Keep on riding with us, says, we continue to broadcast the balance and defend the discourse from the Hip Hop Weekly Studios. Welcome back to Civic Cipher. I am your host, Ramsey's job.
He is ramses Jah. I am q Ward. You are tuned into Civic Cipher.
Indeed you are, and we still got some more scife life in store for you, so stick around for that. We are going to be spending some time discussing what it means to be blinded by privilege. This is going to be a big one, so buckle up because a
lot of people have a tough time with this. People cannot see how things are easy for them, and as a result, they think that they work harder than everybody else and they deserve everything that they have, instead of reframing things around a set of fortunate circumstances into which they were born. We are going to do our best to explain how you can easily be blinded by that. Indeed we all are. Even sometimes before we get there, though, it's time to discuss Baba becoming a better ally Baba.
On Today's Baba sponsored by Friends of the Movement, you can sign up for the Free Voter whileer from Fotmglobal dot com to support black businesses and allied businesses as well as make an impact with your spending. Again, that's Fotmglobal dot com And today we are going to ask you to donate to the National Urban League that is inuel dot org and I'm going to share just from their website. Join the fight against unfair laws, job limitations,
and racial inequality. We provide direct and free services to two million people across the country and are making a real impact on communities. But we can't do it without your help. Many individuals support the National Urban League movement through a variety of opportunities that allow the public to donate in an easy and convenient way. We are here on the ground across the nation to help people from all walks of life and communities with urgency, expertise and compassion.
Your donation is vital to our work and will help to ensure that our services remain free of charge. And there's a quote that I want to share. I think it's beautiful quote. Every man is our brother, and every man's birth is our own. Where poverty exists, we are all poorer. Where hate flourishes, we are all corrupted. Where injustice reigns, we are all unequal, And that's from Whitney Mjung And then they add another thing here I want
you to keep with you. Making a gift can be as simple as texting INU well give to forty one for forty four or visiting again inuel dot org. And while we're here, I do want to take a moment to share with you that Q and I will be speaking at the National Urban League Conference in It might be later next week, we might be doing that your national convention, National convention, that's correct, So we will be there on the ground presenting in New Orleans.
In New Orleans.
Indeed, so again check out innuel dot org not only to make a donation, but to get more information on what's going on and maybe how you can even tap in with us while we're down there. Now we're going to talk about what it means to be blinded by privilege. And before I unbuckle Q, allow me to share just a brief story that kind of inspired this thought. This comes from the Black Information Network. Okay, a GOP lawmaker is facing backlash after referring to White House Press Secretary
Kareem Jane Pierre as a quote DEI Hire. Colorado Representative Lauren Bobert suggested that Jean Pierre was only hired to fill a diversity quota. Quote. I couldn't care less about what at press sec has to say today, she tweeted. Quote it's between ten am and four pm, which means quote President Joe Biden should be coherent enough to take a few questions from the press. Instead, Americans are supposed
to listen to the disc credited DEI hire pass. Jean Pierre was named White House Press Secretary in twenty twenty two after serving as the Deputy Press Secretary. She previously worked on former President Barack Obama's and Senator John Edwards's presidential campaigns. So what we're saying here is that this woman, Lauren Bobert, I don't want to say that she's a racist person.
Why don't you want to say so?
Because it's it's easy. I'm not saying it's not true. It's easy to say that and then dismiss this. What I want to do is focus on because she wouldn't say that about herself. But what I want to do is make a point about her being blinded by her own privilege. Okay, so again, we're not going to say that she's just being racist again, because that's that's the easy thing to do. It's factual, I believe, and it's
right there for anybody to take it. But I think there's a deeper level here that all of us can benefit from learning and understanding. Right, So let me back up a bit. The Press secretary Kareem Jean Pierre.
She was the.
Deputy Press Secretary until twenty twenty two, and prior to that she worked on Obama's and John Edwards presidential campaigns. Right, so you're talking about going back. Geez, how long ago was that? Two thousand and let's see Obama was what eight, so you're talking two thousand and four. She started working for Senator Edwards in two thousand and four. Year, yeah,
so two thousand and four. So my mass could so what we have, as a woman who's been more or less in the same job for twenty years, twenty years on the job, experience is more. It qualifies you better than a degree, It qualifies you better than just about it. However, she has her masters from Columbia. Okay, let's book affairs that. Okay, Now this isn't necessarily just in.
Case you want to disqualify her on the lack of merrit in one of those areas lack of experience or lack of education. She checks both boxes. Yeah, you know, with a bullet. Yeah, you don't make it to the White House unless you do, right.
But well, oh well, as a presidency, presidency you might be able to We've seen Bush, We've seen Trump.
Yeah, I get you. But even even Bush, however, was a lawmaker before he was the president. That's fair, fair point this other guy. Yeah, yeah, there's you can do so and the people he plans to bring with him.
You know what's interesting while we're here. While we're here, it's interesting because this country was always supposed to be a government. I have a government that was for the people, by the people, right, And there are other parts of the world where they think that's absolutely crazy. How in the world can people govern themsel? This is what they think?
Right?
How is an entire population educated enough? How can they know enough to decide what's right for themselves in terms of like a framework for their society. Can they decide for their home?
Sure?
Can they decide for their media community?
Sure?
Should they have representation? Absolutely? But there are other people who feel like, no, there should be a decider and that person should or a very small governing body, and they should take the information and data and then make the best decisions right now. Obviously that framework has a lot of potential for corruption, but it's interesting that there's another way of thinking. How you know folks can.
Govern because work does as well.
Yeah, but as you mentioned, there are people that will elect a person who is not qualified to lead us all, and then that person, because they were elected, leads us all into the abyss.
Right.
Anyway, back to what I'm talking about, Korean Jane Pierre, the Press Secretary of the White House. This is not about her, although we could talk about the glorious example of ebony excellence that she is until we're blue in the face, and I think we might right now. What I want to focus on is.
The woman, the woman calling her qualification into question.
Okay, so here's where I want to go with that. And then I'm gonna I'm gonna unleash you or unbuckle you whatever I said before. Okay, So what I did was I googled Lauren Bobert, Okay, and specifically because I saw that she only had a GED's funny that the press secretary has a master's degree and has worked in the job for twenty years. Right, But I saw on social media that Lauren Bobert had a GED. So I googled that does Lauren Bobert have a GED or did
she get a GED? So you can replicate these results. Did Lauren Bobert get a GED? You're able to see for yourself.
Okay.
The answer that I got back was Bobert dropped out of high school during her senior year in two thousand and four.
Okay, So you mean the year she dropped out of high school was the same year. That was the same year that this young lady received her master's degree and started her career in Washington, d C.
So okay, okay, so you put it together for me.
Thank you. You always there when I was asking a question I want the question? Okay is all we need? Okay? All right?
Lauren Bolbert dropped out of highchool during her senior year in two thousand and four when she had a baby. She earned a GED certificate in twenty twenty.
So sixteen years later, right before she ran for office, I believe a month before her first election, primer Okay, that's that's what I expected.
Bobert has stated that her family depended on welfare when she was growing up, and that she was raised in a democratic household in a liberal area. Okay, that's something, So hang on, heim, because I'm gonna let you go and then it's all yours. But you know, there's been these terms assigned to black people, black women in particular, welfare queens and all this sort of stuff. Right, and then now that the new incarnation of that is DEI hire, where.
Prior to that it was affirmative action.
Higher, there you go, and the idea there is to discredit a person's qualifications because they are black, rather than to look at, geez, what all did you have to get through to get here? Because it's tough, period, it's got to be extra tough doing it while black and a woman.
Right, But no, dee I hire. Right.
So here is what it means to be blinded by privilege. This woman, Lauren Bobert, looked over the entirety of her own experience, saw no connective tissues, saw no shared struggles, saw none of that. Even though it's true, this is this is this is what comes up, and these are stories that she shared verifiable fact. This is, but she didn't see any of that. She saw a dei hire, in other words, someone who's not qualified to be theirs. The only reason is that they're standing there is because
they are black. They check a box and there was a quota to feel there you go right. And for her, she is blinded by her own privilege, because you have to be in order to get something like that off. She ignored the fact that her own life, she got pregnant in high school, dropped out oft offer. She didn't even do the research because her assumption is that this woman is not qualified because she is a dei hier, she's a black woman. That's the only place where it
comes from. And now we can introduce racis into the conversation. Now we can have that part of the conversation because that's the only place that comes from. And I challenge you to convince me of anything different. And again, I don't want to call her racist. I want to call her blinded by her own privilege. But after you see that she's blinded by her own privilege, you see that
takes a very dark, negative, angry turn. And now we can have the racist conversation So, now that we've started here, I know that you had a couple of bullets, bullet points I should say that you wanted to touch on as well.
I want to first point out that in two thousand and four, when this young lady accusing her of being a DEI hire was dropping out of school and not getting a high school diploma, Kareem Jane Pierre was the political director for Senator John Edwards presidential campaign. I didn't want it to seem like she was like an intern or starting in some entry level position. I want to give an example that's a little left or right, however you view it, of what we've been talking about so far.
The Conservative Party in this country only exist because they've found a way to pull the blinders of privilege over the eyes of everyone, so that we all find a way to ignore that obvious connective tissue that you pointed out, that obvious shared struggle, and only protect even at our own peril, our own privilege. Well what do you mean, Q, I'm glad you asked. I am a heterosexual, Christian black man, and if you remove the word black, I almost check
every privileged box that this country has. Hewth Ever, provided that get it. So it is very easy, as we've seen, for a Christian, heterosexual black man, to be blinded by privilege and stand next to a person like our former president and hail him as a great person, ignoring all the awful things that that person would have in store for people who look like you and have your shared experience because you somehow made it to the position that
you're in. When I see people who check the boxes that I check, not stand up for people who don't check all of those is a very, very disheartening thing to witness. The example that I use most noticeably is our LGBTQ community LGBTQ plus community, because I see people point the finger in judgment, look down their noses, and wave their bibles at people in that community as somehow less deserving of all the wonderful things that life should provide all of us than they are. And in that
division is how the other side remains in power. You could argue that a black, homosexual, atheist woman is a quadruple minority, does not check any of the boxes of being worth anything, no power boxes there, looked down upon, probably by each of the groups that she belongs.
There's someone that will find fault with her.
Yeah, your black Christian friends think that you're a sinner. Yeah, your white straight friends see you as black and homosexual. Some of your white homosexual friends have the white box, which means there's a portion of their privilege that they have to protect and at some point will discredit yours.
The women that you know that are married to men that check those that check all those boxes will vote against their own best interests and speak out in march and organize against their own best interests because they see
the benefit of the privilege of their spouse. Like there's so many Yes, there's so many different ways that without even realizing it, in order to protect what privilege you sometimes are not even paying attention to the fact that you have and or sometimes in this case, that you are very aware that you have, that you will ignore that very privileged that allows you to have the life
that you enjoy. Because if you set their resumes next to one another, I say, one could argue, but that's it's just way too obvious that Laurene how do you say her name, Bobert did nothing to be qualified to be in a position that she's in nothing at all, And looks around at everybody else and points at how they're somehow being made an exception for it is maddening, but it is how we got here, right when you look at how people vote, when you look at how
people organize, when you look at what's most important to most people, We've found a way to disassociate ourselves from people who don't share every experience that we have and have found a way to litigate our own privilege and credit it to our own merit and our own hard work, and don't realize that some of that was privileged, and in a lot of cases all of it.
Sure, let me jump in here, this is still you. But that's kind of what I was alluding to earlier, where I was saying that everybody works hard. I just push back against that. I know you don't like when I call myself lazy, because I know that I'm not lazy, but I work hard so that it's maniacal.
It's so lazy. It's as big an antonym as you could use to describe yourself. Papoid pair point.
But there are people that work harder than me. There are bona fide workaholics that exist, And if you were to compare anything a career, accolades, net worth, pick a thing. It might on paper look like I have more of those things than indeed the workaholics. Okay, hard work is something that everyone does, and granted there are people who work harder, but that in and of itself does not guarantee the levels and the types of success that we
espouse in this country. So that cannot be in and of itself a reliable predictor of outcomes.
Absolutely not. We want credit for all that we think we accomplished that and will not acknowledge where there was grace and luck and help luck and you help.
See opportunities and and you know what school did your.
Dad go to? And is that why you get to say the N word? Don't say nepotism because that doesn't exist.
On and on and on, right, And I get it. You know, maybe for some people who are white and check all these boxes, they had no nepotism, They didn't have a daddy that went to a school, they didn't have you know whatever. But there are still invisible forces that if they don't work for you, at least they're not.
Working against you. They're not working against you, right.
And so that privilege again just being a white a mediocre white woman who did everything wrong in her life. She was pregnant, I mean, not wrong, but everything that we use, you know, by societal standards. She's a failureship and graduated high school, she has gd she had kids in high school, all this sort of stuff. Right, that's a failure on paper.
Right, Well, that's not a failure on paper. It's just that those are the type of things that would disqualify us, right, Okay, so type of things intentionally used to disqualify poor people. Okay, so watch this intentionally, So watch.
Where we're going. Now, what we're seeing is a mediocre, if I'm being honest, white woman who is now one of the more famous lawmakers that we have in this land. And we have a black woman with over two decades of experience on the job crushing it with a master's degree getting picked apart by the very woman who is mediocre. And this can only happen if a person is blind to their own privilege, If this this only happens to a person that thinks, well, I worked hard for my position.
Everyone else should.
That's the only scenario, or everyone else didn't.
Boom.
So that's a conversation that we might have to revisit if I'm honest, but for now we are going to leave that one where it is as always. I'd like to thank you for tuning in to Civic Cipher. I have been your host Rams's Jaw I am still Ceward. I'm trying to hold on to that as long as i can. Man, we almost set to finish loan for for this for this chapter. I know we got a long long road ahead of us, but for this particular chapter, we're almost there. Do us a favorite, follow us on
our social media, shoot Q some love and encouragement. You can find me at Rams's Jaw.
I am Qward on all socials.
And then, of course, so follow the show at Civic Cipher c I B I C c I p h e R. Hit the website Civiccipher dot com. You can download this in any previous episodes. You can shoot us any questions you might have, any topics you might want us to cover.
Like comment, share a subscribe, hit us
On YouTube that is YouTube dot com, slash Civiccipher and until next week, y'all, peace, peace,