Speaker 1: Welcome to another episode of Civic Cypher. I'm your host, Rams,
Speaker 1: It's joh I go by the name Q Ward. Monday's, Wednesdays, Fridays, and.
Speaker 2: Then two Saturdays out of the month, but they're not
Speaker 2: consecutive all the time.
Speaker 1: It's visitation. You gotta check.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we'll figure it out.
Speaker 1: Anyway, I'm gonna ask that you forgive the quality of
Speaker 1: the audio this week. I am zooming in. Q of
Speaker 1: course is in the studio and we'll we'll be back
Speaker 1: to normal next week, but for this week, we had
Speaker 1: a lot to talk about and I didn't want to
Speaker 1: miss this week, So for now it's a zoom call
Speaker 1: again forgive the audio. So a lot to stick around
Speaker 1: for this episode, so stay tuned. We're going to be
Speaker 1: talking about uh Yahoo article that was very upsetting to
Speaker 1: both Q and myself where they tried to come at
Speaker 1: the folks who pledge support for the BLM movement and
Speaker 1: they tried to make some sort of false connection to
Speaker 1: crime rates and so forth, which really have nothing to
Speaker 1: do with in our estimation and uh the lack of
Speaker 1: support from these companies since the protests in twenty twenty.
Speaker 1: I know it sounds confusing, but trust me, stick around
Speaker 1: will make it make sense so that you know it
Speaker 1: doesn't make sense. Also, we're going to talk about some
Speaker 1: discriminatory loan practices that have been outlined by Ben Crumb, uh,
Speaker 1: the famous attorney, the famous civil rights attorney that Wells
Speaker 1: Fargo has been engaging in. And I think that this
Speaker 1: sort of goes along with a lot of what we've
Speaker 1: been discussing about, you know, uh, the the real estate
Speaker 1: assessment value things and then housing practices and and so forth.
Speaker 1: So we're going to talk about lending practices with Wells
Speaker 1: Fargo and how they've been discriminatory, and we're also going
Speaker 1: to you know, hear what they have to say about
Speaker 1: that as well. We're going to talk about for our
Speaker 1: way black history fact the chocolate factory because as it
Speaker 1: turns out, Charlie was originally intended to be black. So yeah,
Speaker 1: a lot to stick around for. But first, like we
Speaker 1: always do it this term, let's talk about some ebony excellent.
Speaker 2: I love it when we do that.
Speaker 1: Why don't you take this on you?
Speaker 2: This week's I Mean the Excellence is brought to you
Speaker 2: by Hip Hop Weekly Magazine one Time for the one time,
Speaker 2: and we're going to be focusing on Jayden Davis, Cleveland,
Speaker 2: Ohio native and Ohio State University student. This comes from
Speaker 2: the Office of Diversity and Inclusion and the Todd Baal
Speaker 2: National Resource Center the BNRC for short, there's a program
Speaker 2: that prioritizes the needs of young black males on Ohio
Speaker 2: State's campus. They gave him the Dennis J. Alexander Spirit Award.
Speaker 2: The award is given to recipients who are dedicated to
Speaker 2: the black Ohio State student body and community. He was
Speaker 2: specifically recognized for developing multiple initiatives and programs for black students.
Speaker 2: These include a new student organization called the Undergraduate Society
Speaker 2: of Black Leaders. I would have loved to be in
Speaker 2: an organization called that when I was an undergraduate student.
Speaker 2: This looks to equitize leadership and professional development opportunities. Additionally,
Speaker 2: students are taught how to enact change throughout the world
Speaker 2: and their communities from an afrocentric perspective, something that is
Speaker 2: much needed. And you know, massive shouts to Jaden And
Speaker 2: I wanted to call him a future leader before, but
Speaker 2: I think he's kind of already in that leadership space.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, it's really special, is that because it's
Speaker 1: a show that we get to produce, and our show
Speaker 1: producer Magnie helps us produce. We get to decide sometimes
Speaker 1: big stories, sometimes small stories that don't make national headlines,
Speaker 1: you know, but they deserve to be highlighted because, as
Speaker 1: we know, sometimes it's it's little stuff that really turns
Speaker 1: into like you know, it's the ripple effects of the
Speaker 1: small things that really end up making an impact. And
Speaker 1: so yeah, absolutely shout out to Jaden Davis from Ohio State.
Speaker 1: Now it's time for us to talk about some heavy stuff. There's,
Speaker 1: as you know, a lot of opposition to anything black,
Speaker 1: anything afrocentric, anything black based. There's always going to be
Speaker 1: a part of this country that opposes it. Never, at
Speaker 1: any point in this country country's history has something been
Speaker 1: black or about black people to benefit black people, and
Speaker 1: one hundred percent of the people be on board. Now
Speaker 1: we know that it is in most instances, not all,
Speaker 1: but in most instances racism with very thin vailable patriotism.
Speaker 1: We talk about this on the show quite a bit,
Speaker 1: and a lot of people, a not insignificant amount of
Speaker 1: this country needs that to be the case because they
Speaker 1: are in effect racist people, but they don't want to
Speaker 1: be seen as being racist. And so if they can
Speaker 1: make any semblance of a logic based argument to attack
Speaker 1: something black based or that benefits black people and brown people,
Speaker 1: then they will do it as long as they have
Speaker 1: that thin veneer of patriotism or that thin and near
Speaker 1: of you know whatever. And one institution reigns supreme above
Speaker 1: all else when it comes to providing that racist framework
Speaker 1: with a thin veneer of patriotism. So people can say, well,
Speaker 1: I'm just a conservative or I'm just a you know,
Speaker 1: I just really believe in these values. And you know,
Speaker 1: the use words like I love this country, you know,
Speaker 1: like we don't, you know what I mean. I've never
Speaker 1: been to Africa. I love it like in a romantic sense.
Speaker 1: But I'm from Common you know, I've been to all
Speaker 1: fifties dates. You know, you've been a vast majority of
Speaker 1: them yourself too.
Speaker 2: And so.
Speaker 1: They try to own these things, and they use them
Speaker 1: to hide behind so that they are not called racist.
Speaker 1: Again that thin loosely their argument is loosely based on logic,
Speaker 1: so that it sounds good only to themselves. And this
Speaker 1: is why you see most black people, most black people voting,
Speaker 1: you know, with their democratic values. And then a lot
Speaker 1: of people who feel like the system works great for
Speaker 1: them in its current state. That's why the word conservative.
Speaker 1: They are conservative folks. They want to maintain the status quo.
Speaker 1: But in order for them to not feel like they're
Speaker 1: awful people, they need some way of justifying it. And
Speaker 1: again Fox News certainly provides that. Now I needed to
Speaker 1: say that because I'm going to read an article now
Speaker 1: from Yahoo that cites Fox News. Okay, and the name
Speaker 1: of the titleist articles companies that loudly supported BLM falls
Speaker 1: silent when confronted with skyrocketing black murders, as though there's
Speaker 1: some sort of connection. And the article really really tries
Speaker 1: to stretch to make a connection between BLM and black
Speaker 1: people murdering each other, which is very, very hurtful, wrong
Speaker 1: on one hundred different levels. But there are people in
Speaker 1: the world who need this stuff so that they don't
Speaker 1: feel bad. Oh see, like a confirmation bias. I knew
Speaker 1: BLM was wrong. How the world anyway? I'll read corporate
Speaker 1: voices boomed across the nation and support a Black Line,
Speaker 1: Lives Matter, and various social justice initiatives. Following the death
Speaker 1: of George Lloyd in twenty twenty, nearly two years later,
Speaker 1: what was left in the wake of twenty twenty was
Speaker 1: a drastic spike in black murders, with experts blaming, blaming,
Speaker 1: pinning blame on the BLM and defund the police movements. Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry I missed that up. The drastic spike in
Speaker 1: black murders. Okay, let's define drastic. We'll identify that a
Speaker 1: little later. This is not that drastic experts. Who are
Speaker 1: the experts? Who are these people?
Speaker 2: I like the word skyrocketing.
Speaker 1: That's what did it for me. It's like inflammatory language
Speaker 1: that excites this conservative base to say, yeah, see BLM
Speaker 1: is bad. Just their very existence causes black people to
Speaker 1: murder each other. That's effectually what this article is trying
Speaker 1: to say. I'll make the point a little later, but
Speaker 1: that is what it is. Again. The headline is companies
Speaker 1: that loudly supporting BLM fall silently confronted with skyrocketing and blackmurners.
Speaker 1: You can need that article in its entirety and see
Speaker 1: the point I'm making. It's so unfair. We're just trying
Speaker 1: to live. We're trying to have an easier path to happiness.
Speaker 1: We don't need what you have. We just need to
Speaker 1: be free to be that's it, right. This is largely
Speaker 1: what our campaigns have been about since arriving on the
Speaker 1: shores in this country in the sixteen hundred. If I'm wrong,
Speaker 1: somebody tell me that. But that's the story that I
Speaker 1: know and that I live. But yes, they say that
Speaker 1: they're pinning the blame on BLM. Experts quote unquote ore
Speaker 1: pinning the blame on BLM and defund the police movements. Okay.
Speaker 1: Companies posted messages reiterating Black Lives Matter and pledged millions
Speaker 1: of dollars to various social justice organizations that push to
Speaker 1: reimagine police singly allocate on from police departments. This is true.
Speaker 1: FBI data reported by Fox News Digital last week shows
Speaker 1: murders spite disproportionately among Black Americans in twenty twenty, right
Speaker 1: by thirty two compared to the year priory. Now, if
Speaker 1: this is data right, and it's from the FBI and
Speaker 1: they don't have a dog in this, if I will
Speaker 1: assume that right, then just reading that sentence alone makes
Speaker 1: it seem like, oh my gosh, black people are just
Speaker 1: killing each other. Right, not entirely true? In the article
Speaker 1: is I'm from the same article I didn't pull from
Speaker 1: a bunch of sources is one place. But I'm trying
Speaker 1: to illustrate what we're up against and how the story
Speaker 1: gets rewritten on that side to where everything that we're
Speaker 1: doing to try to convince folks, hey, we're not bad
Speaker 1: guys here, don't We're not going to harm anyone. We're
Speaker 1: not looking for rigein revenge. Rather, we're looking for equity.
Speaker 1: That's it, right, Things like this make it difficult for
Speaker 1: us on our plan. Right, I'll continue. Murders across the
Speaker 1: board spiked by nearly thirty percent that year, marking the
Speaker 1: largest single year increase in killing since the AG Agency
Speaker 1: began tracking the crimes. Okay, so it says spike disproportionately
Speaker 1: among Black Americans in twenty twenty. I'm rereading the part
Speaker 1: I just read disproportionately among Black Americans with me, and
Speaker 1: it says by thirty two percent, And it goes on
Speaker 1: to say across the board by thirty percent that year.
Speaker 1: So that means that black people's disproportionate spike was two
Speaker 1: percent higher than the national average.
Speaker 2: Was almost exactly the same as how I would say
Speaker 2: it if I was going to rewrite the counter article.
Speaker 2: Thank you, you almost exactly the same, thank you, Q.
Speaker 1: But for people that read that the way that it's written,
Speaker 1: if you don't take the time to really digest it,
Speaker 1: or if you're again suffering from that cognitive bias, right,
Speaker 1: and you're looking for what you need to make sure
Speaker 1: that you feel less racist about feeling angry because an
Speaker 1: organization called Black Lives Matter exists and you feel that
Speaker 1: anything black is a threat on your whatever your races,
Speaker 1: because Stinch is white folks. That so that way, some
Speaker 1: black people feel like Black Lives Matter is a terrorist
Speaker 1: organization on Really, I am seeing you black Lives Matter
Speaker 1: based in mass murders, mass shooters, bombings and all that
Speaker 1: sort of stuff. But that's we think it. I guess
Speaker 1: I'll continue. Here's the hard numbers. At least and eighty
Speaker 1: four black Americans were murdered in twenty nineteen, according to
Speaker 1: the data. Fox News Digital reported last week that numbers
Speaker 1: shot up to at least forty one murders in twenty twenty. Right,
Speaker 1: it's an increase. We know what happened in twenty twenty.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to even say it because the article
Speaker 1: will try its best to separate these numbers from what
Speaker 1: was very obviously people at home, have nothing to do,
Speaker 1: nowhere to go, and in impoverished and sperate circumstances, you
Speaker 1: know where people get out there and look, I got
Speaker 1: babies on the feed them by any means necessary. If
Speaker 1: you are living, breathing human being and you have a child,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm talking about. And sometimes those circumstances
Speaker 1: make you, even in your imaginary scenarios, will make you
Speaker 1: come out of character. Right, I'm not making excuses, because
Speaker 1: that is bad.
Speaker 2: Wrong is wrong.
Speaker 1: But we can point to things outside of BLM and
Speaker 1: tell that story. This article doesn't even attempt to do that,
Speaker 1: so I'll continue, Okay. In twenty twenty, meaning that there
Speaker 1: was an increase of twenty four hundred and fifty seven
Speaker 1: Black Americans murdered over the previous year. For white Americans.
Speaker 1: At the IDEA shows, there were seven thousand and forty
Speaker 1: three white people murdered in twenty twenty. So seven thousand,
Speaker 1: forty three white people murdered in twenty twenty and nine
Speaker 1: hundred and forty one murders for black people in twenty twenty. Right,
Speaker 1: so they're more murders in black communities. These are what
Speaker 1: they would in a different article. Pain is Black on
Speaker 1: black crime. They however, would not refer to these seven
Speaker 1: seven three white people murdered as white on white crime,
Speaker 1: because that's the way that this media narrative exists, exists
Speaker 1: to frame all things black in the worst possible light,
Speaker 1: especially especially Fox News.
Speaker 2: I mean, the idea in and of itself black on black,
Speaker 2: whatever you put after a crime, murder, whatever. As we've
Speaker 2: discussed before, it's far more based on proximity to each
Speaker 2: other than color of skin. Right, the people who live
Speaker 2: in the community commit the crime in the community. It's
Speaker 2: not because they're black or white, or hispanic or otherwise.
Speaker 2: So it's it's far more about the people that you
Speaker 2: commit crime against, especially when you're poor and impoverished looking
Speaker 2: like you, not you targeting them specifically. But again, it
Speaker 2: doesn't paint as well when you're Fox News if you
Speaker 2: tell the story that way and include that context and
Speaker 2: that nuance, and you know, a more full, flushed out narrative.
Speaker 1: You know what else I don't like about Fox meanings
Speaker 1: They always talk about their ratings because they get good ratings,
Speaker 1: they get high ratings, But that's because they're the most
Speaker 1: flagrant conservative media outlet. And when you look at the
Speaker 1: more liberal side of things, CNN ANDSNBC. You know, that
Speaker 1: list goes on why that can't even big up the
Speaker 1: rest of the names, but the list goes on the
Speaker 1: liberal side of things. The ratings are split between all
Speaker 1: these companies. But what happens is Fox News saying we're
Speaker 1: number one or the most watched whatever. It makes people
Speaker 1: feel like, oh, well, they're clearly telling the truth. So
Speaker 1: people that kind of live in the gray area in
Speaker 1: this country, they're like, oh, I don't hate black people.
Speaker 1: Hope they figured it out. I'm not about to get
Speaker 1: out there and carry a sign, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: But you know, if somebody, if I'm want to hire somebody,
Speaker 1: I don't care for black worker. There's a lot of
Speaker 1: those people, they'll look at Fox News and get indoctrinated,
Speaker 1: if you will, watching Fox News, get scared away from
Speaker 1: what they're there their their natural state would be, you know,
Speaker 1: and they get sucked in because they think that because
Speaker 1: this is a number one news organiz they shouldn't get
Speaker 1: high ratings, that they're obviously telling the true and they
Speaker 1: have this like weird, perfect formula for poisoning the minds
Speaker 1: of this country and and turning those minds against what
Speaker 1: on its surface, and it's is on its surface, is
Speaker 1: meant to be a very positive campaign that helps us,
Speaker 1: all right.
Speaker 2: I mean, the real issue with what you just said
Speaker 2: with Fox News and other media outlets that have that
Speaker 2: point of view is that far more people lean liberal,
Speaker 2: far more. However, those in power, those involved in the
Speaker 2: foundation of this great nation, lean very heavily the other direction,
Speaker 2: and in efforts to conserve their position, their power, their
Speaker 2: political and financial leverage over us, they paint these pictures
Speaker 2: this way intentionally, as you said before, they subscribe heavily
Speaker 2: to racist ideology. But don't you dare call them racist,
Speaker 2: because that word is the problem, not the practices in
Speaker 2: the way that they think, but being labeled as such,
Speaker 2: as you know, please don't do that. I never I
Speaker 2: know Ramsy's he's my friend. I think he's fantastic. You
Speaker 2: can't call me racist. I know a black guy that
Speaker 2: one in particular, I love his afro. He let me
Speaker 2: touch it. Like really really silly things are said. But
Speaker 2: you talk about them correlating a spike in black murders
Speaker 2: to BLM and more specifically because they kind of slid
Speaker 2: this one in there to defund the police movement. However, right,
Speaker 2: use these same statistics, are these same sources for statistics,
Speaker 2: and it will show you that agencies, police agencies in
Speaker 2: our country, cities, states, federal, or otherwise did not get
Speaker 2: less money in that time. And the cities and states
Speaker 2: and agencies that got the most money there are statistics
Speaker 2: that show have very very high crime rates. Because what
Speaker 2: else are these military forces going to do now that
Speaker 2: they're on the streets with new tanks, new cars, new guns,
Speaker 2: and new weapons, but find more people to arrest and harass.
Speaker 2: And you know, as you said before, you know, if
Speaker 2: a cop follows you around long enough, you're going to
Speaker 2: break one of the laws, they can just decide to enforce.
Speaker 1: Ten thousand laws. If you can name to be ten
Speaker 1: thousand laws, then you know exactly how to deal with
Speaker 1: the police. If you cannot name ten thousand laws, the
Speaker 1: police have an advantage. They will figure out a way
Speaker 1: to arrest you if they are so.
Speaker 2: They tell that story as if we defunded the police
Speaker 2: and then all these people got murdered. No, that didn't happen, right,
Speaker 2: Another false correlation, because it's very easy to say these
Speaker 2: things and inflame an audience that wants to hear and
Speaker 2: believe those things anyway.
Speaker 1: So let me let me finish pain please her. Your
Speaker 1: point is is is taken. So again, FBI data shows
Speaker 1: there were seven thousand and forty three whites people murdered
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty, meaning twy eighth and ninety eight more
Speaker 1: Black people were killed compared to whites. An average of
Speaker 1: six nine and twenty seven black American murdered each year
Speaker 1: between twenty ten and twenty nineteen. Minue Black murders shot
Speaker 1: up by forty three percent in twenty twenty compared to
Speaker 1: the previous ten year average. And they don't include the
Speaker 1: statistics for white murders right.
Speaker 2: Now. And even worse, they don't include who murdered these
Speaker 2: black people right because heightened racial tension, you know, an inflammatory.
Speaker 1: It was a Donald Trump presidency in there. Yeah, a
Speaker 1: lot of stuff going on, but they this article, the
Speaker 1: whole thing is meant to frame BLN as the bad
Speaker 1: guy and that's kind.
Speaker 2: Of and defund the police because they mentioned it multiple
Speaker 2: times intentionally.
Speaker 1: All right, So watch this. Two experts such as the
Speaker 1: Manhattan Institutes, Heather McDonald BLM and the defund the police movements.
Speaker 1: That s what the nation directly contributed to the spike.
Speaker 1: The spike quote began months after lockdown, beginning only after
Speaker 1: riots in quote, McDonald told Fox News Digital noting the
Speaker 1: quote spike was not at all related to COVID end quote.
Speaker 1: Now this Heather McDonald person, Okay, I love this. If
Speaker 1: you are listening to the show this far into the show,
Speaker 1: you know that twenty twenty will be remembered for the protests,
Speaker 1: not the riots.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: You know that in the same way that we remember
Speaker 1: doctor Martin Luther King for his protests, not the riots
Speaker 1: that took place. Because there were people that rioted. Get
Speaker 1: that many people on the streets that angry and let
Speaker 1: the police get out there and start agitating people is
Speaker 1: going to turn into whatever it turns into. But history
Speaker 1: doesn't remember it that way. History remembers the peaceful protests
Speaker 1: do people in marching. We shall overcome. That's how twenty
Speaker 1: twenty will be remembered. Right these folks here having McDonald's
Speaker 1: specifically called them riots of twenty twenty. Okay, the spike
Speaker 1: began months after Lockdown's beginning, only after the riots. Okay,
Speaker 1: So she said, I had nothing to do with code.
Speaker 1: I want to make this point so somebody says, thank
Speaker 1: you, you got to stay at home the last side, Okay,
Speaker 1: stay at home, right, and you know you got some
Speaker 1: resources probably in your house at money to bank. It'll
Speaker 1: be fine for about how long? A couple months at most.
Speaker 1: Somewhere it starts getting a little thin, start getting one
Speaker 1: hundred that I was about to stand there and turn
Speaker 1: some skeletons. Very obvious connection here, right, And I know
Speaker 1: there's a number of things, but the most obvious one
Speaker 1: is that, yeah, it doesn't happen the day that the
Speaker 1: lockdowns said. It happens after months after correct, And so
Speaker 1: it's just silly. But you know, if it's written from
Speaker 1: a trustworthy quote unquote source and there's some sort of
Speaker 1: the Manhattan's in.
Speaker 2: There quoting experts. By the way, we have no idea
Speaker 2: what HEATHERN McDonald does.
Speaker 1: And even if she was the most qualified expert in
Speaker 1: the world saying right here, it doesn't tell enough of
Speaker 1: the story to convinced me that she's not being biased
Speaker 1: at least in this article.
Speaker 2: Highly intelligent people don't frame arguments this way. If she
Speaker 2: was the foremost expert in this field, she wouldn't be
Speaker 2: the quotest source for this story.
Speaker 1: Thank you, so I'll continue. Box New's Digital reached out
Speaker 1: to a handful of corporations and companies that pledged support
Speaker 1: for Black Lives Matter in various organizations supporting tenants of
Speaker 1: the defund movement, such as the Equal Justice Justice Initiative.
Speaker 1: Shout out to Brian Stevenson and the National Urban League,
Speaker 1: who I interviewed on my other show, The Black Information
Speaker 1: Network Daily Podcast. Be sure to check it out. In
Speaker 1: the days and months following the death deployed, The Equal
Speaker 1: Justice Initiative advocates for the reallocation of quote funds from
Speaker 1: traditional policing to services that promote public safety and quote,
Speaker 1: while the National Urban League outlines on its website that
Speaker 1: it has quote twenty one pillars on comprehensive and realistic
Speaker 1: reform and accountability, including collaborate with communities to re envision
Speaker 1: public safety and quote change the divisive policing policies. Representators
Speaker 1: from Nike, Apple, Face for Amazon, Vin and Jerry's norson
Speaker 1: Target and also did not return Fox News Digital's requests
Speaker 1: for comments and for obvious reasons, because Fox News is
Speaker 1: trying to get a little bit of incendiary remarks so
Speaker 1: that they can kind of continue to read that story.
Speaker 1: I do want to say that, at least for me,
Speaker 1: I won't speak for Q, I won't speak for anybody else.
Speaker 1: I do believe in the defunding of police departments. I
Speaker 1: do believe in reallocating and reinvesting in communities to prevent
Speaker 1: crime crimes from happening. I do recognize that a lot
Speaker 1: of crimes are based off of economic conditions. And if
Speaker 1: I'm able to say it, I have a microphone and
Speaker 1: an audience, I will say that that idea has merit,
Speaker 1: and before we walk away from what we should, at
Speaker 1: least try any final thoughts. Q.
Speaker 2: No, I think we've said enough for this topic for today.
Speaker 1: Will revisit it. I'm sure? Okay, Well, absolutely