Welcome to another episode of Civic Cipher. I'm your host, Rams's job.
I go by the name q Ward. Rams just called me to and my mom, so I'm just kind of stuck with it.
Yes, indeed, and we are back up in you one more game. A great show lined up for you today, so be sure to stick around. We are going to
hopefully have a little fun this show. I wanted it to kind of settle, but there was a stand up comedian who had a special come to Netflix, and he brought up some really interesting points, some themes that we talk about here on the show, but to have someone else say them it was just kind of like reassuring to know that these things are being talked about outside of,
you know, more serious platforms. And then also for folks who may have seen it, or even may not have seen it, it gives us an opportunity to just, you know, give you some perspective into what life might be like for your brother's and sisters of African descent. In addition to that, we are also going to be talking about Kim Potter and the trial that she's dealing with right now.
She is the officer that you know, we talked about on the show before she was trying to apprehend the suspect to his fleeing, and she says that she meant to grab her taser and instead grabbed her gun and into the young man's life. And so now her trial is underway, and I have some thoughts on that that a lot of people might not like, but you know, we do have to talk about these things and hopefully we're going to get through them, and of course a lot of other things to stick around for as well.
So yeah, so just stay tuned. A lot coming your way. But first we're going to talk about this Michael Chay. So first off, have you seen at uh.
Oh wait. First off, we're.
Gonna do Abny Excellence. I'm getting ahead of myself here, so got excited. Yeah, man, so Ebny Excellence. I do want to shout out Meghan the Stallion because she graduated from college this week and she used the hashtag Meghan the Graduate. You know something funny, that's dope. Megan the Graduate is dope. Yeah, but I don't know why she doesn't call herself Megan the Mayor because Megan the Stallions are male horses and mayors are women horses.
But you know, that's beyond what we're talking about here.
All that from us, and by us, I mean men like men refer to women.
As a stallion. Okay, that's fair, that is true.
But anyway, Yeah, she graduated, She walked across the stage. I got a chance to see the video, loved it. And she graduated from Texas Southern University or Bachelor of Sciences Health in Health Administration. And she told People magazine last year that she wanted to complete her degree in part to honor the memory of her late mother, who died in twenty nineteen. She also discussed her goal of becoming a hospital administrator, So shout out to her for that.
This also allowed me to bring up another point, and this is another part of ebony excellence, and that's that among African Americans, between two thousand and nine and twenty ten, statistics show that black women accounted for sixty eight percent of associates degrees, sixty six percent of bachelor's degrees, and seventy one percent of master's degrees, sixty five percent of doctorate degrees awarded to black students. So women are doing Black women are doing a lot better than black men.
And then the other part of this is that by both race and gender. The study also shows that black women are enrolled in college at a higher percentage rate than any other group, including white women, Asian women, and white men. So shout out to MEGANE. Stallion, but also shout out to black women for really, you know, making their education a priority. Can't make this up, man, This is an also thing to see.
So black women leading the world and everything positive.
It seems he's that's what we need. We need more of that.
So oh yeah, and real quick, I do want to let you know I was using Huffington Post and Essence Magazine to source that material there, all right, So now, Michael ch Shame the Devil.
Have you seen this at all? Q? I have.
I've seen it twice. A bit more subdued than his last special, but I think it's because he was tackling some even more serious topics. His last special, Black Lives Matter, had just.
Lit fire.
And I remember watching that special because he said, and just you know, it's controversial for black lives to matter?
Isn't that crazy?
And he just kept saying it over and over again because it should have as ridiculous as you may have thought it was for him, to say it over and over again. It should have been ridiculous for it the need to be said in the first place.
I remember him saying, He's like, really semantics, and it just shows just how juvenile that whole response, that all lives matter response is to that. But you know, as it turns out, like Dave Chappelle, this guy is willing to go in that direction, and you know, handle that dead on.
Now.
I don't want to tell his jokes, you know, for those who haven't seen it, I really want you to go and watch it, and if you haven't seen it.
Watch Both Specialist if you have time, sure, sure, But if.
You haven't seen it, I can't promise. I will just say spoiler alert. You know, I'm going to try not to tell the jokes, but I do want to kind of make the points. You know, this is, you know, a national, global platform, you know, and again with him bringing up some points that we talk about on the show,
it just is meaningful for us to revisit them. So one of the things that he said, he says, I feel American until I'm around something very American, and I know that you know what that means, but you may not know how that feels right.
So it's interesting.
You know, there's something that I say all the time because you know, people approach me and a lot of you know, we're critical of a lot of institutions in this country, especially on the show. We're very critical of the way policing is done, the way voting is handled, especially in poor communities, black and brown communities, et cetera. And a lot of folks a convenient way of inconvenient for us, but a convenient way for them to attack our various positions is to call us anti American, like
we don't love this country. If we don't love this country, we can just leave or something like that. It's it's very dismissive and it doesn't really engage, right, And you know, I always thought that that was a flaw. That's flawed logic. It's a flawed argument, and it never holds up when it's direct, like directly in my face. You know, on
social media or whatever. Of course, people can get off whatever they want and you really have to rope someone into it, into a conversation that they're never prepared to have. I promise you that not with me at least. But you know, we do love this country. You know, I think I'll speak for most of us when I say that. You know, I'd probably even venture to say I speak
for the vast majority. You know, I can't say all of anyone, you know, but you know, the country itself is not bad, you know, the country.
This is a rich country.
This is a country that has made some notable progress in a lot of areas. And of course, you know there's a lot long way to go. But for everyone to just be comfortable, Oh, we elected a black president, you know, that isn't the finish line. You know, there's some really measurable, tangible, statistical things that we are really trying to accomplish, you know, Barack Obama, we love that, But that was almost symbolic in.
Nature, right, and it's still the exception to exactly the rule, exactly.
Look at every other president in our history before and since more of the same.
Absolutely. So I equate this to my child and my children. You know, we'll pick one. I have two boys, either one of them my child, right. I love my child, I love this country. I want my child to be better, no matter what he's doing, no matter how good you think my child is, I want my child to be better I want my child to always strive to be better, and even if he's the best that he can be,
to still push himself to be even better than that. Right, I think that's something that can coexist with love.
Right.
And granted I would not criticize my child because my child is not an adult. But when I think of the United States of America, I think of it as a mature enough country to withstand some criticism. Right, doesn't mean I don't love the country. So you know, when Michael Cha says this, I feel American until I'm around something very American. What he's talking about is, how about
the flag? Right on holiday? When we see that flag, it matters, you know what I mean, Like especially like you know, uh national holidays, when we go to the post office, you.
See the flag.
You know, maybe a fire department or you know a school. You know, you see that flag waving. I pledge allegiance to the like this is a part of all of it. We all grew up here, right, we see these war movies. We want the USA to win still, the good guys and always will be. This is our country. We were born here, We'll die here.
Right.
It's not until you find that almost seemingly out of place flag where it starts to feel like, uh, oh, I'm around something very American. I'll give you an example. If I'm driving down the road and I see a truck, it's a truck. It belongs on the road with me. If I'm driving down the road and I see a truck with a flag hanging out of the back of it, I feel like this person is racist. That might sound
like an insane leap, you know. I know that if you're listening to my voice, you might feel like, oh, this is just somebody who's super patriotic, or obviously this is a Republican person.
That's that's their deal or whatever.
But for me, it's almost like my mind goes to the worst possible place, like this person would rather me not live here, because if I wave the flag, I know that I'm being patriotic. This is my country. This is our country. We love it, we celebrate.
It's you know, I think it's semantic that you just I'm gonna get to it. I didn't even do on purpose. This is our country. It's different than this.
This is my country right and over there it's only this is my country, right or when they say this is our country. It's they're our exclusive anyone else not right, It's not we, it's we. Yeah, yeah, I can't see me. But there was a difference in those weeks. In those weeks, yes, indeed, so an interesting way of saying that I feel American until I'm around something very American. But I think it's very true. It it just feels different. And I do
want to share this. Dr Westernberg, who's a sometimes contributor to the show. Here, uh, doctor Camilla Westernburg, who works with the NAACP, comes up all the time. She took me to meet Jesse Jackson a few months ago. And you know, this was a very democratic, very blue organization putting on this event, and you know all the people that obviously subscribed to similar political ideologies and beliefs. But they were passing out flags and I'm wondering, like, why
is everyone passing out these flags? And then doctor Westernburg told me some Then she said, this is our country too, and we cannot let them take the flag. We cannot let them give the flag a different meaning from what it actually means. This flag represents us too. And so ever since then, the same flag she gave me, it hangs out in front of my house along with everyone
is welcome no matter what language you speak. Sign I have like a yard sign that says that, and then I have a huge Black Lives banner Black Lives Matter banner in my garage. So all those things can coexist. But I just to his point, I feel American until I'm around something very American. I thought that was such
a potent bar that I wanted to address that. So moving on, there's something else he says, you know, in this special he asks, you know, the way it comes up is like when you're talking to a non black person, perhaps most notably a white person, and you say to them, do you love America? Very easily they can say yes, I love America, right, But you know, and the joke was, when you ask the same question to a black person,
do you love America? The black person's response will be like, well, I love Brooklyn.
You know, yeah, like Carlem is dope.
So that's another thing that's very telling. Right.
So Q and I have been very fortunate. We've traveled to all the states. In fact, my fiftieth state, I'm going to Alaska in January, so I'll knock them all out. But there's no one who's been to more states than me, because I've been to all of them, and I know that feeling because I've driven through Bucks, North Tennessee. You know, I had to stop at the waffle house. I've shared the story. You know, we've been pulled over in Mississippi. That's a story we've shared many times.
Yes, And.
If you look back on it, the craziest thing is, I mean we both know this. We drove through Alabama, we drove through Mississippi. There's no way to see all of them, all of them, but those two in particular.
You know this because we talked about it.
There's no way to say that those places weren't absolutely gorgeous, Oh my god, just the majesty of the lay of the land.
Just a beautiful place. But if you were to ask do I like them Alabama? Are you? You know what I mean?
And it's because you know, I think, to Michael Chase point, certain parts of this country.
Don't feel very welcoming.
It feels like you're going to have a tougher time, you know, like those sundown towns. You know that's still a real thing, you know, in a lot of places, and if you don't know where to go. It's just like any any place for folks who do do any traveling. If you don't know where to go, or or that more specifically, where not to go, things can be very scary. Well, it's not just a someone might rob me if you're
black and in the wrong part of town. You know, it's more like the good old boys might pull up in their trucks and lynch me and everyone will have a good laugh about it. And then that that fear is very real. So when he says, well, I like Brooklyn, you know, I think he's pointing out that very thing. And for those that maybe that joke didn't really land, maybe that gives a bit more context. Now to add
to that, I thought this is funny. He said, if there was a black American flag, there'd be like eleven stars, and they'd be.
For certain cities. They wouldn't even be for states. I thought that was so cool.
But the uh, you know, back to this flag thing, there was a bar that he that he dropped in this in this stand up special, he says that you know, you you might find more Puerto Rican flags in a black neighborhood than American flags, and the like, I know, Puerto Ricans shout out at the ogo.
You know what I mean.
I was raised by Puerto Ricans, and I'm part of my ancestry is Cuba. My grandmother's from the island of Cuba. So that pride is a very different type of pride than what we now know to be that American pride. Like I grew up with that flag, never had any part of my life did that flag intimidate me until
about maybe we'll call it twenty seventeen, twenty eighteen. Then it started to mean something a little different, right, No, twenty sixteen, right and there where it started to take on a whole new meeting where it didn't represent me or US, or it didn't feel like a happy symbol or something that everyone could be on board with. It felt like it was being co opted away from the US that lives here. To them, that really feels like they have claim to the actual land and no one
else does. And so to his point that there's more Puerto Rican flags in a black neighborhood than American flags, I don't think that that really is indicative of anti American sentiment as much as it is indicative of you know, that flag with its history and the current way it's being deployed almost in an it almost feels like an attack, you know, on anyone whose skin is not you know, anyone who doesn't trace their ancestry through the Caucasus Mountain range,
i e. Caucasian folks. It feels like there's perhaps a bit of a disconnect there, and not because we want that, but because that has been what has been imposed.
There's the Puerto Rican flag. It's all love.
The context is far more intimidating now, and that's intentional, right, and that inclusive verse exclusive. It's very pronoun you know what I mean, Like it's meant to feel that way, and we and it. They get their point across exactly very well without even having to say anything. It makes it strange. Like you said, a pickup truck with a massive American flag flying from it says something to us loud and clear.
That's very different.
Yeah, So you know, to his point, he says that, you know, the flag reminds white folks of American history, you know what I mean, and it should, but the same flag also reminds black folks of American history. And the way he says it was like, oh, you got it. You know, so another point he makes, uh, just kind of connected. But he says that, you know, listening to the National Anthem feels kind of like listening to R.
Kelly.
Now forgive me that hilarious. I gotta tell this joke. He said, it feels like listening to R.
Kelly.
Now it still feels good. It's just hard to not think about that other thing, right, and what bar?
What a bar? You know.
Obviously, twenty twenty grew a lot of us up, you know, educated, a lot of us, brought a lot of history out, let a lot of us know where we stood, you know. And we can trace this back to Kaepernick. And even the reason that Kaepernick decided to kneel was because there was a string of police shootings and no accountability. These
lives are just expendable. And you can trace that trend back to before Trayvon Martin, because remember Trayvon Martin was when people said enough is enough, and that was in twenty twelve. Yeah, well that's when Black Lives Matter as a movement began and the hashtag first appeared. So you were talking ten years strong since it since it got to the point where enough was enough and Trayvon Martin
was murdered in Florida by what's that guy's name? It doesn't matter, and so oh yeah, you know, and then all the context and all the you know, everything that has come up over over the past decade. You know, a lot of children have grown up with this as the backdrop for their childhood. You know, a lot of adults now feel like, oh my gosh, this is something I really have to deal with, And a lot of other people are like, hey, man, you know what, I've ducked it for my whole life. I can duck it
the rest of my life, you know. But the fact is is that the national anthem being divisive.
It's not like.
I don't feel you know, I have conversation black conversations. I live a black life, I have a black family, you know these sorts of things. I'm definitely plugged into the black we'll call it collective consciousness.
I have to be in order to do this show. We both do.
There is no strong feeling against the national anthem. The strongest feeling has been, hey, look, this is something that occurs, this is something that is visible.
If we're going to protest.
This is something that we can do because this is our way of charging the country to do better.
And that was so gracious. Right, there's actual anti US lyrics still and we still stand with our hands in our hearts, like it's really there's a lot of credit that we don't get that we should.
Sure, sure, absolutely, And this isn't really in the same vein, but I thought it was really potent and I did want to share this as well. There's a bar that he gives in this special and he says he's talking about depression, and he says that, you know, depression implies that your life is so good that you shouldn't feel sad, Like sadness is not a thing that you should experience, right,
And he's making it for anybody that battles depression. This is this is made in jest, and he's trying to make a different point, not trying to pick on anyone, nor am I. I would never do that, But his point was I think illustrated when he said, imagine a slave picking cotton, you know, because that's a pretty depressing, pretty grim reality. But you know, if you feel like your life is so good that you should never be sad, then you have the space to be depressed.
You have the space to consider it any.
Illness, right exactly, it's a.
Point that something must be wrong, that you're sad because your life is so incredible.
Isn't that crazy?
So you know, there's there's a lot of things these and other things. Obviously we didn't touch on everything, but I highly recommend watching it. The show is called Michael Chay Shame the Devil's on Netflix. It didn't come out recently, you know, it came out a while ago. We waited to do this. We've been wanting to do this.
For a while. Let them know what you mean by a while, because it did come out.
Rather recently, but we didn't get it the first weekend about this. It was maybe like a month and month and a half ago something like that. It came out, but plenty of time for it to you know, for us not to take his material and then you know, spoil it for you. So and plus despite us having gone through these it's still very watchable. It's very entertaining, very funny, by the way last month, okay, But also I think that it's something that might give you a
little bit more in the way of perspective. I think that the more we know how each other's lives is the more we can empathize and you know, the more right ultimately that we can do by each other. And that's the point of this show, and that's.
Hopefully what we will leave you with.
So stick around your radios. We're coming back with more a big cipher right after this