Speaker 1: Welcome to another episode of Civic Cipher Iami host Ramsay's Josh.
Speaker 2: Some people call me DJ q Ward. Some people call
Speaker 2: me q ward. My mother calls me Q dirty. I
Speaker 2: won't get into that, but she named me Quinton. And
Speaker 2: because a lot of people don't like pronouncing the owen
Speaker 2: my name, I just go by Q.
Speaker 1: My last name is Ward. Now you see what.
Speaker 2: My whole name thing came from. Yes, indeed, and we
Speaker 2: are backup in you want more again? Uh, feeling refreshed?
Speaker 2: You know this is it's a tough job, so we
Speaker 2: do have to take some time and regroup and very
Speaker 2: very necessary. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And so you are going to talk about some
Speaker 1: important stuff today, some goings on in the world. And
Speaker 1: fortunately we have a special guest in the building with
Speaker 1: us today. She goes by the name of Trista Crick
Speaker 1: from Barstool Sports.
Speaker 3: Welcome, Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1: Yes, indeed, And I guess this means we're going to
Speaker 1: talk about sports stuff. I hope. So we had a
Speaker 1: lot of stories.
Speaker 2: No one I would rather talk about sports stuff with.
Speaker 2: Then the estatem I mean me this trust the correct Yeah.
Speaker 1: Now I want to let everyone know I'm not the
Speaker 1: biggest sports person in the world. But that's why we
Speaker 1: have experts. So stick around your radios because we do
Speaker 1: have a lot coming your way in the form of
Speaker 1: some very heavy names, important names math at least of
Speaker 1: which is Shakri Richardson, Gabby Thomas, that's going to talk
Speaker 1: about Rachel Nichols as well. And then of course we
Speaker 1: have our Baba Are Becoming Better Ally segment a little
Speaker 1: later on in the show, and of course we're gonna
Speaker 1: hear from DJ Swirl with our way black history facts.
Speaker 1: So a lot on the way. So, like I said,
Speaker 1: be sure to stick around your radios. But before we
Speaker 1: get too far away from the happy part of the show,
Speaker 1: the traditionally happy part of the show, let's go ahead
Speaker 1: and get into some Ebony's x sing. That's how you
Speaker 1: feel about that? Qu All I do is no matter what.
Speaker 2: So miss Gabby Thomas, I mean, excellence might not be
Speaker 2: a good enough word, and I'm typically a.
Speaker 1: Very articulate young man, but for her, I don't really
Speaker 1: have to be.
Speaker 2: You know, they say she might be the world's fastest epidemiologist,
Speaker 2: So we'll start there. Olympian Harvard grad okay in trist
Speaker 2: could you give us a little bit of a bit
Speaker 2: of an idea of her area of study.
Speaker 4: She's a neurobiologist that is getting her masters in epidemiology
Speaker 4: infectious disease for folks who aren't well versed in epidemiology
Speaker 4: and what it means. But I would say she's the
Speaker 4: elite of the elite of the elite.
Speaker 2: And I think somebody correct me if I'm wrong. She
Speaker 2: might be the second fastest woman in the two hundred
Speaker 2: meters in history, at least the fastest since nineteen eighty eight. Okay,
Speaker 2: while accomplishing those things that she's done as an academician.
Speaker 4: Can you imagine having to train as much as an
Speaker 4: olympian has to train and then being that elite at
Speaker 4: something else.
Speaker 2: I couldn't imagine having to train as much as an
Speaker 2: olympian has to train and being even good at anything else.
Speaker 1: Start we're doing anything.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's like train, eat, train, eat sleep.
Speaker 2: Then and she figures out how to study at a
Speaker 2: scientist level in between all.
Speaker 1: Of that, Well, then we picked the right one for
Speaker 1: this week. That's some Ebony excellence for you. We love
Speaker 1: to celebrate positive stories, and that's about as positive as
Speaker 1: they come. Of course, we're going to expect continue to
Speaker 1: expect great things from her, and it is one of
Speaker 1: the pleasures of doing the show is that we do
Speaker 1: get to discuss things that kind of remind us of
Speaker 1: what we're capable of and who we are because of
Speaker 1: the bulk of the show is often has to do with,
Speaker 1: you know, where we are and how do we overcome,
Speaker 1: you know, So it's good to know that there's some
Speaker 1: positive stories out there, and granted we don't get to
Speaker 1: spend a lot of time on them, but you know,
Speaker 1: every stow often when we get to it really does
Speaker 1: feel good.
Speaker 2: So we're lucky this week though, was that because the
Speaker 2: story's kind of intertwined. Yeah, yeah, you know Gabby being
Speaker 2: you know, our person of excellence, but she's also involved
Speaker 2: in another story with another person that we've highlighted for
Speaker 2: being excellent, Miss Sha Carry Richardson.
Speaker 1: And that's what we're talking about now. So I'll be honest,
Speaker 1: I'm I've kind of read a couple of headlines, but
Speaker 1: you know, the two of you are more familiar with
Speaker 1: the world of sports. So from the beginning, what's going
Speaker 1: on with She Carry Richardson.
Speaker 2: I'll start with the most important part of her story,
Speaker 2: the most human part, the part of the story that
Speaker 2: everyone will hear and immediately be able to relate to.
Speaker 2: Sha Carry found out second or third hand from a
Speaker 2: stranger more or less that her biological mother passed away
Speaker 2: the week leading up to the biggest day of her
Speaker 2: professional track and field career, which was the Olympic Trials
Speaker 2: in Eugene, Oregon.
Speaker 3: Shout out to Eugene, my alma mater.
Speaker 1: Were shout out to the Ducks. I didn't know that,
Speaker 1: And shout out to MotorCity Track Club. This is a
Speaker 1: shameless plug.
Speaker 2: The girls from Detroit just went down there, coached by
Speaker 2: Brandon Giles and were all Americans and national champions. That's
Speaker 2: MotorCity Track Club from you know the Motor Yes. Indeed,
Speaker 2: in case that wasn't clear. But Sha Carrie, she dealt
Speaker 2: with it the best way that she knew how Okay, So,
Speaker 2: Sha Carrie, she had her biological mother passed away and
Speaker 2: it was the week that she was going to try
Speaker 2: out for the Olympics. Yeah, the Olympic Trials is a
Speaker 2: track meet, okay, where the best runners in the country
Speaker 2: come and based on the results at this meet, we
Speaker 2: know who was going to present our country at the Olympics. Alright,
Speaker 2: go ahead, she carry I guess the skinny was by
Speaker 2: far the most electric and the fastest athlete at the meet.
Speaker 2: She's the reason I watched it. We talked about her before, yes,
Speaker 2: and post race. She was drug tested and they were found.
Speaker 2: I think it's THHC in her sample.
Speaker 3: Yep.
Speaker 1: And you know marijuana is on the band's.
Speaker 2: Substance list, which I think is where we kind of
Speaker 2: have to start the discussion because as unfair as it
Speaker 2: may seem, and a lot of people are saying this
Speaker 2: with no nuance, but the rules are rules thing with
Speaker 2: no context and no nuance.
Speaker 1: I don't think that's fair.
Speaker 2: However, when there are rules that you are aware of
Speaker 2: and you break them and there's consequences, then there is
Speaker 2: a discussion to be had. It's not as black and
Speaker 2: white as people are just being unfair, even though there
Speaker 2: are people that are being unfair.
Speaker 1: So it helped me to understand. So she knew about
Speaker 1: these rules absolutely and then and then decided to smoke weed.
Speaker 1: I'm yesing, yes, correct, Okay, So this reminds me of while.
Speaker 2: Dealing with the news that her mother had passed away.
Speaker 2: That part I think is important to say.
Speaker 1: So this reminds me of Naomi Osaka. Perhaps because she
Speaker 1: had some she didn't want to become overwhelmed by the
Speaker 1: press and the whatever, the interviews after her tennis match
Speaker 1: and whatever place that she was going to go play
Speaker 1: tennis in, and you know, she decided, you know, that
Speaker 1: she was doing what she needed to do to protect
Speaker 1: her mental health. And to me, it sounds like this
Speaker 1: might have been self medicating to deal with the loss
Speaker 1: of her mother. Yes, okay, and so she went into
Speaker 1: this eyes wide open. So explain to me the part
Speaker 1: that is unfit. How are people treating her unfairly? Admittedly
Speaker 1: I haven't dug into these layers, and that's why we're
Speaker 1: having this conversation.
Speaker 4: I would say that the main discussion is whether a
Speaker 4: substance that is legal in the state of Oregon, which
Speaker 4: is where Shakerri was at the time, whether that should
Speaker 4: truly be on the banned list, because the whole point
Speaker 4: of banning substances is to prevent athletes from getting an
Speaker 4: advantage in a competitive setting.
Speaker 3: And everybody who's ever.
Speaker 4: Smoked knows you don't get faster by smoking weed. It's
Speaker 4: not a substance that helps you or what's called performance
Speaker 4: enhancing drugs is what they want to ban. Sure, but
Speaker 4: alcohol is free and clear not on the banned substance list,
Speaker 4: but marijuana weed is on the band substance list. So
Speaker 4: the unfairness component comes from, well, this is legal, the
Speaker 4: world is changing. Other sports like basketball are not even
Speaker 4: testing athletes for weed. Kevin Durant, who a new article
Speaker 4: came out I think a few days ago about him
Speaker 4: blazing a lot, like pretty much besides playing basketball, all
Speaker 4: Katie does is blaze and maybe not even going to
Speaker 4: be tested for the Olympics at that sport. If it's
Speaker 4: fair for Shakiri to be tested for weed at all
Speaker 4: when it's legal in the state.
Speaker 2: Especially because marijuana carries a stigmatism.
Speaker 3: That has a racial component to it.
Speaker 1: So what I'm trying to do is, and I think
Speaker 1: maybe you have done it for me, is make a
Speaker 1: connection between.
Speaker 4: Race, competition unfairness.
Speaker 1: So they tested all of the athletes, he's the one
Speaker 1: that came up, you know, yes, and.
Speaker 4: So she wouldn't be able to go and compete for
Speaker 4: the one hundred, which she's supposedly the leader to win the.
Speaker 2: Whole thing until favorite to win the gold medal is
Speaker 2: now not going to be competing at the.
Speaker 1: Olympics at all, Okay, because of this test. So I'm
Speaker 1: glad you mentioned that. So I have a quote from her,
Speaker 1: and it's from a tweet. It says the attention that
Speaker 1: is on track now and was because a very very
Speaker 1: few names. So if that's where fans support Lay, you
Speaker 1: can't be mad at that. In other words, she's trying
Speaker 1: to say that no one would be paying attention to
Speaker 1: this sport anymore because she's not running in this event.
Speaker 2: Or at least considerably less people will be paying attention.
Speaker 2: And that was actually a response to something that Gabby
Speaker 2: tweeted about.
Speaker 1: Okay, so tell me about that.
Speaker 2: And Gabby expressed that she was hurt that a lot
Speaker 2: of black people have expressed that they won't be tuning
Speaker 2: in for the Olympics this year. Now, i'd argue that
Speaker 2: that's not just related to Shakiri, but definitely related not
Speaker 2: singularly to her, but definitely related to her as well.
Speaker 2: So that's why she got that response from Shakiri. Now,
Speaker 2: I want to say something the whole Olympics thing feels like,
Speaker 2: and this is me reaching and I'll see the argument
Speaker 2: if someone were to make the argument to me rules
Speaker 2: or rules. If you do this, then you get this.
Speaker 2: If you do that, you get that, you know, And
Speaker 2: I think that everyone's on the same page. No one's
Speaker 2: arguing it.
Speaker 1: That, but it feels to me like the Olympic Committee
Speaker 1: or the Olympic folks or club or whatever, how Olympics
Speaker 1: comes together. Really, we're not really receptive to black athletes
Speaker 1: in their present condition, in our present condition after the
Speaker 1: year twenty twenty, knowing what our challenges are, who we are,
Speaker 1: who we have to be. Now I have to do
Speaker 1: this radio show.
Speaker 4: Now.
Speaker 1: I used to give away concert tickets. I used to
Speaker 1: make people listen for trivia and talk about Hollywood gossip,
Speaker 1: and now I have to do this radio show. They'll
Speaker 1: bury me this version of myself. We all have to
Speaker 1: be different now because we saw what happened when that
Speaker 1: man now on George Floyd's neck. It changed the world.
Speaker 1: Say what you will, but that's what happened, right, So
Speaker 1: we're all different, and the Olympics we're completely tone deaf.
Speaker 1: And when they says something like we won't tolerate any
Speaker 1: fists and we won't tolerate any that's the real reason
Speaker 1: why I don't care, you know. I don't care anyway,
Speaker 1: but like, I have to follow these stories. But Olympics,
Speaker 1: as soon as they said that, pH, well, I'm not
Speaker 1: paying attention to that because I don't care how fast
Speaker 1: you can run. You gotta be a human a lot
Speaker 1: longer than you got to run. You did what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: So for me, it felt like the Olympics from the
Speaker 1: outset was like, you know what, don't bring none of
Speaker 1: that blackness over here, And that to me feels like,
Speaker 1: all right, we'll shoot say less.
Speaker 4: Let me ask you this, que if Shakri looked like
Speaker 4: Gabby and not like sha Carri, Mm, how do you
Speaker 4: think things would be different? Because I think that there
Speaker 4: is a standard.
Speaker 3: Of what.
Speaker 4: Brand and ble black athletes look like, and Shakrie does
Speaker 4: not fall into that box right now, long nails, colorful nails,
Speaker 4: hair a certain way, jewelry a certain way, affectation in
Speaker 4: the way that she speaks a certain way, the way
Speaker 4: that she moves moves is a certain way. Where Gabby
Speaker 4: is an epidemiologist.
Speaker 1: From Harvard correct.
Speaker 2: It's interesting because we'd be naive to think that everything
Speaker 2: that you just said play no role in the way
Speaker 2: she's treated, in the way that she's responded to I
Speaker 2: saw a right leaning politician tweet. I'm not sure if
Speaker 2: she was a politician or a journalist that covers politics,
Speaker 2: but she tweeted that they should look into steroids for
Speaker 2: she carries because of how long her hair and nails are.
Speaker 2: So talk about being racist and stupid at the same time.
Speaker 2: Because she carries hair and nails are both costume if
Speaker 2: you will, lace front wig acrylic fingernails, So she doesn't
Speaker 2: have very long hair and very long fingernails naturally, but
Speaker 2: she must be on steroids. And here is why I
Speaker 2: think so. She carries very very rams in Q and
Speaker 2: I don't just mean because we're black. I mean because
Speaker 2: I'm from Detroit and Ramses from Compton and whatever your
Speaker 2: mind just thought when you heard me say.
Speaker 1: That, that's Shakrrie Richardson.
Speaker 2: Except she's faster than probably every other human on earth
Speaker 2: that wasn't in that race with her in Eugene a week.
Speaker 4: Ago, and is not going to dilute what she looks
Speaker 4: like for people who don't look like her or come
Speaker 4: from the same like her. She's willing to stand in
Speaker 4: her culture in the way that she wants to represent
Speaker 4: herself to the world, not the way that the Olympic
Speaker 4: governing body wants to carry the fastest woman to run
Speaker 4: to represent herself. And that's where I think things get
Speaker 4: really really interesting, because I don't think I personally don't
Speaker 4: think Gabby. So also, it needs to be mentioned that
Speaker 4: Shakrie was not disqualified for the entire Olympic Games. She
Speaker 4: was only disqualified from competing in the one hundred meter race.
Speaker 4: She would have been allowed to compete in the relay race,
Speaker 4: which is where Olympians passed the torch and run that
Speaker 4: amount of distance right the baton. So the Olympic governing
Speaker 4: body or whoever, I don't know who, the USATF, the
Speaker 4: US Olympic Track and Field, decided not to take Shakiri
Speaker 4: with them, even though she's the fastest and would guarantee
Speaker 4: or at least help solidify a win for the country,
Speaker 4: because why she would be eligible to race, but they
Speaker 4: didn't take her.
Speaker 3: The question is why.
Speaker 1: So I guess my question to the both of you then,
Speaker 1: is because you follow sports a little bit more closely
Speaker 1: than probably the average person, but certainly more than me,
Speaker 1: do you find in that these types of things happen
Speaker 1: with non black athletes where they're scrutinized because of how
Speaker 1: long their fingernails are. You know, I read, I read,
Speaker 1: I did read an article recently, and it was about
Speaker 1: some folks wanting to test the testosterone levels of some
Speaker 1: women who were sprinters or something because they were doing
Speaker 1: so well. They wanted it to test their hormones and
Speaker 1: see if they can disqualify them. Have you heard of
Speaker 1: this happening with non black folks? Does it happen frequently?
Speaker 1: Is it a part of a competitive culture to tear
Speaker 1: each other down, or is this something that happens more
Speaker 1: with black athletes. This is something that happens more with
Speaker 1: black women women. That's what I was thinking.
Speaker 2: With anyone else, right, There's been dialogue in the in
Speaker 2: the sports world, in the journalism world about our transgender
Speaker 2: brothers and sisters competing, especially you know, those born male
Speaker 2: competing against female athletes and doing very well. There is
Speaker 2: pushback against there being a limit. There is pushback against
Speaker 2: there being something that says, hey, if you're born in
Speaker 2: male in competition where it's who's the strongest and who's
Speaker 2: the fastest and who can jump the highest, that you
Speaker 2: probably shouldn't be allowed to compete against women.
Speaker 1: Okay, right. The difference is.
Speaker 2: It's very hard to push back against groups that have
Speaker 2: men in them, especially groups that have white men in them.
Speaker 2: And our transgender brothers and sisters have white men in
Speaker 2: that group. So the pushback isn't it strong women in
Speaker 2: sports and sports media specifically, they have an incredibly difficult fight,
Speaker 2: from sports agents, to sports reporters to athletes themselves. There
Speaker 2: are men in this world that think by nature of
Speaker 2: being born in men, and they're smarter and more qualified
Speaker 2: to do the work full stop. When you take that
Speaker 2: minority group smaller and you make it black women, there's
Speaker 2: an enhanced level of scrutiny, you know, where there's conversation
Speaker 2: to be had about whether a transgender women can compete
Speaker 2: against women born female. That's a conversation. But sh Carrie,
Speaker 2: you can't compete period because you smoked wheed. That's not
Speaker 2: a conversation. We don't care if it's not fair, we
Speaker 2: don't care if the entire world has changed since these
Speaker 2: rules were made. When these rules were written, recreational use
Speaker 2: of marijuana in fourteen states, I believe already was not
Speaker 2: the case, especially in the state she was tested in.
Speaker 2: So there are some obvious differences that I see. I'm
Speaker 2: sure trusta you probably see. On a whole nother.
Speaker 4: Level, I would say that black female athletes are scrutinized
Speaker 4: in terms of of the competitive advantage that they may
Speaker 4: or may not be getting from something that's not natural.
Speaker 4: I would say that black female athletes, especially ones like Shakiri.
Speaker 4: Shakarri is cut up. She is a physical specimen. And
Speaker 4: if you see someone like Shakiri and you don't and
Speaker 4: you don't have a point of view that's broad and
Speaker 4: you haven't been around people of all different shape sizes,
Speaker 4: colors and backgrounds, you might see Shakri and think she's
Speaker 4: juiced up. You know, white women athletes don't get that
Speaker 4: cut You know, I don't see other track athletes that
Speaker 4: look like me that are as faster, as stronger, can
Speaker 4: jump as high, or has as much balance.
Speaker 3: So what is it about Shakiri?
Speaker 4: Is she doing more than just smoking wheed?
Speaker 1: I'm glad you mentioned that because I remember reading something
Speaker 1: a while ago. You know, there's there's been a an
Speaker 1: interesting relationship with black people in the United States and
Speaker 1: sports sport where for a long time, white boxers didn't
Speaker 1: want to fight black boxers because it was beneath them.
Speaker 1: But the truth is is that black boxers. It would
Speaker 1: be a soul crushing defeat if you lost to a
Speaker 1: black boxer. And uh, you know what is what is
Speaker 1: the guy's name who said that black people are stronger
Speaker 1: and bigger because the biggest slaves were bred, were made
Speaker 1: to procreate it. What was the guy's name? Jimmy the Greek.
Speaker 1: I'm sure he wasn't singular in that sentiment, but you know,
Speaker 1: those sorts of things. But anyway, there's this, there's this
Speaker 1: obsession with black people in sports. And you know, we
Speaker 1: see in a lot of a lot of the more
Speaker 1: popular sports football, basketball, is perhaps a overapp presentation of
Speaker 1: black folks and an underrepresentation of white are white folks
Speaker 1: relative to the population in this country? And I think
Speaker 1: that subconsciously you kind of maybe develop an idea that
Speaker 1: black people are physically superior.
Speaker 4: Maybe I would say that's a b I would say
Speaker 4: that that's a bias that a lot of people share.
Speaker 4: I would say that's a bias based around like not
Speaker 4: really like having enough scientists, like scientific knowledge about biology
Speaker 4: and genetics and and how athletic and like how muscle
Speaker 4: fibers develop and how speed develops, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 1: Well, the thing I was gonna was going to suggest
Speaker 1: is that the only piece of evidence information research that
Speaker 1: I've ever come across in all my time had to
Speaker 1: do with the long distance sprinters from Africa. They're like
Speaker 1: from Ethiopia or something. There's like one country where Nigeria
Speaker 1: maybe that's it, And these people can just mob for days, right,
Speaker 1: no problem, right, And it's part like bone structure, and
Speaker 1: you know the fact that they don't really carry a
Speaker 1: lot of weight on their body physically, They're just not
Speaker 1: really bulky folks.
Speaker 3: And then.
Speaker 1: It has to do with their breathing and the climate
Speaker 1: that they're from. They're they're able to breathe a certain
Speaker 1: way and get a lot more oxygen to their bones
Speaker 1: and their or their their blood is oxygenated at a
Speaker 1: different level because of their accustomed to breathing in a
Speaker 1: certain climate, and those factors lend themselves to them being
Speaker 1: able to run longer distances in any case. Uh, you know,
Speaker 1: and one more thing before we get off this subject,
Speaker 1: what would you say? What both do you say? If
Speaker 1: I were to play Devil's advocate and say, well, if
Speaker 1: she knew the rules and she decided that she needed
Speaker 1: to self medicate in that way. Then you know that
Speaker 1: the hammer falls where it falls, and that's the end
Speaker 1: of the story. What do you say to someone because
Speaker 1: they know there's people listening who do not appreciate the
Speaker 1: context and the nuance. What do you say to people
Speaker 1: that are saying he had men, she knew it and
Speaker 1: she decided against it.
Speaker 2: I'll priggyback off of something that Trista said and then
Speaker 2: pass it to her quite figuratively and literally. Had she
Speaker 2: gotten drunk instead, she'd have probably been probably been in
Speaker 2: a much worse state run, but it would have been
Speaker 2: completely legal. So sometimes there are rules that are the rules,
Speaker 2: but they're nonsensical, they're not fair, and they don't make
Speaker 2: any sense.
Speaker 4: I mean, there were rules that people of color couldn't
Speaker 4: share the same water fountain as.
Speaker 3: People that look like me.
Speaker 4: And the rules are the rules, but sometimes the rules
Speaker 4: are inherently unfair and inherently against people of color.
Speaker 1: Well that works for me, and uh, you know it's
Speaker 1: it's it's been written, So this is this is not
Speaker 1: our reality. And now proper my mic back like that
Speaker 1: journalist strikes from head borders, it's behind you're just honed
Speaker 1: in the city side farm in house Rams's job. They
Speaker 1: called me q ward some j and uh. We have
Speaker 1: specially guests with us today on the show.
Speaker 2: She goes her name of Trystal Crypt from Barstool Spurts,
Speaker 2: And we're talking about a lot a lot about.
Speaker 1: The Olympics today and the treatment of black athletes and
Speaker 1: really the culture that we're seeing at at the Olympics
Speaker 1: this time around, and how it's I believe, really failed
Speaker 1: to really encapsulate the new world that we're living in
Speaker 1: post twenty two. But also we're gonna talk about someone
Speaker 1: named Rachel Nichols in just a few minutes, and of
Speaker 1: course the way Black History Fact with DJ Swirl, we're
Speaker 1: gonna be talking about Fred Hampton. But first let's talk
Speaker 1: about becoming a better ally. So, as you know, there's
Speaker 1: a lot of voter suppression initiatives that are voted into law,
Speaker 1: they'll be brought to vote or at various stages in
Speaker 1: the legislative process. We know them to be voter suppression,
Speaker 1: but they're kind of floated to the public as voter protection.
Speaker 1: You know that basically their intent is to subdue and
Speaker 1: artificially subdued and minimize black vote, Brown vote, the Democratic
Speaker 1: vote and so forth, and these things all overwhelmingly will
Speaker 1: favor Republican outcomes. And for a lot of us, we
Speaker 1: don't feel like there's much we can do because a
Speaker 1: lot of the elected representatives that really are into the
Speaker 1: political arena, they know the laws better than we do
Speaker 1: and they know how to play the game better than
Speaker 1: we do. But there are folks who are fighting to
Speaker 1: bring a little bit more balance to this this part
Speaker 1: of the story. And one such group is one you
Speaker 1: might have heard of, the NAACP, and they have an
Speaker 1: initiative where they're doing some fundraising but basically they want
Speaker 1: to defend communities of color against voter suppresion initiatives and
Speaker 1: they're hoping to close a donation gap. And so if
Speaker 1: you feel so inclined and you want to know how
Speaker 1: to become a better ally, do me a favor to
Speaker 1: hit the NAACP's website make a donation. We all need
Speaker 1: to have a voice, we all need to have a
Speaker 1: seat on the table. We're all in this together. And
Speaker 1: you know, if you have the fiscal resources or if
Speaker 1: the time to contact your local representative official you know
Speaker 1: or both. I believe that that is one way that
Speaker 1: you can become a better ally and hopefully you take
Speaker 1: advantage of that. So that is our bye bye section
Speaker 1: for this week. So yeah, moving on Rachel Nichols. So
Speaker 1: here's what I know about her. She's a host at ESPN.
Speaker 1: She talks about the NBA, and she was wild'n out
Speaker 1: all right, So Tristan, talk to me about Rachel Nichols.
Speaker 4: So, Rachel Nichols has been a journalist covering the NBA
Speaker 4: for a long time. I would say twenty plus years,
Speaker 4: probably the Queen of the NBA. I would say, very
Speaker 4: close ties with Lebron James. And I'd say that the
Speaker 4: story really started back when another host that you've probably
Speaker 4: never heard of, called Michelle Beadle left ESPN unceremoniously due
Speaker 4: to some issues.
Speaker 3: With their contract.
Speaker 4: And when she left, Rachel Nichols had to step in
Speaker 4: and host a show called NBA Countdown. But ESPN made
Speaker 4: the decision that her and this other young woman, Maria Taylor,
Speaker 4: who's a rising star of Woman of Color at ESPN,
Speaker 4: her and Rachel would share the responsibilities for that show,
Speaker 4: meaning on one day, Rachel would host, the next day
Speaker 4: Maria would host. So then when the bubble NBA Bubble happened.
Speaker 4: They went down to Walt Disney World and Rachel Nichols
Speaker 4: was quarantining in her hotel room. Her laptop was open
Speaker 4: for her remote studio show on ESPN. She found out
Speaker 4: from ESPN's producers, Hey, Rachel, why what don't you do
Speaker 4: us the favor and do of the sideline reporting job
Speaker 4: and instead of the hosting job for the responsibilities of
Speaker 4: this show NBA Countdown for the NBA Finals, because ESPN
Speaker 4: wanted Maria Taylor to basically take over that hosting role
Speaker 4: full time.
Speaker 1: So hosting is better than sidelines, correct?
Speaker 4: I would say sideline reporting is probably the lowest level job.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's a great job.
Speaker 4: It's at the highest stage in the NBA Finals, but
Speaker 4: it's a lower job than hosting a show. Rachel Nichols
Speaker 4: was not happy about that and felt that the only
Speaker 4: reason that Maria Taylor got the job or got to
Speaker 4: take over the job full time is because of everything
Speaker 4: that was going on with the country at that moment
Speaker 4: that the George Floyd protests, that Kenosha and really the
Speaker 4: moment that we were in was the reason for Maria
Speaker 4: getting that job and taking that job from ree and
Speaker 4: then got caught on a hot mic talking to Lebron
Speaker 4: James's consultant about really the disappointment that she had at ESPN.
Speaker 3: Okay, you say that that's fair.
Speaker 2: That's fair. I want to pretend I don't know this.
Speaker 2: It had to be her or her. There's only room
Speaker 2: for one woman on the show.
Speaker 1: Yep. Okay.
Speaker 2: I just wanted to be clear about that because I
Speaker 2: heard you say that they kind of presented it where
Speaker 2: they would share the roles.
Speaker 4: But yep, share the role meaning Monday, yes, alternate. They're
Speaker 4: never on the desk at the same time. They share it.
Speaker 4: But Monday is Rachel, Tuesday is Maria. They're never at
Speaker 4: the desk simultaneously.
Speaker 1: Okay. So let me read this quote. It says, this
Speaker 1: is from Rachel Nichols. It says, I wish Maria Taylor
Speaker 1: all the success in the world. She covers football, she
Speaker 1: covers basketball. If you need to give her more things
Speaker 1: to do because you're feeling pressure about your longtime record
Speaker 1: on diversity. Crappy longtime record, crappy longtime Sorry, go for it,
Speaker 1: just find it somewhere else. So don't take it from me, right,
Speaker 1: So what was the outcome of.
Speaker 2: This statement, right, what does she really say if you
Speaker 2: need to find more things for her to do? Like me,
Speaker 2: it sounded incredibly like maybe you have her go clean
Speaker 2: a closet or something like what is she talking about?
Speaker 1: Sounded very dismissive. But I'm what I'm what I'm trying.
Speaker 3: To do, Like, what's the upshot of this? What happens
Speaker 3: after what?
Speaker 1: So? So these two women don't like each.
Speaker 3: Other, So I think at this point.
Speaker 4: Rachel is incredibly territorial of the gig, and I would
Speaker 4: say that pretty much any woman is going to be
Speaker 4: territorial of that gig because that's the king gig NBA
Speaker 4: countdown as the stuff.
Speaker 3: Excuse me.
Speaker 4: So at the end of the day, what ends up
Speaker 4: happening is that someone catches it at ESPN. A low
Speaker 4: level social producer who is a black woman at ESPN
Speaker 4: forwards that footage to Maria Taylor and they go to HR.
Speaker 4: That social media manager gets demoted, gets suspended without pay,
Speaker 4: and ends up leaving ESPN.
Speaker 3: This happened a year ago.
Speaker 4: We're just finding out about the full story now, and
Speaker 4: nothing happens to Rachel Nichols. But Maria Taylor does get
Speaker 4: the hosting job for NBA Countdown. Maria Taylor obviously finds
Speaker 4: out about this. She's in the middle of a contract
Speaker 4: negotiation with ESPN where she wants eight million dollars a year.
Speaker 3: ESPN offers her five.
Speaker 4: She finds out about this footage, she declines, punts it, waits,
Speaker 4: waits for the negotiation, waits for the contract to be up,
Speaker 4: which is in three weeks from now, and essentially won't
Speaker 4: do any work with Rachel at all. Nothing is going
Speaker 4: to be done, or normally you would talk to the
Speaker 4: sideline reporter at the desk. She's making everything happen sort
Speaker 4: of in different spots now they're in basically I standoff.
Speaker 1: So there's a couple of things here. One of them,
Speaker 1: of course, is women. Far be it for me to
Speaker 1: be call myself an expert on anything having to do
Speaker 1: with women. But I do recognize that the sisters that
Speaker 1: I share this planet with have a tougher go in
Speaker 1: a professional world than the brothers that I share this
Speaker 1: planet with. And so for two women to become competitive
Speaker 1: over a job that's so special and very difficult to
Speaker 1: come by is a sad reality. That verity happens in
Speaker 1: more industries than just this one. The reason that this
Speaker 1: is on our desk today is because Rachel Nichols is
Speaker 1: white and Maria is black, and now we have to
Speaker 1: have that conversation. How much more difficult is it when
Speaker 1: you're black to compete on that level? Does twenty twenty
Speaker 1: create opportunities for black voices? Are they deserved? Are they earned?
Speaker 1: You know, because I was told this lady Rachel Nichols
Speaker 1: was twenty years in the game, and that Maria Taylor
Speaker 1: is the rising star? So how do those things affect
Speaker 1: what we're seeing? And then, of course, at the end
Speaker 1: of the day, is Rachel Nichols's response to the goings
Speaker 1: on at ESPN appropriate? Is it? Does it account for
Speaker 1: the fact that the world world is a much different
Speaker 1: place for Maria Taylor than it is perhaps for her,
Speaker 1: even though it's difficult for her as well? And is
Speaker 1: that where do you draw the line in terms of
Speaker 1: like personal responsibility and kindness and making sure that you
Speaker 1: stand in this solidarity with your black and brown brothers
Speaker 1: and sisters.
Speaker 2: I want to offer some insider opinion and then I
Speaker 2: want to lean on We've said this before today already
Speaker 2: our expert. She is a woman, and she is a
Speaker 2: professional journalist, in the sports arena. Indeed, we and I
Speaker 2: say we as men, have created this zero sum environment
Speaker 2: that there are women have to work in where we
Speaker 2: create this singular jobb there's eight men who do the show.
Speaker 2: They're all great, but there's a bunch of them. Sure
Speaker 2: there's one woman that can do this. That's problem one.
Speaker 2: Problem two is the idea that this was some type
Speaker 2: of affirmative action higher because the person in question is
Speaker 2: really really good at her job, she's exceptional. This woman
Speaker 2: votes for the Heisman Trophy and the NBA MVP. That
Speaker 2: is not true for a bunch of men in the
Speaker 2: sports world. So there was a way in trust. I
Speaker 2: definitely want to get your opinion on this. I feel
Speaker 2: there was a way that she could express her frustration
Speaker 2: about the position that she's in, because I think any
Speaker 2: of us when you're in a position for a job,
Speaker 2: for a promotion, for an opportunity, and you get passed
Speaker 2: on for someone else, that kind of animosity.
Speaker 1: I think is innate.
Speaker 2: But I think, and please tell me how you feel,
Speaker 2: that there was a way to express that without having
Speaker 2: to push down the person that you're quote unquote competing
Speaker 2: with for that spot. There's a way to acknowledge that
Speaker 2: she's gifted, that she's talented, and that she's deserving, and
Speaker 2: express your frustration with a system that's not set up
Speaker 2: up to be fair or favorable for women in the
Speaker 2: industry before you respond, I want to want to make
Speaker 2: sure that we're following your response.
Speaker 1: So let me set this up a little bit. Essentially,
Speaker 1: what she said in this quote is that Maria Taylor
Speaker 1: is the diversity higher. Yes, and if you're looking to
Speaker 1: give this new diversity hire something, don't take it off
Speaker 1: my plate. Correct And it's in that in the midst
Speaker 1: of this language, maybe language is too hard in amidst
Speaker 1: this energy that we take issue, and of course it
Speaker 1: becomes a national story. And then I'm sure there's lots
Speaker 1: of black women who look at these things like this
Speaker 1: and like, well, how am I supposed to compete? This
Speaker 1: is some sort of thing that happens in my life.
Speaker 1: You know, where is my place? How good do I
Speaker 1: have to be to be good enough? And so I
Speaker 1: want to make sure that we're all on the same
Speaker 1: page when we get your thoughts on this interesting So.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think what Q said sort of highlights how
Speaker 4: I feel, too, which is there are ways that people speak,
Speaker 4: and I'm sure you guys are way more in tune
Speaker 4: with it than me.
Speaker 3: That the words that we use, what we.
Speaker 4: Say, how we say it tells you sort of how
Speaker 4: we feel. Even if you didn't exactly say the quiet
Speaker 4: part out loud, I don't think Rachel said the quiet
Speaker 4: part out loud. I don't even know if she feels
Speaker 4: the quiet part out loud, which is that I don't
Speaker 4: even really know what it is right that Rachel is
Speaker 4: more deserving than Maria for a variety of different reasons.
Speaker 4: But when you say if you need to give her
Speaker 4: something else to do, worse, more things to do, that
Speaker 4: essentially shows me that she feels, I don't know how
Speaker 4: to put it, a certain way about the hire, a
Speaker 4: certain way about Maria, and doesn't quite feel compassionate to
Speaker 4: the cause, which is that Maria has had to overcome
Speaker 4: more than Rachel in order to get to where Maria is,
Speaker 4: and that a lack of understanding that Maria, throughout the
Speaker 4: course of her career, as she rises and ascends, is
Speaker 4: going to be constantly looked.
Speaker 3: At like do you deserve this?
Speaker 4: Why are you here? Are you here only because of X,
Speaker 4: Y and Z? Or are you here because you're excellent,
Speaker 4: and you happen to also be a woman of color
Speaker 4: who also played d one basketball, which Nichols did not
Speaker 4: Rachel Nichols, as it turns out, her mother in law
Speaker 4: is Diane Sawyer, a very prominent journalist. So Rachel Nichols
Speaker 4: has of course worked hard as also been a beneficiary
Speaker 4: of nepotism and a beneficiary of the way that the
Speaker 4: system can work in journalism. Right, So I think, for me,
Speaker 4: once you say stuff like that, once you say if
Speaker 4: you need your giver things to do, you didn't really
Speaker 4: say anything out of pocket, but I know exactly how
Speaker 4: you feel.
Speaker 1: Right, there's a way of Well, first off, let me
Speaker 1: say this. You know, this show exists because Q and
Speaker 1: I recognized that we could ask a little bit more
Speaker 1: from folks that purport themselves to be our allies, not
Speaker 1: the least of which is the radio stations that you
Speaker 1: might be hearing our voice on. These folks play black music,
Speaker 1: they use black culture, language, dress, et cetera, to make money,
Speaker 1: to appeal to a listenership so that they can sell advertisements.
Speaker 1: You know, and all these airwaves are certainly a celebration
Speaker 1: of black music, black culture.
Speaker 3: I don't get a twists for money.
Speaker 1: Sure that that part, but also, Black culture is not
Speaker 1: just singing and dancing and rapping. Black culture is what
Speaker 1: we're doing right now because we're not just singers and dancing.
Speaker 1: We're thinkers, we're emotional human beings, we feel, we process things,
Speaker 1: we are leaders, we're ora tours where you name it right,
Speaker 1: And so it's those allies that have made a space
Speaker 1: for this show that we use and we sit with
Speaker 1: and we build a better tomorrow with the allies. And
Speaker 1: I would guess that this woman, Rachel Nichols, once on
Speaker 1: a time counted herself among those allies.
Speaker 5: And so this language shows just how subtle white supremacy
Speaker 5: because it's such a subtle thing, but once you see
Speaker 5: it written down in black and white, you can see, well, clearly,
Speaker 5: I feel like I'm better than her, and maybe not
Speaker 5: in as.
Speaker 1: Many words, but because you could argue that, you know,
Speaker 1: she's just saying this because the woman's because Marie is younger.
Speaker 1: You could argue a bunch of things, but it's hard
Speaker 1: to stop. I'd imagine as a white person, Okay, I
Speaker 1: have to be very careful what is really going on here?
Speaker 1: And then why am I taking an issue with it,
Speaker 1: and that pause is very difficult because there's nowhere else
Speaker 1: and I'm sure a white life where you need to
Speaker 1: pause for really anything.
Speaker 2: They gave us some additional context though, talk to me
Speaker 2: because the conversation continues. I can't think of the gentleman's name,
Speaker 2: but he represents some best interest of Lebron James and
Speaker 2: Clutch Sports.
Speaker 3: Also was a part of the more Than a Vote campaign.
Speaker 2: A very very important person with it, the more Than
Speaker 2: a Vote campaign last year and her.
Speaker 1: This gentleman and Rachel expressed there he.
Speaker 4: Said, with all of the me too and the Black
Speaker 4: Lives Matter, man, I'm just exhausted.
Speaker 3: And she laughed uproariously about that.
Speaker 2: So imagine a woman being exhausted with the whole METO thing, sure, sure,
Speaker 2: and a gentleman who presents himself to the world as
Speaker 2: super ally being exhausted with this whole Black Lives Matter
Speaker 2: the imagine how we feel.
Speaker 1: I used to be happy and heartily, yeah she did.
Speaker 4: So I do want to say something that I think
Speaker 4: is important. Is I think that anyone who has because
Speaker 4: it's not like there's an open opportunity and they decided
Speaker 4: to go with Maria, it's an opportunity that they shared
Speaker 4: that they took from Rachel and gave full time to Maria.
Speaker 4: I think if that was me, I would be salty.
Speaker 4: I would be very so I would be very upset.
Speaker 4: And I think it also is accurate to say that
Speaker 4: the culture and company of ESPN operates on the whims
Speaker 4: of the public. They fired Jamel Hill and they fired
Speaker 4: Michael Smith because Trump voters did not want any racial
Speaker 4: or activism to be discussed on the airwaves. Then the
Speaker 4: world changed after George Floyd and then it was okay,
Speaker 4: And one of Maria's accomplishments and accolades was her coverage
Speaker 4: of the George Floyd protests and everything that was going
Speaker 4: on around the nation. So it is also fair to
Speaker 4: say that if ESPN fires people because of the nation sentiment,
Speaker 4: they will also hire someone because of the nation sentiment.
Speaker 4: And it is fair to say that they've been wrong
Speaker 4: towards people of color based around the nation sentiment, and
Speaker 4: then they've changed their opinion based around how things have changed,
Speaker 4: and that Maria might have gotten that job in that
Speaker 4: role because of the nation sentiment. And that's true, But
Speaker 4: also the NBA is ninety percent black, and like you said,
Speaker 4: enjoys profits from black culture, so it also makes sense
Speaker 4: to have the host of NBA Countdown be a woman
Speaker 4: of color to represent the people that she covers, and
Speaker 4: it would be fair for them to say that out
Speaker 4: loud to.
Speaker 1: So let me offer this. I appreciate you saying that
Speaker 1: because I think that it's important to add this. I
Speaker 1: try to do it in every show, but I don't
Speaker 1: always hit it. I recognize as one of two people
Speaker 1: who has a voice on this show, and I'll say
Speaker 1: it as often as I can and as often as
Speaker 1: you will let me that we need to start and
Speaker 1: end every conversation with forgiveness as a possibility. That's the
Speaker 1: only way that we get there with Revenge isn't what
Speaker 1: we're talking about on this show, none of the things
Speaker 1: like that. We need to have the conversations and we
Speaker 1: need to make sure that there is at least the
Speaker 1: potential for forgiveness. Otherwise we're just going to frustrate each
Speaker 1: other more and more. This woman, Rachel Nichols, I'm sure,
Speaker 1: has spent a good amount of her life around black people,
Speaker 1: around black culture. It's very much a part of her
Speaker 1: day to day. I have no idea who this woman
Speaker 1: is but I can imagine what it's like to be her.
Speaker 4: Has elevated and hired many black men on the panel.
Speaker 1: Exactly, but in those human moments that happened to humans,
Speaker 1: when your frustration gets the best of you and you
Speaker 1: succumb to your lowest, the lowest, most basic version of yourself,
Speaker 1: you have some dumb stuff. And that doesn't make it okay.
Speaker 1: Never make it okay, not around here. But I do
Speaker 1: recognize that you take your punishment and that we talk
Speaker 1: about what giveness looks like. And the same thing with
Speaker 1: you know, the Olympic people, because they might be wild
Speaker 1: and I don't know who the Olympic people are. It
Speaker 1: might be tripping, you know what I mean. But it
Speaker 1: anger and beef and hatred is too heavy to carry
Speaker 1: for Ramses. I'm only speak for me right now. But
Speaker 1: this radio program or podcast or however you're listening to it,
Speaker 1: this isn't going to be a place where we make
Speaker 1: sure that we leave a little bit of space for
Speaker 1: forgiveness at the center of the narrative as often as
Speaker 1: we can. And so I'm glad we got to talk
Speaker 1: about Rachel Nichols, and I'm glad that we got to
Speaker 1: kind of dive into you know, what it must like
Speaker 1: to be like to work in a competitive environment when
Speaker 1: you are born with a strike against you, or maybe
Speaker 1: more like in the case of Maria Taylor. But now
Speaker 1: that we've had a chance to kind of discuss all that,
Speaker 1: I think that we're left to just kind of see
Speaker 1: how the story plays out.
Speaker 2: I suppose, yeah, and I'm hoping that, like you said,
Speaker 2: there's space for forgiveness. And my only reaction was not
Speaker 2: anger and vitriol. I just wish that her anger would
Speaker 2: have been more pointed at the system and the company
Speaker 2: and not the person than the person, because it's not
Speaker 2: Maria's fault.
Speaker 1: Well, she didn't do something to you. Actively, we're gonna learn.
Speaker 1: All of us were in it together, and we're gonna learn,
Speaker 1: and we're gonna be sensitive to each other's You know,
Speaker 1: I cannot expect white folks to be sensitive to black
Speaker 1: issues if we're not sensitive to the fact that white
Speaker 1: folks might be getting overwhelmed by a lot of stuff.
Speaker 1: And I mean, and I get that, and you're gonna
Speaker 1: take baby steps until we get to where we're going.
Speaker 1: With that said, I think it's time for us to
Speaker 1: check in. D J. Swell swear I was going on with.
Speaker 5: I want, I want.
Speaker 6: To wait all right, Today's way Black History factor my man,
Speaker 6: detailing Fred Hampton to the deputy chairman of the Illinois
Speaker 6: chapter of the Black Panther Party. He joined his local
Speaker 6: branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Color.
Speaker 1: People for the inter Racy PAN where he reached the
Speaker 1: position of council President. Hampton mobilized a.
Speaker 7: Racially integrated group of five hundred young people who successfully
Speaker 7: lobbied city officials to create better academic services and recreational
Speaker 7: facilities for African American children. In nineteen sixty eight, Hampton
Speaker 7: joined the Black Panther Party and used his NAACP experience
Speaker 7: to form a Rainbow Coalition, which included students of a
Speaker 7: Democratic Society, the Blackstone Rangers, a street gang, and the
Speaker 7: National Young Lords, a Puerto Rican organization. Hampton was also
Speaker 7: successful in negotiating a gang's troop on local television. Hampton
Speaker 7: was most recently highlighted in the twenty twenty one film
Speaker 7: Judas in the Black Messiah by Daniel Caluyah, where he
Speaker 7: won the Academy Award, the Golden Globe Choice, and the
Speaker 7: Screen Actors Guild awards for his portrayal of Hampton.
Speaker 1: All Right, so the chairman, I like this guy. In
Speaker 1: his short life, he managed to matter a lot and
Speaker 1: expose a lot of ugliness that existed in this country
Speaker 1: at that time. And really his unfortunately his death, allowed
Speaker 1: black activists, civil rights leaders to see really what we
Speaker 1: were up against. We're going up against the actual government
Speaker 1: at the highest level. This isn't some folks across the
Speaker 1: street or across town. This is the actual government in
Speaker 1: the United States of America versus you, me, the individual
Speaker 1: trying to make a world a better place for myself
Speaker 1: and my family and my children. And one of the
Speaker 1: one of the things that I learned from that to
Speaker 1: to to an extent is that you know, Fred Hampton's
Speaker 1: death and the folks behind Fred at Hampton's death led
Speaker 1: to the current structure of the uh of black lives matter.
Speaker 1: If you if I say black lives matter, you think
Speaker 1: of a group of people, and that's exactly what it is.
Speaker 1: You know, obviously there's leadership, there's folks who have responsibilities
Speaker 1: and so forth, but you don't know who they are.
Speaker 1: And that's so that the government can't cut the head
Speaker 1: off of the snake again, because that's kind of kind
Speaker 1: of what they were trying to do with all the
Speaker 1: civil rights leaders back then.
Speaker 3: Is the head of the snake.
Speaker 1: I think that the movement would still continue without him
Speaker 1: exactly so, not in the same way, not celebrated to
Speaker 1: the same degree that of Fred Hampton and m Okay
Speaker 1: and Malcolm X. And that's not meaning he's not influential.
Speaker 3: Yeah, just the movement won't stop the structure of the death.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the structure of the you know, everything is kind
Speaker 1: of a little differ. But that's something that I know
Speaker 1: to be true. Now Fred Hampton, you know, like you said, Swirl,
Speaker 1: he's out on the streets with GDS in Chicago, getting
Speaker 1: people to pay attention to what's going on in their
Speaker 1: communities on a level that perhaps prior to his involvement,
Speaker 1: they weren't even in tune with. You know, they're fighting
Speaker 1: amongst each other, and then he comes in and turns
Speaker 1: everyone on, like, yo, there's a system that's got you
Speaker 1: fighting against each other. That's not your enemy. There's a
Speaker 1: reason that you're in this environment worrying over nothing, you know.
Speaker 1: And then he rallies all these people and the Rainbow
Speaker 1: Coalition that you mentioned sworld is a bunch of different people,
Speaker 1: brings them all together in solidarity. They Native people, Asian people,
Speaker 1: Black people of course, you know women, you know you
Speaker 1: Latin and Hispanic, you name it, you name it, everybody.
Speaker 1: You got to see it at this table because we
Speaker 1: all need representation, we need fair treatment, we need access
Speaker 1: to the political arena, you know, we need you know,
Speaker 1: fairness and in the criminal justice system and so forth
Speaker 1: and so on. Right, and he starts making noise. Of
Speaker 1: course he's a panther. You know, say what you will,
Speaker 1: but we're fans of the panthers around here. What they
Speaker 1: store for. And if you disagree with what the panther
Speaker 1: store for, I employ you to actually do your research
Speaker 1: because it was a good organization. Has some heavy handed tactics,
Speaker 1: but we're entirely necessary if you really know the story.
Speaker 1: So a panther and was very young and very promising,
Speaker 1: a great speaker, great motivator, ends up getting on. You know,
Speaker 1: they they created co into bro, the FBI did, and
Speaker 1: you know, Jack or Hoover just really didn't like this dude,
Speaker 1: and so you know, they what they did was they
Speaker 1: hired like a snitch or an informant to like go
Speaker 1: in and infiltrate the organization right and goes in and
Speaker 1: starts reporting back information to the FBI. The FBI gives
Speaker 1: that information to local police. One day, police kicking the door,
Speaker 1: shoot up his apartment, and to this day, I haven't
Speaker 1: seen his dead body, but there's photos of it because
Speaker 1: they took pictures with it. But I wouldn't. I wouldn't
Speaker 1: look at those pictures. And then of course these police
Speaker 1: were celebrated as heroes because how how they villainize them
Speaker 1: is you know, the FBI, they printed pamphlets of misinformation.
Speaker 1: It's as like, you know, the black Panthers are out
Speaker 1: to kill white people and this is their this is
Speaker 1: how they go about killing people. And there, you know,
Speaker 1: and they and they printed, they printed it, making it
Speaker 1: seem like the panthers printed it, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: So the panthers were it seemed like you get a
Speaker 1: pamphlet from the panthers, this says this is what you're
Speaker 1: supposed to do. But really I was behind that. Basically,
Speaker 1: just villainized this dude and cast him in a real
Speaker 1: bad light, ran and got him over some trumped up
Speaker 1: charges the engine really matter, and then just executed him
Speaker 1: and they were celebrated as heroes. And of course the
Speaker 1: truth came out much later that you know, this was
Speaker 1: all a government operation because they wanted to get this
Speaker 1: guy off the street, because they didn't want black people
Speaker 1: taken to the streets creating change that would cause these
Speaker 1: white folks at the time to be less comfortable than
Speaker 1: they were. And so I'm very happy that we got
Speaker 1: a chance to talk about Fred Hampton because his name
Speaker 1: deserves to live on. He's a good man. I feel
Speaker 1: like you gotta say, some qus will get that off.
Speaker 2: They're being real fear about a relationship like this one,
Speaker 2: and for people who can't see me, I'm pointing at Tristan,
Speaker 2: who I've been friends with for fifteen years, about the
Speaker 2: idea that this friendship shouldn't exist. People who are violently
Speaker 2: afraid of that and went out their way to stop
Speaker 2: it from happening. Because it was more about growth. We
Speaker 2: learned more together and about each other. You know, we
Speaker 2: have more in common than what divides us and what
Speaker 2: we wore and fight over. And there's people who make
Speaker 2: it their business to make sure that these bridges aren't built,
Speaker 2: and that's I've never understood it.
Speaker 1: And probably never will. But I think that's going to
Speaker 1: do it for us today, so we will leave it there. Tristan,
Speaker 1: you're the greatest of all time.
Speaker 3: Thank you for having me on.
Speaker 1: Yes indeed, and once again, thank you for tuning in
Speaker 1: to Civic Cipher Miami host Rams's jah.
Speaker 2: They call me Quentin Ward sometimes not as often because
Speaker 2: people don't like to say Quentin, so they just say Q.
Speaker 1: Yes, indeed, congratulations, Q. The sons are killing it, don't know.
Speaker 1: Q water is the UH the Sun's official DJ, and
Speaker 1: so a lot, a lot of positive stuff. We should
Speaker 1: make the website sexcitele dot com from this topic