Broadcasting from the Hip Hop Weekly Studios. I'd like to walk me to another episode of Civic Cipher Iami host Ramsey's job.
What I really don't understand is how Rams expects me to speak after like the polish and the professionalism that he just y'all know what I'm saying, Like he comes on the air with the silk smooth jazz tones and then I'm supposed to come with my regular with my regular human voice after that. It's really unfair and we're supposed to be brothers. So if y'all can write into the show and just you know, on my behalf, let Rams just know how y'all feel. I am, by the way,
Qward and this is Civic Cipher. He laugh, and he made me laugh, but I was dead serious rather more to say.
And I think that I think you sound like audible chocolate. That's what we used to say at station at my old radio station.
So y'all don't listen to Round Well anyway, we appreciate you listen to them, but not right then, right right, well, we appreciate you tuning in the Civic cycle. We got a lot in store for you today.
We are going to be talking about some of the things that have been going on in the news that we feel are very important to share with you in terms of the plight of black and brown people in this country and some of the developments and stories that are kind of shaping what will ultimately be the next election cycle. And I think in a more immediate sense, what are shaping our day to day lives here in this country. And I realized that a lot of this news may not make it make its way to you.
So Q and I are going to go over a few stories and make some arguments for let's be honest CRT in police reform, but also we're going to be talking about the zoot suit riots, for our way Black History fact and for our babas segment becoming a better ally. We're actually going to shout out a couple of police departments, which is highly unusual for us. But first and foremost, like we always do it, this time, we are going to discuss some ebony excellence.
Shall we we shall?
So today's ABNY Excellence is sponsored by Major Threads for the finest in sportswear checkmajorthreads dot com. And today we are talking about one victim of recent police or a recent anti black violence Ralph Yarrel. Ralph Yarl was the young man who or the boy I should say, who knocked on the wrong door and was shot in the head and the arm. Well he and this comes from Lack Information Network. He is helping raise money for traumatic
brain injuries in the aftermath of his own shooting. On May twenty ninth, Yarrel and his family participated in the Going the Distance for Brain Injury walk run event in
Overland Park, Kansas. This comes for ABC News. The teenager who suffered from traumatic brain injury following the shooting that he was involved in didn't publicly speak during the event, but his mother, Cleo Nagbi, gave a speech before its participants, and she says, quote, when you get a traumatic brain injury, everybody expects you to look one way, feel one way, or act one way. But it's not that way, she said. And everyone's asking me, have you gone back to work yet?
Has Ralph gone back to school yet? And that's not the case. A brain injury is a process, it's not an event. It takes time. Now the reason that we feel that this is Ebony excellence is because.
Obviously he is recovering.
You know that could have been much worse, but during his recovery process, he's doing his best to help others. And as a black person with the weight of the world on your shoulders and indeed being a victim of anti black violence and finding a way to use that and turn it into a positive and gift back, we think that that is ebony excellence of the highest order. So shout out to Ralph Yarl once again. Now we got some.
Stuff to talk about. As is the case, our group chat was popping. The group chat was had some abundance to it.
Yeah, indeed indeed, so, so to give you a little bit of background, we have a show group chat where we exchange ideas. We have an email that we forward articles that we come across too, and that people send articles too if they want us to review it. And then of course we pull from social media accounts and other things that you our listeners share with us as well, and we come up with what it is that we
need to talk about. But there were some things that hit us in all of those different channels, and before we found out that they were coming at us from all angles, Q and I talked about them too, and one of the things that was really sad, and was sad is just not a strong enough word here. I'm really telling in terms of why we need police reform, what it means to be black and to have your skin be perceived as a threat, and indeed what the realities are.
I know. Go ahead. I wish you guys could see me. Go ahead. Anybody who's listened to more than two do we call these episodes? What episodes works? You know, because we're on your radio, So I don't know if you consider our show an episode, But if you've heard us more than twice, you know that because you can't see me, so you see the kind of WinCE and cringe because Rams this is such a graceful, peaceful optimist, and he
lends some of that grace to people so often. And our skin color, which points to what they call our race, but it's more directly related to our ethnicity. It's something that they don't like. It is not a weapon that they fear. It is not this thing that makes them afraid. It is something that helps them determine that we are less than they are, that we are beneath them, hence making it fair for them to treat us as such. And it is more linked to hate. It is more
linked to gross marginalization. It is more linked to racism than it is to it being something that they fear
or something that has been weaponized. And when we speak about it in those terms, like you know that they do these things to us because they're afraid of us, I always cringe and we as we kind of grow and move over to YouTube, you guys will probably be able to see me react because we're going to be doing some things live rams just kind of gives them that as a not to get out of jail free card.
But someone can understand why someone would shoot you if they were afraid of you, except I know that that's not the case. That was not fear based, that was hate. Well, hang on right here, I want you to make your so read for our listeners. This CNN story that we have to cover. This is from CNN. Eleven year old Mississippi boy who was shot by responding police officers calling nine to one one has been released from the hospital.
I think his name is a Darien Murray, shot in the chest by the Indianola Police Department officer on Saturday morning while the officer was responding to a domestic disturbance call at the child's home. So the responding officer at the home of this child shot this child. That is incredible. Nikola Murray and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation told CNN that the father of another one of her children arrived at the home at four am quote irate end quote,
concerned about her safety. Murray asked a darien to all the police. Murray said, the officer who arrived at the home had his gun drawn at the front door. Can I pause there? Why? And I don't expect Ramses to answer. I don't expect you to answer, but ponder that he's responding to a domestic disturbance call, not a military infantry, not a armed robbery, not a breaking and entering, but a domestic disturbance.
So I'm not going to play Devil's advocate. But I want to say what some people who might be listening might say. They might say that, well, if the officer felt that danger was afoot, the officer has the right to protect himself, and the officers trained to use a weapon, blah blah blah.
So I want you to an officer who need to step his squabbles game up. Yeah, what about them hands. But listen, no, you need to see what's up with them paws. But here's hands. So here's what happened left and right shoulder blades.
You're not wrong, okay, So we're saying the same thing, right, But people who have been subjected to copaganda for many years, who have been sold this narrative that the police are the good guys.
And that.
Police might get it wrong sometimes, but that's okay, that's the cost of doing business, which is an awful thing to say. You wouldn't say that about any other industry so often, and you wouldn't say that about any other industry.
And the pilot gets wrong results in death. So so that's what I was gonna say.
If pilots had the same error rate for every plane that took.
Off, every airline would be on a business, right, And not because that would be charage from flying, but because they wouldn't be able to afford to operate from all the lawsuits. Right. So if it's something that most of our law enforcement is protected from, sure, sure, which is a reason why there's so little accountability. But here's the other part of this.
We know one of the reasons in our communities black and brown communities, impoverished communities, marginalized communities throughout the country. We know that police misconduct shapes outcomes negatively for our families and our communities, right but this also happens in
white communities too. But because we've as a country bought into this narrative that we need policing the way that it has been practiced, and it just needs slight nudges in the right direction here and there, rather than an entire rethinking of what public safety means in an overhaul
of the criminal justice system. Because of that, we have blinded ourselves as a people, indeed black people too, because most black people were opposed to the idea of defunding the police, because again we've bought into this narrative that police reform is the way to do it better. Training, more funding soware than that's going to change.
Weapons.
Well, police have gotten more activity, Police have got more money and more training year after year, and these outcomes still persist, and it costs people their lives. Right now, I think, to your point, showing up to fix the problem while having a gun drawn is not the type of problem fixing that we call on police for. You know what, I mean, brant. You want someone who is strong, who can who knows how to throw hands if necessary, show but also you want someone who is trained in
diffusing the situation, not necessarily someone who's trained in ending lives. Okay, people have kids. This is this is a thing. This is not a black thing. Okay, this is a human thing. People have kids with each other, and then when they have a kid, they fight with each other men and women in this example, and.
Not a result of having had children.
It's because you both love the child and you want to love the child in different ways. This has been my experience. Okay, I have children, so I know what it's like to deal with their mothers and sometimes it's tense. Okay, police showing up and killing somebody doesn't help, because now what do you have? You have a child growing up without one parent. So in terms of the.
Parents growing up without the child in this.
Case, or yeah potentially that too, right, But what I'm saying is that this officer showing up guns blazing add to your point.
Rather, that was a solution to what I'll continue to read. So yeah, go ahead, Murray said. The officer arrived at the home, quote had his gun drawn at the front door and asked those inside of the home to come outside. End quote. Murray said her son was shot coming around the corner of a hallway into the living room. Quote. Once he became Once he came around the corner, he got shot. In quote, Murray said, I cannot grasp why. The same cop that told him to come out of
the house and he did and he got shot. He kept asking why did he shoot me? What did I do wrong? Imagine that it's like put your hands up or howl and you do and they shoot you. Anyway, how old was he? A Darian? I believe was eleven years old. Now, I want to paint a picture.
If you haven't seen this story, brown skin, black child, male child. People ask the question, why don't black people trust the police? Why don't black people talk to the police. Why don't black people interact with the police. This is a question that often comes from The Boondocks. For those that are familiar with the cartoon, The boon Docks. They did a whole episode on this and it showed, you know, white people's reaction to the police, and oh my god, I love.
Talking the police.
The police are amazing, you know, they get ask them how their day was, and you know, give them some support and show them some love. And black people are like, no, I don't even want to see the police. And you're starting to kind of get a sense.
It's often terrifying.
Sure, sure, And the thing is, you know, we picked these stories and we share them. That's that's only because these are the stories that have made national headlines. These are stories you're most likely to know and resonate with, and you can easily and readily the information is readily available to you if you want to substantiate what indeed we're talking about. Okay, there are so many stories that don't make national headlines. There's so many stories that don't
even get documented. Many black people, I know this, have learned to just let it go so you'll never.
Even hear it. This is the peak. This is the tip of the icebergs, the peak of the mountain where there's all the stories. Sure.
Sure, but these stories plentiful and they definitely shape the outcomes of day to day life in America. Imagine, I'm gonna paint that picture that you just painted for our listeners. Imagine you're at home and you get in an argument with your child's father. If you're a woman or child's mother if you're a male. I've gotten a child in an argument before, and I had to call the police, and then I had to meet the police somewhere else so they wouldn't mistake me for the wrong person. Right,
and I own my house. Anyway, imagine this happens and you need to call the authorities, call the police, right, just to let them know. Hey, this is what happened. In case a neighbor calls or whatever. I'm on top of it. Okay, this is who was arguing with. Here's what it was. The police show up with their guns out, and then they shoot your baby after telling him to come out of the house.
Come out. You're telling everybody to come out. He rounds the corner. So no one, and I want to make this clear, no one should have been in danger of getting shot. Sure from simply listening to the instructions of the officer. Absolutely, even the man who you know, I'm guessing was the aggressor here should not have been in danger of being shot when he complied, as you guys
insist they should. Why don't they just comply? Well, this young man did exactly what he was told, and he was shot and could have been killed.
So here's my solution. Showing up to a disturbance like this with a gun increases the likelihood that there will.
Be gun violence.
I recognize that lease and guns and this country and guns are joined.
At the hip. So what I would like to see, what I would like to see, That's funny.
They literally hear what I would like to see is probably not likely, at least in my lifetime. But I've said this before on the show in Australia, sorry in New Zealand. Been in New Zealand before, and the police there will have guns in case they need them, but they keep the guns in the trunk of the car, okay, and it's only for emergencies if it's absolutely necessary. They have the same respect from you know, the general public.
People understand that you can't harm police officers because you know, there's the ultimate punishment or whatever that version of that is in their country, and people recognize, okay, I cannot interact with the police officers and just treat them any kind of way. So police don't have all the respect that they need. And people aren't getting shot, certainly not little boys for doing what they're told by the police.
Right. So again, if you show up with a gun, the likelihood that gun violence is going to take place increases, especially once the gun is drawn.
Sure, and remember, there's nothing in this story that suggested that anyone in the house had a gun, and not at least not that what I read now maybe more.
And it also might lead you to believe that it didn't matter who turned that corner. Yeah, somebody was getting shot. Someone he had the gunt. Now know that because an eleven year old turned the corner, right, that's how we know. There's the proof. An eleven year old turned the corner and was shot after being told. So whoever, he didn't surprise anybody shot, He didn't surprise anybody.
So if that were just the only story that we had, that would be more than enough to help tell this, to help establish this truth.
But I'm gonna read from the Independent this time. I'll take it please.
A man who waited twelve years for a heart transplant has died after he was denied medication during a stint in jail following a dispute with a neighbor. Dexter Berry, fifty four met. Dozens of doctors underwent intricate procedures and even moved to different states and his efforts to improve
his health. According to the Tribute, in twenty twenty, he received a new heart, allowing him to return to his normal life, but last year he was arrested on a misdemeanor charge, leading him to spending two days in jail without his medication. His body then appeared to reject his new heart. Mister Barry's neighbor called the emergency services in November, claiming that the fifty four year old had said he would beat him up following a dispute regarding Wi Fi access,
which had lasted weeks. No fight ever took place, but mister Barry was arrested on a charge of simple assault. Mister Barry told Jacksonville, Florida officer as many as seven times that he needed his medication every day, according to the outlet, citing body cam footage.
So we have.
Another instance of I think I remember what you sent to the group text when you sent this article over from the Independent.
I think there was from the office. Yeah, in the backseat, back seat, and him saying making them aware that he needed his medication. My medicine is in the house. Being arrested for a simple assault that he didn't commit and lieu of a fight actually happening is wild and another truth. When your skin looks like ours, it is you know how I come on here and just express that I'm tired. One of these days I want somebody to say how you doing and to say okay and mean it right.
Ramses and I do this every day. We talk to you guys once a week, but we do this every day. Right.
Think about all of the stuff that just happens in your normal day to day life, having nothing to do with your race, nothing to do with politics, nothing to do with the police, just life, bills, hardships, illnesses, you know, family, children, love, life, work, And then stack on top of that seven days worth of stories like this about people that look like you whose only crime was that they look like you.
Imagine the people whose stories we can't tell, the people that know that reach out to us personally. Hey, something happened to my cousin, my son, can you help you know? And we have to wait to make sure that we have.
This man went through all you have to go through just to get an organ transplant, heart transplants, so an even more difficult transplant to get had a successful transplant surgery, got arrested for a fight that didn't happen over Wi Fi and died because he was denied medication that he made them where he needed and the only reason that this wasn't take. So now I'm making proclamations that I don't know to be true, but I'm going to assume.
It's not a word I like to use, but I'd like to think if this young man wasn't a black man, that he wouldn't have been left to die because he couldn't get access to medication that person who needed.
But I think i'll take it a step further too, if he wasn't a black man. Here's what I would bet. I would bet the neighbor was not black. They're fighting over Wi Fi and he goes to jail or a threat you know the neighbor. You know, this country, a lot of especially people on the right, they talk about how much they espouse the free speech in the Second Amendment, first and the second Amendments.
They don't know the rest of them. But you know, over Wi Fi.
I don't imagine anybody's going to jail over an argument over Wi Fi if they don't look like you or me. But the fact that he goes to jail and he's not taken seriously, he's not treating humanely, you know what I mean.
It's a lot.
Easier to deny someone their humanity if you've been taught or you've chosen to see the ass of human less than human, not.
Worth equality.
At a base level, equity at really what should be.
The standard level that we all treat each other. Yeah, and so it's unjust, but we know that it's unfair. But we know that it's heartbreaking. But we know that. And my question that I pose to Rams is because he's sitting here, but to society, really, is is there any hope of actual change? I say yes, and he always does that that I almost always want to flip the table over.
Well, we got to talk about that, and so we'll come back with more. So we'll stick around.