People on riding with us is we continue to broadcast the balance and defend the discourse from these hip hop weekly studios. Welcome back to Civic Cipher. I am your host, Ramsey's job.
He is Ramsey's job. I am still q Ward. You are either still listening or tuning back in to Civic Scycer.
Listen we the way. We appreciate it because we are talking that talk today. We got some special guests in the building Angelo Salazar, she is the Equity Programs director, and Marta Rabinowska, Marketing and brand manager for the YWCA. We got some heavy hitters in the building and we are talking about women's autonomy and really how the intersection of politics and women's ability to be humans and kind of what that looks like. So we have a whole
second half that we're gonna talk about it. But of course we could talk about this all day, but you're encouraged to stick around for the next part of this conversation. We definitely are going to be talking about how bodies are policed by these artificial agents in this country. But before we get there, it's time to become a better ally. So let's discuss a ba Baba. Today's Babla sponsored by
Friends of the Movement. You can sign up for the free voter wallet from fotmglobal dot com to support black businesses and allied businesses as well as make an impact that you're spending.
Again.
That's Fotmglobal dot com and today we're talking about building bridges. You're encouraged to support our friends. Let me share Arizona form for change. I'll just read this. This is from a statement from the y Luca. Join us for the Radical Justice Forum, a dynamic platform designed to tackle pressing
issues surrounding racial justice and equity. Our form will delve into four key topics bodies, women's finance, gun violence, and transportation, with special emphasis on how these intersect with mental health and advocacy. Led by insightful keynote speakers and engaging panel discussions, we aim to foster open dialogue and interactive participation to raise awareness, promote understanding, and inspire actionable steps towards systemic change.
Be a part of the transformative event as we push for a more just and equitable future for all Jonas and be the change you wish to see in the world. It's going to take place at May tenth at seven a m. And you can check out UH why double c A A Z dot org. Uh if you want to support the organization that we're you know, having today's conversation with, or if you want to do something locally
in your city. If you live outside of the state of Arizona, which most of you do, you can just check out UH justice dot y do w U c A dot org. Either way, get involved. You know, the more I learn about what it is that y w c A is up against, the more I feel like we have to really help out. And fortunately we're in a position and do a little bit. So let's get back to these conversations. So uh, let's discuss you know, what I do want to discuss, like the ways that
women's bodies are policed. And you know, being a man, I've never been subjected to really anything like that. How that might feel. And you know, obviously there's at least fifty percent of the population that knows how that feels. But for us, we often feel like we can do a lot of fighting. We should do most of the fighting. We are black men, we should do most of the fighting. But there are certain battles where allies non Black people can be more effective than we can be on behalf
of black people. Right. So I say that to say that half of the population will know full well what it means to have your rights restricted, to take your decisions about what it is that you feel your family should look like and your path forward should look like, etc. Are decided by people you've never met, will never meet, and they are imposing these restrictions on you. Right, But there's a lot there's another half of the population that has the potential to be really strong allies on behalf
of the people affected by these restrictions. Right. So I do want to, you know, take a moment to talk about maybe some of the ways that some of the restrictions that you're familiar with, and some of the ways they impact how you move through time and space, how you plan things in the future, how it feels. Because again, this is something I cannot know. It's never been a thing for me. So let's start with you and then we'll come to your next market.
Yeah, I mean that is it's an interesting dynamic because if I choose to have a child because I want a child, like I'm gonna have a child, right, If I choose and say I don't want to have children because of X, Y and Z. Maybe I want I love my independence. Maybe I feel like, you know, it's so costly to.
Have a child.
Maybe you already have children correct and need to support them.
Not only that, in some communities, they all also have to worry about living. The mortality rate for black mothers is increasing minute by minute, and so that's another concern that people have. I don't want to have I don't want to get pregnant because or I don't want to have a child because I might die on the hospital bed having this child.
There's a lot of concerns.
But you know, we always constantly compare ourselves to our male counterparts, because y'all don't have to think about that, right you're not the one having a human being grow out of your body.
And so.
I feel like that that ties into why we have this issue right now. Why who's dominating politics right now? Is it men versus women? Women are coming out very fast, but right now and throughout all of history, it's always been male dominated, and so it's easy for them to say, hey, I want to get all over your business. Your privacy rights no longer are being considered because now I need to know whether you're going to have a child, and
how many weeks are you pregnant? Even a woman doesn't even know she's pregnant up until right about that time of the fifteen week mark. I think that's what they're and other places could be around that time. But at the you know, men don't know this, like we don't know we're pregnant until we don't see a period. In some cases, some people still have a period. So they think, oh, well, let's just pick fifteen weeks and men, do you do these male politicians know that? Piece do they know all
these other things that we have to consider. A woman has to consider all of these factors when it comes to pregnancy, and so that, like I said, it is one gender base, one historical base, because who has been the majority for this whole time?
Now, marta real quick We've talked about abortion access, but I know that there are some other areas where women's mobility may have been like kind of artificially restricted or otherwise policed. And I know that there's like social factors too, you know what I mean, what sort of standard of beauty, how a person should dress, these sorts of things, and by conforming, you have access to different levels in society and so forth. So just share a little bit about
that and what those restrictions mean. Because again, I mean, you see me now, the way that I'm dressed. I don't even have to wear a shirt most of the time. I don't my son. Yeah, anyway, So yeah, can share a little bit about about that, because we do want to get your thoughts on this one too.
Definitely, I think that's very valid for me myself. I'm a younger woman, and there are certain things that I cannot wear it to the office because I feel like it may be deemed inappropriate or you know, I don't wear braids. I don't have to worry about wearing my hair natural like some black women do. And I know that they've been ostracized in the workplace or they've been, you know, in some ways penalized for wearing their hair natural for example, or wearing their braids in a certain way.
And I also have to worry about walking on the street and what I'm wearing, right, and especially if I'm walking around at night, it can be very scary as a young woman, especially if you're by yourself. So that's not necessarily policing, but it's kind of a self policing mentality right of how I have to keep myself safe.
But all social police scene, i'd probably i mean, just for me, I'd probably take it a step further because I've heard and this is just from my sister, who again is one woman, but she's a woman in my life and helped shape my view of these things. One time, she was going home from school. I shared this with you before Q. She's going home from school and she called me. She's at Arizona State just going home and shout out to the protesters by the way. She's going
home and she calls me on the phone. I'm on the radio at the time. She's just talking talking. I'm like, hey, well, I got to get back to the radio. I got to get back to my show. She said, ma'am's is just stay on the phone with me. I got a show to do. I'm doing a night show. I got a show to do. I got to Ramses, stay on the phone with me. I'm like, what's up? What's going on? She was like, Ramses, have you ever had to walk
to your car at night as a woman? And then she proceeded to say even if something did happen to me, if I'm not dressed a certain way, the police won't believe me. Right, And so when you talk about the social conformity and the policing of how women dress, those sort of artificial influences may have something to do with it, at least according to that one story I've heard from that one woman. I never want to speak for women. I just want to be an ally.
So you use the words policing, and that might make people just think police, but you, I think everyone that's having this conversation with us today mentioned the kind of weaponization of religion and indoctor nation by the right to justify the controlling policing and kind of dictatorship with regards to women, not just with their autonomy and reproductive rights, but how much they can weigh how they dress, the style of their hair, how they're perceived by others, appropriate,
what is appropriate without any critical backlash, because you can't come back at it. If it's it's God, it's the word of God and the will of the Lord, then you cannot even critically oppose them being a woman. And that that's kind of a way forgive me for backtracking. I spoke about. You know, women who kind of organize, vote, elect, and speak out against their own best interest. It's kind of a mental manipulation to use their beliefs, and they're,
like I said, uncritical beliefs. Because we you know, when you believe in something, especially with regard to religion, it almost can't be challenged. Whatever happens and will be is the will of God, right, so there's nothing that you can say to oppose it. I know how frustrating it is for me, and Ramses gets to feel and hear my frustration on our show weekly. That's what we is when I see people who should be allies who do
not stand next to and support us. You guys are sitting now with two brothers of yours who you can educate not just on what you're up against, want to more so on how to show up for you. So when using the words policing, I don't want people to just think that that's the police. That's society at large, that's colleagues, friends, family members. So some advice to some
men who have no idea. Even this man who was raised by a single mother with six sisters, still has no idea how it feels to live under that type of soul social policing by everyone in your position. What is that like on a daily and how do we show up for you better or more effectively than we have already?
I can jump in on that one, because things women like also are frowned upon. Right. There's no male counterpart for what a chick flick is. Right. Action movies and adventure movies. They're oh, yeah, The Godfather, Absolutely everybody loves that film, right, But we talk about chick flicks and it's like, ah, really, oh that's what girls like. Right.
Pumpkin spice lattes also a joke. We're laughing, right, but it's proven, like, like they did data and measurements and studies and they prove people like pumpkin spice lattes and Starbucks makes billions of dollars a year on the thing. But it's laughable and why And so I think something we can do is take that sh take it back. You know, things women like are good. People like women. We're half of the like you were saying, we're half the population, we're half of the market. That's half of
the dollars that are raised across the country. It's not a laughable thing, So don't laugh at us.
It's this thing.
For example, she knew I was going to laugh, and she set me up. And as my sister, she should be a better ally than she.
Just did you know. There's something that I want to add here to. I was having this conversation earlier today with Leanna Taylor, who's on the board of Directors Why Sad, and we're talking about chick flicks, and I mentioned to her, I was like, I never really understood that term chick flix because men fall in love too. Amen. You know, at least me. If you're a man and you've lived your life and you haven't fallen in love, you're doing it wrong. So so yes, I understand how it is marketed.
I think, coming from someone who the only type of movies that don't like are scary movies. Because I like to be happy. I like to laugh, so I like laughing movies. I like movies that make me think. I like love, so I like movies about love, right, And so I never really understood that thing. So just just a thing that I wanted to say. Now, listen, I know you brought some notes. Yeah, so why don't you
talk to me? Why don't you educate me and Q on some things that we need to know about, and in doing so, I think we're going to educate our listeners too.
Yes, So, going back to cues question like how to be a bitter ally, we always try to push the message message of thinking outside of the norm because we we all grew up in society and these social norms. This is what we call social norms. Right, We're supposed to think and act a certain way. We're not supposed to rock the boat. We're not supposed to as a woman, I'm not supposed to like sports and drink beer and cigars, right Like, But what if I do this? You know,
I'm not in the social norms anymore. So when we talk about being a better ally, men have to start thinking in terms of outside the box as well. What is the potential of woman being your ally versus beneath you?
Right?
So, all of society, all of history, it's always been like this unspoken cast system. Right, you have a man at the top, women kind of fall behind, and all the messaging, social media, music, news, all that stuff, it kind of keeps it going. It keeps feeding our younger generation to fall in line and still have the same
thought process. So as men and you start raising families, let's not fall into the social norm your your girl, your daughter shouldn't have to go to ballet when she wants to be a skateboarder, right, allow her to be a skateboarder. So things like that, like think outside the box. What are the potential of this female versus your son?
Right?
If your son wants to do ballet, let him do ballet. Ye, right, So we always try to say, just try to you don't have to fall within the social marks. Like we can all have our own individual thoughts, our own individual opinions, and let's value each other's thoughts and opinions. And I think the more that we're open to those thoughts and opinions, then we start being a little bit more. How do I say, embracing of things changing versus no, it has to stay in line. And so going back to we
were talking about politics. You know, it's fear tactics that they use. It's going back to gay mentality. You say something against what everybody else is saying. They're gonna look at you, they can give you a side eye, they're gonna you know, hey, you aren't supposed to say that how about this.
So there's another thing that I feel like you can touch on before before we're done for today's episode. Talk to us about kind of the intersection of structural racism and sexism and how fighting one battle influences the other or something like that, because this is something that's new to me and I kind of work in this space.
We work in this space now, but you know, you being from the YWCA, which is like a legit or another we just we just talk on a radio and DJs, so you guys actually know this stuff and we're learning. But you know, talk about that intersection and how that overlap is something that people need to be aware of because I think that it might inspire the thought of not only how and where to get involved, but why.
Yeah, so when we talk about structural racism, there are things that have been put in place for centuries, know that part, right, And then you start breaking it down to identities, and that's where sexism comes into play. You know, we're we're globally the highest country that incarcerates people, right, uh, by far by any country, we probably quadruple any other country.
Right.
And then so then when you talk about that's a piece of structural racism. We got to keep people in mind, right, And then you talk about women's rights, so those who are women are not uh, I know probably is going to be coming off some kind of way, but women are not incarcerated as much as men are. And so I feel like women, and again going back to all the time, have been placed behind or beneath a man.
And so when you talk about sexism, there's always been like this entity versus I'm just a fellow human being. You're this entity. And so if you're going to start saying things, questioning things, what are we going to do to counteract that?
Right?
And you know it's I want to use the example of the maternal ray because that is a form of structural racism and sexism on that and then going back to the abortion band too, states that have abortion bands also have the highest maternal rates.
And then that disproportionally affects black and brown women.
Exactly, And so who's benefiting from that?
Right?
We want to ask who's benefiting from it? And then I know, before we started this conversation, you had mentioned the same people who are pushing abortion bands are the same people that were against getting a vaccination.
Oh, that's funny.
My body, my choice. They said, leave it the Q.
To make to connect those dots. Well, you know what, one of the things that I will say is that we have an election that's coming up, and I heard the most recent State of the Union, and I won't say what I won't say, Okay, but our current president his name is Joe Biden. That's a fact. Feel how you feel. But he did say something in his recent State of the Union. In its decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court majority wrote, women are not without electoral
or political power, no kidding. Clearly, those ragging about overturning Roe v. Wade have no clue about the power of women in America, but they found out when reproductive freedom was on the ballot. So we'll leave that one right there. I'd like to thank you for tuning into this episode of Civic Cipher once again. I've been your host rams this job.
And I am still Q war indeed.
And I appreciate that because we need you to keep on keeping on.
Just doing what I can do when I can do it, right.
I love that, man, So listen up. Let's uh, but before you go, let's give your social media's if you have those, So Angela Sawas are you go first?
You can find me at Huskatura Instagram or Angela Saul's are on LinkedIn.
All right, and Marta, why don't you if you feel comfortable, you know, let people know how to keep up with you and your your advocacy.
Well, you can follow White w c A at at yew C A A Z on every platform.
There is no right that's good enough for me. And of course you can follow the show at Civic Cipher and we'll leave that one right there until next week, y'all.
Peace,