WEBVTT - Civic Cipher 070321 Q. Ward & Ramses Ja 0:00:00.720 --> 0:00:03.120 Welcome to another episode of Civic Cipher. I'm your host, 0:00:03.200 --> 0:00:04.040 rams is Jah. 0:00:04.080 --> 0:00:08.440 They called me q Ward because Q is easier to 0:00:08.520 --> 0:00:12.920 say than Quinton. You know what I'm saying. 0:00:13.080 --> 0:00:17.480 I do, yes indeed, And we are back with the 0:00:17.840 --> 0:00:22.520 second installment of Civic Cipher, as promised to continue our 0:00:23.040 --> 0:00:27.520 program from last week, where we're going to discuss a 0:00:27.520 --> 0:00:30.320 few things, not the least of which is we're going 0:00:30.360 --> 0:00:34.600 to continue on with our examining some of the myths 0:00:34.600 --> 0:00:38.680 about Abraham Lincoln that you've all kind of held to 0:00:38.680 --> 0:00:40.680 be true for many years, especially those of us that 0:00:41.720 --> 0:00:44.960 went to school in public education. So DJ Swirl has 0:00:45.000 --> 0:00:49.120 that in the works for us. We also have some 0:00:49.320 --> 0:00:52.839 Ebony excellence to get into here real soon. But a 0:00:52.880 --> 0:00:54.600 couple of bigger things that we wanted to talk about 0:00:54.640 --> 0:00:58.240 that we weren't able to get to last week. A 0:00:58.320 --> 0:01:01.800 story about a Trump's reporter who shot into a car 0:01:01.880 --> 0:01:06.080 full of black teens back and in December at an 0:01:06.080 --> 0:01:09.240 Iowa rally. You know we're gonna we got some follow 0:01:09.319 --> 0:01:14.560 up information about his sentencing that many of us will 0:01:14.600 --> 0:01:18.399 find troubling, and you know that we really need to examine, 0:01:18.440 --> 0:01:21.559 and we also want to spend more time talking about 0:01:21.600 --> 0:01:25.040 a show from in the three weeks ago where we 0:01:25.200 --> 0:01:28.360 originally talked about critical race theory and how it was 0:01:28.440 --> 0:01:33.280 banned in Florida, while some new laws have been passed 0:01:33.280 --> 0:01:36.120 in Texas, and we want to examine that and just 0:01:36.200 --> 0:01:39.240 kind of reintroduce the topic because I get the impression 0:01:39.240 --> 0:01:41.400 that we're going to have to deal with this around 0:01:41.400 --> 0:01:45.160 the country, and so we have a lot in store 0:01:45.720 --> 0:01:49.440 for today's episode. But before we get to the heavy stuff, 0:01:50.200 --> 0:01:55.560 I definitely want to take some time to shout out 0:01:55.840 --> 0:01:59.960 all of the black women athletes for our Ebony X 0:02:00.080 --> 0:02:01.680 Simmons segment. 0:02:02.400 --> 0:02:05.240 All I do is win and win no matter what. 0:02:05.760 --> 0:02:12.720 So, as many of you know, Simone Biles is now 0:02:12.800 --> 0:02:15.040 a seven time national champion. 0:02:15.160 --> 0:02:16.080 She's the truth. 0:02:16.200 --> 0:02:20.520 Yes, indeed, they call her the Goat. I've seen on 0:02:20.560 --> 0:02:23.240 her uniform now she has a picture of a goat 0:02:23.400 --> 0:02:27.000 in like rhinestones. Wow. And so she's she's owning it 0:02:27.040 --> 0:02:30.440 and I love it. I love that. But there's a 0:02:30.480 --> 0:02:33.600 lot more. You know, it's it's Olympic time and there's 0:02:33.760 --> 0:02:35.760 you know a lot of athletes are in the news, 0:02:35.840 --> 0:02:39.000 and particularly a lot of black women, and we are 0:02:39.000 --> 0:02:41.320 real big believers in black girl magic. Around here, of course, 0:02:41.960 --> 0:02:44.680 So I want to shout out a few more names. 0:02:44.680 --> 0:02:49.040 Simone Manuel, who came back from an injury to ultimately 0:02:49.120 --> 0:02:51.920 make the Olympic team. I'm kind of condensing it, but 0:02:52.800 --> 0:02:58.840 an excellent achievement. Alison Felix became a mother, uh and 0:02:59.600 --> 0:03:02.400 was late dropped by Nike, only to come back to 0:03:02.440 --> 0:03:04.600 make her fifth Olympic appearance. 0:03:05.440 --> 0:03:07.240 One of our next shows are one of our future shows, 0:03:07.240 --> 0:03:10.320 we're going to spend some more time talking about Alison Felix. 0:03:10.600 --> 0:03:13.040 Her husband is a personal friend of mine. We ran 0:03:13.080 --> 0:03:16.800 track in high school together. She has a triumphant story. 0:03:17.200 --> 0:03:22.880 You know, it's like she's a conqueror making her fifth Olympics. Absolutely, 0:03:22.960 --> 0:03:24.919 I'll let you guys do the math on that. Yeah. 0:03:25.040 --> 0:03:27.680 No, that she and then gave birth between the fourth 0:03:27.720 --> 0:03:30.560 and fifth, got dropped by a sponsor because they thought 0:03:30.560 --> 0:03:32.600 she was done, came back and proved every room wrong. 0:03:32.639 --> 0:03:36.080 So we love that around here. Shelley Ann Fraser Price 0:03:36.640 --> 0:03:39.600 ran the fastest one hundred meter of the year and 0:03:39.760 --> 0:03:43.520 became the second fast fastest woman of all time. So 0:03:43.840 --> 0:03:46.800 a big shout out to Shelley and Fraser Price. And 0:03:46.840 --> 0:03:49.839 then I hope I'm saying this right, Shikari Richardson, keep 0:03:49.840 --> 0:03:53.400 your eyes open for her. She might be the next 0:03:53.560 --> 0:03:58.119 fastest woman in the world. Well, listen, she made the 0:03:58.200 --> 0:04:00.200 Olympic team. And this is a little sad, but it 0:04:00.240 --> 0:04:04.640 was one week after burying her mom. So a lot 0:04:04.680 --> 0:04:07.960 of triumph in those stories, and of course all black 0:04:07.960 --> 0:04:11.880 girl magic and of course ebony excellence, which we love 0:04:11.920 --> 0:04:15.080 to celebrate on the show here, So big shout out 0:04:15.120 --> 0:04:20.679 to all of our Olympians and I get the feeling 0:04:20.680 --> 0:04:24.560 we're going to do well. But moving on to the 0:04:24.640 --> 0:04:28.400 issue at hands. So, you know, I remember reading about 0:04:28.440 --> 0:04:32.360 this story about the shooting at the Trump rally, you know, 0:04:32.600 --> 0:04:35.400 and these guys are all Second Amendment self defense. And 0:04:35.440 --> 0:04:40.560 if they if they can, you know, tell themselves a story, 0:04:40.600 --> 0:04:42.880 no matter how far fetched, if they can connect a 0:04:42.880 --> 0:04:46.279 couple of dots and say they were threatened or you know, 0:04:46.320 --> 0:04:49.440 anything like that, then they'll use it as an excuse 0:04:49.480 --> 0:04:54.280 to engage physically and you know, violently, yeah, exactly, and 0:04:54.680 --> 0:04:58.080 the law and they almost know that the law will 0:04:58.080 --> 0:05:01.239 be on their side, you know, because the police often 0:05:01.279 --> 0:05:05.240 look like them or subscribe to similar philosophies. They tend 0:05:05.240 --> 0:05:09.719 to be right leaning, you know. Obviously, police tend to 0:05:09.920 --> 0:05:14.400 support candidates who tend to in turn support police and 0:05:14.440 --> 0:05:18.760 those oftentimes tend to be right leaning candidates. And fiscal decisions, sure, 0:05:20.279 --> 0:05:23.520 among other decisions. But you know, sure we'll start there. 0:05:24.640 --> 0:05:27.240 I think there's a fundamentally yeah, yeah, there's a fundamental 0:05:27.240 --> 0:05:30.080 difference in philosophy and value of human life, different types 0:05:30.120 --> 0:05:33.159 of human life, I think. But sure, fiscal decisions. But 0:05:35.760 --> 0:05:40.560 you know, the way this this scenario plays out oftentimes 0:05:40.680 --> 0:05:46.719 is is a story that we're well versed with, and 0:05:46.760 --> 0:05:49.120 this one is no exception. So I actually caught wind 0:05:49.120 --> 0:05:52.159 of this story. Not sure if you you two did 0:05:52.240 --> 0:05:57.680 a swirl or cue, but you know, we didn't, you know, 0:05:57.800 --> 0:05:59.479 as as it goes, we didn't get a chance to 0:05:59.480 --> 0:06:03.799 talk about it on the air, perhaps because no one died, 0:06:04.680 --> 0:06:07.800 you know. Unfortunately the reality of the situation is that 0:06:08.760 --> 0:06:11.919 our priorities have to be where there's a loss of 0:06:11.960 --> 0:06:15.880 life and there's you know, a huge rallying momentum behind, 0:06:16.640 --> 0:06:20.480 you know, seeking some sort of justification or justification not 0:06:20.560 --> 0:06:25.040 the right word. What am I looking for? Accountability for that? 0:06:25.080 --> 0:06:27.479 And then we also only have an hour a week, yeah, 0:06:27.560 --> 0:06:29.000 you know what I mean. So it might not have 0:06:29.040 --> 0:06:31.080 been because no one died. There might have just been 0:06:31.839 --> 0:06:35.200 so many stories where someone did. Sure, so we probably 0:06:35.200 --> 0:06:36.560 didn't intentionally omit it. 0:06:37.080 --> 0:06:39.200 No, No, not at all. I remember I remember thinking 0:06:39.279 --> 0:06:42.520 like that we should probably talk about this. But I 0:06:43.000 --> 0:06:46.240 do distinctly remember that week we had to discuss something 0:06:46.279 --> 0:06:49.520 that resulted in a death. And so unfortunately that was 0:06:49.520 --> 0:06:51.440 the reality, at least that at that point in time. 0:06:51.720 --> 0:06:55.480 But the reason this came back up and came back 0:06:55.520 --> 0:07:01.720 across our desk is because ultimate basically what happened is 0:07:01.760 --> 0:07:03.600 there was a Trump supporter who ended up shooting into 0:07:03.640 --> 0:07:07.839 a car full of black teenagers. You know, someone got 0:07:07.880 --> 0:07:12.760 shot and the person was Ultimately the shooter was charged 0:07:12.760 --> 0:07:16.560 for attempted murder, right, and you would think end of story, Great, 0:07:16.680 --> 0:07:19.920 that's that should be the way that goes. But ended 0:07:19.960 --> 0:07:23.920 up getting a very uh what was described as generous 0:07:23.920 --> 0:07:26.680 plea deal. And so that's what we need to look 0:07:26.720 --> 0:07:29.080 at today. So let me let me, let me, let me, 0:07:29.920 --> 0:07:32.440 let me get into details with the story because I 0:07:32.520 --> 0:07:37.640 have some notes here. So on December sixth, uh Michael 0:07:37.720 --> 0:07:41.040 McKinney of Saint Charles, Iowa was at a rally at 0:07:41.120 --> 0:07:44.480 state Capitol hosted by Women for America first a pro 0:07:44.520 --> 0:07:48.440 Trump group when a group of Trump supporters clashed with 0:07:48.520 --> 0:07:51.840 a group of four teenage girls, all under the age sixteen, 0:07:52.400 --> 0:07:54.640 who began following the group in a vehicle. Now that 0:07:55.040 --> 0:08:00.160 underage women underage girls rather were black. According to the 0:08:00.240 --> 0:08:03.480 driver's mother, Danielle Gross, the teens and the Trump supporters 0:08:03.560 --> 0:08:07.120 argued about politics. Gross said the demonstrators hurled racial slurs 0:08:07.160 --> 0:08:09.880 at the teens. I wasn't there, so I don't know 0:08:09.880 --> 0:08:12.800 how true that is. But Trump rally black kids there, 0:08:13.080 --> 0:08:16.960 I'd imagine it's believable. After rally goer surrounded the vehicle 0:08:17.040 --> 0:08:20.239 carrying the teens, the driver put the car in reverse 0:08:20.400 --> 0:08:24.160 and struck a truck, although it's not clear whether she 0:08:24.240 --> 0:08:27.080 hit the truck intentionally. In other words, it sounds like 0:08:27.080 --> 0:08:30.000 they were trying to escape because they were surrounded by 0:08:30.200 --> 0:08:36.240 folks who were all right. McKinney, who wasn't involved in 0:08:36.280 --> 0:08:39.440 the altercation that led to the shooting, according to court documents, 0:08:39.720 --> 0:08:42.360 walked toward the vehicle, pulled a gun from his waistband, 0:08:42.440 --> 0:08:44.640 and shot into the car from fifteen feet away. In 0:08:44.679 --> 0:08:49.960 other words, this person was not it was not his 0:08:50.040 --> 0:08:54.600 property that was damaged. He was not these girls are 0:08:54.600 --> 0:08:56.040 trying to escape and so forth, and this is the 0:08:56.040 --> 0:08:59.280 way the story went. One of the girls that had 0:08:59.280 --> 0:09:01.880 been arguing with Rout through the sunroof of the vehicle 0:09:01.960 --> 0:09:04.040 was struck in the leg, and the driver sped off 0:09:04.040 --> 0:09:07.200 to take her to a hospital. McKinney was wearing body 0:09:07.320 --> 0:09:10.040 armor and had two loaded magazines in his pants, along 0:09:10.080 --> 0:09:14.040 with another firearm with Trump decals on his vehicle. He 0:09:14.120 --> 0:09:17.040 tried to hide evidence by putting the shellcasing in the 0:09:17.040 --> 0:09:20.160 back of his car only and only confessed after others 0:09:20.200 --> 0:09:23.679 identified him. So he went there with a gun and 0:09:23.720 --> 0:09:29.560 a bulletproof vest and his you know, Merica gear, perhaps 0:09:29.640 --> 0:09:34.520 anticipating some funk, found some across for something or to 0:09:34.600 --> 0:09:37.440 start some found some across the field, and inserted himself 0:09:37.440 --> 0:09:41.440 into the middle of that situation and then shot some 0:09:41.520 --> 0:09:46.240 people who were trying to leave. Authorities downplayed the racial 0:09:46.240 --> 0:09:49.600 context of the shooting, and initial police reports contained no 0:09:49.720 --> 0:09:53.480 record of race or mention of Trump. Right. Initial police reports, 0:09:53.480 --> 0:09:58.000 as we know, tend to be often incomplete or inaccurate, 0:10:00.440 --> 0:10:08.959 and or oftentimes it's both. Yeah, yeah, I think that's 0:10:09.000 --> 0:10:11.880 a fair thing. Oftentimes it is both, you know, certainly 0:10:11.920 --> 0:10:15.080 with the stories that come an hour away, and when 0:10:15.120 --> 0:10:17.440 you view the world through a black lens, it really 0:10:17.440 --> 0:10:19.280 feels like that you're not going to get a fair 0:10:19.320 --> 0:10:23.680 shake when you're interacting with policing or representation with respect 0:10:23.720 --> 0:10:27.560 to the government, and those things really do inform your 0:10:27.600 --> 0:10:31.120 movements in your day to day activities. And so I 0:10:31.200 --> 0:10:32.440 just want to make sure that I said that the 0:10:32.520 --> 0:10:34.240 right way. I don't I don't want to be unfair. 0:10:34.240 --> 0:10:35.760 I don't want to be unkind. I know that they're 0:10:35.800 --> 0:10:37.760 law enforcement officers to listen. I know that there are 0:10:37.800 --> 0:10:40.480 laws support people that support law enforcement that listen. But 0:10:42.200 --> 0:10:43.520 this is a real show, and we have to have 0:10:43.559 --> 0:10:48.280 real conversations, and so let's deal with the real all right. 0:10:48.360 --> 0:10:52.440 So Bob Brecky Junior, the owner of the truck the 0:10:52.559 --> 0:10:55.800 driver struck, told the Associated Press he was glad McKinney 0:10:55.880 --> 0:10:59.120 fired at the teens quote. I felt relieved, he said 0:10:59.240 --> 0:11:02.840 his vehicle was scratched during the chaos. Now, I do 0:11:02.920 --> 0:11:07.640 want to mention something here. This article comes from the 0:11:07.640 --> 0:11:11.320 Atlanta Black Star. We get a lot of our news 0:11:11.360 --> 0:11:15.840 from the Atlanta Black Star and other sources around the internet. 0:11:16.600 --> 0:11:20.800 This article may have been written in such a way 0:11:20.960 --> 0:11:26.600 to where it really favors our general view of the world. 0:11:26.600 --> 0:11:29.199 That's not to say it's inaccurate, but things like the 0:11:30.120 --> 0:11:32.720 driver's truck was scratched. That could mean that the driver's 0:11:32.720 --> 0:11:34.920 truck was actually scratched or it could have been damaged, 0:11:34.960 --> 0:11:37.000 and we don't know that because it was written this way. 0:11:37.000 --> 0:11:38.760 So I want to be I want to mention that 0:11:38.800 --> 0:11:41.280 these are not my words and this isn't coming from. 0:11:41.080 --> 0:11:43.640 Even if the driver's vehicle was destroyed. 0:11:44.000 --> 0:11:45.280 Absolutely, you're not wrong. 0:11:45.520 --> 0:11:49.080 Property over people's lives, it just doesn't really unless they 0:11:49.080 --> 0:11:51.640 were trying to do you harm or your family harmed, 0:11:51.640 --> 0:11:52.200 then I get it. 0:11:52.240 --> 0:11:54.440 But well, that's where I want to go. I just 0:11:54.440 --> 0:11:57.480 want to make sure that. So a couple of weeks ago, Que, 0:11:57.880 --> 0:12:00.640 you said to me, so we want watch the video. 0:12:00.960 --> 0:12:02.920 This was a few episodes ago. We watched a video 0:12:03.040 --> 0:12:06.679 of no I think it was. You watched the video 0:12:06.800 --> 0:12:10.760 of some police officers attacking some teenagers on a beach 0:12:11.840 --> 0:12:16.080 and might have been in Virginia and uh Maryland, Maryland. Okay, 0:12:16.080 --> 0:12:19.920 there we go, and the the teenagers on the beach 0:12:20.520 --> 0:12:22.360 at the time, I didn't know their age because you 0:12:22.400 --> 0:12:24.360 watched the video. I didn't you know as we do. 0:12:24.400 --> 0:12:28.800 We take turns. So what happened is I refer to 0:12:28.800 --> 0:12:34.760 them as children, and you corrected me and said, you know, 0:12:34.800 --> 0:12:37.200 I don't want this to be you know, I don't 0:12:37.200 --> 0:12:38.719 want this story to get out there the wrong way 0:12:38.720 --> 0:12:41.120 and us to be accused of, you know, misrepresenting what 0:12:41.200 --> 0:12:44.880 really happened. They were teenagers, and I says, okay, that's 0:12:44.880 --> 0:12:47.520 fair to me a teenager as a child. 0:12:47.640 --> 0:12:49.240 Yeah, because we were a team, we were both right. 0:12:49.440 --> 0:12:51.199 I just didn't want the story to sound like. 0:12:51.200 --> 0:12:53.360 Sound like we're trying to make it into something. 0:12:53.360 --> 0:12:55.400 It was like we were trying to manipulate people, that's what. 0:12:55.679 --> 0:12:57.560 And so that in that same spirit, I'm trying to 0:12:57.559 --> 0:13:00.920 make sure that I identify the source of this this article. 0:13:00.920 --> 0:13:02.960 I'm reading the story. You can find the story anywhere 0:13:03.000 --> 0:13:05.400 on the internet, but this article comes from the Atlanta 0:13:05.440 --> 0:13:17.600 Black Star. So that's important, But also us dealing with 0:13:22.040 --> 0:13:24.520 sort of a narrative that we already have in our head. 0:13:26.000 --> 0:13:33.400 If we see things that support our worldview already, then 0:13:33.679 --> 0:13:36.920 we process it less critically, I think, And so that's 0:13:36.960 --> 0:13:40.240 why I'm trying to be critical. Those who also read 0:13:40.240 --> 0:13:42.839 the Atlanta Black Star know that they exist to kind 0:13:42.880 --> 0:13:52.880 of provide a glimpse into issues and stories that mainstream 0:13:52.920 --> 0:13:57.240 media just doesn't it completely ignores. But these are black stories, 0:13:57.240 --> 0:13:58.920 and these are real stories and valid stories, and we 0:13:58.960 --> 0:14:02.920 need to know about these things, so I'll finish her. 0:14:03.880 --> 0:14:07.360 Michael McKinney faces up to ten years in prison for 0:14:07.400 --> 0:14:10.160 each of the two charges, including intimidation with a dangerous 0:14:10.160 --> 0:14:13.320 weapon and Wilfrid injury after one of the girls, age fifteen, 0:14:13.400 --> 0:14:16.000 was injured when he fired his weapon. McKinney's expected to 0:14:16.040 --> 0:14:18.760 be sentenced August ninth. Before taking a plea deal, he 0:14:18.840 --> 0:14:21.760 was scheduled to go on trial June twenty first, and 0:14:22.000 --> 0:14:24.120 argue that he fired his weapon in self defense as 0:14:24.120 --> 0:14:27.640 the girl's vehicle backed into a pickup truck driven by 0:14:27.720 --> 0:14:32.480 another Trump supporter. And that's a tough case to make 0:14:32.520 --> 0:14:36.000 self defense when they're driving into another truck. They're backing 0:14:36.040 --> 0:14:40.360 into another truck, you know, trying to escape. So but 0:14:40.480 --> 0:14:43.680 the Army veteran who'd express support for the Proud Boys 0:14:43.880 --> 0:14:48.080 and back the Blue movement admitted Wednesday that he'd intentionally 0:14:48.120 --> 0:14:51.600 fired into the vehicle, causing the documents to fear serious 0:14:51.600 --> 0:14:54.560 injury from my action and acknowledge that one of the 0:14:54.560 --> 0:14:57.600 girls was seriously injured as a result. Under the plea deal, 0:14:57.680 --> 0:15:01.480 the state will dismiss four charges, including attempted murder and 0:15:01.640 --> 0:15:05.120 woke seek enhancements that would have required McKinney to serve 0:15:05.200 --> 0:15:07.920 five years on each count before being eligible for parole. 0:15:08.280 --> 0:15:11.280 One prosecutor described the deal as generous. Go ahead. 0:15:13.840 --> 0:15:15.640 You guys can't see me. I had to put my 0:15:15.720 --> 0:15:19.080 hand on my brother Ramses just so I could feel 0:15:19.120 --> 0:15:21.760 the love vibrate from him back into me, so I 0:15:21.760 --> 0:15:26.800 didn't throw my mic. Right now, our justice system is 0:15:26.920 --> 0:15:31.320 really really strange because there's all these things put in 0:15:31.400 --> 0:15:37.080 place to kind of help you get out of crimes 0:15:37.080 --> 0:15:41.600 you've committed. Right, if we watch you kill someone on video, 0:15:42.280 --> 0:15:47.400 but the video wasn't procured the right way, then yeah 0:15:47.440 --> 0:15:49.960 we saw you do it, but they didn't have the 0:15:50.040 --> 0:15:52.240 proper warrant to get that video, So. 0:15:52.880 --> 0:15:53.440 Throw it out. 0:15:53.960 --> 0:15:56.960 That happened to my brother, right, So, and I understand 0:15:57.040 --> 0:16:00.160 that we have rights and they can't just be thrown away. 0:16:00.200 --> 0:16:03.160 So I get it. But man, admit you did this 0:16:03.760 --> 0:16:09.040 and we won't charge you for it. Right, you tried 0:16:09.080 --> 0:16:13.160 to kill these people, and because you admitted it, we're 0:16:13.160 --> 0:16:16.160 gonna throw away the worst parts of the crime that 0:16:16.200 --> 0:16:23.920 you just said you did intentionally premeditated, almost through my 0:16:23.960 --> 0:16:25.080 migration right now. 0:16:25.400 --> 0:16:29.440 So wat's just if he was convicted on all this 0:16:29.520 --> 0:16:32.080 council without that plea deal, he would have served thirty 0:16:32.120 --> 0:16:39.880 two years in prison for attempted murder, right, But he's 0:16:41.560 --> 0:16:44.160 they're like I said, they're dismissing for the charges, including 0:16:44.160 --> 0:16:48.000 the attempted murder, and won't seek enhancements. So I don't 0:16:48.040 --> 0:16:50.600 know what that what the result of that is in 0:16:50.680 --> 0:16:54.840 terms of numbers, but for the prosecutor to describe the 0:16:54.880 --> 0:16:58.640 deal as generous, that's he wasn't proud. He wasn't happy 0:16:58.640 --> 0:17:00.880 about that. You know, he's like these guys out here 0:17:00.880 --> 0:17:04.159 shooting people. He's a crazy person with a bulletproof vest, 0:17:04.320 --> 0:17:06.920 you know what I mean. He doesn't need to be 0:17:06.960 --> 0:17:10.960 out on the streets with his vigilante sort of actions. 0:17:11.000 --> 0:17:14.400 We live in a society where there's order and there's 0:17:15.320 --> 0:17:18.359 you know, systems in place to that already disadvantages people. 0:17:18.359 --> 0:17:20.040 And I like how you get to be afraid of 0:17:20.119 --> 0:17:22.560 people fleeing from you, where you get to stand your 0:17:22.600 --> 0:17:26.560 ground while you're pursuing someone, Like it's amazing how these 0:17:26.600 --> 0:17:29.160 things are written into law and the way that they 0:17:29.200 --> 0:17:32.640 are translated when it's time to sentence people for doing 0:17:32.680 --> 0:17:34.679 really heinoessed evil things. 0:17:34.960 --> 0:17:38.760 Listen, we talked about that last episode where there was 0:17:38.800 --> 0:17:42.640 a man and I think it's we're taught to fear melanin, 0:17:43.280 --> 0:17:45.640 you know, it's just the fact of the matter, all 0:17:45.680 --> 0:17:48.360 of us, even black people, you know. But we talked 0:17:48.359 --> 0:17:50.680 about it last show where there was a man who 0:17:51.080 --> 0:17:56.280 in Hawaii who walked into there was a temple right 0:17:56.320 --> 0:17:58.680 next to a house. So I'm sure the construction was 0:17:58.720 --> 0:18:01.199 similar in Hawaii. I'm not sure exactly where it was, 0:18:01.280 --> 0:18:03.879 but he walked into the house instead of the temple. 0:18:04.320 --> 0:18:06.960 Before walking through the house, took off his shoes. He 0:18:07.040 --> 0:18:10.280 was wearing his temple garb to go in and meditate. 0:18:10.920 --> 0:18:12.679 Black man walked in the house that happened to be 0:18:12.680 --> 0:18:16.200 owned by some non black folks. They called the police 0:18:16.800 --> 0:18:19.080 and stayed on the phone with the police until the 0:18:19.080 --> 0:18:21.040 police showed up and executed the man, even though he 0:18:21.080 --> 0:18:24.240 had apologized, walked out of the house, attempted to explain 0:18:24.640 --> 0:18:28.119 himself to the police, even while to nine one one operators, 0:18:29.359 --> 0:18:31.359 and just resulted in his death. And so we do 0:18:31.480 --> 0:18:35.040 understand that and let's be clear, if you walk into 0:18:35.080 --> 0:18:38.400 my house by a mistake, you deserve to be arrested. 0:18:39.000 --> 0:18:40.719 You know, you can figure out the whys and all 0:18:40.760 --> 0:18:43.960 that stuff later, but me, my lady, and my children 0:18:44.040 --> 0:18:46.920 are probably all terrified if a stranger walks in the house, 0:18:47.119 --> 0:18:49.800 So we're probably calling the cops. And if they arrest 0:18:49.840 --> 0:18:52.320 you for that mistake, that's not my fault, that's yours. 0:18:52.720 --> 0:18:55.679 I also understand you don't deserve to die because of 0:18:55.680 --> 0:18:59.919 that mistake. Sure well, I would argue that the moment 0:19:00.119 --> 0:19:03.920 when in that story, Not to rehash last week's episode, 0:19:03.920 --> 0:19:09.280 but in that story, the man once he realized his mistake, Oh, 0:19:09.320 --> 0:19:11.720 this is a private residence. This is not the temple 0:19:11.760 --> 0:19:13.720 I was looking for that I had been to last 0:19:13.720 --> 0:19:16.400 week with my wife. But it's next door. I thought 0:19:16.400 --> 0:19:20.359 this was it. I'm sorry here, let me leave, and 0:19:20.480 --> 0:19:24.600 very clearly made a mistake. I apologized to Yeah, at 0:19:24.600 --> 0:19:27.240 that point, it's no longer a threat. I'm leaving. I'm 0:19:27.240 --> 0:19:29.719 going back to the outside the door on the patio 0:19:29.760 --> 0:19:32.600 to put my shoes on. And you know, there's nothing here. 0:19:32.640 --> 0:19:36.040 And the woman described the man to the nine one 0:19:36.119 --> 0:19:38.960 one operator, saying that he had no weapon, he was 0:19:39.000 --> 0:19:41.439 not acting aggressively and so forth. And then later in 0:19:41.480 --> 0:19:43.879 the police report the police said that the woman was 0:19:43.920 --> 0:19:47.280 fearful and that described the man as acting aggressively. Anyway, 0:19:48.400 --> 0:19:53.240 I do want to talk about something that really speaks 0:19:53.280 --> 0:19:57.480 to this story about Michael McKinney, where with his lighter sentencing. 0:19:58.320 --> 0:20:01.679 So I don't know the exact quote, but I remember 0:20:01.760 --> 0:20:06.760 watching a Ted talk with Brian Stevenson. For those who 0:20:07.359 --> 0:20:09.879 don't know, I don't know the name of the movie, 0:20:09.880 --> 0:20:15.000 but Brian Stevenson has a movie and that the main 0:20:15.080 --> 0:20:19.720 character is played by Michael B. Johnson, Michael B. Jordan. Sorry, Jesus, 0:20:19.880 --> 0:20:22.359 there's a Johnson here on the page in front of me, 0:20:22.720 --> 0:20:26.320 Michael B. Jordan. So I have to find the name 0:20:26.359 --> 0:20:30.639 of the movie. But he's a real life person who's 0:20:30.680 --> 0:20:34.320 still alive and still he has an organization called the 0:20:34.320 --> 0:20:39.360 Equal Justice Initiative. So Brian Stevenson in this Ted talk 0:20:39.440 --> 0:20:41.639 he says something that I thought was very profound and 0:20:41.640 --> 0:20:45.520 it stayed with me for many years. He says, I 0:20:45.520 --> 0:20:49.800 think it's something along the lines of often times it's race, 0:20:50.240 --> 0:20:56.760 not culpability, that shapes outcomes in the criminal justice system, 0:20:58.000 --> 0:21:02.080 and that the criminal justice system, as it is, treat 0:21:02.119 --> 0:21:07.439 you much better if you are white and guilty than 0:21:07.480 --> 0:21:11.280 if you are black and innocent. And similarly, it treats 0:21:11.320 --> 0:21:15.320 you much better if you're rich and guilty and if 0:21:15.359 --> 0:21:19.560 you're poor and innocent. Right, So, for our purposes here, 0:21:19.840 --> 0:21:22.200 you know, we're gonna you know, this is something that 0:21:23.600 --> 0:21:26.399 I believe, this example at least runs along the color lines. 0:21:26.400 --> 0:21:27.800 And so I want to lean into that. 0:21:28.040 --> 0:21:31.399 The film is called Just Mercy merring Jamie Fox. 0:21:31.560 --> 0:21:36.600 That's it perfect. Now I want to say another thing. 0:21:38.480 --> 0:21:42.480 I have an older brother I come from I'm very, 0:21:42.560 --> 0:21:46.080 very blessed. I come from a family of I believe, 0:21:46.119 --> 0:21:50.240 excellent people. None of us are. My father had all 0:21:50.280 --> 0:21:50.879 of the children. 0:21:50.920 --> 0:21:53.399 He's saying he believes to be modest. I know because 0:21:53.400 --> 0:21:55.720 I know these people. He does come from a family 0:21:56.000 --> 0:21:56.879 of excellence. 0:21:57.040 --> 0:21:59.960 Thank you, Thank you. So to give you an example, 0:22:00.080 --> 0:22:01.960 you know, I'm in the studio right now, and my 0:22:02.040 --> 0:22:05.840 brother's a plaquesa on the wall. He's a recording artist. 0:22:06.280 --> 0:22:09.680 His group's called Dilated Peoples. They released a ton of albums, 0:22:10.000 --> 0:22:13.280 most of them through Capitol Records, world famous, world tour. 0:22:14.280 --> 0:22:24.120 My sister's a Hollywood producer, writer. Her shows include Blackish, Boondocks, 0:22:24.680 --> 0:22:27.159 What's the one Dave with Little Dicky. That's a new 0:22:27.200 --> 0:22:29.320 one she's working on, and I mean you could look 0:22:29.320 --> 0:22:34.439 her up on IMDb. Jamara Taylor, one of my brothers 0:22:34.480 --> 0:22:37.600 is a lawyer, you know, and on and on. That 0:22:37.680 --> 0:22:41.520 list goes on and on. So and we're all doing 0:22:42.040 --> 0:22:44.200 I believe good things, you know, We're all proud of 0:22:44.240 --> 0:22:47.280 all of us. Right. My oldest brother, Sean was a 0:22:47.320 --> 0:22:48.840 millionaire when he was like a teenager. He was like 0:22:48.880 --> 0:22:51.879 nineteen when he made his first million dollars back in 0:22:51.920 --> 0:22:55.040 the nineties when it was still tough. So I have 0:22:55.080 --> 0:22:58.320 a brother named Bibbie. That's not his real name. His 0:22:58.400 --> 0:23:04.960 name is Johnny Young, but I call him for big brother. Anyway. 0:23:05.800 --> 0:23:10.000 Once upon a time, Bibby got himself a new Escalade 0:23:11.040 --> 0:23:17.560 and his now wife and him were always driving around 0:23:17.560 --> 0:23:19.520 in his car. And if you know anything about California, 0:23:19.560 --> 0:23:22.000 there is a real issue with car jackings, or at 0:23:22.080 --> 0:23:25.960 least there was at that time. So he carried a 0:23:26.000 --> 0:23:28.240 gun with him in the car. He's got someone to 0:23:28.280 --> 0:23:30.640 protect and got to protect himself too. That's just how 0:23:30.640 --> 0:23:39.200 it is out there. One night, some folks started messing 0:23:39.240 --> 0:23:43.679 with his girlfriend who's now his wife. It's all on 0:23:43.800 --> 0:23:47.800 video too. These guys are just doing too much touching, 0:23:47.920 --> 0:23:53.199 doing whatever, and Bib can't go up and deal with 0:23:53.240 --> 0:23:55.479 a bunch of guys like this long story short ends 0:23:55.560 --> 0:23:57.920 up grabbing his gun, shooting in the air. Guys run away. 0:23:59.000 --> 0:24:01.960