Welcome to another episode of Civic Cipher. Army host Ramsy's job is Rams This job, I am q ward.
You are tuned into Civic Cipher.
I'm more gain a lot to stick around for it today because there's a lot going on in the world today. And let me be the first to tell you we need to help each other out. Let's let's put it like that, all right, So first up on the show, we are going to be talking about wokeness. As you may know, being woke is somehow under attack or it's like a bad word as a blade. And you know, I.
Always say they always find a way.
Isn't that crazy? But I always say, like, you know, it's wild because would you rather be sleep? You know, like it's just, you know, just the language in and of itself is harmless. But you know, we're gonna we're gonna peel back some layers there and redefine that for everybody so that you don't no longer have to be
afraid of being woke. You understand a little bit of history there, and you recognize the tactics that are being used as always to try to minimize or diminish efforts on the part of a progressive facet of this country, trying to move us more toward what we consider to be a racial utopia. We're also going to be talking about Bill nine in Florida, so that means more Ron DeSantis aka Donald Trump two point zero again, a lot of nonsense, a lot of fear mongering, and a whole
lot of misinformation. And as we know, people are susceptible to misinformation, so we're going to be talking about that as well, informing you best we can with respect to that. And we're going to dedicate our way Black History fact to the late King Khalif Browder because he's deserving of it and you definitely need to know about that. But first and foremost, let's discuss some ebony excellence. Q. How do you feel about that?
Shall we shall so?
Ebny excellence? This week is brought to you by Hip Hop Weekly Media and I'm reading from Fenura. I believe that's how it's pronounced. We're gonna celebrate the one and only Gail King. So without further ado, broadcast journalist Gail King, who was the co host of CBS Mornings, recently accepted the thirty ninth Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism, presented by Arizona State Universities Walter Cronkite School of Journalism
and Mass Communication. Full disclosure, Q and I are both in Arizona and we have a distant relationship with that school, so we were very proud that they took the time to honor a Gail King, a black woman.
Forgetta Gibson too, who indeed, yes.
She was Yeah, shout out Yetta. But anytime we get a chance to celebrate someone, especially in the space that we're in, we realize how difficult it is to work in journalism and media, so we wanted to take a moment. I'll keep reading. There's a quote. We are very excited to honor Gail with the thirty ninth Walter Conkite Award and celebrate her tremendous career, Cronkite School Dean Batino L.
Bats Junior said at the event. It goes on to say she has had a profound impact on a journalism industry and the communities across the nation that benefit from her excellence in reporting and storytelling. King is often recognized for her longtime friendship with media mogul Oprah Winfrey. The two women met when they were working at a local television station in Baltimore. King has worked as a reporter in Washington, d C. And Kansas City, Missouri, before becoming
a news anchor in Hartford, Connecticut. In addition to serving as co host for CBS Mornings, King if also editor at large for Oprah Daily and hosts a live weekly radio show on Sirius XM. Gail King in the House. King's net worth, I don't know why that's here, is valued at forty million dollars according to Celebrity Networth. So there you go, all right, Now, moving on what's wrong with being woke?
Now?
I saw a video. I think we both saw this video this week. It was of a woman, you know, in some sort of on some sort of show. The host was black, a black woman, and the woman was the guest was a white woman. And the guest says something like, well, you know, the radical left because of their woke black practices and blah blah blah blah work, they're woke agenda something like this she said. And then the host says, well, what does woke mean to you?
To find woke for me? And then the guest, the white woman, she started to kind of fumble over her words, and she's like, well, oh god, this is going to be one of those moments that goes viral, and sure enough it did, because of course we saw it. But again she proceeded to fumble, you know, through her idea of what wokeness is, which I think illustrates she's not
the only person to fall victim of that. Many people, when they're asked to define what wokeness is are either forced to explain that wokeness is kind of a person who is enlightened with respect to how folks are mistreated. This is a loose definition. We'll actually get to the real definition. And oftentimes that person wants to pursue a reality where people are treated more fairly. And so when people attack wokeness, people who attack wokeness are forced to
identify it. Then they're forced to kind of come face to face with the idea that they're on the wrong side of history. To be frank, and so not to pick on any one person, because we recognize that everyone is susceptible to and that is.
However, not not unique to woke or wokeness.
Oh yeah, like words like socialism, words like critical race theory, words that the other side, if you will, uses in poor context to stoke the fear or hate or you know, whatever their agenda is with their audience, and then their audience just adopts it.
They don't do any research, they don't they don't even seek to understand beyond that, and when faced with having to identify what it is, they either have to admit out loud that they have no idea, which happens way more than you would imagine, or they do know and they have to, like you said, present the actual definition, not just to their audience but to everyone that's listening and reveal themselves on the wrong side of whatever argument that they're having.
It's such a crazy thing to see happen. These people flounder about, and the best ones are the ones when they do come to terms with the reality of it, and they have to try their best to try to make this beautiful sounding definition have some sort of sinister element to it, and it's not possible, because wokeness in truth is something that all people should aspire to. Now, granted, it is a slang term, and I won't keep you waiting, so let's go ahead and read the definition. Now, this
is perfectly googleable. In fact, I just copied and pasted in its entirety because I do want to present both sides googleable.
Yes.
I like that, Yes, but I implore you to do the same, just so you know that we're not coloring anything here. Excuse me. This is a term used chiefly in the United States, and it is a slang term.
Okay.
Now, wokeness is defined as aware of, an actively attentive to importance societal facts and issues, especially issues of racial and social justice. So it's hard to suggest that being woke is sinister. In other words, to be the opposite of this is to be frankly a racist person. And that's why it's so difficult for these people to make it sound bad, because they're like, well, yeah, of course I want that too.
It's only difficult to make it sound bad when they're talking to someone who stands opposed to it. Exact they're speaking in an echo chamber.
No one's going to even question it. The definition doesn't matter about the question. Isn't of itself a bad word in that space. So I'll read some of the examples of the language being used, but we will only succeed if we reject the growing pressure to retreat into cynicism and hopelessness. We have a moral obligation to stay woke, take a stand and be active, challenge injustices and racism in our communities, and fighting hatred and discrimination wherever it rises.
That's from Barbara Lee. Here's another one argued that Brad Pitt is not only woke, but the wokest man in Hollywood because he uses his status and his production company Plan B to create space for artists of color with such films as Twelve Years of Slave Selma in the upcoming film Moodlight. This comes from Jiselle de Fares. All right, And there's another one. Being woke to gender discrimination is difficult. It ruins things you love. Entire canons of art are
rotten to the core with it. It's from Rachel Edelstein, and I think that's where we're going to stop with this one.
Now.
Being woke is something that also is not new. It's something that has been around since at least the civil rights movement, the idea being exactly what it sounds like. There's a bunch of you know how you hear the word sheeple all the time. I'll make up this word right now. But there's a bunch of sleeple everywhere, right, people who accept the status quo, people who just say, hey, that's the way the world is, or people that you know, these are the people that we get the most often.
You know, change is slow. You can't have everything overnight. Why are you protesting? Why are you, you know, demanding to be heard and insisting that we respect your rights
in this moment? Right, those would be categorized in this thought experiment as the sleeper right, And it's the people who are woke that recognize that it's not only possible, it helps everybody, and there's an idea of how to get there expeditiously, you know, with some intentionality, people who have done research, people who have the insight that most folks don't have, that would fall under the category of
being woke. That coupled with some conviction in their hearts and a moral compass that points them in the positive direction, would certainly qualified folks as being woke. Right. This supplies to black people, supply, to white people, supply to anybody
who checks these boxes. And it's not until, in my belief, we see folks like aoc and ilhar Oman get elected to public office and get a lot of attention, or really challenging the status quo and being champions of wolkness in those more visible spaces that the term starts to get co opted by the right and associated with people
that they hate. The concept. The idea of it is hater proof, but if you can align it with someone that you don't like, then people can buy into it, and then you start to see the idea behind it shift.
Yeah, they either veil it in poor context or they speak directly to people who feel how they feel. Right, so they kind of turned into a two edged sword. I can veil it in poor context, and I'm a
good enough speaker. I'm a good enough salesperson that I can convince people that bad that it's bad, the word bad in and of itself, and then every argument meant that I make where I use it, I deliver it in that way intentionally, and I get the sponsors I want from people who wouldn't even take the time to use Google. And or I'm speaking to people who feel exactly how I feel and they celebrate me for it. So they've done a very brilliant job of co opting it.
And we've talked about this on a recent episode, someone who we once believed in ally assist in that co opting. You know, a gentleman with a very popular TV show on HBr. Won't say his name because I don't want to use my platform to uplift his But my co host and brother knows who I'm talking about.
Well, I mean, I know who you're talking about, and the fact that you don't want to say his name makes me not want to say it.
No, I'm not going to say his name, just using him as an example of another person who I don't
believe it is ignorant to what woke actually means. But he has started to show some true colors in light of I think himself, like many supporters of the right, not defending the right, not defending the right wing politician, not defending you know, our former president, but defending themselves, right, they start to look around and realize, oh my god, the things that are being attacked are kind of some of the things that I feel.
It's kind of some of the things that I think.
And I'm not bad, So then our former president couldn't be that bad, and maybe all of these people aren't that bad.
You know what really bugs me because you're absolutely right. What bugs me though, is that people think of things often enough to your point, as good or bad, right or wrong, as opposed to a spectrum and being fluid right. In other words, once upon a time, when I was six years old, five years old, I did some things that I didn't know we're wrong. This was back when the Ninja Turtles first came out, okay, and there was
these Ninja Turtle coloring books that they had. Turtles was cracking listening and there were so many Ninja Turtle coloring books, and I was just thinking like, well, if there's this many Ninja Turtle coloring books, then they have to have some for me. Just makes perfect sense. Why would they have this many? So I took a Ninja Turtle coloring book. Just made sense. And it wasn't until I got a little older that I realized, ye know, that was stealing. I didn't ask for that, that was Jack moves on
yang them. And the wild thing about it is that in that moment I wouldn't have known better. But looking back on it, I could see like, yeah, I was the wrong thing to do. And I don't look at myself as a bad person. You know, now older ramses a person who's a grown man that has kind of fleshed out the fullness of the world and the experience of experiences that life holds. I got a little bit more to work with. But rarely do I look at
things as bad or good, right or wrong. Instead, you know, as I mentioned, there's kind of a morality what feels like the highest good in this moment based on everything that I know? Am I open to receiving alternative perspectives? Is my goal as a human being to put goodness into the world, whereas my goal to get as much as I can for my own benefit or the benefit of you know, the people that are immediately around me. You know what I mean? How far do I want
my goodness to radiate? These are These are really foundational ideas that I have to discuss in my own internal monologue and arrive at conclusions in terms of who it.
Is that I want to be.
And some things it makes perfect sense. Look, I got to I gotta do my thing first. And some things it's like, listen, I don't really stand a benefit from this thing as much as other people do. And if I can help, then I will help often. I mean, you know, the story full well, in fact behind you in the studio here we have some of our some of the things that celebrators, some of the publications have
celebrated us for all the charity work we've done. We don't like talking about it because who talks about maturity work we've done. But at the same time, we kind of have to because we had a lot of volunteers. That was the name of the game. But I don't think either one of us had the intention of going out there to feed homeless people so we can be celebrated and be you know what I'm saying, like, yeah, listen.
Quite ironically though very loudly accused of that.
Yeah, that's right.
I remember, I didn't want us to start a five or one seed three. I did not want us to start an organization. I wanted this to just be us doing something right, and for us to do that with the amount of reach that we eventually did, we needed to take those steps.
But I wanted to remove us from it.
Because very early on that was like accusation one, these dudes are doing this so that they can look good, right, because we used social media to promote what we were doing, which more than quadrupled and quintupled or ten times the amount of people that came out and were able to give back and have an impact. There were people who would jump on Facebook and Twitter or whatever the popular social media platform was at the time and accuse us of doing exactly that these dudes are just doing that
so that they can look good. And I used to always make the argument, so, what like, even if we are, it's still the same outcome, maybe a better outcome because we're quote unquote making ourselves look good.
So I just no, I know that I know the frustration. I remember I went through with you, of course, But yeah, I think that that is kind of one of the things that you know, folks need to really understand about themselves before deciding what ultimately good and bad and right and wrong means to them, because there are a lot of people who deserve equal treatment. And if you were to come to terms with the question that I believe
it's Jane Elliott. Elliott is the one that asked us, you're a non black person, if you would feel comfortable being treated the way black people are treated in this country, please stand up. She asked a question twice. She says, I don't think you heard me. If you non black people would wake up tomorrow and be happy to be treated by the criminal justice system, by the education system, by the you know, on and on and on banking system, healthcare system, you would be happy to be treated the
way black people are treated in this country. Please stand up. So I ask you, our listener, if this is kind of how you feel, or if you know people in your world where you can ask a question like that, it shows that they know that there's a different reality for us, all of us, and for you to decide, often enough, from a place of privilege, a place of advantage, what is good and bad or right and wrong, It often is going to reflect your version of reality, and
very much keep yourself insulated from that. And I will make that live for you a bit. Because now secondary definition, very much a secondary definition, very much a secondary definition of wokeness is effectively disapproving. You'll see that also under the same definition. So I'll read the definition beyond disapproving politically liberal, as in matters of racial and social justice, especially in a way that is considered unreasonable or extreme.
So this is the newish, newest version of the definition, and not the primary definition, but very much a secondary I want to make that very clear if I haven't done so yet, but it basically means argumentative, combative people that cause you to feel uncomfortable by pointing out that you know, in matters of racial and social justice, that you know your version of reality needs to change. And
often the pushback is that these people are unreasonable. And again, that's a very easy claim to make when your children aren't getting gunned down on video. It's a very easy claim to make when healthcare outcomes are more beneficial for you, a very easy claim to make when you're not losing wealth, rather the opposite of true, you're gaining wealth, your people,
your you know, that list goes on. You know, it's not just the criminal, just as education, there's employment, there's you know, there's historical, documented governmental efforts plural in this country. You know that's it's very easy to say when you're not combating environmental racism, where your communities aren't being polluted needlessly, it's very easy to say that these people are being extreme and their wokeness is unreasonable. And so I say,
there's nothing wrong with being woke. It's way better than being asleep. You know, you don't want to be one of the sleeper I'm running with that word. There, go for it. And here's a great example of what people will pick apart, you know what I mean. So, James Bond's books are kind of being rewritten to reflect modern sensitivities, and people on the right hate this. They say, James
Bond is not supposed to be politically correct. He's James Bond, right, So the books are being rewritten to account for the world we live in. Well, once upon a time, black people used to be called negroes until it fell out of fashion due to cultural pressures and influences. And now it is looked unfavorably upon calling black people negroes. You know, we decided that we would be called black or African American,
and this is where we are now. So to call someone a negro, especially like in the government documents or on the news or anything like that in a public space is frowned upon. And it's because of this same type of momentum from people who would be considered woke. Things change, such as the way of all things