Speaker 1: Welcome to another episode of Civic Cipher. I am your host,
Speaker 1: Ramsy's job. He is ramses job. I am h Ward.
Speaker 1: You are listening to Civic Cipher. Indeed, be sure to
Speaker 1: stick around, man, we got another great show in store
Speaker 1: for you. We got a lot to talk about this week.
Speaker 1: You know, we were able to take a week off.
Speaker 1: We had to tend to some birthday festivities. Whose birthday
Speaker 1: that would be my birthday? Which birthday? That was? Okay,
Speaker 1: talk to me, sir. So I was moving around the
Speaker 1: world a little bit, had to go to Egypt, bring
Speaker 1: it in the right way, but around the world a
Speaker 1: little bit, and it was fun. But a lot of
Speaker 1: things happened since we last were able to create a
Speaker 1: show for you, And so we're going to spend some
Speaker 1: time talking about a few things that have made the
Speaker 1: news in our absence and do our best to bring
Speaker 1: some context and some light and some deeper understanding for
Speaker 1: those of you who know about them, and to inform
Speaker 1: those of you who don't know about them. So again,
Speaker 1: a lot to stick around for news related Also, we're
Speaker 1: going to be talking about really how these things feel.
Speaker 1: The second part of the show, how does it feel
Speaker 1: to have to handle these these I don't even know
Speaker 1: if micro traumas is the right way to describe it,
Speaker 1: but you know, these these we'll call them micro traumas.
Speaker 1: Why not we can do that and how to process them?
Speaker 1: Because if you get news like we get news, then
Speaker 1: maybe you know it can be a bit overwhelming. So
Speaker 1: we're going to spend some time talking about that. For
Speaker 1: our bibble segment, becoming a Better Ally, we're going to
Speaker 1: talk a little bit about the NAACP, how you can
Speaker 1: support and where your dollars go. And then for our
Speaker 1: way Black History Fact, we're going to discuss the history
Speaker 1: of rhythm and blues. We've been on a musical kick
Speaker 1: here lately, and we don't want to stop it just yet,
Speaker 1: so stay tuned for all all that and more. But
Speaker 1: first and foremost, like we always do it, this time,
Speaker 1: let's discuss some ebony excellence, shall we? We shall this
Speaker 1: week it's brought to you by Hip Hop Weekly Media
Speaker 1: and the story comes from Afro Tech. We're talking about
Speaker 1: someone who Q knows very well, woman by the name
Speaker 1: of Alison Felix. So the quick and dirty version of
Speaker 1: the story is that and correct me if I'm wrong.
Speaker 1: Cue she was sponsored by Nike, and she ended up
Speaker 1: getting pregnant and Nike kind of backed off. They didn't
Speaker 1: want to honor the contract or wanted to change the
Speaker 1: terms of the contract or something like that. In fact,
Speaker 1: I'll read a bit of it, but the long and
Speaker 1: short of the story is that she ended up moving
Speaker 1: away from Nike because they weren't supporting her in a
Speaker 1: moment when she was vulnerable. As we know black maternity,
Speaker 1: maternal health is a big issue because the outcomes aren't
Speaker 1: always consistent. They're never consistent if you're black, with that
Speaker 1: of our Caucasian sisters. And so Nike abandoning her prompted
Speaker 1: her to start her own thing. So we're gonna kind
Speaker 1: of touch on that a bit, but here's a quote
Speaker 1: from her. She said one of the areas of fulfillment
Speaker 1: was her footwear brand, Sache. She launched it in June
Speaker 1: of twenty twenty one. The venture was created for women
Speaker 1: and by women, and considers all facets of life, including motherhood. Seiy.
Speaker 1: She was important Felix to spearhead, as she learned firsthand
Speaker 1: from her exit with nineteen twenty seventeen that even one
Speaker 1: of the most popular apparel companies failed to prop up
Speaker 1: pregnant female athletes and new mothers, and it's not lost
Speaker 1: on us that she was she is a black woman.
Speaker 1: She's currently run in the Olympics in Japan wearing them
Speaker 1: under the banner I know my Place, and I think
Speaker 1: that's something that was said to her from one of
Speaker 1: the Nike executives, know your Place. So she used that
Speaker 1: as a positioner for her company. So once again, shout
Speaker 1: out to Alison Felix. You indeed are Ebony excellent.
Speaker 2: Allison, I'm super proud of you, Kenny, Allison, and Cameron.
Speaker 1: I love you all very much. Keep doing your thing
Speaker 1: and we're going to keep supporting indeed. All right, moving
Speaker 1: on a lot of headlines, big shout out to our
Speaker 1: show producer Maggie b Knowing we had a lot to
Speaker 1: wade through to get this show together, and so yeah,
Speaker 1: it's been There's been a lot coming at us from
Speaker 1: a lot of different directions. The first story that we're
Speaker 1: going to talk about is a story that we've touched
Speaker 1: on repeatedly, has to do with Breonna Taylor, and this
Speaker 1: story comes from the Justice Department. The headline reads, former Louisville,
Speaker 1: Kentucky police detective pleads guilty to a federal crime related
Speaker 1: to the death of Breonna Taylor. I'll read a bit
Speaker 1: about this. So, the Justice Department announced today that Louisville
Speaker 1: Metro Police Department detective Kelly Goodlett, aged thirty five, pleaded
Speaker 1: guilty in federal court to conspiring to commit two federal crimes.
Speaker 1: Goodlett admitted that she conspired with another former LMPD detective
Speaker 1: both to falsify an affidavit to obtain a warrant to
Speaker 1: search Breonna Taylor's home without probable cause, which resulted in
Speaker 1: Taylor's death, and to cover up the false warrant by
Speaker 1: lying to criminal investigators actor Taylor was killed. Poof Now,
Speaker 1: if you were alive in twenty twenty, you know that
Speaker 1: we and we our community demanded that the cops that
Speaker 1: murdered Breonna Taylor be arrested. And that has been a
Speaker 1: long fought battle. That train has been moving very slowly,
Speaker 1: and you know, the wheels of justice oftentimes do turn
Speaker 1: very slowly. But this is something that we're happy to see,
Speaker 1: but it also kind of causes us to stop and think. Right.
Speaker 1: One thing that jumps out of me, of course, is
Speaker 1: that we know Breanna Taylor's name we're familiar with her story.
Speaker 1: There are so many people whose names we don't know,
Speaker 1: so many stories that do not make national headlines. Black people,
Speaker 1: as you know, are overrepresented in the criminal justice system,
Speaker 1: as we are, over policed and fairly sentenced. But when
Speaker 1: you see things like this, I believe our position, which
Speaker 1: oftentimes looks like, hey, the odds are stacked against us,
Speaker 1: doesn't matter. If we're one hundred percent squeaky clean and
Speaker 1: we're you a first responder as Breonna Taylor was, and
Speaker 1: we live a life that is as right in terms
Speaker 1: of being on the right side of the law as
Speaker 1: anyone else, that this system can beat our door in
Speaker 1: and find us, try as we might to hide from it.
Speaker 1: This story shows us that there are behind the scenes
Speaker 1: factors and people that create the cancerous corruption that makes
Speaker 1: its way into our lives. In other words, this woman
Speaker 1: falsified documents then lied about it. But we're just talking
Speaker 1: about falsified the documents necessary to set off this chain
Speaker 1: of events resulting in her debt. So yes, she's just
Speaker 1: as guilty, and the fact that she pleaded guilty to
Speaker 1: it it helps because oftentimes what we see is that
Speaker 1: people don't plead guilty they plead innocent, that you know,
Speaker 1: it's a long fought trial, and then the judge hands
Speaker 1: down a light sentence. And this is why we have
Speaker 1: to ourselves affirm that black lives matter, because Breonna Taylor,
Speaker 1: if you can hear us today, you were not born
Speaker 1: to die. That should not have been your story. That
Speaker 1: should not be anybody's story who's endowed with consciousness. But
Speaker 1: for us in our community, it seems very often that
Speaker 1: we have to affirm that because things like this happen
Speaker 1: both right in front of our face and of course
Speaker 1: behind the scenes as we're seeing in this exact here.
Speaker 1: And this is all a part of a system of
Speaker 1: people who at best don't care. At worst hate us.
Speaker 1: Sounds like you seem like you got someth mistake.
Speaker 2: It's more about having something to feel than something to say.
Speaker 2: Because I thought what you just said a bunch of
Speaker 2: times before. Yes, right, but hearing it already was different. Yeah,
Speaker 2: right at at obvious is what I would say. Hate
Speaker 2: us not so obvious could care less right with the
Speaker 2: smile on their face, kind well to do people who
Speaker 2: live out their entire lives just not giving the damn
Speaker 2: about the outcomes that we live with. On a very
Speaker 2: very regular basis. You know, the Attorney general in Kentucky,
Speaker 2: just proudly, with a smile onness face, campaigning now for
Speaker 2: an increase in pay and uplifting and political power, saw
Speaker 2: no reason to even pursue anything beyond you know, I
Speaker 2: guess what he considered to be a thorough investigation of
Speaker 2: the officers involved in that crime. And at his campaign
Speaker 2: rallies he's reminded of his failure. I won't even say
Speaker 2: he takes it on the chin. He just pretends it's
Speaker 2: not happening, not even decent enough a person to acknowledge
Speaker 2: and or apologize, because how dare we ask for or
Speaker 2: require or expect some sense of accountability from him. It's
Speaker 2: tough reliving our realities. And like you said, that young
Speaker 2: lady was not born simply to be murdered in her
Speaker 2: sleep in her home doing nothing wrong for reasons that
Speaker 2: someone created, falsely manufactured us, and then perpetuated after the
Speaker 2: fact the lie to then cover up what they'd done
Speaker 2: so that no one would be held accountable, which is
Speaker 2: what we talk about more on this show than anything else.
Speaker 2: I think people sometimes take our stance as we'd like
Speaker 2: the same awful things that happened to black people to
Speaker 2: happen to other people. And it's quite the contrary when
Speaker 2: awful things happen to other people, and or when black
Speaker 2: on black crime happens, it's not a real thing. When
Speaker 2: the perpetrators are known and caught on camera, there's a
Speaker 2: there's an account to be paid, there is a penalty there.
Speaker 2: And far too often, even when we know the names, faces, jobs, locations, addresses,
Speaker 2: you know, daily happenings of the perpetrators who kill our
Speaker 2: people because they have a badge, they get fired with pay,
Speaker 2: and as taxpayers, we're responsible for making sure those people
Speaker 2: still get their salaries for having murdered us a vacation.
Speaker 1: You know, I think that that's and we talked about
Speaker 1: this recently. But again, this is part of the reason
Speaker 1: why affirming why making our mantra black lives matter is necessary,
Speaker 1: because left to our own devices, if we were to
Speaker 1: look around and read you know, the news articles that
Speaker 1: come away, or just be alive and conscious, you know,
Speaker 1: in this country, you might, like oftentimes artificial intelligence excursions
Speaker 1: ah yield, you might find that black lives don't matter,
Speaker 1: you know, and that black life is less valuable and
Speaker 1: is often associated with criminal You know, these sorts of things.
Speaker 1: If you, if you didn't know any better, that would
Speaker 1: be your reality, just because that's what the world teaches you. Okay,
Speaker 1: the police shoot these people? Well, why was he running away?
Speaker 1: Could it be that he was afraid that he was
Speaker 1: going to die? Or was it criminal in nature? Who
Speaker 1: runs from the police? Standard? Ye? Who looks like so
Speaker 1: it was definitely criminal. So let me add to that.
Speaker 1: There's a whole lot of facet here that the same
Speaker 1: system that you know, the front facing part of the
Speaker 1: criminal justice system, and is of course the police have
Speaker 1: this very very cavalier attitude when it comes to black
Speaker 1: and brown people, which is collateral damage. Well, their supporters
Speaker 1: have a cavalier attitude with regards to black and brown people.
Speaker 1: Their attitude isn't cavalier at all. It's very aggressive, sure,
Speaker 1: very violent, Sure, very shoot first, ask questions later, sure,
Speaker 1: or shoot first and not care later. Absolutely so, yeah, cavalier.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't even assign that because it's it's it's very
Speaker 2: intentional and it's not just in general either, Like this
Speaker 2: is not our imagination to our listeners that don't have
Speaker 2: this same reality. Some of you, if you're if you've
Speaker 2: listened to more than one episode of this show, I'd
Speaker 2: assume that you may think along the same lines as us.
Speaker 2: But if you're just tuning in, or if you're listening
Speaker 2: for the first time where you know, if you're listening
Speaker 2: just so, you can pick us apart. Sure, but our
Speaker 2: reality is one that is very different from yours. And
Speaker 2: these outcomes are very, very very intentional. It's not by chance.
Speaker 2: We're not creating a narrative. We're just speaking about a
Speaker 2: reality that not everybody can see because they don't live it.
Speaker 1: I'll take that a step further. You and I we
Speaker 1: speak about our own reality. Yes, so let's let's I'm
Speaker 1: gonna skip ahead a bit. So there's another story that
Speaker 1: came out. Uh, this one came This one comes via
Speaker 1: NBC News. Deputy resigns after pulling a gun on a
Speaker 1: pregnant black mother during a traffic stop. Now, let me
Speaker 1: read a little bit about this. We saw the video,
Speaker 1: of course. Unfortunately, a white Florida sheriff deputy has resigned
Speaker 1: after he pulled a gun on a pregnant black woman
Speaker 1: during a traffic stop as her three distressed children watched
Speaker 1: on and record. Did the tense interaction. Ebany Washington said
Speaker 1: she didn't immediately stop when an officer tried to pull
Speaker 1: her over in Bradford County on August twelfth because it
Speaker 1: was dark and she didn't want to scare her kids.
Speaker 1: Dessoux followed her. That's the officer's name. Dissoue followed her
Speaker 1: with a siren and emergency lights on and ordered her
Speaker 1: to stop. At one point, De Sue said over the
Speaker 1: patrol vehicle's PA system, pull the vehicle over, or I
Speaker 1: will put you into the ground, the sheriff. The Sheriff's
Speaker 1: office said. Body camera video of the incident, released by
Speaker 1: the Sheriff's Department and shared by John and Phillips, Washington's attorney,
Speaker 1: showed De Sue shouting to Washington's car, if you make
Speaker 1: any movement, that'll be your last mistake you're gonna make.
Speaker 1: He then emerges from his vehicle, was gunpointed at her
Speaker 1: and yells for her to get out. Washington is seen
Speaker 1: with her arms out the window of her vehicle. She
Speaker 1: says the door is locked, and this Sue says, unlock it.
Speaker 1: I'm not worried. I've got my gun on you all
Speaker 1: right now to your point, que you're talking about the
Speaker 1: aggressive shoot first, you know this sort of thing right now,
Speaker 1: I have to play Devil's advocate because we have to
Speaker 1: do that. We just have to, so hear me out.
Speaker 1: We choose to, and it's to preserve some integrity and
Speaker 1: it's for us to be where fair people right, right.
Speaker 1: So that's thank you for saying it a little bit
Speaker 1: better than I could. So an officer catches someone speeding
Speaker 1: or whatever, some minor infraction, attempts to pull a person over.
Speaker 1: The person doesn't pull over immediately, So what is the
Speaker 1: officer thinking? Perhaps this person is trying to flee or whatever.
Speaker 1: You know, they have to be paranoid. They're a paranoid
Speaker 1: sort as we know they. You know, my business partner, Sean,
Speaker 1: he told me guns bring about gun energy, right, This
Speaker 1: is what he told me. He's not a gun person,
Speaker 1: neither of mine, but that's what he said. So these
Speaker 1: guys have guns on him, so they're like ready for
Speaker 1: death at any you know what I mean. So everything
Speaker 1: is super heightened, right, This is my assumption. But you
Speaker 1: know they have to be careful too. They want to
Speaker 1: preserve their own life. Again, I'm playing devil's advocate here
Speaker 1: to you so this person is not being they're not
Speaker 1: pulling over immediately, So now you're on high alert. Why
Speaker 1: is this person not pulling over? There must be something
Speaker 1: going on here. Maybe it's an ambush, maybe they're going
Speaker 1: who knows right, who knows, We don't know, but that's
Speaker 1: not the point. Just let me let me paint the
Speaker 1: picture here. They get to after some time, get to
Speaker 1: the next well lit place, and the officer is not
Speaker 1: at a point where he's wanting to ask questions. So he,
Speaker 1: you know, pulls the gun out because he doesn't know
Speaker 1: what to expect, you know, and he's trying to enforce
Speaker 1: the law best he knows how based on his assessment
Speaker 1: of the situation. We'll give him all that, okay. My
Speaker 1: thinking is that the moment a pregnant woman gets out
Speaker 1: of the car with their hands up and she's cooperating,
Speaker 1: at that point, the threats to end your life, and
Speaker 1: you can see that this is black women, you know, police,
Speaker 1: they have their headlights on you. Black pregnant woman emerges
Speaker 1: from the car. At that point, you don't need that
Speaker 1: aggression anymore. You don't need that anger, that fear, whatever
Speaker 1: it is. Maybe your adrenaline is pumping whatever the case is.
Speaker 1: But if you are a civil servant, you have to
Speaker 1: recognize that that same person that you might cite for
Speaker 1: speeding is indeed someone that that you work for. Right,
Speaker 1: those tickets that goes to pay your salary and buy
Speaker 1: you your next tank and all that other sort of
Speaker 1: stuff too. Right, so you know one of the things
Speaker 1: that happened to me, that very same thing happened to me.
Speaker 1: The thing is that happened to me in daylight. I
Speaker 1: shared the story before. It was about nineteen years old.
Speaker 1: I was going to school, got pulled over because I
Speaker 1: was going to get an inhaler from my cousin. I
Speaker 1: had to go to the bank and then pull out
Speaker 1: some money to buy them and inhaler. Because it couldn't breathe.
Speaker 1: Police pull me over. All the police pulled me over
Speaker 1: is a bunch of police. They had gun on me.
Speaker 1: They told me to get out of the carve my
Speaker 1: hands up. I'm told, if you make any sudden movements,
Speaker 1: we will kill you now. We will shoot you now,
Speaker 1: we will wound you now, we will arrest you. Not
Speaker 1: you'll be in a big trouble. Mister. We will kill you.
Speaker 1: So coming that close with death, I think justifies her
Speaker 1: wanting to pull into a place that's well lit and
Speaker 1: keeping everybody as honest as she possibly can. The thing
Speaker 1: is on this show and in this space, and I
Speaker 1: think to your point, Q, we as black people have
Speaker 1: a very different experience, and for us, there is a
Speaker 1: chance that we could die pulling over. There's a chance
Speaker 1: anything could happen if we pull over where it's dark,
Speaker 1: If we pull over where it's well lit, we might
Speaker 1: have a chance for some justice because there might be
Speaker 1: a recording of it. We might not die. We might
Speaker 1: not die, but you know, if there's a recording, there
Speaker 1: might be an investigation.
Speaker 2: At least we've seen recordings lead to investigations that led
Speaker 2: to nothing.
Speaker 1: Well, you know what I'm trying to say. You know what,
Speaker 1: So we might not die.
Speaker 2: If we can get into some light and someone might
Speaker 2: be recording it, we might not die. The idea that
Speaker 2: we're hoping that that might lead to justice is just
Speaker 2: a bit beyond the scope of reality. It's not real.
Speaker 2: That's not in that moment. We're not hoping I might
Speaker 2: get some justice. We're hoping I hope I can get home,
Speaker 2: and in her case, I hope I can get my
Speaker 2: kids home. And that we don't die during a traffic style.
Speaker 2: So I don't want to pull over in the dark
Speaker 2: where I can't even reassure my kids that everything will
Speaker 2: be okay. I'm going to be scared no matter what.
Speaker 2: I'd rather my kids not fall into a panic and
Speaker 2: or have to watch me be killed by a police
Speaker 2: officer for whatever the infraction was. Because even if I
Speaker 2: outrun you, sir, in my car, I don't pull over immediately.
Speaker 1: I just keep driving. The worst case scenario.
Speaker 2: For you, you didn't get to issue a ticket. So
Speaker 2: I don't want to hear about how paranoid or afraid
Speaker 2: you are. You're just hyper vigilant and you want to
Speaker 2: something punitive has to happen today. And once I see
Speaker 2: that you're black, this punitive damages are going to be
Speaker 2: aggressive and violent, and.
Speaker 1: That's what that's Another point is that oftentimes with black people,
Speaker 1: police don't fear the repercussions. So let's just thought experiment.
Speaker 1: I'm not even gonna flesh it all the way out.
Speaker 1: Q hates when I do this, but it's important. I think.
Speaker 1: Let's tell the tell the story that I just told.
Speaker 1: Tell it to yourself again, but now make this a.
Speaker 2: Middle age, don't make middle aged, I don't make these
Speaker 2: people old. But doesn't it they can just be white people. Sure,
Speaker 2: Ramses has to try to paint the picture of these
Speaker 2: people get so fragile and dasile. It's not just detailed though,
Speaker 2: it's often middle age and or old. No, that's completely unnecessary.
Speaker 2: Any age, white person doesn't have to be woman, doesn't
Speaker 2: have to be old.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 2: Just white, just white is enough for this interaction to
Speaker 2: be benign. You were speeding, so here's the fine for that.
Speaker 2: Have a great day, sir. That's it. And you can
Speaker 2: even be annoyed at them for pulling you over. Cust
Speaker 2: them out, run them over with.
Speaker 1: Your car, take their gun to shoot. That gun will
Speaker 1: not come out of that hoster, not by their hand.
Speaker 1: That's crazy. So let's just be straight. They don't have it.
Speaker 2: Doesn't have to be an old business couple, you know,
Speaker 2: leaving the country club.
Speaker 1: No, just a white person. Well, the point I'm making,
Speaker 1: and you're not wrong. The point I'm making, though, is
Speaker 1: that how does the story look to you? You know,
Speaker 1: does it look like, well, wow, why did the police
Speaker 1: officer pull out their gun? The lady was clearly just
Speaker 1: trying to pull over somewhere that was well, you see,
Speaker 1: and the way the news and the right of course
Speaker 1: frames their conversations is very different. If the person who
Speaker 1: was trying to find the welded area is white. If
Speaker 1: it's a black person, it's like, well, you know the law,
Speaker 1: the lights come on, you got to pull over, you know.
Speaker 1: And if the person is not black, and it's like, well,
Speaker 1: we understand, no one wants to pull over in the
Speaker 1: middle of the dark.
Speaker 2: You can't see anything. Of course, she's trying to get
Speaker 2: you know what I mean. And this lady she slowed
Speaker 2: down hazards on it turned her hazard lights on to
Speaker 2: signal that hey, I see you. Yep, I'm cooperating, yep.
Speaker 2: I'm not speeding off maintaining this distance. I'm just trying
Speaker 2: to get somewhere where I won't be as afraid and
Speaker 2: therefore my children, when I give myself the best possible.
Speaker 1: Chance, I did. That's very same thing on a freeway.
Speaker 1: I told this story too. In front of the airport
Speaker 1: here in Phoenix. They wanted to pull me over and
Speaker 1: I was all the way in the left lane and
Speaker 1: if I got to the right lane, I was going
Speaker 1: to miss my exit. And I was like I don't
Speaker 1: know this freeway, so let me put my hazards on
Speaker 1: and drive slow. And they were just as mad until
Speaker 1: they found out I was Ramsey's job from the radio,
Speaker 1: so I got I looked out with that one