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Speaker 1: Weekly Studios. Welcome back to Civic Cipher. I'm your host,
Speaker 1: Rams's job. He is Ramsy's job. I am q Ward.
Speaker 1: You are tuned into Civic Cipher, Yes you are. And
Speaker 1: we have the one, the only, Jevin Hodge with us
Speaker 1: who serves as the president of an NAACP branch representing
Speaker 1: nearly two million people. With his branch, he's currently leading
Speaker 1: one of the nation's most historic and influential civil rights
Speaker 1: organizations and advancing equity, opportunity, and community empowerment. Previously served
Speaker 1: as a state representative and a former congressional candidate, and
Speaker 1: he will be having a discussion with us concerning the
Speaker 1: boycotting of the boycott of DEI And for those that
Speaker 1: missed the first part of the show, we had an
Speaker 1: interesting conversation about his role in the NACP and their
Speaker 1: role in local politics as of the Trump administration, and
Speaker 1: so for those that missed to be sure to check
Speaker 1: that out as well. Before we move any further though,
Speaker 1: it's time to be a become a better allied Baba,
Speaker 1: and today's Baba comes to you from Center for Blackequity
Speaker 1: dot org, so I'll share from their website. They help
Speaker 1: improve equity in three areas. One economic equity allowing black
Speaker 1: LGBT people to compete effectively in the marketplace. Two social
Speaker 1: equity allowing black LGBT to achieve fair access to livelihood
Speaker 1: and education, full participation in the political and cultural life,
Speaker 1: and self determination in meeting fundamental needs. And three health equity,
Speaker 1: allowing black LGBT people to thrive physically, behaviorally, environmentally, and spiritually.
Speaker 1: Their mission is to promote a multinational LGBTQ plus network
Speaker 1: dedicated to improving health and wellness, opportunities, economic empowerment, and
Speaker 1: equal rights while promoting individual and collective work, responsibility and
Speaker 1: self determination. And their vision is to build a global
Speaker 1: network of LGBTQ plus individuals, allies, community based organizations, and
Speaker 1: prides dedicated to achieving equality and social justice for black
Speaker 1: LGBTQ plus communities through economic equity, health equity, and social equity. Again.
Speaker 1: You can find out more at the Center for Blackequity
Speaker 1: dot org or you can follow them on social media
Speaker 1: at ctr for Black Equity, Black spelled Out Equity spelled
Speaker 1: out once again at CTR for Black Equity and for
Speaker 1: is the number four.
Speaker 2: And.
Speaker 1: We wanted to make sure that we highlighted this organization
Speaker 1: A because we haven't been able to get to them.
Speaker 1: We have a new org every week and we've never
Speaker 1: repeated since we started the show. So we're talking hundreds
Speaker 1: of do gooders around the country. But these folks in
Speaker 1: particular are addressing the concerns of a very vulnerable population,
Speaker 1: especially nowadays. So one more time, that's Center for Blackequity
Speaker 1: dot org. If you feel so inclined, please give them
Speaker 1: your support. Okay, So here we are. Maybe there is
Speaker 1: something we can do for those of us who want
Speaker 1: to do something boycotting those who are boycotting DEI. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna share a bit and then of course we'll discuss it.
Speaker 1: But this comes from the Black Information Network. Reverend Al
Speaker 1: Sharpton is urging the public to boycott companies that are
Speaker 1: cutting their Diversity, Equity and Inclusion or DEI programs. Sharpton
Speaker 1: said his organization and the National Action Network is calling
Speaker 1: on all Americans to boycott companies that no longer support DEI.
Speaker 1: McDonald's Meta, Walmart, John Dear, Harley Davidson, Lowe's and Ford
Speaker 1: are among the major companies that have rolled back their
Speaker 1: DII policies amid right wing pressure. I'd like to add
Speaker 1: that there are more companies that have rolled back their
Speaker 1: DEI efforts since then, So that is in no way
Speaker 1: an exhaustive list. I'll continue reading quote why do we
Speaker 1: have DEI. We have DEI because you deny this diversity equity.
Speaker 1: You denied his inclusion. DEI was a remedy to the
Speaker 1: racial institutionalized bigotry practice in academia and in these corporations. Now,
Speaker 1: if you want to put us back in the back
Speaker 1: of the bus, we're going to do the doctor King
Speaker 1: Rosa parks on you, Sharpton said Monday to a group
Speaker 1: of supporters gathered at Metropolitan Ame Church. Sharpton said a
Speaker 1: council will hold a ninety day study of what companies
Speaker 1: have abandoned DEI and their margins of profit. Following the study,
Speaker 1: two companies will be specifically targeted in the boycott. The
Speaker 1: reverend said he would be supporting companies that have doubled
Speaker 1: down on their DEI practices, like Costco amid the boycott.
Speaker 1: So I want to say something first here in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty when.
Speaker 2: I was.
Speaker 1: Out protesting like many of us, and I was interacting
Speaker 1: with a lot of people who didn't look like me.
Speaker 1: I want to be very clear. You know, we're based
Speaker 1: in Arizona. We were certainly here in twenty twenty, Q
Speaker 1: and myself and Arizona. The population in Arizona, it's not
Speaker 1: like a place like Atlanta. It's not like a place
Speaker 1: like Louisiana where there's a significant amount of black people.
Speaker 1: In Phoenix, you know, we'd go out to a protest,
Speaker 1: a Black Lives Matter protest as they were known at
Speaker 1: the time, and there might be ten percent black people there,
Speaker 1: but there were thousands of people. So that meant that
Speaker 1: all of the other groups came out to support us,
Speaker 1: and I ended up having a lot of conversations with
Speaker 1: people that didn't look like me where we were happy.
Speaker 1: When companies announced they were going to be paying closer attention,
Speaker 1: they were going to be promoting, they were going to
Speaker 1: be hiring, they were going to allow black voices to participate,
Speaker 1: they would be incorporating DEI policies into their employment curriculum,
Speaker 1: if you will. And to a person like me, where
Speaker 1: that is something that feels like movement, it feels like
Speaker 1: it's not nothing. It feels like growth. To a lot
Speaker 1: of the activists that didn't look like me, they pushed back,
Speaker 1: and these are in a lot in many instances, these
Speaker 1: were white people, white women, and a lot of instances
Speaker 1: pushing back. They're just doing that because it's performative. They're
Speaker 1: just doing that because it's the order of the day.
Speaker 1: They don't really feel that way. It looks like a
Speaker 1: copy paste of the company before them. And I remember
Speaker 1: feeling like, well, look, it's not nothing, it's something. I
Speaker 1: remember that feeling. And they were like, ramses is performative.
Speaker 1: What you want is real change. You want people that
Speaker 1: are really committed to sharing resources, people that are really committed.
Speaker 1: And they had this whole thing, and I'm like, Okay,
Speaker 1: they're new to this. You know, they're you know, they're
Speaker 1: they're they're still angry, and they don't they don't have
Speaker 1: anywhere with the anger to go. So I was naive.
Speaker 1: Here I am four years later, four year. It wasn't
Speaker 1: five year, it wasn't a decade, it was four years.
Speaker 1: The same live we remember that you said that target Walmart,
Speaker 1: We remember that that was four years. We don't have
Speaker 1: that shorter memory. So it was particularly heartbreaking. Not only
Speaker 1: that they rolled back their dei uh and and there
Speaker 1: let me let me say it the way Q says it.
Speaker 1: They rolled back their diversity, their equity, and their inclusion.
Speaker 1: Thank you, because that's important. They rolled that back. But
Speaker 1: it also breaks my heart to know that all those
Speaker 1: those people, those those activists that we're trying to support
Speaker 1: black people, in that moment, they were right. It was
Speaker 1: just performative. And the part that feels like a gut
Speaker 1: punch is that it's almost like, and I've said this
Speaker 1: on the Black Information Network before with Q, but it
Speaker 1: feels like, Okay, so Donald Trump's going to be in
Speaker 1: office for four years. Black people are going to be
Speaker 1: in this country for a lot longer than that. And
Speaker 1: as we've established, our memories are not that short. Now,
Speaker 1: I know you want to say something, you so why
Speaker 1: don't you let you off the leash?
Speaker 3: And then, Jevin, we'll get your thoughts too. When you
Speaker 3: grow accustomed to getting nothing, people can get away with
Speaker 3: doing the least to appease you. That's fair, Yeah, right,
Speaker 3: The Black Square on Instagram, all those companies, this is
Speaker 3: back when woke was a good thing. All those companies
Speaker 3: are woke. We are so used to corporations, specifically institutions,
Speaker 3: doing nothing for us. So companies instituting something like DEI
Speaker 3: Initiatives on their company website as a splash page, spending
Speaker 3: no actual money, doing nothing to actually give back to communities,
Speaker 3: but you know, it looks good at that moment to
Speaker 3: be a company supporting black people, because the entire world
Speaker 3: for a brief moment, felt some empathy for us.
Speaker 1: Following that.
Speaker 3: I remember I was a national speaker for Clear, the
Speaker 3: company that you guys see at the airport, and DEI
Speaker 3: is what I was speaking on. And I refused to
Speaker 3: get on this national stage for their entire sales team
Speaker 3: and all their executives and all their market directors and
Speaker 3: regional directors and vice presidents, etc. To have a conversation
Speaker 3: about DEI If they weren't doing anything tangible. I wasn't
Speaker 3: going to be face of your fake PR campaign. So
Speaker 3: I actually did that event because I did the research
Speaker 3: and realized that their women CEO important to say out loud,
Speaker 3: their women CEO actually cared about DEI. A large percentage
Speaker 3: of her workforce worked for that company. Because the CEO
Speaker 3: was a woman and she understood the importance of that,
Speaker 3: and they're hiring practices reflected that they cared about DEI.
Speaker 3: You know, every level of management reflected that they cared
Speaker 3: about DEI, right, and then working on making those executive
Speaker 3: vice presidents in that c suite more diverse across the
Speaker 3: board for all companies. But starting somewhere with actual actionable
Speaker 3: steps is a big deal. A lot of major corporations
Speaker 3: just rode out some good pr Let's take some pictures
Speaker 3: with ramses and thank you. Let's have your favorite black
Speaker 3: celebrity come to our headquarters. Let's roll out a commercial.
Speaker 3: But what schools, what communities, what initiatives, what nonprofits, what
Speaker 3: organizations actually benefited from you deciding that it's a good
Speaker 3: look to participate in DEI. So those allies that marched
Speaker 3: with us, that were in the streets with us, that
Speaker 3: showed up to those protests, they weren't being cynical. They
Speaker 3: were being realist. They were saying to us, hey, black people,
Speaker 3: you guys should not be impressed or pleased with these
Speaker 3: companies doing the absolute least with regards to actually showing
Speaker 3: up for you. But the truth is when you starve,
Speaker 3: And I think Eddie Murphy said this most eloquently. A
Speaker 3: cracker is everything when you starving. So when we are
Speaker 3: used to companies, this country, organizations, legislators, politicians doing nothing
Speaker 3: for us, then people can show up and do the
Speaker 3: apps to the least and we will applaud it. And
Speaker 3: I think that's where we found ourselves four years ago.
Speaker 3: And for those who thought it was nonsense and didn't
Speaker 3: think it was real, they've just been proven right. I
Speaker 3: don't think these people are cracking under pressure. I think
Speaker 3: they started those initiatives because of pressure. It would have
Speaker 3: looked crazy in that moment to be the company that
Speaker 3: didn't put the black square up. It would have looked
Speaker 3: crazy to be the company that wasn't riding with black
Speaker 3: people when the whole world was. I don't think these
Speaker 3: people are being pressured by the right. The man's been
Speaker 3: in office for a week. Some of these rollbacks started
Speaker 3: before he was inaugurated. They were getting ahead of it.
Speaker 3: Who won't got to do that no more? Ah, I
Speaker 3: was tired of parading around here pretending. Now that we've
Speaker 3: owned the woke libs, we can stop pretending that we care.
Speaker 3: I don't think they were pressured to make any changes.
Speaker 3: I think they could just finally act and show up
Speaker 3: how they really felt.
Speaker 1: That's a hold on brother Cue.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, my brother and I was saying, and we say,
Speaker 2: it's a call and response.
Speaker 1: Okay, we all.
Speaker 2: We got the other one replies, but we all we
Speaker 2: need And that's really what it comes down to, especially
Speaker 2: in this moment. We have to stand up to protect
Speaker 2: our people. We have to protect our dollar, we have
Speaker 2: to protect our time, we have protect our talents, we
Speaker 2: have to protect our treasures. We have to protect our people.
Speaker 2: And and like you just said, brother Cue, we are
Speaker 2: seeing time and time and time again that they did
Speaker 2: what was popular in the moment, Those organizations, those corporations
Speaker 2: did what was popular in the moment, but reverted back
Speaker 2: to doing exactly what it is that they wanted to
Speaker 2: do all along, and when it was popular, when it
Speaker 2: was good for profits, they did what they needed to do,
Speaker 2: and they're going to continue to do the exact same thing.
Speaker 2: I want to highlight something though, before we get too
Speaker 2: far into this conversation, and I think Democratic Leader Hakim
Speaker 2: Jeffries for bringing this to light. D E and I Diversity, equity,
Speaker 2: inclusion are American values embedded in American society. It is
Speaker 2: who we are e ploribus, unham out of many one, diversity,
Speaker 2: the Fourteenth Amendment, equal protection under law, equity. We pledge
Speaker 2: our allegiance every single day the children in our schools
Speaker 2: to the flag. We pledge our allegiance to the flag
Speaker 2: right that we are one nation under God, indivisible with
Speaker 2: liberty and justice for all that is inclusion. These are
Speaker 2: the values of American society. But because they want you
Speaker 2: to believe that it's not, and they're flooding the airwaves
Speaker 2: with misinformation and disinformation and fake news. We now have
Speaker 2: a society of people who believe that what is being
Speaker 2: spouted out is accurate. And this is where we come in.
Speaker 2: And this is why you all are so important.
Speaker 1: Y'all.
Speaker 2: Two are so incredibly important because you're speaking truth to
Speaker 2: power every single day and you're continuing to do so.
Speaker 2: Target It's up to us though, right you know. So,
Speaker 2: my challenge is to whoever that inspired listener is, no
Speaker 2: matter where you're at right now, New York City, Dallas, California,
Speaker 2: somewhere California, a great state of Arizona, exist, Georgia, South Carolina,
Speaker 2: no matter where you are at, find a friend. Go
Speaker 2: make sure to the register to vote and get them involved,
Speaker 2: get them involved, even if that starts by subscribing to
Speaker 2: this show. But we all have to band together, you know.
Speaker 1: I think that what I'm learning in this moment, well
Speaker 1: said both of you. I feel like, as I continue
Speaker 1: to find my way through this, this moment in my life,
Speaker 1: in this moment in our country's political history, it's conversations
Speaker 1: like these. It certainly helped me along my way. But
Speaker 1: what I'm gathering is that we are you know, your
Speaker 1: point was well made, Jevin, that we are a country
Speaker 1: of diversity, equity, and inclusion. That those are the founding
Speaker 1: principles of this country, and it of course had to
Speaker 1: be expanded to include us.
Speaker 2: But for.
Speaker 1: Everyone's life time and the lifetime of up to i'd
Speaker 1: say their grandparents, that definition has included all of us, right,
Speaker 1: And so this is the country that we are now,
Speaker 1: We've grown here and this is where we are, okay.
Speaker 1: But the intersection of the values of this country with
Speaker 1: the forces of capitalism qle like this and the I
Speaker 1: guess the perhaps the the fear fear is not the
Speaker 1: word I want to use here. Perhaps the power, the
Speaker 1: power high or what the wickedness? I don't I wouldn't
Speaker 1: know what to call it, but it's white supremacy. So
Speaker 1: there's an intersection of this country's values, or what this
Speaker 1: country's values should be, intersecting with the forces of capitalism
Speaker 1: and the forces of white supremacy. And we have to
Speaker 1: hold the line and when we are met with okay,
Speaker 1: So this current administration stands opposed to teaching black people's history.
Speaker 1: This current administration stands opposed to initiatives that were meant
Speaker 1: to bring about equitable treatment and equitable hiring, and equitable
Speaker 1: education and equitable housing and so forth and so on
Speaker 1: of marginalized historically marginalized communities, including white women. This administration
Speaker 1: has established that it is opposed to a lot of
Speaker 1: the progressive ideas which black people have. We've leaned on
Speaker 1: progressive movements to gain the rights that we have right now,
Speaker 1: and we are indeed leaning on progressive ideas to create
Speaker 1: equitable outcomes with respect to the criminal justice system, to
Speaker 1: environmental racism and all kinds of things. Right So, now
Speaker 1: that we're here and all the levers of government, as
Speaker 1: Q would say, are in the hands of the people
Speaker 1: that stand opposed to what looks like progress to us,
Speaker 1: this emerges as an idea, this boycott. I'll start with you, Q,
Speaker 1: because I know you had something to say here. Do
Speaker 1: you think this can work?
Speaker 3: I think the idea of a boycott as one of
Speaker 3: the largest consumer groups in the world and trants, but yeah,
Speaker 3: well we are the trendsetters, so that's a whole different conversation.
Speaker 3: You want to make sure you entire world for all
Speaker 3: of history.
Speaker 1: What's cool? Yeah Walmart, Yeah, that's.
Speaker 3: But as the largest one of the largest consumer groups
Speaker 3: in the world, even if we don't make up most
Speaker 3: of the world's wealth, we definitely make up most of
Speaker 3: the world's spinders consumers. I think the idea is fantastic
Speaker 3: and could be a very very strong lever that we
Speaker 3: could pull. However, it's the difference between could it.
Speaker 1: Work and will it work? We got to be on
Speaker 1: the same right.
Speaker 3: If you place us in a food desert and the
Speaker 3: least expensive way of getting food on our kids table
Speaker 3: is Walmart, it's very hard to say boycott Walmart. If
Speaker 3: you take away fast food, right, they have a special
Speaker 3: knowledge McDonald's. You can speed you can feed a family
Speaker 3: of four for twelve dollars or something crazy like that.
Speaker 3: It's hard to boycott McDonald's when that's the only place
Speaker 3: to eat, when you can get a meal for twenty
Speaker 3: dollars for your house, and the healthier food from a
Speaker 3: place that might be riding with us is too expensive
Speaker 3: for you. There's also this issue with us in solidarity.
Speaker 3: It's become hip to be a contrarian, to push when
Speaker 3: all of us are pulling, because we're sheep and you're not.
Speaker 1: And you want to impress us.
Speaker 3: With your brilliance and your free, independent thought, even though
Speaker 3: all your talking points are from the MAGA playbook. So
Speaker 3: can it?
Speaker 1: Could it? Sure? Will it different? Question? All right? Thirty
Speaker 1: seconds before we go? I know that's not a lot
Speaker 1: of time.
Speaker 2: But discipline? Can we be disciplined? How bad do we
Speaker 2: want it? How bad do we want equity? How bad
Speaker 2: do we want to be treated equally, fairly, justly? And
Speaker 2: if we've learned anything from our four mothers and four
Speaker 2: fathers is that they were disciplined the Montgomery boycott, bus boycott.
Speaker 1: Look it up.
Speaker 2: If you don't know about it, we can do it,
Speaker 2: but we have to be disciplined.
Speaker 1: I like that. I'll take it. Listen, don't be goofy.
Speaker 1: You know that this was wrong. You know for those
Speaker 1: contrarians out there to Q called out. You know that
Speaker 1: this is wrong. You know that the people that you love,
Speaker 1: your people are hurting and will continue to hurt. Don't
Speaker 1: be goofy, get on board, and we're gonna have to
Speaker 1: leave it right there. As always, I'd like to thank
Speaker 1: you for tuning into Civic Cipher once again. I've been
Speaker 1: your host. Rams' jah he is rams this Jaw, I
Speaker 1: am q ward. Once again, Thank you guys for tuning
Speaker 1: in and allowing us to share our thoughts with you
Speaker 1: about some topics that, as you guys know, are incredibly
Speaker 1: difficult to live through an experience and you know sometimes
Speaker 1: even harder to talk about. Yeah yeah, Jevin, thank you
Speaker 1: of course for coming back on the show and sharing
Speaker 1: sharing your brilliant mind with us once again. Make sure
Speaker 1: everyone has your social media and how they can keep
Speaker 1: up with you. Hey, I love YouTube brothers, and so
Speaker 1: just thank you so much.
Speaker 2: Y'all. Are y'all?
Speaker 1: Are you know? Y'all?
Speaker 2: Y'all, y'all are my brothers forever, and but I just
Speaker 2: want you to I'm glad to share.
Speaker 1: Y'all with the country. Let's get it. I'm glad to
Speaker 1: share y'all with your country.
Speaker 2: You can find me at Jevin Hodge this j E
Speaker 2: v I n h O d g E on all platforms, Instagram, Facebook, x, Twitter, threads,
Speaker 2: you name it.
Speaker 1: And you can find us at Civic Cipher on all
Speaker 1: platforms as well. And until next week, y'all, peace, stay up,