Welcome to another episode of Civic Cipher Iami host Ramsay's Josh.
Some people call me DJ q Ward. Some people call me q ward. My mother calls me Q dirty. I won't get into that, but she named me Quinton. And because a lot of people don't like pronouncing the owen my name, I just go by Q.
My last name is Ward. Now you see what.
My whole name thing came from. Yes, indeed, and we are backup in you want more again? Uh, feeling refreshed? You know this is it's a tough job, so we do have to take some time and regroup and very very necessary. Yeah.
Yeah, And so you are going to talk about some important stuff today, some goings on in the world. And fortunately we have a special guest in the building with us today. She goes by the name of Trista Crick from Barstool Sports.
Welcome, Thank you for having me.
Yes, indeed, And I guess this means we're going to talk about sports stuff. I hope. So we had a lot of stories.
No one I would rather talk about sports stuff with. Then the estatem I mean me this trust the correct Yeah.
Now I want to let everyone know I'm not the biggest sports person in the world. But that's why we have experts. So stick around your radios because we do have a lot coming your way in the form of some very heavy names, important names math at least of which is Shakri Richardson, Gabby Thomas, that's going to talk
about Rachel Nichols as well. And then of course we have our Baba Are Becoming Better Ally segment a little later on in the show, and of course we're gonna hear from DJ Swirl with our way black history facts. So a lot on the way. So, like I said, be sure to stick around your radios. But before we get too far away from the happy part of the show, the traditionally happy part of the show, let's go ahead and get into some Ebony's x sing. That's how you
feel about that? Qu All I do is no matter what.
So miss Gabby Thomas, I mean, excellence might not be a good enough word, and I'm typically a.
Very articulate young man, but for her, I don't really have to be.
You know, they say she might be the world's fastest epidemiologist, So we'll start there. Olympian Harvard grad okay in trist could you give us a little bit of a bit of an idea of her area of study.
She's a neurobiologist that is getting her masters in epidemiology infectious disease for folks who aren't well versed in epidemiology and what it means. But I would say she's the elite of the elite of the elite.
And I think somebody correct me if I'm wrong. She might be the second fastest woman in the two hundred meters in history, at least the fastest since nineteen eighty eight. Okay, while accomplishing those things that she's done as an academician.
Can you imagine having to train as much as an olympian has to train and then being that elite at something else.
I couldn't imagine having to train as much as an olympian has to train and being even good at anything else.
Start we're doing anything.
I mean, it's like train, eat, train, eat sleep.
Then and she figures out how to study at a scientist level in between all.
Of that, Well, then we picked the right one for this week. That's some Ebony excellence for you. We love to celebrate positive stories, and that's about as positive as
they come. Of course, we're going to expect continue to expect great things from her, and it is one of the pleasures of doing the show is that we do get to discuss things that kind of remind us of what we're capable of and who we are because of the bulk of the show is often has to do with, you know, where we are and how do we overcome, you know, So it's good to know that there's some positive stories out there, and granted we don't get to spend a lot of time on them, but you know,
every stow often when we get to it really does feel good.
So we're lucky this week though, was that because the story's kind of intertwined. Yeah, yeah, you know Gabby being you know, our person of excellence, but she's also involved in another story with another person that we've highlighted for being excellent, Miss Sha Carry Richardson.
And that's what we're talking about now. So I'll be honest, I'm I've kind of read a couple of headlines, but you know, the two of you are more familiar with the world of sports. So from the beginning, what's going on with She Carry Richardson.
I'll start with the most important part of her story, the most human part, the part of the story that everyone will hear and immediately be able to relate to. Sha Carry found out second or third hand from a stranger more or less that her biological mother passed away the week leading up to the biggest day of her professional track and field career, which was the Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon.
Shout out to Eugene, my alma mater.
Were shout out to the Ducks. I didn't know that, And shout out to MotorCity Track Club. This is a shameless plug.
The girls from Detroit just went down there, coached by Brandon Giles and were all Americans and national champions. That's MotorCity Track Club from you know the Motor Yes. Indeed, in case that wasn't clear. But Sha Carrie, she dealt with it the best way that she knew how Okay, So, Sha Carrie, she had her biological mother passed away and it was the week that she was going to try
out for the Olympics. Yeah, the Olympic Trials is a track meet, okay, where the best runners in the country come and based on the results at this meet, we know who was going to present our country at the Olympics. Alright, go ahead, she carry I guess the skinny was by far the most electric and the fastest athlete at the meet. She's the reason I watched it. We talked about her before, yes, and post race. She was drug tested and they were found. I think it's THHC in her sample.
Yep.
And you know marijuana is on the band's.
Substance list, which I think is where we kind of have to start the discussion because as unfair as it may seem, and a lot of people are saying this with no nuance, but the rules are rules thing with no context and no nuance.
I don't think that's fair.
However, when there are rules that you are aware of and you break them and there's consequences, then there is a discussion to be had. It's not as black and white as people are just being unfair, even though there are people that are being unfair.
So it helped me to understand. So she knew about these rules absolutely and then and then decided to smoke weed. I'm yesing, yes, correct, Okay, So this reminds me of while.
Dealing with the news that her mother had passed away. That part I think is important to say.
So this reminds me of Naomi Osaka. Perhaps because she had some she didn't want to become overwhelmed by the press and the whatever, the interviews after her tennis match and whatever place that she was going to go play tennis in, and you know, she decided, you know, that she was doing what she needed to do to protect her mental health. And to me, it sounds like this might have been self medicating to deal with the loss of her mother. Yes, okay, and so she went into
this eyes wide open. So explain to me the part that is unfit. How are people treating her unfairly? Admittedly I haven't dug into these layers, and that's why we're having this conversation.
I would say that the main discussion is whether a substance that is legal in the state of Oregon, which is where Shakerri was at the time, whether that should truly be on the banned list, because the whole point of banning substances is to prevent athletes from getting an advantage in a competitive setting.
And everybody who's ever.
Smoked knows you don't get faster by smoking weed. It's not a substance that helps you or what's called performance enhancing drugs is what they want to ban. Sure, but alcohol is free and clear not on the banned substance list, but marijuana weed is on the band substance list. So the unfairness component comes from, well, this is legal, the world is changing. Other sports like basketball are not even
testing athletes for weed. Kevin Durant, who a new article came out I think a few days ago about him blazing a lot, like pretty much besides playing basketball, all Katie does is blaze and maybe not even going to be tested for the Olympics at that sport. If it's fair for Shakiri to be tested for weed at all when it's legal in the state.
Especially because marijuana carries a stigmatism.
That has a racial component to it.
So what I'm trying to do is, and I think maybe you have done it for me, is make a connection between.
Race, competition unfairness.
So they tested all of the athletes, he's the one that came up, you know, yes, and.
So she wouldn't be able to go and compete for the one hundred, which she's supposedly the leader to win the.
Whole thing until favorite to win the gold medal is now not going to be competing at the.
Olympics at all, Okay, because of this test. So I'm glad you mentioned that. So I have a quote from her, and it's from a tweet. It says the attention that is on track now and was because a very very few names. So if that's where fans support Lay, you can't be mad at that. In other words, she's trying to say that no one would be paying attention to this sport anymore because she's not running in this event.
Or at least considerably less people will be paying attention. And that was actually a response to something that Gabby tweeted about.
Okay, so tell me about that.
And Gabby expressed that she was hurt that a lot of black people have expressed that they won't be tuning in for the Olympics this year. Now, i'd argue that that's not just related to Shakiri, but definitely related not singularly to her, but definitely related to her as well. So that's why she got that response from Shakiri. Now, I want to say something the whole Olympics thing feels like, and this is me reaching and I'll see the argument if someone were to make the argument to me rules
or rules. If you do this, then you get this. If you do that, you get that, you know, And I think that everyone's on the same page. No one's arguing it.
That, but it feels to me like the Olympic Committee or the Olympic folks or club or whatever, how Olympics comes together. Really, we're not really receptive to black athletes in their present condition, in our present condition after the year twenty twenty, knowing what our challenges are, who we are, who we have to be. Now I have to do this radio show.
Now.
I used to give away concert tickets. I used to make people listen for trivia and talk about Hollywood gossip, and now I have to do this radio show. They'll bury me this version of myself. We all have to be different now because we saw what happened when that man now on George Floyd's neck. It changed the world. Say what you will, but that's what happened, right, So we're all different, and the Olympics we're completely tone deaf.
And when they says something like we won't tolerate any fists and we won't tolerate any that's the real reason why I don't care, you know. I don't care anyway, but like, I have to follow these stories. But Olympics, as soon as they said that, pH, well, I'm not paying attention to that because I don't care how fast you can run. You gotta be a human a lot longer than you got to run. You did what I'm saying.
So for me, it felt like the Olympics from the outset was like, you know what, don't bring none of that blackness over here, And that to me feels like, all right, we'll shoot say less.
Let me ask you this, que if Shakri looked like Gabby and not like sha Carri, Mm, how do you think things would be different? Because I think that there is a standard.
Of what.
Brand and ble black athletes look like, and Shakrie does not fall into that box right now, long nails, colorful nails, hair a certain way, jewelry a certain way, affectation in the way that she speaks a certain way, the way that she moves moves is a certain way. Where Gabby is an epidemiologist.
From Harvard correct.
It's interesting because we'd be naive to think that everything that you just said play no role in the way she's treated, in the way that she's responded to I saw a right leaning politician tweet. I'm not sure if she was a politician or a journalist that covers politics, but she tweeted that they should look into steroids for she carries because of how long her hair and nails are. So talk about being racist and stupid at the same time.
Because she carries hair and nails are both costume if you will, lace front wig acrylic fingernails, So she doesn't have very long hair and very long fingernails naturally, but she must be on steroids. And here is why I think so. She carries very very rams in Q and I don't just mean because we're black. I mean because I'm from Detroit and Ramses from Compton and whatever your mind just thought when you heard me say.
That, that's Shakrrie Richardson.
Except she's faster than probably every other human on earth that wasn't in that race with her in Eugene a week.
Ago, and is not going to dilute what she looks like for people who don't look like her or come from the same like her. She's willing to stand in her culture in the way that she wants to represent herself to the world, not the way that the Olympic governing body wants to carry the fastest woman to run to represent herself. And that's where I think things get really really interesting, because I don't think I personally don't think Gabby. So also, it needs to be mentioned that
Shakrie was not disqualified for the entire Olympic Games. She was only disqualified from competing in the one hundred meter race. She would have been allowed to compete in the relay race, which is where Olympians passed the torch and run that
amount of distance right the baton. So the Olympic governing body or whoever, I don't know who, the USATF, the US Olympic Track and Field, decided not to take Shakiri with them, even though she's the fastest and would guarantee or at least help solidify a win for the country, because why she would be eligible to race, but they didn't take her.
The question is why.
So I guess my question to the both of you then, is because you follow sports a little bit more closely than probably the average person, but certainly more than me, do you find in that these types of things happen with non black athletes where they're scrutinized because of how
long their fingernails are. You know, I read, I read, I did read an article recently, and it was about some folks wanting to test the testosterone levels of some women who were sprinters or something because they were doing so well. They wanted it to test their hormones and see if they can disqualify them. Have you heard of this happening with non black folks? Does it happen frequently? Is it a part of a competitive culture to tear each other down, or is this something that happens more
with black athletes. This is something that happens more with black women women. That's what I was thinking.
With anyone else, right, There's been dialogue in the in the sports world, in the journalism world about our transgender brothers and sisters competing, especially you know, those born male competing against female athletes and doing very well. There is
pushback against there being a limit. There is pushback against there being something that says, hey, if you're born in male in competition where it's who's the strongest and who's the fastest and who can jump the highest, that you probably shouldn't be allowed to compete against women.
Okay, right. The difference is.
It's very hard to push back against groups that have men in them, especially groups that have white men in them. And our transgender brothers and sisters have white men in that group. So the pushback isn't it strong women in sports and sports media specifically, they have an incredibly difficult fight, from sports agents, to sports reporters to athletes themselves. There are men in this world that think by nature of being born in men, and they're smarter and more qualified
to do the work full stop. When you take that minority group smaller and you make it black women, there's an enhanced level of scrutiny, you know, where there's conversation to be had about whether a transgender women can compete against women born female. That's a conversation. But sh Carrie, you can't compete period because you smoked wheed. That's not a conversation. We don't care if it's not fair, we don't care if the entire world has changed since these
rules were made. When these rules were written, recreational use of marijuana in fourteen states, I believe already was not the case, especially in the state she was tested in. So there are some obvious differences that I see. I'm sure trusta you probably see. On a whole nother.
Level, I would say that black female athletes are scrutinized in terms of of the competitive advantage that they may or may not be getting from something that's not natural. I would say that black female athletes, especially ones like Shakiri.
Shakarri is cut up. She is a physical specimen. And if you see someone like Shakiri and you don't and you don't have a point of view that's broad and you haven't been around people of all different shape sizes, colors and backgrounds, you might see Shakri and think she's juiced up. You know, white women athletes don't get that cut You know, I don't see other track athletes that look like me that are as faster, as stronger, can jump as high, or has as much balance.
So what is it about Shakiri?
Is she doing more than just smoking wheed?
I'm glad you mentioned that because I remember reading something a while ago. You know, there's there's been a an interesting relationship with black people in the United States and sports sport where for a long time, white boxers didn't want to fight black boxers because it was beneath them. But the truth is is that black boxers. It would be a soul crushing defeat if you lost to a
black boxer. And uh, you know what is what is the guy's name who said that black people are stronger and bigger because the biggest slaves were bred, were made to procreate it. What was the guy's name? Jimmy the Greek. I'm sure he wasn't singular in that sentiment, but you know, those sorts of things. But anyway, there's this, there's this
obsession with black people in sports. And you know, we see in a lot of a lot of the more popular sports football, basketball, is perhaps a overapp presentation of black folks and an underrepresentation of white are white folks relative to the population in this country? And I think that subconsciously you kind of maybe develop an idea that black people are physically superior.
Maybe I would say that's a b I would say that that's a bias that a lot of people share. I would say that's a bias based around like not really like having enough scientists, like scientific knowledge about biology and genetics and and how athletic and like how muscle fibers develop and how speed develops, et cetera, et cetera.
Well, the thing I was gonna was going to suggest is that the only piece of evidence information research that I've ever come across in all my time had to do with the long distance sprinters from Africa. They're like
from Ethiopia or something. There's like one country where Nigeria maybe that's it, And these people can just mob for days, right, no problem, right, And it's part like bone structure, and you know the fact that they don't really carry a lot of weight on their body physically, They're just not really bulky folks.
And then.
It has to do with their breathing and the climate that they're from. They're they're able to breathe a certain way and get a lot more oxygen to their bones and their or their their blood is oxygenated at a different level because of their accustomed to breathing in a certain climate, and those factors lend themselves to them being able to run longer distances in any case. Uh, you know, and one more thing before we get off this subject,
what would you say? What both do you say? If I were to play Devil's advocate and say, well, if she knew the rules and she decided that she needed to self medicate in that way. Then you know that the hammer falls where it falls, and that's the end of the story. What do you say to someone because they know there's people listening who do not appreciate the context and the nuance. What do you say to people that are saying he had men, she knew it and she decided against it.
I'll priggyback off of something that Trista said and then pass it to her quite figuratively and literally. Had she gotten drunk instead, she'd have probably been probably been in a much worse state run, but it would have been completely legal. So sometimes there are rules that are the rules, but they're nonsensical, they're not fair, and they don't make any sense.
I mean, there were rules that people of color couldn't share the same water fountain as.
People that look like me.
And the rules are the rules, but sometimes the rules are inherently unfair and inherently against people of color.
Well that works for me, and uh, you know it's it's it's been written, So this is this is not our reality. And now proper my mic back like that journalist strikes from head borders, it's behind you're just honed in the city side farm in house Rams's job. They called me q ward some j and uh. We have specially guests with us today on the show.
She goes her name of Trystal Crypt from Barstool Spurts, And we're talking about a lot a lot about.
The Olympics today and the treatment of black athletes and really the culture that we're seeing at at the Olympics this time around, and how it's I believe, really failed to really encapsulate the new world that we're living in post twenty two. But also we're gonna talk about someone named Rachel Nichols in just a few minutes, and of course the way Black History Fact with DJ Swirl, we're gonna be talking about Fred Hampton. But first let's talk
about becoming a better ally. So, as you know, there's a lot of voter suppression initiatives that are voted into law, they'll be brought to vote or at various stages in the legislative process. We know them to be voter suppression, but they're kind of floated to the public as voter protection. You know that basically their intent is to subdue and artificially subdued and minimize black vote, Brown vote, the Democratic vote and so forth, and these things all overwhelmingly will
favor Republican outcomes. And for a lot of us, we don't feel like there's much we can do because a lot of the elected representatives that really are into the political arena, they know the laws better than we do and they know how to play the game better than we do. But there are folks who are fighting to bring a little bit more balance to this this part
of the story. And one such group is one you might have heard of, the NAACP, and they have an initiative where they're doing some fundraising but basically they want to defend communities of color against voter suppresion initiatives and they're hoping to close a donation gap. And so if you feel so inclined and you want to know how to become a better ally, do me a favor to hit the NAACP's website make a donation. We all need to have a voice, we all need to have a
seat on the table. We're all in this together. And you know, if you have the fiscal resources or if the time to contact your local representative official you know or both. I believe that that is one way that you can become a better ally and hopefully you take advantage of that. So that is our bye bye section for this week. So yeah, moving on Rachel Nichols. So here's what I know about her. She's a host at ESPN.
She talks about the NBA, and she was wild'n out all right, So Tristan, talk to me about Rachel Nichols.
So, Rachel Nichols has been a journalist covering the NBA for a long time. I would say twenty plus years, probably the Queen of the NBA. I would say, very close ties with Lebron James. And I'd say that the story really started back when another host that you've probably never heard of, called Michelle Beadle left ESPN unceremoniously due to some issues.
With their contract.
And when she left, Rachel Nichols had to step in and host a show called NBA Countdown. But ESPN made the decision that her and this other young woman, Maria Taylor, who's a rising star of Woman of Color at ESPN, her and Rachel would share the responsibilities for that show, meaning on one day, Rachel would host, the next day Maria would host. So then when the bubble NBA Bubble happened. They went down to Walt Disney World and Rachel Nichols was quarantining in her hotel room. Her laptop was open
for her remote studio show on ESPN. She found out from ESPN's producers, Hey, Rachel, why what don't you do us the favor and do of the sideline reporting job and instead of the hosting job for the responsibilities of this show NBA Countdown for the NBA Finals, because ESPN wanted Maria Taylor to basically take over that hosting role full time.
So hosting is better than sidelines, correct?
I would say sideline reporting is probably the lowest level job.
I mean, it's a great job.
It's at the highest stage in the NBA Finals, but
it's a lower job than hosting a show. Rachel Nichols was not happy about that and felt that the only reason that Maria Taylor got the job or got to take over the job full time is because of everything that was going on with the country at that moment that the George Floyd protests, that Kenosha and really the moment that we were in was the reason for Maria getting that job and taking that job from ree and then got caught on a hot mic talking to Lebron
James's consultant about really the disappointment that she had at ESPN.
Okay, you say that that's fair.
That's fair. I want to pretend I don't know this. It had to be her or her. There's only room for one woman on the show.
Yep. Okay.
I just wanted to be clear about that because I heard you say that they kind of presented it where they would share the roles.
But yep, share the role meaning Monday, yes, alternate. They're never on the desk at the same time. They share it. But Monday is Rachel, Tuesday is Maria. They're never at the desk simultaneously.
Okay. So let me read this quote. It says, this is from Rachel Nichols. It says, I wish Maria Taylor all the success in the world. She covers football, she covers basketball. If you need to give her more things to do because you're feeling pressure about your longtime record on diversity. Crappy longtime record, crappy longtime Sorry, go for it, just find it somewhere else. So don't take it from me, right, So what was the outcome of.
This statement, right, what does she really say if you need to find more things for her to do? Like me, it sounded incredibly like maybe you have her go clean a closet or something like what is she talking about?
Sounded very dismissive. But I'm what I'm what I'm trying.
To do, Like, what's the upshot of this? What happens after what?
So? So these two women don't like each.
Other, So I think at this point.
Rachel is incredibly territorial of the gig, and I would say that pretty much any woman is going to be territorial of that gig because that's the king gig NBA countdown as the stuff.
Excuse me.
So at the end of the day, what ends up happening is that someone catches it at ESPN. A low level social producer who is a black woman at ESPN forwards that footage to Maria Taylor and they go to HR. That social media manager gets demoted, gets suspended without pay, and ends up leaving ESPN.
This happened a year ago.
We're just finding out about the full story now, and nothing happens to Rachel Nichols. But Maria Taylor does get the hosting job for NBA Countdown. Maria Taylor obviously finds out about this. She's in the middle of a contract negotiation with ESPN where she wants eight million dollars a year.
ESPN offers her five.
She finds out about this footage, she declines, punts it, waits, waits for the negotiation, waits for the contract to be up, which is in three weeks from now, and essentially won't do any work with Rachel at all. Nothing is going to be done, or normally you would talk to the sideline reporter at the desk. She's making everything happen sort of in different spots now they're in basically I standoff.
So there's a couple of things here. One of them, of course, is women. Far be it for me to be call myself an expert on anything having to do with women. But I do recognize that the sisters that I share this planet with have a tougher go in a professional world than the brothers that I share this planet with. And so for two women to become competitive over a job that's so special and very difficult to come by is a sad reality. That verity happens in
more industries than just this one. The reason that this is on our desk today is because Rachel Nichols is white and Maria is black, and now we have to have that conversation. How much more difficult is it when you're black to compete on that level? Does twenty twenty create opportunities for black voices? Are they deserved? Are they earned? You know, because I was told this lady Rachel Nichols was twenty years in the game, and that Maria Taylor is the rising star? So how do those things affect
what we're seeing? And then, of course, at the end of the day, is Rachel Nichols's response to the goings on at ESPN appropriate? Is it? Does it account for the fact that the world world is a much different place for Maria Taylor than it is perhaps for her, even though it's difficult for her as well? And is that where do you draw the line in terms of like personal responsibility and kindness and making sure that you stand in this solidarity with your black and brown brothers and sisters.
I want to offer some insider opinion and then I want to lean on We've said this before today already our expert. She is a woman, and she is a professional journalist, in the sports arena. Indeed, we and I say we as men, have created this zero sum environment that there are women have to work in where we create this singular jobb there's eight men who do the show. They're all great, but there's a bunch of them. Sure there's one woman that can do this. That's problem one.
Problem two is the idea that this was some type of affirmative action higher because the person in question is really really good at her job, she's exceptional. This woman votes for the Heisman Trophy and the NBA MVP. That is not true for a bunch of men in the sports world. So there was a way in trust. I
definitely want to get your opinion on this. I feel there was a way that she could express her frustration about the position that she's in, because I think any of us when you're in a position for a job, for a promotion, for an opportunity, and you get passed on for someone else, that kind of animosity.
I think is innate.
But I think, and please tell me how you feel, that there was a way to express that without having to push down the person that you're quote unquote competing with for that spot. There's a way to acknowledge that she's gifted, that she's talented, and that she's deserving, and express your frustration with a system that's not set up up to be fair or favorable for women in the industry before you respond, I want to want to make sure that we're following your response.
So let me set this up a little bit. Essentially, what she said in this quote is that Maria Taylor is the diversity higher. Yes, and if you're looking to give this new diversity hire something, don't take it off my plate. Correct And it's in that in the midst of this language, maybe language is too hard in amidst this energy that we take issue, and of course it becomes a national story. And then I'm sure there's lots of black women who look at these things like this
and like, well, how am I supposed to compete? This is some sort of thing that happens in my life. You know, where is my place? How good do I have to be to be good enough? And so I want to make sure that we're all on the same page when we get your thoughts on this interesting So.
Yeah, I think what Q said sort of highlights how I feel, too, which is there are ways that people speak, and I'm sure you guys are way more in tune with it than me.
That the words that we use, what we.
Say, how we say it tells you sort of how we feel. Even if you didn't exactly say the quiet part out loud, I don't think Rachel said the quiet part out loud. I don't even know if she feels the quiet part out loud, which is that I don't even really know what it is right that Rachel is more deserving than Maria for a variety of different reasons.
But when you say if you need to give her something else to do, worse, more things to do, that essentially shows me that she feels, I don't know how to put it, a certain way about the hire, a certain way about Maria, and doesn't quite feel compassionate to the cause, which is that Maria has had to overcome more than Rachel in order to get to where Maria is, and that a lack of understanding that Maria, throughout the course of her career, as she rises and ascends, is going to be constantly looked.
At like do you deserve this?
Why are you here? Are you here only because of X, Y and Z? Or are you here because you're excellent, and you happen to also be a woman of color who also played d one basketball, which Nichols did not Rachel Nichols, as it turns out, her mother in law is Diane Sawyer, a very prominent journalist. So Rachel Nichols has of course worked hard as also been a beneficiary of nepotism and a beneficiary of the way that the
system can work in journalism. Right, So I think, for me, once you say stuff like that, once you say if you need your giver things to do, you didn't really say anything out of pocket, but I know exactly how you feel.
Right, there's a way of Well, first off, let me say this. You know, this show exists because Q and I recognized that we could ask a little bit more from folks that purport themselves to be our allies, not the least of which is the radio stations that you might be hearing our voice on. These folks play black music, they use black culture, language, dress, et cetera, to make money, to appeal to a listenership so that they can sell advertisements.
You know, and all these airwaves are certainly a celebration of black music, black culture.
I don't get a twists for money.
Sure that that part, but also, Black culture is not just singing and dancing and rapping. Black culture is what we're doing right now because we're not just singers and dancing. We're thinkers, we're emotional human beings, we feel, we process things, we are leaders, we're ora tours where you name it right, And so it's those allies that have made a space for this show that we use and we sit with
and we build a better tomorrow with the allies. And I would guess that this woman, Rachel Nichols, once on a time counted herself among those allies.
And so this language shows just how subtle white supremacy because it's such a subtle thing, but once you see it written down in black and white, you can see, well, clearly, I feel like I'm better than her, and maybe not in as.
Many words, but because you could argue that, you know, she's just saying this because the woman's because Marie is younger. You could argue a bunch of things, but it's hard to stop. I'd imagine as a white person, Okay, I have to be very careful what is really going on here? And then why am I taking an issue with it, and that pause is very difficult because there's nowhere else and I'm sure a white life where you need to pause for really anything.
They gave us some additional context though, talk to me because the conversation continues. I can't think of the gentleman's name, but he represents some best interest of Lebron James and Clutch Sports.
Also was a part of the more Than a Vote campaign.
A very very important person with it, the more Than a Vote campaign last year and her.
This gentleman and Rachel expressed there he.
Said, with all of the me too and the Black Lives Matter, man, I'm just exhausted.
And she laughed uproariously about that.
So imagine a woman being exhausted with the whole METO thing, sure, sure, and a gentleman who presents himself to the world as super ally being exhausted with this whole Black Lives Matter the imagine how we feel.
I used to be happy and heartily, yeah she did.
So I do want to say something that I think is important. Is I think that anyone who has because it's not like there's an open opportunity and they decided to go with Maria, it's an opportunity that they shared that they took from Rachel and gave full time to Maria. I think if that was me, I would be salty. I would be very so I would be very upset. And I think it also is accurate to say that the culture and company of ESPN operates on the whims
of the public. They fired Jamel Hill and they fired Michael Smith because Trump voters did not want any racial or activism to be discussed on the airwaves. Then the world changed after George Floyd and then it was okay, And one of Maria's accomplishments and accolades was her coverage of the George Floyd protests and everything that was going
on around the nation. So it is also fair to say that if ESPN fires people because of the nation sentiment, they will also hire someone because of the nation sentiment. And it is fair to say that they've been wrong towards people of color based around the nation sentiment, and then they've changed their opinion based around how things have changed, and that Maria might have gotten that job in that
role because of the nation sentiment. And that's true, But also the NBA is ninety percent black, and like you said, enjoys profits from black culture, so it also makes sense to have the host of NBA Countdown be a woman of color to represent the people that she covers, and it would be fair for them to say that out loud to.
So let me offer this. I appreciate you saying that because I think that it's important to add this. I try to do it in every show, but I don't always hit it. I recognize as one of two people who has a voice on this show, and I'll say it as often as I can and as often as you will let me that we need to start and end every conversation with forgiveness as a possibility. That's the only way that we get there with Revenge isn't what we're talking about on this show, none of the things
like that. We need to have the conversations and we need to make sure that there is at least the potential for forgiveness. Otherwise we're just going to frustrate each other more and more. This woman, Rachel Nichols, I'm sure, has spent a good amount of her life around black people, around black culture. It's very much a part of her day to day. I have no idea who this woman is but I can imagine what it's like to be her.
Has elevated and hired many black men on the panel.
Exactly, but in those human moments that happened to humans, when your frustration gets the best of you and you succumb to your lowest, the lowest, most basic version of yourself, you have some dumb stuff. And that doesn't make it okay. Never make it okay, not around here. But I do recognize that you take your punishment and that we talk about what giveness looks like. And the same thing with you know, the Olympic people, because they might be wild and I don't know who the Olympic people are. It
might be tripping, you know what I mean. But it anger and beef and hatred is too heavy to carry for Ramses. I'm only speak for me right now. But this radio program or podcast or however you're listening to it, this isn't going to be a place where we make sure that we leave a little bit of space for forgiveness at the center of the narrative as often as
we can. And so I'm glad we got to talk about Rachel Nichols, and I'm glad that we got to kind of dive into you know, what it must like to be like to work in a competitive environment when you are born with a strike against you, or maybe more like in the case of Maria Taylor. But now that we've had a chance to kind of discuss all that, I think that we're left to just kind of see how the story plays out.
I suppose, yeah, and I'm hoping that, like you said, there's space for forgiveness. And my only reaction was not anger and vitriol. I just wish that her anger would have been more pointed at the system and the company and not the person than the person, because it's not Maria's fault.
Well, she didn't do something to you. Actively, we're gonna learn. All of us were in it together, and we're gonna learn, and we're gonna be sensitive to each other's You know, I cannot expect white folks to be sensitive to black issues if we're not sensitive to the fact that white folks might be getting overwhelmed by a lot of stuff. And I mean, and I get that, and you're gonna take baby steps until we get to where we're going. With that said, I think it's time for us to
check in. D J. Swell swear I was going on with.
I want, I want.
To wait all right, Today's way Black History factor my man, detailing Fred Hampton to the deputy chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party. He joined his local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Color.
People for the inter Racy PAN where he reached the position of council President. Hampton mobilized a.
Racially integrated group of five hundred young people who successfully lobbied city officials to create better academic services and recreational facilities for African American children. In nineteen sixty eight, Hampton joined the Black Panther Party and used his NAACP experience to form a Rainbow Coalition, which included students of a Democratic Society, the Blackstone Rangers, a street gang, and the National Young Lords, a Puerto Rican organization. Hampton was also
successful in negotiating a gang's troop on local television. Hampton was most recently highlighted in the twenty twenty one film Judas in the Black Messiah by Daniel Caluyah, where he won the Academy Award, the Golden Globe Choice, and the Screen Actors Guild awards for his portrayal of Hampton.
All Right, so the chairman, I like this guy. In his short life, he managed to matter a lot and expose a lot of ugliness that existed in this country at that time. And really his unfortunately his death, allowed black activists, civil rights leaders to see really what we were up against. We're going up against the actual government at the highest level. This isn't some folks across the
street or across town. This is the actual government in the United States of America versus you, me, the individual trying to make a world a better place for myself and my family and my children. And one of the one of the things that I learned from that to to to an extent is that you know, Fred Hampton's death and the folks behind Fred at Hampton's death led to the current structure of the uh of black lives matter.
If you if I say black lives matter, you think of a group of people, and that's exactly what it is. You know, obviously there's leadership, there's folks who have responsibilities and so forth, but you don't know who they are. And that's so that the government can't cut the head off of the snake again, because that's kind of kind of what they were trying to do with all the civil rights leaders back then.
Is the head of the snake.
I think that the movement would still continue without him exactly so, not in the same way, not celebrated to the same degree that of Fred Hampton and m Okay and Malcolm X. And that's not meaning he's not influential.
Yeah, just the movement won't stop the structure of the death.
Yeah, the structure of the you know, everything is kind of a little differ. But that's something that I know to be true. Now Fred Hampton, you know, like you said, Swirl, he's out on the streets with GDS in Chicago, getting people to pay attention to what's going on in their communities on a level that perhaps prior to his involvement,
they weren't even in tune with. You know, they're fighting amongst each other, and then he comes in and turns everyone on, like, yo, there's a system that's got you fighting against each other. That's not your enemy. There's a reason that you're in this environment worrying over nothing, you know. And then he rallies all these people and the Rainbow Coalition that you mentioned sworld is a bunch of different people,
brings them all together in solidarity. They Native people, Asian people, Black people of course, you know women, you know you Latin and Hispanic, you name it, you name it, everybody. You got to see it at this table because we all need representation, we need fair treatment, we need access to the political arena, you know, we need you know, fairness and in the criminal justice system and so forth and so on. Right, and he starts making noise. Of course he's a panther. You know, say what you will,
but we're fans of the panthers around here. What they store for. And if you disagree with what the panther store for, I employ you to actually do your research because it was a good organization. Has some heavy handed tactics, but we're entirely necessary if you really know the story. So a panther and was very young and very promising,
a great speaker, great motivator, ends up getting on. You know, they they created co into bro, the FBI did, and you know, Jack or Hoover just really didn't like this dude, and so you know, they what they did was they hired like a snitch or an informant to like go in and infiltrate the organization right and goes in and starts reporting back information to the FBI. The FBI gives
that information to local police. One day, police kicking the door, shoot up his apartment, and to this day, I haven't seen his dead body, but there's photos of it because they took pictures with it. But I wouldn't. I wouldn't look at those pictures. And then of course these police were celebrated as heroes because how how they villainize them is you know, the FBI, they printed pamphlets of misinformation.
It's as like, you know, the black Panthers are out to kill white people and this is their this is how they go about killing people. And there, you know, and they and they printed, they printed it, making it seem like the panthers printed it, you know what I'm saying. So the panthers were it seemed like you get a pamphlet from the panthers, this says this is what you're
supposed to do. But really I was behind that. Basically, just villainized this dude and cast him in a real bad light, ran and got him over some trumped up charges the engine really matter, and then just executed him
and they were celebrated as heroes. And of course the truth came out much later that you know, this was all a government operation because they wanted to get this guy off the street, because they didn't want black people taken to the streets creating change that would cause these white folks at the time to be less comfortable than they were. And so I'm very happy that we got a chance to talk about Fred Hampton because his name
deserves to live on. He's a good man. I feel like you gotta say, some qus will get that off.
They're being real fear about a relationship like this one, and for people who can't see me, I'm pointing at Tristan, who I've been friends with for fifteen years, about the idea that this friendship shouldn't exist. People who are violently afraid of that and went out their way to stop it from happening. Because it was more about growth. We learned more together and about each other. You know, we have more in common than what divides us and what
we wore and fight over. And there's people who make it their business to make sure that these bridges aren't built, and that's I've never understood it.
And probably never will. But I think that's going to do it for us today, so we will leave it there. Tristan, you're the greatest of all time.
Thank you for having me on.
Yes indeed, and once again, thank you for tuning in to Civic Cipher Miami host Rams's jah.
They call me Quentin Ward sometimes not as often because people don't like to say Quentin, so they just say Q.
Yes, indeed, congratulations, Q. The sons are killing it, don't know. Q water is the UH the Sun's official DJ, and so a lot, a lot of positive stuff. We should make the website sexcitele dot com from this topic