Speaker 1: Keep on riding with us, says, we continue to broadcast
Speaker 1: the balance and defend the discourse from the Hip Hop
Speaker 1: Weekly studios. Welcome back to Civic Cipher. I am your
Speaker 1: host Rams's job. Big shout out to my brother q Ward,
Speaker 1: who I know is supposed to be back in the studio,
Speaker 1: but he will be back soon. I promise. We are
Speaker 1: working all that out, but we are in good hands.
Speaker 1: We are joined by Sharin Sierra King, journalist, public speaker,
Speaker 1: and former radio host, life member of the NCNW as
Speaker 1: well as NAACP, where she is actively engaged in public
Speaker 1: public policy advocacy, voter protection efforts, and racial justice initiatives
Speaker 1: at both the local and national levels, and also a
Speaker 1: resident of Lincoln Heights, Ohio, the place that is making
Speaker 1: national headlines for the Nazi demonstrations and the community response.
Speaker 1: And we will be discussing that community response during this
Speaker 1: part of the show, So stick around for that and
Speaker 1: so much more because this is such an interesting conversation
Speaker 1: that a lot of people are able to learn from.
Speaker 1: But before we get there, it is time to discuss
Speaker 1: Ba becoming a better ally Baba and today's Baba. We're
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Speaker 2: Can endorse the Birdy Bank.
Speaker 1: Okay, good, good, I love that. I am a member, right,
Speaker 1: I love that? Okay, perfect. That's that's some serendipity for
Speaker 1: you right there. All right. We've been having a conversation
Speaker 1: about Nazis marching on Lincoln Heights, in my opinion, a
Speaker 1: disgusting display of white supremacy, and the police's response, which
Speaker 1: in many people's opinions, was simply to provide cover for
Speaker 1: the Nazis. Yes, And now we're going to discuss the
Speaker 1: community's response to those two elements, the Nazis' initial move
Speaker 1: to try to intimidate this black town and the police's
Speaker 1: do nothing approach to I don't hate Tate, thank you.
Speaker 1: There it is. That was way simpler. So I want
Speaker 1: to share a bit of a story and then we'll
Speaker 1: have a conversation about the community response, because it turns
Speaker 1: out that community is quite resilient. And you know, I'm
Speaker 1: not a big fan of historically on this show. I'm
Speaker 1: not a fan of guns. I'm not a fan of violence.
Speaker 1: I'm not a fan of That's not my thing. My
Speaker 1: heart just doesn't it's not in my heart that way. Q.
Speaker 1: On the other hand, he's got a little bit more
Speaker 1: room for that, right, And that's okay, you know, that's
Speaker 1: that's okay. It takes place for all of it, right, right.
Speaker 1: But i't me to share the story and get everyone
Speaker 1: brought up to speed, okay. This from Newsweek. Residents of
Speaker 1: a majority black town in Ohio have reportedly launched an
Speaker 1: armed patrol for their protection after criticizing the police response
Speaker 1: to a neo Nazi demonstration in February, the Cincinnati suburb
Speaker 1: of Lincoln Heights garnered national attention after a neo Nazi
Speaker 1: group way swastika flags and hurling racial slurs demonstrated on
Speaker 1: a highway overpass on the edge of the community on
Speaker 1: February seven. The incident sparked outrage, with residents at a
Speaker 1: town hall questioning why officers from the neighboring village of
Speaker 1: Evandale and deputies from the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office who
Speaker 1: responded to the incident made no citations or arrests. They
Speaker 1: expressed concerns that they would not be safe if another
Speaker 1: similar incident occurred. Residents then stated the Lincoln Heights Safety
Speaker 1: and Watch Program Sorry. They then started the Lincoln Heights
Speaker 1: Safety and Watch Program. I hope I say this right.
Speaker 2: Durrance Durronce Daniels.
Speaker 1: Durrance Daniels, Okay.
Speaker 2: Whose name it resonates throughout the valley as well. Yes,
Speaker 2: his grandfather was one of our soos ship pastors.
Speaker 1: Okay, okay, so here's somebody knows Everybodyim okay, good, good,
Speaker 1: So all right, so I'll continue. Durrance Daniels, the watch
Speaker 1: group spokesperson, told the Washington Post in February that residents
Speaker 1: took up arms shortly after the neo Nazis left, and
Speaker 1: community leaders formed the program in order to organize them.
Speaker 1: The program coordinates about seventy guards to watch the roads
Speaker 1: leading too into the town and go on arm patrols.
Speaker 1: The Post reported Ohio law allows anyone legally permitted to
Speaker 1: own a gun to open carry without a permit. The
Speaker 1: group also patrols in your bus stops to make sure
Speaker 1: students go to school safely. According to an NBC News report,
Speaker 1: So you know again, I'm not a fan of guns.
Speaker 1: Historically on this show, I have said, you know, I'm
Speaker 1: not going to hide from this. Now, I'm going to
Speaker 1: tell you how much I love this, but I'm not
Speaker 1: going to hide from it. Okay, guns exist to end life.
Speaker 1: That's it. That's the only that's the nature of the
Speaker 1: deployment of that device. It's not a knife where you
Speaker 1: can carve something with it, prepare food. No, it's just
Speaker 1: to end life. And I don't believe that my purpose.
Speaker 1: I was not created to end life, right, So for
Speaker 1: me personally, my decision that's not right. When it's my time,
Speaker 1: it'll be my time. I will live my life well,
Speaker 1: and when my time comes, I will look at it
Speaker 1: like a man and I will face that moment and
Speaker 1: hopefully live that moment well too. However, I love this.
Speaker 1: I love it, Oh my god, I love it so much. Right, Oh,
Speaker 1: because you know, there's there's something to be said about
Speaker 1: people who do feel like guns are for protection. I
Speaker 1: historically have pushed back against that narrative because if someone
Speaker 1: has to drop on you, something that's more protective is
Speaker 1: a bulletproof vest. Right, protection is the name of the game.
Speaker 1: But in mass this display certainly does provide a preventative
Speaker 1: form of protection. Right. And as a fan of the
Speaker 1: Panthers from from Oakland, right, I'm a fan of the Panthers.
Speaker 1: You know, these these great leaders, these great movements in history. I,
Speaker 1: like you, was made to learn about them, Yes, from
Speaker 1: my father, doctor Rudolph Wayne Taylor, you know, who was
Speaker 1: a minister. And you know, as we discussed in the
Speaker 1: first part of the show, the church is again the
Speaker 1: cultural watering hole for a lot of black communities. So
Speaker 1: in Compton, California, Greater Grace Memorial Church of God in
Speaker 1: Christ was that I hear it, right, But also you
Speaker 1: know there are people like doctor Kimilla Westenberg, my teacher
Speaker 1: in college, who was also a member of the NCNW,
Speaker 1: who made sure that I learned about the Panthers and
Speaker 1: about the misinformation and disinformation campaigns from the government. What
Speaker 1: the Panthers stood for and stood on. The Panthers were
Speaker 1: not They did not exist to harm people. They existed
Speaker 1: to protect people, and that's what they did, largely children exactly.
Speaker 1: And because there is such a deep did hatred that
Speaker 1: is emboldened by the political administrations of the time or
Speaker 1: even this even this current administration, because there's a deep
Speaker 1: seated fear of black people gaining too much relative to
Speaker 1: white people, that violence often erupts from that phenomenon, not
Speaker 1: from black people just owning guns and patrolling their own streets.
Speaker 1: And so I wanted to make sure that I stated
Speaker 1: that now I want to let you, let you go
Speaker 1: right now, because these are people, these are your people, Okay,
Speaker 1: so let me get you started. Is this the right response?
Speaker 2: It was the right response for the moment, because if
Speaker 2: you do not show it, I believe coming from the
Speaker 2: upbringing I came from. Yes we had peaceful marches, Yes
Speaker 2: we had peaceful pastors sharing what we should be doing
Speaker 2: as a collaborative. But that moment in time, my babies
Speaker 2: were coming from school. Yeah, that two thirty getting off
Speaker 2: the bus. If not, then then when I don't longer
Speaker 2: own a gun. But my mother had a gun on
Speaker 2: her at all times, traveling back and forth to sell,
Speaker 2: Alabama where we lived. It just was a matter of fact.
Speaker 2: My mother was epitome of a black panther as far
Speaker 2: as that the high yellow red hair come from Selma,
Speaker 2: raised by her grandfather who kept a shotgun, you know,
Speaker 2: by him at all times. Now do I believe in
Speaker 2: the carry and just going into restaurants, No, but you
Speaker 2: know here in Arizona happens all the time I was
Speaker 2: at the doctor's office, guy was hosting his forty five.
Speaker 2: And that is the state we now live in. Now,
Speaker 2: I am a proponent of protection. And if it takes
Speaker 2: patrolling your neighborhood, because they're still come in there. I
Speaker 2: could show you a picture where they've been like throwing
Speaker 2: all this literature around about the KK. Literature can't hurt me,
Speaker 2: but their guns can't. And for me when it comes
Speaker 2: to my elders, my community in general, but my elders
Speaker 2: and my babies, at all costs, you know I'm willing
Speaker 2: to lay down my life because I was only raised
Speaker 2: to make sure that I did everything I could. I'm
Speaker 2: a peaceful protester, but I am literally arming myself with
Speaker 2: the information to do the work. As a public policy advocate.
Speaker 2: I go to DC, I go to the state capitals,
Speaker 2: I go advocating for the funds for the health departments.
Speaker 2: The state health departments, they look at me like, Okay,
Speaker 2: S're in whatever, But no, all of this matters. If
Speaker 2: we have healthy communities, then we can have a thriving community,
Speaker 2: if we have collaboration with partners who see us in
Speaker 2: affordable housing. As I mentioned, Avendo has their grocery store.
Speaker 2: Lincoln Heights had everything they needed within Lincoln Heights grocery stores, butchers,
Speaker 2: they had wood makers, they had I hired from my
Speaker 2: home in Kentucky. I hired a granite man who taught
Speaker 2: whose sons didn't want to learn it, but he did
Speaker 2: all my stonework. We had everything, and we were cut off.
Speaker 2: They annexed the land around Lincoln Heights so to commercial
Speaker 2: so we couldn't expand. So that's how I feel about
Speaker 2: what they're doing with the hate groups. They are cutting
Speaker 2: us off. They are demeaning us or attempting to demean us.
Speaker 2: So yeah, you know, the movement to patrol and protect
Speaker 2: our citizens is real, and it's necessary at this time
Speaker 2: because we can not depend on the Evendale Police. I
Speaker 2: talked to Carton Colins, the co founder of the Heights Movement, yesterday,
Speaker 2: and they've been waiting for three days from a response
Speaker 2: from the Hamilton County Shriff's office. Three days for a
Speaker 2: response to a meeting that happened this past week where
Speaker 2: there were a drone, eleven police cars and they wanted
Speaker 2: you before you came into your own community council meeting.
Speaker 2: They arrested a young man. Now, I don't want it
Speaker 2: throw anybody who leaves the bus. Somebody made a complaint
Speaker 2: because they wanted to bring their guns in. Well, you know,
Speaker 2: I've gone to places where you have to leave your
Speaker 2: gun outside, the biker the Blues place downtown where the
Speaker 2: bikers go, they lay down their colors and they leave
Speaker 2: their guns outside. I'm not wanting to tell anyone what
Speaker 2: to do with their gun. But there was a complaint
Speaker 2: and the sheriff and the Hamilton County Sheriff showed up
Speaker 2: in force. Where was that force when we were being intimidated.
Speaker 1: By the Nazis. Yeah, where was that force?
Speaker 2: The Evendelle police officer helped load the U haul with
Speaker 2: their equipment and their flags.
Speaker 1: I would never touch.
Speaker 2: That flag, never. Yeah, So where was that force? And
Speaker 2: I wasn't there. I know that the council meeting and
Speaker 2: the Lincoln's council meeting was disruptive, and that the Hamilton
Speaker 2: County Sheriff Department was out and they had a drone Lincoln.
Speaker 2: He says, this big the council meeting isn't a building
Speaker 2: smaller than your home. Uh, and they showed.
Speaker 1: Up like that. Well you know this this display. Well,
Speaker 1: let me let me make sure that I clarify a
Speaker 1: couple of things too. I know that for me, the
Speaker 1: guns are not for me. Not for me. I wish
Speaker 1: that we lived in a world where nobody needed him.
Speaker 1: I I've been fortunate enough to travel around the world,
Speaker 1: and there are plenty of countries where nobody has a gun.
Speaker 1: Been there, Yeah, exactly, nobody has a gun. The police
Speaker 1: don't have guns, nobody. I've been to places where only
Speaker 1: the police have guns, but they keep it in the
Speaker 1: trunk of their car. Right. I've been to places where
Speaker 1: everybody has guns, but police have guns, and they keep
Speaker 1: their guns in the trunk of their car and they
Speaker 1: have to make a call to get it out and
Speaker 1: blah blah so that no one gets accidentally killed. Right,
Speaker 1: there's responsible rules. So I've been to all these places.
Speaker 1: I just know that no matter where I live, for me,
Speaker 1: I don't think that I'm I was put here to
Speaker 1: end of life. For other people, I recognize that this
Speaker 1: is kind of a part of our nature, our history,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, Like we've going all the
Speaker 1: way back to the beginning, we have killed each other.
Speaker 1: That's just a part so to others vcs too, So
Speaker 1: it's perhaps just a part of nature. And it may
Speaker 1: be inescapable folks could argue that that's not where I'm
Speaker 1: trying to go with this. I do feel like, however,
Speaker 1: with this particular display, those masks that I saw in
Speaker 1: the article, the black people masked up with the tactical
Speaker 1: gear and the bulletproof vests and the big, the huge guns,
Speaker 1: walking children across the street, black children across the street,
Speaker 1: I believe that that is it is necessarily intimidating. It
Speaker 1: is it is a display that suggests, all right, well,
Speaker 1: if you want it, I got it. If you want
Speaker 1: to try me, come try me. And that, I think
Speaker 1: switches the narrative from add these are people who are vulnerable,
Speaker 1: and we can go and pick on them, and we
Speaker 1: can go and further marginalize and subjugate them and diminish
Speaker 1: their what are their capacity to push back? It changes
Speaker 1: the narrative from that to Okay, these people need to
Speaker 1: be real expected. We need to be very careful how
Speaker 1: we go about trying to intimidate them, or we should
Speaker 1: probably leave these people alone. And that's a more favorable
Speaker 1: position to be in given this current administration. We can
Speaker 1: get back to the kumbayas and stuff. Once we get
Speaker 1: to the we get to the table, to the table. Thanksce,
Speaker 1: Will you allow us to the table, back.
Speaker 2: To the table the table and have fair We've never
Speaker 2: had fair and equal. But yeah, And I think because
Speaker 2: they came dressed like that, we need to meet.
Speaker 1: Them dressed like that exactly. And this and I love
Speaker 1: that because there's been a lot of complaints about, you know, Democrats,
Speaker 1: to kick this up a level to politics, there's been
Speaker 1: a lot of complaints about Democrats and their response to
Speaker 1: Republicans holding all the levers of government, and it feels
Speaker 1: to a lot of people quite limperistic, you know, And
Speaker 1: I do recognize that there's a lot of nuance there.
Speaker 1: I don't want to pick on Democrats unnecessarily, and I
Speaker 1: do want to make sure that I do acknowledge that
Speaker 1: there are at least more than one Republican person. We
Speaker 1: don't see the world the same way, but they're trying
Speaker 1: to do the right thing by black folks, the Constitution,
Speaker 1: et cetera. They just feel how they feel whatever. But
Speaker 1: in terms of like the way that this political administration
Speaker 1: has really stripped from the federal level a lot of
Speaker 1: the progress that black people have been pursuing. And there
Speaker 1: you go that too. Yeah, you know, kind of where
Speaker 1: we are is let's let's use what we can where
Speaker 1: we are, when we're when we can right now, when
Speaker 1: we can write and you know, if at present it's
Speaker 1: still legal for black folks to bear arms because we're
Speaker 1: still considered citizens, yes, so far, but that's what I mean,
Speaker 1: if that's still the truth for us, then where we
Speaker 1: are right now, using what we can right now, that
Speaker 1: feels viable in the same way that and I was
Speaker 1: going to ask you about this, in the same way
Speaker 1: that boycotting feels viable. You know. One of the things
Speaker 1: that has come not from Democrats specifically, but from we'll
Speaker 1: say more progressive minds, has been okay, well, if all
Speaker 1: these corporations are going to ben the need to Donald
Speaker 1: Trump when they don't.
Speaker 2: Need to, they don't have to write at all.
Speaker 1: And they have short memories apparently because they don't realize
Speaker 1: that presidencies only last four years and black people last
Speaker 1: forever and have been here forever. So you made a
Speaker 1: strange bedfellow of this president. But if that's how you feel. Again,
Speaker 1: more more progressive minds have kind of called for boycotts
Speaker 1: of you know, amazons, of course, target walmarts, et cetera.
Speaker 1: And so I want to get your thoughts on that too.
Speaker 2: Well, I want to backtrack for just a moment. Donald
Speaker 2: Trump thinks he's going to be president forever, forget the
Speaker 2: four years, forget the four years. So he does believe
Speaker 2: he's going to be our next dictator forever for humans,
Speaker 2: especially for him.
Speaker 1: But on the.
Speaker 2: Boycott side, yes, again, I love to go back to
Speaker 2: my roost because that's who I am today in a
Speaker 2: more progressive manner. But the churches have always boycotted going
Speaker 2: back to you know, post slavery. It was a way
Speaker 2: for us. And if you look at doctor King Junior's book,
Speaker 2: Community or Chaos, where do we go from here? He
Speaker 2: mentions that we go we need to go back because
Speaker 2: we really didn't do it well enough. And he lays
Speaker 2: out a platform and and I give this book to
Speaker 2: everyone I can. I mean I gifted to them. He
Speaker 2: leaves Community or Chaos? Where do we go from here?
Speaker 2: And it's his last book and his wife did the
Speaker 2: forward to it. But if we do not boycott with
Speaker 2: our voices and our dollars, then without a gun, where
Speaker 2: else do we havet I.
Speaker 1: Love that, you know what, It's it's crazy because there
Speaker 1: are people who will invest in a system that's suppressing.
Speaker 1: There are black people who are still on Twitter. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna say that again. There are black people who are
Speaker 1: still on Twitter. They don't they don't want to walk
Speaker 1: away from their Twitter followers. And and to me, I'm like, okay, well,
Speaker 1: you're investing in your own oppression. Thank you death and
Speaker 1: you know not just you know what's taking place in
Speaker 1: Lincoln Heights in terms of the community's response. But these
Speaker 1: these boycotts, this this this exercising of what freedoms we
Speaker 1: still do enjoy to spend our dollars and invest where
Speaker 1: the soil is fertile. Yes, and to deny. And I'm
Speaker 1: very petty and I hold grudge it so well and
Speaker 1: I kind of love.
Speaker 2: It, know yourself.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So anyway, we'll leave it right there. I would
Speaker 1: love to thank you for taking the time to come
Speaker 1: up and talk to us before you go. Is there
Speaker 1: any social media, any websites, anything like that you want
Speaker 1: to Yeah, well, it's.
Speaker 2: Really simple to find me, even though I on Twitter.
Speaker 2: I don't use Twitter, but I take my name on
Speaker 2: everything so no one can use my name.
Speaker 1: So it's Sharin.
Speaker 2: Sierra s h A r E N S like Sam
Speaker 2: I E R R A. If you google Sharin Sierra
Speaker 2: then you'll find me across my platforms and look for
Speaker 2: a podcast coming soon. I'm returning back to media, okay,
Speaker 2: to returning back to media. But most of all, do
Speaker 2: what you can where you are, with or without me,
Speaker 2: do what you can't.
Speaker 1: Where you are. I love that. I love that, and
Speaker 1: don't forget. You can follow us on all social media.
Speaker 1: I am at Rams's Jock q As, I am q Ward.
Speaker 1: We are Civic Cipher on all platforms. Be sure to
Speaker 1: give us a follow, and until next week, y'all peace,