't sleep at night now.
So they created all these laws. You heard about the homeless law. So when they freed the black people, a lot of them didn't have homes. They never seen black people walking the street like this.
They're the fear. So they created a law called the homeless law, like you can't be homeless. It's a crime. It's illegal to be homeless. Yeah. So they started locking up all the black people that were you living there?
I just got free toys and go, "Sir, you commit a crime for jail." Yeah, like, oh, shit. Yeah. Wow. It just speaks to me the horrors of what people can do.
to other people that you would, somebody would be out of the situation that you were in with them and then you're afraid for your life. Like if there's anything you're doing that you would be afraid that other person would like have power and then do something to you,
like you're really off the wrong path. - Yeah, I mean, look at the Santos who just wanted to get rid of history 'cause he thinks that it's gonna make little things worse.
white girls, little white boys be ashamed of who they are. But you need history. Like when you go to the doctor,
first thing they ask you is, "What's your history?" I want to treat you, but tell me about your mother. Was she a gambler? Did she like, did she brush her teeth, did she,
you know? Yeah. Yeah. It's like, another example, your head, they say, well, why police and black people don't get along.
Well, I mean, police kill black people. Yeah. So again, I don't know. Right. Right. So for a long time in early America,
there was no such thing as police. - Okay. - When you came to America, they told you, you'll be responsible for your own goods, you'll be responsible for your own security, your life. Not America has nothing to do with that.
So don't come to us. So there's no policing in America, right? During slavery, a lot of black people was like,
it was like, I can't. I can't look like this. They escaped. So when they escaped and they got caught, they didn't want to go back. So they'll kill a white man. When one white person killed 20 white people,
it was like, it was nothing. But when one black person killed one white person, panic. Like what? People couldn't sleep. They locked in their doors. Like we got catches,
nigga. And so a few white people, white men got together and created what was called slave patrol. So what they do is black,
because black people was not allowed to be by themselves. - Okay. - They didn't need a note or they had to be exploited by a white person. - Like hot passive. - Yeah, so yeah. So now when the white people see a white or black person,
'cause they were slave patrolling. the streets, they'll ask them, "Hey, Nigga, why don't you hang them or take them back to the plantations?" Hanging on the spot?
Yeah. Now, 1865, slavery was over. White people would never seen this many black people in the streets,
just women. around like this They the fear sky rockin They coming back for revenge so that the need for slave patrol was needed the most ever in America the problem though Slavery was outlawed So all these slave patrols turn into the police Oh,
which fall that's where the word patrol patrol officer officer patrol. - So police were actually born of? - Our slave patrol. So now, if you think about it,
you already said that the system is broke. - Yeah, there you go. - For something to be broke, that means it was working and I was broken. But if you think about the system, it was never meant for black people.
- It was designed for this. - Yeah, so it was never, not that it was never, but this how it was always working. - Yeah. - You know, we're trying to, we actually try to break the system. - Right. - That makes sense?
- Yeah, I'm with you. - So, - I'm with you. - So it's like, let me give you another perspective. 1901, 1865 to 1901,
how many years is that? You got to calculate? - It's like, what, 36 years? - 36 years. The reason why I say 1901, that's more easy to graph. than 18,
anything 18 something so long ago, right? Well, actually, I have a relationship to it because of photography, but but just, you know, yeah, 1901 is like, oh, yeah, 1901 by 1920,
by the block. How much do you think change in 36 years? Well, probably not much, sadly. Not much, right? So the way they was treating black people of the police in 1860.
1867, '66, '65, it's probably the same way they probably treated black people in 1901, you know, arresting black people for whatever reasons, you know,
by the way, the homesteads won, but they created a bunch of laws, right? So because 1901, you could easily grabs it in reality versus anything in 18 something.
So 36 is not much to change. So that means from 1901 to 1970. - Same old,
same old. - Same old, same old. 'Cause we've been protesting, you know, 1960s civil rights movement evolved because of the way we was being treated, you know?
Emmett Till, Harry, I'm not Harry Potter. I mean Rosa Parks, many, many, the little girl before Rosa Parks, yeah. The four girls I got born in the church is because they were still treating us this way,
you know. So, when the Varney King thing, you know, yeah, I remember I watched it on TV. So, the reason why the Varney King thing exploded.
exploded. So for many years, since 1865, up until 1991, the Black people have been saying, "Cops are mistreating us.
They are arresting us. They are stopping." And the white people were like, "Is it in your head? What are you talking about? I know it's not happening. Cops are here to protect us." Which is fair,
because the white people didn't have to do that. with that. That's why white people talk to cops however. They didn't see it. Now, when the Rhinocaine thing happened, we got evidence.
Look, hey, look, this is what we was talking about. They looked at it and like, "We still don't believe you. Set those cops free." And then black people were like, "Oh, you don't care?
Well, then fuck you too." And that's when the whites happened. And, and it was like, okay, that's how you feel. And that's how we feel. And, and,
and so. And but like, even like and that Rodney King was 91. And we think things was going to change. And George Floyd, and remind you.
Yeah, Joe vinyl King, George Floyd. And they still wait a lot. of things that are happening that you just don't hear about. Many, many, many stories you don't hear about.
But George Floyd, there's probably worse stories than George Floyd, but this one was so... It was filmed. It was... I'm telling you, there was other ones that were filmed.
Oh, I'm sure. But that's how viral it was. That's true. And then... But even after George Floyd, it was... always that happened. - Yeah. - So nothing changed.
- Yeah. Do you think truly that nothing, I don't think it changed with the police. - I mean, I'm probably exaggerating,
but yeah, there's some change, but it's so minimal. - Yeah. - You know, it's like, you know. - Still hurts. - Yeah, it's like, look,
we're not slaves anymore. But, you know, it's still like, I don't know. Because the reason I asked that is,
I mean, so I'm from Nashville, Tennessee. Right? I grew up with a lot of black people. My dad, and my dad's religion, Jehovah's Witnesses, half of the Kingdom Hall is black people. And I grew up,
and I went to school with black people, I went to public. public school. Some of my best teachers, some of my best educators are black people. So I grew up in close connection with a lot of black people.
Nonetheless, I was still very blind to a lot of what I know now. And I'm sure I'm still blind to much more, but I don't know. But when George Floyd was murdered, in collaboration with the pandemic opportunity,
I was able to look more deeply in a place that I hadn't had the bandwidth that is what I'm going to-- the word I'm going to use to look.
And I mean, it changed my life. The way that I handled my life, the way that I created the story, the way that I podcast out of,
out of that event and as a tool to support everyone and being a better ally to everybody else. Cause it's like it's not just for,
um, black and brown, BIPOC people, but for people with disabilities or differently abled or LGBTQ to, uh, to SAI plus,
uh, and so on. because it's like we don't have enough of these conversations going about like what is the experience for somebody else and how do you connect with somebody when you don't know what their experience is.
So I mean in my life has drastically changed and not to say that that's the point of that of his death at all but my hope is that there's many other white people who have.
had it an eye -opening experience, and I don't know I know it's not enough. Well, look, I'll say this. I'm like when you mentioned a pandemic was Sometimes something so tragic that happens that tough you see And the earthquake at Haiti 2010,
yeah Which I didn't know this But the earthquake earthquake got people to research why it's so important.
And we found out that Haiti was still paying France a freedom tax. - Oh, dang. Still in like 2000, what, 2015?
- So 1806 or something, we re -dominated in 2004. We were Haitians. And then they, what France did, they went and they,
you know, France, UK, England, I mean, UK, America, Spain, don't get along, but they do get along when it comes to suppress and black people.
So they got together and they go, they like, listen, the French is like, these people made me lose a lot of money. They should, they should pay,
they should give us a, a freedom tax. or nobody do business with them. Nobody exchange, 'cause you know, most countries, they had to exchange this. That's how they become a thriving country.
So they made Haiti pay $26 million, which if you use a conversion, it comes out to like $25 billion or $27 billion today.
Basically, in a nutshell, Haiti would never pay. be able to pay that back. So they made Haiti make payments up until,
and so I think recently they got them to stop. But I want France to pay that money back with interest. - I would love to see that. - No country ever that won a war.
- Is in pain, a loser. - A loser. loser You know and I mean places like Haiti because so with with climate change and with Events like the massive earthquake that happened there and that it's an island and like hurricanes can hit there You know the country is never gonna catch up with the infrastructure if they keep well not just that but You gotta stand right this is the first free black country on this side of the
world that was able, and also was able to be the big white man. America, UK, Spain,
they did not want the world to, this information to get out, especially the US, so -called the US, you know, in South America, because - because it would inspire other slaves like,
"Oh, there's a small group of Haitians, beat the white man. We can do it. We can do it." So, they did everything in their power to... Supress. ...suppress. Yeah.
Yeah. You know? All right. Sorry. This is... No, no. That's good. No, it's good. I mean, this is... We might end up with two episodes.
here, which is totally fine. Like I said, I mean-- - There's nothing funny about this episode. - I get to talk to you for hours. Nothing funny. That's, well, I mean, okay,
so like final question. Is comedy about being funny? - Yeah. - Okay. - Then it's not comedy.
Then it's a one person show. It should be funny. - Okay. - It should be funny. I mean, is it only about being funny than I guess then why what what does comedy means that?
Well, that's kind of what I'm asking, right? Yeah, I feel like it's about being funny, taking your stories or your life offensive, making, making, making it funny. Because otherwise,
then it's not, it's not don't call the comedy. Okay, call it, you know, play or one person. act, one person show, you know, that way,
stand up is still comedy, but it's synonymous with comedy. But I'm saying, if you're doing something on stage and it's not funny,
then stop, because you're tricking people, you're catfishing, because they see the word comedy. We, we, we, we, as, we. comedy with like,
yo, I'm gonna go laugh. And you get there like... This is not funny. This is the Shakespeare. Have you heard the,
you know, do you know Lewis Hyde, the writer Lewis Hyde? He said that, I'm gonna paraphrase, like, comedy brings us closer to comedy.
the divine Okay, and what I take away from that is that you need that Injection of humor to Transcend difficult situations to see around the divine God oh like the best of us transformation.
- Yeah, I guess. I mean, laugh, I mean, also laugh is all perspective,
right? So if somebody will laugh at the dumbest things and some people laugh at the smartest things and other people won't get it,
it. It's all you know. Have you ever done it a bit and nobody laughed? Yeah, of course. Like a whole show right here. I've been laughing.
I'm an easy target. You know, you do enough shows. You're going to hit a show away.
No one laughs. You know, also it's it's just like when someone says, "I never got into a car accident." Well, yeah, well, you drive once every six months versus someone who drives every day,
you know? Right, right, right. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, but that's part of the game is like also falling or failing is learning. You know,
if you never fall, know what have you learned, what have you, your mind isn't... your mind don't understand, you know? So you need to fail and fall so you could process and understand,
okay, what do I need to change? What do I need to do different, you know? So it's important for us to fall. But at the same time, it's how you fall,
and how you get up. You know, that's the... most important part. - When you got on stage the first time to,
what took you to, okay, now I'm gonna try comedy. Like what got you onto the stage the first time? - Oh, no, comedy was always like amazing to me.
Three of the best things in the world. Well, two when I was younger, and three when I was younger. third when I got older, was eating and laughing. I just remember as a kid,
those were two best things in the world. Just laughing my ass off, laughing with your friends, your family, laughing and laughing about whatever. And just from my laugh so hard,
it hurt. I was like, "Yo." And then eating, eating good foods. And the third one is orgasms. Okay Orgasms is like,
you know, they're pretty great. And these things come Not pun intended to the fund the body like your body is producing They all come from kind of the same place actually orgasm lower energy center.
Yeah, you know foods Laughing all in the gut area. Yeah, huh. That's interesting. Isn't it? And uh, yeah and those are three best things.
So I always thought comedy was like, I didn't think I would do it, but I always was a-- - Admiring. - In love with comedy.
One of the first comics I freaking loved was Rodney Dangerfield. - Oh, yeah. - Because when I saw her making fun of himself,
I was like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. "Oh, it's okay to be ugly. "It's okay to be different. "It's okay to be like not with you." And I was like, "That's why, you know, and it's okay." - Yeah.
- I get no respect. This girl said, "Hey, Rodney, come on over. "Nobody's home." I went on over, "Nobody was home." No respect, no respect. - I can't say no.
- You know? again. And so, yeah, so when I started comedy, I just like, it's what I want to do.
- Yeah. - I didn't, I wasn't always good at it, but I loved it and so I started understanding it more. And I remember when I saw Richard Pryor,
I was watching him and then I'm watching him and it cuts. the audience. It was an all white audience. And I was like, that's what I wanna be like. Where I could tell my stories,
but it's for everybody, not just for a group or ethnicity is like, and I wanna, and Richard was as black as he could be,
telling you these black ass stories to a white ass audience. And they got it down there. it. I'm like, that's what My comedy should be for everybody. I Said last question,
but that reminds me Well, I promise I won't keep you much longer Because you talk about you use race on it when you when you are on stage you you talk about I can like Has there ever been a moment where?
It's created like an uncomfortable uncomfortable tension? 'Cause it seems like-- - Oh yeah, of course. I mean, yeah, but it's not always about race,
sometimes about anything will create a tension. But you know, that's where the learning comes in. Okay, next time I gotta know how to say it in a way.
You know, you never wanna sell yourself out, but you want to, communicate these words or your experiences in a way so people can understand, you know,
because we're not trying to hurt nobody. We're just trying to make people laugh and have a good time, but also understand this is what I'm coming from, you know. Yeah.
I mean, there's some things I used to say, I don't say them anymore, you know, but certain languages I see as our users. use anymore, you know, we grow, we evolve as human beings,
not just as a community, but as a human being, and, and, but, you know, but, but, you know, that's not who we are, you know, we, we're, we, you know,
that's why I think humans are, I mean, not animals, I don't want to say better than animals, but not animals, because we could evolve.
and be better and grow, you know? And change, you know, change is very important. - I mean, this is what I see comedy as a vehicle for. - Change.
- Yeah. - Yeah, comedy is a great, I mean, people go, you know, when people go to comedy shows, yes, they go there to laugh, but a lot of times they leave in their learning,
they live in there with my family. to find out more interesting things that they didn't know. You know, comedy is like a school sometimes, you know? Or like a place to fit in to find out like,
oh, I thought I was the only one like this. Couldn't find out, you know, this person also, whatever, you know, fit in, but then whatever.
You know, I love that. Well, thank you so much for sharing. Yeah, yeah.
I mean, I would have you on many more times just so you know, okay. Um, everybody check Wil out his Instagram at Wil Sylvince.
You know, Wil Sylvince. - And look for I Am Maurice in 2025, 2024. - Hopefully 2024, yeah,
let's push for that step. Yeah, put it out there. - 2024, that's all we want. - Yeah, hopefully we'll raise enough money, we'll get the rest, $700 ,000. - Is there,
do you have like a crowdfunding or? - Oh, well, they could just, we on my website, go to WilSylvince .com and on my, on my I Am Maurice website. Lease page you'll see where you could help donate something.
Help us make this happen. Yeah. Please do that, you guys. Thank you. It's going to be good. And advance. Yeah. Even if you're done, thank you for thinking about it. Okay. I hope you enjoyed that conversation with Wil Sylvince for the Power Wheel.
Hold podcast. I really did. I think he's fascinating. Please check out I Am Maurice via the link in the bio and follow him on IG to find out where he'll be performing next.
He goes all over the country, so he's probably coming to a city near you sometime soon. If you enjoyed this conversation, please please rate and review and that really helps us out.
No matter where you listen, share it with a friend, have a conversation with somebody about Wil's events and how cool he is and invite them to go to see his comedy show with you,
that'll be fun. So you can also follow us on Instagram, coral .projects. I'm also gonna be starting the TikTok sooner or later, so it's awesome. coral dot projects.
And if you're interested in supporting the work that we do as coral projects, making eco art to heal the human -ocean's relationship, please consider purchasing a custom C coin via the link in the show notes.
What is a custom C coin? Well, it's a small sculpture that is designed to heal the human -ocean's relationship. in the palm of your hands, and it's meant to heal via commerce exchange your energy with the ocean's energy.
Heal your relationship dynamic. Every time we buy things that contribute to polluting the sea, like anything plastic,
anything plastic. that goes via transportation around the world. You know, we're contributing to harm towards the planet. And with coral projects,
we're working to reverse that harm. So we're creating eco -art experiences as education outreach with children so that they can learn how to make and create with their hands,
with the intention of love and with objectivity. objects that are healing for the planet. Materials that are eco -friendly, not plastics, not highly toxic materials,
but natural materials and upcycled and recycled and reused materials. We're also creating the world's first underwater, eco -friendly art exhibition,
which filter species will grow in around the world. Thank you very much for watching. and making a feature -length documentary film about that project, about the whole process.
So all these links are in the show notes. Please consider. And I super appreciate your time. I super appreciate you being part of this conversation,
these ongoing conversations with all these wonderful people. And I look forward to hearing from you. sharing Tiffany Burgess with you next week. She's in the new color purple film and we went to high school together.
She's really lovely. So stay tuned and I'll chat with you then. Have a good week.