Speaker 1: Welcome to another episode of Civic Cipher. I'm your host,
Speaker 1: rams is Jah.
Speaker 2: They call me q Ward, but they haven't always. They
Speaker 2: used to call me Quentin and that's not my name,
Speaker 2: and people don't really like to say Quentin Tun, which
Speaker 2: is what revend Estella named me, So I just go
Speaker 2: with Q because it's easier for everybody else.
Speaker 1: Yes, indeed, q Ward in the building and we are
Speaker 1: back up in you one more again. Great show for
Speaker 1: you today. A lot of important things to talk about,
Speaker 1: so stick around radio is because we will be discussing
Speaker 1: the latest from Naomi Osaka. You haven't heard. She's been
Speaker 1: in the news lately for protecting her mental health, which
Speaker 1: is something that we applaud around here, especially when it
Speaker 1: comes to black women, because a lot of times they're
Speaker 1: crushed under the weight of their own lives, and you know,
Speaker 1: it always makes sense to take a time out, take
Speaker 1: time out for yourself. So we're gonna talk about that. Also,
Speaker 1: we're going to talk about some good things from her
Speaker 1: and from Simone Biles. We definitely want to touch on
Speaker 1: what's going on with Kyrie Irving and some of the
Speaker 1: statements that he's made and some of the things that
Speaker 1: have come true in his world. And another thing that's
Speaker 1: been in the news a lot lately is, you know,
Speaker 1: with the history in Tulsa, the Black Wall Street, and
Speaker 1: you know that not ever really having its day in
Speaker 1: the sun. In other words, a lot of folks not
Speaker 1: knowing exactly what took place in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: For today's way Black History Fact, we're gonna spend a
Speaker 1: little time talking about that. We're gonna check in with
Speaker 1: our producer, DJ Swirl. He's got a little bit of
Speaker 1: something for us there. So yeah, that's really what it
Speaker 1: looks like. A lot in store for you today, so
Speaker 1: be sure to stay by your radios. But first order
Speaker 1: of business, we're going to talk about Simone Biles. So
Speaker 1: all right, do you know what she did?
Speaker 2: I do know what she did, Okay, And I'm gonna
Speaker 2: try to say this properly. Okay, your chenko double pike,
Speaker 2: and I saw her do it, okay, And I'm kind
Speaker 2: of confused because it looked like she flipped over three times.
Speaker 2: And I'm not a gymnast, so I don't know what
Speaker 2: pike means. So maybe that's the part that happened twice.
Speaker 2: Even though there seemed to be a Third Revolution.
Speaker 1: See the doubles what threw me off, But in any case,
Speaker 1: she is the first woman to complete this maneuver. And
Speaker 1: of course, here on Civic Cipher, we love to celebrate
Speaker 1: Ebony excellence, which is why we're taking a moment to
Speaker 1: do this right now with her. If you can check
Speaker 1: out the video, we do have it up on our
Speaker 1: social media, so don't forget to follow us at Civic Cypher,
Speaker 1: post yelp stuff like that all the time.
Speaker 2: Some may argue that when it comes to this gymnastic
Speaker 2: thing that she's the goat do it. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, I've heard a lot of names
Speaker 1: over the years, but I have never known anyone to
Speaker 1: be as celebrated as she is, and so that wouldn't
Speaker 1: surprise me one bit, certainly, with her making accomplishments like this,
Speaker 1: you know, putting that black girl magic out in front
Speaker 1: of the whole world on full display, we love to
Speaker 1: see that around here, as she should. And another person
Speaker 1: that we have to mention is Naomi Osaka because she's
Speaker 1: just breaking records of her own this time. Financial records.
Speaker 1: Looks like she has made over fifty five million dollars
Speaker 1: in the last twelve months, making her the highest paid
Speaker 1: female athlete in a year, something like that.
Speaker 2: Just let me borrow two dollars. They got a new
Speaker 2: special McDonald's. If you bought a chicken sandwich, I think
Speaker 2: you get the nuggets something like that. I'll look into it.
Speaker 2: Absolutely well.
Speaker 1: In any case, we wanted to take a moment to
Speaker 1: make sure that we shouted out that Ebony excellence before
Speaker 1: we get in to the uh, the and potatoes of
Speaker 1: the show here. So now we have to talk about
Speaker 1: some of the other things that are taking place in
Speaker 1: her life. And you know, as we started, as we
Speaker 1: mentioned in the in the start of the show, she's
Speaker 1: making news. This is Naomi Osaka. She's making news for
Speaker 1: what we would call protecting her mental health, right, and
Speaker 1: she's gotten some backlash, a lot of support. So we
Speaker 1: don't want to frame this around the backlash that she's received,
Speaker 1: but she has we have we have to be fair.
Speaker 1: She's gotten some backlash about, you know, protecting her mental health.
Speaker 1: And for those that don't know the story, and I'm
Speaker 1: going to leave out some stuff. I'm not the biggest
Speaker 1: person when it comes to sports, so you can jump
Speaker 1: in at any point. So what I understand is that you know,
Speaker 1: I she really wasn't in the proper headspace to deal
Speaker 1: with the press after her match. Now, I don't know
Speaker 1: if she won or lost a match, you know, I
Speaker 1: don't know any of those things. But I do know
Speaker 1: that there was an interview that I came about when
Speaker 1: I was researching this segment for today's show that this
Speaker 1: might have been from twenty eighteen, and she said something.
Speaker 1: She was talking to the reporters and they were asking
Speaker 1: her questions about why she lost and what she could
Speaker 1: have done better in those sorts of things. And the
Speaker 1: one thing I remember her saying in that interview was
Speaker 1: how sad she was. She's like, guys, I'm so sad,
Speaker 1: and she said it with a smile, but you could
Speaker 1: really see like she's really not in the proper headspace.
Speaker 1: She's she's having to relive that loss. And you know,
Speaker 1: people deal with, you know, losses differently.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: My understanding is that you know, to some folks, you know,
Speaker 1: it weighs a little bit heavier than other people, and
Speaker 1: then athletes tend to be very competitive people. And so
Speaker 1: far be it from me to assume that a loss
Speaker 1: would roll off of her back. But you know the
Speaker 1: way that she framed it, at least in twenty eighteen,
Speaker 1: was that you know, she's she lost, and then she
Speaker 1: has to come and relive that loss on full display
Speaker 1: and get picked apart for why she lost, so that
Speaker 1: everyone can take these little bits and pieces of her
Speaker 1: lived experience and pedal it out to the masses and
Speaker 1: frame her loss in a way that gets them clicks
Speaker 1: or gets them you know, views or readers or whatever
Speaker 1: the case is. And you know, I might be reaching
Speaker 1: here a bit, but you know, the way she made
Speaker 1: it seem and the way that I understand it is
Speaker 1: that it doesn't really feel like something that you're able
Speaker 1: to really account for. And you know, we all know
Speaker 1: that the world is changing, and you know, in as
Speaker 1: far as things like this, as far as you know
Speaker 1: that we live through the me too movement that's still happening,
Speaker 1: where the generation that grew up, you know, with Robin
Speaker 1: Williams always being there, he was the genie in Aladdin.
Speaker 1: He was you know, he was always a comedian throughout
Speaker 1: my life. You know, I'm born in eighty two, and
Speaker 1: you know he battled depression that whole time and I
Speaker 1: had no idea and then ultimately he took his own life.
Speaker 1: You know, these are these are things that we've lived through.
Speaker 1: And so when we look at someone like Naomi Osaka
Speaker 1: who says, you know what, I'm not going to be
Speaker 1: able to do this. I need to really protect myself.
Speaker 1: I need to be able to protect my mental health,
Speaker 1: you know, I feel like, you know, kudos to her. Now,
Speaker 1: one thing I do know is that there's a person
Speaker 1: named Piers Morgan. Now, Piers Morgan is not an American person.
Speaker 1: He's a British broadcaster, but he's still a very sort
Speaker 1: of conservative type of man. He's been very critical of
Speaker 1: Megan Markle and her decision to protect her family and
Speaker 1: her mental health as well.
Speaker 2: How dare she? Yeah?
Speaker 1: And you know, now with Naomi Osaka and you know,
Speaker 1: the two women, you know, I'm a conspiracy theorist to
Speaker 1: a point. You know, I make connections and see patterns
Speaker 1: maybe where they don't exist. But when I see this
Speaker 1: elderly white man being very critical of these two young
Speaker 1: black women who are very pretty and in the prime
Speaker 1: of their lives and being very successful, you know, it's
Speaker 1: very easy to see some commonalities there. And you know, well,
Speaker 1: of course, at the center of it is I understand
Speaker 1: that this man's experience is nothing like these women's experience.
Speaker 1: And so him and people like him because he said it,
Speaker 1: because he knows that there are people like him who
Speaker 1: want to read his take on it. They think, of
Speaker 1: course that this woman is being a baby, and this
Speaker 1: comes with the job, and you know, on and on
Speaker 1: and on, and everybody's you know, very critical, until something
Speaker 1: tragic happens and everyone's like.
Speaker 2: Oh, no one looked at the signs. No one could
Speaker 2: have prevented this, you know what I mean. And so
Speaker 2: that's the lay of the situation.
Speaker 1: But the reason that I thought, and our show producer
Speaker 1: thought it was really important to share this with you
Speaker 1: the listeners, because you know, mental health is something that
Speaker 1: only recently and only just is being discussed in the
Speaker 1: black community. And we're the people who have lived through
Speaker 1: generational trauma. You know, we were born with trauma in
Speaker 1: our DNA. You know, there are those of us whose
Speaker 1: ancestors saw our countrymen ripped apart by horses, set a blaze,
Speaker 1: hung from trees, tarred and feathered, castrated in full view
Speaker 1: of everyone.
Speaker 2: You know, we were having a conversation.
Speaker 1: Q and I were having a conversation about picnics and
Speaker 1: the origin of the word picnic and how is free? Yeah,
Speaker 1: check out say it again. Google is free one time. So,
Speaker 1: you know, all of these things really do point to
Speaker 1: the fact that there's a lot of trauma in our story,
Speaker 1: in our history and in our bones.
Speaker 2: Even and.
Speaker 1: Try as we might, you know, we're men, black men.
Speaker 1: We are not black women. That is a whole other story,
Speaker 1: a whole other animal. There's a whole other facet to
Speaker 1: even the type of trauma that that type of human
Speaker 1: can experience a black woman.
Speaker 2: And so.
Speaker 1: Yes is absolutely meaningful that we take a moment to
Speaker 1: discuss what it looks like to protect your mental health,
Speaker 1: what it looks like to draw lines, set a boundary
Speaker 1: for yourself and understand that you have to be a
Speaker 1: priority in your own life and your own story. I'm
Speaker 1: not trying to take anything away from people who have
Speaker 1: kids or people that are taking care of their loved
Speaker 1: ones or anything like that, but you know, I think
Speaker 1: Kat Williams said it best. You got to be in
Speaker 1: tune with your star player. For those who are stand
Speaker 1: up comedian fans, you kind of got to know what
Speaker 1: your limits are and draw a hard line. And she
Speaker 1: Naomi sets a great example here now I do recognize
Speaker 1: that this is the same woman we just said made
Speaker 1: fifty five million dollars in the past twelve months. She
Speaker 1: got fined, right.
Speaker 2: Fifteen thousand dollars she was fined.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so that might sound like a lot of money
Speaker 1: to us, but to her, you know.
Speaker 2: Probably is relative. Not much.
Speaker 1: Yeah, affordable. But you know, there are those of us
Speaker 1: who live and you know, we're talking about black women
Speaker 1: in this particular incidence, but all of us really need
Speaker 1: to protect our mental health and.
Speaker 2: Draw a line.
Speaker 1: You know, money is important, but it's not more important
Speaker 1: than the being that we are and the vessel that
Speaker 1: we inhabit, because we only get one of those. You
Speaker 1: can always make more money, but understanding that not everyone
Speaker 1: can always afford to take these liberties, you know, I implore
Speaker 1: you to explore.
Speaker 2: The things that.
Speaker 1: Help keep you centered, standing in the middle of yourself,
Speaker 1: and that keep you going, you know, because you know,
Speaker 1: I read something a while ago and it said it
Speaker 1: was about working. You know, and all of us work,
Speaker 1: we all have a job. But it was something to
Speaker 1: the effect that I'm gonna get it wrong, but something
Speaker 1: to the effect of make sure that you put yourself
Speaker 1: before these jobs, because these jobs will replace you in
Speaker 1: forty eight hours if you drop dead on the assembly line.
Speaker 1: But they and now I'm gonna have to paraphrase, because
Speaker 1: that's really the gist of what the statement was. But basically,
Speaker 1: you have to take care of yourself and you're going
Speaker 1: to be the person that writes your own story. The
Speaker 1: job is not going to write your story. These obviously,
Speaker 1: these reporters and so forth from this French open are
Speaker 1: not writing this woman's story.
Speaker 2: She's writing her own.
Speaker 1: She's making headlines for all the right reasons, and none
Speaker 1: of these reporters get to tell their story. And the
Speaker 1: French Open that chose to find her this fifteen thousand
Speaker 1: dollars is getting backlash for punishing her for protecting herself
Speaker 1: and standing up for self and drawing a line. Now,
Speaker 1: do have to play devil's advocate here, because who would
Speaker 1: we be if we didn't, if we weren't being realistic
Speaker 1: about the way the world works, that capitalism is the
Speaker 1: invisible hand that controls all of us one degree or another.
Speaker 1: You know, there are those that say, well, she did
Speaker 1: sign up for this, she did have a commitment, she
Speaker 1: did have you know, whatever the whatever was that comes
Speaker 1: along with that, and The best I can offer is
Speaker 1: that that's that's tough. You know, I'd imagine that it's
Speaker 1: you play that on a case by case basis. You know,
Speaker 1: I don't know, what do you think?
Speaker 2: It's an interesting marriage, right? The industries depend on each
Speaker 2: other for prosperity. In order for these athletes to make
Speaker 2: the type of money that they make, to draw the
Speaker 2: audiences that they draw for their leagues to get the
Speaker 2: amount of money that they get, it's largely reliant on
Speaker 2: media and TV partnerships. So that part is true. The
Speaker 2: question you have to ask is mandating media availability after
Speaker 2: every game and after every match. Is that much access necessary? Right?
Speaker 2: Because once upon a time before they held large press
Speaker 2: conferences after every game, there was like kind of unlimited
Speaker 2: access to the locker room. So you have reporters walking
Speaker 2: into the locker room after you're showering and trying to
Speaker 2: get dressed and either just lost or just won a game,
Speaker 2: and you might have six reporters waiting to talk to you,
Speaker 2: and they might all ask you the same question. So
Speaker 2: the press conference kind of eliminated two problems the redundancy
Speaker 2: of good or bad questions just not having to answer
Speaker 2: the same thing over and over again, and some sense
Speaker 2: of privacy in the locker room. Let's have this press
Speaker 2: conference where everyone who has a question can ask it,
Speaker 2: and if you're in the room with other reporters, if
Speaker 2: someone else asked the question you were going to ask,
Speaker 2: you no longer have to. There's a lot of conflated
Speaker 2: issues here, though. You have the treatment of black women
Speaker 2: in this country, in this world, and sports world specifically
Speaker 2: not being the center issue here, but it's it's always
Speaker 2: going to be one with a media that covers, you know,
Speaker 2: the Slams and tennis being almost one hundred percent white
Speaker 2: and not having any sense of relatability to what these
Speaker 2: black athletes are going through in normal life or in
Speaker 2: their professional sports life. Add to that that she was preemptive.
Speaker 2: This wasn't after a win or a loss. This was
Speaker 2: going into the tournament, you know pretty much. Hey, you guys,
Speaker 2: I'm dealing with a lot right now and I'd rather
Speaker 2: not Glad you said that, I'd rather not do the
Speaker 2: media availability for this tournament. Now, this tournament might be
Speaker 2: relying on you one of their stars being readily available
Speaker 2: for the media, but on the back of Mental Health
Speaker 2: Awareness Month, you should be able to say hey, you guys,
Speaker 2: can I have this one. I'm tired, I'm fighting depression.
Speaker 2: And she afterwards, because she got backlash for making herself unavailable,
Speaker 2: she then came out was apologetic, but she was also
Speaker 2: very specific. You know the example that you used earlier.
Speaker 2: I'm not even sure if you knew you were hitting
Speaker 2: the nail on the head, But having to talk to
Speaker 2: someone after you've lost, you have to understand. To reach
Speaker 2: her level of success as an athlete, you have to
Speaker 2: have either an irrational sense of confidence, right, I can
Speaker 2: beat an elephant in the fight kind of confidence, or
Speaker 2: you have to be very not okay with losing, also
Speaker 2: to a level of being irrational. You're angry when you lose,
Speaker 2: you're sad, you cry. Those are the only type of
Speaker 2: people that can reach that level of success. The Michael Jordan's,
Speaker 2: the Lebron James's, the Serena Williams, the Naomi Osakas. You
Speaker 2: have to have one or both of those things. And
Speaker 2: in her case, she's saying, after I lose a match,
Speaker 2: coming to be torn apart by you guys affects my
Speaker 2: confidence or even knowing that I have to have these
Speaker 2: conversations when loser draw affects my mindset going into a match,
Speaker 2: so I would rather not And that's something that she
Speaker 2: said out loud. She wants to work with the leagues
Speaker 2: on to try to improve and figure out some solutions
Speaker 2: to the issue. But she's saying out loud, this is
Speaker 2: what I'm dealing with, and this is how I'm trying
Speaker 2: to deal with it. So for her to receive pushback,
Speaker 2: like I said, on the back of Mental Health Awareness Month,
Speaker 2: was a bit intentionally poetic for that league, like all
Speaker 2: other leagues, to be, you know, trying to support Mental
Speaker 2: Health Awareness Month and their marketing and then to have
Speaker 2: one of their star athletes come out and say this
Speaker 2: is what I'm dealing with, and to receive pushback not
Speaker 2: just from the media and fans, but from the tournament
Speaker 2: and her, like I said, with Grayson wanting to she
Speaker 2: didn't want to become the center of the story in
Speaker 2: that way, she said, so she just backed away. I
Speaker 2: just won't even compete in this tournament.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, Boom, And so that's what I was saying, Like,
Speaker 1: if you're and I get it that every man every
Speaker 1: woman is not in the same financial position as she is,
Speaker 1: But if you are, and you find yourself in the
Speaker 1: position to do that. Please, protect your mental health. Put
Speaker 1: yourself first. Sometimes civic cipher exists because Q and I
Speaker 1: put ourselves first. We decided what was necessary, and we
Speaker 1: heard no. We made it ourselves. And the reason you're
Speaker 1: listening to us is because of that energy.
Speaker 2: And at some point we have to have a broader
Speaker 2: conversation about mental health. At some point that just has
Speaker 2: to be a part of your health, because even calling
Speaker 2: it mental health is separate. Yeah, it makes it this
Speaker 2: other thing that there's still a large population that doesn't
Speaker 2: take it seriously. And especially it's like it's a you know,
Speaker 2: so weak people. You know, being able to say out
Speaker 2: loud that I'm dealing with something mental health related gives
Speaker 2: you a stigma by itself. You should just be able
Speaker 2: to say, I don't feel good, I don't feel healthy
Speaker 2: in general, I'm not up to it. It shouldn't have to
Speaker 2: be my leg hurts, you know. I should be able
Speaker 2: to express mental exhaustion with out there being a stigma
Speaker 2: attached to it or it somehow being a separate branch
Speaker 2: of health, like our mind is pretty darn and important,
Speaker 2: almost says something else. Our mind and our.
Speaker 1: Mental returning over a new around.
Speaker 2: Rotation marks. Mental health should be seen as even more
Speaker 2: important than if we broke our arm or twisted our ankles.
Speaker 2: Your mind is.
Speaker 1: It has the final say, no matter what. All right,
Speaker 1: So how about this qu I want to get your thoughts.
Speaker 1: Got a direct quote from Venus Williams here, and she's
Speaker 1: responding to Naomi Osaka and her withdrawal from the French.
Speaker 2: Open responding, you know, to the backlash.
Speaker 1: Okay, to the backlash day, so she says, and this
Speaker 1: is Venus Williams again. For me personally, how I cope,
Speaker 1: how I deal with it was that I knew that
Speaker 1: every single person asking me a question can't play as
Speaker 1: well as I can and never will. And then later
Speaker 1: on she goes on to say that they will never
Speaker 1: light a candle to me. So gat your thoughts on that.
Speaker 2: First of all, facts, big facts and one hundred emoji.
Speaker 2: However else I can say, amen, the black strong arm.
Speaker 2: And however you mentioned playing Devil's Advocate. As a former
Speaker 2: athlete played Division one football in college. I've heard the
Speaker 2: arguments of athletes that saying that people that didn't play
Speaker 2: the sport or didn't reach their level of success should
Speaker 2: not be allowed to criticize, and that's kind of unrealistic
Speaker 2: and unfair, Like if I go to a Michelin five
Speaker 2: star restaurant, I hope I'm saying that right. I'm not
Speaker 2: a chef, but if my food's awful, I should be
Speaker 2: able to say so for the chef to respond, well,
Speaker 2: you can't cook on my level, so you're not allowed
Speaker 2: to not like your steak. I think it's a bit ridiculous.
Speaker 2: So there has to be some middle ground. I get
Speaker 2: the point that Venus was making. Sometimes being critical just
Speaker 2: for the sake of it, you deserve that response, because
Speaker 2: she's absolutely right, there's nobody on the other side of
Speaker 2: these cameras or these microphones that can hold a candle
Speaker 2: to me at what I do in the same way
Speaker 2: that she probably couldn't present a story the way that
Speaker 2: some of her media counterparts could. So I understand the
Speaker 2: point that she was making, and she was one thousand
Speaker 2: percent right. But sometimes that's a bit of a straw
Speaker 2: man argument when it's presented as a person can't have
Speaker 2: an opinion or can't be an expert if they didn't
Speaker 2: play the sport or participated in it at the level
Speaker 2: that the athlete did Now.
Speaker 1: I know you're playing devil's advocate there, but I just
Speaker 1: want to offer something here, please. So whenever you know,
Speaker 1: when you're watching the Olympics or something like that, and
Speaker 1: let's say a guy gets a silver medal, right, this
Speaker 1: guy just got a silver medal at the Olympics. That's dope.
Speaker 1: And then the people that talk to him after words
Speaker 1: are like, yeah, so you really messed up that last thing, man.
Speaker 1: So it's so heartbreaking at the last moment, and you know,
Speaker 1: they force you to not be happy, you know. And
Speaker 1: so I don't know she's got a point, because if
Speaker 1: someone came to me, I'd be hype off of silver medal. Man.
Speaker 2: They treat you like if you're not first year, last Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: And you know the truth is, anybody picking you apart
Speaker 1: should There's something to be said about a person picking
Speaker 1: you apart, not themselves being able to do it. If
Speaker 1: the person that got gold wanted to pick me apart,
Speaker 1: and maybe you got some ground to stand on, but
Speaker 1: I guarantee that person wouldn't be picking me apart.
Speaker 2: They would be.
Speaker 1: Congratulating me or otherwise letting me know how difficult I
Speaker 1: made that competition for them, and so would the people
Speaker 1: who got Bronzer didn't meddle. There you go, and so
Speaker 1: you know something to think about protect your mental health though,
Speaker 1: from both of us here at all three of us
Speaker 1: at Civic Cipher. And if you're just tuning in to
Speaker 1: Civic Cipher, I am your host rams' Jah.
Speaker 2: They call me q Ward and that just so happens
Speaker 2: to be a variation of my actual name.
Speaker 1: Yes, indeed, and if you are just checking in with us,
Speaker 1: we want you to stick around because we got some
Speaker 1: more good stuff coming your way, not the least of
Speaker 1: which is we're going to still talk about the Kyrie
Speaker 1: Irving incident and his premonition, prediction assessment and whatever that.
Speaker 2: Was almost prophetic of him. Prophetic.
Speaker 1: Okay, we're going to talk about him, and that's really important.
Speaker 1: We do want to talk about some important stuff from history,
Speaker 1: you know.
Speaker 2: So when we get to the way black history fact,
Speaker 2: we're going to talk about Tulsa.
Speaker 1: Let's called it Tulsa for now, but stay tuned. We're
Speaker 1: going to go into detail about, you know, a time
Speaker 1: in history when black folks prospered and a certain group
Speaker 1: of white folks who lived there didn't really appreciate the
Speaker 1: prosperous uh nature of a certain community and decided to
Speaker 1: take action again.
Speaker 2: How dare you thrive in your own space? Will get
Speaker 2: bother me? We'll get to it.
Speaker 1: We just we want you to stick around and we're
Speaker 1: going to talk about some stuff going on in Boston.
Speaker 1: Our show producer DJ Squirrel, it's got some stuff to
Speaker 1: share with us about that. And we're also going to
Speaker 1: talk about uh some TikTok stuff.
Speaker 2: TikTok stuff, I mean, like spaun please.
Speaker 1: I don't know, man, I've I've made a couple of
Speaker 1: TikTok dances with my.
Speaker 2: Kids, and I feel embarrassed because I'm I don't get
Speaker 2: jiggy with the TikTok.
Speaker 1: Well, maybe after we get there, we'll get you to.
Speaker 2: Convert and they're gonna have to introduce me or show
Speaker 2: me how that place work.
Speaker 1: Absolutely well, I'll tell you why don't we get into
Speaker 1: it right now? So you know the name Natasha Bedingfield,
Speaker 1: I do, okay. You know the name Vanessa Carlton, I
Speaker 1: absolutely do.
Speaker 2: Okay. I'm humming songs in my hair right now that
Speaker 2: I refuse to sing.
Speaker 1: Out loud, Okay. So what we're gonna do is introduce
Speaker 1: a new segment for the show. Okay, for those who
Speaker 1: have seen Black Panther, you might know that T'Challa referred
Speaker 1: to his father as.
Speaker 2: Baba, right.
Speaker 1: I thought that was a very special sounding word, meant father.
Speaker 1: But those initials happen to also line up with something
Speaker 1: that we wanted to introduce on the show, and you know,
Speaker 1: we'll get there right now. It's how to become a
Speaker 1: better ally b A B A. So from here on out,
Speaker 1: look out for the baby feature on the show and
Speaker 1: this in this way, we're going to empower you to
Speaker 1: do lots of things or really reflect on yourself and
Speaker 1: reflect on those around you and hopefully make the world
Speaker 1: a better place for all all of us. But yeah,
Speaker 1: Natasha Bettingfield and Vanessa Carlton, their music has been used
Speaker 1: in a lot of tiktoks, and a lot of those
Speaker 1: tiktoks are by young black kids. But you know Vanessa
Speaker 1: Carlton specifically, she has that song one thousand miles that
Speaker 1: No No No and I Miss You we started bro
Speaker 1: and I need you.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Man, ever, people are not around and sometimes I
Speaker 2: think I can sing and it gets bad. Listen man.
Speaker 1: Well, anyway, her song was sampled by yeah, I know
Speaker 1: y'all wish I could play this song, but I can't
Speaker 1: because they got cuss words.
Speaker 2: It ain't no clean version yet, but it was.
Speaker 1: It was sampled by Spinner Bins Okay, Woppa with the chopper,
Speaker 1: Woppa with the Choppa, Young an Ace, Fast Money Goon
Speaker 1: and the song they made is called who I Smoke Wow.
Speaker 2: And normally you.
Speaker 1: Would expect Vanessa Carlton to say, oh, no, absolutely not.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna keep my song and I don't want these guys,
Speaker 1: you know, uh, you know, changing what my song, what
Speaker 1: the what the intent of my song, or deluding it
Speaker 1: or if you're misrepresenting what the song is supposed to be,
Speaker 1: ruining it.
Speaker 2: Very good?
Speaker 1: Thanks not so, she said, yeah, man, I like the song.
Speaker 1: Let him run with it, right, And you know that,
Speaker 1: of course led to a lot of folks saying to
Speaker 1: her like, well, you know, you have such a pleasant
Speaker 1: song and they're like cussing and talking about all this
Speaker 1: violent stuff and it's not the third and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: of course a lot of these people that were complaining
Speaker 1: were You're Karen's of the world, you know, entire old white.
Speaker 2: And outraged on her behalf.
Speaker 1: Somebody you had no reason to be mad themselves that
Speaker 1: they don't want to listen to who I Smoke?
Speaker 2: They can just turn the.
Speaker 1: Song off, yeah, you know, or not listen to os
Speaker 1: button stop, but any of them. But no, they need
Speaker 1: to make it their business. And so and that's you know,
Speaker 1: consistent with the behavior of a Karen or the male equivalent.
Speaker 1: I don't know what we call them, Kevin whatever. If
Speaker 1: your name is Kevin, I'm so sorry you've got Kevin that.
Speaker 1: We love.
Speaker 2: Lots of Kevin's around here.
Speaker 1: So anyway, but you know this type of person. So
Speaker 1: what she does is she says, you know what, there's
Speaker 1: a movie called Reservoir Dogs, and uh, they're playing certain
Speaker 1: music and they're chopping off ears and it's a cinematic
Speaker 1: expression of you know, some things that some people do.
Speaker 1: But you know, it's for everyone's enjoyment. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: it's really no different from a movie or whatever. These
Speaker 1: guys are taking song, they remixing it, and they're talking
Speaker 1: about stuff that I don't believe they do in real life,
Speaker 1: you know, and even if they do, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean, it's still artistic license. The space is theatric right,
Speaker 1: and you know it might not be everyone's cup of tea,
Speaker 1: but I think that you're all making a big deal
Speaker 1: out of it because they're making it into a rap
Speaker 1: song and they're young black people, and I disagree, and.
Speaker 2: You know, I'm paraphrasing.
Speaker 1: I don't want to speak for her, but this is
Speaker 1: kind of what she was saying, and she really empowered
Speaker 1: these guys to continue with their song, and then they
Speaker 1: of course responded favorably. They're like, yo, I got you forever,
Speaker 1: you know, And now there's videos up to twenty two
Speaker 1: million views, And that's how you become a better ally.
Speaker 1: You do some self reflection, You recognize that there's nothing
Speaker 1: new under the sun that all of this like, you
Speaker 1: can point to anything else, and if it's white as right,
Speaker 1: you know, and then it makes it really easy for
Speaker 1: you to check your biases, because she was absolute right.
Speaker 1: As soon as you look at Reservoir Dogs or any
Speaker 1: any movie where there's violence, if you look at horror movies,
Speaker 1: you can look at anything like that, and that's totally fine.
Speaker 1: But as soon as it's black youth, you know the most,
Speaker 1: and it's music, the most influential group of people on earth,
Speaker 1: and it's a young black American.
Speaker 2: There you go. Then it then people have a problem
Speaker 2: with it.
Speaker 1: And that's something that she pointed out to a lot
Speaker 1: of folks, and so I want to give her some kudos. So, yeah,
Speaker 1: become a better ally. Shout out to Vanessa Carlton and
Speaker 1: to Natasha Bendingfield. We didn't get to go into her
Speaker 1: whole story, but do me your favorite google both of them,
Speaker 1: find out what I'm talking about. Listen to both songs.
Speaker 2: If you're going to tiktoks, yeah, go on, TikTok going
Speaker 2: to take Dan you have some fun.
Speaker 1: So yeah, moving on, we do want to spend a
Speaker 1: little bit of time talking about Kyrie Irving. So Q, yes, sir,
Speaker 1: you are and Swirl are folks who are into sports.
Speaker 1: I'm a music guy, that's and I'm a broadcaster.
Speaker 2: That's it.
Speaker 1: I don't know anything about sports, So do tell the
Speaker 1: story of Kyrie Irving.
Speaker 2: Kyrie Irving, it is a very complex, but otherworldly talented
Speaker 2: American basketball player. If you follow the sport at all,
Speaker 2: you know who he is. The kid is incredibly gifted.
Speaker 2: He's a kid.
Speaker 1: Well he's a kid to me, which is strange to say,
Speaker 1: but weird, I guess he is.
Speaker 2: Yeah to me too, the young man. The man is
Speaker 2: insanely talented and very very open minded. He speaks his
Speaker 2: mind a lot, makes it clear that even though people
Speaker 2: think it should be that basketball is not the center
Speaker 2: of his universe, it's just what he does. It's just
Speaker 2: one of the things he's really good at. And leading
Speaker 2: up to his return to Boston, where he used to play,
Speaker 2: he pointed out that there have been instances with not
Speaker 2: just himself, but athletes and black people in general in
Speaker 2: Boston that have not been favorable for them because there is,
Speaker 2: to put it lightly racial tension, to put it plainly,
Speaker 2: racism in that city and that market, and amongst the
Speaker 2: fans of the professional sport teams there Boston. Recently, the
Speaker 2: Brooklyn Nets, the team that Kyrie Irving plays for, played
Speaker 2: against and beat the Boston Celtics in a playoff series.
Speaker 2: And after one of those games, as he was leaving
Speaker 2: the floor, a fan threw a bottle of water at him.
Speaker 2: And this was coming on the back of a fan
Speaker 2: spitting on Trey Young of the Atlanta Hawks at a
Speaker 2: New York Knicks game, pouring popcorn on Russell Westbrook as
Speaker 2: he left a Washington Wizard's Philadelphia seventy six ers game
Speaker 2: and swirl if you get a chance to look up
Speaker 2: for me. There's an instance in Utah where a player's
Speaker 2: family was verbally attacked by fans in Utahs told his
Speaker 2: father that they will put a nickel in his back
Speaker 2: and watch him dance, and said some very even more
Speaker 2: offensive things to his mother.
Speaker 3: The young player's name is John Morant.
Speaker 2: John Moran of the Memphis Grizzlies. Okay, so that's what
Speaker 2: his parents had to deal with in Utah recently. So
Speaker 2: Kyrie pointed out something that's well known in the professional
Speaker 2: sports world. But people don't like being called racist even
Speaker 2: when all of their actions fall in line with it,
Speaker 2: when they check every box, they're still more offended than
Speaker 2: you that you would call them racist then their actions
Speaker 2: showing you that that's exactly what they are. And it's
Speaker 2: very difficult to ignore race being a part of this
Speaker 2: when all of the athletes that we're talking about are
Speaker 2: black and all of the people that violated them and
Speaker 2: disrespected them were white in one percent of these cases.
Speaker 2: So that's something that it's difficult to talk about because
Speaker 2: a lot of people, even while acknowledging that these things
Speaker 2: are disrespectful do not like acknowledging the racial and racist
Speaker 2: undertones that come with treating very wealthy, very successful professional
Speaker 2: athletes like zoo animals or you know, people in a
Speaker 2: circus that are less human than you, that deserve less
Speaker 2: dignity and less respect than you, and who you can
Speaker 2: spit on or throw things at because they beat the
Speaker 2: team you root for in a sporting event, not because
Speaker 2: they didn't even think to harm you or your family
Speaker 2: or people that you actually know, love and care about.
Speaker 2: But you went to see your team win. Your team
Speaker 2: didn't win, So how dare they? And you know you
Speaker 2: kind of there's a moment of these people I feel,
Speaker 2: suspending their reality or injecting their reality into their fanatic
Speaker 2: fan experience at these professional ball games.
Speaker 1: Okay, thank you, because I didn't know that, Danata, So
Speaker 1: let me make sure I got this right. Kyrie Irving
Speaker 1: used to play for the Boston Celtics, Yes, sir. He
Speaker 1: left that team to play the Brooklyn Nets.
Speaker 2: Yes, sir.
Speaker 1: The Brooklyn Nets had to play the Boston Celtics in
Speaker 1: Boston in Boston, yes, sir. Prior to him coming to
Speaker 1: back to Boston, he said Boston is kind of a
Speaker 1: racist city. Yes, and then when he was leaving after
Speaker 1: beating Boston as a Brooklyn Nets player, someone threw a
Speaker 1: water bottle at him and that person was white.
Speaker 2: Yes, okay, now.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna play Devil's advocate, but first I'm gonna say
Speaker 1: some stuff. You're familiar with Mendingo fighting, yes.
Speaker 2: Swirl, you're familiar with I am not okay, educating please, Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 1: Mandingo fighting is something that very wealthy slave owners used
Speaker 1: to do when they had enough money to buy extra
Speaker 1: disposable slaves or they thought they could make some money
Speaker 1: by fighting. It's like kind of early origins of modern boxing,
Speaker 1: you know, kind of yeah, but very American. You know,
Speaker 1: you're gonna take your biggest, strongest slave, biggest strongest negro, Yeah,
Speaker 1: and then have them box against the plantation down the
Speaker 1: down their way a little bit, and it's often a
Speaker 1: fight to the death, and you know, all that sort
Speaker 1: of stuff. If if for those who want to get
Speaker 1: a glimpse into what that looks like, you would watch
Speaker 1: a movie called Jangle Unchained d J A N G.
Speaker 1: Oh that's how you silent absolutely got to talk to
Speaker 1: him Q. Anyway, it's an exhibition shows strength athleticism. It's
Speaker 1: a spectacle, and it uses black bodies. Of course, when
Speaker 1: boxing first started out, there were no such thing as
Speaker 1: black boxers fighting against white boxers because white boxers thought
Speaker 1: that the black fighters were beneath them. When the truth
Speaker 1: is they didn't want to lose to these guys because
Speaker 1: that would be humiliating. At the time, it was assumed
Speaker 1: that white people, by white people, White people had the
Speaker 1: stronger genetics and were more capable when it came to anything.
Speaker 2: They were superior human beings, right right.
Speaker 1: And so a loss would have been tragic and it
Speaker 1: would have you know, devastated and you know, humiliated the
Speaker 1: whole race. And then ultimately the rules became relaxed and
Speaker 1: Jack Johnson and then later Muhammad Ali and then later
Speaker 1: Mike Tyson and so forth, Joe Louis, Joe Lewis, all
Speaker 1: these names. So and of course we know that to
Speaker 1: not be true. I need to say that because there
Speaker 1: might be some people listening like, oh, is that true.
Speaker 2: No, that's not true. It's not true that.
Speaker 1: White people were genetically superior to black people, and that's
Speaker 1: you know that, I just need that to be established
Speaker 1: because some.
Speaker 2: Other people are still holding strong to that narrative, are
Speaker 2: very it's scientifically, I'm not I'm not trying to say
Speaker 2: one is better than the other.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying scientifically that that's not there's no basis
Speaker 1: for that. You know, we we all are made by
Speaker 1: the same creator, endowed with consciousness from the same source.
Speaker 1: And that's all I'm going to say about that. But no,
Speaker 1: that that part is not true.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: Another thing I want to mention before I played Devil's
Speaker 1: Advocate is that, you know, the extent of my knowledge
Speaker 1: of people being racist that sporting events has.
Speaker 2: To do with.
Speaker 1: Really me seeing people throw banana peels on soccer fields
Speaker 1: whenever black players come out to play soccer or.
Speaker 2: Football, if that's how you describe it.
Speaker 1: But you know, but that's more of a global sport.
Speaker 1: You know, I usually would assume that in this country
Speaker 1: people I would assume this. I mean, if you're going
Speaker 1: to an NFL game or an NBA game or whatever,
Speaker 1: most of the players are black. You know, that's again
Speaker 1: a testament to that athleticism or the fallacy behind you know,
Speaker 1: there's lots of white players out there too, but there's
Speaker 1: lots of black players. So I would say that everybody
Speaker 1: has a shot. Okay, come at me anyway, So it's
Speaker 1: the first I'm hearing of it. So now I'm gonna
Speaker 1: play Devil's advocate. What if I say to you or
Speaker 1: to Kyrie Irving that if it had been Larry Bird
Speaker 1: walking out of there, because I know him to be
Speaker 1: a Boston Celtics player, Yes, and someone threw a water
Speaker 1: bottle at Larry Bird, there obviously is no racial component
Speaker 1: there because Larry Bird is white. You know, how how
Speaker 1: is it that we make this case a black and
Speaker 1: white case? You know, with the person you said, someone
Speaker 1: else got spit on, someone else's family got ridiculed to
Speaker 1: put a coin in the back and dance for me
Speaker 1: boy the boy.
Speaker 2: That part, I mean, the nickel in your back and
Speaker 2: dance from your part is explicit as well. Yeah, that
Speaker 2: entire statement had to be set together. But but for
Speaker 2: those that don't know, when you refer to a black
Speaker 2: man as boy, there's some historical and and not insignificant
Speaker 2: racial overtones to that word boy. It's it's kind of
Speaker 2: like some other terms that we use where if we
Speaker 2: say it to each other like yo, that's my boy,
Speaker 2: it's fine. But if someone else calls me a boy
Speaker 2: and I'm a grown man, there's a real problem with
Speaker 2: that another And the thing is a lot of folks
Speaker 2: don't know that, and so you know it's our job
Speaker 2: to educate everyone. Do not refer to an adult.
Speaker 1: Black man as boy is exceptionally insulting. Exceptionally insulting. But
Speaker 1: that one I can I can get with. But the
Speaker 1: spitting one and the water bottle one. I want you
Speaker 1: to make a case for me. I know how I
Speaker 1: would do it, but I want you to do it
Speaker 1: as to why that is racial.
Speaker 2: Specifically, last summer, you and I drove a car across
Speaker 2: the southern United States. In the middle of the night,
Speaker 2: we were stopped and pitched black in Mississippi, asked to
Speaker 2: get out of our car. A drug dog was summoned.
Speaker 2: The drug dog apparently smelled drugs in the brand new
Speaker 2: car that we just bought. And neither of us have
Speaker 2: never even tried, purchased, sold, or been around drugs, and
Speaker 2: the officers that pulled us over were so One might ask,
Speaker 2: why on earth would you guys think that that had
Speaker 2: anything to do with race? With race? And I guess
Speaker 2: the answer I would give is show me the example
Speaker 2: of that happening to somebody that's not black our producer
Speaker 2: is here. He has the power of the internet. Show
Speaker 2: me the story where the white man or the black man,
Speaker 2: through a bottle at spit on, disrespected the parents of
Speaker 2: or port a box of popcorn on the white player
Speaker 2: and or his family. And I know that proving a
Speaker 2: negative is impossible. So I can't say to you, beyond
Speaker 2: the shadow of a doubt that it was absolutely race related.
Speaker 2: But I can't ask you that question and wait for
Speaker 2: you to never find the answer. I can't ask you
Speaker 2: that question and wait for you to never find the
Speaker 2: example where it happened the other way around.
Speaker 1: Okay, So here's what I'm going to add to that.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: You you mentioned earlier that he said that Boston was
Speaker 1: a racist city before, So why did he say that?
Speaker 1: Was he he had already left and is that the reason.
Speaker 2: He left or something like? I don't know if he
Speaker 2: was prompted. I just know that it came up and him.
Speaker 2: He's not singular in that people sent Most people, even
Speaker 2: members of the Boston media, have been honest about this.
Speaker 1: And I know Boston is like I've been there, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. So I just you know, we
Speaker 1: have to we have to frame the show this way. Well,
Speaker 1: I think that by him saying it beforehand, and then
Speaker 1: you seeing the way that there is no real regard
Speaker 1: for these professional athletes, and the fact that you cited
Speaker 1: four examples at least today of all black athletes being
Speaker 1: engaged in some way by white fans, I think that's what.
Speaker 2: We call them still short for fanatic.
Speaker 1: Sure, I think that fanatic is perhaps more appropriate now,
Speaker 1: But yeah, I think that that does illuminate a trend,
Speaker 1: if nothing else. And so in playing Devil's Advocate, you know,
Speaker 1: that's where we would meet, you know, saying hey, look,
Speaker 1: we're noticing a trend here, and again, neither of us
Speaker 1: can say that it is outright racism. Everyone who did
Speaker 1: everything is a racist person and they need to be
Speaker 1: you know, we need to deal with them and educate
Speaker 1: whatever it is that comes along with people like that.
Speaker 1: If they can be educated, some folks really like where
Speaker 1: they are. But I think that pointing out a trend,
Speaker 1: and of course in a space like this on our show,
Speaker 1: discussing it and empowering our listeners to you know, be
Speaker 1: mindful of things that might happen in you know, little
Speaker 1: league games or you know, pee wee football games or
Speaker 1: whatever the case is. You know, it's funny how that
Speaker 1: mentality shifted, where once upon a time black sportsmen were
Speaker 1: beneath and not worthy.
Speaker 2: And not allowed to play in the same leagues.
Speaker 1: All these sorts of things, to where now it's like,
Speaker 1: get out there and do a song and dance for me,
Speaker 1: or get out there and run this ball back and
Speaker 1: forth for me, or if you don't like the way,
Speaker 1: if I don't like the way you do it, I'm
Speaker 1: going to.
Speaker 2: Treat you like the proper you or the animal that
Speaker 2: you are.
Speaker 1: Sure, And again, I think it illuminates this sense of
Speaker 1: entitlement that often accompanies some white people or otherwise people
Speaker 1: who I would assume are very comfortable with the white
Speaker 1: supremacist infrastructure that's in place right now because they can
Speaker 1: benefit fit from it.
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
Speaker 1: So these people perhaps are not always white that behave
Speaker 1: like this. You know, there's Karens who are Hispanic, There's
Speaker 1: Karens who are black. Unfortunately, there are absolutely you know,
Speaker 1: there's there's people that behave this way.
Speaker 2: But again, I think that talking about it really helps
Speaker 2: us to.
Speaker 1: Ensure that we know what we're looking for and we
Speaker 1: know not to let these trends continue. And I think
Speaker 1: that to one degree or another. This might even circle
Speaker 1: back to what we talked about earlier in the show,
Speaker 1: which was, you know, protecting our mental health. It's just
Speaker 1: it's just a coincidence that today's episode has to do
Speaker 1: with a ton of athletes, and it's weird that I
Speaker 1: don't know anything about athletes, because truth is, I can't
Speaker 1: be bothered. Man, I'm a music guy, like I said,
Speaker 1: but you know, mental health is something that affects all
Speaker 1: of us. And I'm a lover of people. Obviously, I'm black,
Speaker 1: and this is the lens through which I view the world,
Speaker 1: and I feel that oftentimes the greatest need is in
Speaker 1: Black communities, that they're the most overlooked communities. And you know,
Speaker 1: we have the just a we're very forgiving people, very
Speaker 1: kind people, overall gracious people. Absolutely, and you know, in
Speaker 1: modern years that's kind of afforded us the short end
Speaker 1: of the stick. But you know, like I said, you know,
Speaker 1: we have to talk about it. We have to keep
Speaker 1: these things at the center of the narrative, and we
Speaker 1: have to make sure that we're holding the line and
Speaker 1: we're pushing for something for tomorrow that's better than today.
Speaker 2: So with that.
Speaker 1: Said, let's shift gears a bit, Let's talk about our
Speaker 1: way black history facts. DJ Swirl.
Speaker 3: Yes, sir so on this date, June second, nineteen sixty seven,
Speaker 3: speaking about Boston's history and tying it into the racial
Speaker 3: dynamic that a lot of us see, but many of
Speaker 3: us don't really talk about. There was what they refer
Speaker 3: to as they really quietly referred to as the Roxbury Riots.
Speaker 3: And when I think Roxbury, I think of you guys,
Speaker 3: not in the night at the Roxbury. So you know,
Speaker 3: if you do word association that you saw that you
Speaker 3: might just bypassively like oh yeah, neither Rockberg, no reveal
Speaker 3: this was. It draws a parallel to the issues that
Speaker 3: we see lately or that we continue to see, and
Speaker 3: that is people who have less than who complain about
Speaker 3: receiving equity, if not equality, but that request done peacefully
Speaker 3: is met with the exact opposite, and it's done by
Speaker 3: people who have badges and who are civil servants that
Speaker 3: do not de escalate situations, in fact are inflammatory to
Speaker 3: the situation at hand.
Speaker 2: And this is.
Speaker 3: A gross example of that that I don't think either
Speaker 3: of us knew about before we brought it up. So
Speaker 3: and this had to do with women, and these are
Speaker 3: mothers for adequate welfare. They were protesting the fact that
Speaker 3: the system which they followed the rules on was lazy, disrespectful,
Speaker 3: and not conducive to the process, which is welfare. And
Speaker 3: this is from a predominantly black community.
Speaker 2: But again, these are women, these are mothers.
Speaker 3: So they eventually get joined by other men and other
Speaker 3: white folks to stage a protest that hopefully brings about change,
Speaker 3: which we see people that varies, right, we see the
Speaker 3: storming of the Capitol, and we see people who block interstates. Right,
Speaker 3: based off of your platform and your access, you protest
Speaker 3: in different ways to draw attention to your cause. Absolutely,
Speaker 3: and so these women did this. And the other parallel
Speaker 3: that is drawn from the story is how the police
Speaker 3: report that you look back on, which was written in
Speaker 3: real time, pales in comparison to the truth that actually
Speaker 3: came out. And so you can actually go to the
Speaker 3: Boston Globe and you can read this full length of
Speaker 3: the story. But the long story, but a short version
Speaker 3: of the story, is that the police labeled it as
Speaker 3: something that is unprovable and used it as the catalyst
Speaker 3: to be aggressive, and that aggression wound up leading into
Speaker 3: five days worth of riots that ultimately did what happened
Speaker 3: in Tulsa, which was tear down a predominantly black and
Speaker 3: prosperous community that was simply viewed as a threat by
Speaker 3: the majority and was literally extinguished for the protection of
Speaker 3: the benefactors of supremacy.
Speaker 2: What a world we live in, man, Our country has
Speaker 2: such an earned distrust, right like, it's known fact by
Speaker 2: the benefactors of the system, the things that they did
Speaker 2: to tear down, destroy and discourage black prosperity, all the
Speaker 2: way up in every level of government up to the president.
Speaker 2: So you know, I get a little irk by conspiracy
Speaker 2: theorists that are extreme, sure, but sometimes even though they're
Speaker 2: not being rational in thought and they have no evidence
Speaker 2: present to really support the way that they feel, you
Speaker 2: look back on some of the things that we've experienced
Speaker 2: and you get it. Yeah, it's well earned distrust because
Speaker 2: that's not a singular incident, just the one that we're
Speaker 2: talking about today kind of. I mean, I've spent my
Speaker 2: whole life learning about all these different things.
Speaker 1: I'm sure I'll never hear all of them, but tons
Speaker 1: and tons and tons of.
Speaker 2: Stories just like that.
Speaker 1: And you know, people often they love to say well,
Speaker 1: that was a long time ago where things are getting better. No,
Speaker 1: totally not. You know, people get shot every day, killed
Speaker 1: every day because of a hundred reasons. But the truth
Speaker 1: is the formula is very simple. You know, there's a
Speaker 1: white oppressor and there's a black victim, and oftentimes the
Speaker 1: black victims crime was being black and near enough, close enough.
Speaker 1: You know, Aswirl mentioned, we were talking about the h
Speaker 1: and we were talking about earlier the events in Tulsa.
Speaker 1: You know, there was a community that was built up
Speaker 1: prosperous black owned because there's bankers, doctors, you know, you
Speaker 1: name it, and you know there's conflicting reports on what
Speaker 1: started it, but really the end result was the police
Speaker 1: and them the surrounding communities access to more substantial firepower
Speaker 1: literally firepower, I mean.
Speaker 2: Their access to each other.
Speaker 1: That too, members of the community being able to join
Speaker 1: with the police in destroying a neighborhood or a community
Speaker 1: self sufficient, self sustaining Black Americans who have never and
Speaker 1: will never be afforded that privilege. And have you heard
Speaker 1: about the graves. They're like trying to like redo the
Speaker 1: graves so that everyone gets a proper burial because you know,
Speaker 1: at the time the amount of death from that incident
Speaker 1: kind of overwhelmed.
Speaker 2: Their any word on reparations. None, Okay, I didn't think so,
Speaker 2: I was just wondering out loud.
Speaker 1: Well, listen, you know, we do want to take a moment,
Speaker 1: not just for the show, but every show to help
Speaker 1: frame the present and the future.
Speaker 2: With the past.
Speaker 1: You know, it's there's there's so much that we can't
Speaker 1: talk about unless we establish the facts. We establish history,
Speaker 1: We establish where we're starting, so that we know how
Speaker 1: we're oriented, the direction that we're pointed in, you know,
Speaker 1: for the future. And so, you know, thank you very
Speaker 1: much for the way Black History fact. I want to
Speaker 1: do that every week. I think it's appropriate and unfortunately
Speaker 1: it might end up being a little bit sad, but
Speaker 1: you know, I like to end on a positive. I
Speaker 1: like to end on a high. And the truth is
Speaker 1: that the most recent prote tests in my memory, we're
Speaker 1: not as violent. They were not as you know, there
Speaker 1: wasn't as substantial loss of life. Of course, I'm talking
Speaker 1: about the Protest of twenty twenty. There was a lot
Speaker 1: of unity, a lot of colors, a lot of culture
Speaker 1: out on the streets, and I love to see that.
Speaker 1: But that's about as high as the high as we're
Speaker 1: going to end on. So with that said, I want
Speaker 1: to thank you once again for tuning in to Civic
Speaker 1: Cipher once again.
Speaker 2: I'm your host, Rams's job. They call me q Ward.
Speaker 1: Be sure to check out the website civiccipher dot com.
Speaker 1: That is where you're going to be able to download
Speaker 1: this in all previous versions of the show. Check out
Speaker 1: the podcast, our YouTube channel, it's all there. Hit our
Speaker 1: social media at Civic Cipher, and don't forget to donate.
Speaker 1: The show grows with your support. Once again, civiccipher dot com.
Speaker 1: We're out of here until next week, y'all.
Speaker 2: Peace, peace,