Speaker 1: Welcome to another episode of Civic Psacher. I'm your host,
Speaker 1: Ramsey's Jah I.
Speaker 2: Go by today and probably for the rest of my existence.
Speaker 1: Q War. I think I'm gonna stick with it. I was,
Speaker 1: you know, remember how I was kind of Okay, never mind,
Speaker 1: I'll talk about it. I'll talk to you about it. Well,
Speaker 1: we are here to talk about heavy week that we've
Speaker 1: been through. Unless you've been under a rock, you know
Speaker 1: exactly what we need to talk about. Obviously, when you
Speaker 1: last heard us, the world was a different place. And
Speaker 1: but was it we were getting comfortable again, I suppose,
Speaker 1: because I was certainly surprised and hurt more than I
Speaker 1: should have been when I found out about the mass
Speaker 1: shooting in Buffalo. So we will spend a good amount
Speaker 1: of the day discussing that. Of course, we're going to
Speaker 1: talk about what we decided in our in our show,
Speaker 1: producer Maggie decided that we should talk about the people
Speaker 1: and how things feel. That's important around here, and so
Speaker 1: we're going to spend a good amount of time talking
Speaker 1: about that, and then a little later in the show
Speaker 1: we're going to get into the whys and what we
Speaker 1: believe happened and what we can potentially do about it.
Speaker 1: So yeah, lots to stick around for there. We're also
Speaker 1: going to be talking for our way black history fact.
Speaker 1: You know, for those who are fans of Disney, you
Speaker 1: know there's a movie called The Princess and the Frog. Well,
Speaker 1: I learned recently that that movie was based on an
Speaker 1: actual woman, black woman who lived an amazing life, and
Speaker 1: we are going to talk about her and how she
Speaker 1: was the basis of this amazing Disney movie. Wow, that
Speaker 1: was award winning and made so much profits and so forth.
Speaker 1: And of course we have the whole rest of the show,
Speaker 1: so many of stuff to stick around for, things you
Speaker 1: might not have heard about before, and we're happy to
Speaker 1: share with you. But first and foremost, like we always
Speaker 1: do with this time, Q, can we get into some
Speaker 1: ebony excellence? Of course we can. All right, then let's
Speaker 1: do it. So today we are going to split it
Speaker 1: up a bit. There's been a lot of stories that
Speaker 1: we haven't been able to get around to, which is
Speaker 1: a good thing. You know, have any excellence. We have
Speaker 1: a lot of those, and we want to share them
Speaker 1: on the show. So we're going to put a few
Speaker 1: of them together. These are about folks graduating from school,
Speaker 1: all right, this is a big accomplishment. And there are
Speaker 1: some people who didn't even need to graduate from school
Speaker 1: based on, you know, normal metrics that normal folks might
Speaker 1: have in terms of what you want from life. And
Speaker 1: yet and still these folks, either they're setting an example
Speaker 1: or they just had a personal commitment to themselves or
Speaker 1: their family, whatever it is, have managed to make it
Speaker 1: across the stage. So first and foremost, Anthony Anderson. This
Speaker 1: one comes from CBS News. So he fulfilled a dream
Speaker 1: thirty years in the making, graduating from Howard University. Shout
Speaker 1: out to Howard, Shout out to Hu. The fifty one
Speaker 1: year old received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from
Speaker 1: the historically black university last week. To quote Biggie, it
Speaker 1: was all a dream. Words can't begin to describe the
Speaker 1: emotional Roller Coast ter I'm on right now, he wrote
Speaker 1: on Instagram. And we also have Stephan Curry's another wardale
Speaker 1: Stephan Curry talk to him. So this one comes from
Speaker 1: NBC News. There's quote we got it done. Steph Curry's
Speaker 1: celebrates becoming a college grad. The Golden State Warrior Star
Speaker 1: graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology from
Speaker 1: Davidson College on Sunday. And then last but not least,
Speaker 1: this one comes from the Atlanta Journal Constitution. The acclaimed
Speaker 1: Atlanta entertainer Chris Ludacris Bridges Luda has also graduated, and
Speaker 1: so we wanted to take the time out to shot
Speaker 1: them out because that is definitely some ebony excellence. Now,
Speaker 1: because of the way our show airs and because of
Speaker 1: the timing of this hate crime that took place in Buffalo, Buffalo,
Speaker 1: New York, we weren't able to you know, it just
Speaker 1: kind of happened after our show air. So for those
Speaker 1: that might have missed it, I know if you're listening
Speaker 1: to us, there's a good chance that you did not
Speaker 1: miss it. But we do have to tell the story
Speaker 1: sort of from the beginning. There was a mass shooting
Speaker 1: at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York. Store was
Speaker 1: called Tops. It was a racist attack and an.
Speaker 2: Active domestic terrorism, if you will, absolutely that's a great
Speaker 2: way to say that.
Speaker 1: And as you know, on this show, we do our
Speaker 1: best to be journalists, but we've never pretended to be
Speaker 1: what we're not. Q is a DJ and Ramses is
Speaker 1: a DJ, and that's what we do, right, So we
Speaker 1: try to protect ourselves, perhaps differently than a traditional journalist would.
Speaker 1: With that said, we don't always watch ourselves the trauma
Speaker 1: that the systems in this country put black bodies through,
Speaker 1: and if we do have to watch these videos, we
Speaker 1: will take terms. Neither one of us wanted to jump
Speaker 1: on this grenade, and so we obviously we saw enough
Speaker 1: clips to familiarize ourselves with the story we've read about it.
Speaker 1: But I will not pretend that I have watched the
Speaker 1: video of this most recent mass shooter, whose name I
Speaker 1: will not say, but you know he live streamed himself
Speaker 1: walking through the Tops grocery store in Buffalo, New York
Speaker 1: and ending people's lives. We did watch the clips that
Speaker 1: weren't so graphic, just because again we had to familiarize ourselves.
Speaker 1: But to anyone that might say, hey, you missed this
Speaker 1: detail or you got this one bit wrong, perhaps, but
Speaker 1: for us, we're not. I'm never going to watch that video.
Speaker 1: I was not born here to watch people die. That's
Speaker 1: just not in my heart. Yeah, that's not the spirit
Speaker 1: of the show. Ever. Yeah, it's definitely not the spirit
Speaker 1: of the show today.
Speaker 2: Like I've said before, kind of angrily trying to argue
Speaker 2: semantics with regards to the parts that we know are true,
Speaker 2: is that he murdered people.
Speaker 1: Sure, that's thank you.
Speaker 2: Go ahead, like you know what I mean, we don't
Speaker 2: have to really get into well he made it left
Speaker 2: and not a right. I mean, that's semantics for the
Speaker 2: sake some magics were. That's not what we're here, thank
Speaker 2: you to. That's perfect you. So I'm not going to
Speaker 2: pretend like I watched the video on myself. To anyone
Speaker 2: who has, you are a stronger person in that way
Speaker 2: than I am, and I commend you. But you know
Speaker 2: you mentioned a man went and bought a gun. We'll
Speaker 2: get into the details a bit, but just so that
Speaker 2: we can start this story, because we want to start
Speaker 2: at a very special place. Eighteen year old man went
Speaker 2: and bought a gun, and then he took that gun
Speaker 2: to a grocery store. He had tactical gear on in
Speaker 2: the parking lot when he drove up to the gun,
Speaker 2: he got out of his car and he started to
Speaker 2: fire on people in the parking lot, and then those
Speaker 2: people died. And then he went in the store and
Speaker 2: he started shooting more people, and then those people died.
Speaker 2: And there's these might be rumors again I did and
Speaker 2: see him. Once he sort of ran out of targets,
Speaker 2: he went back to the wounded people and shot them
Speaker 2: again to make sure that they died. I do know
Speaker 2: that this is the most since Dylan Ruth. This is
Speaker 2: the most the deadliest attack on an African American community
Speaker 2: since then. Dylan Ruth's name was written on this gentleman's
Speaker 2: assault rifle.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And and for those that may have forgotten, Dylan
Speaker 1: Ruth is the the man that went into the church
Speaker 1: and shot nine people when they were at church. Oh
Speaker 1: so yeah, we knew it's gonna happen, all right, So yeah,
Speaker 1: he went in and you just killed everybody. And then
Speaker 1: the police came and they arrested him. He's still alive,
Speaker 1: beating heart. We have we have to get to that later.
Speaker 1: Right now, we're just telling the story. I need you
Speaker 1: to tell that part of the story. Queue, because when
Speaker 1: we were talking about what's his name, Sanders, we talked
Speaker 1: about him last week, Quadre Sanders in Oklahoma, I believe
Speaker 1: it was. And they were not able to take him alive,
Speaker 1: or sure they were perhaps able to, but chose not
Speaker 1: to take him in alive because they were so afraid.
Speaker 1: As my colleague would have us. Believe I wouldn't have you,
Speaker 1: but I'm just trying to allow for that part of
Speaker 1: the conversation to at least exist anyway. So that's what happened.
Speaker 1: There was a mass shooting. Man went in, he shot.
Speaker 1: Believe it was thirteen people. Ten people lost their life
Speaker 1: that day. A shooter was arrested and taken into custom. Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm going to take a moment because this is important.
Speaker 1: If I've learned anything, marching, if I've learned anything study
Speaker 1: and doing this show something that I will always work on.
Speaker 1: Because I'm awful with names, but I do recognize how
Speaker 1: important they are. We're going to say the names of
Speaker 1: the ten people who are not here with us anymore.
Speaker 1: I realized this isn't the most compelling radio but if
Speaker 1: you will please just listen to me. I have to
Speaker 1: do this is I'm a longtime broadcaster, so I know
Speaker 1: it works and I know it doesn't, but this isn't
Speaker 1: about that right now. This is something that I have
Speaker 1: to do, so please allow me to read these names.
Speaker 1: I'm going to do my best here. ROBERTA. A Jury
Speaker 1: of Buffalo, New York, age thirty two, Marcus D. Morrison
Speaker 1: of Buffalo, New York, age fifty two, Andre McNeil of Auburn,
Speaker 1: New York, age fifty three, Aaron Salter of Lockport, New York,
Speaker 1: age fifty five, Geraldine Tally of Buffalo, New York, age
Speaker 1: sixty two, Celestine Cheney of Buffalo, New York, age sixty five,
Speaker 1: Hayward Pattison of Buffalo, New York, age sixty seven, Catherine
Speaker 1: Massey of Buffalo, New York, age seventy two, Pearl Young
Speaker 1: of Buffalo, New York, age seventy seven, Ruth Whitfield of Buffalo,
Speaker 1: New York, age eighty six. I need to say those
Speaker 1: names because those are people, human beings. Those were people
Speaker 1: that were at the grocery store. They have families and
Speaker 1: you know they you know, this is these names, Pearl, Ruth,
Speaker 1: you know like these are you know, these are the
Speaker 1: people that that pray for us. You know, we know
Speaker 1: these people. We know we're not from Buffalo, New York,
Speaker 1: but we know these people. You know, we know this community.
Speaker 1: We know that you know, and we need you to
Speaker 1: know this listening to our show today, because this is
Speaker 1: who we're talking about. This is this is what happens
Speaker 1: when hate remains unchecked It's like a cancer. It festers
Speaker 1: and it boils over and it spills over into things
Speaker 1: like this. And I recognize that this has happened in
Speaker 1: other communities, and we have committed We've already committed to
Speaker 1: during an episode talking about other unities in this month,
Speaker 1: in particular because this is Asian American and Pacific Islander
Speaker 1: Heritage Month, and so we definitely want to take some
Speaker 1: time with that. Our producer, Maggie aka Maggie b Noan,
Speaker 1: she has that written up for us, but obviously this
Speaker 1: week we had to talk about this. Our community is hurting.
Speaker 1: These are the names of the people who are no
Speaker 1: longer alive. It's important that we mentioned that. Now. I'm
Speaker 1: going to read a little bit from the New York Times.
Speaker 1: The headline says gunman kills ten at Buffalo supermarket and
Speaker 1: racist attack. President Biden called for a thorough investigation and
Speaker 1: said there was no harbor for quote hate field domestic
Speaker 1: terrorism en quote. The eighteen year old white gunman, who
Speaker 1: pleaded not guilty, left behind a manifesto. The police said
Speaker 1: the gunman, whom they described as an eighteen year old
Speaker 1: white man from outside the city, was motivated by racism.
Speaker 1: He appeared in court hours after the attack. Do we
Speaker 1: know what the.
Speaker 2: Charge, what the charges were that were brought against him,
Speaker 2: murder in the first degree, led not guilty to them,
Speaker 2: to the murders that he live streamed himself committing that
Speaker 2: he was charged with.
Speaker 1: Yeah, A teenage gunman in entranced by a white supremacist
Speaker 1: ideology known as a replacement theory, open fire at a
Speaker 1: supermarket in Buffalo on Saturday, this would be last Saturday,
Speaker 1: of course, methodically shooting and killing ten people and injuring
Speaker 1: three more, almost all of them black, one of the
Speaker 1: deadliest racist attacks in recent American history. The authorities identified
Speaker 1: the gunman as eighteen year old Blank Blank of Conklin,
Speaker 1: a small town in New York, New York's rural southern
Speaker 1: tier Mount oh The shooter drove more than two hundred
Speaker 1: mins else to mount his attack when she also livestreamed,
Speaker 1: the police said, a chilling video feed that appeared designed
Speaker 1: to promote his senistery agenda. This is the largest mass
Speaker 1: shooting to date in the city of Buffalo. I don't
Speaker 1: think anyone here in the city of Buffalo thought that
Speaker 1: something like this could ever happen, would ever happen mister
Speaker 1: Wingo said most of the shoppers at the Top supermarket
Speaker 1: were black, mirroring the surrounding neighborhood. Dorothy Simmons, sixty four,
Speaker 1: typically spends part of her Saturday as at Top shopping
Speaker 1: for food to prepare for Sunday dinner. Quote, that's what
Speaker 1: we do in this community, said Miss Simmons, who has
Speaker 1: lived in East Buffalo all their life. On this Saturday,
Speaker 1: Miss Simmons was at work in Amherst. When she heard
Speaker 1: the news, she cried and said, this is our store,
Speaker 1: this is our store. Miss Simmons, who was black, said
Speaker 1: the fact that the gunman was able to surrender showed disparity.
Speaker 1: Quote if that had been my son, it would have
Speaker 1: never been surrendered. We would have never had a chance
Speaker 1: to surrender. Miss Simmons said, it would never be that way. Okay,
Speaker 1: now talk to me, Q.
Speaker 2: It becomes increasingly difficult to keep the faith whichever kind
Speaker 2: your mind went to when I said that, faith in humanity,
Speaker 2: faith in each other, faith in God, faith in our systems,
Speaker 2: faith in our country, faith in our law enforcement community.
Speaker 2: Every time we do a show, we end up having
Speaker 2: to make some sort of punitive statement with regards to
Speaker 2: law enforcement in this country. And the most difficult thing
Speaker 2: about that is that each of us know police officers.
Speaker 2: I don't just mean Ramsees and I I mean most
Speaker 2: of everybody that's listening. You're probably a relationship away, a
Speaker 2: relationship removed from a police officer. Somebody is who is
Speaker 2: related to a police officer. And there's been times where
Speaker 2: you know, I'm talking to you Ramses and I'm like, man,
Speaker 2: you know, is there another way for us to do this?
Speaker 2: Except no, there isn't because we have too much data.
Speaker 2: We have too much information, We have too many facts
Speaker 2: to try to be emotional with regards to this topic.
Speaker 2: Does not mean that we're not compassionate. It does not
Speaker 2: mean that we deal and only black and white pardon
Speaker 2: the pun there, right, But in actual mental health issues, right,
Speaker 2: police are called because there's a mental health episode.
Speaker 1: Police show up and they shoot.
Speaker 2: With regards to black people, traffic stop, mental health, jaywalking,
Speaker 2: toy at the playground, sleeping, the windy's running the other way.
Speaker 2: We get murdered, we get shot. Young white men apprehended
Speaker 2: by police while murdering people with assault rifles. Somehow are
Speaker 2: peacefully and safely arrested and get to see their.
Speaker 1: Day in court.
Speaker 2: And I'm not certain how many times this has to
Speaker 2: happen for those who argue against it to change their mind.
Speaker 2: Gratch that before I even finish saying that I knew better.
Speaker 2: There's nothing that can happen that will make those people
Speaker 2: think any differently than they do. Right, So we end
Speaker 2: up in this echo chamber talking to each other about
Speaker 2: what we know is very obviously the truth. Law enforcement
Speaker 2: in this country, built on a foundation of racism, has not,
Speaker 2: in hundreds of years, outgrown its own ideology to the
Speaker 2: peril of the country and the people that it's sworn
Speaker 2: to protect. When we are the victims of the murders,
Speaker 2: the murderer walks free. When we are suspected as murderers,
Speaker 2: we are murdered.
Speaker 1: So let me let me I want to say something
Speaker 1: that supports that, that reinforces that, or bolsters that we
Speaker 1: mentioned Dylan Ruth. You know where I'm going with this, right, Actually,
Speaker 1: why don't you offer this what happened with Dylan Ruth.
Speaker 1: I don't want to talk about what he did, just
Speaker 1: how it was responded to. That's what I mean.
Speaker 2: Not only was he not harmed, Let's go the extra
Speaker 2: step to make sure that mister Ruf is okay right.
Speaker 2: It wouldn't happen to be tired or hungry, would you, sir,
Speaker 2: Because if you are hungry, you know we can we
Speaker 2: don't have to go straight to the paperwork with this.
Speaker 1: We can for you.
Speaker 2: We can make a detail over here and get you know,
Speaker 2: perhaps a sandwich for you. And I say sandwich to
Speaker 2: not without compensation, promote the business that they supported in
Speaker 2: order to look out for this young man's well being
Speaker 2: in case he's a little parted or a little you know,
Speaker 2: had a little star I'm at grumbling after he finished
Speaker 2: murdering people.
Speaker 1: The church in church.
Speaker 2: And then, almost without fail, these men get to be
Speaker 2: having a bad day because the weight of the world
Speaker 2: that they grew up in is weighing on them so
Speaker 2: heavily that it has to have paid any emotional and
Speaker 2: mental tax on them. Let us list all the reasons
Speaker 2: why these young men might have come to these decisions
Speaker 2: besides the obvious truth of them.
Speaker 1: And then, when called with.
Speaker 2: Regard to someone with a mental health issue, and I
Speaker 2: know we're going to touch on this topic later, the
Speaker 2: actual person who you didn't have to guess whether or
Speaker 2: not they had a mental issue or not. You didn't
Speaker 2: have to try to draw up or paint some picture
Speaker 2: for us. You knew that when you were on your
Speaker 2: way that person gets shot dead on camera.
Speaker 1: That's what I was going to say. So, you know,
Speaker 1: on the right, there's obviously a big name is Tucker Carlson.
Speaker 1: You know, he has been referring to this more recent
Speaker 1: shooter as a mentally ill young man, and so many
Speaker 1: other cases he doesn't afford, you know, especially if the
Speaker 1: individuals are melanated, he doesn't afford them that courtesy that
Speaker 1: they may have been having a mental episode. Now, the
Speaker 1: reason I wanted you to bring up the Dylan Roof
Speaker 1: incident when they took him to the restaurant bottom some
Speaker 1: food and something to drink before taking him to jail,
Speaker 1: was to show that, you know, they take him in alive. Now,
Speaker 1: there are some folks who point to the subway shooter
Speaker 1: in New York was a black man and say, well,
Speaker 1: police were able to take him alive. And I do
Speaker 1: believe those circumstances are slightly different in that it was
Speaker 1: no longer an active shooter incident at the time when
Speaker 1: they apprehended him. They didn't approach him while he was shooting.
Speaker 1: He was sitting in a restauran. He called them to
Speaker 1: tell them where to come. Day after, I think to
Speaker 1: something like maybe a couple of days after, and so
Speaker 1: it's very different set of circumstances there. But I don't
Speaker 1: want to get too far away from this community because
Speaker 1: we realized that that part feels particularly unfair. But I
Speaker 1: want to make sure that we spend a little bit
Speaker 1: of time humanizing these people. You know, if you're like me,
Speaker 1: I've passed through Buffalo one time in my life, but
Speaker 1: you know, I'm not from there. I don't know too
Speaker 1: much about it, but I know these people. These aren't
Speaker 1: people that are bad people. These aren't people that would
Speaker 1: harm anyone. I mean, you can tell from their ages.
Speaker 1: You know they're just enjoying their lives. And to be executed,
Speaker 1: to die screaming in terror, to have your last moments
Speaker 1: be at the end of a assault rifle, I'm guessing
Speaker 1: where you don't know why, you don't know what you
Speaker 1: did wrong, and then for the community left behind to
Speaker 1: know that, oh, what she did wrong was be black.
Speaker 1: And then you know, a woman seventy two years living
Speaker 1: in a country that feels like it kind of hates
Speaker 1: her to die at the end of that barrel. I
Speaker 1: feel like it you were so the barrel that the
Speaker 1: barrel that has the N word written at the end
Speaker 1: of it. Mind you, that feels like a part of
Speaker 1: this story. That's that's important to tell. Now, we've seen
Speaker 1: lots of racist videos because that's kind of the nature
Speaker 1: of the gig here, but that one was different, And
Speaker 1: if you'll stick around, we'll talk a little bit more
Speaker 1: about the why