Civic Cipher 091722 The Robbery and Death of PnB Rock (Part 2)

the first Lord Valerian had dreads. I want to correct us and say that he had silver locks, and we will educate the audience on why that's the case on a future episode.

systemic racism goes beyond police brutality. It's much bigger. They're much bigger things in place, long standing ideals, so farth that need to be addressed. Number two, speak up against racism in the workplace and support black colleagues. This one is very important because racism oftentimes festers or as loudest when black people aren't around, and that's the most opportune time to address it. And if you are a non black person, you end up in those spaces and you

can hear that you need to address it. Help us out target racism and education, promote what is known as critical race theory, but really is American history. I saw roots in the fourth grade. I'm fine, so did everybody else in my class. Number four Petitions and political engagement. Stay involved in the political process and just vote with your conscious. Visit weforum dot org to view examples of how to implement and learn more. All right, so, now, pnb Rock, what do.

of his person. Him and his lady at Orosco's Chicken and Waffle, I think in East LA in a neighborhood that you know is maybe not right for celebrity or tourism. His lady sharing their location on social media. Some people think that has something to do with it. Maybe him just being followed to the location by someone who had an issue with him. And what I've read was an

attempt at robbery. I saw a very traumatic video about it, and I was not given any preparation, Like the person that sent it didn't say, hey, before you watch this, it's this.

were reporting. Again, I read what was called a failed robbery attempt that could have just been a cold blooded murder. Of course, have no idea the reasons why, but they could be seen as very very obvious. When you put people in an environment and you create conditions where there are those that have it all or what appears to be everything, and you put them in an environment where

there are those who have nothing. You create a predator prey environment, and a lot of people, a lot of sources will and I see a lot of our people speaking up angrily about the black on black crime aspect of this story, which I think it has very little to do with. It is a have versus have not scenario, It is a proximity scenario.

You do not still live there, sir. You are of it, or you were in it, but not of it. Right, there were some decisions you made that led you to be the father of two who gets to sit across from Ramses and talk about these very very sometimes difficult, but very necessary things. And when I go back to that space, I have to have a respect for it.

There are predators in that space. And when I show up with my glasses on and my well tailored clothing, with any resemblance of opulence, with any resemblance of success, I am now the prey, even though I grew up in that very neighborhood. There is a respect required for going back into that space that sometimes we don't pay because we feel like we're entitled to be there. You know, I'm from here, just like you from here, And I put my pants on one leg at a time, just

like you. Sure you do. But that thing on your neck cost seventy thousand dollars, sir, and I ain't got it, and the rent is due in two weeks, and my kids hungry too.

not in the same part of town. I don't want to give that impression, but I'm you know, there in that place. And remember we live and broadcast from Arizona from Phoenix, so I was out of town anyway. Yeah, being from California, there's a particular association that I have with one person who lost his life who was from the hip hop community. That just hurt me differently, and that was Nipsey Hustle around. A lot of people will agree, but you know, I you know Compton is I'm not

going to act like I grew up in Compton. I was gangbanging and this and that and the other. I'm from there, just like you was saying, I'm from there, so I know people from there. I know what the environment is like. I was there in the eighties. You know what I'm saying, so I was there when it was the worst, and then of course my family stayed there, so that's where I have to go visit, you know

what I'm saying, that sort of stuff. Nipsey Hustle was the sort of person where, like, I get it, I understand. I know why you talk like that, I know why you move like that. You have to. You gotta swim in the stream, you know. And for those who know the story, Nipsey was killed by a black man. You know, we're talking about pm b Rock today, you know what I mean. He was robbed. Pmb Rock was robbed at the Roscoes for his necklace and I believe his watch

something like that. And this isn't one of those moments where talking about black on black crime is There's never a moment when talking about black on black crime is meaningful in matters, because black on black crime isn't a real thing. It is in the sense that a black person can commit a crime and another black person be the victim of it, But in terms of it being some sort of you know, epidemic sort of thing, it's not.

That's not true, you know, any more than white on white crime is the thing you know, crime is crime, and the people closest to the ones they get it. You know what I'm saying. If you're a criminal, or you know, if you're living a crime infested area, you know, if you get an argument with someone, chances are they related to you or they know you for a long time. You know, you don't just get in fights with strangers off the streets. Usually getting strike fights with people you know.

Those people tend to be closely associated with your tribe. And so this is the way that works. So black on black crime as a term is something that was created and it's meant. The intention is to put the blame for black people's problems in the lap of black people, which in principle sounds like, yeah, that's fair, But the truth is the effect is that it serves as sort of a scapegoat or a lightning rod. The term black

on black crime is a lightning rod. So that I hate to keep picking on conservatives, but really that's where it comes from. The conservative facet of this country doesn't need to really address the systemic issues created by a lot of their policies. And I'm not going to let the Democrats or the liberals off the hook. Here either a lot of times the liberals too, you know, and I'm not saying everyone was intentional. Some people just didn't know better, you know. But this is the this is

the truth of the matter. It's cyclical, right, there's there's a there's moments in history where these things were flipped. The roles were reversed.

to look at society. Q made it an excellent point when we first started talking about this versus half nots. A lot of crime that you find in poor neighborhoods is the result of economic inequality. And if you address the economic inequality, the need for crime drops, and therefore crime drops.

grew up. It was gang bangers everywhere. That's what it is. You know, their strength, there's protection, there's you know what I'm saying. And then an environment where there's not a lot and people are fighting over scraps, and you introduce use a way that people can make money and you know, provide for themselves. And this is the CIA that introduced a crack into the southern California in the black neighborhoods.

They've robbed you, they've hurt your friend, they've killed your friend, your family, your cousin died, this sort of thing. Now you're locked in perpetual warfare in an environment that there's not a lot to go around. There's not a lot of mobility, of course, and it's like a trap. It's so funny because that word trap has never been too

far removed from hip hop. And excuse me. This is why when you look at someone when you when you're like me and you look at someone like Nipsey Hustle, where it's like I can see you, I can see myself very fortunate in that I was able to move out of there when I was young enough to not have to play that game. I had big brothers Raka Sean Buddy Raka from Dilated people, that's my brother, big brothers that you know, you know, made sure that I

didn't have to, you know, swim in that stream. And then of course I moved to Arizona and was able to you know, you know, the story goes how it went here. I am talking to you now, but I know Nipsey. I know that person to see that he made it and he was giving back, and he knew what he was into. He knew what was happening. He could see it, and he was like, I'm gonna fix this.

This is wrong. And if no one else is coming here, if this environment has been forgotten, there's people just down the street in Beverly Hills, there's people over there in Mulholland drive these mansion millionaires, people driving ferraris everywhere, and we're killing each other over pennies, over nothing. We're locked in perpetual warfare, you know. And this is why when people look at Chicago like it's just a black issue. No, there's there's social con and the reason why, oh god, sorry,

my brain is all over the place. But the reason why so many people feel like blaming Chicago is a lightning rod too. You know, people like black people got problems in Chicago. Fix those problems before you start trying to come at the police. Well, listen, if it is easy to fix these sorts of problems, if it was something that you could do in a timely manner, then I don't think we would have as many issues, are

as much in the way of pushback. But what we do need to do is change the framework of the society and then give it time to implement these These these conditions took a long time to come about, take a long time to dissipate.

That's the part that's so hurtful. And you know it is no actual push from anybody in that space to change it because they all benefit from it.

line by far and away across the line. He took a life or some stuff, right, that is a violation. I have to say it. I condemn it, of course, and I'm not just going to blame society. That person is very wrong, more wrong than anyone. That's the ultimate crime. He can't come back, can't raise his daughters, it's end of him, right. I also have to say that I recognize on this show that we deal with systems, and more often than not we have to talk about policing

in this country. But police get to be individuals too who are also a part of a system. And so I'm going to say this because it is fair for me to be able to say this. And I'm so sorry if you are upset with me, because I know a lot of people are very upset with police, all of police, and they just want to you know, that sort of thing. But I'm going to say say this. Officer Kevin Gilliland, I thank you for being a kind man. He knows what I'm talking about. Officer Daniel, I thank

you for being a kind man. Officer Suzanne, I thank you for being a kind woman. I thank you for talking to me knowing who I am and the positions that I hold. I thank you for growing me up. I thank you for allowing me to grow you up too, and for understanding and sharing my pain and the pain

of my people with you. And just like I have these conversations, I hope that you have these conversations with your audience, with your fellow officers and so forth, in this moment, I will send you my love and hope that we will continue to build something profound and we all will be better for these conversations. And let the back last come and I had to say it, so moving on, It's time for the Way Black History Facts.

The Way Black History Fact this week is I'm brought to you by Hip Hop Looking Magazine and we are going to read from indiawire dot com. Why has Hollywood still not given pioneering Black filmmaker Oscar Michelle is due? All right, let's read Michelle was one of the great trailblazers in film history, but the industry has yet to fully appreciate his legacy. Time to change that. Black filmmakers have struggled the representation as long as the movies have existed.

As Hollywood took shape in the early half of the twentieth century, black directors were already looking for ways to push back on prevailing stereotypes. From the uplift films of the nineteen tens produced by initiatives at the Tuskegee and Hampton Institutes, to the naturalistic shorts made by William Hoster in Chicago and the work of the London Motion Picture Company, the first black owned film production enterprise in the United States.

There was no shortage of examples. The most prolific and tireless voice during this period was Oscar Michelle, who blazed trails in Black American cinema, beginning with his nineteen nineteen feature debut The Homesteader, the first feature film written and directed by an African American. It's been ninety years since he became the first black filmmaker to produce a sound

feature with The Exile. It's been seventy years since his death, and still Michelle's impact hasn't been fully measured and recognized by Hollywood, as the HFPA faces a major reckoning over its diversity issues and the award's infrastructure faces major questions about representation. Miss Show's underappreciated legacy is worth another visit.

Michelle produced and directed films at a time when black people were still considered by a virtue by a racist white establishment, undeserving of their humanity, let alone their freedom to tell their own stories. His quote nothing impossible, unquote self sufficiency and the diy nature of his films paved the way for indies that would follow the child of a former slave and America's preeminent black filmmaker for almost

three decades. Miss Shows started the Mishow Film Corporation and made about forty four films, often as a writer, director, and producer. Like Hitchcocky often cameoed in his own work. He financed those movies anyway he could, including incredibly selling stock in his company to white farmers in South Dakota.

This was the early nineteen twenties. Considering the racial tenor of the times, it's certainly a propos to wonder how a black man a very humble roots, with limited education and virtually no technical or artistic training became a filmmaker of note and created a film production company with a reputation that has endured. Until it did, his legacy has not been entirely disregarded. Contemporary black filmmakers like Spike Lee,

hath been vocal about Mishow's influence. Lee even once called Michew his idol who inspired him to do his first film. In nineteen eighty six, the Director's Guild of America honored Mi Show with a Lifetime Achievement ward. In twenty ten, the US Postal Service issued a Mishow commemorative stamp. In twenty nineteen, Michew's masterpiece Body and Soul was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film

Registry for being culturally, historically, or esthetically significant. The nineteen twenty five Race film featured Paul Robson, then twenty seven years old, in his motion picture debut. In twenty seventeen, HBO announced it would develop a Mischhow biopic. Tyler Perry, whose assent mimics that of Michow's, was on board to star. Yet Michew has yet to be recognized in any way by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences AKA, the most famous and prestigious organization in the film world.

That suggests either total ignorance or perhaps the lack of appreciation among the Academy's brass for what he was able to accomplish as a black man in Jim Crow America. What is time to do something about it? One idea, whether the Academy or another organization goes for it, would be an annual award named after Michell, designed to celebrate pioneering blacky pioneering work of other relatively unknown black artists

of yesteryear. There's gold and then they are hills. After all, it's not just Michelle whose career has been rendered inconsequential. During the first half of the twentieth century, specifically nineteen thirty seven through forty, more than fifty black movies were produced. They diverged from the aesthetic of earlier black films, like the inexpensive melodramas made by Michelle and depictions of black people in Hollywood fair. The intent was to appeal to

appeal to the mainstream on their own terms. Many of

these these films are presumed loss. The average movie buff will likely know about films of black performers and filmmakers who thrived to an extent prior to the signing of the Civil Rights Act nineteen sixty four, Sidney Portier, Harry Bellafonte, Dorothy Dandridge, and the first black Oscar winner, Pattie McDaniel, But the enterprising work of black actors, producers, and directors like Ral Cooper, who wore all three hats also known as the Bronze Bogart and Dark Gable are largely ignored

along with white producers. Harry and Leo co founded Million Dollar Pictures, which produced around a dozen films during that four year stretch, many of them starring the actor, many of them starring the actor. He launched his career with Dark Manhattan, a nineteen thirty seven crime drama that adapted the Hollywood gangster formula with an all black cast. Prior to the film's opening credits, the title reads, we dedicate

this pictures to the memories of RB. Harrison, Bert Williams, Florence Mills, and all the pioneer Negro actors who, by their many sacrifices, made this presentation if possible. In twenty seventeen, Martin Scorsese launched an initiative to locate and restore classic African American films via his Film Foundation in partnership with the Pan African Federation of Filmmakers and UNESCO, dubbed the African Film Heritage Project, fifty films distinguished for their historic,

artistic and cultural value where to be identified and preserved. Ultimately, the goal is to protect essential titles to ensure that new generations of African moviegoers can actually see, appreciate, and maybe even be influenced by them, rather than the deluge of titles from the West that have flooded African markets for decades, race films like those by Michell have been neglected, in part due to their perceived lack of value in

limited reach. It parallels the mud muzzling of marginalized voices of the period. Note that the nineteen twenties through the forties had some of the highest concentration of work by black filmmakers, the likes of which the industry wouldn't see again until decades later. And finally, black film history is American history, and the seeds planted by black pioneers like Michelle a century ago continue to probably yield returns. They deserve to be celebrated and their trailblazing work held in

the same high regard as their white contemporaries. Hollywood is making progress on celebrating current black talent. Now it's time to take the long view. So that's a name I didn't know. Shout out to our producer ms Maggie Akba. Maggie be known for to give one up for us so that we could all be a little bit more educated about stuff that we don't know. You know, this is I mean, we were talking earlier about representation and seeing ourselves in fantasies. It's also important to see ourselves

in history. You know, yes, this is certainly a wonderful example of that. A lot of these way black history facts I know all about them, but every so often one that I'm like, oh there's a new one. And today was one such day. So once again shout out to Maggie be known, she do, because she do. But that is going to be that that's going to do it for us here on Civicipher Once again, I'm your host, Rams this job I am q Ward is indeed and show produced by Maggie Boan. Do us a favor at

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