Speaker 1: And now move my mic back. You're like that.
Speaker 2: We can strikes with waters from headquarters behind him and
Speaker 2: the line the borders.
Speaker 1: But that said, if you're just tuning in to Civic Sidefro,
Speaker 1: i'm your host Rams's job, Yes he is, and I
Speaker 1: am q ward. You're listening to Civic Side from still
Speaker 1: got a lot more show to stick around for. We
Speaker 1: will be talking about the La City Council meeting that
Speaker 1: termed racist. Unfortunately, we knew this day was coming, and uh,
Speaker 1: we have to talk about it, you know. And I
Speaker 1: think this this honestly, it makes me glad that we
Speaker 1: have this show because no one else can give it
Speaker 1: in these spaces, no one else can give it what
Speaker 1: it needs in terms of like, hey, we really need
Speaker 1: to address this. We can't just sing and dance our
Speaker 1: way through this one. We have to actually talk about it.
Speaker 1: So we will be talking about that. We also are
Speaker 1: going to be talking about Mahelia Jackson for our Way
Speaker 1: Black History Fact and how she sparked Martin Luther King
Speaker 1: Junior's I Have a Dream speech And that's a really
Speaker 1: cool story that Maggie be knowing what she wanted us
Speaker 1: to talk about. So first and foremost let's discuss how
Speaker 1: to become a better ally b A b A. Today's
Speaker 1: Babba is sponsored by the Black Information Network Daily Podcasts.
Speaker 1: You can find that on iHeartMedia or at binnews dot com.
Speaker 1: We are having discussions in interviews on topics and news
Speaker 1: stories important to the black community. Today's show comes from
Speaker 1: our very own Ms. Maggie aka at Maggie B known
Speaker 1: on IG and all platforms she do so she wants
Speaker 1: you to learn how the media system fuels anti black racism. Interesting,
Speaker 1: all right, So there's a great place to check out
Speaker 1: at freepress dot net by our friend Collett Watson exploring
Speaker 1: how the United States's dominant media system has propped up
Speaker 1: racial oppression throughout history and continues to today. And we invite
Speaker 1: you to check it out as an active ally. Understanding
Speaker 1: this history of harm perpetuated by the US news and
Speaker 1: media industry and the solutions for modern media justice today
Speaker 1: is critical. Make sure you are fully informed and best
Speaker 1: poised in position for constructive ally ship and action. Content
Speaker 1: is king in many ways these days now more than ever,
Speaker 1: Representation and diversity and all categories of information is invaluable,
Speaker 1: as is your comprehensive support, Your eyes your ears, your clicks,
Speaker 1: your reviews with these platforms and publications all matter, and
Speaker 1: so do your dollars. Black news and media entities like
Speaker 1: the Kansas City Defender, Media twenty seventy, Free Press, Chine Magazine,
Speaker 1: and of course us here at Civic Cipher. Your donations,
Speaker 1: your downloads, your subscriptions, you're purchasing our products and services.
Speaker 1: All of these actions go a long way. And I'll
Speaker 1: add sharing as well, and yes, do you know and
Speaker 1: on behalf of all black news and media, we extend
Speaker 1: our gratitude and appreciation. So normally we have something else,
Speaker 1: but that came from Maggie, and I kind of love it.
Speaker 1: Thank you, thank you, thank you. You're far too kind.
Speaker 1: All right, let's get to it. LA City council meeting
Speaker 1: turns racist. All right. I'll start by reading this comes
Speaker 1: from the LA Times. Headline reads racist remarks in leaked
Speaker 1: audio of LA Council members spark outrage. Disgusted Behind closed doors,
Speaker 1: Los Angeles City Council President Nuri Martinez made openly racist remarks,
Speaker 1: derided some of her council colleagues, and spoke in unusually
Speaker 1: crass terms about how the city should be carved up. Politically,
Speaker 1: Martinis made racist remarks about council member Mike Bohnan's young son,
Speaker 1: while others chime in. During this section of the conversation,
Speaker 1: group was discussing a dispute between council members Karen Price
Speaker 1: and Marquise Harris Dawson, who were at odds last year
Speaker 1: over whose district would represent USC and Exposition Park once
Speaker 1: the new maps were finalized. During the conversation with council
Speaker 1: members Guil Sidillo and Kevin de Leon and Los Angeles
Speaker 1: County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera, Martinez described the
Speaker 1: bon In at one point as a little B word.
Speaker 1: Martinez also mocked Hawkins and said, f that guy, he's
Speaker 1: with the blacks. While speaking about Los Angeles County District
Speaker 1: Attorney George Gascon, who was another council member. De Leon
Speaker 1: appeared to compare Bonen's handling of his child to Martinez
Speaker 1: holding a Louis baiton handbag. De Leone said Bonan, who
Speaker 1: is white, is like the fourth black on the council,
Speaker 1: unimplied he wouldn't stand by latinos. The conversation took place
Speaker 1: October twenty twenty one and focus heavily on council members
Speaker 1: for us dreation with maps that have been proposed by
Speaker 1: the city's twenty one member redistricting commission. Along with revealing cruel,
Speaker 1: racist comments, the leaked audio offered a rare window into
Speaker 1: the behind the scenes machinations of the redistricting process and
Speaker 1: the bare knuckled fighting between various groups trying to secure
Speaker 1: political power. Okay, now I'm going to take a moment
Speaker 1: and I'm going to talk about this. So I'm from
Speaker 1: La City of Compte. Yes, I grew up around black
Speaker 1: people and Mexican people. I have no aversion to Spanish.
Speaker 1: I'm a little unique in that way because my grandmother
Speaker 1: was from Cuba and my first language that I spoke
Speaker 1: was Spanish. Don't ask me to speak it now, but
Speaker 1: if I needed to, I could get by. Don't I
Speaker 1: just sound like the year old. My cousins blood cousins,
Speaker 1: Jan and Tunisia identify as Hispanic. Their mother is black,
Speaker 1: but their father is a Mexican man, and they both
Speaker 1: visibly look to be more Hispanic. That's not to say
Speaker 1: they don't claim, you know, both sides. It's just, you know,
Speaker 1: that's the way the world treats them. So just kind
Speaker 1: of how that goes. I have two sons. Both of
Speaker 1: my sons are half Mexican. I know you're gonna want
Speaker 1: to add that, so go ahead and add it, as
Speaker 1: are both of my children Mexican, okay, And my childhood memories,
Speaker 1: my friends then and now and well into the future,
Speaker 1: we'll all be mixed up and that will include a
Speaker 1: not insignificant at all amount of Hispanic Latino people. So
Speaker 1: it's like family, and it literally is family. You know,
Speaker 1: my son, my you know, like my cousin, you know,
Speaker 1: literally family. And then you know how I am with
Speaker 1: my friends that you know when you're in, you're in, right.
Speaker 1: So this is the man who is going to give
Speaker 1: his thoughts. I need you to know that because I'm
Speaker 1: about as close as you can be to something like
Speaker 1: this and not myself be a Hispanic person. I also
Speaker 1: am as close to this as you can be because
Speaker 1: I do this show, I walk this path, and I
Speaker 1: am a black man, and I also recognize what California
Speaker 1: wants to be. Again, I'm from place. I was born
Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty two, So the first part of my
Speaker 1: life everyone seemed to get along fine. Later on, these
Speaker 1: huge increases in the prison population because of the War
Speaker 1: on drugs, because of let's be honest, Clinton's policies and
Speaker 1: well Reagan, Bush and Clinton. Yeah, but you know during
Speaker 1: you know that time, but you're absolutely right, Reaganomics paved
Speaker 1: the way for all of this. Hence, the war on
Speaker 1: drugs and other factors, you know, created a boom in
Speaker 1: the prison population. My brother explained this to me one day.
Speaker 1: I have an older brother, his name is raka Iris
Speaker 1: Science of the Dilated People's. They make the music for
Speaker 1: the show that you listen to every week, the Rappers,
Speaker 1: that's the Dilated People's And so my brother is my
Speaker 1: literal brothers in the group, and he told me this.
Speaker 1: He says that, you know, what happens in prisons is
Speaker 1: folks tend to link up with people who look like them,
Speaker 1: very very tribal, right, and it's just how it is.
Speaker 1: It's really difficult to get away from that. But what
Speaker 1: happens is, you know, that environment is not the natural
Speaker 1: state of human beings, right, We are not meant to
Speaker 1: be in cages like that, and so our behavior, our
Speaker 1: social skills tend to evolve in a very strange way
Speaker 1: when we are put in an environment like that is
Speaker 1: not our natural state. What happens is some of those
Speaker 1: people get in there and learn how to hate, become radicalized,
Speaker 1: as happens with our brothers and sisters from the Caucasian
Speaker 1: tribe as well. And what happens is they bring that
Speaker 1: now that that prison culture has gotten so big, and
Speaker 1: you know, the late eighties, all throughout the nineties and
Speaker 1: early two thousands, and even now, that prison culture ends
Speaker 1: up spilling out into the street as people tend to,
Speaker 1: you know, rotate back in this society and you're to anyway, right,
Speaker 1: And so you have prison politics in an environment where people,
Speaker 1: in theory would be free from that, be freer to
Speaker 1: be who they naturally, would be freer to make children,
Speaker 1: as my my aunt and uncle did, who are mixed race.
Speaker 1: My my uncle by marriage, his name was Romero. I
Speaker 1: love that guy. Man. I haven't seen him in some years,
Speaker 1: but I did like he was so cool man. He
Speaker 1: wear a cowboy hat. He was like real, like macho.
Speaker 1: You know, it's pokespanish. This is a g man anyway,
Speaker 1: And just be free to be who you are, celebrate
Speaker 1: your culture alongside other people who are celebrating their culture,
Speaker 1: and not hate it. Right. What happens, though, is that
Speaker 1: that prison culture diffuses through communities and even works its
Speaker 1: way up to city council meetings as we're seeing now.
Speaker 1: Because I don't believe that is the natural state of
Speaker 1: the Los Angeles City Council. We're talking about the late
Speaker 1: eighteen hundreds, early nineteen hundreds in New York City, when
Speaker 1: there's you know, Italians and that sort of stuff. I
Speaker 1: could see that a little bit more easy. But somebody
Speaker 1: who comes from Los Angeles, this feels very bizarre. Seems
Speaker 1: like you have something I can learn, No, we can learn.
Speaker 1: And I think that's a large part of not just
Speaker 1: what our audience gains from the show, what we gain
Speaker 1: from and having these conversations forces us to become more informed,
Speaker 1: more learned, and more educated on the topics that we cover.
Speaker 1: And if you listen to this show before, you've heard
Speaker 1: us speak about this. Just like it's hard to not
Speaker 1: bring racism into these conversations, it is impossible to not
Speaker 1: bring up the impact of capitalism on these conversations when
Speaker 1: the resources are scarce and people have to fight over them.
Speaker 1: Just like in prison people become tribal, they can in
Speaker 1: city council, where they're you know, redistricting and drawing maps
Speaker 1: to decide who's going to get money. Let's let's call
Speaker 1: it what it is, drawing those maps and you know,
Speaker 1: reconfiguring the districts. You know, the reason why we're fighting
Speaker 1: over who gets USC because USC's district is going to
Speaker 1: get more money. Right.
Speaker 3: So, when you create a situation where the resources are
Speaker 3: scarce and people have to fight over them, people who
Speaker 3: would otherwise get along and thrive together now feel themselves
Speaker 3: pitted against each other. So that's why you hear that
Speaker 3: language about you know, he's probably going to side with
Speaker 3: the blacks, meaning the neighborhood where the black people lives
Speaker 3: will end up getting more money if that person votes that.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 3: So, when you create these circumstances not just in city
Speaker 3: council meetings, not just in prisons, but in neighborhoods and
Speaker 3: in cities, and in this country where there has to
Speaker 3: be have nots, and the haves have so much, everyone
Speaker 3: else is left to kind of duke it out over
Speaker 3: what remains. From schools, our education system, to city councils
Speaker 3: to government. I mean, our government has been so polarized
Speaker 3: and so divisive and you know, so partisan that we
Speaker 3: no longer agree on anything like the definitions of things
Speaker 3: that have been faccked our whole lives, because in order
Speaker 3: for my team to have the power, we just got
Speaker 3: to ride out on the other team. Yeah, and some
Speaker 3: people who really don't benefit from their team winning have
Speaker 3: been so you know, and so put into this tribal,
Speaker 3: divisibalized partisan mindset. They're gonna ride for their team no
Speaker 3: matter what, so that their team can win, even if
Speaker 3: that doesn't benefit them in any way. So these situations
Speaker 3: we talk about, the rate at which people go to
Speaker 3: prison in poorer communities also tied to the scarcity of resources.
Speaker 3: The reason why some people don't go work at the
Speaker 3: places where you and I have worked before media was
Speaker 3: a thing, and get on the corner and do what
Speaker 3: they feel like is a faster way to get more money,
Speaker 3: even though it's more dangerous and less safe, and the
Speaker 3: chances that you're gonna end up get or in prison
Speaker 3: are high. I got to get this money however I can,
Speaker 3: because my kids and or my parents might not be
Speaker 3: able to eat or go to the doctor if I
Speaker 3: don't do this.
Speaker 1: So we create the circumstances that lead to black and
Speaker 1: brown people fighting each other I'm trying to get this
Speaker 1: money from my district, and I don't want the blacks
Speaker 1: to get it over there. It's really, really a sad thing.
Speaker 3: But it's very, very impossible to ignore that capitalism, just
Speaker 3: like our prison industrial system, have a lot to do
Speaker 3: with these outcomes.
Speaker 1: And I'm glad you said that, because you're absolutely right.
Speaker 1: Capitalism at the center of this is a is an
Speaker 1: awesome take on it, and it is painted more vividly
Speaker 1: when the social climate is underscored with basically a prison
Speaker 1: population problem right over over what is it over and
Speaker 1: overly incarcerated imprisonment rates or something like that. I forget
Speaker 1: the term, but it's something like that, and it's it's
Speaker 1: a big deal around the country. We in prison we
Speaker 1: have I think, yeah, we definitely have the highest prison
Speaker 1: population in the world, but we have like something like
Speaker 1: our half the prisons are our prisoners on earth or
Speaker 1: something in the capita incarceration rate is insane. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: out of this world. And we also have like police
Speaker 1: like high police shootings, every mass shooting, all this sort
Speaker 1: of stuff. And you know, there's a lot of things
Speaker 1: that I know, I I this is very naive in me,
Speaker 1: and it's an oversimplication of how to address these sorts
Speaker 1: of things. But the quote unquote one man, one vote
Speaker 1: approach to pretty much everything wild would change quite a bit.
Speaker 1: You know, if someone were to run for you know,
Speaker 1: president of the United States and that was their platform, Listen,
Speaker 1: I'm really going to change the country for the better.
Speaker 1: Let's do one man or woman, one vote, and we
Speaker 1: can shape this country in the way that the people
Speaker 1: really wanted to shape it. Then you would have something
Speaker 1: that really reflects a democracy. Now. I recognize there's some
Speaker 1: people that are like, people don't know what they want,
Speaker 1: people are stupid, whatever, that sort of thing, but at
Speaker 1: least we would have a better idea of what it
Speaker 1: is that people truly want, and it would eliminate these
Speaker 1: sort of this fighting, bickering. Jerry Mandering is a big
Speaker 1: thing that we pushed back against on this show because
Speaker 1: the black vote has been disenfranchised. Black political power has
Speaker 1: been challenged at every conceivable step in the political process
Speaker 1: in this country since it was first permitted. And you know,
Speaker 1: we see that those challenges are uglier than ever now
Speaker 1: heading into midterm elections, which, by the way, I voted today,
Speaker 1: I voted earlier. I sent my ballot in and if
Speaker 1: you are not voting in the mid term elections, then
Speaker 1: you need to sit on attack. All right. All Right,
Speaker 1: I was going to say something else, but I'm not
Speaker 1: going to say that. Okay, I'm going to keep reading,
Speaker 1: because after this was exposed, there are people on the
Speaker 1: city council who have still not resigned. You would think
Speaker 1: that's the first thing that you do. I've embarrassed myself,
Speaker 1: I've embarrassed my people. I've shown my hand. I've exposed
Speaker 1: a very ugly side of you know, this process. And
Speaker 1: I was supposed to be the great solution, and I
Speaker 1: you know, whatever whatever it is that you would go
Speaker 1: through in terms of your soul searching as you came
Speaker 1: to terms with this disgusting behavior being made public. Right,
Speaker 1: but I'll read and this comes from NPR to LA
Speaker 1: City council members have lost their committee positions over race scandal.
Speaker 1: All right. The head of the Los Angeles City Council
Speaker 1: stripped two members of much of their power Monday to
Speaker 1: pressure them to resign for participating in a private meeting
Speaker 1: in which they did not object to a colleague's crewed
Speaker 1: and racist remarks and at times joined in the offensive banter.
Speaker 1: Acting Council President Mitchell Ferrell removed gil Sedillo and Kevin
Speaker 1: de Leon from committee chairmanships and assignments and named them
Speaker 1: instead to a board that rare meets as he turned
Speaker 1: up the heat on the veteran Democratic politicians. Quote, these
Speaker 1: members have lost all credibility, all standing, O'Farrell said at
Speaker 1: a city Hall news conference. By losing committe assignments, their
Speaker 1: influence in city Hall has dwindled, and they have largely
Speaker 1: become token figures, unable to participate in the day to
Speaker 1: day work of the Council and unwanted in council chambers
Speaker 1: where their appearance is likely to cause an uproar. The
Speaker 1: Council has moved to censure Cidillo and daily On, but
Speaker 1: doesn't have the power to remove fellow elected officials from
Speaker 1: office unless they've been charged with a crime. Latinos, who
Speaker 1: make up nearly half the city's population, only had four,
Speaker 1: or just over a quarter of the fifteen seats on
Speaker 1: the council at the time. Black people, who made up
Speaker 1: less than ten percent of the population, have three, a
Speaker 1: fifth of the seats. So we know that the the
Speaker 1: main woman who we don't use here, an main woman
Speaker 1: who is you know, almost all of the audio it
Speaker 1: was her, Yeah, and she said in Spanish that, you know,
Speaker 1: the little black boy was a monkey or acting like
Speaker 1: a monkey, something like that. She has resigned, she stepped down.
Speaker 1: But the other folks again who are participating in this
Speaker 1: and encouraging it, you know, or did not move to
Speaker 1: stop or otherwise correctly behavior, very very willing, laughing, sure
Speaker 1: get it.
Speaker 3: Participants. They weren't lookers on, they weren't passive in that
Speaker 3: they were. They joined in.
Speaker 1: So they are still technically on city council. And again,
Speaker 1: this is one of those things where it's like kind
Speaker 1: of hurtful, you know what I mean. It's one thing
Speaker 1: if like you make a mistake and you just take
Speaker 1: your lumps. It's another thing if you choose to stick
Speaker 1: around and remind everybody of exactly what you think of them,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. And the really interesting part
Speaker 1: for those who kind of joined in. I was at work.
Speaker 3: I won't say when, and I won't say where, because
Speaker 3: I don't want this story to be about anyone specifically
Speaker 3: but me, and an absence of anyone being present from
Speaker 3: the party that was being made fun of. I was
Speaker 3: there and I heard it and I did not defend them,
Speaker 3: and I felt like a coward. I felt like fraud
Speaker 3: because I like to think I think all of us
Speaker 3: have this version of ourself that's heroic. If that would
Speaker 3: have been me, I would have had been me. You
Speaker 3: know we all think that, right, But just like when
Speaker 3: someone tried to kidnap my son, a moment of pause
Speaker 3: could have led to him being taken. Because you think
Speaker 3: if someone tries that, I'll jump over this car and
Speaker 3: I'll that's what you think. But when I turn around
Speaker 3: and I see this man reaching into my car to
Speaker 3: grab my son, I freeze, and once again I feel
Speaker 3: like a coward.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 3: I bring these examples up because I can not just
Speaker 3: forgive or sympathize, but empathize with someone who does not,
Speaker 3: who is not biased for action when something wrong is happening.
Speaker 3: We all think we would, right, But in the situation
Speaker 3: I was in, it would have required me to challenge
Speaker 3: someone who probably could have fired me for my job.
Speaker 3: And you and I have both shown the world that
Speaker 3: there's only so far you can go where we will
Speaker 3: just say forget this job and walk away. What this
Speaker 3: person said on his face if I typed it out
Speaker 3: wouldn't be offensive. But if you were standing there and
Speaker 3: you heard the joke, you know for a fact that
Speaker 3: it was offensive. But it was offensive to parties that
Speaker 3: weren't present, so there was no one there to speak
Speaker 3: up for them except for me. In my mind, there's
Speaker 3: ten of us there, so anybody could have said something,
Speaker 3: But in my mind, the person that should have said
Speaker 3: something was you. However, if I laugh at or join
Speaker 3: in on this joke, that's different.
Speaker 1: It is a degree further. That's different.
Speaker 3: It is a few degrees further, and it's beyond cowardice.
Speaker 3: You're just as much as at fault as the person
Speaker 3: that you're allowing you to get off this hate, this racism,
Speaker 3: and this divisiveness.
Speaker 1: It's being complicit.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, in those moments, I apologized to people
Speaker 3: that I knew who should have been represented in that space,
Speaker 3: more over my children than their mother, so to paint
Speaker 3: a picture of how serious this was. And when they
Speaker 3: heard it, they're like, oh, that's no big deal, But
Speaker 3: to me, it was a very big deal.
Speaker 1: Well, I had to learn those lessons too, and I'm
Speaker 1: happy to say that more recently in my life, I
Speaker 1: have spoken up, not laughed, and if I can do it.
Speaker 1: You can do it too, and so can these people.
Speaker 1: But first they need to step down and take their
Speaker 1: lumps absolutely. All right, let's move on, yo, La, we
Speaker 1: love You'll figure that out. Okay. I'm thrown off the
Speaker 1: West side again. Yeah yeah, okay. Hispanic people, Mexican people, Latinos,
Speaker 1: black people.
Speaker 3: White people, Asian people say it all original agent other.
Speaker 1: If you check that, we love you too, yeah, and
Speaker 1: we we all in it together, all right. I just
Speaker 1: wish everybody would feel that way they're gonna feel eventually.
Speaker 1: All right. Today's way Black History fact sponsored by Hip
Speaker 1: Hop Weekly Media. This comes via biography dot com. How
Speaker 1: Mahela Jackson's spark Martin Luther King juniors I have dream
Speaker 1: speech Long before his famous nineteen sixty three speech in
Speaker 1: front of the Lincoln Memorial, Doctor Martin Luther King Junior
Speaker 1: had a dream. He talked about the dream that the
Speaker 1: previous April at a sixteenth Street Baptist Church meeting in Birmingham, Alabama,
Speaker 1: of quote seeing Negro boys and girls walking to school
Speaker 1: with little white boys and girls playing in the parks
Speaker 1: together and going swimming together. He continued that dream at
Speaker 1: at Cobbole Hall speech in Detroit at Gobol Hall, Cobol
Speaker 1: Cobo ha sorry speech in Detroit that June that he
Speaker 1: hoped Negroes would be able to buy houses or rent
Speaker 1: a house anywhere. Their money will carry them and they
Speaker 1: will be able to get a job. So for his
Speaker 1: biggest audience at the March on Washington, he didn't think
Speaker 1: it was worth dwelling on the dream on that hot
Speaker 1: summer's day in the nation's capital. In fact, the dream
Speaker 1: wasn't mentioned in the notes that laid atop of the podium,
Speaker 1: and it wasn't in the plans for that day. Then
Speaker 1: gospel singer Mahelia Jackson, whose life was portrayed in the
Speaker 1: Lifetime original movie Robin Roberts Presents Mahela, changed the entire
Speaker 1: course of one of the most famous speeches in American history,
Speaker 1: probably the most famous. I think I'd give it that.
Speaker 1: I'd give it that too, without hesitation. Jackson had grown
Speaker 1: up singing in church from and found mainstream success, paiving
Speaker 1: a path for gospel music outside of churches. As an
Speaker 1: international star known as the Queen of Gospel Music, who
Speaker 1: had sold out her Carnegie Hall concerts in New York City,
Speaker 1: she attended the nineteen fifty six National Baptist Convention, where
Speaker 1: she first met King. Soon King started asking her to
Speaker 1: join him at civil rights events around the country. She
Speaker 1: put her career and faith on the line, and both
Speaker 1: of them prevailed. Jesse Jackson, who first encountered the singer
Speaker 1: in the nineteen sixties, told NPR as the granddaughter of
Speaker 1: an enslaved person, Jackson was committed to the movement, contributing
Speaker 1: financially as well, quote I have hopes that my singing
Speaker 1: will break down some of the hate and fear that
Speaker 1: divide the white and black people in this country. She
Speaker 1: had said that that mission was surely met. As Jesse
Speaker 1: told NPR, quote, when there is no gap between what
Speaker 1: you say and who you are, what you say and
Speaker 1: what you believe, when you can express that in song,
Speaker 1: it's all the more powerful. When it came time for
Speaker 1: King to choose a singer perform at the Washington DC
Speaker 1: March on Washington for Jobs and Reform, King quick returned
Speaker 1: to Jackson. He requested that she sing the Black spiritual
Speaker 1: song I've been bucked, Buked, Sorry, I've been buked and
Speaker 1: I've been scorned, which she passionately performed to the more
Speaker 1: than two hundred thousand people setting the tone. Understanding how
Speaker 1: much was at stake with the speech, King had started
Speaker 1: initial discussions about what he would say at the August
Speaker 1: March back in the spring of nineteen sixty three. Even
Speaker 1: with all that advance planning, twelve hours before the speech,
Speaker 1: King still wasn't sure what he would say. Everyone had
Speaker 1: a different take, saying that some felt it should have
Speaker 1: an ideological and political reform take, while others felt it
Speaker 1: should lean more toward a church sermon. With so many
Speaker 1: different opinions, King asked his team to draft up an outline.
Speaker 1: They came up with an opening analogy of African Americans
Speaker 1: marching to Washington, d C. To redeem a promissory note
Speaker 1: or check for justice, and no mention of a dream.
Speaker 1: When the team gathered again, the group started debating further
Speaker 1: about the elements that were missing, but King simply took
Speaker 1: the notes and headed back to his room, leaving them
Speaker 1: with I'm now going upstairs to my room the Council
Speaker 1: with my Lord. On the day the now famous speech.
Speaker 1: Soon after Jackson's rousing performance, Jones still didn't know what
Speaker 1: King was about to say when he stepped up to
Speaker 1: the podium, He started out with the bad check analogy
Speaker 1: that Jones had written. When he finished the promissory note analogy,
Speaker 1: he paused, and in that breach something unexpected, historic, and
Speaker 1: largely unheralded happened. That was when Mahelia Jackson spontaneously shouted,
Speaker 1: tell them about the dream, Martin, tell them about the dream.
Speaker 1: At that moment, everything changed. Sure enough, King went completely
Speaker 1: off the books. He was speaking spontaneously and extemporaneously, and
Speaker 1: his whole body language shifted, became more relaxed. And then
Speaker 1: some Baptist. As some Baptist preachers do, he would take
Speaker 1: his right foot and started putting it up against his
Speaker 1: left leg. Some preachers do that as they're talking, and
Speaker 1: he began to preach. Inspired by those words Jackson from Jackson,
Speaker 1: King turned his sorry. King turned back to the dream.
Speaker 1: Instead of looking down at his notes, he spoke from
Speaker 1: his heart, engraving that famous dream into the American history books.
Speaker 1: I say to you today, my friends, even though we
Speaker 1: face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have
Speaker 1: a dream, he said. It is a dream deeply rooted
Speaker 1: in the American dream. I have a dream that one
Speaker 1: day this nation will rise up and live out the
Speaker 1: true meaning of its creed. He hold these truths to
Speaker 1: be self evident, that all men are created equal. Spoke
Speaker 1: about the dream, the more people felt the message, and
Speaker 1: now the speech itself is best known as the I
Speaker 1: Have a Dream speech. Later on I can address the
Speaker 1: impact of the moment. Quote. When I got to speak,
Speaker 1: I was already happy unquote. He wrote to Jackson on
Speaker 1: January tenth, nineteen sixty two. He continues, I couldn't help preaching.
Speaker 1: Millions of people all over the country have said it
Speaker 1: was my greatest hour. I do not know. But if
Speaker 1: it was, you, more than any single person, helped to
Speaker 1: make it so. In that same letter, he said he
Speaker 1: said she was a blessing to me, as well as
Speaker 1: a blessing to Negroes who have learned through her not
Speaker 1: to be ashamed of their heritage. As for Jackson, it
Speaker 1: wasn't in her very nature. But what can we do
Speaker 1: but help each other, she once said. In an interview,
Speaker 1: She goes on, I don't go to these meetings that
Speaker 1: do a lot of blah blah bline. If you're going
Speaker 1: to blob put your money up there and do something,
Speaker 1: and that she did so, I'll be honest I didn't
Speaker 1: know that. I know, I've never heard. That's never heard
Speaker 1: in my life.
Speaker 3: Shout out to a massive fan of Mahela Jackson and
Speaker 3: of course of doctor Martin Luther King Junior.
Speaker 1: Real quick, I need to say this, shout out to
Speaker 1: Maggie Be known for untroving that jew, uncovering that gym.
Speaker 1: I've been trying to tell you that listening be knowing
Speaker 1: she does. Man, she knew this one, so listen. But wow,
Speaker 1: very powerful and I think that this was perfect for
Speaker 1: today's episode. I listen to black women, Marty Marr, listen,
Speaker 1: thank you. And this nation should live up to its creed,
Speaker 1: to its ideas, ideals, and at this I think that
Speaker 1: this speech and this take on the speech, certainly, it's
Speaker 1: just very emotional. It's such a hurtful thing to be
Speaker 1: from California to hear that lady say that stuff. That
Speaker 1: was very hurtful for me. And I'm proud of myself
Speaker 1: for having made it through it. So we'll leave it
Speaker 1: right there. How about that? What a heavy show? Man?
Speaker 1: Aren't they always? They are always? But man, that like
Speaker 1: La that's home. I mean, we you know how there's
Speaker 1: certain things that hold up your world, like Hey man, listen,
Speaker 1: we got each other. You know. We got to teach
Speaker 1: these folks, you know, but we got each other. You know.
Speaker 1: When that gets rattled, it's a little scary, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. But we'll make it. And we are
Speaker 1: walking our path and we hope that you are walking
Speaker 1: our path with us or walking your path toward the
Speaker 1: same goal. With that said, thank you for listening to
Speaker 1: Civic Scipher. I'my host, Ramsey's job. He is rams' jaw.
Speaker 1: I am q war. This has been some ex sign for.
Speaker 3: Please folks, subscribe, like comments, share, be a better a life, please.
Speaker 1: And check out the story citic cyper dot com shout
Speaker 1: out to our Please servas Maggie a k Maggie knowing
Speaker 1: she do and uh thinks about it until next week.
Speaker 1: Yeah think sure we had to live.
Speaker 2: These brothers are fabulous, o our lady showing you where
Speaker 2: ROMB travel this who speak to you from sunlight to move,
Speaker 2: busting on stage like gonna fight, suppose throw my mic
Speaker 2: back and like that jonal list with journalist too. We
Speaker 2: can strike back all corb borders with waters from head,
Speaker 2: borders behind in the beline sides up and the borders
Speaker 2: the press pass.
Speaker 1: We bring it to you as it happens the streets.
Speaker 1: Love popped him from music.
Speaker 2: Your rapping the street compared the slash we expando. You're
Speaker 2: gonna fight the slander with the proper propaganda.
Speaker 1: What's happening, It's happen. You've got a questions to ask,
Speaker 1: you deduce, It's just a TV show. You're past it.
Speaker 2: And this from a wife wartime journalist headlines wait, God,
Speaker 2: previs and resist like this, like this, like this, like
Speaker 2: we kick fine dance accident