Speaker 1: Broadcasting from the Hip Hop Weekly Studios. I'd like to
Speaker 1: welcome you to another episode of Civic Cipher. I am
Speaker 1: your host, ramses Job.
Speaker 2: He is Rams's Jaw. I am q Ward, and you
Speaker 2: are listening to Civic Cipher. Indeed you are.
Speaker 1: This week, we're going to be playing catchup. I promise
Speaker 1: we haven't been slacking on our duties. There has just
Speaker 1: been a mountain of news that is coming our way
Speaker 1: and trying to pick something some things rather to discuss
Speaker 1: just felt like we'd be leaving too much on the table.
Speaker 1: So let's call it gumbo. We're going to be running
Speaker 1: some stories by you that exist at the local level,
Speaker 1: state level. We're going to be running some stories by
Speaker 1: you that exist at the national level. We're going to
Speaker 1: be talking about stuff with respect to education and initiatives
Speaker 1: to subjugate and marginalize black and ground people.
Speaker 2: We're going to be talking about.
Speaker 1: Really a whole lot of everything, because that's what's been
Speaker 1: going on since.
Speaker 2: We last spoke.
Speaker 1: We're also going to spend a not insignificant amount of
Speaker 1: time discussing the GOP slash Republican loyalty to the former
Speaker 1: president we around here. I think it's orderline sick. And
Speaker 1: I don't mean that to say that if you're a
Speaker 1: conservative voter and that's just your you know, your path
Speaker 1: and your test in life, that you know there's a
Speaker 1: problem there.
Speaker 2: But to this man in particular, you're such a graceful
Speaker 2: I have to be. I have to be.
Speaker 1: So we're going to talk about that, what the obsession
Speaker 1: is and what where the loyalty stems from, because we
Speaker 1: need to know about it, and we feel like if
Speaker 1: you know about it, you'll be a bit more empowered.
Speaker 1: We have those Yeah, yeah, indeed, we're going to talk
Speaker 1: about those and so much more on today's show. But
Speaker 1: the first things first, like we always do it, this time,
Speaker 1: we're going to discuss ebony Excellence and today's any Excellence
Speaker 1: is sponsored by Major Threads, and our reading comes from
Speaker 1: ABC News and normally I'd be the one reading it
Speaker 1: to you, but I have to pass the mic to
Speaker 1: the legend himself keyboard for reasons you'll soon discover you.
Speaker 2: We got some news this week that was heartbreaking in general, sure,
Speaker 2: but heartbreaking being the term I'm using very intentionally and
Speaker 2: specifically for yourself, because the first time that I had
Speaker 2: heart palpitations. If you will the first time that my
Speaker 2: heart strings were plucked. There was a lady with this
Speaker 2: really really big hair and this really really powerful voice
Speaker 2: and the longest, most amazing legs that I'd ever seen
Speaker 2: in my five year life. And you know, I smile
Speaker 2: and I laugh because Rams just you know, passed this
Speaker 2: to me because he knows my story and my face
Speaker 2: action for the giant that we lost, and that's Tina
Speaker 2: Turner from ABC News. Tina Turner dies at eighty three,
Speaker 2: a life well lived. Rolling Stone once named her one
Speaker 2: of the greatest singers of all time. Born Anime Bullock
Speaker 2: November twenty six, nineteen thirty nine, Tennessee, Turner began performing
Speaker 2: at a young age. As a teenager, she immersed herself
Speaker 2: in the local rhythm and blue scene. In nineteen fifty six,
Speaker 2: she met Ike Turner from the band Kings of Rhythm
Speaker 2: and became part of their act under the stage name
Speaker 2: Tina Turner. Together, they recorded hits in the nineteen sixties,
Speaker 2: including A Fool in Love's Going to Work Out Fine,
Speaker 2: I Idolize You, River Deep, Mountain High, as a part
Speaker 2: of the Ike and Tina Turner Review. In nineteen seventy one,
Speaker 2: their cover version of Creden's Clearwater's Revival Crowd Mary became
Speaker 2: a hit and Nutbush City Limit climb the charts as well.
Speaker 2: Tina went on to record What's Love Got to Do
Speaker 2: with It? And just really had an immense impact on
Speaker 2: the life of so many. If you need so much
Speaker 2: more time than we had to get listen, but uh.
Speaker 1: Two time inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,
Speaker 1: movie star, on and on, so ebony excellence, indeed a
Speaker 1: life well lived.
Speaker 2: Now we got a few stories to go through.
Speaker 1: The story that incensed me the most this week, I suspect.
Speaker 2: It's one of the stories that, in those words, should
Speaker 2: be so heavy. The story that incensed me the most
Speaker 2: considering some of you know the type of subject matter
Speaker 2: that we cover every week, and then you'll hear all
Speaker 2: the stories that we're covering this week. The idea that
Speaker 2: something stood out amongst those things is saying a lot.
Speaker 2: So and Culture.
Speaker 1: And Culture, for those that don't know, is a conservative
Speaker 1: media pundant, author and syndicated columnist. She's a lawyer, and
Speaker 1: she has two zero point one million followers on Twitter.
Speaker 1: She is not a nobody in conservative circles. She's been
Speaker 1: on the news countless times. A very uh, very far
Speaker 1: right wing sort of person, and the people on the
Speaker 1: left and make fun of her effectually refer to her
Speaker 1: as like.
Speaker 2: Racism in human form. Right, that's a way to put it.
Speaker 2: But there's always been this.
Speaker 1: Vine of plausible deniability there. I know there hasn't, but
Speaker 1: they believe that and they stand behind it, which kind
Speaker 1: of leaves them.
Speaker 2: They never did right, Well, they did stand on it,
Speaker 2: That's what they did, believe. That's what I'm trying to say.
Speaker 2: Thank you, because they felt the same way she does.
Speaker 1: You needed to clear that up. Thank you for that,
Speaker 1: because you're absolutely right. They know better, and I believe
Speaker 1: she knows exactly who she is and what she means.
Speaker 1: But she's used coded language. And again she's a lawyer,
Speaker 1: so she's not a stupid person. Well you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. But she's always been able to be just
Speaker 1: crafty enough, like many others that are like really far right,
Speaker 1: just crafty enough to be able to evade significant pushback
Speaker 1: from her followers and supporters. In other words, she's not
Speaker 1: using the in word, which is you know, anything short
Speaker 1: of that. People can say, well, I'm not racist, I
Speaker 1: have a black friend, I'm not racist. I've never used
Speaker 1: the word, and indeed live much of their life supporting
Speaker 1: racist initiatives and turning a blind eye to others that
Speaker 1: do the same. So this is a culture. And as
Speaker 1: I mentioned, the thing above all else this week that
Speaker 1: incensed me, this is some rare air for me to
Speaker 1: be in, right, I tend to I know the world
Speaker 1: that I live in. It is not comfortable. Nobody, nobody deserves.
Speaker 2: This.
Speaker 1: I think that we deserved better, right. I don't think
Speaker 1: that's saying a lot either, right. But she put a
Speaker 1: tweet up referring to the NAACPS warning there's like a
Speaker 1: travel ban or travel restriction or something in DOUBLEA.
Speaker 2: It's more like a travel advisor advisory. That's it's not
Speaker 2: a restriction, it's not a band. It's just saying, hey,
Speaker 2: stare clear. If you're going to be traveling at all,
Speaker 2: maybe Florida shouldn't be at the top of your list
Speaker 2: as places to visit, as places to frequent and as
Speaker 2: a place to go spend money. Because if you've been
Speaker 2: watching the news at all, Florida is the government gun
Speaker 2: in there gunning for black folks, is gunning for everybody
Speaker 2: not white, It seems well they have one group.
Speaker 1: We'll get to it. Yeah, one group that they're using
Speaker 1: again to use that veneer to say, hey, we're not racist.
Speaker 1: Look at this one group we're treating these handful of people, okay,
Speaker 1: and they're not why everybody else look do like them
Speaker 1: and we'll be fine anyway. And Culture, in response to
Speaker 1: the NAACP's advisory, put a.
Speaker 2: Tweet out and she's so classy, it says.
Speaker 1: NAACP issues warning to African Americans to avoid visiting Florida.
Speaker 1: Employees and restaurant and tourism industry brace for a zero
Speaker 1: point zero zero percent drop in tips.
Speaker 2: Okay, now now let me I want, I need you
Speaker 2: to talk about this one.
Speaker 1: But let me let me set it up for our
Speaker 1: listeners that don't know about this stereotype. So, among many
Speaker 1: stereotypes and prejudices and preconceived notion notions, especially from people
Speaker 1: who don't regularly interact with many black people from many
Speaker 1: different socioeconomic backgrounds and faith traditions and parts of the country,
Speaker 1: et cetera, right, there is a myth that exists that
Speaker 1: black people are not good tippers. Among many that are
Speaker 1: very damaging, very hartful, and very negative, but typically the racism.
Speaker 1: The prejudice is not out loud, whereas right here we
Speaker 1: have it in a tweet. It's unfounded when you apply
Speaker 1: it to an entire ethnic group. And she did it
Speaker 1: for laughs. Maybe I don't understand. So there's the setup.
Speaker 1: That's why she used these zero point zero percent dropping tips,
Speaker 1: just trying to be cheeky there.
Speaker 2: Okay, go ahead, you tips. I forget because tips mean something.
Speaker 2: I think it used to be an acronym and now
Speaker 2: it's just a word that we use. Was never intended
Speaker 2: to be how you got paid. You were supposed to
Speaker 2: go make a living wage, and then if your service
Speaker 2: was extraordinary, people will pay you extra on top of that.
Speaker 2: I say that because for my entire working life, I
Speaker 2: won't even say an adult, because I got my first
Speaker 2: job before I was an adult. I have not been
Speaker 2: able to hold people in service of me accountable. Because
Speaker 2: of that, I have tipped, no matter how awful your
Speaker 2: service was, because as soon as I walk in the door,
Speaker 2: you know that as soon as I'm being as soon
Speaker 2: as you're being of service to me, I know that
Speaker 2: there is a chance that you've been schooled in this
Speaker 2: way to think I won't tip you that your mind.
Speaker 2: As soon as you saw me thought that guy or
Speaker 2: those guys, or that family or that group, thank you?
Speaker 2: Is it gonna tip?
Speaker 1: The reason I'm finishing your sentences is because that's the
Speaker 1: same with me.
Speaker 2: And it's not because I wasn't great at my job.
Speaker 2: It wasn't because I was rude and unattentive and apathetic
Speaker 2: in the way that I carried on. It's because they're
Speaker 2: black and they just don't tip. So I have never
Speaker 2: been able to in the way of withholding my tip
Speaker 2: because the service wasn't great, as a way of encouraging
Speaker 2: better service, I've never been able to do that because
Speaker 2: I never wanted to be associated with that stereotype. I
Speaker 2: never wanted to add credence. I never wanted to justify
Speaker 2: the feeling that person has. I never wanted to prove
Speaker 2: anyone right to ever served me Somewhere, You've gotten a
Speaker 2: really good tip, not always because you were great, but
Speaker 2: because I refused to give credence to that. Yeah, that
Speaker 2: ignorance exactly. Now. I want to say something.
Speaker 1: The the truth is that black people aren't the only
Speaker 1: one that this is associated with. This has been associated
Speaker 1: with a lot of different people throughout the years. Notably
Speaker 1: Jewish people, and it is unfair the time, but again
Speaker 1: to see it out in print like this or in
Speaker 1: a tweet feels a bit low even for her. Moving on,
Speaker 1: you thought that was funny. North Carolina State Representative Jeff
Speaker 1: McNeely was asked, or sorry, asked North Carolina State Representative
Speaker 1: Abel Jones, who's not an athlete or a minority, would
Speaker 1: he have been able to attend Harvard? So here we
Speaker 1: have another one where.
Speaker 2: The and this one.
Speaker 1: I actually kind of feel bad about this guy, Jeff McNeely,
Speaker 1: because a lot of times conservative white men who get
Speaker 1: their news from one two sources that are also deeply conservative. Right,
Speaker 1: if you get your news from a very left leaning source,
Speaker 1: then sure. But the fact of the matter is that
Speaker 1: the truth has a liberal bias to it. The fact
Speaker 1: of the matter is that the majority of the people
Speaker 1: in this country have a liberal philosophy about them. The
Speaker 1: majority of human beings in their entirety or old enough
Speaker 1: to vote. And the reason elections are competitive is because
Speaker 1: of things like Jerry Manderin, because of things like voter suppression,
Speaker 1: and because of things.
Speaker 2: Like the.
Speaker 1: Electoral College exactly. But that doesn't mean that we are
Speaker 1: a divided country. We are a liberal country. We are
Speaker 1: a liberal planet in fact.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: But again, if you're this person and you get your
Speaker 1: news from this source, then it might appear as though.
Speaker 2: You only know.
Speaker 1: About the myths associated with.
Speaker 2: Affirmative action.
Speaker 1: And the myths associated with great replacement and deep state
Speaker 1: and all these weird things that you might believe are
Speaker 1: very true.
Speaker 2: And if you believe them to be true.
Speaker 1: That ignorance might manifest itself on the North Carolina House
Speaker 1: of Representatives floor when you ask out loud of your
Speaker 1: own mouth and then subsequently have to apologize a black representative,
Speaker 1: Able Jones, if he was not an athlete or a minority,
Speaker 1: would he have been able to attend Harvard. I want
Speaker 1: you to know that. When the representative of Able Jones responded,
Speaker 1: he said, when I graduated Harvard, I was in rank
Speaker 1: number two, and so he earned his place there. So
Speaker 1: that feels like another sort of cheap shot that we've
Speaker 1: had to deal with this past week. But moving on,
Speaker 1: because there's a few more here. There was a recent
Speaker 1: story about a group of homeless veterans that were removed
Speaker 1: from a New York hotel to make room for migrants,
Speaker 1: and the story made waves through right wing media. Now
Speaker 1: this story has been proven to be false. According to
Speaker 1: the mid Hudson News. Homeless men in the area said
Speaker 1: they were paid to pose as veterans and corroborate the
Speaker 1: false story to a local Chamber of commerce. The men
Speaker 1: identified the person who bribed them as Sharon Tony Finch.
Speaker 1: They said she has not paid them the two hundred
Speaker 1: dollars they were promised for their role in the hoax. Okay,
Speaker 1: so let me back up a bit for those that
Speaker 1: maybe you don't find yourself on the bright bart sites
Speaker 1: and the again, these far right borderline Sorry, I can't
Speaker 1: even say borderline because qu's here.
Speaker 2: Bona fide, hateful sites.
Speaker 1: That perpetuate division in this country and attack anything that
Speaker 1: is even remotely humane.
Speaker 2: This false story.
Speaker 1: Was circulated to suggest that migrants were taking precedents over veterans. Now,
Speaker 1: mind you, this is the party on the right, Republicans
Speaker 1: that have voted to limit funding to the VA for
Speaker 1: veterans to and a lot of local elections and sorry,
Speaker 1: I'm the local political arenas around the country have pushed
Speaker 1: back against efforts to treat houseless people humanely, and a
Speaker 1: lot of them are veterans.
Speaker 2: As well, right, they don't actually care. That's my point.
Speaker 2: It's good marketing to pretend you care. This is my point,
Speaker 2: you know, just like you know, we notice with the
Speaker 2: Blue Lives Matter movement, a lot of those people have
Speaker 2: moved to defund now as the slogan that they cry
Speaker 2: out because you know, do everything exactly the way I
Speaker 2: want you to do it, or you have no worth.
Speaker 2: It's kind of the subscription that they have subscribed to.
Speaker 2: And they pretend to honor, love, respect, and care about
Speaker 2: our veterans. But there's no proof, like, there's zero proof,
Speaker 2: there's no statistics to back that as an idea. And
Speaker 2: you know who is actually or politically.
Speaker 1: You know who is actually trying to push initiatives that
Speaker 1: actually do help benefit and fund the VA and benefit
Speaker 1: our veterans. Democrats? But who has the narrative at least
Speaker 1: they've been to fund law enforcements. Yeah, that too, But
Speaker 1: who has the narrative at least with their base, their
Speaker 1: voter base, the Republican I wish I wish their base
Speaker 1: got news from other sources.
Speaker 2: I wish the base actually cared or it doesn't matter anymore.
Speaker 2: Once upon a time they would have needed to get
Speaker 2: some unbiased, unslanted news beyond the point now where that matters,
Speaker 2: even when the real news reported by them is awful.
Speaker 2: It's cool.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we'll get to that in the second part of
Speaker 1: the show. All right, moving on Florida, here we go again.
Speaker 1: Florida now requires schools to teach AAPI history. How about
Speaker 1: that aa PI Asian American Florida, Florida, the state that
Speaker 1: just made it illegal to teach American.
Speaker 2: History, how about that? Right? Why would they do such
Speaker 2: a thing? Round?
Speaker 1: Well, real quick, AAPI, for those who don't know, stands
Speaker 1: for Asian, American and Pacific Islander.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: So that is a very specific and indeed very small
Speaker 1: in terms of the numbers minority group in this country.
Speaker 1: Right now, Florida wants their history to be taught, which
Speaker 1: in and of itself we both would say, and I
Speaker 1: believe everyone should say, is amazing.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: But the reason Florida is doing this, I'll explain. What
Speaker 1: they're trying to do is push the model minority myth.
Speaker 1: For those that are unfamiliar, Asian Americans are purported to
Speaker 1: be the model minority in the United States of America. Right,
Speaker 1: everyone should be like the Asians. Now, everyone does not
Speaker 1: have the history that Asian folks do. Everyone does not
Speaker 1: have the constant opposition that Asian people have. Not to
Speaker 1: say the Asian people have not had their fair share
Speaker 1: of opposition, but indeed there's a longer history here with
Speaker 1: African American people, and the legacy of that history has
Speaker 1: profound implications even to this day. Plus there are a
Speaker 1: lot more black people in this country, and this country
Speaker 1: interacts with black people differently. We love our Aapi brothers
Speaker 1: and sisters, and we always will. So this is never
Speaker 1: going to be a conversation of us versus them, because
Speaker 1: we're as far as I'm concerned, we're always on the
Speaker 1: same team. This is also an attempt to keep the
Speaker 1: racialized structure stable. Asians are used to triangulate and wedge
Speaker 1: a group between black people and white people, right, and
Speaker 1: really the state and the government and these far right
Speaker 1: Republicans gives.
Speaker 2: Them someone to point to so that they can you go, there,
Speaker 2: you go.
Speaker 1: What I have written says the same thing. It says
Speaker 1: to a to avoid accountability, that they can say that
Speaker 1: they aren't racist. We're not racist. Look at this group.
Speaker 1: We want their history taught right. So that's another thing
Speaker 1: that's happening. And then these last couple of things I
Speaker 1: really need to share with you. Florida State Bill seventeen
Speaker 1: eighteen was a pushback on immigration. I employ you to
Speaker 1: look it up. But now Kansas is following Florida. Okay,
Speaker 1: So Kansas House Bill HB twenty three fifty attacks immigration.
Speaker 1: So Kansas governor vetoed this bill, but their House legislature
Speaker 1: passed it anyway by overriding the vetol goes intofect July first,
Speaker 1: and it makes it a level five felony to transport
Speaker 1: someone who's in the US illegally.
Speaker 2: This is just racist nationalism for the sake of it
Speaker 2: all the way out as in a border state. On
Speaker 2: top of that, Kansas, what are they doing? Kansas?
Speaker 1: They farm agriculture, so I don't know what they're going
Speaker 1: to do to keep that economy going or whatever the
Speaker 1: export from that place. But you need to know about
Speaker 1: this because we also stand with I'm from California, so
Speaker 1: I grew up with Mexican people from Mexico and from California.
Speaker 1: My children are half Mexicans, qu'es children are half Mexicans.
Speaker 1: So this will always be applied. This's near and dear
Speaker 1: to both.
Speaker 2: Of our hearts. Get this last thing in about Texas.
Speaker 1: University of Texas system is trying to ban educators from
Speaker 1: using the word racism up to and including jail time.
Speaker 1: There's even a hotline people can use to snitch on educators.
Speaker 1: They're planning on using six million dollars to implement and
Speaker 1: enforce this policy. Now, what does that remind you of? Fascism?
Speaker 1: And it's not just the University of Texas, it's not
Speaker 1: just Kansas, it's not just Florida. You need to be
Speaker 1: aware and hopefully we've made you a little bit more aware.