Speaker 1: Keep on riding with us as we continue to broadcast
Speaker 1: the balance and defend the discourse from these hip hop
Speaker 1: weekly studios. Welcome back to Civic Sideher I'm your host, Rams's.
Speaker 2: Jaw he is Ramsy's jaw. I am q Ward. You
Speaker 2: are tuned in and hopefully tuning back in specific signing.
Speaker 3: M and we still got some more to talk about.
Speaker 1: We're gonna spend a big part of this next half
Speaker 1: of the show and discussing black employment, or specifically black unemployment,
Speaker 1: and we're going to do our best to connect that
Speaker 1: to a lot of different facets of not only black
Speaker 1: life in America, but society in general. And we have
Speaker 1: obviously the data to support all this, and so there's
Speaker 1: a lot here.
Speaker 3: You know, there's been a lot of.
Speaker 1: Conversations about like reparations, a lot of conversations about restorative justice.
Speaker 1: I think we need to look at the problems too,
Speaker 1: so that people understand why we're putting forth these solutions.
Speaker 1: And again there's that and so much more to stick
Speaker 1: around for. But before we get there, let's disc gus
Speaker 1: ba BA becoming a Better Ally ba BA and today's.
Speaker 3: Bib BA sponsored by Friends of the Movement.
Speaker 1: You can sign up for the free bo to wallet
Speaker 1: from Fotmglobal dot com for black businesses and allied businesses
Speaker 1: as well as make an impact with your spending. Again,
Speaker 1: that's Fotmglobal dot com.
Speaker 3: Q take it away.
Speaker 2: Visit actively black dot com. Search Actively Black on every
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Speaker 2: in their Google ads for Black History Months. There's so
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Speaker 2: Black Instagram at actively Black. Now, there's nothing illegal about
Speaker 2: bidding on actively Black as a keyword for Google Ads,
Speaker 2: so this is not an issue of legality, but rather
Speaker 2: of morality. The company stated has about a five billion
Speaker 2: dollar evaluation, so clearly the three year old black owned
Speaker 2: brand does not have the budget to outdid them for
Speaker 2: their own name in Google ads. Wow. The question is
Speaker 2: why is your corporate greed not being satisfied? Was your
Speaker 2: marketing team not able to come up with an authentic
Speaker 2: way to reach a black audience for Black History Month
Speaker 2: other than using a black owned brand's name in a
Speaker 2: paid search ad. You knew people would would be googling
Speaker 2: actively black, or you knew they had the budget to
Speaker 2: pay to search the term actively black to show up
Speaker 2: when they were looking for us and us being actively black.
Speaker 2: That's a caption from their Instagram page.
Speaker 1: So in short, this company called fabletics, we need to
Speaker 1: boycott Babletics and we need to support actively.
Speaker 2: Black actively black dot com. Yes there is greatness in
Speaker 2: our DNA. Yes, So that is your bab bah walking
Speaker 2: orders for the week. Let's help a brother out, all.
Speaker 1: Right, Okay, all right, onto black unemployment.
Speaker 3: Okay, let's get it started here, got to set it off,
Speaker 3: Let's get it. Let's go. It's time.
Speaker 2: When you guys can see, I'm just getting more motivated
Speaker 2: man each time he says this out loud. All right,
Speaker 2: So I'm gonna share a bit from ABC News.
Speaker 1: The black unemployment relate rate is consistently twice that of
Speaker 1: white workers. And here's why. The unemployment rate among black
Speaker 1: men jumped to five point three percent in January, rising
Speaker 1: from four point six percent over the previous month, according
Speaker 1: to data by the US Department of Labor on Friday. So,
Speaker 1: in short, what's been happening lately is the economy is
Speaker 1: doing okay.
Speaker 2: Okay, you could blame the president for that, which would
Speaker 2: be an interesting thing to do, right, because the heroes
Speaker 2: of the other side of the aisle would not even
Speaker 2: see that. Not that, not only that, but we've looked
Speaker 2: at the same data for very very popular presidents like
Speaker 2: Ronald Reagan or maybe the most popular, the guy who
Speaker 2: was in office last time. I don't I don't like
Speaker 2: to say this name much in our inventory, but rates
Speaker 2: from three to four times as high the black employment.
Speaker 2: The black unemployment rates, I'm sorry, are three to four
Speaker 2: times higher under those very very popular presidents in this
Speaker 2: most recent one, a lot of black people stepping up
Speaker 2: in support of him and telling us all the reasons
Speaker 2: why he did so much about and the data just doesn't.
Speaker 3: Not even close.
Speaker 1: Now, this in no way is an endorsement of any
Speaker 1: political candidate, because far be it from us to do
Speaker 1: that for you. But the fact is that economy is
Speaker 1: doing better. Okay, So what does that mean for black
Speaker 1: people specifically? Well, this article was again meant to illuminate
Speaker 1: how the black unemployment rate is consistently twice that.
Speaker 2: Of white workers.
Speaker 3: So I have a little.
Speaker 1: I figure what it's called but it's like a breakout
Speaker 1: or whatever. It is a standout, a blurb blurb. There
Speaker 1: you go from the article, and I'll share that since
Speaker 1: the US first collected such data in nineteen seventy two,
Speaker 1: the black unemployment rate has consistently stood at levels twice
Speaker 1: as high as the unemployment rate among white people. This
Speaker 1: relationship is undergone occasional shifts up or down, but quickly
Speaker 1: returned to a level of two to one. Okay, so
Speaker 1: it's from the same article again, that's at ABC News. Again,
Speaker 1: if you want to read the whole thing, the black unemployment.
Speaker 2: Rate portant to point out where this data came from.
Speaker 2: Can you say that again? Yeah, ABC News MSN is
Speaker 2: where we originally got it.
Speaker 4: Even beyond that, yeah, well well yeah, the next of labor, Yeah,
Speaker 4: the next, the next party.
Speaker 3: We'll get there.
Speaker 2: But yeah, these are all these are all sources.
Speaker 1: As you know a long time listener to the show,
Speaker 1: we do our best to use journalistic uh journalistically.
Speaker 2: So yeah, from the most journalistically credible sources, sources that
Speaker 2: we can, yeah, or.
Speaker 3: At least a source with some journalistic integrity.
Speaker 1: Because the truth of the matter is, we've said this before,
Speaker 1: the truth has a liberal bias to it. So if
Speaker 1: people want to make a conservative conservative argument against a
Speaker 1: news source by calling it liberal or liberal media, the
Speaker 1: fact of.
Speaker 2: The matter is that the truth often enough as a
Speaker 2: very liberal bias to it.
Speaker 1: You know, those those of us that subscribe to the
Speaker 1: same moral moral compass will note that the truth often
Speaker 1: lands on on on the side of a more liberal.
Speaker 3: Argumentative framework. That's probably the best way to say.
Speaker 1: All right, So now that we've established this that, since
Speaker 1: the data has been collected, that there's a black unemployment
Speaker 1: rate that is roughly two to one consistently, let's discuss
Speaker 1: a few things. Okay, first thing is how does this look? Well,
Speaker 1: what's one way that this look? And I know that
Speaker 1: you wanted you're champing at the bit here, so go ahead,
Speaker 1: champ no more.
Speaker 3: My good man.
Speaker 2: That's unfair to make it like I'm just champing at
Speaker 2: the bit for this. I'm often very eager to kind
Speaker 2: of share my point of view on the topics that
Speaker 2: we talk about, and I thank you for making me
Speaker 2: smile though, because I'm not typically when we're covering these
Speaker 2: stories and these topics, I'm not normally in studio with
Speaker 2: a smile on my face. It is very interesting. You
Speaker 2: mentioned me traveling all over the world and even living
Speaker 2: abroad and looking at the differences in the way that
Speaker 2: societies as a whole treat people that looked like you.
Speaker 2: And I lived in Barcelona, Spain before, I lived in Palawan,
Speaker 2: Philippines before, and just recently returned from Tokyo, Japan. Was
Speaker 2: a couple of weeks ago, and quick story. I go
Speaker 2: into this restaurant to use the restroom. Upon coming out
Speaker 2: of the bathroom, I'm getting ready to leave and one
Speaker 2: of the gentlemen working there guides me toward a table.
Speaker 2: I say, no, man, I'm just I was just using
Speaker 2: the bathroom. Without saying any words. His gesture said, no,
Speaker 2: fam buy some you gotta buy something. He didn't say
Speaker 2: any words, but hissition his disposition in the gestures that
Speaker 2: followed said oh, no, you use the restroom, so use
Speaker 2: a patron. Now you're gonna buy something. So we sat
Speaker 2: down and I ordered a cup of tea. It was
Speaker 2: the least expensive thing here since I didn't intend to
Speaker 2: buy anything. And after I finished my cup of tea
Speaker 2: and then I got up to leave and pay, I
Speaker 2: realized this place only accept yen, so I had no
Speaker 2: Japanese in and it didn't take a credit card. All
Speaker 2: I had was American cash. And this gentleman took out
Speaker 2: a map and used his finger to draw me a
Speaker 2: path to a currency exchange and or an ATM. And
Speaker 2: then he put the map down and went back to work.
Speaker 2: And something really, really powerful happened.
Speaker 3: In that moment.
Speaker 2: I realized that to this guy, I was a patron
Speaker 2: in the establishment, and that's it. I wasn't the black
Speaker 2: American guy that might be a thug and might steal
Speaker 2: and might be trying to get out of paying this check. Nope,
Speaker 2: he's just a patron, and patrons that come into this
Speaker 2: restaurant they pay, So let me help him figure out
Speaker 2: where to get his money changed over so that he
Speaker 2: can pay. Nothing in him stopped to watch me, nothing
Speaker 2: insisted that I come back. After me walking down the
Speaker 2: street and trying to find this place for twenty minutes
Speaker 2: or a half hour. When I got back, he sa
Speaker 2: if he wasn't looking for me, there was security, wasn't waiting.
Speaker 2: He just went back to work. Nothing in him had
Speaker 2: any idea that I might not come back and pay
Speaker 2: this bill, because to him, I was a person first
Speaker 2: and foremost and really completely because I was very obviously
Speaker 2: not Japanese. By the way I was addressed the fact
Speaker 2: that I was speaking very very noticeable American English, it
Speaker 2: was clear what I represented, and in this country I
Speaker 2: would represent more specifically a young black man from Detroit,
Speaker 2: but first and foremost black before man. In this restaurant
Speaker 2: in Tokyo, I was just the next check that was due,
Speaker 2: and since I didn't have the cash, this man wanted
Speaker 2: to help me find the money to pay my bill.
Speaker 2: And my entire experience there when I lived in the Philippines,
Speaker 2: not as beautiful in Spain, but still different than here noticeably.
Speaker 2: This idea that we are by nature supposed to be
Speaker 2: okay with having the lesser experience and every aspect of
Speaker 2: our life in this country is quite insane. So it's
Speaker 2: not by chance or by the opinion of Ramses and
Speaker 2: Q that black people have a harder time here. By this,
Speaker 2: data dating back to the nineteen seventies has accurately shown
Speaker 2: that at a two to one rate, black people are
Speaker 2: more unemployed for a fifty year almost window. The data
Speaker 2: is consistent. It might vee a little one year higher,
Speaker 2: but it comes right back to that same point. Fifty
Speaker 2: two years that this is not just by chance that
Speaker 2: the data over that long of a time would continue
Speaker 2: to show the same results over and over. And what
Speaker 2: we need to get into is these are the symptoms
Speaker 2: or what's the disease, what's leading to the exact why
Speaker 2: exactly of these kinds of acts.
Speaker 3: So watch this.
Speaker 1: What I love about that story is that it shows
Speaker 1: how public opinions shape outcomes for black people, right, And
Speaker 1: we have to do a separate show about how government
Speaker 1: posturing and programs helps either establish or fortify public opinions.
Speaker 1: So we recognize that this all goes back to governmental policies.
Speaker 1: The government says, well, this is what the people want,
Speaker 1: so let's give the people what they want. I'm talking
Speaker 1: about Jim Crow and segregation, all that sort of stuff.
Speaker 1: The government like kind of wrote the laws what the
Speaker 1: people wanted, not what was right or otherwise. The government
Speaker 1: will do things that takes advantage of the most vulnerable
Speaker 1: of us in society, and it makes Middle America feel like, oh, well,
Speaker 1: that's just what they're for.
Speaker 2: We're supposed to be able to take advantage of those people.
Speaker 2: And unfortunately, sometimes the government will teach people.
Speaker 1: How to do it right Oh, there you go. So
Speaker 1: that's that's kind of what we're trying to. So do
Speaker 1: me this favor. Now, share the the what was that
Speaker 1: the National Bureau thing?
Speaker 2: So this information that we came across was kind of ironic.
Speaker 2: A lot of you don't know, but Ramses and I
Speaker 2: have both worked in higher education together and in academic
Speaker 2: and admissions advising, right, so we got to help students graduate,
Speaker 2: but we also helped students get into school. And we
Speaker 2: noticed very I'm talking about immediately the day one of
Speaker 2: both being at this same school applications. You cannot see
Speaker 2: a face, but you can read a name, and in
Speaker 2: a lot of cases, names by people in this country
Speaker 2: that are African American stand out. They almost scream I'm black.
Speaker 2: And because people are hiring and admitting these these children,
Speaker 2: these adults that are trying to get jobs, people that
Speaker 2: are trying to get into school, those biases creep in,
Speaker 2: creep into their decision. The National Bureau of Economic Research,
Speaker 2: a job applicant with a name that sounds like it
Speaker 2: might belong to an African American, say Lakeisha or Jamal,
Speaker 2: can find it harder to get a job. Despite laws
Speaker 2: against discrimination. Affirmative action a degree of employer enlightenment and
Speaker 2: the desire by some businesses to enhance profits by hiring
Speaker 2: those most qualified. Regardless of race, African Americans are twice
Speaker 2: as likely as whites to be unemployed and earn nearly
Speaker 2: twenty five percent less when employed.
Speaker 3: Boom. Now, where's the source of that? At one more time?
Speaker 2: The National Bureau of Economic Research. Okay, So let's talk
Speaker 2: about Ramsay's jah.
Speaker 1: No, that wasn't que Ward that came up with that, right,
Speaker 1: that whole paragraph was from that place.
Speaker 3: Okay, I didn't write that. So let's talk about.
Speaker 1: This lady that's trying to run for president, Nikita. What
Speaker 1: is it in Amerika?
Speaker 3: What's her? What's her actual name?
Speaker 2: The people know her as Nikki Hayley.
Speaker 3: Do you give me a Nimroda?
Speaker 2: I think it's a Nida, but her given name. Yeah,
Speaker 2: please proceed.
Speaker 1: So you may have heard her name in recent weeks
Speaker 1: talking about the Civil War was not thought about slavery,
Speaker 1: That America is not a racist country. In fact, she
Speaker 1: went on to Charlotmagne a you know a friend of
Speaker 1: the show who went on to Charlemagne show the other.
Speaker 3: Day thereafast club, breakfast club.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and kind of again tried to suggest that America
Speaker 1: is not a racist country, all the while using this
Speaker 1: assumed name of Nikki and identifying in the interview the
Speaker 1: very racism that she says that America does not stand upon,
Speaker 1: was not built upon, does not continue to enjoy, the
Speaker 1: legacy of does not continue to perpetuate. And and see
Speaker 1: these data, this number of these numbers we're reading is
Speaker 1: in the same country, right, in the same country.
Speaker 3: So so go ahead, what's her name?
Speaker 2: Nimurada ooh Rondawa?
Speaker 3: Wow?
Speaker 1: Okay, Now she admits that she's a brown woman, all right?
Speaker 2: Cool?
Speaker 3: She looks very white passing, no question. She didn't say that.
Speaker 3: You wouldn't not you would not know, no question.
Speaker 1: And the only thing that you have to do with
Speaker 1: a name like that is just changed the name something
Speaker 1: that sounds a little bit more.
Speaker 3: What's the word white? Passing?
Speaker 1: Yes, And then you can move through time and space
Speaker 1: kind of like a white woman does. Right, So I
Speaker 1: don't believe that there's any incentive to do that. If
Speaker 1: indeed she is a proun proud brown woman, I believe
Speaker 1: that might be East Indian or she's Indian. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: that there's there's no incentive.
Speaker 2: And tells stories about her experience growing up Indian in
Speaker 2: the Yrst country that directly oppose the things that she's
Speaker 2: saying out loud.
Speaker 1: Right, So, there's no reason to switch your name unless
Speaker 1: you feel like somehow that gives you some sort of
Speaker 1: advantage somewhere. If in fact, you are proud of your
Speaker 1: heritage or upbringing your parents that named you, that the
Speaker 1: only reason to switch your name is because you feel
Speaker 1: like it's going to provide some sort of advantage, some
Speaker 1: more comfortable access to something. Right, And what is the
Speaker 1: barrier that you're trying to overcome called to get to
Speaker 1: the place where things are more easy, to get to
Speaker 1: the place where things are more comfortable for you, where
Speaker 1: you have more access. What does that barrier called? Well,
Speaker 1: around these parts we call that racism. And guess where
Speaker 1: we call it racism in the United States of America,
Speaker 1: and we say it loudly when we say what our
Speaker 1: whole chest because it is factual. Indeed, I can point
Speaker 1: that woman who wants to be the president to the
Speaker 1: very laws that shape the realities that you and i
Speaker 1: q Ward and Rams's Jaw are still dealing with right now,
Speaker 1: and are indeed our families and our communities, and it
Speaker 1: was the law. In fact, this very country was founded
Speaker 1: on the fact that we had a slave class. And
Speaker 1: I put this on almost singularly.
Speaker 2: The reason why slavery in this country is different than
Speaker 2: all other cases of slavery throughout history. That entire quote
Speaker 2: unquote class of people are slaves, not second class birth
Speaker 2: class exactly.
Speaker 3: So watch this.
Speaker 1: So I put a post on our social media the
Speaker 1: other day, and I might butcher it now, but roll
Speaker 1: with me. There was no such thing as white people
Speaker 1: before the Transatlantic slave trade. White people did not exist.
Speaker 1: Here's what I mean when I say.
Speaker 2: That, nor did black people, or did black people.
Speaker 1: And the reason that white people, the term white people
Speaker 1: came about is because European colonizers and enslavers were taking
Speaker 1: black people and they needed a way to delineate the
Speaker 1: slave class from the non slave class. Right and again,
Speaker 1: a slave chattel slavery where if you're my slave because
Speaker 1: I conquered your tribe or whatever, your children are now
Speaker 1: a part of my tribe. Our tribe has grown. Okay,
Speaker 1: if you're my slave because I bought you as a slave.
Speaker 1: If you have children, those are not slaves. I didn't
Speaker 1: buy them. They were born free in the United States
Speaker 1: of America. That's chattle slavery. Your children and their children
Speaker 1: and their children will be my slaves in perpetuity. That's
Speaker 1: the slavery we had here, a slave class.
Speaker 3: Okay. Now for this woman to say, I.
Speaker 2: Know we're talking about black and employment and that class
Speaker 2: of slave was not about what you just said conquered
Speaker 2: or conflict or lower. No, you're black, so you're a
Speaker 2: slave here.
Speaker 3: That's it.
Speaker 4: That's how this works. He's watching movie twelve Years a slave.
Speaker 4: You could be free and then being slave.
Speaker 1: Okay, anyway, so it's very hurtful when people like that tried.
Speaker 1: It's like a slap in our face to say, like,
Speaker 1: America is not a racist coutry. I don't believe America's
Speaker 1: a race, especially for a woman who changed her name
Speaker 1: to get over that hump that we know of as racism,
Speaker 1: that we call it racism. Okay, Now, with this last
Speaker 1: minute or so, I want to make sure that we
Speaker 1: at least hit a couple of points. We're talking about
Speaker 1: black unemployment. One of the things that's really important that
Speaker 1: we discussed on this show is restorative justice. You know
Speaker 1: what I mean, what is it that this country can
Speaker 1: do to make things right for this group of people
Speaker 1: who indeed built this very country with our hands and
Speaker 1: our sweat, and.
Speaker 2: This singular group of people who throughout history it has
Speaker 2: not gotten anything in the way of reparations are restorative justice.
Speaker 1: So now you're starting to understand why we have that
Speaker 1: conversation about reparations and how reparations in and of itself
Speaker 1: could serve as investments into black businesses that could affect
Speaker 1: black employment rates. And you're starting to see how this works. Right,
Speaker 1: most crimes that we discuss on the show are indeed
Speaker 1: crimes of poverty. If the same crime if the person
Speaker 1: was rich, there's no need to commit it, right, no
Speaker 1: need to commit it whatsoever. Right, And you got to
Speaker 1: think about that. Instead of what Tupac said, I said
Speaker 1: this on the show all the time. Instead of a
Speaker 1: war on poverty, they have a war on drug so
Speaker 1: the police can bother me, right, what a bar And.
Speaker 2: When the victims of the war on drugs look like us,
Speaker 2: they make it criminal. Now those who are under the
Speaker 2: thumb of what they would have called narcotics then what
Speaker 2: they call opioids.
Speaker 4: Now it's a health crisis. See what I'm saying to you.
Speaker 4: That's what I'm saying, saying, go ahead and say that there,
Speaker 4: but listen.
Speaker 1: Now, hopefully you understand a little bit more of the
Speaker 1: framework of kind of why we push for restorative justice,
Speaker 1: economic justice, reparations, things.
Speaker 3: Like this, because it works. So we'll leave that one
Speaker 3: right there.
Speaker 1: And as always, i'd like to thank you for tuning
Speaker 1: in for another episode of Civic Side for once again,
Speaker 1: I've been your host Rams's job.
Speaker 2: He is Ramsey's job. I am q Ward. Please subscribe, like, share,
Speaker 2: donate if you can, but listen. We understand that donations
Speaker 2: are not always easy, but some things that are free.
Speaker 2: Telling people about our show, supporting our show, subscribing, give
Speaker 2: us a rating, give us a review, give us some
Speaker 2: positive comments. Please come into the comments and say anything nice,
Speaker 2: because there's some hearts, thousands of people literally saying those vile,
Speaker 2: evil things. Everything was even before the show. We were
Speaker 2: on live before I saw hateful comments popping up on
Speaker 2: the screen, not in the live but on other post
Speaker 2: of ours. So you know, please show us some love
Speaker 2: when you can.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it comes with the territory.
Speaker 1: But we are encouraged and we are going to keep going,
Speaker 1: and we can only do that with your support, So
Speaker 1: until next week, y'all.
Speaker 3: Peace, Peace,