Speaker 1: Welcome to another episode of CIDK Cipher. I'm your host,
Speaker 1: Rams's joh I go by.
Speaker 2: The name q Ward most of the time, but not
Speaker 2: all of the time because sometimes my mom calls me
Speaker 2: quinn Ton with an extra emphasis on the O, because
Speaker 2: I might be in trouble a little bit, even at
Speaker 2: forty years old.
Speaker 1: Well that's the way the game goes. I'm mad at
Speaker 1: that at all. Stick around because we got a good
Speaker 1: show lined up. We're going to do some thinking today
Speaker 1: and we would like your help in participating in this
Speaker 1: thought experiment. We're going to talk about guns as is
Speaker 1: necessary right about now.
Speaker 2: Unfortunately, Yeah, absolutely, but yeah, We're going to talk about
Speaker 2: another deadly weekend and week filled with mass shootings in
Speaker 2: this country.
Speaker 1: We're also going to talk about legislation and really what's
Speaker 1: standing in the way and what we can do about it,
Speaker 1: and really just kind of deal with the reality of
Speaker 1: the guns in this country. This is obviously a national issue,
Speaker 1: but as you'll find out that this, like many other things,
Speaker 1: disproportionately affects black and brown people in this country, and
Speaker 1: poor people and poor.
Speaker 2: People, which is why there's likely not going to be
Speaker 2: anything done about it. But Ram is going to keep
Speaker 2: you guys hopeful.
Speaker 1: That's my job and it's not just lip service. I
Speaker 1: do believe that we can make progress, but it starts
Speaker 1: with conversations like these, and hopefully we're doing our part.
Speaker 1: You know, when we meet our maker, our maker won't
Speaker 1: be able to say we didn't do anything.
Speaker 2: We did something.
Speaker 1: We did what we could and hopefully, with your support,
Speaker 1: we can actually see some real change in the world.
Speaker 1: Today's show is brought to you by Ms Maggie aka
Speaker 1: Maggie B Knowing yes she does.
Speaker 2: So if you are mad at us, you can blame her.
Speaker 2: That's not right. She didn't deserve that. But first and foremost,
Speaker 2: we'll start where we always do with some ebony excellence.
Speaker 2: How does that sound cute? Shall we? We shall?
Speaker 1: This one is brought to you by Armadale Vodka and
Speaker 1: we are going to talk about Lebron James. The story
Speaker 1: comes from CNN. We now have a new black billionaire,
Speaker 1: Lebron Gi Yes, indeed, and this is marking the first
Speaker 1: time an active NBA player has achieved that milestone. According
Speaker 1: to one calculation, Forbes said that the Los Angeles Lakers
Speaker 1: star has maximized his business, generating more than one point
Speaker 1: two billion dollars in pre tax earnings. His NBA salary
Speaker 1: from three different teams during the past nineteen years has
Speaker 1: amounted to three hundred and eighty three million dollars, and
Speaker 1: James has raked in upwards of nine hundred million dollars
Speaker 1: in income from endorsements and other business ventures. In addition
Speaker 1: to lucrative endorsement deals with Nike, at and T, Pepsi
Speaker 1: and Walmart, Forbes said that James structured his deal to
Speaker 1: include equity in those brands, giving him a quote cut
Speaker 1: of the upside instead of a quick paycheck in quote
Speaker 1: keep that.
Speaker 2: In mind, kids.
Speaker 1: The four time NBA champion also has investments in fitness
Speaker 1: startup Tonal, ride sharing company Lift and eatery upstart Blaze, Pizza, Lebronto, GQ.
Speaker 1: In a twenty fourteen interview, quote, it's my biggest milestone. Obviously,
Speaker 1: I want to maximize my business, and if I happened
Speaker 1: to get it, I happened to be a billion.
Speaker 2: Dollar athlete.
Speaker 1: Hip hoay, Oh my god, I'm going to be excited. Quote.
Speaker 1: So that is obviously a tremendous achievement. And then all
Speaker 1: of the philanthropic things that he does He's not just
Speaker 1: a billionaire. I don't mean to throw anybody under the bus,
Speaker 1: but there is other NBA billionaires too, I think one particular,
Speaker 1: and Lebron James, in my estimation, is doing more for
Speaker 1: the black community and for poor people than I've ever
Speaker 1: seen before. So not only because he's a billionaire, but
Speaker 1: because we believe it would be a good man.
Speaker 2: So far, he deserves some ebony excellence today. Shout out
Speaker 2: to the King. Nine hundred million and endorsements and not
Speaker 2: playing keep going anyway.
Speaker 1: Now we must talk about another deadly week and weekend
Speaker 1: in America.
Speaker 2: We be driving toward the sun with a smile on
Speaker 2: our face and here comes this detour and we got
Speaker 2: to make this left. And man, it's hard to brace
Speaker 2: for it, like even though we know it's coming. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it is hard to brace for it. Man. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So obviously you know, to Q's point, we are thinking
Speaker 1: feeling individuals. You know, the reason you're hearing us on
Speaker 1: your radio stations right now is because we are broadcasters.
Speaker 1: We're DJs, like actual DJs with Vinyl and serato and
Speaker 1: play music for people to dance to, that sort of stuff.
Speaker 1: We have this skill set to where we can put
Speaker 1: together programming. We have a great show producer, and we
Speaker 1: have beating hearts, and we feel things, and so obviously
Speaker 1: covering these subjects is a very difficult thing to do
Speaker 1: week in and week out, but we feel it's necessary.
Speaker 1: So we appreciate you sticking with us as we kind
Speaker 1: of comb through these things and try to make sense
Speaker 1: of it. We feel it's important, and obviously, by your listening,
Speaker 1: you feel it's important as well. With that said, anytime
Speaker 1: we discuss the loss of life, we try not to
Speaker 1: become desensitized to it, and we also try not to
Speaker 1: become overwhelmed by it. We deal with this quite a bit.
Speaker 1: We have to watch these videos, we have to read
Speaker 1: these stories, we have to listen to these mothers and
Speaker 1: these families that are left behind. And I wanted to
Speaker 1: acknowledge what you were saying to you, that this detour is.
Speaker 1: It should never be normalized. But we appreciate the support
Speaker 1: of all of our listeners, and if this is your
Speaker 1: first time tuning into the show, you'll understand why we
Speaker 1: made that statement. So the first thing we're going to
Speaker 1: discuss comes to us from twelve News in the Bronx.
Speaker 1: The headline reads three other States saw active shootings at
Speaker 1: the same time as the mass shooting at the Tulsa
Speaker 1: Hospital complex. So the big story, recent, big recent mass
Speaker 1: shooting story was that a man was not happy with
Speaker 1: his medication that he was subscribe prescribed. I think that's
Speaker 1: the word, not subscribed, by the way, be sure to subscribe.
Speaker 1: He went and got a gun, went and shot up
Speaker 1: a hospital, right, And I think that we should say
Speaker 1: this here. This shooter was a black man, and the
Speaker 1: primary target of this shooting was a black doctor. So,
Speaker 1: you know, we never like to make things black and
Speaker 1: white issues if we don't have to. On this show,
Speaker 1: we do realize that the overwhelming number of the larger
Speaker 1: mass shooting incidents that we see on the news are
Speaker 1: usually carried out by white men. But we do feel
Speaker 1: like when we get to the point where we're talking
Speaker 1: about the way to address these things, that it could
Speaker 1: help prevent these tragedies happening from people from all different
Speaker 1: colors and all walks of life. You know, the access
Speaker 1: to firearms and mental health, you know, those sorts of things.
Speaker 1: We're all humans at the end of the day, so
Speaker 1: we all got to kind of pass through those same checkpoints.
Speaker 1: Hopefully it'll read out everyone's that's my hope. However, I
Speaker 1: want to read on. A gunman killed four people Wednesday
Speaker 1: during a shooting inside the Also, Oklahoma hospital. An inmate
Speaker 1: receiving treatment at a high at a hospital in Dayton, Ohio,
Speaker 1: shot and killed a security guard before shooting himself near
Speaker 1: the hospital entrance. A person was shot outside of Walmart
Speaker 1: in Pittston, Pennsylvania, during what police called an attempted homicide.
Speaker 1: And a student was shot Wednesday afternoon outside of high
Speaker 1: school in Valley Glen, California. And these weren't considered mass shootings,
Speaker 1: but they all occurred at the same time. Like, so,
Speaker 1: if you went and looked at the clock, this is
Speaker 1: you know, all these people were dead from guns. People's
Speaker 1: lives were cut short. We all agree that if if
Speaker 1: a gun is involved, then a life was cut short.
Speaker 2: And these are reported active shootings. Right, So that's one
Speaker 2: way of looking at the deadly weekend. We'll move on.
Speaker 1: This one also comes from CNN from graduation Parties to
Speaker 1: a mall. Thirteen mass shootings over the weekend lead more
Speaker 1: than a dozen dead and over seventy injured.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: It's important to remember that mass shootings don't often kill everyone,
Speaker 1: you know, they are wounded people. I was seeing a
Speaker 1: story about a teacher in Uvalde, Texas. If you haven't
Speaker 1: seen that clip, be sure to check it out. He's
Speaker 1: a very passionate man who recounts his story. There was
Speaker 1: also footage of an eleven year old who survived the
Speaker 1: shooting involved day, and she had something to say as well.
Speaker 1: And so there are people left behind that have to
Speaker 1: pick up the pieces.
Speaker 2: You know. The toughest thing rams about listening to a
Speaker 2: lot of these stories that we've read about that were
Speaker 2: highlighting and that we're talking about, is that it'd be
Speaker 2: sad if there was a mass shooting, right if somebody
Speaker 2: said the mass shooting that we'd all know what we
Speaker 2: were talking about. That would be sad. What's way sadder?
Speaker 2: Or I know what you mean? Forgive us people? I
Speaker 2: think I might have made that word up, but you know,
Speaker 2: more sad I think is the proper way to say that.
Speaker 2: Either way, I guess that if someone in mixed company,
Speaker 2: not here at the store, at the shopping mall, somebody
Speaker 2: text you whatever, had you heard about the mass shooting? Now,
Speaker 2: it takes you a minute to try to decipher which
Speaker 2: one they were talking about you might even ask the question,
Speaker 2: you might even have to ask which one that is
Speaker 2: startling and also kind of not getting enough press. Well
Speaker 2: to your point, that is exactly why we're doing today's show.
Speaker 2: You know, when Maggie b Knowen came with the idea, hey,
Speaker 2: we need to make sure to articulate and enumerate the
Speaker 2: number of mass shootings that have taken place. We didn't
Speaker 2: know ourselves how many had taken place. And we work
Speaker 2: in news media now, for all intents and purposes, this
Speaker 2: is what we do. And not only do we work
Speaker 2: in news media, we work in this space very specifically. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: So it's one of these things where it's really easy
Speaker 1: to say, Okay, this thing happened in Texas, this thing
Speaker 1: happened in Buffalo, this thing happened you know, And you
Speaker 1: might live in Vermont, you might live in Oregon, you
Speaker 1: might live in South Carolina, you might live in you know,
Speaker 1: wherever it is that you live.
Speaker 2: So a lot of times these stories might feel far
Speaker 2: away from you.
Speaker 1: But we really need to kind of heed the gravity
Speaker 1: of the amount of gun violence in this country, and
Speaker 1: we all need to work together to push for legislation.
Speaker 1: You know, if there's I think there was somewhere in
Speaker 1: the neighborhood of ninety percent of folks that wanted some
Speaker 1: form of gun reform that were pulled. I'm thinking that
Speaker 1: number needs to be closer to one hundred percent. I
Speaker 1: get that there's never going to be one hundred percent
Speaker 1: because there are people that you know, work at the NRA.
Speaker 2: But if you're like.
Speaker 1: Us, as I mentioned in the beginning of the show,
Speaker 1: human beings with beating hearts and feelings who cringe at
Speaker 1: the thought of wounded eleven year olds giving their testimony,
Speaker 1: and then you know, we saw the speech that Matthew
Speaker 1: McConaughey gave at the White House when he was talking
Speaker 1: about the exit wounds on these children from an AR
Speaker 1: fifteen style weapon, the exit wounds from a child, and
Speaker 1: they couldn't That's why they couldn't identify the kids. They
Speaker 1: had to use their clothes and their shoes and other
Speaker 1: context clues to figure out whose babies these were in
Speaker 1: this puddle of leftovers. We need to know the extent
Speaker 1: to which this is happening so that we can ourselves
Speaker 1: heed the gravity. And when I say we, I mean
Speaker 1: Q but also those of you who choose to tune
Speaker 1: in and listen to the show every week.
Speaker 2: I often go back and forth with you Rams, and
Speaker 2: you know this about the gravity of covering this type
Speaker 2: of content so constantly, not just the effect that it
Speaker 2: has on us, but the potential effect that could have
Speaker 2: on listeners, and not just a traumatic effect, but like
Speaker 2: a man for real, every week, y'all going to talk
Speaker 2: about this stuff, kind of like an exhaustion of it, right,
Speaker 2: But then I think about conversations that we've had and
Speaker 2: the fact that we might be the only people in
Speaker 2: the space having these conversations constantly. Tupac One spoke about
Speaker 2: the reason why his art was so tragic, if you will,
Speaker 2: and he compared it to the photo journalist that covered Vietnam.
Speaker 2: Had the people here not been able to see how
Speaker 2: bad it was, that war may have never stopped. The
Speaker 2: support of people back home wanting that war to end
Speaker 2: was good because people had to go over there and
Speaker 2: show us how bad it was. And he thought that
Speaker 2: if he could continue, you know, why you talk about
Speaker 2: women that way? And why do you why do you
Speaker 2: give violence such a big platform? Why do you point
Speaker 2: out all these or celebrate all these horrible things about
Speaker 2: the communities that you're in. He's like, I'm not celebrating it,
Speaker 2: but I feel like if I talk about it enough
Speaker 2: and people hear how bad it was, they'll want to
Speaker 2: do something about it. They'll want to change it. And
Speaker 2: I kind of understand our responsibility in this space. As
Speaker 2: exhausting as it may be to hear about it, as
Speaker 2: mentally and emotionally draining as it may be for us
Speaker 2: to talk about it, it's kind of necessary. People do
Speaker 2: need to get tired of hearing us talking about people
Speaker 2: being murdered and all of the very difficult things that we.
Speaker 1: Have to talk about so often. I appreciate you saying that,
Speaker 1: and obviously that's kind of what we're hoping for.
Speaker 2: You know, we like.
Speaker 1: Some of you listening, you know, like people in your
Speaker 1: own communities, people that you know have large stages and
Speaker 1: so forth. We saw a need, we saw no one
Speaker 1: else was meeting that need, and we tried to meet
Speaker 1: that need the best we could, and in doing so,
Speaker 1: we've been learning how to deliver this content to you
Speaker 1: in a way that is engaging but also informative, and
Speaker 1: at the same time trying not to overwhelm ourselves with
Speaker 1: black death, you know, not to succumb to.
Speaker 2: The fullness of the black experience in this country.
Speaker 1: You know, we'd be the first to admit Q and
Speaker 1: I would be the first to admit that we have
Speaker 1: had many opportunities that many black people don't get. We
Speaker 1: have had stories that are very different from the stories
Speaker 1: of the people born in the same exact circumstances as us.
Speaker 1: And you know, with these gifts comes the responsibility that
Speaker 1: sometimes looks like a show called Civic Cipher. And so
Speaker 1: I appreciate you saying that, and everyone listening to the
Speaker 1: show every week that feels the same way. We appreciate that.
Speaker 1: I'll continue. The US has suffered at least two hundred
Speaker 1: and forty six mass shootings in twenty twenty two. According
Speaker 1: to the Gun Violence Archive. The country is on pace
Speaker 1: to match or surpass last year's total, which was the
Speaker 1: worst on record. In twenty twenty one hundred and sixty
Speaker 1: one mass shootings through June fifth. In twenty nineteen, it
Speaker 1: was one hundred and fifty four, So we're well ahead
Speaker 1: of schedule here as far as mass shootings. This next
Speaker 1: tidbit comes from NPR. Firearms overtook auto accidents as the
Speaker 1: leading cause of death in children.
Speaker 2: So that should be enough, right when we talk about legislation,
Speaker 2: when we talk about action, when we talk about just
Speaker 2: being fed up, we shouldn't even have to have a
Speaker 2: rest of the show after you say that. Yeah, no,
Speaker 2: we still got more. And we're parents, so maybe it
Speaker 2: hits us different. But all of us are either parents,
Speaker 2: or we are children, or we are siblings or uncles
Speaker 2: or like all of us know children, right, all of
Speaker 2: us should view them the same. Like. Still people.
Speaker 1: Say that because wait until I read this. You know,
Speaker 1: one day maybe Civic Cipher will be a show about
Speaker 1: two DJs sharing good music with folks. But for now, this,
Speaker 1: while these problems still persist and we have voices and
Speaker 1: our able to share, it sounds like what I'm about
Speaker 1: to read. The CDC reports every year more than thirty
Speaker 1: five hundred children and teens are shot and killed in
Speaker 1: the US, and another fifteen thousand are wounded shootings CDC
Speaker 1: data from twenty sixteen to twenty twenty. Of those deaths,
Speaker 1: twenty one hundred are homicides. On average, twelve hundred children
Speaker 1: a year die by suicide with a gun. Another one
Speaker 1: hundred and thirty children and teens per year die from
Speaker 1: unintentional shootings. On average, fer than thirty five children and
Speaker 1: teens are killed as a result of mass shootings a year,
Speaker 1: even though for obvious and good reasons, those tragedies often
Speaker 1: receive lots of attention. Experts and advocates say that as
Speaker 1: the US is forced once again to confront the tragedy
Speaker 1: of the children being gunned down in their schools, saving
Speaker 1: the lives of children, we will require the country to
Speaker 1: seriously address gun violence in all forms. I want to
Speaker 1: continue if I may, And.
Speaker 2: That's from Time Magazine.
Speaker 1: By the way, Time Magazine. Yeah, you're right, sorry, thing.
Speaker 1: Gun violence has trended upwards since the start of the pandemic.
Speaker 1: As of June one, twenty twenty two, six hundred and
Speaker 1: eighty six children have been killed this year as a
Speaker 1: result of gun violence, and seventeen hundred have been injured,
Speaker 1: according to the Gun Violence Archives. And this note that
Speaker 1: I'm going to read comes from Ms. Maggie aka Maggie B.
Speaker 1: Knowing the majority of these shootings happened within inner city
Speaker 1: minority communities. Black children are fourteen times more likely than
Speaker 1: white kids and teens to die as a result of
Speaker 1: gun violence. Hispanic or Latino children are three times more
Speaker 1: likely to die than white kids as a result of
Speaker 1: gun violence. To put it plainly, black and Hispanic or
Speaker 1: Latino children are severely more exposed to gun violence and
Speaker 1: white children. Now, I want to jump in right here
Speaker 1: before we make the last point. We didn't want to
Speaker 1: give any shine to this story, so you won't hear
Speaker 1: about it on our show today. But there is an
Speaker 1: individual endorsed by the former president of this country, who
Speaker 1: is seeking elected office, who is on record as saying
Speaker 1: that gun violence, to put it plainly, as a result
Speaker 1: of black people. And I recognize that maybe not you,
Speaker 1: but maybe people in your life might feel like that
Speaker 1: is largely true.
Speaker 2: You know, there's there's a lot of ways.
Speaker 1: To look at numbers and data to tell yourself whatever
Speaker 1: story you're comfortable hearing, right, But they're almost all incomplete.
Speaker 1: I'll even see that sometimes the information that we get
Speaker 1: is incomplete.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: We're not immune to that. We've had to make corrections
Speaker 1: on this show before, and we're not above that. We're
Speaker 1: committed to telling the truth and sharing our vision and
Speaker 1: our perspective.
Speaker 2: But in complete and blatantly false are not the same, by.
Speaker 1: The way, point, and a lot of times what they
Speaker 1: have on that side, it is blatantly false. But you know,
Speaker 1: for the sake of this part of the conversation, I
Speaker 1: do want to say that, while we're kind of venturing
Speaker 1: into an entirely different topic, there.
Speaker 2: Is a reason for.
Speaker 1: Violence, gun violence specifically, there's a reason for crime, and
Speaker 1: impoverished communities. There's a reason for lots of these things
Speaker 1: that many people look at impoverished communities, communities of color
Speaker 1: very often in this country and think to themselves, it
Speaker 1: is the very nature of these black and brown people
Speaker 1: to be violent. And that is not true, because if
Speaker 1: it is in the nature of black and brown people
Speaker 1: to be violent, then you would see it in black
Speaker 1: and brown communities around the country, and that's just not true.
Speaker 1: We see it in this country largely. It follows the
Speaker 1: money line around the world. I mean, yes, in this
Speaker 1: country at large, follows the money line. And so what
Speaker 1: you're noticing overwhelmingly is that economic inequality shapes these outcomes,
Speaker 1: these statistical outcomes. And again, that's a much bigger conversation
Speaker 1: that we've had on the show, we will continue to
Speaker 1: have on this show. But right now we're talking about
Speaker 1: gun violence. And because Maggie wanted us to make sure
Speaker 1: to make this point that it disproportionately affects black and
Speaker 1: brown people and children in this country, that our communities
Speaker 1: also need to take these things very seriously and allies
Speaker 1: to these communities. So if you're not a black or
Speaker 1: brown person, but you love people or a person, or
Speaker 1: just have any degree of love in your heart period
Speaker 1: and would like to see better outcomes for black and
Speaker 1: brown communities, you need to know this as well. I
Speaker 1: want to read this last point just so that we
Speaker 1: get it in before we move on. So this last
Speaker 1: one comes from CNN. America's deadly weekend of more mass
Speaker 1: shootings raises stakes for Senate gun talks. Okay, it's a
Speaker 1: fierce political debate. While many Americans see their right to
Speaker 1: bear arms as a critical plank of self defense and
Speaker 1: national identity, polls show even many Republicans consider some sensible
Speaker 1: extra regulations are necessary at times. At the weekend, news
Speaker 1: of more shootings came in speeds that were difficult to believe.
Speaker 1: Of course, most Americans went about their business without encountering violence,
Speaker 1: but the indiscriminate nature of the shootings recently at schools,
Speaker 1: medical offices, supermarkets, at bars, and at parties shows how
Speaker 1: deeply ingrained the threat of gun violence is in everyday life.
Speaker 1: No one killed in these outrages had any reason to
Speaker 1: think their lives were about to end in a relatively
Speaker 1: mundane locations. In other words, these weren't war zones. This
Speaker 1: was day to day life in the United States of
Speaker 1: America and.
Speaker 2: Very benign circumstances normally going to the grocery store, going
Speaker 2: to school not just benign but safe. Right, you don't
Speaker 2: want your children running the street, you want them in
Speaker 2: school once upon a time. It will forever be a
Speaker 2: question of mine with our Second Amendment, Folks, that the
Speaker 2: very basis for that amendment to defend ourselves against tyranny
Speaker 2: from our government and law enforcement. Those are the same
Speaker 2: people that when our law enforcement murders us, marches the
Speaker 2: street for us to support them. So I'm very, very
Speaker 2: confused as to which of those points you're trying to
Speaker 2: hold true to or is it neither, And you have
Speaker 2: no idea what you're talking about.
Speaker 1: Well, we know that a lot of times they move
Speaker 1: the line, and such is the nature of our relationship
Speaker 1: to each other in this country.