WEBVTT - Civic Cipher 100221 Sarra, Mimi, and Mastaani (Viral ASU Students) 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:04.040 Welcome to another episode of Civic Cipher. I'm your host, rams' Jah, 0:00:04.080 --> 0:00:05.960 and a big shout out to my man q Ward, 0:00:06.000 --> 0:00:11.960 who is indisposed this morning or evening, depending on when 0:00:12.000 --> 0:00:14.800 you're listening, but we are still back up in you 0:00:14.840 --> 0:00:17.920 one more again to broadcast the balance and to defend 0:00:18.120 --> 0:00:21.640 the discourse. We've got special show in store for you today, 0:00:21.680 --> 0:00:24.720 so be sure to stick around. I don't know if 0:00:24.720 --> 0:00:27.400 you've seen it, and if you're listening to my voice 0:00:27.440 --> 0:00:29.640 right now, you might not have seen it, but there 0:00:29.720 --> 0:00:33.920 is a viral video that has been picked up mostly 0:00:33.960 --> 0:00:39.120 by right wing media that is being touted as an 0:00:39.120 --> 0:00:44.640 example of reverse racism and all those sort of buzzwords 0:00:44.640 --> 0:00:49.160 that get the right all riled up. Well, we're gonna 0:00:49.200 --> 0:00:51.000 get to that in just a moment. But I also 0:00:51.159 --> 0:00:55.280 have the ladies from that video, which takes place on 0:00:55.400 --> 0:00:58.760 Arizona State University's campus in the studio with me today, 0:00:59.360 --> 0:01:02.360 so we'll define definitely have a lot to cover there. Also, 0:01:02.720 --> 0:01:07.119 we're going to be talking about our way black history. Fact, 0:01:07.760 --> 0:01:10.560 we're going to spend some time talking about HBCUs and 0:01:10.600 --> 0:01:14.760 their origins, and of course I wanted to take some 0:01:14.840 --> 0:01:18.520 time to discuss our segment that we'd like to do 0:01:18.600 --> 0:01:22.759 each and every week called Ebony Excellence, and so I'm 0:01:22.760 --> 0:01:28.679 going to get into that right now now. Today's Ebony 0:01:28.720 --> 0:01:34.400 Excellence segment highlights a woman by the name of Maya Smith. 0:01:34.560 --> 0:01:40.600 Around here, we like black women millionaires, and Maya Smith 0:01:40.720 --> 0:01:47.200 is one such individual. She is the founder and CEO 0:01:47.560 --> 0:01:51.280 of a company called the do I believe that's how 0:01:51.280 --> 0:01:57.400 you say that Doux haircare line and salon, and she 0:01:58.160 --> 0:02:03.480 creates an her words, sucker free hair care that devotes style, charisma, 0:02:03.520 --> 0:02:06.560 and a whole lot of attitude reminiscent of nineties hip 0:02:06.600 --> 0:02:10.480 hop and nostalgia. In two thousand and nine, after being 0:02:10.480 --> 0:02:12.840 stationed in Germany with her husband, she opened a national 0:02:13.320 --> 0:02:16.639 hair salon that catered to women with active lifestyles. She 0:02:16.720 --> 0:02:19.680 sought to reinvigorate and natural hair care market with products 0:02:19.720 --> 0:02:23.880 that delivered salon results in half the time. She did 0:02:23.919 --> 0:02:29.200 this in making Georgia, and her perspective on beauty has 0:02:29.200 --> 0:02:31.680 been shaped through her experience as a woman of color, 0:02:32.200 --> 0:02:36.200 but by the thousands of real life salon experiences over 0:02:36.280 --> 0:02:40.360 a twenty six year career. One such product that she 0:02:40.560 --> 0:02:46.880 makes is called we dad Ouidad and it's specifically designed 0:02:46.880 --> 0:02:50.160 for curly hair, to soften black hair, things like this, 0:02:50.360 --> 0:02:53.000 And what we have here is a woman who created 0:02:53.040 --> 0:02:57.120 an empire out of her own experience, out of her 0:02:57.120 --> 0:03:01.360 own desires to create things that she didn't see existing 0:03:01.360 --> 0:03:03.680 in the real world, and not only doing that, but 0:03:03.760 --> 0:03:08.079 partnering with much larger companies and bringing different products to 0:03:08.160 --> 0:03:11.880 market that are being consumed in mass by black women 0:03:12.040 --> 0:03:15.519 and women of color around the world now. And of course, 0:03:15.600 --> 0:03:20.120 Ebony Excellence exists to highlight women like this and the 0:03:20.160 --> 0:03:23.440 achievements of black people. And so today we wanted to 0:03:23.520 --> 0:03:25.440 take a moment to make sure that she gets her 0:03:25.440 --> 0:03:29.600 flowers once again. Maya Smith the founder and CEO of 0:03:29.840 --> 0:03:34.679 the Do Hair Care and Salon, And if you're in Georgia, 0:03:37.000 --> 0:03:37.320 you might. 0:03:37.320 --> 0:03:38.440 Want to stop by. 0:03:39.240 --> 0:03:42.920 So yeah, but I think it's about time for us 0:03:42.920 --> 0:03:46.840 to get to the main topic of the day, and 0:03:47.000 --> 0:03:53.200 that is there is a video you may have seen 0:03:53.840 --> 0:03:59.920 about a confrontation on Arizona State University's campus between student 0:04:00.360 --> 0:04:05.280 trying to use a multicultural center. Again, it's been shared 0:04:05.280 --> 0:04:07.800 by right Doing media as an example of white discrimination 0:04:08.080 --> 0:04:10.880 or reverse racism, but of course there's a lot more 0:04:10.920 --> 0:04:14.760 to the story. My guests today are Zara, Mimi, and 0:04:15.000 --> 0:04:19.880 Ms Donnie, who are all students at ASU's campus. But 0:04:19.920 --> 0:04:21.960 of course you're all much more so. Zara, go first, 0:04:22.040 --> 0:04:24.320 let everyone know what it is you do on the 0:04:24.360 --> 0:04:27.200 campus and what you're studying and kind of your place 0:04:27.240 --> 0:04:27.719 in the story. 0:04:28.600 --> 0:04:33.840 Yeah. So again, my name is Sara Tacola. My pronouncer devilm. 0:04:34.080 --> 0:04:39.600 I am a PhD candidate and sustainability and I am 0:04:40.320 --> 0:04:44.800 my research is on climate change and colonization. I'm studying 0:04:45.040 --> 0:04:47.480 what I call the pathology of modernity. 0:04:49.160 --> 0:04:51.719 And I'm also the co. 0:04:51.640 --> 0:04:55.880 President of the Black Graduate Student Association and I'm also 0:04:56.480 --> 0:04:59.240 the founder of the Multicultural Solidarity Coalition. 0:05:00.160 --> 0:05:04.320 Okay, I love that. Mustani, let everybody know who you 0:05:04.360 --> 0:05:06.640 are and what you do on the campus. 0:05:07.200 --> 0:05:11.760 Hey everyone, I'm Asthani, I you see her pronouns. I 0:05:11.800 --> 0:05:14.880 am a senior this year. I'm graduating finally with my 0:05:15.120 --> 0:05:19.799 undergrad in May of twenty twenty two. I'm double majoring 0:05:19.839 --> 0:05:22.560 in history and justice studies. I'm getting a minor in 0:05:22.600 --> 0:05:26.800 political science. I'm also getting a certificate in Women and 0:05:26.880 --> 0:05:31.560 Gender studies. What I do at the campus is I'm 0:05:31.560 --> 0:05:35.560 an as official role called the co president of the 0:05:35.600 --> 0:05:40.040 Women's Coalition. But besides that, right now here, I'm representing 0:05:40.080 --> 0:05:45.440 the Multicultural Solidarity Coalition, and I'm an organizer within this coalition. 0:05:45.839 --> 0:05:49.160 Very good, okay, and Mimi your turn. 0:05:49.839 --> 0:05:53.680 So I'm Mimi. I you see her pronouns, and I 0:05:53.720 --> 0:05:58.560 am a third year PhD student in justice studies, and 0:05:58.640 --> 0:06:02.080 I'm an in this School for Social Transformation. I am 0:06:02.160 --> 0:06:06.640 also the co president of the Black Graduate Student Association, 0:06:07.320 --> 0:06:11.039 and I'm also a member of the Multicultural Solidarity Coalition, 0:06:11.279 --> 0:06:15.880 and i study gender violence against Black women specifically. 0:06:16.279 --> 0:06:20.920 Okay, very good. Now, if you're listening, of course, we're 0:06:20.960 --> 0:06:27.040 going to describe the video, but we need to paint 0:06:27.040 --> 0:06:29.320 a picture. There needs to be some context. Because we 0:06:29.440 --> 0:06:32.480 just get into the video, it will lack the depth 0:06:32.560 --> 0:06:39.400 that it needs. So this Multicultural Center did that always 0:06:39.440 --> 0:06:40.280 exist at a issue? 0:06:40.680 --> 0:06:41.520 No, it didn't. 0:06:41.560 --> 0:06:46.360 In fact, it had just opened that month and it 0:06:46.480 --> 0:06:50.440 was a long struggle to bring it here, bring it back. 0:06:50.560 --> 0:06:53.520 ASU had one, they defunded it. Michael Crowe came in 0:06:53.560 --> 0:06:59.080 with a new American university, and you had a race 0:06:59.200 --> 0:07:04.440 neutral vision of the university, and it took a lot 0:07:04.480 --> 0:07:09.240 of organizing. When I first came to the university, being 0:07:09.240 --> 0:07:14.400 a first generation college student. It was because of program 0:07:14.480 --> 0:07:17.920 services and spaces for students of color that I was 0:07:18.000 --> 0:07:21.000 able to get to the level of a PhD student. 0:07:22.000 --> 0:07:24.800 Those were the ladders that I climbed up on, and 0:07:24.840 --> 0:07:27.920 when I came to Arizona State University, they didn't exist. 0:07:28.240 --> 0:07:32.880 There's no diversity office. Still, there was no multicultural center. 0:07:33.200 --> 0:07:39.720 There was no place, space, programs, or services for underrepresented minorities. 0:07:39.960 --> 0:07:44.240 And so because of that, I started the campaign for 0:07:44.280 --> 0:07:49.120 a multicultural center through the Multicultural Solidarity Coalition. It took 0:07:49.240 --> 0:07:56.240 five years of organizing. What we did initially was host 0:07:56.560 --> 0:08:02.160 town halls and bring students together, students of color, women, 0:08:02.840 --> 0:08:09.080 people with disabilities, Muslim and other religious minorities, queer and 0:08:09.200 --> 0:08:13.640 trans people, and other marginalized peoples. These students came together 0:08:13.760 --> 0:08:17.440 and we continued to hear about how Arizona wasn't safe 0:08:17.840 --> 0:08:22.000 from the white nationalists who would parade campus and put 0:08:22.080 --> 0:08:28.120 up flyers to you know, the hostile place because of 0:08:28.600 --> 0:08:31.560 what a SU allowed and their and their race neutral 0:08:33.000 --> 0:08:37.679 policies that they were practicing. And so what we did, 0:08:38.000 --> 0:08:42.680 through these roundtables and town halls and circles, we were 0:08:42.760 --> 0:08:47.840 able to take this this information and develop a twenty 0:08:47.920 --> 0:08:55.080 five page proposal which was we tried to deliver in 0:08:55.120 --> 0:08:57.120 twenty nineteen and we were ignored. 0:08:57.320 --> 0:08:58.080 We weren't listened. 0:08:58.120 --> 0:09:02.080 After years of organizing and putting this together and bringing students, 0:09:03.160 --> 0:09:07.000 you know, voices together in this proposal, and then it 0:09:07.040 --> 0:09:11.640 wasn't until twenty twenty and the uprising in George Floyd 0:09:12.000 --> 0:09:16.160 did Michael Crowe pretend to care about race relations in 0:09:16.200 --> 0:09:18.800 which he said, send me a proposal what to do. 0:09:18.880 --> 0:09:21.000 But we had already had a proposal out. 0:09:21.520 --> 0:09:28.160 So after our protest, which Michael Crowe comes out with 0:09:28.240 --> 0:09:30.520 a twenty five point plan which is now called the 0:09:30.559 --> 0:09:33.680 LIFT Initiative, about what he's going to do to improve 0:09:33.840 --> 0:09:38.680 African American students' conditions on the campus. One of them 0:09:38.880 --> 0:09:41.880 was a multicultural center that was only because of this 0:09:42.400 --> 0:09:47.120 prior years of organizing and this space only just opened 0:09:47.160 --> 0:09:48.760 up in the beginning of September. 0:09:48.840 --> 0:09:54.840 Okay, so I'm guessing you started this initiative in twenty sixteen. 0:09:54.880 --> 0:10:01.320 You said five years ago, what was the inspiration? Like, 0:10:01.600 --> 0:10:05.559 where was was what was the need for an multicultural 0:10:05.600 --> 0:10:06.560 center based off of. 0:10:09.120 --> 0:10:12.160 So basically. 0:10:13.800 --> 0:10:17.080 It was the fact that like there were no resources 0:10:17.520 --> 0:10:21.560 that were there virtually for students to have access to 0:10:21.760 --> 0:10:24.959 that can marginaliz students specifically, that can get them through 0:10:25.000 --> 0:10:27.280 the program, that can get them through their program, their departments, 0:10:27.320 --> 0:10:29.680 and that kinds of things. The retention rates for black 0:10:29.720 --> 0:10:32.840 and brown and indigenous students were super super low, you know, 0:10:32.920 --> 0:10:35.920 So it was just like, Okay, being from the West Coast, 0:10:35.920 --> 0:10:38.920 from California Mediay area, we have whole black achievement centers, 0:10:38.960 --> 0:10:40.920 we have black achievement counselors at my alma mater. 0:10:41.040 --> 0:10:42.960 Coming to ASU, you don't see any of that. 0:10:43.080 --> 0:10:46.480 So even me, as a first generation PhD student in 0:10:46.520 --> 0:10:50.880 my family, I'm coming in and I'm expecting to be 0:10:50.920 --> 0:10:53.360 flooded with resources, you know, as a black woman, and 0:10:53.400 --> 0:10:55.600 I go in there and that's not something that's being offered. 0:10:55.640 --> 0:10:59.079 And it was offered for me first generation college student, 0:10:59.120 --> 0:11:01.320 for my undergraduate So it's just kind of like we're 0:11:01.600 --> 0:11:06.280 we're seeing like that there's there's no clear support services here. 0:11:06.360 --> 0:11:08.880 And as an attest to the larger you know, racial 0:11:08.920 --> 0:11:14.880 resentments and of the larger Arizona community that doesn't listen 0:11:14.920 --> 0:11:16.560 to the needs of marginalized students and give them the 0:11:16.559 --> 0:11:17.600 equity that they deserve. 0:11:17.800 --> 0:11:24.800 What type of resources are you speaking about that will 0:11:24.840 --> 0:11:27.280 help and make the difference with black and brown and 0:11:27.360 --> 0:11:28.200 marginalized students? 0:11:28.200 --> 0:11:29.679 What what are those resources? 0:11:30.120 --> 0:11:30.320 Right? 0:11:30.360 --> 0:11:32.800 So they're laid out in our twenty five in our 0:11:33.600 --> 0:11:37.400 Multicultural Scholars Proposal that we gave to President Crow. So 0:11:37.520 --> 0:11:42.400 pretty much like we're talking counseling services black col counselors 0:11:42.440 --> 0:11:44.959 that are black counselors that look like us, we're free 0:11:45.040 --> 0:11:47.679 for free and who currently doesn't have that. 0:11:47.720 --> 0:11:48.960 We're talking about. 0:11:50.080 --> 0:11:53.640 Pre college graduate school like for undergraduates, there's things called 0:11:53.640 --> 0:11:57.240 the McNair scholars McNair scholars. They help undergraduate students get 0:11:57.280 --> 0:12:02.000 into graduate schools, specifically marginalized undergo students get into graduate schools. 0:12:02.320 --> 0:12:05.120 And we're talking about free tutoring services with tutors that 0:12:05.160 --> 0:12:07.080 look like us that we could put inside of the 0:12:07.120 --> 0:12:10.520 center so that way students have a healthy access to 0:12:10.559 --> 0:12:13.120 that because we need extra help because our community, our 0:12:13.160 --> 0:12:16.440 communities have been ravistered by white supremacy when it comes 0:12:16.440 --> 0:12:19.000 to their education, our instercational institutions as well. 0:12:19.559 --> 0:12:22.400 So just just to kind. 0:12:22.240 --> 0:12:24.480 Of name a few programs there that we feel like, 0:12:24.720 --> 0:12:27.400 so what was it THATOK, why did it take five 0:12:27.480 --> 0:12:28.280 years to. 0:12:28.200 --> 0:12:30.520 Get they ignored us, They gasled us. 0:12:31.440 --> 0:12:34.000 They used to say that you don't need a multicultural center, 0:12:34.240 --> 0:12:37.679 you have the whole campus is a multicultural center, and 0:12:37.720 --> 0:12:41.480 that you know, we're all sun sun devils, which is 0:12:41.520 --> 0:12:45.400 really the all lives matter ideology that they were trying 0:12:45.440 --> 0:12:49.560 to perpetuate. And that was okay until the social moment 0:12:49.600 --> 0:12:52.560 that was twenty twenty and the uprising, and at that 0:12:52.720 --> 0:12:59.719 point Crow could no longer continue the neoliberal race neutral ideology. 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:06.880 Okay, so this multicultural center exists to. 0:13:08.360 --> 0:13:13.199 Increase ultimately, perhaps its main purpose is to increase the 0:13:13.720 --> 0:13:17.559 retention and graduation rates of black students, brown students, marginalized 0:13:17.559 --> 0:13:26.160 students on the campus. And this was ignored for five years. Okay, 0:13:26.760 --> 0:13:36.240 this is something that you fought for, and people ignoring 0:13:36.320 --> 0:13:39.680 that or now I'm sure people that now that it's 0:13:39.720 --> 0:13:42.679 made national news or I guess global in some cases, yeah, 0:13:42.880 --> 0:13:48.600 it's gone international. There are people who say stuff like, well, 0:13:49.160 --> 0:13:52.880 what about having like a whites only space on an 0:13:53.040 --> 0:13:57.679 HBCUs campus. What do you say, like, how is this 0:13:57.760 --> 0:14:01.520 multicultural center different from that? How do you do what 0:14:01.520 --> 0:14:02.720 would you say to someone like that? 0:14:03.760 --> 0:14:07.520 I think, first of all, you know, one of the 0:14:07.559 --> 0:14:10.400 things that happened in that video is like he's like, well, 0:14:10.440 --> 0:14:14.200 where am I supposed to go? White people are? We 0:14:14.280 --> 0:14:17.920 go to a predominantly white institution. That means that white 0:14:17.960 --> 0:14:22.200 people are centered in every single space on campus except 0:14:22.200 --> 0:14:25.760 for that room we're talking about. You see mostly white professors, 0:14:26.000 --> 0:14:29.480 mostly white staff. You learn in history about white people, 0:14:30.360 --> 0:14:33.400 and this isn't because African people don't have history. We 0:14:33.480 --> 0:14:38.600 have a much larger, longer, older history, pre colonial context 0:14:38.680 --> 0:14:41.280 that the university doesn't even. 0:14:41.120 --> 0:14:44.040 Teach, you know, we don't learn about. 0:14:44.800 --> 0:14:48.280 We don't see ourselves represented in any of these fields. 0:14:48.440 --> 0:14:52.000 And so that is why it's critical and all the 0:14:52.040 --> 0:14:55.760 research backs this that you need to have spaces where 0:14:55.800 --> 0:15:00.920 you center underrepresented minorities to increase retention and recruitment and 0:15:01.000 --> 0:15:04.600 graduation because this institution. 0:15:04.320 --> 0:15:06.040 Was not built for us, you know. 0:15:06.280 --> 0:15:12.160 And as far as like white people in HBCUs, you know, 0:15:12.360 --> 0:15:15.560 if white people choose to go to an HBCU, which 0:15:15.600 --> 0:15:18.920 is a historically black college, again we have to I 0:15:18.920 --> 0:15:21.520 think the issue here is that we're not looking at 0:15:21.560 --> 0:15:25.280 this with a critical race analysis, and we have to 0:15:25.360 --> 0:15:29.960 understand that race and white people, whiteness is a construct 0:15:30.040 --> 0:15:35.200 of power and so and black people have always been oppressed. 0:15:35.360 --> 0:15:37.800 There's a social hierarchy and black people are put at 0:15:37.800 --> 0:15:39.800 the bottom and white people are put at the top. 0:15:40.080 --> 0:15:42.360 So when we ask some of these questions, we have 0:15:42.480 --> 0:15:47.320 to are we looking at the social stratification of society 0:15:47.360 --> 0:15:50.240 with this? Why do white people need to be centered 0:15:50.240 --> 0:15:51.080 in the HBCU. 0:15:51.440 --> 0:15:54.840 They don't. They have most universities center themselves. 0:15:54.960 --> 0:15:57.080 Yeah, we're going to talk about that. There's because we're 0:15:57.080 --> 0:15:59.520 talking about the HBCU. So I'm glad you mentioned that. 0:16:00.000 --> 0:16:03.440 One of the things that I because this is the 0:16:03.520 --> 0:16:05.440 age old argument of why does there need to be 0:16:05.640 --> 0:16:13.520 a beet? And you know, when we talk about blackness, 0:16:14.200 --> 0:16:18.400 at least in this country, I guess a better word 0:16:18.480 --> 0:16:20.720 would be or a better phrase would be African American 0:16:21.160 --> 0:16:26.840 when we use the word black, and there's a cultural component. 0:16:26.880 --> 0:16:29.560 In fact, it is a culture in the same way 0:16:29.600 --> 0:16:34.360 that Italian Americans have culture and Swedish Americans or whatever. 0:16:34.600 --> 0:16:38.800 But when you say white, that's a color, not a culture, 0:16:38.920 --> 0:16:42.080 you know. And so when folks come around here at 0:16:42.160 --> 0:16:44.280 least with that argument, we shoot it down with that 0:16:44.400 --> 0:16:48.200 because it's just one of those things that they think. 0:16:48.240 --> 0:16:54.160 It's a very thinly veiled conversation piece that they think 0:16:54.240 --> 0:16:59.200 helps them fortify their white supremacist structures, or by saying, whoa, 0:16:59.280 --> 0:17:00.880 why can't we have a white space or do a 0:17:00.920 --> 0:17:07.160 white thing? Anyway, Mastranie, I want to hear from you, 0:17:07.280 --> 0:17:08.880 or at least I want you to start this off. 0:17:09.080 --> 0:17:15.520 So we've talked enough about why this multicultural center needed 0:17:15.520 --> 0:17:20.400 to exist, what it took to get it to manifestation 0:17:22.000 --> 0:17:28.280 and opened. Now let's talk about what happened in the 0:17:28.400 --> 0:17:31.000 video that ended up going viral. 0:17:32.080 --> 0:17:38.080 Right, So this is Thursday morning, last Thursday morning, and 0:17:38.920 --> 0:17:42.439 Mimi was in the multic Cultural Center, that space that 0:17:42.480 --> 0:17:45.680 we have been talking about, and she was having a 0:17:45.720 --> 0:17:49.520 black study group happening. Zara and I were in a 0:17:49.560 --> 0:17:54.040 building across from where the multicultural center is, right, and 0:17:54.119 --> 0:17:57.720 we were in a meeting with two ASU administrators. Right, 0:17:58.600 --> 0:18:02.960 So we're right, there's a Mimi's right here. Mimi notices 0:18:03.200 --> 0:18:08.320 a white guy in a brass pro hat and with 0:18:08.400 --> 0:18:11.719 a laptop that's his Police Lives Matter sticker, right, and 0:18:11.760 --> 0:18:15.760 that laptop is directed towards Mimi. So if Mimi's right there, 0:18:15.840 --> 0:18:18.720 that laptop is directly facing her, like she can see 0:18:18.720 --> 0:18:22.760 it from that distance, right. So Mimi sent us a picture, 0:18:23.119 --> 0:18:26.359 and Zara and I were in this meeting talking about 0:18:26.440 --> 0:18:30.440 literally the multicultural center with the administrators. Right, So we 0:18:30.480 --> 0:18:34.119 show the admin like around eleven forty five. Hey, you know, 0:18:34.240 --> 0:18:37.200 there's this white guy in the space. He's making it uncomfortable. 0:18:37.480 --> 0:18:39.520 He was doing that on purpose. You believe he was 0:18:39.560 --> 0:18:41.120 being there and being antagonistic. 0:18:41.680 --> 0:18:44.280 At that moment, I did not believe he was doing 0:18:44.280 --> 0:18:47.159 it on purpose, but when I went there, it was 0:18:47.200 --> 0:18:49.600 like a different story. But for now, he has a 0:18:49.640 --> 0:18:54.680 police Lives Matter sticker in a multicultural So that's right. 0:18:54.760 --> 0:18:56.280 He's supporting our killers. 0:18:55.920 --> 0:19:00.000 Automatically, right, So that doesn't even mean like there's no 0:19:00.119 --> 0:19:02.760 way out of it. So Zara and I, after the 0:19:02.800 --> 0:19:06.880 meeting finishes, we walk over there, you know, to the 0:19:06.960 --> 0:19:10.919 multicultural center. We walk over there, we wait for admin 0:19:11.000 --> 0:19:13.880 for five minutes, and it's been around twenty minutes since 0:19:13.880 --> 0:19:16.600 we have told the administrators about this white guy. 0:19:17.240 --> 0:19:18.200 So we go to Mimi. 0:19:18.200 --> 0:19:20.160 We're just hanging out with Mimi and there's a bunch 0:19:20.200 --> 0:19:24.159 of our friends to at this study table, right, And 0:19:25.280 --> 0:19:29.199 five minutes after five minutes of waiting, I approach that 0:19:29.359 --> 0:19:33.000 dude with the sticker, right, and I say hey, in 0:19:33.040 --> 0:19:37.800 a very polite voice, Hey, could you just put down 0:19:37.840 --> 0:19:40.160 your laptop in your bag because the sticker is making 0:19:40.240 --> 0:19:44.520 uncomfortable or could you please exit the space if you. 0:19:44.480 --> 0:19:45.920 Don't want to put your laptop back? 0:19:46.440 --> 0:19:50.520 Right, and just for context, there's another guy wearing an 0:19:50.560 --> 0:19:53.400 anti Biden shirt sitting right across him. 0:19:53.640 --> 0:19:56.560 Now, that's part of what makes it feel very intentional 0:19:56.560 --> 0:20:00.159 and very deliberate. They went there to upset the the 0:20:01.240 --> 0:20:02.920 spirit of the multicultural center. 0:20:03.080 --> 0:20:04.520 Right, Yes, I'm sorry. 0:20:04.880 --> 0:20:07.120 And not only that that a chick fil A called 0:20:07.160 --> 0:20:10.480 braspro Right. So four indicators, right, and all of them 0:20:10.520 --> 0:20:12.520 right across from Mimi, a black woman. 0:20:13.320 --> 0:20:13.520 Right. 0:20:14.320 --> 0:20:18.919 We ask them politely. Even before he could answer, the 0:20:18.960 --> 0:20:21.080 other guy just starts saying stuff. 0:20:21.800 --> 0:20:22.000 Right. 0:20:22.359 --> 0:20:25.800 The situation escalates. Right, And this guy, the white guy, 0:20:25.840 --> 0:20:28.879 his name is Chase Beckerman just for context, right, And 0:20:28.920 --> 0:20:31.879 the guy in the anti Biden ensured he is Garrett Niles. 0:20:31.880 --> 0:20:35.920 They're both ASU students, right. So Chase says, well, where 0:20:35.920 --> 0:20:36.200 am I. 0:20:36.160 --> 0:20:36.960 Supposed to go? 0:20:37.240 --> 0:20:39.200 I'm like, you can go anywhere on this campus. You 0:20:39.240 --> 0:20:41.320 can go to the first floor, the second floor, anywhere 0:20:41.320 --> 0:20:45.879 on the camp right, And then Garrett starts speaking on 0:20:46.000 --> 0:20:48.680 top of me. And that's when Zara comes, because first 0:20:48.720 --> 0:20:50.560 I was only talking to Chase, so I don't know 0:20:50.560 --> 0:20:54.719 why did he jump in right to defend his white friend. 0:20:55.520 --> 0:20:59.080 But then Zara comes and that's how it starts. 0:20:59.160 --> 0:20:59.280 Right. 0:20:59.320 --> 0:21:02.560 We did not start shouting. We only politely asked them 0:21:02.560 --> 0:21:06.000 to leave. They raised their voices at us. We all 0:21:06.000 --> 0:21:08.679 have to come and speak because you know, we can't 0:21:08.800 --> 0:21:11.320 let someone get trampled on because of two guys. 0:21:11.520 --> 0:21:14.800 Yeah, and I think it's important to note, like, you know, 0:21:14.880 --> 0:21:18.920 when we told the ASU administration they said they would 0:21:19.040 --> 0:21:22.600 they were sending their situational response. They had over twenty 0:21:22.640 --> 0:21:25.520 minutes to get there. Tell me why one of the 0:21:25.560 --> 0:21:28.600 members of our coalition who is in a wheelchair got 0:21:28.600 --> 0:21:32.359 there faster than their situational response. That tells me that 0:21:32.880 --> 0:21:36.439 they did not prioritize it. And this is the nature 0:21:36.480 --> 0:21:38.840 and the history of this entire It took five years 0:21:38.880 --> 0:21:40.560 to get here, so of course they're not going to 0:21:40.640 --> 0:21:44.200 prioritize staff, which we told them we needed staff before 0:21:44.200 --> 0:21:46.879 we opened the space. We told them we needed rules 0:21:46.920 --> 0:21:51.040 and governance, of which we created last year of that 0:21:51.240 --> 0:21:54.280 the end of September of in the end of a 0:21:54.400 --> 0:21:57.439 fall semester, we had created a twelve page document on 0:21:57.560 --> 0:21:59.720 governance of the space, which we did with the whole 0:21:59.720 --> 0:22:03.840 cold which represented you know, all all student groups. 0:22:04.280 --> 0:22:06.960 They didn't use it. And so when we look at. 0:22:06.800 --> 0:22:09.280 This space and what happened here, we also have to 0:22:09.320 --> 0:22:12.240 look at all of the ways that ASU could have 0:22:12.280 --> 0:22:14.520 prevented it. And we also have to look in the 0:22:14.560 --> 0:22:18.840 context of the fact that the nonverbal aggressive cues and 0:22:18.920 --> 0:22:24.120 the dog whistle politics that these white boys were signifying. 0:22:24.200 --> 0:22:25.119 I mean, even. 0:22:24.920 --> 0:22:28.160 Before we got there, they're over here taking out their headphones, 0:22:28.240 --> 0:22:30.800 you know, looking at me, me, nodding their head, and 0:22:30.840 --> 0:22:33.359 so there was a lot of things that they did 0:22:33.800 --> 0:22:37.359 to make the space aggressive without ever having to open 0:22:37.440 --> 0:22:38.080 up their mouth. 0:22:38.720 --> 0:22:42.399 I feel like I feel like that is one of 0:22:42.440 --> 0:22:47.320 the things that the scale down clips of the video 0:22:47.720 --> 0:22:50.480 lax right. Which, by the way, if you want to 0:22:50.520 --> 0:22:54.200 check out the video, it's on our social media so 0:22:55.240 --> 0:22:58.120 look us up at Civic Cipher on your favorite platform 0:22:58.160 --> 0:23:00.760 and you'll see it, or if there's another place where 0:23:01.040 --> 0:23:01.520 it's hosted. 0:23:01.600 --> 0:23:04.959 Instagram has taken our our video down, which is you know, 0:23:05.040 --> 0:23:08.720 Instagram has a history of racism towards marginalized communities, but 0:23:08.880 --> 0:23:11.320 you know all of the conservatives don't have their video. 0:23:11.600 --> 0:23:14.560 Sure, sure, but I do want to say this, having 0:23:14.640 --> 0:23:18.080 seen the video and seeing the the Chick fil A 0:23:18.160 --> 0:23:22.680 cup and seeing the the the Biden shirt and the 0:23:22.720 --> 0:23:25.000 police Lives Matter sticker, you have to like go a 0:23:25.040 --> 0:23:27.280 couple extra steps to find that sticker, you know, if 0:23:27.280 --> 0:23:29.880 it's if it's back the blue or something that's everywhere, 0:23:29.880 --> 0:23:33.520 but police Lives Matter, that's you literally change one word 0:23:34.840 --> 0:23:37.400 from black to police. And that's a that's an that's 0:23:37.400 --> 0:23:41.080 an antagonistic stance. So for me, the conclusion that I've 0:23:41.160 --> 0:23:44.679 drawn that these people were there deliberately to antagonize the 0:23:44.720 --> 0:23:47.960 black and brown folks in that space, that's not that's 0:23:47.960 --> 0:23:50.960 not a big leap to make. And so that context, 0:23:50.960 --> 0:23:54.760 I believe helps frame everything that happened since then. So 0:23:54.840 --> 0:23:59.320 I think that with the Right running away with this, 0:24:00.640 --> 0:24:03.200 it's easy for them to to take that piece out 0:24:03.359 --> 0:24:08.000 or just to rewrite the story around these children being. 0:24:07.840 --> 0:24:08.800 Or their children. 0:24:08.800 --> 0:24:10.280 To me, I'm a little older and everyone else here 0:24:10.320 --> 0:24:13.280 but them being white and being pushed out of a space, 0:24:13.320 --> 0:24:15.280 and then now they want to be the victims. 0:24:14.880 --> 0:24:18.080 And they're not. They weren't pushed out because they're white. 0:24:18.240 --> 0:24:20.200 You know it was because. 0:24:21.320 --> 0:24:25.520 Of their offensive, drogatory doglessle symbology exactly exactly. 0:24:25.640 --> 0:24:30.280 So so let's do this, let's take a break. We're 0:24:30.280 --> 0:24:34.800 gonna come back with some more on this incident and 0:24:36.720 --> 0:24:39.640 you know, figure out some of the backlash that work. 0:24:40.040 --> 0:24:42.080 M okay, and now. 0:24:43.960 --> 0:24:54.560