Speaker 1: Keep on riding with us, says, we continue to broadcast
Speaker 1: the balance and defend the discourse from the Hip Hop
Speaker 1: Weekly studios. Welcome back to Civic Cipher. I am still
Speaker 1: your host Rams's job.
Speaker 2: He is still rams this job. I remain qward. You
Speaker 2: are tuned in, hopefully still tuned in or just now
Speaker 2: tuning in Pacific Cipher.
Speaker 1: Either way, we appreciate you and we still got a
Speaker 1: lot more in store for you. We are going to
Speaker 1: be talking about how to celebrate June teenth. This is
Speaker 1: a very new holiday for the country. Not really new
Speaker 1: for black folks, but it's new for the country and
Speaker 1: for those who are allies of black people. You know,
Speaker 1: we feel like this is something that can be approachable.
Speaker 1: This is something that you can participate in, and you
Speaker 1: just kind of have to bear in mind the population
Speaker 1: you're dealing with in the particular sensitivities of that population.
Speaker 1: But I think you know, any good faith effort will
Speaker 1: be well received, and if not, we're all here to learn.
Speaker 1: So stick around for that much more. But before we
Speaker 1: get there, it's time to discuss ba Ba becoming a
Speaker 1: better Allied Baba and Today's Baba A sponsored by Friends
Speaker 1: of the movement. You can sign up for the free
Speaker 1: voter wallet from fotmglobal dot com to support black businesses
Speaker 1: and allied businesses as well as make an impact with
Speaker 1: your spending. Again, that's Fotmglobal dot com. I'm going to
Speaker 1: take this one this week if I can. I want
Speaker 1: you to check out the twenty twenty four African American
Speaker 1: Conference on Disabilities. The AACD is the premier comprehensive disability
Speaker 1: conference in the United States that addresses the intersection between
Speaker 1: race and disability. The conference examines the avenues for self
Speaker 1: advocacy to ensure the effective provision of services, resources, and
Speaker 1: enforcement of civil rights in the African American and disability communities.
Speaker 1: This is from their website. We need your financial support
Speaker 1: and sponsorship for our conference. Your sponsorship will make a
Speaker 1: difference to help defray the costs to attend the conference
Speaker 1: for individuals or families and financial need so they can
Speaker 1: attain information and gain access to resources for themselves or
Speaker 1: their family members with disabilities. There are a limited number
Speaker 1: of scholarships for families to attend the conference. For more information,
Speaker 1: please contact Ronaldo Fowler. That's our Fouler at Disability Rights
Speaker 1: AZ dot org. Or you can go to the website
Speaker 1: Disability Rights AZ dot org again Ronaldo Fowler Our Fowler
Speaker 1: at Disability Rights az dot org or Disability Rights az
Speaker 1: dot org. Either way you can get more information. We're
Speaker 1: actually going to have an individual up on the show,
Speaker 1: hopefully in the next couple of weeks, to discuss the
Speaker 1: intersection of black life in America and certain cognitive disabilities.
Speaker 1: My language, I'm still learning how to describe these things,
Speaker 1: but I want you to know that I do have
Speaker 1: a little cousin who is autistic, and he is right
Speaker 1: at the intersection of being black and autistic. And there's
Speaker 1: a lot to learn there, So stay tuned for more.
Speaker 1: Right now, let's talk about Juneteenth. So you know, I
Speaker 1: do you know I'm gonna say this man, you know, Biden, Biden,
Speaker 1: There's no such thing as a perfect man. Not that
Speaker 1: I would ever excuse Biden's policy.
Speaker 2: Far from it.
Speaker 1: I would never excuse his policy on how he's dealing
Speaker 1: with Israel. That is, that is an excusable when they
Speaker 1: call him genocide Joe like, I understand that, and I
Speaker 1: would absolutely go along with that right But factually speaking,
Speaker 1: Joe Biden is the reason that Juneteenth is a national holiday.
Speaker 1: And that's something that is very hard for me and
Speaker 1: for a lot of black people because this is a
Speaker 1: conversation we've had on this show and a lot of
Speaker 1: the speaks, this speaks the speaking engagements that we attend
Speaker 1: Q and I and you know, and we've been in
Speaker 1: private conversations behind closed doors where we discuss what it
Speaker 1: was we wanted from our president in exchange for our
Speaker 1: vote in twenty twenty versus what we got we did
Speaker 1: get Juneteenth, which I maintain that's not nothing. That's not zero,
Speaker 1: because it is possible to get in there and do zero.
Speaker 2: Sure that was not even on our list of things.
Speaker 1: That right we weren't even checking for, however, but credit
Speaker 1: where it's due. Juneteenth is a national holiday now, not
Speaker 1: just something that we celebrate ourselves. And as a result
Speaker 1: of that, it can be celebrated nationally. Like there are people,
Speaker 1: well they'd get the day off from work, you know,
Speaker 1: on Memorial Day, you do Memorial Day activities. On Saint
Speaker 1: Patrick's Day, you do Saint Patrick's Day activities. It is
Speaker 1: possible now that on Juneteenth you can do Juneteenth activities.
Speaker 1: And we can circle back to Biden and all that.
Speaker 2: But oh, we will.
Speaker 1: I know that because I saw your face. Man. But
Speaker 1: but uh, right now, and talking about Juneteenth, you know,
Speaker 1: I want to remind you that Q and I do
Speaker 1: this show every week because we believe that allyship is special.
Speaker 1: We know that once upon a time our people were slaves.
Speaker 1: That's that's a reality that I have to live with
Speaker 1: every day. You know, if your people came here on
Speaker 1: the Mayflower, if your people came here on some boat
Speaker 1: or some great excursion westward to make a life and
Speaker 1: a name for themselves in the New World, or whatever
Speaker 1: your story is, I'm sure it has more dignity than
Speaker 1: the story where I say, yeah, my family, we came
Speaker 1: and chained, We were slaves and lived short, hard lives
Speaker 1: and never knew true happiness. And that DNA has made
Speaker 1: me into the living, breathing being that I am now.
Speaker 1: Make no mistake, I'm proud to be who I am.
Speaker 1: I've found a way to be happy with it. Indeed,
Speaker 1: we all have. I think that's part of our superpower
Speaker 1: as a hero. But I'm not going to kid myself
Speaker 1: and say, yeah, that's the move, that's the story. Let's
Speaker 1: run that again, right. That's why I work hard, That's
Speaker 1: why all of us work hard so that our children
Speaker 1: and their children don't have to have that be their story,
Speaker 1: don't have to endure that themselves. So when I look
Speaker 1: at what could have been true of my life coming
Speaker 1: from slaves, I'm aware that there were allies even back
Speaker 1: then that were not Black, that were pushing to end slavery.
Speaker 1: Allyship has been part and parcel to every major advancement
Speaker 1: in you know, black people's status in this country, non
Speaker 1: Jewish people. You know. Q and I we do episodes
Speaker 1: of the Black Information Network. We were having a conversation
Speaker 1: not too long ago about a Jewish gentleman who is
Speaker 1: working to erode affirmative action and opportunities.
Speaker 2: To bring about he's not working to he's a successfully Yeah,
Speaker 2: you're successfully done away with it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And he's continuing to attack the Fearless Fund and.
Speaker 2: Any other initiative that looks to advance the causes and
Speaker 2: the well being of the disadvantage.
Speaker 1: And it's so funny because he's a Jewish man, and
Speaker 1: that feels so strange. I know that you can't paint
Speaker 1: every group with the same brush, but I always felt
Speaker 1: like there might have been a special kinship there. So
Speaker 1: to know that that was particularly that made me particularly sad.
Speaker 1: But in any event, we're talking about allyship, and the
Speaker 1: fact of the matter is that we would not have
Speaker 1: had affirmative action in the first place had it not
Speaker 1: been for allies. Right, So I'm saying all this to
Speaker 1: establish that allies are very important, and indeed, the reason
Speaker 1: we created this show is because we felt like there
Speaker 1: was a need for us to be able to communicate
Speaker 1: with allies, potential allies, allies who had you know, maybe
Speaker 1: they had carried long and become weary and they needed
Speaker 1: information and to know that they were appreciated, and a
Speaker 1: hundred other reasons. We also know that that can be
Speaker 1: a very scary place because if you don't know the
Speaker 1: type of support that I need, and historically the people
Speaker 1: that look like you have shown up and tried to
Speaker 1: either steal the spotlight or just put on a show
Speaker 1: and not really follow through, or had some like decidedly
Speaker 1: underhanded intentions like hey, look, you guys are going to
Speaker 1: be getting a lot of money. Let me help you
Speaker 1: spend the money, and then just disappear with the money.
Speaker 1: Because we can talk about the history of black banking, exploitation, exploitation,
Speaker 1: that's the word I'm looking for. You know, over time,
Speaker 1: it causes people to be wary, to be concerned. Right,
Speaker 1: and so whereas there are people who would be allies
Speaker 1: coming to the table saying hey, I want to help,
Speaker 1: I want to you know whatever, if they don't know
Speaker 1: how to do that, they can end up getting chastised.
Speaker 1: And that can be a very deflating moment when a
Speaker 1: person says, hey, look, I showed up to help you guys,
Speaker 1: Now you're yelling at me, So now I won't do
Speaker 1: anything right? And to that we push back, Q and I,
Speaker 1: we push back and we say no, stay the course.
Speaker 1: This is a learning process and everyone is different, and
Speaker 1: everyone's timetables are different, everybody's learning curve is different. Don't
Speaker 1: be afraid to make a mistake. We don't want you
Speaker 1: to make mistakes, but don't be afraid that comes with
Speaker 1: it is we're running this experiment with you, right. We
Speaker 1: don't know where the boundaries are either. We know them
Speaker 1: when we feel them, and we will tell you. But
Speaker 1: don't be afraid to explore how far this can go.
Speaker 2: And in that spirit, to our brothers and sisters who
Speaker 2: are celebrating our cultural celebration, our you know it's it's
Speaker 2: a really interesting thing to celebrate things black in this
Speaker 2: country because the only place on earth where black exists
Speaker 2: as a I don't like to use the word race,
Speaker 2: but race or ethnic group is the United States of America.
Speaker 2: And the social construct of black and white being created
Speaker 2: just to separate, to make plainly delineate these other people
Speaker 2: who are allowed to be human beings, and these are
Speaker 2: those that are less than. It is a very very
Speaker 2: interesting place to try to be proud of one's blackness.
Speaker 2: And when you are proud of it, put people push
Speaker 2: back and say ignorant things like why is there no
Speaker 2: White History Month? Why is there no celebration of whiteness? Well,
Speaker 2: the construct was built in a way that everyone white
Speaker 2: is first and foremost Jewish or Irish or German, or
Speaker 2: English or Spanish or Scottish, and I can go on
Speaker 2: and on, whereas seven to eight generations of black people
Speaker 2: are black because we don't know before that that was
Speaker 2: stolen from us. So it is infuriating too at every
Speaker 2: step of every bit of progress that we've made for
Speaker 2: there to be someone like the litigator that we spoke
Speaker 2: about earlier, Bloom that shows up and says no, no, no,
Speaker 2: not even today. We allow you your self dignity, your
Speaker 2: self esteem, your self reliance, your self, your self respect.
Speaker 2: It is an infuriating thing to be put in that
Speaker 2: position and to be made to feel like you are
Speaker 2: now somehow the person that is wrong for trying to
Speaker 2: be proud. Let us realize that now that this is
Speaker 2: a national holiday, we've invited a lot of people to
Speaker 2: the party, and some of them will show up and
Speaker 2: be clumsy because they don't know any better. They don't
Speaker 2: mean any harm. They do want to act the participate
Speaker 2: in not just our celebration, but in our progress. The
Speaker 2: idea that allyship doesn't exist is a false pretense, and
Speaker 2: that is us acting in bad.
Speaker 1: Faith sometimes right, So.
Speaker 2: We don't have to, you know, as you would do
Speaker 2: a child, pop the hand of those that misstep. Instead,
Speaker 2: grab their hand and help them get on the right track.
Speaker 1: And I love this. Yeah, this is yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean, we have to be as inclusive as we
Speaker 2: would hope others would be for us.
Speaker 1: You know, it's funny because Q and I we had
Speaker 1: this conversation when we were putting together the show. We're
Speaker 1: kind of preparing to discuss this, and I love that
Speaker 1: analogy in that approach because it actually does speak to
Speaker 1: kind of like best practices. Right. So on the one side,
Speaker 1: for those listening that would be allies that would say, hey,
Speaker 1: you know what, we're going to do something to honor
Speaker 1: June Teeth, the spirit of June Teeth like you would
Speaker 1: for Memorial Day or whatever else, you know, the fallen
Speaker 1: soldiers or you know, anything like that. Right, we are
Speaker 1: going to show up and we are going to take
Speaker 1: a moment to really understand what it is that we're selling.
Speaker 1: We're gonna be intentional about this day. For those people,
Speaker 1: we need you to be unafraid to engage. I'm unafraid
Speaker 1: to make mistakes. With that said, don't look for mistakes
Speaker 1: to make, you know, find something you're comfortable with, but
Speaker 1: do something right. And we have we have some things
Speaker 1: that you can start off with.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: And for those of us who, let's call us, the
Speaker 1: people who are closest to the actual Juneteenth Holiday, namely
Speaker 1: black people, I say to us, I don't really need
Speaker 1: to say it. I can just echo what you just said,
Speaker 1: which is, let's be mindful that people are new to
Speaker 1: this party and they might be a little clumsy, but
Speaker 1: this is where we are. This is what we're doing.
Speaker 1: And the truth is this is what we want. We
Speaker 1: do not want to be at the margins. We have
Speaker 1: been relegated to the margins the whole time, and now
Speaker 1: we have a hot This is not doctor Martin Luther
Speaker 1: King Day where he's talking about little black boys and
Speaker 1: little white girls. No, this is something that puts our
Speaker 1: history into the minds of the country every single year.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't be shocked if the other side tries to
Speaker 2: find a way to renounce or denounce or remove this
Speaker 2: holiday from the calendar.
Speaker 1: Listen with strange. Stranger things have happened, But for now,
Speaker 1: this is what we got. So let's talk about how
Speaker 1: to celebrate JUNETEA first thing.
Speaker 2: Cookouts that's the one, yeah, traditionally and the two traditionally Yeah,
Speaker 2: that's that's kind of what you do.
Speaker 1: So what happens is family and friends gathering, share food
Speaker 1: and drinks, and these can include you know, red food
Speaker 1: and drinks. You know, I want some kool aid. You know,
Speaker 1: I want some cool I want some cool are and
Speaker 1: some people see them as symbols of resilience enjoy, while
Speaker 1: other people see them as symbols of suffering and sacrifice.
Speaker 1: Some traditional cookout foods include barbecue, fried chicken, potato, salad, watermelon,
Speaker 1: you know, soul food, you know, all that sort of stuff.
Speaker 2: Right, Watermelon being on that list is crazy, Like reading
Speaker 2: fried chicken and watermelon on that list is crazy, except
Speaker 2: when you really know, first of all, how good fried
Speaker 2: chicken and watermelon are. Oh yeah, but you realize that
Speaker 2: even the idea of those being decidedly black and being
Speaker 2: positioned in a way that feels racist was another societal construct.
Speaker 2: Most of the country, all of the country, I'd like
Speaker 2: to argue, enjoys fried chicken.
Speaker 1: Human beings, mel yeah, human beings. Yeah. So listen real quick,
Speaker 1: we've had this episode, we've done this for we might
Speaker 1: need to bring it back, but just so you know,
Speaker 1: the reason why watermelon specifically is associated with black people.
Speaker 1: Once upon a time, black people were not allowed to
Speaker 1: have vanilla ice cream, so watermelon became associated with kind
Speaker 1: of like a treat for black people. And then, you know,
Speaker 1: post slavery, Jim Crow South watermelon farmers that became a
Speaker 1: professional a lot of black people started to do. So
Speaker 1: those racist caricatures of black people eating watermelons comes from
Speaker 1: that time, and it's a testament to black independence and
Speaker 1: black resilience. But of course, as we mentioned, it was
Speaker 1: taken away from black people and rebranded as a bad thing,
Speaker 1: and then now black people, even myself, i'd be afraid
Speaker 1: to eat. If someone put a piece of fried chicken
Speaker 1: and watermelon on the same plate and gave it to
Speaker 1: me and there are white people around, it probably wouldn't
Speaker 1: eat it.
Speaker 2: I showed up for one of my first DJ gigs ever,
Speaker 2: and a part of my rider was that this place
Speaker 2: would feed me. And the first meal that I showed
Speaker 2: up at this Irish establishment was fried chicken and watermelon,
Speaker 2: and I'll never forget it because the area I didn't
Speaker 2: have like a dressing room or a backstage area. The
Speaker 2: area was the platform that I DJ'ed on. They put
Speaker 2: a table in a chair so people could watch me eat,
Speaker 2: and I remember looking around like are they serious? But
Speaker 2: see there's the mistakes that people could make. And then
Speaker 2: a chef came out and said hello to me, and
Speaker 2: he was Mexican. He absolutely meant nothing by it, and
Speaker 2: the food was incredible. Let me start there, but I
Speaker 2: had that moment of pause. I'm on stage in a
Speaker 2: room where I am the only black person and there
Speaker 2: is a plate of fried chicken and a plate of
Speaker 2: French fries and watermelon. And I was prepared to be
Speaker 2: offended because, of course, but I met the chef. I
Speaker 2: could tell from her very first words that he did
Speaker 2: not mean it in any sort of way. But like
Speaker 2: you said, this was stolen from us, rebranded and put
Speaker 2: me in that awful position to have to feel that way.
Speaker 1: You know, what's funny about this is that there are
Speaker 1: so many people in this country. Most of them are
Speaker 1: why that eat food and don't think about how it looks.
Speaker 1: It's not even a thing. They don't have to doesn't
Speaker 1: even But you know, I remember I told the story
Speaker 1: about when I walked into my studio at the old
Speaker 1: radio station and there was a banana. Someone had put
Speaker 1: a banana on the mixer and I was about to
Speaker 1: tear it all down, like oh, somebody got something to say,
Speaker 1: let's go, you know, but you know, anyway, you understand,
Speaker 1: don't be afraid to make mistakes, be prepared to learn
Speaker 1: from them. Engage. We're all here together, especially those of
Speaker 1: us who are allies, and well we can grow some
Speaker 1: other things that you can do. I'll just get through
Speaker 1: this really quickly before we run out of time. Festivals.
Speaker 1: These can include music, food, dancing, parades, and protests. We're
Speaker 1: going to be doing a live during.
Speaker 2: Yes on Juneteenth, Kendrick Lamar is doing a live concert
Speaker 2: at the Forum in Englewood. We will be live on
Speaker 2: YouTube watching this concert, reacting to it, and having some
Speaker 2: conversation and back and forth with our listeners and supporters.
Speaker 1: All right, Some more things you can do to celebrate
Speaker 1: unitem include prayer and religious services of course, educational events,
Speaker 1: cultural activities, which can include visiting museums, cultural sites, or
Speaker 1: historic neighborhoods to see murals and historical markers. Many museums
Speaker 1: also offer lectures, performances, and other live programming. And supporting
Speaker 1: black communities. This can include supporting black owned businesses, black
Speaker 1: organization and individuals in your community. You can also reflect
Speaker 1: on how you uphold white supremacy and how you plan
Speaker 1: to dismantle it.
Speaker 2: You can also come and view our live on YouTube,
Speaker 2: YouTube dot com slash civic SciTE.
Speaker 1: Okay, that's it, and oh there's a ton of books
Speaker 1: out there you can read. And we're working on a
Speaker 1: book too that you'll be able to read soon enough.
Speaker 1: But lots of things that you can do here to
Speaker 1: help celebrate team. Don't be afraid to make a misas,
Speaker 1: but that'll do it. For that, We'll leave it right there.
Speaker 1: I'd like to thank you as always for tuning into
Speaker 1: Civic Cipher. I have been your host Rams this job.
Speaker 2: I am qward. I am forever grateful to our listeners.
Speaker 2: Thank you guys for helping us grow and supporting us.
Speaker 2: Visit civiccipher dot com, download episodes, share them, like, comment, subscribe,
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Speaker 1: You can follow me at Rams' job at I am
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Speaker 1: next week.
Speaker 2: Peace,