August 3, 2024 • 25 mins
Podcast Hosts Ramses Ja and Q Ward review highlights and takeaways from the 2024 National Urban League Conference.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is the Black Information Network Daily podcast, and I'm
your host, Ramsey's Jah. And sometimes the amount of stories
that make their way to us means that we simply
can't cover everything that comes our way. But from time
to time, a story just stays with me and Bill
compelled to share it with you and give you my thoughts.
And now one more thing.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Ramses and I spend a lot of our joint collective
activism time in front of microphones. Now, of course, if
you were in the studio, you could see when it's
time to get busy. The bullhorn or megaphone or whatever
(00:45):
you want to call it is ready and charged right now.
So when it's time to get busy and when it's
time to be in the streets, even when we need
to be in the studio working, I got the text
messages to show you, Bro. We will get to that,
but I got to go to this protest first. That's
from my brother Ramsay's Jah. So we are outside when necessary,
(01:08):
but there are not protests every day. We are in
this studio at least every other day or every three days.
And with everything that's going on in our country right now,
that frequency has admittedly picked up and the problem with
they're not being a protest every day is that sometimes
(01:28):
ramses and I feel like we're speaking in either a
vacuum or an echo chamber. Sometimes it feels lonely. And
because of the nature of social media, most of our
posts are met with very evil, hateful, negative responses. Right
we might get three or four hundred likes on a post,
(01:49):
but all the comments are from those who really really
oppose not just our mission but our very existence. We
get some very nasty things and full transparent and see.
I have deleted the Instagram app from my phone. I
have removed myself as an admin from all of our
socials and our website because the negative reaction that my
(02:13):
spirit gets to these comments and to the things that
these people say has too real of an impact on
my normal day. And my brother has a bit more
in the way of resilience and a tougher skin than me.
And for lack of better some days I look at
(02:33):
Rams just like, bro, what are we doing or are
we doing anything? Does this work matter? Is it important?
And of course he won thousand percent on every opportunity
to has reassured me that that is not the case.
But I'd venture to say without him even confessing, so
(02:54):
that some days he might look at the mirriad black man.
Is this really just us? Until very recently when we
had what I have coined as our endgame moment. Now,
if you are not a Marvel fan, you might not
(03:14):
feel me when you hear the term endgame moment. So
let me paint a little bit of a picture for you.
And for those of you who are Marvel fans, you
know exactly what I'm talking about. Ramses and I just
attended the National Urban League National Convention in New Orleans, Louisiana.
(03:36):
There is a moment in the Avengers Endgame movie where
Captain America thor an iron Man are back in the
ring with Thanos, and once again he is giving them
the business. And as it seems they are being washed
(03:59):
into feeded again with what appears to be a broken
arm and a broken shield and a bloody face, Captain
America ironically stands up, tightens the strap on his shield,
and gets ready to get back to work. Even if
it is just me. I got work to do. And
(04:23):
then you hear audibly on your left And if you
are a Marvel fan, as soon as you heard that,
something happened to you physically. You got chills or butterflies
or all or everything all at once. And these sling
portals start to open, and through a portal walks Black
(04:48):
Panther and the Wakondans and Bucky and heroes from every
multiverse all show up, or every sector of the known
universe all show up to join in this fight. And
(05:08):
when we walked into the welcome ceremony at the National
Urban League Convention, that was my endgame moment. All of
these beautiful, powerful, successful, educated, energized, hardworking, ready to fight black, brown, white, Hispanic, LGBTQ,
(05:37):
and I want to stop before I forget and leave
someone out. Every the way that everyone loves, the way
that everyone praised, and the way that everyone looks stopped
mattering because everyone's mission was the same. There is a
very very big opponent right now. I don't even mean
(05:59):
a per I mean an idea that we are facing collectively.
And everyone present understood the assignment and it was the
most energizing, reinvigorating, powerful moment that I've had in years.
And when I say from that moment, I've been ready
(06:21):
to work, Ramsey and I have been in the studio
even tonight recording several shows, and we've been looking at
airplanes and hotels. And when I say we are ready
to get to work, I want everybody that hears our
voice to know, whatever city that you're in, if there's
something happening you think we should be a part of,
send it to us. Because we are trying to organize, mobilize,
(06:44):
and get busy. The National Urban League has me amped up.
I want my brother Ramses to talk about this man
who is leading that fight for us right now, who
I have to think, at least in the streets of
New Orleans is like Martin Luther Obama, King Junior X.
(07:10):
Just listening to the people in that city talk about
their former mayor and if you've met him or spent
any time around him, you understand why he was on
that plane with Joe Biden to Houston and another very
very prominent civil rights leaders. But I could talk all
day about what that experience was like for me. But
(07:31):
I was standing next to Ramsey's Jah, and I know
he has an opinion as well.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
My name is ke Ward and I'm Ramsey's Jah.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
And you are tuned in with us on the Black
Information Network Daily podcast, and Ramsey I could talk about
this for hours.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Man. Man, I'm just gonna fill in some gaps. Man,
that was like poetry. Listen, Mann, you know what just
a moment, you know, if I'm able to thank you
for just being my brother and being the spirit inhabiting
a body that has chosen to accompany me on this
(08:12):
journey and energizing me and pouring into me. If there
are witnesses, I thank you for that because I have
moments like the one I just have and I'm like, man,
I really did live that reality with you, and it
was energizing, and to kind of review it through your
eyes on this episode is like, Man, how fortunate am
I to have as small as I am as an
(08:35):
individual carbon unit endowed with consciousness in the merest of
moments in time and indeed the vastness of all that
is and all that ever will be. I'm here now,
and I have a purpose to do something that make
things a little bit better, and I have someone like
you to ride with me, and so I thank you
(08:56):
whatever the spirit is that inhabits that body. Thank you
for coming back. Thank you, brother. I appreciate this. Mark Morrel, Yeah,
he's uh, he's been on the show before. We were
honored that he would take the time to talk to
us and to see him on his own home turf
there where again he's you know, I think he was
(09:18):
elected twice, and I think that might have been the
limit of the times they could Elliwne.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
There has to be term limits there, because if they weren't,
I think.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
He would still be the mayor, the Mary. Yeah, but
you know, and then to see like to see him,
and then to see him driving down the street in
front of the convention Center with his name on it,
like he didn't pass, Like he's alive right now, he's
still alive, and he just drives by at the New
Orleans Convention Center, you know, the Mark Morrel, you know.
(09:46):
And then for him to invite all of these amazing
speakers and they all show up, for us to be
able to meet Justin Pearson, for us to meet Jasmine Crockett,
for us to meet you know, Juvenile was there, Manny
Fresh was there, you know, like all kinds of stuff,
and then all of these amazing people from all around
(10:07):
the country doing the work and kind of bolstering the
mission of the Urban League. It absolutely was energizing. I
implore you to get involved to head to a convention
if you need some energy in your life and to
make the most of it. You know. One of the
things that we were able to do, and it bears mentioning,
of course, was due the live episode that we you know, uploaded.
(10:29):
We did that on the ground there where we talked
about gen Z and voting and kind of what that
looks like now. And we had a great crowd and
you know, people were enthusiastic. People gave us so much love.
Of course, in person, we look like, you know, well
Q looks like a rock star and I get to hang.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Out with you. See Brams is typically not dishonest with
you guys, but even he knows he just lied to you. Well,
they're straightforwardly referred to as a rock star on the
ground in New World as an And what Urbanly did
that was so I hope it was intentional. It felt
like it. That massive hotel that was able to be
(11:11):
where we slept and where the conference was happening, I
thought was masterful because we remained in the same space
with everyone the entire time we were there. That was incredible.
We didn't have to go find anyone once you got
off either the escalator or the elevator. It was they
were surrounded. It was it was I love handshakes, hugs,
(11:34):
DAPs from strangers, but not really you know what I mean,
like maybe all skin folk and cam Volk.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
But it wasn't true in there. Yeah, it wasn't true
in there. It was this was family. It was It
was a magical thing. And you know, Q and I
worked in this space for a long time, even before
we knew each other, because you know, in college, you know,
Q was the president of the Black Student Union and
so was I.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Correction, Ramses was the president of the Black Student Union
of the NAACP's Black Student Union. Those were separate organizations
at the university that I attended, so I knew the
president of BSU at Bowling Green State University. I was
the second I was sorry, the vice president of the
NAACP chapter in Wood County, Ohio, and then the national
(12:16):
second vice president of the National Panel in the Council,
which has been very, very active since d nine. Member
Alpha Chapter aka Howard University Vice President Kamala Harris has
announced that she is running to be elected the first
black woman president of the United States of America. And
(12:39):
we will do every single thing that we can to
make sure that the messaging is clear on what her
and her administration intend to do for American citizens.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Well, somehow that sounds way fancier, So I'm glad that
you said it. But the point I'm making is that
us coming from that kind of tradition, before we got
into radio, before we became DJ's, and before we got
into like the real hip hop space, we just kind
of always knew. And then you know, for newer listeners,
you may not know that q Q's mother is a minister.
(13:18):
My father was a minister. So we both come from
like a Black church tradition.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
And both pastors, I don't want to marginalize them, very
very important people in the foundation of our ideals, both pastors,
not just ministers.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Yeah, so that's a better way to say it.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
That ordination part is important.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Yeah. So so yeah, just being there it was energizing,
and you know, Q was right. You know, there's there's
a degree of resilience that I have when it comes
to certain things, and I'm not going to let him
get away scott free here because there's a degree of
(13:55):
resilience that he has with other things, and I'm just
this is just not my thing. He's better at it,
and so being my brother, I'm just like, hey, you
know what to do, and I'll follow Q's lead. I
do it all the time, and sometimes it gets mad,
but that's how it goes, you know what I mean.
But you know, sometimes I run on empty too. You
know that Sonya Massy episode that we did on Civic
(14:18):
Side for that broke me and then I had to
hear myself back on the radio breaking again. So then
I'm reliving it and then I'm crying in the car
as I'm listening to myself because it's such a heartbreaking thing, right,
So I get depleted as well. And then I go
to a place like that and it just reminds me
that these are beautiful people that I come from. These
are a beautiful people that I fight for, and these
are beautiful people that deserve to be authentic and to
(14:43):
live in the fullness of their beauty. And it's just
a very special sort of a thing. And I implore
you all to, you know, check out the recaps that
we have up on at bi in news dot com,
and you know, of course you can check our recaps
on our social media feeds, and you know, the next
time you're able to get to a conference that centers
(15:05):
blackness and allyship of Blackness, that that celebrates black excellence,
and that pushes forward an agenda that supports black prosperity
in this country. I think that you should do your
best to make yourself a part of it. Because despite
as long as we've been walking this path, that that experience,
(15:29):
to me at least, was different. It was different.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
We have to shout out some of the Avengers's it
that showed up in this space and made us so excited.
So I'll start United States Representative from the Dallas Fort
Worth area in Texas. Our sister Jasmine Crockett, the congressman
from the congresswoman, I'm sorry, from Texas. Her presence, a
(15:58):
lot of you may know her from social media. She
spends a lot of time in the house, bad.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Built, bleach, bottle beach, blonde.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Yeah, she spends a lot of time straightening up the
rest of the room when they get out of line.
She is not the polite just let that slide come
here to play. And she is very very much there
representing those people that elected her. But we reminded her
that she's there representing us as well, So not just
that district in Texas that put her there and that
will keep sending her back there. We pray she shows
(16:29):
up in that space as a champion for all of us.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
And you know, some of the other names that we
we knew were there, and I wasn't able to say
this name, but Gary Chambers was there and he rose
to prominence when he was running for I believe it
was Congress, and he was the person that went viral,
smoking weed in the ad and discussing how the how
(16:59):
we did proportionately affected Black Americans. And I believe he's
from I'm not mistaken somewhere in Mississippi.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
I think he's from Louisiana.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Louisiana.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
That Yeah, that's right, He's from Baton Rouge.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Actually, that's what I was thinking. Okay, So so he.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Was there running for US Senate.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Oh okay, so senatece he's perfect. So but he was
there and he was just a fantastic person. He had
a lot of amazing things to say. And then you
know there's the heads of industry.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
There's you mentioned justin Pearson, Yeah, justin the dynamic Tennessee
State Representative. Wow, we need to do a whole episode.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
Yeah, well, unfortunately, because we were able to talk to
him when we're there, we talked to him, and now
we talked to him a couple of times actually. But
for those that don't know, Justin and and his colleague
Justin from Tennessee, there are the two black lawmakers there
who originally rose to national attention for being fired. Uh indeed,
(18:04):
what was it?
Speaker 2 (18:04):
They were public kicked them out of the house.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Yeah, well initially they were what's the word when they
can't censured? Maybe that was it or something something like this.
I don't remember exactly how it happened, but they rose
to prominence because it was those two and then their colleague,
which was a white woman. But only those two actually
had to suffer the consequences of a collective protest against
gun violence because there was a mass shooting event in
(18:30):
Tennessee at the time. After that, they were.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Removed from their seat, removed them from their.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Seats because they had the voe and then they got
their seats vote got it was there and these guys
are fire the blow torches man. But Justin Justin Pearson
was there and we had a.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
Chance to talk to him multiple times.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
Yeah, and honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if one day
we see him running for president or indeed in the
White House will be he likes that, Yeah, he's like that.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
So I got to bump into and bring to tears
one of my friends of over thirty years, the founder
of the Fearless Fund, Arian Simone. I remember Detroit, Michigan's
own cast texts, own Delta Sigma Theta's own Arian Simone
representing for all of those people who I just shouted out,
(19:22):
who know where those places are and what those organizations
are and what they mean. She is a super nova
for all of us and facing some very very She's
a fight evil, unfair legislation. She's trying to tear away
at the point zero zero something percent of funding that
goes to minority woman owned businesses. Our superhero, our Tony Starks,
(19:53):
you might know him as Tony Coles. You, sir, if
you can hear voice, are a champion. And Tony does
not love when you point the light at him, but
it absolutely deserves to be pointing at him, because Tony
is fighting a fight for all of us. Daily flights, hotels, conference.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
Rooms, time away from his family.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Time away from his family, time time that he wants
to talk to us and other people that he cares about,
and he can't because he's and he's too big doing
the work.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Let me let me, let me let you know. The
name Tony Coles is a name you may know, but
if not. Tony Coles is the president of the Black
Information Network and he's that's not his only job either,
but he is around here. He's he's like a hot commodity,
you know what I mean. And we don't get to
(20:47):
see him all that often. And he actually made time
to come not only to the the event, but to
our taping, and we know we got a chance to
spend time with him. So I think some of our
more prominent memories from that event will include him and
indeed Chris Thompson, who's the producer of this show.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Time we got to spend with them. Yeah, that's permanent.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Yeah, and Angela too. I don't want to leave around.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
And shout out to Angela and just they were very
very much our family there, right, We were there collectively
with family, but they felt more like our immediate family.
And Tony is also the president of Multicultural Business Ry Hart. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
Yeah, so you got to imagine these these amazing people
that are shaping outcomes. Imagine having a network and you know,
relatively speaking, you know, Tony is not the sort of
person that needs to take a moment to talk to
anybody in his employee And not only did he like
(21:49):
breathe life into us, but he helped create the connective tissue
between the conversations that we will ultimately have that stemmed
from our being on the ground there. And that's not
to take anything away from Chris Thompson who was doing
the same thing.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
Our big Brotherhod Yeah, another superhero of ours.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Yeah, so absolutely man. And there's so many other names.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Cheryl Underwood, Zeta Phi Beta moreal we mentioned already, Julie
Sue from the Department of Department of Labor and Alesia
Black Hackett.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
Who she was the one I remember her. She's the
one and the.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
Two Diversity and Equity officer of the US Secretary of State,
I mean US State Department of Labor. As you could
imagine a very very hard fight that she has to
fight to make sure that that equity part is real.
And there are some who would see that an office
like hers disappeared and we have to stop that from happening.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
Well, those are just some of the names of the
people that were on the ground. Uh, And this gives
you a glimpse into kind of some of the things
that you can tap into if you're starts to run dry.
I know that again, I'm forever changed by not only
that experience, but that city and those people. And I
(23:12):
am energized to continue to not only bring you quality
content on this show, but to continue to fight for
a version of this country that I believe works better
for all of us. And so you know, I, you know,
as we wrap this episode, I just want to convey
(23:35):
a sense of gratitude, not just only for you listening,
but for you know, this moment in time, to know
that I'm not the only person, We're not the only
people kidding, and that we are taking our place and
doing our job, and we are honoring our ancestors who
again lived short, hard lives and died young and with
(24:00):
out prospects. We're honoring their memory by taking what little
they gave to us and trying to turn it into
more and by living with possibility and with potential. And
so gratitude is the word of the day.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
For everybody that we were able to connect with. There
We look forward to working with you in the future.
Because for every person that we said we wanted to
work with, we meant that in a very kinetic way.
So we look forward to building, organizing, mobilizing, and bringing
forth real change together.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
Yeah, so keep on keeping on, stay tuned. We're going
to obviously bring you some more content from some of
the connections that we made there. You can do so
on all social media. You can find me at rams's Jah.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
I am q Ward on all social as well.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
And when we have some more content for you, we
are going to be happy to share it with you.
So keep on listening and until we got something else
for you. Peace. This has been a production of the
Black Information Network. Today's show is produced by Chris Thompson.
Have some thoughts you'd like to share, use the red
microphone talkback feature on the iHeartRadio Appum. While you're there,
(25:13):
be sure to hit subscribe and download all of our episodes.
I'm your host ramses Jah on all social media. Join
us tomorrow as we share our news with our voice
from our perspective right here on the Black Information Network
Daily Podcast
This is the Black Information Network Daily podcast, and I'm
your host, Ramsey's Jah. And sometimes the amount of stories
that make their way to us means that we simply
can't cover everything that comes our way. But from time
to time, a story just stays with me and Bill
compelled to share it with you and give you my thoughts.
And now one more thing.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Ramses and I spend a lot of our joint collective
activism time in front of microphones. Now, of course, if
you were in the studio, you could see when it's
time to get busy. The bullhorn or megaphone or whatever
(00:45):
you want to call it is ready and charged right now.
So when it's time to get busy and when it's
time to be in the streets, even when we need
to be in the studio working, I got the text
messages to show you, Bro. We will get to that,
but I got to go to this protest first. That's
from my brother Ramsay's Jah. So we are outside when necessary,
(01:08):
but there are not protests every day. We are in
this studio at least every other day or every three days.
And with everything that's going on in our country right now,
that frequency has admittedly picked up and the problem with
they're not being a protest every day is that sometimes
(01:28):
ramses and I feel like we're speaking in either a
vacuum or an echo chamber. Sometimes it feels lonely. And
because of the nature of social media, most of our
posts are met with very evil, hateful, negative responses. Right
we might get three or four hundred likes on a post,
(01:49):
but all the comments are from those who really really
oppose not just our mission but our very existence. We
get some very nasty things and full transparent and see.
I have deleted the Instagram app from my phone. I
have removed myself as an admin from all of our
socials and our website because the negative reaction that my
(02:13):
spirit gets to these comments and to the things that
these people say has too real of an impact on
my normal day. And my brother has a bit more
in the way of resilience and a tougher skin than me.
And for lack of better some days I look at
(02:33):
Rams just like, bro, what are we doing or are
we doing anything? Does this work matter? Is it important?
And of course he won thousand percent on every opportunity
to has reassured me that that is not the case.
But I'd venture to say without him even confessing, so
(02:54):
that some days he might look at the mirriad black man.
Is this really just us? Until very recently when we
had what I have coined as our endgame moment. Now,
if you are not a Marvel fan, you might not
(03:14):
feel me when you hear the term endgame moment. So
let me paint a little bit of a picture for you.
And for those of you who are Marvel fans, you
know exactly what I'm talking about. Ramses and I just
attended the National Urban League National Convention in New Orleans, Louisiana.
(03:36):
There is a moment in the Avengers Endgame movie where
Captain America thor an iron Man are back in the
ring with Thanos, and once again he is giving them
the business. And as it seems they are being washed
(03:59):
into feeded again with what appears to be a broken
arm and a broken shield and a bloody face, Captain
America ironically stands up, tightens the strap on his shield,
and gets ready to get back to work. Even if
it is just me. I got work to do. And
(04:23):
then you hear audibly on your left And if you
are a Marvel fan, as soon as you heard that,
something happened to you physically. You got chills or butterflies
or all or everything all at once. And these sling
portals start to open, and through a portal walks Black
(04:48):
Panther and the Wakondans and Bucky and heroes from every
multiverse all show up, or every sector of the known
universe all show up to join in this fight. And
(05:08):
when we walked into the welcome ceremony at the National
Urban League Convention, that was my endgame moment. All of
these beautiful, powerful, successful, educated, energized, hardworking, ready to fight black, brown, white, Hispanic, LGBTQ,
(05:37):
and I want to stop before I forget and leave
someone out. Every the way that everyone loves, the way
that everyone praised, and the way that everyone looks stopped
mattering because everyone's mission was the same. There is a
very very big opponent right now. I don't even mean
(05:59):
a per I mean an idea that we are facing collectively.
And everyone present understood the assignment and it was the
most energizing, reinvigorating, powerful moment that I've had in years.
And when I say from that moment, I've been ready
(06:21):
to work, Ramsey and I have been in the studio
even tonight recording several shows, and we've been looking at
airplanes and hotels. And when I say we are ready
to get to work, I want everybody that hears our
voice to know, whatever city that you're in, if there's
something happening you think we should be a part of,
send it to us. Because we are trying to organize, mobilize,
(06:44):
and get busy. The National Urban League has me amped up.
I want my brother Ramses to talk about this man
who is leading that fight for us right now, who
I have to think, at least in the streets of
New Orleans is like Martin Luther Obama, King Junior X.
(07:10):
Just listening to the people in that city talk about
their former mayor and if you've met him or spent
any time around him, you understand why he was on
that plane with Joe Biden to Houston and another very
very prominent civil rights leaders. But I could talk all
day about what that experience was like for me. But
(07:31):
I was standing next to Ramsey's Jah, and I know
he has an opinion as well.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
My name is ke Ward and I'm Ramsey's Jah.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
And you are tuned in with us on the Black
Information Network Daily podcast, and Ramsey I could talk about
this for hours.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Man. Man, I'm just gonna fill in some gaps. Man,
that was like poetry. Listen, Mann, you know what just
a moment, you know, if I'm able to thank you
for just being my brother and being the spirit inhabiting
a body that has chosen to accompany me on this
(08:12):
journey and energizing me and pouring into me. If there
are witnesses, I thank you for that because I have
moments like the one I just have and I'm like, man,
I really did live that reality with you, and it
was energizing, and to kind of review it through your
eyes on this episode is like, Man, how fortunate am
I to have as small as I am as an
(08:35):
individual carbon unit endowed with consciousness in the merest of
moments in time and indeed the vastness of all that
is and all that ever will be. I'm here now,
and I have a purpose to do something that make
things a little bit better, and I have someone like
you to ride with me, and so I thank you
(08:56):
whatever the spirit is that inhabits that body. Thank you
for coming back. Thank you, brother. I appreciate this. Mark Morrel, Yeah,
he's uh, he's been on the show before. We were
honored that he would take the time to talk to
us and to see him on his own home turf
there where again he's you know, I think he was
(09:18):
elected twice, and I think that might have been the
limit of the times they could Elliwne.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
There has to be term limits there, because if they weren't,
I think.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
He would still be the mayor, the Mary. Yeah, but
you know, and then to see like to see him,
and then to see him driving down the street in
front of the convention Center with his name on it,
like he didn't pass, Like he's alive right now, he's
still alive, and he just drives by at the New
Orleans Convention Center, you know, the Mark Morrel, you know.
(09:46):
And then for him to invite all of these amazing
speakers and they all show up, for us to be
able to meet Justin Pearson, for us to meet Jasmine Crockett,
for us to meet you know, Juvenile was there, Manny
Fresh was there, you know, like all kinds of stuff,
and then all of these amazing people from all around
(10:07):
the country doing the work and kind of bolstering the
mission of the Urban League. It absolutely was energizing. I
implore you to get involved to head to a convention
if you need some energy in your life and to
make the most of it. You know. One of the
things that we were able to do, and it bears mentioning,
of course, was due the live episode that we you know, uploaded.
(10:29):
We did that on the ground there where we talked
about gen Z and voting and kind of what that
looks like now. And we had a great crowd and
you know, people were enthusiastic. People gave us so much love.
Of course, in person, we look like, you know, well
Q looks like a rock star and I get to hang.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Out with you. See Brams is typically not dishonest with
you guys, but even he knows he just lied to you. Well,
they're straightforwardly referred to as a rock star on the
ground in New World as an And what Urbanly did
that was so I hope it was intentional. It felt
like it. That massive hotel that was able to be
(11:11):
where we slept and where the conference was happening, I
thought was masterful because we remained in the same space
with everyone the entire time we were there. That was incredible.
We didn't have to go find anyone once you got
off either the escalator or the elevator. It was they
were surrounded. It was it was I love handshakes, hugs,
(11:34):
DAPs from strangers, but not really you know what I mean,
like maybe all skin folk and cam Volk.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
But it wasn't true in there. Yeah, it wasn't true
in there. It was this was family. It was It
was a magical thing. And you know, Q and I
worked in this space for a long time, even before
we knew each other, because you know, in college, you know,
Q was the president of the Black Student Union and
so was I.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Correction, Ramses was the president of the Black Student Union
of the NAACP's Black Student Union. Those were separate organizations
at the university that I attended, so I knew the
president of BSU at Bowling Green State University. I was
the second I was sorry, the vice president of the
NAACP chapter in Wood County, Ohio, and then the national
(12:16):
second vice president of the National Panel in the Council,
which has been very, very active since d nine. Member
Alpha Chapter aka Howard University Vice President Kamala Harris has
announced that she is running to be elected the first
black woman president of the United States of America. And
(12:39):
we will do every single thing that we can to
make sure that the messaging is clear on what her
and her administration intend to do for American citizens.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Well, somehow that sounds way fancier, So I'm glad that
you said it. But the point I'm making is that
us coming from that kind of tradition, before we got
into radio, before we became DJ's, and before we got
into like the real hip hop space, we just kind
of always knew. And then you know, for newer listeners,
you may not know that q Q's mother is a minister.
(13:18):
My father was a minister. So we both come from
like a Black church tradition.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
And both pastors, I don't want to marginalize them, very
very important people in the foundation of our ideals, both pastors,
not just ministers.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Yeah, so that's a better way to say it.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
That ordination part is important.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Yeah. So so yeah, just being there it was energizing,
and you know, Q was right. You know, there's there's
a degree of resilience that I have when it comes
to certain things, and I'm not going to let him
get away scott free here because there's a degree of
(13:55):
resilience that he has with other things, and I'm just
this is just not my thing. He's better at it,
and so being my brother, I'm just like, hey, you
know what to do, and I'll follow Q's lead. I
do it all the time, and sometimes it gets mad,
but that's how it goes, you know what I mean.
But you know, sometimes I run on empty too. You
know that Sonya Massy episode that we did on Civic
(14:18):
Side for that broke me and then I had to
hear myself back on the radio breaking again. So then
I'm reliving it and then I'm crying in the car
as I'm listening to myself because it's such a heartbreaking thing, right,
So I get depleted as well. And then I go
to a place like that and it just reminds me
that these are beautiful people that I come from. These
are a beautiful people that I fight for, and these
are beautiful people that deserve to be authentic and to
(14:43):
live in the fullness of their beauty. And it's just
a very special sort of a thing. And I implore
you all to, you know, check out the recaps that
we have up on at bi in news dot com,
and you know, of course you can check our recaps
on our social media feeds, and you know, the next
time you're able to get to a conference that centers
(15:05):
blackness and allyship of Blackness, that that celebrates black excellence,
and that pushes forward an agenda that supports black prosperity
in this country. I think that you should do your
best to make yourself a part of it. Because despite
as long as we've been walking this path, that that experience,
(15:29):
to me at least, was different. It was different.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
We have to shout out some of the Avengers's it
that showed up in this space and made us so excited.
So I'll start United States Representative from the Dallas Fort
Worth area in Texas. Our sister Jasmine Crockett, the congressman
from the congresswoman, I'm sorry, from Texas. Her presence, a
(15:58):
lot of you may know her from social media. She
spends a lot of time in the house, bad.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Built, bleach, bottle beach, blonde.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Yeah, she spends a lot of time straightening up the
rest of the room when they get out of line.
She is not the polite just let that slide come
here to play. And she is very very much there
representing those people that elected her. But we reminded her
that she's there representing us as well, So not just
that district in Texas that put her there and that
will keep sending her back there. We pray she shows
(16:29):
up in that space as a champion for all of us.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
And you know, some of the other names that we
we knew were there, and I wasn't able to say
this name, but Gary Chambers was there and he rose
to prominence when he was running for I believe it
was Congress, and he was the person that went viral,
smoking weed in the ad and discussing how the how
(16:59):
we did proportionately affected Black Americans. And I believe he's
from I'm not mistaken somewhere in Mississippi.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
I think he's from Louisiana.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Louisiana.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
That Yeah, that's right, He's from Baton Rouge.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Actually, that's what I was thinking. Okay, So so he.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Was there running for US Senate.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Oh okay, so senatece he's perfect. So but he was
there and he was just a fantastic person. He had
a lot of amazing things to say. And then you
know there's the heads of industry.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
There's you mentioned justin Pearson, Yeah, justin the dynamic Tennessee
State Representative. Wow, we need to do a whole episode.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
Yeah, well, unfortunately, because we were able to talk to
him when we're there, we talked to him, and now
we talked to him a couple of times actually. But
for those that don't know, Justin and and his colleague
Justin from Tennessee, there are the two black lawmakers there
who originally rose to national attention for being fired. Uh indeed,
(18:04):
what was it?
Speaker 2 (18:04):
They were public kicked them out of the house.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Yeah, well initially they were what's the word when they
can't censured? Maybe that was it or something something like this.
I don't remember exactly how it happened, but they rose
to prominence because it was those two and then their colleague,
which was a white woman. But only those two actually
had to suffer the consequences of a collective protest against
gun violence because there was a mass shooting event in
(18:30):
Tennessee at the time. After that, they were.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Removed from their seat, removed them from their.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Seats because they had the voe and then they got
their seats vote got it was there and these guys
are fire the blow torches man. But Justin Justin Pearson
was there and we had a.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
Chance to talk to him multiple times.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
Yeah, and honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if one day
we see him running for president or indeed in the
White House will be he likes that, Yeah, he's like that.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
So I got to bump into and bring to tears
one of my friends of over thirty years, the founder
of the Fearless Fund, Arian Simone. I remember Detroit, Michigan's
own cast texts, own Delta Sigma Theta's own Arian Simone
representing for all of those people who I just shouted out,
(19:22):
who know where those places are and what those organizations
are and what they mean. She is a super nova
for all of us and facing some very very She's
a fight evil, unfair legislation. She's trying to tear away
at the point zero zero something percent of funding that
goes to minority woman owned businesses. Our superhero, our Tony Starks,
(19:53):
you might know him as Tony Coles. You, sir, if
you can hear voice, are a champion. And Tony does
not love when you point the light at him, but
it absolutely deserves to be pointing at him, because Tony
is fighting a fight for all of us. Daily flights, hotels, conference.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
Rooms, time away from his family.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Time away from his family, time time that he wants
to talk to us and other people that he cares about,
and he can't because he's and he's too big doing
the work.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Let me let me, let me let you know. The
name Tony Coles is a name you may know, but
if not. Tony Coles is the president of the Black
Information Network and he's that's not his only job either,
but he is around here. He's he's like a hot commodity,
you know what I mean. And we don't get to
(20:47):
see him all that often. And he actually made time
to come not only to the the event, but to
our taping, and we know we got a chance to
spend time with him. So I think some of our
more prominent memories from that event will include him and
indeed Chris Thompson, who's the producer of this show.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Time we got to spend with them. Yeah, that's permanent.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Yeah, and Angela too. I don't want to leave around.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
And shout out to Angela and just they were very
very much our family there, right, We were there collectively
with family, but they felt more like our immediate family.
And Tony is also the president of Multicultural Business Ry Hart. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
Yeah, so you got to imagine these these amazing people
that are shaping outcomes. Imagine having a network and you know,
relatively speaking, you know, Tony is not the sort of
person that needs to take a moment to talk to
anybody in his employee And not only did he like
(21:49):
breathe life into us, but he helped create the connective tissue
between the conversations that we will ultimately have that stemmed
from our being on the ground there. And that's not
to take anything away from Chris Thompson who was doing
the same thing.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
Our big Brotherhod Yeah, another superhero of ours.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Yeah, so absolutely man. And there's so many other names.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Cheryl Underwood, Zeta Phi Beta moreal we mentioned already, Julie
Sue from the Department of Department of Labor and Alesia
Black Hackett.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
Who she was the one I remember her. She's the
one and the.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
Two Diversity and Equity officer of the US Secretary of State,
I mean US State Department of Labor. As you could
imagine a very very hard fight that she has to
fight to make sure that that equity part is real.
And there are some who would see that an office
like hers disappeared and we have to stop that from happening.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
Well, those are just some of the names of the
people that were on the ground. Uh, And this gives
you a glimpse into kind of some of the things
that you can tap into if you're starts to run dry.
I know that again, I'm forever changed by not only
that experience, but that city and those people. And I
(23:12):
am energized to continue to not only bring you quality
content on this show, but to continue to fight for
a version of this country that I believe works better
for all of us. And so you know, I, you know,
as we wrap this episode, I just want to convey
(23:35):
a sense of gratitude, not just only for you listening,
but for you know, this moment in time, to know
that I'm not the only person, We're not the only
people kidding, and that we are taking our place and
doing our job, and we are honoring our ancestors who
again lived short, hard lives and died young and with
(24:00):
out prospects. We're honoring their memory by taking what little
they gave to us and trying to turn it into
more and by living with possibility and with potential. And
so gratitude is the word of the day.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
For everybody that we were able to connect with. There
We look forward to working with you in the future.
Because for every person that we said we wanted to
work with, we meant that in a very kinetic way.
So we look forward to building, organizing, mobilizing, and bringing
forth real change together.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
Yeah, so keep on keeping on, stay tuned. We're going
to obviously bring you some more content from some of
the connections that we made there. You can do so
on all social media. You can find me at rams's Jah.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
I am q Ward on all social as well.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
And when we have some more content for you, we
are going to be happy to share it with you.
So keep on listening and until we got something else
for you. Peace. This has been a production of the
Black Information Network. Today's show is produced by Chris Thompson.
Have some thoughts you'd like to share, use the red
microphone talkback feature on the iHeartRadio Appum. While you're there,
(25:13):
be sure to hit subscribe and download all of our episodes.
I'm your host ramses Jah on all social media. Join
us tomorrow as we share our news with our voice
from our perspective right here on the Black Information Network
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