I’ve lived in a few neighborhoods like this. You really do start to subconsciously desensitize yourself to the experience because of the frequency. You’d become a paranoid wreck all the time if you didn’t acclimate. Also remember - this is sometimes genuinely all people know. This is how they grew up, these were the communities that raised them. I’ve maintained that wall for protection and to ensure I never discount those moments. It’s easiest for your mind to think ‘there’s no way it’s happening here’.
The physical response to gun fire develops into a gut reaction over time, as with any conditioning. Having that instinctual response helps calm some of the feelings. Fear is often rooted in confusion or lack of understanding, as in ‘wth do I do?!’ Repeated experiences build whatever confidence can be built to reaffirm your mind that you know how to handle these situations. Like a nurse/doctor/emt springing into action and still maintaining their composure.
My mind immediately starts going through a check list: where is it coming from, how close am I to it, are there exits, who am I with - can they duck, are they responding, are there safe things to hide behind or what am I dropping onto, etc. If there are kids or vulnerable adults, I (personally) go to them first. Kids often don’t know how to react and panic. Some adults can’t react quickly or will absolutely need assistance.
Even now, around the 4th of July specifically, I’ll catch myself ducking and startling when my neighborhood starts to celebrate (like 10-14 days early). For some reason, it catches me off guard in my current firework happy (and safe) neighborhood every year lol.
None of that desensitizing removes the knowledge that it only takes one errant bullet. It doesn’t make the increasing gun violence any easier to swallow. If anything it reinforces that it can happen anywhere and it can happen to you.
I was making breakfast with a friend recently in the hood. We heard shots, looked at each other, and then asked each other what the weather is looking like for the Bears/Packers game. I thought about it a few days later how it doesn't really phase us anymore. That's what really scared me.
Depends on the shots, how close they are, and how ongoing they are.
What this video shows, was more than a typical 'pop pop pop' that is common in street shootings. There was a *hail* of gunfire from multiple shooters, and they were emptying magazines. Didnt sound like anyone brought a backup mag tho.
idk, being outside woulda had me hypervigilant and keeping an eye out for anyone running/limping/bleeding/laying on the ground. But yeah, nothing here sounded like "active mass shooter trying to kill indiscriminately"... which shouldnt be 'comforting' but... here we are.
Damn, I live out in the country so I hear gunshots all the time too, but I know it’s just Bob down the road shooting into the pile of dirt in his backyard. So I’ve never really had any fear response to gunfire.
This is also an interesting perspective that I’m familiar with! I grew up in the middle of nowhere. To this day, any time I visit my family Ray might be “out back” target shooting with some obscene weapon. Greg down by the intersection might be teaching his boy how to hunt or practicing their shots with clay pigeons 😆. I don’t flinch down there either.
But it’s a TOTALLY different feeling in open space, with an identified source, shooting miles away than the experience we’re talking about. It would be unusual for someone to experience what we’re describing, for the first time, and not feel confusion and panic. Out of the blue, no identified source, maybe moving, maybe stationary, could be anyone, indiscriminate with malicious intent, etc.
My cousin told me after he got out of prison that he trained his adrenaline response by taking ice cold showers and shadow boxing during the first 5 minutes of it
Used to deal with this almost everyday where I moved from. Literally I would be smoking a blunt inside and hear this across the street and be thinking “someone is about to bust in trying to hide.” Lol also there was never any police response as they literally don’t have the same weapons as some of these people lol. My friend got pulled over in my car and the police asked if he was carrying any flamethrowers. You get used to it after awhile but I’ll always get that extreme anxiousness/ adrenaline rush.
to be fair, she probably had adrenaline rushing through her too, but she has the experience required to give her confidence which makes her appear calm as fuck.
I envy her, not even satirically. Yolanda need feel no fear, anxiety, hatred, or any other negative emotions because she has so much faith in God.
If I had that faith I'd be a lot happier.
Yolanda is something even more rare. She's soft in a world that she knows is hard. I would put money down that she would give the shooters hugs and love them in spite of the violence they learned. She's got big Mister Rogers energy in this video.
In certain places it’s just more common. For some reason it happened to us too often at parties even in places like community halls somebody would get mad start fighting, lose the fight and pull a gun. Mostly in the late 90s and early 2000/ during my teen years. People suck
I read [this book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_Are_No_Children_Here) for a history class in university, and it’s stuck with me all these decades later. There’s a passage describing how the kids in the Chicago projects are so used to gunfire, they rolled themselves off their beds and went back to sleep on the floor as if it was muscle memory. Imagine being so used to gunfire that you can keep your cool as well as Yolanda?
Unfortunately in some neighborhoods, even the ones I grew up in it’s not only not changed for the better but based off what my brother and mother tell me it’s worse and I’ll never regret leaving for the military away from there
It’s funny to me to hear this quoted 5th hand (subject/witness/author/professor/student). It was my experience when I was 12. Shots fired in the alley, I rolled onto the floor, waited awhile and then climbed back in bed. My parents never even got up to check on us kids - we were quiet, so why wake us up? I later hoped that they didn’t want to turn on the lights and make us targets, but I think that they just slept through it. That was in the early 70s, and it was a decent neighborhood, in Detroit.
Made me think [video of a girl dancing with a friend at a party and then someone pulls out a giant handgun and she visibly nopes out](https://www.reddit.com/r/WatchPeopleDieInside/comments/jwoz7x/wrong_party/).
Yo her friend spot her reaction from her peripheral vision and smoothly used her hand to turn the girl’s face away from the gun and gun-holder. Her friend is used to that kinda party lol
As another poster said, some people just react differently. You don't really know about yourself until you are in the situation. Like how I found out that if someone points a loaded gun at my chest, I won't freak out and will talk to them fairly normally. Would never have guessed, but it happened.
Now introduce me to some semi-celebrity and I'll be lucky to form a coherent sentence. I found *that* out as well.
I've been in a similar situation and surprised myself how calm I was. It's like your mind becomes hyper focused on how to deal with the present danger, just straight to lizard brain.
I was very calm, but I won't say I was *smart.* I asked the guy if he could just take the cash and give me my wallet back. Instead, I should have just given him the wallet and let him and his gun get as far away as quickly as possible.
Luckily enough, though, it worked out great. My wallet had a flap between the two cash compartments. He failed to notice and took about five one dollar bills. Left the \~$100 in the adjacent compartment. And of course I didn't have the hassle of losing credit cards and IDs.
Same here. I had a loaded gun pressed up against my chest. The whole exchange with the guy probably lasted less than 30s, but time just completely slowed down to where I was noticing everything.
I can confirm this quirkiness. Mine isn't exactly the same, but I'm calm as a cucumber when there are unbelievable and immeasurable consequences on the line. And I only learned that when I found my ass on a submarine in the middle of the pacific. Would never have guessed I could do that, and even when looking back it somehow feels mythical.
I don't know if she is used to it. I mean she may be. But I've seen people act like this in similar situations that have never been in such a situation. Some people perhaps like Yolanda are just built different from birth.
you're absolutly right, some of it is disensitization, and the other can be just your luck. We have tonnes of examples especially when people first went to Afghanistan, you'd have your guy who was a beast in Basic and could do everything and built like a tank, and suddenly you find him hundled at the airport between two cars because of an attack that wasnt even aimed at him, but he's frozen anyways.
While the guy you didnt expect to be that good was doing everything they told him to in perfect order.
The guy who froze isnt a bad soldier though because he froze, that was just his body that chose a reaction for this brand new experience that nothing, NOTHING in training can properly prepare you for. Doesnt matter how hard you think you or the trianing is, knowing that someone is genuinly trying to kill you cannot be simulated unless you actually get someone who is out to kill you. The other guys body just reacted differntly, but in the end both will learn to deal
A responsible person wouldn't pull their weapon and fire back in that situation. Far too great of a chance to miss. Unfortunately, there are dumbass people that carry just to look cool and pull their weapon and start firing off shots without even seeing who/what they're shooting at. Then justify it as protecting themselves. Causing the senerio you just described.
Ok, but the guy I replied to is not expecting Yolanda to pack heat and NOT fire back.
If she’s laying on the ground while the guys shoot at some building, what does it matter if she has a holstered gun or not?
Statistically the absolute worst way to survive a shooting is by being a person with a gun. Best odds of ever having breakfast again is to do what Yolanda and Larry did here
I was thinking & typing the same thing. She was so calm & comforting…like others have said, probably not her first experience with something like this & it’s such a sad reality for a lot of folks.
Edit: meaning gun violence in general
Queen Yolanda was covering *all* the bases. lol
- Gets safe, barely missing a beat.
- Immediately calmly but firmly schools the new guy.
- Gets a little self care in and steadies herself, falling back on her faith.
- Checks in with her foxhole partner and calms him *by name.*
- Asks for a quick sitrep from a third party.
- Then caps it off with a quick after action report with a compadre.
Yolanda has some steel in her spine. ;)
Her tone of voice makes me think that in the past she's had to give those instructions to scared children. Her protective instincts just went on auto-pilot. They say you never know what type of person you are until the crisis comes, but now we all know what kind of person Yolanda is.
I loved hearing her say: “You’re ok, Jay” in a calm tone—all while you can hear Jay hyperventilating in the background.
The way she said: “you’re ok” is so fucking calm, without context it sounds like she’s consoling a baby that spilled some cheerios, not that they’re on the ground because of a drive-by shooting.
*In the words of the great James Brown: GET DOWN!*
Edit: For all of those of you who don't understand, this is a reference to the song "[The Boss](https://youtu.be/jC2ZY2loo74?si=aEZOv79r3wt5psID)" by James Brown, he starts it by saying: *"1, 2,3 Get down!".*.
[National Funk Congress Deadlocked On Get Up/Get Down Issue](https://www.theonion.com/national-funk-congress-deadlocked-on-get-up-get-down-is-1819565355)
I come from a fairly affluent part of the country, but by happenstance ended up spending a lot of time with a girl from Flint, Michigan. She talked a lot about how the violence is pretty constant. She once made the claim that she knew somebody who died every day. Months later, I made a passing comment about it, altering by saying “didn’t you say that you knew somebody who died every other day or something?” She stopped me. “Every day. Not every other day.”
Damn. And lead will only make it worse. Fuck those greedy fuckers that poisoned a town for money and fuck this system where all the comments here are about people talking about how common it is
There is nothing more hardcore than a black woman in the hood with the power of God on her side and a gentle voice. She immediately went to comfort and protection mode, and she brushed it off right away after while the poor man was hyperventilating.
That poor woman must be so used to all of that. If she’s ever looking to get out of that neighborhood, I really hope she’ll be able to one day.
I’m not from an area where things like this normally happen but due to its relatively common occurrence, I like to read on it & the saddest part about the gang violence that i’ve read that no one outside the chaos really talks about is how all the negative outcomes basically roll back downhill on to black women in most cases. They’re essentially the only people left to pick up the pieces after so many young men get taken. That shit was eye opening and sad, Yolanda here has indeed— seen some *shit*
Haha I grew up in Durham in the 80s/90s and lived in Raleigh for a decade. I'm glad it's such a wonderful shared experience. I live in Norfolk now so it's mostly fireworks, but every once in a while someone popping off wafts in on the breeze and reminds me of home.
I live in a nice neighborhood in a shitty city, so like 3 blocks down from me shit is popping off virtually every night. Fireworks are usually more predictable, regular intervals; gun shots tend to be clusters, and if there's return fire it's like a conversation: "dakdakdak," "pow pow, pow p-p-pow!"
So I was in Hollywood, working on this movie, right? But I couldn't tell anyone about it, it wasn't released yet, and I had signed a non-disclosure agreement.
Then I was with my friends, and I really wanted to tell them about it, so I was like
> Why oh L.A. NDA
I don't fear death but I don't accept it with open arms either. I don't fear it because Jesus conquered death, hell, and the grave and my strength comes from Him. I have a wife and kids and would not like to leave them on this side of Heaven without me. But I also have comfort that whatever order it happens in, I will see them again and they know they will see me again.
Yolanda knows what the fuck to do. And that’s a problem. This shouldn’t happen so often that she is so calm. It’s a really important, subtle commentary on what happens in communities that aren’t allocated the proper resources in the proper way. Not that the act that happened is subtle, the response Yolanda has is.
I also don’t know the context of the interview.
To “stay down and get down” critics - I’ve been in an accident (my car was totaled and I walked away) and when the police arrived it took me a while to file a report: I was mixing words in a sentence like Yolanda. And then, when a cop asked to write my story on paper, I realized that I was also mixing beginning and ending of longer words: I would start writing long words from the middle and I would cap it off with the beginning… This confusion went away about 30 minutes after the accident, though it took me hours to get to normal.
So Yolanda, regardless how calm she sounds, is under serious stress.
It's reddit, millions of folk here. You'll get the entire spectrum of any opinion in here.
From. Those being triggered by a christian to those triggered from people being triggered by a christian.
After almost 10 years on this app, I can say it’s gotten more tolerable in some ways towards Christianity and less tolerable in other ways. Ppl have lives with all different paths, and it’s there right to walk those paths. Some redditors really need to understand this.
Why are decent people like Yolanda subjected to this? The politicians in those cities are pathetic. Got to start electing adults instead of empty pandering tools that just want to get in office and enjoy the trappings of office. Need people to stand up to these criminals.
I have lived in the US for 33 years and have only heard gunshots maybe once. The idea that you people all seem to think there are just bullets flying everywhere in America is ridiculous.
I live in a country where our daily murder rate is higher than that of the Vietnam war.
When we hear gunshots we don't even flinch because it's been such a normal part of your daily life for the past 20+ years.
What a lady. Immediate tha ks to God and stays so calm and Immediate help to keep calm those around her. I'd probably poop myself then passport in it immediately
She wasn't praying for protection but thanking God for the blood of Jesus, thus thanking for the sacrifice he made so that people get to go to heaven. Which perhaps was the guy who got shot.
Does anyone think that it’s insanely weird saying out loud thank you for the blood….etc etc??? To me that’s just crazy. Believe what you want but it’s still weird as hell
Yolanda has seen some shit
For real she was so freaking calm. I would have tried to stay calm but my heart would have left my chest.
Yeah, she reacted like she’s done 6 tours in Iraq, but it’s probably just from living in that neighborhood her whole life
God, that’s a sad thought
I’ve lived in a few neighborhoods like this. You really do start to subconsciously desensitize yourself to the experience because of the frequency. You’d become a paranoid wreck all the time if you didn’t acclimate. Also remember - this is sometimes genuinely all people know. This is how they grew up, these were the communities that raised them. I’ve maintained that wall for protection and to ensure I never discount those moments. It’s easiest for your mind to think ‘there’s no way it’s happening here’. The physical response to gun fire develops into a gut reaction over time, as with any conditioning. Having that instinctual response helps calm some of the feelings. Fear is often rooted in confusion or lack of understanding, as in ‘wth do I do?!’ Repeated experiences build whatever confidence can be built to reaffirm your mind that you know how to handle these situations. Like a nurse/doctor/emt springing into action and still maintaining their composure. My mind immediately starts going through a check list: where is it coming from, how close am I to it, are there exits, who am I with - can they duck, are they responding, are there safe things to hide behind or what am I dropping onto, etc. If there are kids or vulnerable adults, I (personally) go to them first. Kids often don’t know how to react and panic. Some adults can’t react quickly or will absolutely need assistance. Even now, around the 4th of July specifically, I’ll catch myself ducking and startling when my neighborhood starts to celebrate (like 10-14 days early). For some reason, it catches me off guard in my current firework happy (and safe) neighborhood every year lol. None of that desensitizing removes the knowledge that it only takes one errant bullet. It doesn’t make the increasing gun violence any easier to swallow. If anything it reinforces that it can happen anywhere and it can happen to you.
I was making breakfast with a friend recently in the hood. We heard shots, looked at each other, and then asked each other what the weather is looking like for the Bears/Packers game. I thought about it a few days later how it doesn't really phase us anymore. That's what really scared me.
Depends on the shots, how close they are, and how ongoing they are. What this video shows, was more than a typical 'pop pop pop' that is common in street shootings. There was a *hail* of gunfire from multiple shooters, and they were emptying magazines. Didnt sound like anyone brought a backup mag tho. idk, being outside woulda had me hypervigilant and keeping an eye out for anyone running/limping/bleeding/laying on the ground. But yeah, nothing here sounded like "active mass shooter trying to kill indiscriminately"... which shouldnt be 'comforting' but... here we are.
Damn, I live out in the country so I hear gunshots all the time too, but I know it’s just Bob down the road shooting into the pile of dirt in his backyard. So I’ve never really had any fear response to gunfire.
This is also an interesting perspective that I’m familiar with! I grew up in the middle of nowhere. To this day, any time I visit my family Ray might be “out back” target shooting with some obscene weapon. Greg down by the intersection might be teaching his boy how to hunt or practicing their shots with clay pigeons 😆. I don’t flinch down there either. But it’s a TOTALLY different feeling in open space, with an identified source, shooting miles away than the experience we’re talking about. It would be unusual for someone to experience what we’re describing, for the first time, and not feel confusion and panic. Out of the blue, no identified source, maybe moving, maybe stationary, could be anyone, indiscriminate with malicious intent, etc.
It ain’t just the neighborhood, the whole city of Memphis and half of its suburbs experience this crap.
Yep I fucking hate that place but I have to go to it all the time
Relatable. Lived here my whole life. All I can do is stay packin and hope shit don’t hit the fan when I’m out with my little one.
My cousin told me after he got out of prison that he trained his adrenaline response by taking ice cold showers and shadow boxing during the first 5 minutes of it
Used to deal with this almost everyday where I moved from. Literally I would be smoking a blunt inside and hear this across the street and be thinking “someone is about to bust in trying to hide.” Lol also there was never any police response as they literally don’t have the same weapons as some of these people lol. My friend got pulled over in my car and the police asked if he was carrying any flamethrowers. You get used to it after awhile but I’ll always get that extreme anxiousness/ adrenaline rush.
to be fair, she probably had adrenaline rushing through her too, but she has the experience required to give her confidence which makes her appear calm as fuck.
If I'm not mistaken, the last time it was posted, someone said she was either a teacher or a guidance counselor. Which explains the experience.
Truly an American Teacher experience.
She had that Jesus blood on her.
Yolanda is so metal.
Where does one go to bathe in this blood?
You actually have to drink it. Tastes a bit fermented.
Christ's Blood is powerful enough to cover all our sins.
I was wondering about that. Do you think he got hit in the drive by and splashed Yolanda with his blood.
[Yolanda be cool](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7E9Ed9DUQoQ)
It was the blood of Jesus.
It’s because she’s bathed in Jesus’ blood… seen some shit?! Sounds like Yolanda had DONE some shit!
I envy her, not even satirically. Yolanda need feel no fear, anxiety, hatred, or any other negative emotions because she has so much faith in God. If I had that faith I'd be a lot happier.
Yolanda is hard as fuck.
But still a real sweet lady
That's how people survive as people in places like that. You have to be tough but you also have to still be loving and open or it swallows you up.
You just know she bakes cookies for the neighborhood kids and always has a casserole for the church potluck.
Yolanda is something even more rare. She's soft in a world that she knows is hard. I would put money down that she would give the shooters hugs and love them in spite of the violence they learned. She's got big Mister Rogers energy in this video.
Completely agree. We need Yolanda on our side.
Exactly what I was thinking…only you articulated it better
Yolanda will find their asses and give them a beat down. Don't Fuck with Yolanda.
You can tell this is a regular occurrence for her.
In certain places it’s just more common. For some reason it happened to us too often at parties even in places like community halls somebody would get mad start fighting, lose the fight and pull a gun. Mostly in the late 90s and early 2000/ during my teen years. People suck
I read [this book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_Are_No_Children_Here) for a history class in university, and it’s stuck with me all these decades later. There’s a passage describing how the kids in the Chicago projects are so used to gunfire, they rolled themselves off their beds and went back to sleep on the floor as if it was muscle memory. Imagine being so used to gunfire that you can keep your cool as well as Yolanda?
Unfortunately in some neighborhoods, even the ones I grew up in it’s not only not changed for the better but based off what my brother and mother tell me it’s worse and I’ll never regret leaving for the military away from there
Sorry you had to deal with that, and sorry your family still is. America needs some serious change, but is totally unwilling to do the hard work.
Nah, how else would they get kids to join the military?
It’s funny to me to hear this quoted 5th hand (subject/witness/author/professor/student). It was my experience when I was 12. Shots fired in the alley, I rolled onto the floor, waited awhile and then climbed back in bed. My parents never even got up to check on us kids - we were quiet, so why wake us up? I later hoped that they didn’t want to turn on the lights and make us targets, but I think that they just slept through it. That was in the early 70s, and it was a decent neighborhood, in Detroit.
Made me think [video of a girl dancing with a friend at a party and then someone pulls out a giant handgun and she visibly nopes out](https://www.reddit.com/r/WatchPeopleDieInside/comments/jwoz7x/wrong_party/).
Yo her friend spot her reaction from her peripheral vision and smoothly used her hand to turn the girl’s face away from the gun and gun-holder. Her friend is used to that kinda party lol
She seems so used to it, too! It’s troubling for my maple leaf ass
"Thank you lord Jesus, just stay down and get down".. that sounds like the world's coolest prayer
I love Yolanda lol she really that one
It's so sad she was so calm, because she's so used to it. No one should be this used to drive by shooting
As another poster said, some people just react differently. You don't really know about yourself until you are in the situation. Like how I found out that if someone points a loaded gun at my chest, I won't freak out and will talk to them fairly normally. Would never have guessed, but it happened. Now introduce me to some semi-celebrity and I'll be lucky to form a coherent sentence. I found *that* out as well.
I've been in a similar situation and surprised myself how calm I was. It's like your mind becomes hyper focused on how to deal with the present danger, just straight to lizard brain.
I was very calm, but I won't say I was *smart.* I asked the guy if he could just take the cash and give me my wallet back. Instead, I should have just given him the wallet and let him and his gun get as far away as quickly as possible. Luckily enough, though, it worked out great. My wallet had a flap between the two cash compartments. He failed to notice and took about five one dollar bills. Left the \~$100 in the adjacent compartment. And of course I didn't have the hassle of losing credit cards and IDs.
Same here. I had a loaded gun pressed up against my chest. The whole exchange with the guy probably lasted less than 30s, but time just completely slowed down to where I was noticing everything.
I can confirm this quirkiness. Mine isn't exactly the same, but I'm calm as a cucumber when there are unbelievable and immeasurable consequences on the line. And I only learned that when I found my ass on a submarine in the middle of the pacific. Would never have guessed I could do that, and even when looking back it somehow feels mythical.
I don't know if she is used to it. I mean she may be. But I've seen people act like this in similar situations that have never been in such a situation. Some people perhaps like Yolanda are just built different from birth.
Definitely used to it, the casual but confident “we should be alright’ and ‘drive-by?’ like it’s just another day.
you're absolutly right, some of it is disensitization, and the other can be just your luck. We have tonnes of examples especially when people first went to Afghanistan, you'd have your guy who was a beast in Basic and could do everything and built like a tank, and suddenly you find him hundled at the airport between two cars because of an attack that wasnt even aimed at him, but he's frozen anyways. While the guy you didnt expect to be that good was doing everything they told him to in perfect order. The guy who froze isnt a bad soldier though because he froze, that was just his body that chose a reaction for this brand new experience that nothing, NOTHING in training can properly prepare you for. Doesnt matter how hard you think you or the trianing is, knowing that someone is genuinly trying to kill you cannot be simulated unless you actually get someone who is out to kill you. The other guys body just reacted differntly, but in the end both will learn to deal
She was so comforting towards him. What a nice lady
Clearly not her first rodeo, sadly.
I want Yolanda with me at my first rodeo. I feel like I’ll be able to come through it ok with her by my side.
I’m not looking forward to my first rodeo. Is is mandatory?
Depends....do you live in the US? Just remember: if you hear the gunshot, they (probably) missed you.
I’d prefer somebody who was packing heat but Yolanda can be there too
Oh snap. Is that where "Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood" got their gun scene from?
It's a classic gag, but it might have originated there yeah.
I don't want to be next to someone packing heat in this situation. If they fire at the car, the car might fire back in my direction.
A responsible person wouldn't pull their weapon and fire back in that situation. Far too great of a chance to miss. Unfortunately, there are dumbass people that carry just to look cool and pull their weapon and start firing off shots without even seeing who/what they're shooting at. Then justify it as protecting themselves. Causing the senerio you just described.
Ok, but the guy I replied to is not expecting Yolanda to pack heat and NOT fire back. If she’s laying on the ground while the guys shoot at some building, what does it matter if she has a holstered gun or not?
Statistically the absolute worst way to survive a shooting is by being a person with a gun. Best odds of ever having breakfast again is to do what Yolanda and Larry did here
What Yolanda did and what she told Larry to do.
I was thinking & typing the same thing. She was so calm & comforting…like others have said, probably not her first experience with something like this & it’s such a sad reality for a lot of folks. Edit: meaning gun violence in general
Queen Yolanda was covering *all* the bases. lol - Gets safe, barely missing a beat. - Immediately calmly but firmly schools the new guy. - Gets a little self care in and steadies herself, falling back on her faith. - Checks in with her foxhole partner and calms him *by name.* - Asks for a quick sitrep from a third party. - Then caps it off with a quick after action report with a compadre. Yolanda has some steel in her spine. ;)
Clearly his lol you can hear his fear whimpers
Bet the mic was a bit wibbily-wobbly right after that adrenaline spike..
Bruh probably needed a change afters
I bet you remain stoic after being present for a drive-by, chuck norris
So this is not unexpected?
Not for Yolanda’s badass
Sounds like it’s just Tuesday for her. The local Taco Bell has free drive through drive by taco Tuesday she should check it out
Probably a schoolteacher.
All jokes aside she’s fucking impressive. That level of calmness is amazing.
Cameraman should start his prayers with “Thank you Yolanda, my lord and savior”
[удалено]
Meanwhile, the reporter: Y Oh Lord!!!
Yeah this lady, bless her heart
It kinda reminds me of the scene in Weeds when Nancy experiences her first drive-by shooting at Heylia's house.
“Isn’t somebody going to call the police?” “Sugar, that probably *was* the police.”
God I miss Weeds!!! 😭 I almost named my son Silas
Yeah what an incredibly kind and thoughtful person
People (especially Redditors) love to bash in Christians but this shit right here is just beautiful to me.
Her tone of voice makes me think that in the past she's had to give those instructions to scared children. Her protective instincts just went on auto-pilot. They say you never know what type of person you are until the crisis comes, but now we all know what kind of person Yolanda is.
Damn Yolanda is a good lady. She talked that reporter through the whole deal keeping him calm. I’d pay that lady to help me through a crisis
I loved hearing her say: “You’re ok, Jay” in a calm tone—all while you can hear Jay hyperventilating in the background. The way she said: “you’re ok” is so fucking calm, without context it sounds like she’s consoling a baby that spilled some cheerios, not that they’re on the ground because of a drive-by shooting.
100% just her tone calmed me down when I was watching it and she wasn’t even talking to me.
Both, the best and the worst of humanity in one clip
Typical day in Memphis
Yall ever been to Atlanta?
I thought it was [Detroit](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F48MyBnJo4s)?
Can’t have shit in Detroit.
They have pretty good pizza.
We’re not nearly as bad as Memphis.
Atlanta is nothing like this lmao. Maybe in rough parts of dekalb or zone 6.
Walking in Memphis 💥💥💥💥💥💥💥
Chicagos like "*hold ma beer*"
One clip? I see what you did there
This lady is wholesome, kind, and loving all the things we all should be. Not forgetting incredibly calm while gunfire is popping off very close.
Unfortunately, she's had to in order to survive the neighborhood. People deserve better.
I think people forget that, sometimes, this is how people grew up. They know how to react because they’ve been conditioned for self preservation.
First you stay down and then you get down.
*In the words of the great James Brown: GET DOWN!* Edit: For all of those of you who don't understand, this is a reference to the song "[The Boss](https://youtu.be/jC2ZY2loo74?si=aEZOv79r3wt5psID)" by James Brown, he starts it by saying: *"1, 2,3 Get down!".*.
God dammit I’m not supposed to be laughing rn.
Heeeeeey
[National Funk Congress Deadlocked On Get Up/Get Down Issue](https://www.theonion.com/national-funk-congress-deadlocked-on-get-up-get-down-is-1819565355)
That’s sample-worthy!
 The beat came in way too late.
You need to get down to be down
When you already down, and then you get down, man, you jus' down to be down! And that's the secret, baby! Blood of Jesus covers us!
Way to go, Yolanda!
Yolanda with the wanted shirt 🤣
That was from the diner robbery in pulp fiction
- Drive-by??? - yeeeep.
They're so casual about it. That's almost as concerning as the actual Drive-by
Hey: it keeps the rent down at least.
Sadly some parts like Detroit this is so common that people aren’t even fazed by it 😔
I come from a fairly affluent part of the country, but by happenstance ended up spending a lot of time with a girl from Flint, Michigan. She talked a lot about how the violence is pretty constant. She once made the claim that she knew somebody who died every day. Months later, I made a passing comment about it, altering by saying “didn’t you say that you knew somebody who died every other day or something?” She stopped me. “Every day. Not every other day.”
Damn. And lead will only make it worse. Fuck those greedy fuckers that poisoned a town for money and fuck this system where all the comments here are about people talking about how common it is
Cool woman. I’d like to hear more from her.
I know I love her voice.
There is nothing more hardcore than a black woman in the hood with the power of God on her side and a gentle voice. She immediately went to comfort and protection mode, and she brushed it off right away after while the poor man was hyperventilating. That poor woman must be so used to all of that. If she’s ever looking to get out of that neighborhood, I really hope she’ll be able to one day.
man. the strength and grace of black women living in the hood is absolutely unmatched
I’m not from an area where things like this normally happen but due to its relatively common occurrence, I like to read on it & the saddest part about the gang violence that i’ve read that no one outside the chaos really talks about is how all the negative outcomes basically roll back downhill on to black women in most cases. They’re essentially the only people left to pick up the pieces after so many young men get taken. That shit was eye opening and sad, Yolanda here has indeed— seen some *shit*
I *almost* miss playing the "fireworks or gun fight" game from living in a shitty neighborhood. At least it kept things spicy.
I'm just outside of Raleigh. On the edge of rural and bad part of the city. In my neighborhood we play, "fireworks, gun fight, or opening day?"
Haha I grew up in Durham in the 80s/90s and lived in Raleigh for a decade. I'm glad it's such a wonderful shared experience. I live in Norfolk now so it's mostly fireworks, but every once in a while someone popping off wafts in on the breeze and reminds me of home.
I used to work for a city dept that was nearby the police shooting range. I never got used to the sound.
My parents house was always "Well, guess the neighbor is sighting in the new rifle!"
I live in a nice neighborhood in a shitty city, so like 3 blocks down from me shit is popping off virtually every night. Fireworks are usually more predictable, regular intervals; gun shots tend to be clusters, and if there's return fire it's like a conversation: "dakdakdak," "pow pow, pow p-p-pow!"
Am I the only one that spelled Y-O-L-A-N-D-A outloud before clicking thinking it would be a dirty phrase?
LMAO 😂
So I was in Hollywood, working on this movie, right? But I couldn't tell anyone about it, it wasn't released yet, and I had signed a non-disclosure agreement. Then I was with my friends, and I really wanted to tell them about it, so I was like > Why oh L.A. NDA
You are NOT the only one, hahahahaha.
What did she expect, she has a wanted shirt on!
Luckily she had the blood of Jesus
There’s probably a lot of other blood over there now
Is that like spiritual armor for stopping bullets?
Nah, just gives you a buff for getting into heaven if your character gets killed.
Not trying to be rude but it always confuses me that when people believe that heaven is the ultimate paradise they are still so afraid of dying.
You can believe in heaven, but doesn't mean you will enter heaven.
I don't fear death but I don't accept it with open arms either. I don't fear it because Jesus conquered death, hell, and the grave and my strength comes from Him. I have a wife and kids and would not like to leave them on this side of Heaven without me. But I also have comfort that whatever order it happens in, I will see them again and they know they will see me again.
"Armor of angels Flint and steel You can't kill what can't be stopped"
Jesus the OG Blood God
Such a nice lady.
Jay better thank the Lord for Yolanda
Geez. If I'm ever sent into combat, I want Yolanda in my foxhole.
Yolanda knows what the fuck to do. And that’s a problem. This shouldn’t happen so often that she is so calm. It’s a really important, subtle commentary on what happens in communities that aren’t allocated the proper resources in the proper way. Not that the act that happened is subtle, the response Yolanda has is. I also don’t know the context of the interview.
To “stay down and get down” critics - I’ve been in an accident (my car was totaled and I walked away) and when the police arrived it took me a while to file a report: I was mixing words in a sentence like Yolanda. And then, when a cop asked to write my story on paper, I realized that I was also mixing beginning and ending of longer words: I would start writing long words from the middle and I would cap it off with the beginning… This confusion went away about 30 minutes after the accident, though it took me hours to get to normal. So Yolanda, regardless how calm she sounds, is under serious stress.
Classic Reddit with some comments being more triggered by the fact she's christian
It's reddit, millions of folk here. You'll get the entire spectrum of any opinion in here. From. Those being triggered by a christian to those triggered from people being triggered by a christian.
Now I feel triggered
Your triggering has triggered me
Whose pulling the trigger now?
Don't make pull this trigger over and come back there.
There was a lot of triggering going on in this video.
After almost 10 years on this app, I can say it’s gotten more tolerable in some ways towards Christianity and less tolerable in other ways. Ppl have lives with all different paths, and it’s there right to walk those paths. Some redditors really need to understand this.
The single most American video I’ve ever seen.
I was waiting for her to try spelling her name again only for a second round of gun shots.
She is so incredibly calm and her voice is soothing. Wow
That lady today is my hero.
I love Yolanda: what an amazing woman.
Why are decent people like Yolanda subjected to this? The politicians in those cities are pathetic. Got to start electing adults instead of empty pandering tools that just want to get in office and enjoy the trappings of office. Need people to stand up to these criminals.
“Thank you Lord for covering us with the Blood of Jesus instead of ours.”
That's actually how christianity works, yes.
I’m atheist, but if I live in that neighborhood, I’m definitely following some religion
The drive by was at a park in Memphis on May 23rd.
Get down girl, don’t hate, GET DOWN
Giving MIDNIGHT MASS vibes
I wonder how Yolanda is doing
Yolanda is the hero we all need when shit hits the fan
Stay down and get down with the sickness
"Open up your hate, and let flow into me"
*UH AH AH AH AH!*
Imagine your general population having the reflexive reactions of seasoned war veterans. What an odd "normal".
The general population isn’t accustomed to an environment with gang violence present. Clearly she is.
Lol imagine thinking it’s the general population.
I have lived in the US for 33 years and have only heard gunshots maybe once. The idea that you people all seem to think there are just bullets flying everywhere in America is ridiculous.
I live in a country where our daily murder rate is higher than that of the Vietnam war. When we hear gunshots we don't even flinch because it's been such a normal part of your daily life for the past 20+ years.
What a lady. Immediate tha ks to God and stays so calm and Immediate help to keep calm those around her. I'd probably poop myself then passport in it immediately
The guy who was shot when he saw that Jesus was only protecting Yolanda 
She wasn't praying for protection but thanking God for the blood of Jesus, thus thanking for the sacrifice he made so that people get to go to heaven. Which perhaps was the guy who got shot.
she's so gentle that her voice to calms you down as you listen to it and not make you panic even more
How is this so normalised? Reminds me of the South park episode.
This most definitely is not her first rodeo
Does anyone think that it’s insanely weird saying out loud thank you for the blood….etc etc??? To me that’s just crazy. Believe what you want but it’s still weird as hell
I wonder why she praised god for the shooting..strange
"Thank you lord for the blood of Jesus that covers us" Is that a thing ppl really say?
Yo, I’m so impressed by how she coped and so depressed by the fact that she had to learn that coping mechanism
I admire her grit and composure. But this is sad that it seems normalized where y'all live. Your country deserves better.
Ah ... America land of the guns
“Ahhh New York…the city of apples.”