Civic Cipher 120421 One More Thing about Kyle Rittenhouse (Part B)

issues that people have taken online. And of course I mentioned that we were going to get into the Black Codes, and so this week I made it a point to do a little research on the Black Codes. So stick around for the Black Codes far our way black History fact. But for now, we are going to discuss how to become a better ally BA BA And today's suggestion as far as becoming a better ally is find a community

of like minded individuals. Now, you know, I live in Phoenix, Q lives in Atlanta, and you know, there's lots of groups on the ground, you know, in all over the place, and there's some national groups as well. But the group that I found in Phoenix, I really get a kick out of these guys. And there's not just one group

for one type of people. There's groups, you know, all over the place, people that are like you, that feel like the world should be fair, and you know, people that share your ideas and your values, and instead of us being kind of fragmented and you know, scattered around our cities, look for a little bit of community to plug into. One such group out here is called White Pause Phoenix White Paws, and that stands for white people

against white supremacy. And what these guys do is, you know, ifever there's a speaking engagement by black folks, excuse me, a black person, they'll come and they'll len support. They'll stand as a physical barrier between this black person who they want to make sure is protected and police or counter protesters or whatever. And essentially they're using their privilege quote unquote to ensure that no harm comes to these black folks. And I do a ton of other things

that I can't go into. This is just one group, but I know that there's different groups around and so this week's recommendation is, you know, find a little bit of community plug in, follow some folks on Instagram or Twitter. In fact, White Pause is at white Pause PHX for Phoenix.

coast now and a couple of things. You know, we don't always get everything right, and we also don't purport ourselves to be experts on anything, but when we're wrong, we'll say it. And because there are people who watch the show on YouTube rather than listen on the radio or downloaded as a podcast after the fact, because those folks exist, they're able to leave comments and they interact

with the show a bit differently. A very very small number of people, I promise you, not even we're looking into. But when someone's right, they're right. And when someone brings up a good point or a point that illuminates their position. I think it makes for not just good radio and compelling content for a radio show, but a healthy dialogue. And that's what I want to have today. Now. Granted, I recognize I'm more in a position of power, and

so I'll be mindful of that as I talk to you. Know, obviously you know the same rules apply to you, because we're doing rather more than just leaving a comment on a video. But with that said, right is right and wrong is wrong. So the first thing I want to acknowledge is that I did not watch the trial for Kyle Rittenhouse. I felt like I had no reason to watch the trial, especially after uh, I think you and I kind of tuned out at the same time. What was the judge did something or whatever?

But to be fair, no, didn't watch the trial, and we didn't have a reaction to the trials play by play per se as much as we had a reaction to the verdict of the trial and what that meant, the precedent that it's set right now, this sounds like I'm defending myself, and you know, there is one thing that I do need to make sure that we set the record straight for because again, wrong is wrong and

we were wrong. I think you might have said that Kyle Rittenhouse's mom drove him across state lines to this protest, and that one part was not true. His mom did not drive him. That was something that started on the internet early, you know, and we both read that, both held that to be true until I actually looked into it based on a comment someone left on the video. Right is right. Wrong is wrong. We've been wrong on the show before and we've had to come back and

set the record straight. That's what journalistic integrity is about. And we're not you know above that we were absolutely call it when that's what it is. But I don't think that it takes away from the thrust of what we were saying last week, the implications of the verdict and what that means. There were people that were picking apart the deceased and like, oh, this guy did this long time ago, and this guy is a pedophile, and this guy beat up his grandma on this, that and

the other. That's neither of us were saying, Hey, these guys were saints. You know, we counted them as allies, and we counted them as allies because they were out We believe in support of Jacob Blake and standing in solidarity with Jacob Blake. That's our belief, our held belief. But even if those things weren't true, the fact that they were at a protest and a person brought a gun, a big gun like a chopper, you know, uh, what

do they call it? A k or ar? Some sort of like fifteen Sure, you know more about our stands for assault rifle. See the fact that he brought that out and was himself patrolling the streets. In our estimation, he's the threat. We saw. Earlier this week there was a school shooting in Q's hometown, Detroit, and you know those kids, they didn't get to go home, you know that they they didn't get to go home anymore. That

was it for them. Right, We saw that happen, and I can't help but think, Okay, so this very right wing, very i'll call it republican idea that the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.

all school shootings. You know, obviously there shouldn't be a child with a gun on campus North should there be a child with an assault rifle walking in the middle of the street during a protest, because everything about it screams active shooter, right, And this is what we were speaking to last week. The implications of the verdict of that trial again emboldens a group of people who feel like, yeah, you know, we don't agree with this, so let's go

out there and get busy. I'm gonna take matters into my own hands. And for those that know the story about are what we know of this story about this most recent active shooter in Detroit as of this recording is that he was a child, and my belief is that he's a white child. You know, I haven't confirmed that, but I've seen pictures of him. It looks whitish to me, not too dissimilar from Kyle Rittenhouse in terms of his appearance.

Takes a gun, goes to school, and executes human beings he believes are treating him unfairly a right, and he asked for a lawyer. So that doesn't mean he's falling on the sword. He's not owning it. He's not eating any crow. If you're going to ask for a lawyer, you believe that you're going to have a way out, or at least get some leniency from the court. And I ramses am able to draw a direct line in the span of seven days or eight days or whatever,

from Kyle Rittenhouse to this most recent active shooter. I didn't put his name in here because I don't believe him to be another significant point in the story of this country. Kyle Rittenhouse, I believe that was a major point. Anybody else. I don't really feel like it's appropriate to say there names and give them any sort of glory. It's certainly not for ending the lives of other human beings, you know. And since we're here, I want to say this,

Q and I both of us. Que tell folks about hashtag lunchback.

them are concentrated downtown Phoenix. Do some stay on a campus from you know, periodically. Others live on the street on the sidewalk.

and we do it once a month. When we go out and do that, we don't qualify the people that we give food to. We don't say, well, you get some food because you know you have no criminal background, and you don't get any food because a long time ago you did this. That and the third right, we're not ignorant and we're not naive. Q and I. We recognize that some of those people have sex offenses, you know, and that's why our volunteer base is very well protected

and insulated from you know, potential harm. And you know, we move with caution. As Q said, I think we're probably not going on ten years, never had an incident out there on the streets, right, And a huge amount of our volunteer bases women, and along with women comes children, So we don't hold the worst thing someone has done against them. With that said, we also recognize the severity of some people's past criminal activity, the heinous nature of it, etc.

On and on. But if we're out here in the name of love, if we're out here with the spirit of love and the idea is to help bolster this community and fourtify folks who don't have the capacity to do so themselves. Then that's what we're going to do. And we're not going to qualify that. And so folks picking a part a person's life after they've been killed

on a sidewalk feels a little unfair. It doesn't allow for folks to have perhaps become rehabilitated, you know, that's part of you know, the corrections facility of their prison rehabilitation centers or whatever it is that folks call them. The idea there is that you go to these places so that you won't commit crimes again, right, And so I think there's a fundamental idea built into the criminal justice system, as flawed as it is, that human beings

can be rehabilitated. Right, That's not lost on us. And so I think that folks picking apart the deceased after the fact feels like a cheap shot. This is my opinion. This is my show or our show, and I feel like it's important to say that as well. There's a lot of other things that are generalizations that we did make on last week's show that weren't specific to Kyle Rittenhouse, but in our estimation and based on our lived experience, is.

were referring to that specific instance. Rather, what we were referring to is a general approach that police tend to have when the person there arresting either looks more like them or has a similar belief system as them, versus when the person doesn't. Right, if you're a public servant, then you serve the public in theory, that would be equally. And you know, when we hear about what's the guy that shot up that churp number mine, we don't even need to say his name, but there was a guy

that shot up a church. He was a Confederate flag guy. I think his name was Rufe, Dylan Rufe something like that. Anyway, shot up a black church. I think nine people died there. Older people lost their life in church.

it shows that there is a different approach. Right if there was a black If Kyle Rittenhouse was a black male with that chopper, he would have got Our belief is that he would have been executed right there. And so the points that we were trying to make, we don't want to get lost in the minution. The detail.

You know, what we're trying to say last week and this week again is the implications of that we don't want allies, We don't want folks who believe in a better tomorrow to lose sight of what we're working for and succumb to fear. And that verdict could create a ripple effect where allies could become a lot more fearful. But with all that said, I do want to say something that might get me in some trouble, but again,

this is our show and we can do it. So I'm going to talk to my white brothers specifically this time. I know that the world is changing, the world is changing in a lot of ways, and I know that you've been lied to, and I know that there are people mark Zuckerberg, who profit from your fear, and they have an avested interest in scaring you at every single possible point in your life. And don't get caught up into the word scared, because I know your men were

all men. You know, we're not scared of nothing. But think in terms of like afraid that you're going to lose your identity, or afraid that everyone is out to get you, or that you were born and everywhere you turn, just being a white man is the crime, and you're the source of everything that plagues the world. That feeling has got to be overwhelming, and I understand. I don't know what it feels like personally, but I'm trying to empathize.

I recognize that the life expectancy of white men is declining. I recognize there's an opioid epidemic that's affecting your people. I recognize that the cultural landscape of a place that you call home is changing. I recognize that the world, the way that you view it, a place where you can stand confidently in the middle of yourself, where everything is available to you as an option, is changing in

your lifetime. I recognize now that it might be a scary time for these reasons, and a hundred other reasons. You know, some of which are based in reality, some of which are imagined. You know you perhaps have an unhealthy fear of Mexican people coming across the border and taking your job. That might be a real thing in your mind. It's not a real thing in the real world. But I recognize that the fear feels the same no matter how you look at it.

may continue to be that place. And I know that you guys say some stuff that's very hurtful, and we say some stuff that doesn't line up with the way you see the world, right, And it doesn't mean that I'm wrong, right, But I have no ego here at present. The power is still yours. I want you to know that I love you, and when those things change, I will still love you, and I will still support you, and I will always defend your right to exist. And if I do nothing else, I will do that. Don't

be afraid. I'm your brother. Let's get your reaction to this way black history fact? Does that work? Okay?

had given some four million enslaved people their freedom. The question of freed black's status in the post war South was still very much unresolved. Under black hose, many states required black people to sign yearly labor contract. If they refused, they risked being arrested, fined, and forced into unpaid labor. Outrage over black codes helped undermine support for President Andrew

Johnson and the Republican Party. Johnson, a former senator from Tennessee who had remained loyal to the Union during the war, was a firm supporter of states' rights and believed the federal government had no say in issues such as voting

requirements at the state level. Under his reconstruction policies, which began in May eighteen sixty five, the former Confederate states were required to uphold the abolition of slavery made official by the thirteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, swear loyalty

to the Union, and pay off their war debts. Beyond those limitations, those states and their ruling class, traditionally dominated by white planters, were given a relatively freehand in rebuilding their own governments, even as former enslaved people fought to assert their independence and gain economic autonomy. During the earliest years of reconstruction, white landowners acted to control the labor force through a system similar to the one that it

existed during slavery, that's the Black Coats. To that end, in late eighteen sixty five, Mississippi and South Carolina enacted the first Black Coats. Mississippi's law required black people to have written evidence of employment for the coming year each January. If they left before the end of the contract, they would be forced to forfeit earlier wages and were subject

to arrest. Under Johnson's reconstruction policies, nearly all Southern states would enact their own Black Codes in eighteen sixty five and eighteen sixty six. While the codes granted certain freedoms to African Americans, including the right to buy and own property, marry, make contracts, and testify in court only in cases involving people of their own race, their primary purpose was to

restrict black people's labor and activity. Some states limited the type of property that black people could own, while virtually all the former Confederate states passed strict vagrancy and labor contract laws, as well as so called anti enticement measures designed to punish anyone who offered higher wages to a

black laborer already under contract. Black people who broke labor contracts were subject to arrest, beating, and forced labor and apprenticeship laws forced many miners, either orphans or those whose parents were deemed unable to support them by a judge, into unpaid labor for white planters. Passed by a political system in which black people effectively had no voice, The Black codes were enforced enforced sorry by an all white police and state militia forces often made up of Confederate

veterans of the Civil War across the South. I'm almost done by eighteen seventy seven, when the last federal soldiers left the set and reconstruction drew to a close. Black people had seen little improvement in their economic and social status, and the vigorous efforts of white supremacist forces throughout the region had undone the political gains they had made. Discrimination would continue in America with the rise of Jim Crow laws. So that's the next thing that comes after the Black hotes,

but would inspire the civil rights movement to come. All right, how much of that did you know about? The Black coats? All of it?

I cannot pretend that there has been zero progress since then, but I can be outraged at how little you and I saw a graphic earlier in the week, and what the graphic meant, I'm not really sure, but it did show a timeline of our country's history and how much of that history with slavery, and how much of that history was segregation, and how much of that history was post slavery and segregation. And if this is the entire thing, I'm trying to take up my whole picture here, just

this part was post slavery and segregation. So a lot of things post slavery were put into place to maintain the current system as long as possible, while coloring in those blurred lines that black people, as you said, had no power to really fight against. You know, yeah, you're free, but if you do this you're still kind of not free, So yeah, you did this, so you're still kind of not free. Like they could really direct that in whatever direction and hide it in whatever type of legal language

they wanted to to maintain the status quo. So yeah, a lot of the things that we talk about on this show, we are not historians and we are not experts. This is an opinion show based mostly on our life experience and the things that we have read and encountered over our lives. And then you know, most of the history that we've read before our lives. We do not have our encyclopedia or Britannic and handy when we're speaking here, but we were speaking an envelope of truth. And the

idea ramses is that we're apologizing for missed semantics. I'm sorry.

with an assault rifle, he's not free. He doesn't probably survive that night. He definitely doesn't walk towards the cops with then ar fifth teen as people are shouting he just killed two people and get to go home and make it the trial safe. He was not arrested and pepper sprayed on the scene. If he was pepper sprayed, it was probably by people trying to stop him from

killing people, not law enforcement. Again semantics, So if we misread a sentence or we misquoted something, it was not an effort to make the story more left or right leaning. The general understanding of what we were saying is true. Well said, give me for not using my time to apologize. No, no, no, you're good, you're good. No, you should you and you shouldn't. But but yeah, well said, And I think that's it for us. We're gonna have to leave it right there. Unfortunately,

we can't go too much further. So if you're just sooner in Civic Cipher, I'm you host rams is joh I go by the name of key Ward and that's going to do it for us, so be sure to check us out on the website civicciper dot com, download this in any other previous episodes, and until next week. Yeah yeah,