WEBVTT - Civic Cipher 112021 Is Support for BLM Waning? (Part B) 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:07.680 And now watching my my back, you're like that we 0:00:07.840 --> 0:00:08.600 just strike. 0:00:09.800 --> 0:00:13.960 Waters from headquarters behind in the bor if. 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:16.360 You're just turning into city Sacer. I'm your host, Ramsy's job. 0:00:17.160 --> 0:00:19.680 And my name is Quentin Ward. 0:00:21.480 --> 0:00:33.839 And what we're doing today is talking about rooting support 0:00:34.920 --> 0:00:39.519 for the b LM movement, So definitely stick around for that. 0:00:40.320 --> 0:00:43.479 Our Way Black History fact, we're going to talk about 0:00:44.680 --> 0:00:51.800 the author Alexander Dumas. I have an interesting story behind 0:00:51.840 --> 0:00:58.279 that that I'm excited to share as well. And I've 0:00:58.280 --> 0:01:00.640 been doing a lot of movie watching and I spent 0:01:00.720 --> 0:01:04.120 some time watching the movie Django recently. I had watched 0:01:04.120 --> 0:01:05.800 it in two parts because it's pretty long movie, but 0:01:07.360 --> 0:01:09.400 just a neat story to go along with that as well. 0:01:09.560 --> 0:01:13.080 But first, what we're going to talk about is our 0:01:14.560 --> 0:01:19.960 Baba segment, and so let's get into that right now. 0:01:23.840 --> 0:01:29.040 Baba becoming a better ally. So a couple of weeks ago, 0:01:29.080 --> 0:01:31.040 a few weeks ago on the show, we had some 0:01:31.600 --> 0:01:36.399 women up. They were Arizona State University students. They were 0:01:36.440 --> 0:01:42.000 in a video that was seen almost six million times, 0:01:43.400 --> 0:01:47.040 very much viral video, and these women were confronting some 0:01:48.160 --> 0:01:52.160 these these were black women, two or three black women 0:01:52.160 --> 0:01:57.560 and one Pakistani woman, and they confronted two white males 0:01:58.160 --> 0:02:02.920 on the campus of Arizona State University at the Multicultural Center, 0:02:03.440 --> 0:02:06.880 a center that the women fought to create so that 0:02:06.920 --> 0:02:09.680 they could have a place to study free of you know, 0:02:10.280 --> 0:02:12.840 oppressive systems and you know the world that they see it. 0:02:12.840 --> 0:02:14.720 I'm not a student at Arizona State, so I won't 0:02:14.840 --> 0:02:18.280 state their brief, but we invited them up to, you know, 0:02:18.360 --> 0:02:20.840 share the story behind the video that we saw. I 0:02:20.840 --> 0:02:22.680 employ you to go back a couple of episodes and 0:02:22.760 --> 0:02:25.040 check it out. You can find it on civicside for 0:02:25.120 --> 0:02:30.320 dot com. Well, Arizona State University wanted to take some 0:02:30.360 --> 0:02:36.359 disciplinary disciplinary action against those women for standing up for themselves. Obviously, 0:02:36.400 --> 0:02:38.959 on this show, we stand in solidarity with those women. 0:02:40.120 --> 0:02:43.640 You know, the males that came in did so with 0:02:43.680 --> 0:02:46.360 the intention of intimidating them. It wasn't because they were white. 0:02:46.360 --> 0:02:50.080 It's because they were bringing some anti black paraphernalia into 0:02:50.120 --> 0:02:52.360 the space and displaying it in such a way that 0:02:52.360 --> 0:02:55.360 it was intimidating and behaving in a manner that was 0:02:55.400 --> 0:03:01.720 inconsistent with the the promise of that space. Well, the 0:03:01.880 --> 0:03:07.920 disciplinary action has been reduced in at least one instance 0:03:07.960 --> 0:03:12.000 eliminated because of a letter writing campaign. They got over 0:03:12.080 --> 0:03:16.160 thirty five hundred letters sent to Arizona State University. And 0:03:16.760 --> 0:03:19.480 this is my way of saying that writing letters works. 0:03:19.720 --> 0:03:22.040 So if you have an opportunity to join a letter 0:03:22.040 --> 0:03:25.240 writing campaign for a cause that you believe in, I 0:03:25.240 --> 0:03:27.720 implore you to do so. If you want to find 0:03:27.720 --> 0:03:29.840 out more about the story I just told, like I said, 0:03:29.880 --> 0:03:35.680 go back a couple of episodes and check out that 0:03:35.680 --> 0:03:39.920 that episode that we aired, and plug in with the 0:03:39.920 --> 0:03:42.920 women on our social media. We follow them on our 0:03:42.960 --> 0:03:47.520 Instagram at Civic Cipher to follow that story and find 0:03:47.560 --> 0:03:52.120 out how you can offer them your support as well. Now, 0:03:56.320 --> 0:04:05.440 the BLM movement, First off, Q, how does this hit you? 0:04:06.120 --> 0:04:09.040 The eroding of the support for the BLM movement. 0:04:11.520 --> 0:04:16.679 So, one thing that was always going to be true 0:04:18.400 --> 0:04:25.520 is that at some point the flash bomb of support 0:04:25.839 --> 0:04:32.000 that BLM received in the midst of one of the 0:04:32.040 --> 0:04:42.440 most lightning struck, extremely polarizing years in our country's history, 0:04:42.560 --> 0:04:50.240 especially in our lifetime, was going to dwindle because, unfortunately, 0:04:50.320 --> 0:04:54.680 for the support to stay strong, the awful things that 0:04:54.800 --> 0:04:59.120 keep happening would have to get the same coverage, the 0:04:59.200 --> 0:05:03.360 same amount of gas would have to be poured on 0:05:03.400 --> 0:05:07.880 those fires, and that just wasn't going to continue. Right once, 0:05:08.880 --> 0:05:14.520 once video recording police killing black people didn't stop police 0:05:14.520 --> 0:05:17.360 from killing black people, one of two things was going 0:05:17.400 --> 0:05:22.839 to happen, a violent revolt by black people, which the 0:05:22.880 --> 0:05:26.520 country seems to have been waiting for for its entire inception. 0:05:26.680 --> 0:05:29.120 Like they think at some point we are going to 0:05:29.160 --> 0:05:33.840 take up arms and try to overthrow the oppressors, or 0:05:34.160 --> 0:05:36.160 people were going to become numb to it, and it 0:05:36.200 --> 0:05:39.440 was going to become normalized and not have the same 0:05:39.440 --> 0:05:44.960 effect anymore. And because contrary to what they think, we 0:05:45.040 --> 0:05:48.240 are not barbaric and evil in nature. We are not 0:05:48.400 --> 0:05:52.560 seeking revenge, just justice. We do not want more than you, 0:05:52.800 --> 0:05:56.000 just the same we do not want to replace you. 0:05:56.080 --> 0:06:00.000 We just want to be able to exist ourselves. Because 0:06:00.200 --> 0:06:02.120 the things that I'm saying are true, and because the 0:06:02.160 --> 0:06:06.400 thing is that they try to sell about us as 0:06:06.400 --> 0:06:09.000 a culture and as a people are not true. It's 0:06:09.040 --> 0:06:12.080 only human nature that the support would d winder. Right, 0:06:12.080 --> 0:06:17.000 because we're going to either seem less or more upset 0:06:17.040 --> 0:06:19.720 about what we're dealing with. We can't get any more 0:06:19.800 --> 0:06:23.040 upset than we are. Right, the only, like I said, 0:06:23.080 --> 0:06:25.760 the alternative would be for us to take arms and 0:06:26.000 --> 0:06:30.320 burn this down, excuse my language. And since we have 0:06:30.520 --> 0:06:34.360 not taken that approach, since it seems that we never will, 0:06:34.400 --> 0:06:40.039 because that is not our goal. Unfortunately, and contrary to 0:06:40.120 --> 0:06:46.320 what people might think, Black people built are proud of 0:06:48.000 --> 0:06:51.240 and deserve to be happy citizens in this country. We 0:06:51.240 --> 0:06:54.719 should not have to destroy it or go back to Africa, 0:06:54.760 --> 0:06:59.200 as we've been implored to do for hundreds of years 0:06:59.240 --> 0:07:03.599 we've been here and because of the colonizing your pressures. 0:07:03.600 --> 0:07:07.200 I don't have any history with Africa. I have my 0:07:07.480 --> 0:07:11.679 ancestry results, but I have no idea where my people 0:07:11.680 --> 0:07:15.360 came from, what tribe, what region, what country? You know 0:07:15.400 --> 0:07:20.840 what I mean. So the support was always going to dwindle. 0:07:20.880 --> 0:07:24.720 Bro it was always going to be less. People were 0:07:24.720 --> 0:07:27.320 always going to be less outraged. As the thing that 0:07:27.440 --> 0:07:31.000 outraged just became more normal and we became more numb 0:07:31.000 --> 0:07:35.240 to it. The coverage gets less, the outrage is less, 0:07:35.280 --> 0:07:38.880 the support is less. It's a human nature experience. It's 0:07:38.920 --> 0:07:42.280 not even about Black lives matter and specific. The support 0:07:42.400 --> 0:07:46.400 for all causes has dwindled. When it's not October, less 0:07:46.400 --> 0:07:50.840 people are concentrated on breast cancer when it's not February. Less, 0:07:50.840 --> 0:07:54.560 people are concentrating on Black history right when it's not 0:07:54.800 --> 0:07:58.360 the time to pay specific attention to specific causes, the 0:07:58.400 --> 0:08:02.320 support dwindles. That's why people spend so much money to 0:08:02.480 --> 0:08:07.000 keep people's focused and attention and awareness or things that 0:08:07.040 --> 0:08:09.960 they want people to be supportive of, because by nature, 0:08:10.040 --> 0:08:14.400 the support and the attention will dissolve in some way. 0:08:15.600 --> 0:08:21.760 So I'm glad you said that. I think that that 0:08:22.160 --> 0:08:27.960 is a very easy and a very natural conclusion to draw, 0:08:30.520 --> 0:08:33.520 And of course it's absolutely right. This is something that 0:08:33.559 --> 0:08:42.480 we've seen. But I want to add a couple of 0:08:42.520 --> 0:08:45.400 other things to that and get your thoughts on that 0:08:45.480 --> 0:08:48.600 as well, But first allow me to read this now. 0:08:48.920 --> 0:08:53.719 For this, I consulted with NBC News for my notes here. 0:08:54.400 --> 0:08:58.240 According to a national poll conducted by Civics, a non 0:08:58.440 --> 0:09:02.600 partisan online survey firm affiliated with the progressive media group 0:09:02.840 --> 0:09:09.240 Daily Costs, forty four percent of respondents said they oppose 0:09:09.559 --> 0:09:13.800 the Black Lives Matter movement. Another forty three percent said 0:09:13.840 --> 0:09:16.920 they support it. That means forty four percent oppose it, 0:09:17.040 --> 0:09:21.160 forty three percent supported, while eleven percent said they neither 0:09:21.200 --> 0:09:27.600 support nor oppose the survey has tracked respondents viewpoints at 0:09:27.679 --> 0:09:32.679 multiple moments from April twenty seventeen to this month. According 0:09:32.760 --> 0:09:35.280 to the poll, support for the Black Lives Matter movement 0:09:35.360 --> 0:09:38.800 peaked in June twenty twenty at fifty two percent, a 0:09:38.880 --> 0:09:43.720 month after George Floyd was killed. While eighty two percent 0:09:43.760 --> 0:09:46.680 of the respondents in support of Black Lives Matter is 0:09:46.720 --> 0:09:53.520 the most recent in the most recent poll sorry, while 0:09:53.679 --> 0:09:56.839 eighty five sorry. While eighty two percent of the respondents 0:09:58.000 --> 0:10:00.360 in support of Black Lives Matter in the most recent 0:10:00.400 --> 0:10:03.680 poll were black, more than half of those in opposition 0:10:03.800 --> 0:10:08.199 were white. In other words, black people supported Black Lives 0:10:08.200 --> 0:10:12.720 Matter iter rate of eighty two percent, White people opposed 0:10:13.160 --> 0:10:20.400 Black Lives Matter to the tune of over fifty percent, 0:10:21.840 --> 0:10:24.400 which reflects a pattern of public opinion when it comes 0:10:24.480 --> 0:10:29.079 to racial justice movements. This was according to Vita Robinson, 0:10:29.160 --> 0:10:32.680 the director for the Center for Critical Race Studies at 0:10:32.679 --> 0:10:38.000 the University of Houston Downtown. Robertson said, the findings reveal 0:10:38.160 --> 0:10:42.319 the historical phenomenon of the liberation struggles with Black Americans 0:10:42.360 --> 0:10:45.360 and civil rights movements from the Harlem Renaissance to the 0:10:45.360 --> 0:10:48.400 Black Power movement. And I want to pull this quote 0:10:48.440 --> 0:10:52.760 from her, these polls are quite representative of America's approach. 0:10:53.080 --> 0:10:56.400 Robertson said, there is no historical evidence whatsoever that America 0:10:56.440 --> 0:11:00.080 has ever been interested in black liberation and building an 0:11:00.080 --> 0:11:05.360 equitable society. We are simply coming to grips with our 0:11:05.559 --> 0:11:10.840 romantic ideas that are running up against our political realities. 0:11:11.240 --> 0:11:14.000 And the fact stands that America has constantly and will 0:11:14.000 --> 0:11:17.640 constantly struggle with the liberation of black bodies because we 0:11:17.720 --> 0:11:25.760 are endemically a racist society. Now, something that I wanted 0:11:25.800 --> 0:11:36.920 to add to your statement is a visibly visible, well defined, 0:11:37.480 --> 0:11:44.000 deliberate opposition to black lives matter. You know, it was 0:11:44.040 --> 0:11:48.199 just talking about the young women from Arizona State University. 0:11:50.760 --> 0:11:55.800 The white student male student, one of the two white 0:11:55.880 --> 0:11:59.000 male students in the video. If you want to check 0:11:59.040 --> 0:12:01.920 it out again, it's on our our social media. At 0:12:01.920 --> 0:12:06.640 civic Cipher had a sticker on his laptop that said 0:12:06.679 --> 0:12:10.080 police Lives Matter, and that was part of what he 0:12:10.200 --> 0:12:13.600 was pointing toward the women who were studying there in 0:12:13.600 --> 0:12:20.640 attempts to intimidate them and harass them. Police Lives Matter 0:12:21.800 --> 0:12:24.240 is one of the things that grew in opposition to 0:12:24.280 --> 0:12:28.679 Black Lives Matter, the same as all lives matter. You know, 0:12:29.960 --> 0:12:37.120 that flag thing wasn't popularized until twenty twenty. You know 0:12:37.160 --> 0:12:47.600 what I mean critical race theory. I mean there are 0:12:47.640 --> 0:12:52.040 people that send their children to school because they want 0:12:52.040 --> 0:12:57.920 their children to learn, but not that. And you can 0:12:57.920 --> 0:13:04.240 see how well this opposition well defined, very very precise. 0:13:04.960 --> 0:13:10.400 It is white supremacy. Not to pick on it. It 0:13:10.520 --> 0:13:12.440 deserves to be picked on, but not to pick on it. 0:13:12.520 --> 0:13:17.160 Certain systems are built to preserve themselves, white supremacy being 0:13:17.200 --> 0:13:19.720 one of them. You know, we could talk about white 0:13:20.559 --> 0:13:22.840 being the one, the one, yeah, but we could talk 0:13:22.880 --> 0:13:26.640 about a lot of systems that you know, they they're 0:13:26.640 --> 0:13:29.920 designed with self preservation in mind, and that's why they 0:13:29.960 --> 0:13:33.960 continue to orbit on their own access. You know, they 0:13:34.000 --> 0:13:36.800 continue to exist and continue to you know, we could 0:13:36.800 --> 0:13:38.720 talk about a lot a lot of things. But you know, 0:13:38.760 --> 0:13:46.160 white supremacy empowers powerful people and compels them to retain 0:13:47.040 --> 0:13:49.679 all of the power and all of the money when 0:13:49.679 --> 0:13:54.360 you mix it with capitalism, you know, and you know, 0:13:57.080 --> 0:14:00.400 fortunately there is that forty one percent that's still stands 0:14:00.400 --> 0:14:06.000 and support a Black Lives matter. And fortunately there's a 0:14:06.040 --> 0:14:10.280 good number of those folks who are white, and you know, 0:14:10.360 --> 0:14:16.920 perhaps nearly enough, right, But that goes to show how 0:14:17.080 --> 0:14:23.200 effective these I mean, it's easy to pick on Fox 0:14:23.280 --> 0:14:25.760 News because they make it so easy, but you know 0:14:25.800 --> 0:14:31.360 they're not the only ones. And what we don't have 0:14:31.480 --> 0:14:37.800 the same resources. I'm talking about black people specifically as 0:14:37.840 --> 0:14:39.800 a Fox News as you know, in terms of a 0:14:39.840 --> 0:14:44.000 way to challenge critical race theory or challenge the opponents 0:14:44.000 --> 0:14:47.160 of critical race theory. But we do have this show, 0:14:48.080 --> 0:14:50.640 and we have people that listen to this show, people 0:14:50.680 --> 0:14:52.640 who are not black. You know, this is a this 0:14:52.720 --> 0:14:54.920 is a black show, but make no mistake, this is 0:14:54.920 --> 0:14:56.480 a black show for non black people. 0:14:58.120 --> 0:14:58.320 You know. 0:14:58.360 --> 0:15:01.320 That's why you're listening to this show wherever you're listening 0:15:01.320 --> 0:15:06.160 to it, if you're listening on the radio. We think 0:15:06.240 --> 0:15:09.960 that in spaces like this we can create stronger and 0:15:10.040 --> 0:15:14.840 more empowered allies by sharing this information. We feel like 0:15:14.960 --> 0:15:23.080 you listening to Q andized voice, oh sorry, mine and 0:15:23.160 --> 0:15:28.840 Q's voice today, we'll be able to take this information 0:15:29.040 --> 0:15:33.320 and understand what the path forward should be. Conceivably, we 0:15:33.440 --> 0:15:41.480 need to combat this active opposition to a statement that 0:15:41.520 --> 0:15:44.640 in theory should just be a statement of fact. But 0:15:44.720 --> 0:15:49.640 it's controversial. Somehow black lives matter because I believe a 0:15:49.640 --> 0:15:53.720 good amount of this erosion has come from right wing 0:15:53.800 --> 0:16:01.040 media in the form of moderates who are you know, obviously, 0:16:01.040 --> 0:16:04.160 if they see something they're gonna be upset by something 0:16:04.320 --> 0:16:06.160 like the George Floyd video, they're gonna be upset by it. 0:16:06.680 --> 0:16:11.360 But you know, if enough of these folks on the 0:16:11.440 --> 0:16:13.560 right get in their ear and say, you know, critical 0:16:13.600 --> 0:16:16.880 race theory is indoctrinating your children to hate themselves, what 0:16:19.360 --> 0:16:23.080 in the world does that mean. You know, it doesn't 0:16:23.120 --> 0:16:25.720 teach anyone to hate themselves. It doesn't teach my children 0:16:25.720 --> 0:16:29.200 to pity themselves. It's the reality of the situation, so 0:16:29.240 --> 0:16:31.680 that we don't repeat it anymore. But let the right 0:16:31.720 --> 0:16:34.920 people frame it the right way and get that message out. 0:16:35.840 --> 0:16:38.880 Then we end up with at least a piece of this, 0:16:38.960 --> 0:16:44.880 in my belief, erosion coming from that source. And what 0:16:45.000 --> 0:16:48.160 you as a listener of this show and an ally 0:16:48.280 --> 0:16:52.040 to black and brown and indigenous and any marginalized people, 0:16:52.120 --> 0:16:54.760 and you, as a person who wants to bring a 0:16:54.800 --> 0:16:58.080 little bit of balance to the universe and to follow 0:16:58.120 --> 0:17:04.240 the moral arc of of this existence, you the listener, 0:17:05.520 --> 0:17:10.520 can combat this by having conversations about this, because that's 0:17:10.520 --> 0:17:13.199 a lot more powerful than Fox News. It's a lot 0:17:13.240 --> 0:17:18.359 more challenging as well. But we want you to do 0:17:18.400 --> 0:17:20.240 that and we need you to do that. We need 0:17:20.240 --> 0:17:22.119 you to know that this is a real thing. We 0:17:22.320 --> 0:17:25.680 as Q mentioned, we knew this was going to happen. 0:17:27.160 --> 0:17:29.080 We knew this was going to happen. And that's why 0:17:29.119 --> 0:17:33.080 we did our best to capture the moment and do 0:17:33.160 --> 0:17:38.040 something with it. And our contribution to the moment that 0:17:38.240 --> 0:17:43.720 was twenty twenty has birthed this show. And for folks 0:17:43.760 --> 0:17:47.440 listening to us in Vermont and you know, in Florida 0:17:47.520 --> 0:17:50.880 and in California, and you know, whatever state you're in 0:17:51.880 --> 0:18:00.240 or city you're in, listening to our voices, hopefully our 0:18:00.280 --> 0:18:03.440 contribution will be these conversations that we're asking you to have. 0:18:03.560 --> 0:18:06.199 We will have them, and then we ask that you 0:18:06.280 --> 0:18:09.320 have them as well, because the reality of the fact 0:18:09.400 --> 0:18:12.679 is that now there are less people in support of 0:18:12.760 --> 0:18:22.920 black lives mattering, and we are black lives that I'm 0:18:22.960 --> 0:18:24.480 going to wake up tomorrow and I'm still going to 0:18:24.480 --> 0:18:26.440 be black. My children are going to wake up tomorrow, 0:18:26.480 --> 0:18:29.800 They're going to be black. And according to these numbers, 0:18:29.800 --> 0:18:30.440 it says. 0:18:30.320 --> 0:18:31.480 Most people. 0:18:32.720 --> 0:18:38.720 Would disagree with a statement suggesting that their lives matter. 0:18:41.520 --> 0:18:47.880 Life is a beating heart. You understand that. So this 0:18:47.920 --> 0:18:50.480 is a reality that we knew about. As Q mentioned, 0:18:52.440 --> 0:18:56.040 we knew this. This doesn't hurt the way that it 0:18:56.080 --> 0:18:58.399 does when you're first figuring it out. I mean, I 0:18:58.400 --> 0:19:00.200 don't know if it ever really hurts. It's just sort 0:19:00.200 --> 0:19:03.040 of reality that you were born numb to and you're 0:19:03.080 --> 0:19:07.760 still numb to. It's sad. I know it, you know, 0:19:07.840 --> 0:19:11.640 and I do my best to you know, encourage people 0:19:11.720 --> 0:19:15.600 and uplift people that I know are in similar predicaments. 0:19:15.800 --> 0:19:17.840 They might look like me, they might not, you know, 0:19:18.680 --> 0:19:22.080 but you know, we have our own therapy sessions, and 0:19:22.440 --> 0:19:24.800 you know, we you know, I put little crowns under 0:19:25.280 --> 0:19:29.200 the Instagram photos and Facebook photos of little black kids 0:19:29.240 --> 0:19:31.960 and black men and whoever I see that might be 0:19:31.960 --> 0:19:34.239 able to use a little bit of brightness in their 0:19:34.280 --> 0:19:35.960 day to let them know that they're valuable and that 0:19:35.960 --> 0:19:36.560 they're special. 0:19:37.600 --> 0:19:40.040 And I noticed that and adopted that as well. And 0:19:40.080 --> 0:19:45.480 I'm sure you've noticed. Yeah, but something that you said 0:19:45.520 --> 0:19:49.240 that you said that we're born numb to it, and 0:19:49.280 --> 0:19:50.359 that part isn't true. 0:19:50.600 --> 0:19:52.200 Okay, so help me say we're. 0:19:52.640 --> 0:19:56.040 We're born We're born knowing that it's the truth. Okay, 0:19:56.160 --> 0:20:01.080 but the numbness isn't natural. Right. You've seen our kids play. 0:20:01.160 --> 0:20:01.240 Right. 0:20:01.320 --> 0:20:04.000 One of the first videos that I've ever taken of Grayson, 0:20:04.080 --> 0:20:06.959 we were at Top Golf in Las Vegasy. We went 0:20:07.000 --> 0:20:11.639 out to visit Grayson's uncle Nick. Shout out to Nick. 0:20:11.560 --> 0:20:14.000 Bean, and. 0:20:15.359 --> 0:20:18.720 A little Asian girl from a couple bays down just 0:20:18.840 --> 0:20:23.120 ran down and gave Graceon a hug. And there were 0:20:23.200 --> 0:20:28.399 no strange, weird negative responses from this girl's parents. The 0:20:28.520 --> 0:20:31.080 parents of that baby thought it was just as amazing 0:20:31.119 --> 0:20:34.480 and precious as we did. And that's one of those 0:20:34.520 --> 0:20:39.040 moments where you realize, or you're reminded that not everyone 0:20:39.160 --> 0:20:45.200 subscribes to that ignorance, but you're also reminded, but damn 0:20:45.240 --> 0:20:48.520 a lot of people do. And there are parents who 0:20:48.560 --> 0:20:52.040 would have been terrified to see their child run down, 0:20:52.800 --> 0:20:56.640 their daughter run down and hug my black son. And 0:20:56.800 --> 0:21:00.600 there will be a moment, I am certain that there 0:21:00.600 --> 0:21:04.119 will be a moment where either my son or his 0:21:04.280 --> 0:21:08.840 dad is going to be reminded that there are people 0:21:08.880 --> 0:21:15.359 who do not want their children to love, care about, 0:21:15.520 --> 0:21:20.840 play with, hug, kiss, or have any type of relationship 0:21:21.000 --> 0:21:26.640 or interaction with my black and Mexican son prove positive 0:21:26.680 --> 0:21:30.600 by the tens of millions of people that try to 0:21:30.680 --> 0:21:41.520 re elect a man whose entire base, foundation and campaign 0:21:42.840 --> 0:21:47.320 was run on stoking the fire of divisive racism in 0:21:47.359 --> 0:21:53.040 this country. So you're not born numb to it. Things 0:21:53.080 --> 0:21:56.360 happen that remind you that it's true, and you somehow 0:21:56.880 --> 0:22:00.119 find yourself feeling stupid for being so naive, as as 0:22:00.160 --> 0:22:04.240 if to believe or think that we'd made some progress 0:22:04.320 --> 0:22:05.920 or that it had gone away, or that it wasn't 0:22:05.920 --> 0:22:08.520 going to be the case with you. So we know 0:22:08.680 --> 0:22:12.000 that it exists, but that numbness is developed, and it's 0:22:12.040 --> 0:22:16.320 developed through disappointment and hurt and pain and anger and fear. 0:22:17.359 --> 0:22:21.679 Right we're the ones who are actually afraid initially, you know, 0:22:21.720 --> 0:22:23.800 we keep painting this picture where these cops are so 0:22:23.840 --> 0:22:26.240 afraid of us. They're not afraid, like you said, they're 0:22:26.240 --> 0:22:28.520 shooting people in the back that are running away from them. 0:22:28.560 --> 0:22:35.320 That's not fear, that's hate. And our fear and anger 0:22:36.520 --> 0:22:40.960 at some point turns into numbness because we continue to 0:22:41.040 --> 0:22:46.280 perpetually experience the worst things that this country has to offer, 0:22:46.800 --> 0:22:49.000 and we still have to stand when they play that 0:22:49.080 --> 0:22:51.320 anthem with our hands in our hearts and be proud 0:22:51.400 --> 0:22:54.680 of it, or get out and go back to our 0:22:55.200 --> 0:22:56.000 whole countries. 0:23:01.480 --> 0:23:07.320 Well, you're not wrong, You're you're in fact, you're absolutely right. 0:23:09.800 --> 0:23:15.040 But the good news is that there's always so there's 0:23:15.040 --> 0:23:18.200 some people who are a conspiracy theorists, and I'm adopting 0:23:18.240 --> 0:23:21.520 the term I'm a positivity theorist. I you know, I 0:23:21.640 --> 0:23:23.680 just I feel like we're going to get there. This 0:23:23.720 --> 0:23:25.679 is our journey, this is our journey, and this is 0:23:25.680 --> 0:23:28.480 our this is our story, you know, for better or worse. 0:23:29.480 --> 0:23:32.399 And what we're going to do is appeal once again 0:23:33.000 --> 0:23:36.800 to everyone listening to our voice. Continue to have challenging, 0:23:36.840 --> 0:23:41.760 difficult conversations, to unindoctrinate those who have been indoctrinated to 0:23:41.920 --> 0:23:50.520 oppose very very simple, logical, linear things. And you know, uh, 0:23:50.920 --> 0:23:56.240 spread love, man, just just spread love. It's we need 0:23:56.280 --> 0:24:01.720 you to do that. Please. Before we move on, I 0:24:01.760 --> 0:24:06.800 wanted to say the name Filando Castile, who, if you 0:24:06.840 --> 0:24:08.879 listened to the first half of the show, was the 0:24:09.640 --> 0:24:12.119 gentleman who was shot in the front seat of his 0:24:12.160 --> 0:24:15.280 car by police after letting them know explaining that he 0:24:15.320 --> 0:24:17.680 had a gun on his person. And was filmed by 0:24:17.680 --> 0:24:23.280 his girlfriend, so it's important to say his name, and 0:24:23.600 --> 0:24:25.159 I wanted to make sure I got that in there. 0:24:26.480 --> 0:24:34.080 Moving on, Alexander Dumas. 0:24:34.119 --> 0:24:36.160 All right, So. 0:24:37.040 --> 0:24:42.600 I was watching the movie The Harder They Fall recently 0:24:43.600 --> 0:24:48.800 and it was such a good movie, and I recognized 0:24:48.880 --> 0:24:53.840 that it's kind of like the type of movie that 0:24:53.880 --> 0:24:57.000 you don't see very often, you know. I mean, I 0:24:57.480 --> 0:25:01.680 know that, but westerns. I don't watch westerns, so maybe 0:25:01.680 --> 0:25:05.359 it's just me who knows. And then I got to thinking, 0:25:06.600 --> 0:25:09.160 wait a minute, Jango is kind of like a Western. 0:25:10.240 --> 0:25:12.600 You know, it's in my memory at the time it 0:25:12.960 --> 0:25:15.200 took place in the South, but Djengo is a cowboys, 0:25:15.200 --> 0:25:18.120 same as you know these guys, and you know, there's 0:25:18.280 --> 0:25:21.040 an old timey western flip. There's a bunch of horses 0:25:21.040 --> 0:25:24.040 and shotguns. So I'm like, let me revisit Jango and 0:25:24.080 --> 0:25:28.600 see if I enjoy it in the same way that 0:25:28.640 --> 0:25:33.879 I enjoyed Harder They Fall. And toward the end of 0:25:33.880 --> 0:25:37.480 the movie something stood out to me. So in the movie, 0:25:37.480 --> 0:25:41.680 there's a man named d'Artagnan. He's a slave, and Leonardo 0:25:41.760 --> 0:25:49.160 DiCaprio's character says that he wants to have his dogs 0:25:49.320 --> 0:25:54.720 rip d'Artagnan apart. d'Artagnan attempted to run away, and that's 0:25:54.760 --> 0:25:57.280 what happens to him. The dogs eat him and terremark. 0:25:59.400 --> 0:26:08.000 Later in the DiCaprio's character realizes that d'Artagnan was the 0:26:08.119 --> 0:26:14.160 name from one of Alexander Dumas's books, The Three Musketeers, Right, 0:26:15.960 --> 0:26:23.320 and that book was written by a black author. Right, 0:26:23.720 --> 0:26:26.840 So he read this book, obviously loved the character named 0:26:26.840 --> 0:26:28.720 one of his slaves after a character in the book, 0:26:28.760 --> 0:26:31.000 and then found out that the author was was was 0:26:31.040 --> 0:26:33.120 not a white person. The author was black and would 0:26:33.200 --> 0:26:37.439 not have approved of the way the d'Artagnan in the 0:26:37.480 --> 0:26:41.120 movie met his end, and you can see him coming 0:26:41.160 --> 0:26:44.200 to terms and they're like, wow, I had no idea 0:26:44.200 --> 0:26:45.760 that black people could aspire to that. And if you 0:26:45.800 --> 0:26:47.480 see the film, for those who haven't seen, if you 0:26:47.480 --> 0:26:51.480 see the film, you'll see how it comes together because 0:26:51.640 --> 0:26:55.040 Leonardo DiCaprio's character did not think highly of black skinned 0:26:55.040 --> 0:26:59.960 people based on bogus science of the time that was 0:27:00.119 --> 0:27:05.440 not founded in any reality whatsoever, but allowed folks at 0:27:05.440 --> 0:27:08.560 that period in this country's history to justify slavery that 0:27:08.720 --> 0:27:17.920 in the Bible Furthermore, my older son has to read 0:27:18.000 --> 0:27:20.800 The Three Musketeers for like a high school project he's 0:27:20.840 --> 0:27:24.040 working on right, which is a book by Alexander Dumas, 0:27:24.080 --> 0:27:26.640 And so in brief I wanted to share a bit 0:27:26.760 --> 0:27:33.960 about Alexander Dumas or our way Black history fact. He 0:27:34.240 --> 0:27:38.120 was born the twenty fourth of July eighteen oh two 0:27:38.720 --> 0:27:41.560 and died December fifth, eighteen seventy. He was a French writer. 0:27:41.640 --> 0:27:44.520 His works have been translated into many languages, and he 0:27:44.600 --> 0:27:48.600 is one of the most widely read French authors. Many 0:27:48.680 --> 0:27:51.960 of his historical novels of high adventure were originally published 0:27:52.000 --> 0:27:56.720 as serials, including The Count of Monte Cristo that's him. 0:27:57.080 --> 0:28:03.880 The Three Musketeers, of course, twenty years after and ten 0:28:03.960 --> 0:28:07.920 years Later is another one. His novels have been adapted 0:28:07.960 --> 0:28:11.840 since the early twentieth century into nearly two hundred films, 0:28:12.560 --> 0:28:17.040 prolific and several genres. Dumas began his career by writing plays, 0:28:17.240 --> 0:28:22.280 which were successfully produced from the first He also wrote 0:28:22.320 --> 0:28:26.000 numerous magazine articles and travel books. His published works totaled 0:28:26.040 --> 0:28:29.040 one hundred thousand pages. In the eighteen forties, Dumas founded 0:28:29.320 --> 0:28:36.080 the Theater Historic in Paris. His father, General Thomas Alexander 0:28:36.160 --> 0:28:41.800 Dumas Davy de la Pollietari was born in the French 0:28:41.840 --> 0:28:54.080 colony of Saint Domingue present day Haiti, and he was 0:28:54.080 --> 0:28:59.920 born to Alexander and Antoine David de Lapierte, a French noble, 0:29:00.440 --> 0:29:06.840 and Marie Sessette Dumas, an African slave. Sorry these names. 0:29:07.200 --> 0:29:11.200