Welcome to another episode of Civic Cipher. I'm your host, Ramsey's job. Big shout out to my man c Ward, who is indisposed this evening but very much with us in spirit. And yeah, a lot of stuff to talk about this week. But one of the best things that has happened to us is that we were able to book a guest, my favorite guest who has been on the show before, but you know she's she's she's in high demand these days. Her name is doctor Camilla Westenberg and she is joining us in the studio again for
Civic Cipher. So once again, welcome, thank you, of course, and today we're going to talk a little bit about a lot or if it's meaningful, we're going to talk a lot about some specific things. But I've been trying to really put this show off until I get to a point where I have the support or the the knowledge and the and the language necessary to articulate what's
going on fully. The issue, of course I'm talking about is the voter suppression initiatives that have been taking place across the country.
Now. Most folks refer to them as.
Initiatives to protect the integrity of voting, or you know, whatever, there's this pretty language around all of them, and so it doesn't cause many people's ears to perk up. But my understanding is that historically black folks have been able to really see what's underneath those that language, really what it is, you know, going back to Jim Crown even further back in in some instances, and what's happening now
in mass across the country is exactly the same. It's it's perhaps the climate also kind of lends itself to some of this stuff actually making some progress in us really losing our capacity to vote or otherwise it's becoming diminished. And in the past few episodes that we've you know, mentioned these voter suppression initiatives, you know, I have not.
Been able to peel away many layers there.
But I want to take this show, the next show, perhaps even the show after that, to really dive into that, really rout out the source of this and and really examine what it is and really explore what it is that we can do about it, because I think, at least for me, you know, I haven't been the most most active politically speaking.
Person my whole life.
You know, more recently I've been made aware of exactly how much is you know, working against me? You know, and these systemic issues that I refer to, how ingrained they are in life, and things that I take for granted actually can be challenged, but I would never think to challenge them. So I have to imagine that there are lots of folks out there who have a more passive type of attitude when it comes to oh, well,
that's just the way it is. And what I want to do is empower them while I'm being empowered to actually take action against these initiatives, these campaigns to really further disenfranchise us, and to keep the systems in power and in place that are currently in power and in place above and beyond you know, what we're able to see and feel in our day to day lives to any significant degree. I know this, a lot of us
encounter a lot of surface level stuff. But the systems in place to keep us in the communities and keep us in the and the existing framework and limit our mobility and our options, those are the things I'm referring
to specifically. So one thing that we were able to talk about is, well, before I go any further, I don't think I give you a proper introduction, and I want to make sure that I do this the right way, So I will do my best to introduce you to to folks that haven't heard you on the show before. And then I want you to come in behind me and make sure that you fill in the gaps. So doctor Camilla Westenberg, when I met her, she was a professor, an English professor at Phoenix College and she was the.
Chair person or what's the word I'm looking for.
I coordinated developmental English during that time, and I was.
Advisor advisor, that's the word I'm looking for for the Black Student Union. And the reason that that's of particular importance to me is, well, you know, I don't use words like advisors because she was my teacher. She still is my teacher. You still are my teacher. But doctor Westenberg caught me at a time in my life when things weren't so pretty, and she found that I was
just kind of blown in the wind. I'll spare you a long story, but she discovered me around campus and had no real direction, and she asked me to do some things. And for those of you who are aware of the dynamic that exists with.
Black women who are older.
Than you you understand that usually when someone tells you to do something, you do it. So I'm not going to go against the grain there. She she asked me to enroll in her African American literature class class, which I did because I didn't want to see her again and not have.
Enrolled in the class.
But this is all out of love.
And it's it's a time in my life I'll never forget. It's it's the it's really the basis of who I am as an adult and as a professional. And then further along in the story, of course, she asked me to attend.
The Black Student Union meetings.
Later, we had some conversations about leadership potential and.
She asked if I'd be interested in stepping into a leadership role.
Ultimately, I became the president of the Black Student Union, and you know, on and on.
The rest is history.
So her functioning in those capacities really was very significant to me. She's also a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. She serves as the vice chair of. Okay, I'm gonna get this wrong, but it's the Maricopa County Chapter of the naa C second vice president. Sorry, the America County and she is affiliated with the Lynks, and.
I have to say, top Ladies of Distinction, Top Ladies of Distinction, the National Council of Negro Women.
I have to give them love, Okay, I need I need people to understand who they're talking.
To and who are listening to.
That's just involved in community service, very stations, okay, okay, but very much a person who's visible out in the streets, out in the real world, someone who has.
Created a path for people like me to go from not really having a clear purse purpose or a real defined sense of you know, self and my identity. There's reasons for that. You know, I had some some issues that I was dealing with at that age, but just kind of keeping me straight and true and and some of those had had to do with you know, MLK Youth celebrations, HBCU college fairs, hip hop to Vote, summits, you know, all things that that you put on.
Over the years, and that well we all put on.
Really you were you were you were the advisory and so at least in the community where I live here in Phoenix, Arizona, an extremely influential person, woman who commands respect in every room she walks in if I'm able to go to a place, whether it's like the best time because everyone stops and you know they part like you know, it's a let her walk in and so forth, and so again, an honor for you to be on the show.
A pleasure to be here, it really.
Is, absolutely so.
The last time you were on the show, we talked a lot about your longstanding relationship with white supremacy, with segregation, with you know, these are things that you actually live through in your lifetime.
I remember you mentioned.
Something on the last episode about not being able to try on shoes in a store because you were black when you were a little girl. I remember you saying something about you your mother, I believe, having to take a portable bathroom with you in the car on road trips because you would not have been allowed to use.
Right.
And so this was during your lifetime, and since then, you know, let laws have been passed and things like that to prevent that, but you you experienced it firsthand.
And then of course when you were born, that was normal.
It was normal to be second class citizen and not be afforded the same opportunities, rights and privileges as.
White folks in this country.
So in my belief, you have a unique perspective of the goings on today, and again, it's very meaningful that you would show up today and we'd be able to talk about.
Some of the things that are happening.
So again, one of the things that we were able to talk about on the show so far is the success that was achieved in Georgia with respect to electing Joe Biden President of the United States. And one such initiative that took place that helped fuel his election in Georgia Turning Blue, was a campaign called Souls to the Polls. And I want you to talk about what Souls to the Polls was.
And you know what has happened as a result of that.
Well. Souls to the Polls was an initiative by Stacy Abrams and it was an effort and an energy of pulling African Americans together collectively at a time when it was convenient for them to go to the polls and vote. So Sunday worked well for them. Black folks go to church and to save their souls, and they just moved right onto the polls to continue to save their souls
and their lives. And that is what that initiative was and there were there were many other ways in which individuals would into the community to try to get people first registered and then to mobilize it. So there was and this is across the country. This is across the country. There was a considerable effort to get individuals registered to vote. That was the major thing, and then after that deadline to continue and go to the next level and encourage them to go to the polls and to actually vote.
So it was a matter of getting into places where you know people are, whether it's a barber shop, whether it's a beauty shop, whether it's a restaurant, whether it's soul food, whether it's at the park. It was a matter of going to places where you could find, in this instance, African Americans who would vote. Because we were
really working to get Barack Obama to become president. That concept of having an African American as a president is something that was always articulated, but you never really really really thought that it would happen. You know, you would say to a little boy, oh, you could be president one day.
You need to do that.
You can be president. But for it to really happen, to reach that plateau wasn't something that we thought along the way that could actually be achieved necessarily. And when Barack Obama came along and we had advanced along the way and progressed in politics, we saw that the opportunity was there, and the community came together to make it happen.
And one of the things that we have to remember, too, is that many of the movements that we have had as it relates to the black experience in America, has been led by a religious leader of some sort, whether it was the Reverend doctor Martin Luther King, whether it was Reverend l.
Sharpton.
You know, there were ministers there, the Reverend Jesse Jackson. They were also always ministers. When you think of the Muslim faith, that was right, Yeah, there was always someone there of the faith who had faith. I'm not a very religious person, but there was a faith there that allowed those individuals to come to the forefront and to speak to the people and to motivate the people to do what they needed to do to assure that we got where we were going to get. And you know,
it was a progression. From segregation to integration was a progression.
And when it.
Finally reached that point, the president. My goodness, we really came out in force to make sure that that could happen, and it did. It did, and you have so many people who were elated. We have some people who left this earth who saw it happen and they were in tears. My mother who lost it ninety six years old when I called her that evening when it was announced. Can you imagine? Can you just imagine to have a black president? And he did a marvelous job in the midst of
being restricted in a number of ways by Congress. There were so many that we were still held back. We should have had a person of the Supreme Court. He was to do that, he was do that, but Congress saw to it that he did not have that opportunity and will not even interview his recommendation.
And so we still have a long ways to go.
As a matter of fact, at this particular juncture, I won't say that we've stepped back, you would say, but I think what has happened is, as someone said, those individual and I'm trying to decide which had am I wearing right now, because all of the organizations with which I'm affiliated they are none partisan, and so I'm speaking
from a policy perspective. Okay, from a policy perspective, when you look at the Constitution and the rights of individuals, we have a population of individuals who do not leave in the Constitution or the equality of all people. And they have taken off their sheets, yes, and so we know who they are are now, Yeah, we know who they are. When I drive around and I see the flags or I see big trucks passing me with flags, that to me, that equates the it's a.
Sign, it's a symbol.
I know, I know who I am looking at, and I know it is someone that does not want me to be here, at least holding myself in a certain position. Absolutely, okay, they would like for me to be subjected to them. Yes, and so yeah, the signs are there, and we know.
I'm glad that you brought that up because we've actually talked about that before on the show.
With respect to the flags, and you know, the way that what I always say is.
People having a flag in the country, especially we're not on the coast when I'm born ring, you know, people having a flag in a place like where I live in Phoenix. It's like wearing a shirt with your address on it in your own house, you know, Like, who are you really trying to show that to?
What? Why is it that? Why are you going so hard? Who needs to see that? Like, we know where we are. This is clearly as America. We're not. We didn't just get here.
We're deep in the middle of the country where the state is landlocked.
Yeah, but when they began that, I wanted to flip the switch on them with that. I really think we all should have gotten flags and started I mean, we really took.
It away or owned it ourselves. Yeah, it belongs to all of us. That's that's the us, absolutely.
But so.
Not to get too far away from it, the.
Souls to the poles. So I think it's worth mentioning that.
Historically, So once upon a time, when when black people first got the right to vote, my understanding is that black people exercised that right to the degree that they were able. There was of course tremendous aggressive voter suppression initially, but you know, if, if and when and where they could, black folks got out and voted right, that was the primary means of making sure that your voice was heard.
Once upon a time, there was no Instagram to share photos, there was none of that stuff back in you know, the nineteen early nineteen hundreds, late eighteen hundreds.
And so.
Over the years, my understanding is that black folks have become, or the feelings has been, that that system does not work for black people, It does not accurately reflect their voice.
They feel further disenfranchised. In fact, and I shared this on the show before, but I saw something on Netflix once upon a time, this might have been three four months ago, where it quantified the value of a vote from a white male in Wisconsin and compared the value of that vote to a person just anybody living in
southern California. As it turns out, that vote from Wisconsin, a place where there's not a lot of population, actually carries about one point seventy five percent voting weight, and then the person in California it's like a fraction of
a percent. And so historically, my understanding is that black folks have really felt that their vote doesn't really count for as much, and so the engagement, the drop off in terms of the engagement over the years, it certainly is based on something, right, So these initiatives, these souls to the polls, and of course, obviously with Obama becoming president that I believe is something that can speak uniquely to the black experience and let folks know, hey, look,
if we do this all together, we can get out there and make it happen. And it's interesting that there are these forces that attack that. One fact, no one's canceling Instagram accounts, because the Instagram accounts don't change elections. No one's canceling, no one's coming to your job, and you know, none of that.
Sort of stuff.
But they will do their best to keep you from voting. And my understanding is that there was a bill that was introduced in Georgia that no voting would be able to take place on Sundays. And you know and I know as black people, that that bill exists solely to counteract the effects of the polls campaign and to and to decrease the amount of overall votes in the next election in Georgia. And as it turns out that past
or that my understanding is that that that passed. It was close, but it did pass, and it's heartbreaking, but I don't want to dwell on that. It shows the motivation and.
The intention.
That's happening across the country. Okay, since the loss of the presidential election. There has been a movement in states and basically read states across the country to change the laws as relates to voting.
And I firmly believe that when.
And soulds to the polls and that that is one of them. Another is having to if you've missed so many opportunities to vote, then your record, your name is taken away from the permanent.
Registry for voting.
Actually, hang on one second. I want to talk about that one, but real quick, I got to do this. If you're just tuning in the civic cipher, I'm your host, Ramsy's Jah. Our guest today is doctor Kimille Westenberg, and we're discussing some of the voter suppression initiatives that have been campaigned and are now coming to vote around the country. And you mentioned the the removal of the early.
Well, okay, go ahead.
Well, it's under certain conditions. If you have missed voting X number of times, then your name will be removed and you may not be notified of that.
You will not be and.
So if you're expecting to get your ballot, you will not get it because they've removed your name. And so that's another way to suppress the vote simply because you have missed voting two times it's two or three. And then another one is that if you don't have identification, then you have to get a notarized document. Well, the fact is everyone isn't capable of doing that. You have some people who live in the country, they are long distance away from a notary they may not have some
people may have never had anything notarized. Just the process of going through to get that done can be problematic for a number of African Americans and other minorities as well. And so that's another way to suppress the vote.
I think it's key to mention here that for those that don't know that are listening to this conversation, historically, when less people vote, it favors Republican outcomes.
That's true.
Another thing is that these type of practices, coupled with jerrymandering, helps further ensure favorable outcomes for Republicans. Black people in it by and large tend to vote Democratic Democrats. And I will add to that that in terms of the ideological landscape of this country, most of the people that live in this country tend to have a more liberal philosophy or belief system, and that is reflected in the
way that they vote. And so the Republican establishment or the establishment, if you will, that we trace a lot of what we call white supremacy back. It looks like what the Republican Party looks like today. That's just what it looks like and to largerie what it is, you know. And obviously as of late, they're not really too concerned with hiding that, but it behooves them to suppress as many votes as possible because historically folks that do vote
Democrat have all their ducks in the row. Their whole life is built around voting. They have the for the most part, have the financial freedom to take time to do you know, jump through a couple of extra hoops, and for the most part they don't have to because the laws.
Are not written to suppress their vote.
There is no canceling Sunday voting is designed to affect one group of people, right, And I think it's important to mention that so that we know why they're doing And again I have to I have to put this in the context of.
It is in fact a red and blue concept, but I have to extract it and take it out and put it into the context of what is a democracy. And with the democracy, everyone should have the opportunity to vote, and that there should be no restrictions placed on you as far as voting. As much as possible, you should have the opportunity to vote, so no restrictions should be placed there. It so happens that those individuals who are of a Republican persuasion tend to want to sway things.
So Jerry Manderin is done. When they draw the lines and you get your electoral college and how many how many votes you get out of a particular area, and that comes out of the census. That's why the census is so important because and we're waiting for the data on that of the twenty twenty census to see how
many people they are where they are. But then the thing is, how do you draw those lines so you can set from this particular area, this is how many individ jewels or votes that you have from the electoral college. And that's why in some instances they'll take a historically black college and split it in half because to diminish the value of it. And it's it's all a matter of strategy, and it should not be and I would say that to a Democrat, and I would.
Say that to a Republican.
It's a matter of being fair, right, and so it's just like the postal system. There were so many things that were being done. I firmly believe now, and I would say this to Donald Trump if he was standing here in front of me, that there were so many things that were done to cheat in this election. Then yes, it probably is thinking he won. He probably is, and Juliana and all of them, they probably are thinking. But people came out, people came out, and it didn't end.
It was like whoa, what happened here? And so now there is this big effort. Wow, if we couldn't make it happen that way, we couldn't get a second term.
So let's change the laws. Change You don't think about a parent.
All of those parents and their kids are out playing baseball or soccer or whatever it is. Would they encourage their child to change the rules? No, they would tell them, Okay, those are the rules of the game. I mean, this is what's building care character in your child. Okay, we went into this, these are what the rules are. We played by the rules. You lost this time. That's why you line up and you shake hands at the end and whatever it is, you know, a high five or
whatever it is, and you take it. You take it realizing you did the best.
That you could.
Cheating here though, I mean with the postal system there was cheating. Since do you have mailboxes? Who do you have mailboxes taken out? And sort has taken out? So yeah, they're the system. We have some players that are not their players. This is what it comes down to, who do not believe in democracy and they are not adhering to democracy and they are about the business right now
of trying to change the rules. And with that being said, the only thing I can say to people who are listening, you better get in the game.
There it is, you better get them.
In the game.
Okay, look at what's going down on the sixth.
We all most lost our.
Democracy January sixth, Yes, if some can you imagine if someone had gotten all of those electoral if someone had gotten their hands on it, we would be in complete disarray now because that was an attempt to take over this country. And so we've got to play the game well, and we've got to play the game hard. I mean, you cannot be complacent. And the other thing I want to say is this notion of fakeness. Things mean fake, fake news fake. I believe, I believe in the free press.
I believe in that. You know, some countries where it's authoritative, you don't, you don't have the free press. I believe in the free press. I believe that there are conservative stations and that they should be there. Okay, I have no problem with that, But that does not mean that some of your more liberal stations are fake. And people are going to have to be able to look at
things digested and make decisions for themselves. It's an interesting it's an it's an interesting dumbing dumbing up of society right now, where there are things and you can see it right in front of you, but you don't believe it because someone has told you it isn't so. Because someone has told you it isn't so. So, that means that you have lost your mental capacity to think.
The reason for yourself your self. I want to I want to give some life to this. So there was something you said earlier and I wanted to restate it because again, folks need to know, you know, yes, we did accomplish something major by voting Donald Trump out and now I think we did that more than elect Joe Biden.
We voted Trump out right took all of us.
We all came together, we all voted, and as you stated, Donald Trump absolutely stacked the deck in his favor. He stuffed the box, you know, like you said there was and the post office was just one thing. Yeah, he had a number of things that he enacted to insure a victory. And just the overwhelming amount of folks that came out and voted, appointed so many judges and then just ran headfirst into it, confident and cocky as ever. But when we made our voices heard through voting. So
everyone that did vote, thank you for listening. But everyone who did were going to We're going to need you the next time around. We need the midterm elections, We
need we need everything. We need your voice and your and and even for those who are on the fence, we need you to like do some soul searching and really take take inventory of who you are and who you want to be and how you want Do you want this to be a world based in divisiveness and fear or one that's based in you know, love and kind And I'm not saying which is which I'm saying aside for yourself.
But I will say this.
If if Jesus Christ were alive, because a lot of folks try to vote like Jesus.
I can't make a case for Jesus being a Republican. That's all I'm gona say about that.
And you can't either, And you can find me on the street if we want to out of that conversation. But but yeah, so this guy, you know, stacks a deck in his favor, loses the election and then says to everyone that it was stolen from solen and.
And has lost every.
But because he said it, like you said, you just said this, because he'll say it right. And you know, I read something recently that like fifty percent of white male Trump supporters will not take.
The vaccine because uh you know.
And then Trump, until I wanted to say yesterday, would not say that he had actually seen the vaccine, you know, but he wanted credit in the vaccine that you know, yeah, you know, it's.
Just fact is he did not. He was not the scientist that.
Of course, But I and I don't want to give too much credit to this guy. That's okay, okay, there is something to be said about him losing that election and creating this narrative that the election was rigged, that dead people voted, that immigrants voted, that all this all this stuff, you know, and all that is is it serves as a narrative for these Republicans because they're all Republican bills that are being introduced to, you know, change the way voting works.
And all these red states, as you mentioned.
Are what they're going to do is try to take your vote, our vote away from us or otherwise make it more difficult. And so we have to be more vigilant, more diligent. Of course, we can speak more intelligently to you know, the ones that we're aware of. But in the state in which you live, you know, there are some initiatives, especially if you live in a red state, historically red state, you know, some flip this time. But you know, even battleground states, you know, those things.
Are things that you need to be on top of.
And I know that the NAACP is doing a lot to bring attention to these things, Am I right?
You're right?
Okay, So let's talk about that first. What can people do?
Let me tell you where we are during the last during the election, we had an initiative, the Political Action Committee had a countdown to twenty twenty and we did vote registration and mobilization focusing exclusively on Legislative District twenty seven in South Phoenix, young people eighteen through thirty, unregistered voters.
That was our target audience, and there were something like twenty two hundred and some unregistered voters eighteen through thirty in that legislative district and we chose that because it had a lower performance rating, and we contacted all of those individuals and then did a second call for anyone who was not at home when we.
Called.
Initially, after we completed that, we went into after the last day to vote, we went into mobilization. So I went into the NAACP band system and got the list of all of the registered voters there, non partisan, nonpartisan, and we started calling to tell them go to the polls, you need to go, you need to go. We would
always talk about democracy and humanity and equality. Again we're non partisan, but we certainly can talk about the rights of everyone, immigrants, our whites, Chinese, Asian, it's Asian, because we have a problem with that right now, hispanic for everyone. Well, now that and from that. Then we called the NAACP president in Atlanta and started doing some calling there and we hope we helped a little bit with those two Senate seats going over, but who knows, but we did
do some calling there in Atlanta. So where we are right now looking at what we are facing, we are getting ready to focus on voter suppression. And the initiative is voting never going to give it up, never, never, never, never, never going to give it up. And so we're going to begin engaging in countering pieces of legislation as they
hit committee. And what I'd like to do is invite the audience to attend one of our events that's coming up, and I want to pull it up so that I can and somehow if you can get the information out.
But it's protect the vote.
It is a.
Forum, mind you.
This is a forum, but it is going to be more than that because we are going to be talking about strategies that we can use. And we will have as a special guest speaker Emily Kirkland, and she's the
executive director for Progress Arizona. They monitor the legislation and the bills and they know as they move through the pipeline from the House to the Senate to committee, and when it reaches committee, they will be filtering into us the date and the time, and then we can begin calling the legislators and letting them know they need some pressure.
They need pressure placed on them because they want to stay in their positions and if they feel that the masses are feeling one way, that's that's one way you can persuade them to vote in the affirmative the way that you would like for them to vote sure. And so we will also have talking points, we will have the day, we will have the time. Now, when I did the last initiative, I had a team of ninety individuals and we were diligent. I mean we we just we did the calling hard. We just did we did
the calling. I mean we completed the whole batch. And so we want to do the same thing with these bills as they come up. And so on Saturday we will have Miss Kirkland who will be giving us an overview of voter suppression, and then we will start actually
the strategic part of having individuals getting the information. This is it, this is the time, this is what you need to say, and individuals are going to need to be dedicated to do that, sure, okay, and that is going to be on Saturday, March the twenty seventh at eleven point thirty a m.
And I don't know.
The link they'll need to register for to lism And so if you can get that Infols.
With your information I'll make on our social media.
You can get it out of them. But with the initiative voting never going to give it up. We will be looking at voter suppression. We will be looking at Jerry manderin because that is taking place now. We don't know where those lines are going to be drawn, but they're waiting on the data from the census to come in. That's going to help them in making some of that determination. And from there they will do the redistricting that's going to determine how many individuals electoral votes will exist for
a particular area. In the midst of that, we're going to continue to do voter registration and mobilization. Sure, So for anyone who is turning eighteen, we're going to hit them up right now. There's no reason to wait until it's election time to say, okay, let's start engaging in voter registration. So we're going to continue with the voter I'll do a batch of unregistered voters eighteen through thirty and start doing voter registration.
Immediately with them.
And then we want to also foster a community partnership. We want to get partnerships with the community. The other thing that under this initiative is a pop up call to action. An example of that will be Greenwood Cemetery, which is over on where the freeways intersect, where you have I ten coming in from California and I seventeen heading toward Tucson, and you have all of those freeways coming over each other.
If you look just.
West and south, you have Greenwood Cemetery. It's one of the oldest cemeteries, has trees, large monuments. There are a number of our stately African American and minority individuals who are buried there. It is a historical cemetery in Phoenix. And there has been a company who wants to put up a huge sign that will I guess people can pay to advertise in it and it will change and
flash and everything. And the community has decided that this is a solemn place, a place of rest for our people, many from back in the day, many who are there now, my late husband is there, my mother and aunt is there. There's so many people there, and it is not just African American. One of the Jewish synagogues has a portion of that cemetery as well, and so we have been calling in when it went into zoning to share our distaste with that being there. And they changed the date
on it. There was a variance, and they moved the date, and we called it again and there was another variance. I think it's a twenty verse. So we're going to be ready to hit it again and start calling. I don't know, it's sort of interesting that these variants are coming up, but that's the pop up call to action when we know that there are things and we just need to jump on it right away.
Now let me let me, let me add this. So basically, what I'm hearing is that you're on top of it.
I'm not.
Well, let me tell you, I have some young people who are who you know who? Really, I'm an educator, I'm not in politics. I'm retired and I'm just moving into this. There's a sensibility about it.
Let me shut it that way.
Sure, but there's there's.
You know, for for folks that do live in Phoenix or in Arizona, And again I'll put that information up on our social media cifix Cipher.
It's really easy to find those things.
But there are some national initiatives as well that the NAACP is taking on, so our folks that listen beyond the state of Arizona can engage as well. And I think that's just a matter of you know, finding finding out about your local branch and whatever city you're in and finding out what action they're taking with respect to voter suppression or if it's something that like we're talking about here in Arizona with you know, the cemetery things
like this. But to one degree or another, in any way that you can, it's important to become engaged and become active. This is what happens for the Republicans. They get active and they shape the world that they want to see for themselves and their posterity. But the language that that ourselves and our posterity, that language exists for the whole country. The things we have to you know,
actually step up and take advantage of that. And uh, you know, before we get out to hear I do want to take some time and if you're just tuning in, by the way, the specific sipher. I'm your host, Ramsy's Jah. My guest today is doctor Camilla Westernberg, and I wanted to take a moment to discuss something that happened this week in Atlanta, and it was there were eight people killed by a shooter. So you know, it was a
mass shooting, and six of those people were Asian. Now a lot of folks may not know this, but before I, before I sat down to do this show, I spoke with my older brother. For those who are fans of boombab hip hop, my older brother, his name is Raka or Iris, Science of the Dilated Peoples and just big brother, the little brother. He told me something that was very profound. He said, make sure that you know that you're not the only one. You might have to go first, but
you're not the only one. There are other people who might not be able to have a voice, a platform, a stage, and you have to be able to look out for those people too. And that's something that was echoed to an incredible degree last year with respect to this. We rise in solidarity language that I heard so much when we were protesting, and then of course out on the streets we saw again, approximately from guessing ten percent
black folks out there, ninety of humanity showed them. All colors, all languages, all faith, religion, everything human being showed up
for their African American brothers and sisters. And so it is a privilege and an honor to be able to bring attention once again on this show, because this is not the first time that we're doing this, but to bring attention to the issues that are affecting our Asian American brothers and sisters, and it's it's it feels like I'm fulfilling my promise to my brother to be able to use a black space to lend some time to what my Asian brothers and our Asian brothers and sisters
are going through. Now, for those of you who don't know much about the story, somebody walked into some massage parlors. Six Asian women lost their lives and there were two other people that lost their lives that were not Asian. It's my understanding, but it feels very targeted, and that's what that's what I want to say. And you know, the mayor of Atlanta, So what happened is the police came out and says that you know.
It's it's not racially motivated.
I guess the shooter himself said that it's not racially motivated, for whatever that's worth. And you know, the way that they're trying to chronicle the story is that somehow this is a result of this guy's sexual frustration or something
like that, right, massage parlor and so forth. But really what it is is these are people low wage workers, and you know whatever, But and and and the mayor, kudos to her for standing up for these people, saying that we're not going to let any victim blaming take place or victim shaming take place.
There's no reason to think that these weren'ts.
Establishments for legitimate businesses exactly, And so kudos to her for saying that. But h, regardless of what this person's intentions were, I want to use this time to say that this past year, the previous administration put a target on the back of our Asian brothers and sisters by calling it the China virus.
He did.
And the truth is that there's a lot of uneducated people that live in this country, a lot of people who have not traveled. I've traveled, I've been to China and Thailand and Indonesia and Vietnam and Singapore and Malaysia and ant I was out there. These are different groups of people, but if you say China, Chinese anything, there's people that think it's all one group of people, right, But it doesn't matter because even if it is, even if everyone's Chinese, the way that man described it.
Made seem like it was these people.
And so.
I can use this moment to.
Speak to the pain perhaps that's being endured by my Asian brothers and sisters.
Being having to read this.
These are people that wept with me when we saw George Floyd lose his life. They marched and they yelled Breonna Taylor's name, and so for me, I think it's important to bring attention to that, to say that we do stand with you, we condemn that on every level, and that we are always going to uh champion a fair.
Narrative for.
You know, before prior to this happening, to the shooting that took place at the three Establishments, there had been a series of instances where people were going up and knocking down and shoving down Asian elderly individuals. Was the saddest thing men and women. The elderly just going and just shoving them back hurts me think about it. And then you had this to happen and recently I understood. My understanding is statistically there have been more complaints as
it relates to women. Now think about it as African Americans, we've been a target all along.
Yeah, of course, okay.
We know that where we've been a target.
But you have.
A female who is vice president, a female, okay, and she is of Asian descent, and then you have him talking about the China virus.
How about that?
And you have this huge cohort of people who will believe absolutely anything that is said. Okay, then that that
to me is half of the story there. And I just wanted to very quickly say this business of not believing in science, for anyone who does not believe in science, you don't get in a helicopter that science was used to decide and determine that that that device, that machinery it's going to work, and go into a hospital that is grounded on scientific discovery, and then come back out to the world and say I don't believe in science. Then I say to any people you need to start thinking.
Well, well, we'll leave it right there. You need to start thinking once again. Thank you for checking out Civic Cipher Once again, my name is Rams's jah Qward'd be back with us next week, my guest. It's always a pleasure to have you up, Doctor Kamilla Westenberg, thank you for coming. Be sure to check the website Civiccipher dot com to download this and previous episodes you may have missed if you're tuning in later or anything like that. Of course, you can also follow our social media it's
always at Civic Cipher, and please consider donating. It really helps to show out and all our donation links are on the website.
So until next week, y'all take care in peace.