Speaker 1: Welcome to another episode of Civic Cipher. I'm your host,
Speaker 1: rams is Jah.
Speaker 2: They call me Qward and my name is Qwar, so
Speaker 2: it's kind of cool.
Speaker 1: Another week for you, a lot more stuff to talk about, hopefully,
Speaker 1: hopefully we lined up a pretty informative show. I think
Speaker 1: that we have a lot to talk about, of course,
Speaker 1: so stick around because coming up in the show, we're
Speaker 1: going to be talking about how the FEDS deliberately targeted
Speaker 1: BLM protesters to disrupt the movement. No big surprises there,
Speaker 1: but we're going to get into that pillaway a few layers.
Speaker 1: We're also going to talk about a personal story that
Speaker 1: I have about, of all people, Dog the bounty hunter,
Speaker 1: and I really want us to re examine something that
Speaker 1: we talked about on the show before, which is how
Speaker 1: necessary is cancel culture or how effective is council culture?
Speaker 1: So I definitely want to get into that as well.
Speaker 1: We're going to have to check in with DJ Swirl
Speaker 1: for our way Black History fact, where we're going to
Speaker 1: be talking about Mexico, our neighbors to the South, and
Speaker 1: the role that they played during slave times in this
Speaker 1: country and how we might actually like to know with
Speaker 1: their stance during slavery, and of course our Bah Bah
Speaker 1: segment Q has something that's kind of special that we're
Speaker 1: going to talk about there. But first, as ever, we're
Speaker 1: going to get into some ebony excellence. So I got
Speaker 1: an interesting one here today we talk about all right,
Speaker 1: all I do is win, win, no matter what. So
Speaker 1: you know, normally ebony excellence is when someone excels at something,
Speaker 1: someone Black excels at something, or there's something going on
Speaker 1: that we can be proud of or that we can
Speaker 1: look to and say, you know, there's some positive stories
Speaker 1: in the black community, and you know that we can
Speaker 1: share with each other and just kind of you know,
Speaker 1: have a little bit more positive you know, energy to
Speaker 1: an otherwise heavy program. But today's we're going to have
Speaker 1: to take a moment to just acknowledge someone making it through.
Speaker 1: You know, sometimes excellence is just enduring. And I think
Speaker 1: that's exactly what happened with Keith Walker, who is now
Speaker 1: fifty three years old. The reason he's in the news
Speaker 1: is because he served nearly thirty years in prison for
Speaker 1: murder before being exonerated, and of course he filed a lawsuit.
Speaker 1: This happened in Chicago, so it was against the Chicago
Speaker 1: police department, alleging that he was beaten, tortured and officers
Speaker 1: coerced him in deciding a false confession, which, as we
Speaker 1: know from you know, the video when they see us,
Speaker 1: and from our own personal stories and of course many
Speaker 1: documented instances throughout history, is something that does happen, especially
Speaker 1: to black and brown people when they're incarcerated. And he says,
Speaker 1: you know, quote, I think everyone in the world should
Speaker 1: know that these people are still out here. He wants justice,
Speaker 1: and he's starting the lawsuit today because he's seeking justice
Speaker 1: for the people who are treated unjust, not like human beings.
Speaker 1: The person responsible for putting him in prison is the
Speaker 1: Chicago police commander John Birch, who died, but the lawsuit
Speaker 1: names his estate, and I guess he had a quote
Speaker 1: midnight crew of officers and detective that are believed to
Speaker 1: have you arrested falsely over one hundred people, mostly black men,
Speaker 1: and they really sought to obtain false confession. So there's
Speaker 1: this big whole thing that's come to light, and he's
Speaker 1: Keith Walker, of course, is shedding more light on that
Speaker 1: injustice and really what we want to do is applaud
Speaker 1: his endurance and then his desire to not just disappear
Speaker 1: off into the shadows, but really make this a public
Speaker 1: undertaking and shed light on and in Chicago, of course,
Speaker 1: that is something that's very necessary because Chicago has a
Speaker 1: lot of problems to deal with. So Keith Walker, we
Speaker 1: salute you, we applaud you here with our ebony excellent
Speaker 1: segment on Civic Cipher. With that said, I think that
Speaker 1: it's time to talk about cancel culture again now. Q.
Speaker 1: The last time we talked about cancel culture, we had
Speaker 1: mixed feelings on.
Speaker 2: It, you recall, yes, I do.
Speaker 1: So there's one line of thinking that suggests, well, there
Speaker 1: need to be consequences for people who step out of line,
Speaker 1: and then there's another that often doesn't get considered, line
Speaker 1: of thinking that suggests that, well, if we cancel everyone
Speaker 1: out and we don't leave any room for forgiveness in
Speaker 1: the narrative, which has been kind of a central theme
Speaker 1: for our show here, that at best, you know, we
Speaker 1: don't allow for people to grow as humans, and that's
Speaker 1: something that we all should be able to do. But
Speaker 1: at worst, you know, people have a strong need to
Speaker 1: have community, a sense of community, and if we write
Speaker 1: someone off for having made a mistake, forever. Then ultimately,
Speaker 1: when they do find their community, it might be on
Speaker 1: the opposite side of some ideas that we hold very
Speaker 1: near and dear and ideals, and so we end up
Speaker 1: fortifying the opposition and decreasing our numbers in terms of,
Speaker 1: you know, our efforts and what we're trying to do.
Speaker 1: And that's something worth considering, especially when we're dealing with
Speaker 1: people and positions of power, people with voices, those sorts
Speaker 1: of things. And so I feel like there's a story
Speaker 1: that I want to tell, and it has to do
Speaker 1: with Dog the Bounty Hunter. Now I know that sounds crazy,
Speaker 1: but Dog actually called me maybe two or three days
Speaker 1: ago and he shared with me that there are some
Speaker 1: people suggesting that he has said some racist things recently
Speaker 1: and some homophobic things recently, and they're trying to sensationalize
Speaker 1: it and get it, you know, out in the public
Speaker 1: on TMZ, those sorts of things. And he reached out
Speaker 1: to me because obviously we have a relationship, but obviously
Speaker 1: I operate in this space, and you know, he just
Speaker 1: kind of wanted to, you know, get get my thoughts
Speaker 1: and so forth, and that I know how crazy that sounds,
Speaker 1: but I'll tell you why. It happened, so.
Speaker 2: We'll call it.
Speaker 1: Twenty twelve, twenty thirteen, twenty thirteen sounds good. I and
Speaker 1: you too, Q were moving around a lot in the country.
Speaker 1: We had business with, you know, a vodka company, and
Speaker 1: you know, we were doing parties and promoting things and whatever.
Speaker 1: And we were always going to different places in djaying
Speaker 1: or meeting with people or whatever. And one of those trips,
Speaker 1: I went to Vegas. And I have a friend in Vegas.
Speaker 1: His name is Wade Martin, and I love Wade. He's
Speaker 1: a good man. Wade had a birthday party at one
Speaker 1: of the casinos, the Paris I believe, and Carrett Topp
Speaker 1: was at his birthday party. Coolio was at his birthday party,
Speaker 1: random right, and Dog the Bounty Hunter was at his
Speaker 1: birthday party. And Wade asked if I wanted to meet
Speaker 1: Dog the Bounty Hunter, and I said no. And the
Speaker 1: reason I said no, I didn't want to meet Dog
Speaker 1: the Bounty Hunter is because I knew that once upon
Speaker 1: a time. What made its way to me was that
Speaker 1: Dog the Bounty Hunter had said some racist things on
Speaker 1: a phone call with one of his kids that was recorded, right,
Speaker 1: and I heard the phone call and he was if
Speaker 1: I remember correctly, he was saying that, you know, he
Speaker 1: just says the N word. He doesn't mean it in
Speaker 1: a negative way, but that's how he grew up, and
Speaker 1: so forth and so on, and I obviously took exception
Speaker 1: to that. I was on the radio at the time
Speaker 1: in Phoenix, and I actually went on the air and
Speaker 1: I talked about that, because, you know, Dog was someone
Speaker 1: that I knew of as being just like a guy
Speaker 1: on TV celebrated an individual, and that felt very unfair, right,
Speaker 1: So I kind of held that with me. And then
Speaker 1: when I had the opportunity to meet him in Vegas,
Speaker 1: I didn't want to meet him, But as life happens
Speaker 1: to be sometimes, you know, we ended up kind of
Speaker 1: in the same circles again, maybe a year or so
Speaker 1: after the initial opportunity I had to meet him. This
Speaker 1: time it was in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills at
Speaker 1: the Four Seasons Hotel. A business partner of mine says, Hey,
Speaker 1: you know, I have to go and have a meeting
Speaker 1: with Dog the Bounty Hunter. And he knew that I
Speaker 1: really did not want to meet Dog the Bounty Hunter,
Speaker 1: but because he and I did business together, that meant
Speaker 1: that by extension, I'd be doing business with Dog, and
Speaker 1: I'm not the sort of person to shake someone's hand
Speaker 1: and smile in their face if there's some funk that
Speaker 1: needs to be aired out for some reason. I just
Speaker 1: don't have that. I wish I did have that ability,
Speaker 1: but I don't. And so I told my business partner.
Speaker 1: I says, hey, so when I meet Dog, the first
Speaker 1: thing that's going to come out of my mouth is, hey,
Speaker 1: so you said this, And to be fair, you know,
Speaker 1: we need to deal with that. I need to know
Speaker 1: who I'm dealing with. And I think I deserve an
Speaker 1: explanation going to sit down at this table together and
Speaker 1: have any conversation that needs to begin there. That's fair.
Speaker 1: That's more than fair. And so my business partner says, Okay,
Speaker 1: you know I can't take that from you. So by
Speaker 1: all means, you know, So we go to this hotel.
Speaker 1: We go all the way up to the top where
Speaker 1: him and his wife were. It's Dog, and his wife's
Speaker 1: name was Beth. She's passed away now, but she was
Speaker 1: there as well. And you know, he shook out his
Speaker 1: he put out his hand to shake my hand. I
Speaker 1: shook his hand. You know, everything was pleasant and I says, hey, dog,
Speaker 1: can I talk to you for a second? And he says, sure, brother,
Speaker 1: you know how he talks. And for those that know,
Speaker 1: He's like, sure, brother, you know, let's let's talk and
Speaker 1: know what you gotta talk about. And I'm like, hey,
Speaker 1: do you mind if we step outside for a second.
Speaker 1: He's like, yeah, man, of course. So we walk outside
Speaker 1: and immediately I says, hey, So some years back, I
Speaker 1: heard a recording of you and you were talking to
Speaker 1: one of your children, and you were saying a lot
Speaker 1: of things that sounded very hurtful to me. You know,
Speaker 1: this is the same world. We share the same world,
Speaker 1: but you know I have a particular set of challenges
Speaker 1: and your line of thinking, or you know, your language
Speaker 1: or whatever makes it harder, fortifies the opposition. You know,
Speaker 1: to quote myself from a few minutes ago, And you know,
Speaker 1: I have to raise my children in this world, and
Speaker 1: if you and I are going to sit here and
Speaker 1: do business, then we need to figure out what's really
Speaker 1: going on here. And that took a lot from me
Speaker 1: because I think that at the time I was less
Speaker 1: likely to be forgiving and more likely to be angry
Speaker 1: about things. So it took a lot of growth, and
Speaker 1: so that's why I'm not mad at a lot of
Speaker 1: people who have that sort of mob mentality, but I
Speaker 1: do recognize it. At this point, at this age, there's
Speaker 1: a better way to deal with things like this. So,
Speaker 1: you know, Dog says, Oh my god, I know exactly
Speaker 1: what you're talking about, and this deserves my full attention,
Speaker 1: and he jumped right on top of it. He slid
Speaker 1: the sliding door shut, and we're out on the patio
Speaker 1: overlooking you know, the city, and he starts talking to me,
Speaker 1: and he explains to me, Hey, there's no excuse. I
Speaker 1: can give you an explanation, and I can apologize, but
Speaker 1: there is no excuse. So if anything sounds like an excuse,
Speaker 1: I apologize right now, but there is no excuse. I
Speaker 1: had to learn that lesson, and I've learned that lesson.
Speaker 1: And if I have to tell this story to you
Speaker 1: and to your children and to everyone else who needs
Speaker 1: to hear it from my own mouth in person, I'll
Speaker 1: do it. The reason for that is that's not who
Speaker 1: I am. I didn't recognize what I was saying all
Speaker 1: those years behind closed doors when people weren't recording me,
Speaker 1: when I was just having conversations. He was like, you know,
Speaker 1: I spent years in prison. You know that's the language
Speaker 1: in prison. You know, I was accepted by he calls
Speaker 1: it the Black Tribecause I was accepted by the Black tribe.
Speaker 1: I stood with them. You know, we've you know, been
Speaker 1: in the trenches. We did what we did together. And then,
Speaker 1: you know, I come from an environment where the language
Speaker 1: just is a little different. You know, it's not I
Speaker 1: didn't intend for it to be hurtful, and so I
Speaker 1: had to learn that it was hurtful in order to
Speaker 1: learn that. I didn't want to do that, and I
Speaker 1: had to live through something on full display of the
Speaker 1: whole country and learned that lesson in real time. But
Speaker 1: regardless of what happens tomorrow with me or with whatever,
Speaker 1: that's not who I am. That's never that will never
Speaker 1: be who I am. And you know, Dog wasn't you know,
Speaker 1: he didn't articulate it as well as I did, but
Speaker 1: the emotion was certainly conveyed there. I looked and I
Speaker 1: rams just looked into this man's eyes. It was me
Speaker 1: and him on a patio and we had a maybe
Speaker 1: twenty minute conversation. People are knocking on the window trying
Speaker 1: to get us back inside or whatever. He's like, just
Speaker 1: a minute, you know, you know, we really had to
Speaker 1: hash that out, right, But he said his piece, and
Speaker 1: I says, okay. Now I was in a position where
Speaker 1: I had to clear the air before we move forward,
Speaker 1: because that train was leaving and I was on it right.
Speaker 1: But what that also forced me to do was now
Speaker 1: I had to sit down with Dog at dinner plural.
Speaker 1: I had to go places plural with Dog in the
Speaker 1: same car with me. I had to spend time with
Speaker 1: Dog's wife, with their entertainment lawyer, Amy Weiss. You know,
Speaker 1: I had to or sorry, their agent Amy Wiss. You know,
Speaker 1: we basically a one day or two day trip turned
Speaker 1: into a two week trip. You know, that's sometimes that's
Speaker 1: just the way things go when you're trying to hash
Speaker 1: out details and you're you know, whining and dining or whatever.
Speaker 1: And so I'm along for the ride with this ento.
Speaker 1: But after that, Dog took a particular interest in me,
Speaker 1: and he really wanted to check in with me. And
Speaker 1: I think that I earned his respect early in our relationship,
Speaker 1: and then perhaps a little bit further into it, I
Speaker 1: began to earn his or he began to earn my respect.
Speaker 1: As the days went on, because an apology, regardless about
Speaker 1: heartfelt it is. It's a start, but it doesn't, you know,
Speaker 1: make everything right. And so after being able to observe
Speaker 1: him and to be in his presence and to know
Speaker 1: the way he interacts with people, to see how he
Speaker 1: shares the same love when he puts his arm around
Speaker 1: one of his fans who's white, you know, is the
Speaker 1: same sort of approach that he puts around someone who's
Speaker 1: black or hispanic or whatever. You know, there's certain hesitation,
Speaker 1: certain little little nuanced things, little subtle things that you'll
Speaker 1: pick up on when people are like not really comfortable
Speaker 1: with their outside of their element. And I didn't get
Speaker 1: any of that. And I promise I was looking for it,
Speaker 1: because at the time, I think I wanted to be angry.
Speaker 1: I I had already gone on record, I talked about
Speaker 1: it on the radio. I wanted to be angry or
Speaker 1: I wanted to have a reason to continue to tell
Speaker 1: the story. And I found nothing. If if I'm honest,
Speaker 1: he was the nicest person in the world, and his
Speaker 1: wife loved me. His wife never knew her whole life.
Speaker 1: She never knew what Dog and I talked about, you know,
Speaker 1: Dog and I never shared it with anyone in the room.
Speaker 1: It was just our We had to have our moment
Speaker 1: before we move forward. Now after that, you know, we
Speaker 1: we kind of knew each other. We you know, kept
Speaker 1: in touch. You know, I mostly kept in touch with
Speaker 1: his wife just because she she took a liking to
Speaker 1: me as well, and you know, we were connected on
Speaker 1: Facebook and so we'd keep up with you know, her
Speaker 1: and her kids out in Hawaii. The thing is, and
Speaker 1: the reason why Dog reached out to me the other
Speaker 1: day is because, as I mentioned, someone else is now
Speaker 1: trying to to assert allegations that Dog somehow is saying
Speaker 1: racist things and now homophobic things as well. And because
Speaker 1: of my personal experience with Dog, that set like that
Speaker 1: would be incredibly difficult to believe because now I know him,
Speaker 1: you know, the same as I know Bootleg. keV is
Speaker 1: another person that I know. You know, granted I've known
Speaker 1: keV longer, but and for those who don't know, he's
Speaker 1: another big radio personality. But you know, Kevin is white.
Speaker 1: Dog is white. You know, these are people that I know,
Speaker 1: and I know what their boundaries are. I know how
Speaker 1: sensitive they are. Dog. You know, Dog told me in
Speaker 1: one of our early conversations that he wanted to be
Speaker 1: buried in a black cemetery with his brothers and sisters
Speaker 1: at the end of his life because he felt like
Speaker 1: that might bring a little bit more balance to his story.
Speaker 1: He didn't want to be remembered as this person who
Speaker 1: said a word in a conversation. He's like, my life
Speaker 1: and who I am is so much bigger than that.
Speaker 1: The people that I love include all of these people,
Speaker 1: and I would never hurt them. And I didn't know
Speaker 1: the gravity like you. Hear bits and pieces here and there,
Speaker 1: but it's not my lived experience. He wasn't making excuses,
Speaker 1: remember that, he was explaining. So when you reached out
Speaker 1: to me the other day, he's like, you know, I
Speaker 1: really don't know what to do with this. I don't
Speaker 1: know what to make of this. I don't know how
Speaker 1: to All I know is it's not true. I didn't
Speaker 1: do this, and these people are trying to cancel me.
Speaker 1: And not only have I learned this lesson not to
Speaker 1: say this, but I'm not that. I would never want
Speaker 1: to put that negative energy in the world in the
Speaker 1: first place. He's like, I'll be the first to admit
Speaker 1: I'm an old man. I come from a different time,
Speaker 1: you know, this, that and the third. But excuse me
Speaker 1: as far as what is being asserted and what's being
Speaker 1: kind of shopped around. And I believe DJ Swirrel found
Speaker 1: some stuff online about it as well. He's like, that's
Speaker 1: not true, and I really need to know how to
Speaker 1: prepare for what's coming my way. Now, I'll admit Dog
Speaker 1: and I we don't talk on the phone with you know,
Speaker 1: really any regularity. We just kind of keep in touch
Speaker 1: through social media at at you know, at a distance.
Speaker 1: And then you know, my business partner, of course, is
Speaker 1: a lot closer with him, so you know, I hear
Speaker 1: about the goings on, you know, through him, or sometimes
Speaker 1: we'll be in the car together and we'll get a
Speaker 1: call from Dog and I'll get to say hi, that
Speaker 1: sort of thing. But you know, I still believe that
Speaker 1: I have Dog's respect, and you know, I got to
Speaker 1: thinking about what he could do. You know, what could
Speaker 1: you do in that situation if someone's alleging something that
Speaker 1: is either false or misrepresents who you are, right, And
Speaker 1: I recognize there's really not a lot that Once that
Speaker 1: train leaves, you know, social media can take on a
Speaker 1: life of its own We've been the victims of that.
Speaker 1: We've put stories out there that only have told half
Speaker 1: the truth and had to come back. And you know,
Speaker 1: that's a part of being a journalist. Sometimes you get
Speaker 1: it everything and sometimes you get what you think is everything,
Speaker 1: and then some more information comes later, you know, that
Speaker 1: sort of thing. And social media is no different, and
Speaker 1: they're not held to the same standards as we are
Speaker 1: as journalists on this show. And so I got to
Speaker 1: thinking again, like, well, what's the purpose of someone trying
Speaker 1: to drag down Dog, the bounty hunter who I personally
Speaker 1: ramses knows him, you know, what is the reason for that?
Speaker 1: What's the motivation behind it? And of course there's some
Speaker 1: obvious answers. Okay, some of them include, you know, if
Speaker 1: you can sensationalize something or reignite some old issue that
Speaker 1: has happened a long time ago, go perhaps is easier
Speaker 1: to fan those flames and get it out there a
Speaker 1: little bit more. And then, you know, the more clicks
Speaker 1: a website gets or the more you know people are
Speaker 1: talking about it, you know, people stand to make money
Speaker 1: off of that. And then of course, if it's actually
Speaker 1: based in reality, there's something to be said about you know,
Speaker 1: bringing attention to someone who is generally j sorry, genuinely
Speaker 1: in the wrong and needs to be educated. And you know,
Speaker 1: in pondering Dog's predicament, I started to kind of revisit
Speaker 1: that topic of well, what's the purpose of cancel culture?
Speaker 1: You know, are is what we're trying to do make
Speaker 1: the world a better place? Are we trying to to
Speaker 1: knock down people who are still alive, who can still learn,
Speaker 1: who can become allies on our behalf and help fight
Speaker 1: our cause they need to be educated? You know, not
Speaker 1: everyone's lived experience is the same as ours. And I'll
Speaker 1: admit I'm not the most forgiving person, but you know,
Speaker 1: throughout my life I've learned certainly that forgiveness absolutely has
Speaker 1: its place. You know, people that you forgive who have
Speaker 1: committed a some sort of offense or have sinned against you,
Speaker 1: If you forgive them, those people, in my experience, tend
Speaker 1: to be even more loyal than people who have not
Speaker 1: committed some offense to you, because now they're indebted to
Speaker 1: you to some degree. That's not to say to be
Speaker 1: a fool and lets someone continually, you know, commit offenses
Speaker 1: or whatever. But you know, there's an old philosophy I
Speaker 1: believe it's biblical that suggests that you're supposed to turn
Speaker 1: the other cheek, you know, and that's not ramses. I'm
Speaker 1: sure that wisdom's been around a lot longer than you know,
Speaker 1: any of us who are on the planet today, and
Speaker 1: I think that there's something to be said about that.
Speaker 1: That's not to say that I don't believe that councel
Speaker 1: culture has its place, because I can't say that. You know,
Speaker 1: there's some people we just don't need to do business
Speaker 1: with them. They're on their journey, they're committed to that,
Speaker 1: and we need to make sure that we don't allow
Speaker 1: them the stage for their continual the continual spewing of
Speaker 1: their hatred or you know, whatever it is that they're doing.
Speaker 1: And so it certainly has its place. But if folks
Speaker 1: can be educated, I implore us, collectively, marginalized people to
Speaker 1: allow a little bit of room for forgiveness because they
Speaker 1: think that that can be effective. I know I talked
Speaker 1: a lot. I knew I was going to, but I
Speaker 1: would love to hear your thoughts.
Speaker 2: Forgiveness, redemption, repudiation, canceling, whatever you want to call it.
Speaker 2: They all have their place, you know, turn the other
Speaker 2: cheek is something I heard my whole life growing up
Speaker 2: in the church, but I never heard be stupid. Right,
Speaker 2: you got two cheeks, so you know, be very very
Speaker 2: judicious in who you allowed to slap you on both
Speaker 2: of them. There will always be a place for people
Speaker 2: who do not have redeeming qualities. There are people who
Speaker 2: will say sorry with no intention of changing behavior. So
Speaker 2: we have to use a heightened level of discernment in
Speaker 2: whichever direction we choose to go, if we're going to
Speaker 2: cancel someone or if we're going to forgive, and you know,
Speaker 2: try this thing again. With regard to Dog the bounty hunter,
Speaker 2: I don't know him personally, so I can't speak to
Speaker 2: his character, his intentions, or anything like that. As a
Speaker 2: pause though, I heard you say you know Dog like
Speaker 2: you know Bootleg keV. I have to press the pause.
Speaker 2: But on that one for all of us that are listening,
Speaker 2: Rams has known Bootleg keV his whole life, and Kevin
Speaker 2: I might be the closest people on earth to Ramses.
Speaker 2: So I'm gonna press the pause button and smash on
Speaker 2: the brakes, pull the e break, unplugged the power everything
Speaker 2: on the idea that he knows Dog like he knows
Speaker 2: bootleg keV. So yeah, I'll let Ramses get back to
Speaker 2: you guys on that one. But I'm I can't sit
Speaker 2: here and let that go across the airwaves with me
Speaker 2: sitting here.
Speaker 1: Yeah that's fair, But I do know Dog and I
Speaker 1: know him well enough to speak on his character, and
Speaker 1: those are my thoughts, not just on Dog, which I
Speaker 1: know is strange, but also on the idea of just
Speaker 1: canceling people, you know, ready fire aim. I think that
Speaker 1: that might be a little that might work against us ultimately,
Speaker 1: but that's a good place for us to pause and
Speaker 1: remind you. And now my mic back like strike borders behind.
Speaker 1: And then if you're just tuning into CIT exactly, I'm
Speaker 1: your host Rams' job.
Speaker 2: They call me qboard most of the time.
Speaker 1: And please stick around. Coming up in the show, we
Speaker 1: are going to talk about how the beds deliberately targeted
Speaker 1: them protesters to disrupt the movement, and also we're checking
Speaker 1: in with DJs Weel for our way Black History Fact.
Speaker 1: But first let's talk about becoming a better ally. So cute,
Speaker 1: I know you have something for us with respect.
Speaker 2: I mean, I guess we can say I have something
Speaker 2: for us. I'm actually quite troubled by how limited the
Speaker 2: information is on this thing that came across my social
Speaker 2: media feed. A young woman, I'm guessing is filming a
Speaker 2: family in a costco. I'm not sure of where or when,
Speaker 2: but the behavior in the video is very very disturbing.
Speaker 2: There is a black child with a white family. That statement,
Speaker 2: by itself has nothing wrong with it, but if everyone
Speaker 2: could see this video, the behavior, the body language, the
Speaker 2: facial expressions, and the treatment of this young girl by
Speaker 2: the family that she's with is very very disturbing. A
Speaker 2: woman's claims to have exposed that this family is treating
Speaker 2: this child like a slave and that the child is
Speaker 2: being sexually abused. The child has all of the body
Speaker 2: language of someone being trafficked or abused or being held captive.
Speaker 2: And then there's nothing anywhere. So I've been asking Swirl
Speaker 2: and Ramses, what can we do besides talking about this,
Speaker 2: because I can't find an actual news story on this.
Speaker 2: There's this clip on social media that I've seen a
Speaker 2: couple times, and then there's nothing. The little bit that
Speaker 2: I've read is that the police were called and nothing
Speaker 2: was done, no investigation, no nothing. And again, if you
Speaker 2: can see this footage is quite troubling. I guess the
Speaker 2: reason why this is worth talking about is that someone
Speaker 2: saw something that they thought was wrong and they said
Speaker 2: something about it. It did not get the type of attention,
Speaker 2: the necessary attention that this young woman thinks that it deserved.
Speaker 2: I clearly think it deserves more. Again, if you can
Speaker 2: see the footage, you have an idea of what I'm
Speaker 2: talking about. Just the way that the man is walking
Speaker 2: with the young lady and the way the family is
Speaker 2: treating her. It's definitely troubling. Having recently done some training
Speaker 2: with regards to being able to notice children and people,
Speaker 2: not just kids, but people in general that are the
Speaker 2: victims of trafficking or kidnapping or being aptive, this video
Speaker 2: looks exactly like the training videos that I saw. So
Speaker 2: become a better ally by not just keeping your lips
Speaker 2: pressed together when you see something that you know doesn't
Speaker 2: look or feel right, saying something to somebody as a start,
Speaker 2: But hopefully we can find a way to do more
Speaker 2: than just say something.
Speaker 1: I like that. You know there's a you know, for
Speaker 1: our white female listeners. You know, if you're not a Karen,
Speaker 1: you know, just know that that Karen energy exists within you.
Speaker 1: And if you use it for good, maybe you know,
Speaker 1: maybe we can you know, make you into a better ally,
Speaker 1: which is sort of what we're trying to do. But
Speaker 1: you know, you have that sort of a voice where
Speaker 1: people listen to you, and that's exactly what happened here.
Speaker 1: And obviously it didn't go as far as we'd like,
Speaker 1: but hopefully we'll see what happens with it. But please
Speaker 1: continue to speak up. If you see black people being abused,
Speaker 1: miss mistreated, you know, anything like that, it goes a
Speaker 1: long way for us because your voice is and even
Speaker 1: if you're white male, your voices carry further sometimes and
Speaker 1: sometimes they carry into circles where ours just really has
Speaker 1: no effect on the way that world moves. And so yeah,
Speaker 1: please become a better ally by speaking. Moving on, this
Speaker 1: one is kind of interesting. So all right, Q, if
Speaker 1: I were to tell you that the FEDS deliberately targeted
Speaker 1: BLM protesters to disrupt the movement, would you believe me?
Speaker 1: What I need to convince?
Speaker 2: I was just about to say, obviously, but sure for
Speaker 2: the to humor you a bit, sure I would believe you.
Speaker 1: Rams Okay, yeah, yeah, Now now let me ask you this,
Speaker 1: Why would you believe me?
Speaker 2: Because I saw what happened on January sixth, I saw
Speaker 2: the lack of response to it. I saw the lack
Speaker 2: of outrage, I saw the lack of uproar. Like I've
Speaker 2: seen what the other side of this looks like. So
Speaker 2: it requires very little mental power of me to believe
Speaker 2: what you just said.
Speaker 1: All right, so let me take this a step further.
Speaker 1: So on the show, we've talked about the panthers quite
Speaker 1: a bit. We should probably talk about them again, but
Speaker 1: you know, certainly early on in the show we talked
Speaker 1: about the Panthers a few times. We talked about Fred
Speaker 1: Hampton and a number of other names. I could go on.
Speaker 1: And what's true in a lot of these stories is, well,
Speaker 1: the government was involved in undermining these the efforts of
Speaker 1: these groups, these people, you know, so forth and so on.
Speaker 1: It was not a conspiracy. It wasn't you know, people
Speaker 1: being paranoid. It actually is documented. There's like records and
Speaker 1: people on records saying things and files and so forth.
Speaker 1: People were you know, executed and made it look like
Speaker 1: all that sort of stuff. Right, But you know the
Speaker 1: authorities were strategic in trying to silence black voices and
Speaker 1: to quell the movement movements, you know, historical movements of
Speaker 1: black people trying to, you know, chase equality in this country.
Speaker 1: And so that's why I don't have a tough time
Speaker 1: believing this. But if you listening to my voice have
Speaker 1: a tough time believing it, maybe you'll take it from
Speaker 1: the Associated Press and NPR. So here we go. Now,
Speaker 1: I have a like sort of a hot take from
Speaker 1: someone named Tani Aboushi, and she's a civil rights attorney
Speaker 1: in New York, I believe, and I want to read
Speaker 1: some of what she has provided in her summary of
Speaker 1: you know this this headline, but you know, for yourself
Speaker 1: for your own purpose. Again, it's available in PR, Associated
Speaker 1: Press and so forth. She says, NYC is home to
Speaker 1: pretty much every protest you can think of, from free
Speaker 1: Palestine to climate change, the Women's March. I've never seen
Speaker 1: a police and prosecution response to any of the protests
Speaker 1: like I have for BLM protesters. The targeting of BLM
Speaker 1: protesters like this only serves to shut down the movement
Speaker 1: and stop accountability for police brutality. I kind of want
Speaker 1: to say that again, the targeting of BLM protesters like
Speaker 1: this only serves to shut down the movement and stop
Speaker 1: accountability for police brutality. It's a message they want to
Speaker 1: send to anyone else who will challenge systemic racism and
Speaker 1: some of the things that were found in these studies.
Speaker 1: Among those cases where comparable state level charges could have
Speaker 1: been brought, eighty eight percent of the federal crime charges
Speaker 1: carried more severe potential sentence than the equivalent state criminal
Speaker 1: charges for the same or similar conduct. So that's one
Speaker 1: thing to think about. Out of three hundred and twenty
Speaker 1: six cases, the report identified eighty four cases, which is
Speaker 1: twenty five point eight percent where prosecutors stacked charges against
Speaker 1: defendants with multiple redundant charges being brought arising from the
Speaker 1: same facts, leading to far more severe potential sentences against defendants.
Speaker 1: That is what we refer to around here and Q
Speaker 1: affectionately refers to as quote trumped up charges. Another one
Speaker 1: is seventy two percent or sorry, seventy two cases, which
Speaker 1: is twenty two point one percent involved charges with mandatory
Speaker 1: minimum sentences. Sixty seven cases, or twenty percent, involve charges
Speaker 1: of offenses where the defendant is alleged to have attempted, conspired,
Speaker 1: or aided and embedded and underlying crime without having actually
Speaker 1: committed the underlying criminal conduct. In all what we see
Speaker 1: is that even you know, as citizens in this country,
Speaker 1: even our rights to assemble and protest, our freedoms of speech,
Speaker 1: our freedom really in essence to help shape the world
Speaker 1: that we want to live in, shape the country that
Speaker 1: we want to live in, very much the minority still,
Speaker 1: you know, you know, we kind of remain constant at
Speaker 1: twelve percent according to the census that we talked about.
Speaker 1: I believe it was last week or the week before.
Speaker 1: But you know, our voices matter and helping shape the
Speaker 1: world that we live in. In theory, and we see deliberate,
Speaker 1: strategic attempts to target, to give harsher sentences and basically
Speaker 1: create political prisoners out of folks who want to be
Speaker 1: a little bit more vocal and a little bit more active.
Speaker 1: And you and I both know people who have been
Speaker 1: victims of this have been on this show. People have
Speaker 1: been arrested, have been on the show as soon as
Speaker 1: they get out of jail, and of course we knew
Speaker 1: that they've come up and told their stories. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: they had a file on me already. They knew where
Speaker 1: I lived, they had pictures of me at my house,
Speaker 1: about they knew all this stuff before they even arrested me.
Speaker 1: And when they arrested me, it was for jaywalking, you know,
Speaker 1: and then they stacked all these other charges from things
Speaker 1: that happened months prior in the protest and had nothing
Speaker 1: to do with anything. And now I'm in the system,
Speaker 1: and now I can be a repeat offender, and now
Speaker 1: you know, I'm a part of their story that they're telling,
Speaker 1: you know, and you know, to be fair, everyone that's
Speaker 1: told that to us on this show knew that that's
Speaker 1: what they were signing up for. You know, one person
Speaker 1: that comes to mind is Rocky Tirade. Another one is Zara.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: Our first episode was Tzarre from from Black Lives Matter.
Speaker 1: And so for folks who actually visit the website, you know,
Speaker 1: a Civic Cipher dot com and go back and listen
Speaker 1: to old episodes, you know, those are some names that
Speaker 1: will stand out to you, and you can listen to
Speaker 1: their stories yourself. But I think it shows another level
Speaker 1: of how unfair things are and how much of an
Speaker 1: uphill battle there is and why you know, let's say
Speaker 1: you're just kind of a casual listener to your black
Speaker 1: brothers and sisters, and you don't you're not really involved with,
Speaker 1: you know, trying to make the world a better place,
Speaker 1: but you kind of hear them and you're you know,
Speaker 1: you try to do a good person when you go
Speaker 1: to the store and you donate a couple of dollars
Speaker 1: here and there whatever, But you know, you have your
Speaker 1: moments where you're like, well, they're always talking about the
Speaker 1: same stuff. It's because of things like this, things that
Speaker 1: that might never make it their way to you, things
Speaker 1: that you might not hear about, you know, things that
Speaker 1: there's like active forces suppressing, you know, these challenges to
Speaker 1: a white supremacist system and country that we live in.
Speaker 1: You know, it's not we're not saying we hate the country.
Speaker 1: We're not. We're just saying we know we could do
Speaker 1: we could we can be better, we can be better
Speaker 1: brothers and sisters.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: For people who are very patriotic, because they like to
Speaker 1: say that, well, if you don't like the country the
Speaker 1: way it is, then you must hate America. No, I
Speaker 1: live here, I was born here, I was born in California.
Speaker 1: You know, this is the only country I know that
Speaker 1: I've lived in that I know, and it can be better.
Speaker 1: I equate it to a house you know, you can
Speaker 1: be born in a house and love the house and
Speaker 1: doesn't mean it can't be better. You know, you can
Speaker 1: install new things, you can change, knock out a wall,
Speaker 1: put in new furniture, whatever. But you know, people always
Speaker 1: feel like you're being anti American by bringing attention to
Speaker 1: these things, and by bringing attention with some frequency. Sometimes
Speaker 1: the narrative is that you're always complaining. Well, if our
Speaker 1: voices aren't heard, then yeah, we're gonna have to say
Speaker 1: the same things over and over again. And if the
Speaker 1: leadership is getting snatched off the streets, then they never
Speaker 1: get to, you know, finish what they started. And if
Speaker 1: they're you know, you know a lot of people don't
Speaker 1: do the research, especially in this country, about what a
Speaker 1: political prisoner is. These are people who haven't caused any
Speaker 1: harm to society. They wanted to change society for the
Speaker 1: better mint of everyone, and because a very small amount
Speaker 1: of folks, typically on the other side of you know,
Speaker 1: the thin blue line or whatever, don't really like that,
Speaker 1: then they'll make them into political prisoners and some people
Speaker 1: end up losing their lives to it. We've seen that
Speaker 1: happen time and again with a lot of our leaders.
Speaker 1: Once they get too big or have too much momentum.
Speaker 1: And I think that this is part of the reason why,
Speaker 1: at least in my city where I live in Phoenix
Speaker 1: Area thone. For those that don't know, I had to
Speaker 1: be very careful about the degree of my involvement in
Speaker 1: the protests of last year and some of the protests
Speaker 1: of this year, with the Stop Asian Hate protests and
Speaker 1: some of the other things that have gone on in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one, I've had to really be mindful of
Speaker 1: the degree of my involvement because of these factors that
Speaker 1: I knew were already in place. You know. The truth
Speaker 1: is is that there's not a lot of radio shows
Speaker 1: that exist that bring attention to this sort of stuff,
Speaker 1: certainly not in a long form conversational way like what
Speaker 1: we're doing. C and I know that in the cities
Speaker 1: where we air, we're the only show like this. So
Speaker 1: imagine if I get arrested, you know, then all the leadership,
Speaker 1: they lose their platform to come up and say, these
Speaker 1: are our demands, these are what these things mean, these
Speaker 1: are and explain to people. You know, now, the opposition,
Speaker 1: the media, opposition, gets to tell the story that really
Speaker 1: requires black voices. It really requires people to say what
Speaker 1: the what is and to explain it. And I think
Speaker 1: that this is it's kind of weird, it's kind of meta,
Speaker 1: But this is kind of a great example of why,
Speaker 1: you know, because no one else is going to ever
Speaker 1: go on the radio and say, hey, you know, they're
Speaker 1: arresting us just because we're protesting. They're targeting us, they're
Speaker 1: putting us in jail, they're trumping up the charges so
Speaker 1: that we can be limited in our protesting capacities and
Speaker 1: we can be less effective because they have a vested
Speaker 1: interest in maintaining a white supremacist status quo is documented. Again,
Speaker 1: you don't have to take Rams's word for it or
Speaker 1: cues for that matter. You could just look at the
Speaker 1: Associated Press and that's pretty reputable.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: If you think it's more reputable than my voice, you know,
Speaker 1: I employee to look it up. But everything's there, Everything
Speaker 1: checks out. And I recognize is that we get a
Speaker 1: lot of our new sources from places that will tell
Speaker 1: black stories, because those are the types of stories that
Speaker 1: we tell. But this one is not a black source.
Speaker 1: This is the Associated presents Global. So if you didn't
Speaker 1: believe that the Panthers were strategically targeted, and you know
Speaker 1: that you think the Panthers were a terrorist organization or whatever,
Speaker 1: if you if you didn't really if you'd have no
Speaker 1: idea who Fred Hampton is, or you thought mlk's assassination
Speaker 1: was a tragedy, but you didn't think that there was
Speaker 1: any like, you know, intelligence behind that, or you know
Speaker 1: the same with you know, Malcolm X or whatever. This
Speaker 1: is something that you can point to what happened in
Speaker 1: your lifetime and it's documented, and it's out not a
Speaker 1: year later, and I employ you to do so. Now, Q,
Speaker 1: I asked you a second ago or a moment ago,
Speaker 1: if any of this surprised you, and you said, for
Speaker 1: the sake of argument, you'll say that you like, we're
Speaker 1: willing to play along with me. But now I kind
Speaker 1: of want to get a little bit more of a
Speaker 1: long form response to everything, because this sort of thing
Speaker 1: is right up your alley.
Speaker 2: I think it's really interesting that we have to prove
Speaker 2: beyond a reasonable doubt things that are so blatantly obvious. Right,
Speaker 2: the way that our police departments responded to our peaceful
Speaker 2: protest in full riot gear with full intent of being
Speaker 2: aggressive with us was so blatant and flagrant, and so
Speaker 2: different than the way they responded to armed protesters on
Speaker 2: the other side of the street, armed protesters that showed
Speaker 2: up not just to our nation's capital but to capitals
Speaker 2: all over our country with assault right, we're met with
Speaker 2: far less resistance than us holding a piece of cardboard.
Speaker 2: We need a voice that isn't black to say that
Speaker 2: this is obviously different and that we're obviously being targeted.
Speaker 2: We need the Associated Press to say this. We need
Speaker 2: someone that doesn't look like us to deliver a believable,
Speaker 2: what you perceive to be non biased opinion on this topic,
Speaker 2: is that what we need. You can't use your own
Speaker 2: eyes and see what's incredibly obvious, or do your eyes
Speaker 2: say that when the people holding the signs look like us,
Speaker 2: they're criminals, and when the people holding the assault rifles
Speaker 2: are white, that they're patriots. Because if that's the case,
Speaker 2: then it doesn't matter if the Associated Press says it,
Speaker 2: or if the President of the United States says it.
Speaker 2: Your mind is already made up. You've already decided which
Speaker 2: side of the street that you're on. Right, So we
Speaker 2: spoke earlier about cancel culture. We spoke earlier about their
Speaker 2: being room for forgiveness and and redemption. But when so
Speaker 2: many people have shown that they have no desire to
Speaker 2: be redeemed, they don't have any redeemable qualities, it's very
Speaker 2: hard to not strike out in the way of okay, cancel,
Speaker 2: that's that's that's a that's just a reaction to centuries
Speaker 2: of this type of targeting, this type of abuse, this
Speaker 2: type of injustice. It's it's the it's the response of
Speaker 2: a dog. If you, if you, if you, if you
Speaker 2: ever heard people talk about rescuing dogs that have been
Speaker 2: abused when they get into that new home with that
Speaker 2: loving family, that dog is not ready to be loved yet,
Speaker 2: because that dog has been abused so much that it's
Speaker 2: ready to react to the abuse. So you speak about
Speaker 2: how you know sometimes people are quick to cancel. It's
Speaker 2: because they can't help it. How else am I supposed
Speaker 2: to to reac to the person that every time I
Speaker 2: see them slaps me in the face, I'm gonna jump,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna try to protect myself when someone looks like
Speaker 2: they're gonna raise their hand to me. So when all
Speaker 2: of our existence has shown that the way that we
Speaker 2: look is criminal and that we're gonna be treated as such.
Speaker 2: I'm absolutely not surprised when I hear a story like this,
Speaker 2: And if you guys have listened to more than one
Speaker 2: of these episodes, you know I'm the least optimistic of
Speaker 2: this group. I'm the least hopeful because stories like this
Speaker 2: are not rare. I've said this on the show before.
Speaker 2: We do not have to sift through tons of pages
Speaker 2: to find things to talk about on this show. We
Speaker 2: don't have enough show to talk about all the things
Speaker 2: that we find, all the videos that we see, all
Speaker 2: the articles that we read, we don't have enough show
Speaker 2: to talk about all of them. So if my tone
Speaker 2: seems a bit angrier today, it's because I'm exhausted. I
Speaker 2: don't feel like things are getting better. Maybe once upon
Speaker 2: a time they were right, and we've somehow, And I've
Speaker 2: heard hundreds of people downplay the Obama election. Barack Obama,
Speaker 2: and if you google Barack Obama and read his middle name,
Speaker 2: you will realize how nearly impossible it would be for
Speaker 2: somebody that looks like him with that name to be
Speaker 2: elected president in this country. I cried, I danced, I
Speaker 2: played my music real loud, and I celebrated because when
Speaker 2: my mother was a voting age. She couldn't vote period.
Speaker 2: My black mother in the state of Georgia, when she
Speaker 2: became legal voting age, could not I got to vote
Speaker 2: twice for the first black man to become president of
Speaker 2: this country. And we tried to downplay it. And there's
Speaker 2: a reason why we had to downplay it, because people
Speaker 2: on the other side of the argument tried to give
Speaker 2: it too much credence. See, we're equal, We've come so far.
Speaker 2: Look what just happened that we couldn't even really fully
Speaker 2: celebrate it like we wanted to. That was a massive
Speaker 2: step towards progress. But when people who have been oppressive
Speaker 2: forever want to pack themselves on the back for that progress,
Speaker 2: then we have to not celebrate as hard. We have
Speaker 2: to say, okay, wait, yeah, y'all, yeah, we got this one.
Speaker 2: But wait, there's all this stuff over here that we
Speaker 2: don't have. But the steps that we've taken backwards since then,
Speaker 2: like you should be disgusted by it. The steps that
Speaker 2: we continue to take backwards. What seems like daily now
Speaker 2: we've done away with science, we've done away with fact,
Speaker 2: we've done away with there being anything that's true right,
Speaker 2: our healthy sense of skepticism has turned into something that's
Speaker 2: almost lunacy, and I'm watching people slide way backward on
Speaker 2: the rights, privileges and freedoms that we all deserve. People
Speaker 2: making a mockery of the government that they want to
Speaker 2: uphold and what they call patriotism. So rams's it is very,
Speaker 2: very easy for me to see a story like that
Speaker 2: and not even need more information because they require too
Speaker 2: much information of us for things that are just blatantly,
Speaker 2: flagrantly obvious.
Speaker 1: Well, that's more than fair. I can't take that from you.
Speaker 1: And obviously this is a heavy piece of news just
Speaker 1: by itself, even though it doesn't surprise us. And you
Speaker 1: know a lot of folks that would even take the
Speaker 1: time to listen to the show, it wouldn't surprise them.
Speaker 1: But I maintain somebody took the time to gather the
Speaker 1: data because they believe that it would be important, And
Speaker 1: somebody took that data and wrote an article because they
Speaker 1: believed it would be important in helping shape the world
Speaker 1: into a better world. And then people like you and
Speaker 1: I we come across the information and we say, let's
Speaker 1: share it so that we can educate folks, because that
Speaker 1: education will ultimately create stronger relationships between our to pull
Speaker 1: a word from Dog the bounty hunter tribes. You know,
Speaker 1: we have to share this planet together. Let's let's let's
Speaker 1: love each other. I mean, I know it sounds crazy.
Speaker 1: I can hear my own voice, but why would we
Speaker 1: we have to share the planet, why would we want
Speaker 1: to hate each other. Let's let's try to get along,
Speaker 1: you know, And I believe that's possible, and that's part
Speaker 1: of the reason why this stuff is happening. So well,
Speaker 1: that said, we got to move on a bit. Let's
Speaker 1: talk about something that I believe is good and I
Speaker 1: kind of knew it, but I want to have our
Speaker 1: show producers share it with you. DJ Swirl, what's up
Speaker 1: about that? Way? Black History fat.
Speaker 2: Drift?
Speaker 3: This week we highlight the little known underground railroad that
Speaker 3: ran south to Mexico. Unlike the northern Free States, Mexico
Speaker 3: did not agree to return people who had fled into slavery.
Speaker 1: You are.
Speaker 3: The underground railroad ran south as well as north. For
Speaker 3: ensallaved people in Texas, Refuge in Canada seemed impossibly far away. Fortunately,
Speaker 3: slavery was also illegal in Mexico. Researchers estimate five between
Speaker 3: five and ten thousand people escaped from bondage into Mexico,
Speaker 3: but the actual number could be even higher In comparison
Speaker 3: and estimated thirty thousand to one hundred thousand enslaved people
Speaker 3: across the Mason Dixon line to reach free northern States
Speaker 3: and Canada. There's some evidence that Tejanos or Mexicans in
Speaker 3: Texas acted as conductors on the Southern route by helping
Speaker 3: people get to Mexico. In Mexico, slavery was abolished back
Speaker 3: in eighteen twenty nine by Mexico's second President, Vicente Guerrero,
Speaker 3: who himself was of African descent. At that time, Texas
Speaker 3: was still part of the country, in part prompting white
Speaker 3: slave holding immigrants to fight for independence in the Texas Revolution.
Speaker 3: Once they formed the Republic of Texas, they made slate
Speaker 3: frey legal again, and it continued to be legal when
Speaker 3: Texas joined the US as a state in eighteen forty five.
Speaker 3: Slaveholders knew enslaved people were escaping to Mexico, and the
Speaker 3: US tried to get Mexico decided a fugitive Slave treaty,
Speaker 3: just as the Fugitive Slave Act of eighteen fifty had
Speaker 3: compelled free states to return escapees to the South. The
Speaker 3: US won in Mexico to return escaped enslave people to
Speaker 3: the US, but they refused, insisting that all enslaved people
Speaker 3: were free when they set foot on Mexican soil talk
Speaker 3: to them. Despite this, some US owners of enslaved people
Speaker 3: still hired slave catchers to illegally kidnap escapees in Mexico.
Speaker 3: That comes courtesy of History dot Com.
Speaker 1: Your thoughts, Q.
Speaker 2: Viva la Mexico.
Speaker 1: Ain't no secret, Ain't no secret. One time listen all right,
Speaker 1: So for those that know, you know, you're going to
Speaker 1: hear it again. But for those that don't, you know.
Speaker 1: I was born in California and grew up in Arizona,
Speaker 1: so I spent the majority of my life in the Southwest.
Speaker 1: And I have a grandmother who's from Cuba, so Spanish.
Speaker 1: Believe it or not. It sounds weird, but Spanish was
Speaker 1: my first language. That's what I know how to speak
Speaker 1: until I was like maybe three, So I was around
Speaker 1: Mexican people, Mexican culture. I mean, it's California, it's in
Speaker 1: the name. Arizona's in the name. You know, all the streets,
Speaker 1: all the people, the foods, everything like that. So it's
Speaker 1: like kind of like a cousin culture or a brother culture.
Speaker 1: You know, the people feel like but th to me
Speaker 1: have always kind of felt that way, and you know,
Speaker 1: I recognize that, you know, not everybody shares that viewpoint.
Speaker 1: You know, there's there's a lot of prison culture that
Speaker 1: makes its way onto the streets, you know, prison and
Speaker 1: a lot of stuff is segregated by race. And then
Speaker 1: that that culture makes its way onto the streets through
Speaker 1: illegal activities or whatever, and you know, neighborhood clicks and
Speaker 1: gangs and that sort of stuff. But that the overwhelming
Speaker 1: majority of people know how to get along pretty well.
Speaker 1: And you know, for folks that maybe have some prejudices
Speaker 1: against you know, one side or the other. I'm talking
Speaker 1: just between black folks and brown folks. I love this
Speaker 1: story because this shows that, you know, before your grandparents
Speaker 1: grandparents were born, you know, Mexican has been holding us down,
Speaker 1: and we've sought, we we've looked at Mexico as a
Speaker 1: place where we can you know, be appreciated as men
Speaker 1: and women live full lives, you know, and there's a
Speaker 1: brotherhood that's a lot older and a lot more established
Speaker 1: than you know a lot of folks know. For all,
Speaker 1: my brothers and sisters who are listening to the show.
Speaker 1: You know, try to learn Suspanish man takes some time.
Speaker 1: Go down to Mexico, you might and travel, you know,
Speaker 1: not just Mexico, but you know that's a good, good
Speaker 1: place to start if you're in the US, because it's
Speaker 1: so close. You know, it's a good place to go.
Speaker 1: And you know, I remember hearing a lot of folks say,
Speaker 1: you know that a lot of times Mexican people are
Speaker 1: prejudiced against black people or Americans or whatever. And you know,
Speaker 1: it hasn't really been my experience at all. If anything,
Speaker 1: this story is kind of the way that I feel
Speaker 1: Mexico is even today, you know about Mexico just kind
Speaker 1: of being open and receptive. If anything is prejudiced or whatever,
Speaker 1: it's the US. You know, we're the ones you're trying
Speaker 1: to build a wall and keep people out, and you know,
Speaker 1: making fun of people for trying to, you know, pursue
Speaker 1: better lives for you know, their families, completely ignoring the
Speaker 1: fact that there's tons of people who live in Mexico
Speaker 1: and are happy as happy as a clam, have no
Speaker 1: desire to move anywhere, just like you and and and me,
Speaker 1: and so shout out to Mexico one time, shout out
Speaker 1: djswear off of that Way Black History Fact. That's that's
Speaker 1: definitely perhaps one of my favorite because a lot of
Speaker 1: times with the Way Black History Fact, we're talking about
Speaker 1: something foul that some company did the black people, and
Speaker 1: we got to deal with that and be like, hey,
Speaker 1: this is why we are where we are. But I
Speaker 1: remember when I first found that out about Mexico and
Speaker 1: slaves escaping to Mexico. It helped me to start thinking
Speaker 1: because you know, in my lifetime, I've seen Mexican people
Speaker 1: with black you know, features, brown skin, curly hair, and
Speaker 1: there is Mexican is the flag, the Mexican flag, you know,
Speaker 1: And so you know, I'm really glad that we took
Speaker 1: the time to you know, get that in. We don't
Speaker 1: always get to do stuff that I think is happy,
Speaker 1: and I'm glad we got too. So well that said,
Speaker 1: I think that is going to do it for us
Speaker 1: today here on Civic Cipher. So once again, I'm your host,
Speaker 1: rams is Jah.
Speaker 2: They call me q Ward mostly all the time, mostly
Speaker 2: all the time, like that one, mostly all the time.
Speaker 1: Yes, indeed, And of course the show produced by DJ Swirl.
Speaker 1: If you can hit the website Civic Cipher dot com
Speaker 1: download this in any previous episodes. You can also uh
Speaker 1: get us syndicated in your city. You can find out
Speaker 1: how on the website, and of course you can make
Speaker 1: a donation to the show. It helps the show grow
Speaker 1: and it helps us to continue to bring you this
Speaker 1: content which we feel is very important and hopefully you
Speaker 1: do too. And I think that'll do it for us
Speaker 1: this week. So until next week, y'all.
Speaker 2: Peace The