The Scoop with Tanya Flanagan

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The content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 jazz and more the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education.

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Good morning, and thank you for joining me for the scoop with Tanya Flanagan, I'm so happy you decided to wake up and start your day with me here on the scoop, where we talk about life, joy, funny moments, trending topics and so much more. We promise to keep you in the know and find out what you know. So let's get started.

Unknown Speaker 0:42
You morning. Good morning. Good morning. Las Vegas, welcome to another beautiful Sunday morning. Thank you, as always, for waking up on Sunday mornings and tuning in to K, U N, V 91.5 and more to listen to me here on the scoop with Tonya Flanagan, I hope I am continuing to bring you engaging and interesting conversations that you find entertaining and insightful. It is Sunday after National Election Day everywhere in our country, and local races, statewide races, things of that nature. So we are on to the next four, on to the next two, six, whatever your term may be for that respective candidate who was running. But some things turned out. For some the way they wanted them to did not turn out the way they wanted them to. For others, but in all, we are a country together in the same space, and for what we will forge with humanity, I hope to do the things that are overall best for for each of us and yet individually at the same time, collectively and individually, I should say this morning, kind of in that vein, going to be having a conversation with a young man who was on the ballot for this election cycle, and whose story I think is unique and interesting, and I'm excited and delighted to learn more about who he is and how he's come into the space that he's about to occupy as part of the Nevada State Legislature. I'm going to be introducing you to none other than Javon Jackson, who ran for Assembly District Six, which sits, for those of you don't know, kind of at the heart of the city, encompassing historic West Las Vegas. And as we talk, we'll define those boundaries very specifically and talk about those who came before him a little bit as well, probably before we jump into the conversation. It's Sunday before Veterans Day here in our country, which is a very symbolic day. So I want to thank the members of the military, armed forces, for their service to this country in the past and present, and those who have their eye on that aspiration, thank you for your service to our country and to keeping us safe and protected. So without further ado. Javon, good morning and welcome to the show.

Unknown Speaker 3:18
Good morning. Good morning. It's an honor to be on the morning scoop here with you. Miss Tanya, I'm just so honored to be here on the show and to share my story with you guys.

Unknown Speaker 3:30
Well, thank you. Thank you for taking some time out of your busy schedule and for waking up and having this conversation with me so up you have your I don't know if you're a coffee drinker, a tea drinker, what you do, what you could do, maybe an energy drink person, but you strike me without the energy that you might be an energy drink person. So thank you for pouring coffee with your energy drink.

Unknown Speaker 3:54
I drink Red Bull sugar free because, you know, I'm a cancer survivor, so I try to be a little healthy. I'm

Unknown Speaker 4:05
glad to hear that as a fellow cancer survivor, I am glad to know that you are trying to write the course in every turn that you can and live a healthy life so that you can prolong the years of your life. Well, let me congratulate you. Congratulations are in order. When the polls closed on Tuesday and the sun came up on Wednesday, you had a new title?

Unknown Speaker 4:33
Yes, I did well.

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Congratulations. Officially. Assemblyman Jovan Jackson for assembly district, six.

Unknown Speaker 4:45
Thank you. Thank you.

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How does it feel? I mean, running a race is exhausting, it's time consuming, it's self sacrificing, but you also have, you have cancer in your history, and then you have sort of. What some might feel it's an anomaly and just really a testament to, I don't know, progress or change, or the idea that if you put your mind to it, and you're determined and you're genuine, there's nothing that you can't do type of story. So you, and I don't know your whole story, so I'm going to be getting introduced to a little bit. Little bit more myself. But you have a background, you have a felon in your background, yes, and now you're an elected How did, how did, I said you have a felon in your background, but now you're an elected official for the state, yes. So how did, how do we get here? What's your what's your story,

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what's my story, and why

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go into this space like I'm there's so many, how, who, Whys what? So, what happened? What happened? What's the story, and how does cancer fit into it

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most definitely. Let's, let's do we'll do a quick synopsis, because you I know we're short on time. We

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got a minute we want to paint a good picture. We got a minute we want to paint a good picture here.

Unknown Speaker 6:14
Well, it's Sunday morning, and I have a story redemption. But just to give a little about myself. I'm born and raised in Vegas. My family's rooted out here. I graduated Dave pines. My background is in mental health services. I started my first business at the age of 19. I became very successful after high school, almost like immediate success, and I didn't really understand what I really achieved in life. And I became a bit arrogant, a bit naive, and I forgot the things that made me successful. I forgot about, you know, that I'm a man of faith, and I really believe that my faith is the reason why I was successful so fast. But I lost sight of those things because I was consumed with the world. And so with that consumption of the world, you know, it is Sunday, so we could talk about a little sin, you know, you know, some people fall on alcohol, some people fall on gambling. I fell on substance abuse, and I thought I was this unstoppable force, and I found a drug that stopped me and it it changed who I was overnight, and I lost perception who I was. I lost perception of reality. I became delusional, psychotic, and it was, it was a scary path, trying to give get my mind back and remembering who I was. So

Unknown Speaker 7:57
you were 19. Were you 19, when you first had your first experience with the drugs? Or were you older? Because you said you started the business at 19. So how much time were you? So how long were you in business before you found yourself in the choppy waters, like did it? Was it?

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Oh,

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I want to say because people sometimes say our city is fast paced.

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So I was about 22 years old when this all happened. I graduated high school 2010 and I caught my first felony case. And 2015

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so 2011 so was the felony case actually tied to the drug use, or was it as a result of the drug use.

Unknown Speaker 8:44
So, so yeah, I would say the the drugs use led to my incarceration because of the behaviors and the decisions I made while I was mentally unstable. So, yes, it was drug use that led led to my incarceration,

Unknown Speaker 9:06
okay, but the incarceration wasn't necessarily because you had a drug offense. It was completely different. No, so,

Unknown Speaker 9:12
so, just so what led to my incarceration was I was in and out the mental hospital. I was, you know, hopeless, suicidal. I couldn't even speak at the time it was, it was almost like I was trapped within my mind, because people used, you know, would talk to me, but I couldn't respond. And so I just became to this point where I was hopeless, and my my god brother, just got out the military as an Army Ranger. And, you know, frankly, they they train them to do one particular thing, and you know, that's to be a soldier and to, you know, use a weapon, and, you know, do certain things. So he was released at the age of 20 with no. A transition into civilian life, and he was living with me at the time, and he had no he was dealing with his own mental health problems, but he cope with it differently. And I really just felt like he fell back on his training. I don't I know my brother had no intentions of hurting anyone, and I know he was a professional soldier, and so I just got to mental hospital. He wanted to, you know, do this, this crime and and I at the time, I was just like, I didn't care about my future or where I was going, and I figured the worst thing that could happen is that, you know, I'm locked up forever, or that I'm killed. You know, at the last moment, I decided not to be a part of it, but I was still charged with a conspiracy of robbery. And me and my brother, since we were both, you know, good standing citizens, we both received a two to five sentencing, you know, for the things that we partake Dave,

Unknown Speaker 11:03
wow, thank you for sharing that because it is it's a lot to be transparent, and it takes a lot of growth to own and be willing to be vulnerable and share your story in a space where you already have quite the spotlight on you, in a light that will continue to shine on you. So I just want to say thank you for sharing the story in the space a lot of conversation about mental health and how you were feeling wellness. Now that you're in this new role, you've come full circle, and you ran for office, you put your name on the ballot. This isn't the first time, so it's the second, the second time you run for office in the previous election. You ran for a city council seat in North Las Vegas against current councilman, Scott black, correct, correct. And you came in some pretty admirable race. Scott black did prevail, but you had a really, I think, respectable showing in that race, and then you went on to put your name on the ballot for this recent election for the assembly district for six let's make sure people know where that is. So if you want to go ahead and define the boundaries of the of the area that you're going to be representing

Unknown Speaker 12:21
most definitely so Assembly District Six, like you said earlier, it has historic Las Vegas West Side and historic west side. It has areas of North Las Vegas that's considered the west side, like Valley View, Windsor Park regular states. It has those neighborhoods, but that's still considered at North Las Vegas. So you have 89106, you have 89030, I have, I like to call Old North town, but it's basically the civic center area, which we have a lot of our historic communities down there in North Las Vegas, and then it goes all the way down to almost walnut, walnut. So I have a piece of Northeast Las Vegas, and then, and then it goes all the way the going the other way, going west. It goes where the Texas used to be and like up to it doesn't necessarily hit Western High School, but it goes up, kind of cuts off right there. So I have parts of 107 also. So

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you have a great deal of the older areas of the city, of the valley, and a lot of the history you mentioned. You mentioned being born here in your family, having very deep roots. How does it feel to get to this point in life, and now you're representing the older areas. Like, is that an emotional space for you, given everything that you've been through, to be having that feel

Unknown Speaker 13:59
for you? It feels, you know, knowing my position after my incarceration, I got very involved in social justice and to see this side of town, the historic side of town, lack, you know, social equity, you know, in the, you know, the housing and the infrastructure. Here it, to me, is it aligns with who I am and what what I want to fight for. And, you know, this community deserves a voice, and we often accept the ghetto or the hood to, you know, look a certain way, while the suburbs look look other way. And we we accept that, but that's all systematic, and we need to start having conversations about, you know, reinvesting in our older communities, because it is a part of social justice. It is a part of, you know, making sure people are still not impacted by redlining and oppression and racism. So I'm excited. Excited to represent this district, because I know what it meant for my grandparents to, you know, move here and they bought, you know, homes and hoping to have generational way well for their their children, and they were able to achieve that, but they're not able to get that same impact as someone that bought their home in summer lane or in a different side of town. So I really I love that represent this district, because I love to fight for what's right and and definitely fight for social justice.

Unknown Speaker 15:33
Well, I know you're excited, and I'm sure people are excited to see what happens and to work with you. You your story has a lot to do with mental health, mental wellness, and also we just started to get into the space of social justice. What? What were the experiences that took you from sort of the self depression space, the having committed a crime, the two to five sentencing. What was the journey like to come out of that space, to get into this person who cared about the community around you, and to become a person who wanted to give back, like, what were the trigger points? What were those? What were the factors around I

Unknown Speaker 16:24
want to say it was very empowering to serve something greater than myself and I did, you know, political organizing, community work, since I was released in 2018 and never got paid $1 to do it, but it's what I wanted to do, because the work is bigger than myself. There's folks that's impacted just like me that can't get a home, can't get a job, can't get higher education because of their background. Because it was empowering, but it also activated me to realize that, you know, there needs to be a voice for the voiceless. There needs to be a voice for someone incarcerated, and that, you know your voice is important, that it should be heard. So it was an empowering feeling to go from this person that was ultimately feel hopeless to providing someone else hope. Because, to be honest, all it took was seeing someone else overcome, you know, their robots or their to, you know, overcome their mental illness or even overcome their cancer. For you know, Dave inspired me to keep on fighting. So I want to say it's very inspirational to do this, and it's very empowering, because I know I impact the lives of other and I and I attack the lives of those that may feel hopeless and give them little hope. So it definitely excites me.

Unknown Speaker 18:01
You mentioned the cancer we haven't talked about that you were diagnosed with. And if you want to, from the respect of privacy, you may not want to talk about what kind, or you may want to talk about what kind. I don't know, but if, but when you were you diagnosed, because I know cancers of having been a survivor myself. It's very personal journey, and I've had my moments, and I talked about it a certain way, less transparent at certain times than other times. So I completely respect and understand that when were you diagnosed?

Unknown Speaker 18:39
So I remember this specifically because Pat Spearman, she offered me a mentor to be mentored by her and you as you know, legislation session starts in February. The month of February I was based I was diagnosed with cancer, and I remember, like, you know, telling myself, like, I know I I need to stop working and really focus on my my health. And I did that, but a part of me couldn't give up that, being mentored by past film. And so, you know, in spite of that, I I still press through. So I was diagnosed last, last year, February, with it. And I was diagnosed initially with testicular cancer, and then the test score cancer spreads my lungs. So I had lung cancer. I had a tumor on my lung also, and I'm very transparent with it. I told myself that I need to be transparent with this, because, you know it will give hope to someone else, because, to be honest, being diagnosed with testicular cancer as a young man is scary. You know it's to know that you might have to lose a part of you, especially a sexual organ. It almost feels like. It defies your manhood. So just want to, you know, express to other young men that you know, if you're going through this, that you know losing a testicle is not necessarily the the end of life. And there, there is life and and if you want to have children, and there is the chance of, you know, a very high chance of you having children after this. So just want to, you know, give everyone hope on that. But last February, I was diagnosed.

Unknown Speaker 20:28
Well, thank I'm glad you're surviving that space, and thank you for sharing, because I wanted to make sure I respected your right to privacy, right? It's a journey, you know, cancer survivor to cancer survivor. It's a journey, and there's growth in what you want to talk about, how you want to talk about it, and you realize that it's an opportunity to help others, but you have to be comfortable with that responsibility and going into the space for those conversations. So thank you for that, everything you've been through so much in a way as a young person, because what are you 3032? You're younger than I even thought you're 32 and at this point, you've graduated high school, started a business, found yourself caught up in a substance abuse space, committed a crime, saw your mental health in jeopardy, battled through all of this, to come out of that space and find yourself facing cancer, to be treated, survive cancer, and then say because somewhere In this journey, this desire to advocate for others became so strong, and I'm still kind of wanting to hear, was it like a aha moment that, that, you know, in the mentoring with Pat, was that part of the aha moment? Because she is a state senator, she was a state senator, I should say. And, you know, was it like the was that the the role model, the person that said, you know, you know you you're growing up. And as a kid, you go, Oh, you see someone, you get to know them. And you're like, I want to be, I want to be like that when I grow up. That's what I want to do. Did it? Is that like a trigger, or was that? Was that the moment,

Unknown Speaker 22:16
I won't say necessarily, past spirit and trigger that moment, it was actually a West Side Councilman that triggered that moment when I was young, and I knew, you know, at a young age, I wanted to get in politics, and I never thought like me going to prison would be The debut of my political career. So But Pat Spearman, she showed me that you could be authentically you and still be an elected official. You know, wherever your beliefs are, you don't have to hide behind what you know society wants you to be. You know, especially her being an LGBT woman and and then the military and so she she also, she kept that, that dream spark. And it was an aha moment, because even through my chemotherapy, and this is what kept me alive, was community, engaging community, in the hopes of, you know, running for office. So it was, I guess, the aha moment, because it ultimately kept me alive. It kept me It kept me going. And so being surviving all these things we know, literally in February the following February, I got the final decision if I had to get chemotherapy or not. That's why I was so late declaring if I was going to run. And, you know, my doctor say, Hey, you don't need chemo anymore. And so it's just like, I was like, I'm going to run for office. And I, you know, and, and, you know, Pat, she was my mentor, and she was kind of hesitant about, you know, me running, but she also knew that, you know, this boy just fought for his life. So if he wants to do this, you know, Imma support him. So, you know, I got her support, and she kind of, you know, point me in the right direction, gave me good advice, and I, I'm stubborn, but she told me about three, four times, and I finally listened, and, you know, and to come victorious. And in my primary election with 84% and then just recently, in my general election with 70% is it's like a testimony that anything is possible if you have faith and you believe something bigger than yourself, and you know, so I just don't want folks to ever give up on a dream. So whether how big and small it is, and just remember, your dream doesn't let says value up to money. It values up to purpose, because I I have made a lot. Of money, and I have lost a lot of money, but this right here, what I achieved, being elected, is what is driving me and is what's giving me purpose and and life and joy. So just want folks to hold on to that hope that you know you could chase your dreams and it's possible. Well, thank

Unknown Speaker 25:20
you for sharing that, and thank you for sharing the words of inspiration we're getting toward the end of the show. And I want to make sure if anyone does want to continue to get to know you or see how your story continues to unravel and evolve, I want to make sure, while we have good time in the show, to share your social media. If there's ways people can you know, learn more, definitely,

Unknown Speaker 25:41
most definitely. So you guys can follow me at on my website, www, Jovan Jackson com. Some people say Jovan, but it's Jovan, so www, Jovan Jackson com, or at Instagram, at Jovan Jackson action campaign,

Unknown Speaker 26:01
and I will say Jovan is spelled J as in Jack O, V as in Victor, a N as in Nancy. Thanks for sharing that we're getting low. But what are some areas that you are hoping you have an opportunity to focus on impact.

Unknown Speaker 26:19
So I definitely want to direct my energy towards criminal justice reform, and I know I'm this huge mental health care advocate. It's just that the criminal justice system, you know, once you improve the criminal justice system, you almost ultimately improve the mental health care system here in Nevada, because our jails and prisons are the biggest mental health facility, so I you definitely going to see me focus on some type of criminal justice reform.

Unknown Speaker 26:50
That's good. It's a lot to be done in that area. There's so much going on in our country right now and really in our city, and just different conversations around that population and re entry and support and different sensitivities. And I think as we evolve as a nation of people, and we learn more, we become more thoughtful in how we're responding to situations, and instead of them being unchecked crisis areas, we can work together to create innovative solutions and look at it differently. And I guess the biggest thing for me is people, you know, depending on the nature of the offense, you've done, you committed it, you've done the time for it, there has to be something that allows people to become more successful when they come back. So I think, you know, the more conversations we have, the better we will do with finding the re entry finding more successful re entry paths. So I'm hoping that that is something that, as we move forward as a society, we find ways to focus on more successful re entry paths. So I know you're excited to go up to Carson City and play in the snow, yeah, and freeze

Unknown Speaker 28:13
just a little bit. My housing is close to the Capitol, so I'm hoping I could go from one building to another not get too cold, but yes, alrighty,

Unknown Speaker 28:23
sounds like a winner. We are coming down to the end. I want to say thank you. And again, I want to say thank you to all the veterans out there as we get ready for Veterans Day tomorrow. Thank you for your service and your commitment to the country, for continuing to keep us safe and protected. It is the Sunday after election day in America, and we were talking to Jovan Jackson, who is headed up to do some things in the state of Nevada. It was on this year's ballot. So I want to say thank you once again for spending some time with me here on the show this Sunday. Thank you. Thank you Las Vegas, as always, for tuning in supporting K, U, N, V, Public Radio, 91.5 jazz and more. We will see you. I will see you next week. And if you want to stay connected with me, all my social handles are my name, so you can find me under Tanya Flanagan, pretty much everywhere, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, all that good stuff until next week, stay safe, stay healthy, stay happy, and we'll talk to you again next week. I want to thank you for tuning into the scoop with me. Tanya Flanagan and I want to invite you to get social with me. I'm on Facebook and Twitter. My name is my handle, T, a n, y a F, l, a n, a G, A n, you can also find me on Instagram at Tanya almond eyes Flanagan, and if you have a thought, an opinion or a suggestion, don't hesitate to shoot me an email to tanya.flanagan@unlv.edu Thanks again for joining in. Stay safe and have a great week. You.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai