Speaker 1: Can you believe we've been doing this show for three
Speaker 1: years now? Well, hopefully you can, because we haven't. So
Speaker 1: I'd like to welcome you once again to another episode
Speaker 1: of Civic Cipher.
Speaker 2: I'my host Ramsey's job.
Speaker 3: He is your host, Ramsey's jock. I'm the other dude
Speaker 3: to just be here. Stop just kind of hanging out. No, seriously,
Speaker 3: I am q Ward and you are tuned in to
Speaker 3: Civic Cipher.
Speaker 1: Yes, sir, broadcasting from the Hip Hop with the studios.
Speaker 2: Three years, man, three years is incredible.
Speaker 3: Three years is crazy. It used to be DJs, used
Speaker 3: to be DJs.
Speaker 2: Man, that was it. Yeah, we talked on the radio,
Speaker 2: but you know that we're one. We talked on one
Speaker 2: one radio station. Yeah yeah.
Speaker 1: So whatce upon a time today, what we're going to
Speaker 1: do is commemorate for three years. We feel like it's
Speaker 1: important to look back on the progress that not only
Speaker 1: we've made as a show, but what we as a
Speaker 1: country have accomplished in the past three years.
Speaker 2: It's a very different world now.
Speaker 1: Some people have lost their mojo, some people have kept it,
Speaker 1: and you know, these are things that are it's important
Speaker 1: to you know, kind of measure where you've come from
Speaker 1: where you're headed very much. So reorient yourself and make
Speaker 1: sure that you've you know, come to terms with the
Speaker 1: reality of your situation. So we plan on doing that today.
Speaker 1: We're also going to take a little bit of time
Speaker 1: from today's show to really discuss what it is that
Speaker 1: we're hoping for and what it is that we want
Speaker 1: people to know. The most important things that we want
Speaker 1: people to know. We haven't that we're going to have
Speaker 1: this conversation in real time. We haven't prepared for it.
Speaker 1: But I think that's a very important question, and I
Speaker 1: think that we can certainly get some some real honest
Speaker 1: dialogue about what the future should hold and and take
Speaker 1: into account what we've accomplished.
Speaker 3: So hopefully I don't come across to, uh.
Speaker 2: Hey, it's necessary, doom and gloom.
Speaker 1: Whatever it is is necessary, first and foremost, that we're
Speaker 1: gonna start off with some any excellence. Today's Any Excellence
Speaker 1: is sponsored by Major Threads for innovative, fashionable sportswear.
Speaker 2: Check Major threads dot.
Speaker 1: Com you want to grab this one, it's some sports.
Speaker 2: Stuff, Orbes dot com.
Speaker 3: The dramatic win by American Cocoa Golf in the US
Speaker 3: Open proved to.
Speaker 4: Be a rare ratings breakthrough moment for women's sports. As
Speaker 4: a Saturday afternoon game trounced the men's Sunday final in
Speaker 4: viewership and broke the ESPN record for the most.
Speaker 3: Watched women's Grand Slam final. Coco Golf, nineteen years old,
Speaker 3: the youngest young woman since Serena Williams to win the
Speaker 3: US Open Final, so very very powerful movement for her
Speaker 3: million three and a half million people watch golf become
Speaker 3: the first American teenager to win in two decades. Golf
Speaker 3: Championship was the most viewed women's final of any tennis
Speaker 3: major ever broadcast on ESPN.
Speaker 4: That is such an incredibly powerful truth momentsidering how long
Speaker 4: tennis has been on the airways and how much reach
Speaker 4: ESPN has.
Speaker 3: It's an interesting thing happening with the men's final, though.
Speaker 4: Having the men's final on the first Sunday of the
Speaker 4: NFL just seems like a bad idea that you make.
Speaker 3: Someone would have like tapped.
Speaker 2: In and we don't want to go up against that,
Speaker 2: but not.
Speaker 3: Cobo Golf kind of used the fuel from doubters and
Speaker 3: haters to push her through to that final. So I
Speaker 3: think we all got to celebrate with her as she
Speaker 3: had that monumental moment. The women's championship was the third
Speaker 3: most watched program across all of cable last week, beaten
Speaker 3: only by, of course, two college football games, one of
Speaker 3: those being Coach Primes Colorado Buffalo's all the anticipated Texas
Speaker 3: Alabama matchup, of course, had seven point nine million. Colorado
Speaker 3: game ended up having I think nine and a half million,
Speaker 3: some really astronomical numbers.
Speaker 2: So one time for Coco golf and she's doing her
Speaker 2: thing ebby excellence if I ever heard of it. Really
Speaker 2: proud of her. So the topic of the day three years,
Speaker 2: three years. I'm three years older.
Speaker 1: Three years more experience, We're all three years older. And
Speaker 1: before we get to that, I want to make sure
Speaker 1: that everyone knows that this is not necessarily a moment
Speaker 1: where we're going to pat ourselves on the back. I
Speaker 1: do believe that it's important for us to acknowledge what
Speaker 1: we've done, because this is a very difficult thing to
Speaker 1: do every week, especially coming from the environment that we
Speaker 1: come from and being the type of people are. I
Speaker 1: think our nature is to be happy, and this is
Speaker 1: kind of interesting that I've had to come to terms
Speaker 1: with the fact that a lot of people when they
Speaker 1: see black people fighting and struggling, they kind of think, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's just what they do, and they don't account for
Speaker 1: the fact that this is what we do because it's necessary,
Speaker 1: not because it's we're just born like, oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: where's the struggle. We want to be happy too, We
Speaker 1: want to spend our time doing whatever and not worried
Speaker 1: about stuff. We're normal people and we do not seek
Speaker 1: out the struggle.
Speaker 3: No, we're kind of born into these circumstances and we
Speaker 3: have to figure out the best we can how to
Speaker 3: either endure or escape. Sure, sure, exactly, and that's those
Speaker 3: are kind of the choices that we're left with, but
Speaker 3: definitely not a decision that we make as a people
Speaker 3: that we're just here for the struggle and the fight
Speaker 3: that comes with.
Speaker 2: It, right right. So the other thing is that when
Speaker 2: it comes to.
Speaker 1: Us walking our path, us deciding what our lives is
Speaker 1: going to are going to hold for us, we have
Speaker 1: to make sure that we're accounting for every possible permutation. Okay,
Speaker 1: but where we've where we've landed, you and I has
Speaker 1: been you know right here, And as I mentioned, this
Speaker 1: is not just to pat ourselves on the back. We
Speaker 1: want to take a moment to acknowledge some of the
Speaker 1: headlines of this past week and and let you know
Speaker 1: that we're going to get to them. So first up,
Speaker 1: we are familiar with the headline where the there was
Speaker 1: a black kid who was invited to swim with his
Speaker 1: white friends.
Speaker 2: They thought they were friends, and then they friends.
Speaker 3: Is an interesting way to describe the children that he
Speaker 3: went swimming with, right as multiple times they.
Speaker 2: Tried to drown and.
Speaker 3: Harm this kid, something that he probably thought he was
Speaker 3: going to go do to have fun and just didn't
Speaker 3: turn out to be there.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And as they held him underwater, he said he
Speaker 1: couldn't breathe, and then they started calling him George Floyd.
Speaker 1: So there's some some interesting elements there. We're definitely going
Speaker 1: to talk about that. We also are going to talk
Speaker 1: about a lot of the smash and grab shoplifting videos.
Speaker 1: You know, we feel like the media is really showing
Speaker 1: only one side of that. There's also groups of non
Speaker 1: black or white shoplifters doing those kind of flash mob
Speaker 1: sort of attacks on stores and walking out with the things.
Speaker 1: And then also there's a certain narrative that really supports
Speaker 1: retailers and police if we're being honest, because police can
Speaker 1: point to these black shoplifters, which wrong is wrong, does
Speaker 1: a matter what color you are.
Speaker 2: But I think by highlighting these these black shoplifters.
Speaker 1: It it certainly feels like the police can say, look,
Speaker 1: how how necessary we are, let's buy another tang.
Speaker 3: And they, I mean, they're very intentional with what they highlight. Yes, exactly,
Speaker 3: It's not just black people doing that.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, not at all.
Speaker 1: That's that's they have video of every one else does say, yes,
Speaker 1: it's not as sensational. Sure, so we definitely want to
Speaker 1: talk about that. And there's some other elements there too.
Speaker 1: A lot of the stores can justify raising their prices,
Speaker 1: laying people off, you know, keeping prices artificially high, turning
Speaker 1: a higher profit, and they can blame shoplifting. And the
Speaker 1: fact of the matter is that shoplifting accounts for a
Speaker 1: very small amount of their overall revenue loss. That type
Speaker 1: of shoplifting is relatively speaking, insignificant. The CEO of Walmart
Speaker 1: confirm that their real shrinkage is what is referred to
Speaker 1: the loss of inventory is it comes from employee.
Speaker 3: Theft, employee theft or batter damaged goods in general.
Speaker 1: Sure, but employee theft is the biggest exactly and so
Speaker 1: and then of course those smash and grab type shoplifters
Speaker 1: is a is a very very small amount of that.
Speaker 1: But how they view it is, or how it's being
Speaker 1: presented to the public, it's like, oh my god, crime
Speaker 1: is rampant in liberal cities and blah blah blah. So
Speaker 1: there's a whole other side that we need to explain.
Speaker 1: There was the police shooting of Eddie Irizari, where the
Speaker 1: police came and shot him in the head and then
Speaker 1: said that he got out of the car and threatened him.
Speaker 1: And then of course there was the video that came
Speaker 1: out that shows the police coming up and assassinating and
Speaker 1: putting bullet to his head. And we haven't been able
Speaker 1: to talk about that yet. What else are we talking
Speaker 1: about here? Oh, in San Francisco's really sad. A police
Speaker 1: cruiser was in pursuit of something else going sixty five
Speaker 1: miles an hour and like a twenty five zone and
Speaker 1: thirty five zone something like that hit twenty three year
Speaker 1: old Janavi Candula. Oh sorry, this was in Seattle. And
Speaker 1: then there's a police officer talking on the phone. You
Speaker 1: may have seen this video talking on the phone about
Speaker 1: her and it's like, oh, she's dead, bro, we just
Speaker 1: got to write a check to the family for eleven
Speaker 1: thousand dollars. She was a nobody. That sort of stuff.
Speaker 3: The worth of this human being right right, so far
Speaker 3: less than what he thought it was.
Speaker 1: And there's another story that we want to talk about too,
Speaker 1: and again we'll try to get to this stuff next week.
Speaker 1: But police trainer, this is the guy training the police.
Speaker 1: He shot a police recruit in the chest because he
Speaker 1: was playing with her and she died on the Floor's
Speaker 1: video of it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the video was very unreal to watch.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you just pulled out his gun and shot
Speaker 1: her and he's like, oh my god, that was my
Speaker 1: training gun. So you kind of at least the police
Speaker 1: in moments like that, are able to heed the gravity
Speaker 1: of the fact that, hey, these things are designed to kill.
Speaker 1: It's not funny, it's not a game. This is you'd
Speaker 1: be prepared to end the life and deal with the consequences.
Speaker 1: And unfortunately, we have a video of one officer killing
Speaker 1: another officer says it was an accident.
Speaker 2: I believe that it was. There was nothing to really
Speaker 2: provoke it, but.
Speaker 1: Certainly something that gets us to talk about guns. All
Speaker 1: of these things and more we talk about on our
Speaker 1: social media. Please follow us at Civic Cipher. We have
Speaker 1: a whole new social media campaign and strategy. We could
Speaker 1: really use your support because there's a lot of negative
Speaker 1: comments on there at Civic Cipher and of course IMQ
Speaker 1: word at Ramsey's job, but at Civic Cipher as the
Speaker 1: main one, we have a whole plan. Your support will
Speaker 1: go a long way. But for now, back to our
Speaker 1: three year anniversary. So in brief, for those that don't know,
Speaker 1: this show was born out of Q and I. As
Speaker 1: you mentioned, we worked at hip hop station in Phoenix, Arizona,
Speaker 1: and in twenty twenty, we felt like the hip hop
Speaker 1: station could do rather more than put a black square
Speaker 1: on Instagram and you know, you know, join the blackout
Speaker 1: and put a hashtag yeah. And so we asked them
Speaker 1: if they could put a show on the air that
Speaker 1: really highlighted a lot of the leadership that was on
Speaker 1: the streets organizing the protests, and a show that really
Speaker 1: allowed us to speak to all the different races and
Speaker 1: cultures and backgrounds and people that were on the street
Speaker 1: to support black people in that moment.
Speaker 2: We thought it was a beautiful moment.
Speaker 1: I know that we were out there with our with
Speaker 1: our children, we were celebrating, we were affirming our worth
Speaker 1: in our lives.
Speaker 3: I also don't want it to seem like it was
Speaker 3: just something that we thought. Yeah, everybody, that was a
Speaker 3: beautiful moment. Yeah, not just black people and not just Americans.
Speaker 3: The entire world responded to that moment collectively, and the
Speaker 3: fact that we were not putting the right amount of
Speaker 3: emphasis on it was something that kind of bothered us. Yeah,
Speaker 3: which is what started that dialogue the short place.
Speaker 1: Sure, so we asked the powers that be at the
Speaker 1: radio station, Hey, can we get some of the leaders
Speaker 1: up on the station talk to them about, you know,
Speaker 1: what it is that we're going for, what we're trying
Speaker 1: to do, you know, let people know where the next
Speaker 1: protest is. And then, of course there's some disinformation and
Speaker 1: not entirely factual information coming from other media outlets, and
Speaker 1: we could really step in and clear up some of
Speaker 1: that that these aren't riots that you know, it's safe,
Speaker 1: you know, to come and support anyway. Long in the
Speaker 1: short of it is, they ended up saying no to us,
Speaker 1: and we resigned. We didn't feel that that was appropriate,
Speaker 1: and the why is important.
Speaker 3: You can't tell the story without leaving out the why,
Speaker 3: at least, not just that they said no to us,
Speaker 3: but very specifically they said that they didn't want to
Speaker 3: do a black show. And I have to always remind
Speaker 3: people of two or of a few, very very specific
Speaker 3: points that make that messaging hit a little bit different.
Speaker 3: The first thing is that there were not a lot
Speaker 3: of black people on air in Phoenix at the time.
Speaker 3: I think we may have been the only two, and
Speaker 3: we were on the same show on the same station,
Speaker 3: so us representing the entirety of black hip hop voices
Speaker 3: on the radio at the time. Secondly, there were different
Speaker 3: ways to try to give us that same message. Right
Speaker 3: in the spirit of giving people the benefit of the doubt,
Speaker 3: I always say, they could have said that's the wrong
Speaker 3: way to put it.
Speaker 2: They could have.
Speaker 3: Meant that they didn't want us to do a political
Speaker 3: show on the hip hop station, and that would have
Speaker 3: made sense. They could have meant that we don't want
Speaker 3: to do a divisive show. We make our audience true sides,
Speaker 3: and that's not what we want to do. We don't
Speaker 3: want to be so polarizing. They could have meant all
Speaker 3: of those things. What they meant is that they didn't
Speaker 3: want black and the hip hop station. That's every dollar
Speaker 3: that they make, it's from black music and culture. Them
Speaker 3: specifically saying that those words to us, that was more
Speaker 3: than just offensive. It was hurtful, and it hid in
Speaker 3: a way that those I think they could have meant
Speaker 3: something very similar to that, but that's not what they meant.
Speaker 3: So that's not what they said, because it would have
Speaker 3: been easier to say those other things, even if you
Speaker 3: meant we don't want to do black. So it's that
Speaker 3: that part of our story will always be the part
Speaker 3: that resonates with me the most, sure because the person
Speaker 3: they said those words to is Rams's Jah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so I'm glad you mentioned that, Q, because for
Speaker 1: There's this has been a three year journey, so we
Speaker 1: appreciate everyone that's jumped on board along the way. But
Speaker 1: before this show existed, before it had a name, before
Speaker 1: we had the framework for it that we have now,
Speaker 1: and all the partners and the affiliates and all the
Speaker 1: news stations that have been, you know, carrying the show.
Speaker 1: I had to feel that pain, you know, I had
Speaker 1: to feel that hurt. I I cried, as you can Imagine,
Speaker 1: I've been broadcasting ever since I graduated from college. That
Speaker 1: was the only job I knew, and I knew that
Speaker 1: if I quit the way that I was going to
Speaker 1: quit by writing a resignation and taking you with me,
Speaker 1: and you know that I might not broadcast ever again.
Speaker 1: And that is the only thing I know. So it's
Speaker 1: very scary. And imagine being in a position where the
Speaker 1: whole city knows who you are. It's very you're very
Speaker 1: proud to have accomplished something like that. I always did
Speaker 1: my best to do right by people. My family was
Speaker 1: proud of me, and my friends, might my mentors, and
Speaker 1: everyone was really proud of me. And then I had
Speaker 1: to leave because it was the right thing to do.
Speaker 1: I needed to stand with the people. I needed to
Speaker 1: stand with my people, and I knew that you would
Speaker 1: it would come with me, but I made the choice
Speaker 1: for you.
Speaker 3: But the really interesting thing about having made that choice,
Speaker 3: so I think it's important to point out, is things
Speaker 3: worked out. So in the rear view mirror, it seemed like, yeah,
Speaker 3: it looks great. We had this master plan and it
Speaker 3: worked out perfect, and it's like, no, man, when Ramses
Speaker 3: quit on our behalf, there was no plan b there
Speaker 3: was no backup plan. It was like, Okay, I guess
Speaker 3: we just don't do radio anymore. We got to figure
Speaker 3: out what's next. But what's most important right now is
Speaker 3: being you know, our father's son, our son's father and
Speaker 3: brothers to each other and you know, holding up the
Speaker 3: community in a way that we felt was our responsibility,
Speaker 3: even when it was not in our best fiscal interest
Speaker 3: to do so, because in our minds, not just that
Speaker 3: we resigned, but again the way that we did it,
Speaker 3: there was no yeah, you can't come back, no new
Speaker 3: opportunity coming after that.
Speaker 1: But for people that don't know, we had to name
Speaker 1: names just to hold people accountable. We had to you know,
Speaker 1: call out the call letters. We've got the community involved,
Speaker 1: like hey, listen, you know, wrote the letter to the community.
Speaker 1: And then the newspapers want to come because again there's
Speaker 1: no there's no black radio personalities on air at the time,
Speaker 1: so they're like, oh my gosh, the only black people
Speaker 1: are quitting because of you know, in the middle of
Speaker 1: these protests.
Speaker 2: And you know, so.
Speaker 1: With it being amplified like that, no one else wants
Speaker 1: to touch you as radio personality. And as you mentioned,
Speaker 1: you it all worked out now you look back on
Speaker 1: it and it's you know, I don't know how many
Speaker 1: stations we're on, somewhere like seventy over seventy stations around
Speaker 1: the country, and we're grateful for every single one and
Speaker 1: every single listener because this is the noblest thing that
Speaker 1: I believe I've done in my adult life career wise. Personally, obviously,
Speaker 1: the most noble thing I can do is be a
Speaker 1: father to my son. But but professionally, this is it.
Speaker 1: When they bury me, they won't say, oh, Ramses was
Speaker 1: a dope DJ and Ramses gave away a bunch of
Speaker 1: Cardi B tickets. They're going to say Ramses did what
Speaker 1: he could to make the world a better place. They're
Speaker 1: going to say Q did what he felt was right
Speaker 1: and created a more equitable society for people in that
Speaker 1: So that's certainly we're grateful for this journey and that
Speaker 1: it worked out and it continues to work out.
Speaker 2: Since then.
Speaker 1: And real quick, I do want to shout out our
Speaker 1: newest station and Melissa Vaughan at w r I r
Speaker 1: F M in Richmond, Virginia. We've been trying to get
Speaker 1: on in Richmond for a long time and we now
Speaker 1: have a footprint in Richmond. We have another couple of
Speaker 1: stations there shout out while we have them shout out
Speaker 1: Norfolk State University they have they carry us in Virginia's world.
Speaker 2: So yeah.
Speaker 1: But since then, in the past three years, we've managed
Speaker 1: to make some national headlines as a show. Obviously, late
Speaker 1: last year we had some an interesting period in our
Speaker 1: show where we acquired a trademark, a trademark for the
Speaker 1: to make clothes branded with the phrase white Lives Matter,
Speaker 1: effectively preventing Kanye West from releasing clothes that said that
Speaker 1: to the public, which is why you don't see kids
Speaker 1: wearing that nonsense at them all. And I want to
Speaker 1: always say, because there are people that push back, I
Speaker 1: always want to say that we obviously know that white
Speaker 1: lives matter. We believe that white lives matter, and we
Speaker 1: believe that all lives matter. But at present, we are
Speaker 1: affirming that black lives matter, and anything that interferes with
Speaker 1: that messaging we feel is hateful and divisive, and so
Speaker 1: our owning that mark doesn't mean that we don't believe
Speaker 1: in it. It just means that we're able to keep
Speaker 1: people from profiting off of what we consider to be hate.
Speaker 1: But that's something that's happened in the past three years. Obviously,
Speaker 1: partnerships with Radio PACIFICA iheartmediaarious personalities and companies around the country.
Speaker 1: Shout out Big Boy, Shout out Blue Leg cav shout
Speaker 1: out shoot I know I couldn't even name it on
Speaker 1: Queen Naja. You know Steve Earnhardt, let's start there. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the man person that believed in us and gave us
Speaker 1: a shot right after we effectively turned the lights out
Speaker 1: at our previous station, and it gives the blueprint for syndication.
Speaker 1: So that's he's the he's the the architect of these. However,
Speaker 1: many stations were on there. Want to shout out a
Speaker 1: couple other special people, Ali and Jan they are our agents,
Speaker 1: our literary agents specifically, but they're working with us. And
Speaker 1: and a dear friend of ours name Leah. She's working
Speaker 1: with us too on a forthcoming book where we get
Speaker 1: to commit to the total, the sum total of human knowledge,
Speaker 1: our beliefs in terms of becoming a better ally. So
Speaker 1: managed to grab a blue deal, not that we grab it,
Speaker 1: it was presented to us. You know, we're also working
Speaker 1: on a movie. So I want to take a moment
Speaker 1: to shout out chris Byfield and Breaking Glass Pictures for
Speaker 1: the forthcoming documentary highlighting everything that we've done. We've gotten
Speaker 1: tons of awards, so now we're forever more an award
Speaker 1: winning radio show. We are award winning radio personalities. Thank
Speaker 1: you to the Smithsonian, Yes, Smithsonian.
Speaker 3: Washington, d C. And for even caring enough to to
Speaker 3: speak with us and maybe at some point in the
Speaker 3: near future highlighting our story and everything that we're doing.
Speaker 1: In Washington, specifically the So the Smithsonian is huge, but
Speaker 1: the National Museum of African American History and Culture, dear
Speaker 1: friends of the show, We're just very excited about that
Speaker 1: relationship as it continues to blossom. Obviously, our relationship Black
Speaker 1: Information Network, not enough can be said about that, and
Speaker 1: I think that personally or beyond the.
Speaker 2: Scope of this show, we as a people. One of the.
Speaker 1: Most significant things that we've done in the past three
Speaker 1: years since we've been on the air is we have
Speaker 1: got we got a new president and that really changed
Speaker 1: the temperature. That really changed how it felt to be
Speaker 1: black in this country. We're not out of the woods,
Speaker 1: but and I'm not going to say that I'm a
Speaker 1: fan of anybody, but that change of president was a
Speaker 1: change in temperature. That was well, that was well received.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't, I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't dislike anybody. Well, I don't dislike our current president.
Speaker 1: But I'm glad you I wanted Bernie.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Likewise, I'm glad you brought that up though, because we've
Speaker 3: become a bit disenfranchised with our political system here and
Speaker 3: hopefully what we had will make us a bit more
Speaker 3: aggressive this time.
Speaker 2: Our what we need