Speaker 1: Broadcasting from the Hip Hop Weekly Studios. I'd like to
Speaker 1: welcome you to another episode of Civic Cipher, where our
Speaker 1: mission is to foster allyship empathy and understanding. I'm your host, ramses.
Speaker 2: Job, he is Ramsay's joh I am q Ward. You
Speaker 2: are tuned into Civic Cipher, Yes.
Speaker 1: You are, and today we got our work cut out
Speaker 1: for us. Once upon a time, I remember encountering a
Speaker 1: story from Meek Mill and he was recalling what it
Speaker 1: was like walking in the halls at Rockefeller Records after
Speaker 1: NAS dropped Ether, and I remember him saying, it was
Speaker 1: a quiet day at the Rockefeller Studios. Well, I am
Speaker 1: here to tell you it has been a quiet week
Speaker 1: around the Hip Hop Weekly Studios. Here at Civic Cipher,
Speaker 1: this has been a time of reflection. This is a
Speaker 1: time of introspection and of course, time to strategize and
Speaker 1: figure out our path forward. Of course, I'm referring to
Speaker 1: the results of the election. This is something that we
Speaker 1: are processing and will be processing for some time. I'm
Speaker 1: not going to pretend like the conversation we're about to
Speaker 1: have is going to be full of optimism and strategy. Again,
Speaker 1: we're still working through all of that but we appreciate
Speaker 1: those of you who have the bandwidth to take in
Speaker 1: this show. We're going to do our best to be
Speaker 1: your brothers again. We are going to do our best
Speaker 1: to be strong and to heed our responsibility in this moment.
Speaker 1: Forgive us if we are human, because we are both
Speaker 1: having human moments. But if you'll stick around, hopefully you'll
Speaker 1: be able to share with us in our healing and
Speaker 1: of course get some strategy from us, and maybe we'll
Speaker 1: get some from you as well. But before we get there,
Speaker 1: as always to start off with some ebony excellence. So
Speaker 1: today's ebony excellence is sponsored by Actively Black. There is
Speaker 1: greatness in our DNA visit actively black dot com. And
Speaker 1: today's ebony Excellence comes from the Grillo. So shout out
Speaker 1: Big Boss Kiki Palmer. She can now add C Suite
Speaker 1: executive to her already lengthy resume. As reported by Women's
Speaker 1: Wear Daily, the multi hafen It is joining forces with
Speaker 1: legacy haircare brand Cream of Nature as its first ever
Speaker 1: Chief brand officer. Quote Kiki will be instrumental in shaping
Speaker 1: how we communicate our overall brand to the end consumer.
Speaker 1: This according to Shandra Coleman, head of Marketing for hair
Speaker 1: and personal care brands at Revlon. She goes on to say, quote,
Speaker 1: her creative input will be invaluable as we strive to
Speaker 1: innovate and stay ahead in the market. The full scope
Speaker 1: of Palmer's new gig remains unknown, but both the entertainer
Speaker 1: and the forty eight year old haircare brand now owned
Speaker 1: by Reblan were born in Chicago. Palmer, who has debuted
Speaker 1: a range of memorable hair transformations in recent years, recalls
Speaker 1: being raised within a fan for the brand's products. Quote,
Speaker 1: I grew up with Cream of Nature. It's one of
Speaker 1: those brands that has always been there, not just among
Speaker 1: my family, but my community. She goes on to say,
Speaker 1: we wanted to work with Sorry, the brand goes on
Speaker 1: to say, we wanted to work with someone who truly
Speaker 1: understands here and is more than a face for our campaigns.
Speaker 1: Palmer's authentic voice and deep understanding of our audience will
Speaker 1: help us craft messages that truly connect with our consumers.
Speaker 1: Those messages will reportedly lean into Palmer's natural talents as
Speaker 1: a storyteller, a skill set she's eager to bring to
Speaker 1: her new role. So, you know, one of the great
Speaker 1: honors in this show is that we get to highlight
Speaker 1: examples of ebony excellence, no matter how big, no matter
Speaker 1: how small. We get to remind folks that were not
Speaker 1: just you know, struggle and death, that we do accomplish
Speaker 1: great things. And today it has been our pleasure to
Speaker 1: highlight the one and only Kiki Palmer for the big
Speaker 1: moves she's making. Shout out to her as the black
Speaker 1: girl magic. We like to say, Okay, so I haven't
Speaker 1: talked to you, Q.
Speaker 2: How you doing, I'm not doing okay. There's something to
Speaker 2: the position that we are asked to play. I don't
Speaker 2: just mean today, I kind of mean throughout society. The
Speaker 2: black person in this country is asked to play a
Speaker 2: very unique position. Love everything about the country that has
Speaker 2: never been good to you, and if you have anything
Speaker 2: bad to say about it, you can just go back
Speaker 2: to the land that we stole you from, the land
Speaker 2: that you have no bridge to, the land that we
Speaker 2: assured you have no connection to the land that we
Speaker 2: assured would be very very difficult for you to find
Speaker 2: if you ever tried to in the future.
Speaker 1: And that has been fully exploited by us as well.
Speaker 1: So there's not a lot in way of resources there
Speaker 1: to reinvent yourself.
Speaker 2: We will continue to misuse, mistreat, disrespect, conspire against your
Speaker 2: very sense of self determination, your very sense of pride,
Speaker 2: you're very sense of aspiration. There's a way that stories
Speaker 2: are told, from children's books to movies to the Bible itself,
Speaker 2: where there is always a redemption. There's always something that
Speaker 2: leads to that redemption. There's always something that points to
Speaker 2: a light at the end of the tunnel, the sun
Speaker 2: from behind the clouds. And that seems to be true
Speaker 2: for everyone but Black Americans. And my pain is very
Speaker 2: specific to Black Americans because we are, without a doubt,
Speaker 2: the ones who have been most affected by bad faith, legislation, racism,
Speaker 2: the white supremacist history of this country, and we will
Speaker 2: be the most affected by this election. I have people
Speaker 2: that I love and care about that are white Americans,
Speaker 2: some that are white men, some that are wealthy white men,
Speaker 2: and not much about the way the world or this
Speaker 2: country interacts with them will change. They'll get to feel like,
Speaker 2: you know, things that they say out loud to me
Speaker 2: are true, just won't impact your day to day life.
Speaker 2: Vote local when you don't have to really worry about
Speaker 2: the president. You know, it's hard for me, and I
Speaker 2: didn't sleep much last night, and I thing stressed me
Speaker 2: out the most leading up to the election, and why
Speaker 2: I haven't slept much period, not just last night. But
Speaker 2: everyone kept telling me how low the stakes were. That's
Speaker 2: why I couldn't get unstressed out. Leading up to the election.
Speaker 2: I kept hearing people say how it wasn't that big
Speaker 2: of a deal, how not much it's going to change,
Speaker 2: how And I kept looking around and looking in the
Speaker 2: mirror and looking at my phone and reading the newspaper
Speaker 2: and whatever, trying to figure out if I was in
Speaker 2: some type of silo by myself, and I was the
Speaker 2: only person that had access to the information that I had,
Speaker 2: the only person that had access to the videos that
Speaker 2: I watched, the only person that had access to the
Speaker 2: transcripts that I read. I wish it was hard to
Speaker 2: understand why people like that guy. I wish it was confusing.
Speaker 2: I wish I was less informed. I wish I had
Speaker 2: less in the way of information. I wish I knew
Speaker 2: less because it wouldn't feelless awful. I see rappers, black celebrities,
Speaker 2: and really just black people defiant in their support for him,
Speaker 2: and for some of them, the defiance is the whole thing.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: You can't tell me what to do, you can't tell
Speaker 2: me how to think, so it does not matter that
Speaker 2: I'm wrong. It does not matter that this person represents
Speaker 2: everything that's contrary or antithetical to my people. You can't
Speaker 2: tell me how to think, and you can't tell me
Speaker 2: what to do. So to show you how free thinking
Speaker 2: and defiant and strong I am, this is what I'm doing,
Speaker 2: no matter what. And then you have to realize he's
Speaker 2: like every petulant preteenager's dream, right, because there's something to
Speaker 2: the character in the story that can do or say
Speaker 2: whatever they want with impunity. I'm strong, I'm powerful, you're weak.
Speaker 2: Your rules don't apply to me. I don't care about
Speaker 2: anyone but myself, and there's no consequence to it. So
Speaker 2: everything I've been taught to believe, my whole life is
Speaker 2: in question now, from the King James Bible to the
Speaker 2: first movies and stories I was ever told weeping man
Speaker 2: door for a night, it says in Psalms, But joy
Speaker 2: comes in the morning when and for who? Not me,
Speaker 2: not my mom and dad, not their parents, not their parents,
Speaker 2: not their parents, not their parents, not their parents, And
Speaker 2: now not my kids. So joy comes for who and
Speaker 2: when answers to what prayers win? Redemption from my people, win,
Speaker 2: reparations from my people, win, a success story, a win,
Speaker 2: some form of joy for us win. Someone explained, I'm
Speaker 2: the reason I'm supposed to be hopeful moving forward when
Speaker 2: more than half of the people I share this country with,
Speaker 2: knowing all they know, would still vote for that man,
Speaker 2: would encourage me to vote for that man. Thirty four
Speaker 2: felony counts, convicted, not just charges, two cases felony still pending,
Speaker 2: impeached twice, bankrupt six times. That's the record on paper.
Speaker 2: We're not even taking into account the things that he says,
Speaker 2: the things that he plans to do, the things that
Speaker 2: he wants to do, the things that he said. We
Speaker 2: don't have to do an investigation. We don't have to
Speaker 2: pull up secret paperwork. We don't have to subpoena and
Speaker 2: his phone and look through his messages. No, I'm talking
Speaker 2: about the things that he says out loud that he
Speaker 2: wants to do to us, our mothers, our sisters, our wives,
Speaker 2: our daughters, our brothers, our sisters, our nieces, our nephews,
Speaker 2: our uncles, our family members, our friends, everyone that doesn't think, believe, pray,
Speaker 2: and love the way that he does, and I don't.
Speaker 2: I probably can't imagine that he does love. I don't
Speaker 2: think he views the world that way. I don't think
Speaker 2: he've used life that way. I think it's all the
Speaker 2: transaction to him, and if it benefits him, it does
Speaker 2: not matter who it brings harm to. I agree with
Speaker 2: everything he says, and he loves you, and he'll lift
Speaker 2: you up. Disagree with one thing that he says, and
Speaker 2: he will stomp on you and convince everyone who has
Speaker 2: now yielded their power, yielded their autonomy, yielded their independence
Speaker 2: of thought to him. They will jump you to He
Speaker 2: will break line with you while you're fighting for him.
Speaker 2: Google Mitch McConnell if you don't believe me. I have
Speaker 2: not been able to sleep. I have not been able
Speaker 2: to give myself any form of optimism. And everybody's saying
Speaker 2: it's gonna be okay, isn't paying attention. I wish there
Speaker 2: was some way to escape. I see people saying they'll
Speaker 2: move to another country. Where you're gonna go where this
Speaker 2: country doesn't have power. He's somehow broken us. And I
Speaker 2: don't mean black people. I mean everybody, because he's even
Speaker 2: shown when he proves out to be awful, so many
Speaker 2: of those that support him have just said, so what,
Speaker 2: So when he does inevitably impact their lives negatively, we
Speaker 2: won't even have a moment to be like, hey, you guys,
Speaker 2: we told you so. No, they're gonna come up with
Speaker 2: the way in their head for that to be okay too.
Speaker 2: It does not feel like we can come back from this.
Speaker 2: How how are we here again? I'm supposed to figure
Speaker 2: out some reassuring story to tell my kids, so I'm
Speaker 2: supposed to look at them and lie to them that
Speaker 2: reassurance is based on what? And again, when when does
Speaker 2: this story work out for us? I have not seen stories.
Speaker 2: I have not read reports. I think I shared with
Speaker 2: you already. I felt and saw this going bad fast
Speaker 2: and did not take the final results to happen.
Speaker 1: I saw.
Speaker 2: Things that seemed insane to me in real time, and
Speaker 2: I knew right then, oh no, here it is. Here
Speaker 2: we go again. Way before all the boats had been tallied,
Speaker 2: I saw it. I got rid of all my socials.
Speaker 2: I don't know what I'm supposed to say. I don't know.
Speaker 2: I can't a lot of people I can't pretend. I
Speaker 2: can't get on this mic and pretend like I feel
Speaker 2: like everything's gonna be okay, because I don't. I don't
Speaker 2: feel okay. I don't feel like everything's gonna be okay.
Speaker 2: And I know for some people that no matter the
Speaker 2: outcome of this decision that they've made collectively, there won't
Speaker 2: even be that moment where everybody says, man, we messed up. Nope,
Speaker 2: because he's already shown it. That's what I'm saying. This
Speaker 2: is not some science project where we haven't gotten the
Speaker 2: results of the experiment already. He's already shown and already
Speaker 2: told us exactly what he was gonna do, and people said, yeah,
Speaker 2: that's fine. So we won't even have that moment where
Speaker 2: people will say, man, we messed up. Nope. Everybody's too
Speaker 2: dug in. Everybody wants to seem prolific, provocative, a free
Speaker 2: thinking individual. So I'm smarter than everybody else. That's why
Speaker 2: I did this thing that nobody else does, because I'm
Speaker 2: not a sheep and you are, so even when it
Speaker 2: proves out to be an awful decision, they won't look
Speaker 2: at the mirror and say, man, man, we didn't get
Speaker 2: this right. Because he's shown that there's nothing he can
Speaker 2: do to lose their support. There's nothing he can do
Speaker 2: to make them say, man, maybe I was on the
Speaker 2: wrong side of this. So it does not feel like
Speaker 2: there is any coming back from it, or like we'll
Speaker 2: even have the chance in four years to do anything
Speaker 2: about it, because oh yeah, we got JD Vance in
Speaker 2: the wake in case you haven't been paying attention to
Speaker 2: that lunatic. So no, I'm not okay, man, And I
Speaker 2: don't have anymy to tell you guys that I'm that
Speaker 2: I'm gonna be okay or that it's going to be okay,
Speaker 2: because that's just not how I feel.
Speaker 1: Well, thank you for that. This is again our first
Speaker 1: time having this conversation. Normally i'd have something a little
Speaker 1: bit more optimistic and to throw into the conversation, but unfortunately,
Speaker 1: I feel like the long road that we have been
Speaker 1: on just got a lot longer. I feel like there
Speaker 1: was a decisive action that put all of the goals
Speaker 1: of you know, of my life, the things that I
Speaker 1: believe in, the things that I want to fight for.
Speaker 1: It puts those goals beyond the time frame of my life,
Speaker 1: so I won't see these things happen within my lifetime.
Speaker 1: You know, it feels like, you know, the Supreme Court
Speaker 1: justices are going to retire once he's sworn in, and
Speaker 1: he's going to appoint newer, younger Supreme Court justices to
Speaker 1: ensure that there's a conservative supermajority on the Supreme Court
Speaker 1: for decades. Obviously, there's a book that was written for
Speaker 1: his presidency that he now no longer has to distance
Speaker 1: himself from, you know, not or specifically speaking about a
Speaker 1: Project twenty twenty five. So you know, he doesn't have
Speaker 1: to hide behind Agenda forty seven anymore. He can lean
Speaker 1: into Project twenty twenty five because he doesn't have to
Speaker 1: seek reelection anymore. And he's got unfortunately, that was a
Speaker 1: decisive win for that election, and so he's got the House,
Speaker 1: and you know, he's you know, he's got everything that
Speaker 1: he needs to shoehorn Project twenty twenty five and that
Speaker 1: framework into American society. And so again, I don't necessarily
Speaker 1: have anything to contribute here that feels optimistic, but I
Speaker 1: will say that there are a handful of us who
Speaker 1: don't have any quit in us, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: I know that I'm a fighter, and I know that
Speaker 1: my boys my two sons, my children. They are kind souls.
Speaker 1: I don't know that their path will be mine. And
Speaker 1: even if there are some things that won't happen in
Speaker 1: my lifetime, I owe it to their children to try
Speaker 1: so I will, you know, and you know, I believed
Speaker 1: in a world where you know, we could get climate
Speaker 1: change under control. I believed in a world where we
Speaker 1: could get rid of the filibuster and get some some
Speaker 1: actual police reform. I believed in a world where we
Speaker 1: could take on less visible problems like environmental racism and
Speaker 1: you know, housing discrimination and things like that, the X problems,
Speaker 1: because everyone wants to focus on police violence and you know,
Speaker 1: affirmative action. But you know, there's some other problems that
Speaker 1: I thought that we'd be able to really tackle now,
Speaker 1: and it feels like, you know, we won't get to
Speaker 1: those anytime soon. I hope I'm wrong. I hope all
Speaker 1: the people that have been kind of rubbing their their
Speaker 1: Trump victories, their texts in my face, I hope that
Speaker 1: some of them are right when I point out that
Speaker 1: they're rubbing that in my face and they say, oh,
Speaker 1: that wasn't what I was trying to do. You'll see
Speaker 1: one day, America is going to be whatever they think
Speaker 1: it's going to be under his leadership. You know, why
Speaker 1: not hope that they're right. Maybe this guy was lying
Speaker 1: for I don't know, nine years, and I don't know,
Speaker 1: it sounds absurd to say that, you know, you said
Speaker 1: it best. He's shown us exactly who he is. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I will, I will say that there there just is
Speaker 1: no quit in me. You know, I'm one of those
Speaker 1: people that will fight to the death and I'm not
Speaker 1: dead yet, So yeah, I again, I don't think we
Speaker 1: got on the radio today to pretend like everything was okay.
Speaker 1: We're processing it the same as everyone else, and you know,
Speaker 1: this feels like the moment that we had to take
Speaker 1: to just kind of talk about where we are. And
Speaker 1: I want to, you know, spend the next half of
Speaker 1: the show kind of dissecting why we are where we are.
Speaker 1: So my hope is that you'll stick around for that
Speaker 1: because I think that we can learn a lot from that.