Speaker 1: Broadcasting from the Hip Hop Weekly Studios. I'd like to
Speaker 1: welcome you to another episode of Civic Cipher, where our
Speaker 1: mission is to foster allyship empathy and understanding. I'm your host,
Speaker 1: ramses Ja.
Speaker 2: He is Ramsy's Jaw. I am q Ward. You are
Speaker 2: tuned into Civic Cipher, Yes you.
Speaker 1: Are, and we have a what I believe to be
Speaker 1: an educational show in store for you today. A lot
Speaker 1: to talk about, the first of which is we're going
Speaker 1: to spend the first part of the show discussing Tyree
Speaker 1: Nichols once again, specifically the fact that the police have
Speaker 1: come clean about the final moments of Tyree Nichols's life.
Speaker 1: For those who need a quick refresher, Tyry Nichols was
Speaker 1: the young man who was you know, he was a skateboarder.
Speaker 1: He went back and forth from San Francisco or the
Speaker 1: Bay Area to Memphis. He got pulled over for no
Speaker 1: real reason that we now have confirmed from the officers,
Speaker 1: and he was beaten to death on video, maybe a
Speaker 1: couple of blocks from his mom's house, you know, screaming
Speaker 1: in terror or his life. And obviously he lost his
Speaker 1: life at the hands of police. So we're going to
Speaker 1: actually get into the story where the police finally have
Speaker 1: come clean about why they pulled him over, what they
Speaker 1: did to him, why they did it to him, et cetera,
Speaker 1: and give you a glimpse into policing as specifically policing
Speaker 1: as an institution, not as a racialized necessarily institution, because
Speaker 1: policing in and of itself it needs more than reform,
Speaker 1: because indeed, these officers that be Tyree Nichols to death
Speaker 1: were black. And the second part of the show, we
Speaker 1: are going to spend some time dissecting a video that
Speaker 1: we came across online that has us re examining a
Speaker 1: narrative that exists about whether or not black people were
Speaker 1: kidnapped or sold into slavery. And the short answer is both.
Speaker 1: But I got to give you all that and so
Speaker 1: much more. But before we get there, it's time for
Speaker 1: some Ebony excellence.
Speaker 2: Shall we. I think you should take this one. You'd
Speaker 2: like it, Okay. This week's Ebony Excellence sponsored by Actively Black.
Speaker 2: There is greatness in our DNA. Visit actively black dot com.
Speaker 2: This is from the Sacramento Observer. Ardrica Appleweight was selected
Speaker 2: to serve as the new Director of Black Media at
Speaker 2: the White House she's committed to ensuring equality for black journalist.
Speaker 2: Although she's only been in the position for about three months,
Speaker 2: the young director has championed inclusive efforts, creating new ways
Speaker 2: for black press to connect with the White House. Quote.
Speaker 2: I think the future of black press is a self
Speaker 2: fulfilling prophecy between the things that we're doing and the
Speaker 2: policy things that are happening here. And then you bring
Speaker 2: in press that is specifically talking to an audience that
Speaker 2: are looking for that information and quote Appleweight explained as
Speaker 2: audience continued to consume that it allows me to go
Speaker 2: back and say I need more time with X, X
Speaker 2: and X, because look at the interests were getting. Appleweight
Speaker 2: as a native of Carrollton, Georgia, and a graduate of
Speaker 2: George Washington University, where she majored in political science. Noting
Speaker 2: that she was always interested in politics, the young scholar
Speaker 2: grew up participating in debate teams and with dreams of
Speaker 2: attending law school. It wasn't until she arrived in the
Speaker 2: nation's capital that she realized there were so many career
Speaker 2: choices she could pursue with the political science degree. After
Speaker 2: working with Pete Budhachic, she served as senior communications as
Speaker 2: adviser for the Michigan Democratic Party and joined the campaign
Speaker 2: team that supported the twenty twenty two reelection of Governor
Speaker 2: Gretchen Whitmer. The season communication expert returned to d C
Speaker 2: following the successful campaign in Michigan, and she was working
Speaker 2: with communications firms until the White House called, offering her
Speaker 2: the opportunity of a lifetime and we had the opportunity
Speaker 2: to meet this champion for all of us. And to
Speaker 2: say she was impressive in that we were blown away,
Speaker 2: I'd say is an understatement.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, And that's why I thought you'd get a kick
Speaker 1: out of absolutely. I know you didn't know that she
Speaker 1: was going to be bless all right, So the cops
Speaker 1: come clean about murdering Tyree Nichols. Okay, So I'm going
Speaker 1: to share a little bit from NBC News because there's
Speaker 1: a lot here, and I employ you to take a
Speaker 1: look at this. But what you're going to see is,
Speaker 1: you know, there's a popular narrative and I believe that
Speaker 1: there is a lot of truth to it. You know,
Speaker 1: white cops policing in black communities, you know, the racial
Speaker 1: component there, the lack of cultural awareness and cultural empathy
Speaker 1: and cultural understanding can lead to outcomes that are that
Speaker 1: disproportionately negatively affect black people. You give white officers the
Speaker 1: power and they don't understand. They're not culturally competent when
Speaker 1: it comes to black people. They're afraid quote unquote. You know,
Speaker 1: we discuss how black skin is viewed as criminal often
Speaker 1: enough to non black white people, officers will just speak plainly.
Speaker 1: But you know, in this instance, we're dealing with black officers.
Speaker 1: So what we do is we get to remove race
Speaker 1: as a factor and we get to just look at
Speaker 1: police policing and we're able to see some of what
Speaker 1: happens behind the scenes with just police policing because race,
Speaker 1: again is not necessarily a factor here.
Speaker 2: Well, I don't know that race isn't a fact.
Speaker 1: Tyree Nichols is still black, yes, oh yeah, that part.
Speaker 2: And disproportionately, the victims of police violence there this level,
Speaker 2: to this extreme, to a fatal extreme, are often black, poor, Hispanic,
Speaker 2: black and brown people more specific.
Speaker 1: That's a better way to say it.
Speaker 2: Race absolutely plays a part. It just shows that once
Speaker 2: you are indoctrinated with what it means to be a
Speaker 2: police officer in this country, your race doesn't matter as much.
Speaker 2: As that system that you've become a part.
Speaker 1: There you go. That's what I was trying to say.
Speaker 1: Good jobs. That's perfect, okay, So let me read a
Speaker 1: little bit just to bring you up to speed. It's
Speaker 1: from NBC News. A former police officer testified Tuesday that
Speaker 1: he removed his body camera after he punched Tyree Nichols
Speaker 1: at least five times and kicked him four times. Quote.
Speaker 1: I didn't want it to show what we were doing.
Speaker 1: Quote Emmitt Martin, I told a federal jewelry in the
Speaker 1: trial of the of three former officers charged in the
Speaker 1: beating of Nichols, who died three days later. Martin, who
Speaker 1: initiated the traffic stop against Nichols, said in federal court
Speaker 1: Monday that Nichols never posed a threat and that officers
Speaker 1: downplayed their own actions during the encounter on January seventh,
Speaker 1: twenty twenty three, which led to Nichols's brutal beating. Martin,
Speaker 1: who has already pleaded guilty, said that Nichols ran away
Speaker 1: shortly after he was pepper sprayed, but that he caught
Speaker 1: up with him. Several officers were all right there. Quote
Speaker 1: I ran in and assisted, and I kicked him. Martin
Speaker 1: told the court, adding that his actions were deliberate and
Speaker 1: inconsistent with Memphis police policy. Quote. I was angry. I
Speaker 1: was already angry that he ran from the first stop,
Speaker 1: Martin said, referring to the traffic stop that set off
Speaker 1: the encounter. Martin said he punched Nichols at least five
Speaker 1: times and kicked him four times, and then stood by
Speaker 1: and watched former officers Justin Smith and Tadarius Bean beat Nichols.
Speaker 1: Martin said he lied to a supervisor that Nichols was
Speaker 1: high and threw a punch at him. Martin said in
Speaker 1: court that his punches were deliberate and inconsistent with Memphis
Speaker 1: police policy, and that they did not serve a legal purpose.
Speaker 1: He added that Nichols was helpless. All right. Now, Again,
Speaker 1: as I mentioned, this is a much longer article than that,
Speaker 1: but there are some key things to jump out, and
Speaker 1: I want to get your thoughts, your acubes. So first off,
Speaker 1: he disconnected his body cam. Does that sound like a
Speaker 1: story that you've covered on this show before?
Speaker 2: Sadly yes?
Speaker 1: Okay, So another question, why do you suspect a police
Speaker 1: officer would intentionally hide, obscure, disconnect, turn off their body
Speaker 1: their body Cam.
Speaker 2: Well, typically we have to figure that out ourselves. In
Speaker 2: this case, the officer says it in the story, I
Speaker 2: didn't want people to see what we were doing.
Speaker 1: Very good.
Speaker 2: He knew that it was not only cruel but illegal
Speaker 2: and did not want to be held accountable, which tends
Speaker 2: to be the case not just for specific officers, but
Speaker 2: for the unions that represent them as well.
Speaker 1: Excellent, Now I want to go on. Now, this officer,
Speaker 1: Emmitt Martini, said that Nichols never posed a threat and
Speaker 1: that officers downplayed their own actions during the encounter. Have
Speaker 1: we covered stories have you encountered stories on this show
Speaker 1: or really anywhere where an officer downplayed their actions in
Speaker 1: a police brutality type of situation.
Speaker 2: The sad thing is that, of course, and this story,
Speaker 2: we could just see switch out the names and just
Speaker 2: copy and paste this story every show, Yeah, every single one. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Okay. So one of the things that I didn't get
Speaker 1: to in the article, and I just remember reading it there,
Speaker 1: is that this officer, Emmett Martin, the IID what he
Speaker 1: did was he he was upset, angry because he hadn't
Speaker 1: made any arrests that night. Okay, he saw Tyree Nichols
Speaker 1: driving a little fast. I think that's exactly what his
Speaker 1: words were. He was driving a little fast and he
Speaker 1: didn't signal a laye change or something like that, and
Speaker 1: then decided to pull him over and then call for backup,
Speaker 1: escalating it to a felony stop. He already said he
Speaker 1: was angry and he wanted to find somebody to take
Speaker 1: out his frustration on. He was looking for somebody to arrest, right,
Speaker 1: And so this was in the article. Again, you're welcome
Speaker 1: to read it NBC News. Just you know, search Tyree
Speaker 1: Nichols and perhaps the most recent article will come up
Speaker 1: and you'll be able to see everything that we're discussing here.
Speaker 1: So what that to me says is that, you know,
Speaker 1: we always talk about bullies, and you know, bullies are
Speaker 1: the sort of people that find people who they can
Speaker 1: pick on, people that they have they can exact some control.
Speaker 2: Over people they perceive to be weaker, smaller, powerless.
Speaker 1: Okay, And when you're a police officer, that's everybody, that's
Speaker 1: everybody exactly, but you are further divorced from potential consequences
Speaker 1: if indeed the everybody that that you choose to bully
Speaker 1: is from a marginalized community specifically black man, because police
Speaker 1: tend to as as you put maybe it was last
Speaker 1: episode or the episode before, they can connect black skin
Speaker 1: with criminality very easily. Indeed, and not just the police,
Speaker 1: this is the this is them. They'll sell that narrative
Speaker 1: to the public.
Speaker 2: The public will accept that narrative, and that's the that's
Speaker 2: the part that's most important. There are segments of our
Speaker 2: population that also see it that way, including other black people.
Speaker 1: So watch this. This man admits that Tyrie Nichols was
Speaker 1: not high, and that Tyrie Nichols did not throw a punch.
Speaker 2: And that essentially he was never a threat. I think
Speaker 2: literally never a threat.
Speaker 1: Now, let me ask another question. When we dissect these
Speaker 1: types of stories on our show, do you feel that
Speaker 1: it's possible for some officers to get off some of
Speaker 1: their lies in defense of themselves because they feel that
Speaker 1: there's a chance that they can ultimately be exonerated, and therefore,
Speaker 1: because it came from an officer, the public just accepts it. Well,
Speaker 1: he's through the first punch, or they didn't stop, they
Speaker 1: didn't obey a legal command, or they were acting erratic,
Speaker 1: or you know, I feared for my own safety. Is
Speaker 1: it possible? Is it conceivable that some of these officers
Speaker 1: are outright lying. Indeed, like this officer is doing right here.
Speaker 2: Well, it's right here, he's telling the truth. Well yeah,
Speaker 2: But initially they lie, and it's not just conceivable, it's
Speaker 2: often the case, especially when the things that they lie
Speaker 2: about don't even have to justify the end or the outcome.
Speaker 2: He didn't pull over when we first let him up,
Speaker 2: He swerved a little bit. He had a gun. Even
Speaker 2: it's not illegal to have a gun. Yeah, right, this
Speaker 2: is the Second Amendment for people, right, So the possession
Speaker 2: of the firearm also shouldn't render a person deceased at
Speaker 2: the end of their interaction with you. So not only
Speaker 2: do they often lie, not only is it conceivable and
Speaker 2: likely happens far more than is reported, because when the
Speaker 2: other person in the story is no longer with us,
Speaker 2: they can't give you their side of the story. Sure,
Speaker 2: the officer's account of what happened is not just readily accepted,
Speaker 2: it is the only piece of information that we have.
Speaker 2: But the interesting thing is even in those lies, like
Speaker 2: I said, he threw a punch at me, that still
Speaker 2: doesn't justify that person no longer being with us. So
Speaker 2: it's they've The society that accepts these narratives are also
Speaker 2: the reason that that sense of quote unquote fear. And
Speaker 2: you know, I don't like using that word because I
Speaker 2: think it's just an excuse for hate. The same society
Speaker 2: that's saying we shouldn't have bump stocks banned, you shouldn't
Speaker 2: have to go through a background check to get a gun,
Speaker 2: everyone should have a gun, are the same people that
Speaker 2: are saying the police are justified in killing people because
Speaker 2: their job is hard and they were afraid. Well, which
Speaker 2: is it. Should we make their job less hard and
Speaker 2: more safe so that they shouldn't have to be afraid
Speaker 2: that every person they pull over might have a weapon
Speaker 2: and might not be right mentally and might shoot them
Speaker 2: because everybody can get a gun, any kind of gun,
Speaker 2: whenever they want, Like, it's hard to ask for both
Speaker 2: things to be true when we as a society are
Speaker 2: the ones perpetuating the circumstances, the scary circumstances that we're
Speaker 2: putting these trained officers in.
Speaker 1: Me. I want to back up a little bit because
Speaker 1: you said some really important stuff. I just want to
Speaker 1: emphasize a point that you made for the benefit of
Speaker 1: our listeners. When you were talking about the officer lying
Speaker 1: in the initial report, saying that Tyree Nichols threw a
Speaker 1: punch right, And of course the question was is it
Speaker 1: conceivable that an officer would lie. There's so many people
Speaker 1: that look at stories like this and they say, well,
Speaker 1: that's just a handful of officers. So that's just in Memphis.
Speaker 1: That's not all of the no q Ward and Ramsey's
Speaker 1: Jah covered these stories across the country every single week.
Speaker 1: We've been doing the show for four years, every week,
Speaker 1: and we got them from Mississippi to California, to New York,
Speaker 1: to Florida to where's this place? Memphis, South Dakota. I
Speaker 1: remember that story.
Speaker 2: And the narrative that we're left with, and this is
Speaker 2: Ramsy's favorite narrative. It's just a few bad apples, man, listen.
Speaker 2: And the really interesting thing about that is that there
Speaker 2: is no system in place for those few good apples.
Speaker 1: Who come try to actually bring about.
Speaker 2: Help in any way to keep the bad ones in line.
Speaker 2: You're not just made out to be a pariah, but
Speaker 2: you put yourself in actual danger.
Speaker 1: Let me let me add something right here. When people
Speaker 1: say a few bad apples, what they're what they're saying
Speaker 1: to me is that they are only aware of a
Speaker 1: few bad stories. But you and I deal in data,
Speaker 1: and so we can see the data, and the data
Speaker 1: says that it's not a few bad apples. It's a
Speaker 1: corrupt white supremacist system, even with black people at the
Speaker 1: forefront of it, like these officers that beat Tyree Nichols
Speaker 1: to death. Now back to my point, them lying about
Speaker 1: saying that he threw a punch at them so that
Speaker 1: they could justify their subsequent actions beating him to death
Speaker 1: is bogus. But it reminds me of the many videos
Speaker 1: that you and I watch on this show where a
Speaker 1: person is clearly not resisting and there's four or six
Speaker 1: officers taking one human being down, yelling stop resisting as
Speaker 1: they punch him and drag him and man handle him
Speaker 1: and whatever. Stop it. He clearly cannot resist or otherwise
Speaker 1: clearly is not resisting.
Speaker 2: Or cannot stop resisting. If by resisting they mean trying
Speaker 2: to learn to not be unlive.
Speaker 1: Yeah, like you know, it's it's the wildest thing, but
Speaker 1: you know, the stop resisting thing is another the other
Speaker 1: side of that coin. Oh, he threw a punch. Okay,
Speaker 1: So first off, that's a lie, just like the stop
Speaker 1: resisting thing is a lie. It's just something that they
Speaker 1: say for the benefit of the videos. And then they
Speaker 1: go back and they get their lawyers to look at
Speaker 1: it and they find an angle that NOBE can see
Speaker 1: and say, oh, he had his his hand that was
Speaker 1: tucked behind him. He actually used that and pinched my
Speaker 1: belly button and I didn't know what it was, so
Speaker 1: I had to punch him.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there should be a more severe consequence for lack
Speaker 2: of bodycam footage. Oh yeah, and this is what There
Speaker 2: was an auto minimum punishment for not having the body
Speaker 2: cam on and make it severe like ten years. Yeah,
Speaker 2: they would all have it on whatever disconnect their body.
Speaker 1: Can there would be less instance.
Speaker 2: And if they did, oh that's your bad, sir. Someone
Speaker 2: there should have had bodycam on, right, And instances where
Speaker 2: there's more than one officer and there's no body cam
Speaker 2: footage minimum charge.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Remember the Tyree Nickels stuff we saw from street
Speaker 1: camera footage. So all these officers were doing the same thing.
Speaker 1: And this is what I mean. Systems, A few bad apples,
Speaker 1: come on, all right, let me give you a summary
Speaker 1: of everything else. Okay, So I read a lot of
Speaker 1: messed up things about the police, okay, and again to
Speaker 1: know that this was a black officer shows that it's
Speaker 1: a police issue with black and brown bodies, not a
Speaker 1: white people's issue with black and brown bodies. Only this officer,
Speaker 1: Emmitt Martin I, admitted to taking his body cam off,
Speaker 1: admitted to kicking and punching Tyree Nickels several times, and
Speaker 1: the kicks and punches did not serve for legal purpose.
Speaker 1: Sorry about that. He admitted Tyree Nichols posed no threat
Speaker 1: and that he only ran because he had been pepper sprayed.
Speaker 1: He admitted that Tyree Nichols was helpless, as the officer,
Speaker 1: saying this after he pleaded guilty, came clean about it all.
Speaker 1: This is rare that we get the chance to say,
Speaker 1: I told you so. I've been telling you the whole time,
Speaker 1: been telling you for years. CU's been telling you for years.
Speaker 1: The officer admitted there were no warrants. He admitted that
Speaker 1: he downplayed the officer's actions and that he lied about
Speaker 1: Nichols being high and attempting to throw a punch at
Speaker 1: the officers. He said it was standard for members of
Speaker 1: the Memphis Police Department Anti violence team to keep quiet
Speaker 1: about using force. This is all a matter of public record, now, okay.
Speaker 1: The officer said he was angry because he hadn't made
Speaker 1: an arrest yet. He noticed Nichols driving a little fast
Speaker 1: as a traffic light was turning red and saw him
Speaker 1: changing lanes without signaling and radioed other officers to make
Speaker 1: it a felony stop. This officer also had a history
Speaker 1: of violence, which we talked about last week with the
Speaker 1: football player to help help me with his name, Tyreek Hill,
Speaker 1: Tyreek Hill. With officers having a history of violence that
Speaker 1: are never held accountable, so did this officer. Emmitt Martin
Speaker 1: the third. His history of a violence included once emptying
Speaker 1: a full can of pepper spray on a suspect. I
Speaker 1: want to say that again. Suspect innocent until proven guilty, right,
Speaker 1: That's what the criminal justice says, you know, is the
Speaker 1: case in this country.
Speaker 2: But in this case, he's already saying the kid didn't
Speaker 2: do anything. There was no warrant, there, he was no threat.
Speaker 2: He didn't like so even using the term suspect in
Speaker 2: this case, they weren't investigating something that happened that they
Speaker 2: weren't present for. This officer initiated the stop phoned in
Speaker 2: other officers and intentionally instigated the situation to end up
Speaker 2: in this young man's death.
Speaker 1: Now, this guy's nickname, you know, back to his history
Speaker 1: was full Can. They called this officer Emmitt Martin the
Speaker 1: third Full Can because his history included him once emptying
Speaker 1: a full can of pepper spray on a suspect. It
Speaker 1: just blows my mind. And again, if this was an
Speaker 1: isolated incident, or this was something that we talked about
Speaker 1: a little bit here and there, you know, over the
Speaker 1: amount of years that we've discussed issues like this, you
Speaker 1: have to be honest with yourself that this is indeed
Speaker 1: a systemic issue. This isn't isolated incidents. He says that
Speaker 1: we protect each other. He says that this is standard
Speaker 1: protocol for us to keep quiet about using force. And
Speaker 1: you can read this article. You don't even have to
Speaker 1: read the article. It's this is what he said in court.
Speaker 1: It's public record. It's not just you don't need a
Speaker 1: journalistic source. You can go right to the source, right.
Speaker 1: And the crazy thing about it is that the police
Speaker 1: will always find an excuse to your earlier point. Q.
Speaker 1: Once upon a time, I might have shared this on
Speaker 1: this show before, but Once upon a time, I got
Speaker 1: pulled over by the police on a freeway okay, And
Speaker 1: I had a choice to pull over where it was
Speaker 1: safe or where it was unsafe and safe was a
Speaker 1: little further along. And because I chose I wasn't speeding,
Speaker 1: I wasn't a scared, but I chose to pull over
Speaker 1: where it was be safer for me and the officers
Speaker 1: just was a little further up the road, about a
Speaker 1: quarter mile okay. The officers had to ride behind me
Speaker 1: with the lights on. They started beeping the horn, shouting
Speaker 1: whatever on the freeway driving low speed man. They pulled
Speaker 1: me out of that car, They handcuffed me, they called
Speaker 1: extra officers, all this sort of stuff. They searched the car,
Speaker 1: they searched me. I told him I had never done
Speaker 1: a drug, drank alcohol, nothing in my life. Never. They're like, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's exactly what a meth head would say. WHOA Okay,
Speaker 1: well you know what I'm saying. And they were escalating this.
Speaker 1: Fortunately because I'm on the radio, they could one of
Speaker 1: the guys heard my name and he knew who I
Speaker 1: was and googled it, and it's like, okay, you guys,
Speaker 1: we got to back off. And then they treated me differently,
Speaker 1: but had I not been on a radio, that could
Speaker 1: have ended up any number of ways because of that
Speaker 1: bully mentality and then figuring out a way to escalate
Speaker 1: a situation based off of nothing. I told them, that's
Speaker 1: why it's safer here for you and me, And unfortunately
Speaker 1: Tyree Nichols will never have that opportunity because he will
Speaker 1: never speak again because now he's buried in the ground.
Speaker 1: So that's that.