Civic Cipher 012321 ft. Ramses Ja, Q. Ward & Atllas

streets along with everyone else. But those are close friends of the show that we're really concerned about, you know, the inauguration taking place and everything, and they work really hard to see that coming to fruition. So your efforts are appreciated by us younger folks, and we appreciate you and thank you so much. But in the studio we have a very special guest. Now I'm gonna tell a little story here. So, as many of you know, our show is based in Phoenix, and we live in Phoenix.

And for those of you that have followed my story for any length of time, you know that you know I started in radio in two thousand and five. Well, once upon a time there was a friend of mine. His name was Bootleg keV. What was Iskev? You feel me? So, Kevin? I met keV when he was three years old. I was seven. So we grew up together. That's my little brother forever. And once upon a time we came across a CD, right, and this CD was by a guy named Atlas, and the name of the song was called

Hood Famous. Now, the reason that that stood out to Kevin Bootleg keV at the time, he might have been thirteen, maybe twelve thirteen somewhere.

I still know bars. So that getting getting our hands on that piece of music really inspired me and Kevin to really make a go at the music industry and hopefully one day having music pay our bills, which is how we ended up getting into radio and getting up into DJing and so forth. But you know, that was kind of part of the nexus, was coming across that CD.

So the man behind that that music, Atlas, you know, as these things go, he ended up becoming a real good friend of mine and becoming a real good friend of Civics. So this is, you know, maybe we're knocking on twenty years later, right. The thing is, Atlas, you know, grew up as we all we all have, and Atlas had a little boy, and Atlas's little boy is making noise too, and we are very very fortunate to have Atlas's son, not.

one of the sponsors for Civic Cipher. Not only that, Atlas is very influential when it comes to the black agenda. He's a he's a very powerful voice in at least in the city where we live. But now that he has a national stage with a million Dollar Teacher Project, his voice carries even further. And he absolutely is motivated to see obviously, you know, a better world for all people.

But you know, he, like many of us and many people listening to my voice right now, recognize that there's there are special issues and and there are more there's more immediate threats if you will or or hindrances to progress that are present in the black community. So growing up with a father like that, you know, it's it makes perfect sense to me that you would end up, you know, exactly the way you are. So anyway, you're here to talk to us today about SEED. Yes, so

so let's talk to the people. What SEED.

And so essentially what that is is, you know, it's a bunch of African American males from the ages of sixteen to twenty one, and they all pitched together through donations from like from within the organization and external donations from people who support is just based off word of mouth or whatever the case may be. And we use that, we use those funds and we disperse it back into

the community. We give out grants and other types of financial support towards organizations that are either student led or student based within within Arizona.

of the world. I kind of noticed that even though the work that I was doing was good and was you know, beneficial, it was on a small scale. And so I kind of realized that there are initiatives out there that are kind of pursuing change and are doing things to enable change, but may not have the necessary funds to do so. So so instead of you know, meetaking on the task myself of just you know, going out every Sunday it's like, to a homeless shelter and

feeding those people. I realize, especially with my dad having his own nonprofit, that you know, money definitely goes a long way with nonprofits and other like justice type organizations, and so so the whole premise behind it was just understanding that, you know, instead of me, you know, personally being out in the field doing it, I mean in a group of guys, can just be in the background, be behind the curtains and just run the show like that and you know, just kind of make our influence

be felt within the community just by just my giving out the grants.

of reputation around the community within Arizona. But immediately after that fifth year, right into the sixth year, I do want to start branching out towards you know, other states, because there are there are other organizations that operate that there are others, sorry, there are other giving circles out there that would be eager to really connect with us and really any given circle, and so definitely just building our network and our connections globally it would definitely be

the next step. And that's perfect because you know, I'm only nineteen, and so I'll have two to three, two to three years left within the organization before I.

If you need money, hey, now's the time, thank you.

And that that Instagram one more time was what seed philanthropy and just straight out no underscore, is no numbers or anything like that.

of going over. But I do want to say this. This will be the last time I may a man, this name a man, God is with me. If I if nothing else happens, this would be the last time I say it on purpose. Okay, I work in media. I've worked in media since I graduated from college. I worked in media for sixteen years now, been on the radio that long. We have a responsibility to you know, to the truth. We have responsibility to report, you know, even though I've worked in hip hop formats and you know,

done that sort of a thing. You know, when you have a platform and your voice, you know, reaches lots of people. You there's a fundamental responsibility there. We're all in agreement there, yes, yes, But also with that comes the acknowledgment that there's some power you can you can shape the narrative. It can be true, but you can put your own spin on it. Yes, and they think that we can see that happening in all media formats. So far be it from me to tell anyone else

how to do what it is that they do. You know, to have a platform and to have a boy stick carries and people that tune in every week, that's a gift. It's not one that I take lightly. But for me, for this show, I think that this will be the last time that I talk about Donald Trump unless something else crazy happens. I feel like giving power to that evil continues to drag his name into our Now is our future. This is the future that we hope for,

So I'm calling it. This is the future. So we don't need the past, especially that part of it in the future. Now, I recognize that was something we had to grow through, you know, everything in context, But in terms of just picking on them, you know, I'm not a buzzard, so you know that's dead. I'm gonna let that be it. But with that said, where we are right now, we have to understand what happened to fully appreciate what's happening or what has happened at the inauguration.

So this is my commitment for those of you that follow me on Facebook. You might have seen me talk about that earlier in the week or however it goes. But yeah, I think that, you know, there's a lot of us that, you know, really feel like that past administration was toxic. That's put it. And you know, I you know, I broke my own rules, you know, because I said, you know, you know, we got to everything,

you know, in moderation and context. You know, you're not supposed to block people just because they have different political opinions from you. You have to teach them, you have to grow with them. They're still your brothers and your sisters, your countrymen. You have to share, you know, you have to share time in space with these people. You go out like that, but it's not a block like four or five people already to speak.

from you know, of of Mexican descent or whatever. You know, we could we could slice this five one hundred ways, then you know, I think that that's a reflection of your character. And so yes, my block block button absolutely works, and I had the chance to exercise it a few times this week, but well, that said, that's enough empowering the past. I would like to know what your thoughts were the inauguration.

different experience than I expected. I did not expect to be overjoyed today because in the year of George Floyd, there's some discouraging truths in the idea that as the world was watching, as the microscope was on us, and as we were garnering levels of empathy and participation from our allies that in my lifetime I had not seen before, I was kind of disappointed that there's some parts of my mind that say this is as good as it's gonna get, and this isn't good enough, Like the most

sympathy you get from your mom, from your girlfriend, from your friends, or like right after you just got beat up, right, your girlfriend hugs you, tie your mom put some ice on it, gonna make your favorite meal, you know what I mean? Like the people that care about you. And that was funny by the mean it to be. But when you're sick, when you're down, when you're at the bottom, the people that care give you the most sympathy. You know,

I had meningitis years ago. The most I got messages from people that I realized they love me because of how they responded to me being in peril. George Floyd's murder and the visual of him being murdered caused a lot of people who otherwise have made excuses or justified or whatever their reasoning was, to respond in a different way. And that's why you might have saw the largest global civil rights movement ever right that his was a catalyst

for that. However, you look around today, you look around to you know, a couple of Wednesdays ago, and you're like, wow, even as you continue to see our brothers and sisters being shot and murdered and beat for looking like us, And that being the reason. Something in me said, man, like, even after that, this is still like, it's still this because it doesn't get better. Like once I got back healthy, I wasn't getting the same amount of text I wasn't

getting the same amount of phone calls. Of course you were, but you know that that that as people see you recharge and get back strong, it's like, okay, good now. So soon as we start smiling and start walking back up right, Oh they're good now. That sympathy, that empathy, that participation, those allies they fade, and it's like, man, in the year of George Floyd, like the summer of

George Floyd just having passed. You know, this inauguration just having passed, and our first the first black woman to hold office in the White House, the first woman to hold office in the White House was a black woman. Super powerful. As I'm holding my mixed black daughter in my arms, I'm feeling real, real proud dad as I'm watching that. But I was prepared to be discouraged by all these things. And then Joe started talking, and Joe

started saying things, please forgive me. The President started saying things, I'll never call you Joe again. President Biden, if you're hearing me, President Biden started to say the things that our nation absolutely needed to hear, but that I was certain that I didn't want to hear right about working together with them, about unifying about you know, let's and I'm like, what's would this meet me in the middle stuff? They just showed us year after year, month after month,

week after week, day after day. They don't care about us. They rather see us die than disrupt, than to make life inconvenient for them. Why are we going to such lengths to extend these olive branches and work with these people who fourteen sixteen days ago would have tried to kill you if they could actively right, Except I realized as he kept saying it, it wasn't just like a part of his speech, This is how this man really

feels that that's what we need. The opposite of Donald Trump would not have been for President Biden to say the exact same things, except on our side, to have that same divisive rhetoric, to set, to have that same us against them mentality that I wanted him to have. I wanted him to be juiced up and ready for as much smoke as possible until I realized I was being a hypocrite. I was just like those people who in their minds justifiably stormed the Capitol because they were

being wronged. I was essentially saying, well, no, we should storm the Capitol now because we were wronged. And President Biden is saying over and over again, like we should all be done with that mess, that nonsense, and that toxicity, because there is no way forward, not together. If he kept that same energy, just with the other point of view,

four years later, we'd still be sitting in the same spot. Ye, So you know, and then our sister showed out, you know, Vice President Harris showed out, you know, our former first lady, our forever first lady, Michelle Obama. She showed out, bro. And then I want to make sure I'm saying this young lady's name correctly, because Amanda Gorman, the brilliant poet laureate who did the inaugural poem today, showed out. So these brilliant queens again. As I'm holding my little girl,

I was overjoyed. I drove over here singing. Wasn't no music in my car, and I wasn't singing out loud, but I was rocking like I drove to the studio in that same spirit, carrying that same energy, because we discourage ourselves from being happy because we're waiting on another shoot fall. I don't even get too excited because I've heard a lot of he's just like every other politician talk. I've heard a lot of you know, all of the things on his agenda won't be done. Of course they won't.

That's how our government has always worked, Let's be honest about that. But having the right ideals, even if you can't execute the plant, wanting to unite us and push us all forward for the better of everybody is how you're supposed to feel. Whether or not you're full of busted or whether or not you're able to carry out every bullet point on your agenda. The intention matters, the desire to matters. A Yeah, it was. The whole thing was very very positive, full of joy, full of love,

and full of the energy to unite us. I'm hoping that he doesn't get the same pushback that I wanted him to give them before I started watching the inauguration.

unseat him. You know, galvanized us got us all on the same page, and you know, you know, here we are, so you know, it's amazing what we can accomplish when we do come together. And you know, another result of that is that you know, now there's a democratic leaning House of Representatives as well as a Democratic leaning Senate, so that's all three major branches. Or there's still the

Supreme Court. But you know there's ways around that too, if people wanted to really get in there and do the most, which is something that I probably wouldn't do if I was in that place, because you know, that's just such a scary thing to have gone through as a country, just to know that these people that you know, a lot of people are going to take issue with what I'm about to say, but I'm gonna say it. How I say it, These people that bless their heart,

are given to fear. They think that the world, their world is changing, that they're they're going to lose or somehow, you know, they think the world is as black and white as it is in their mind. If you do this, then this, if you do that, then that everything else is just what it is, and that static world to them makes sense. And you know this, the previous administration was able to speak to their fears and so forth and tap into that fear and rile them up against

decency nor you know, like standard. You know, their countrymen, you know, and you just gave them everything that they needed. And so, you know, I've said it before on the show. I do feel bad for the people that kind of fell into that. I know how now that I'm older, now that I've traveled the country, I've talked to these people.

of an abusive relationship, you know what I mean. It's like we're like, ooh, you know, just anything that's not that so absolutely, but you know, and it was important that we recorded the show today. You know, normally we've card to show you know, at airtime, but we had to.

really anything as possible, like for our people. I really hope that you know, my younger sister, my younger cousins, they probably weren't watching, but hopefully they see her when they get older as an example that, you know what, growing up in the world where people say you really can't do anything, you can't do this, you can't do that, they see your as an example as well, they're all wrong.

in the world where we are marginalized. You know, they're still trying to find a way to actually make their voice heard and make their impact it that they want to. So I found that part about it specifically powerful.

lot for the program. We're always taking new members. So that is as reap dot org slash Seed for our website, and see Philanthrope on Instagram for our actual account.

times during the movie. So this is tough, man, because you know, you can see a lot of stuff and you you know, anyway, so it's a traffic stop. You know, we all know the story. Traffic stop. You know, you gotta reach in the glove box, you know, do this, and the third officer gets scared. A little kid ends up getting shot. So this man sees his son get shot in the street, and you know everything that comes

after that. Uh, the city is looking to you know, or rather the people are looking to get a conviction, like a murder conviction from you know this, this child's murder, at.

the premises and conducts a fair trial. And the prisoners and you know, some normal folks that happen to be at the police station at the time. They serve as the jury. The officer who shot his son is the accused, and another police officer defends that officer, you know, working as a lawyer, and you know, they have a secondary trial, and you know, the rest of the story plays out, and so what we end up seeing is what that

looks like from both sides. And one thing that I thought was very important about this movie is that it really if you don't know what it's like to live in fear of the police, it helps you to see what life is like living in fear of the police. If you don't know what it's like to feel like you have no voice at the table, you know, you just have to kind of take everything on the chin, you know, it helps to explain what that's like. You know, a lot of people they feel like they can talk

back to the police. A lot of people feel like, well, I'm entitled to my dignity. That's not something that black people have, you know, as standard in this country, dignity goes right out the window. What do you need, officer? Okay, you want me to you know what did Dave Chappelle say, spread my cheeks and lift my sack? Yes, sir, you know, because it's a matter of life and death. But this movie kind of helps, you know, provide a window into

what that experience is like. But another thing this movie does is it gives a voice to the officers. And you know, no matter what your persuasion is, you know, on this side of the argument of black lives matter versus blue lives matter, as if there was such a thing perpetuated by us on our end, the black lives matter, folks. For those who are unclear, you know, it helps to know what it is that the officers go through as well. One thing that I will say, and you know you

know me. You listen to me every week, and if you don't, you probably know me any but you might know me from TV or something else. But you know I'm a good person. But one thing that I'll never not be as black. If you've ever seen you've seen my hair, and that speaks volumes. I got a big ol'd afro so to my babies, And that's that's deliberate. You know, I wear it on TVs, on the billboards, on the magazines, everywhere I go, except for that one time when I had it straightened. You didn't like that.

your vantage point. Your motivation therefore is to defend it because it's you know, this person was bad, that person was bad. This is a casualty. That's the cost of this thing that we're doing. In fact, they talked about that in the film. You know, there's this opinion that you know, the in the movie, it explores it that black people are constantly reaching for things to spin a narrative to make everyone else the problem except for black people.

And the film discusses that, you know, and for those of us that know, for those of us who have been educated, for those of us who know our history and understand how things came to be. You know, we didn't just click on in nineteen ninety or nineteen eighty

five or whenever we were born. We've done the research and we've seen that the world was not always like this, That things like mass incarceration, things that were perpetuated or initiated by our own government that have disproportionately affected black people, from housing to you know, from the thirteenth Amendment to redlining to you know, crack in the eighties and and you know, mass incarceration and so forth, and know the history of it, the things that were done to black

people specifically, you know, those are things there were. There were things discussing the movie that made me want to throw up in my mouth. But I needed to hear them because I understand now, and I did, but you know, to see the dramatization of it that people really feel

that way. People these people have no idea, they really do think, Okay, you guys are just horrible people, and if you stop being horrible people, then all these problems will stop happening, which is exceptionally short sighted, but it's fair if that's all you know. And and the thing is if you come to the table with a little bit of compassion as a black man, and you understand, Okay, my brother doesn't know as much as I do. My

Caucasian brother doesn't know as much as I do. And there was a Hispanic man in the movie too, and he was super cop. He was like copped out. Did you see the part, right, I'm a spoilerst he.

this and that and the other. And so this movie really tackles how two people can be in the same race and on two different sides of the same issue, which speaks to the institutional nature of the racism, not the racism per se. Right, you know, this is not spoiling anything. But the captain of the police force was black, and so a lot of the officers felt like, well, the captain's black, so we can't it's impossible for us to be racist. We work with this guy every day,

We love this guy, you know what I mean. And you can see that there is a disconnect between you know, them living their life and the real world, the real people that are affected by the decisions that they make, you know. And so this film did an excellent job of telling a story beginning and from both sides. Now obviously the film. It's it's it's written and directed by a black person, So that's going to be present in

the film. You're going to you're gonna see that. It's it's a it's from a black perspective, and it's a black story. We all know that. We we see it played out on on CNN and on our cell phones every few weeks when someone else is murdered in the streets, and those are just the stories we hear about. But it speaks to the fear that this country has when interacting with black people, black men especially. There's just fear there, you know, And even though there's nothing to be afraid of,

it's just built into the conversation. So people can make decisions based on a fear that's rooted in racism. And these people don't see the connection from their behavior to racism, but those of us on this side can absolutely see it. There's no reason to be afraid. I'm a man with a beating heart, same as you. I want to go home to my babies, you know, and you get to go home to your babies. And so this isn't just an endorsement of the film, although that is definitely that

you should definitely watch American Skin. I don't know if it's free yet, but pay for it. Support support this man. He made the movie himself. I think it was directed or.

respond to us like they're afraid of us. They respond to us like they're intolerable, like they're fed up, Like the way exterminators treat rodents and you call the exterminator that come to your house. They're not afraid of them. They're going to get rid of them without prejudiced. Wow, that's how they treat us, not like they're scared of us. Like if we went on a safari in Africa. We was in a truck with no road, no bars, no and a lion walked up and we were afraid. You

know what I'm saying. Fear is different. Yeah, I think that's just a very very convenient excuse for them to justify the attempt at extermination. And that might sound like extreme language, but watch the videos that get posted every few days. Right, it's hard to fear the man running away from you, or hard to explain that that's fear. If you've seen a trailer for this movie American Skin

written directed starring Nate Parker. When you watch the trailer, even in the trailer you see that his son is retreating from the officer, it's hard to tell me that you were scared of that kid. Besides the fact that he was fourteen, Besides the fact that you already know that it's a cell phone and not a gun, because he tried to say he might have been reached for a gun, but you already know it's not. Besides those obvious truths, he's retreating from you. So it's very very

hard to convince me that that was out of fear. Right, your job is to protect and serve. But who like in this country, our military and our police are voluntary. People are not drafted into these positions, right, So if you sign up to protect and serve, it's to protect and serve the citizens, not yourself and each other. Because you hear that as justification too. I wanted to make it home to my family. And those officers are in

such a dangerous job. They signed up for that job, their lives on the line to protect ours is the whole point. So you're gonna murder me so that you can go home. I'm unarmed on my phone. You're the trained officer with the weapon, so kind of miss me a little bit with your fear. You were asking me about the way that the movie was rated and received. I'm sorry for that ramp, but can I get the fear stuff?

If you end up telling yourself a story that every body needs to obey you because you're the authority. As soon as people don't do things exactly the way that you want, then you know, you end up your ego is bruised and you need to prove a point or whatever the story is, and you just end up being bullies. And that's what it is, and people pay with their lives because you have a god complex and a gun.

So this is something that we do know and it's it's more than fear, but it's very much rooted in that because you don't grab your gun until you're afraid generally speak, or until you feel disrespected, you know what I mean, unless when you arrived as the exterminator, you get okay, you arrived with the intent to exterminate. Now let me say this before we get out of here.

sat at the other table. The woman was still upset because the black lady didn't leave, so she called the police. The police came, took the black lady out in handcuffs and no point. The whole time. You can see on the video the white woman, she's older at Karen, screaming, belligerent. She's been drinking, of course, she's been hanging out down or whatever. Just didn't like the fact that there was a black woman and there spoiling her fun. Police came

and they take the black woman away. And the crazy part about it is the police were there asking what happened, or asking witnesses everything, what's happening. Somehow these police were convinced that this black woman was the instigator, this black woman was the threat needed to be handcuffed and then escorted away. It's been the night in jail. So with any luck, I'll be able to get her on the

show so she can tell her story. But in the meantime, we don't rock with Low's Montana Canyon Resort in Tucson. And if you do, then you're supporting racist administration, racist staff, and racist behavior. And I think that that very much speaks to this culture of fear that surrounds black people that is oftentimes the genets or the nexus of these behaviors that end up being so drastic, you know, taken on by the police and ultimately criminal justice system, which

is why this film was so important. The thing is, this film is the sort of thing that I want to make sure that we support. I want people to watch it, I want people to talk about it, because these are things that can happen in your world, on your time, you know, at your comfort level, and then you can have a conversation about it with your friends.

The thing is, the reason this film needs your help is because we've found that there's some people working against the way that the film's being rated, So in brief, what does that look like you?

rating website Rotten Tomatoes. I have to, in full disclosure, admit that typically when I'm looking to see what movie I want to see next, the Rotten Tomato score kind of gives me an idea of whether or not I'm going to invest my money in my time and seeing said film, and the Rotten Tomato scores for the movie American Skin were and are bad per the critics on the website, It's an incredible moment, except the movie isn't just good, like, oh, that was cool, the movie's amazing.

So then I was confused, So I go on to Rotten Tomatoes. Thirteen white men review this movie. No women, no minorities. Watch the movie American Skin, so on Amazon, Prime, iTunes, a bunch of different streaming services have it, but you have to buy it. So support this movie. See this movie. It's important and it's powerful, and then go to Rotten Tomatos and rate it that part and.