WEBVTT - Civic Cipher 082022 How Civic Cipher Came to Be (Part 2) 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:00.920 And now. 0:00:02.880 --> 0:00:07.880 Watch move my mic back. You're like that you can 0:00:07.960 --> 0:00:11.840 strike with waters from head borders behind him. 0:00:11.840 --> 0:00:14.880 And then well, if you're just tuning in the civic 0:00:14.920 --> 0:00:17.439 site for I'm the host, ramses job, he is Rams John, 0:00:17.480 --> 0:00:18.639 I am to board. 0:00:18.760 --> 0:00:19.919 This is a civic site. 0:00:19.960 --> 0:00:22.320 Thought we should have stick around. We've got a lot 0:00:22.360 --> 0:00:28.040 more show in stow for Yo. I didn't quite roll office. Well, 0:00:28.200 --> 0:00:30.520 I thought it was going to I'm out here. 0:00:30.360 --> 0:00:32.440 Man, you know what I'm saying, And I got your back, bro, 0:00:32.479 --> 0:00:34.200 appreciate and roll that vow and make. 0:00:34.440 --> 0:00:36.279 We're gonna we're gonna stress it out. We're gonna do 0:00:36.280 --> 0:00:38.680 our eminem right. It's in the websters doing. They look 0:00:38.680 --> 0:00:41.040 at us and man, it's there all right. So again, 0:00:41.080 --> 0:00:42.760 a lot more shows to stick around for. We're going 0:00:42.840 --> 0:00:46.199 to be talking about the origins of this show that 0:00:46.240 --> 0:00:49.160 you're listening to right now. Yeah, we're gonna tell that story. 0:00:50.640 --> 0:00:54.240 We're also gonna tell a little bit about the origin 0:00:54.280 --> 0:00:57.120 story of the National Urban League. Again, many folks are 0:00:57.120 --> 0:00:59.880 familiar with the na A c P, but we're gonna 0:00:59.880 --> 0:01:03.920 take it back and perhaps even introduce you to another 0:01:04.160 --> 0:01:07.720 organization that does good work on behalf of black and 0:01:07.760 --> 0:01:11.160 brown people and marginalized folks and another group that you 0:01:11.400 --> 0:01:18.360 can support in their efforts and in fact for our 0:01:19.080 --> 0:01:23.680 become a better alli Baba segment, let's talk about donating 0:01:23.720 --> 0:01:26.839 to the Urban League. Oh yeah, let's do it. So. 0:01:27.800 --> 0:01:33.080 This segment comes via Hip Hop League Magazine and we 0:01:33.160 --> 0:01:37.000 want you to donate again. Historically, African Americans and underserved 0:01:37.080 --> 0:01:40.640 urban communities have fought to overcome policies of discrimination, economic 0:01:40.640 --> 0:01:44.000 and social injustices. Since nineteen ten, the National Urban League 0:01:44.040 --> 0:01:47.960 has been a force of progress and empowerment Through the 0:01:48.080 --> 0:01:50.920 ninety affiliates across the country, the Urban League delivers services 0:01:50.920 --> 0:01:53.840 and programs gener nearly two million individuals in three hundred 0:01:53.880 --> 0:01:57.920 communities each year. Although they have made progress, vast disparities 0:01:57.920 --> 0:02:02.920 remain in employment and education opportunities, quality housing, and basic healthcare. 0:02:03.280 --> 0:02:07.480 These disparities create a socioeconomic divide that they believe can 0:02:07.600 --> 0:02:10.959 change through empowering communities. The mission is to achieve equality 0:02:10.960 --> 0:02:16.280 for all Americans, and that depends on your support and commitment. 0:02:16.720 --> 0:02:19.320 With the millions of lives that they impact every day. 0:02:19.400 --> 0:02:22.960 A gift to the National Urban League means financial stability, 0:02:22.960 --> 0:02:26.960 a job opportunity, a better education, access to health, care 0:02:27.360 --> 0:02:34.040 and fair and affordable housing. Programs that are offered include 0:02:34.120 --> 0:02:43.080 college preparatory classes, mentoring activities, STEM education, science, technology, engineering 0:02:43.120 --> 0:02:49.280 and math, parental enrichment activities, work for skills development, training 0:02:49.400 --> 0:02:53.480 in starting new businesses, home ownership classes, for closure prevention, 0:02:53.680 --> 0:02:59.560 nutrition education, health screenings, and assistance securing health insurance. So 0:02:59.600 --> 0:03:04.040 the urb League definitely holds its own relative to its 0:03:04.160 --> 0:03:07.680 much more well known cousin, the NAACP. One time for 0:03:07.720 --> 0:03:10.560 the Urban League, Yes, indeed, so bear that in mind 0:03:10.639 --> 0:03:12.680 and stick around for again the way Black history fact 0:03:12.760 --> 0:03:18.880 now quo, Yes, sir, tell us a story. How did 0:03:18.960 --> 0:03:20.120 Civic Cipher come to be? 0:03:20.720 --> 0:03:22.240 I like how you asked me that in such a 0:03:22.240 --> 0:03:26.440 cavalier tone, as if this was just some small undertaking 0:03:26.480 --> 0:03:30.960 that we just decided to do one day. It's interesting 0:03:31.000 --> 0:03:35.240 when talking about Civic Cipher to listeners, to friends, to 0:03:35.480 --> 0:03:38.800 people that know us from radio and DJing, because the 0:03:38.840 --> 0:03:43.120 way that everything happened would give people the impression that 0:03:43.960 --> 0:03:46.840 Civic Cipher was our plan all along, like this was 0:03:46.880 --> 0:03:49.280 something that we set out to do from the very beginning, 0:03:50.120 --> 0:03:54.760 and that could be and is very misleading. Ramses and 0:03:54.800 --> 0:03:59.000 I spent you know, myself over a decade, Rams is 0:03:59.120 --> 0:04:03.320 much longer than that in broadcasting and DJing like music 0:04:03.440 --> 0:04:07.000 and talking into microphones, specifically for him, I don't like 0:04:07.040 --> 0:04:09.320 talking into microphones, but I'm kind of good at it. Yeah, 0:04:09.360 --> 0:04:12.760 that's that's been my brother's bag for a long time. 0:04:15.920 --> 0:04:21.880 The summer of George Floyd's murder really turned not just 0:04:22.000 --> 0:04:25.400 our community, not just our country, but the world on 0:04:25.520 --> 0:04:31.800 its side or really upside down. The reaction, the public outcry, 0:04:32.640 --> 0:04:38.080 the very very difficult to watch video. I came across 0:04:38.120 --> 0:04:42.200 that video again recently, maybe a few months ago, and 0:04:42.240 --> 0:04:44.840 it still made me cringe. It still made my stomach hurt, 0:04:44.880 --> 0:04:47.640 and then it still made me visibly angry to where 0:04:47.640 --> 0:04:49.520 someone was like, yo, you're okay, and I had to 0:04:49.560 --> 0:04:52.680 like snap out of it. The way that all of 0:04:52.760 --> 0:04:55.200 us reacted, and I say all of us because a 0:04:55.360 --> 0:04:58.840 very very large majority of people that I know reacted 0:04:58.880 --> 0:05:06.440 the same way, which was kind of refreshing. Donald Trump's selection, 0:05:07.880 --> 0:05:11.800 and the way the other side reacted to it revealed 0:05:11.800 --> 0:05:13.760 some other things to me about people that I know 0:05:13.880 --> 0:05:16.240 and some that I considered myself close to. That was 0:05:16.279 --> 0:05:20.120 really heartbreaking and kind of emotionally and mentally damaging to 0:05:20.160 --> 0:05:23.800 see so many people stand on the opposite side of 0:05:23.839 --> 0:05:27.720 something that was so obviously and straightforwardly wrong and criminal 0:05:27.760 --> 0:05:35.840 and disgusting. I'd also become a father for the second time, 0:05:37.240 --> 0:05:40.840 and there was a lot of daddy daycare going on, 0:05:42.120 --> 0:05:46.039 and while I was home with my newborn daughter, Ramses 0:05:46.080 --> 0:05:53.480 and his sons were in the street and peacefully protesting 0:05:54.800 --> 0:06:03.320 just our rights to breathe, just our rights to exist, 0:06:05.720 --> 0:06:12.919 just our rights to matter, and us proclaiming that we 0:06:13.080 --> 0:06:22.600 mattered became a battle cry and somehow a controversial statement. 0:06:25.720 --> 0:06:30.840 The news during this time of civil unrest in our 0:06:30.880 --> 0:06:34.760 country was, I guess I can just blatantly say unfair 0:06:35.160 --> 0:06:37.080 in a lot of ways to the people who were 0:06:39.839 --> 0:06:44.400 unknowingly risking their lives by peacefully protesting because they were 0:06:44.520 --> 0:06:51.360 met with aggressive military style policing, and you just opposed 0:06:51.360 --> 0:06:58.239 that to almost no policing at all. When our quote 0:06:58.320 --> 0:07:05.720 unquote patriots stormed our capital premeditated and announced, met with 0:07:05.920 --> 0:07:11.640 little to no resistance from our military style police who 0:07:11.640 --> 0:07:14.400 had just you know, days or weeks earlier in that 0:07:14.520 --> 0:07:17.280 same city, showed up in mass when full riot gear 0:07:17.320 --> 0:07:21.560 in battleshields to keep us from just simply again and 0:07:21.600 --> 0:07:25.160 proclaiming that we matter and that we should be able 0:07:25.240 --> 0:07:28.360 to exist. We're not even saying that we should be 0:07:28.400 --> 0:07:36.440 able to thrive, just simply exist. It became more and 0:07:36.520 --> 0:07:39.400 more difficult for Ramsas and I to be out in 0:07:39.440 --> 0:07:43.680 public amongst these people who were supporting that movement, looking 0:07:43.720 --> 0:07:46.440 them in their faces, and then going and getting behind 0:07:46.480 --> 0:07:49.040 our microphones and just talking about the Migos and Cardi 0:07:49.120 --> 0:07:52.920 b Right. Someone had to say something about what was 0:07:52.960 --> 0:07:55.800 going on outside because so many people were not giving 0:07:56.160 --> 0:08:01.560 a fair account of the happenings in our streets. The 0:08:01.760 --> 0:08:05.000 ironic part about all of this is there Ramses and 0:08:05.040 --> 0:08:07.160 I did not determine that we were the voices that 0:08:07.240 --> 0:08:09.960 need to do it, and not because we didn't want to, 0:08:10.320 --> 0:08:14.320 but we just didn't want to imagine this. We're broadcasters 0:08:14.360 --> 0:08:18.160 working in radio hip hop radio and for lack of better, 0:08:18.240 --> 0:08:22.560 excessively popular and successful at it. To come to our 0:08:23.320 --> 0:08:25.480 broadcaster at the time and say, hey, can you guys 0:08:25.520 --> 0:08:28.560 give us another show? I know we have one, and 0:08:28.600 --> 0:08:30.640 I know we've had one, but can you give us 0:08:30.680 --> 0:08:33.560 another one? Just seemed like a lot to ask. And 0:08:33.640 --> 0:08:36.520 there was no money involved, I mean, but not that 0:08:36.640 --> 0:08:38.880 would have been necessarily right. We were in the streets 0:08:38.880 --> 0:08:40.640 for free. We would have been on the air for free. 0:08:40.640 --> 0:08:44.080 But I think it was least it was less likely 0:08:44.120 --> 0:08:46.560 that we received pushback if we were not pitching something 0:08:46.559 --> 0:08:50.280 else for ourselves. It wasn't about not being able to 0:08:50.320 --> 0:08:53.760 make money. It was about us saying, hey, this should happen, 0:08:54.120 --> 0:08:55.840 and we don't even have to do it. It was 0:08:55.920 --> 0:08:59.280 us trying to move ourselves out of the way so 0:08:59.360 --> 0:09:01.720 that it could happen. Not because we didn't want to, 0:09:01.760 --> 0:09:04.480 but like, okay, we're not asking for something else for us, 0:09:05.160 --> 0:09:07.560 we'll produce it. We'll even create the content, and you 0:09:07.600 --> 0:09:10.040 guys can have whoever you want to talk about it. 0:09:11.080 --> 0:09:16.920 And initially because they were human beings and didn't want 0:09:16.960 --> 0:09:21.680 to be looked looked at like monsters, they agreed that 0:09:21.720 --> 0:09:28.320 it was a good idea, and Ramses, with his optimistic 0:09:28.400 --> 0:09:33.600 heart and mind, heard that was a good idea and translated, oh, 0:09:33.640 --> 0:09:38.080 we're about to do this. So Ramses left said conversation, 0:09:38.160 --> 0:09:40.120 I'll say, I won't even call it a meeting, and 0:09:40.160 --> 0:09:42.960 when he went back to the street, made sure that 0:09:43.000 --> 0:09:47.040 everyone knew soon enough, you guys's voices will be heard. 0:09:47.440 --> 0:09:49.480 I know that the stuff that we're seeing on the news. 0:09:49.520 --> 0:09:53.559 Isn't fair, isn't honest, isn't even showing the nuance in 0:09:53.600 --> 0:09:55.800 the context of the things that we're dealing with and 0:09:55.840 --> 0:09:59.199 what our actual experiences are. And I know this because 0:09:59.240 --> 0:10:02.480 I'm out here with with you. But I assure you myself, 0:10:02.520 --> 0:10:06.000 and this is me speaking as Ramses to everyone that 0:10:06.040 --> 0:10:11.560 we encountered, we will have a voice. I assure you 0:10:11.600 --> 0:10:14.680 of it. Right, And then Ramses spent the next few 0:10:14.720 --> 0:10:22.280 months trying with as much grace as possible to remind 0:10:22.320 --> 0:10:24.800 these people of the great idea that they heard and 0:10:24.920 --> 0:10:29.240 seemed to show support for. And many of those conversations 0:10:29.240 --> 0:10:33.400 were met with affirmations not only did we say that 0:10:33.480 --> 0:10:35.680 was a good idea, but yeah, we should do something 0:10:35.760 --> 0:10:38.720 like that. You know, let's hear your ideas and let's 0:10:38.720 --> 0:10:41.600 put it into action. And then more weeks would pass, 0:10:42.280 --> 0:10:47.800 and then more weeks would pass, and finally a tipping 0:10:47.840 --> 0:10:55.120 point happened, really unintentionally, because even at this point, Ramses 0:10:55.480 --> 0:10:58.840 did not walk into the station intending to deliver an 0:10:58.960 --> 0:11:02.600 ultimatum or even hold anyone's feet to the fire. It 0:11:02.720 --> 0:11:05.240 was just really like, hey, remember that great idea you 0:11:05.280 --> 0:11:09.160 guys heard, I got the studio ready, got the MIC's 0:11:09.280 --> 0:11:11.800 you think we might be able to actually follow through 0:11:11.840 --> 0:11:18.840 on that? And what happened next changed our lives professionally 0:11:20.640 --> 0:11:27.120 for always at least, but maybe even for better. And 0:11:27.360 --> 0:11:30.840 there are so many different ways that this conversation could 0:11:30.840 --> 0:11:34.040 have happened that would have resulted in Civic Cipher not 0:11:34.200 --> 0:11:39.679 existing today and us probably still working at that radio station, 0:11:40.920 --> 0:11:43.960 and that radio station still having the same name and 0:11:44.040 --> 0:11:45.600 call letters. 0:11:45.920 --> 0:11:48.400 I on the trademark to that radio station now and 0:11:48.600 --> 0:11:53.040 they can't use that name in the state anymore. By 0:11:53.080 --> 0:11:56.880 the way, how about that heady fact shout out to C. 0:11:57.000 --> 0:11:59.600 Bradley one time, Yes, sir, so. 0:12:02.960 --> 0:12:05.559 We understood the gravity of what we were asking by 0:12:05.600 --> 0:12:09.240 the time this conversation happened, because Ramses had now half 0:12:09.280 --> 0:12:14.240 a dozen times reminded them right gracefully that this was 0:12:14.280 --> 0:12:17.760 something that they'd agreed to and reminding them that it 0:12:17.800 --> 0:12:24.080 was absolutely necessary. And what Ramses was met with this 0:12:24.240 --> 0:12:28.800 time led him to make a decision for both of us, 0:12:30.600 --> 0:12:33.280 because there are so many answers that we could have 0:12:33.600 --> 0:12:38.000 tolerated and just really had to grit and bear and 0:12:38.160 --> 0:12:40.200 just Okay, I guess we just have to accept that 0:12:41.960 --> 0:12:46.520 but what they said next made a decision for us 0:12:47.040 --> 0:12:50.600 that would effectively as far as we knew at the time, 0:12:51.720 --> 0:12:57.679 in our careers in radio. I'll let Ramses. 0:12:57.280 --> 0:13:03.920 Tell you what he was told. Excellent setup, excellent setup there, bravo. 0:13:04.640 --> 0:13:08.240 So yeah, so yeah, that's that's the long and the 0:13:08.240 --> 0:13:12.720 short of it. Yeah, we were out marching, protesting. You know, 0:13:13.080 --> 0:13:18.040 longtime broadcasters on the radio doing hip hop radio in Phoenix, Arizona. 0:13:19.920 --> 0:13:22.520 I remember we up until that point we had to 0:13:22.559 --> 0:13:24.720 show radio solstice that we were doing, where we'd break 0:13:24.760 --> 0:13:27.040 new music, we'd you know, talk about things, that sort 0:13:27.080 --> 0:13:29.520 of stuff. Man, we were having a ball. And then, 0:13:29.520 --> 0:13:32.040 of course, as you mentioned George Floyd, you know that 0:13:32.080 --> 0:13:34.600 stuff happens. We get out on the streets, we're protesting, 0:13:34.640 --> 0:13:39.680 we're marching. The protesters, the women from BLM Phoenix Metro, 0:13:40.200 --> 0:13:44.320 a woman in particular named Zara's just a powerful leader, 0:13:44.440 --> 0:13:47.240 powerful voice in our community here and nationally. You can 0:13:47.240 --> 0:13:49.120 look her up. She's actually made a lot of national 0:13:50.520 --> 0:13:54.199 noise as well. But she just wasn't She was talking 0:13:54.200 --> 0:13:56.240 on a bullhorn. You remember that she was on a bullhorn. 0:13:56.280 --> 0:13:58.679 And there's thousands of people at these protests and the 0:13:58.720 --> 0:14:01.600 bullhorn doesn't go that far, so people are having to 0:14:01.640 --> 0:14:04.920 repeat what she's saying, so she's her delivery is more 0:14:05.000 --> 0:14:05.520 choppy than. 0:14:05.480 --> 0:14:06.000 It should be. 0:14:06.520 --> 0:14:10.120 And yeah, okay, well listen, we can do more. You know. 0:14:10.280 --> 0:14:13.080 Channel fifteen is saying their Channel twelve is saying that 0:14:13.120 --> 0:14:16.040 we were writing and there was no riot. I'm there 0:14:16.080 --> 0:14:18.520 with my children. Everybody's cool, we're safe, we all get home. 0:14:18.640 --> 0:14:21.400 There's nothing to see here. But you know, later they 0:14:21.400 --> 0:14:24.240 call it a riot. People were thinking BLM was coming 0:14:24.280 --> 0:14:26.000 to their house to rape them. All kinds of crazy 0:14:26.120 --> 0:14:27.720 rumors were going around. I was hearing this from the 0:14:27.720 --> 0:14:33.400 actual people thinking that, and yeah, so you know, we 0:14:33.520 --> 0:14:36.320 work in media. You know, you'll hear the song at 0:14:36.360 --> 0:14:38.520 the end of our show. It's a song called Proper 0:14:38.560 --> 0:14:41.520 Propaganda by the Dilated People's shout out to the Dilated 0:14:41.520 --> 0:14:44.560 Peoples one Time. And there's a bar in that song 0:14:44.600 --> 0:14:47.560 that you'll hear when we close the show that says journalists. 0:14:47.800 --> 0:14:51.640 We're journalists too, we can strike back, you know. And 0:14:51.720 --> 0:14:55.400 so that's kind of the thought behind the show, which is, Okay, 0:14:55.440 --> 0:14:57.880 if they're saying as you mentioned, if they're saying that, 0:14:58.000 --> 0:15:02.000 it's they're saying something as not true, Well, we can 0:15:02.200 --> 0:15:04.320 just we're working media. We can just go and do 0:15:04.360 --> 0:15:06.920 the same thing. So again, you know we worked with. 0:15:07.080 --> 0:15:09.000 Well, actually go and do the opposite. We don't want 0:15:09.000 --> 0:15:10.920 to do the same thing. We can tell stories, you know, 0:15:11.040 --> 0:15:13.520 That's what I'm meaning. So we go to you know, 0:15:13.560 --> 0:15:17.000 the program director of the old radio station. They've changed 0:15:17.040 --> 0:15:21.840 their name now and and the program director is no 0:15:21.920 --> 0:15:24.960 longer working there anymore. But yeah, asked back and forth 0:15:25.640 --> 0:15:28.040 the whole time. I'm buying equipment, setting up of studio 0:15:28.040 --> 0:15:31.360 because remember it's COVID, so we couldn't bring guests into 0:15:31.400 --> 0:15:33.640 the studio. I as Q mentioned, I'm like, hey, you 0:15:33.640 --> 0:15:36.200 can send over an intern or a promo rep or 0:15:36.320 --> 0:15:39.720 somebody whoever's next to do this public affairs type show. 0:15:40.080 --> 0:15:41.880 We're thinking it's going to be thirty minutes a week. 0:15:42.320 --> 0:15:44.520 You know, we're buying roadcasters, which is a device that 0:15:44.560 --> 0:15:48.000 allows us to make programs like this outside of an 0:15:48.000 --> 0:15:53.600 actual station or studio, spending our own money, this sort 0:15:53.600 --> 0:15:56.320 of stuff. And yeah, like you said, dragged us along, 0:15:56.400 --> 0:16:00.680 dragged us along, hit me next week, you know, whatever 0:16:00.800 --> 0:16:05.880 was going on. And then finally the program director said 0:16:05.880 --> 0:16:07.640 to me, hey, you know at Ramses I got a 0:16:07.680 --> 0:16:11.960 level with you. I don't want to do a black show, 0:16:18.880 --> 0:16:19.280 all right. 0:16:19.680 --> 0:16:26.520 So imagine that. Imagine a hip hop radio station. Well, 0:16:26.600 --> 0:16:30.400 a program director was not black, the owner was not black, 0:16:30.520 --> 0:16:35.440 and the general manager was not black. Telling the longest 0:16:35.840 --> 0:16:38.600 running employee there. Because I was the person who had 0:16:38.600 --> 0:16:42.160 been there longer than anyone at that point and one 0:16:42.200 --> 0:16:45.840 of the only black people functioning in a significant capacity, 0:16:46.480 --> 0:16:52.040 like a full time ish capacity. They knew who I was. 0:16:52.280 --> 0:16:54.400 You know. I worked with the NAACP for many years 0:16:54.440 --> 0:16:56.320 before I got there. I was a president of the 0:16:56.320 --> 0:16:58.000 Black Student Union and I was in college, you know 0:16:58.040 --> 0:16:59.920 what I mean. So I came with the pedigree and 0:17:00.160 --> 0:17:02.120 I help them always stay on the right side of history. 0:17:02.160 --> 0:17:03.720 Whenever there were problems that came up, I would be 0:17:03.720 --> 0:17:05.160 the one to go and speak this sort of stuff. 0:17:05.160 --> 0:17:08.959 They knew me, and they knew how important this sort 0:17:09.000 --> 0:17:10.679 of stuff was to me. They knew that I'm a 0:17:10.720 --> 0:17:14.280 fierce protector of my culture, and I'm the great defender 0:17:14.359 --> 0:17:17.080 of all people who were born with you know what 0:17:17.160 --> 0:17:20.159 could be considered to strike against them. I just was 0:17:20.680 --> 0:17:23.480 born to love. I was made to do that, and 0:17:23.960 --> 0:17:25.879 far be it for me to go against my own nature. 0:17:26.560 --> 0:17:31.119 So they knew this, and sometimes love looks a little different. 0:17:31.119 --> 0:17:33.040 And when I heard I don't want to do a 0:17:33.080 --> 0:17:38.080 black show on a hip hop station that plays seventy 0:17:38.080 --> 0:17:43.480 percent black artists hire but one hundred percent black music 0:17:44.680 --> 0:17:50.679 in an environment where black employees aren't necessarily promoted in 0:17:50.720 --> 0:17:53.520 the way that they should be, I was very fortunate, 0:17:53.560 --> 0:17:55.480 but I recognize this is a hip hop station. Most 0:17:55.480 --> 0:17:56.720 of the people do not look black. 0:17:58.480 --> 0:18:01.120 Are not black? There, you go, don't look yeah. 0:18:00.960 --> 0:18:04.720 Are not black. And it's and I don't want to 0:18:04.760 --> 0:18:07.200 say that it's overt racism. I think it's just kind 0:18:07.200 --> 0:18:09.720 of like ingrained in people's minds that they think that 0:18:09.760 --> 0:18:14.119 black culture needs to be expressed through different faces in 0:18:14.240 --> 0:18:17.639 order for it to be palatable by a city where 0:18:18.080 --> 0:18:22.640 statistically black people are irrelevant, you know, statistically speaking, there's 0:18:22.680 --> 0:18:24.399 not a lot of black people in Phoenix, you know, 0:18:25.160 --> 0:18:28.040 so they would try to slap a white face or 0:18:28.119 --> 0:18:30.840 hispanic face or whatever on black culture. But my argument 0:18:30.880 --> 0:18:33.120 has always been and still remains that if people can 0:18:33.160 --> 0:18:35.680 tune in to listen to black music, then they can 0:18:35.720 --> 0:18:39.360 listen to black radio hosts and black you know, commentators, 0:18:39.400 --> 0:18:43.159 and black thinkers and black everything full stop. Right, And 0:18:43.240 --> 0:18:45.840 I think that it is incumbent upon you, the powers 0:18:45.840 --> 0:18:51.280 that be, to familiarize the the people, the masses with 0:18:53.040 --> 0:18:57.280 an alternative reality that works for everyone, you know. And 0:18:57.320 --> 0:18:59.800 so this responsibility is something that I really held central 0:18:59.840 --> 0:19:02.280 to all of our conversations. But when he said that 0:19:02.640 --> 0:19:04.640 he wasn't he didn't want to do a black show, 0:19:05.720 --> 0:19:10.240 he wrote my resignation, our resignation for us. 0:19:10.160 --> 0:19:16.720 Because good. It's important to point this out because a 0:19:16.800 --> 0:19:22.840 lot of our ecosystem and I almost make fun of 0:19:22.920 --> 0:19:28.560 Ramses on our show for being so hopelessly optimistic and 0:19:28.760 --> 0:19:33.760 hopeful and like always looking for the good. Our show 0:19:33.800 --> 0:19:38.040 producer Maggie b. Noan is another person who I think 0:19:38.200 --> 0:19:41.439 intelligently always gives the benefit of the doubt in a 0:19:41.440 --> 0:19:47.680 way that I sometimes refuse to. Because with the climate 0:19:47.720 --> 0:19:50.840 in the country being the way that it was, he 0:19:51.040 --> 0:19:55.639 could have successfully said to us, you know, guys, we 0:19:55.720 --> 0:20:01.680 really don't want to do a political show to be divisive. Yeah, 0:20:01.800 --> 0:20:06.640 you know, we don't want to alienate our listeners. And 0:20:06.680 --> 0:20:10.520 we would have had to translate what that meant, but 0:20:10.600 --> 0:20:14.840 still probably digested and kept going to work. And he 0:20:14.960 --> 0:20:20.840 knows that too, and he still chose to say I 0:20:20.880 --> 0:20:22.640 don't want to do a black black show. 0:20:22.800 --> 0:20:25.320 That was so hurtful, and you got to think when 0:20:25.359 --> 0:20:29.840 you know somebody for that many years, you know, and again, 0:20:29.880 --> 0:20:31.639 nobody's just the worst thing that they've done. I know 0:20:31.640 --> 0:20:32.919 a lot of people will get mad at me for 0:20:32.960 --> 0:20:35.040 saying this, But that man that said that to me, 0:20:35.560 --> 0:20:37.720 he let me go and take care of my grandma 0:20:37.800 --> 0:20:40.720 when she was sick. That man let me take time 0:20:40.760 --> 0:20:42.439 off when my son was born so I could be 0:20:42.480 --> 0:20:48.879 in the hospital with my baby. You know, nobody's just 0:20:48.920 --> 0:20:54.719 the worst thing that they've ever done. But that was 0:20:54.840 --> 0:20:58.560 the wrong thing to say to the wrong person at 0:20:58.560 --> 0:21:02.600 the wrong time, and it forced my hand because I 0:21:02.600 --> 0:21:07.879 had hold everybody. Okay, I see you out here working. 0:21:08.119 --> 0:21:10.520 I'm not going to sit up on my radio throne, 0:21:10.720 --> 0:21:13.080 high horse and just be the man and be cool 0:21:13.119 --> 0:21:16.800 and whatever. Nope, I'm out here with you and if 0:21:16.880 --> 0:21:20.040 you need me, I'm coming. And when he said that 0:21:20.119 --> 0:21:23.560 to me, everything just came together like that, and I'm like, well, 0:21:25.320 --> 0:21:26.920 and then you know, I wrote a resignation which is 0:21:26.920 --> 0:21:28.240 still up on my social media if you want to 0:21:28.320 --> 0:21:30.240 check it out. I'm at Ramsay's job. You got to 0:21:30.240 --> 0:21:32.359 scroll back to that time, but I think it was 0:21:32.400 --> 0:21:36.920 August twenty twenty somewhere now. But you know, I wrote 0:21:36.960 --> 0:21:40.240 the resignation to the city. The city had given us 0:21:40.240 --> 0:21:42.720 our ratings for so many years, and I'd been on 0:21:43.000 --> 0:21:45.919 quite a bit longer than Q, so you know, I 0:21:45.960 --> 0:21:50.359 was walking away from a career that was I tried 0:21:50.480 --> 0:21:52.200 as much as I could, but it sort of became 0:21:52.240 --> 0:21:53.840 a part of my identity, you know what I mean, 0:21:53.840 --> 0:21:55.800 and as I kind of think about, like chopping off 0:21:55.800 --> 0:21:58.600 a part of your body, because it's the right thing 0:21:58.640 --> 0:22:01.119 to do, you know, And I knew who I was 0:22:01.160 --> 0:22:03.200 doing it for. It was for the people that were 0:22:03.200 --> 0:22:05.160 marching to people of the city. I knew that they 0:22:05.200 --> 0:22:08.560 deserve better from the radio station, and by me staying 0:22:08.560 --> 0:22:11.560 there that I would be complicent. And you know, I 0:22:11.640 --> 0:22:14.520 kind of threw Q in there, but I knew I could. 0:22:14.560 --> 0:22:16.639 You know, me and Q were friends long before radio. 0:22:16.720 --> 0:22:19.040 We've been friends forever, So I knew I could make 0:22:19.080 --> 0:22:21.120 that move and he would trust me to do it. 0:22:23.080 --> 0:22:26.680 And you know, my resignation ended up getting shared by 0:22:27.000 --> 0:22:32.679 thousands of people on social media, and you know, some 0:22:32.760 --> 0:22:34.840 folks reached out. One of the first folks is a 0:22:34.840 --> 0:22:38.520 guy named Ben Romero DJ Complex in Phoenix, Arizona, shout 0:22:38.520 --> 0:22:41.760 out the Complex loved the helm of a station called 0:22:42.200 --> 0:22:44.159 Power ninety eight point three. A shout out to all 0:22:44.200 --> 0:22:46.760 the programmers carrying this show right now, because you all 0:22:46.760 --> 0:22:49.280 are very important to me, and I've communicated with all 0:22:49.280 --> 0:22:51.119 of you. I love you dearly and we appreciate you. 0:22:51.160 --> 0:22:54.679 But Complex was the first one with a FN signal 0:22:54.760 --> 0:22:57.240 to say, whatever you were trying to do over there, 0:22:57.359 --> 0:22:59.160 I mean, he's like, I read your resignation. Whatever you're 0:22:59.160 --> 0:23:01.240 trying to do over there, please come do it over here, 0:23:01.600 --> 0:23:03.600 and gave us a home. And then we had to 0:23:03.640 --> 0:23:06.679 come up with the show, and we gave us an 0:23:06.680 --> 0:23:11.760 hour instead of thirty minutes. And Doctor Westernberg she would 0:23:11.840 --> 0:23:14.159 work and she was working on something with the NAACP 0:23:14.320 --> 0:23:17.040 called from the Circle to the Cipher that has its 0:23:17.119 --> 0:23:23.159 roots in a more traditional African storytelling type of roots. 0:23:23.600 --> 0:23:27.120 And she said that I could use that name, and 0:23:27.480 --> 0:23:29.960 from the Circle to the Cipher didn't quite work, but 0:23:30.280 --> 0:23:33.000 Civic Cipher certainly did and it was a better reflection 0:23:33.119 --> 0:23:34.880 what was going on at the time in the country. 0:23:34.960 --> 0:23:37.480 She loved it. So there's our name, you know. My 0:23:37.600 --> 0:23:40.879 sister designed the logo my brother gave us our FTP sites. 0:23:41.080 --> 0:23:43.480 Maggie b Noan came along and she decided to lend 0:23:43.520 --> 0:23:46.639 her support and her expertise and of course having a 0:23:46.640 --> 0:23:50.160 black woman's voice in the room. And then programmers around 0:23:50.200 --> 0:23:53.399 the country said, hey, we need that content as well, 0:23:53.760 --> 0:23:56.240 and we would like to carry that show. We partnered 0:23:56.280 --> 0:24:01.720 with iHeartMedia via Tony Coles, Steve Earnhardt and Tucson and 0:24:02.480 --> 0:24:04.640 you know, now we're supported by you, our listeners, and 0:24:05.000 --> 0:24:06.280 you know, we just want you to know that we're 0:24:06.320 --> 0:24:09.640 grateful for everything that has come our way. 0:24:09.920 --> 0:24:11.960 I think it's important to say as we you know, 0:24:12.880 --> 0:24:17.480 finish up this story. Civic Cipher was born of that resignation, 0:24:18.359 --> 0:24:20.879 not the other way around. We didn't have some We 0:24:20.880 --> 0:24:22.560 didn't know what it was going to play in line, 0:24:22.640 --> 0:24:24.520 so then we quit radio like no, we had to 0:24:24.520 --> 0:24:28.800 figure it out. Resignation meant that our careers were effectively over. Yeah, 0:24:29.240 --> 0:24:32.560 Civic Cipher came because of you guys, because of support, 0:24:32.640 --> 0:24:36.520 because of like you said, people like complex. We didn't 0:24:36.560 --> 0:24:37.520 know it was going to look like this. 0:24:37.640 --> 0:24:41.040 Yeah, we didn't have a plan, all right, So now 0:24:41.080 --> 0:24:44.439