Keep on riding with U says, 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, Rams's Jah.
He is Rams's Jah, I am q ward. You are tuned into Civic Side.
For Indeed and Marissa A. Strata Rivera, also known as ritzyp. That's how I know her. She is a un speaker, first generation Mexican American activist and host of Word to Ya Mama, the podcast that amplifies the verse, voices and celebrates shared experiences. She's also the co host of the get Down podcast, which covers policy and industry trends in D five, Web three, and emerging tech affecting Black, Latino and Indigenous communities.
And she is joining us today for.
This part of the program where we will be discussing the protests around the country. To be fair, there was a lot that we didn't get to the first part of the show. I suspect the same will be true the second part of the show. The show is always too short, but I am really excited to learn and get some insight into ways that we can be supportive of a community under duress.
In this moment and just show up as brothers like we always do.
But before we get there, it's time to be aba, become a better ally Baba.
And today's Baba comes from USA. Today.
Sunday Nights Grammys proved that music and art are political. After accepting their Grammy wins, Shakira Chappelle, Ron Lady Gaga, and Bruno mar spoke out for the trans community, immigrants, and up and coming artists in the industry. During her speech after winning Best Latin Pop Album, Shakure Kakira reached out to her immigrant brothers and sisters. The Colombian singer continued, quote, you are loved and worth it, and I'll fight with you.
Later in the telecast, Gaga accepted her award with Mars for the Best Pop Duo Performance, saying simply quote, trans people are not invisible. They deserve to be lifted up. Music is love in the second part. You want to get that from the La Times.
From the La Times. Dwayne Wade and Gabrielle Union use their platform at this year's NAACP Image Awards to advocate for the black LGBTQ community and praise their transgender daughter Zaiah for her bravery. After accepting the President's Awards Saturday at the Civic Auditorium, Sadina, the former pro basketball player and the Truth be Told actor, developed a passionate, rousing speech.
I'm sorry.
Delivered a passionate, rousing speech that was widely lauded on social media. Wade began the speech by directly addressing his daughter and Union Wade's stepdaughter, Zaia, who came out as trans in twenty twenty. After the NBA star credit at Zire for making him a better human by being who she was born to be. Union Wade spoke fervently about
the struggles and rights of the black LGBTQ community. At some point, we will all realize that our oppressor is the same and that we have far more in common than what divides us, and we will be so much stronger because of it. I'm praying for those days, Am. My patience has worn thin as I watched the oppressor continue their movement forward with no resistance. I'm looking to my left and right and hoping we can figure it out soon.
Well said, Okay, a day without immigrants, we're going to be talking about the ice raid protests and yeah, to hear the stories from these was really tough. As I mentioned, you know, Q and I, we are able to have some conversations on the Black Information Network. One of the things that we when the conversations we had prior to you know, joining the b I in was letting them
know that, you know, this is who we are. We we work in the ally ship space and when it makes sense, we do our best to find ways to build bridges rather than ways to tear them down and to become an island unto ourselves. And fortunately the powers that be were really supportive of that. So we've indeed had conversations already about this, but this is our first time having this conversation with someone who can provide a little bit more direct insight into what it might feel like.
In those communities. So again, Ritzie, thank you for hanging out with us.
I'm going to start us off by sharing a bit from Newsweek, just to get folks that aren't familiar caught up to speed.
Again from Newsweek.
Protests have erupted around the country over the past weekend in response to President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, which includes mass deportations and sweeping raids targeting illegal immigrants. The Trump administration has vowed to conduct the largest mass deportation operation in US history, targeting the estimated eleven point seven million
people who are in the country without legal status. As a Trump administration moves forward with its hardline immigration agenda, immigration advocates across the country are mobilizing to protest and protect immigrant communities from potential raids and deportations. While immigrant rights advocates have been hosting workshops and sharing legal advice on social media with communities about knowing their rights, Locals have begun organizing protests around the US.
Over the weekend. This would be last weekend.
Of course, ice raids and deportations are expected to continue under Trump's administration as immigrant communities, local governments, and advocacy groups brace for the impact of the president's crackdown. Protests across the country are also expected to continue. Now, before I let you go, Ritzy, I want to say a couple of things when it comes to protests. That's kind of my joint. I like protests. I like to get outside and get busy. I stay with the bullhorn, I
bring my children out there. It's all I like that energy. You know what I'm saying. We don't just be in a student. We'll be outside with it, and when it gets tense, I'm there on the front lines.
Right.
The other thing I do want to say too, is that part of the reason for this, because you know, we've had people, you know, say things in the comments on our social media, which I don't read, but you know, sometimes every so often something we peak through, and there are a lot of people who will say things like, well, hey, this is necessary. Hey, there are certain people that need to do this the right way. Hey, blah blah blah.
And I think that there's certainly nuanced there. But one of the things that a lot of people don't know, especially people that don't live in border states, is that doing things the right way is what everybody wants. Everybody wants to do things the right way, and oftentimes when things aren't done the right way according to what you deem the right way to be is.
When they don't do it according to that way. There's a reason for that, And.
I think that it's really easy to miss that when you paint everyone with a broad stroke and you lose sight of their humanity. So when you see these roundups, when you see these people in the parking, lots of home depot when you see like I live. I've been in Mexico one hundred times. I know people who are from Mexico. My children are Mexican. This is not a game for Ramses, This is not a game for Q.
This is real. We actually live here.
In this And for all those of you around the country who don't know better, we appreciate you giving us the opportunity to give you some insight. Don't lose sight of these people's humanity. They're human beings. They are your brothers and sisters. They're the same as you. They're homo sapien sapiens. Okay, right, and the conversation we're about to have, I think makes that clear. Just like we were talking
about trans people. Say what you will about trans folks, they are human beings and when you lose sight of their humanity, it allows hate and fear to creep in, and that's not the right way to approach this. Okay, first question, Ritzy, Sorry, I had to get.
That off it.
Do us a favor, you know, I did my best, but I'm not well. I got a little bit of Cuban, you know what I mean. But I live the life of a black man in the United States of America.
And so, you know, so I would not profess to speak.
In such a way that approaches this question, but give us some insight into how this is being processed in Latino communities, because it could be what I think, a lot of concern, but it also could be relief that you know, let's be there were a lot of Latinos that voted for this towards this end. But you know, I know you can't speak for everyone, but just as an individual portal, give us some insight.
Yeah, for sure, I can only speak for myself and for the communities that I'm a part of, and I'm part of a lot of communities.
But to see the protest, it was powerful.
It was beautiful scene because Latinos were not a monolig and we're not all from Mexico. We're from so many different countries. So to see the videos and the photos of different flags, people standing next to each other unity, it kind of you know, being first gen and my mom passed away thirty years ago. But for those of us that are immigrants, ourselves that are first gen, that all of us have someone that is an immigrant, whether they're undocumented, or not we know someone, it impacts us
and it packs our community. It lets us know that you're not like, we're not alone, that people see us right, and whether you're first gen, fifth gen, it's a reminder of our history and our roots. I think a lot of us are just kind of going day by day trying to be you know, consumers and trying to build businesses.
But we have to remember this is a.
Call to action to roll up our sleeves and fight and advocate for our communities because some of us forget right, especially those that voted a certain way, because proximity whiteness is one hell of a drug, so you know. And I also want to point out that activism can look differently for different people. Right back in the days I was on the front lines, I was doing that stuff, but it can evolve in where your life is at.
And I want people to understand that just because you weren't out there physically on the streets, you can support another ways by amplifying this because we're and suppressed on social media and by media. So I feel like it's a call to action, it's a show of support, and it's a beautiful thing. Of course, there's concern, But I think a lot of people think, like, oh, you know, there,
we've been worried about this. It's just a spotlight on it now, and it's maybe, you know, accelerateed a little bit. But the mass deportations and deportations, ice rays and stuff is every day life for a lot of us in our community. And I can't speak for everyone, but this is what I've seen and what I've experienced.
Typically, when protests involve non white people or the calls for the process for the protests, I'm sorry. It's something that involves marginalized communities and standing up for them. We've seen in news and in mass media. Part of how Rams and I ended up doing Civic Cipher was that mainstream media likes to call all protests of that type riots. They like to paint them as violent and try to
paint those who participate as criminal. What would you say to those who blindly call all of our protests violent or riots or try to paint them in that very negative, intentionally pejorative light.
I like that you say that, and to really make the distinction, because historically, marginized communities have had all but negative representation and media regardless. And then you point this out, they call them riots when they're peaceful protests, right, So media changes the narrative and they're out to vilify us, right because then they can say and it fits into their narrative of what they're trying to spread, so that people are like, yeah, you know, and join their cause.
And when they show anything that happens, people don't understand that it might have been an isolated incident, but that for the most part, these are you know, peaceful protests, and sometimes it's not peaceful, and we have to do certain things like that, right, And that's why it's important for people on the ground to document so that you know, we know exactly what happened. And so protests to those people that say it's anti American and it's violent, protests
are core of American history, right. I mean, if you look at the First Amendment, I looked it up to make sure that I wrote it so that I repeated this specific part of the First Amendment. Peacefully assemble and to petition government for a redress of grievances. And so from civil rights to voters' rights to workers' rights, protests have historically been powerful tools to correct systematic wrongs. Why
are we out on the streets. Why do we have to resort to that because we tried the appropriate channels and nothing happened. So yeah, I think it's the most American thing ever.
You know, I'm going to share again back in twenty twenty, and I didn't forget that we're you know, we're in Arizona, Q. And I were out there on the protests, and you know, Arizona's there's not a lot of black folks. It's not like a place like Atlanta, Louisiana. It's not like that. It's not Jacksonville's. You know, Arizona the population is way less black folks. But the crowds were enormous and a
lot of those crowds were white folks. A lot of those crowds were Mexican folks, you know, and everyone showed up to support us. And so now that things have evolved, I'm kind of seeing some patterns and far be from me to not show up when they showed up for us, right, we saw I saw Ramses this is me. I saw people that were identified as police, like because you know, I was in with the organizers, they knew me from the radiotor like, hey, you stay over here, blah blah blah,
stay away from that side. We think that that group over there is we think that they're police. They show up and they just kind of observe, they don't really participate. Cool later on, I see those same people throwing rocks or something, breaking glass. No one else is doing that. Now these people have shown up every time, haven't done anything, and now they're setting it off.
Now.
Of course I can't confirm that I didn't ask those people for their badge number or anything like that, but I strongly suspect because they didn't fit in there and they look like police officers, that that's what they were. So I do want to say that there's that component to it as well. But if we're addressing this head on, I think it was doctor King that said a riot is the language of the unheard, and I think that that is something worth bearing in mind, not that people need to go.
Out and riot. I personally, I'm not so mad at riots. I think every so often you need a good riot do.
You get things moving along. But that's just ramses, that's not the show. That's not ritchy.
But anyway, that's not cute as laughable.
But but proceed.
Okay, okay, well, can I bring up one quick point just to that really quick? I want to know your thoughts in another administration and another time, I'm down with that. What do you guys think about what people are saying is that they're waiting for they're waiting for that for Marshall to be like, oh, let's put the you know what do we think about that?
Yes?
Well what I what I think is that they call it riot so that it could be seen by those who consume media. The way that they give it to them as negative and like you say, painted as anti American, paint us as criminals and make us the bad guy in the story present. At these organized protests, we have our children there. It is mostly not violent. We can't say comprehensively there's no violence because we're not everywhere at once, but we've been to enough of these protests to know
that they're mostly not violent. In cases that they become that way, that violence is incited and instigated by law enforcement. The way that they show up for us to protest is not just prepared for violence, but looking to start it, Whereas we saw when large groups of white protesters show up for causes that are actually anti American, that are flying a flag that we fought a war against and won on this soil. And the police are very peaceful.
They're to the side, they're out of the way, they don't have on riot gear, they're not blocking their path, they're not instigating violence with them. So they find a way to conveniently make all of the visuals to all of the optics and all of the narratives paint us
as bad people so they can justify the mistreatment. See, those people are violence, see that those people are more prone to violence and criminal activity, and blah blah blah, so that people who treat us like crap can sleep at night, so they can have a clear conscience, so they can point and say, look at those bad people who are It's like they think there's nothing else that we're good for.
Yeah. Right, And because people.
Have made up their minds ahead of time that we're that way, they get the point and say, see.
We told they get the public narrative. If we do it does devolve into a riot. Yeah, So that's that's that's one, And.
It almost never does that. That's the point that I'm trying to make. These are almost always peaceful protests. They paint us as violent rioters so they can justify treating us like crap.
And or when it does happen that way, it's usually individual actors who weren't there at the beginning, because you get clear instructions, Hey, we're here peacefully. You know we've ben went off for these Like you said, we're here peacefully. This is what we're gonna do. We're gonna walk this way, we're gonna go this way. Everyone stay together, make sure
you got a buddy. Whatever, it would be peaceful. And if something crazy happened, it's somebody that wasn't there at the beginning, or somebody with us, right, But anyway, go ahead.
I know you wanted to jump in.
No, no, no, I was just gonna say that, Like everything that you guys said is just there.
There's people. I believe what you said.
There's definitely people that want to instigate and evoke so they can capture those you know, little clickbake moments. They can get that footage and say like, see this fits in our narrative, So you know, they are less than you know that, I think that's the full narrative.
There are less than.
How about this to people that say, well, clearly there's an immigration problem, Clearly something needs to be done, blah blah blah. In your estimation, what do you think would be I know, I know this is a lot, especially for the amount of time that we have left. But what would you if you had a magic wand what would you like to see done about immigration to make sure that everybody is I don't know, better off than they are today.
Yeah, that's that definitely is a loaded question.
I mean because when you think about I don't think it's a I don't think it's a problem. And I think, really, maybe it's more of an immigration system problem. Yeah, you know, I feel like maybe there's not enough streamline humane processes for people that live and you know, build commun unities
here in a pathway for citizenship maybe right. And when they say it's a problem, I think immigrants is what makes this what really makes America great, and they contribute to the economy and the culture innovation of the United States. And I wanted to you know, I know that your show is for our community, but also a lot of allies,
and I want to bring stats. You know, people love stats, that's something they can look up and so According to the American Immigration Council data analysts, back in twenty twenty two, thirty five point one billion dollars in taxes were paid by undocumented households, by undocumented people, stuff that they're not going to be able to benefit from.
But that went into that's such an important thing to point out, sis yea, that they pay into the GDP, they contribute and benefit nothing from it. They don't get social Security, they don't get food steps, they don't get any of the social things that are constructed into the use of that. Honey, they don't benefit from it, and we pretend like they're taking when they're doing jobs nobody wants for wages no one else would work for. It's
a really it's beyond insulting men. I forgive me for getting frustrated just at the idea.
No, yes, I appreciate that, And that's that's the type of information that we need to spread. That's the you know, because I think just really quickly, I feel like there's an awakning a shift and on if you guys feel it, I see I see our allies out there that are being like.
What the government did this to us too?
Like they're being you know, they're they're starting to realize things that we've known since the beginning that it's racism, you know, and and they're seeing how they're also it's really it's not really left against right, it's really up against down. I saw someone posts and I was like,
that's exactly it. It's the rich against the poor. So if we think about these numbers and how they contribute and they help with you know, public schools, food stamps, healthcare, all those different things, and and it's just the trying to villainize, you know, immigrants and fit into that narrative that they're trying to push criminalize us and stuff like that. And you know, I don't really have the answers, but I think it's so complicated.
It's multi level, and it's nuanced.
Because are we talking about immigration from a border, the Canadian border, the Mexican border, what populations? Are we talking about the white presenting immigrants?
You know what I mean? I mean it's so many different things.
So yeah, it's complicated, but I think maybe at least having a clear pathway, I think that maybe can help a lot.
Yeah, the interesting thing that you pointed out before we go, there's hundreds of thousands of white immigrants here. Their stories never make the news, they're never brought up as an issue, only those that look like us, and we know that that's intentional.
Also, I want to make sure that it's stated that immigrants commit crimes at a lower rate than Americans do, and it's important to mention that.
Statistic significant market.
Yeah, so with that in mind, we're going to have to leave it right there. Once again, I'd like to thank you RITZP for taking the time to educate us and enlighten us. Do us a favor any social media and then really any resource that folks might need to get, just like twenty seconds or so, any place people can go and get some resources for more info.
For sure, I'm retyp across all social media and definitely go to check out the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law. Shout out to my homegirl Karen and Nondez.
She's there.
She definitely should have her on and there's a bunch of resources on their page Center for Humanrights dot org and on Word to your Mama, we're collecting all kinds of vetted community resources and that's at Word to your Mama dot com slash.
Community all right, and you can check us out at Civic Cipher to download both parts of the episode. You can find me on all social media at Rams's Jah.
I am Qward on all social media.
As well, and we are Civic Cipher on all social media platforms, even though we might be shadow banded.
But until next week, y'all, All right, y'all, please