Speaker 1: Yes, yes, yeah, that's right. Welcome to another edition of
Speaker 1: Civic Cipher, where we broadcast the balance and we defend
Speaker 1: the discourse. I'm your host, ramses Jah, and just like
Speaker 1: we normally do around here, we have another very special show.
Speaker 1: Today's guests are two folks that are very visible out
Speaker 1: in the streets right now. One of them is a protester,
Speaker 1: a volunteer, someone who has come out of her comfort
Speaker 1: zone to really support the cause, and I really thought
Speaker 1: it was meaningful to check in with her. Her name
Speaker 1: is Tessa Ferrell, and we're going to be checking in
Speaker 1: with her in just a bit. And the man of
Speaker 1: the hour, the man that I've been wanting to get
Speaker 1: some time with for a while now on the show.
Speaker 1: You've seen him in the newspapers, you've seen him on
Speaker 1: the news, you've seen him out in the streets. He's
Speaker 1: a champion of the cause, a champion of a decidedly
Speaker 1: black agenda out on the streets. If you go back
Speaker 1: in the city for any length of time, you'll recognize
Speaker 1: the name as perhaps the or else one of the
Speaker 1: finest MC's to ever come from this city. And I
Speaker 1: mean that that's a genuine compliment, you know, that I
Speaker 1: mean that because you know, I'll tell the story just
Speaker 1: a little bit. But uh, the man of the hour
Speaker 1: today is Rocky Tirade. So so thank you for coming
Speaker 1: on the show.
Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1: All Right, so let me paint a little bit of
Speaker 1: a picture about me and you and how far we
Speaker 1: go back, go back, the way back. Let's let's do
Speaker 1: that now. I need the people need to know who
Speaker 1: I'm talking to right now. So for those of you
Speaker 1: who have followed my career in Phoenix as a broadcaster,
Speaker 1: you'll know that I have done a show called Ready
Speaker 1: Set Radio. Prior to that, it was called Friday Night Flavors,
Speaker 1: And what we did was we played sort of underground
Speaker 1: hip hop music, music that didn't really get the same
Speaker 1: look and it didn't have the same machine behind it
Speaker 1: as you know, the more pop music, the pop version
Speaker 1: of hip hop songs, right these were you know, sometimes
Speaker 1: folks call it backpack music, sometimes folks call it real
Speaker 1: hip hop. But in any case, what it did was
Speaker 1: it gave us an opportunity to play artists who were
Speaker 1: from Phoenix, which is where I live. So obviously I
Speaker 1: worked with a lot of artists from the city and
Speaker 1: a lot of artists who are signed smaller labels, you know,
Speaker 1: nationally and internationally. But Rocky Tirade was just an amazing lyricist,
Speaker 1: is I should say, an amazing lyricist, And I know
Speaker 1: you're not really known for that now, but I got
Speaker 1: to tell this third way it happened, well, I guess.
Speaker 2: You yeah, yeah, you know, yeah, come on board.
Speaker 1: It was just getting on, so I'll never forget it.
Speaker 1: You know, Rocky and I we would see each other backstage,
Speaker 1: We would see each other just out on the streets,
Speaker 1: you know, just he would come up to the station
Speaker 1: from time to time and just hang out. And I
Speaker 1: discovered that he had this amazing talent, and I wanted
Speaker 1: to figure out a way to sort of like circumvent
Speaker 1: the system. You know, when you're doing a radio show,
Speaker 1: you have to be fair to everybody, and I can't
Speaker 1: play your song every week, or every song that you
Speaker 1: come out with, because there's other people who deserve a
Speaker 1: place on the show. So I decided, along with Blue
Speaker 1: let kV, to create a feature on the show that
Speaker 1: would allow Rocky and his amazing talent to be heard
Speaker 1: by the city every week. So the feature was called
Speaker 1: Rocky Tirade At the podium, and what he would do
Speaker 1: is a weekly news recap of all the events that
Speaker 1: took place that week, and he would deliver it to
Speaker 1: us in rap form, and usually it would be about
Speaker 1: a minute, minute and a half something like that. It
Speaker 1: was a real short feature, but it allowed me to
Speaker 1: have his name out there every week and display his
Speaker 1: talent every week, which I thought he was deserving of.
Speaker 1: It wasn't necessarily a song, so it didn't count toward
Speaker 1: you know, spins or anything like that, you know, in
Speaker 1: their industry, so I wasn't cheating. I just felt like
Speaker 1: it was very necessary, and as the show producer and host,
Speaker 1: it was my you know, executive privileged slash prerogative to
Speaker 1: do so, and I stand by that decision. But in
Speaker 1: doing so, I got to hear these rhymes every week,
Speaker 1: and I noticed that Rocky would take a decidedly political,
Speaker 1: often times very liberal approach to the goings on in
Speaker 1: this country, or a liberal view, i should say. And
Speaker 1: you know, a lot of folks that are familiar with
Speaker 1: his music might know him to be very very much
Speaker 1: you know, tell it like it is, keep it real,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm not I'm not going to say something
Speaker 1: that that spares your feelings. But what I found is
Speaker 1: that there was a lot of empathy or sympathy for
Speaker 1: the state of things, and there was a lot of
Speaker 1: cause to action and and things that still exist today
Speaker 1: in his character out on the streets. And so we
Speaker 1: were able to do that until you broke everybody's heart
Speaker 1: and retired the feature. I know you was probably get
Speaker 1: exhausted doing that every week, right, new rhymes every week.
Speaker 1: But I would say we probably did that for you know,
Speaker 1: the better part of a year. It's not a full
Speaker 1: year or something like that. Yeah, And I know that
Speaker 1: a lot of folks were really grateful for that. It
Speaker 1: really made the show better and then and obviously it
Speaker 1: gave me a chance to really put on full display
Speaker 1: your talent. So fast forward till now. Rocky is affiliated
Speaker 1: with a group called We Rising. So do me a favor,
Speaker 1: tell the folks a little bit about what We're Rising is.
Speaker 3: So we Rising, it's more of an initiative to you know,
Speaker 3: push for equity in a black and brown community. How
Speaker 3: it came to be was really, I guess the first
Speaker 3: protests that were taking place in late May, I think
Speaker 3: like the twenty seventh, twenty eighth, right, after the unfortunate
Speaker 3: events of both George Floyd and the course out here
Speaker 3: in Phoenix with Dion Johnson.
Speaker 2: So there was a lot of.
Speaker 3: Uproar and things of that nature, and you know, the
Speaker 3: city wanted to exercise its voice, so of course people
Speaker 3: took it to the streets. Me having a lot of
Speaker 3: experience with this over the years off and on contributing
Speaker 3: to these type of events, knew what to expect, how
Speaker 3: the police are overly aggressive. You know, the threats of
Speaker 3: tear gassing, and you know how they can lead to stampedes,
Speaker 3: and you know, just you know, learning how to you know,
Speaker 3: make sure that you were hydrated and all these things.
Speaker 2: That younger individuals don't really know of. So you know,
Speaker 2: we showed up in order.
Speaker 3: Kind of like an unofficial like medics supplies role for
Speaker 3: the first like day or so, and then noticing there
Speaker 3: wasn't a lot of individuals out there at that point
Speaker 3: in time with experience, so I just naturally, being an MC,
Speaker 3: I just took to you know, moving the crowd.
Speaker 2: This is what we do.
Speaker 3: So one thing led to another end next thing, you know,
Speaker 3: we're leading protests all throughout the weekend, and this is
Speaker 3: at a very precarious time when Deucy is basically threatening a.
Speaker 2: Full on shut down of Arizona and all of that.
Speaker 3: And I feel that a lot of these individuals who
Speaker 3: came together were able to help steer things in the direction,
Speaker 3: able to exercise our first Amendment and prevent like the
Speaker 3: state from completely shutting down and inhibiting us from expressing
Speaker 3: our voice.
Speaker 2: Was able to run into like minded individuals.
Speaker 3: And we formed we rising, you know, just off this
Speaker 3: idea that we can really take this energy and push
Speaker 3: it towards legislative change. And we started all the way
Speaker 3: back in the end of May and early June and
Speaker 3: wor over here on the eve of an election season,
Speaker 3: a very important one, mind you. And it's a testament
Speaker 3: to all the people that we've met along the way. So,
Speaker 3: you know, suspend spend a pretty interesting journey thus far.
Speaker 1: Okay, And for those that don't know, if you're not
Speaker 1: in Phoenix.
Speaker 2: Deucey is Doug Ducy, the governor.
Speaker 1: The governor of Arizona, Doug Deocy. Now, because I know
Speaker 1: a version of you that was decidedly you know, on
Speaker 1: MC and I recognize that the climate in the country
Speaker 1: has changed politically and racially. You know, and I can
Speaker 1: speak to the events that kind of took me from
Speaker 1: what I once did to where I am now with
Speaker 1: an old radio station not allowing, you know, a platform
Speaker 1: for black and brown voices to be heard, to express themselves,
Speaker 1: to express tell the truth about what's going on in
Speaker 1: the streets. Was there a thing for you recently or
Speaker 1: at any point in time that got you to thinking, like,
Speaker 1: you know what, maybe my voice can go a little
Speaker 1: bit further than you know, these four walls inside of
Speaker 1: a concert and on a stage, or maybe my voice
Speaker 1: can go a little bit further than just being on
Speaker 1: on you know, on songs.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I feel like, you know, if you
Speaker 3: are a shepherd of like the culture and people follow
Speaker 3: you and you engage in these things, it's you have
Speaker 3: to do a little bit more than just apply yourself.
Speaker 2: I mean you do that.
Speaker 3: You do that, like we see you out there all
Speaker 3: the time, you know, and it's do you have to
Speaker 3: you have to be of the culture completely, Like you
Speaker 3: have to contribute physically, you know, especially right now, you
Speaker 3: know this we need all hands on deck. This is
Speaker 3: one of the most important times in history and can
Speaker 3: go in one way or another, both in decidedly like
Speaker 3: different directions, and we have to make sure that we
Speaker 3: take the time to invest into our future. And you know,
Speaker 3: COVID unfortunately set up the playing field for us to
Speaker 3: be able to excuse me, you know, really apply ourselves
Speaker 3: in that physical manner. So I mean myself, like I
Speaker 3: said before, it's something I've always kind.
Speaker 2: Of done of dabbled in and out of it.
Speaker 3: But given the circumstances right now, it's just given me
Speaker 3: the liberty to really fully apply myself, you know, seeing
Speaker 3: some other individuals in are scene do so it's it's
Speaker 3: been an encouraging thing to witness.
Speaker 1: Also, Okay, very good if you just tune it in.
Speaker 1: That is Rocky Tirade from We Rising. He is our
Speaker 1: guest for today on Civic Cipher, and we also have
Speaker 1: another guest. She goes by the name of Tessa Farrell,
Speaker 1: and she works very closely with WE Rising. I always
Speaker 1: see you know, her out there in support of Rocky,
Speaker 1: and the reason why I wanted to have one of
Speaker 1: the volunteers come up, one of the protesters come up.
Speaker 1: Her specifically is because she is white and she is
Speaker 1: consistently out on the streets championing this this effort to
Speaker 1: make the world a more just place for her black
Speaker 1: and brown brothers, and so I have to I have
Speaker 1: to paint this picture now. Forgive me, because I don't
Speaker 1: I don't know, but my assumption is that you perhaps
Speaker 1: grew up in a white house in a predominantly white community,
Speaker 1: and this is not something that if it, if it continued,
Speaker 1: these these uh injustices by the police, by the criminal
Speaker 1: justice system, this is not something that would affect your
Speaker 1: life directly or perhaps even indirectly. So I want to
Speaker 1: ask this question, what was it that moved you to
Speaker 1: protest in the first place?
Speaker 4: You know, I I think I wish I had a
Speaker 4: better answer other than maybe it just feels like something
Speaker 4: you know inherently.
Speaker 1: You're supposed to do greater.
Speaker 4: I feel like anytime anyone, an individual, a group what
Speaker 4: have you, comes to you and says or is sharing
Speaker 4: their experience and saying, there's hurt, there's trauma, there's mistreatment here,
Speaker 4: and then to watch that go on consistently, feel like
Speaker 4: you have no other choice but to say, how can
Speaker 4: I help.
Speaker 5: And what do you need?
Speaker 4: And I think kind of to what you said maybe
Speaker 4: in your your open letter resignation, something that really stood
Speaker 4: out with me is that you know, I consume black culture,
Speaker 4: black and brown culture. You know, I listen to black music,
Speaker 4: you know, I if you will right, you know, fashion, arts, sports,
Speaker 4: what have you across the board, foods, And I can't
Speaker 4: you know, I share in relationships with black and brown people,
Speaker 4: and I you know, I can't say that I enjoy
Speaker 4: or I'm a part of these things and not turn
Speaker 4: around and then want to you know, stand up for
Speaker 4: a cause when these very people are saying they're under attack,
Speaker 4: you know.
Speaker 1: Very good. So so what is it about We Rising
Speaker 1: that spoke to you versus some of the other organizations
Speaker 1: that have organized you know, protests or you know, what
Speaker 1: have you? What is it about Rocky and his group
Speaker 1: that has kind of mobilized you.
Speaker 4: I mean, I think you know, there are first a
Speaker 4: lot of amazing organizations in the valley championing around you know,
Speaker 4: racial injustice, and you know, and what is what I'm
Speaker 4: trying to say here, like incarceration and deportation. You know,
Speaker 4: there's a lot of really great organizations doing things for
Speaker 4: those communities. But you know, very early on, I saw
Speaker 4: We Rising mobilize at a point where I think time
Speaker 4: really felt like it was of the essence to really
Speaker 4: show up for you know, black and brown lives in
Speaker 4: the Phoenix community right on, uh, you know, the heels
Speaker 4: of George Floyd and like Rocky said, Dion.
Speaker 5: Johnson and our community.
Speaker 4: And in such a short little window they were able
Speaker 4: to you know, get thousands of people to the streets.
Speaker 4: And then what's what's continued that for me, that relationship
Speaker 4: is the ways it's continued to grow, the depth at
Speaker 4: which it feels, you know from my perspective that it's
Speaker 4: continued to grow. So it's not just disruption in the street,
Speaker 4: but also you know, looks like real, like Rocky said,
Speaker 4: legislative change and you know, policy change and leadership change.
Speaker 4: And while being in the street is important, you know,
Speaker 4: making sure that that hits at a deeper level is
Speaker 4: you know, of equal or greater importance. And it just
Speaker 4: felt like the organization really had you know, a full
Speaker 4: form my opinion, like, you know, a really full perspective
Speaker 4: and value of all of that. Not that they asked
Speaker 4: for my opinion, but.
Speaker 1: I think that you know a lot of folks would
Speaker 1: agree with you, and one group that would agree with
Speaker 1: you would probably be the Phoenix Police themselves, because, in
Speaker 1: my opinion, a lot of them have been behaving as
Speaker 1: though they are feeling threatened by what's happening on the streets. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: which absolutely brings me to my next point. My understanding
Speaker 1: is that a lot of the leadership and all the
Speaker 1: organizations across the board have been unfairly targeted, persecuted, bullied, arrested, lattained,
Speaker 1: et cetera by the Phoenix Police Department in an attempt,
Speaker 1: deliberate attempt, strategic attempt to quell the movement, to dismantle
Speaker 1: the leadership, to caused division, et cetera. And I know
Speaker 1: that you were recently a victim of that, Rocky, So
Speaker 1: tell me about your arrest, tell me about the day,
Speaker 1: everything leading up to it, and then what happened.
Speaker 2: Oh, I mean the day in itself.
Speaker 3: We have an event called we All We Got and
Speaker 3: it's more of an initiative to benefit those who are
Speaker 3: part of the unsheltered community. So we show up with
Speaker 3: supply sanitation products, you know, close just just doing human
Speaker 3: things like how you do with the hashtag lunch bag
Speaker 3: and everything.
Speaker 2: Just that's a very big source of inspiration, by the way,
Speaker 2: So thank.
Speaker 3: You, you know, like and so that day that everything
Speaker 3: had concluded, we were all getting ready to you know, continue.
Speaker 2: To another event afterwards.
Speaker 3: And while leaving went down, I think Washington got over
Speaker 3: to nineteenth and as soon as I got an the intersection,
Speaker 3: the car got behind me. Can tell by the silhouette
Speaker 3: e vent that it's a police vehicle, got halfway into
Speaker 3: the intersection, hit me at the lights. They all approached
Speaker 3: from different angles, arrested me. I was taken and my
Speaker 3: car was taken and under ten minutes. So if you've
Speaker 3: ever been ever called like triple A, you know you're
Speaker 3: gonna sit there for about thirty forty five minutes and
Speaker 3: the sun maybe longer. So obviously they have they have lists,
Speaker 3: and this is confirmed by individuals who had been arrested
Speaker 3: prior with seen physicalists seeing our faces on there. The
Speaker 3: person who's arrested prior to me about a week before said,
Speaker 3: you know, Rocky, you know your face is right next
Speaker 3: to mine and it's in a red box.
Speaker 2: I'm like, all right, you know.
Speaker 3: But when it came down to the charges completely unsubstantiated,
Speaker 3: you know, one of them they accused me of an
Speaker 3: event in which I wasn't even there. Of course, they
Speaker 3: have all these digital cameras where they can like or
Speaker 3: like digital facial recognition cameras where they can.
Speaker 2: Look at your faces through the masks.
Speaker 3: By the way, that doesn't always protect you, just you know,
Speaker 3: and so they obviously know I wasn't there. And one
Speaker 3: of the days was for a thing called obstructing thoroughfare.
Speaker 3: And there's one real jaywalking crime out here. It only
Speaker 3: applies if you're placing cars in danger.
Speaker 2: We've been doing this.
Speaker 3: We've been having our protests walking down the street since
Speaker 3: as we rising, since I think the end I think
Speaker 3: June first, you know what I'm saying. And every time
Speaker 3: we see a car, we walk past them. Nobody really
Speaker 3: touches the vehicle. They roll down their window. We may
Speaker 3: give them water, they may give us water. We give
Speaker 3: them dap, you know, like they honk their horn, you
Speaker 3: take selfies together. It's you know, it's a good time.
Speaker 3: They drive past it, you know. And this day in
Speaker 3: which they had to charge me for, we were walking
Speaker 3: down the street after another unsheltered event, and they were
Speaker 3: instructing the cars coming down Washington, which is westbound street,
Speaker 3: to turn around in the middle of the street and
Speaker 3: drive towards opposing traffic. And you can see the cars
Speaker 3: like kind of stuttering like is this right, and the
Speaker 3: cops are getting all in their face and trying to
Speaker 3: turn around, and I was like, that's super strange. And
Speaker 3: while walking down Washington Street, I can see that around
Speaker 3: the corner one of the cars was sticking out one
Speaker 3: of the police vehicles. They were getting ready to trap
Speaker 3: us so they can start mass arrests. So we led
Speaker 3: them down another road and then we broke off. But
Speaker 3: a couple weeks later I was arrested for that. But
Speaker 3: there's other individuals who've experienced worse charges where they may
Speaker 3: have been like corralled and tazed and now they're squirming
Speaker 3: and moving out of harm's way because it hurts. That's
Speaker 3: resisting arrest. Or somebody their friend may get pulled in
Speaker 3: by a cop. Hey, you know, it's pulling the safety
Speaker 3: because they choke black people out. That's you know, getting
Speaker 3: the way of obstructing a case or whatever it is like.
Speaker 3: And they find ways to through unsubstantiated charges to give
Speaker 3: them real charges that have a better chance of holding
Speaker 3: in court. And now you know, next next thing, you know,
Speaker 3: you have all these lead organizers with felonies and disproportionately
Speaker 3: they're typically black. So there there is like this weird
Speaker 3: co intel pro junior operation going on out here, and man,
Speaker 3: I wish there's so much going on, and the in
Speaker 3: terms of how the police department has been operating outside
Speaker 3: the confines of their authority, that's.
Speaker 1: A huge part of it obviously. So yeah, thank you
Speaker 1: for sharing that. I feel like it's really important that
Speaker 1: a lot of folks know just the amount of risk
Speaker 1: that comes with trying to be a champion on the streets.
Speaker 1: A lot of they.
Speaker 2: Will frame you, they will legitimately frame you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that's what it sounds like. It's just unfair.
Speaker 1: And you know, I'm sure these charges are a matter
Speaker 1: of public records, so people can go and see them.
Speaker 1: If they're all as minor old crime is as you
Speaker 1: describe them as, which I do believe, Yeah, absolutely, then
Speaker 1: people will see that.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: Okay, Well, our brothers and sisters are you know, fighting
Speaker 1: a good fight.
Speaker 3: But this is nothing new. This is oh, not even
Speaker 3: close than anything. This is our grandparents. Yeah, it's hard
Speaker 3: to complain about. It was just shedding light, like, hey,
Speaker 3: this is still going on. You know, it's no different
Speaker 3: than what our grandparents experience. It's no different than maybe
Speaker 3: not as like overt as your move bombings and Philly
Speaker 3: or whatever or different Hamptons, but they still use that
Speaker 3: level of like like subversive like tactics and things of
Speaker 3: that nature in order to work outside of the law
Speaker 3: and spin the media in a way and so such
Speaker 3: that people believe that we're looting and rioting. I've been
Speaker 3: seen a flimsy water bottle thrown at the cop since
Speaker 3: like May twenty seventh, you know, like.
Speaker 1: So and and it's it's so funny how something like
Speaker 1: that could get someone arrested and potentially himmed up on
Speaker 1: some trump that felony charges and police can literally split
Speaker 1: your head open, yeah, and die on the sidewalk. And
Speaker 1: that's there. So just the uh, I mean, if you're
Speaker 1: if you're listening to my voice, and obviously you understand
Speaker 1: that that it's it's definitely a an unfair advantage that
Speaker 1: the police have when it comes to that. But you know,
Speaker 1: you this moment we rising definitely has the numbers of
Speaker 1: the people I've seen that, so, so my hat's off
Speaker 1: to you for that. So I want to I want
Speaker 1: to talk about something good because you know, obviously there's
Speaker 1: a lot of uh difficulty that comes with trying to
Speaker 1: change the world. But let's talk about some of the
Speaker 1: changes that you've made so far. I know, one of
Speaker 1: the or or some of the positive impacts that you've
Speaker 1: made so far on a One of them is that
Speaker 1: that was celebrated by We Rising is that there was
Speaker 1: a I want to say she was like a chief
Speaker 1: of police and timp she resigned.
Speaker 2: Oh like she chief more.
Speaker 1: There were some changes with city council.
Speaker 3: Too, Yeah, I mean yeah, so, I mean, you know,
Speaker 3: it's it's one of those things where I won't say
Speaker 3: directly responsible, because everybody's like directly responsible. But we've helped
Speaker 3: contribute to an awakening, like a political awakening. We as
Speaker 3: not just we Rising, but everybody out there, you know
Speaker 3: where likes it's cool, it's sexy to vote, it's sexy
Speaker 3: to like to contribute to the political system and things
Speaker 3: of that nature. And there's so many people who have
Speaker 3: like minded goals and things that nature who are part
Speaker 3: of or aspired to be part of, like elected officials
Speaker 3: like you know, that whole body of like political involvement.
Speaker 3: And you know, we inadvertently check champion for these individuals.
Speaker 3: You know, I mean, there's been so many changes, like
Speaker 3: I mean from specific uh you know, politicians and things
Speaker 3: of that nature who are now buying to secure seats
Speaker 3: and representation of the people to individuals who already won
Speaker 3: in the primaries.
Speaker 2: And it's it's been it's been beautiful.
Speaker 3: Seeing the everything just kind of ripple, the rippling effect
Speaker 3: of just being out there and being a part of
Speaker 3: this structure. So yeah, there's a lot of changes that
Speaker 3: have taken place right now, good, and.
Speaker 1: I think it's important to really mention that because you.
Speaker 3: Know, I'm trying to spare names some here and representation
Speaker 3: of we rising just to be complete. I'm not just
Speaker 3: there's substance in it, but part of organizations is like
Speaker 3: you can't directly say names, and I find I'm see,
Speaker 3: I think a lot of this is BS, but there's
Speaker 3: there's a lot of individuals who we kind of end
Speaker 3: rectly champion because they do represent, you know, the greater
Speaker 3: good of Maricopa County. And there are ways we do it,
Speaker 3: like telling people not to vote for Alistair Adell. I
Speaker 3: can say that you just do the math from there. Yeah,
Speaker 3: don't vote for Alistair Dell, please Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: So, uh, you know, I do understand, you know that
Speaker 1: you have to you know, mind the optics. That's something
Speaker 1: that I obviously that I understand because I have to
Speaker 1: work with a lot of organizations and you and you
Speaker 1: and you spaid something earlier. You said that, you know,
Speaker 1: a lot of organizations were responsible for for a lot
Speaker 1: of the changes. It takes, you know, a lot of
Speaker 1: different voices usually to move the uh, the powers that
Speaker 1: be to take action. Obviously, a very notable example of
Speaker 1: this is where there's a Martin Luther King Junior, Reverend
Speaker 1: doctor Martin Luther King Jr. And malcol you know, and
Speaker 1: if you realize that you're going to get it from
Speaker 1: both sides, and you're going to pick the side, then
Speaker 1: you're going to pick the side that says, you know,
Speaker 1: this might be a little easier on everybody if I
Speaker 1: go in this this this direction with doctor Martin Reverend
Speaker 1: doctor Martin Luther King, so let's negotiate through him, with him,
Speaker 1: buy him for him, and then hopefully we'll you know,
Speaker 1: check most of the boxes on the other side as well,
Speaker 1: and everybody moves forward. So with that in mind, I
Speaker 1: do I don't mean this to be a divisive question
Speaker 1: at all. Because I do believe that everybody has a
Speaker 1: seat at the table. Obviously everyone has a seat at
Speaker 1: this table, and it takes all of us to move forward.
Speaker 1: We all are in this together as black folks. But
Speaker 1: I do know that there are some differences in philosophy
Speaker 1: with you and with WE Rising then some of the
Speaker 1: other organizations that are out on the streets, and I
Speaker 1: think it's important to identify and outline those so that
Speaker 1: people that are listening to you today, if they feel
Speaker 1: like perhaps their personal philosophy aligns with that of WE
Speaker 1: Rising or that of you personally, will be moved to
Speaker 1: come and support and to help further a specific WE
Speaker 1: Rising agenda. So what is it that makes WE Rising
Speaker 1: philosophy different from some of the other groups out there.
Speaker 3: I guess we understand that this is a long term process.
Speaker 3: You know, we can't just show up at the door
Speaker 3: and demand things to change overnight. And you know, we
Speaker 3: do have some similar ideas with different organizations. But it's
Speaker 3: just if we work in unison, understanding that one person
Speaker 3: is going to pick up the ball and then you know,
Speaker 3: shuffle past.
Speaker 2: It to the other individual for the dump.
Speaker 3: You know, if we work with that mind state we're
Speaker 3: able to really push for change.
Speaker 2: But I think.
Speaker 3: I think people consider it more like universally, like Paler,
Speaker 3: because we try to implement a specific system step by step.
Speaker 3: And you know, first, you know, we engage with the people.
Speaker 3: You educate the people at you know, universally and understand
Speaker 3: and make them understand the nuances of like, you know,
Speaker 3: the structure of like racial nepotism and you know, institutional
Speaker 3: you know, prejudice and things of that nature, systemic racism,
Speaker 3: if you will, And how they're how they're them living
Speaker 3: in a specific at like part of that society because
Speaker 3: it is stratified, how.
Speaker 2: They their viewpoint may be skewed by that.
Speaker 3: So how do you apply yourself, you know, from like
Speaker 3: say a white privilege standpoint, How do you educate yourself?
Speaker 3: How do you continuously educate yourself and those around you?
Speaker 3: And it's just more we approach things from a more
Speaker 3: like organized, like structural aspect, you know, how does every
Speaker 3: aspect of society play a role in this? You know,
Speaker 3: And I think if you work in Unison, that's one
Speaker 3: of those things that will help push these changes and
Speaker 3: bring some of those other changes that other organizations do want.
Speaker 3: At the end, of the day, because you know, like
Speaker 3: some people talk about the difference between not reform or
Speaker 3: anything of that nature, but like say, just straight the
Speaker 3: funding the police and outright abolishment. If you look at
Speaker 3: the timetable of abolishment, for instance, like you first start
Speaker 3: with the funding, you start with a reformative measure, You
Speaker 3: start with reallocating these funds towards community structured initiatives and
Speaker 3: things of that nature.
Speaker 2: And you move along the lines.
Speaker 3: And it's one of those things where you plant the
Speaker 3: seed and water it, it sprouts, the next organization plants
Speaker 3: the seed, it grows, and the next generation comes in,
Speaker 3: et cetera. Next thing you know, you have shade. You
Speaker 3: continue to water that societal plant, and next thing you know,
Speaker 3: you have fruit, and you're able to bear the sustenance.
Speaker 2: Of your hard labor.
Speaker 3: So, you know, I think that's how I look at it,
Speaker 3: Like it's no, it's a separate.
Speaker 2: But equal sort of thing.
Speaker 3: So well, so try to educate the people, you know,
Speaker 3: I was, I was worried that you were gonna go
Speaker 3: in the direction of a politically correct answer, but.
Speaker 1: I was like, all right, but a home run, I'll
Speaker 1: take that. You So, if you're just tuning in to
Speaker 1: civic cipher. I'm your host, Rams's job. The voice you
Speaker 1: just heard was that of Rocky Tirade from the Wee
Speaker 1: Rising movement. My other guest today is Tessa Farrell, one
Speaker 1: of the long time protest volunteers that had supported this movement,
Speaker 1: and I want to ask you something. Rocky just mentioned
Speaker 1: white privilege, white supremacy. As a white woman, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: paint a little bit of a picture here. You're born
Speaker 1: into a society that is effectively a white supremacist society.
Speaker 1: And even if you don't believe that to be true,
Speaker 1: even if the person listening to my voice doesn't believe
Speaker 1: that to be true, certainly the benefits of this imaginary
Speaker 1: quote unquote white supremacist society are benefits that you experience
Speaker 1: in your day to day life. You are very much protected.
Speaker 1: If something happens to you, everyone comes to your aid.
Speaker 1: As opposed to let's say you were born a black woman.
Speaker 1: It would be a very different world for you and
Speaker 1: a lot of different challenges there. And obviously you understand
Speaker 1: that and have been moved to make the world a
Speaker 1: little bit more equal for your black and brown brothers
Speaker 1: and sisters. As illustrated by the fact that you continually
Speaker 1: come out support the Wee Rising movement, You continually come
Speaker 1: out and protest the injustice is endured by black and
Speaker 1: brown people at the hands of the police and other
Speaker 1: white supremacist institutions. My question is designed to paint a
Speaker 1: picture for folks who maybe they their heart goes out,
Speaker 1: you know, maybe they come from a similar background or
Speaker 1: the same background. Maybe they are white women, maybe they
Speaker 1: are white folks. Maybe they're just you know, maybe they
Speaker 1: want to make a connection but they have not been
Speaker 1: able to because of one reason or another. But I
Speaker 1: want to ask you what is it that Well, first off,
Speaker 1: do you acknowledge that white supremacy is a thing? Yes?
Speaker 2: Or no? Yes?
Speaker 5: A lot of politicians, So I'm saying.
Speaker 6: Yes, yes, privilege is real.
Speaker 5: White supremacy is real.
Speaker 1: And I don't mean to put you on the spot,
Speaker 1: but it helps to establish that before we go into
Speaker 1: the next question, how is it that you are able
Speaker 1: to find your way through your your normal walk in
Speaker 1: life and challenge white supremacy in your in your own
Speaker 1: travels when it benefits you so much? In other words,
Speaker 1: are you like, let's say you're at a dinner table
Speaker 1: with you know, a family members who might not see
Speaker 1: the world the same way that you do, or you know,
Speaker 1: you're just living your normal life and you overhear someone
Speaker 1: say something, you know, how is it that you have
Speaker 1: are able to take on the challenge of dismantling these
Speaker 1: systems in your day to day life.
Speaker 5: I think that.
Speaker 4: Just maybe for me, it looks like the recognition that
Speaker 4: even in what I think I understand about white privilege,
Speaker 4: the ways that I can easily identify it, you know,
Speaker 4: interactions with police, you know, even shopping in a store
Speaker 4: and not being profiled or anything along those lines that
Speaker 4: we know to be very obvious, that there are also
Speaker 4: so many ways in which it's not obvious to me
Speaker 4: even where I'm at now, that kind of what we
Speaker 4: talk about implicit bias areas in my life where I
Speaker 4: don't even realize how deeply that white privilege is woven
Speaker 4: because it's such a framework, you know, put such a
Speaker 4: part of my identity, that there are so many ways
Speaker 4: in which I'm probably receiving benefit and reward and I'm
Speaker 4: not even aware of that. So I think it just
Speaker 4: challenges me and in all aspects, to continue to try
Speaker 4: to dissect what that really looks like and ways in
Speaker 4: which I support that. You know, it's one thing to
Speaker 4: be aware of your white privilege, but still, ultimately my
Speaker 4: whiteness contributes to other people's oppression. No matter how many
Speaker 4: ways I would try to, you know, circumvent that or
Speaker 4: otherwise change that as our system sits now, my existence
Speaker 4: still contributes to that for others.
Speaker 5: Does that make sense?
Speaker 2: Yes?
Speaker 1: And I think that's just being conscious.
Speaker 4: I think that no matter what I do, that I
Speaker 4: still carry that privilege, and that that privilege still ultimately
Speaker 4: affects other people around me.
Speaker 1: Sure. Sure. And one of the reasons why I thought
Speaker 1: it was important to at least invite you to come
Speaker 1: and share a little bit of your story is because
Speaker 1: you told me a story recently about so I think
Speaker 1: you have like a sticker on your car or something
Speaker 1: like that, and someone said something to you and you
Speaker 1: jumped out of your car sort of like mighty mouse,
Speaker 1: ready to fight. And the confidence that comes with that,
Speaker 1: and the confidence that comes with knowing I'm not going
Speaker 1: to be arrested, I'm not.
Speaker 5: Going to not confidence privilege.
Speaker 1: So I want you to tell this story because I
Speaker 1: think it's important to like really really explain what it's
Speaker 1: like to use your privilege to help the underprivileged. And
Speaker 1: I think that that story really speaks to that. So
Speaker 1: what happened? How did this start?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I was I was leaving the grocery store the
Speaker 4: other day and some man, a white man, started tailing
Speaker 4: me and flipping me off very aggressively, you know when
Speaker 4: I told you so much so that at the time
Speaker 4: I thought like maybe he was doing it to music,
Speaker 4: because it was like, you know, he like he did
Speaker 4: it in such a way that I was like, what,
Speaker 4: like there was there had been no interaction for like
Speaker 4: that for his actions to be warranted in my mind,
Speaker 4: So I thought like maybe he was feeling a song
Speaker 4: and he was, you know, just like going about I
Speaker 4: don't know, because nothing had happened to me that like
Speaker 4: warranted that. And then it became very clear to me
Speaker 4: in that moment that it was related to, like you said,
Speaker 4: a sign that I have in my window that says
Speaker 4: say their names and then it says black lives matter,
Speaker 4: Black women's lives matter, what have you?
Speaker 5: Black trans lives matter.
Speaker 4: And he kept tailing me and it was getting more
Speaker 4: and more aggressive. He was, you know, following me in lanes,
Speaker 4: and so I finally parked my car in the intersection
Speaker 4: and got out and kind of confronted him in a
Speaker 4: matter of speaking, Can I cuss on here? I just
Speaker 4: I just told him if he had a problem to
Speaker 4: to say what the problem was, and uh, you know,
Speaker 4: get out of your car.
Speaker 5: Excellence, excellentence, excellence, and.
Speaker 4: He would not do that. Ultimately, that did not happen. Uh,
Speaker 4: it continued on. We turn earned another corner and I
Speaker 4: got out again and was like, if you know, you're
Speaker 4: trying to make a point, like, what's your point, let's
Speaker 4: do this, like you want to dance, Let's go. But
Speaker 4: I think to the point you're making here, right, is
Speaker 4: that I know in those moments that there's also a
Speaker 4: safety net there one that that man is white, also
Speaker 4: because they don't ever want to draw attention to you know,
Speaker 4: like had that, for whatever, under other circumstances, been a
Speaker 4: man of color or a person of color, you know, would never,
Speaker 4: had there been an issue, want to draw attention that
Speaker 4: could warrant police interference because I know, whatever the optics
Speaker 4: might be, that that I further endangered that person's life,
Speaker 4: regardless of whatever altercations taking place between that person and I.
Speaker 4: But also in those moments that the privilege in getting
Speaker 4: out and knowing that I can that I can stand there,
Speaker 4: that I can do those things that all the passerbys watching,
Speaker 4: that all the people in their cars that are not
Speaker 4: moving because I've created such a scene, you know, are
Speaker 4: ultimately not calling the police because it doesn't look good
Speaker 4: that this guy's yelling at a little white girl. You know,
Speaker 4: like the optics all the way look put me in favor,
Speaker 4: And that's my white privile that's my white privilege working
Speaker 4: in my favor in those instances. Hopefully, in those moments,
Speaker 4: maybe not that one exactly. You know, it fosters a
Speaker 4: conversation or a space where we can educate or create
Speaker 4: some kind of you know, safety or awareness or something.
Speaker 5: But yeah, I don't want to.
Speaker 1: I want to say something like, uh, you know to
Speaker 1: anybody that's listening. You know, for a lot of us
Speaker 1: black folks, that's like a superpower. That's that's absolutely superpower.
Speaker 5: Then I feel like, you know, yeah, like it'll take it.
Speaker 1: Off if if someone else jumps out of the car,
Speaker 1: immediately you're the one being aggressive. Someone of color jumps
Speaker 1: out of the car, you're the aggressor. You know, it
Speaker 1: doesn't matter what the backstory is. No one, No one
Speaker 1: cares to hear that he was following you, flipping you off,
Speaker 1: that you're the aggressor, and just knowing that prevents you
Speaker 1: from standing up from yourself. And I think that a
Speaker 1: black life is a life oftentimes, especially in instances like that,
Speaker 1: that is devoid of dignity. Your best bet, the path
Speaker 1: of least resistance, is to just keep your head down
Speaker 1: and let it pass. And we've seen that happen with
Speaker 1: the elders and the generations that came before us, when
Speaker 1: they were bullied and they were you know, recently, I
Speaker 1: did a show with doctor Westernberg. She talked about growing up.
Speaker 1: So she's in her seventies absolutely, and she talked about
Speaker 1: growing up where there were just certain things that you
Speaker 1: just had to endure or you risk paying for that
Speaker 1: with your life. And so that very much does to
Speaker 1: me feel like a superpower. And when you use that
Speaker 1: superpower to enrich and to encourage and to you know,
Speaker 1: further create a world that is based in fairness and
Speaker 1: in truth for your black and brown brothers and sisters,
Speaker 1: then that's something that is definitely appreciated. So I'm glad
Speaker 1: that you got to come up and share that story.
Speaker 1: I want to ask you another question. Have there been
Speaker 1: any like more direct instances of people non sympathizers kind
Speaker 1: of asking funny questions or picking on you? Because I
Speaker 1: do recognize that that does happen a lot a lot
Speaker 1: of folks who are not black but want to come
Speaker 1: out and support a black movement. Is that something that
Speaker 1: you've experienced in your life?
Speaker 4: I mean, certainly, you know, I think I chalk up
Speaker 4: most of it to being you know, like internet trolls
Speaker 4: and stuff is really where it seems to manifest more often.
Speaker 5: Than not in my world.
Speaker 4: You know, people will send angry messages or you know,
Speaker 4: comment on things, you know, saying hateful and ugly things.
Speaker 5: But really I think ultimately.
Speaker 4: It's par for the course and just something that as
Speaker 4: much as I can, you know, disregard, just in that
Speaker 4: I know, whatever I'm experiencing is but a fraction of
Speaker 4: what you know, black people are experiencing just merely for existing.
Speaker 4: You know, I'm like quote unquote taking a stance by
Speaker 4: saying that, you know, black lives matter, but ultimately black
Speaker 4: lives are you know, receive backlash and hate just for existing.
Speaker 5: So I think that you know, I don't. I don't
Speaker 5: give it a lot of weight.
Speaker 4: Sometimes it rouls me up and I yell at people
Speaker 4: at intersections in streets.
Speaker 5: But sometimes yeah, sometimes the moment calls for it.
Speaker 4: But ultimately, you know, I yes, but no more so
Speaker 4: than you know any other advocate in the movement likely
Speaker 4: and certainly less than you know black leaders and black
Speaker 4: folk and black and brown folk in our communities.
Speaker 1: So very good if you're just tuning in the civic cipher,
Speaker 1: I mean host Ramse's job. The voice you just heard
Speaker 1: was that of Tessa Ferrell, a long time volunteer and
Speaker 1: activists with the Wee Rising Movement organization. And you know,
Speaker 1: I will say that, you know that that's that's not
Speaker 1: something that I take lightly. A lot of folks were
Speaker 1: out on the streets, you know, you know, closer to
Speaker 1: the beginning middle of the year. The numbers have kind
Speaker 1: of the movement hasn't dwindled, but the numbers on the
Speaker 1: streets have certainly they kind of took a big hit,
Speaker 1: you know, as the summer kind of wore on because
Speaker 1: it's really hot. It's hot Arizona too. But you know,
Speaker 1: my hat's off to you to uh for just continuing
Speaker 1: to kind of you know, stay out on the streets,
Speaker 1: and I don't believe you've been arrested or anything yet.
Speaker 6: So yet at this point right, well, my understanding is
Speaker 6: that a lot of the folks that have been targeted,
Speaker 6: as Rocky said earlier, have been black and brown folks.
Speaker 3: Especially substantial with the you know, the harsher charges and
Speaker 3: things of that nature. Ones who are still in jail.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, there's individuals who just happen to be arrested and
Speaker 3: things of that nature. Shout out to them for placing
Speaker 3: themselves out there and utilizing their privilege. But uh, when
Speaker 3: I speak about arrests and things of that nature, it's
Speaker 3: definitely reference in reference to you know, the black, black
Speaker 3: and brown organized lead organizers and things that nature that
Speaker 3: have been single single handedly targeted.
Speaker 2: So sure, excuse me, So.
Speaker 1: If if you how about this with all the things
Speaker 1: that you're you're doing, what what are the changes that
Speaker 1: you would like to see in the future with the
Speaker 1: We Rising movement.
Speaker 3: You know, just seeing more people take the opportunity to
Speaker 3: you know, apply themselves politically. You know, like we're in
Speaker 3: a voting season, but it's so much more than voting. Like,
Speaker 3: once we vote, you can't just go back to our
Speaker 3: normal lives. We have to be aware of what's going on,
Speaker 3: what our elected officials are doing. They can't be allowed
Speaker 3: to exist in this world by themselves where they can
Speaker 3: only hold themselves accountable. We have to be the ones
Speaker 3: to demand transparency, you know, Like I say, presence leads
Speaker 3: to pressure. Pressure leads to accountability, you know.
Speaker 1: So explain what you mean when you say we have
Speaker 1: to be the ones to demand transparency.
Speaker 2: We have to be aware of what's going on.
Speaker 3: Like you know, you don't have to always we all
Speaker 3: have people have lives and kids and jobs and relationships
Speaker 3: and things of that nature. But just taking the time
Speaker 3: to Okay, here's the next city council meeting and you
Speaker 3: can just find out by going to Phoenix dot gov
Speaker 3: and you know, just take five minutes out of your
Speaker 3: lunch break and just scroll through what they're going to
Speaker 3: be talking about, you know, liquor license and things that nature.
Speaker 3: But then you see a donation for two hundred and
Speaker 3: eighteen thousand dollars through the police department. You see neighborhood
Speaker 3: block watch things. You see why you know, there's a
Speaker 3: conversation about changing offensive names and Phoenix that's been going
Speaker 3: on for years, and you know, like just these subtle,
Speaker 3: these nuances that really make up the identity that is Phoenix, Arizona.
Speaker 3: Like you can just be cognizant by taking the time
Speaker 3: to look through these things, see where your elected officials
Speaker 3: view these initiatives going you know, what they voted on
Speaker 3: their track record, by going to ballotpedia dot com and
Speaker 3: looking at your elected officials. But I guess you asked
Speaker 3: me a direct question what I'd like to see, and
Speaker 3: that's more representation from.
Speaker 2: Us on all fields, not just like.
Speaker 3: People running for like mayor or you know, like famous
Speaker 3: or well recognized seats. But you know, look at your
Speaker 3: county of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, which you
Speaker 3: know deals with so many things that govern our lives.
Speaker 3: Even for those who want to defund the police, they
Speaker 3: under say, they work with the sheriff's budget, they help
Speaker 3: them nominate, uh the county attorney Alistairdell back then. You know,
Speaker 3: like the these are things that people like us are
Speaker 3: vying to be a part of, and you know, representation
Speaker 3: is important. You know, for instance, with the the County
Speaker 3: Board of Supervisors, you have like a Whitney Walker, you
Speaker 3: have a Jevin Hodge. You know, those are are interesting
Speaker 3: people to look into.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: That's more again about representation, you know, and even down
Speaker 3: to speaking about the Civilian Review Board. We want to
Speaker 3: make sure that these things are represented by day to
Speaker 3: day black and brown and Indigenous people who understand our
Speaker 3: experiences here in Maricopa County. We have to I note
Speaker 3: that that conversation amongst black folks that see it at
Speaker 3: the table, do.
Speaker 2: We want one? Do we want do we not want one?
Speaker 3: But you know, we all live in the same country
Speaker 3: together and we need to be cognizant of what's going on.
Speaker 3: The only way is to demand and force ourselves into
Speaker 3: the room. We can't just ask by voting for one
Speaker 3: or two people. No, we have to show up and
Speaker 3: push everybody through the door, you know. And you know
Speaker 3: there's there's a very powerful individual in this community. Uh
Speaker 3: they're speaking about like this, this black blitz that we
Speaker 3: need to we need to push for in terms of
Speaker 3: you know, demanding equity, and the only way we can
Speaker 3: do that is having equal representation in these in these seats.
Speaker 3: So representation, that's what we want to see, definitely.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, And another thing that just kind of came to
Speaker 1: mind as you were speaking, is you know, obviously when
Speaker 1: we heard you know, the plan of action or lack
Speaker 1: thereof with respect to Deon Johnson.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 1: And if you don't know, Dean Johnson was murdered by
Speaker 1: the DPS, and I think his name was Officer Servantes,
Speaker 1: the one who took his life needlessly and then let
Speaker 1: him suffer wiggle around on the side of the freeway
Speaker 1: for however long it was, until he ultimately passed away,
Speaker 1: and then there was going to be no action taken
Speaker 1: against that, you know, after they investigated of you know,
Speaker 1: when you were talking about transparency, what came to mind,
Speaker 1: at least in my brain, was transparency with respect to
Speaker 1: you know, investigations, because no one will feel like justice
Speaker 1: has been served if the police commit the crime and
Speaker 1: then the police investigate themselves and then clear themselves of
Speaker 1: the It just doesn't really seem fair to have them
Speaker 1: still be called public servants exactly when they can do that.
Speaker 1: So I absolutely I think the transparency on all fronts
Speaker 1: is really going to help start us down a path
Speaker 1: that is going to allow us to be more informed
Speaker 1: and it's going to curtail a lot of the underhanded
Speaker 1: goings on that take place behind the scenes or beyond
Speaker 1: the view of just the general public. The folks that
Speaker 1: you see, you're saying, just have jobs and normal lives
Speaker 1: and go on about their business, but are ultimately affected
Speaker 1: either directly or indirectly by you know, the criminal justice system,
Speaker 1: by you know, you know, the way moneies are spent
Speaker 1: in communities, and on and on, and so I'll answer
Speaker 1: this first. If I could see one change happen right now,
Speaker 1: if I could snap my fingers and see one change,
Speaker 1: it would probably be that that there was transparency in
Speaker 1: investigations or otherwise, that the people were able to put
Speaker 1: together an independent council to investigate, you know, uh, police
Speaker 1: complaints in the police brutality and so forth. I think
Speaker 1: that that would be a great place to start toward
Speaker 1: fixing everything. So if I could snap my fingers and
Speaker 1: make one change, that would be it. If you could
Speaker 1: snap your fingers right now and make one change that
Speaker 1: you think would help the most, or at least if
Speaker 1: there's a critical process, here be the first step toward
Speaker 1: helping the most. What would you what would you change? Dang,
Speaker 1: that's a tough one, right, picked a good one. You
Speaker 1: picked a good one.
Speaker 3: I mean because don't want to be realistic or you know,
Speaker 3: like from you know, an idealistic standpoint, like I guess,
Speaker 3: you know, I would just reframe pfraying back to defer
Speaker 3: backs what I was talking about before. I would defer
Speaker 3: back to me saying that we need transparency by having.
Speaker 2: Our people within these elected seats.
Speaker 3: We need complete representation because with that, you're you're able
Speaker 3: to govern from a standpoint that everybody from these underrepresented, marginalized,
Speaker 3: disparate communities now have a voice.
Speaker 2: And it's not just this speculative.
Speaker 3: My chief of staff gave me this information before lunch break,
Speaker 3: you know, type of governing, and you're able to make
Speaker 3: fair approaches from a political standpoint with this in the
Speaker 3: back of your mind.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: That's why again when we're talking about these review boards,
Speaker 3: we do want people that look like us, that come
Speaker 3: from our backgrounds, to to be able to stand up
Speaker 3: and say no, there's cases like this, I can point
Speaker 3: to this, like this case I can point to when
Speaker 3: Antonio arsay, you know, I can point to Dalvin Hollins,
Speaker 3: you know, and these run along the same courses, you know,
Speaker 3: Like so I definitely think me right now just freestyling it,
Speaker 3: I'd say that proper representation, you know, because there's so
Speaker 3: many other things we can talk about, like and this
Speaker 3: systemic racism. Okay, cool, that's just a generalized statement. But
Speaker 3: how do we get through there? So I like to
Speaker 3: try at this point think of things from like a
Speaker 3: strategic step by step process.
Speaker 2: You know, you win the battles, to win the war bergs,
Speaker 2: and once.
Speaker 3: We see our faces there, I feel more confident in
Speaker 3: putting some of those more those big dreams out there.
Speaker 2: You know, there you go.
Speaker 1: I'll take that. And if you're just tuning in to
Speaker 1: CIPI Cipher, I'm your host Rams's job. The voice you
Speaker 1: just heard was Rocky Tirade of the of WE Rising,
Speaker 1: one of the groups that has taken to the streets
Speaker 1: in recent months to protest police brutalities and injustices on
Speaker 1: black and brown bodies. My other guest is Tessa Farrell,
Speaker 1: one of the long time volunteers and protesters from WE
Speaker 1: Rising as well. And I want to ask you some
Speaker 1: or question above all else, what is one thing that
Speaker 1: you would like to see change?
Speaker 4: Okay, if we're saying one thing and not the thing,
Speaker 4: I felt like the pressure of what was the thing
Speaker 4: so I'm going to say one thing for me, Well,
Speaker 4: I guess how do I want to approach this. Should
Speaker 4: I speak on whiteness or should I also speak on
Speaker 4: what I believe is.
Speaker 5: Uh, accessibility.
Speaker 4: I'm going to touch on accessibility because it's something that
Speaker 4: is important. It sits deeply for me. Is the accessibility
Speaker 4: to adequate food and nutrition and education. And I think
Speaker 4: those systems we know by way neighborhoods and the way
Speaker 4: neighborhoods have, uh you know, the racist history of the
Speaker 4: way neighborhoods were created and division lines and our yeah
Speaker 4: in our community and our school systems that possibly you know,
Speaker 4: in order for what is often you know, black and
Speaker 4: brown uthed to ever even get to a place of
Speaker 4: having the kind of voice that they're they're capable of,
Speaker 4: they first have to be able to, you know, receive
Speaker 4: the kind of education and access to food and all
Speaker 4: of those things that are part of the same system.
Speaker 4: You can't be learning if you're hungry, you can't you know,
Speaker 4: all those things to me kind of fall into one
Speaker 4: sort of similar category, and it's just the accessibility to
Speaker 4: our most basic needs housing, all of those things. Internet anymore,
Speaker 4: you know, we know that all these things exist in pockets,
Speaker 4: and there are larger deserts within communities where all of
Speaker 4: this is not accessible. And without those things, you know,
Speaker 4: babies never get to the place they can be to
Speaker 4: make the change that's needed.
Speaker 2: So accessibility is powerful. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: It brings to mind there was a I think it
Speaker 1: was a program in Philadelphia or some some it was.
Speaker 1: It was a city on the East coast, and what
Speaker 1: they did was they supplied a bunch of kids in
Speaker 1: low income communities with glasses, and they found out that
Speaker 1: the reading levels of you know, first second third graders
Speaker 1: shot up by like seventy percent or something crazy like that,
Speaker 1: which which is great, But I think that on a
Speaker 1: broader level illustrates the fact that a lack of resources
Speaker 1: and a lack of access to resources like you mentioned,
Speaker 1: you know, food, basic necessities, things like glasses that kind
Speaker 1: of are easily accessible when you have money, when you
Speaker 1: have wealth, when you're controlling the narrative and you know,
Speaker 1: the politics and the criminal justice system and so forth,
Speaker 1: just having access to things like that really levels the
Speaker 1: playing field quite a bit for black and brown folks.
Speaker 1: But you know, we're almost out of time here, So
Speaker 1: what I want to do with the last minute or
Speaker 1: so is point people in your direction. So if people
Speaker 1: wanted to, you know, follow what we Rising is doing,
Speaker 1: how do they do?
Speaker 2: So?
Speaker 1: Social media?
Speaker 3: Website, social media is probably the best bet, you know,
Speaker 3: So Instagram will be re rising the re Rising project
Speaker 3: and on Twitter's we Rising project. But yeah, we're always
Speaker 3: always looking to build with individuals, you know, it's this
Speaker 3: is uh, this is something that takes uh universal efforts.
Speaker 1: So and also do me a favor check out Rocky
Speaker 1: Tirade's music just r o q y t y R
Speaker 1: A I D just so that you'll kind of get
Speaker 1: a little bit of that background that he and I
Speaker 1: have And that's going to do it for us here
Speaker 1: on Civic Cipher. Thanks for tuning in and check us
Speaker 1: out next week, same time, same channel. In the meantime,
Speaker 1: you can hit the website Civic cipher dot com, submit
Speaker 1: your questions and topics, and of course to donate. We
Speaker 1: appreciate all your donations, uh, and be sure to follow
Speaker 1: our social media at Civic Cipher Peace