Civic Cipher 082022 How Civic Cipher Came to Be (Part 2)

story of the National Urban League. Again, many folks are familiar with the na A c P, but we're gonna take it back and perhaps even introduce you to another organization that does good work on behalf of black and brown people and marginalized folks and another group that you can support in their efforts and in fact for our become a better alli Baba segment, let's talk about donating to the Urban League. Oh yeah, let's do it. So. This segment comes via Hip Hop League Magazine and we

want you to donate again. Historically, African Americans and underserved urban communities have fought to overcome policies of discrimination, economic and social injustices. Since nineteen ten, the National Urban League has been a force of progress and empowerment Through the ninety affiliates across the country, the Urban League delivers services and programs gener nearly two million individuals in three hundred

communities each year. Although they have made progress, vast disparities remain in employment and education opportunities, quality housing, and basic healthcare. These disparities create a socioeconomic divide that they believe can change through empowering communities. The mission is to achieve equality for all Americans, and that depends on your support and commitment. With the millions of lives that they impact every day.

A gift to the National Urban League means financial stability, a job opportunity, a better education, access to health, care and fair and affordable housing. Programs that are offered include college preparatory classes, mentoring activities, STEM education, science, technology, engineering and math, parental enrichment activities, work for skills development, training in starting new businesses, home ownership classes, for closure prevention,

nutrition education, health screenings, and assistance securing health insurance. So the urb League definitely holds its own relative to its much more well known cousin, the NAACP. One time for the Urban League, Yes, indeed, so bear that in mind and stick around for again the way Black history fact now quo, Yes, sir, tell us a story. How did Civic Cipher come to be?

and that could be and is very misleading. Ramses and I spent you know, myself over a decade, Rams is much longer than that in broadcasting and DJing like music and talking into microphones, specifically for him, I don't like talking into microphones, but I'm kind of good at it. Yeah, that's that's been my brother's bag for a long time. The summer of George Floyd's murder really turned not just our community, not just our country, but the world on

its side or really upside down. The reaction, the public outcry, the very very difficult to watch video. I came across that video again recently, maybe a few months ago, and it still made me cringe. It still made my stomach hurt, and then it still made me visibly angry to where someone was like, yo, you're okay, and I had to like snap out of it. The way that all of us reacted, and I say all of us because a very very large majority of people that I know reacted

the same way, which was kind of refreshing. Donald Trump's selection, and the way the other side reacted to it revealed some other things to me about people that I know and some that I considered myself close to. That was really heartbreaking and kind of emotionally and mentally damaging to see so many people stand on the opposite side of something that was so obviously and straightforwardly wrong and criminal

and disgusting. I'd also become a father for the second time, and there was a lot of daddy daycare going on, and while I was home with my newborn daughter, Ramses and his sons were in the street and peacefully protesting just our rights to breathe, just our rights to exist, just our rights to matter, and us proclaiming that we mattered became a battle cry and somehow a controversial statement.

The news during this time of civil unrest in our country was, I guess I can just blatantly say unfair in a lot of ways to the people who were unknowingly risking their lives by peacefully protesting because they were met with aggressive military style policing, and you just opposed

that to almost no policing at all. When our quote unquote patriots stormed our capital premeditated and announced, met with little to no resistance from our military style police who had just you know, days or weeks earlier in that same city, showed up in mass when full riot gear in battleshields to keep us from just simply again and proclaiming that we matter and that we should be able to exist. We're not even saying that we should be

able to thrive, just simply exist. It became more and more difficult for Ramsas and I to be out in public amongst these people who were supporting that movement, looking them in their faces, and then going and getting behind our microphones and just talking about the Migos and Cardi b Right. Someone had to say something about what was going on outside because so many people were not giving

a fair account of the happenings in our streets. The ironic part about all of this is there Ramses and I did not determine that we were the voices that need to do it, and not because we didn't want to, but we just didn't want to imagine this. We're broadcasters working in radio hip hop radio and for lack of better, excessively popular and successful at it. To come to our broadcaster at the time and say, hey, can you guys

give us another show? I know we have one, and I know we've had one, but can you give us another one? Just seemed like a lot to ask. And there was no money involved, I mean, but not that would have been necessarily right. We were in the streets for free. We would have been on the air for free. But I think it was least it was less likely that we received pushback if we were not pitching something else for ourselves. It wasn't about not being able to

make money. It was about us saying, hey, this should happen, and we don't even have to do it. It was us trying to move ourselves out of the way so that it could happen. Not because we didn't want to, but like, okay, we're not asking for something else for us, we'll produce it. We'll even create the content, and you guys can have whoever you want to talk about it.

And initially because they were human beings and didn't want to be looked looked at like monsters, they agreed that it was a good idea, and Ramses, with his optimistic heart and mind, heard that was a good idea and translated, oh, we're about to do this. So Ramses left said conversation, I'll say, I won't even call it a meeting, and when he went back to the street, made sure that everyone knew soon enough, you guys's voices will be heard. I know that the stuff that we're seeing on the news.

Isn't fair, isn't honest, isn't even showing the nuance in the context of the things that we're dealing with and what our actual experiences are. And I know this because I'm out here with with you. But I assure you myself, and this is me speaking as Ramses to everyone that we encountered, we will have a voice. I assure you of it. Right, And then Ramses spent the next few months trying with as much grace as possible to remind these people of the great idea that they heard and

seemed to show support for. And many of those conversations were met with affirmations not only did we say that was a good idea, but yeah, we should do something like that. You know, let's hear your ideas and let's put it into action. And then more weeks would pass, and then more weeks would pass, and finally a tipping point happened, really unintentionally, because even at this point, Ramses did not walk into the station intending to deliver an

ultimatum or even hold anyone's feet to the fire. It was just really like, hey, remember that great idea you guys heard, I got the studio ready, got the MIC's you think we might be able to actually follow through on that? And what happened next changed our lives professionally

for always at least, but maybe even for better. And there are so many different ways that this conversation could have happened that would have resulted in Civic Cipher not existing today and us probably still working at that radio station, and that radio station still having the same name and call letters.

was absolutely necessary. And what Ramses was met with this time led him to make a decision for both of us, because there are so many answers that we could have tolerated and just really had to grit and bear and just Okay, I guess we just have to accept that but what they said next made a decision for us that would effectively as far as we knew at the time, in our careers in radio. I'll let Ramses.

of stuff. Man, we were having a ball. And then, of course, as you mentioned George Floyd, you know that stuff happens. We get out on the streets, we're protesting, we're marching. The protesters, the women from BLM Phoenix Metro, a woman in particular named Zara's just a powerful leader, powerful voice in our community here and nationally. You can look her up. She's actually made a lot of national noise as well. But she just wasn't She was talking

on a bullhorn. You remember that she was on a bullhorn. And there's thousands of people at these protests and the bullhorn doesn't go that far, so people are having to repeat what she's saying, so she's her delivery is more choppy than.

work in media. You know, you'll hear the song at the end of our show. It's a song called Proper Propaganda by the Dilated People's shout out to the Dilated Peoples one Time. And there's a bar in that song that you'll hear when we close the show that says journalists.

We're journalists too, we can strike back, you know. And so that's kind of the thought behind the show, which is, Okay, if they're saying as you mentioned, if they're saying that, it's they're saying something as not true, Well, we can just we're working media. We can just go and do the same thing. So again, you know we worked with.

the studio. I as Q mentioned, I'm like, hey, you can send over an intern or a promo rep or somebody whoever's next to do this public affairs type show. We're thinking it's going to be thirty minutes a week. You know, we're buying roadcasters, which is a device that allows us to make programs like this outside of an actual station or studio, spending our own money, this sort of stuff. And yeah, like you said, dragged us along, dragged us along, hit me next week, you know, whatever

was going on. And then finally the program director said to me, hey, you know at Ramses I got a level with you. I don't want to do a black show, all right.

before I got there. I was a president of the Black Student Union and I was in college, you know what I mean. So I came with the pedigree and I help them always stay on the right side of history. Whenever there were problems that came up, I would be the one to go and speak this sort of stuff. They knew me, and they knew how important this sort of stuff was to me. They knew that I'm a fierce protector of my culture, and I'm the great defender of all people who were born with you know what

could be considered to strike against them. I just was born to love. I was made to do that, and far be it for me to go against my own nature. So they knew this, and sometimes love looks a little different. And when I heard I don't want to do a black show on a hip hop station that plays seventy percent black artists hire but one hundred percent black music in an environment where black employees aren't necessarily promoted in the way that they should be, I was very fortunate,

but I recognize this is a hip hop station. Most of the people do not look black.

hispanic face or whatever on black culture. But my argument has always been and still remains that if people can tune in to listen to black music, then they can listen to black radio hosts and black you know, commentators, and black thinkers and black everything full stop. Right, And I think that it is incumbent upon you, the powers that be, to familiarize the the people, the masses with

an alternative reality that works for everyone, you know. And so this responsibility is something that I really held central to all of our conversations. But when he said that he wasn't he didn't want to do a black show, he wrote my resignation, our resignation for us.

really don't want to do a political show to be divisive. Yeah, you know, we don't want to alienate our listeners. And we would have had to translate what that meant, but still probably digested and kept going to work. And he knows that too, and he still chose to say I don't want to do a black black show.

the worst thing that they've ever done. But that was the wrong thing to say to the wrong person at the wrong time, and it forced my hand because I had hold everybody. Okay, I see you out here working. I'm not going to sit up on my radio throne, high horse and just be the man and be cool and whatever. Nope, I'm out here with you and if

you need me, I'm coming. And when he said that to me, everything just came together like that, and I'm like, well, and then you know, I wrote a resignation which is still up on my social media if you want to check it out. I'm at Ramsay's job. You got to scroll back to that time, but I think it was August twenty twenty somewhere now. But you know, I wrote

the resignation to the city. The city had given us our ratings for so many years, and I'd been on quite a bit longer than Q, so you know, I was walking away from a career that was I tried as much as I could, but it sort of became a part of my identity, you know what I mean, and as I kind of think about, like chopping off a part of your body, because it's the right thing to do, you know, And I knew who I was doing it for. It was for the people that were

marching to people of the city. I knew that they deserve better from the radio station, and by me staying there that I would be complicent. And you know, I kind of threw Q in there, but I knew I could. You know, me and Q were friends long before radio. We've been friends forever, So I knew I could make that move and he would trust me to do it. And you know, my resignation ended up getting shared by thousands of people on social media, and you know, some

folks reached out. One of the first folks is a guy named Ben Romero DJ Complex in Phoenix, Arizona, shout out the Complex loved the helm of a station called Power ninety eight point three. A shout out to all the programmers carrying this show right now, because you all are very important to me, and I've communicated with all of you. I love you dearly and we appreciate you. But Complex was the first one with a FN signal to say, whatever you were trying to do over there,

I mean, he's like, I read your resignation. Whatever you're trying to do over there, please come do it over here, and gave us a home. And then we had to come up with the show, and we gave us an hour instead of thirty minutes. And Doctor Westernberg she would work and she was working on something with the NAACP called from the Circle to the Cipher that has its roots in a more traditional African storytelling type of roots.

And she said that I could use that name, and from the Circle to the Cipher didn't quite work, but Civic Cipher certainly did and it was a better reflection what was going on at the time in the country. She loved it. So there's our name, you know. My sister designed the logo my brother gave us our FTP sites. Maggie b Noan came along and she decided to lend her support and her expertise and of course having a

black woman's voice in the room. And then programmers around the country said, hey, we need that content as well, and we would like to carry that show. We partnered with iHeartMedia via Tony Coles, Steve Earnhardt and Tucson and you know, now we're supported by you, our listeners, and you know, we just want you to know that we're grateful for everything that has come our way.

North and South. It ended forty years before, but the country was still deeply divided and most former slaves remained locked in a system of political powerlessness and economic inequality. The new organization set two major goals removed barriers to racial equality and achieve economic empowerment for the country's Negro citizens. When Congress removed civilian governments in the South and put former Confederacy under the rule of the U. S Army,

the South resisted violently. Kukuk's clan groups attempted to restore white supremacy by murder and other forms of mayhem. Black codes were enacted in the South that severely limited the former slaves as legal rights and economic options. Some states limited the occupations to limited the occupations open to negroes. In other words, black people can't be drivers, black people can be doctors, black people can be whatever. None allowed negroes to vote or provided public funds for their education.

In response, the Army conducted new elections in which the freed slaves could vote, while those who held leading positions under the Confederacy were denied the vote and could not run for office. Sounds dope right anyway. The Army's intervention in the South ended in eighteen seventy seven wam Wah. The newly formed legislatures in former slave states quickly adopted Jim Crow laws that again severely limited the civil rights of freed slaves and once more denied them the right

to vote. There's an editor's note here that Jim Crow laws, for those who don't know, were state and local laws enacted between eighteen seventy six and nineteen sixty five. That's recent history, therefore, you. They mandated racial segregation in all public facilities with a quote separate but equal clause for Negro Americans. In reality, this led to treatment and accommodations that were usually inferior to those provided for white Americans

and systematized a number of economic, educational, and socio social disadvantages. Sorry, the Supreme courts separate but Equal ruling in plus versus Ferguson legitimized Southern segregation policies. The alternatives for former slaves were limited. They could work for white farmers as tenants or sharecroppers, barely a step above slavery, or they could lead the South. Many opted to migrate and move north

to find a better life. By nineteen ten, the Negro population had increased dramatically in urban areas of the North. With the population explosion, a new set of problems emerged. Remember we're talking about the.

of the Springfield, Massachusetts Republican. A graduate of Smith College, she was the wife of William Henry Baldwin, Junior, president of the Long Island Railroad. The Baldwins were deeply concerned about the poor and disadvantage. The health and welfare of Negro migrants were of particular interest. On the other hand, George Edmund Haines, unlike Ruth Standish Baldwin, did not come

from a background of privilege. His father was a laborer and his mother was a domestic servant with great ambitions for her son. George Haynes completed his elementary education, the family moved from his birthplace in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, to the more cosmopolitan community of Hot Springs. At a point in history when educational opportunities for Negroes ranged from limited

to non existent, George Haynes's achievements were astonishing. In Hot Springs, he completed the limited education opportunities available and went on to take high school level courses and college preparatory studies at the Agricultural and Mechanical University in Huntsville, Alabama. He received his bachelor's degree from Nashville, Tennessee's Fisk University and

then a master's degree from Yale. Because he was an outstanding student, Yale awarded him an academic scholarship, and he waited tables and stoked furnaces for his room and board together Ruth Standish Baldwin and George Haynes founded the Committee

on Urban Conditions among Negroes. Within a year, three organizations, the Committee for Improving Industrial Conditions of Negroes in New York, the National League for the Protection of Colored Women, and the Committee on Urban Conditions among Negroes merged to form the National League on Urban Conditions among Negroes on September twenty ninth, nineteen ten, in New York City. George Edmund Haines became the executive Secretary in nineteen ten and served

in this capacity until nineteen eighteen. Ruth Standish babl And served as President Board of Trustees from nineteen thirteen and nineteen fifteen. In nineteen twenty, the name was later shortened to the National Urban League. In nineteen eighteen, doctor Haynes left the National Urban League to become director of the US Department of Labour's Division of Negro Economics. He left behind a well planned and efficient foundation to help guide

Negro migrants to better education, employment, and housing. Eugene Kinkle Jones became the second National Urban League Executive Secretary in nineteen eighteen and held the position for the next twenty three years. A period of extraordinary growth. When he took office, the National Urban League had an operating budget of twenty five hundred dollars. Twenty three years later, the League had fifty eight affiliates and an annual budget of two point

five million dollars. Several subsequent leaders of the National Urban League were also leaders in the field of professional social work. This came from the National Urban League one hundred Years of Empowered and Communities booklet. It was authored by Ann Nixon. And again, a lot of people are familiar with the NAACP. The Urban League is also a major player in that space in terms of bringing equitable and equal treatment of black and brown people in this country. But obviously the

NAACP is older and it is just better known. But in terms of knowing all of the the do gooders in this space, you know, it's important for us to bring this to your attention with this platform that we've been you know, given and developed, because we don't want to take credit away from ourselves and our producer, Maggie, and so it's important that you know about the Urban League as well. And there are plenty of other organizations that we will get to and do time. But you know.

Shout out to the Urban League and keep on trucking.

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