Keep on riding with us as we continue to broadcast the balance and defend the discourse from the Hip Hop Weekly Studios. Welcome back to Civic Cipher. I'm your host, Ramses joh.
Rams' job is a superhero. I just need to say that outloud. My name is Quentin Ward, but my friends called me Q and you guys are still I hope tuned in to Civic e Cipher and.
If not, then welcome, Welcome, Welcome to the show. We got a lot to talk about, including how to get recharged.
Okay, that's necessary.
Yeah, man, you need some flowers, You need some community, you need some fellowship, you need some joy for those of you who want the world to be a better place. For those of you have hearts that beat the way that ours beat, that feel like we can be better
as a people, as a country. Community is necessary, and we're going to share an example of us coming back from the National Urban League National Conference where we were energized by community, and we hope that our shy our story will inspire you but also encourage you to seek out community. Ird Before we get there, it's time to discuss Baba becoming a better allied. Baba and today's Bobba
sponsored by Friends of the Movement. You can sign up for the free voter whilet from Fotmglobal dot Com support Black businesses and allied businesses as well as make an impact with your spending. Again, that's Fotmglobal dot Com and Today's BABA comes from the Black Information Network. Black and other minority farmers are receiving two billion dollars in direct payments from the federal government after facing years of discrimination.
The Associated Press reports, man, if I could pick a life that was full of discrimination and hardship and then you get paid a little bit of money at the end of it all, I wouldn't pick it right, But this is my life. I'm happy, I'm proud. But man, nobody would choose this. I don't want to talk about discrimination all day. But this is a story and you need to know about it. We appreciate your allyship I'll continue.
According to the USD, over twenty three thousand farmers were approved to receive payments ranging from ten thousand to five hundred thousand. Five hundred thousand dollars sorry. Another twenty thousand people who plan to start a farm but were denied a USD alone receive payments between thirty five hundred and
six thousand. The payments come after a long history of the USDA refusing to process loans for black farmers, approving smaller loans compared to white farmers, and putting foreclosures on black farmers quicker than their counterparts. In a statement, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack said the payment quote is not compensation for anyone's loss or the pain endured, but it is an acknowledgment by the department.
Quote.
National Black Farmers Association founder and president John Boyd Junior said the aid is helpful, but only serves as a band aid to a bigger problem.
Quote.
It's like putting a bandage on somebody that needs open heart surgery.
Boyd said.
We want our land, and I want to be very very clear about that. Boyd is still active in a federal lawsuit over the one hundred and twenty percent debt relief that was approved by Congress for black farmers in twenty twenty one. Five billion dollars was allocated for the program in the one point nine trillion dollar COVID nineteen
stimulus package. However, black farmers never received the money, as white farmers filed several lawsuits claiming their constitutional rights were being violated because they were excluded from receiving that aid. I doesn't feel like Babo does it, but it is kind of is. It's not nothing.
When we were going over the story, I wrote in my notes two billion is not enough. But we have to acknowledge that two billion is something. And to continue to do nothing because it's not enough, I don't think would be the right step to take either. So one step forward, hopefully followed by a.
Bunch of their steps.
Yeah, And I think that's a good segue, because you take your wins where you can get them. We in this country, black people in particular, but all marginalized communities are fighting a hard, uphill battle that we don't get to win in our lifetimes. You know, Doctor Martin Luther King said it best. You know, I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you, and I feel that way too. I feel like I'm not going to live in a world where I don't have to worry
about my sons. That won't be what happens with my life.
I will never be free of this burden, this worry, but I will do my job, and hopefully my sons will do their job, and their sons will do their job, and one day we will all be able to live in an environment, in a country, in cities, in a world that doesn't need to have conversations about reparations, because those conversations will be in hindsight, and the reparations will be effective, and they will create economic empowerment for marginalized
communities and create access. And then the systems that we discuss on the show that artificially repress and suppress the initiatives and the aspirations of marginalized peoples in this country will have been eliminated and everyone will have a more equitable go at. Let's call it the American dream or having a human experience.
Period. But now.
We have a fight on our hands, and it is easy to become discouraged. Even with two billion dollars in rewards for the farmers, we had to talk about six hundred billion dollars that was stolen from us through unfair taxes and people stealing land. And then you and I were born in the eighties into a world and you know, I'm from Compton, you're from Detroit, but we're born in environments where we look around and we're like, you know,
it seems normal when you're a kid. When you get a little older, you're like, not everybody lives like this. Why was I born like this? And why are the back the black people the ones that are like this? And why did I have to be born like that? And you know, these people seem happy and these people are shooting and starving and standing in welfare lines, and you know, and it's just your story, and you what
do you do? You can't change it. But I think that understanding that you have to have your fight, you have to go, you have to play your part, which is something that both of us do.
It. That fight is.
An easier fight when you feel like there's progress being made, even if it's little incremental progress, and it's energizing while you're fighting to know that you're not fighting alone. You and I we sit in this studio every week and we discuss heavy topics and I cry all the time, and I thank you for for allowing that, because I don't want to cry.
Who wants to cry? But this stuff is heavy.
But every so often we get outside and we get around other people, and it breathed life into our campaign here, and I want you to discuss something that you shared with me when we were at the National Urban League conference about It was about Captain America. So I want you to say that because it was so perfect, So share that with our listeners.
Kid, Well, I have to start where you left off. Okay, please, we're in this studio as you guys, hear our voices, and this is a comprehensive endeavor for the two of us, quite literally everything about this show, from the production to the imaging, to the writing, to the camera work to the research. We are the show talent. We are the show producers. We are the show engineers, we are the show mixers, we are the show.
We're the show.
And we understand that we're not the only people that care about the things that we're talking about because we have a show, so there has to be an audience for that. And a lot of you reach out to us via social media, via email and we appreciate that. But when the only people that you see in the fight with the frequency that we see each other is each other, Ramses has heard me say on these microphones, and when these microphones are off, what are we doing.
There's the work that we do matter, Are we having any impact? Are we actually making any progress? It can get very discouraging. And then there's the comment section on anywhere you can find Ramses and Q and civic cipher flooded with people who do not think and feel the way that we do. And that part always confuses me. I think that's why I get in such a negative emotional space is because I can't compute.
Well. Speaking of compute, a lot of them are bots. I found that out recently, so just take that with you.
But but for those that aren't, I could understand why our former present that would be a fan of himself. I get it. All the things that he wants to do benefit him directly, so I think he's despicable. And of course I don't agree with anything that he ever says. Ever, I get it though, everything that he wants to do will make his life good.
If everyone negatively.
Impacted by his messaging, I would say by his policy, but he doesn't really have any policy. It's like, hey, I hate all these groups of people, do you.
Guys hate him too? Awesome, Let's run for president.
However, once in office, you have to do something, So he just does things that lean into that hate, that desire for divisiveness, and the results impact so many people in a negative way that if all of those people against him, you wouldn't even have to tally the votes. It would be a landslide victory that wasn't even close enough for you to have to at the last minute still be trying to do to count those last few million votes.
Nope.
So sometimes I feel like we're the ones who are like crazy because we're saying things out loud to each other that we think are like obvious truths and make sense, and then we get weird pushback from people online, and I'm like, rams.
Are.
Are we okay? Like? Are we? Are we the ones that are tripping?
Like let me, let me, let me add something right here. Some people have a predisposition toward community helping everyone. Some people have a predisposition toward helping themselves. It's a scarcity mindset, you know. And I'm not saying that there's no only two groups and people are permanently relegated to that, but go with me. It came across a meme recently, and the meme said, if you could bring one of these things back, which would it be? And one of them
was two bedroom apartments for five hundred dollars. One of them was eighty nine cent gas, one of them was you can afford to use car for like a thousand bucks, and the other one was like grocery store prices were super cheap. And you could see how all of those could help everyone in society. But what I noticed is that people's impulse was to go gas prices or grocery store or whatever. But the thing that helps the most
people was the rent. And it's almost like people were blind to that that if I chose rent, even if I'm not a renter, Ramses doesn't rent, I own. I own all the properties that I have, So for me, rent is that's not a thing. But I do realize how much it helps society because when you can't afford your rent, the next thing that happens is either a shelter, which is technically homeless, or on the streets, which is
also homeless. And then the problems start. If you have kids, you need daycare, If you need trying to get a job, where's your address, like it's a nightmare. If you have any other condition, health issues, you need medicines, you need deliver whatever it starts there, so you see how housing holds up.
The rest of society. Well, a lot of people they can't.
Gas prices, which is great, so it's groceries.
Listen.
I'm not mad at anybody says that, but you got to understand that some people they can only see their immediate reality and things that can benefit them. And I think that people like you and me and people that listen to the show are people that can think beyond themselves. Yeah, and put ourselves second because we'll benefit ultimately as well.
I think everyone has a hint of self first. I think that's a natural inclination. That's, however, not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about people who are going out of their way to make life hard.
Those are the extreme.
Yeah, that's different than just making it better for yourself, because I think most people, hey, let me feed my kids and then I'll donate to that charity that helps everybody else.
That's normal. But let me get rid of that charity because that food ain't for my kids.
That's a whole different. Not let me not donate, No, no, no, you have to stop that. Those are the type of people that were dealing I'm thinking of the Fearless Fund exactly right.
Point.
I don't don't remember the amount, but it was less than a tenth of a percent of funding for new business founders and new entrepreneurs that are women minority. It's less than a tenth of one percent that went to black women. And someone said, no, that's not allowed. That's what I'm talking about. Everyone has some sense of let me take care of mine and let me put my
mask on first. I get it, even people who are grossly selfish, sure, but those who go out of their way to make life worse or more difficult for other people, that's almost said a bad word.
That's different.
Okay, So let me I don't understand, So let me stop you right here now. With the weight of this that we carry with us into all the conversations and with these that's one fight that we have to fight, just one.
We got a ton of them we have to have.
We have to be versed on every type of conversation politically, police, societal systemic injustices, economic dismpower disenfranchisement, uh, critical race there like you name it, environmental racism, all kinds of stuff. Right, it can become overwhelming. But what happens in this Marvel movie with Captain America.
So that anyone has seen.
Avengers Endgame and the color that I just provided was very necessary because I want you guys to understand why Rams and I feel like this scene from this movie.
At the climax of the movie, Captain America, Thor and Iron Man finally encounter Thanos again that was just the bad guy for those after the events of Infinity War, and even after some events that happened earlier in this movie where they encounter him and get rid of him for lack of a better term, they finally encounter him in a meaningful way that will have a tremendous impact on the entire universe. And once again is very important to point out Danos did away with them in Infinity
War and End Game. He's doing it again. And we are used to this arc and storytelling where the good guy comes out on top. Not in this case. Dano's whooped him into the last movie. He whipping him again in this movie, which is synonymous with what our experience has been like in this country. We remain under the boot. We are not even allowed self determination because we have not aggressively sought out our reparations we have not aggressively sought out to be paid back. We just want to exist.
The forty acres and a mule that we never got we got and was taken back. Then can we just have what we have and be happy. Nope, can't do that either. We will seek you out any happiness, Yeah, any happiness, an the ownership in the autonomy, anywhere where you're thriving, we will seek it out and put it away. We will get rid of it. You're not even allowed to exist in the way that all these documents that were written in the seventeen hundred said you could.
And as Thanos is.
Doing his thing again, there is a moment where the only person standing is Captain America. He is the only person on camera, and bloody and broken, his indestructible shield broken, his limbs broken, his face bloody. He stands up, tightens the strap on his shield, and is ready to get after it. Let's get busy. But what he's facing is not just Thanos, but the entirety of his army that
he's gathered throughout different galaxies, in different universes. You know, imagine millions of soldiers and ships and giants and Thanos and Captain America like, let's get it me against the entirety of you, and audibly you hear a callback from I think the movie was Civil War of Sam saying on your left, and in the theater you could hear everyone kind of like, did I just hear what I
think I just heard? And as you're figuring that out, these sling portals start to open, and Doctor Strange and Pepper Potts and Black Panther and all of the Wakandans and the Sorcerers Supreme and all of his Sorcerers and soldiers and other Avengers start to arrive through these portals.
And when ramses and I walked into the World War three after the World War Two I'm sorry two the World War Two Museum in New Orleans during the National Urban League's National conference, it felt like we stepped through one of those portals, or like everyone else to say, to the portals into where we were fighting this thing by ourselves. And we looked at each other, and we looked around and realized, not only are we not by ourselves, but we are surrounded by real active champions in this space.
And ramsays, you can name some of the incredible Avengers that lost into this room with us.
Listen throughout the whole week that we were there. Just to share a few names. Let's go with Justin Pearson. See Jasmine Crockett was there, Gary Chambers, Mark Moreal, he was.
Like the hero of he is the hero who's the irony.
Tony Calls from a Black Information Network was there, of course, he was one of the presenters. Ben Crump was there. And on top of that, the National Urban League. You would think is all black people, right, and make no mistake, it was a black event thoroughly, but man, let me tell you it was some people in there that wasn't black, and they was with it. And they they are people that were born to love and they're fans of equity and they, you know, are just the best kind of it.
Like if I go to heaven and those white people ain't there, I'm in the wrong place because those people are going to the right heaven. I just you can see it. You could, you could feel their energy. And you know, this show exists too. Again Foster and cultivate allyship. We try to give you a lens into a life that you might not know about, you know what I mean, And we try to inform and all that sort of thing too. But but you know, we don't always know
who the message reaches. Well, when we were there, people were coming up to us knowing who we were.
That part would never stop being stressed.
Isn't that crazy, you know? And it just was a fantastic event. We were able to do our live podcast which is up on the Black Information Network Daily Podcast if you want to check that out, and where we talked about, you know, the gen Z effect on you know, the vote, the upcoming election. But the point we wanted to share with you for today's episode is that that sense of community was invigorating and we know that it's really easy to falter, you know, slow down with your activism.
And if you find that that's true for you, I promise plugging in with community, we'll get you right back on track. So we have to leave that one right there. As always, the show is too short and we have more content than time, but we do appreciate what we are able to share with you. So shout out to all the programmers around the country, and of course shout out to you for listening to us talk about these very important issues each and every week. Once again, I
have been your host Rams' job. He is ramses Jah I am q Ward. We are also going to start giving you guys more right there is a show that we do for the radio that you guys tune into every week. We are going to start.
Doing more for the socials, more for our YouTubers, more for those who don't sit in the car and listen to the radio. You know, we have the podcast as well. We're going to start having some exclusive content that's not a part of the show that you guys tune into every week.
Yea.
And in order to tap into that, you can hit us everywhere at civic side for civ C, C I, P H E ER. That's on every social media side except Twitter. We don't rock with them, So tap in with us until next week, y'all.
Peace,