WEBVTT - Civic Cipher 013021 Why do Black Right-Wing Political Pundits Exist? 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:03.800 Welcome to another episode of Civic Cipher. I'my host Rams' John. 0:00:03.880 --> 0:00:05.840 They called me q Ward and that just so happens 0:00:05.880 --> 0:00:09.639 to be part of my government named Ramses. What up? 0:00:09.680 --> 0:00:12.640 Don't a week as usual? 0:00:14.240 --> 0:00:18.880 But we got a few things to talk about that 0:00:19.640 --> 0:00:21.600 aren't just specific to this week. 0:00:22.200 --> 0:00:24.360 We got to talk about that. 0:00:25.920 --> 0:00:31.000 Have been conversations, if you will, baseless in my opinion, 0:00:31.640 --> 0:00:39.920 but conversations in the black community for ever, really since 0:00:39.920 --> 0:00:48.240 I've been born. Clicked on one of them is well, 0:00:48.280 --> 0:00:49.800 what is the government doing for me? 0:00:52.920 --> 0:00:54.040 And I want to talk. 0:00:53.880 --> 0:00:59.200 About That's a loaded question, right right, because you know 0:00:59.280 --> 0:01:02.200 there's you know, there's a there's a good reason to 0:01:02.240 --> 0:01:09.000 ask those questions. But you know there's there's a you know, 0:01:09.040 --> 0:01:11.320 a glass half full and a glass half empty way 0:01:11.319 --> 0:01:17.640 of looking at you know, politics from this vantage point, 0:01:18.600 --> 0:01:24.200 from a decided from a black vantage point, and so yes, 0:01:24.560 --> 0:01:28.720 you know, obviously there's some folks that will look at 0:01:28.760 --> 0:01:31.640 it and think, you know, the government does nothing for us, 0:01:31.680 --> 0:01:33.679 We're forgotten you know this, that and the third. And 0:01:33.720 --> 0:01:38.720 then there's some people who look at the progress, no 0:01:38.760 --> 0:01:42.920 matter how small, and think, okay, well we're moving in 0:01:42.920 --> 0:01:45.160 the right direction. This is this is just kind of 0:01:45.160 --> 0:01:48.160 the hand we've been dealt. It's not perfect, but you know, 0:01:48.280 --> 0:01:49.760 the world will be a little bit better when I 0:01:49.840 --> 0:01:52.120 leave it than it was when I entered it, and 0:01:53.320 --> 0:02:00.960 that is energizing to some degree. The thing is, I 0:02:01.040 --> 0:02:07.800 tend to be of the latter mindset more often than not. 0:02:07.880 --> 0:02:09.960 I I tend to look at, you know, Okay, what 0:02:10.120 --> 0:02:13.160 has been accomplished in my lifetime? What was the world 0:02:13.240 --> 0:02:15.720 I was born into? What is the world I'm in now? 0:02:15.840 --> 0:02:17.160 What will the world look like when. 0:02:16.960 --> 0:02:17.400 I leave it? 0:02:17.639 --> 0:02:20.320 And you know, there's some things when I look around 0:02:20.400 --> 0:02:25.320 and I say, okay, well, I've seen a black president. 0:02:25.360 --> 0:02:25.960 I voted for. 0:02:25.960 --> 0:02:28.240 Him twice, you know, two times. 0:02:27.960 --> 0:02:33.080 Right, I've seen the first female vice president of the 0:02:33.120 --> 0:02:35.160 United States was black. 0:02:35.600 --> 0:02:38.400 Is black? I've seen. 0:02:40.720 --> 0:02:44.799 You know, obviously during the uh, the the dark Trump years, 0:02:44.880 --> 0:02:46.880 we saw that there's still a lot out there that 0:02:46.960 --> 0:02:50.520 needs to be dealt with. But you know, overall, I 0:02:50.560 --> 0:02:55.120 feel very optimistic about the trajectory of this country. 0:02:55.400 --> 0:02:56.320 Bless your heart. 0:02:57.240 --> 0:02:59.840 Well, you know, that's that's kind of what I'm a 0:03:00.280 --> 0:03:04.080 casework I do feel optimistic. I think that for the 0:03:04.120 --> 0:03:07.639 most part, you know, there's enough of you got to 0:03:07.680 --> 0:03:11.400 bear in mind that Hillary Clinton in twenty sixteen did win. 0:03:11.320 --> 0:03:12.840 The popular vote. 0:03:12.960 --> 0:03:17.240 You know, so there are more people that will stand 0:03:17.520 --> 0:03:23.239 opposed to racism and misogyny and all these terrible things 0:03:23.280 --> 0:03:26.360 that have held black people and round people back. There's 0:03:26.400 --> 0:03:28.440 more people that will stand against that than there are 0:03:28.440 --> 0:03:31.720 that will stand for it, as illustrated by the past 0:03:31.760 --> 0:03:32.600 two elections. 0:03:34.240 --> 0:03:37.680 Trouble vote trouble is. I think there's been the case 0:03:37.720 --> 0:03:40.520 for a long time, but our country has done nothing 0:03:40.560 --> 0:03:45.040 to correct the system that lets the minority win right, right. 0:03:44.840 --> 0:03:50.640 And actively, or it continues to allow we'll call it 0:03:50.680 --> 0:03:59.240 what it is, the right to disenfranchise voters based on 0:03:59.680 --> 0:04:05.720 non since right, jerry mandering, et cetera. You know, there's 0:04:05.840 --> 0:04:08.280 lots more people that should be voting in these elections, 0:04:08.360 --> 0:04:12.000 and every vote should count, and the way it works now, 0:04:12.040 --> 0:04:17.480 I think I saw the Netflix documentary that a white 0:04:17.600 --> 0:04:22.279 man voter from Wyoming is worth like one point seventy 0:04:22.279 --> 0:04:26.680 five votes, you know, in terms of its actual impact 0:04:27.080 --> 0:04:31.360 in the political political sphere, you know, than a person 0:04:31.360 --> 0:04:36.960 in California. You know. So it's this these white males, 0:04:37.000 --> 0:04:41.600 still based on the weight of their vote, still control 0:04:42.000 --> 0:04:50.839 disproportionately a disproportionate amount of policies and and you know, 0:04:50.920 --> 0:04:51.960 elections and so forth. 0:04:52.040 --> 0:04:55.320 Shout out to the electoral college. No, let's never shut 0:04:55.320 --> 0:04:55.719 that out. 0:04:58.240 --> 0:05:03.000 But you know, there's some there's some people who take 0:05:03.120 --> 0:05:09.920 a a different approach. There's some people who try to 0:05:09.960 --> 0:05:12.719 see the world as perfect. 0:05:13.480 --> 0:05:14.040 As it is. 0:05:14.080 --> 0:05:17.600 They try to ignore the past, and or otherwise they 0:05:17.640 --> 0:05:26.279 try to condemn the the plight of black people, or 0:05:26.320 --> 0:05:32.320 otherwise they're extremely critical of black people in their our 0:05:32.600 --> 0:05:35.920 quest to have to live in a more equal world, 0:05:36.120 --> 0:05:40.680 a fairer go at life. And some of these people 0:05:41.560 --> 0:05:44.960 are names that you well know. Candice Owens is one 0:05:44.960 --> 0:05:53.720 of them, and Marcellus Wiley is another one. And before 0:05:53.760 --> 0:05:55.840 we talk about what I want to talk about, which 0:05:55.920 --> 0:05:59.839 is what has Joe Biden done so far with his 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:02.960 executive orders that have affected black people? Because that's a 0:06:03.000 --> 0:06:06.840 conversation that I've been hearing a lot. You know, Oh all, 0:06:06.880 --> 0:06:08.680 y'all went out and voted for this man, he still 0:06:08.680 --> 0:06:10.280 hasn't done nothing for you. Because I want to talk 0:06:10.279 --> 0:06:12.320 about that, you know, and I want to talk about 0:06:12.320 --> 0:06:15.200 what executive orders actually are so that you know, people 0:06:15.279 --> 0:06:18.040 can be educated and we can maintain a little bit 0:06:18.040 --> 0:06:20.080 of optimism because it seems like a lot of folks 0:06:20.080 --> 0:06:22.279 are feeling real pessimistic right now, which I understand. 0:06:23.800 --> 0:06:26.359 It didn't help that they came into it looking to 0:06:26.400 --> 0:06:27.800 feel pessimistic, like. 0:06:27.880 --> 0:06:31.279 Nothing is good enough sort of people, you know, But 0:06:32.080 --> 0:06:33.800 you know, we got to talk to them. We're all 0:06:33.800 --> 0:06:35.440 in this together, so we got to deal with these 0:06:35.440 --> 0:06:38.080 people who are scared of everything, and I think everybody's 0:06:38.120 --> 0:06:40.200 out to get them specifically, and that sort of thing. 0:06:40.279 --> 0:06:46.560 So you had some real strong opinions about some of 0:06:46.600 --> 0:06:49.599 these folks, so I want you to talk about those 0:06:50.760 --> 0:06:52.159 before we get to Joe Biden. 0:06:52.920 --> 0:06:55.320 Well, I really only want to talk about one of them, 0:06:55.480 --> 0:06:57.520 all right, and then we just have some examples of 0:06:57.560 --> 0:07:00.839 people that are from that same school of thought. Okay, 0:07:02.200 --> 0:07:06.039 I've been ah, I guess fan is the right word. 0:07:06.080 --> 0:07:11.760 Of this show called Real Time on HBO. The host 0:07:11.800 --> 0:07:18.800 is a comedian and political pundit named Bill Marr, someone 0:07:18.880 --> 0:07:23.920 that our former president loathed, which made him a friend 0:07:23.920 --> 0:07:26.480 of mine off bat like, oh dude, don't rock with 0:07:26.520 --> 0:07:30.000 you heavy? Are you my man? Like? But even prior 0:07:30.040 --> 0:07:31.840 to that, I've been you know, watching him following this 0:07:31.880 --> 0:07:35.560 show for a long time. He tends to have a 0:07:35.600 --> 0:07:41.880 pretty pragmatic approach to politics. Rich white guy that kind 0:07:41.880 --> 0:07:46.000 of always stands up for the little guy, right. He 0:07:46.000 --> 0:07:50.240 didn't vote, He doesn't vote his best interest. He's a 0:07:50.320 --> 0:07:55.600 rich white celebrity, the type of person that Donald Trump 0:07:55.640 --> 0:08:00.080 went to bat for. He just like I figured all 0:08:00.120 --> 0:08:05.360 of our friends and colleagues and allies would be smart 0:08:05.440 --> 0:08:07.160 enough to see that to do wasn't a good person, 0:08:07.160 --> 0:08:09.280 no matter what he did for you in your bank account, 0:08:09.640 --> 0:08:13.600 no matter what political plays he ran, he was just 0:08:13.600 --> 0:08:16.560 an awful person. And you know it was pretty see through. 0:08:16.600 --> 0:08:20.040 There was no veil. He didn't even pretend. Okay, never mind, 0:08:20.080 --> 0:08:22.680 because I don't want to take the twenty steps back 0:08:22.680 --> 0:08:26.320 that I'm about to. But he had a guest on Friday, 0:08:26.360 --> 0:08:29.320 and I typically, if I'm working and for you and 0:08:29.360 --> 0:08:32.720 I every weekend Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. That was the truth. 0:08:32.760 --> 0:08:35.720 I would always either watch it on DVR in the 0:08:35.720 --> 0:08:38.520 middle of the night after work, or I would tune 0:08:38.559 --> 0:08:41.760 into the podcast when I was driving, essentially just the 0:08:41.800 --> 0:08:46.240 audio from the show presented as a podcast. And I'm 0:08:46.360 --> 0:08:48.880 driving home listening to the podcast, and I hear this 0:08:49.000 --> 0:08:55.440 voice talking about white privilege and systemic racism both being 0:08:55.679 --> 0:09:05.040 myths perpetuated by left wing extremist forgive me for laughing, people, 0:09:06.120 --> 0:09:12.280 but it's twenty and twenty one and after. If you 0:09:12.280 --> 0:09:14.760 were an observer and all you ever saw of America 0:09:14.920 --> 0:09:19.600 was twenty twenty, it'd be very, very difficult, even with 0:09:19.720 --> 0:09:23.960 that little bit of data, to say that systemic racism 0:09:24.280 --> 0:09:29.719 and white privilege didn't exist. Not. The funny thing is, 0:09:29.760 --> 0:09:34.560 I'm listening to a podcast, so I can't see who's talking. 0:09:35.840 --> 0:09:38.160 But the first thing that bothered me is that Bill, 0:09:38.880 --> 0:09:42.400 the person who typically is on the right side of things, 0:09:42.920 --> 0:09:45.920 is agreeing with the voice that I hear. And I'm 0:09:45.960 --> 0:09:49.600 confused at this point, to a point where my stomachs 0:09:49.559 --> 0:09:53.760 start to like get uneasy, like I was actually upset. 0:09:54.960 --> 0:10:01.120 So there's a third person on the panel, uh, a 0:10:01.160 --> 0:10:06.360 white guy who couldn't help himself but to interject like 0:10:07.559 --> 0:10:09.160 almost like wait, what are you guys? What are you 0:10:09.160 --> 0:10:13.160 guys talking about? Like, so we're all sitting here saying 0:10:13.200 --> 0:10:17.960 that white privilege isn't a thing, systemic racism isn't the thing. 0:10:18.080 --> 0:10:21.959 Like that's we're on HBO. Sure you want to go 0:10:22.000 --> 0:10:24.040 down there. That's that's where we are right now. And 0:10:24.080 --> 0:10:26.800 he doesn't like he didn't riot for he and turned 0:10:26.800 --> 0:10:29.800 to Huey P. Newton. But you could just tell like 0:10:30.080 --> 0:10:31.880 he's the he's the bystander that's. 0:10:31.760 --> 0:10:34.240 Sitting there, like, Okay, I don't like even I don't 0:10:34.280 --> 0:10:38.760 typically ride for Black lives matter, but like this is 0:10:39.640 --> 0:10:41.880 this is where we are right now on Bill Maher's 0:10:41.880 --> 0:10:45.120 show on the guy who just spent the last four 0:10:45.200 --> 0:10:48.840 years stumping his feet to get this president out of office. 0:10:49.840 --> 0:10:52.920 You're okay, I guess that's where we are. I'll be 0:10:53.000 --> 0:10:58.440 I'll be quiet. And Bill made reference to something something, something, 0:10:58.920 --> 0:11:02.080 the white guy, and I said, oh, so one of 0:11:02.120 --> 0:11:05.640 these guys must not be white if he's pointing out 0:11:05.640 --> 0:11:07.280 that the white guy is the one that has something 0:11:07.320 --> 0:11:10.240 to say. And you know, lo and behold. I google 0:11:11.520 --> 0:11:19.560 Camille Foster, handsome, articulate, educated black man, and it was 0:11:19.559 --> 0:11:23.880 like getting punched in the stomach, because in this country, 0:11:24.120 --> 0:11:27.520 there will always be a camera and a microphone and 0:11:27.559 --> 0:11:34.880 an opportunity for a well spoken, educated black person that 0:11:34.960 --> 0:11:38.679 will take that stance. There'll always be a job, an 0:11:38.679 --> 0:11:41.520 opportunity to check a camera microphone. They will they will 0:11:41.559 --> 0:11:42.600 help you get that off. 0:11:42.920 --> 0:11:45.520 They need that for their contrass. Oh my god, goodness, listen, 0:11:46.120 --> 0:11:48.480 this one person said it so clearly. 0:11:48.640 --> 0:11:53.240 He agrees with me, and he's black, and you know 0:11:53.320 --> 0:11:56.920 he's not. He's sadly not a singular case. And there's 0:11:56.960 --> 0:11:59.439 a psychological question that I have to pose to you 0:12:01.559 --> 0:12:04.640 what happens where, especially in the cases of some of 0:12:04.679 --> 0:12:06.960 these people that I'm listening, All of these people that 0:12:07.000 --> 0:12:13.920 I'm listening, what are their names? Candice Owens, Marcellus Willy, 0:12:14.800 --> 0:12:19.400 Jason Whitlock, and the afore mentioned Camille Foster. They come 0:12:19.440 --> 0:12:23.560 from where we come from. They reach some level of success, 0:12:26.360 --> 0:12:30.480 maybe because we know this in this capitalist society, they 0:12:30.520 --> 0:12:33.920 make a lot of money, and maybe there daily isn't 0:12:33.920 --> 0:12:37.280 what it used to be. But how do they forget 0:12:37.360 --> 0:12:41.600 that it used to be that and or displaced themselves 0:12:41.679 --> 0:12:44.559 from their brothers and sisters who still experienced that stuff 0:12:45.200 --> 0:12:50.239 in a very very real way on a daily basis. 0:12:52.880 --> 0:12:53.800 That's a great question. 0:12:55.040 --> 0:12:57.880 I think that, at least for me, it's a matter 0:12:57.960 --> 0:13:02.520 of what is in your hard Some people like you 0:13:02.600 --> 0:13:06.760 know these people, there's some people that they get money 0:13:07.360 --> 0:13:09.840 no matter what, at any cost, right, you know, these 0:13:09.840 --> 0:13:11.719 type of people, they don't care who they hurt. Who 0:13:11.720 --> 0:13:14.480 they got to stomp on, what the price is, if 0:13:14.520 --> 0:13:16.079 someone might come and kill them, if they got to 0:13:16.160 --> 0:13:19.160 rob whatever it is. There's sometimes there are business people 0:13:19.200 --> 0:13:21.920 sometimes whatever they will undercut, they will do the most 0:13:21.960 --> 0:13:28.559 savage things, right sharks and bloody water. That personality type 0:13:29.320 --> 0:13:32.800 is something that can be found and people of all 0:13:32.840 --> 0:13:37.319 colors and people at all different walks of life and 0:13:37.360 --> 0:13:41.360 all different stations in life. And I think that most 0:13:41.360 --> 0:13:44.480 of the time people that adopt black people, that adopt 0:13:44.520 --> 0:13:48.640 those what I would consider anti black sentiments and then 0:13:48.840 --> 0:13:53.240 share them with, you know, white folks, especially those white 0:13:53.240 --> 0:13:55.640 folks that really need to hear that so that they 0:13:55.640 --> 0:13:59.960 can feel better about their own racist practices, you know, 0:14:00.120 --> 0:14:04.520 instead of confronting them and really dealing with them. I 0:14:04.559 --> 0:14:07.680 think that those black people have that sort of personality type. 0:14:07.800 --> 0:14:10.640 They'll sell their own children, you know, they'll sell of course, 0:14:10.640 --> 0:14:13.679 they'll sell their people out, you know. And again, if 0:14:13.720 --> 0:14:19.080 you're articulate enough, you can make anything sound good. You 0:14:19.120 --> 0:14:21.040 and I had an experience once upon a time. 0:14:22.720 --> 0:14:25.720 This was we were at a school. 0:14:27.680 --> 0:14:29.080 I don't know if you remember the story, but there 0:14:29.160 --> 0:14:32.800 was a woman that worked at the school and I 0:14:32.840 --> 0:14:37.840 think at the time we were talking about it might 0:14:37.880 --> 0:14:41.240 have been a police shooting, because this was before there 0:14:41.280 --> 0:14:44.280 was any Donald Trump or anything like that, so it 0:14:44.360 --> 0:14:46.080 might have been a police shooting of a black person. 0:14:46.400 --> 0:14:52.560 And so that conversation was in the air, and you know, 0:14:52.640 --> 0:14:55.040 you and I were talking about something, and the girl 0:14:55.520 --> 0:15:01.200 chimed into our conversation. Suffice it to say that she, 0:15:01.400 --> 0:15:08.560 like most people are, was intellectually inferior, right, but she 0:15:08.640 --> 0:15:12.880 needed to get something off in that conversation, and she 0:15:13.160 --> 0:15:17.640 tried it, and it didn't float, not down this river 0:15:17.960 --> 0:15:21.040 because I'm not the one, nor am I the two 0:15:21.400 --> 0:15:27.160 exactly three five, No, do don't try me. But then 0:15:27.200 --> 0:15:31.600 the next day she came back with a meme, and 0:15:31.640 --> 0:15:33.840 the meme was of Morgan Freeman. 0:15:35.840 --> 0:15:37.920 I believe it to be a quote. 0:15:37.640 --> 0:15:41.320 Taken out of context, but he said something to the 0:15:41.320 --> 0:15:45.200 effect of what should black people do about racism or something, 0:15:45.240 --> 0:15:47.480 and he said that black people should stop talking about 0:15:47.560 --> 0:15:51.240 racism and it'll go away, or something like that. Now 0:15:51.440 --> 0:15:53.080 I don't know if that was taken out of context, 0:15:53.080 --> 0:15:55.520 but it was a very small clip or whatever. And 0:15:55.560 --> 0:15:57.680 she showed this to me to suggest that I was 0:15:57.720 --> 0:16:01.200 somehow wrong, my lived experience was somehow wrong, and the 0:16:01.240 --> 0:16:06.000 lived experience of you know, millions of people who have 0:16:06.400 --> 0:16:19.640 endured these both visible and invisible racist policies, frameworks, you know, 0:16:21.280 --> 0:16:25.960 et cetera. Because she had one person that said something 0:16:26.000 --> 0:16:30.200 that kind of you know, supported what she was saying. 0:16:31.440 --> 0:16:33.480 She thought everything was if I was going to see 0:16:33.480 --> 0:16:34.920 that and it was going to be all good. Right, 0:16:35.680 --> 0:16:38.400 So I get that there are some people that need that. 0:16:38.680 --> 0:16:41.800 And if there's you know, they're just like actors, right, 0:16:42.000 --> 0:16:46.880 you can get an actor that will play the most dehumanizing, 0:16:48.320 --> 0:16:53.040 degrading role if you pay them enough money to do 0:16:53.120 --> 0:16:56.040 it right. I know you've seen this role before where 0:16:56.040 --> 0:16:58.840 you're like, why is that person playing that role? Like 0:16:58.920 --> 0:17:02.440 it doesn't matter. Why would this woman play a dead body, 0:17:02.720 --> 0:17:05.840 you know what I mean, like a naked dead body. 0:17:06.119 --> 0:17:10.920 I'm bad boys too. Why would anybody do that? There's 0:17:10.960 --> 0:17:14.240 just no dignity in that. But obviously there's always somebody that. 0:17:14.280 --> 0:17:14.760 Will take that. 0:17:16.520 --> 0:17:19.200 Money is a very powerful motivator, especially in this country 0:17:19.280 --> 0:17:23.199 because we idolize money and things so much, and so 0:17:24.280 --> 0:17:26.760 you know, in my opinion, I think that you know, 0:17:26.840 --> 0:17:29.399 you get the right person with the right personality type 0:17:29.400 --> 0:17:36.879 that lacks the same you know, whatever conviction and mental 0:17:36.880 --> 0:17:40.840 discipline and spiritual fortitude. Wave enough money in front of 0:17:40.880 --> 0:17:43.320 them and make sure they're articulate enough, and they can 0:17:43.800 --> 0:17:46.000 they can tell you exactly what you want to hear. 0:17:46.560 --> 0:17:48.720 Or there's some people that don't even do that. They'll 0:17:48.760 --> 0:17:53.760 they'll say exactly what you what you write, and so yeah, 0:17:53.760 --> 0:17:57.160 I get that there's people like that. Will I ever 0:17:57.200 --> 0:18:00.600 agree with them? I think that, Uh get his name, 0:18:00.640 --> 0:18:03.080 but I just said it. I think his name is 0:18:03.359 --> 0:18:05.359 mill Foster or yeah, Camille Foster. 0:18:05.520 --> 0:18:06.720 He's the one that said that. 0:18:08.160 --> 0:18:11.600 He doesn't self identify as black. 0:18:11.720 --> 0:18:14.320 Yes, have you seen him? That his picture? Yeah? 0:18:14.400 --> 0:18:16.280 Yeah, no, I know who he is. He will cond 0:18:16.280 --> 0:18:18.879 of black, bro. Yeah no, we'll kind of forever black. 0:18:19.520 --> 0:18:22.600 He's banned to black. No, yeah, I know exactly like 0:18:22.640 --> 0:18:23.840 he was in the tribe. 0:18:23.840 --> 0:18:27.479 I saw him. Yeah, yeah, he's doing who like I was. 0:18:27.560 --> 0:18:29.880 He was in there, bro. Yeah. Man, So. 0:18:32.240 --> 0:18:37.320 For someone to say that, just imagine the mind, Like, 0:18:37.400 --> 0:18:41.160 imagine how far out there you have to be. Imagine 0:18:41.160 --> 0:18:43.679 who he's saying that to. He's not saying that to 0:18:43.720 --> 0:18:47.600 somebody who's actually black, Who's you know, well, every day 0:18:47.600 --> 0:18:49.879 I wake up, I see a black person. You know, 0:18:50.480 --> 0:18:54.160 he was trying to say something to like, well, uh, 0:18:54.840 --> 0:18:58.040 race as a construct is not real in the world, 0:18:58.160 --> 0:19:00.520 you know, And and I get what he's what he said, 0:19:00.600 --> 0:19:02.760 because there's a medical basis for that race is not 0:19:02.840 --> 0:19:06.840 a real thing. It's imaginary. It's something that causes more 0:19:06.960 --> 0:19:09.080 divisiveness in our species. 0:19:08.840 --> 0:19:11.440 Sure than it should in a vacuum. He'd be absolutely 0:19:11.560 --> 0:19:14.320 right in the United States of America, missed. 0:19:14.080 --> 0:19:16.719 Me, bro, That's not how it is, exactly. There is 0:19:16.760 --> 0:19:19.640 definitely the dividing lines. 0:19:20.040 --> 0:19:20.280 You know. 0:19:21.640 --> 0:19:25.320 I recall the the meme of Peter Griffin holding up 0:19:25.359 --> 0:19:29.480 the the color cart, the color chart, and if you're 0:19:29.520 --> 0:19:31.640 if you're a certain shade of brown, you're. 0:19:31.440 --> 0:19:34.040 Good, and you're protesting below a certain shade. If you're 0:19:34.080 --> 0:19:36.440 below a certain shade, you're a rioter. Yeah, exactly. 0:19:37.520 --> 0:19:43.920 So you know, it's it's just those sorts of weird 0:19:44.400 --> 0:19:47.080 things that these people try to get off. And and 0:19:47.160 --> 0:19:51.960 Candice Owens is another one. Poor baby, I want to say, 0:19:52.000 --> 0:19:57.360 she said something like racism is over because she's never 0:19:57.400 --> 0:20:03.639 been a slave, because she her has never been a slave. 0:20:04.359 --> 0:20:07.840 And so you can imagine, like I know that what 0:20:07.880 --> 0:20:10.040 we're doing is we're taking one part of what these 0:20:10.040 --> 0:20:12.560 people are saying and like making a big deal out 0:20:12.560 --> 0:20:14.479 of it, but only because it would take us thirty 0:20:14.560 --> 0:20:16.320 hours to go through everything to. 0:20:16.640 --> 0:20:18.239 Really discuss intercept. You know. 0:20:18.280 --> 0:20:22.000 There, but you do recognize that these people exist for 0:20:23.200 --> 0:20:29.080 mostly conservative white folks to feel less bad about what 0:20:29.119 --> 0:20:32.199 they know is the truth. If they were comfortable with 0:20:32.240 --> 0:20:35.480 their truth, they wouldn't need these people would not be employable. 0:20:36.359 --> 0:20:36.520 You know. 0:20:36.560 --> 0:20:38.960 If they were comfortable, they knew without a shadow of 0:20:39.040 --> 0:20:43.159 doubt that their spirit was unperturbed. You know, if they 0:20:43.240 --> 0:20:45.680 knew that, hey, I'm morally centered, I'm right with God, 0:20:45.760 --> 0:20:48.040 I don't do anything I don't you know whatever, they 0:20:48.119 --> 0:20:50.240 really knew that they wouldn't need anyone else to tell 0:20:50.280 --> 0:20:53.160 them that these people have jobs. These Canvas owns, these 0:20:55.320 --> 0:20:58.439 Camille Fosters and so forth have jobs. Is because it 0:20:58.520 --> 0:21:02.160 helps people to distance themselves from the fact that prisons 0:21:02.160 --> 0:21:05.720 are disproportionately crowded by black people, and they know that 0:21:05.760 --> 0:21:08.320 black people aren't inherently bad any more than any other 0:21:08.400 --> 0:21:11.440 human being in the world is. You know, everyone knows 0:21:11.440 --> 0:21:15.280 that all human beings come from black people, right, So 0:21:15.359 --> 0:21:17.520 how is it that all the black people in Africa 0:21:17.520 --> 0:21:20.679 are cool and that black people in America are somehow 0:21:20.760 --> 0:21:22.920 you know, and why is it that you know, there's 0:21:23.280 --> 0:21:24.639 you know what I mean, Like, there's certain things that 0:21:24.720 --> 0:21:26.960 you just cannot escape no matter how much you try 0:21:27.000 --> 0:21:29.040 to manipulate the facts in the data and so forth. 0:21:29.320 --> 0:21:34.680 And these people are just additional examples that allow those 0:21:34.800 --> 0:21:37.439 types of folks to feel a little bit better about 0:21:37.480 --> 0:21:40.879 themselves and to further insulate themselves from the reality of 0:21:40.960 --> 0:21:43.480 other people. These are the types of people that build 0:21:43.520 --> 0:21:47.280 mansions and gated communities with walls, and you know, they 0:21:47.400 --> 0:21:50.359 rarely interact with folks that don't look like them. And 0:21:50.880 --> 0:21:52.640 you know, when they listen to the news, as long 0:21:52.680 --> 0:21:54.600 as there's someone black that sells the same thing that 0:21:54.640 --> 0:21:57.280 they're telling themselves or that Tucker Carlson is telling them, 0:21:57.440 --> 0:21:59.520 then like, okay, so there's a black person that agrees. 0:21:59.520 --> 0:22:02.040 So look, we're all on the same pature. Those guys 0:22:02.040 --> 0:22:04.560 got to get it together. They got to stop, you know, 0:22:04.600 --> 0:22:06.720 having babies out of wedlock. They gotta, you know, the 0:22:06.800 --> 0:22:08.520 dad's got to stay in the home with the kids 0:22:08.560 --> 0:22:10.760 and raise the kids. They got to stop committing crimes 0:22:10.760 --> 0:22:11.200 and going to. 0:22:11.160 --> 0:22:14.679 Jail, like committing crimes and going to jail. This is 0:22:14.760 --> 0:22:16.600 this is a real thing, as if we're filling out 0:22:16.640 --> 0:22:17.959 permission slips to do that. 0:22:18.400 --> 0:22:21.000 Man, this is a real thing for these people. And 0:22:21.080 --> 0:22:24.280 so again the Candice Owens, I want to say that 0:22:26.760 --> 0:22:31.080 Marcellus Wiley, he said the white privilege doesn't exist as. 0:22:31.000 --> 0:22:34.359 Well, and even I mean, it's similar to what you 0:22:34.400 --> 0:22:37.840 said about Camille when you know the with his basis 0:22:37.840 --> 0:22:42.480 for the idea of race not existing, Like it's a 0:22:42.520 --> 0:22:45.119 straw man argument, right, Like what you're saying is based 0:22:45.160 --> 0:22:48.119 in some truth that just absolutely doesn't apply to the 0:22:48.160 --> 0:22:53.000 conversation that you're having. Marcellus tried to take the position 0:22:53.119 --> 0:22:57.400 of look at me, I'm from Compton, and I made 0:22:57.440 --> 0:23:00.960 it to where I am, I'm rich, I'm successful, I'm famous, 0:23:02.080 --> 0:23:05.000 And to suggest that there is white privilege is the 0:23:05.040 --> 0:23:11.520 same as suggesting that there's a black disadvantage. Yes, that's 0:23:11.560 --> 0:23:15.480 exactly what I'm suggesting, but he's trying to say it 0:23:15.520 --> 0:23:19.119 on some like proud black power kind of tip. But 0:23:19.200 --> 0:23:21.720 it's just like I said, another straw man argument that 0:23:21.880 --> 0:23:24.280 just based on the context of the conversation that you're having, 0:23:25.080 --> 0:23:28.520 that position doesn't stand. Like the nuance in the context 0:23:28.520 --> 0:23:31.520 that you're throwing away to make this really really weak 0:23:31.600 --> 0:23:37.280 point on television on Fox Network by the way of 0:23:37.720 --> 0:23:42.400 Fox Sports, but steal what else would that go? He's 0:23:42.440 --> 0:23:43.640 just kind of ridiculous, man. 0:23:43.680 --> 0:23:48.119 So to anyone listening, first off, thank you for tuning 0:23:48.160 --> 0:23:48.800 in the Civic Cipher. 0:23:48.840 --> 0:23:50.960 I'm host Rams' job. They call me q Ward and 0:23:51.040 --> 0:23:51.760 that's my name. 0:23:51.960 --> 0:23:55.600 Indeed, And if you haven't done so yet, please follow 0:23:55.640 --> 0:24:03.040 our social media at Civic Cipher on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. 0:24:05.040 --> 0:24:07.640 But if you were to go to our Instagram right 0:24:07.680 --> 0:24:09.920 now again at Civic Cipher, and I think it's on 0:24:09.960 --> 0:24:13.240 our Facebook too, there's a video that I put up. 0:24:13.280 --> 0:24:16.200 It's a short video maybe two three minutes, really brief, 0:24:16.680 --> 0:24:20.000 but for anybody that wrestles with this idea of systemic racism, 0:24:20.359 --> 0:24:23.680 there's a brief video up there that really shows exactly 0:24:23.680 --> 0:24:27.879 what that's all about. Because I think that for the 0:24:28.200 --> 0:24:32.879 casual listener of our show or listener of you know, 0:24:33.040 --> 0:24:36.399 news media or whatever, they might hear a term like 0:24:36.480 --> 0:24:39.320 that but not know exactly what it means. Like, so 0:24:39.400 --> 0:24:43.000 there's an actual system of racism that sounds crazy, right, 0:24:43.760 --> 0:24:45.160 So I think that if you take a few minutes 0:24:45.160 --> 0:24:52.639