Welcome to another episode of CIDK Cipher. I'm your host, Rams's joh I go by.
The name q Ward most of the time, but not all of the time because sometimes my mom calls me quinn Ton with an extra emphasis on the O, because I might be in trouble a little bit, even at forty years old.
Well that's the way the game goes. I'm mad at that at all. Stick around because we got a good show lined up. We're going to do some thinking today and we would like your help in participating in this thought experiment. We're going to talk about guns as is necessary right about now.
Unfortunately, Yeah, absolutely, but yeah, We're going to talk about another deadly weekend and week filled with mass shootings in this country.
We're also going to talk about legislation and really what's standing in the way and what we can do about it, and really just kind of deal with the reality of the guns in this country. This is obviously a national issue, but as you'll find out that this, like many other things, disproportionately affects black and brown people in this country, and poor people and poor.
People, which is why there's likely not going to be anything done about it. But Ram is going to keep you guys hopeful.
That's my job and it's not just lip service. I do believe that we can make progress, but it starts with conversations like these, and hopefully we're doing our part. You know, when we meet our maker, our maker won't be able to say we didn't do anything.
We did something.
We did what we could and hopefully, with your support, we can actually see some real change in the world. Today's show is brought to you by Ms Maggie aka Maggie B Knowing yes she does.
So if you are mad at us, you can blame her. That's not right. She didn't deserve that. But first and foremost, we'll start where we always do with some ebony excellence. How does that sound cute? Shall we? We shall?
This one is brought to you by Armadale Vodka and we are going to talk about Lebron James. The story comes from CNN. We now have a new black billionaire, Lebron Gi Yes, indeed, and this is marking the first time an active NBA player has achieved that milestone. According to one calculation, Forbes said that the Los Angeles Lakers star has maximized his business, generating more than one point
two billion dollars in pre tax earnings. His NBA salary from three different teams during the past nineteen years has amounted to three hundred and eighty three million dollars, and James has raked in upwards of nine hundred million dollars
in income from endorsements and other business ventures. In addition to lucrative endorsement deals with Nike, at and T, Pepsi and Walmart, Forbes said that James structured his deal to include equity in those brands, giving him a quote cut of the upside instead of a quick paycheck in quote keep that.
In mind, kids.
The four time NBA champion also has investments in fitness startup Tonal, ride sharing company Lift and eatery upstart Blaze, Pizza, Lebronto, GQ. In a twenty fourteen interview, quote, it's my biggest milestone. Obviously, I want to maximize my business, and if I happened to get it, I happened to be a billion.
Dollar athlete.
Hip hoay, Oh my god, I'm going to be excited. Quote. So that is obviously a tremendous achievement. And then all of the philanthropic things that he does He's not just a billionaire. I don't mean to throw anybody under the bus, but there is other NBA billionaires too, I think one particular, and Lebron James, in my estimation, is doing more for the black community and for poor people than I've ever
seen before. So not only because he's a billionaire, but because we believe it would be a good man.
So far, he deserves some ebony excellence today. Shout out to the King. Nine hundred million and endorsements and not playing keep going anyway.
Now we must talk about another deadly week and weekend in America.
We be driving toward the sun with a smile on our face and here comes this detour and we got to make this left. And man, it's hard to brace for it, like even though we know it's coming. Yeah, it is hard to brace for it. Man. Yeah.
So obviously you know, to Q's point, we are thinking feeling individuals. You know, the reason you're hearing us on your radio stations right now is because we are broadcasters. We're DJs, like actual DJs with Vinyl and serato and play music for people to dance to, that sort of stuff. We have this skill set to where we can put
together programming. We have a great show producer, and we have beating hearts, and we feel things, and so obviously covering these subjects is a very difficult thing to do week in and week out, but we feel it's necessary. So we appreciate you sticking with us as we kind of comb through these things and try to make sense of it. We feel it's important, and obviously, by your listening,
you feel it's important as well. With that said, anytime we discuss the loss of life, we try not to become desensitized to it, and we also try not to become overwhelmed by it. We deal with this quite a bit. We have to watch these videos, we have to read these stories, we have to listen to these mothers and these families that are left behind. And I wanted to acknowledge what you were saying to you, that this detour is.
It should never be normalized. But we appreciate the support of all of our listeners, and if this is your first time tuning into the show, you'll understand why we made that statement. So the first thing we're going to discuss comes to us from twelve News in the Bronx. The headline reads three other States saw active shootings at the same time as the mass shooting at the Tulsa Hospital complex. So the big story, recent, big recent mass shooting story was that a man was not happy with
his medication that he was subscribe prescribed. I think that's the word, not subscribed, by the way, be sure to subscribe. He went and got a gun, went and shot up a hospital, right, And I think that we should say this here. This shooter was a black man, and the primary target of this shooting was a black doctor. So, you know, we never like to make things black and
white issues if we don't have to. On this show, we do realize that the overwhelming number of the larger mass shooting incidents that we see on the news are usually carried out by white men. But we do feel like when we get to the point where we're talking about the way to address these things, that it could help prevent these tragedies happening from people from all different colors and all walks of life. You know, the access to firearms and mental health, you know, those sorts of things.
We're all humans at the end of the day, so we all got to kind of pass through those same checkpoints. Hopefully it'll read out everyone's that's my hope. However, I want to read on. A gunman killed four people Wednesday during a shooting inside the Also, Oklahoma hospital. An inmate receiving treatment at a high at a hospital in Dayton, Ohio, shot and killed a security guard before shooting himself near
the hospital entrance. A person was shot outside of Walmart in Pittston, Pennsylvania, during what police called an attempted homicide. And a student was shot Wednesday afternoon outside of high school in Valley Glen, California. And these weren't considered mass shootings, but they all occurred at the same time. Like, so, if you went and looked at the clock, this is you know, all these people were dead from guns. People's
lives were cut short. We all agree that if if a gun is involved, then a life was cut short.
And these are reported active shootings. Right, So that's one way of looking at the deadly weekend. We'll move on.
This one also comes from CNN from graduation Parties to a mall. Thirteen mass shootings over the weekend lead more than a dozen dead and over seventy injured.
Right.
It's important to remember that mass shootings don't often kill everyone, you know, they are wounded people. I was seeing a story about a teacher in Uvalde, Texas. If you haven't seen that clip, be sure to check it out. He's a very passionate man who recounts his story. There was also footage of an eleven year old who survived the shooting involved day, and she had something to say as well. And so there are people left behind that have to pick up the pieces.
You know. The toughest thing rams about listening to a lot of these stories that we've read about that were highlighting and that we're talking about, is that it'd be sad if there was a mass shooting, right if somebody said the mass shooting that we'd all know what we were talking about. That would be sad. What's way sadder? Or I know what you mean? Forgive us people? I think I might have made that word up, but you know, more sad I think is the proper way to say that.
Either way, I guess that if someone in mixed company, not here at the store, at the shopping mall, somebody text you whatever, had you heard about the mass shooting? Now, it takes you a minute to try to decipher which one they were talking about you might even ask the question, you might even have to ask which one that is startling and also kind of not getting enough press. Well to your point, that is exactly why we're doing today's show.
You know, when Maggie b Knowen came with the idea, hey, we need to make sure to articulate and enumerate the number of mass shootings that have taken place. We didn't know ourselves how many had taken place. And we work in news media now, for all intents and purposes, this is what we do. And not only do we work in news media, we work in this space very specifically. Yeah, exactly.
So it's one of these things where it's really easy to say, Okay, this thing happened in Texas, this thing happened in Buffalo, this thing happened you know, And you might live in Vermont, you might live in Oregon, you might live in South Carolina, you might live in you know, wherever it is that you live.
So a lot of times these stories might feel far away from you.
But we really need to kind of heed the gravity of the amount of gun violence in this country, and we all need to work together to push for legislation. You know, if there's I think there was somewhere in the neighborhood of ninety percent of folks that wanted some form of gun reform that were pulled. I'm thinking that number needs to be closer to one hundred percent. I get that there's never going to be one hundred percent because there are people that you know, work at the NRA.
But if you're like.
Us, as I mentioned in the beginning of the show, human beings with beating hearts and feelings who cringe at the thought of wounded eleven year olds giving their testimony, and then you know, we saw the speech that Matthew McConaughey gave at the White House when he was talking about the exit wounds on these children from an AR fifteen style weapon, the exit wounds from a child, and
they couldn't That's why they couldn't identify the kids. They had to use their clothes and their shoes and other context clues to figure out whose babies these were in this puddle of leftovers. We need to know the extent to which this is happening so that we can ourselves heed the gravity. And when I say we, I mean Q but also those of you who choose to tune in and listen to the show every week.
I often go back and forth with you Rams, and you know this about the gravity of covering this type of content so constantly, not just the effect that it has on us, but the potential effect that could have on listeners, and not just a traumatic effect, but like a man for real, every week, y'all going to talk about this stuff, kind of like an exhaustion of it, right, But then I think about conversations that we've had and the fact that we might be the only people in
the space having these conversations constantly. Tupac One spoke about the reason why his art was so tragic, if you will, and he compared it to the photo journalist that covered Vietnam. Had the people here not been able to see how bad it was, that war may have never stopped. The support of people back home wanting that war to end was good because people had to go over there and show us how bad it was. And he thought that if he could continue, you know, why you talk about
women that way? And why do you why do you give violence such a big platform? Why do you point out all these or celebrate all these horrible things about the communities that you're in. He's like, I'm not celebrating it, but I feel like if I talk about it enough and people hear how bad it was, they'll want to do something about it. They'll want to change it. And
I kind of understand our responsibility in this space. As exhausting as it may be to hear about it, as mentally and emotionally draining as it may be for us to talk about it, it's kind of necessary. People do need to get tired of hearing us talking about people being murdered and all of the very difficult things that we.
Have to talk about so often. I appreciate you saying that, and obviously that's kind of what we're hoping for.
You know, we like.
Some of you listening, you know, like people in your own communities, people that you know have large stages and so forth. We saw a need, we saw no one else was meeting that need, and we tried to meet that need the best we could, and in doing so, we've been learning how to deliver this content to you in a way that is engaging but also informative, and at the same time trying not to overwhelm ourselves with black death, you know, not to succumb to.
The fullness of the black experience in this country.
You know, we'd be the first to admit Q and I would be the first to admit that we have had many opportunities that many black people don't get. We have had stories that are very different from the stories of the people born in the same exact circumstances as us. And you know, with these gifts comes the responsibility that sometimes looks like a show called Civic Cipher. And so I appreciate you saying that, and everyone listening to the show every week that feels the same way. We appreciate that.
I'll continue. The US has suffered at least two hundred and forty six mass shootings in twenty twenty two. According to the Gun Violence Archive. The country is on pace to match or surpass last year's total, which was the worst on record. In twenty twenty one hundred and sixty one mass shootings through June fifth. In twenty nineteen, it was one hundred and fifty four, So we're well ahead of schedule here as far as mass shootings. This next
tidbit comes from NPR. Firearms overtook auto accidents as the leading cause of death in children.
So that should be enough, right when we talk about legislation, when we talk about action, when we talk about just being fed up, we shouldn't even have to have a rest of the show after you say that. Yeah, no, we still got more. And we're parents, so maybe it hits us different. But all of us are either parents, or we are children, or we are siblings or uncles or like all of us know children, right, all of us should view them the same. Like. Still people.
Say that because wait until I read this. You know, one day maybe Civic Cipher will be a show about two DJs sharing good music with folks. But for now, this, while these problems still persist and we have voices and our able to share, it sounds like what I'm about to read. The CDC reports every year more than thirty five hundred children and teens are shot and killed in the US, and another fifteen thousand are wounded shootings CDC data from twenty sixteen to twenty twenty. Of those deaths,
twenty one hundred are homicides. On average, twelve hundred children a year die by suicide with a gun. Another one hundred and thirty children and teens per year die from unintentional shootings. On average, fer than thirty five children and teens are killed as a result of mass shootings a year, even though for obvious and good reasons, those tragedies often
receive lots of attention. Experts and advocates say that as the US is forced once again to confront the tragedy of the children being gunned down in their schools, saving the lives of children, we will require the country to seriously address gun violence in all forms. I want to continue if I may, And.
That's from Time Magazine.
By the way, Time Magazine. Yeah, you're right, sorry, thing. Gun violence has trended upwards since the start of the pandemic. As of June one, twenty twenty two, six hundred and eighty six children have been killed this year as a result of gun violence, and seventeen hundred have been injured, according to the Gun Violence Archives. And this note that I'm going to read comes from Ms. Maggie aka Maggie B. Knowing the majority of these shootings happened within inner city
minority communities. Black children are fourteen times more likely than white kids and teens to die as a result of gun violence. Hispanic or Latino children are three times more likely to die than white kids as a result of gun violence. To put it plainly, black and Hispanic or Latino children are severely more exposed to gun violence and white children. Now, I want to jump in right here before we make the last point. We didn't want to give any shine to this story, so you won't hear
about it on our show today. But there is an individual endorsed by the former president of this country, who is seeking elected office, who is on record as saying that gun violence, to put it plainly, as a result of black people. And I recognize that maybe not you, but maybe people in your life might feel like that is largely true.
You know, there's there's a lot of ways.
To look at numbers and data to tell yourself whatever story you're comfortable hearing, right, But they're almost all incomplete. I'll even see that sometimes the information that we get is incomplete.
Right.
We're not immune to that. We've had to make corrections on this show before, and we're not above that. We're committed to telling the truth and sharing our vision and our perspective.
But in complete and blatantly false are not the same, by.
The way, point, and a lot of times what they have on that side, it is blatantly false. But you know, for the sake of this part of the conversation, I do want to say that, while we're kind of venturing into an entirely different topic, there.
Is a reason for.
Violence, gun violence specifically, there's a reason for crime, and impoverished communities. There's a reason for lots of these things that many people look at impoverished communities, communities of color very often in this country and think to themselves, it is the very nature of these black and brown people
to be violent. And that is not true, because if it is in the nature of black and brown people to be violent, then you would see it in black and brown communities around the country, and that's just not true. We see it in this country largely. It follows the money line around the world. I mean, yes, in this country at large, follows the money line. And so what you're noticing overwhelmingly is that economic inequality shapes these outcomes,
these statistical outcomes. And again, that's a much bigger conversation that we've had on the show, we will continue to have on this show. But right now we're talking about gun violence. And because Maggie wanted us to make sure to make this point that it disproportionately affects black and brown people and children in this country, that our communities also need to take these things very seriously and allies
to these communities. So if you're not a black or brown person, but you love people or a person, or just have any degree of love in your heart period and would like to see better outcomes for black and brown communities, you need to know this as well. I want to read this last point just so that we get it in before we move on. So this last one comes from CNN. America's deadly weekend of more mass shootings raises stakes for Senate gun talks. Okay, it's a
fierce political debate. While many Americans see their right to bear arms as a critical plank of self defense and national identity, polls show even many Republicans consider some sensible extra regulations are necessary at times. At the weekend, news of more shootings came in speeds that were difficult to believe.
Of course, most Americans went about their business without encountering violence, but the indiscriminate nature of the shootings recently at schools, medical offices, supermarkets, at bars, and at parties shows how deeply ingrained the threat of gun violence is in everyday life. No one killed in these outrages had any reason to think their lives were about to end in a relatively
mundane locations. In other words, these weren't war zones. This was day to day life in the United States of America and.
Very benign circumstances normally going to the grocery store, going to school not just benign but safe. Right, you don't want your children running the street, you want them in school once upon a time. It will forever be a question of mine with our Second Amendment, Folks, that the very basis for that amendment to defend ourselves against tyranny from our government and law enforcement. Those are the same people that when our law enforcement murders us, marches the
street for us to support them. So I'm very, very confused as to which of those points you're trying to hold true to or is it neither, And you have no idea what you're talking about.
Well, we know that a lot of times they move the line, and such is the nature of our relationship to each other in this country.