WEBVTT

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- [Interviewer] Now, do you see
the record button in the corner?

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Up in the corner it should say
"Recording," and so-

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- [Leroy] Yep.

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- [Interviewer] Okay, cool.
And then I'm gonna mute myself

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while you introduce yourself.

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You're going to tap on the table
or make a noise before you start.

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- [Leroy] Okay.

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Hello, my name is
Leroy Franklin Moore, Jr.

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and I live in Berkeley, California.

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I am an author, activist, founder
of many organizations,

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founder of Krip Hop Music with a K

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to, back in the day,
I had a nonprofit called

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Disability Advocates
of Minorities Organization,

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and I also helped to start
what's called Sins Invalid.

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I'm a journalist with POOR Magazine,

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and yeah, just an activist and a writer
of many books.

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The latest book is
Black Disabled Ancestors.

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And I'm also a lecturer
on college campuses.

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- [Interviewer] Great, Leroy, thank you.

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Okay, so the first question is
tell of your first memory realizing

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that there were accessibility issues,
discrimination, or lack of inclusion.

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What is your personal story or connection
to the Americans with Disabilities Act?

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What do you remember about the day
that it was signed, if applicable,

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and what was the impact on you
and on others?

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- [Leroy] So the first example that
I realized that there was discrimination

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was back in the early '80s
when me and two other Black disabled boys

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decided to a letter campaign,

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and this was before computers
so we had to write.

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So we did a letter campaign
to a lot of Black organizations

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and Black leaders at the time

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asking why there was no
Black disabled people on TV or anywhere.

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So that was the first time
that I, you know, put it on my shoulders

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and challenged the system.

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So the other time when I realized
that there was a lack of accessibility

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is when I was attending my father's
activist meetings in the early '80s,

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and they were talking
about police brutality

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and other stuff that happens
to Black community.

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And when I left that meeting,
I was approached by a disabled group

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that wanted me to join their group to
talk about, to advocate about curb cuts.

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And I asked them, "Well, you know,
I just left a meeting with my father,

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"and they were talking
about police brutality,

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"and a lot of Black disabled people
can't enjoy the curb cuts.

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"They can't go outside, because
they're getting shot by the police."

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And the group said,
"Well, we can't deal with that.

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"We're dealing with curb cuts."

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So that's when I really found out, like,

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wow, this is two different worlds
and two different issues.

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So that's the first time that I
found out there's, you know, difference.

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And with the ADA, you know,
when the ADA was signed

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and that picture was everywhere,

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once again, I looked at the picture
and I was like,

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"Huh. Nobody looks like me."

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And back in the late '90s,

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I had an organization called Disability
Advocates of Minorities Organization,

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and we had tons of copies
of the cover of the ADA,

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and we put on the top of the ADA
who is, what is missing from this picture.

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And, of course, we all knew the answer
is people of color,

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so, you know, that was the first statement
that I made about the ADA.

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You know, it was like where is
people of color in the picture of the ADA?

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- [Interviewer] Yay!
Beautiful, thank you.

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- [Leroy] Yeah.

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- [Interviewer] The present.

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Has the ADA made a difference?

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Tell us about your a-ha moment
that told you that the ADA

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is or is not making a difference.

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And to what extent, based on your passions
and areas of expertise, where do you see

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or not see the impact of the ADA?

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- [Leroy] So, yeah, of course the ADA
has made a difference in society,

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in, you know, the global society.

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You know, you can see it with
accessibility in public places.

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You can see it in communication, you know,

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especially during these social network
life that we're living in

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with Google and Twitter, you know,

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all of them are making their products
more accessible, so that's good.

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You know, we see a little-

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We're in the airlines a lot,
but, you know, yes, we see it.

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And the place that it needs more growth

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is, of course, people of color, you know,

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people that are poor,
people that are "immigrants."

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And they still, the ADA do not reach them,

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and that's why my organization
in the '90s and early 2000s

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had the Other Side Rally.

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It was the other side of the ADA,

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to give the voices of communities
that hadn't felt the good of the ADA.

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So yeah, it needs a lot of work,

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especially when it comes to our cities,
our inner cities.

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You know, I live in Berkeley.

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Berkeley's like a utopia place
for people with disabilities.

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You know, you see curb cuts,
we've got the Ed Roberts building.

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But if you go to East Oakland, you know,
there's only a handful of curb cuts.

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The roads are still bumpy;
stores are still small.

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So you can see the difference
between communities.

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And so that needs to change.

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Of course, the high unemployment rate
of people with disabilities

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hasn't changed since the '80s.

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Talking about Black
and brown disabled people,

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it's still a high 90% unemployment rate.

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So that still hasn't changed.

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And I can go on and on, but yeah.

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There needs to be more push of the ADA
in certain communities.

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And also I think our leadership
more actually needs to change.

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Not only the president, but our
disabled lobbyists needs to change.

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We need more young people
with disabilities

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taking over the leadership
who won't compromise,

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because I think that's one
of the biggest things that we lose

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is that, when we compromise,
we look back and it's like,

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"Oh my God, we didn't get nothing
for that compromise."

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So I think we need more leaders
that don't compromise.

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- [Interviewer] Well said, Leroy.
You're doing great, thank you.

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For the future, and you may have already
covered what you want of this,

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but you can just listen,

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and if there's more you want to say,
then go for it.

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With the work you've been doing,

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you've seen a lot
in terms of progress and barriers.

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If you could pick one thing to change
or that needs to occur

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to have access and equality present
in the lives of people with disabilities,

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what would that be?

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- [Leroy] I think people with disabilities
in key roles.

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I think we need a disabled president.

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You know, in key roles,
we need disabled people in the media.

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We need disabled people in the DOJ,
the Department of Justice.

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The DOJ enforces the law,

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so we need strong people
that will enforce the laws.

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We need more disabled people
in all kinds of areas.

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Education, mental health, legislators,

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people that are passing budgets, you know.
Yeah.

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- [Interviewer] Thank you, Leroy.

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And for the call to action,

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what steps can we
as community members take right now?

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- [Leroy] Well, right now it's hard,
because of this COVID-19.

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Right now, people need to be safe,

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you know, that's basically, from COVID-19.

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Really think of what they're doing,

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really think, you know,
if it's necessary to go outside,

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if it's necessary to protest.

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Yeah, we definitely need to think
what's really necessary

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and what's not necessary.

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So I think, at this time,
we can't think of anything else,

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because it's life or death, you know?

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The media is talking about the elections,

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talking about other things,
but, if we don't live,

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then we can't enjoy
anything on this Earth.

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So I think people really
to take serious on this COVID.

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Because t's not over,
and that includes about all the services

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and the laws and the lifestyles
of people with disabilities.

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So, yeah, that's on my plate.

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The only thing that's
on my plate right now.

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It's, you know, trying to stay safe

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and trying to stay in contact
with people with disabilities.

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- [Interviewer] Very nice, Leroy.
Very nice.

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Is there anything else that you want
to say that you didn't say?

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- [Leroy] I think also there needs to be

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more mentorship
for young disabled people coming up.

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And mentorship in the public domain,

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not only in the disability community,
but in the community wide open

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so people know about about it
in other communities.

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That and I also think that, going back
to Black and brown disabled communities,

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there needs to be a national campaign,
national awareness campaign,

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for the Black and brown community
around disability,

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because we do not get it through the ADA.

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We do not get it through 504.

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And, because of that, our communities
are slowly becoming not important

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for Black and brown disabled people.

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We have to leave our communities
to get services.

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We have to leave our communities
just to be recognized as disabled people.

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So I think there needs to be
a national campaign

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in the Black and brown communities

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so disabled people can return home

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and really educate our
Black and brown communities.

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And what I call "Black ableism"
is one thing that is a roadblock

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for a lot of Black and brown disabled
activists that want to come back home

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and work in our communities.

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So we need a national campaign
so we can get rid of the Black ableism.

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- [Interviewer] Awesome, Leroy.
Awesome.

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I appreciate you taking your time out
to just share your thoughts,

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and I think this is gonna be eye-opening
for a lot of people.

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I love it, thank you.

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- [Leroy] Yeah!
So when is this gonna go up?

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- [Interviewer] So let me-