031823 What Does it Mean to Be an Ally? (Part 2)

For the finest in quality men's sportswear, checkmajorthreads dot com. And for today's Baba, we are asking you let me let me preface this, okay, Q and I are reevaluating our relationship with social media, particularly after Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter right, and we realize how important social media is and how it gets information out, but also we realize it can be very overwhelming, and we realize that if you're caught in a strange algorithm, you might not

get information that might be helpful to you. So we're gonna shout out a few names, a few accounts that we believe are folks you can keep up with during the week outside of ramses Jah and IMQ or. These folks are like really dialed in, So allow me to get a couple of these names off for those of you who are on IG. We found a bit of a cowboy, kind of an older white man. His name is at Paul t X eight nine zero, and that

guy is of the truth. So once again, Paul t X eight nine zero, he's got a bunch of followers. He puts out great content and all still have to keep you informing and engage on your journey of allyship.

Another one that we like is at Indigo Underscore Carolina, and then we're going to shout out another one as well, Garrison h. And then one Accu's favorites is at Joy and Reed one of my absolute favorite r E I D. And then for those of you who are on TikTok, I would love for you to check out Lavert the Bit the Baseman. Lavert the Baseman. He's an amazing person. He does the credible thing about everything is racist and

it is. I hope we can be fascinate. Get him on the show, and then also be sure to check out Spitfire Speaking and Adam Conover. So yeah, a lot of times it's really easy to get disheartened. You know, I've seen that when we were out on the streets. There was the groups of people that were so excited, Hey I want to support, Hey I want to support, and you know, people would get out of line. People would want to be the voice and it's like, listen, are you going to be an ally or did you

come here to be the leader? You know what I'm saying, because these black women are capable of telling their own stories. So you need to sit down and you need to listen. If in fact, that's what you're here to do. If you're here because you want to be the savior, then this isn't the fight for you. We don't need a savior. We can save ourselves. We need to articulate what it is.

that grew up with that that's their reality. They show up well intentioned, they show up feeling like they want to do what it is that they've been told that they are capable of doing, and then they get shut down because it's like, no, this isn't the space for that type of you know energy. This is a space where you can support us. We don't need for you to tell us what to do. We need to tell the world what it is that we need. It is our time to speak, and we need you to listen

and support us. Right So for people that have the right type of their intentions are good, that might knock the wind out of their sales, you know, hearing like, oh, that's not what we need right now. We just need you to kind of fall back, listen, be a fly on a well observed and then when we call on you, we need you to be a foot soldier. Right yeah.

the block button. But I mean it's I've lived it right.

to this fight. It is important to understand that going in and not let that be the reason why you give up.

Could I introduce the two of you. I'm like, sure, no problem, happy to help. Then his daughter drove to my house. I didn't know how old she was. It was a seventeen year old. I'm a grown girl, super girl man at least double her age. At the time when I met her, seventeen year old child came into my home to meet me, and I'm like, ooh, and she said, yeah, I'm getting ready to go to school. I'm going to go to an Ivy League university and I'm going to school because i want to be a

civil rights attorney. Sure, oh that's different, Okay, So what do you need from me? Right? This is this is my energy. Of course, everything that she's ever needed she's gotten from me. She came to my little words that morning. I did recently. But she firmly believes that the world could be a better place for everybody, and the way to go about doing that is by starting where there's

the most the greatest need. Right hence the civil rights attorney. Right, if I can help black people, if I can help marginalize people, if I can help Hispanic people, I can help trans people or whatever. But she met me, that was a very black and white conversation. But I know that she has one of those hearts now in the years since I've known her her father, remember, her father

was the one that introduced the two of us. Not to put her business out there too much, but I know that her relationship with her father has been tested, and I know that other relationships of hers had been tested because she comes from pretty conservative town, you know, and she was kind of the person that saw the world with a little bit more empathy, a little bit more compassion, a little bit more understanding, a little bit

more hope and optimism, like this could be better. She never never once needed to do anything for anybody else. She could have just lived and thrived. Remember both parents are doctors. She stepped out of her comfort zone. She decided to walk a path that might not be fiscally as rewarding, might be super rewarding spiritually. That's my belief because she seems like one of the happiest people I've ever met, constantly, every time I see her, every time

I talk on the phone. But she's also paid that cost that you mentioned, and you know, I mentioned her relationship with her dad, but there's other relationships too where it's like, listen, here's what it is, here's what it's not. And to be fair, she's challenged me too on some things, you know, where I'm thinking I'm saying this and this is a good thing. She's like, there's a better way to say that. There's a better way to go about doing that. And you know in Princeville, she knows what

I mean. But there are some things that you're absolutely right. There's some things that allyship will cost that you may not be aware of that you should be that. You may not know who it is, you may not know how it impacts your life, but if you really do plan on walking this path, you know there's people that

pay with their lives. Remember the I forget his name, he deserves to be mentioned, but he was in the Olympics and he took he shared his gloves with the athletes, I want to say, and he took the podium and there was we need to figure this out immediately. But you know the photograph I'm thinking.

It can cost everything up to and including even your life. There's lots of our heroes that we celebrate and their names will be forever with us.

did write by us. If there is such a thing as heaven and I get there and that man isn't there, and I've gone to the wrong place, and you know, what else is crazy. If I am here, I want to point out something else. There's a lot of white people throughout history who have been allies to black people, and one of the things that is kind of unfortunate is that a lot of them aren't known to us, and as a result, they're not celebrated for doing the right thing. And I'm sure that you know, many of

them aren't really looking to be celebrated. It's simply a matter of following their internal moral compass and just simply doing what's right. But when I hear stories like that, I feel encouraged that other white people will feel like doing the right thing is greater than the sum of its parts. Right, there's a bigger impact. They can make

a change, voice matters, et cetera. And so that's why often on this show, when it makes sense, we will do a deep dive about someone who's not black, oftentimes they're white, who has been a tremendous ally to black people and all people from being honest and folks that want to see the world just treat everyone a little bit more fairly. And so, you know, I hope that that story and stories like that aren't just stories, but they actually serve as motivation because you got a bear

in mind. You know, he's on a stage second place in the Olympics. The world is watching, and you know, it's kind of make it or break it moment and we as we know, it costs a lot. But he's remembered for rather more than making second place. He's just not widely remembered. I think he's more remembered than perhaps anyone else from the Olympics that year who was not a black activist. But still, you know, there's there's levels to this.

had to be told. Now, I don't know, when we're talking about allies white allies throughout history, there's a a measure of self awareness that's necessary there because you have to say to yourself in that moment, I'm advantage, I'm advantaged, like I'm disadvantages is a much more naturally natural inclination, if you will, I'm privileged and or advantaged, not so much. It's hard to see that. Yeah, So people who are self aware enough to see in a way that's not

paying themselves a compliment that I'm privileged. Yeah, because I'm sure there were many people who are very very aware of there, of the difference in stature and throughout you know, the civilized world. Sure, but in a way that says I'm unfairly privileged. You know, this is not something that was earned. This is just the way it is. I benefit from something. That's something that something's at play here that I'm benefiting from, and it's not necessarily a good thing.

It's the issues are with human beings. Being human beings, and they often happen to be white. I'll give you an example to your point. Q. I recall a couple of times in my life coming across a story about Monopoly, the game Monopoly, Right, I've told that story on the show. Yeah, yeah, okay, So for our listeners, for our listeners, I want to make sure that you are brought up to speed. So basically, there's a story, a study that was done, and I'm sure you can find this on YouTube and check out

the results. It's fascinating. And again, this is not about white people. This is not about capital, this isn't about anything that we tend to pick on here at this show.

This is about human nature. So what happens is there is a study and there's a game of Monopoly, and one person gets to roll both dice and gets two hundred dollars every time they pass go and they get the full They don't get any advantages, so no privileges, but they critically they don't have any disadvantages, right, and then the other players in the game to varying levels.

If my memory serves me correct our disadvantage. Maybe they can only roll one dice, maybe they can get only one hundred dollars when they pass go, maybe every other turn is skipped, whatever the case is. Right, So you listening to this understands clearly that, well, the person who's able to roll both dice and enjoy all of the advantages afforded by the game is going to win, right. But they weren't studying whether or not the person will win,

because I think there's no question there. They were studying how they reacted to the advantage that they had. And funnily enough, the more that the person with the and I shouldn't say advantage, but the person who was able to play the game fully, it was very difficult for them to just to show behavior that suggested that they were privileged. It's like they couldn't see it. It was like, oh, well back to me, all right, I'm gonna buy that from you. Okay, pay up. You know, there was no empathy.

It wasn't like, hey man, you're about to get bankrupt. I realized that I'm playing the game here. I know full well. They told me the rules in the beginning that I this is deck. They told me that there's a catch here, and it's the disadvantage is levied against you. Not against me, but they still played the game aggressively, and of course they won, and it was celebrated the win exactly as though they somehow go ahead, you said,

as though somehow they had earned it. And so I say that to say that a lot of times, it's very difficult for people to see their own Again, privilege is a word that triggers a lot of folks, but the lack of disadvantages in their world. And again, this is not a matter of it being a person who's white. It's a matter of a human being behaving as a human being would, and overwhelmingly in our story at least, they happen to be white folks. And so we're not

mad at white people because they're white. We're not mad at white people at all. We recognize their human beings. But they need to be educated about their privilege. And try as you might, a lot of people will push back against it because in their opinion, well, look, I wrote the disce same as everyone else. Look I bought it.

That was the price everybody, if you you could have bought it, you know, And these are like realistic things, and you can see how easily that translates into the world that we all share, right, So allieship or would be allyship in this instance is something that also lies just beyond the self reflection necessary to see the world for what it is. And of course, of course anybody can fly around the world and say, listen, look at those kids in Africa with the belly sticking out and

the flies in their eyes. Or look at those kids living in the slums in India, or look at how the North Koreans are being treated, or look at you know, all these places around the world, very distant, far off lands,

but it's very difficult to see that. Oftentimes circumstances that or the invisible forces behind let's say capitalism or political agendas or whatever that privilege and benefit people who are very much empathetic to all of these, you know, places around the world where people are suffering, they often fail to connect that suffering to the world that they live in. I and I don't want to point fingers because I'm Ramsey's job, and I have an iPhone. You know, I

have tons of shoes. I'm sure they're made in trying

to you know, this sort of thing. So we all are learning how to be better allies to each other, but often enough, the you know, the biggest uh and the and the and the greatest overreach, I should say, appears certainly from this vantage point to often enough be from white individuals who have wealth, power, status, uh support from all the systems, the political establishment, the criminal justice system, the educational system, the medical fields, you know, the uh,

you know, you name it. That list goes on and.

anybody who's listening to this show. I don't imagine you'd be listening to the show for this long without thinking that something like that is possible, Like a positive, favorable outcome for all folks is possible. A more empathetic world, a world where we understand each other, and I think critically, a world where people recognize that when I pass go, I get two hundred dollars and when you pass go.

There's varying levels of disadvantages that you might encounter at that point or indeed as you play the game of life. Forgive the switch in the metaphor, but I think it works to me.

say the least. So I'll read. The Rosewood Massacre was an attack on the predominantly African American town of Rosewood, Florida, in nineteen twenty three by large groups of white aggressors. The town was entirely destroyed by the end of the violence, and the residents were driven out permanently. The story was mostly forgotten until the nineteen eighties, when it was revived

and brought to public attention. Though it was originally settled in eighteen forty five by both black and white people, Black codes and Jim Crow laws in the years after the Civil War fostered segregation in Rosewood and much of the South. Employment was provided by pencil factories, but the Cedar Tree population soon became decimated, and white families moved away in the eighteen nineties and settled in the nearby

town of Summoner. By the nineteen twenties, Rosewood's population of about two hundred was entirely made up of black citizens, except for one white family that ran the general store there. On January first, nineteen twenty three, in Summer, Florida, or Sorry in Sumner, Florida, twenty two year old Fanny Taylor was heard screaming by a neighbor. The neighbor found Taylor covered in bruises and claiming a black man had entered

the house and assaulted her. The incident was reported to Sheriff Robert Elias Walker, with Taylor's specifying that she had not been raped. Fanny Taylor's husband, James Taylor, a foreman at the local mill, escalated the situation by gathering an angry mob of white citizens to hunt down the culprit. He also called for help from white residents in neighboring counties, among them a group of about five hundred Ku Klux

Klan members who were in Gainesville for a rally. White mobs prowed the area woods, searching for any black man they might find. Law enforcement found out that a black prisoner named Jesse Hunter had escaped a chain gang and immediately designated him with suspect. The mobs focused their searches on a Hunter, convinced that he was being hidden by the black residents. Searchers were led by dogs to the

home of Aaron car Carrier in Rosewood. Carrier was a nephew of Sarah Carrier, who did the laundry for Taylor. The white men dragged Carrier out of his house, tied him to a car, and dragged him to Sumner, where he was cut loose and beaten. Sheriff Wagner intervened, putting a Carrier in his car and driving him to Gainesville,

where he was placed under the protective custody of the sheriff. There, another mob showed up at the home of blacksmith Sam Carter, torturing him until he admitted that he was hiding Hunter and agreed to take them to the hiding spot. Carter led them to into the woods, but when Hunter failed to appear, someone in the mob shot him. His body was hung on a tree before the mob moved on, meaning he didn't actually know. He just said that he

couldn't say anything else, all right. The Sheriff's office had attempted and failed to break up white mobs and advised black workers to stay in their places of employment for safety. As many as twenty five people, mostly children, had taken refuge in the home of Sarah Carrier when on the night of January fourth, armed white men surrounded house in the belief that Jesse Hunter was hiding there. Shots were

fired in the ensuing confrontation. Sarah Carrier was shot in the head and died, and her son, Sylvester was also killed by a gunwound. Two white attackers were also killed. The gun battle and standoff lasted overnight. It ended when the door was broken down by white attackers. The children inside the house escaped through the back and made their

way to safety through the woods, where they hid. News of the stand off at the Carrier house spread with newspapers inflating the number dead and falsely reporting bands of armed black citizens going on a rampage. Even more white men poured into the area, believing that a race war had broken out. Huh. Some of the first targets of this influx where the children in Rosewood, which were burned

sorry the churches in Rosewood, which were burned down. Houses were then attacked, first setting fire to them and then shooting people as they escape from burning doings. Lexi Gordon was one of those murdered, taking a gunshot to her face as she hid under her burning house. Gordon had sent her children fleeing when white attackers approached, but suffering from typhoid fever, she stayed behind. Many Rosewood citizens fled to the nearby swamps for safety, spending days hiding in them.

Some attempted to leave the swamps were turned back by men working for the sheriff. James Carrier, brother of Sylvester and son of Sarah did manage to get out of the swamp and take refuge with the help of a local turpentine factory manager. A white mob found him anyhow, and forced him to dig a gray for himself before murdering him. Others found help from white families willing to

shelter them. Some black women and children escaped thanks to John and William Brice, to wealthy brothers who owned a train where the violence and ROAs and familiar with the population, the brothers drove their train to the area and invited escapees, though refused to take the black men in, afraid of being attacked by white moms. Many of those who fled by train had been hidden in the home of the white general store owner, John Wright, and continued to do

so throughout the violence. Sheriff Walker helped the terrified residents make their way to Wright, who then arranged escape with the help of the Brice brothers.

governor to investigate the violence. The jury heard the testimonies of nearly thirty witnesses, mostly white, over several days, but claimed not to find enough evidence for prosecution. The surviving citizens of Rosewood did not return philforda fearful that the horrific bloodshed would recur. The story of Rosewood faded away quickly. Most newspapers stopped reporting on it soon after the violence had ceased, and many survivors kept quiet about their experience,

even to subsequent family members. It was in nineteen eighty two when Gary Moore, a journalist for the Saint Petersburg Times, resurrected the history of Rosewood through a series of articles that gained national attention. The living survivors of the massacre at that point, all in their eighties and nineties, came forward, led by Rosewood descended Arnett Doctor and demanded restitution from Florida.

The action led to the bill passing sorry. The action led to the passing of a bill awarding them two million dollars and created an educational fund for descendants. The bill also called from an investigation into the matter to clarify the events, which Moore took part in. Further awareness was created through John Singleton's nineteen ninety seven film Rosewood, which dramatized the events and scene.

It wasn't just normal, it was celebrated. Would they would have parties just for these events and bring their children and you know what I mean, Like, it's just a lot of these people thought or consider themselves decent human beings and would and would have been insulted had you called them anything different.