Can you believe we've been doing this show for three years now? Well, hopefully you can, because we haven't. So I'd like to welcome you once again to another episode of Civic Cipher.
I'my host Ramsey's job.
He is your host, Ramsey's jock. I'm the other dude to just be here. Stop just kind of hanging out. No, seriously, I am q Ward and you are tuned in to Civic Cipher.
Yes, sir, broadcasting from the Hip Hop with the studios.
Three years, man, three years is incredible.
Three years is crazy. It used to be DJs, used to be DJs.
Man, that was it. Yeah, we talked on the radio, but you know that we're one. We talked on one one radio station. Yeah yeah.
So whatce upon a time today, what we're going to do is commemorate for three years. We feel like it's important to look back on the progress that not only we've made as a show, but what we as a country have accomplished in the past three years.
It's a very different world now.
Some people have lost their mojo, some people have kept it, and you know, these are things that are it's important to you know, kind of measure where you've come from where you're headed very much. So reorient yourself and make sure that you've you know, come to terms with the reality of your situation. So we plan on doing that today. We're also going to take a little bit of time from today's show to really discuss what it is that we're hoping for and what it is that we want
people to know. The most important things that we want people to know. We haven't that we're going to have this conversation in real time. We haven't prepared for it. But I think that's a very important question, and I think that we can certainly get some some real honest dialogue about what the future should hold and and take into account what we've accomplished.
So hopefully I don't come across to, uh.
Hey, it's necessary, doom and gloom.
Whatever it is is necessary, first and foremost, that we're gonna start off with some any excellence. Today's Any Excellence is sponsored by Major Threads for innovative, fashionable sportswear.
Check Major threads dot.
Com you want to grab this one, it's some sports.
Stuff, Orbes dot com.
The dramatic win by American Cocoa Golf in the US Open proved to.
Be a rare ratings breakthrough moment for women's sports. As a Saturday afternoon game trounced the men's Sunday final in viewership and broke the ESPN record for the most.
Watched women's Grand Slam final. Coco Golf, nineteen years old, the youngest young woman since Serena Williams to win the US Open Final, so very very powerful movement for her million three and a half million people watch golf become the first American teenager to win in two decades. Golf Championship was the most viewed women's final of any tennis major ever broadcast on ESPN.
That is such an incredibly powerful truth momentsidering how long tennis has been on the airways and how much reach ESPN has.
It's an interesting thing happening with the men's final, though.
Having the men's final on the first Sunday of the NFL just seems like a bad idea that you make.
Someone would have like tapped.
In and we don't want to go up against that, but not.
Cobo Golf kind of used the fuel from doubters and haters to push her through to that final. So I think we all got to celebrate with her as she had that monumental moment. The women's championship was the third most watched program across all of cable last week, beaten only by, of course, two college football games, one of those being Coach Primes Colorado Buffalo's all the anticipated Texas
Alabama matchup, of course, had seven point nine million. Colorado game ended up having I think nine and a half million, some really astronomical numbers.
So one time for Coco golf and she's doing her thing ebby excellence if I ever heard of it. Really proud of her. So the topic of the day three years, three years. I'm three years older.
Three years more experience, We're all three years older. And before we get to that, I want to make sure that everyone knows that this is not necessarily a moment where we're going to pat ourselves on the back. I do believe that it's important for us to acknowledge what we've done, because this is a very difficult thing to do every week, especially coming from the environment that we
come from and being the type of people are. I think our nature is to be happy, and this is kind of interesting that I've had to come to terms with the fact that a lot of people when they see black people fighting and struggling, they kind of think, oh, yeah, that's just what they do, and they don't account for the fact that this is what we do because it's necessary, not because it's we're just born like, oh my gosh,
where's the struggle. We want to be happy too, We want to spend our time doing whatever and not worried about stuff. We're normal people and we do not seek out the struggle.
No, we're kind of born into these circumstances and we have to figure out the best we can how to either endure or escape. Sure, sure, exactly, and that's those are kind of the choices that we're left with, but definitely not a decision that we make as a people that we're just here for the struggle and the fight that comes with.
It, right right. So the other thing is that when it comes to.
Us walking our path, us deciding what our lives is going to are going to hold for us, we have to make sure that we're accounting for every possible permutation. Okay, but where we've where we've landed, you and I has been you know right here, And as I mentioned, this is not just to pat ourselves on the back. We want to take a moment to acknowledge some of the headlines of this past week and and let you know
that we're going to get to them. So first up, we are familiar with the headline where the there was a black kid who was invited to swim with his white friends.
They thought they were friends, and then they friends.
Is an interesting way to describe the children that he went swimming with, right as multiple times they.
Tried to drown and.
Harm this kid, something that he probably thought he was going to go do to have fun and just didn't turn out to be there.
Yeah.
Yeah, And as they held him underwater, he said he couldn't breathe, and then they started calling him George Floyd. So there's some some interesting elements there. We're definitely going to talk about that. We also are going to talk about a lot of the smash and grab shoplifting videos. You know, we feel like the media is really showing
only one side of that. There's also groups of non black or white shoplifters doing those kind of flash mob sort of attacks on stores and walking out with the things. And then also there's a certain narrative that really supports retailers and police if we're being honest, because police can point to these black shoplifters, which wrong is wrong, does a matter what color you are.
But I think by highlighting these these black shoplifters.
It it certainly feels like the police can say, look, how how necessary we are, let's buy another tang.
And they, I mean, they're very intentional with what they highlight. Yes, exactly, It's not just black people doing that.
Oh yeah, not at all.
That's that's they have video of every one else does say, yes, it's not as sensational. Sure, so we definitely want to talk about that. And there's some other elements there too. A lot of the stores can justify raising their prices, laying people off, you know, keeping prices artificially high, turning a higher profit, and they can blame shoplifting. And the fact of the matter is that shoplifting accounts for a very small amount of their overall revenue loss. That type
of shoplifting is relatively speaking, insignificant. The CEO of Walmart confirm that their real shrinkage is what is referred to the loss of inventory is it comes from employee.
Theft, employee theft or batter damaged goods in general.
Sure, but employee theft is the biggest exactly and so and then of course those smash and grab type shoplifters is a is a very very small amount of that. But how they view it is, or how it's being presented to the public, it's like, oh my god, crime is rampant in liberal cities and blah blah blah. So there's a whole other side that we need to explain.
There was the police shooting of Eddie Irizari, where the police came and shot him in the head and then said that he got out of the car and threatened him. And then of course there was the video that came out that shows the police coming up and assassinating and putting bullet to his head. And we haven't been able to talk about that yet. What else are we talking
about here? Oh, in San Francisco's really sad. A police cruiser was in pursuit of something else going sixty five miles an hour and like a twenty five zone and thirty five zone something like that hit twenty three year old Janavi Candula. Oh sorry, this was in Seattle. And then there's a police officer talking on the phone. You may have seen this video talking on the phone about her and it's like, oh, she's dead, bro, we just got to write a check to the family for eleven
thousand dollars. She was a nobody. That sort of stuff.
The worth of this human being right right, so far less than what he thought it was.
And there's another story that we want to talk about too, and again we'll try to get to this stuff next week. But police trainer, this is the guy training the police. He shot a police recruit in the chest because he was playing with her and she died on the Floor's video of it.
Yeah, the video was very unreal to watch.
Yeah, and you just pulled out his gun and shot her and he's like, oh my god, that was my training gun. So you kind of at least the police in moments like that, are able to heed the gravity of the fact that, hey, these things are designed to kill. It's not funny, it's not a game. This is you'd be prepared to end the life and deal with the consequences. And unfortunately, we have a video of one officer killing another officer says it was an accident.
I believe that it was. There was nothing to really provoke it, but.
Certainly something that gets us to talk about guns. All of these things and more we talk about on our social media. Please follow us at Civic Cipher. We have a whole new social media campaign and strategy. We could really use your support because there's a lot of negative comments on there at Civic Cipher and of course IMQ word at Ramsey's job, but at Civic Cipher as the main one, we have a whole plan. Your support will go a long way. But for now, back to our
three year anniversary. So in brief, for those that don't know, this show was born out of Q and I. As you mentioned, we worked at hip hop station in Phoenix, Arizona, and in twenty twenty, we felt like the hip hop station could do rather more than put a black square on Instagram and you know, you know, join the blackout
and put a hashtag yeah. And so we asked them if they could put a show on the air that really highlighted a lot of the leadership that was on the streets organizing the protests, and a show that really allowed us to speak to all the different races and cultures and backgrounds and people that were on the street to support black people in that moment.
We thought it was a beautiful moment.
I know that we were out there with our with our children, we were celebrating, we were affirming our worth in our lives.
I also don't want it to seem like it was just something that we thought. Yeah, everybody, that was a beautiful moment. Yeah, not just black people and not just Americans. The entire world responded to that moment collectively, and the fact that we were not putting the right amount of emphasis on it was something that kind of bothered us. Yeah, which is what started that dialogue the short place.
Sure, so we asked the powers that be at the radio station, Hey, can we get some of the leaders up on the station talk to them about, you know, what it is that we're going for, what we're trying to do, you know, let people know where the next protest is. And then, of course there's some disinformation and not entirely factual information coming from other media outlets, and we could really step in and clear up some of that that these aren't riots that you know, it's safe,
you know, to come and support anyway. Long in the short of it is, they ended up saying no to us, and we resigned. We didn't feel that that was appropriate, and the why is important.
You can't tell the story without leaving out the why, at least, not just that they said no to us, but very specifically they said that they didn't want to do a black show. And I have to always remind people of two or of a few, very very specific points that make that messaging hit a little bit different. The first thing is that there were not a lot of black people on air in Phoenix at the time.
I think we may have been the only two, and we were on the same show on the same station, so us representing the entirety of black hip hop voices on the radio at the time. Secondly, there were different ways to try to give us that same message. Right in the spirit of giving people the benefit of the doubt, I always say, they could have said that's the wrong way to put it.
They could have.
Meant that they didn't want us to do a political show on the hip hop station, and that would have made sense. They could have meant that we don't want to do a divisive show. We make our audience true sides, and that's not what we want to do. We don't want to be so polarizing. They could have meant all of those things. What they meant is that they didn't want black and the hip hop station. That's every dollar
that they make, it's from black music and culture. Them specifically saying that those words to us, that was more than just offensive. It was hurtful, and it hid in a way that those I think they could have meant something very similar to that, but that's not what they meant. So that's not what they said, because it would have been easier to say those other things, even if you
meant we don't want to do black. So it's that that part of our story will always be the part that resonates with me the most, sure because the person they said those words to is Rams's Jah.
Yeah, so I'm glad you mentioned that, Q, because for There's this has been a three year journey, so we appreciate everyone that's jumped on board along the way. But before this show existed, before it had a name, before we had the framework for it that we have now, and all the partners and the affiliates and all the news stations that have been, you know, carrying the show. I had to feel that pain, you know, I had to feel that hurt. I I cried, as you can Imagine,
I've been broadcasting ever since I graduated from college. That was the only job I knew, and I knew that if I quit the way that I was going to quit by writing a resignation and taking you with me, and you know that I might not broadcast ever again. And that is the only thing I know. So it's very scary. And imagine being in a position where the whole city knows who you are. It's very you're very proud to have accomplished something like that. I always did
my best to do right by people. My family was proud of me, and my friends, might my mentors, and everyone was really proud of me. And then I had to leave because it was the right thing to do. I needed to stand with the people. I needed to stand with my people, and I knew that you would it would come with me, but I made the choice for you.
But the really interesting thing about having made that choice, so I think it's important to point out, is things worked out. So in the rear view mirror, it seemed like, yeah, it looks great. We had this master plan and it worked out perfect, and it's like, no, man, when Ramses quit on our behalf, there was no plan b there was no backup plan. It was like, Okay, I guess we just don't do radio anymore. We got to figure
out what's next. But what's most important right now is being you know, our father's son, our son's father and brothers to each other and you know, holding up the community in a way that we felt was our responsibility, even when it was not in our best fiscal interest to do so, because in our minds, not just that we resigned, but again the way that we did it, there was no yeah, you can't come back, no new opportunity coming after that.
But for people that don't know, we had to name names just to hold people accountable. We had to you know, call out the call letters. We've got the community involved, like hey, listen, you know, wrote the letter to the community. And then the newspapers want to come because again there's no there's no black radio personalities on air at the time, so they're like, oh my gosh, the only black people are quitting because of you know, in the middle of these protests.
And you know, so.
With it being amplified like that, no one else wants to touch you as radio personality. And as you mentioned, you it all worked out now you look back on it and it's you know, I don't know how many stations we're on, somewhere like seventy over seventy stations around the country, and we're grateful for every single one and every single listener because this is the noblest thing that I believe I've done in my adult life career wise. Personally, obviously, the most noble thing I can do is be a
father to my son. But but professionally, this is it. When they bury me, they won't say, oh, Ramses was a dope DJ and Ramses gave away a bunch of Cardi B tickets. They're going to say Ramses did what he could to make the world a better place. They're going to say Q did what he felt was right and created a more equitable society for people in that So that's certainly we're grateful for this journey and that it worked out and it continues to work out.
Since then.
And real quick, I do want to shout out our newest station and Melissa Vaughan at w r I r F M in Richmond, Virginia. We've been trying to get on in Richmond for a long time and we now have a footprint in Richmond. We have another couple of stations there shout out while we have them shout out Norfolk State University they have they carry us in Virginia's world.
So yeah.
But since then, in the past three years, we've managed to make some national headlines as a show. Obviously, late last year we had some an interesting period in our show where we acquired a trademark, a trademark for the to make clothes branded with the phrase white Lives Matter, effectively preventing Kanye West from releasing clothes that said that to the public, which is why you don't see kids
wearing that nonsense at them all. And I want to always say, because there are people that push back, I always want to say that we obviously know that white lives matter. We believe that white lives matter, and we believe that all lives matter. But at present, we are affirming that black lives matter, and anything that interferes with that messaging we feel is hateful and divisive, and so our owning that mark doesn't mean that we don't believe
in it. It just means that we're able to keep people from profiting off of what we consider to be hate. But that's something that's happened in the past three years. Obviously, partnerships with Radio PACIFICA iheartmediaarious personalities and companies around the country. Shout out Big Boy, Shout out Blue Leg cav shout out shoot I know I couldn't even name it on
Queen Naja. You know Steve Earnhardt, let's start there. Yeah, the man person that believed in us and gave us a shot right after we effectively turned the lights out at our previous station, and it gives the blueprint for syndication. So that's he's the he's the the architect of these. However, many stations were on there. Want to shout out a couple other special people, Ali and Jan they are our agents, our literary agents specifically, but they're working with us. And
and a dear friend of ours name Leah. She's working with us too on a forthcoming book where we get to commit to the total, the sum total of human knowledge, our beliefs in terms of becoming a better ally. So managed to grab a blue deal, not that we grab it, it was presented to us. You know, we're also working on a movie. So I want to take a moment to shout out chris Byfield and Breaking Glass Pictures for
the forthcoming documentary highlighting everything that we've done. We've gotten tons of awards, so now we're forever more an award winning radio show. We are award winning radio personalities. Thank you to the Smithsonian, Yes, Smithsonian.
Washington, d C. And for even caring enough to to speak with us and maybe at some point in the near future highlighting our story and everything that we're doing.
In Washington, specifically the So the Smithsonian is huge, but the National Museum of African American History and Culture, dear friends of the show, We're just very excited about that relationship as it continues to blossom. Obviously, our relationship Black Information Network, not enough can be said about that, and I think that personally or beyond the.
Scope of this show, we as a people. One of the.
Most significant things that we've done in the past three years since we've been on the air is we have got we got a new president and that really changed the temperature. That really changed how it felt to be black in this country. We're not out of the woods, but and I'm not going to say that I'm a fan of anybody, but that change of president was a change in temperature. That was well, that was well received.
Yeah, I don't, I don't.
I don't dislike anybody. Well, I don't dislike our current president. But I'm glad you I wanted Bernie.
Yeah.
Likewise, I'm glad you brought that up though, because we've become a bit disenfranchised with our political system here and hopefully what we had will make us a bit more aggressive this time.
Our what we need