Civic Cipher 120322 Forgiveness in Black Circles (Part 2)

also far away black history fact. We're gonna talk about a guy named Solomon Sir Jones, a name that you might not be familiar with, but this is a man that preserved a not insignificant amount of Black history and his name needs to be mentioned, and why the history he preserved needs to be mentioned as well, so that you understand and can appreciate a little bit more about your black brothers and sisters. And that's what we're here

to do. But first and foremost, I think it's about time that we teach you a new way to become a better ally baba. How does that sound cute? Shall we we shall so today's baba become a better ally sponsored by the Black Information Network Daily Podcast. You can check out Black Information Network Daily Podcast on iHeart dot

com or through the iHeartRadio app. Now, this story comes from the Grilloh everyone that everyone has that one excus sorry, everyone has that one extravagant person in their lives, that person who always shows up fashionably late and dressed to the nines, no matter the occasion, whether that's your bougie Anti or the Beyonce of your friend group. We've hunted down an array of unique and chic gifts for the

fashion gurus on your list this year. Now, the reason we chose this is because we want you to support black businesses. It's holiday season and these are companies that we've littled down for you and don't And I also want to mention that this list is available on our Facebook it's at Civic Cipher and on our Twitter at Civic Cipher. So we're going to shout out these companies. There's ten of them, so Lorvae and Alisa Johnson that's

Magic Johnson's daughter. Uh, they are making these really dope glasses, like fashion glasses, So check them out if you know someone that wants some glasses for the holidays. I think this is pronounced sukra uh. And then another one that's Oma, the label they make jewelry. The jewelry looks really dope. I checked it out. Strict Alma, nwok Ornuoki, marchhae Chanell Squared and Irregular Exposure. All these companies make women's clothing.

Amina abdul Jalil makes shoes and they're like women's shoes. I'm not a woman, so they're cool women shoes. I don't know what they're called, but they got the thing in the back. And Brandon Blackwood makes handbags. And again check our Twitter or our Facebook at Civic Cipher to get some cool gift ideas and at the same time support a black business and that way a black business and that way you can become a better ally. All right, moving on forgiveness. All right, so I'm going to share

a quick story. I also host a podcast. Q joins me very often on the show The Black Information Network Daily Podcast. And then I have a special version of that show that I put out from time to time whenever. My producer, Chris leves Me called one More Thing. And some months ago I had a one More Thing installment where I talked about the Will Smith apology. Right, So

this is after the Oscar slap. He was he got a camera and it was like a newsroom in the middle of nowhere, and he just kind of spoke to the camera for a few minutes and apologized to everyone, in particular to Chris Rock and his family. And I saw that, and I saw that he owned his mistake. He acknowledged that he hurt Chris Rock above all else. He heard his fans, he heard casual you know, viewers of the show here at the Academy. You know, he stole a night that was so special to so many

people because of his behavior. Right, he acknowledged that, and from what I understand or what I recall of that, he committed to trying to be a better man and doing better in the future. Right. And then of course he says, you know, Chris, whenever you're ready to talk, I'm here, right, not continuing to you know, harp on his name or anything like that. But listen, man, I was wrong. When you're ready, I'm here, let me make it right. You know, this is the energy that he

gave up. I'm not quoting him. I want to make sure that that's clear. And so I had to make an episode because I saw that, and I saw people saying some some stuff that I didn't really love. People were like, that's not an apology or a man he deserves, you know, blah blah blah. We need to we need to stop watching you know that sort of stuff. Right, And you know, admittedly a lot of these comments come from the internet, but the Internet is a real thing.

It is. We can't pretend like it's not. And you know, part of the reason, we'll get to it later. But part of the reason Will Smith said that he lost his cool in the moment where he ended up slapping Chris Rock was because of in part at least because he had endured so much online abuse because of his marriage and some of the goings on in his marriage, right, and it just became more than he could handle. I'm not making excuses for that man. That man is not

making excuses for himself. Okay, be clear about that. Anyway, So he does his apology and I look at this, and I look at the comments, and I'm like, wait a minute, what more do we want from a person if they've done something wrong? You know, Here's what I did. Here's how it made you feel. Here's what I'm going to do in the future. Beyond that, what more do we want? Right? Are people supposed to be born perfect? Are people supposed to be born and then not make mistakes?

Or let me ask another question, Are people simply the worst thing that they've ever done? I think you would say, no, that's not true anymore than people are simply the best thing that they've done.

a reason. I'm not just a bad person, right, right, So all that context, all that nuance, and all that color exists when I'm talking about me. When I'm talking about you, you're just awful ramses and you need to be able to own and accept that.

our interactions and so forth. And I think as an additional babba, I would challenge you if you can see attacks online and you feel like that person is going through it better than than me, but you don't feel like the attacks are entirely warranted, maybe speak up.

this is not just a black issue. I think that in black circles, especially with black men, our mental health has been addressed more and more in modern years, particularly because of people like Charlemagne bringing it out into the open so we can discuss it. How do we feel is our mind? Is our brain lying to us? You know? I used to think because of bad information. I used to think that I don't even want to go into it, but I used to think really bad things about black people.

And I thought that I was bad because I as a black person. Right, And that's as much as I'll give right now, because I don't feel like crying on this show. But I had to grow up with that.

family have to be slaves? How can I be proud of that? And then everyone I see that looks like me is poor and crying and they don't have food and nobody. You know what I'm saying. And I'm from confidence, So my experience is not universal among black people, but I had a real childhood.

what life was like growing up herself. So anyway, so mental health, right, us taking a moment now to have at least a conversation about our mental health, our self image, what it means to be exhausted, and how effective we are as fathers and as protectors and as you know, leaders and as you know, whatever your role is, you know, to take a moment and make sure that our brain isn't lying to us. It's become a little bit more important, right. But what I've seen is that we also need to

have conversations about how to forgive each other. That doesn't mean that we don't take responsibility. That doesn't mean that at all, because I think that I think one of the highest testaments to manhood. I'm a man, so I will speak for men and adulthood because I'm an adult, so I will speak to that is acknowledging where you fall short and owning that and owning the impact that it makes, and owning how you are going to revise your behavior if you don't don't like it. Again, here's

what I did, Here's how it made you feel. Here's what I'll do in the future.

as a moment in history. So many years of so many men taking full advantage of their manhood and broad daylight at the peril of so many women caused a backlash that for some people felt like it was too far. But you have to understand this is in the face of impunity. Sure, so many people have not been held accountable.

Now everyone has to be yeah, right, So the lack of people saying this is what I did, this is how it made you feel, this is what you deserve, and this is what I plan to do, causes people to overreach because if they think nothing's being done or no one's being held accountable, they want accountability on a grander scale exactly. So that's what leads to that kind of lack of forgiveness, Like, no, we don't want another person to get away with doing something wrong.

a great opportunity to examine what forgiveness looks like. Now again, to err is human and then when it comes to black people and black men in particular, because I have that frame of reference, these conversations don't often happen because we're not taught this and because we are dealing with other societal pressures and we need the discipline and we need to, you know, understand the pressures that we have so that we can do a lot more healing and

a lot less fighting, on and on. You know, again, this is a constructive show, not a destructive show. We try to make it that way. It's an important thing to point out. But we have to also acknowledge black white supremacists too, so not tear them down, just point it out. So don't give these people your attention, money, time, energy, or anyone like them. And that's how we beat that anyway,

back to what I'm saying. So Will Smith goes on to the Trepanoah show, okay, and he talks about that slap after he talks about the movies promoting right and I'll be honest, man, that was good to see his face. Will Smith is not again, this is me talking. I won't speak for you, I won't speak for anyone else. He's not the worst thing that he's ever done. You're not the worst. Listening to my voice, You're not the

worst thing you've ever done. I certainly hope I will not be the worst thing I've ever done on my day of judgment or whatever.

I mentioned earlier that Will mentioned that he had pent up rage from a lot of the online harassment, a lot of which was directed at his relationship with his wife and people everyone had their opinions on what he should have done, what he shouldn't have done, how he should feel or shouldn't feel, and know him being emotional about it, and you got to bear man's this man's wife, there is children. People have a.

when there are hardships and downfalls and mistakes. They are also made out loud and in front of people, and you get to hear how, in my case, thousands of people, in his case, millions of people feel about the decisions that you make that hurt that person, that there might be that person's fan and not yours, and so you are ppetuity the bad guy. The whole Will Smith thing

has been complicated for me. Rams is because I've I've never met Chris Rock, but as you know, I have a very close relationship with his brother and met Will when I first started my career in professional sports and entertainment, have been to his home and got some of the best advice I ever got from him. Both of those guys were heroes to me, both of them superheroes. And seeing them put in a position where for a moment they were, you know, because of Will's decision, opposition to

each other, and they never been that before. And what we've all seen is, you know, I got to feel how one of my best friends felt about his brother being hit in front of everybody world.

never know what someone else is going through. He says, on that day, I was going through some stuff, right, and for whatever reason, he thought what he did was the right thing. And in short order he tells the story. He says, when I got home, my nephew was at home. He was watching the oscars. He says, my nephew came and sat on my lap, and he held the oscar. That oscar or emmy oscar? Okay cool? So he sat on his lap and held the oscar and he says, uncle, Will,

why did you hit that man? And Will was like, oh my god. And in that moment he realized that was the wrong thing.

made a mistake. If we can understand and appreciate that human beings make mistakes, if you yourself recognize the mistakes are possible in your own life and skin right, then what do we want from other people when they make mistakes? Do we want them to apologize? Do we want them to acknowledge the hurt that they've you know, cause do we want them to adjust their you know, behavior moving forward? Do we want some sort of compensation?

And if you feel like people don't deserve any grace, any forgiveness, then keep that energy and expect that in return. Point exactly now, I want to say that no one deserves forgiveness. Please include yourself that equation.

You know, forgiveness among us black people. You know, there's we have stuff, gang stuff, we have you know, click stuff, wrap beefs and all this sort of stuff in our communities, and forgiveness is not talked about nearly enough. And so this is why I really wanted to take some time. But there were two people that I saw. This was a year's old video, but I just saw it recently, So forgive me, sports guys, I'm not a sports guy again. I saw Magic Johnson and Isaiah Thomas. They were interviewing

with each other. Were they forgave each other? Now, I don't even know why they were mad in the first place, I'll tell you that. But story one day, when the MIC's turned along, okay, but it was beautiful, they broke down. They started crying. I guess they were friends once upon a time. Clos and Jordan Ram's level friends. Oh, that would never happen to me and you But you know what I'm saying. You could see that.

check out major threads dot com our Way Black History Fact. Today, we're talking about Solomon Sir Jones from eighteen sixty nine to nineteen thirty six right. He was an American minister and an amateur filmmaker, best known for his collection of twenty nine silent black and white films totally three hundred and fifty five minutes worth of footage documenting African American communities in Oklahoma from nineteen twenty four in nineteen twenty eight.

In twenty sixteen, Jones's films were selected for the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. Is being culture truly, historically or esthetically significant. Jones was born in Tennessee to parents who had once been enslaved. He grew up in the South before moving to Oklahoma in

eighteen eighty nine. Jones became an influential Baptist minister, building and pastoring fifteen churches, who was head of the Buoyd faction of Negro Baptists in America, and was a successful businessman. Jones's films consist of twenty nine silent black and white films documenting African American communities in Oklahoma from nineteen twenty four to nineteen twenty eight. They contained three hundred and fifty five minutes of footage shot with the then new

sixteen millimeter cameras. The films document a rich tapestry of everyday life funerals, sporting events, schools, parades, businesses, Masonic meetings, river baptisms, families at home, African American oil barons and their wells, Black colleges, June teen celebrations, and a transcontinental foot race. Jones's films have been preserved by the Smithsonian Institute, the Baynecki Rare Book in mana U Script Library of the Yale University Library, and the National Museum of African

American History and culture shot out to them. They are considered to be the most extensive film records we have of southern and urban black life and culture at the time of rapid social and cultural change for African Americans during the nineteen twenties and the very beginning of the Great Migration, which transformed not only Black people as a whole, but America itself. Jones filmed Oklahoma residents in their homes, during their social, school and church activities, in the businesses

they owned, and performing various jobs. The films documents several Oklahoma communities, including Forgive Me Oklahoma, Muscogee, Okmolgi, Tulsa, Weewaka, Bristow, and tact The films also document Jones's trips to Indiana, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri, Illinois, New York City, South Carolina, Colorado, and overseas to France, England, Palestine, Switzerland, Italy, North Africa and Germany. I've been all those places except

like two. Slates between scenes identify location, states, and subjects. Jones frequently filmed at various locations by positioning himself outside of building while people exited the building in a line. This perspective provides footage of people as they walk by the camera, usually looking directly at it. Footage of churches

includes congregants exiting the service and socializing outside. Footage of schools often include students playing outside or doing exercises, and footage of people at their homes includes them outside on their porches or in their yards aside from church and scheduled school activities. People presumably exited at Jones's request for the purposes of being filmed by him. In addition to his work with film, Jones was a businessman and a Baptist minister who either established or was the pastor of

some fifteen churches in his lifetime. He was the son of ex slaves or in Tennessee and grew up in the South. Jones spent the next several decades building black institutions, establishing churches, newspapers, and business and supporting the activities of schools and hospitals. Jones also remained active in church politics, holding leadership roles in the National Baptist Convention of America, one of the largest African American denominations in the United States.

For many years, Jones was a fierce defender of black institutions one of many African American leaders in Oklahoma who supported what came to be called all Black Towns, municipalities occupied and governed by black settlers. One of these towns was targeted in nineteen twenty one Here we Go by white mobs for one of the worst racist attacks in

American history, referred to as the Tulsa race Massacre. More than eight hundred people were admitted to hospitals, and as many as six thousand black residents were interned in large facilities, many of them for several days. The Oklahoma Sorry the Oklahoma Bureau of Vital Statistics, officially recorded thirty six dead. A two thousand and one State Commission examination of events was able to confirm that of the thirty six dead,

twenty six were black and ten white. It is believed that there are many more than thirty six had died. I just want to tell you that that's not in this here memory based on contemporary autopsy reports, death certificates, and other records. Jones was well traveled, traveling across not

only the United States but overseas as well. His films of his overseas travels were only slightly less significant than Jones's Films of Oklahoma, which still serve as a visual commemoration of the thirty five years he spent advocating for African American people and institutions in Oklahoma. Now, I do want to say that I pulled from two sources. One was the Yale Yale because they have the actual footage in turn in that entity Yale the School and Wikipedia.

So this is why you might hear a couple of things repeated twice. I also want to say that, you know, this might seem sort of maybe unremarkable to us modern folks, but for us, for black people, you know, when we see old movies, old films, silent films like this, we often see ourselves as either not there or some sort of caricature of ourselves, or as servants. We're propping up

society rather than participating in it. And for those of you who maybe didn't grow up black, for those of you that have old films where you see yourself represented, your culture, people represented, driving cars and engaging in whatever, you kind of take it for granted. But when you don't have that, and you see those films and you've notice that there are no black people here, and the black people you do they're just serving people. Again, there's not a lot of dignity that you can find. You

can find black people existed. And these films are not only important because there was a black filmmaker, but they're important because, as I mentioned, he filmed locations by positioning himself outside of the building. So he saw people coming out of stores, he saw people coming out of churches, he saw people playing, people sitting in their front yard, people just having fun and living their lives. And they were black, and that's not something that you find in

films like this from that time. We're people, you know, We're not just you know, when you think back in the day, you think slaves, right, and that's fair because back in the day, that's all we were, you know what I mean. But except that was never all we were. And thank you, and these films are important because it shows a full human being living in America who has melanin in his skin and her skin and their skin.

And so again we want to shout out Solomon Sir Jones for archive in these film for us to enjoy, check out his work and just get a glimpse into what it looks like to be black and successful. Before they came and burned it down in nineteen twenty one. So yeah, sorry, but that's going to do it for us here on Civic Cipher. Once again, I'm your host, Rams' Jah.

as well. And again, yeah, thanks for listening. So until next week y'all. Peace lady, we handle it.