WEBVTT - Civic Cipher 102222 Do We Really Listen to Black Women? (Part 1) 0:00:00.400 --> 0:00:02.560 Welcome to another episode of Civic scipher I'm your host, 0:00:02.680 --> 0:00:03.360 Rams's job. 0:00:03.440 --> 0:00:06.920 He is joh I am q war. Together we are 0:00:07.560 --> 0:00:10.080 Civic Sciphering. That's the truth stick around. We've got a 0:00:10.119 --> 0:00:11.480 great show lined up for you. 0:00:11.560 --> 0:00:15.640 Today. We are going to inform you about a situation 0:00:15.920 --> 0:00:20.000 that is taking place in Kansas City where black women 0:00:20.400 --> 0:00:26.759 were ignored for some time and the consequences that you know, 0:00:26.840 --> 0:00:30.760 people may not consider that come into play when black 0:00:30.800 --> 0:00:33.040 women are ignored. In fact, you may not even know 0:00:33.080 --> 0:00:35.320 that this is a real thing. You know, we mentioned 0:00:35.320 --> 0:00:36.760 that we touched on a couple times on the show. 0:00:36.760 --> 0:00:40.120 We talked about, yes, we have healthcare disparities, you know 0:00:40.200 --> 0:00:45.680 how mortality rates, maternal health care especially, and today we're 0:00:45.680 --> 0:00:49.519 going to be looking into policeing. We actually did talk 0:00:49.560 --> 0:00:54.160 about missing while black, the phenomenon surrounding the Gabby Petito thing, 0:00:54.200 --> 0:00:57.240 the missing white woman syndrome where the media jumps on 0:00:57.400 --> 0:01:00.600 a missing person if she is a woman, was white, 0:01:00.680 --> 0:01:03.520 of a certain age, and often enough blonde. But if 0:01:03.560 --> 0:01:06.120 you are black and a woman and go missing, oftentimes 0:01:06.120 --> 0:01:08.560 there's no coverage. So today we will be listening to 0:01:08.560 --> 0:01:11.480 black women. This story came from our show producer, Miss 0:01:11.520 --> 0:01:14.880 Maggie aka Maggie Be knowing she do, and so we 0:01:14.920 --> 0:01:16.720 are going to listen to at least that one black 0:01:16.760 --> 0:01:23.040 woman today and bring some attention to this situation. Further 0:01:23.120 --> 0:01:24.600 on in the show, we were going to be talking 0:01:24.640 --> 0:01:28.080 about the La City Council leading that ended up turning 0:01:28.200 --> 0:01:33.960 racist to something we have to talk about. 0:01:33.000 --> 0:01:37.440 I'm just asking you out everybody else, I'm just talking 0:01:37.440 --> 0:01:38.119 to Ramses. 0:01:38.800 --> 0:01:40.360 Do you think racist. 0:01:40.040 --> 0:01:44.800 People ever get tired of being racist? But they take 0:01:44.840 --> 0:01:46.720 a break at home that they could they take a lunch. 0:01:47.640 --> 0:01:51.160 It's gotta be a full time job, fifteen. It has 0:01:51.200 --> 0:01:53.200 to be an exhausting undertaking. 0:01:53.600 --> 0:01:57.800 I'm absolutely sure that it is, and we are going 0:01:57.840 --> 0:01:59.800 to have to figure out why this happened and a 0:02:00.200 --> 0:02:02.840 lot more on for you to stick around for it. 0:02:02.920 --> 0:02:07.000 But first and foremost uh q's favorite segment in fact 0:02:07.040 --> 0:02:11.560 you why don't you take this one? My favorite segment Excellence. 0:02:13.760 --> 0:02:15.519 Ebony Excellence is my favorite. 0:02:15.960 --> 0:02:16.880 Said that before, I'm. 0:02:19.720 --> 0:02:23.640 Sure be getting heavy and I'd be like almost crying. 0:02:24.480 --> 0:02:29.960 But furthermore, Ebny Excellence sponsored by Major Threads where high 0:02:30.000 --> 0:02:34.359 fashion meets timeless men'swear. Visit they at major Threads dot com. 0:02:34.680 --> 0:02:37.320 And this is via the Big Three dot com. Uh, 0:02:37.520 --> 0:02:40.639 the Big Three is now the first professional sports league 0:02:40.680 --> 0:02:45.280 to be certified by by Black the US Black Chamber 0:02:45.360 --> 0:02:49.320 of Commerce as a Black owned and operated business. 0:02:49.600 --> 0:02:49.720 UH. 0:02:50.040 --> 0:02:53.880 Shout out to ice Que the city of Compton. I 0:02:54.040 --> 0:02:56.440 just don't get me started, because ram is from Compton. 0:02:56.440 --> 0:03:00.239 I'll be getting excited. I'm gonna just read. The certation 0:03:00.440 --> 0:03:04.520 establishes the league as part of the by Black network 0:03:04.520 --> 0:03:06.880 and distinguishes the Big Three as the first and only 0:03:07.520 --> 0:03:12.520 professional sports league to be certified. It says a quote, 0:03:12.560 --> 0:03:15.160 myself and the entire league are honored to be officially 0:03:15.160 --> 0:03:19.200 certified by by Black and the US Black Chambers. This 0:03:19.240 --> 0:03:22.280 is from ice Q, the Big Three CEO and founder. 0:03:23.120 --> 0:03:26.480 Quote From day one, league has been dedicated to providing 0:03:26.480 --> 0:03:30.440 opportunities for black players, fans, investors, and partners, and we 0:03:30.480 --> 0:03:32.600 are proud to be a part of a nationwide network 0:03:32.600 --> 0:03:36.440 of black business owners. Supporting black enterprise is a long 0:03:36.720 --> 0:03:39.560 lifelong passion of mind and the Big Three, and we 0:03:39.560 --> 0:03:43.320 will continue to build upon its success and uplift other 0:03:43.400 --> 0:03:44.480 black entrepreneurs. 0:03:44.680 --> 0:03:45.280 En quote. 0:03:45.400 --> 0:03:48.560 For more information, visit Big Three dot com. 0:03:48.760 --> 0:03:50.920 Shout out to ICEQ. Shout out to ICEQ. I threw 0:03:50.960 --> 0:03:53.680 up the west side to yay yay. You know, it 0:03:53.760 --> 0:03:56.440 is one thing to play the game, it's another thing 0:03:56.480 --> 0:03:59.040 to own the board. The lesson that we've learned and 0:03:59.080 --> 0:04:01.760 an announcement will make very soon and be all right. 0:04:01.840 --> 0:04:06.200 Moving on, today, we have to talk about how America 0:04:06.440 --> 0:04:10.040 and in particular, the police continue to fail Black women 0:04:10.320 --> 0:04:13.440 in particular. We know that the police are not perfect, 0:04:14.000 --> 0:04:17.919 you know, but today we're going to center black women 0:04:18.040 --> 0:04:20.480 because often enough, Black women. 0:04:20.279 --> 0:04:27.520 Get the worst in terms of outcomes, the most of 0:04:27.560 --> 0:04:31.799 the brunt when it comes to most everything, especially bad stuff. 0:04:32.320 --> 0:04:35.240 And you know, we're trying to change that narrative. You know, 0:04:35.360 --> 0:04:38.240 everything bad should happen everybody, and everything good shoud happen everybody. 0:04:38.240 --> 0:04:41.400 Everybody deserve to have a fully balanced life. If anything, 0:04:42.080 --> 0:04:44.000 only good things should happen to everyone. But you know, 0:04:44.760 --> 0:04:46.120 I mean, but if there's. 0:04:46.000 --> 0:04:48.920 A group that only good things should happen, to go 0:04:48.960 --> 0:04:51.920 ahead and say it, like, come on, black they deserve it. 0:04:51.920 --> 0:04:55.080 They lead in the nation and everything and every statistical 0:04:55.160 --> 0:05:00.800 category that shows greatness and triumph and perseverance, perseverance and resilience. Sure, 0:05:00.920 --> 0:05:04.760 black women are leading the nation. And we discovered recently 0:05:04.800 --> 0:05:10.680 the world and a lot of outstanding categories business, enterprise, entrepreneurship, 0:05:11.440 --> 0:05:14.480 college education, college graduation. 0:05:15.760 --> 0:05:19.760 And yet and still come on, there are many many 0:05:21.560 --> 0:05:25.400 categories that are the worst of the worst, that are 0:05:25.440 --> 0:05:29.360 black women lead in as well. And these things need 0:05:29.400 --> 0:05:31.520 to be remedied because there's historical. 0:05:31.240 --> 0:05:33.120 And that's no fault of their own, by the way, 0:05:33.240 --> 0:05:35.120 exactly on those bad categories. 0:05:35.520 --> 0:05:39.279 So we're gonna tell a story here. Today's story we're 0:05:39.320 --> 0:05:44.080 going to pull from the Guardian. Okay, this is a 0:05:44.080 --> 0:05:46.400 little git, this is a little grizzly here and there, 0:05:46.760 --> 0:05:49.360 and there's some trigger warnings here, so if you are 0:05:49.440 --> 0:05:56.440 sensitive to abuse, just giving your heads up here. So 0:05:56.520 --> 0:06:00.760 from a Guardian. Woman who escapes month long captivity says 0:06:00.839 --> 0:06:05.640 other black women killed by abductor. That's the headline, right. 0:06:07.120 --> 0:06:09.760 A twenty two year old black woman in Missouri who 0:06:09.880 --> 0:06:12.840 escaped after a white man abducted, tortured, and held her 0:06:12.920 --> 0:06:16.159 captive for weeks in a basement has said several other 0:06:16.200 --> 0:06:19.200 black women were killed by her captor. Less than a 0:06:19.240 --> 0:06:23.040 month after police dismissed community concerns about a serial killer 0:06:23.320 --> 0:06:28.880 as completely unfounded. The woman escaped on October seventh, after 0:06:28.960 --> 0:06:32.800 about a month in captivity, still wearing a metal collar 0:06:32.920 --> 0:06:37.640 locked with a padlock that authorities had to remove. She 0:06:37.760 --> 0:06:41.360 told Kansas City police that thirty nine year old Timothy M. 0:06:41.520 --> 0:06:45.760 Hazlet had imprisoned her in a basement room in Excelsior Springs, 0:06:45.839 --> 0:06:48.719 a city just northeast of Kansas City, where he whipped 0:06:48.800 --> 0:06:53.359 and raped her repeatedly. She escaped while Hazlitt was dropping 0:06:53.360 --> 0:06:55.120 off a child at school, and she sought help from 0:06:55.160 --> 0:06:58.280 neighbors when she told that her friends did not make 0:06:58.320 --> 0:07:00.880 it out and were killed by Hazlit. Around the time 0:07:00.920 --> 0:07:04.080 she went missing, several prominent community leaders raised concerns about 0:07:04.080 --> 0:07:07.320 the disappearance of multiple black women and girls. So I 0:07:07.400 --> 0:07:09.800 want to start, I want to stop right here, because 0:07:09.920 --> 0:07:12.560 this is really we're talking about a story. You know, 0:07:12.720 --> 0:07:14.480 this is just a story. We don't we don't really 0:07:14.520 --> 0:07:20.640 focus on stories unless they help us illustrate trends or 0:07:21.360 --> 0:07:24.280 narratives that we are trying to establish in the minds 0:07:24.280 --> 0:07:26.840 of our allies. Right, So, we wouldn't tell a story 0:07:26.920 --> 0:07:29.680 just to tell a story unless it was reflecting of 0:07:29.680 --> 0:07:31.400 a trend. And I think this last sentence I read 0:07:31.480 --> 0:07:34.040 really suggests what we're trying to convey in this segment, 0:07:35.280 --> 0:07:38.559 So I'll read that again to you. Around the time 0:07:38.840 --> 0:07:44.360 she went missing, several prominent community leaders raised concerns about 0:07:44.400 --> 0:07:49.080 the disappearance of multiple black women and girls. And so 0:07:49.840 --> 0:07:52.640 if you back up a little bit further in that 0:07:52.760 --> 0:07:57.400 reading that I just did, remember that the police dismissed 0:07:57.440 --> 0:08:02.200 community concerns about a serial killer as completely unfounded. Right. 0:08:02.800 --> 0:08:06.920 And so what you see here is folks not listening 0:08:08.000 --> 0:08:10.640 and black women being kind of in the middle of it, right. 0:08:11.600 --> 0:08:21.040 And I think that this is something that is if 0:08:21.040 --> 0:08:23.680 I were to say that it was taught, that might 0:08:23.720 --> 0:08:26.160 not be the right way to say it, right, because 0:08:26.200 --> 0:08:28.840 no one teaches you to ignore black women. That you 0:08:28.840 --> 0:08:30.880 don't go to a class in school. Your parents don't 0:08:30.880 --> 0:08:32.880 sit you now if you're a normal, reasonable person from 0:08:32.920 --> 0:08:36.800 a background, normal background that's not like super racist or 0:08:36.800 --> 0:08:38.800 anything crazy like that. No one's your mom or your 0:08:38.840 --> 0:08:40.280 dad don't sit you down and say, hey, make sure 0:08:40.280 --> 0:08:42.480 you ignore black women when you get older. But I 0:08:42.600 --> 0:08:51.840 think that this country has a tendency to espouse certain women, 0:08:52.320 --> 0:08:57.199 look a certain way, to romanticize or you know, amplify 0:08:57.720 --> 0:09:02.320 and jealousize certain women. And there are other women who 0:09:02.400 --> 0:09:07.720 completely get ignored and so if I said Disney Princess, 0:09:07.760 --> 0:09:08.880 what pops into your mind? 0:09:09.400 --> 0:09:10.120 Cinderella. 0:09:10.480 --> 0:09:15.760 Okay, now here's another thing. This happened to me last night. 0:09:17.240 --> 0:09:22.400 I was in a grocery store in a place called 0:09:23.600 --> 0:09:28.040 Fountain Hills, Arizona, right, And I was walking through the 0:09:28.040 --> 0:09:31.880 grocery store and I ended up in an aisle where 0:09:31.920 --> 0:09:35.200 they sell beauty products or whatever. I don't need to 0:09:35.200 --> 0:09:37.360 be on this aisle whatsoever, but I just was there. 0:09:37.559 --> 0:09:39.360 While I'm there. You know, if you know me, you 0:09:39.360 --> 0:09:41.720 know I got all this hair. So I'm always checking 0:09:41.720 --> 0:09:43.840 for the latest conditioner because it does get a little 0:09:43.880 --> 0:09:47.240 cocoa pappy up top, you know what I'm saying. I 0:09:47.240 --> 0:09:49.600 don't know if you all know what that means. Nappy 0:09:50.320 --> 0:09:53.559 rhymes with cocoa paps. You know what I'm saying, naps 0:09:53.559 --> 0:09:56.760 coco paps. So anyway, so I'm looking for some conditioner, 0:09:56.880 --> 0:09:58.480 just new brands, you know, stuff I might want to 0:09:58.480 --> 0:09:59.920 try in the future, just to kind of ease my 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:02.640 way when it comes to coman and maintaining this crown 0:10:02.640 --> 0:10:06.280 of mine. Right and right next to that is the makeup. 0:10:07.240 --> 0:10:10.040 And I'm looking at the makeup as my hand is 0:10:10.080 --> 0:10:12.520 reaching for the conditioner bottles. I'm like kind of going 0:10:12.559 --> 0:10:17.480 through them, and I'm like, WHOA, Okay, I get it. Makeup. 0:10:17.480 --> 0:10:19.000 You're supposed to put it on, and it's supposed to 0:10:19.040 --> 0:10:23.920 match your skin, right. I don't wear makeup, but you know, 0:10:23.960 --> 0:10:26.040 something just clicked in my I never really thought of 0:10:26.080 --> 0:10:28.320 it before, you know, but this is kind of what 0:10:28.360 --> 0:10:29.839 that makeup is for. I don't know what the name 0:10:29.880 --> 0:10:31.319 of the type of makeup it is, but it was 0:10:31.400 --> 0:10:33.720 the makeup that was the color of your It was 0:10:33.800 --> 0:10:37.320 like human flesh colored like a whole range, and I 0:10:37.320 --> 0:10:41.920 couldn't find a color that would match my skin right, 0:10:43.120 --> 0:10:46.240 And I was like, what WHOA hit me like a 0:10:46.280 --> 0:10:50.280 ton of bricks. They built this whole thing without me 0:10:50.440 --> 0:10:53.000 and mine or people like me and mind. Now, I'm 0:10:53.040 --> 0:10:54.640 not a woman, so of course they didn't have me 0:10:54.720 --> 0:10:57.440 in mind. But if I was my sister, who is 0:10:57.559 --> 0:11:02.199 my same skin tone, she wouldn't not have found her 0:11:02.920 --> 0:11:04.760 a makeup product that would have worked for her in 0:11:04.800 --> 0:11:09.079 that store. Now this happened to me yesterday. I did 0:11:09.080 --> 0:11:10.839 not know that I would be telling that story today, 0:11:10.840 --> 0:11:12.760 because you know, Maggie brought this story for us, and 0:11:12.800 --> 0:11:16.520 you know we're talking about it. But little subtle things 0:11:16.600 --> 0:11:20.280 like that here and there. I think accumulate over time 0:11:20.440 --> 0:11:25.360 where we recognize, Okay, these people get get celebrated, lifted 0:11:25.440 --> 0:11:28.080 up in these other people we just we don't know 0:11:28.120 --> 0:11:30.240 that they're in the shadows of our minds, you know 0:11:30.240 --> 0:11:30.600 what I mean? 0:11:30.840 --> 0:11:32.000 Can I piggyback? 0:11:32.160 --> 0:11:32.600 Almost say? 0:11:32.640 --> 0:11:34.439 Can I push back? No? No, go ahead, but I'll 0:11:34.480 --> 0:11:37.600 say piggyback. And I think you'll get why you chose 0:11:37.640 --> 0:11:40.120 one term of the open shirt. You said that America 0:11:40.160 --> 0:11:45.520 doesn't teach or we don't teach maybe into in your 0:11:46.040 --> 0:11:49.160 yeah black women, right and maybe not? And so what's 0:11:49.200 --> 0:11:50.920 so as much as you go into a class and 0:11:50.960 --> 0:11:51.920 the instructions are. 0:11:51.880 --> 0:11:53.360 To do so. 0:11:55.400 --> 0:11:59.240 Once upon a time, I had a disagreement with my 0:11:59.360 --> 0:12:06.480 children's okay, and raised my voice, and my son said, Dad, 0:12:07.480 --> 0:12:11.360 you can't be mean to my mom if in that 0:12:11.480 --> 0:12:16.120 moment I don't apologize to him and her and just 0:12:16.200 --> 0:12:19.000 out of sure ego and anger or whatever, try to 0:12:19.280 --> 0:12:23.000 justify the way that I spoke to her. Aren't I 0:12:23.240 --> 0:12:27.000 teaching him that it's okay to speak to wow and 0:12:27.280 --> 0:12:28.640 or other women like that? 0:12:29.240 --> 0:12:29.640 Okay? 0:12:30.040 --> 0:12:31.800 So I didn't instruct him, Hey, this is how you 0:12:31.800 --> 0:12:35.520 talk to a woman. But but that moment, my example 0:12:35.559 --> 0:12:40.040 to him is I was upset, so I can do this. Then, Okay, 0:12:40.160 --> 0:12:43.160 when I get mad, I go to my mom, to 0:12:43.240 --> 0:12:46.360 my teacher. That's how I got to do it. So 0:12:46.440 --> 0:12:48.439 in that moment, I don't care how upset I was. 0:12:49.320 --> 0:12:52.760 I have to humble myself and I have to stop. 0:12:54.000 --> 0:12:56.120 And however her and I are going to resolve this. 0:12:56.240 --> 0:12:59.199 It can't be like that because I cannot tell him 0:12:59.200 --> 0:13:01.520 how much I love or her how much I love her, 0:13:02.240 --> 0:13:04.360 because it's not just how he feel how she felt. 0:13:04.400 --> 0:13:07.160 If she would have said, you shouldn't speak to me 0:13:07.280 --> 0:13:11.640 that way, I can't be like, well, I'm mad, so yeah, 0:13:11.679 --> 0:13:14.160 I mean I can't. But then I'm now teaching her 0:13:14.200 --> 0:13:17.320 and my son that this is the version of me 0:13:17.400 --> 0:13:22.160 they should accept. The circumstances don't matter, especially for the 0:13:22.240 --> 0:13:24.360 five year old who I just tried to explain to 0:13:24.480 --> 0:13:26.800 that that was okay. So even though I'm not giving 0:13:26.880 --> 0:13:30.360 him explicit instruction to do so, if in that moment 0:13:30.400 --> 0:13:33.080 I do anything other than tell him your daddy is 0:13:33.120 --> 0:13:36.400 wrong and your daddy is sorry, and then to his 0:13:36.520 --> 0:13:38.480 mother in front of him, tell her that I was 0:13:38.520 --> 0:13:42.880 wrong and that I'm sorry, I'd be teaching my son, Hey, 0:13:42.920 --> 0:13:46.280 when you get upset, you can get that off, you 0:13:46.320 --> 0:13:49.120 know what I mean. So sure, there's not a class 0:13:49.160 --> 0:13:52.880 that says so, but when the entire society does it, 0:13:53.480 --> 0:13:57.480 everybody looks around and accepts it. Okay, we've now taught 0:13:57.520 --> 0:14:02.160 everyone that this is acceptable behaviors not explicitly instructed. 0:14:02.440 --> 0:14:06.960 So, first off, incredible example. I'm glad you shared that. 0:14:06.960 --> 0:14:11.560 That was as spot on as anything you've ever said. 0:14:12.200 --> 0:14:14.040 The next thing I want to say is that I 0:14:14.080 --> 0:14:22.000 think to your point, what we have is exactly that 0:14:22.120 --> 0:14:24.920 we have grown up in a world. All of us 0:14:24.960 --> 0:14:27.440 have grown up in a world where we tend to 0:14:27.720 --> 0:14:33.600 run after a spouse, celebrate whatever things that look a 0:14:33.640 --> 0:14:39.400 certain way, and ignore step over, you know, block out 0:14:39.560 --> 0:14:42.000 things that don't look a certain way, people that don't 0:14:42.000 --> 0:14:45.600 look a certain way, right, And the way to remedy 0:14:45.640 --> 0:14:49.440 that is to discipline ourselves, each of us in our 0:14:49.480 --> 0:14:53.960 own mind, in our own paths in life, to recognize 0:14:54.080 --> 0:14:58.960 the humanness in everyone that we see. Now, I obviously 0:14:59.000 --> 0:15:04.040 am super rainbows and unicorns that since the day I 0:15:04.200 --> 0:15:06.240 met Yeah, that's that's me. 0:15:06.640 --> 0:15:08.680 Maybe one of the first things I ever said to 0:15:08.760 --> 0:15:12.040 him in front of other people man, you really see 0:15:12.040 --> 0:15:16.040 the world as rainbows and butterflies. This was like a 0:15:16.200 --> 0:15:20.640 month into our friendship. That's an standing outside downtown in 0:15:20.640 --> 0:15:23.600 front of what's now his nightclub. But at the time 0:15:23.600 --> 0:15:26.880 we were just patrons, and all of us laughed really 0:15:26.960 --> 0:15:30.360 hard because it was so obviously true. Ramses does see 0:15:30.400 --> 0:15:32.520 the world with a different pair of glasses, and the 0:15:32.520 --> 0:15:34.840 rest of us, sure it is to be applauded though, 0:15:34.840 --> 0:15:36.160 I'm gonna be like him when I grew up. 0:15:36.560 --> 0:15:39.440 I remember that night I was doing my guitar thing 0:15:39.560 --> 0:15:42.240 walking down the street and then yes I did Endaji and. 0:15:42.200 --> 0:15:44.200 Beanwa with us that night too, shout out to the. 0:15:44.160 --> 0:15:46.640 Fellas, and I ended up buying that nightclub. Absolutely right. 0:15:47.080 --> 0:15:52.000 So anyway, yeah, back to this. The uh, the crazy 0:15:52.040 --> 0:15:55.360 part about this is that through subtle things like that 0:15:55.480 --> 0:15:59.640 like you mentioned, you know, examples of folks doing things 0:15:59.800 --> 0:16:02.920 or not doing things in front of their children and 0:16:02.960 --> 0:16:06.680 in front of each other. You know, you were born, you, 0:16:07.000 --> 0:16:09.720 our listener, were born into a society that just does this. 0:16:10.440 --> 0:16:13.880 So we're not faulting you, but we are charging you 0:16:14.200 --> 0:16:18.320 with changing that. Fixing it right. A black woman missing 0:16:18.400 --> 0:16:22.000 deserves the same type of love exposure et cetera as 0:16:22.000 --> 0:16:24.720 anyone else. A black woman who says there is a 0:16:24.760 --> 0:16:31.840 problem deserves the same type of response, you know, grace, latitude, 0:16:33.000 --> 0:16:37.520 everything that comes along with being a human being. They 0:16:37.560 --> 0:16:41.560 deserve that too, right, And as I read more into 0:16:41.600 --> 0:16:44.320 this story, you'll see that that just simply wasn't the 0:16:44.360 --> 0:16:48.320 case for a very long time, and the consequences of 0:16:48.400 --> 0:16:51.520 that are dire. If you are a person who believes 0:16:51.520 --> 0:16:55.480 that human life is special and precious and valuable and sacred, 0:16:56.160 --> 0:17:00.160 then you should respond to this in the same way 0:17:00.200 --> 0:17:04.679 that anyone else would. And if you've had to be 0:17:04.840 --> 0:17:08.480 led to this point to say, oh my gosh, don't 0:17:08.520 --> 0:17:13.080 feel bad, because we black men are not immune to 0:17:13.160 --> 0:17:17.560 that either. Right. I had to get into media. Then 0:17:17.600 --> 0:17:19.720 I had to do a story on Gabby Patito to 0:17:19.800 --> 0:17:22.000 find out, well, you know what, As it turns out, 0:17:22.000 --> 0:17:24.520 I haven't heard of Oh, there's that many missing black 0:17:24.560 --> 0:17:27.800 women and Native women. Native women are go missing. We'll 0:17:27.800 --> 0:17:30.760 get to the numbers. But I didn't even know that, 0:17:30.800 --> 0:17:32.480 and I worked in media for years, you know what 0:17:32.480 --> 0:17:34.520 I'm saying. So it's not we're not faulting anybody, but 0:17:34.560 --> 0:17:36.199 we now have now that we know this, we have 0:17:36.320 --> 0:17:39.959 to listen. And we have to hold other people accountable 0:17:40.280 --> 0:17:43.200 so that they listen. And we have to prioritize our 0:17:43.280 --> 0:17:47.160 sisters and our mothers. And you know what, I would 0:17:47.160 --> 0:17:48.960 bet my life at the end of it, when I 0:17:49.000 --> 0:17:53.359 go to heaven, that old woman who looks akin to 0:17:53.520 --> 0:17:57.240 doctor Westenberg or my grandma or something will be sitting 0:17:57.240 --> 0:18:01.040 on that throne in the clouds as God herself. You 0:18:01.040 --> 0:18:05.119 know what I mean? That would not surprise me at all, 0:18:05.359 --> 0:18:08.400 right one bit. And I do my best to cultivate 0:18:08.440 --> 0:18:13.800 my relationships with especially with older black women accordingly. Now 0:18:15.119 --> 0:18:19.200 I'll continue, she told the Kansas City Police. Oh sorry. 0:18:19.440 --> 0:18:24.200 Last month, the Kansas City Defender, a nonprofit newsroom, published 0:18:24.240 --> 0:18:27.280 a video of Bishop Tony Caldwell, saying that he had 0:18:27.280 --> 0:18:30.800 received information that the missing women had all been kidnapped 0:18:31.040 --> 0:18:34.440 from Prospect Avenue in Kansas City. That police dismissed the 0:18:34.440 --> 0:18:38.399 concerns is completely unfounded, saying in a statement, there is 0:18:38.440 --> 0:18:41.919 no basis to support this rumor. The case is just 0:18:41.960 --> 0:18:45.280 the latest example of a predominantly white police force refusing 0:18:45.320 --> 0:18:48.080 to take seriously reports of missing and murdered Black, brown, 0:18:48.160 --> 0:18:52.840 and Indigenous victims, especially women and girls. Now, I want 0:18:52.880 --> 0:18:55.240 to take a moment and shout out the Kansas City Defender. 0:18:55.920 --> 0:19:00.159 There's a very special individual who founded and runs that. 0:19:00.400 --> 0:19:02.919 We had the pleasure of sitting down with him and 0:19:02.960 --> 0:19:09.000 talking with him. His name is Ryan Sorel, and he 0:19:09.440 --> 0:19:13.760 is a person who fights the good fight. If you 0:19:14.240 --> 0:19:18.080 get your news about the country or you know anything 0:19:18.119 --> 0:19:19.560 like that, I know it sounds like Kansas City, and 0:19:19.560 --> 0:19:21.760 you might not be in Kansas. In fact, I'm not 0:19:21.760 --> 0:19:23.439 sure that we have any stations in Kansas. So you 0:19:23.480 --> 0:19:26.560 definitely are in Kansas if you're listening to this or Missouri. 0:19:27.600 --> 0:19:33.640 So please search out this publication because it is not 0:19:33.760 --> 0:19:36.920 just Kansas. It is just an awesome voice to have, 0:19:37.119 --> 0:19:40.080 and it is a national publication just based in Kansas 0:19:40.240 --> 0:19:44.560 has since gone national. Kansas City, Kansas City, Missouri, Kansas City, Missouri. Right, 0:19:45.680 --> 0:19:50.479 So this next part comes from NPR kidnapping investigation raises 0:19:50.560 --> 0:19:54.359 new questions about reports of missing black women. The NPR 0:19:54.440 --> 0:20:00.639 interviewed Ryan Sorel at the Kansas City Defender, and the 0:20:00.720 --> 0:20:04.399 reporter asked, what is the hope of the community about 0:20:04.400 --> 0:20:07.560 where this investigation is going to go from here at 0:20:07.560 --> 0:20:12.000 this point? And Ryan said, they did not reach out 0:20:12.040 --> 0:20:14.080 to us to ask where do we get the information. 0:20:14.240 --> 0:20:16.280 They didn't reach out to the bishop that initially made 0:20:16.320 --> 0:20:18.520 the video, They didn't reach out to any community members. 0:20:18.560 --> 0:20:22.000 The black community generally was silenced in essence because of that, 0:20:22.560 --> 0:20:26.320 and so that was also deeply concerning to us. And 0:20:26.359 --> 0:20:31.600 that is another aspect that is deeply troubling about the situation. 0:20:31.760 --> 0:20:34.760 To be frank and honest, we are doing investigatory work ourselves, 0:20:35.000 --> 0:20:37.840 because that's truly how this information came about, and it 0:20:37.880 --> 0:20:42.600 was from us in the community. In other words, no 0:20:42.760 --> 0:20:46.000 police support, no police help. You know, police officers have 0:20:46.320 --> 0:20:49.600 police departments rather have like investigators and detectives and that 0:20:49.640 --> 0:20:53.000 sort of stuff. Well, the Kansas City Defender had to 0:20:53.040 --> 0:20:57.000 be their own investigators and detectives and so forth to 0:20:57.040 --> 0:20:59.199 get to the bottom of this story. And it's not 0:20:59.200 --> 0:21:02.199 to say that that has doesn't happen elsewhere, but we 0:21:02.240 --> 0:21:05.879 see things like this happen in black communities, which is 0:21:05.920 --> 0:21:09.119 why black media is very important, which is why black 0:21:09.240 --> 0:21:11.880 listening to black voices is very important. You know, because 0:21:13.600 --> 0:21:16.920 the power structures that exist in the world exist to 0:21:16.960 --> 0:21:20.639 support the movement of money, and at the end of 0:21:20.640 --> 0:21:24.040 the day, the movement of money benefits the wealthy, and 0:21:24.960 --> 0:21:28.760 for those of us who cannot see that, we think 0:21:28.800 --> 0:21:35.080 that these things exist independent of cases like this. And 0:21:35.119 --> 0:21:37.840 the truth is they ignore things like this because it 0:21:37.880 --> 0:21:42.800 doesn't serve their ultimate agenda, which is to keep people 0:21:42.840 --> 0:21:46.159 with money and power in those positions. Almost nobody knows that. 0:21:46.160 --> 0:21:49.280 It's the wildest thing. Now, I do want to share 0:21:49.320 --> 0:21:53.000 some statistics with you, So this comes from CNN. According 0:21:53.000 --> 0:21:55.600 to a twenty twenty one FBI data report, black people 0:21:55.600 --> 0:21:58.399 make up thirty one percent of missing persons reports, but 0:21:58.480 --> 0:22:01.320 only fourteen percent of the US population. Okay, so that 0:22:01.400 --> 0:22:08.800 means that Black people go missing at nearly a third 0:22:08.800 --> 0:22:12.200 of Black people make up the missing person's report, only 0:22:12.200 --> 0:22:15.000 fourteen percent of the population White people. 0:22:15.200 --> 0:22:18.080 To say that, again, a third of the people missing 0:22:18.320 --> 0:22:19.720 are black. That's what I'm trying to, like to start, 0:22:19.760 --> 0:22:20.040 thank you. 0:22:20.880 --> 0:22:23.879 White people meanwhile, make up fifty four percent of missing 0:22:23.880 --> 0:22:27.080 persons reports and seventy six percent of the US population. 0:22:27.840 --> 0:22:31.600 So black people go missing at higher rates, you know, proportionately, 0:22:31.720 --> 0:22:36.600 an insanely higher rate. And some black families are still 0:22:36.600 --> 0:22:39.720 searching for answers even after their missing loved one is found, Like, 0:22:39.760 --> 0:22:41.560 how did this happen for so long? And a lot 0:22:41.560 --> 0:22:43.920 of times after a very long time, if you find 0:22:43.960 --> 0:22:48.919 a missing person, the circumstances are not good anymore. You 0:22:49.119 --> 0:22:51.520 just find them, you know, they don't get to pick 0:22:51.600 --> 0:22:57.240 up and continue. The FBI is National Crime and Information 0:22:57.320 --> 0:23:01.560 Center says the largest disparity among Black people make up 0:23:01.600 --> 0:23:07.679 about a third acting active missing persons, and those numbers 0:23:08.119 --> 0:23:11.840 look like this twenty nine thousand, three hundred and fifty 0:23:11.840 --> 0:23:16.879 seven people versus white people which is fifty thousand, five 0:23:16.960 --> 0:23:19.960 hundred and forty four, Asian twenty one hundred and nine, 0:23:20.520 --> 0:23:24.480 and Native Americans which is one thousand, five hundred and 0:23:24.480 --> 0:23:29.720 fifty four. And also the NCIC includes people who identify 0:23:29.720 --> 0:23:33.680