Civic Cipher 082722 Racism in the News (Part 1)

talk to me, sir. So I was moving around the world a little bit, had to go to Egypt, bring it in the right way, but around the world a little bit, and it was fun. But a lot of things happened since we last were able to create a show for you, And so we're going to spend some time talking about a few things that have made the news in our absence and do our best to bring some context and some light and some deeper understanding for those of you who know about them, and to inform

those of you who don't know about them. So again, a lot to stick around for news related Also, we're going to be talking about really how these things feel. The second part of the show, how does it feel to have to handle these these I don't even know if micro traumas is the right way to describe it, but you know, these these we'll call them micro traumas. Why not we can do that and how to process them? Because if you get news like we get news, then maybe you know it can be a bit overwhelming. So

we're going to spend some time talking about that. For our bibble segment, becoming a Better Ally, we're going to talk a little bit about the NAACP, how you can support and where your dollars go. And then for our way Black History Fact, we're going to discuss the history of rhythm and blues. We've been on a musical kick here lately, and we don't want to stop it just yet, so stay tuned for all all that and more. But first and foremost, like we always do it, this time,

let's discuss some ebony excellence, shall we? We shall this week it's brought to you by Hip Hop Weekly Media and the story comes from Afro Tech. We're talking about someone who Q knows very well, woman by the name of Alison Felix. So the quick and dirty version of the story is that and correct me if I'm wrong. Cue she was sponsored by Nike, and she ended up getting pregnant and Nike kind of backed off. They didn't want to honor the contract or wanted to change the

terms of the contract or something like that. In fact, I'll read a bit of it, but the long and short of the story is that she ended up moving away from Nike because they weren't supporting her in a moment when she was vulnerable. As we know black maternity, maternal health is a big issue because the outcomes aren't always consistent. They're never consistent if you're black, with that of our Caucasian sisters. And so Nike abandoning her prompted

her to start her own thing. So we're gonna kind of touch on that a bit, but here's a quote from her. She said one of the areas of fulfillment was her footwear brand, Sache. She launched it in June of twenty twenty one. The venture was created for women and by women, and considers all facets of life, including motherhood. Seiy.

She was important Felix to spearhead, as she learned firsthand from her exit with nineteen twenty seventeen that even one of the most popular apparel companies failed to prop up pregnant female athletes and new mothers, and it's not lost on us that she was she is a black woman. She's currently run in the Olympics in Japan wearing them under the banner I know my Place, and I think that's something that was said to her from one of the Nike executives, know your Place. So she used that

as a positioner for her company. So once again, shout out to Alison Felix. You indeed are Ebony excellent.

story comes from the Justice Department. The headline reads, former Louisville, Kentucky police detective pleads guilty to a federal crime related to the death of Breonna Taylor. I'll read a bit about this. So, the Justice Department announced today that Louisville Metro Police Department detective Kelly Goodlett, aged thirty five, pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiring to commit two federal crimes.

Goodlett admitted that she conspired with another former LMPD detective both to falsify an affidavit to obtain a warrant to search Breonna Taylor's home without probable cause, which resulted in Taylor's death, and to cover up the false warrant by lying to criminal investigators actor Taylor was killed. Poof Now, if you were alive in twenty twenty, you know that we and we our community demanded that the cops that murdered Breonna Taylor be arrested. And that has been a

long fought battle. That train has been moving very slowly, and you know, the wheels of justice oftentimes do turn very slowly. But this is something that we're happy to see, but it also kind of causes us to stop and think. Right. One thing that jumps out of me, of course, is that we know Breanna Taylor's name we're familiar with her story. There are so many people whose names we don't know,

so many stories that do not make national headlines. Black people, as you know, are overrepresented in the criminal justice system, as we are, over policed and fairly sentenced. But when you see things like this, I believe our position, which oftentimes looks like, hey, the odds are stacked against us,

doesn't matter. If we're one hundred percent squeaky clean and we're you a first responder as Breonna Taylor was, and we live a life that is as right in terms of being on the right side of the law as anyone else, that this system can beat our door in and find us, try as we might to hide from it. This story shows us that there are behind the scenes factors and people that create the cancerous corruption that makes its way into our lives. In other words, this woman

falsified documents then lied about it. But we're just talking about falsified the documents necessary to set off this chain of events resulting in her debt. So yes, she's just as guilty, and the fact that she pleaded guilty to it it helps because oftentimes what we see is that people don't plead guilty they plead innocent, that you know, it's a long fought trial, and then the judge hands

down a light sentence. And this is why we have to ourselves affirm that black lives matter, because Breonna Taylor, if you can hear us today, you were not born to die. That should not have been your story. That should not be anybody's story who's endowed with consciousness. But for us in our community, it seems very often that we have to affirm that because things like this happen both right in front of our face and of course behind the scenes as we're seeing in this exact here.

And this is all a part of a system of people who at best don't care. At worst hate us. Sounds like you seem like you got someth mistake.

very regular basis. You know, the Attorney general in Kentucky, just proudly, with a smile onness face, campaigning now for an increase in pay and uplifting and political power, saw no reason to even pursue anything beyond you know, I guess what he considered to be a thorough investigation of the officers involved in that crime. And at his campaign rallies he's reminded of his failure. I won't even say

he takes it on the chin. He just pretends it's not happening, not even decent enough a person to acknowledge and or apologize, because how dare we ask for or require or expect some sense of accountability from him. It's

tough reliving our realities. And like you said, that young lady was not born simply to be murdered in her sleep in her home doing nothing wrong for reasons that someone created, falsely manufactured us, and then perpetuated after the fact the lie to then cover up what they'd done so that no one would be held accountable, which is what we talk about more on this show than anything else. I think people sometimes take our stance as we'd like the same awful things that happened to black people to

happen to other people. And it's quite the contrary when awful things happen to other people, and or when black on black crime happens, it's not a real thing. When the perpetrators are known and caught on camera, there's a there's an account to be paid, there is a penalty there.

And far too often, even when we know the names, faces, jobs, locations, addresses, you know, daily happenings of the perpetrators who kill our people because they have a badge, they get fired with pay, and as taxpayers, we're responsible for making sure those people still get their salaries for having murdered us a vacation.

this recently. But again, this is part of the reason why affirming why making our mantra black lives matter is necessary, because left to our own devices, if we were to look around and read you know, the news articles that come away, or just be alive and conscious, you know, in this country, you might, like oftentimes artificial intelligence excursions ah yield, you might find that black lives don't matter, you know, and that black life is less valuable and

is often associated with criminal You know, these sorts of things. If you, if you didn't know any better, that would be your reality, just because that's what the world teaches you. Okay, the police shoot these people? Well, why was he running away? Could it be that he was afraid that he was going to die? Or was it criminal in nature? Who runs from the police? Standard? Ye? Who looks like so it was definitely criminal. So let me add to that.

There's a whole lot of facet here that the same system that you know, the front facing part of the criminal justice system, and is of course the police have this very very cavalier attitude when it comes to black and brown people, which is collateral damage. Well, their supporters have a cavalier attitude with regards to black and brown people. Their attitude isn't cavalier at all. It's very aggressive, sure, very violent, Sure, very shoot first, ask questions later, sure,

or shoot first and not care later. Absolutely so, yeah, cavalier.

reality is one that is very different from yours. And these outcomes are very, very very intentional. It's not by chance. We're not creating a narrative. We're just speaking about a reality that not everybody can see because they don't live it.

of course. Unfortunately, a white Florida sheriff deputy has resigned after he pulled a gun on a pregnant black woman during a traffic stop as her three distressed children watched on and record. Did the tense interaction. Ebany Washington said she didn't immediately stop when an officer tried to pull her over in Bradford County on August twelfth because it was dark and she didn't want to scare her kids.

Dessoux followed her. That's the officer's name. Dissoue followed her with a siren and emergency lights on and ordered her to stop. At one point, De Sue said over the patrol vehicle's PA system, pull the vehicle over, or I will put you into the ground, the sheriff. The Sheriff's

office said. Body camera video of the incident, released by the Sheriff's Department and shared by John and Phillips, Washington's attorney, showed De Sue shouting to Washington's car, if you make any movement, that'll be your last mistake you're gonna make. He then emerges from his vehicle, was gunpointed at her and yells for her to get out. Washington is seen with her arms out the window of her vehicle. She says the door is locked, and this Sue says, unlock it.

I'm not worried. I've got my gun on you all right now to your point, que you're talking about the aggressive shoot first, you know this sort of thing right now, I have to play Devil's advocate because we have to do that. We just have to, so hear me out. We choose to, and it's to preserve some integrity and it's for us to be where fair people right, right. So that's thank you for saying it a little bit

better than I could. So an officer catches someone speeding or whatever, some minor infraction, attempts to pull a person over. The person doesn't pull over immediately, So what is the officer thinking? Perhaps this person is trying to flee or whatever. You know, they have to be paranoid. They're a paranoid sort as we know they. You know, my business partner, Sean, he told me guns bring about gun energy, right, This is what he told me. He's not a gun person,

neither of mine, but that's what he said. So these guys have guns on him, so they're like ready for death at any you know what I mean. So everything is super heightened, right, This is my assumption. But you know they have to be careful too. They want to preserve their own life. Again, I'm playing devil's advocate here to you so this person is not being they're not pulling over immediately, So now you're on high alert. Why is this person not pulling over? There must be something

going on here. Maybe it's an ambush, maybe they're going who knows right, who knows, We don't know, but that's not the point. Just let me let me paint the picture here. They get to after some time, get to the next well lit place, and the officer is not at a point where he's wanting to ask questions. So he, you know, pulls the gun out because he doesn't know what to expect, you know, and he's trying to enforce the law best he knows how based on his assessment

of the situation. We'll give him all that, okay. My thinking is that the moment a pregnant woman gets out of the car with their hands up and she's cooperating, at that point, the threats to end your life, and you can see that this is black women, you know, police, they have their headlights on you. Black pregnant woman emerges from the car. At that point, you don't need that aggression anymore. You don't need that anger, that fear, whatever

it is. Maybe your adrenaline is pumping whatever the case is. But if you are a civil servant, you have to recognize that that same person that you might cite for speeding is indeed someone that that you work for. Right, those tickets that goes to pay your salary and buy you your next tank and all that other sort of stuff too. Right, so you know one of the things that happened to me, that very same thing happened to me. The thing is that happened to me in daylight. I

shared the story before. It was about nineteen years old. I was going to school, got pulled over because I was going to get an inhaler from my cousin. I had to go to the bank and then pull out some money to buy them and inhaler. Because it couldn't breathe. Police pull me over. All the police pulled me over is a bunch of police. They had gun on me. They told me to get out of the carve my hands up. I'm told, if you make any sudden movements, we will kill you now. We will shoot you now,

we will wound you now, we will arrest you. Not you'll be in a big trouble. Mister. We will kill you. So coming that close with death, I think justifies her wanting to pull into a place that's well lit and keeping everybody as honest as she possibly can. The thing is on this show and in this space, and I think to your point, Q, we as black people have a very different experience, and for us, there is a

chance that we could die pulling over. There's a chance anything could happen if we pull over where it's dark, If we pull over where it's well lit, we might have a chance for some justice because there might be a recording of it. We might not die. We might not die, but you know, if there's a recording, there might be an investigation.

be okay. I'm going to be scared no matter what. I'd rather my kids not fall into a panic and or have to watch me be killed by a police officer for whatever the infraction was. Because even if I outrun you, sir, in my car, I don't pull over immediately.

was trying to find the welded area is white. If it's a black person, it's like, well, you know the law, the lights come on, you got to pull over, you know. And if the person is not black, and it's like, well, we understand, no one wants to pull over in the middle of the dark.