WEBVTT - Civic Cipher 050722 How Does America View Black Children? (Part 2) 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:00.920 And now. 0:00:04.320 --> 0:00:08.600 My mic back. You're like that you can strike. 0:00:09.840 --> 0:00:11.840 Waters from headquarters behind him. 0:00:11.840 --> 0:00:15.360 And if you're just tuning in the civic cycler, I 0:00:15.360 --> 0:00:16.680 am your host. DRAM's this job. 0:00:17.040 --> 0:00:20.720 Some people refer to me as dj Q ward and green. 0:00:22.040 --> 0:00:24.480 That might expire soon, and I don't, I hope. I 0:00:24.560 --> 0:00:25.680 just just want to get that out there. 0:00:25.720 --> 0:00:28.440 I hope not. I saw your laptop official sons DJ 0:00:29.080 --> 0:00:33.240 like that. Once upon a time. We're gonna bring it back. Yeah, 0:00:33.240 --> 0:00:35.280 stick around. We got a lot more show head coming 0:00:35.320 --> 0:00:40.240 your way. Uh, we're going to talk about how America 0:00:40.400 --> 0:00:46.879 used black children. Mm Q has black children. I have 0:00:47.000 --> 0:00:51.559 black children. Our producer, Maggie, she has a black son. 0:00:51.640 --> 0:00:53.760 His name is Malcolm. He was named after Malcolm X. 0:00:53.880 --> 0:00:55.560 I happen to know that because she shared it with me. 0:00:56.120 --> 0:00:57.600 So we're going to talk about our babies, if you 0:00:57.600 --> 0:01:00.880 don't mind, and uh try to paint a picture for you. 0:01:01.360 --> 0:01:03.200 We're also going to talk about our way black history. 0:01:03.200 --> 0:01:06.560 Fact a guy named Whitworth Chiswell who rode with Paul 0:01:06.600 --> 0:01:09.479 Revere on that famous night. And I'm sure you've heard 0:01:09.480 --> 0:01:12.039 nothing about him, because I certainly didn't. So again, a 0:01:12.040 --> 0:01:16.319 lot to stick around for. But first let's discuss how 0:01:16.920 --> 0:01:23.480 to become a better ally. We we shall again. Producer 0:01:23.520 --> 0:01:26.760 Maggie Maggie be knowing she'd be known. She wanted us 0:01:26.800 --> 0:01:29.960 to talk about this one this week and we loved it. 0:01:30.120 --> 0:01:35.240 So here we go. This came from the aa wu's website. 0:01:35.920 --> 0:01:37.600 We're going to discuss how to be an ally for 0:01:37.680 --> 0:01:42.440 Black women in the workplace. So if you know any 0:01:42.480 --> 0:01:46.000 Black women, if you love any Black women, you love people, 0:01:46.680 --> 0:01:48.240 you know because we all got to get there together, 0:01:48.800 --> 0:01:50.200 you know. Don't don't get to the end of your 0:01:50.200 --> 0:01:51.960 life and find out that a black woman was God 0:01:52.000 --> 0:01:55.040 the whole time. Don't make that mistake, because you might 0:01:55.120 --> 0:01:59.200 not be too far off. Anyway, Here we go, how 0:01:59.240 --> 0:02:00.880 to be an ally for life women in the workplace. 0:02:00.920 --> 0:02:03.920 Imagine having to work seven extra months just to earn 0:02:03.960 --> 0:02:06.200 the same pay as a male coworker. If you're a 0:02:06.240 --> 0:02:08.840 black woman in the United States, that's a likely reality. 0:02:09.200 --> 0:02:13.000 According to the US Census, on average, black women were 0:02:13.000 --> 0:02:15.639 paid sixty three percent of what non Hispanic white men 0:02:15.680 --> 0:02:18.920 were paid in twenty nineteen. That means it takes the 0:02:18.960 --> 0:02:21.519 typical black women nineteen months to be paid what the 0:02:21.560 --> 0:02:25.520 average white man makes in twelve months. That's even worse 0:02:25.560 --> 0:02:29.320 than the national earnings ratio for all women eighty three percent, 0:02:29.400 --> 0:02:32.840 as reported in aawu's The Simple Truth about the Gender 0:02:32.840 --> 0:02:36.760 Pay Gap. So, what are some things we can do 0:02:36.960 --> 0:02:40.560 help black women feel seen and feel safe? Center black 0:02:40.600 --> 0:02:43.720 women concerns and we're talking about the workplace. Be transparent 0:02:43.800 --> 0:02:47.400 about pay and benefit structures, and offer authentic mentorship. That 0:02:47.440 --> 0:02:51.560 means reveal your salaries to black women. Let them know 0:02:51.720 --> 0:02:54.560 because they're likely getting paid less than you. Bite the 0:02:54.600 --> 0:02:59.760 bullets swallowed at EGO. Let them know. Give diversity, equity 0:02:59.800 --> 0:03:02.560 and phusion leaders to support and resources to create real change, 0:03:02.680 --> 0:03:06.680 and listen to and believe black women. And then finally 0:03:07.040 --> 0:03:10.480 ask these two questions. First, I think that every person 0:03:10.520 --> 0:03:13.040 should ask themselves how would I feel if I were 0:03:13.040 --> 0:03:14.880 the only one in the room. It's important to do 0:03:14.880 --> 0:03:16.839 a temperature check and ask the question to black women, 0:03:16.919 --> 0:03:19.280 how are things going? And prepare to hear the answer 0:03:19.680 --> 0:03:21.799 and thoughtfully follow up if there are areas that need 0:03:21.840 --> 0:03:24.760 to change, keep doing that work. Shout out to our 0:03:24.800 --> 0:03:26.560 producer Maggie for bringing that one up to us. That 0:03:26.639 --> 0:03:31.160 one sounded necessary. So that is how you will become 0:03:31.160 --> 0:03:38.080 a better ally this week Now let's talk about our babies. Q. 0:03:39.440 --> 0:03:40.760 Talk about your babies for a second. 0:03:42.480 --> 0:03:49.120 Talking about my babies has become increasingly difficult in recent years. 0:03:50.880 --> 0:03:54.920 Ramses gave us a new term today. He didn't even 0:03:55.000 --> 0:03:57.120 realize it, but he simply called this. 0:03:57.120 --> 0:03:59.800 Guy our old president. I love it. 0:04:03.320 --> 0:04:08.440 He created a very, very dangerous atmosphere for my children. 0:04:09.760 --> 0:04:14.160 And I remember during the last administration a lot of 0:04:14.240 --> 0:04:17.680 people saying out loud, very proudly, and I think they 0:04:17.720 --> 0:04:21.719 felt like they were saying something that was right. I'd 0:04:21.800 --> 0:04:26.520 rather know who these people are. I like these racists, 0:04:26.520 --> 0:04:29.400 bigoted people being out loud and upfront about it, so 0:04:29.440 --> 0:04:33.320 at least I know. And I always cringed at that, 0:04:34.080 --> 0:04:40.440 because how you feel is not more important than how 0:04:40.480 --> 0:04:45.039 you treat me. I don't care how much you hate 0:04:45.080 --> 0:04:48.320 me or how much you love me. If the way 0:04:48.320 --> 0:04:52.520 you treat me as the opposite, so you hate my 0:04:52.600 --> 0:04:54.720 guts but you treat me like gold, then I don't 0:04:54.720 --> 0:04:57.479 care that you hate me. It does not bug me, 0:04:57.520 --> 0:05:00.480 It does not disturb me. In the same that don't 0:05:00.480 --> 0:05:03.200 tell me how much you love me while also making 0:05:03.240 --> 0:05:07.000 me feel like crap. Right, So how you actually treat 0:05:07.040 --> 0:05:11.160 me means far more than how you actually feel. I 0:05:11.400 --> 0:05:17.960 liked the America that made racist people feel ashamed, that 0:05:18.080 --> 0:05:20.720 made them feel less emboldened and like they had to 0:05:20.760 --> 0:05:23.560 pretend to not be that in public. That was a 0:05:23.680 --> 0:05:29.240 safer place for my children. We got into an atmosphere 0:05:29.279 --> 0:05:38.160 where the person supposedly responsible for leading our country based 0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:45.360 his entire political platform on racist divisiveness, almost his entire 0:05:46.640 --> 0:05:51.680 campaign on building a wall to keep a very very 0:05:51.720 --> 0:05:55.760 specific set of people out of our country. 0:05:55.839 --> 0:05:58.159 I want to add to that because I want to 0:05:58.160 --> 0:06:01.360 make sure we tell the full story. I know that 0:06:01.360 --> 0:06:04.520 that wall was a huge part of his campaign. He 0:06:04.560 --> 0:06:07.520 had people chanting it all over the country, right. And 0:06:07.600 --> 0:06:11.160 I know that if you're listening to this and you 0:06:11.200 --> 0:06:14.679 are a fan of our old president, that you might think, well, 0:06:14.800 --> 0:06:17.560 he was only trying to keep a certain type of 0:06:17.560 --> 0:06:23.160 people out from that country, Mexico. But I want you 0:06:23.200 --> 0:06:29.600 to consider that you might not be Mexican, have Mexican heritage. 0:06:29.640 --> 0:06:32.120 You know, we live in the Southwest, so there are Mexicans. 0:06:32.120 --> 0:06:35.840 This used to be Mexico, the land that we live on, right, 0:06:36.440 --> 0:06:42.000 So this is their home since the beginning. Yes, and 0:06:42.040 --> 0:06:45.880 we recognize that, and we also recognize how it must 0:06:46.200 --> 0:06:51.279 feel for someone who's campaigning to be the leader of 0:06:51.320 --> 0:06:58.880 the free world to frame your lineage, your ancestral home 0:06:59.839 --> 0:07:03.640 as the source of all the things that ail this 0:07:03.839 --> 0:07:09.680 country and the necessity of building a wall. You know 0:07:09.760 --> 0:07:14.239 how that feels. And then of course the emboldened people 0:07:14.280 --> 0:07:18.040 who go to those rallies in those campaigns, how they 0:07:18.080 --> 0:07:20.920 feel like, Yes, this is our country and you don't 0:07:20.920 --> 0:07:22.640 belong here. Go back to where you came from. And 0:07:22.680 --> 0:07:25.360 so we have always on this show and in our 0:07:25.360 --> 0:07:29.040 personal lives in the past. Right now and until they 0:07:29.080 --> 0:07:31.760 bury me, they could bury me a few times, I 0:07:31.800 --> 0:07:37.880 will stand in solidarity with my Mexican brothers and sisters, 0:07:38.160 --> 0:07:39.360 you know what I mean. I get that this is 0:07:39.400 --> 0:07:41.920 aired all over the country and that there's other types 0:07:41.960 --> 0:07:47.640 of Latin Latin X people, but you know, I grew 0:07:47.720 --> 0:07:49.840 up with Mexican folks, you know what I mean. 0:07:49.880 --> 0:07:50.680 And I. 0:07:52.600 --> 0:07:56.000 Will never know firsthand what that feels like. But I'm 0:07:56.040 --> 0:07:58.800 asking you, our listener, you know, if you were a 0:07:58.800 --> 0:08:01.080 fan of our ex president, and just imagine what it 0:08:01.120 --> 0:08:03.560 felt like to hear that I'm sorry for cutting you off. 0:08:03.600 --> 0:08:07.920 Go ahead, no, you didn't, and it's much closer to home. Yeah, yeah, 0:08:07.960 --> 0:08:12.360 because because my son and my daughter and my sons 0:08:12.520 --> 0:08:18.880 both and your sons are Mexican and black, being Mexican 0:08:19.200 --> 0:08:25.320 and black in this country for the last however many years. 0:08:26.360 --> 0:08:32.320 Wow. Okay, Now, the reason we're talking about this, the 0:08:32.360 --> 0:08:36.120 reason we need to talk about this, is because there 0:08:36.200 --> 0:08:41.480 were some videos that were released recently and we couldn't 0:08:41.480 --> 0:08:43.400 get to them until now. This is sort of the 0:08:43.480 --> 0:08:46.960 nature of this show. We're very grateful for our one 0:08:47.080 --> 0:08:51.040 hour per week, you know. Shout out to our new 0:08:51.080 --> 0:08:57.840 station in Indianapolis, Shout out to our new station and Wisconsin. 0:09:00.559 --> 0:09:02.840 We're grateful for the growth. We're grateful, you know. But 0:09:02.920 --> 0:09:08.480 we're only an hour long show, and so we don't 0:09:08.480 --> 0:09:10.319 get to talk about these things. But this was something 0:09:10.360 --> 0:09:15.640 that broke our hearts when we first saw it. The 0:09:15.679 --> 0:09:18.319 headline you can look it up. You know, this is radio, 0:09:18.400 --> 0:09:23.040 so we can't share the video, but the headline is 0:09:23.600 --> 0:09:27.920 Syracuse police officers detain eight year old boy for allegedly 0:09:28.000 --> 0:09:32.240 stealing a bag of Dorito's. Right now, that headline, by itself, 0:09:32.520 --> 0:09:35.640 officers detain an eight year old boy, you know, doesn't 0:09:35.679 --> 0:09:38.000 sound as bad as some of the other headlines that 0:09:38.040 --> 0:09:42.800 we read, but when you watch the video, and you 0:09:42.920 --> 0:09:45.520 see the way that they are handling the body of 0:09:45.640 --> 0:09:54.800 a child, a black child. It is deeply unsettling and hurtful. 0:09:55.520 --> 0:10:00.160 And also it makes you ponder exactly what we're pondering today, 0:10:00.720 --> 0:10:04.960 which is how does America view black children? You know, 0:10:05.120 --> 0:10:09.960 if you were to stop and imagine in your mind police. 0:10:11.040 --> 0:10:12.680 You know, we talk about police a lot on this show, 0:10:13.640 --> 0:10:16.719 but imagine police, right, and the police are going to 0:10:16.800 --> 0:10:19.440 go get the bad guy, right, and then they're going 0:10:19.480 --> 0:10:22.280 to arrest the bad guy. With the bad guy in handcuffs, 0:10:22.360 --> 0:10:26.080 put him in a car, take him down to the joint, 0:10:26.480 --> 0:10:31.600 lock them up in the slammer. Who's the bad guy? 0:10:32.400 --> 0:10:35.679 Is he an eight year old? Is he an eight 0:10:35.720 --> 0:10:40.360 year old white kid? So how can he has to 0:10:40.480 --> 0:10:41.720 how can he gets to be an eight year old 0:10:41.760 --> 0:10:42.120 black kid? 0:10:42.120 --> 0:10:42.320 Why? 0:10:42.559 --> 0:10:46.400 You know, the trauma allegedly, by the way, the trauma 0:10:47.360 --> 0:10:51.080 that this child And then of course, you know, now 0:10:51.120 --> 0:10:52.640 we live in a world where everything is filmed and 0:10:52.640 --> 0:10:55.480 shared or whatever. But the trauma for allegedly stealing a 0:10:55.480 --> 0:10:56.319 bag of Dorito's. 0:10:57.559 --> 0:11:00.160 Ironic that you point out that everything is filmed. 0:11:00.160 --> 0:11:02.439 Mhcuse that doesn't go away. 0:11:02.880 --> 0:11:06.680 Please help us, if you can hear our voices. You 0:11:06.720 --> 0:11:10.280 listen to the show, show us the video of the 0:11:10.320 --> 0:11:14.240 eight year old white kid being treated this way. I'd 0:11:14.240 --> 0:11:16.760 love to see it, not because I would actually enjoy it, 0:11:18.120 --> 0:11:21.040 but just the idea that this doesn't happen exclusively to 0:11:21.160 --> 0:11:26.400 our children. If the idea is, well, this kid did this, 0:11:26.440 --> 0:11:28.680 there has to be some accountability. It has to you know, 0:11:29.640 --> 0:11:32.800 the police do this across the board. Sure, it'd be 0:11:32.840 --> 0:11:35.000 interesting to know that that's the truth. It would still 0:11:35.080 --> 0:11:41.000 be gross and unacceptable for anyone's eight year old to 0:11:41.040 --> 0:11:41.960 be treated that way. 0:11:42.200 --> 0:11:47.640 Oh listen now again, you our listener, if you're just 0:11:47.920 --> 0:11:50.199 tuning into Civic Sipher, if you're just kind of getting 0:11:50.240 --> 0:11:53.600 familiar with us, we talked about this stuff. We've been 0:11:53.600 --> 0:11:55.920 doing this show for a year and a half. We've 0:11:55.920 --> 0:11:58.520 been talking about We've been talking about police officers arresting 0:11:58.600 --> 0:12:03.280 children at school. You know, remember the black girl in Hawaii. 0:12:03.600 --> 0:12:06.040 This is why we fought so hard to have a 0:12:06.080 --> 0:12:11.000 station in Hawaii carry the show. You know, there's instances 0:12:11.040 --> 0:12:12.880 of this happening all the time where we have to 0:12:12.920 --> 0:12:17.480 talk about our children and how they are treated. It's 0:12:17.559 --> 0:12:22.439 like black skin immediately gets you an extra ten years 0:12:22.480 --> 0:12:27.080 of life and you are and they appreach approach you accordingly. Right, 0:12:27.160 --> 0:12:29.560 you don't have the freedom to make mistakes if in 0:12:29.600 --> 0:12:33.400 fact you are making a mistakes, there is no room 0:12:33.440 --> 0:12:36.960 for nuance. You know, it's not lost upon me that 0:12:38.080 --> 0:12:40.800 this black child. You know, we talk about all kinds 0:12:40.840 --> 0:12:43.760 of systemic issues, We talk about how the wealth moves, 0:12:43.760 --> 0:12:46.440 We talk about this alive in the show, right, And 0:12:46.520 --> 0:12:48.920 I don't know what I don't know, but I will 0:12:48.960 --> 0:12:52.559 allow for there to be what I don't know. When 0:12:52.559 --> 0:12:59.600 I look at someone stealing food, it's like the worst 0:12:59.600 --> 0:13:03.080 thing to me. I remember one time I saw a 0:13:03.080 --> 0:13:05.320 post might have been on Tumblr. Yes, I'm still on Tumblr. 0:13:05.320 --> 0:13:08.960 I love that place, and so it was Maggie shout 0:13:08.960 --> 0:13:11.160 out to our producer. She's on there a lot too. 0:13:11.600 --> 0:13:14.680 But I was on Tumblr and I came across something 0:13:14.760 --> 0:13:16.480 someone written and I loved it so much that I 0:13:16.520 --> 0:13:20.120 shared it on like my Facebook or something. And it says, 0:13:21.000 --> 0:13:28.400 if you see someone stealing food, no you didn't. And 0:13:28.880 --> 0:13:34.560 I personally don't have a problem with poor people taking 0:13:34.600 --> 0:13:37.640 advantage of a system that was designed to fail them, 0:13:38.679 --> 0:13:42.160 because they will never topple it by taking what poor 0:13:42.160 --> 0:13:44.640 people don't tend to overindulge. They tend to take what 0:13:44.679 --> 0:13:48.400 they need. I mean, there's some people that will overindulge 0:13:48.440 --> 0:13:52.000 in an instance, but overall, you know, folks want to 0:13:52.000 --> 0:13:54.400 make sure that they got a full belly, they're safe, 0:13:55.000 --> 0:13:59.080 you know, and they have some access to creating some 0:13:59.120 --> 0:14:02.400 sort of semblance of a happy life, you know what 0:14:02.440 --> 0:14:05.480 I mean. I think that written to the documents of 0:14:05.520 --> 0:14:07.760 this downting documents of this country is the right to 0:14:07.760 --> 0:14:11.320 pursue life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Right. So 0:14:12.120 --> 0:14:16.800 those are the inalienable rights afforded to all human beings 0:14:16.880 --> 0:14:21.240 endowed with consciousness. I wish that was how they meant it. 0:14:22.240 --> 0:14:26.080 And so now I know, I know you're listening to 0:14:26.080 --> 0:14:27.920 me like, oh my god, this guy is super duper 0:14:28.000 --> 0:14:31.120 bleeding heart liberal. Yes I am. I believe that human 0:14:31.200 --> 0:14:34.520 beings deserve to be treated like human beings and not 0:14:34.600 --> 0:14:39.000 like dogs and not like animals. I don't even believe 0:14:39.000 --> 0:14:41.040 dogs and animals should be treated bad. And I'm not 0:14:41.080 --> 0:14:43.720 a fan of dogs at all. You had a dog 0:14:43.760 --> 0:14:45.440 one time, and he used to want me to pet 0:14:45.440 --> 0:14:49.280 It was that dog man Major. I did not like. Major. 0:14:49.640 --> 0:14:51.400 Major was cool, but I didn't want him around me, 0:14:51.480 --> 0:14:53.880 look at my face. You do what I'm saying. Anyway, 0:14:56.040 --> 0:14:59.960 back to this video. What you see as a child, crying, 0:15:01.200 --> 0:15:04.960 child getting escorted to a police car, and then of 0:15:05.000 --> 0:15:07.760 course a neighborhood around him filming, and then of course 0:15:08.160 --> 0:15:16.160 allegedly stealing a bag of chips. If you are a 0:15:16.240 --> 0:15:19.760 normal person who lived a normal life, you may have 0:15:19.880 --> 0:15:24.480 had an instance in your life when you had to 0:15:24.560 --> 0:15:27.120 learn the hard way that stealing is wrong. Maybe you've 0:15:27.160 --> 0:15:30.800 taken something without paying for it, or maybe you just 0:15:30.840 --> 0:15:34.040 forgot to pay for it. You know, my son, my 0:15:34.080 --> 0:15:36.440 little boy, one time, he walked out of the CBS 0:15:36.560 --> 0:15:40.640 by our house with a I think it was a 0:15:40.680 --> 0:15:44.320 Monster truck toy. We got in the car, he strapped 0:15:44.360 --> 0:15:45.920 into the seat belt and I see him back there 0:15:45.920 --> 0:15:48.360 playing with the toy. I'm like, where'd you get that from? 0:15:48.400 --> 0:15:52.240 And I saw the package and he was three. No 0:15:52.320 --> 0:15:54.360 concept of money? No, you know, I'm not saying this 0:15:54.400 --> 0:15:56.720 eight year old didn't have a concept of money. But 0:15:56.800 --> 0:15:58.360 you know, it is possible to walk out of a 0:15:58.400 --> 0:16:00.680 store and not realize that you still hold something because 0:16:00.680 --> 0:16:05.160 it's happened. It's also possible to take it deliberately. I'm 0:16:05.160 --> 0:16:07.560 not going to pretend like that's not a possibility. But again, 0:16:07.600 --> 0:16:09.840 we're talking about food. We're not talking about someone that 0:16:09.920 --> 0:16:12.680 ran into a store with a gun stuck up everybody 0:16:12.840 --> 0:16:16.080 stole the money and then left, because then it's like, well, 0:16:16.120 --> 0:16:17.640 you know, the kid robbed the store with a gun. 0:16:17.760 --> 0:16:19.320 You know, it's dangerous. We got to make sure that 0:16:19.520 --> 0:16:21.640 you know he's a wild card. No, I'm stealing a 0:16:21.680 --> 0:16:26.320 bag of chips, okay. And again, if that was the 0:16:26.360 --> 0:16:32.960 only instance we were talking about, that'd be fine. But 0:16:33.000 --> 0:16:38.760 then there was another instance. This video footage was at 0:16:38.840 --> 0:16:44.320 night and it came from Maplewood, the Maplewood Police Department 0:16:44.400 --> 0:16:51.600 in Minnesota, and a similar scene, similar scenario, police then 0:16:51.840 --> 0:16:56.600 releasing another child, and people are like screaming in the video, Oh, 0:16:56.640 --> 0:16:58.280 he's a baby, He's a baby. Why are you having 0:16:58.440 --> 0:17:01.800 you know, in the car, handcuffed, all this sort of stuff. 0:17:01.840 --> 0:17:05.720 He's a baby. What are you doing? And you can 0:17:05.840 --> 0:17:13.560 hear the frustration escalate in the people's voices who are 0:17:13.600 --> 0:17:16.359 shouting at the police officers. You know, it starts from 0:17:16.520 --> 0:17:20.920 angry and then it gets to almost like the boiling 0:17:20.960 --> 0:17:23.840 point where you know, when people's voice changes from angry 0:17:23.880 --> 0:17:27.359 to like too angry, where they're not even making sense anymore, 0:17:27.400 --> 0:17:30.120 and it feels like they're about to cry. You can 0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:39.520 hear that in the video. And it's a lot to 0:17:40.880 --> 0:17:46.200 deal with because again my brain tells me, okay, so 0:17:46.359 --> 0:17:49.520 if we change one thing about the scenario, we just 0:17:49.640 --> 0:17:52.560 change the color of their skin. Does this play out 0:17:52.600 --> 0:17:58.880 the same way? And unless I'm wrong, unless there's videos 0:17:58.920 --> 0:18:02.040 out there to the contrary, you know, and a good 0:18:02.080 --> 0:18:04.919 amount because there's these stories we've been told from for 0:18:04.960 --> 0:18:08.280 many years, then it feels like this is something that 0:18:08.400 --> 0:18:13.280 happens almost exclusively to melanated individuals. 0:18:13.840 --> 0:18:17.639 Do you understand how many videos would be public information 0:18:18.280 --> 0:18:23.040 if the contrary happened. Think about how many people would 0:18:23.040 --> 0:18:28.840 stand to gain from proving that point. Yeah, most of 0:18:28.960 --> 0:18:31.720 the people in power in our society, they would love 0:18:31.760 --> 0:18:35.280 to video. Yeah, it's not just fact that we never 0:18:35.440 --> 0:18:39.600 see them. There's enough evidence for me to know that 0:18:39.720 --> 0:18:43.239 it at least almost never happens. 0:18:43.720 --> 0:18:50.240 And I think we're making the same point now. I 0:18:50.280 --> 0:18:55.919 am a fan of Wu Tang, Right. I grew up 0:18:55.920 --> 0:18:58.880 listening to Wu Tang clan and had all the individual 0:18:59.080 --> 0:19:04.760 solo albums. There goes ws the YouTube woo Right, And 0:19:04.760 --> 0:19:06.480 if you're listening to us on a hip hop station. 0:19:06.600 --> 0:19:08.600 Perhaps you are familiar with the Wu Tang claim as well, 0:19:09.840 --> 0:19:11.840 and if not, you need to get familiar. Wu Tang 0:19:11.920 --> 0:19:17.960 is for the kids. I can't remember whose album it 0:19:18.080 --> 0:19:20.320 was because I'm going all the way back to you know, 0:19:20.440 --> 0:19:24.159 ninth grade on this one. But there's a song with 0:19:24.200 --> 0:19:27.760 an intro to the song, right, and it's a skit 0:19:27.880 --> 0:19:31.320 from a movie. Again, I don't know the movie that 0:19:31.400 --> 0:19:33.639 it was sampled for the album, which is where I 0:19:33.680 --> 0:19:34.920 know it from, which. 0:19:34.760 --> 0:19:37.240 Was which happened all the time in Wu Tang album. 0:19:37.760 --> 0:19:39.840 That's what they did. They sampled from of course, you know, 0:19:39.960 --> 0:19:42.080 Kung fu movies, and then they sampled from you know 0:19:42.240 --> 0:19:46.879 movies that you know, sort of bl exploitation, just hood movies. 0:19:46.960 --> 0:19:50.760 You do know what I'm saying. So in this skit 0:19:51.359 --> 0:19:59.919 that precedes the song, there's a child who's imprisoned, right, 0:20:01.720 --> 0:20:08.959 And this imprisoned child starts talking to another child and 0:20:09.000 --> 0:20:14.600 he says, hey boy, how old are you? And the 0:20:14.640 --> 0:20:21.160 boy says thirteen? And then the first child says thirteen. Man, 0:20:21.400 --> 0:20:26.520 them cops must be running out of in words to arrest, right, 0:20:28.040 --> 0:20:32.960 So that album was in the shoot that would have 0:20:32.960 --> 0:20:34.880 been in the nineties when I was listening to that one, 0:20:35.600 --> 0:20:39.280 and it probably sampled something from the seventies, right. So 0:20:39.720 --> 0:20:42.719 the reason I'm telling that story is because I want you, 0:20:42.880 --> 0:20:47.440 our listener, to understand that long before there were cameras 0:20:47.480 --> 0:20:54.760 filming police interactions with black children, this was very much 0:20:54.760 --> 0:20:57.359 a part of black life. In fact, it wouldn't be 0:20:57.400 --> 0:21:01.959 surprising to learn that a twelve year old thirteen year 0:21:01.960 --> 0:21:07.760 old was arrested being tried as an adult. Brian Stevenson, 0:21:07.760 --> 0:21:09.840 Who's I'm a big fan of Brian Stevenson. He's the 0:21:11.119 --> 0:21:14.520 leader of the Equal Justice Initiative, someone who if you're 0:21:14.520 --> 0:21:16.240 a fan of this show, please look him up. That 0:21:16.320 --> 0:21:18.879 is a man doing tremendous work. Again, Brian Stevenson, the 0:21:18.920 --> 0:21:22.080 Equal Justice Initiative. What he does is he tries to 0:21:22.160 --> 0:21:26.240 get wrongful convictions over turned. He's a lawyer. There's a 0:21:26.280 --> 0:21:29.680 movie about him starring Jamie Fox and Michael B. Jordan 0:21:29.720 --> 0:21:31.879 Michael B. Jordan and I forget the name of the movie, 0:21:31.880 --> 0:21:35.320 but if you look up Jamie Fox Michael B. Jordan 0:21:35.400 --> 0:21:37.920 you'll find it. Actually Michael B. 0:21:38.040 --> 0:21:41.240 Jordan actually plays Brian Stevenson in that movie. 0:21:41.720 --> 0:21:45.119 If you could find out for me, Maggie, I'd appreciate it, 0:21:45.119 --> 0:21:51.960 but so yeah, Michael b Jordan, Jamie Fox, Brian Stevenson. Anyway, 0:21:53.680 --> 0:21:55.919 a big part of his life's work is dedicated to, 0:21:56.920 --> 0:21:59.679 you know, working with criminals with wrongful convictions, and so 0:21:59.680 --> 0:22:02.880 he has to confront these alarming statistics. You know, how 0:22:02.920 --> 0:22:05.960 often are children sentenced to die in prison in the 0:22:06.080 --> 0:22:10.879 United States? Think you the movies called Jess Mercy, See 0:22:11.080 --> 0:22:16.600 she'd be known anyway. So if you want some entertainment 0:22:16.600 --> 0:22:20.080 and a bonus Baba become a better ally, check out 0:22:20.080 --> 0:22:23.600 that movie Just Mercy Again starring Brian Stevenson and uh 0:22:25.560 --> 0:22:29.880 Samuel L. Jackson and Jamie Fox. But also look up 0:22:30.440 --> 0:22:34.760 Brian Stephen him Brian Stevenson himself the actual man because 0:22:35.600 --> 0:22:37.080 a lot of his work, he has a ted talk 0:22:37.080 --> 0:22:38.600 that I'm a big fan of as well. A lot 0:22:38.640 --> 0:22:42.719 of his work will really illuminate how the criminal justice system, 0:22:42.720 --> 0:22:46.879 from policing to imprisonment and you know judges and you 0:22:46.920 --> 0:22:50.240 know prosecutors and all the sort of stuff that goes 0:22:50.240 --> 0:22:53.760 along with it, how they interact with black youth and 0:22:53.800 --> 0:22:57.560 how it's exceptionally unfair and you're almost you're like fighting 0:22:57.560 --> 0:23:01.920 a losing battle from the beginning. In fact, to prevail 0:23:03.760 --> 0:23:07.720 if you if in fact you're innocent, to prevails extremely difficult, difficult. 0:23:07.800 --> 0:23:09.639 You would think your innocence would be enough, and it 0:23:09.840 --> 0:23:18.200 just isn't. You actually need people to help you despite 0:23:18.240 --> 0:23:21.000 you being innocent, and in a lot of the cases 0:23:21.040 --> 0:23:22.760 that you know, he works to overturn. 0:23:24.080 --> 0:23:29.040 I posted a picture of my son once back when 0:23:29.080 --> 0:23:32.439 we first started doing this show, and the comments on 0:23:32.520 --> 0:23:36.880 that picture made me well up with pride and joy 0:23:37.320 --> 0:23:38.280 and love. 0:23:39.320 --> 0:23:42.720 Because even you know, complete strangers telling me how beautiful 0:23:42.760 --> 0:23:48.720 my kid was. It's a sad truth that as I 0:23:48.800 --> 0:23:52.760 watch him grow, I have to wonder at what point 0:23:52.840 --> 0:24:01.959 they stop thinking he's beautiful and they start thinking he's scary. 0:24:03.080 --> 0:24:09.240 That's deep, that's real deep. But this is our reality 0:24:09.520 --> 0:24:15.040 and welcome to it all. Right now, we're going to 0:24:15.080 --> 0:24:18.680 move on to Our Way Black History Fact. This one 0:24:18.840 --> 0:24:23.760 is sponsored by Hip Hop Weekly magazine. Our Way Black 0:24:23.840 --> 0:24:27.439 History Facts Today comes from the New England Historical Society. 0:24:28.320 --> 0:24:33.359 We're going to discuss Wentworth Cheeswell, the black Man who 0:24:33.520 --> 0:24:39.000 rode with Paul Revere. Wow, I'll read in the middle 0:24:39.040 --> 0:24:42.840 of December seventeen seventy four, messengers on horseback carried news 0:24:42.840 --> 0:24:46.639 to the people of New Hampshire's seacoast. Two British warships 0:24:46.680 --> 0:24:50.720 were headed to Newcastle to reinforce Fort William and Mary. 0:24:52.080 --> 0:24:54.880 The messengers, or dispatch writers, helped organize the resistance. One 0:24:54.880 --> 0:24:59.200 messenger was Paul Revere and one was Wentworth Cheeswell. Revere 0:24:59.200 --> 0:25:02.000 made quite a few before war broke out, and so 0:25:02.160 --> 0:25:05.760 did dozens of dispatch riders before and during the American Revolution. 0:25:06.600 --> 0:25:08.840 As part of the secret Patriot network, the writer shared 0:25:08.880 --> 0:25:13.359 intelligence about the enemy and communications between the colonial provisional governments. 0:25:13.720 --> 0:25:17.600 Wentworth Cheeswell took a number of rides. Like Revere, he 0:25:17.720 --> 0:25:20.520 volunteered to serve in the military and fought at Saratoga. 0:25:20.720 --> 0:25:24.479 He was also considered New Hampshire's first archaeologist and the 0:25:24.480 --> 0:25:28.720 first African American elected to public office in the United States. 0:25:29.800 --> 0:25:36.120 Boom Wentworth Chesswell was born on April eleventh, seventeen forty six, 0:25:36.240 --> 0:25:41.800 to a biracial father, Hopsteel Cheeswell and Catherine Kinniston, who 0:25:41.880 --> 0:25:45.000 was white. Hopstell was the son of a white woman 0:25:45.119 --> 0:25:48.720 and an enslaved black man, Richard Cheswell. Under the laws 0:25:48.720 --> 0:25:53.360 of the day, Hopstill's status followed the mother, making him free. Eventually, 0:25:53.400 --> 0:25:56.840 Hopstill's father bought his freedom and in seventeen seventeen purchase 0:25:56.880 --> 0:25:59.840