WEBVTT - Civic Cipher 101720 The Prejudices Built into Policing 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:04.040 That's right, y'all. Welcome to another edition of Civic Cipher. 0:00:04.080 --> 0:00:05.480 I'my host Ramsy's job. 0:00:05.680 --> 0:00:07.680 Call me Q Ward, and that just so happens to 0:00:07.720 --> 0:00:08.840 be my name. 0:00:08.920 --> 0:00:13.600 And today's show is a very special show. Now I 0:00:13.720 --> 0:00:16.840 say that quite a bit, But the reason I have 0:00:16.920 --> 0:00:20.040 Q with me today is because we're going to tell 0:00:20.079 --> 0:00:25.160 a story, and we're going to talk about policing from 0:00:25.280 --> 0:00:29.920 the vantage point and how it affects black men. Today's 0:00:29.960 --> 0:00:33.400 episode is one where we both can speak from a 0:00:33.440 --> 0:00:37.800 personal experience and paint a picture. A lot of folks 0:00:37.960 --> 0:00:41.440 that have, you know, followed the show and have commented 0:00:41.640 --> 0:00:45.320 on YouTube or sent messages to our Twitter or anything 0:00:45.400 --> 0:00:48.280 like that. There's a lot of folks who don't really understand, 0:00:49.159 --> 0:00:53.280 especially when it comes to the defund the police call 0:00:53.400 --> 0:00:57.400 that stems from the movement that's taking place in the 0:00:57.400 --> 0:00:59.520 streets right now on behalf of Black Lives Matter and 0:00:59.560 --> 0:01:03.200 lots of other groups. They don't understand where that comes from, 0:01:03.400 --> 0:01:07.520 and they can't really see the optics. And so it 0:01:07.680 --> 0:01:09.400 just so happens to be the case that Q and 0:01:09.440 --> 0:01:12.600 I recently went through an experience where I think we're 0:01:12.640 --> 0:01:17.319 able to illustrate exactly why we feel like a lot 0:01:17.319 --> 0:01:21.880 of times policing is unfair to black people and in 0:01:21.920 --> 0:01:25.600 our case, black men specifically. Now, before we get to 0:01:25.640 --> 0:01:28.920 that story, I do want to paint a picture. A 0:01:28.920 --> 0:01:32.120 lot of folks know that I'm a DJ, and if 0:01:32.160 --> 0:01:36.040 you don't, you know, I'm a DJ, longtime radio personality, 0:01:36.800 --> 0:01:42.039 television magazines primarily based in Phoenix, Arizona, and q ward 0:01:42.959 --> 0:01:45.880 is all of those things as well. So those of 0:01:45.920 --> 0:01:47.600 you that listen to the show every week, you know me, 0:01:47.680 --> 0:01:50.080 but maybe you don't know Q. So run down your 0:01:50.120 --> 0:01:52.040 resume a little bit for folks who maybe this is 0:01:52.040 --> 0:01:52.880 the first time meeting you. 0:01:53.080 --> 0:01:57.800 Oh, resume all of it. I don't know. It's pretty expansive, man, Yeah, man, 0:01:57.840 --> 0:02:00.240 we got time or diverse if you will. You know, 0:02:00.280 --> 0:02:03.080 my adult life kind of started in sports and entertainment 0:02:04.040 --> 0:02:09.760 college football, working with and representing professional athletes, got into racing, 0:02:10.240 --> 0:02:13.680 then got into sponsorship, gotten alcohol and spirits. That's how 0:02:13.680 --> 0:02:17.440 we cross paths. Introduced the world to a product called 0:02:17.440 --> 0:02:23.480 Hennessy Black that transitioned me into a bit more of 0:02:23.520 --> 0:02:28.760 a domesticated life, traveled the world a little bit. I 0:02:28.840 --> 0:02:32.080 spent two and a half years in the road managing 0:02:32.120 --> 0:02:39.040 comedy tours, road managing, and around two thousand and eleven 0:02:39.919 --> 0:02:44.160 got into Djane and that's kind of been my vehicle 0:02:45.280 --> 0:02:48.280 ever since. We've done a lot, you know, since crossing 0:02:48.360 --> 0:02:52.040 paths and since you know, getting my first set of techniques. 0:02:52.040 --> 0:02:56.920 But Djane became the vehicle for everything I did after that, 0:02:56.960 --> 0:03:01.320 and then we got into nonprofit sector. Shouts to the 0:03:01.400 --> 0:03:05.920 Change Society, shouts to hashtag Lunchbag, our champion initiative. That's 0:03:06.040 --> 0:03:11.680 you know, a worldwide project now. And yeah, outside of fatherhood, man, 0:03:11.720 --> 0:03:12.920 that's it. You know. 0:03:13.480 --> 0:03:15.840 Well, there's a couple more things that I think are noteworthy. 0:03:16.240 --> 0:03:18.880 One of them is that you're bona fide radio personality 0:03:18.919 --> 0:03:22.000 as well. Word I know that because we've had radio 0:03:22.040 --> 0:03:25.519 shows together all the other things that you've done in Phoenix. 0:03:26.400 --> 0:03:32.280 And also you are more than just a DJ. I 0:03:32.320 --> 0:03:35.320 know lots of DJs, but you're perhaps one of the 0:03:35.360 --> 0:03:41.480 more recognizable DJs in Phoenix. Certainly, I would say probably 0:03:41.880 --> 0:03:44.000 on the West coast of the United States in terms 0:03:44.040 --> 0:03:46.760 of notoriety, in terms of your reach, in terms of 0:03:46.800 --> 0:03:51.240 the caliber of gigs that you perform. But you know, 0:03:51.280 --> 0:03:54.920 since you're primarily based in Phoenix, you know, certainly a 0:03:54.960 --> 0:03:57.520 big name in old town Scottsdale, which, if you're not 0:03:57.560 --> 0:04:04.000 from Arizona, is the place where DJs are really celebrated 0:04:04.000 --> 0:04:06.880 and elevated to the next level. So the reason I 0:04:06.960 --> 0:04:11.480 wanted to establish that is because it helps to have 0:04:11.600 --> 0:04:15.560 a little bit of background on the two men that 0:04:15.640 --> 0:04:22.159 will be telling this story that will illustrate how sometimes 0:04:22.360 --> 0:04:28.159 policing can really feel unfair to people who are decent folks, 0:04:28.560 --> 0:04:30.680 you know, or maybe they're not decent folks, but they're 0:04:30.720 --> 0:04:34.440 black folks, you know, and they don't get there the 0:04:34.480 --> 0:04:38.320 same consideration as other people do. And it's textbook discrimination, 0:04:38.400 --> 0:04:41.320 it's textbook prejudices, textbook racial profiling. 0:04:41.480 --> 0:04:45.719 And when policing citizens, their decency is not something that 0:04:45.760 --> 0:04:48.599 should be called into, you know, judgment on the spot 0:04:48.680 --> 0:04:52.839 by someone who clearly has no idea whether you're a 0:04:52.839 --> 0:04:57.600 decent person or not. So it's you know, the subjects 0:04:57.640 --> 0:05:01.760 of this conversation are decent folks, but in that context 0:05:01.800 --> 0:05:06.080 it absolutely should not matter. Absolutely, and the outcomes that 0:05:06.120 --> 0:05:11.359 are that are now you know, on your social media 0:05:11.440 --> 0:05:15.240 timeline it seems once a week. Those things should not 0:05:15.360 --> 0:05:17.960 be judgment rendered on somebody you considered to be not 0:05:18.120 --> 0:05:21.719 decent that those things should have nothing to do with 0:05:21.800 --> 0:05:22.560 those outcomes. 0:05:23.720 --> 0:05:31.479 So obviously we have a friendship. We've worked together in 0:05:32.480 --> 0:05:38.320 several professional capacities over the years. I want you to 0:05:38.360 --> 0:05:43.520 start this story off by painting the background picture of 0:05:44.520 --> 0:05:47.200 where Now this is not as I mentioned, we both 0:05:48.200 --> 0:05:51.960 are primarily based in Phoenix, Arizona, but you know this 0:05:52.040 --> 0:05:54.200 story does not take place in Phoenix, Arizona. This does 0:05:54.240 --> 0:05:56.400 not speak to anybody based on their race. This does 0:05:56.400 --> 0:06:00.680 not speak to anything based on region. It speaks on policing, 0:06:00.720 --> 0:06:04.000 and we're able to give you a verifiable example of 0:06:04.080 --> 0:06:07.880 exactly what happens in our typical interactions with the police. 0:06:07.920 --> 0:06:10.920 So sorry, paint that picture for us. What's the background? 0:06:12.320 --> 0:06:17.120 It's a It's an interesting picture to attempt to paint 0:06:17.839 --> 0:06:22.720 because almost because it doesn't even require the specific setting 0:06:22.760 --> 0:06:24.680 that we were in, Like the setting that we were 0:06:24.680 --> 0:06:29.159 in gives it some very very textured nuance if we 0:06:29.160 --> 0:06:31.560 were making a picture, if we were making a movie, 0:06:31.680 --> 0:06:34.440 rather the setting that we were in would be perfect 0:06:34.520 --> 0:06:35.440 to illustrate this. 0:06:35.800 --> 0:06:38.400 But that's what that for an audience. That's exactly why 0:06:38.440 --> 0:06:38.920 I think. 0:06:39.360 --> 0:06:41.680 But to be clear, because I don't even I don't 0:06:41.760 --> 0:06:44.839 want it to feel so specific to where we were. 0:06:45.240 --> 0:06:48.400 I don't want to feel like it only happens there, 0:06:48.520 --> 0:06:50.880 or or of course it happened you were there. 0:06:51.000 --> 0:06:52.200 Yeah, you know what I mean. 0:06:52.920 --> 0:06:56.160 But so this was July, now, you know, and I 0:06:56.160 --> 0:06:58.440 don't know that that matters, but it's been a few months, 0:06:58.520 --> 0:07:02.840 so we got to experience it be really really boiled 0:07:02.839 --> 0:07:06.359 over with emotion, come down from that emotion, and experience 0:07:06.400 --> 0:07:09.600 a whole lot of different stuff personally and kind of 0:07:09.680 --> 0:07:13.760 via watching other people's stories play out in some really 0:07:13.760 --> 0:07:16.640 tragic ways via social media. And it's kind of hard 0:07:16.680 --> 0:07:20.400 to be socially or emotionally tapped into all of these 0:07:20.440 --> 0:07:23.400 people and all of these stories because you feel it 0:07:23.400 --> 0:07:27.280 all over again, and it's a lot to carry and 0:07:27.600 --> 0:07:29.840 to take so personally every time, like it makes you 0:07:29.880 --> 0:07:34.280 want to check out because I can't keep mourning every 0:07:34.320 --> 0:07:38.240 week another person having a similar experience with a far 0:07:38.280 --> 0:07:44.600 more tragic outcome rather but Ramses and I flew to 0:07:44.760 --> 0:07:50.240 Florida just to drive back home. And I say that 0:07:50.280 --> 0:07:52.960 in that way to make you, as the listeners, say, 0:07:53.200 --> 0:07:56.680 why on earth would they do that? For a very 0:07:56.800 --> 0:08:03.960 very specific reason. Ramses owns a car dealership. He and 0:08:04.040 --> 0:08:07.360 a friend of ours bought a car for me the 0:08:07.440 --> 0:08:14.520 week before this happened, and for reasons that you know, 0:08:14.600 --> 0:08:17.200 don't even really matter much for what we're talking about. 0:08:17.280 --> 0:08:20.680 I was not able to ever take ownership of the car, 0:08:21.520 --> 0:08:26.080 but I had already developed a very very specific liking 0:08:26.160 --> 0:08:30.400 to this very very specific car, and it was a gift. 0:08:31.120 --> 0:08:36.240 So we flew to go pick up this car because 0:08:36.240 --> 0:08:38.280 it was the only other one I could find in 0:08:38.320 --> 0:08:43.760 the country, and then drive it back to Phoenix. However, 0:08:44.120 --> 0:08:48.160 flying to Florida to drive a car back to Arizona 0:08:49.440 --> 0:08:53.720 requires that you make a trek across the good old 0:08:53.760 --> 0:09:00.400 Boy the southern United States exactly. And if you've been 0:09:00.440 --> 0:09:05.600 paying attention at all via Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, CNNMSNBC, or 0:09:05.640 --> 0:09:09.400 Fox News, you know that the temperature in our country 0:09:09.480 --> 0:09:15.360 right now is very very high, and the division is 0:09:15.440 --> 0:09:21.080 circa nineteen thirty, nineteen forty, nineteen fifty, nineteen sixty. 0:09:22.280 --> 0:09:26.600 Now, let me explain this to anyone that's listening to 0:09:26.679 --> 0:09:35.600 this right now. It feels that way right now, especially 0:09:35.600 --> 0:09:38.960 to other folks who do not live this is not 0:09:39.000 --> 0:09:45.800 their lived experience, but it feels that way to us, 0:09:45.880 --> 0:09:49.760 and by us, I mean black males. I would assume 0:09:49.800 --> 0:09:54.319 that black females feel the same way. But I'm learning 0:09:54.360 --> 0:09:58.320 not to speak, you know, beyond my own realm of 0:09:58.360 --> 0:10:02.360 expertise and my own experience, and so but I can 0:10:02.480 --> 0:10:05.840 say that my experience is a black experience. It always 0:10:06.160 --> 0:10:10.599 feels like the nineteen thirties or the nineteen sixties, or 0:10:10.720 --> 0:10:13.160 very close to it all the time when it comes 0:10:13.200 --> 0:10:15.760 to the police. There are other things that happen in 0:10:15.800 --> 0:10:18.600 society that you know, we all can get behind. We 0:10:18.640 --> 0:10:21.160 can see growth, we can see you know. Obviously, when 0:10:21.160 --> 0:10:24.200 Obama was elected president, that was a huge deal for everyone. 0:10:24.240 --> 0:10:26.960 We felt so proud and we felt like, Okay, the 0:10:27.000 --> 0:10:31.640 world is becoming a kinder place, you know, and more 0:10:31.679 --> 0:10:35.640 progressive exactly exactly. But when the police get behind you, 0:10:35.679 --> 0:10:39.040 it's a very scary thing. It's almost as though, if 0:10:39.040 --> 0:10:44.400 the police get behind you, you're guilty until you can 0:10:44.440 --> 0:10:46.760 figure out a way to prove yourself innocent. And I 0:10:46.840 --> 0:10:49.800 want you to remember that I said that, because you'll 0:10:49.840 --> 0:10:57.360 see that way of thinking manifested in my behavior as 0:10:57.400 --> 0:11:01.320 this story continues. So, okay, so we get the car 0:11:01.360 --> 0:11:03.000 in Florida. What happens next, if I. 0:11:02.960 --> 0:11:10.319 May, before moving on, guilty until you can survive this interaction, 0:11:10.600 --> 0:11:16.880 very good. It's not even about having been proved innocent. 0:11:18.040 --> 0:11:20.720 You're not in a position in most cases to prove 0:11:20.760 --> 0:11:27.640 your innocence, so you're almost behaving as if you did 0:11:27.679 --> 0:11:33.840 something and you don't want to be harmed during this 0:11:33.920 --> 0:11:37.120 inter If I can just survive this interaction, I'll be okay. 0:11:36.880 --> 0:11:39.480 And that i'm then we can and then we can 0:11:39.520 --> 0:11:42.080 figure out whether or not I actually did something. Sure 0:11:42.200 --> 0:11:45.120 exactly so I didn't even I didn't want you to 0:11:45.160 --> 0:11:46.840 move on from that, because when you said it, I 0:11:46.880 --> 0:11:50.920 was like, man, you start to inventory. Okay, I didn't 0:11:50.960 --> 0:11:53.240 run the light, I wasn't speeding, I used my blinker, 0:11:53.880 --> 0:11:55.040 my tags aren't expired. 0:11:57.400 --> 0:11:59.920 I didn't skip school, I did my homework. I want 0:12:00.120 --> 0:12:01.720 that church, I pay my taxes. 0:12:02.800 --> 0:12:05.680 Why am I going to get beat up or die? 0:12:05.760 --> 0:12:10.840 What is about to happen right now? When you should 0:12:10.880 --> 0:12:12.280 be like, Okay, I know I didn't do anything, so 0:12:12.280 --> 0:12:13.400 I'm fine. 0:12:13.840 --> 0:12:16.559 That that's amazing that if somebody can have the police 0:12:16.600 --> 0:12:18.720 behind them and just have a quick thought like that. 0:12:19.240 --> 0:12:22.640 To me, it's like you have colleagues that can I 0:12:22.720 --> 0:12:26.319 have one of the closest people to me in this world, 0:12:26.400 --> 0:12:31.400 not named Ramses. That's his experience. That should be everyone's experience, 0:12:31.960 --> 0:12:34.920 but that's his experience. I didn't do anything, so this 0:12:35.040 --> 0:12:38.480 is going to be okay. At worst, I was driving 0:12:38.520 --> 0:12:41.600 too fast. I'll get a ticket, I'll go home, I'll 0:12:41.640 --> 0:12:45.080 pay it. What's the problem. No, that is not. 0:12:45.400 --> 0:12:48.880 That never happened our experience. Can you step out of 0:12:48.880 --> 0:12:51.160 the vehicles anyway? Let me let me not because I 0:12:51.160 --> 0:12:52.880 could tell these stories all day. I just I want 0:12:52.920 --> 0:12:55.480 to tell this one story. This is very specific. 0:12:58.920 --> 0:13:01.040 It's important because when we have this kind We've had 0:13:01.040 --> 0:13:05.439 this conversation before with some personal friends who were terrified, 0:13:06.320 --> 0:13:09.480 but we never said this part. So I'm gonna say 0:13:09.520 --> 0:13:14.320 it now. Okay, we get the car in Florida. We 0:13:14.400 --> 0:13:18.800 have to drive through Georgia. Now, except my mother, my grandmother, 0:13:18.880 --> 0:13:22.680 and her parents are from Georgia. So I'm hype because 0:13:22.679 --> 0:13:26.400 I'm about to show one of my best friends where 0:13:26.440 --> 0:13:30.640 my family started in this country, like my mom's very 0:13:30.679 --> 0:13:36.360 small hometown in Georgia, making Georgia Bibb County. I'm about 0:13:36.400 --> 0:13:38.960 to take one of my best friends there and he 0:13:39.000 --> 0:13:41.600 can see the restaurant that my grandmother and her sisters 0:13:41.640 --> 0:13:46.360 started in nineteen fifty nine that's still there. Like I'm hype, 0:13:46.440 --> 0:13:52.880 I'm proud, I can't wait. But I also remember I'm 0:13:52.920 --> 0:14:02.440 in Georgia. Most people think Atlanta, Atlanta Atlanta. Georgia is 0:14:02.480 --> 0:14:08.000 a completely different place from Atlanta, to be very very 0:14:08.160 --> 0:14:08.760 very clear. 0:14:09.600 --> 0:14:15.320 And I want to say this too. I love I 0:14:15.320 --> 0:14:18.240 always say I love Georgia because it's a beautiful place. 0:14:18.679 --> 0:14:23.440 Alabama's beautiful, all those places are beautiful. Louisiana or Mississippi 0:14:23.480 --> 0:14:25.880 was gorgeous, you know what. We got to see a bit. 0:14:27.840 --> 0:14:30.120 And I know that we do have listeners in all 0:14:30.120 --> 0:14:32.680 those states, you know, And so I do want to say, 0:14:32.680 --> 0:14:35.600 at least for the folks in Georgia, I absolutely love 0:14:35.640 --> 0:14:39.360 that place. Atlanta's is sort of where I fell in love, 0:14:39.480 --> 0:14:43.200 but Georgia, I found beauty in all of it. But 0:14:44.520 --> 0:14:49.960 that place has some Confederate flags, like more than Alabama. 0:14:50.000 --> 0:14:52.480 But like I was like, oh wee, these people were just. 0:14:52.400 --> 0:14:55.280 Serious, very very big Confederate flag. 0:14:55.360 --> 0:14:56.000 About that action. 0:14:56.360 --> 0:14:59.000 But there was a sense of nostalgia and joy and 0:14:59.040 --> 0:15:01.480 happiness about the fact that I was about to that 0:15:01.480 --> 0:15:03.280 we were about to drive through Georgia because I was 0:15:03.400 --> 0:15:06.320 very very excited to actually be able to take someone 0:15:06.640 --> 0:15:09.240 to where I grew up. I don't get to There's 0:15:09.280 --> 0:15:11.400 not a lot I don't. I don't have ten friends 0:15:11.960 --> 0:15:15.160 that I've been able to take to make it because 0:15:15.200 --> 0:15:17.480 it's just not a destination like that. It's a you know, 0:15:17.480 --> 0:15:21.280 an hour and a half roughly from Atlanta to Macon 0:15:21.760 --> 0:15:23.800 and an hour and a half out of the way. 0:15:23.880 --> 0:15:25.840 If you went to Atlanta for something, you're not trying 0:15:25.840 --> 0:15:27.480 to drive to make it on one of those days. 0:15:28.000 --> 0:15:30.760 So very, very excited about the experience of being able 0:15:30.760 --> 0:15:34.720 to take Ramses to make and take him to see 0:15:34.720 --> 0:15:39.120 where my family's from, to see our restaurant, and then 0:15:39.200 --> 0:15:42.840 to Atlanta, where a lot of my family still lives now. 0:15:43.720 --> 0:15:46.640 Uh And Atlanta is an experience if you if you're 0:15:48.240 --> 0:15:52.600 of our elk and you haven't been there, should definitely go. 0:15:52.720 --> 0:15:57.080 You should definitely go. Well, we got a lot of 0:15:57.160 --> 0:16:00.480 road ahead of us, you know, we stopped, get something 0:16:00.480 --> 0:16:03.120 to eat, we spend some time with family, and then 0:16:03.160 --> 0:16:08.160 we're preparing now because Atlanta was our kind of sight 0:16:08.240 --> 0:16:10.240 seeing city. The rest of these states were just about 0:16:10.280 --> 0:16:13.720 to drive through them, but Georgia very specifically, like I said, 0:16:13.720 --> 0:16:16.120 that's why I got the state of Georgia tattooed on 0:16:16.160 --> 0:16:19.640 my arm. I wanted to spend some time there, visit 0:16:19.680 --> 0:16:21.560 with family and kind of show my brother where I 0:16:21.600 --> 0:16:22.080 was from. 0:16:22.320 --> 0:16:26.080 Listen, let me say this one last thing about Georgia. 0:16:28.960 --> 0:16:31.200 I grew up in California, lived my life on the 0:16:31.200 --> 0:16:32.640 West Coast. Matter of fact, you know what, if you're 0:16:32.680 --> 0:16:35.640 just tuning in Pacific Cipher, I'm you host ramses Jah. 0:16:36.000 --> 0:16:39.200 My name is Quentin, but they called me q Ward. 0:16:39.360 --> 0:16:43.040 And we're telling a story about a police incident that 0:16:43.160 --> 0:16:50.240 happened to both of us that illustrates how police treat 0:16:50.520 --> 0:16:56.720 black folks unfairly. We're stereotyped, we are. There's certainly prejudice 0:16:56.760 --> 0:17:00.360 built into the practices of police departments, and and I 0:17:00.400 --> 0:17:03.080 think it gives a little bit more credibility to this 0:17:03.920 --> 0:17:05.959 call to defund the police. But before we get there, 0:17:05.960 --> 0:17:08.200 one last thing I want to say about Georgia. Since 0:17:08.200 --> 0:17:10.440 I have this platform, I'm able to do it. Growing 0:17:10.520 --> 0:17:12.960 up on the West Coast, I saw lots of black 0:17:13.000 --> 0:17:17.119 folks that were that did well for themselves. But it 0:17:17.160 --> 0:17:18.919 wasn't until I got to Georgia where I saw a 0:17:18.920 --> 0:17:23.879 neighborhood where every house was a mansion, every driveway had 0:17:24.040 --> 0:17:25.200 a Ferrari. 0:17:24.800 --> 0:17:28.840 Or a Mercedes whatever, Porsche or Maserati, and. 0:17:28.800 --> 0:17:32.200 One percent of the people, one percent of the people 0:17:32.200 --> 0:17:35.560 were black. It was amazing powerful. So all right, so 0:17:35.680 --> 0:17:41.000 we get to the end of Georgia. Next up is Alabama, 0:17:42.640 --> 0:17:48.399 and Alabama is where we saw a lot of very 0:17:48.600 --> 0:17:56.000 openly racist advertisements. I saw a lot of Confederate flags 0:17:56.000 --> 0:17:59.680 in Georgia, but a lot of openly racist advertisements, advertisements 0:17:59.680 --> 0:18:05.240 for radio stations that were very demeaning and insulting to 0:18:06.320 --> 0:18:08.400 anything that was not white. 0:18:08.560 --> 0:18:11.720 You know, we heard the most overtly racist radio show 0:18:11.720 --> 0:18:12.240 we've ever. 0:18:12.119 --> 0:18:14.479 Heard, and that was when we got into Mississippi. 0:18:14.000 --> 0:18:18.480 And I immediately reached to turn the channel and Rams 0:18:18.480 --> 0:18:22.560 It's just like, wait, we need to understand, we need 0:18:22.600 --> 0:18:24.480 to understand where we are. 0:18:26.840 --> 0:18:30.520 And I want to say this, I wanted to plug in. 0:18:31.600 --> 0:18:35.639 If you listen to this show, you recognize that I 0:18:35.840 --> 0:18:46.600 have this philosophy that compels me to try to find brotherhood, 0:18:48.040 --> 0:18:52.000 tries to find friendship, tries to find common ground, tries 0:18:52.040 --> 0:18:55.400 to find some way of bridging the gap, and sometimes 0:18:55.400 --> 0:18:57.679 you have to go to that side. Listen to what 0:18:57.720 --> 0:19:00.159 they're saying so that you know how to challenge. If 0:19:00.200 --> 0:19:02.280 I just write these people off by saying that they're 0:19:02.280 --> 0:19:06.080 wrong and give up on them, then I haven't created 0:19:06.080 --> 0:19:08.680 an ally, i haven't created a cheerleader. I've just left 0:19:08.800 --> 0:19:13.000 myself a potential enemy that I'll have tount encounter at 0:19:13.040 --> 0:19:15.280 some point in the future who may be even more powerful. 0:19:15.720 --> 0:19:19.439 And so for me personally, my choice to lead with 0:19:19.600 --> 0:19:23.480 love also compels me to educate myself about, you know, 0:19:23.520 --> 0:19:25.199 what other folks are doing. So I'm not listening to 0:19:25.240 --> 0:19:29.399 these racist radio stations in these weird backwater parts of 0:19:29.440 --> 0:19:32.439 the country just for you know, the fun of it. 0:19:32.520 --> 0:19:35.480 I'm really trying to understand how could you possibly make 0:19:35.520 --> 0:19:40.520 a case for you know, whatever it is that you're doing. 0:19:40.640 --> 0:19:43.560 You know, you know, there's lots of systems and institutions 0:19:43.600 --> 0:19:45.680 in place, and obviously the political climate of the country, 0:19:45.680 --> 0:19:49.359 a lot of these talk shows are talking about black 0:19:49.400 --> 0:19:53.640 and white issues. So let me jump in right here, 0:19:53.640 --> 0:19:57.800 please please. So we're driving through and we know where 0:19:57.800 --> 0:20:02.720 we are, and of course, as Q stated, as important 0:20:02.720 --> 0:20:05.800 as that is, the experience that we're about to have 0:20:06.359 --> 0:20:14.199 is very much a universal one in this country. But 0:20:15.119 --> 0:20:17.800 it was important for us to paint this picture just 0:20:17.840 --> 0:20:21.159 so you understand where we are in terms of our energy, 0:20:21.640 --> 0:20:25.240 where we are in terms of how we feel, because 0:20:25.240 --> 0:20:29.160 we're happy, but we're nervous is not the right word, 0:20:29.160 --> 0:20:33.840 but alert aware, you know. And you know there's this 0:20:33.960 --> 0:20:37.600 sort of philosophy in black communities where if you keep 0:20:37.600 --> 0:20:41.600 your head down, stay out of trouble, then people won't 0:20:41.640 --> 0:20:42.040 bother you. 0:20:42.240 --> 0:20:44.320 The lies we tell ourselves. 0:20:43.840 --> 0:20:47.000 Right, and so we sort of naturally had this, you 0:20:47.000 --> 0:20:48.840 know what, let's keep our head down, let's keep it pushing. 0:20:48.880 --> 0:20:50.240 I wanted to take a picture when we first got 0:20:50.280 --> 0:20:53.320 to Mississippi, and Q was not about that action. 0:20:53.400 --> 0:20:56.159 I got the picture, we got the picture, but he 0:20:56.240 --> 0:20:58.520 was ready to leave me, like you want us to do? What? 0:20:58.760 --> 0:20:59.280 Yeah? Man? 0:20:59.440 --> 0:21:02.639 So after midnight in Mississippi. 0:21:02.040 --> 0:21:03.840 Hey man, I needed that. I was never going to 0:21:03.920 --> 0:21:06.639 go back. So let's get to it. 0:21:09.040 --> 0:21:12.080 Q is driving the car where we listened to two 0:21:12.160 --> 0:21:12.960 rams were. 0:21:12.880 --> 0:21:17.360 Listening to the Outcast loud, having having a big old. 0:21:17.160 --> 0:21:21.679 Time, all of them, all the casts. Yeah, but them lax. 0:21:25.720 --> 0:21:27.919 If you know anything about outcasts, that'll make sense to you. 0:21:28.000 --> 0:21:31.760 But so we're driving, I'm on my phone playing a game, 0:21:32.359 --> 0:21:35.800 and we're just having, you know, conversation as you do 0:21:35.880 --> 0:21:38.080 on a road trip like that, we're enjoying ourselves. And 0:21:38.119 --> 0:21:43.800 that's that cars on cruise control, I'm sure, And yeah, 0:21:43.840 --> 0:21:48.040 we're just grooving along. And so we do most of 0:21:48.040 --> 0:21:53.000 our driving in Arizona. You'll anyone who's done any driving 0:21:53.280 --> 0:21:56.720 is aware that on a lot of roads in this 0:21:56.800 --> 0:22:03.040 country there is a groove sort of punctured into the asphalt, 0:22:03.359 --> 0:22:05.879 and it's it's designed to wake you up if you 0:22:05.960 --> 0:22:11.520 veer off the road. Right in Arizona, that groove lies 0:22:12.760 --> 0:22:17.560 two feet beyond the actual painted line. And so if 0:22:17.600 --> 0:22:19.399 for some it let's say you switch a lane or 0:22:19.400 --> 0:22:21.760 you cross over anything like that, you cut cut off 0:22:21.760 --> 0:22:23.840 the freeway a little too early, you're just gonna cut 0:22:23.840 --> 0:22:25.840 over a little bit of paint spine. You know, no 0:22:25.840 --> 0:22:27.360 one makes a big deal out of that out here. 0:22:27.520 --> 0:22:32.280 I certainly haven't encountered that as an issue. In Mississippi, 0:22:32.840 --> 0:22:37.360 that groove is etched into the actual paint line, and 0:22:37.440 --> 0:22:39.960 we have no way of knowing this, And. 0:22:40.920 --> 0:22:42.959 So the paint runs through the middle of it, so 0:22:43.440 --> 0:22:46.000 part of it is actually in the lane of traffic. 0:22:45.760 --> 0:22:51.919 Right, So it's very easy to trigger that loud noise. 0:22:53.040 --> 0:22:56.639 So I need to make sure that this picture is 0:22:56.640 --> 0:23:03.640 painted accurately. It's midnight, one in the morning in Mississippi, 0:23:03.760 --> 0:23:06.960 on a back road on our way to Louisiana. The 0:23:07.000 --> 0:23:09.440 trees are among the tallest I've seen in my life. 0:23:09.840 --> 0:23:12.880 There is no moon shining, there are no stars shining. 0:23:13.280 --> 0:23:14.280 It is pitch black. 0:23:14.400 --> 0:23:18.920 Correction, we're on the highway still, but for the level 0:23:18.960 --> 0:23:22.120 of dark, it may as well be in a back road. 0:23:23.200 --> 0:23:28.240 There are no lights. Yeah, it felt like that pitch black. 0:23:28.359 --> 0:23:34.399 Yeah, and we noticed that before anything started happening. And 0:23:34.440 --> 0:23:36.800 then as Q's driving, I hear a little bit of 0:23:36.840 --> 0:23:40.880 a noise. I well, just that quick. It wasn't half 0:23:40.920 --> 0:23:43.960 a second, I. 0:23:43.960 --> 0:23:48.080 Say out loud at that moment. That was weird because 0:23:48.119 --> 0:23:49.960 I know I didn't swerve off the road. 0:23:50.800 --> 0:23:53.199 And I confirm that because I'm like, well, where did 0:23:53.240 --> 0:23:56.760 that come from? Yeah? I look, the etching is in 0:23:56.840 --> 0:24:00.720 the paint, it's not beyond it. So that was that. 0:24:01.440 --> 0:24:04.760 We keep driving. But for those of you that know, 0:24:04.800 --> 0:24:07.480 if you're outside of a car and you hear that noise, 0:24:07.560 --> 0:24:09.760 it's very loud outside the car. In the car, it's 0:24:09.840 --> 0:24:11.199 enough to wake you up. So outside of the car, 0:24:11.200 --> 0:24:13.560 it's extremely loud. You know, cars are insulated from those 0:24:13.640 --> 0:24:20.159 those types of noises, So you know we're going on 0:24:20.280 --> 0:24:28.000 mind in our business. After another minute or so, the. 0:24:27.960 --> 0:24:30.240 Blues into another big Boy verse. 0:24:31.880 --> 0:24:36.159 The U we see the police lights turn on like 0:24:36.200 --> 0:24:40.000 a Christmas tree behind us. So I'm gonna take you 0:24:40.040 --> 0:24:43.480 through this. There is a gripping, paralytics sort of fear 0:24:44.080 --> 0:24:47.840 that will take over your body when that happens. 0:24:49.000 --> 0:24:52.760 Especially if it's one or two o'clock in the morning 0:24:53.880 --> 0:24:56.920 and it's pitch black in Mississippi. 0:24:57.040 --> 0:25:00.760 Yes, yes, absolutely, when you're alone and it's just you 0:25:00.800 --> 0:25:03.200 and the police we see. The thing is, I know 0:25:03.320 --> 0:25:06.720 that the police can say and do whatever they want. 0:25:07.040 --> 0:25:10.000 They don't have to be right in order to be believed, 0:25:11.400 --> 0:25:14.320 you know. They they they a lot of times, as 0:25:14.320 --> 0:25:19.119