Broadcasting from the Hip Hop Weekly Studios. I'd like to welcome you to another episode of Civic Cipher, where our mission is to foster allyship empathy and understanding. I am your host, Ramsy's job.
He is Ramsey's job. I am q Ward. You are tuned in to Civic Cipher, Yes you.
Are, and you know what, it's our birthday. It is our birthday. We've made it four years of fighting the good fight, and we are in a jovial mood. We have a lot to celebrate, we have a lot to
reflect upon. So we're going to spend the first half of today's episode kind of telling you a little bit about the origin story of this show, to reaffirm why we feel like this show is important, to kind of give you a sense of sort of the primordial ooze that what we'll call ourselves, like a typical African American male comes from, and we just happen to have the access to a platform like this to be able to
create it. But you know, for a lot of the folks that have joined us along the way in living the scife life as we like to call it, we feel like it's important for us to as often as it makes sense, provide you an aperture into what life is like for folks who don't have nationally syndicated radio shows but do live very much the black experience and a lot of the hopelessness and problems that come along
with that. For the second half of the show, we're going to have a little bit brighter tone because we're going to look back on the past four years and really celebrate some of the accomplishments that we have seen, not only as a show, but as a country. You know, we've done a lot of growing and for all of the setbacks that we endure, it's important to also remind ourselves of the progress that we make and overall remind ourselves that we are tending toward progress and so that
and so much more to stick around for. Before we get there, let us start with some Ebony excellence.
Shall I think?
We shall? You want me to take this one?
Please?
All right? I'll take this one. Today's ebny Excellence is sponsored by Actively Black. There is greatness in our DNA. Visit actively black dot com and today's Ebney Excellence comes from Blacknews dot Com. Adhara Perez Sanchez, an eleven year old brownskinned girl from Mexico City, is making headlines for her exceptional intelligence, with an ice Q score higher than
that of Albert Einstein. Adara, who is of Afro Mexican descent, has an IQ of one hundred and sixty two and has already received a bachelor's degree in systems engineering from CNCI University and is currently studying a master's program in mathematics at the Technological University of Mexico. Her dream is to be an astronaut for NASA. According to The Daily Mail, at Hara's parents first noticed her advanced capabilities when she
was a toddler. She was able to read and write by the age of three, and by the time she was five, she was doing complex algebraic equations. He has a fascination with space and is able to solve problems that even adults find challenging. Ataura's passion for learning led her to begin attending classes at the University dad CNCI in Mexico City when she was just eight years old.
She was able to complete a degree in industrial engineering in just two years, an accomplishment that typically takes four to five years. At Our's achievements have made her a role model for young people around the world and she has been recognized with numerous awards and accolades. She has been invited to speak at events across Mexico, and she has also been featured in international media. And again I want to say her name, Adara ad h Ara Perez Sanchez.
You got to take a look at this little girl. She is just a doll. And I love stories like this because, you know, for a lot of folks that don't get a chance to see how intelligence or gifts or talents or whatever are distributed, this one certainly helps chronicle the narrative that black people are just as gifted as everyone else. Moving on, it's our anniversary four years, congratulations Q.
I wish I could sing because that was, like you know what I mean, Like that was my moment to really shine and I almost did. Yea for those that are listening, I almost gave you. I almost gave the people what they wanted. Yeah, man, they need it. But I've heard me singing for y'all, haven't, And that's exactly why I did not give the people what they want to know. Yes, it's our anniversary, it's our birthday, it's is it is that call for celebration.
I think so I think so, and that's where I was going. You know, a lot of times on the show, for long time listeners, you'll know that we don't get a chance to be happy as often as we'd like. You know, we come from a space, you know, where
we were traditional radio broadcasters. We come from hip hop formats and or DJs, you know, like stadium, DJ's, nightclub, DJ's arena DJs and Q's case and I've done a couple of arenas myself too, and you know where we are the parties at right, And we kind of felt like this show was necessary, and so we left a lot of the stick around after the break, we got
your tickets coming up. We left that all behind to kind of do some real work that we felt was really necessary and we could galvanize our different tribes under the guise of friendship and understanding and growth and really leaning into our relationships with each other and building those bridges. And this is a different type of work. This requires different muscles that we had to develop in short order,
and that was not an easy process for us. And often when we are in the thick of this show, we shed tears here, you know, And I'm because Q is very I couldn't imagine this journey with anyone else. Thank you for being my friend and my brother to makes it very, very easy for I think something that's very natural to feel like it has a soft place to land. So, yes, there are a tears shed on this show, often by me, because I kind of go
through it. I got to read all these stories of you know, people losing their lives at the hands of corrupt systems, dying before they had a chance to finish living on a sidewalk.
Sometimes dying before they had a chance to start living.
There you go, and I sell this to say that while again there's a lot of hopelessness and there's a lot of you know, bleak stories and realities that we have to brush up against here, when we do get a chance to have a show like this, I do think it's caused for celebration because we get to be happy, you know, we get a chance to look on something that you know, overall is very sp I do want to get to the origin stories and we'll move through it a little quickly, but something that I want to share
before before.
You move on, And as you're thanking me for this, I encouraged you multiple times to find a better partner than me for this endeavor, first and foremost, because I don't like the sound of my own voice. I've always been very uncomfortable speaking into microphones, especially when it's amplified so that I also hear it. It's something that's always made me cringe. And I didn't know or have the self efficacy to believe that i'd be the best partner
for this journey or the best teammate. And Ramses, as you guys can probably tell, insisted that I do all of these things that I was very, very uncomfortable with doing, and.
I just ignored you saying that you did.
I know a lot too listening to my voice right now, you have no idea how many times I said no. I even had my own theme song, remember that of my no some emphasis, So you know, before we move on, I can't just allow Ramses to kind of thank me for being here, because I literally wouldn't have been here without them. That's not a figurative statement. That's not me trying to be warm or emotional or to get your heartstrings.
I literally would not have been a part of this show or speaking into anyone's microphone if not for rams's job.
Yeah, well we have been each other's brother, because there's no contribution that I've given to your story that you haven't given to mine in some other meaningful way. And so this was what was supposed to happen. Now, I do want to to share with you, our listener, that some of the stories that we're about to share with you there there are stories of progress. And the reason
that we felt that this episode was important. We try to do this once a year, but this is important because a lot of people will look around, especially in terms of like politics, in terms of you know, Supreme Court decisions obviously in the past couple of years, in terms of the fights that we've been fighting for decades,
you know, and they don't see the progress. And the reason is because oftentimes the progress is that that people are wanting to see is measured in, if they're being generous, decades, and progress, you know, for a country is a little slower than that. Progress is more measured in generations, lifetimes. And when you take a step outside of your immediate reality where you're trying to you know, why hasn't police
reform taken place? Why haven't you know, you know, there was that mass shooting that we had earlier in the week. You know, why haven't the gun laws been changed? You know that sort of thing, things like that. Sure, sure, I understand your frustration. I think it's important for us
to remain optimistic, for us to remain hopeful. And the basis of that optimism, and the basis of that hopefulness I think comes from taking again a step outside of the span of a couple of decades and looking at a lifetime and you know, where has where have we come as a nation in the span of a lifetime or two lifetimes? You know what was life like for my for my father when he was born, what was the life like for his father when he was born? And and is there progress? And do I live in
a freer world where there's more mobility? Am I the wildest dream of my great grandfather? And if I say yes, then I think that that's progress. And so we're going to celebrate the small wins here.
I think for most of our lifetime, the answers to that question would have been yes. But over the last few years I might feel like of our country, our countrymen that are trying to take us back to those times where we didn't have those freedoms and our life was not some realization that our forefathers had. There are people actively working to take us back to there. So hopefully we can keep singing this song of celebration and progress that we'd like.
To absolutely and you know, I'm not going to pretend like, you know, the song of celebration and progress and freedom hasn't been sung for hundreds of years in this country.
But you know, if we're talking about lifetimes in recent history in terms of how well things were documented, the civil rights movement of the nineteen sixties is obviously one of the formative moments in this country's history in terms of how, you know, we treat each other and how this country treats black people and brown people and marginalized people.
This was the end of Jim Crow and the beginning of a legally federally protected framework for how we should treat each other with respect to housing, with respect to employment, with respect to you know, even the government's approach, you know,
and state and local laws. There were just there's things protections put in place in the sixties, and this show began in the spirit of the echo of the civil rights movement in the sixties So for those that don't know, in twenty twenty, you know, Q and I were out protesting in the Freedom Summer. You know, it's been called a number of things. But you know, we weren't just all right, let's go talk on his radio and then
go back home. You know, we recognized that we had a responsibility as human beings to stand with the people. You know, we weren't just peddling, you know, our personalities to the people and being exalted above them. We knew that we also were these people. We didn't own them radio stations at all, you know what I mean. And so and then the truth is right is right. You know, there were other people who weren't black men that got out there and protested, and they left high positions as well.
But you know, for Q and I, we just felt like this was this was really important. And I know that Q got out. You got out when you could because you had, you know, a little one in the house. Yeah, but I had my little boys were a little older, so I could take them to the protests with me. And what ended up happening was we ended up meeting some folks who were they they just kind of knew who we were. And what platforms we had and that our voice could go a little further than the bullhorns could.
And there's thousands of people out protesting and marching police injustice and police violence and brutality. And you know, the conversation came up, you know, why not why not challenge what Channel twelve is saying. Channel twelve is saying, we're out here rioting. You know, Channel fifteen is saying that we're out setting fires and that's not happening. The police are doing X, Y and Z to us. And then they're saying that we started that. And you know, and
again these are people. I'm standing with them with my children. They're ensuring that I'm safe every day they walk me to and to my car because they recognized, Okay, Ramses has the potential to do more than just hold up a sign here, Ramses, can you know whatever? So that was that was very important to meet these powerful leaders, these great thinkers, these people that knew about activism. They knew about what political systems were corrupt and what political
systems could benefit more people more of the time. And again, I was a DJ, so I didn't know these things, but I was fueled by the conviction in my heart. I had the support of Q, because I was a lot of times when you weren't there. You know, I was acting on your behalf to one part of the story you'll hear in just a second. And you know, I felt like these folks needed a place to be
able to share their stories. So I took that back to the radio station and I says, hey, you know, there's some some great thinkers out here, and they should be able to say, you know, why these protests matter. They should be able to explain these concepts that sound you know, unusual and scary, defund the police, you know, you know.
Apparently black lives matter, lives matter, scary, all these things, and what does it mean and what is what is the push?
You know? And originally the folks at the radio station were like, yeah, that's a great idea, we want you to do that. And then, so you know, Q and I that's when we first started. I started having the conversations because we weren't doing a Radio Solstice anymore at that time, so we this was our next show. It was going to be our next show, and so we started preparing for that, and one week turns into two weeks and I still don't have my cart number. I
don't have my imaging for the show. I don't have anything that the radio station is supposed to provide. I don't have my time slot. I don't know how long the show's going to be. Whatever I asked for thirty minutes originally. Then you know when week turns into two, two turns into a month, you know, and on and on and then finally I'm like, hey, so we're waiting. We got these interviews lined up. We want to get these powerful voices on. We need to do more than
just have a black square on Instagram. That's that's fair Weather friend energy. And this is the hip hop station. What are we really doing here? You know, you don't need to do anything. You just need to give me the time slot. I will produce the rest of it. And you know, I already got the show built. And the program director at the time of that station said Will rams Is, I'm going to explain to you what's really going on. Listen, bad boy, I don't want to do a black show.
And it's a gut punch every time I hear it. Yeah, every time we retaill the story, every time I re remember that it hits every time I know it's coming, and it's still jolts me a little bit.
Yeah, and so that was the highest of insults, you know. And you got to bear in mind that this came on the heels of Q and I driving back. You know, in twenty twenty, we flew to Miami to pick up a car for Q. It was a nice it was a Porsche, and we were driving this back from Florida, Florida, right. So it's a new car with the paper dealership tags all that sort of stuff, and it's it's a fancy car, and we're driving back. We get pulled over in Mississippi. And the short version of the story.
At like three o'clock in the morning, by the way, Yeah, in the same summer of George Floyd, Ad Aubrey and Black Lives Matter, that same summer, We're in the deep South, Mississippi, three o'clock in the morning, no light, no moonlight, light, no street lights, no nothing.
Them trees are real tall out there, so blocked out the moonlight too. But anyway, we got pulled over for no reason. But you know, just to level with you in Arizona where we live, you know, on the road there's a white line to give you the border of the traffic lane, and then there's a ridge outside of that, like a rumble strip to let you know, to wake you up if you're like drifting off the road or something.
So there's a white line and then there's a like a guard line outside of that that'll rumble your tiers. In Mississippi, the white line has that rumble strip in it, so if you if your tire touches the white white.
Painted over those grooves that make that noise to kind of give you an idea that you've swerved out of your lane.
So so what happens is we're driving and I think we might have been switching an outcast song or something like that because we was groove. Yeah, we were doing our thing. We was on our way to Louisiana, and uh, you know that little tiny swerve where you just kind of touch the the rumble strip and it's like.
A which also could have been us changing lanes. Yeah, it wouldn't have just because of the word its positioned.
But we ended up getting pulled over. Uh. And I went on Facebook live just because again it was a heightened heightened emotion emotional time and you know, I needed everybody that this is going to be recorded. But you know, these were two police officers from the south and they were not that you know, they saw me and Q in the car. They took one look at Q, talked to him, realized he hadn't been drinking, which is the reason you pulled someone over. If you're going to pull
someone over. That wasn't a crazy swerve.
It was definitely weren't speeding. But yeah, none of that cruise control set to five miles above the speed limit because.
We knew where we were. Yeah, we was trying to just do our thing. But they ended up pulling Q out of the car. Uh, you know, and they had those bright lights on your middle of night so you can't see I'm on Facebook Live people can see the police lights or whatever. Then they come ask me for my ID. I wasn't even driving. I had nothing to do with the rumble strip. But then they're like, I need you to step out of the car, and they take
me out of the car. Then my phone dies. So now everybody's like stressed out because I get snatched out of the police car. Well, not snatched out. I don't want to make it too dramatic, but I got taken out of the car, my phone died, so everybody was on Facebook live. They're going crazy for us because they don't know what's happening. People are crying back home whatever. And then they you know, they had us hemmed up
against the car. Then they asked us, of course, to the standard of questions, just because how we look, you know, do we have drugs in the car and y of that stuff, And of course we don't, it's a brand new car. And then they're like, okay, we're going to get the dogs out here. So then they get the dogs out and then they have to sniff to that. So we're on the side of the road for hours, just and the humiliation and all of that sort of
stuff that comes along with that. Of course, they didn't find anything, but and this isn't that's not the only time that's happened in our lives, but it happened at a pivotal time for us because oh and by the way, it's not a racial thing because both of those officers were black. This is this is a police issue, right.
Was both Yeah, because both of the officers were black, but so were we And we'd love to to think. I almost know for certain. Were we two white people, it doesn't even happen.
Yeah, And were they two white people, it could have went a lot worse.
Yeah.
Yeah, So there was some one of them was trying to be a cop first and the other one was trying to be a man first. And I think that's really what gave us our saving grace, but again a formative experience, and that coming into the conversations we were having back home about you know, getting a show off the ground that allowed black people to share stories, black leaders, black you know, visionaries, people who were politically engaged and
knew better to come up and explain themselves. We felt that that was necessary, and of course, with the powers that be at the old station saying that they didn't want to do a black show, that that is the highest of insults, the highest I've ever heard in my life saying that to me. You know, we decided that we were going to resign. I resigned, and it resigned on behalf.
Of Q decided that we were going to resign. Yeah, so we resign, yeah exactly.
And then shortly after that, you know, the newspapers came because we were the only black radio personalities on the air at the time. During that season of racial reckoning, folks started reaching out because of the press and saying, hey, I heard about you resigning. Would you like to do that show over here on this station, And of course we're like yes, and we went live. It would have been September tenth, twenty twenty. And obviously the show has grown.
We're now syndicated across the country. We're in seventy five seventy six stations now and most importantly we have you to thank for that. So these past four years have been magical. Hopefully we've been making an impact and one trying our best. Yeah, and one thing we'll never be able to do is thank you enough for your support along the way. Right now, it's time for the Way Black History Fact and Today's Way Black History Factor, sponsored
by Major Threads for innovative fashionable sportswear. Checkmajorthreads dot com. And I'm going to share a letter with you. I verified this letter. You can verify it yourself check out the Smithsonian. It is a real letter from a real person to his former master, Dayton, Ohio, August seventh, eighteen sixty five, to my old master, Colonel P. H. Anderson,
Big Spring, Tennessee. Sir, I got your letter and was glad to find that you had not forgotten Jordan, and that you wanted me to come back and live with you again, promising to do better for me than anybody else can. I have often felt uneasy about you. I thought the Yankees would have hung you long before this for harboring reps they found at your house. I suppose they never heard about your going to Colonel Martin's to kill the Union soldier that was left by his company
in their stable. Although you shot at me twice before I left you, I did not want to hear of your being hurt, and I'm glad you are still living. It would do me good to go back to the dear old home again and see Miss Mary and Miss Martha and Alan Esther Green and Lee. Give my love to them all. Tell them I hope we will meet
in the better world. If not in this, I would have gone back to see you when I was working in the Nashville hospital, But one of the neighbors told me that Henry intended to shoot me if he ever got the chance. I want to know, particularly what the good chances you propose to give me. I am doing tolerably well. Here I get twenty five dollars a month with victuals and clothing. I have a comfortable home for Mandy.
The folks call her Miss Anderson. And the children Millie, Jane and Grundy go to school and are learning well. The teacher says Grundy has a heart. Sorry, it has a head for a preacher. They go to Sunday school and Mandy and me attend church regularly. We are kindly treated. Sometimes we overhear others saying them colored people were slaves down in Tennessee. The children feel hurt when they hear such remarks, but I'll tell them it was no disgrace
in Tennessee to belong to Colonel Anderson. Many darkies would have been proud as I used to be to call you Master. Now, if you will write and say what wages you will give me, I will be better able to decide whether it would be in my advantage to move back again my freedom, which you say I can have. There is nothing to be gained on that score. As I got my free papers in eighteen sixty four from
the Provost Marshall General of the Department of Nashville. Mandy says she would be afraid to go back without some proof that you were disposed to treat us justly and kindly. And we have concluded to test your sincerity by asking you to send us our wages for the time we served you. This will make us forget and forgive old scores and rely on your justice and friendship in the future. I served you faithfully for thirty two years and Mandy
twenty years. At twenty five dollars a month for me and two dollars a week for Mandy, our earnings would amount to eleven six hundred and eighty dollars. Add to this the interest for the time our wages would have been kept back, and deduct what you paid for our clothing and three doctors' visits to me pulling a tooth for Mandy, and the balance will show what we are in justice entitled to. Please send the money by Adam's
Express in care of V. Winter's Esquire, Dayton, Ohio. If you fail to pay us for faithful labours in the past, we can have little faith in your promises in the future. We must trust the Good Maker has opened your eyes to the wrongs to which you and your fathers have done to me and my father's in making us toil for your generations without recompense. Here I draw my wages every Saturday night, but in Tennessee there was never any payday for the negroes more than for the horses or cows.
Surely there will be a day of reckoning for those two who defrauded the labor of his hire. In answering this letter, please state, if you would, if there would be any safety for my Millie and Jane, who are now grown up in both good looking girls. You know how it was with poor Matilda and Catherine. I would rather stay here and starve and die if it come to that, than have my girls bought to shame and
violence and wickedness of their young masters. You will also please state if there has been any schools open for the colored children in your neighborhood. The great desire of my life now is to give my children an education and have them form virtuous habits. From your old service, servant, Jordan Anderson. PS, say howdy to George Carter and thank him for taking the pistol from you when you were shooting at me. Sorry I had to read that fast, but it was a long letter, and I wanted to
get as much in as I could. Back in the day, you could not insult white people, and so I think that was just a masterful job of playing above board. Keep on riding with us as we continue to broadcast the balance and defend the discourse from the Hip Hop Weekly Studios. Welcome back to Civic Cipher. I'm your host, Ramsy's.
Joh he is Ramsey's Jah, I am q Ward. You are tuned into Civic Cipher.
Indeed, and we are celebrating. It's a celebration around here. We are four years old. That's a long time for a radio show, and so we're.
Uh, who would have thought?
Who would have thought? You know, we thought we were going to be on for.
Thirty minutes once without a home.
Yeah, yeah, here we are all over the whole country. Isn't that crazy? And we're taking the second half of the show to talk about some of the positive things that have happened in the past four years. For those who don't know, we often talk about some of the setbacks, some of the traumatic things that happen, some of the heavier news stories. But today we are going to look back and revel in the progress that we've made and remind ourselves of what it is we're doing, why we're
doing it, and hopefully what outcomes we can expect. Long But before we get there, it's time to Baba become a better ally Baba and today's Bobba sponsored by Friends of the Movement. You can sign up for the free voter wiler from fotmglobal dot com to support black businesses and allied businesses as well as make an impact with your spending. Again, that's Fotmglobal dot com and today we want you to check out code Pink see if it's
for you all right. Code Pink is a feminist grassroots organization working to end US warfare and imperialism, support peace and human rights initiatives, and redirect resources into healthcare, education, green jobs, and other life affirming programs, and you can join them at codepink dot org. Life affirming programs are investments and social programs that uplift human dignity instead of
tear it down. They believe universal healthcare must be must include the right to an abortion, access to education must not be determined by income bracket, and housing as a human right. Founders in the Fall of twenty sorry two thousand and two as a grassroots effort to prevent the US war on Iraq. They continue to organize for Justice for Iraqis, to hold war criminals accountable, and to end
and prevent other US wars and regime change efforts. They actively oppose you as sanctions on Iran, Venezuela, North Korea, Cuba, as well as torture and detention center at Guantanamo, weaponized and spy drones, and the prosecution of whistleblowers. They form companies that derive their profits from US military interventions, the
global arms trade, and the militarization of our streets. Rooted in a network of local organizers, online supporters, and generoust donors with an emphasis on joy and humor, their tactics include satire, street theater, creative visuals, civil resistance, and directly challenging powerful decision makers in government and corporations, and of course, wearing pink again. Check them out at code pink dot
org and see if they're right for you. You know, I forgot how these folks came on to my radar, but I remember that they did, and you know, I knew that I needed to share that because some people you just kind of find an initiative, an effort that just kind of speaks to your spirit, and these might be the right folks for you again, codepeak dot org. All right, the past four years?
Wow?
Four years, man, that's a long time. Again. Congratulations, thank you, well done, sir. Likewise, Likewise, when we started this show, it was underneath the presidency of Donald Trump, which.
I still can't believe happened. Like I thought so much more of my countrymen, my brothers and sisters from every background of life, than to ever see them collectively, by the tens of millions elect someone like him to be the president of the United States. It was, you know, I steal as you know, struggle with that reality today that so many of our neighbors would see someone like him fit to not just lead, but to be the
permanent leader if they could have their way. It's a it's a much more scary thing for me than seemingly everyone else. I get stuck in the idea sometimes, But yeah, him becoming the president and living in this country under his presidency, I've had better years, I'll tell you that.
Yeah, And I'm glad you mentioned it that way, because it's important to think back to the weight. For many of you, this might not be your reality, but for people like us, for me and Q and people that look like us, and people that kind of walk a similar path to us. Donald Trump's presidency was a very scary time, not because of necessarily the president himself former president, but because of what he represented to the people who
voted for him. He emboldened a group of people in this country who could not only shape outcomes for those of us who have historically been disenfranchised, but they could take direct action and often threatened to do so, and
in some instances did. And so during twenty twenty, when the show was born, there were people who were either arming themselves or doing their best to kind of support, let's say, support police initiatives think Kyle Rittenhouse, but on a smaller scale, right counter protesters that stood to really gain nothing. They just wanted to show up in defense of the police because they were Donald.
Trump had important to point out though we've now learned this that we know this, this isn't just me talking about how I feel. Those people were not really in support of the police. They were against us. They were in support of those they felt the police oppressed. Which so in that moment, yeah, we're pro police, but we saw on January sixth, after the following election, they're not
didn't care at all about the police. They had a very very precise and pointed agenda, and as soon as they thought the police did not fall in line with that agenda, it was forget the police. It was it was back to blue before that. But then we've seen actual footage of them assaulting officers by the thousands. Were thousands of them insulting hundreds of officers.
Rather, I'm glad you said that, because that's that's a much better way to say what I was trying to say. But also it really gives you insight into the mind of the people that have been that were in bolded underneath Donald Trumps presidency, where they could never be wrong, there was no room to grow, no room to learn, and anything that didn't fit. Rather than adjust their mental framework, they just change their outward reality. It's a very strange thing to see happen over and over again.
I don't want us to spend an entire segment on this topic, but it's important to establish aback off of what you're saying. They don't even have a set ideology. They don't have a set list of morals or principles that they are defined by. Because we've learned and we've watched them. I hate to say it, but make fools of themselves in support of him, go against their own children and against their own well being. Out loud, you can ask them a question, what do you feel about this?
Be at the Bible or be at laws or be it outcomes, and they'll tell you their answer, and then you tell them in the next line, okay, Donald Trump's opposed to what you just sa And without hesitation, they just fold on what they just said and adopt whatever Donald Trump said. It's like he can do no wrong. So I know, I just said that I want to protect my kids. I know I just said that a person that commits a felon you should go to jail. I know I just said that. But now we're talking
about Donald Trump, and forget everything I just said. I didn't mean any of it, and then look at their children and tell their children it's okay x y Z and x y Z could be something that directly harms or directly goes against not just their core beliefs, but the very children that they're talking to.
Yeah, and I don't want us to forget about these people. And I know it's kind of tough because we're so polarized in this moment, but you know, there were people who voted for Hitler or people who voted for you know, these are like duly elected individuals around the world and throughout history, and we're seeing it's possible for people to get duped in Mass. Drink the kool aid if you will, join the cult in Mass. But right now, you know, we have to affirm, probably now more than ever, that
right is right and wrong is wrong. But one of the good things that has happened since the show has started is that Donald Trump was voted out of office. A lot of people will agree with me when I say this that when Joe Biden was elected, it wasn't because Joe Biden was him. You know, Joe Biden was the person who was most likely going to appeal to enough people who were not going to vote for Trump a second time, and he just was the man at the time to get Donald Trump out of the office. Uh.
People who were people who were just right or just left of center and undecided if you will, or or who had come to Jesus with regards to what they'd seen from the president, they still were not people that would lean left. So it had to be someone that could appeal to conservatives, even as a liberal. And you know, Joe Biden represented our sadly best chance in that moment. And it's a little less sad today because there's a there's a record of things that have happened since he's
been in office. That doesn't mean he's gotten everything right, that doesn't believe, that doesn't mean that we agree on everything that he's done. But we were able to have someone less despicable in that office.
And and now I'm glad that we painted the picture of slightly painted the picture of what life was like underneath the Trump presidency, where all these emboldened people in our day to day lives with walking around with their whole chest out and their racism on their sleeve. And you know, we have children, we have you know what I'm saying, so that our children have to go out into the world and interact.
They made for a far less safe world for our.
Kids, right right, So, Joe Biden presidency, how to it lets some of the air out of the ball in a manner of speaking in our in our individual lives.
Unfortunately, not all of the air, because here we go again, someho and who would have thought here that that we could get here again? But we're here again, bro, And it's within the margin of error, which is it's is as much as this is a celebratory show today and we're celebrating the fact that we're even here and that we're still here and we have the right to do so, the fact that we're in a place where this very heavy and very yeah, this election is I just can't
believe we hear again. I can't believe there's enough people still who have seen and heard this man, because before they didn't know the first time around, a lot of people didn't know people that I respect. They just wanted something different. They were tired of politics as usual, and he represented something they thought outside of the box, anti establishment and tie whatever. Yeah, and now it's not funny nomore. Yeah, you know what I mean, Like, wake.
Up, I get it, I get it. Well, you know what we were saying is that one of the positive things is that he was voted out of the office. And regardless of how you feel, that does breathe some life back into our day to day coming out of twenty twenty, because twenty twenty we're like outside protesting, We're like, okay, well these police are you know, I'm from Compton, California. So it was an LAPD, you know what I'm saying.
So the LAPD for those who don't know, the LAPD used to be wild in the eighties.
And in the seventies. Yeah, talk to me. When was the watch riots were sixty seventies somewhere in the area. Yeah, so it wasn't just the eighties. No, No, LAPD wold for some time.
So so for us, it's you know, I was never born in There was never a time in my life when the police were the good guys like you know in the movies, they're the good guys in real life. I never looked at the police like yeah, that's what's up. Noah, I'm just trying to stay away from them, like the gang bangers and the you know, other people that you're taught to stay away from. So, you know, I didn't grow up like white people are like, oh my god, I love to talk to the police. No, no, not me.
I'm staying over here and hopefully they don't buy them. It's like a loose dog with no chain.
The police policing in our country is a really interesting establishment, and they're they're they've othered enough of us to give themselves a target or an enemy, if you will, then I think that's an appropriate term when you look at the militarization of police. They've othered enough communities and enough of us to give themselves a target or an enemy. And when someone that didn't fit the profile of target enemy attacked them in mass, they kind of didn't respond.
The military, the police, and our nation's capital were kind of like stuck. The former president led an insurrection against our country, stormed and attacked our capital, and the police were like underrepresented, undermanned, and underprepared because they were being attacked in mass by people who did not fit the description.
Of bad bad guys.
It was a moment where that system that they've relied on for all of their existence failed them in real time because they saw it. It was he announced it on television.
Let me let me restate what you're saying. Please, If it was black people that had gone to the capital, Let's say it was a BLM protest on January sixth, and black people attacked the capital. It would have been a whole different story. But that's what he was trying to say, But it was.
You said that. You said that as as g rated as you could. Yeah, it would have been a whole different story, is a good way to say it. We won't even go into the DT. You already know what it would be a national history lesson and there's a word that would be a that would be attached to it. Yeah, speak would have they would have known how to respond. Speaking of which, while we're talking about Joe Biden, and we'll.
Get through the rest of these, I think it's important for us to to spare a moment for our Palestinian brothers and sisters because we know that they have a major issue with Joe Biden, which is our major issue with Joe Biden.
And they're not by themselves, not at all. So just our Palaestinian brothers and sisters that have a justified issue. It's not just airing out their grievances.
No, it's it's it's active, and it's it's very harmful and heartbreaking. But we're looking at Joe Biden compared to Donald Trump. You know that. So that's the lens through which we're having this conversation, and then under a Joe Biden presidency, obviously elected the first black woman to the vice presidency, and that's the highest level of black women has ever achieved politically in this country. She's you know, the second most powerful person on earth, and that's a
big deal. That was a big deal when it happened. Obviously, the story goes on, but you know, if we're looking over the past four years, that was a moment in.
And of itself something for us to celebrate.
We did, you know, we had to have a few episodes on you know, COVID and misinformation and disinformation surrounding COVID, and now that the pandemic portion of COVID nineteen is over, that's something to look back on and say, Okay, we've survived that because during the COVID times, we didn't know if that was our new normal, you know, Q and I. We again, we come from nightlife, entertainment, that sort of thing, so that was our primary industry and we didn't know
what it would look like to come back to that.
So we mean, we were doing that show two thousand miles apart.
Oh that's too Yeah, yeah, you were in Atlanta for a big part of that. Yeah. Another bright moment in the past four years, Katanji Brown Jackson was was appointed to the Supreme Court. That's another win for black women everywhere. This this show believes in black girl magic. And if you don't believe in that, you came to the wrong show. June teenth, a lot of people had a lot to say about Juneteenth. We we didn't ask for Juneteenth. We asked for police reform, We asked for you know, economic
restorative justice, we asked for reparations. We asked for a lot of different things as as black people, as brown people in this country, we asked for you know, so many different things. The filibusters did stood in the way of Doctor King, It stands in the way of you know, our progress today.
And we're not mad at Juneteenth.
Yeah, we got Juneteenth, right, So what I want to say is, yeah, please, Juneteenth is not nothing, because we also know what it's like to get nothing.
Yeah.
So you know, again, on the on the scale of progress for a country, a country, you're looking at one, maybe three lifetimes for the progress that you may want to see happen, and we're expecting it to happen in the matter of like decades, maybe twenty years or something like that, and it doesn't often work out that way. Some of the other things that have taken place, some student loan relief. I know that when that came down, a lot of people were really grateful for that.
Shouts out to the millions of people that have experienced that relief, and for all of y'all mad that they got that relief. Your whack, all of you, like everyone that's mad that they got the relief, your whack.
Oh yeah, I still got one hundred thousand in student on debt.
I had all of my debt back myself. My taxes were garnered, garnished is the word. Every year once I couldn't afford to pay it back. At times that I couldn't afford to pay my loans back, they just took it. I am not mad at the millions of people that had their debt forgiven.
Yeah, that's special. And of course another thing to be happy about, of course, is Kamala Harris's nomination to the uh you know, the Democratic you know, candidate for President
of the United States. That's another moment in this history, in the history of this country and a and another moment that a lot of people are a lot of people is kind of an understatement are really excited about and and these are some of the positive things that have taken place in the past four years now in terms of civic cipher again with your support, uh, you know, we've we've done our best to kind of support a
lot of these initiatives to inform our listeners. Obviously, we've talked about a lot of the things that have happened in between, a lot of the stories of of you know, police uh injustice and police violence, a lot of you know, political ups and downs like that that we've covered over the years. But as a show, we've managed to grow to now seventy six radio stations around the country.
Is that deserved like a pause?
That's a big deal.
We walked away from our careers in radio because we had to stand for something. And when the story is told, it's somehow sometimes told backwards. It's told from the start of Hey, we're on seventy six radio stations.
Yes, no, we started it and.
We had zero stations at first, not one with zero. We kind of had like negative one because they we had to walk away from the station. That we were at. So it's you know, things worked out, thank god, but there was a moment where we had no home and we didn't know that this was going to work out the way that it did.
Well. Since then, we've been invited around the country to speak like we couldn't even count of times that you know, people have relied on us. And indeed, the research we've done with you know, four years of way black history facts, four years of dissecting policy, four years of determining how country works, how how movements work, activism works, so forth. You know, that's enough to get a college education. So we're you know, able to offer some insight in our
own experts in this space. And so you know, for us to have gone to d C, to Virginia, to Norfolk State to you know, we've done universities around the country. We've done the National Museum of African American History and Culture, we did the National Urban League earlier this year. You know, for us to have a book deal, be on the lookout for our book where our working title is proper propaganda.
We hope we're going to end up with it. But you know, fingers crossed and the book is about allyship as The show is about allyship, you know, and you know we're looking forward. We want to get to one hundred stations and then two hundred stations. We want you know, Kamala Harrison Office, We want so much more. So keep riding with us, y'all. But for now we'll leave it right there. Thank you for tuning in.
Thank you for everything year. Honestly, like none of this. People say this and their speeches all the time, none of this happens without you and our case. That's literally yeah, we didn't. None of this actually happens without you all. We never step away from spending records on the radio and just having a good time. If you guys didn't give us something and someone that we had to show
up for. So if you can hear my voice, thank you so much for supporting us, for listening, for your down loadsscribing, for donating, for sharing, for commenting, and as we continue to grow, I promise we will continue to try to do the best version of this work for you.
Absolutely don't forget. You can find us on all social media at Civic Cipher. You can hit the website at civiccipher dot com. You can follow me on all social media at rameses jah I.
Am Qward on all social media as well, and
Until next week, y'll peace.