Welcome to another episode of Civic Sidher. I'm your host, rams is Jah.
The name is Ward Quentin J. But my friends call me Q. Yes.
Indeed, a lot to talk about on today's episode.
We've been doing a lot of.
We've been doing our job, and unfortunately the job is sometimes overwhelming, and because we have an hour per week with you, we don't get to touch on everything that deserves to be touched on. And so today what we're going to do is take a moment. We're going to catch up with at least the things that have happened in the past maybe six or eight days, and really give some context and give our thoughts and you know,
figure out what we're going to do now. At this point, I'm not going to pretend like this is going to be, you know, my favorite show, you know, the happiest show I've done. I'm talking about things that have already happened, things that I have no control over. We're going to be talking about people who've lost their lives at the hands of we'll call it what it is, white supremacy.
We'll talk about people who've lost their lives at the hands of a criminal justice system top to bottom in its entirety that stomps on the necks of black and brown bodies. It chews us up and it spits us out. And now it's our responsibility to discuss that.
And so.
You know, I might be in rare form, but you know, this is what I signed up for. Qu this is what you signed up for, So you have to forgive me. I thought it was going to be mentally prepared for when these mics turned on, but it feels like kind of tough to get out of the blocks here. It's a little sticky, but you know what, here we go. The thing that happened this week that was the most historic was, of course, the verdict in the Derek Chavin trial.
You know, we were hoping for there to be some justice, you know, for the life of George Floyd that we saw taken on video. And I don't think I'm wrong in saying that we didn't expect for there to be justice. We expected this guy to go home and continue living his life. Because that happens.
What was it? What was the statistic you quoted Q seven and fifteen thousand, Okay, explain that and the last fifteen thousand cases of people murdered. Let me pause people killed by police officers. Seven of those police officers have been charged and convicted.
Now I worry that you're saying fifteen hundred and it's coming out fifteen thousand.
I'm worried that I'm saying fifteen thousand, and it's more. I can try to do some research before the end of the show to confirm that that's accurate. But I'm more nervous that I'm saying a number that's too small.
And in either case, it shows that the odds are stacked against us in the pursuit of justice when it comes to these sorts of things. And I know a lot of folks that are on the other side of this, they're thinking, is you know, why make such a big deal out of what the police do when there's so much crime and there's so many murders that have black people on both sides of it, neither of which are
police officers, wears their reaction to those murders. And you know, and I've mentioned this before on the show, it's that, you know, nobody is happy when someone loses their life. We all, as human beings, at least in theory, should recognize that our life is precious. In the lives of those around us are precious. Our fellow man, our countrymen, our brothers, and our sisters that we share this planet with.
And if someone you know, takes a life, the expectation is that that person will be held accountable for that. They'll stand trial, they'll be judged, you know, and a sentence or a punishment will be handed down if they're found guilty. And the thing is, when the police do it, there's never any accountability. The police almost always get off. And that's why there's such a big reaction to police killings, because it's a blatant disregard for black life, almost exclusively.
And so I hope that that helps frame the gravity of this verdict and why it was so important for all of us that had to watch it. We sat around and wait for the verdict, and we had no faith in the criminal justice system, and we shouldn't have. The criminal justice system has never been very fair, very
I shouldn't even use that word. Has never been fair period to black people in mass You know, you might find a couple of examples where somebody had made out okay, but you know, for the most part, it's kind of like the healthcare system and a lot of the other white supremacist based systems and institutions where there it doesn't inspire a lot of confidence from black people because for the most part, it exists to serve one group of people and everyone else is just there to feed it
money and there's really no respect. But in this instance, yes, the verdict was guilty on all three counts, and you might be thinking, well, why don't you sound happier, Ramses, that's what you wanted, Ramses. Where everything is moving in the right direction, Ramses. But it might have been two hours after that verdict that Q you told me about a.
Fifteen year old that was killed, So tell that story. You mentioned the idea of being prepared when the mics came on today, and I text you in the wake of the announcement of the verdict that when we got together, I was going to be nervous driving to you every time I saw a squad car, a police car. And if any of you are listening and wondering, why listen
to the show? More right, the number of examples that we've given you know, in case you in case you just honestly aren't you know, tapped getting in that way and paying attention in that way. The reasons why are
incredibly obvious. And as we sat and waited for that verdict to be announced with nots in our stomachs because a murder that we watched on television, a murder that hundreds of millions of people have seen, we still weren't sure that the person that committed the murder would be convicted of it because our law enforcement gets to operate in that space with impunity and complete and utter disregard for the lives of people that look like us, very specifically.
So there's no such thing as being ready right to discuss the things that we have to discuss today. But we kind of knew what we had in front of us. But before before I could get from sending that text and getting in my car and coming to the studio and us having our pre show conversation about the things that we knew we had to discuss, we learned that
a young lady in Columbus, Ohio. And please forgive me if I pronounced this this young queen's name incorrectly, but I think it's Macaiah Bryant of Columbus, Ohio called nine one one out of the fear of being assaulted, she had a knife to protect herself, and when the officers arrived, without question, without de escalation, without conversation, four shots to
the chest, and murdered this fifteen year old girl. So if you ask why, in the wake of guilty on all three counts, our voices don't sound more celebratory, the first explanation would be because someone being convicted of a murder that they did on TV should not call for celebration. It should be the very obvious outcome. It should be the absolute minimum we could ask or hope for. It shouldn't be some triumphant moment in American history that a man that murdered someone in front of the world was
convicted for that murder. However, a lot of us knew even while this was being announced, and there was a little bit of relief of that ans in those knots in our stomach, that this wasn't some huge victory because the whole time this trial was going on, men, we're being murdered by police officers on video, and not just black men, black babies, black children, and brown babies and brown children. You guys may have heard me say this
to rams this more than once. It is very very difficult for me to be hopeful about where this country's going, about how the world our children become adults and will look and how they will be looked at. And it's very very hard for me to be hopeful because every piece of evidence presented to me tells me a different story at their most scrutinized moment of their lives. I'm speaking of necessarily all of law enforcement in this country.
They're under the most scrutiny, most of them, of their entire careers, and on their own cameras they're murdering us, not just the camera phones that we pull out, So they don't even pretend they didn't say, oh my god, everybody's looking. Let us at least pretend to be just, oh, you guys are looking. Let us show you what we're
willing about. So it's really really difficult to look at my son, to hold him and kiss him and say Babe, I'll be back, and actually one hundred percent believe it, because I have to hope that for whatever reason they dic side, I don't get pulled over, and that if I do, that they're in a good enough mood to not kill me. As I'm being as submissive as possible to assure this outcome. I feel like.
There's something that we haven't done on this show. And if you're listening to my voice, I would appreciate your input.
You know.
I know a lot of folks listen on the radio, a lot of folks download the podcast, you know, folks watch you know on YouTube. You know, however, you get the show. But everyone has access to us. This is all of our show. Q and I are just the curators, I suppose, but this this show is for all of us. Even if you're a part of the white supremacist system, this is your show too. This is so you can
learn how to be better to your brothers and sisters. Originally, when we sat down and you know, wanted to do this show, that we had this idea that.
We were going to.
Provide a stage and be able to have some dialogue, to create an environment where folks can come and sit and we can learn about each other. And obviously there's a voice that has not been in the room, and that's the voice of law enforcement. You know, we haven't had any police or any any officers up on the show yet. And I've gone back and forth with you know, should we because we're looking at this and we're trying to make sense of it, and you know, my impulse,
my gut impulse, is to say, yes, we should. And I've had conversations with some and it may still happen, and I'd love your input. But there are some times when I'll find some information and it'll be from the officer's point of view, and it's very officer like, you know, it's very black and white. The nuance, the you know, the context, it's very much lacking, and oftentimes it's based
in fear. And one of the things that I've learned is that fear begets fear, you know, And if you use fear, because it's a primal component of who we are, you can tell yourself and perhaps even convince other people of some stuff that will really overshadow what the root of the problem is, you know. And I've really gone back and forth, but I really do want your input.
If you're listening to our voices, you know, should we open up the lines of communication and and sit down with some officers and really talk to them about all of this stuff, because I'm not sure what else we're going to do, you know, I'm I'm really glad that you hold fast to the idea of fear in this climate, in this space, with these interactions, because you know, I push back on it. Yeah, right, like the idea that you're afraid of the person that's running away from you,
so you kill them. I have a very hard time digesting that, right. But the more you say it, the more I hear how a person could internally weaponize that fear and then blend it with the hate that they already have. But it looks like fear everyone else, and so then they're like, well, of course he was afraid, and it's like, we're not dealing with the rid of the problem.
Yeah, it's And you've even mentioned to me the idea of having someone from law enforcement on the show, and I feel the same way as you. I feel like it's necessary. I I just wrestle with it. Yeah, because we're still in it, Like we're still we're still dealing like it, Like you're talking about fear. I have it now. Of course I hate saying that out loud, but I have real life fear. You know when I when I
text you, I text our producer Ryan. I'm not joking when I say when I get in my car to come here that I'm uncomfortable because I've watched people who were not in some criminal activity. Right. Yeah, our young brother got pulled over because he had an Air Force rushener hanging from his rear view mirror. He's gone. And then after the fact, you can be whatever person they say you were. You read the the I just saw the police report from the initial police report from George
Floyd's murder. They can paint you to be paranoid, drug induced, panicked, enraged, aggressive, strong, and try to justify whatever the outcome is when the only witnesses them. So this space really sucks. The obvious answer to your question is yes, we need to have someone right that We've said to each other a hundred times. This cannot be an echo chamber, and there's no point in having this show if we don't get to hear from people whose ideas and believes are different than ours.
Somebody's got to go first. But man, like I when you initially asked me about that, I remember you presented the idea to me and I'm like, yeah, definitely, And then I thought about it for five seconds and I'm like, well, and that will came from fear apprehension, discomfort. I really wish that wasn't the case, and I wish that wasn't true, man, But you can only absorb so much trauma and so much obvious hate.
Well, you know, there's so Another thing that happened this past week is you know, I didn't get any of these people's names, but there was a video. I'm sure we have it up on one of our sites, so if you want to follow us, we're at Civic Cipher.
On all platforms. But there was children. They were riding their bikes. Yeah, in New Jersey, in New Jersey, right, and there's a video of this and the officers. You know it.
It's so hard to imagine the same story playing out if those are white kids.
It's hard to imagine because it doesn't happen. You have no your mind doesn't have a baseline for that. It has no there's no content up there in your imagination. It's never seen anything like that. We've seen superheroes. We
haven't seen that. A kid getting arrested because he doesn't have a bike license, arrested, bike taken, put in handcuffs, put in the back of a police car, not cited, not giving a warning, not having a conversation, but seven eight squad cars pull up on five or six kids on bicycles, and the crime they've committed is they don't have bicycle licenses, which I've never heard of in my life. I spent my entire childhood on a bike. It's a.
Sad reality that you know, and we've learned this ourselves, that you don't really have to do anything wrong because oftentimes, as you and I both know and have experienced while in each other's presence, because it happened to both of us that again in our personal experience. We're not generalizing here, this actually happened to me.
This is not this is not anecdotal that you know.
It is very possible and perhaps probable.
That they will.
They meaning law enforcement, will pick and choose which laws apply and the ones that you can refute immediately. They'll they may see them to you and pick a few others.
You know. We have a We have a good friend who was pulled over.
He actually recorded this interaction and police were talking about he had his he turned his brights on on his uh, I think he had a newer range rover, and he says to the police, well, this car turns the brights on automatically. I didn't turn them on. I was pulling out of it.
Again, the headlights are on auto, yeah.
And so it doesn't He's like, I didn't touch it. And the officer's like, well, you ran a stop sign, you know, And he's like, I didn't run a stop sign or whatever.
Yeah, whatever, whatever it was. And so you know, these these kids on past that car, that car passed me, well, and you see, and then and in our and our personal experience, obviously we've seen the same thing happen, and
so I don't think it surprises me. It's just sad that you know things like this will happen, and that it's so difficult to imagine it happening to anyone else, anyone else, you know, you think of the It's so funny because if you're not black, if you're not Hispanic, there's a good chance that you grow up thinking that the police are the good guys, they're the heroes that come and help out. And it is literally the exact opposite. For me.
I've never there's never been a time in my life when the police have been anywhere near me, and it's made me happier. And I've lived thirty eight years. I'll be thirty nine soon. And I get that in principle, Like I watch movies, you know, I see it. You know, the cop movies. You want the cop to win. You know, I've seen you know, Bad Boys and all. You know what I'm saying. Obviously bad Boys, you're looking at mart Lawrence and Will Smith, so you definitely want them to win.
But you get what I'm saying here. It could be a I don't know, pick another cop movie, it doesn't matter, but you get that in theory, the police are the good guys. But in the real world it feels very close to well, it feels like when they show up, I have to immediately prove to them that I'm not the person that they're looking for.
Or immediately vacate the premises.
Or that, or as as you mentioned, I have to be as non threatening and I have to like fully submissive. Yeah, and that feels you know, it's doable. It lacks dignity, as we've stated, you know, but it's very doable, and perhaps that's the reason why I've had less in the way of issues overall.
But it's still.
One of those things that just kind of comes with the territory, and so we're going to talk about how that applies to a few more examples, uh in just a few moments. But first, if you're just tuning in to Civic Sipherarmy host Rams's.
Jah, the name is Ward Quentin J. Ram just likes to I like that one.
And one of the things that we did get to talk about last week, which I want to I want to do a quick shout out to Shelley who came up on the show and we discussed, you know, the Stop Asian Hate initiative and all the things that she's doing.
Shella, thank you so much for being a fantastic guest and for offering us a point of view and some insight that we couldn't possibly offer on our own exactly.
Please check that show out if you missed it, at Civiccipher dot com. But during that show, we didn't really get a chance to really dig too deep into what happened with Dante Wright, which is the gentleman, the young man who's twenty years old who got pulled over because of either an air freshener or expired tags, whatever the case is, and then ultimately lost his life. And I'm
not sure if we got to go cover this. But one thing I do want to say while we're here is, you know, when I say that a lot of the the police reports and all those sorts of things, they lack context, lack nuance. What I mean is, you know, if you grow up poor in an impoverished environment because of socioeconomic factors and because of historic you know, factors that have caused you and your family and the people that look like you in your town to live in a certain part of town and to not have as
much wealth as other folks. You know, and these are all things that you can research. Google is super free. You understand that a lot of the wealth, if not all of it, it is in some way connected to a slave field in this country. And a lot of the modern wealth is a result of you know, redlining. Please look those things up if you're not familiar with them. But those economic conditions create environments where there is and scarcity. You know, you find more crime in areas where there's
less to go around. That's just a fact of life. It's the fact of the human condition. So you know, black and brown children can be born into impoverished communities because you know, that's what allows a lot of the white folks in this country to live as well as they do or have the opportunities that they do.
Again, I'm not.
Trying to start nothing, but I'm just calling it what it is. It's a spade, and those environments are rough, and in those environments, people often try to figure out ways to increase the likelihood that they'll make it home, that they'll survive, et cetera, and on and on and on and so it is not the strangest thing in the world that someone who lives in that environment might have a gun to protect himself, which is exactly what
happened with Dante Wright in my belief. But you know, the way the stereotypes are is that, well, if he's black and he has a gun, he's a gang banger and he's up to no good.
And I think.
People forget that, you know, these are people that are trying to survive the environment that they're in. If every person with a gun was a gang banger, then I think that we'd be in way worse shape.
You know.
It's kind of like that that statement where if black people were looking for revenge, you know, it's a whole different conversation they're just trying to get by, trying to get on equal footing.
And it's such a strange piece of context to even inject into these stories in their way right because to mention the presence of a gun. Sure, if you're telling me the kid had the gun, he did not know, I don't mean you. I mean in all of these cases, there was a present, there was a knife, there was a gun that we thought his phone was a gun. We know are certain because this is on video as well,
and we see this in the news as well. When our white brothers and sisters, our white brothers more specifically, are in the midst of murdering people with assault rifles, then our law enforcement agents know how to behave and take them down and experts at de escalation, apprehension safely without a scratch. And not only let let's make sure you're comfortable. Are you hungry man, because you're probably tired from all of this murdering, Let's get you a sandwich.
Well, you know, I think that again with context, if someone does have a gun or some way of protecting themselves in their environment, if they believe that's protection, I personally don't call guns protection, but you know, I get that. That's how fear is sold. You know, the person that wants to sell you a gun is going to make you afraid. You know, actually that person wants to sell two guns. You're going to make the people you're afraid
of afraid of you as well. But you know, I think that once you know that, then the gun seems less like, oh, this person's going to use this to harm me, and it seems more like, well, of course this person has it. Obviously I need to address that immediately,
and I need to protect myself. But it's not the strangest thing in the world that someone who lives in this environment where they're scraping for everything they get and anything they have can be taken from of at any moment would have this with them.
Yeah. But even then, you know the champions of the Second Amendment, right, Yeah, no, they're nowhere to be found. And you're arriving with a gun yourself. Yeah, so I don't get to feel threatened as you come to me with a gun, but you do, how dare I have one? Then you need to protect yourself. But I don't even have.
That right as we saw with Filando, And you know, a card carrying a gun owner executed not for brandishing the weapon, but for saying, yes, I do have a weapon in the car, but I just I like to offer that up to folks who are quick to pass judgment.
And the reason why that was important is because with the Daunte Wright incident, the reason that they were arresting him was because he had a warrant I believe for his arrest due to him running from the police before, which I have said on the on the show before that it's it is not unreasonable for anything any creature endowed with consciousness to seek their customary freedom. But he also was he had a warrant for having a weapon,
and those things immediate. When you're black, those things immediately make you criminal and make you dangerous. Add that to your black skin, and then it's like, oh, this person is going to murder me, so I need to murder them.
The idea of people that look like us having weapons is scary. White people actually have a firing assault rifles is not. I've seen the videos. I have to watch them. So and this person, go ahead, did you see the the in the wake of Dante's murder, because it happened during the murder trial of Derek Schoulvin. There was a meme produced right we interrupt the trial for the murder of George Floyd to report on the murder of Dante Wright,
and that's been interrupted by another school shooting. Did you see that?
Yeah?
Have you followed up on the school shooting, because I have, and it is just as unfortunate as everything else we're talking about. Because when you read about a school shooting and the police arrive and subdue and kill the shooter, and that's a pretty heroic story, and you might even give them a round of applause until you find out the suspected shooter was a black kid, And of course he doesn't get to survive even if he's an active shooter, right,
because that logic should apply across the board. If active shooters deserve to be murdered at the scene of the crime, then that shouldn't be the case with every active shooter, not just the seventeen year old black kid. Except you further look into the story and there was no active shooter. What seventeen year old kid I need to look up his name, gets into an argument with his girlfriend, their
high school students, and Anthony Thompson is his name. The girlfriend's mother and her boyfriend or husband hear about the fight that the kids get into, and the girl's father or stepfather or whatever position he's the father in her life is gonna go teach this kid a lesson again. So apparently these kids have gotten into a disagreement before, and the gentleman who plays the father in her story
has beat this kid up. So when this guy tells this kid, this grown man tells this kid, I'm coming up to that school and I'm gonna do something to you. The kid finds a weapon to protect himself from being beat up again by his girlfriend's father figure. The girlfriend's mother finds out and calls the police. The police arrive immediately and age the kid. They get into a tussle. One of the officers shoots himself, the kid does not shoot him. The officers then proceed to kill the kid.
I hate it here, seventeen year old kid murdered by the police. The girlfriend's mother now regrets having called the cops in the first place, because she should have just told her boyfriend, husband whatever, to not go beat up the kid who hurt my daughter's feelings.
Well, unfortunately, it doesn't surprise me you know, obviously I've known of people that have lost their life for less. There's just a very aggressive behavior pattern of behavior with respect to the police when they engage black and brown bodies. And you know that that qualified immunity that they can operate with impunity is just kind of an unwritten rule
that they can and do. They can take out all the aggression that they have instead of beating their wives and beat up on us and kill us, and you know, they'll have each other's backs and so forth.
We have each other's backs to the end. Bro it is. I'm going to get to that. It's cult like. I'm going to get to that, it's zell it like.
And when I was referring to Dante Wright and kind of trying to give some context to that, you know, and you do recognize that if you're in trouble with the police and the criminal justice system doesn't treat you fair and you can't give new It's like, listen, I live in a rough neighborhood. That's why I have a gun that you know, you never know what's waiting for me,
and that is a deterrent. I can shoot in the air and maybe live another whatever you don't get to tell that story in front of a judge that is dead set on sending you away. I mean, we saw the stories this past week as well about the judge who was caught using the N word when she was texting her lover, and you know how she's like one of those all lives matter people, and you know it is not really able to make an impartial decision. And the thing is, we know obviously that that's kind of
you got a hope. You know, it might be fifty to fifty that you won't get one of those judges if you go in front of a judge, might even be more. But for a kid to try to run away from the police that are arresting him, and they're now going to introduce him into a system where he's not a bad person with a bad heart. He's not a horrible, evil human being, a mass murderer, nothing like that. Is a person's trying to thrive in his environment. Again,
I'm humanizing him without knowing him. But I know this story. I know people with good hearts.
This isn't the first time you've heard this story.
That's why, yeah, exactly, And I've made a conscious decision to not you know, carry a gun in the same way that I've made a conscious decision to never drink alcohol and to never do any drugs, and to do those things so that I can say it, but not because I didn't think about it, because having a gun certainly makes life feel a little bit more settled. Hold on, I would be willing to bet that I've gotten more death threats and everybody listening to my voice put together.
No, and I'm certain and the reason why. And this is gonna be strange for you to hear this from me that I'm even gonna push back on what you just said. Say one of these officers arrives at my home and he's decided he's killing me tonight, and in defense, I kill him.
Oh man, they're gonna If they don't kill you, he'll put you under for jail.
No no, no, no, no no, there's no under the jail. There's no version of that where I survive unless I like flee and hide and put in some type of compound with a military style guard watching me. I know what you're saying. I know what you're saying. Even if he's absolutely wrong and he absolutely just made the decision because he's angry about today's verdict. For instance, that I'm the victim today because you said before the chances that somebody pulls their gun on you and you even get
to yours are low. But in the event that I do in defensive myself from this person murdering me, I don't even reserve that right because I look like this wrap me.
So your own destines, so this entire.
System, and this is why again Rams just spoke on this when the show started. You don't hear celebration and relief in our voices today because we are constantly reminded that the country that we live in, fight for, pay taxes in, and love actually have stars and stripes on me. Believe it or not, I've seen a tattoo, right. The genesis of this country is capitalism infused with white supremacy, and the ground on which it stands is our backs.
And next and real quick, I want to give a shout out to our native brothers and sisters, because in terms of the literal ground, talk about it as we stand talk about it, we know who it really belongs to, and uh yeah that that story doesn't even exist without them.
So but with all this said, you know, I just want to mention that it it's just another black eye on the police in this country to know that, you know, the memorial that was erected for Dante Wright was taken down by an officer and we were able to see that video. You know, there's it's like it's almost like the trump ism, the fanatics. They're they're just right at all costs, even when they're wrong, and everyone knows that it's on.
Full display for the whole world.
They're still right and they're and the thing is they have guns and impunity and every down and it's the most arrogant thing. And this is why I wrestle with, you know, should we have one of these people up here, because I don't want it to seem like I'm playing both sides, you know, but I do recognize that again, somebody has to go for these people exist, so for me to pretend like they don't, and it's the conversation is necessary. The problem is we have to all start
with the same facts. Yeah, if the facts are the same and our respective opinions, because if you guys listen to us, Ramses and I are not monolith, no, none at all. But our facts are the same, right, so if the conversation starts with you stole the election, Okay, now we can't even have the conversation anymore.
You're dealing with different facts than me. Sure you have a different truth than I do. And you can't have now removed the idea that anything is true or that nothing is true unless it's coming from the mouth of someone you've appointed the authority.
There's a an interesting thing about you know, that cult like dedication to policing and and you know, I want to say just to us, but really to anybody who's really looked into what white supremacy is, it looks just like white supremacy. You know, even even the black officers, because black people can be white supremacist too, if they believe that this system benefits them. It's called white supremacy because.
Some of them aren't aware of it, surescribed to it because it benefits them. Yeah, they believe that it does, absolutely, and that that's what Shella you was talking about last week when she was saying some of the older, you know, Asian parents from a different time, they feel like they benefit from a white supremacist system. So they you know, find themselves being trump boats and being you know, right leaning sort of individuals. But more recently they've learned that,
you know, white supremacy really benefits white people. You know, at the end of the day, you know, we can take along some extra stragglers here and there, but for the most part, at the end of the day, it's like prison mentality or something. But speaking to that cult
like dedication, you know. And you know, we mentioned the judge earlier in the show that it was texting or lover about you know these in words and you know whatever else she was saying, who knows, But you know, I read a story this past week about an executive. This guy was in Virginia's the executive Office of Internal Affairs or the police department. Right, so this guy is the officer that investigates.
The police, the bad police police do something wrong. In other words, if a police officer takes the life of someone who is black or brown or whatever, and that officer is then reported to internal affairs or maybe not takes the life but maybe just abuses, harms, whatever, or a suspective of doing so, sure the person charged with investigating that crime is a police officer himself, which is
part of what black lives matter. Was advocating for that we need, you know, a unity oversight instead of police policing police, because then who's going to be guilty? And I think a glowing example of how that doesn't work is the man who again was the executive officer of Internal Affairs in Virginia, who donated to Kyle Rittenhouse's defense. Now Kyle Rittenhouse, if you don't remember the name, is the guy who was in Kenosha, Wisconsin, killing people who were protesting.
Drove across state lines with a gun that he illegally possessed and murdered people. He was young.
Now he had a gun, and Dante Wright had a gun. But you know who's alive and getting donations from the police. Murdered someone, one of them was. The other one was involved in a traffic stop. And I think I'm going to say it this way too. One of them was murdered by the police, and the other one is getting donations from the.
Celebrated by the police, supported by the police, upheld, uplifted, protected sure by the police.
And this is not the only officer. There's been plenty of officers that have donated to him. I think the message from this one the officer said, you know, you did the right thing, you know, keep your head up, something like that. And again, so for us looking at it, there's no other way than to say, Okay, there's a problem with the police. This is wrong, this has to change,
This has to stop. And you know, we're doing our part by talking about it, by bringing attention to it on these airwaves of these radio stations that are not able to often have these long form dialogues about these things. But they're just as necessary because on this station, whatever you're listening to, this station is using black culture to sell commercials. This station is using black culture to generate
a profit. But this station has made a commitment to the black community that we're going to have this show called Civic Cipher to at least ensure that there are some long form dialogue that we're we recognize that you guys don't just party and rap and make music and dance.
And wear cool clothes and all that.
You are also thinkers and philosophers and brilliant minds and can be self determined. We're going to allow the space for that on our airwaves. We're gonna give up some money, or we're gonna whatever the case is. So We're using that space to point out what is very obvious to us, which is this is white supremacy if I've ever seen.
It, ask your question, Rams. Sure. I saw someone tweet yesterday, man, if this was white kids and white men being murdered by the police, that we'd have some real change. And I scoffed when I heard it, because that's a very naive way of thinking, right, And this isn't apples to apples. This is probably apples and orangers, or even apples and now, but Sandy hook happened. Yeah, white children gunned down. Our I laugh to keep from screaming. I laugh to keep
from crying. I laughed to exhale, just to not be angry. Our gun control laws did not become more strict after that. That's crazy. This white supremacist system will not be bullied by us and has no problem sacrificing its own so that it can continue to exist and to thrive. Once I saw white children gunned down, and the people that those kids' parents sent to Washington, d C. To essentially be rich for the rest of their lives, did nothing to address that, to make those people feel more protected,
more safe. I understood that that system had no qualms with eating and devouring its own so that it could remain intact. And people have the nerve to be offended when they hear the word defund. That's the strata broke the camel's back. That was that's when it went too far. Well, I.
Think that your question answers itself. You know, we got a much bigger problem here. You know that I was around for that. You know, I went and took my son out of school that day, so that was definitely a heartbreaking day around here as well. But I guess it's one foot in front of the other, so you know, up next, you know, there's more we have to talk about. So if you're just tuning in a civic side from my host Rams's job, they call me q Ward Adam
Toledo in Chicago. Goodness, I want to talk craationis man. I want to spend a couple of minutes talking about this. So if you if you haven't seen this video, yeah it's heavy. I haven't seen the video, but I did read the police officers a police officer's account of his watching of the video, and this is why I had such a tough time. Should we even have an officer up here too, because they have a way of making
things seem like it's okay. And even if you can't reason with them, even if you see it different than they do, it doesn't feel like anything would be accomplished. You're just giving them a platform to say whatever they're going to say. It'd be like having I know it's not the same, but similar to having the Ku Klux clan up here. It's like, all I'm doing is giving them a platform, and is that morally right to do?
So? I digress.
The officer says that Adam Toledo, if you haven't seen the video, please watch it because this will make sense. I don't, unfortunately, have time to explain the whole video, but in short, he's just running as a kid. He's a Hispanic kid running away from the police. Last moment he turns around, hands up, no gun in his hands, get shot.
He advised, it's graphic. I almost threw up when I sat.
But an officer's account of what happened, He says, well in the longer video, mind you that the police didn't want any of this out. They wrote the story wrong, bled about it, everything like that. Please please investigate it because you'll see that this is exactly what we're talking about.
This the police. How long ago did it happen, because it didn't just happen. The video is just not a week ago. A video just became Oh yeah, it happened December, Yeah, right right. They did a lot to try to cover this up exactly so it hits the light of day. They released a video anyway, an officer's account of what happens. This officer looks at the long form of the video. Apparently there were two people in the video, both of whom had guns. One of them is the thirteen year.
Old Adam Toledo. Both had guns, they both run when the police show up, right, And for people that say just comply, it's the weirdest thing because those are the same people who have never been in an environment where you got it coming from you from all sides. You know, I know what that's like. You know what that's like. You're from Detroit, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Where Look, man, if I don't run into the police,
I'm gonna run into the people that live here. You know what I'm saying, And you know I've said it on the show. I've heard it a lot of hip hop songs that you know. I'd rather be caught with it than caught without it, because with it, I at least have a fighting chance. Without it, I'm dead in the water. Right anyway, So please pull up. These two both have guns us. Adam Toledo's gun is visible in the long form of the video. Right, so he did have a gun.
Right. He takes off running from the police. Right.
Police is shouting at him the whole time, drop your weapon, put your hands up, you know, all that sort of stuff that they do. Right, But this guy's running away with his back turn. Adam Toledo running away with his back turn. He's right at the last moment, he realizes, I'm not going to get away from this officer. You know, it's probably better for me to stop. Whatever is going through his Head's probably better for me to stop. Drops the weapon, has both hands up, turns around, bang. He
does as he's instructed. That's exactly what I was going to say. Why in the world would you ask him to drop his weapon and put his hands up and then not expect him to do that to be what he's doing. If you're expecting that he's not going to do it? Why not just shoot him in the back. You're gonna get off either way, you know, right, You're a police officer, so I would would posit, and this will the officer said. The officer said he had nine tenths of a second to decide if his hands were
empty or not. And when the adrenaline is pumping, and this and that and the third we already knew he had a weapon. He's running away and you know he's about to duck through a fence, and blah blah blah. And he explains it all the way and it sounds very good if you're given to fear and you want the officer to be innocent, right For me, I just want to make sure that justice has served for this child. I don't necessarily want the officer to be guilty, but
there's some accountability that needs to take place. Because I have a son who was just thirteen not too long ago, and I have a son that's knocking on thirteen in the next couple of years, so this is relevant to me. I need to figure out what's going on, what did they do, what can they do, how can we learn from this whatever?
Because you know it's and it's relevant even if you don't have any children. Sure, of course, it just it just hits different when you do exactly and so.
You know, the officers try to explain it away. But you know, for a person like me and a person like you, I would not shout, so I wouldn't tell you to stop and put your hands up and then not expect that that would be what you're doing.
I'm now asking you what am I supposed to do? Officers, you're dead, do exactly what you say. I'm dead.
Nothing, There's nothing you can do. And this is why we're talking about it, and this is why we're having these conversations so that we all can talk about it, our listeners and allies and so forth, so we can understand that it doesn't just feel like it. It is a system we're trapped in that it's supposed to protect us. In theory, it's really supposed to protect wealth. But you know, the modern belief is that it's supposed to protect us,
and it absolutely does not. In fact, it actively works against you if you have a little bit of melanin in your body. And there's one more story I wanted to talk to and I'm just going to talk about it. It's not a police story, but I think that it does kind of illuminate what this last week is really about, last couple of weeks really in terms of things that have come across our desk, or this last few hundred years.
However you want to look at it.
Sure, sure, Now, I don't know where this happened. I don't know anybody's names in this video. And if you've seen it, maybe it'll make sense. And if not, you can check Q's Instagram. Your instagram is at imq Ward. Yes, sir, you can check mine at Ramsy's job. I'm sure I don't have it, but it might be on Civic Cipher's, which again is at Civic Cipher. There's a white male who is clearly has some sort of military background, and
he's yelling at a younger black man. My belief and my estimation based on the video for walking in a neighborhood right in a walk, broad daylight, kids are playing, folks are riding the bike.
This guy's just taking a walk, right.
We saw this with Ahmad Aubrey where he was walking slash jogging. And you know, someone who believes that they have even a modicum of authority chooses to execute that over black bodies. Had this person been I loved using this example, sixty five year old privileged corporate executive. Absolutely, I don't have a great day, sir, Hello neighbor. What brings you around these parts and whatever?
But you know, had had he been a seventeen year old from another state carrying an assault rifle and white, that white skin is like white superpower man, he'd also have been fine.
Sure, but be black. And you know, the video speaks for itself. There's just a lot of aggressive behavior. And you know, the video, of course went viral. If you look any of these videos up we're talking about today, of course, you'll be able to.
Draw your own conclusions.
And it's not our it's not our desire to influence you how you think or anything like that. We're just people who have lived in black skin, our whole lives in this country, our whole lives, and are able to articulate quite a bit. And because we're broadcasters and we have this platform and felt like this was necessary. You know, we're doing what we believe is right to contribute to, you know, the world becoming a little bit better place.
I obviously have a little bit more belief in that outcome than you does.
But either way, we're gonna get to where we're gonna get to. I'm trying, man, you know, Hey man, sometimes that's all we need.
But I think that's it for us today on Civic Cipher once again, I'm your host rams is Jah.
They call me q Ward.
Shout out to our producer DJ Swirl aka Ryan for making it all happen and uh, if you haven't done so, please hit civicxcipher dot com download this and all previous shows. Please submit questions topics, let us know how you feel about us inviting the police up. If you want to donate, donations are appreciate that you can do so at the website. Yeah, and until next week, y'all.
Peace