Speaker 1: And now go my mic back like that.
Speaker 2: Time just strikes from head borders behind him and the
Speaker 2: line side.
Speaker 1: In the border. If you just tune in Minnesofic Sacer,
Speaker 1: I mean host Ramdas's jock.
Speaker 3: I am your host. Also Rams called me a Q
Speaker 3: So that's what I'm gonna go with because I really
Speaker 3: really appreciates this.
Speaker 1: Indeed, and a lot more to stick around, so be
Speaker 1: sure to do just that. We're going to be discussing
Speaker 1: on what a culture vulture is as well as Santa
Speaker 1: Claus for our way Black History fact. But first we
Speaker 1: are going to discuss how to become a better ally.
Speaker 1: So if you haven't heard the name Ro Roguel, I
Speaker 1: believe that's how I pronounce it Aguilera Mideros. He is
Speaker 1: the truck driver who was sentenced to one hundred and
Speaker 1: ten year present term because his breaks failed. He ended
Speaker 1: up creating an accident that killed I believe it was
Speaker 1: for people. I'll just read this. I got this from
Speaker 1: beet dot com. Again. This is a Cuban truck driver.
Speaker 1: But we're standing in solidarity here and give you some
Speaker 1: ways to support him. This twenty six year old truck
Speaker 1: driver was found guilty on December sixteenth, of twenty seven
Speaker 1: counts of vehicular manslaughter after the breaks that this truck
Speaker 1: failed killed four people in Denver and twenty nineteen. The
Speaker 1: sentence has been met with overwhelming disagreement from all sides,
Speaker 1: including the victims' families, mostly because it was an accident,
Speaker 1: but also it was the maximum penalty he could have received.
Speaker 1: A lot of folks pointing out how other people in
Speaker 1: that predicament got away with probation or you know, small
Speaker 1: jail time, that sort of thing, and he's getting prison
Speaker 1: like even bigger than football numbers, prison time like more
Speaker 1: than mass shooters get, you know, And this shows I
Speaker 1: think how the sentencing system is so open to interpretation
Speaker 1: that at least like this anyway, In addition to the
Speaker 1: truckers protesting and standing in solidarity with him, protesting and
Speaker 1: boycott in Colorado, you can sign a petition on change
Speaker 1: dot org and add your voice to the list of
Speaker 1: folks that are trying to get his sentence commuted. So
Speaker 1: once again, his name is ro Gale rog E l
Speaker 1: Aguilera Mederos and you can check that out on change
Speaker 1: dot org. Before we move on, I just want to
Speaker 1: read this. He left an emotional address to the judge.
Speaker 1: He says, quote, I was working hard for a better
Speaker 1: future for my family. Please don't be angry with me
Speaker 1: for saying I was not out robbing a bank or store.
Speaker 1: I was not out shooting up crowds or a school.
Speaker 1: I was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
Speaker 1: I was working and I lost my break. Truck drivers
Speaker 1: know this hard moment. When you lose your break, there's
Speaker 1: nothing you can do. I'm begging for forgiveness. I've never
Speaker 1: thought about hurting anybody in my entire life. I think
Speaker 1: those words are important. So if you want to help
Speaker 1: out and become a better ally, you can do that
Speaker 1: once again. Change that org Roguel Aguilera Mideros, all right.
Speaker 3: That even the judge in that case thought that that
Speaker 3: sentence was irregular and just way too much.
Speaker 1: Sure, so hopefully we get that sorted out because that
Speaker 1: really does seem harsh for an accident. All right, So
Speaker 1: what is a culture vulture? Well, let's talk about it.
Speaker 1: So in researching this, you know, we Q and I
Speaker 1: have this idea that we were going to talk about
Speaker 1: a couple of conceptual things before the year was over.
Speaker 1: We don't want to just talk about current events we
Speaker 1: want to talk about. We want to make bigger splashes
Speaker 1: with this program and with this opportunity and with the
Speaker 1: listenership that you are providing us, you know, the listener
Speaker 1: and we recognize that being a black show that is
Speaker 1: consumed by mostly non black people, we have an opportunity
Speaker 1: to make things, give things a bit more feeling. And so,
Speaker 1: in looking and trying to figure out how to define
Speaker 1: culture vulture, what I what I discovered is that that
Speaker 1: term exists outside of a black world. Who to thunk?
Speaker 1: You know? The Oxford Dictionary has a definition for it,
Speaker 1: and then of course we have our own definition. So
Speaker 1: I kind of put this together. So allow me to read.
Speaker 1: According to Urban Dictionary, a quote culture culture is someone
Speaker 1: who steals traits, language, and or fashion from another ethnic
Speaker 1: or social group in order to create their own identity.
Speaker 1: And believe me, it goes beyond traits, language, and fashion.
Speaker 1: You know, it goes into speech, It goes into so
Speaker 1: many little things that are even hard to kind of pinpoint,
Speaker 1: but you know it when you see it. Right. However,
Speaker 1: according to Cambridge Dictionary, it means someone who is very
Speaker 1: interested in music, art, theater, and and the like, especially
Speaker 1: to an excessive degree. Right, So if you've heard this
Speaker 1: term culture culture and never associated it with Black folks
Speaker 1: or you know, Native folks especially, or you know Asian people,
Speaker 1: you know that sort of thing, then we would like
Speaker 1: to reintroduce this term to you with you know, perhaps
Speaker 1: a little bit more perspective, a little bit wider view.
Speaker 1: So some of the things that I believe are examples
Speaker 1: of or born out of society kind of adopting. Adopting
Speaker 1: is me putting it generously, but adopting parts of a
Speaker 1: culture and normalizing it for the masses. And then you
Speaker 1: ultimately end up in individuals having friction in the workplace,
Speaker 1: on the street, or whatever as a result of that.
Speaker 1: You know, you might be a culture vulture thinking you
Speaker 1: saw Kim Kardashian do something. Because Kim Kardashian is not black,
Speaker 1: you didn't think you got it from black people. But
Speaker 1: if you trace it back to where Kim Kardashian got
Speaker 1: it from, then you realize that it came from black people.
Speaker 1: And so if you encounter a black person when you're
Speaker 1: at the mall who accuses you of, you know, doing
Speaker 1: these sorts of things, We're going to help make that
Speaker 1: connection for you here and right here we have an
Speaker 1: example body sculpting. Right, So historically Black women have always
Speaker 1: been known to have curvaceous figures, right, just kind of
Speaker 1: built differently. That's not to say that we're not human.
Speaker 1: You know, there's people from all different types of the
Speaker 1: world that will build differently. There's some groups of folks
Speaker 1: really tall. You know, if you go to you know, Samoa,
Speaker 1: you're going to find one type of person. If you
Speaker 1: go to you know, northern Africa, you're going to find
Speaker 1: a different type of person. You know, all human, you know,
Speaker 1: but different types of people. And so Black women for
Speaker 1: the most part, have historically been known to be more curvaceous.
Speaker 1: Bring about you know, music videos where that figure is celebrated,
Speaker 1: you know, in the in the nineties and the two thousands,
Speaker 1: and then you know, society at large kind of adopts
Speaker 1: this as kind of an additional beauty standard. You know,
Speaker 1: it's it's a valid beauty standard. You know, may not
Speaker 1: love the skin, but the you know, the shape that works. Now,
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, then you see this boom and
Speaker 1: body sculpting. Of course, that coupled with the advancements and
Speaker 1: technology and medicine and cosmetic surgeries. This is a possibility.
Speaker 1: And so you find people who are not known to
Speaker 1: have a certain type of shape naturally now having this shape,
Speaker 1: and then black people in this example looking at those
Speaker 1: people and saying, hey, you know, in the past, we
Speaker 1: would get ridiculed for looking like this. We would get
Speaker 1: made fun of, we would be denied opportunities, we would
Speaker 1: be told, you know, we look ghetto, We would you
Speaker 1: know whatever. But when you do it, you know, all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, it's fine. You haven't paid the price
Speaker 1: for this. You haven't felt the pain of what it
Speaker 1: feels like to not be a victim of your genetics
Speaker 1: in a world that decided that before you were even born, right,
Speaker 1: you were just born. Saw some stuff, saw like okay,
Speaker 1: guys like this. Okay, well I don't look like this,
Speaker 1: so let me go pay a little bit of money.
Speaker 1: Now I look like that. Cool, everything's good, everybody's happy.
Speaker 1: And again we're talking about a disconnect here. So body
Speaker 1: sculpting is one such thing, but it goes beyond that.
Speaker 1: Hairstyles is a very easy one. Now I want to
Speaker 1: talk about this. You I have a lot of hair,
Speaker 1: you know, you know it's a radio show. So you
Speaker 1: guys can't see me. But you know, Q keeps his
Speaker 1: hair a little bit shorter than I do. I have
Speaker 1: it reaches for the sky over here. So I'm really
Speaker 1: into hairs as a as a statement. I believe that's
Speaker 1: a great way to describe it. You know, I don't
Speaker 1: really do anything with my hair has let it do
Speaker 1: what it does, but it makes a statement if you
Speaker 1: were able to ever see me. I know, same class,
Speaker 1: doctor Westernberg, class that I was in. I know that
Speaker 1: in some tribes in Africa, braids were used two identify
Speaker 1: different tribes, different statuses in the village, you know, different
Speaker 1: status within your family. You know, the way you would
Speaker 1: braid your hair. We're talking about like what would be
Speaker 1: considered cornrows. I don't want to call them French braids
Speaker 1: because those braids have been around since there were humans,
Speaker 1: long before France existed.
Speaker 4: But but yeah, these these sorts of things historically have
Speaker 4: been associated with black hair, right afros, you know, short fades.
Speaker 1: You know, things like this. You know this is we
Speaker 1: don't have a lot of mainstream hairstyles at the work.
Speaker 1: You know, Obama in the White House kind of normalized
Speaker 1: you know, an edge up. You know, in mainstream America,
Speaker 1: where that wasn't the case before. You know, go back
Speaker 1: and look at you know, some other great leaders you
Speaker 1: know that come from an earlier time. That wasn't a thing.
Speaker 1: You know, there was no edge up because you just
Speaker 1: had to let your natural hairline be. Look at pictures
Speaker 1: of MLK, look at pictures of Jesse Jackson, look at
Speaker 1: look at all these pictures and no edge ups there.
Speaker 1: Obama was the person that did that. So when someone
Speaker 1: else comes along and says, hey, that looks cool. Drake
Speaker 1: a heart in his hair, I think I'm going to
Speaker 1: do that too, you know, and you know you see
Speaker 1: Drake do it, but you got to recognize that Drake
Speaker 1: is black, or even if he's half black, we call
Speaker 1: that black. You know that, and and you call that black.
Speaker 1: That's where it came from. That one drop rule. If
Speaker 1: you don't know what I'm talking about, please google it.
Speaker 1: If you have one drop of black blood in your body,
Speaker 1: that makes you black. That is a rule imposed on
Speaker 1: black people by white people in this country. I didn't
Speaker 1: make that up. But Drake was not the first person
Speaker 1: to part his heir. That is something that goes all
Speaker 1: the way back. You know, we used to partner here
Speaker 1: in the eighties. You know, it was a cool look
Speaker 1: we had to part and the tail in the back
Speaker 1: and all that sort of stuff. I know, you remember that. Q.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it goes back before the eighties as well.
Speaker 1: There you go. But I mean I was born in
Speaker 1: the eighties, so I can, yeah my timeline. Yeah absolutely.
Speaker 1: But you know it's not just that, you know language,
Speaker 1: of course. You know, I was watching a cartoon with
Speaker 1: my son and it's called Adventure Time. You know, we're
Speaker 1: just hanging out at home. You know, it's holiday time
Speaker 1: around these parts, and he's not in school, so we're
Speaker 1: just hanging out, father and son watching his cartoons. And
Speaker 1: you know, I hear these terms on this cartoon, this
Speaker 1: kid show, you know, and it's meant to be funny,
Speaker 1: and you know, when it is funny, it's funny. This
Speaker 1: is not we're trying to do, is show how a
Speaker 1: person could be a culture vulture. It's not saying to
Speaker 1: pay homage or recognize that other cultures exist. Those are
Speaker 1: two different things, you know. But you know, you see
Speaker 1: examples of language that is normal in a house like mine,
Speaker 1: it's normal in a house like cues, but it's very
Speaker 1: much it stands out in a cartoon. Everyone knows that
Speaker 1: that is a hip hop term, that this cartoon character
Speaker 1: is a white kid in a cartoon and a dog
Speaker 1: is using He used a couple of them in every
Speaker 1: episode because it was funny, right, But you see how
Speaker 1: language can make its way into other circles, you know,
Speaker 1: and if you take too much of it, then you
Speaker 1: start to look like, hey man, do you have are
Speaker 1: you like? Did you get this? Honestly, you know, I've
Speaker 1: had to have these conversations. One of my best friends,
Speaker 1: you know, my best friend ever in the course of
Speaker 1: my life, is a white man. Now I've known him
Speaker 1: since he was a baby, but he grew up with me. Right,
Speaker 1: I'm four years older than him. He was three. I
Speaker 1: was seven when we met. His name is Bootleg keV.
Speaker 1: You know, you're listening to hip hop stations, so you
Speaker 1: might know the name. And Bootleg keV is often accused
Speaker 1: of being a culture vulture, right, but his big brother
Speaker 1: was black listen to Wu Tang and Snoop Dogg and
Speaker 1: all that sort of stuff, and so that's what he
Speaker 1: grew up with. He also grew up with his dad
Speaker 1: and his mom, but he wanted to be like his
Speaker 1: big brother and I'm not saying we grew up like
Speaker 1: I saw him a couple of Now, we grew up,
Speaker 1: grew up together. My mom did not want me around gangs,
Speaker 1: and the least gang looking person was this tiny little
Speaker 1: white boy four years younger than me. We could play
Speaker 1: with toys and play video games, and she knew I
Speaker 1: was safe, and his mom knew that. My mom took
Speaker 1: me to church, so I was safe. I was older, intelligent,
Speaker 1: you know, those sorts of things. So we had each
Speaker 1: other growing up. So again, a person that gets it honestly, right,
Speaker 1: But I want to go back to the definition here,
Speaker 1: someone who steals traits, language, and fashion from another ethnic
Speaker 1: or social group in order to create their own identity. Right. So,
Speaker 1: if your identity revolves around a culture that's not your own,
Speaker 1: now you're in the territory of a culture vulture. But
Speaker 1: I want to add something here, especially if you make
Speaker 1: money from it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, bingo is what if it was a graphic on
Speaker 3: the screen, right then that would have been it?
Speaker 1: Sure?
Speaker 3: Sure?
Speaker 1: And even then, you know, because I recognize that, you know,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of people who are just fans of
Speaker 1: the culture that make money from it. And this you know,
Speaker 1: there's white folks that go to you know, Southeast Asia
Speaker 1: and you know, deep into China and to bet and
Speaker 1: they find, you know, their nirvana and they find you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, And then they have to make
Speaker 1: a life, so they make beads or they write books
Speaker 1: of their travels and you know, whatever it is they do,
Speaker 1: and they make money off of other folks culture effectively. Right,
Speaker 1: there's folks that bring that back here and they start
Speaker 1: meditation camps and you know, all that sort of stuff,
Speaker 1: and they make money off of another culture. Right, I
Speaker 1: get that, But a lot of those folks are not
Speaker 1: referred to as culture cultures. Some are, you know, and
Speaker 1: and this is not you know, this is not You
Speaker 1: run the risk of getting called that and having people
Speaker 1: take a stand against whatever it is you're doing. Any
Speaker 1: time you do this, people tend to be very protective
Speaker 1: of their cultures, their ideas, their ancestors, you know, their
Speaker 1: legacy and their posterity. That's just a fact. It's a
Speaker 1: fundamental part of who we are. We realize that our
Speaker 1: lives are finite, and all we have is what we
Speaker 1: were born with, and all we leave behind is, you know,
Speaker 1: our stories, and so we like to be the author
Speaker 1: of our own stories, right and outside. People who don't
Speaker 1: really get it fully and they're not subject to the tomorrows.
Speaker 1: They can leave the tomorrows if they so choose. Their
Speaker 1: children don't have to walk this path ours do. Right,
Speaker 1: people tend to really think like, hey man, you might
Speaker 1: be playing with fire there. But I will say this
Speaker 1: for those folks who do borrow quote unquote from other
Speaker 1: cultures and make money from them. One thing that you
Speaker 1: find with folks who are less often referred to as
Speaker 1: culture vultures, is that those people tend to give lots
Speaker 1: of credit to the source. They recognize that they are
Speaker 1: not the divine, the most connected, the best of you know.
Speaker 1: They recognize that I am not that person. I am
Speaker 1: a fan of that person. That person's name is blah
Speaker 1: blah blah, or you can find that person over here.
Speaker 1: I'm doing what I do, and whatever success I have,
Speaker 1: it's because I've dedicated my life to it. But I
Speaker 1: cannot dedicate my children's lives to it in the way
Speaker 1: that this person has to. You know, I recognize that
Speaker 1: my past doesn't come from it. I had to find it,
Speaker 1: and at best, there is no legacy that I inherited
Speaker 1: here at best I had to learn starting at this
Speaker 1: point to present day, and that is the sum total
Speaker 1: of my connection. And I'm grateful to be able to
Speaker 1: live and to participate and to benefit fiscally and fully
Speaker 1: dedicate my life to this, you know whatever. But basically
Speaker 1: falling on the sword, saying before anyone else can say
Speaker 1: it effectively, I am a culture vulture. I mean no offense.
Speaker 1: And here's where you find the actual source material. And
Speaker 1: the reason I know this is because some years ago
Speaker 1: I got really into meditation and living in Arizona. It's
Speaker 1: not like there's a lot of Buddhist temples here, you know,
Speaker 1: It's just not that kind of a place. I've been
Speaker 1: to countries where there are there actually is Buddhism is
Speaker 1: practiced widely. Arizona is not such a place. Right, So
Speaker 1: when I go into the Buddhist temples, what do I see?
Speaker 1: People that live in Arizona Mostly white folks, right, And
Speaker 1: it felt very authentic until I heard them address that
Speaker 1: elephant in the room. I heard them fall on that sword,
Speaker 1: and that made it better. Right, I'm not just this
Speaker 1: way for black people. I'm this way for people, you know,
Speaker 1: whoever you are. You know, if I feel like somebody
Speaker 1: is doing something offensive to what I would consider my brother,
Speaker 1: my Asian brother. I would not allow that. I would
Speaker 1: not allow a man to take advantage of a woman.
Speaker 1: I would not you know, it's not just a black
Speaker 1: and white world that I live in, right. But I
Speaker 1: really appreciated that, and I felt it hard after that
Speaker 1: to think of those people as being culture vultures, even
Speaker 1: though obviously the donations went to them and sustained their
Speaker 1: lifestyle and helped fund their business and their building and
Speaker 1: you know, get their books sold and so forth. They
Speaker 1: really pointed back to the source material. A couple more
Speaker 1: things that I need you to know is that culture
Speaker 1: vultures can come from any culture, and they can be
Speaker 1: to any culture. Right, So it's not just a black
Speaker 1: and white thing, So you have to be mindful of it.
Speaker 1: And I want to read off a couple of these
Speaker 1: other things, some of which might resonate with you. So
Speaker 1: it's not just hairstyles, language, it's also dress, music, faith,
Speaker 1: et cetera. Any parts of the culture. You know, it
Speaker 1: can be. You know, if you wear your hair and locks,
Speaker 1: you might know them as dreadlocks. We don't call them
Speaker 1: that anymore. Or if you have like Chinese symbols tattooed
Speaker 1: on your body or tribal symbols tattooed on your body.
Speaker 1: You know, you have to ask yourself the question, what
Speaker 1: tribe are you from? Right, It's a fair question, and
Speaker 1: then you start peeling with it. It's not to say don't
Speaker 1: have it. It's not to say don't do it, but
Speaker 1: ask yourself the question because a lot of these things,
Speaker 1: these are concepts of we're really talking about intent here.
Speaker 1: You know, I make mistakes. I have made mistakes, and
Speaker 1: all the travels that I've done, I recognize that sometimes
Speaker 1: I overstep. I walk on the carpet with my shoes on.
Speaker 1: I should have known better. I'm so sorry. Right, But
Speaker 1: there's also again, you know, we're talking about that sense
Speaker 1: of entitlement that comes with being American, especially with white Americans.
Speaker 1: It's a real thing.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 1: You can call it privilege, you can call them entitlement.
Speaker 1: You can call it Karen energy or Kevin energy, or
Speaker 1: whatever the male equivalent is. I don't like using Kevin
Speaker 1: as a term because shout out to Bootleg keV. You
Speaker 1: know what I mean. But and again, those are conversations
Speaker 1: that he and I have, you know, where he's like,
Speaker 1: hey man, so you know some people are saying this,
Speaker 1: what do I do about it? He comes, he confers,
Speaker 1: and I can't speak for all black people, but I
Speaker 1: can let him know what I would do in those circumstances,
Speaker 1: and you know, he takes that advice and he does
Speaker 1: his best, and that's the best anyone can hope for. Now,
Speaker 1: I don't want to talk too much more about this
Speaker 1: because I want to get your reaction and your thoughts
Speaker 1: on the cue. So we got about thirty seconds, but
Speaker 1: any thoughts before we move.
Speaker 3: On in thirty seconds, iry, I just say this, there's
Speaker 3: a lot of nuance to everything that you've covered, and
Speaker 3: I think the most important things that you pointed out
Speaker 3: is that those who profit from without pointing back to
Speaker 3: or paying homage to, are the ones that typically have
Speaker 3: to wear this label. Yeah, it's not drastically more complicated
Speaker 3: than that those who go out of their way to
Speaker 3: point to where this whatever this is comes from. You know,
Speaker 3: how did I get here? Why do I speak this way?
Speaker 3: Why do I dress this way? What type of influences
Speaker 3: caused this version of me to come to be? Because
Speaker 3: I wasn't born into this. I didn't like you said,
Speaker 3: I didn't get it, honestly, people who do that part
Speaker 3: properly typically avoid that label.
Speaker 1: Well said, well, I appreciate that much insight. And so
Speaker 1: we're not quite done with that just yet. So let's
Speaker 1: get into our way black history fact. So yeah, we're
Speaker 1: talking about Santa Claus this week, and the source for
Speaker 1: today's read comes from Black Enterprise and Wikipedia. Combine these two,
Speaker 1: so I'll just read it. Santa Claus, also known as
Speaker 1: Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Chris Krinkle, or simply
Speaker 1: as Santa, is a legendary character originated in Eastern Christian
Speaker 1: culture who is said to bring children gifts on Christmas
Speaker 1: Eve of toys and candy or coal or nothing, depending
Speaker 1: on whether they are naughty or nice. He said to
Speaker 1: accomplish this with the aid of christ smiths elves who
Speaker 1: make the toys in his workshop at the North Pole,
Speaker 1: and flying reindeer who pulled his sleigh through the air.
Speaker 1: The modern character of Santa is based on tradition surrounding
Speaker 1: the historical Saint Nicholas and the English figure of Father
Speaker 1: Christmas and the Dutch figure center clause right. So what
Speaker 1: we see here is the combination of different stories in
Speaker 1: different parts of the world that have kind of meshed
Speaker 1: into what we think of as a guy in a
Speaker 1: red sea or a black belt with a big belly
Speaker 1: white Beard climb through the sky. The jolly mythical man
Speaker 1: we know a Santa Claus has been traced back to
Speaker 1: Saint Nicholas, who was born in the second half of
Speaker 1: the third century to a wealthy Christian family in modern
Speaker 1: day Turkey. As a young man, Nicholas secretly donated three
Speaker 1: bags of gold to a poor father who couldn't afford
Speaker 1: to pay his daughter's dowry and was going to resort
Speaker 1: to selling them into process. For three nights, Nicholas threw
Speaker 1: a bag of gold into the man's home window, but
Speaker 1: on the third night, the father discovered that Nicholas was
Speaker 1: the person behind the mysterious donations. Nicholas, who was a
Speaker 1: devout lifelong Christian, became known for his generosity and love
Speaker 1: for children, and was ordained as the Bishop of Myra.
Speaker 1: After his death, he was immortalized as a Catholic saint,
Speaker 1: and the anniversary of his death was celebrated on December sixth.
Speaker 1: Inspired by Saint Nicholas, a group of French nuns in
Speaker 1: the twelfth century anonymously left stockings full of fruits and
Speaker 1: nuts on the doorsteps of poor people's homes at night.
Speaker 1: This act of charity soon became very popular and spread
Speaker 1: across Europe, thus establishing one of the customs in our
Speaker 1: modern Christmas celebration. Though Saint Nicholas has been portrayed in
Speaker 1: icons as a white man with rosy red cheeks for centuries,
Speaker 1: a modern day forensic study of the bishop's bones discovered
Speaker 1: that he resembled a light brown man of color. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: the cathedral built in Bari, Italy and ten eighty seven
Speaker 1: to honor the saint depicts him as a Middle Eastern
Speaker 1: man with very dark skin. According to psychology, today, the
Speaker 1: Turkish born saint looked more like Osama bin Laden than
Speaker 1: today's average quote white male end quote or Coca Cola's
Speaker 1: Santa Claus. Regardless of skin tone, both Saint Nicholas and
Speaker 1: the man, we recognize that Santa Claus are symbolic of
Speaker 1: the joy of giving. Santa comes once a year to
Speaker 1: bring gifts, love and hope to millions of children around
Speaker 1: the world. In essence, he shouldn't be limited to just
Speaker 1: one image or skin color. Instead, He should be embraced
Speaker 1: as a figure of our imagination and accepted in all forms,
Speaker 1: whether that's traditional sense or as a modernized version created
Speaker 1: by the Black Santic Company, Santa remind Us. Santa reminds
Speaker 1: Us of light and humanity. That's a symbol that doesn't
Speaker 1: come in just one color. You can learn more about
Speaker 1: the forensic study of Saint Nicholas and his ethnicity in
Speaker 1: the documentary Santa Claus The Real Face. All Right, it's
Speaker 1: Christmas time, you, Christmas is time, so let's talk about
Speaker 1: Black Center. We got a little bit of time here.
Speaker 1: You ever heard any kickback or pushback.
Speaker 3: This year? Not this year specifically, but I've heard plenty
Speaker 3: of pushback with regards to Santa uh and really just
Speaker 3: the the way that we celebrate Christmas and the things
Speaker 3: that we say it means that are not historically accurate
Speaker 3: but are astronomically profitable. Mm hmm. I'll let you back
Speaker 3: in there and we can we can play to watch this.
Speaker 1: One of the things that you know, Fox News historically
Speaker 1: has had issues with this or or the like. You know,
Speaker 1: Santa Claus is a scientific fact. Santa Claus was a
Speaker 1: white man. Okay, well, there's three Santa Claus is here.
Speaker 1: We're talking about again, Saint Nicholas. That's not a white man, right,
Speaker 1: the same way they talk about Jesus being a white man. Now,
Speaker 1: Jesus was a was an actual person, in the same
Speaker 1: way that Saint Nicholas was an actual person. Santa Claus
Speaker 1: is different. Santa Claus is a concept, right. But you
Speaker 1: know what I find interesting, James Bond not a real
Speaker 1: person's that's a I believe it's Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Speaker 1: that wrote James Bond, or he wrote to Sherlock Holmes.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure which one, but whatever the case is,
Speaker 1: someone made him up James Bond, right, and it was written.
Speaker 3: These were books.
Speaker 1: Someone decided to cast James Bond as a white man, right,
Speaker 1: and so now there's an image there. And then years
Speaker 1: later its elbow wants to play James Bond and people
Speaker 1: are like, oh, I don't really know if James Bond
Speaker 1: should be a black man, because we know James Bond
Speaker 1: to be white. Right, Superman, right, as soon as I
Speaker 1: say Superman, you're listening to my voice. As soon as
Speaker 1: I say Superman, dark hair, white skin, cape, but you
Speaker 1: know he's got the blue joint with the red cape on,
Speaker 1: tight clothes, with the little underwear on. Right, that's Superman.
Speaker 1: I know it popped in your head. Offered Will Smith
Speaker 1: to play Superman. He was like, no, I do not
Speaker 1: want that problem, right Will Smith? You know he's a
Speaker 1: good actor.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 1: So what we're seeing is that there is oftentimes issues
Speaker 1: with that. One of the things we never talk about
Speaker 1: is how so often black characters are written. And what
Speaker 1: is it called, uh, when you take something and make
Speaker 1: it white. Uh, there's a term whitewashed. Whitewash, that's the
Speaker 1: term so often that takes place. But when it's the
Speaker 1: other way around, it feels a little like, No, we
Speaker 1: don't like that, you know. And I think that by
Speaker 1: us being able to tell a little bit of a
Speaker 1: story about Santa Claus and his actual roots, one day
Speaker 1: we'll do the same with Jesus, you know, But at
Speaker 1: least for now, I feel like it helps loosen that
Speaker 1: grip on a little bit. Hopefully loosens that grip a
Speaker 1: little bit on ideas. You know, think about this, If
Speaker 1: I said the tooth Fairy is coming tonight, what did
Speaker 1: you think in your mind? Why can't the tooth ory
Speaker 1: be black? My older sister's actually writing a movie about that, right,
Speaker 1: And it's just I just thought it was interesting. So
Speaker 1: I'm glad we got to talk about Santa Claus. And
Speaker 1: you know, for everyone listening, you know, we hope your
Speaker 1: holidays are or we're happy, depending on when you're listening
Speaker 1: to this show. But you know, that's that's about it
Speaker 1: for us. We're going to go and enjoy our holiday too,
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, we're going to say this a
Speaker 1: couple more times before the year is over. But we
Speaker 1: really appreciate everyone that's been riding and supporting with us.
Speaker 1: You are the greatest Christmas gift to me and Q
Speaker 1: We have a lot of really exciting things coming in
Speaker 1: the new year, so please hang on because it's about
Speaker 1: to get wild around here. We're really excited and and
Speaker 1: we will be making those announcements of course very soon.
Speaker 1: And yeah, if you want to know more, you know,
Speaker 1: hit the website hibg cipher dot com. You get some
Speaker 1: more questions, any topics you want us to discuss. Of
Speaker 1: course you can make the donations, follow us on social media.
Speaker 1: That's all at Civic Cipher and course download this in
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