Speaker 1: Keep on riding with us as we continue to broadcast
Speaker 1: the balance and defend the discourse from the hip hop
Speaker 1: WEV studios here on Civic Cipher once again, I'm your host,
Speaker 1: Ramsy's Jah.
Speaker 2: He is Ramsy's Jaw.
Speaker 1: I am q Ward. You are tuned into Civic Cipher
Speaker 1: and we want you to keep on riding with us
Speaker 1: because we still got some more show for you. For
Speaker 1: this next half of the show, we're going to spend
Speaker 1: a good amount of time discussing the go back to
Speaker 1: Africa narrative or call from people who feel I'm gonna
Speaker 1: be as kind as I can feel like black people
Speaker 1: complain too much about our station in this country. Those
Speaker 1: same people who compare black people in this country to
Speaker 1: black people in Africa. This is a thing that happens,
Speaker 1: and so we're going to speak to it. Unfortunately, I
Speaker 1: had a gentleman engage with me online, and I think
Speaker 1: the resulting conversation is worth you listening to. So that
Speaker 1: and so much more for you to stick around for
Speaker 1: uh and I asked that you do once again. But first,
Speaker 1: before we get let's discuss ba Ba becoming a better
Speaker 1: ally Baba and Today's Baba sponsored by Friends of the movement.
Speaker 1: You can sign up for the free voter Willert from
Speaker 1: fotmglobal dot com support black businesses and allied businesses as
Speaker 1: well as make an impact with your spending. Again, that's
Speaker 1: fotmglobal dot com. All right. So came across a meme
Speaker 1: and I checked it out and it turned out to
Speaker 1: be true. We're really exciting, okay. The meme says self
Speaker 1: made millionaire Harris Rosen adopted a Florida neighborhood called TAngelo Park,
Speaker 1: cut the crime rate in half and increase the high
Speaker 1: school graduation rate from twenty five percent to one hundred
Speaker 1: percent by giving everyone free daycare and all high school
Speaker 1: graduates scholarships. So a millionaire gave money to a black
Speaker 1: neighborhood and black neighborhood did well.
Speaker 2: Well.
Speaker 1: Turns out this guy actually exists and he really does this, Okay.
Speaker 1: So I checked out his website. It's Rosengives Back dot com.
Speaker 1: And I'll read this briefly through the This is just
Speaker 1: one paragraph. It's a much longer read again, but this
Speaker 1: is the part that I feel really kind of sells this.
Speaker 1: Through the Harris Rosen Foundation. Mister saved at local YMC
Speaker 1: Aquatic Center so children have a place to learn to
Speaker 1: swim to help prevent accidental drownings. The foundation also honors
Speaker 1: mister Rosan's heritage by assisting the Jack and Lee Rosen
Speaker 1: Jewish Community Center to better serve children and families of
Speaker 1: all religions in the Southwest Orlando community. Within this site,
Speaker 1: you will learn about the individuals and organizations to whom
Speaker 1: mister Rosen has provided support, disaster relief, and the opportunity
Speaker 1: to fulfill their dreams. Again, that's Rosen gives Back dot com.
Speaker 1: And if you're able to check out that website, what
Speaker 1: you're going to see is an old white man who
Speaker 1: just looks like money, I'm being honest, and he's surrounded
Speaker 1: by black He has little black boys and girls right
Speaker 1: almost is like if he's found his own version of heaven.
Speaker 1: He's so happy to give back to these folks. And
Speaker 1: I thought that this was worth the mention because he
Speaker 1: definitely is an ally, and I think by exampling that behavior,
Speaker 1: you too can become a better ally. And you don't
Speaker 1: necessarily need money. It's just the spirit that goes along
Speaker 1: the way. Honey helps However, absolutely say that him. All right,
Speaker 1: so I'm going to tell you a bit about this
Speaker 1: guy bless you ramses from for our listeners. I know
Speaker 1: this story already that you guys are about to hear.
Speaker 1: Here we go, land Buckle in bless you bro. So
Speaker 1: his name is Max Power and then some number. I
Speaker 1: didn't put the number here, but Max Power. Man. I
Speaker 1: told you I was going to talk about you on
Speaker 1: the radio, So here we go. Man, I do sincerely
Speaker 1: appreciate the time that you put into this conversation, even
Speaker 1: though I know you were trying to make a point
Speaker 1: that I will I'll never see things from your way.
Speaker 1: I do appreciate it because people like you show me
Speaker 1: that there are people like you, and for better or worse,
Speaker 1: you illuminate a blind spot. And my hope is that
Speaker 1: you and I are going to be able to be
Speaker 1: brothers one day and sit down at the table with
Speaker 1: a lot more in common in terms of how we
Speaker 1: see the world and different. And fortunately I have the
Speaker 1: stage and I'm able to share our story and so
Speaker 1: I'll do this.
Speaker 3: So what we did was we put up a video
Speaker 3: that says, basically it was like it was discussing, you know,
Speaker 3: white privilege and giving examples of white privilege.
Speaker 1: This is what we put up on our social media.
Speaker 1: We put up clips of the show, we put up
Speaker 1: clips of things that come in the news, and so forth.
Speaker 1: One such clip. He responds to this clip by saying,
Speaker 1: I will give you two choices, and you can only
Speaker 1: choose one. Number one, your ancestors stayed in Africa and
Speaker 1: were never brought to the US by Jewish ships. You
Speaker 1: are now living in modern day Africa with mud huts,
Speaker 1: no running water. Slavery still exists in Africa today and
Speaker 1: working either for a Chinese mining firm like Kred seven
Speaker 1: or doing god knows what. You cannot leave Africa now.
Speaker 1: Or option two, your ancestors were brought to the US
Speaker 1: by Jewish owned slave ships. Nothing changes, Everything was the
Speaker 1: same to this day. You have everything you have now
Speaker 1: you are in the US. Think carefully what choice you want.
Speaker 1: And then he puts a smiley face. Right, So what
Speaker 1: he's trying to do, I know, I know, I know,
Speaker 1: you just going to get this off. So what he's
Speaker 1: trying to do is suggests that we have it better
Speaker 1: in the United States then we would have had it
Speaker 1: in Africa. Right, And for people that don't know any
Speaker 1: better and people that cannot see beyond their own biases
Speaker 1: and prejudices, and they don't recognize that. They're ignorant to
Speaker 1: a lot in the way of studies that would show
Speaker 1: them just how rich a place Africa historically has been,
Speaker 1: even before places like Greece and Rome, which I'll talk
Speaker 1: about here. All it sounds like a bunch of black
Speaker 1: people in huts living like cavemen, right, and so they
Speaker 1: think that that's what would have happened, right. So this
Speaker 1: is why we have to have this conversation. So allow
Speaker 1: me to respond. So this is my response to him.
Speaker 1: I says, this only tells me that you don't know
Speaker 1: the rich and diverse history of Africa. And furthermore, you
Speaker 1: think that everyone in Africa is miserable. There are people
Speaker 1: who live in places I'm confident you never heard of
Speaker 1: that researchers have found to be happier than both of us.
Speaker 1: None of them has an iPhone or a Netflix account
Speaker 1: as decorated as my passport is. I hope to one
Speaker 1: day visit some of those places. Also check out doctor
Speaker 1: Anthony Browner. He can serve as a great starting point
Speaker 1: for the African civilizations that taught and influenced the early
Speaker 1: cultures in Greece, Rome, etc. And that includes their architecture,
Speaker 1: no mud huts. I thought that was a sufficient response. Again,
Speaker 1: at the time, I didn't realize it would turn into
Speaker 1: what it has turned into. But in short order, he
Speaker 1: responded back, you still have not answered the question. Oh okay,
Speaker 1: Max Powell, I have not answered the question. All right,
Speaker 1: here we go. This is my response to that the
Speaker 1: question is invalid. Had my ancestors stayed in Africa and
Speaker 1: there was never a Transatlantic slave trade and thus no
Speaker 1: European colonization of African countries, then Africa would be the
Speaker 1: wealthiest continent on Earth by a considerable margin. Again with
Speaker 1: the brilliant mathematical minds from Ethiopia, kush Ghana, Sonique, I
Speaker 1: think that's how I pronounce the name of the tribe there, etc.
Speaker 1: Your supposition of me living in a mud hut doesn't
Speaker 1: reflect an accurate represation representation of what Africa would be
Speaker 1: today with all of its diamonds and gold and precious metals,
Speaker 1: minerals and resources in its coffers. Truthfully, your question doesn't
Speaker 1: represent historical Africa all that well either, only a smaller,
Speaker 1: more exotic facet of the pre colonial African landscape. I
Speaker 1: e the tribal communities that made for interesting stories back
Speaker 1: in Europe, A similar thing happened in this country. Indeed,
Speaker 1: the Natives in this land didn't all live in small
Speaker 1: tribes and tepees. There were full, rich, complex societies across
Speaker 1: North and South America. They have been excavated and studied
Speaker 1: in detail, effectively debunking the stereotypical pre fourteen ninety two
Speaker 1: Native American lifestyle. It's this eurocentric viewpoint that you have.
Speaker 1: I didn't want to use the word white supremacists, but
Speaker 1: that's what it is. And I didn't want to scare
Speaker 1: them off because people they tend to shut down when
Speaker 1: you tell them the truth. So Eurocentric kind of worked here.
Speaker 1: But for those that would hold my feet to the fire,
Speaker 1: I intended to put white supremacists. I just knew that
Speaker 1: i'd lose them. And you know, if you have a
Speaker 1: chance to educate someone or learn, then you take advantage.
Speaker 1: Right anyway, it's this eurocentric where did I go? Right?
Speaker 1: Here we go viewpoint that you have that causes lots
Speaker 1: of harm to those of us looking to build bridges.
Speaker 1: True told, these people and others have historically helped out
Speaker 1: white people time and again, and they were often repaid
Speaker 1: with disease, theft, lies, enslavement, rape, or outright slaughter. There
Speaker 1: are lots of people who think Africans have always just
Speaker 1: been people with bones in their noses, but that's only
Speaker 1: part of the tapestry of historical Africa. I won't hold
Speaker 1: it against you, since this is probably the first you're
Speaker 1: hearing of it, but I implore you to travel and
Speaker 1: do a bit of digging as well. It's a great
Speaker 1: way to shield, sorry, to shed the notion that one
Speaker 1: group is superior to another. Again, that's me trying to interject, like, hey, dog,
Speaker 1: you might think that you're white. You might have some
Speaker 1: white supremacist views that you're not confronting. So I put
Speaker 1: you know, it's a great way to shed the notion
Speaker 1: that one group is superior to another. They're just different.
Speaker 1: To answer theiggest predictor, this is my answer, Okay, to answer,
Speaker 1: the biggest predictor of happiness is the amount of close friendships,
Speaker 1: not mud houses or iPhones. I'd rather live where I
Speaker 1: have friends. Thanks for this, it was fun. Please keep listening,
Speaker 1: watching and supporting. It helps us grow our radio show.
Speaker 1: Talk to you soon, and I put a heart Okay,
Speaker 1: After that, he puts, so you think that if Europeans
Speaker 1: never given Africa the written language, it would be wakanda?
Speaker 1: Got it? Lol? So I am going to assume that
Speaker 1: you would not give up your life here and that
Speaker 1: your answer is number two. So I responded, written language
Speaker 1: comes from northern Africa and what is now the Middle East,
Speaker 1: not Europe. That is a very easy thing to google.
Speaker 1: If you don't already know that Samerians ancient Samerians anyone,
Speaker 1: not Europe. You can assume what makes you feel best.
Speaker 1: The question was flawed, But I'd be happy wherever I
Speaker 1: have friends happy. Okay, all right, so he says again,
Speaker 1: So again you will not answer you people have it
Speaker 1: made in the US and would still be selling each
Speaker 1: other to tribes. Go watch Empire of Dust. Okay, so
Speaker 1: I will spare you the rest of our exchange. You know,
Speaker 1: back and forth. But you know me trying to communicate
Speaker 1: to this gentleman that his question is invalid. It's it's
Speaker 1: akin to me asking you, hey, Q, do you want
Speaker 1: purple or last Tuesday?
Speaker 2: You guys can't see me. So what am I supposed
Speaker 2: to do with that? It's long, it's a non question.
Speaker 1: Yeah you do you want purple or last Tuesday. It
Speaker 1: doesn't make sense. It's not like a real thing. And again,
Speaker 1: for a person that assumes that living in Africa and
Speaker 1: had their and know Transatlantic slave trade, that people in
Speaker 1: Africa would be miserable, I think that it There is
Speaker 1: no better way to example a white supremacist Eurocentric arrogance
Speaker 1: than in a question like that, because again it assumes, oh,
Speaker 1: we're God's gift to the planet. Your iPhone makes you happy?
Speaker 1: No iPhone stress everybody out. Fam Again, there's tribes in
Speaker 1: the bottom of the Himalayan What is that Mount Everest
Speaker 1: the happiest human beings on earth scientifically studied. They don't
Speaker 1: have a Wi Fi signal for one hundred miles in
Speaker 1: any direction. They don't need it, right, And if the
Speaker 1: goal is to be happy, to spend time with loved
Speaker 1: one and so forth and so on, technology and whatever else,
Speaker 1: that this course sort of again, this Eurocentric vantage point.
Speaker 1: It doesn't necessarily mean that people are going to be happy.
Speaker 1: Will their lives be more convenient, sure, But the only
Speaker 1: reason lives need to be more convenient is because lives
Speaker 1: get more stressful with more complex societies. Was more in
Speaker 1: the way of capitalistic forces, et cetera. Right, So there's
Speaker 1: good and bad. Yes, And again for folks that feel like, well,
Speaker 1: our way of life the only way of life they know,
Speaker 1: by the way, our way of life is superior. These
Speaker 1: are not people this guy. I'm confident this guy never
Speaker 1: spent twenty years on a beach and had something to
Speaker 1: compare his life in the USA against. He never you know,
Speaker 1: he didn't live enough lives. None of us are able
Speaker 1: to do that. So that's the only reason why I'm
Speaker 1: saying this to be able to say our way of
Speaker 1: life is superior. Right, But the insulting nature of the communication,
Speaker 1: like oh, you guys would be still living in mud
Speaker 1: huts with bones in your nose is if we didn't
Speaker 1: come and rescue you from the continent of Africa. And
Speaker 1: you know, again those people that talk about slavery, like, oh,
Speaker 1: you guys sold yourselves in slavery. Your people sold you
Speaker 1: in slavery. And you know, he mentioned that slavery was
Speaker 1: practiced in African It absolutely was. These are not things
Speaker 1: that we've ever refuted on this show. But we have
Speaker 1: talked about how chattel slavery in this country was very
Speaker 1: different many times, and the types of slavery that you'll
Speaker 1: find in African countries and in many parts of the world.
Speaker 1: Doesn't mean that if you have a child, that your
Speaker 1: child is a slave too, and you've created a slave race.
Speaker 1: All of the black people that you see exist to
Speaker 1: serve you. And if you are born black, your whole
Speaker 1: life is based around servitude. That's not a real thing
Speaker 1: anywhere else. I mean, sure, and probably small isolated pockets
Speaker 1: of gross individuals, but not a whole country and the
Speaker 1: birth of a country based off of that sin. Right,
Speaker 1: But there are people who want to rewrite history. There
Speaker 1: are people who want to whitewatches, or there are people
Speaker 1: who sincerely feel like what it is that they are
Speaker 1: saying makes sense. And specifically, again in this example, in
Speaker 1: order to rewind time where black people never left Africa
Speaker 1: in the first place, you're rewinding again a lot of colonialism, right,
Speaker 1: and the colonization of Africa. Africa is a very different place.
Speaker 1: He wanted me to watch this movie, and I sent
Speaker 1: him a response to that too. I'll spare the details
Speaker 1: of it. You don't need to watch the movie, But
Speaker 1: long and short of it is that the same thing
Speaker 1: that happened to the native Americans in this country is
Speaker 1: the same thing that's happened to a lot of the
Speaker 1: African countries, where there are these European colonists who lie,
Speaker 1: violate treaties, contracts, deals, agreements, whatever, and then they stomp
Speaker 1: out revolutions and Africa is littered with them. And then
Speaker 1: you get people like him who get to point a
Speaker 1: finger and say, look at what badest shape Africa's in.
Speaker 1: Aren't you glad we rescued you from that. No, you
Speaker 1: did that to Africa and you did this to us,
Speaker 1: and you are the bad guy in a lot more
Speaker 1: people's story than you realize, and we are trying to
Speaker 1: build a bridge for you to come back because we
Speaker 1: are still your brothers. One of the things that I
Speaker 1: say on the show, and then I would love to
Speaker 1: get your thoughts ahead and jump in. One of the
Speaker 1: things I say on the show, I'm sorry. It's just
Speaker 1: had a lot to say obviously.
Speaker 2: No, I don't apologize. I am not eager to jump in.
Speaker 2: I'm not going to be pleasant. Yeah, well, you know
Speaker 2: that's that. It comes with the territory. But one of
Speaker 2: the things, again that we have talked about time and
Speaker 2: again on the show is that you know, for.
Speaker 1: People that really feel like, you know, we we like.
Speaker 1: Christianity is a gift people that feel and Christianity, by
Speaker 1: the way, also was in Africa before the United States
Speaker 1: of America even existed. It was not a gift to
Speaker 1: African people. And again this all happened before there were cars,
Speaker 1: so everybody walked everywhere and exchanged ideas on the continent
Speaker 1: of Africa. For people that feel like Africa was doomed
Speaker 1: without realizing their place and their ancestors' role in the equation,
Speaker 1: it's very narrow minded and short sighted, and it fails
Speaker 1: to account for an alternate version of reality where Africa
Speaker 1: and indeed Africans could have continued to thrive. Mansa musas
Speaker 1: from Africa. The most complex society the world has ever known, historical, ancient,
Speaker 1: historical society the world has ever known is in Africa. Proper.
Speaker 1: Show me where Egypt is on a map, and I'll
Speaker 1: show you Africa. Okay, Black people walk there, they're painted
Speaker 1: on the hieroglyphs. People they were called Nubians because that
Speaker 1: was the land right and in Sub Saharan Africa too,
Speaker 1: and a lot of there's a lot of architecture that
Speaker 1: exists there that's even older than the Pyramids, as I
Speaker 1: mentioned in Sudan and Ethiopia, brilliant masterpiece, these great works
Speaker 1: of art that exist even right now. You can go
Speaker 1: and visit them. But for some people it's mud huts. Right,
Speaker 1: So with that level of brilliance. And again, these people
Speaker 1: from Greece, these people from from Rome and different places
Speaker 1: in Italy went to Africa to learn, and then they
Speaker 1: took this information back and passed it off as their own.
Speaker 1: A lot of the origin stories of Christianity indeed comes
Speaker 1: from African stories. Again, for folks that are interested, check
Speaker 1: out Tony Browner. He will give you all of the game,
Speaker 1: or you can read any one of his books. And
Speaker 1: there are all these sites, all of his sources. It's
Speaker 1: all there. These aren't conspiracy theorists. I'm not given his
Speaker 1: conspiracy theories. These are facts. And yet and still I
Speaker 1: push for us to be brothers. Black people are the
Speaker 1: oldest people, the first people. That makes us the big brothers.
Speaker 1: And we know that sometimes our little brothers act crazy,
Speaker 1: but they're still a little brothers and we still love them.
Speaker 1: All right, That was what I wanted to say. Go ahead,
Speaker 1: shure you people.
Speaker 2: I spent most of this segment angry reading the language
Speaker 2: of someone who I could be standing across the room
Speaker 2: from at the mall, the grocery store, the library, and
Speaker 2: who I'm not certain but almost certain I greet with
Speaker 2: a smile, ahead, nod, a hello, and at this date,
Speaker 2: still early enough in the year, a happy new year.
Speaker 2: And that's how you are she because I don't know
Speaker 2: that Max Power is a man or a woman. So
Speaker 2: I would look at me and think he or his
Speaker 2: people would still be living in mud huts if it
Speaker 2: wasn't for us. And the disdain that comes with that
Speaker 2: way of thinking, because that's not a singular thought, that's
Speaker 2: that's part of an entire Still, you know, I make
Speaker 2: a lot of fuss about the lack of quote unquote progress,
Speaker 2: this utopia that everybody thinks we have a chance to
Speaker 2: reach one day that I'm convinced that we don't. I'm
Speaker 2: sorry to say that we get there plainly, but I'm
Speaker 2: we just we're almost polarized in that regard, and and
Speaker 2: things like this kind of prove it, right. The gift
Speaker 2: of what we gave you written language. What are you
Speaker 2: talking about? You're talking to me in English? I'm not certain,
Speaker 2: but I'm sure if our research that I learned, English
Speaker 2: might be the youngest of the languages and written language,
Speaker 2: like you said. And you know, the northern Africa and
Speaker 2: the Persian Gulf, the Middle East existed before Christ.
Speaker 1: And by the way, while we're here, before they cut
Speaker 1: that Suez Canal there that was all part of the
Speaker 1: same land, masks and people walked around, so yes, there
Speaker 1: were black people there too.
Speaker 2: The ram just said that he thinks that there was
Speaker 2: some forge of brotherhood in this single conversation with the
Speaker 2: person that would refer to us as you people.
Speaker 1: Well, we might be a little closer. Sure, we might
Speaker 1: be a little closer. And you know what closer is
Speaker 1: better than further, right, So, man, Max Power, I appreciate
Speaker 1: the engagement because I don't consider that a waste. We'll
Speaker 1: get there, as I mentioned in my comment, we'll get
Speaker 1: there one day, and I do hope to see you there.
Speaker 1: But we'll leave it right there. So that's going to
Speaker 1: do it for us. On this episode of CIVI excipher
Speaker 1: thank you for listening. Once again, I'm your host, Ramsy's jaw.
Speaker 1: He is Ramsy's jaw with his boundless grace. I am
Speaker 1: q Ward.
Speaker 2: You know not angry, but you know, hurt by this
Speaker 2: idea that there are brothers and sisters in this world
Speaker 2: that see us, perpetually us beneath them, simply because of
Speaker 2: the amount of melon in our skin. No matter how
Speaker 2: much more decent I would be than someone who would
Speaker 2: wish you harm, the whiteness of that person's skin would
Speaker 2: give them more grace from you than me. And that
Speaker 2: is a really, really unfair and really cruel reality to
Speaker 2: have to live.
Speaker 1: Before I go, let's once again shout out, uh, what's
Speaker 1: his name? Chandler Hughes. There he is, six year old,
Speaker 1: brilliant genius. Until next week, y'all. Peace,