WEBVTT - Civic Cipher 052221 Keisha Zarra and Mimi from Black Lives Matter 0:00:00.440 --> 0:00:03.520 Welcome to another episode of Civic Cipher. I am your host, 0:00:03.600 --> 0:00:04.280 Ramsy's Jack. 0:00:04.519 --> 0:00:12.039 So this name thing, Quentin Ward is on my birth certificate, 0:00:12.920 --> 0:00:17.040 but no one ever feels like saying Quinn. That oh 0:00:17.120 --> 0:00:19.920 really gives people, you know, an issue. So I ended 0:00:20.000 --> 0:00:26.000 up being Quentin, which is not my name, or worse Quincy. 0:00:26.120 --> 0:00:28.040 Not that that's a bad name, it's just not mine. 0:00:28.880 --> 0:00:30.240 And then I had a boss who used to call 0:00:30.280 --> 0:00:32.400 me Quincy and then he would do this noise afterwards, 0:00:32.440 --> 0:00:37.479 like which really sucked. So I just go by Q 0:00:37.640 --> 0:00:40.520 because it's easier. And then my last name is Ward, 0:00:41.080 --> 0:00:42.760 and then I DJ So that's kind of how my 0:00:42.800 --> 0:00:45.199 whole name situation came to be. 0:00:46.760 --> 0:00:50.040 And of course we are back up in you one 0:00:50.040 --> 0:00:51.840 more game. We got a lot to talk about this week, 0:00:53.479 --> 0:00:55.080 a lot that we're not going to be able to 0:00:55.120 --> 0:00:58.360 get to, but we're saving it because we're gonna we 0:00:58.400 --> 0:01:00.800 have some some exciting things in the world that's in 0:01:00.840 --> 0:01:02.480 the works. That's all I'm gonna say right now, So 0:01:02.560 --> 0:01:05.800 stay tuned. A lot more exciting things come in our way. 0:01:05.800 --> 0:01:07.520 But the things we're going to talk about, I believe 0:01:07.600 --> 0:01:12.920 are extremely important that we deal with them per usual, 0:01:13.840 --> 0:01:16.800 that we discuss them, and that we inform you a 0:01:16.880 --> 0:01:22.280 listener of the goings on, at least from the perspective 0:01:22.440 --> 0:01:28.000 of some black folks. If you're tuned into this radio 0:01:28.040 --> 0:01:33.720 station or listening wherever you're listening, I guess a confident 0:01:33.720 --> 0:01:36.640 assumption that you're an ally of black people or may 0:01:36.680 --> 0:01:40.520 in fact be black yourself. And so so yeah, we're 0:01:41.319 --> 0:01:44.240 deeply saddened by these events, but we're excited to share 0:01:44.280 --> 0:01:46.480 it and have our therapy at the same time. And 0:01:46.640 --> 0:01:54.080 today's episode is especially special because we're joined by a 0:01:54.120 --> 0:01:57.960 few folks that I think are amazing people. I love 0:01:58.000 --> 0:02:01.440 these people so much, one person in particular, who is 0:02:01.480 --> 0:02:04.160 the reason that we started doing the show in the 0:02:04.200 --> 0:02:10.120 first place. So welcome Keisha, Zara and Mimi. 0:02:11.160 --> 0:02:11.960 Welcome to the show. 0:02:12.120 --> 0:02:14.760 Yeah, yeah, thank you, thank you for havank you. 0:02:14.880 --> 0:02:15.560 Yes, of course. 0:02:15.919 --> 0:02:18.880 So how about this, Why don't you give a little 0:02:18.880 --> 0:02:24.680 bit of background on yourselves and where you're from, and 0:02:24.720 --> 0:02:26.640 then I'll tell a little bit of a story and 0:02:26.639 --> 0:02:28.560 then we'll get into the meet and the petitors of 0:02:28.560 --> 0:02:31.840 the show. So cool. 0:02:32.200 --> 0:02:32.840 So we're here. 0:02:33.040 --> 0:02:37.360 We're with Black Lives Matter Phoenix Metro, your local Black 0:02:37.400 --> 0:02:42.040 Lives Matter chapter and we've been out here, We've been 0:02:42.320 --> 0:02:47.120 organizing since twenty seventeen. A lot of y'all know us 0:02:47.160 --> 0:02:50.800 for our you know, our street game, the protests, you know, 0:02:51.000 --> 0:02:57.519 the politicking, but you know we also Black Lives Phoenix Metro. 0:02:57.960 --> 0:03:02.119 We're an autonomous chapter. We have five ministries. We have 0:03:02.600 --> 0:03:10.560 an art, ministry, of policy, education, activism, and so like 0:03:10.760 --> 0:03:14.600 with all of that we do have, we try to 0:03:14.639 --> 0:03:17.680 follow the Black Panthers model, where we have a model 0:03:17.760 --> 0:03:22.200 of trying to do twenty five percent tear down and 0:03:22.280 --> 0:03:25.840 dismantle and seventy five percent bill and so what that 0:03:25.880 --> 0:03:29.120 looks like is, you know, as abolitionists, the highest part 0:03:29.160 --> 0:03:32.400 is dreaming the new world, and that's where we really 0:03:32.440 --> 0:03:34.880 try to focus on. But at the same time, we 0:03:35.000 --> 0:03:37.880 still out here. A lot of our protests and activism 0:03:38.040 --> 0:03:43.480 is directly led by those who have been harmed or 0:03:43.560 --> 0:03:48.480 the family of those who've lost because of police violence. 0:03:49.080 --> 0:03:50.960 So that very much guides us. 0:03:51.760 --> 0:03:56.360 Yeah, and I'll pass it on to Mimi. I think 0:03:56.400 --> 0:03:58.640 that was a good intro, just kind of like briefly 0:03:58.720 --> 0:04:04.720 about our organization. Again just trying to as abolition is 0:04:04.760 --> 0:04:06.720 just trying to live, live and live and embody our 0:04:06.800 --> 0:04:11.920 values and just you know, create a better future here 0:04:11.920 --> 0:04:13.960 for black people in the city of Phoenix. Is who 0:04:14.000 --> 0:04:21.280 are accountable to so discontinuing the work? Uh yeah, what's up? Yea. 0:04:21.400 --> 0:04:25.599 My name is Keisha and uh I have been with 0:04:25.640 --> 0:04:30.000 Black Lives Matter now for about a year, and I 0:04:30.040 --> 0:04:35.000 feel like my work here is to uh uh really 0:04:35.120 --> 0:04:38.919 kind of uh dismantle what it means to be a 0:04:38.960 --> 0:04:44.080 biracial person in uh this work, I think oftentimes we 0:04:44.160 --> 0:04:48.320 skate by on our light skin privilege, and so I'm 0:04:48.600 --> 0:04:53.000 trying to decolonize myself and show my brothers and sisters 0:04:53.000 --> 0:04:54.760 the way. 0:04:56.000 --> 0:05:02.560 Wow, we're in the Presence Esteemed Company today. 0:05:02.360 --> 0:05:08.800 Yes, indeed, So I want to tell a brief story 0:05:08.839 --> 0:05:12.320 before we get into the show. As I mentioned, so 0:05:13.640 --> 0:05:21.400 in twenty twenty, you know when we saw the life 0:05:21.440 --> 0:05:26.560 of George Floyd get extinguished on video and we were 0:05:26.560 --> 0:05:28.320 just talking about that. Some of us didn't even watch 0:05:28.320 --> 0:05:30.039 the full video. I'm not one. I still haven't seen 0:05:30.080 --> 0:05:31.479 the full video. I saw it and I knew what 0:05:31.560 --> 0:05:36.120 was going to happen. So, but you know, when that happened, 0:05:36.200 --> 0:05:41.719 you know, there was a moment where the energy in 0:05:41.960 --> 0:05:47.200 Black America shifted, and of course allies of black people, 0:05:47.240 --> 0:05:50.400 people that subscribed to hip hop culture, and you know, 0:05:50.480 --> 0:05:52.080 all those sorts of things. A lot of folks were 0:05:52.080 --> 0:05:54.760 really moved by that, and that coupled with the pandemic 0:05:54.800 --> 0:05:57.239 and so forth, everybody just kind of took to the streets. 0:05:57.240 --> 0:06:01.520 And it was spokes like y'all that were organizing these movements, 0:06:01.520 --> 0:06:07.440 these protests and so forth. Right, So, I am a 0:06:07.440 --> 0:06:11.359 long time broadcaster here in Phoenix, and recognizing that the 0:06:11.400 --> 0:06:14.440 show is broadcast in other cities, you know, I can 0:06:14.480 --> 0:06:17.080 only speak from my perspective, but I'm sure this happened 0:06:17.120 --> 0:06:19.000 in you know, if you're listening outside of feelings, I'm 0:06:19.000 --> 0:06:21.920 sure this happened in your city as well. But as 0:06:21.920 --> 0:06:28.560 a broadcaster, I thought it was obviously as a black man, 0:06:28.600 --> 0:06:29.919 it was important for me to get out there, to 0:06:29.920 --> 0:06:31.800 take my children out there, to make sure that we 0:06:31.800 --> 0:06:35.440 were represented and counted in the movement and contribute to 0:06:35.560 --> 0:06:40.480 the ripple effect, if you will. But as a broadcaster, 0:06:40.600 --> 0:06:43.240 I felt that there was rather more that I could do. 0:06:43.640 --> 0:06:46.839 There are not that many people who are able to broadcast, 0:06:47.240 --> 0:06:52.080 and way less people of color who could speak uniquely 0:06:52.560 --> 0:06:57.039 to how this feels, what's happening, and so forth, and 0:06:57.160 --> 0:07:01.960 less people still who were of a high enough caliber 0:07:02.440 --> 0:07:06.000 or so I thought to empower other people to speak. 0:07:06.800 --> 0:07:12.240 And we were in Timp. I'm not sure if you 0:07:12.280 --> 0:07:14.800 remember this at all, but so I was in Timp. 0:07:14.920 --> 0:07:18.680 Tempe's a city in Phoenix, in Arizona. It's adjacent to 0:07:18.720 --> 0:07:21.720 Phoenix or next whatever. Anyway, So we're out there and 0:07:21.720 --> 0:07:25.840 we're marching, and we stopped at a courthouse and there 0:07:25.840 --> 0:07:30.600 were some issues with the sound, and Zara, the woman 0:07:30.600 --> 0:07:35.880 that you first heard speaking, just had to figure out 0:07:35.880 --> 0:07:40.440 how to address the crowd despite the some shortcomings in 0:07:40.480 --> 0:07:45.560 the audio equipment. And she's addressing a crowd of might 0:07:45.560 --> 0:07:48.440 have been two three thousand people out there, and you know, 0:07:48.480 --> 0:07:52.600 we have bullhorns and so forth, but you know, if 0:07:52.640 --> 0:07:54.920 you know, a bullhorn might hit two three hundred people, 0:07:55.240 --> 0:07:57.920 not two or three thousand, and you know there's systems 0:07:57.920 --> 0:08:01.040 in place, you know, chant it through the crowd. But 0:08:03.440 --> 0:08:06.480 I felt that you were such a profound speaker, such 0:08:06.520 --> 0:08:10.320 an educated person, so informed person, especially in terms of 0:08:10.320 --> 0:08:13.800 what's going on, how to empower people to make a difference. 0:08:14.240 --> 0:08:20.640 And then you felt like the sort of person would 0:08:20.640 --> 0:08:23.000 be very difficult for someone to say no to, right, 0:08:23.080 --> 0:08:24.760 And I like that energy because I feel like I'm 0:08:24.760 --> 0:08:27.080 that sort of person too. It's not always true, but 0:08:27.120 --> 0:08:31.120 I do feel like that, and so I felt like 0:08:31.200 --> 0:08:32.960 there was more that I could do. So I took 0:08:33.320 --> 0:08:35.440 this idea back to the radio station Q. You know 0:08:35.480 --> 0:08:37.680 all this because Q was broadcast with me for a 0:08:37.679 --> 0:08:41.199 long time. I took it back to the radio station 0:08:41.280 --> 0:08:44.480 that I worked, an old station in Arizona that has 0:08:44.559 --> 0:08:49.400 now gone off the air and changed their everything. And 0:08:49.440 --> 0:08:51.400 I'm not trying to you know, clown or anything like that. 0:08:51.520 --> 0:08:54.400 God bless them. I believe everyone learned their lesson, and 0:08:54.520 --> 0:08:57.439 you know, I do leave space in the narrative for forgiveness. 0:08:57.480 --> 0:09:00.440 I do believe that people can make mistakes and learn 0:09:00.520 --> 0:09:04.120 how to be better, and they're better. It's better for 0:09:04.160 --> 0:09:06.240 our agenda in the long term if we don't just 0:09:07.400 --> 0:09:12.240 you know, dismiss them and forever position them as an enemy, 0:09:12.240 --> 0:09:14.480 because then we increase the other side and we decrease 0:09:14.520 --> 0:09:17.600 our potential numbers. So not trying to say anything bad 0:09:17.640 --> 0:09:19.000 about them, but those are the facts. They had to 0:09:19.040 --> 0:09:20.680 change the name of the station, they had to fire 0:09:20.679 --> 0:09:22.400 a bunch of people, and or people had to quit, 0:09:22.480 --> 0:09:25.640 whatever happened, and so forth. So anyway, at the time, 0:09:25.720 --> 0:09:27.520 I took it back to those people and I says, hey, 0:09:28.480 --> 0:09:30.679 let's set aside thirty minutes in the middle of the 0:09:30.760 --> 0:09:36.880 night and let me do a radio show to where 0:09:36.920 --> 0:09:40.439 I can put a microphone in front of Zara so 0:09:40.480 --> 0:09:42.360 that she can come up here and say her piece. 0:09:42.720 --> 0:09:45.240 I think that black people need this, and this is 0:09:45.240 --> 0:09:49.800 a radio station that plays seventy percent black artist and 0:09:49.840 --> 0:09:53.480 one hundred percent black music, and I think that now 0:09:53.559 --> 0:09:55.320 is not the time to be a fairweather friend. So 0:09:55.400 --> 0:10:03.200 this ask should have been met with, you know, open arms. 0:10:03.280 --> 0:10:05.920 I believed, and you know, I got to run around 0:10:05.920 --> 0:10:07.640 a lot of folks know the story, some don't. I 0:10:07.640 --> 0:10:10.239 got to run around for a long time, and ultimately 0:10:10.280 --> 0:10:14.520 I was told by the program director. His exact words were, 0:10:14.600 --> 0:10:17.400 I don't want to do a black show. And you know, 0:10:17.440 --> 0:10:22.560 I took exception to that obviously, and so I wrote 0:10:22.600 --> 0:10:27.520 an open letter resignation, and immediately after was picked up 0:10:27.559 --> 0:10:31.839 by In Phoenix, there's a station called Power ninety eight 0:10:31.840 --> 0:10:35.040 point three, and then whatever station you're listening to us 0:10:35.080 --> 0:10:38.880 on has come on board as a partner subsequently, because 0:10:39.000 --> 0:10:41.720 they feel it's important to echo these messages and have 0:10:41.840 --> 0:10:45.040 these sorts of long form conversations despite it being a 0:10:45.120 --> 0:10:48.320 music station. It's important to have long form conversations for 0:10:48.360 --> 0:10:51.240 our mental health, to deal with these issues, to empower 0:10:51.240 --> 0:10:54.199 our allies and ourselves, and to be self determined. And 0:10:54.520 --> 0:10:57.120 if people are able to profit from our culture, they 0:10:57.160 --> 0:10:59.160 should contribute to it in a meaningful way. This was 0:10:59.240 --> 0:11:03.560 my ask. Ultimately it has become my charge. And that's 0:11:03.600 --> 0:11:05.960 a long roundabout way of me saying thank you Sara 0:11:06.080 --> 0:11:08.800 for showing up today again. This is you were on 0:11:08.840 --> 0:11:13.360 the first episode and now you're back. So so yeah, 0:11:13.559 --> 0:11:17.960 some some esteemed guests in the building, indeed, and we 0:11:18.040 --> 0:11:20.839 have an event that we need to touch on a 0:11:20.840 --> 0:11:23.760 little bit later. But first I've been waiting to talk 0:11:23.800 --> 0:11:28.080 about this one. So you guys, I'm not I'm not 0:11:28.080 --> 0:11:33.040 sure who always heard, but there was an incident in 0:11:33.360 --> 0:11:38.800 Minneapolis where this was on TMZ. As I saw and 0:11:38.840 --> 0:11:41.640 I saw the video, you know, there's a memorial to 0:11:41.679 --> 0:11:46.360 George Floyd on the ground, and uh, I think it's 0:11:46.360 --> 0:11:48.800 like right on the spot where he was killed. Like 0:11:48.880 --> 0:11:52.520 the street is closed and it's now a big memorial 0:11:52.600 --> 0:11:55.839 site and there's no you can't drive a car through 0:11:55.880 --> 0:11:58.800 there or anything. And of course there's all the flowers 0:11:58.840 --> 0:12:02.880 and signs, but then there's like a like a makeshift 0:12:02.920 --> 0:12:06.360 building like a door and glass and everything like that. 0:12:06.360 --> 0:12:09.800 It's in the middle of the street. And you know, 0:12:09.840 --> 0:12:15.559 we see these these signs and everything and photos and whatnot. 0:12:15.600 --> 0:12:19.480 But TMZ showed a man that got out of his 0:12:19.600 --> 0:12:22.480 car and he had an axe and he took the 0:12:22.559 --> 0:12:26.040 axe to all the signs. He like tore him down 0:12:26.080 --> 0:12:29.240 and ripped him. This is like surveillance footage. White man 0:12:30.240 --> 0:12:34.640 looked looked police ish, you know, so whatever comes into 0:12:34.679 --> 0:12:37.560 mind the platonic ideal of a police officer, that's what 0:12:37.600 --> 0:12:39.839 this guy looked like, at least to me. Boom there 0:12:39.840 --> 0:12:42.120 you go talk talk to him. See she didn't have 0:12:42.120 --> 0:12:43.960 a mic that time, grabbing a mic. Let let her 0:12:44.000 --> 0:12:46.839 say that again and probably fat ball headed. 0:12:46.840 --> 0:12:47.480 Boom there it is. 0:12:47.559 --> 0:12:49.200 Yeah, if you want to watch the video, it's there. 0:12:49.800 --> 0:12:52.800 But you know, trigger warning if you know you were 0:12:52.920 --> 0:12:57.040 as moved by by George Floyd's death as as many 0:12:57.080 --> 0:12:59.200 of us were, but you know you're able to see 0:12:59.200 --> 0:13:01.400 for yourself that that's a exactly what what this type 0:13:01.400 --> 0:13:06.000 of person was. And you know he took an ax 0:13:06.200 --> 0:13:11.079 to it and he didn't get very far because eventually, 0:13:11.720 --> 0:13:15.640 after like a couple of minutes, someone like yelled out 0:13:15.640 --> 0:13:17.160 to him. You could hear the audio. I was like, hey, 0:13:17.160 --> 0:13:19.600 what are you doing? And you know, he like dropped 0:13:19.600 --> 0:13:21.120 the axe and then ran and jumped back in his 0:13:21.120 --> 0:13:23.920 car and drove off. So last I checked up on it, 0:13:23.960 --> 0:13:28.199 the police were still looking for this guy. But I 0:13:28.240 --> 0:13:31.760 think that I mean, you know, that's he's probably one 0:13:31.800 --> 0:13:34.920 of them, you know, probably know, but you know, that's 0:13:34.960 --> 0:13:38.319 the last I heard of it. And you know, I 0:13:38.360 --> 0:13:44.800 think that there's a few things that we need to address, 0:13:46.040 --> 0:13:48.840 and I'm going to start with perhaps the least popular 0:13:50.080 --> 0:13:54.520 thing that we have to deal with, and that's that 0:13:57.960 --> 0:14:07.240 white men feel like they are under attack a lot 0:14:07.280 --> 0:14:12.120 of times. It's such a weird thing because you know, 0:14:12.640 --> 0:14:17.040 I know that me personally, the whole sum total of 0:14:17.080 --> 0:14:19.120 all the days of my life, I felt, to one 0:14:19.120 --> 0:14:22.360 degree or another under attack or at least you know, 0:14:24.440 --> 0:14:27.000 in the danger zone, you know, where might not be 0:14:27.040 --> 0:14:28.720 directed at me. But if I go outside, I have 0:14:28.760 --> 0:14:30.760 to be hyper aware of who I am relative to 0:14:30.800 --> 0:14:34.000 everyone else. And I do believe that this is kind 0:14:34.040 --> 0:14:35.760 of a new thing for white men, and this is 0:14:35.800 --> 0:14:38.560 why we're seeing a lot of mass shootings, and this 0:14:38.600 --> 0:14:40.000 is why we're seeing a lot of things, you know, 0:14:40.000 --> 0:14:42.400 from a certain type of person over and over again. 0:14:44.920 --> 0:14:47.200 There's no reason for a person to go and destroy 0:14:47.600 --> 0:14:49.640 And I think this is the second person that went 0:14:49.760 --> 0:14:51.560 the first time it was a police officer. It was 0:14:51.560 --> 0:14:55.480 in uniform and went like kicked over some stuff. But 0:14:55.720 --> 0:14:59.200 this is a this is something that eventually we're going 0:14:59.280 --> 0:15:02.000 to have to talk about on the show at least. 0:15:02.640 --> 0:15:05.720 And you know, I know that there are a lot 0:15:05.760 --> 0:15:07.760 of white men who listen to the show that are 0:15:08.040 --> 0:15:11.720 they position themselves as allies. I believe them be great people, 0:15:13.320 --> 0:15:18.680 and they have given me insight into this way of 0:15:18.720 --> 0:15:24.200 thinking that plagues some or perhaps many white males in 0:15:24.240 --> 0:15:27.520 this country, where they feel like I think what it 0:15:27.600 --> 0:15:30.480 is is, and I want to get everyone's response to this, 0:15:30.560 --> 0:15:33.600 but I think what it is is if you're born 0:15:33.600 --> 0:15:41.160 a white male in this country, you're told that the 0:15:41.240 --> 0:15:43.400 American dream is yours. If you go to school and 0:15:43.400 --> 0:15:44.920 you work hard, and you're going to grow up and 0:15:44.920 --> 0:15:46.240 you're gonna be a rock star and you have a 0:15:46.240 --> 0:15:47.960 Ferrari and you're gonna live in a mansion and you're 0:15:47.960 --> 0:15:50.120 gonna have a bunch of women that love you and 0:15:50.160 --> 0:15:54.080 not whatever. And then when they get older and they 0:15:54.120 --> 0:16:01.240 see that that's not true, they're especially vulnerable to propaganda 0:16:01.600 --> 0:16:05.720 things that position black and brown folks as these sort 0:16:05.720 --> 0:16:08.200 of bloodsuckers that are taking their American dream away from 0:16:08.240 --> 0:16:12.400 them when the truth is perhaps more capitalism than anything else. 0:16:13.280 --> 0:16:15.680 But we've been positioned as an enemy to these people, 0:16:15.720 --> 0:16:18.080 and so they respond in kind like what we saw 0:16:18.080 --> 0:16:24.840 in this George Floyd mural attack. And you know, I've 0:16:24.880 --> 0:16:29.960 always well, I've learned from studying other folks that violence 0:16:30.080 --> 0:16:33.640 begets violence, and anger begets anger. And that's not to 0:16:33.680 --> 0:16:35.560 say that we need to forgive people or you know, 0:16:35.600 --> 0:16:39.600 anything like that. But I'm just interested in everyone's thoughts 0:16:39.720 --> 0:16:42.600 about how do we deal with these sorts of things, 0:16:42.840 --> 0:16:46.480 how do we feel about it, and what, if anything, 0:16:46.680 --> 0:16:47.160 can we do. 0:16:47.160 --> 0:16:47.640 To fix it? 0:16:49.240 --> 0:16:54.400 Keisha, how you feel, We'll just give me your thoughts. 0:16:54.880 --> 0:16:58.800 Ah, Yeah, that's a big topic. 0:16:58.880 --> 0:17:01.680 But I definitely think that you're onto something with that. 0:17:01.800 --> 0:17:02.560 And I feel that. 0:17:04.840 --> 0:17:08.160 You know, when we're uh, when you see that there's 0:17:08.200 --> 0:17:11.560 a shift of power happening, I believe at the moment, 0:17:11.720 --> 0:17:15.359 and because they're that shift of power is happening on 0:17:15.400 --> 0:17:19.239 such a mass scale. There's this this kind of to 0:17:19.280 --> 0:17:22.320 your point of what you said, there's this uprooting of 0:17:22.320 --> 0:17:25.800 of this the norm. There's a new norm happening, and 0:17:25.840 --> 0:17:29.000 that these you know, white men and white people in 0:17:29.040 --> 0:17:31.960 general are feeling that upset and they don't necessarily know 0:17:32.040 --> 0:17:34.320 how to deal with it. And because they don't know 0:17:34.320 --> 0:17:39.080 how to deal with this upset, you know, there there's 0:17:39.160 --> 0:17:44.440 this rage that's coming out, uh, you know against uh, 0:17:44.680 --> 0:17:46.800 you know, people of color and whatnot. 0:17:46.920 --> 0:17:49.640 So yeah, I definitely I think you're onto something with that. 0:17:50.840 --> 0:17:52.920 Yeah, I feel like, you know, they have that saying 0:17:52.960 --> 0:17:57.879 this is, you know, if you're privileged, equality feels like oppression, 0:17:58.040 --> 0:18:00.320 and I feel like we feel that we see that 0:18:00.359 --> 0:18:03.600 a lot. You know, white people see Okay, we're not 0:18:03.680 --> 0:18:07.719 even we're only now just starting to to talk about 0:18:07.840 --> 0:18:11.359 maybe having some amount of representation, and white people feel 0:18:11.400 --> 0:18:14.080 like they're losing things, and especially white men, and you know, 0:18:14.359 --> 0:18:19.119 we hear all the time, you know, we have affirmative action, 0:18:19.720 --> 0:18:23.520 and even that, you know, hasn't really changed much because 0:18:23.520 --> 0:18:27.680 it's still mostly white people, white men, and yet somehow 0:18:27.720 --> 0:18:31.199 they think, you know that the one black person you 0:18:31.240 --> 0:18:34.520 know in at the job or you know, at in 0:18:34.600 --> 0:18:37.200 the college, cause it's still like that, you know, I'm 0:18:38.000 --> 0:18:41.560 I'm in a graduate program right now, and I'm the 0:18:41.600 --> 0:18:43.920 only black, you know, person in my whole my whole 0:18:43.920 --> 0:18:46.159 department right now, my only black PhD students. 0:18:46.440 --> 0:18:49.040 And so when they talk. 0:18:48.920 --> 0:18:51.919 About like, oh, you know, and then I still have 0:18:52.080 --> 0:18:54.320 white people feel like somehow I took the place, and 0:18:54.320 --> 0:18:56.080 I'm like, I'm still the only one, So what are 0:18:56.080 --> 0:18:59.880 you afraid of? And I just feel like they see somehow, 0:19:00.119 --> 0:19:02.359 if we were to equal things out, they're going to 0:19:02.440 --> 0:19:06.679 lose something. But it's not so much as you know, 0:19:06.840 --> 0:19:09.720 instead of seeing it as a loss of something, they 0:19:09.720 --> 0:19:13.160 should also see the way that you know, the way 0:19:13.400 --> 0:19:17.760 that privilege and affluence and this bubble, this white, you know, 0:19:18.040 --> 0:19:20.879 privileged bubble that they live in, actually takes away a 0:19:20.920 --> 0:19:23.880 part of their humanity because they don't even you know, 0:19:23.880 --> 0:19:26.520 know how to deal or with different cultures or different 0:19:26.520 --> 0:19:30.120 types of people, because you know, of their homogeneity that 0:19:30.119 --> 0:19:33.040 they've lived because of their privilege. And somehow they think 0:19:33.080 --> 0:19:34.280 if that changes. 0:19:33.920 --> 0:19:34.760 They lose something. 0:19:34.800 --> 0:19:37.800 But I would argue, you're gaining something. You're gaining culture, 0:19:37.840 --> 0:19:40.840 you're gaining you know, spiced food, you're gaining. 0:19:41.119 --> 0:19:42.439 There's so much you know. 0:19:42.560 --> 0:19:49.320 Rhythms, you know what I'm saying. Yeah, I agree with that. 0:19:49.440 --> 0:19:54.879 And it's almost just like anytime black people show up 0:19:54.880 --> 0:19:58.040 in a way where we're autonomous, where we're laying claim 0:19:58.119 --> 0:20:00.359 to our humanity, where we're saying we are power, powerful, 0:20:00.359 --> 0:20:02.840 and what you're doing to us is wrong, that's when 0:20:02.920 --> 0:20:09.479 we get disciplined, either by physical force, verbal remarks, eye rolls, 0:20:09.520 --> 0:20:12.360 whatever it is, whatever microaggression it is, or physical thing 0:20:12.400 --> 0:20:15.000 it is, that's what happens. So what we see here 0:20:15.920 --> 0:20:20.359 with this man shooting this picture is a direct result 0:20:20.400 --> 0:20:22.840 of that. So they would prefer to us to have 0:20:22.960 --> 0:20:25.680 our heads bowed down as we're walking down the street 0:20:25.720 --> 0:20:27.480 and looking them in the eye, same kind of thing. 0:20:27.520 --> 0:20:30.000 The second we step out of turn is the second 0:20:30.080 --> 0:20:32.879 we are we get disciplined by the white supremacy system. 0:20:32.880 --> 0:20:34.320 And he's a product of it, you know, And a 0:20:34.359 --> 0:20:37.119 lot of the times we talk about who's to blame 0:20:37.160 --> 0:20:40.359 for it, but I mean, if you're benefiting from a 0:20:40.400 --> 0:20:43.520 system of white supremacy and you're not doing anything about it, 0:20:43.600 --> 0:20:47.439 you're to blame for the system. So it's it's definitely 0:20:47.480 --> 0:20:49.800 time for them to organize themselves against these things because 0:20:49.800 --> 0:20:54.680 it's murderous and it's killing us, and it's it's killing 0:20:54.720 --> 0:20:56.560 them too, and it's killing the planet, it's killing everything 0:20:56.600 --> 0:20:59.159 around us because we haven't stepped in topic time to 0:20:59.200 --> 0:21:02.720 be like, okay, look, let's be better people for everything 0:21:02.760 --> 0:21:05.200 around us, so we can make this, make this earth 0:21:05.200 --> 0:21:09.080 actually survive. But that's not what we see. We see. 0:21:09.080 --> 0:21:12.560 We see humans holding this unhealthy hierarchy, and we see 0:21:13.760 --> 0:21:18.000 white men specifically holding white CIS men specifically holding this 0:21:18.080 --> 0:21:20.439 hierarchy over humanity like they're the height of it and 0:21:20.480 --> 0:21:25.080 dehumanizing everything else and everything, every person, thing object. Uh, 0:21:25.160 --> 0:21:27.240 I don't care. H two? Oh you name the element 0:21:27.600 --> 0:21:30.119 white men think they can own and control it, colonize 0:21:30.160 --> 0:21:32.720 over it, and make money off of exploited you know. 0:21:33.280 --> 0:21:37.280 So how do we you know, not do that? And 0:21:37.320 --> 0:21:39.879 how do we center something different? You know? How do 0:21:39.920 --> 0:21:43.960 we build something different with uh? This world's uh you know, 0:21:43.960 --> 0:21:46.760 it's continuously been obsessed with anti black violence, So how 0:21:46.760 --> 0:21:50.639 do we undo that? And this is w him doing 0:21:50.880 --> 0:21:53.240 shooting the picture again the product of that anti black 0:21:53.280 --> 0:21:55.959 violence absolutely. 0:21:57.960 --> 0:22:01.880 Oh man Q and his dark, sad point of view. 0:22:03.080 --> 0:22:06.159 You know, when the show starts, you guys hear me 0:22:06.880 --> 0:22:12.600 do a lighthearted explanation of just my name Quentin, Reverend 0:22:12.760 --> 0:22:16.520 Estella Seacrest. My mother named me Quentin after a friend 0:22:16.560 --> 0:22:20.120 of hers whose name was Queen and the prefix quin 0:22:20.280 --> 0:22:23.800 meaning five. I was also my father's fifth child. I 0:22:23.800 --> 0:22:25.399 don't know that she did that on purpose, but it 0:22:25.440 --> 0:22:27.480 worked out that way. But the reason I do that 0:22:28.080 --> 0:22:30.359 when Ramses and I talk about this all the time, 0:22:31.040 --> 0:22:35.840 our show can feel and get very heavy for us 0:22:35.920 --> 0:22:38.960 and for our listeners. Emotionally, it is a lot to 0:22:39.000 --> 0:22:41.960 take on. And as you guys have heard us say 0:22:42.160 --> 0:22:46.159 multiple times, as a part of our responsibility, we have 0:22:46.280 --> 0:22:50.640 to take in all of this very difficult content, these images, 0:22:50.680 --> 0:22:54.399 these videos, these stories, some that don't even make national news, 0:22:55.240 --> 0:22:59.800 of our people being subjugated to levels of oppression that 0:22:59.880 --> 0:23:02.360 you thought went away fifty years ago, or that you've 0:23:02.359 --> 0:23:05.000 been taught or that people would like you to believe 0:23:05.080 --> 0:23:07.879 have we've left in our rearview mirror. 0:23:08.760 --> 0:23:11.600 But the thing that happens. 0:23:12.040 --> 0:23:13.840 And this is why you kind of hear us speak 0:23:13.880 --> 0:23:17.159 about capitalism in the way that we do, is because 0:23:17.200 --> 0:23:21.480 it is created a mental vacuum of a zero sum game. 0:23:21.840 --> 0:23:24.680 If this group is getting ahead, then we must be 0:23:24.680 --> 0:23:27.720 being pushed back. So the group that's always had the 0:23:27.760 --> 0:23:30.400 head start, that's always had the resources and the lead 0:23:31.000 --> 0:23:33.879 being brought back to the pack. You know, Keisha, as 0:23:33.920 --> 0:23:36.560 you said, can make you feel like you're the one 0:23:36.600 --> 0:23:39.040 being oppressed. Now, how come everyone else gets to play 0:23:39.720 --> 0:23:43.520 on a fair playing field with us? Now, I must 0:23:43.560 --> 0:23:47.879 be losing something if he's gaining something. Except human civil 0:23:48.000 --> 0:23:51.200 rights don't work that way. We can actually all have 0:23:51.320 --> 0:23:54.400 them and us being brought to a place where we're 0:23:54.400 --> 0:23:57.600 not oppressed or criminalized. Because the way that we look 0:23:58.600 --> 0:24:02.280 does not mean that now you're somehow worse off. But 0:24:02.359 --> 0:24:05.639 when you have a system that thrives on their being 0:24:05.720 --> 0:24:10.120 an oppressed group, you have to make the majority oppressed 0:24:10.200 --> 0:24:13.720 group feel like part of the minority, or feel like 0:24:13.840 --> 0:24:16.320 the reason that things are not working out in their 0:24:16.359 --> 0:24:19.320 benefit is because this group of people over here, these 0:24:19.359 --> 0:24:22.240 black and brown people are taking your jobs. 0:24:22.880 --> 0:24:26.440 Are the reason that there's crime. You know that that's 0:24:26.480 --> 0:24:28.920 the reason why you're not living the American dream. Look 0:24:28.960 --> 0:24:29.280 at them. 0:24:29.640 --> 0:24:32.800 Don't look at us rich people who are monopolizing your 0:24:32.800 --> 0:24:35.840 resources and taking everything for ourselves. Look at the people 0:24:35.880 --> 0:24:38.200 who are actually in the same boat as you. Because 0:24:38.200 --> 0:24:40.359 they look different from you, it must be their fault. 0:24:41.240 --> 0:24:48.639 Well said, and a lot to think about. But uh, 0:24:49.280 --> 0:24:51.040 you know, if you're just tuning in a civic sipher, 0:24:51.040 --> 0:24:52.760 I mean host Ramsay is yeah, and they call me 0:24:52.880 --> 0:24:58.120 q ward as. Indeed, you know, started the show off 0:24:58.119 --> 0:25:00.960 talking about, you. 0:25:00.880 --> 0:25:04.000 Know, some heavy stuff. You know, really we're talking about 0:25:04.160 --> 0:25:10.359 violence and aggression toward black people and examining the source 0:25:10.400 --> 0:25:14.320 of that. And you know, there's there's something that I 0:25:14.359 --> 0:25:17.880 wanted to add to that part of the show before 0:25:17.920 --> 0:25:19.960 we move on, and that's that, you know, I have 0:25:20.080 --> 0:25:26.040 this belief that you know, when when when people say, 0:25:26.640 --> 0:25:37.080 you know, white privilege doesn't exist, and in their mind, 0:25:37.760 --> 0:25:40.560 like I understand why they might say that, because if 0:25:40.560 --> 0:25:45.399 you're born poor and white and everyone else around you 0:25:45.520 --> 0:25:48.159 is poor and white, and you had to work for 0:25:48.200 --> 0:25:49.600 whatever it is you have, it could be a lot, 0:25:49.680 --> 0:25:52.640 it could be nothing, and you don't feel like there 0:25:52.640 --> 0:25:55.040 were any advantages. No one came and said, oh you're white, 0:25:55.040 --> 0:25:57.480 here's you know, a million dollar loan. You know that 0:25:57.520 --> 0:26:01.720 never happened in your story. Then white privilege feels like 0:26:03.720 --> 0:26:06.600 an attack or a slap in your face because you 0:26:06.720 --> 0:26:09.360 feel like you've had to work for everything, And so 0:26:09.520 --> 0:26:15.520 I try to reframe that oftentimes, as you know, if 0:26:15.560 --> 0:26:19.320 you're born black, at least in this society, based on 0:26:19.359 --> 0:26:23.080 society's rules, not nature's rules, but society's rules, that's like 0:26:23.119 --> 0:26:25.800 being born with a strike against you. If you're being 0:26:25.840 --> 0:26:29.040 born black and female, that's almost like being born with 0:26:29.080 --> 0:26:34.360 two strikes against you. Black female, and you know, queer, 0:26:34.960 --> 0:26:41.960 or you know, or maybe you're not in a healthy body, 0:26:41.960 --> 0:26:48.520 maybe there's a handicap or you know, some other some 0:26:48.640 --> 0:26:53.840 other thing going on that is not heterosexual Christian, white male, 0:26:54.000 --> 0:26:59.760 straight person who in a healthy body, then you're born 0:26:59.800 --> 0:27:01.840 with a strike against you. But if you are born 0:27:02.400 --> 0:27:05.160 you know, Christian male, you know, that's like being born 0:27:05.800 --> 0:27:08.600 with zero strikes against you. And that in and of 0:27:08.640 --> 0:27:10.840 itself is your privilege. And so that way both things 0:27:10.840 --> 0:27:13.679 can be true. You weren't born with anything, but you 0:27:13.680 --> 0:27:15.639 weren't born with any strikes against you, and that is 0:27:15.640 --> 0:27:18.480 your privilege. We've had to crawl up from underneath from 0:27:18.520 --> 0:27:21.240 a negative space, and you were able to start it 0:27:21.480 --> 0:27:23.320 at the starting line. We were able to we had 0:27:23.359 --> 0:27:25.919 to start further back. And I think that reframes it 0:27:25.960 --> 0:27:29.040 in a lot of folks minds and it's the people 0:27:29.080 --> 0:27:35.080 that understand and acknowledge that. Obviously a lot of people 0:27:35.080 --> 0:27:37.120 would agree with that, and especially people that would listen 0:27:37.200 --> 0:27:38.800 to this sort of show and people that would show 0:27:38.880 --> 0:27:41.000 up and support the things that, you know, we're trying 0:27:41.000 --> 0:27:42.320 to do to make the world a little bit more 0:27:42.400 --> 0:27:46.359 fair place. But I find that that explanation even convinces 0:27:46.480 --> 0:27:49.560 people who challenge the idea that they were born with 0:27:49.600 --> 0:27:54.960 any sort of privilege, because it's like, well, did you 0:27:55.000 --> 0:27:57.080 start with nothing? Okay, so we can agree that you 0:27:57.119 --> 0:27:59.400 started with nothing. Okay, then let's go from there because 0:27:59.400 --> 0:28:02.400 I started with less than nothing. And then usually they're 0:28:02.440 --> 0:28:04.520 able to kind of come around. So, you know, take 0:28:04.520 --> 0:28:06.680 that and do what you want with it. It might, 0:28:07.000 --> 0:28:09.840 you know, you know, help you in a conversation and 0:28:09.960 --> 0:28:12.719 might help you convince someone to kind of rethink the 0:28:12.760 --> 0:28:15.520 world that you live in and that they live in. 0:28:16.680 --> 0:28:19.320 But moving on another thing that we have to talk about. Unfortunately, 0:28:19.359 --> 0:28:22.440 it's also very troubling, and I'm sure everyone will have 0:28:22.440 --> 0:28:24.399 a lot to say about it. I am going to 0:28:24.520 --> 0:28:26.240 kind of chill on this one because I want to 0:28:26.240 --> 0:28:31.159 hear everyone else's thoughts. But Andrew Brown were aware of 0:28:31.200 --> 0:28:34.119 what happened with Andrew Brown. On April twenty first, the 0:28:34.119 --> 0:28:38.480 police were executing a search warrant at Andrew Brown's house. 0:28:40.720 --> 0:28:46.520 They pulled up in mass and he tried to flee 0:28:46.600 --> 0:28:52.360 the scene, as is his customary right, being a creature 0:28:52.440 --> 0:28:55.200 endowed with consciousness. If you're afraid, you run, that is 0:28:55.680 --> 0:28:58.800 hardwired into us by nature. So that is not a 0:28:58.840 --> 0:29:03.800 death sentence, right, And they shot him and he died. 0:29:04.040 --> 0:29:06.480 And the interesting thing about this, if you don't know 0:29:06.520 --> 0:29:09.160 the story, is they shot him as he was fleeing, 0:29:09.280 --> 0:29:10.920 so all of the bullets hit him in the back. 0:29:10.960 --> 0:29:12.360 He's shot in the back of the head and the 0:29:12.400 --> 0:29:14.240 back of his body in his car was all shot 0:29:14.280 --> 0:29:17.040 up in the crashed into a tree. I want to 0:29:17.040 --> 0:29:19.680 say is that if I'm missing some of the details, 0:29:19.920 --> 0:29:22.720 you know, I try not to give too much of 0:29:22.760 --> 0:29:25.640 myself to preparing for the show, just because it's so taxing. 0:29:25.720 --> 0:29:27.560 So if I miss a couple of things, don't hold 0:29:27.600 --> 0:29:30.640 it against me. But that's the gist of the story. Well, 0:29:31.280 --> 0:29:37.200 we found out this past week that the judge said 0:29:37.240 --> 0:29:40.360 that the officers had reason to believe that they were 0:29:40.400 --> 0:29:43.920 in danger and so the shooting was justified. Now we 0:29:44.160 --> 0:29:44.760 just got. 0:29:44.560 --> 0:29:49.240 A verdict from the George Floyd case and a guilty 0:29:49.320 --> 0:29:51.840 verdict which we were happy with, not happy with, but 0:29:52.240 --> 0:29:56.800 we felt like that was good. Derek Chauvin's that's face say, 0:29:56.800 --> 0:29:59.240 I'm so sorry, the Derek Chauvin case. 0:29:59.320 --> 0:30:04.760 The murder of George Floyd exactly exactly. So that felt like, okay, maybe, 0:30:05.520 --> 0:30:07.440 I mean, it doesn't feel like a win. I don't 0:30:07.440 --> 0:30:09.160 think it feels like a win to anyone, but it 0:30:09.200 --> 0:30:12.520 does feel like, Okay, you're starting to hear us maybe 0:30:12.600 --> 0:30:14.640 a little bit. Let's get a lot more of that 0:30:15.440 --> 0:30:18.040 and then let's normalize it. That's kind of I think, 0:30:18.760 --> 0:30:21.080 for the most part what we were feeling at that moment. 0:30:21.440 --> 0:30:25.840 But like Q, a lot of people felt like, oh, okay, 0:30:25.880 --> 0:30:27.200 they just had to do this because they don't want 0:30:27.200 --> 0:30:28.800 anybody done. Wants to burn it down, you know what 0:30:28.800 --> 0:30:33.560 I'm saying. And I think that this judge saying that 0:30:33.600 --> 0:30:36.040 the officers had reason to believe that they were in 0:30:36.120 --> 0:30:39.600 danger as a man was fleeing to shoot him in 0:30:39.600 --> 0:30:44.560 the back and end his life, that feels like more 0:30:44.600 --> 0:30:47.760 of what we're accustomed to. I love all your thoughts 0:30:47.840 --> 0:30:48.080 on that. 0:30:49.360 --> 0:30:55.640 If you have any sure, I'll start Yeah, yeah, let's 0:30:55.680 --> 0:30:57.960 hear it. I know what I think. 0:30:58.000 --> 0:30:59.080 I want to know what you think. 0:31:00.920 --> 0:31:05.960 My tag team partner on this show has a much 0:31:06.000 --> 0:31:13.280 more optimistic and hopeful outlook on race relations and justice, 0:31:14.720 --> 0:31:21.600 the way our country views and treats us in where 0:31:21.640 --> 0:31:26.000 we aspire to be at some point, I, because of 0:31:26.080 --> 0:31:31.719 things like this, am a far less hopeful person with 0:31:31.800 --> 0:31:38.479 regards to us ever reaching this utopia of progress and 0:31:38.600 --> 0:31:42.360 social change and equality. It really feels like it'll never 0:31:42.400 --> 0:31:45.560 happen to me. And that's not a place that I'm 0:31:45.600 --> 0:31:49.360 excited about living mentally and emotionally, but it is an 0:31:49.360 --> 0:31:57.640 honest place. And our country, our countrymen, our police, continue 0:31:58.240 --> 0:32:06.560 to reassure me that I'm right if someone leaving out 0:32:06.560 --> 0:32:11.720 of my house after robbing it got shot in their 0:32:11.760 --> 0:32:17.000 back by me, after they've terrorized my family, scared my children, 0:32:17.760 --> 0:32:20.320 but made it out of my house running away from me, 0:32:20.360 --> 0:32:25.320 and I shot them dead in the back, in the back, 0:32:27.600 --> 0:32:31.600 they for darn and I really wanted to say something 0:32:31.640 --> 0:32:37.440 else right there, They for darn sure would find justified 0:32:37.560 --> 0:32:42.000 reason to hold me accountable, because it'd be very hard 0:32:42.080 --> 0:32:44.720 to explain to them how I felt threatened by this 0:32:44.800 --> 0:32:49.800 person who's already flee the scene, this person that's running 0:32:49.840 --> 0:32:52.680 away from me, and that would be true for everyone 0:32:52.840 --> 0:32:59.000 sitting in this space with me right now. Unless you 0:32:59.160 --> 0:33:05.120 had an h Seese badge pin to your shirt, then 0:33:05.160 --> 0:33:12.280 you'd have an almost literal license to murder and a 0:33:12.400 --> 0:33:17.400 built in excuse of fear at all times afraid of 0:33:17.440 --> 0:33:24.200 the person running away from you, justified in murdering this individual. Now, 0:33:24.200 --> 0:33:28.520 in my case, in the story, I told you'd think 0:33:29.040 --> 0:33:33.000 this person broke into my home, terroribrized my family, scared 0:33:33.000 --> 0:33:35.640 of my children, woke me out of my sleep. But 0:33:35.760 --> 0:33:37.520 all that person has to do for me to be 0:33:37.600 --> 0:33:40.080 the bad guy is make it out of my front door. 0:33:41.640 --> 0:33:45.160 And even if my feelings are justified and true, I'm 0:33:45.200 --> 0:33:46.560 going to be held accountable. 0:33:47.040 --> 0:33:48.000 If the person. 0:33:47.880 --> 0:33:51.640 Doesn't die, I'm probably going to be brought up on 0:33:51.680 --> 0:33:57.680 criminal and civil charges, attempted murder and whatever this person 0:33:57.720 --> 0:34:01.520 wants to suit me for. Even though they actually broken 0:34:01.600 --> 0:34:04.400 my house, stole things, scared my family, terrorized them, they 0:34:04.440 --> 0:34:07.239 made it outside. So the lass set up for that 0:34:07.280 --> 0:34:12.239 person to somehow make me the bad guy, especially when 0:34:12.280 --> 0:34:18.359 I'm wearing this skin, so it's impossible for me to 0:34:18.400 --> 0:34:24.080 be hopeful when the guilty verdicts are very very few 0:34:24.120 --> 0:34:27.600 and far between, and even when the guilty verdicts happen, 0:34:28.400 --> 0:34:32.680 there's a sentencing that happens after where you get convicted 0:34:32.800 --> 0:34:37.360 murderers getting less time than people found guilty of selling 0:34:37.400 --> 0:34:42.440 marijuana prior to it becoming the booming federal and local 0:34:42.560 --> 0:34:46.160 industry that it's become over the last few years. So 0:34:47.120 --> 0:34:50.439 it's hard as a father and as a black man 0:34:50.560 --> 0:34:52.920 living in a country that even when we fight for 0:34:53.000 --> 0:34:55.319 it and we wrap that flag around us, when we 0:34:55.400 --> 0:34:59.520 touch back on our soil, we're still viewed as less 0:34:59.520 --> 0:35:04.399 standing beneath. It is very hard to remain hopeful when 0:35:04.400 --> 0:35:09.200 those things remain true. So this time I couldn't watch 0:35:09.200 --> 0:35:12.560 the video because watching bullets tear through another one of 0:35:12.600 --> 0:35:16.000 my people for a reason that you can't explain to 0:35:16.080 --> 0:35:18.040 me would have been too much this time. 0:35:24.520 --> 0:35:30.400 Don Yeah, I think that'll as Kisha. 0:35:31.880 --> 0:35:32.120 Yeah. 0:35:32.120 --> 0:35:33.680 So that really resonates home with me. 0:35:34.560 --> 0:35:39.000 Just I feel like in my body often I am 0:35:39.800 --> 0:35:46.040 struggling with the optimistic side of me and also the 0:35:46.160 --> 0:35:49.359 less optimistic side of me, because on one hand, I 0:35:49.400 --> 0:35:51.880 do want to believe that there is a world that 0:35:51.960 --> 0:35:56.839 the world that we're building, and and and doing all 0:35:56.880 --> 0:35:59.479 of this work and you know, pounding the pavement for 0:36:00.040 --> 0:36:04.839 and you know, the change that we're hoping to see. 0:36:05.000 --> 0:36:07.920 On one hand, you know, it's it's a beautiful thing, 0:36:08.000 --> 0:36:10.160 right if you allow yourself to drop into that space 0:36:10.200 --> 0:36:14.960 and allow yourself to really imagine a world without police, 0:36:15.000 --> 0:36:18.759 and imagine a world where the police are defunded, and 0:36:18.840 --> 0:36:22.560 imagine a world where everyone has you know, access to 0:36:22.760 --> 0:36:27.799 food and water and you know, uh, social services and 0:36:27.880 --> 0:36:31.280 a place to sleep, a safe place to sleep. And 0:36:31.680 --> 0:36:35.719 you know, that's a beautiful thing to imagine. And on 0:36:35.760 --> 0:36:40.719 the other hand, when you see things like this in 0:36:40.760 --> 0:36:44.759 the news almost every single day, and you know, it's 0:36:44.840 --> 0:36:47.640 it's a struggle in the reality that that we sit 0:36:47.719 --> 0:36:52.600 with because as you see in the George Floyd UH 0:36:52.719 --> 0:36:59.280 situation case murder. You know, although Derek Chauvin was found 0:36:59.280 --> 0:37:04.360 guilty for or for what he did, George Floyd was 0:37:04.360 --> 0:37:07.960 on trial for his own murder, you know, and you 0:37:08.000 --> 0:37:09.759 see that in a lot of cases. You see that 0:37:09.760 --> 0:37:12.359 in almost every single case, right the person that got 0:37:12.360 --> 0:37:15.759 shot or or you know, brutalized by the police in 0:37:15.800 --> 0:37:22.760 some way become the victim of their own uh murders 0:37:22.960 --> 0:37:24.480 or or offenses. 0:37:24.520 --> 0:37:26.640 That try to well, he deserved it. 0:37:27.680 --> 0:37:30.120 And even in the you know Andrew Brown situation, I 0:37:30.920 --> 0:37:35.040 haven't watched the video and and don't know a ton 0:37:35.200 --> 0:37:40.040 about the story because these cases they're they're really difficult 0:37:40.120 --> 0:37:43.719 to to hear often, and I try to save my 0:37:43.880 --> 0:37:47.800 emotional capacity for for the situations that happen here locally, 0:37:48.600 --> 0:37:51.160 since we are a local organization and we fight, you know, 0:37:51.280 --> 0:37:54.840 those police brutality here in our local area. 0:37:55.000 --> 0:37:55.839 Try to save my. 0:37:56.400 --> 0:38:00.360 Compassion and and and just energy for these cases happen 0:38:00.680 --> 0:38:05.840 closer to home. But I definitely saw that they're you know, 0:38:05.960 --> 0:38:09.440 they're trying to vilify him from the moment that it happened, 0:38:09.480 --> 0:38:12.799 trying to vilify him for his own murder and justify well, 0:38:12.800 --> 0:38:15.120 if he wouldn't have ran, he would have still be alive. 0:38:15.440 --> 0:38:16.640 All you have to do is. 0:38:17.160 --> 0:38:20.480 You know, follow the law and you know you wouldn't 0:38:20.520 --> 0:38:21.239 get shot, right. 0:38:21.320 --> 0:38:23.960 So it's like you have those. 0:38:23.800 --> 0:38:27.400 Situations, it is it is a struggle to hold on 0:38:27.440 --> 0:38:31.759 to hope while while seeing this happen every single day. 0:38:31.800 --> 0:38:34.839 But for me, if I didn't have hope, there would 0:38:34.840 --> 0:38:37.600 be nothing to fight for, you know, So I have 0:38:37.719 --> 0:38:41.840 to allow myself to even if I don't always believe. 0:38:42.440 --> 0:38:44.000 I have to allow myself to. 0:38:46.640 --> 0:38:47.640 Fake it till I make. 0:38:47.520 --> 0:38:51.319 It, you know, because if I didn't, I wouldn't have 0:38:51.360 --> 0:38:53.400 the strength to get up every day and do this work. 0:38:53.920 --> 0:38:58.080 Sure sory what you got? 0:38:59.000 --> 0:39:01.920 I feel like you know of something that we always 0:39:01.920 --> 0:39:06.840 say in the movement is you know, the system isn't broken. 0:39:06.920 --> 0:39:10.000 It's working exactly the way that it's supposed to. And 0:39:10.080 --> 0:39:12.480 so you know when. 0:39:14.400 --> 0:39:17.359 The way he works, I mean, you know, you say 0:39:17.360 --> 0:39:21.520 that the badge is a license to kill, right literally, 0:39:21.560 --> 0:39:25.040 it's that where they're qualified immunity, and so you know, 0:39:25.960 --> 0:39:28.319 the way that the laws and everything is set up, 0:39:28.640 --> 0:39:32.520 they're gonna get free. You know, Derek Shavin was a 0:39:32.600 --> 0:39:36.719 sacrificial lamb that the police gave to us because they 0:39:36.760 --> 0:39:40.440 knew that we would have completely lost faith in the system. 0:39:40.800 --> 0:39:43.799 But honestly, you know, if you haven't yet, it's like, 0:39:44.360 --> 0:39:47.040 come on, like, we know how this goes. We know 0:39:47.080 --> 0:39:50.320 how they criminalize, we know how they you know, and 0:39:50.800 --> 0:39:54.360 at this point it's just about especially you know, for 0:39:54.360 --> 0:39:57.560 for us as an organization that works directly with families, 0:39:57.800 --> 0:40:03.400 you know, we try to you know, smile and you know, 0:40:03.520 --> 0:40:05.799 tell them we're going to get justice, but more more 0:40:05.840 --> 0:40:09.080 often than not, that's not the case. And and honestly, 0:40:09.680 --> 0:40:13.000 now we've been talking about it ourselves as an organization, 0:40:13.320 --> 0:40:15.120 when we meet with these families, we kind of have 0:40:15.160 --> 0:40:18.120 to be honest that, like, you know, we will advocate 0:40:18.200 --> 0:40:21.640 for you, but the likelihood that will win is you know, 0:40:21.680 --> 0:40:23.760 it's not it's not really high. 0:40:23.880 --> 0:40:25.480 But you know, we're going to try what we can. 0:40:25.560 --> 0:40:28.000 We're going to make sure and and more so, what 0:40:28.080 --> 0:40:32.239 we see what happens after these cases is depending on 0:40:32.360 --> 0:40:36.200 the level of uprising that comes afterwards, you might get 0:40:36.239 --> 0:40:41.879 some policy changes or something, you know, but but most 0:40:41.880 --> 0:40:44.960 of the time, it's mostly window dressing, you know. And 0:40:45.080 --> 0:40:47.080 the system is the same, and it's going to continue 0:40:47.080 --> 0:40:49.440 to kill us, and we're going to continue. Uh, the 0:40:49.520 --> 0:40:52.799 murderers are going to continue to go free because it 0:40:52.880 --> 0:40:55.520 was built that way. You know, police are the modern 0:40:55.560 --> 0:41:00.399 day slave catchers. So you know, if we shouldn't really 0:41:00.440 --> 0:41:04.799 expect almost anything else, and you know, to that point, Uh, 0:41:04.960 --> 0:41:07.719 that is why you know, doing this work. And uh, 0:41:07.840 --> 0:41:10.000 for as long as I've been doing it, you know, 0:41:10.680 --> 0:41:14.560 I don't watch the videos. You know, I didn't watch 0:41:15.719 --> 0:41:18.560 the whole George Floyd video, you know, because I watched 0:41:18.560 --> 0:41:21.239 the Eric Gardner video, you know, and that's what you know. 0:41:21.320 --> 0:41:23.839 It brought me out to the streets, and I, you know, 0:41:24.000 --> 0:41:27.960 I can't keep watching them because I feel like we 0:41:28.239 --> 0:41:31.920 get desensitized to black death. And if black lives are 0:41:31.960 --> 0:41:35.640 supposed to matter, we can't become desensitized to black death. 0:41:35.680 --> 0:41:38.480 And if you see the difference with the school shootings, 0:41:38.600 --> 0:41:40.960 with the grocery store shootings, with all the other times 0:41:41.000 --> 0:41:44.480 when white people decide to shoot up places, you know, uh, 0:41:45.160 --> 0:41:49.440 they never show the bodies, but when black people get killed, 0:41:49.480 --> 0:41:51.280 it's these public executions. 0:41:51.520 --> 0:41:53.719 And that's because our lives don't matter as much. 0:41:54.040 --> 0:41:56.600 And so I feel like, you know, especially as US 0:41:56.600 --> 0:41:59.719 as an organization, we don't repost that. And you know, 0:42:01.040 --> 0:42:10.120 and uh, because you know it is uh. 0:42:07.160 --> 0:42:07.239 It. 0:42:08.719 --> 0:42:13.359 Does become desensitizing to black death. And you know, how 0:42:13.360 --> 0:42:14.319 are we supposed to matter? 0:42:18.320 --> 0:42:24.160 Me? Me? Yeah, I feel it. You know. 0:42:25.360 --> 0:42:27.200 The level. 0:42:28.400 --> 0:42:32.799 Of black death surrounding I said, any moment is absolutely overwhelming, 0:42:33.440 --> 0:42:36.160 and I don't know how we as a people do it. 0:42:36.239 --> 0:42:38.160 And I think, if anything, that's what keeps me going 0:42:38.239 --> 0:42:40.200 is the fact that we are actually still alive and 0:42:40.320 --> 0:42:45.080 here and doing it. Eleven million Africans died at sea 0:42:45.200 --> 0:42:48.080 before we got to this terrible, terrible place that we 0:42:48.160 --> 0:42:52.439 called the Americas. Okay, so before we even got here, 0:42:52.719 --> 0:42:57.120 black death was a huge thing. Eleven million. The boat 0:42:57.200 --> 0:43:00.879 is too heavy, you have to go. So here we are. 0:43:01.760 --> 0:43:03.560 Imagine what they did to us. For as long as 0:43:03.600 --> 0:43:05.640 we were here, we were nothing but extra scraps on 0:43:05.680 --> 0:43:09.600 the ship to them. So of course we look around 0:43:09.680 --> 0:43:12.400 us now on that that same level in different forms 0:43:12.400 --> 0:43:19.840 of black death is around us and everywhere. So if anything, 0:43:19.960 --> 0:43:27.120 you know, looking to our ancestors and movements before us, 0:43:28.800 --> 0:43:35.239 what what made you fight in this fight that seems 0:43:35.360 --> 0:43:40.680 unfeatable at all times, you know, and what they still 0:43:40.680 --> 0:43:43.120 continue to do? And then that's the that's the we 0:43:43.200 --> 0:43:45.839 call it afrofuturist in all of us, you know. So 0:43:45.880 --> 0:43:48.120 we have the pessimists and we have the Afro futurests, 0:43:48.160 --> 0:43:52.160 and there they go head to head, right, But it's 0:43:52.239 --> 0:43:55.280 just like there's there's something, there's some kind of freedom 0:43:55.360 --> 0:43:59.279 dream in what we've been trying to achieve. But there's 0:43:59.320 --> 0:44:03.960 also this is very deep rooted anti black violence in 0:44:04.000 --> 0:44:07.279 our communities and in ourselves, and sometimes we you know, 0:44:08.000 --> 0:44:10.319 take things out on ourselves and in ways and the 0:44:10.320 --> 0:44:12.960 people around us in ways that we shouldn't write. But 0:44:13.120 --> 0:44:20.120 I think that there's no excuse and there's no other 0:44:20.200 --> 0:44:23.160 reason behind why somebody would shoot and kill somebody in 0:44:23.200 --> 0:44:25.759 the back and talk about their threat and actually get 0:44:25.760 --> 0:44:29.000 the way with it. Then the fact that anti black 0:44:29.080 --> 0:44:32.759 violence is just as real now as it was then 0:44:33.800 --> 0:44:36.759 as the eleven million, you know, So when we bring 0:44:36.800 --> 0:44:41.000 our ancestors in the room, this makes sense differently, Okay, 0:44:41.520 --> 0:44:46.440 So we forget about time. Time is a colonial construct. 0:44:46.560 --> 0:44:48.160 We have to go into it, y'all. They hear me 0:44:48.160 --> 0:44:50.080 talk like this all the time too. That's why they're laughing. 0:44:50.880 --> 0:44:53.200 This didn't happen as long ago as we think it did, 0:44:53.360 --> 0:44:55.960 because guess who created time? A bunch of colonizers say 0:44:55.960 --> 0:44:58.200 that happens so long ago. Just forget about it. Forget 0:44:58.239 --> 0:45:02.360 about it because it benefits who. So let's disrupt it all, 0:45:02.360 --> 0:45:05.080 disrupt their time too. This we're on. We don't need 0:45:05.120 --> 0:45:06.719 to be on white time anymore. You did this? Do 0:45:06.920 --> 0:45:09.560 we feel it in our bodies still? So, that black trauma, 0:45:09.600 --> 0:45:12.560 that ancestral trauma, that post traumatic slave syndrome, it's very 0:45:12.640 --> 0:45:14.600 much here, and it's with our brothers and sisters on 0:45:14.640 --> 0:45:16.520 the continent too, because again we didn't even make it 0:45:16.560 --> 0:45:20.359 here before. They dumped us like garbage. Now they dumped 0:45:20.360 --> 0:45:24.160 my brother in the street like the same mother. Okay, 0:45:24.520 --> 0:45:32.440 let's stop, same MF and thing. You see. So it's disgusting. 0:45:32.719 --> 0:45:34.480 When when do when is there an intro? When does 0:45:34.520 --> 0:45:35.880 there stop to it? We don't know, but we know 0:45:35.920 --> 0:45:37.879 there is a fight for it, and there's a there's 0:45:37.880 --> 0:45:40.759 a fight and people are fighting against it, you know, 0:45:40.920 --> 0:45:47.160 So invoking invoking their hopes it is what keeps us going. 0:45:47.239 --> 0:45:49.360 But I think it's it's always you know, it's balanced 0:45:49.360 --> 0:45:52.560 because you'll we have to go back and see you 0:45:52.600 --> 0:45:55.439 know what happened then and now is then and now? 0:45:59.680 --> 0:46:02.880 And why people need to stef weaponizing time to make it 0:46:02.920 --> 0:46:08.000 like it was so long ago. Fair point, Well, give 0:46:08.080 --> 0:46:10.239 us back our reparations. We can't talk about black lives 0:46:10.239 --> 0:46:11.880 if we're not talking about reparations. 0:46:12.200 --> 0:46:15.640 Give me my money, run me my money, talk to money. 0:46:16.160 --> 0:46:24.880 So listen, I got to say a couple things. The 0:46:24.880 --> 0:46:26.920 first thing I want to say is I read some 0:46:28.560 --> 0:46:32.239 a couple of years ago, I want to say, and 0:46:32.840 --> 0:46:37.040 it was a report study and it said men interrupt 0:46:37.080 --> 0:46:44.200 women at a rate of seventy seventy percent more often 0:46:44.239 --> 0:46:48.080 than women interrupt men in the same conversations. Right, So 0:46:48.120 --> 0:46:50.640 when I read that me trying to be the person 0:46:50.680 --> 0:46:53.279 that I aspire to be, I was like, oh, you 0:46:53.320 --> 0:46:56.560 know what, let me check myself. And over the past 0:46:56.640 --> 0:46:59.040 few years, I've been trying my best to check myself. Right, 0:46:59.160 --> 0:47:01.239 want a woman to speak and letters say air pece, 0:47:01.320 --> 0:47:04.440 state of brief, try to learn. And I think that 0:47:04.600 --> 0:47:08.160 listening to U three say that right now should serve 0:47:08.320 --> 0:47:12.480 as proof to every other man listening that you should 0:47:12.520 --> 0:47:16.120 let these women talk. If they talking, you sit there 0:47:16.120 --> 0:47:18.279 and listen and you get educated. Now, of course I've 0:47:18.320 --> 0:47:20.200 heard you all speak before, so you know we kind 0:47:20.200 --> 0:47:22.360 of have the dynamics you're established. 0:47:22.360 --> 0:47:23.719 But just. 0:47:25.719 --> 0:47:29.480 To be able to listen to that passion, it's very 0:47:29.520 --> 0:47:32.440 moving and very empowering. So thank you for sharing that. 0:47:34.600 --> 0:47:39.160 I'm cutting rams Ands off very intentionally right now. You know, 0:47:39.239 --> 0:47:41.480 I know that's some kind of social pun based on 0:47:41.520 --> 0:47:44.120 what he just said, but I just picked up my 0:47:44.200 --> 0:47:49.360 phone and text our group let these women speak. And 0:47:49.440 --> 0:47:51.759 you didn't see that before you said what you just said, 0:47:51.760 --> 0:47:53.040 because you don't even have your phone. 0:47:53.600 --> 0:47:55.680 So that's how a line we were just now. I 0:47:56.280 --> 0:47:56.960 know you saw it. 0:47:57.239 --> 0:48:00.799 I said, let them speak because it's so nests, it's 0:48:00.800 --> 0:48:08.360 so powerful, it's so moving. Our superheroes, our real superheroes, 0:48:08.400 --> 0:48:12.279 are represented by here listen now Captain America, not the 0:48:12.320 --> 0:48:18.400 Incredible Hulk them. So let these women speak because those words, 0:48:18.440 --> 0:48:22.080 those thoughts, those real raw emotions are powerful and necessary. 0:48:22.600 --> 0:48:24.840 So it's almost spooky that I text that and you 0:48:25.000 --> 0:48:26.360 without seeing it set. 0:48:26.200 --> 0:48:29.920 It absolutely absolutely. You know, I listened all day. I 0:48:30.760 --> 0:48:33.239 made a radio show, so so everybody listen, you know. 0:48:35.360 --> 0:48:38.320 So yeah, and then there's a there's a nurturing quality 0:48:38.400 --> 0:48:41.960 that just is absent when the man speaks, you know, originally, 0:48:42.719 --> 0:48:45.880 you know, when we try to work out these dynamics 0:48:45.880 --> 0:48:47.640 and the optics and everything like that, we try to 0:48:47.680 --> 0:48:51.520 account for that. But one thing I do want to say, though, 0:48:53.840 --> 0:48:57.360 in terms of a contribution to the to the narrative 0:48:57.400 --> 0:49:01.960 here in the conversation, is that, in terms of you know, 0:49:02.239 --> 0:49:09.440 keeping myself enthused and optimistic about the future prospects, you know, 0:49:09.600 --> 0:49:11.400 I just have to think, you know, what are we 0:49:11.480 --> 0:49:14.040 doing this for if not to have a better tomorrow, 0:49:14.360 --> 0:49:16.240 And so I try to keep that at the center 0:49:16.320 --> 0:49:22.200 of my imagination. If you will and just remain hopeful. 0:49:22.400 --> 0:49:24.680 And then you know, there are some shiny examples in 0:49:24.719 --> 0:49:26.640 my life of people who are really going to go 0:49:26.719 --> 0:49:29.680 out of their way, to their own detriment to make 0:49:29.680 --> 0:49:32.479 the world a little bit more fairer, for place fair 0:49:32.560 --> 0:49:35.320 place for people that don't look like them, and granted, 0:49:35.760 --> 0:49:38.719 relative to everyone else, it's a small number, but it's 0:49:38.840 --> 0:49:44.640 enough to keep me hopeful about the future. So with 0:49:44.760 --> 0:49:50.759 that said, you know, I want to make sure that 0:49:51.239 --> 0:49:52.920 you know what you're listening to. This is a civic 0:49:52.960 --> 0:49:54.680 sipher from your host Rams's Jah. 0:49:54.719 --> 0:49:57.959 They call me q Ward, and that's almost my name. 0:49:59.280 --> 0:50:03.280 Quentin Ward makes you say she was just way easier 0:50:03.320 --> 0:50:06.160 to say. I don't mind you saying Quentin, though, by 0:50:06.200 --> 0:50:09.759 the way, I just really can't rock with Quentin, not 0:50:09.800 --> 0:50:11.759 because it's not a cool name, it's just not mine. 0:50:11.760 --> 0:50:14.160 It'd be like calling me Michael. They're not the same. 0:50:14.280 --> 0:50:18.360 So Quentin or q Ward, whichever you prefer. 0:50:18.520 --> 0:50:20.880 I want to educate people, man, because sometimes people that 0:50:21.040 --> 0:50:24.239 don't know me, if I'm out of town, they hear Ramsey, 0:50:25.120 --> 0:50:29.040 no disrespect anybody named Ramsey. But my name is Ramses. 0:50:29.520 --> 0:50:36.000 That's what my father named me. Anyway, Big news big 0:50:36.080 --> 0:50:45.120 news if you live in Arizona, you live in Phoenix, especially, uh, 0:50:46.400 --> 0:50:48.520 the folks who live in in this state and in 0:50:48.520 --> 0:50:53.200 this city and in Tucson too. You know, there's an 0:50:53.200 --> 0:50:59.640 event coming up. It'll be this Tuesday, and what we're 0:50:59.640 --> 0:51:04.360 going to do is it's it's it's it's an anniversary 0:51:04.400 --> 0:51:07.160 of the passing of two people that were very central 0:51:07.600 --> 0:51:11.080 to the marches and the protests last year and are 0:51:11.120 --> 0:51:14.200 still very central to you know, our hearts and the 0:51:14.239 --> 0:51:17.879 stories that we're continuing to write these days. Of course, 0:51:17.920 --> 0:51:22.120 George Floyd would be the anniversary of his passing and 0:51:22.440 --> 0:51:25.920 Dion Johnson. It's another high profile case here in Arizona. 0:51:27.880 --> 0:51:35.000 And we're going to have an event to celebrate the 0:51:35.080 --> 0:51:41.160 lives of these people and to also empower economically, specifically 0:51:41.239 --> 0:51:44.239 the family of Dion Johnson, which is something that we 0:51:44.280 --> 0:51:46.960 can do here locally. And so I want to take 0:51:46.960 --> 0:51:49.120 a moment and you know, any one of you can 0:51:49.160 --> 0:51:51.440 answer this, but you know, what are your thoughts on 0:51:52.360 --> 0:51:55.480 you know, why this is important or why this is 0:51:55.600 --> 0:52:00.880 necessary to commemorate you know, this event and uh, you know, 0:52:00.960 --> 0:52:01.600 to do something. 0:52:03.280 --> 0:52:08.960 Yeah, we so much just happened George Floyd and Dion Johnson. 0:52:09.600 --> 0:52:10.160 Uh. 0:52:10.320 --> 0:52:15.840 You know, Dion was our own local Floyd incident happened 0:52:15.880 --> 0:52:19.040 on the same exact day and didn't get nearly as 0:52:19.160 --> 0:52:24.680 much attention or justice. And so you know, we've we've 0:52:24.719 --> 0:52:27.680 done a lot, We've done direct actions, We've you know, 0:52:27.800 --> 0:52:31.640 had thousands of people in the streets for for Dion. 0:52:31.840 --> 0:52:36.560 We you know, surrounded DPS. We we we did a lot. 0:52:37.520 --> 0:52:42.200 You know, we got arrested for Dion Johnson, and still 0:52:42.239 --> 0:52:45.319 we haven't gotten justice. And now it comes up on 0:52:45.400 --> 0:52:51.560 a year and in that time, uh irma who's uh 0:52:51.960 --> 0:52:57.319 Dion's mom has gotten her other son taken from by 0:52:57.400 --> 0:53:01.200 the same the same state, the same police. They're they're 0:53:01.239 --> 0:53:04.640 trying to uh frame him on a bunch of charges 0:53:04.719 --> 0:53:09.560 and basically take him away forever. And so, you know, 0:53:09.840 --> 0:53:12.799 when we thought about what could we do to commemorate this, 0:53:13.040 --> 0:53:15.400 what can we do, We're like, we have to bring 0:53:15.680 --> 0:53:19.160 her son home. You know, we can't let you know, 0:53:19.320 --> 0:53:21.880 two of her sons be be taken by the state. 0:53:22.200 --> 0:53:25.360 Uh that's just you know, too tragic of a story 0:53:25.520 --> 0:53:29.000 in one year, you know, in the middle of an uprising. 0:53:29.040 --> 0:53:31.680 We we have to do something. So that's why we 0:53:31.800 --> 0:53:34.560 decided to do a benefit concert. It's our first time 0:53:35.120 --> 0:53:38.160 putting on a concert. I know, y'all know us b 0:53:38.400 --> 0:53:41.960 LM for protests, but we we get getting into something 0:53:42.120 --> 0:53:46.080 new here so that we can raise the money for 0:53:46.600 --> 0:53:50.600 uh Dion's family, so that we can bring Erma's son home, 0:53:51.239 --> 0:53:54.000 and so that we can remember, you know, everything that's 0:53:54.040 --> 0:53:55.080 happened in the last year. 0:54:00.520 --> 0:54:04.680 Yeah, and I think that that's the fact that we're 0:54:04.719 --> 0:54:08.640 going into this with that level of enthusiasm and confidence. 0:54:08.960 --> 0:54:10.759 A lot of folks that may not have been out 0:54:10.760 --> 0:54:14.320 on the streets or whatever, they might not be aware 0:54:14.520 --> 0:54:18.719 of just the huge crowds that come out even though 0:54:18.719 --> 0:54:22.879 the numbers have kind of shrink in twenty twenty one 0:54:22.920 --> 0:54:27.360 from twenty twenty, still huge numbers of people. And the 0:54:27.400 --> 0:54:30.520 fact that you're able to do this and connecting not 0:54:30.640 --> 0:54:33.239 just with Dion's family but with the city in this 0:54:33.320 --> 0:54:39.640 way is very significant. And you know, I unfortunately I 0:54:39.640 --> 0:54:43.279 can't talk about my affiliation with the event because of 0:54:43.600 --> 0:54:47.480 the nature of broadcasting on the FM of frequency. The 0:54:47.520 --> 0:54:50.680 FCC has some rules about that. But you can let 0:54:50.719 --> 0:54:53.920 folks know how they can participate. If they can't participate, 0:54:53.920 --> 0:54:56.600 how can they support, you know, And so forth. That's 0:54:56.600 --> 0:54:57.439 what this time is for. 0:54:58.640 --> 0:55:03.480 Yeah, absolutely, uh this Keisha here. So the concert is 0:55:03.520 --> 0:55:06.919 going to be on May so, exactly one year from 0:55:06.960 --> 0:55:11.880 the date of of this tragic loss. We're opening the 0:55:11.920 --> 0:55:14.240 doors at six pm, so it'll be from six pm 0:55:14.280 --> 0:55:17.919 to ten pm at the Monarch Theater and uh, yeah, 0:55:17.960 --> 0:55:21.240 we're excited. We have a pretty dope lineup setup for y'all. 0:55:21.520 --> 0:55:25.280 We've gone out of our uh stretched our comfort zone 0:55:25.320 --> 0:55:29.799 here to bring you guys a pretty dope concert with 0:55:29.960 --> 0:55:35.160 some uh you know, some local like uh artists in 0:55:35.520 --> 0:55:36.600 who are in the movement. 0:55:37.680 --> 0:55:38.560 Who's on that lineup? 0:55:39.400 --> 0:55:41.719 Yeah, so who's on the lineup? So we got our 0:55:42.120 --> 0:55:44.839 and excuse me if I mess up anyone's names here, 0:55:44.920 --> 0:55:51.000 but uh we have Arian Nicole with PLC dope artists, 0:55:51.040 --> 0:55:55.520 check her out. We got Rocky Tirade who's also in 0:55:56.040 --> 0:56:00.600 the movement as well, so dope dope artists. We got 0:56:00.640 --> 0:56:03.719 our We got some dancers from our very own uh 0:56:05.360 --> 0:56:08.719 uh choreograph a dance choreograph by Nissa Vibe, who's our 0:56:08.800 --> 0:56:13.560 very own member of BLM Phoenix Metro. Yeah, we got 0:56:13.600 --> 0:56:18.319 pokea face on here. We got dj Rams this job 0:56:19.239 --> 0:56:20.960 turning up the tables in the house. You know what 0:56:20.960 --> 0:56:24.919 I'm saying. We got Q in the house. We got 0:56:25.080 --> 0:56:29.400 MC fresh Maker. Yeah, I mean, we got we got 0:56:29.520 --> 0:56:31.560 just you know, we got a dope line up for y'all. 0:56:31.600 --> 0:56:33.399 And this is gonna be hosted by all of your 0:56:33.880 --> 0:56:38.759 uh prominent local orgs here in Arizona. And again the 0:56:38.800 --> 0:56:42.520 purpose of this benefit concert is to bring uh Donovan 0:56:42.719 --> 0:56:47.640 Johnson home back to his mom. Irma Johnson and the 0:56:47.680 --> 0:56:52.840 family will be present at this event and family friendly, 0:56:52.920 --> 0:56:55.239 all age welcomes. It is hosted at the Monarch Theater, 0:56:55.320 --> 0:56:57.880 but we are keeping it family friendly. Uh So there 0:56:57.920 --> 0:57:01.440 will be non alcoholic beverages, have, vendors will have It's 0:57:01.480 --> 0:57:03.160 going to be a good time, So come out. Check 0:57:03.200 --> 0:57:08.279 it out by the tickets online. We are on event right, 0:57:08.320 --> 0:57:10.120 so check out the tickets online. You can go to 0:57:10.160 --> 0:57:13.680 our Facebook page. It's in our Instagram pages and the 0:57:13.719 --> 0:57:15.000 link is in the bio as well. 0:57:15.480 --> 0:57:21.520 Absolutely, and once again, that will be this Tuesday at 0:57:21.560 --> 0:57:25.560 Monarch Theater in downtown Phoenix, one twenty two East Washington. 0:57:25.840 --> 0:57:30.280 I know the address and you can find out more 0:57:30.320 --> 0:57:34.160 information on social media. So you guys please share your 0:57:34.160 --> 0:57:35.960 social media so folks can follow you and keep up 0:57:35.960 --> 0:57:36.160 with you. 0:57:36.720 --> 0:57:40.520 Yeah, so on Instagram we have it's at BLM Phoenix Metro. 0:57:40.800 --> 0:57:43.800 Twitter is also at BLM Phoenix Metro. And then we 0:57:43.840 --> 0:57:48.400 also have our Facebook page at Black Lives Matter Phoenix Metro. 0:57:48.280 --> 0:57:52.760 And that's spelled BLM PHX Metro for ig Twitter. 0:57:54.200 --> 0:57:57.560 Okay, any personal instagrams y'all want to share. If not, 0:57:57.600 --> 0:57:59.920 don't worry about it. It's all good. It's about the move, 0:58:00.280 --> 0:58:02.320 all good. Okay, I'm not mad at that. We'll shoot. 0:58:02.360 --> 0:58:07.520 You can follow our personal instagram at Civic Cipher and 0:58:07.640 --> 0:58:10.400 also you can hit the website Civiccipher dot com. You 0:58:10.440 --> 0:58:13.480 can make a donation to the show that really helps 0:58:13.480 --> 0:58:16.200 the show grow. We have new cities that we'll announce soon, 0:58:16.320 --> 0:58:20.080 so we're really appreciative of everyone's support. You can also 0:58:20.160 --> 0:58:22.479 submit topics if there's things that we need to talk about, 0:58:22.560 --> 0:58:24.520 things we need to know about that happened in the community. 0:58:24.560 --> 0:58:26.120 This is your show just as much as it is 0:58:26.200 --> 0:58:31.880 our show, so please feel involved and feel free to support. 0:58:32.160 --> 0:58:35.280 And of course you can download this show. If you 0:58:35.360 --> 0:58:37.880 tuned in in the middle or any previous show, you 0:58:37.920 --> 0:58:41.600 can listen to the unedited version of it. And you 0:58:41.600 --> 0:58:43.800 know what Another thing that we don't do is we 0:58:43.840 --> 0:58:46.120 don't push the YouTube. So if you ever want to 0:58:46.520 --> 0:58:49.520 engage visually, you can check out our YouTube channel as well. 0:58:49.520 --> 0:58:51.840 That's YouTube dot com slash Civiccipher again. That's all on 0:58:51.880 --> 0:58:55.760 the website, civiccipher dot com. Once again, I'm Rams's Jah, 0:58:55.960 --> 0:58:58.000 call me Qward and that's going to do it for us. 0:58:58.000 --> 0:58:59.160 So until next week, y'all.