May 26, 2025 • 36 mins
On today's episode , Hosts Ramses Ja and Q Ward reflect on the 5 year anniversary of the passing of George Floyd.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is the Black Information Network Daily podcast, and I'm
your host, Ramsey's job. And sometimes the amount of stories
that make their way to us means that we simply
can't cover.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Everything that comes our way.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
But from time to time, a story just stays with
me and feil compelled to share it with you and
give you my thoughts.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
And now one more thing. To be a Negro in
this country, and to be relatively conscious is to be
in a rage almost all the time. I often wish
(00:42):
that I was not more than relatively conscious, and that
I was less aware, and that I was more selfish,
more disengaged. I wish I cared a lot less. I, unfortunately,
(01:08):
was born black in America. And you know, from the
same lungs and larynth and vocal cords that comes I'm
black and I'm proud comes the admittance that being born
black in the world is a circumstance that you're born
(01:32):
into that gives a strike against you. But more specifically,
being black in this country, being born black in this country,
it's an interesting reality. I typed the words to be
(01:54):
black in America into an artificial intelligence engine. The only
words I typed were to be black in America. Artificial
intelligence finished that sentence. To be black in America means
navigating a history of slavery, discrimination, and systemic racism while
(02:22):
also experiencing the triumphs and challenges of black culture and identity.
It involves enduring prejudice and the possibility of police brutality
while also striving for equality and participating in the diverse
communities that make up Black America. It goes on to
(02:45):
give up more detailed, nuanced read out, full of context,
but just that AI completed that thought on its own,
using data, historical facts, not opinion or emotion. And all
(03:07):
of these things that I say, I guess prepared myself
and prepared my brother, my co host, my business partner,
Ramsey's job for a moment that we did not see
coming that changed our life forever. And I wish I
(03:28):
could say without hesitation for better. The year was twenty twenty,
and as our country was dealing with well, I guess,
as the world was dealing with a global pandemic, we
(03:54):
watched another police officer snuff out the life of another
black man. And this time that story was not simply
followed with in other news, but everyone seemed a bit
(04:15):
more heightened and their attention to this story. People seem
to care a little bit more than typical. And Ramses
and I being the black men that we are, being
the empathetic and aware and tapped in black men that
we are, we not only felt a way about what
(04:39):
we saw, but on our radio show or inclined to
talk about it. I like to say, we got our
hands popped for kind of stepping out of line, stepping
away from the norms, and you know, outside of the
scope of what it is that we do. We are
(04:59):
radio personalities, DJs, hip hop DJs to be specific, on
the radio in Phoenix, Arizona at the time, and everyone
involved would have preferred a more lighthearted, more escapism direction
for the show. You know, you guys play music in
(05:22):
between ads, give out concert tickets, you know, talk people
through their daily drive. No one wants to hear about
stories of people being unalive by the police and our compromise.
When I look back at it, Ramses, it was such
(05:46):
a small ask, might I say, an insignificant ask, Like
they could have gotten away with doing almost nothing and
getting credit for it. Let us use psa inventory that's
not rated, that's almost not listened to, in the middle
(06:09):
of the night on the weekend, to not just discuss
these issues, but invite people on who are experts in
this space, who are leaders in the community, who are activists,
who are organizers, to give us a more informed voice
to speak to these things that people are dealing with
that they're not sure how to reconcile or how to
(06:31):
feel about, and just provide a safe space for those
ideas to be shared, where people can organize, where people
could cry, where people can grieve, where people can emote,
and the powers that be Now that I look back
on it, I think hoping or expecting the things would
(06:53):
just blow over, told us yes, great idea, we should
definitely do that. And anybody that knows rams is the
way that I do not allowed to tell him, yes,
this is what we're going to do and not do it.
It is beyond the way that his brain is made
(07:14):
up to hear you say this is what we're doing
and for you to not follow through on it. And
it's important to point out the reason he's that way
is because if he tells you he's going to do something,
he follows through one hundred percent of the time. His
brain does not know another way so his expectation is
(07:37):
not holding you to some standard that's impossible to meet,
because it's a daily practice for him. So we didn't
let it go. He didn't let them forget. And after
weeks and months of nagging and following up and hey,
you know, where are we with this show? We will
produce it, we will even voice it, we will even
(07:59):
do it for free. It just needs to be done.
And Ramses was met with the words, we don't want
to do a black show. And this is how George Floyd,
the family of George Floyd, the legacy and the story
of George Floyd impacted and changed our lives forever because
(08:24):
we thought his story and stories like his were that
important to tell. But the spark that hit the gasoline
that lit the fire of activism and pronounced the civic
engagement and kinetic forceful social justice.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
The spark that lit that fire for two hip hop
radio DJs to hip hop club DJs to hip hop
arena DJs to go from playing music and having fun.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
To fighting for the rights of our people and of
finding our collective voices for a living. Watching what happened
to George Floyd was the tipping point. It was no
longer okay to just move on to the next story.
It was no longer okay to pretend that this wasn't happening,
(09:17):
because this is what we saw on tape, this is
what we saw on video, this is what we saw
across our timelines. So if we were watching one story
unfold in front of our eyes, that meant that there
was hundreds, maybe thousands that we'd never heard of, and
that we would never see. Ramses resigned on our behalf
(09:38):
from that radio station that day, called me after and
told me we quit. And before I even knew why,
I understood that it was important, and I understood it
was the right decision because I know and trust rams
Is to that extent. And then we mourned our careers
(10:03):
in radio because they were surely over, and George Floyd
was worth it. Showing up, speaking up, and standing up
for George Floyd and our people was worth it. And
(10:23):
what that station thought would blow over in a couple
of weeks lasted for so much longer than that, and
the entire world came outside and we had to mourn
the depths of a Motte Aubrey and Breonna Taylor and
countless others. The list didn't get any shorter. The killings
did not. Not only did did they not stop or
(10:45):
slow down, but it got worse. Police got bigger budgets,
qualified amenity that did not end the presence of cameras
and heightened attention and microscope into the misgivings and the
nefarious acts of law enforcement agencies and officers all over
(11:06):
the country did nothing to curb their thirst for their
own version of justice. And there has been a week
over week, month over month, year over year increase and
police brutality in police killing in the years that followed.
(11:34):
But that collective outrage, that collective sadness, that collective empathy
led to a lot of what felt like immediate action
on behalf of legislators, on behalf of corporations, and on
behalf of people all over the world. A lot of
(11:55):
pledges and a lot of promises, and a lot of
calls to action, and also a lot of black squares
on Instagram. Coalitions were formed, donations were collected, organizations were started,
(12:15):
and two hip hop radio DJs became activists from that
day forward, Those two hip hop DJs that lost their
career in radio that day because they symbolically burned the
station down that they left, calling out the names of
(12:37):
the people who told us they didn't want black went
from being on one station in Phoenix, Arizona, to hundreds
of stations all over the country, still trying to uplift
the same message, still trying to drive home the same mission,
(13:03):
but realizing that progress is a very very difficult term
or idea. Ram just likes to talk about progress in
the scope of a lifetime. The problem with that is
(13:24):
that we don't get to live more than one. We
don't get to come back and try to see if
those that we left in our wake ever benefit from
the snail paced progress that we've been given. It was
(13:45):
about twenty thirty years of what in comparison would feel
like rapid massive progress where black people were free and
then getting some agency and autonomy over themselves, eventually able
to own homes, get jobs, start families, make some money,
(14:13):
and you know, pull themselves up by their bootstraps after
they were told to do just enough to have a
comfortable life, if not a very fruitful one. And professional
sports and entertainment have helped paved the way for black
people to even become millionaires. And of that little progress
(14:38):
over the lifetimes, as my brother would would show, came
just enough comfort for us to not be angry anymore,
just enough comfort for us to not want to lose
(14:58):
the little progress that we made, to stop demanding, to
stop fighting, to stop marching, to stop organizing, to proclaim
proudly ourselves not a monolith, as if we could not
be diverse in thought, diverse in action, diverse in skin tone,
(15:21):
diverse in skill set, and still maintain a monolithic desire
for all of us to be free. It's hard not
to look back at all the promises that were made,
and to check only a few boxes of the promises
(15:44):
that were kept in the wake of the loss of
the life of George Floyd, and to see that we
have somehow gone backward because that radio station was right.
Eventually things did settle down outside. Eventually, police agencies all
(16:10):
over the country got to show us that it doesn't
matter how upset you all get. We are the law,
we have the authority, and as loudly as you tried
to proclaim that your lives mattered, we will collectively show
you that they don't. And not only did police agencies
(16:33):
do that, but tens of millions of our countrymen and
women went to the ballot box and doubled down on
that idea. So on every level of government, we were
being taken backward. My daughter with less rights than her grandmother,
(17:01):
and everyone that looks like me, everyone that thinks like me,
anyone that dares speak up and dissent with regard to
the current administration, putting themselves in the crosshairs of federal
law enforcement, being able to write out in the open,
(17:23):
kidnap you and take you away, and nothing anyone, including judges,
can do about that. We are not allowed to feel.
We celebrated Barack Obama too loudly. They gave us Donald Trump.
(17:49):
We mourned George Floyd too passionately, and they gave us
Donald Trump again. This country that we've loved as it
abused us for our entire existence here reminds us once
again that they do not care about us. And as
(18:14):
we look back on the ending of that brother's life,
we realized that there was a flash of empathy by
the collective world, and then a tidal wave of let
(18:40):
us put you back in your place, by those who
always have and always will oppose our self determination, our
desire to share the freedoms that they promised all men
(19:00):
minding ourselves that they did not consider us men when
they wrote those words. I think about George Floyd and
it breaks my heart, and I think about how far
backward we've gone since the end, and it breaks my
heart again.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Well, two, I'll tell you this. You know, all of
us are living in interesting times. I'm very fortunate in
that I have you, I have a permanent traveling companion
through I would say this chapter, but I feel like
my life because we've been doing stuff way before, you know, radio,
(19:45):
before we even had RADISHIP, been those stuff for years, decades,
and I know that this will continue long after this
chapter is over. I'm very fortunate in that way. But
I also recognize that, you know, the the pushbacks and
the things that we've lost, certainly in the last couple
of months are things that we well covered, and I
(20:09):
know that those are some some tough blows to bear.
I know that, you know, when we talked about the
DJ ending their investigations and retracting the findings of wrongdoing
against the Minneapolis Police Department and the Phoenix Police Department,
Oklahoma City, Memphis, Tennessee, New Jersey, New York, Louisiana, there's others.
(20:37):
That was a gut punch. I know that when George
Floyd passed, there was this push to get the George
Floyd Justice and Policing Act, you know, through the House
and through the Senate so that Joe Biden could sign
it in the law, and it got gummed up in
the Senate. That was a gut punch.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
You know.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
There were murals everywhere, supposed to be reminders of you know,
we're not going backwards. We understand what the plight is
of black people. We've seen it on full display. We
saw a person lose their life over the course of
eight minutes, screaming for his mother, and he was accused
(21:22):
of you know, the pettiest of crimes.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
You know.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
This isn't some mass murderer or something like that, you know,
but he had a public execution as though he were
with someone like that. And it gave people a glimpse
into the reality of being black, because it would be
unconscionable and be unimaginable for people to envision that show
(21:47):
of justice, which is supposed to be blind in this country,
that style of justice used on any other type of person.
So people got a glimpse and they say, oh wow,
this is something that's really happening on. All the murals
that were meant to serve as a reminder have either
(22:10):
fallen in a disrepair been taken down. Famously, Donald Trump
removed the Black Lives Matter mural in DC on the
road leading to the White House that you know, one
of our first pictures for Civic Cipher was in that
square and it's gone. And the flip side of this
(22:32):
is that, you know, the Confederate monuments that were being
taken down, people stopped taking them down. There's still tons
of those all over the South, and you know, this
current administration is actually promising to restore at least some
of those monuments, calling it like history of the country,
(22:52):
meaning that they want that version of the history to
be maintained and preserved.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
But history that.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
Is more reflective of the black experience that was chronicled
by you know, black activists and oratories and ministers and leaders.
That history has famously been swept under the rug. And
one of the biggest things that came out of the
(23:22):
George Floyd you know moment was all these companies stepping
up and saying, wow, we see this so social moment
we see what's going on on the streets, We see
the people, and we want to be a part of this.
We want to do something that helps this moment that
you know, speaks to these problems. We want to be
(23:44):
an ally. We want to do more than put a
blackspore on Instagram. And so this is when diversity, equity
and inclusion initiatives really got their their time in the sun.
And with the re election of Donald Trump and the
dismantling of you know, the government back DEI initiatives and
(24:06):
then kind of the private sector following suit for no
real reason. I guess they could lose some government contracts
or opportunities here and there, but you know, they traded
in a forever long relationship with black people for a
four year long relationship with Donald Trump. And that was
(24:27):
another gut punch for everyone to say, no, we don't
need diversity, we don't need equity, and we don't need inclusion.
We need Donald Trump, we need these government contracts. And
that just is so all of that, all these points
are well make you I totally get it. And you
know these are things and more things we've covered. We've
been doing this for five years now, man and there's
(24:54):
are a lot of rugs to get pulled out from
under us. But I will say this, I think that
the change that we really need to affect the outcomes
that we want to affect, the long term goals of
(25:16):
black people, the goals that come on the other side
of the you know, the promised land. You know, I
might not get there with you, but I've seen the
promise land, those type of goals. I think that the
seeds for those were planted and they took root in
the in the.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
Hearts of the people who were in the middle.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
Because you know your point that you made earlier, there's
always going to be people that oppose us, right, and
that's not everybody, but that's a group. And there's people
who are always going to be like freedom fighters and
activists and you know, people that get outside and get busy, right,
and you know, they have their place too, But most
people kind of land in the middle, and they watch
(26:06):
the two opposing facets go back and forth here and
there in the news from time to time.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
But that's it.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
They're not themselves engaged them. They're not themselves knowledgeable of
policy and the effects of policy and that sort of thing.
And I think that the George Floyd moment. The legacy
of that moment that cannot be erased is how it
(26:35):
affected the people in the middle. Now, you could argue,
one could argue that it caused some people to become
more right leaning, you know, but it also caused a
lot of people to recognize the humanity. A lot of
(26:57):
people had that moment, and I believe that those people
have more insight into what the black experience is like
having seen the last moments of.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
George Floyd's life. Those people.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
That carry that newfound knowledge and you know, insight in
their heart and.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
Their spirit, those people.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
Are going to be on a lifelong mission. They're no
longer in the middle. You know, the white moderate that
Martin Luther King Junior chastised so publicly. You know, that
group of people has shrunk. And like I said, there's
some people that are on the right that went in
(27:53):
that direction, and that's I suppose fair shooters are going
to shoot right. But the right has been the side
of history that has opposed women voting. The right has
been the side of history that has opposed you know,
(28:19):
freeing the slaves. The right has been the side of
history that has opposed really all meaningful progress in terms
of how we regard each other as brothers and sisters.
In this country. The conservative facet of this country has
been the opposition, and they've been wrong one hundred percent
of the time. They've always been on the wrong side
(28:40):
of history when it comes to major issues like this,
always of the time. And I think you and I
would both argue that they're wrong. They're on the wrong
side of history in this moment too. But I think
now on the heels of George Floyd's death five years later,
(29:03):
there are more people that can see it, and we
might have on that side, people might have overcorrected because
you know, I've famously said on the show many times
that you know, these activists, you know, shooters are going
to shoot, right, So you know, if they're not protesting
(29:23):
for George Floyd, once Palestine comes up, they got a
new fight. And you know that's a powerful weapon. But
they pointed it effectively at themselves. They pointed it effectively
at the group that could do the most for them
because they weren't going to do everything for them. But
that group does exist now and that's not nothing. And
(29:44):
so if the legacy of George Floyd can be found anywhere.
I think that it's found in the in the hearts
of the people who no longer sit in the middle,
that no longer are the yeah, the white moderate, that
(30:06):
they are a little bit more aware, a little bit
more alert, they will move to make changes. And you know,
famously it's up to you and me to show them
how to apply that that energy, and to teach our
brothers and our sisters, certainly those who are younger than us,
(30:28):
you know, in terms of their tribes, because we're from
the oldest tribe, right, we have to show them what
to do with that aggression, that anger and whatever, and
how to channel that into some meaningful change. And so
you know, we've had our work cut out for us,
and we continue to have our work cut out for us.
And this is going to be a longer, more challenging
world than we anticipated. But you know, we didn't make
(30:51):
these moves to play the game on the easy mode.
So I'll say what I said at the beginning, Man,
I couldn't have a better team, made a better partner
to run this race with, you know, to have a
permanent traveling companion for when things get heavy and I'm
not able to see you know, the the sun rays
(31:12):
through the clouds. You know, you'll remind me, probably more
often I'm the one that reminds you of that. But
you know, you keep my feet on the ground, and
you keep me measured. And you know, for all of
our listeners that do that, for their communities and their tribes,
hopefully we set a good example. I don't have any
(31:34):
quit in me. I don't know how to do that,
you know, to the point that you made earlier, I
can't give up because I know that I know that
the people that came before me, my my literal forefathers.
You know, a lot of them lived short our lives
(31:58):
where they could not even it wasn't even realistic for
them to imagine the life that I lived. So they
were imprisoned and enslaved physically and mentally as well. And
for a lot of them, they died in agony and pain.
(32:22):
The last word they heard was the N word. For
many of them, they never fully lived. For all of them,
they never fully lived. But you know it took them
hundreds of years. They were born, lived and died in
a world that where their lives didn't matter at all.
They were property. So for me to quit now because
(32:48):
I'm upset would cause my literal forefathers to roll in
their grave. I owe them too much. And we've had
this conversation. I don't even feel the same way, Que,
But we've got to play the game on hard mode,
and there's case precedent that it's possible to do that
(33:08):
and progress as possible. And you know, we might not
see it, but we don't need to. The point is
we need to bear in mind that the sacrifices that
were made, including George Floyd's, should serve as the motivation
(33:29):
to continue to shape this country into the equitable country
that that it deserves to be. I'll leave that one
right there. Of course, George Floyd hit everyone differently, obviously,
(33:50):
for quing myself, it was a It mattered quite a bit.
This is why this one took a little longer. But
we appreciate you listening. It changed our lives and you
know here we are.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
So this is a quote and you'll recognize it. This
is my favorite human ever to quote. What is it
you wanted me to reconcile myself to. I was born
here almost sixty years ago. I'm not going to live
(34:26):
another sixty years. I know I've said this. You always
told me it takes time. It's taken my father's time,
my mother's time, my uncle's time, my brother's and my
sister's time, my nieces and my nephew's time. How much
(34:51):
time do you want for your progress? That is from
the late Jane Baldwin and for those who claim to
be allies of Boers, I just love for that question
to continue in your subconscious how much time do you
(35:17):
want for your progress?
Speaker 1 (35:22):
It feels like we're kind of in a in a
tough spot. Like I said, you know, and you know
I've said this before to you, but what do you
do when you can't do nothing but there's nothing you
can do? In terms of like the time argument, what
do you do when you can't do nothing but there's
nothing you can do? And the answer is you do
(35:43):
what you can. Now we'll leave it right there, and
of course, please share your thoughts using the red microphone
talk back feature. I mean I heart radio app, or
you can hit me on all social media at Rams's strap.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
I am Qward on all social media as well, and
talk to us. We love to from until we do Peece.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
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, be sure to
hit subscribe and download all of our episodes. I'm your
host ramses Job on all social media. Join us tomorrow as.
Speaker 2 (36:20):
We share our news with our voice
Speaker 1 (36:22):
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 job. And sometimes the amount of stories
that make their way to us means that we simply
can't cover.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Everything that comes our way.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
But from time to time, a story just stays with
me and feil compelled to share it with you and
give you my thoughts.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
And now one more thing. To be a Negro in
this country, and to be relatively conscious is to be
in a rage almost all the time. I often wish
(00:42):
that I was not more than relatively conscious, and that
I was less aware, and that I was more selfish,
more disengaged. I wish I cared a lot less. I, unfortunately,
(01:08):
was born black in America. And you know, from the
same lungs and larynth and vocal cords that comes I'm
black and I'm proud comes the admittance that being born
black in the world is a circumstance that you're born
(01:32):
into that gives a strike against you. But more specifically,
being black in this country, being born black in this country,
it's an interesting reality. I typed the words to be
(01:54):
black in America into an artificial intelligence engine. The only
words I typed were to be black in America. Artificial
intelligence finished that sentence. To be black in America means
navigating a history of slavery, discrimination, and systemic racism while
(02:22):
also experiencing the triumphs and challenges of black culture and identity.
It involves enduring prejudice and the possibility of police brutality
while also striving for equality and participating in the diverse
communities that make up Black America. It goes on to
(02:45):
give up more detailed, nuanced read out, full of context,
but just that AI completed that thought on its own,
using data, historical facts, not opinion or emotion. And all
(03:07):
of these things that I say, I guess prepared myself
and prepared my brother, my co host, my business partner,
Ramsey's job for a moment that we did not see
coming that changed our life forever. And I wish I
(03:28):
could say without hesitation for better. The year was twenty twenty,
and as our country was dealing with well, I guess,
as the world was dealing with a global pandemic, we
(03:54):
watched another police officer snuff out the life of another
black man. And this time that story was not simply
followed with in other news, but everyone seemed a bit
(04:15):
more heightened and their attention to this story. People seem
to care a little bit more than typical. And Ramses
and I being the black men that we are, being
the empathetic and aware and tapped in black men that
we are, we not only felt a way about what
(04:39):
we saw, but on our radio show or inclined to
talk about it. I like to say, we got our
hands popped for kind of stepping out of line, stepping
away from the norms, and you know, outside of the
scope of what it is that we do. We are
(04:59):
radio personalities, DJs, hip hop DJs to be specific, on
the radio in Phoenix, Arizona at the time, and everyone
involved would have preferred a more lighthearted, more escapism direction
for the show. You know, you guys play music in
(05:22):
between ads, give out concert tickets, you know, talk people
through their daily drive. No one wants to hear about
stories of people being unalive by the police and our compromise.
When I look back at it, Ramses, it was such
(05:46):
a small ask, might I say, an insignificant ask, Like
they could have gotten away with doing almost nothing and
getting credit for it. Let us use psa inventory that's
not rated, that's almost not listened to, in the middle
(06:09):
of the night on the weekend, to not just discuss
these issues, but invite people on who are experts in
this space, who are leaders in the community, who are activists,
who are organizers, to give us a more informed voice
to speak to these things that people are dealing with
that they're not sure how to reconcile or how to
(06:31):
feel about, and just provide a safe space for those
ideas to be shared, where people can organize, where people
could cry, where people can grieve, where people can emote,
and the powers that be Now that I look back
on it, I think hoping or expecting the things would
(06:53):
just blow over, told us yes, great idea, we should
definitely do that. And anybody that knows rams is the
way that I do not allowed to tell him, yes,
this is what we're going to do and not do it.
It is beyond the way that his brain is made
(07:14):
up to hear you say this is what we're doing
and for you to not follow through on it. And
it's important to point out the reason he's that way
is because if he tells you he's going to do something,
he follows through one hundred percent of the time. His
brain does not know another way so his expectation is
(07:37):
not holding you to some standard that's impossible to meet,
because it's a daily practice for him. So we didn't
let it go. He didn't let them forget. And after
weeks and months of nagging and following up and hey,
you know, where are we with this show? We will
produce it, we will even voice it, we will even
(07:59):
do it for free. It just needs to be done.
And Ramses was met with the words, we don't want
to do a black show. And this is how George Floyd,
the family of George Floyd, the legacy and the story
of George Floyd impacted and changed our lives forever because
(08:24):
we thought his story and stories like his were that
important to tell. But the spark that hit the gasoline
that lit the fire of activism and pronounced the civic
engagement and kinetic forceful social justice.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
The spark that lit that fire for two hip hop
radio DJs to hip hop club DJs to hip hop
arena DJs to go from playing music and having fun.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
To fighting for the rights of our people and of
finding our collective voices for a living. Watching what happened
to George Floyd was the tipping point. It was no
longer okay to just move on to the next story.
It was no longer okay to pretend that this wasn't happening,
(09:17):
because this is what we saw on tape, this is
what we saw on video, this is what we saw
across our timelines. So if we were watching one story
unfold in front of our eyes, that meant that there
was hundreds, maybe thousands that we'd never heard of, and
that we would never see. Ramses resigned on our behalf
(09:38):
from that radio station that day, called me after and
told me we quit. And before I even knew why,
I understood that it was important, and I understood it
was the right decision because I know and trust rams
Is to that extent. And then we mourned our careers
(10:03):
in radio because they were surely over, and George Floyd
was worth it. Showing up, speaking up, and standing up
for George Floyd and our people was worth it. And
(10:23):
what that station thought would blow over in a couple
of weeks lasted for so much longer than that, and
the entire world came outside and we had to mourn
the depths of a Motte Aubrey and Breonna Taylor and
countless others. The list didn't get any shorter. The killings
did not. Not only did did they not stop or
(10:45):
slow down, but it got worse. Police got bigger budgets,
qualified amenity that did not end the presence of cameras
and heightened attention and microscope into the misgivings and the
nefarious acts of law enforcement agencies and officers all over
(11:06):
the country did nothing to curb their thirst for their
own version of justice. And there has been a week
over week, month over month, year over year increase and
police brutality in police killing in the years that followed.
(11:34):
But that collective outrage, that collective sadness, that collective empathy
led to a lot of what felt like immediate action
on behalf of legislators, on behalf of corporations, and on
behalf of people all over the world. A lot of
(11:55):
pledges and a lot of promises, and a lot of
calls to action, and also a lot of black squares
on Instagram. Coalitions were formed, donations were collected, organizations were started,
(12:15):
and two hip hop radio DJs became activists from that
day forward, Those two hip hop DJs that lost their
career in radio that day because they symbolically burned the
station down that they left, calling out the names of
(12:37):
the people who told us they didn't want black went
from being on one station in Phoenix, Arizona, to hundreds
of stations all over the country, still trying to uplift
the same message, still trying to drive home the same mission,
(13:03):
but realizing that progress is a very very difficult term
or idea. Ram just likes to talk about progress in
the scope of a lifetime. The problem with that is
(13:24):
that we don't get to live more than one. We
don't get to come back and try to see if
those that we left in our wake ever benefit from
the snail paced progress that we've been given. It was
(13:45):
about twenty thirty years of what in comparison would feel
like rapid massive progress where black people were free and
then getting some agency and autonomy over themselves, eventually able
to own homes, get jobs, start families, make some money,
(14:13):
and you know, pull themselves up by their bootstraps after
they were told to do just enough to have a
comfortable life, if not a very fruitful one. And professional
sports and entertainment have helped paved the way for black
people to even become millionaires. And of that little progress
(14:38):
over the lifetimes, as my brother would would show, came
just enough comfort for us to not be angry anymore,
just enough comfort for us to not want to lose
(14:58):
the little progress that we made, to stop demanding, to
stop fighting, to stop marching, to stop organizing, to proclaim
proudly ourselves not a monolith, as if we could not
be diverse in thought, diverse in action, diverse in skin tone,
(15:21):
diverse in skill set, and still maintain a monolithic desire
for all of us to be free. It's hard not
to look back at all the promises that were made,
and to check only a few boxes of the promises
(15:44):
that were kept in the wake of the loss of
the life of George Floyd, and to see that we
have somehow gone backward because that radio station was right.
Eventually things did settle down outside. Eventually, police agencies all
(16:10):
over the country got to show us that it doesn't
matter how upset you all get. We are the law,
we have the authority, and as loudly as you tried
to proclaim that your lives mattered, we will collectively show
you that they don't. And not only did police agencies
(16:33):
do that, but tens of millions of our countrymen and
women went to the ballot box and doubled down on
that idea. So on every level of government, we were
being taken backward. My daughter with less rights than her grandmother,
(17:01):
and everyone that looks like me, everyone that thinks like me,
anyone that dares speak up and dissent with regard to
the current administration, putting themselves in the crosshairs of federal
law enforcement, being able to write out in the open,
(17:23):
kidnap you and take you away, and nothing anyone, including judges,
can do about that. We are not allowed to feel.
We celebrated Barack Obama too loudly. They gave us Donald Trump.
(17:49):
We mourned George Floyd too passionately, and they gave us
Donald Trump again. This country that we've loved as it
abused us for our entire existence here reminds us once
again that they do not care about us. And as
(18:14):
we look back on the ending of that brother's life,
we realized that there was a flash of empathy by
the collective world, and then a tidal wave of let
(18:40):
us put you back in your place, by those who
always have and always will oppose our self determination, our
desire to share the freedoms that they promised all men
(19:00):
minding ourselves that they did not consider us men when
they wrote those words. I think about George Floyd and
it breaks my heart, and I think about how far
backward we've gone since the end, and it breaks my
heart again.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Well, two, I'll tell you this. You know, all of
us are living in interesting times. I'm very fortunate in
that I have you, I have a permanent traveling companion
through I would say this chapter, but I feel like
my life because we've been doing stuff way before, you know, radio,
(19:45):
before we even had RADISHIP, been those stuff for years, decades,
and I know that this will continue long after this
chapter is over. I'm very fortunate in that way. But
I also recognize that, you know, the the pushbacks and
the things that we've lost, certainly in the last couple
of months are things that we well covered, and I
(20:09):
know that those are some some tough blows to bear.
I know that, you know, when we talked about the
DJ ending their investigations and retracting the findings of wrongdoing
against the Minneapolis Police Department and the Phoenix Police Department,
Oklahoma City, Memphis, Tennessee, New Jersey, New York, Louisiana, there's others.
(20:37):
That was a gut punch. I know that when George
Floyd passed, there was this push to get the George
Floyd Justice and Policing Act, you know, through the House
and through the Senate so that Joe Biden could sign
it in the law, and it got gummed up in
the Senate. That was a gut punch.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
You know.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
There were murals everywhere, supposed to be reminders of you know,
we're not going backwards. We understand what the plight is
of black people. We've seen it on full display. We
saw a person lose their life over the course of
eight minutes, screaming for his mother, and he was accused
(21:22):
of you know, the pettiest of crimes.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
You know.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
This isn't some mass murderer or something like that, you know,
but he had a public execution as though he were
with someone like that. And it gave people a glimpse
into the reality of being black, because it would be
unconscionable and be unimaginable for people to envision that show
(21:47):
of justice, which is supposed to be blind in this country,
that style of justice used on any other type of person.
So people got a glimpse and they say, oh wow,
this is something that's really happening on. All the murals
that were meant to serve as a reminder have either
(22:10):
fallen in a disrepair been taken down. Famously, Donald Trump
removed the Black Lives Matter mural in DC on the
road leading to the White House that you know, one
of our first pictures for Civic Cipher was in that
square and it's gone. And the flip side of this
(22:32):
is that, you know, the Confederate monuments that were being
taken down, people stopped taking them down. There's still tons
of those all over the South, and you know, this
current administration is actually promising to restore at least some
of those monuments, calling it like history of the country,
(22:52):
meaning that they want that version of the history to
be maintained and preserved.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
But history that.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
Is more reflective of the black experience that was chronicled
by you know, black activists and oratories and ministers and leaders.
That history has famously been swept under the rug. And
one of the biggest things that came out of the
(23:22):
George Floyd you know moment was all these companies stepping
up and saying, wow, we see this so social moment
we see what's going on on the streets, We see
the people, and we want to be a part of this.
We want to do something that helps this moment that
you know, speaks to these problems. We want to be
(23:44):
an ally. We want to do more than put a
blackspore on Instagram. And so this is when diversity, equity
and inclusion initiatives really got their their time in the sun.
And with the re election of Donald Trump and the
dismantling of you know, the government back DEI initiatives and
(24:06):
then kind of the private sector following suit for no
real reason. I guess they could lose some government contracts
or opportunities here and there, but you know, they traded
in a forever long relationship with black people for a
four year long relationship with Donald Trump. And that was
(24:27):
another gut punch for everyone to say, no, we don't
need diversity, we don't need equity, and we don't need inclusion.
We need Donald Trump, we need these government contracts. And
that just is so all of that, all these points
are well make you I totally get it. And you
know these are things and more things we've covered. We've
been doing this for five years now, man and there's
(24:54):
are a lot of rugs to get pulled out from
under us. But I will say this, I think that
the change that we really need to affect the outcomes
that we want to affect, the long term goals of
(25:16):
black people, the goals that come on the other side
of the you know, the promised land. You know, I
might not get there with you, but I've seen the
promise land, those type of goals. I think that the
seeds for those were planted and they took root in
the in the.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
Hearts of the people who were in the middle.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
Because you know your point that you made earlier, there's
always going to be people that oppose us, right, and
that's not everybody, but that's a group. And there's people
who are always going to be like freedom fighters and
activists and you know, people that get outside and get busy, right,
and you know, they have their place too, But most
people kind of land in the middle, and they watch
(26:06):
the two opposing facets go back and forth here and
there in the news from time to time.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
But that's it.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
They're not themselves engaged them. They're not themselves knowledgeable of
policy and the effects of policy and that sort of thing.
And I think that the George Floyd moment. The legacy
of that moment that cannot be erased is how it
(26:35):
affected the people in the middle. Now, you could argue,
one could argue that it caused some people to become
more right leaning, you know, but it also caused a
lot of people to recognize the humanity. A lot of
(26:57):
people had that moment, and I believe that those people
have more insight into what the black experience is like
having seen the last moments of.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
George Floyd's life. Those people.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
That carry that newfound knowledge and you know, insight in
their heart and.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
Their spirit, those people.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
Are going to be on a lifelong mission. They're no
longer in the middle. You know, the white moderate that
Martin Luther King Junior chastised so publicly. You know, that
group of people has shrunk. And like I said, there's
some people that are on the right that went in
(27:53):
that direction, and that's I suppose fair shooters are going
to shoot right. But the right has been the side
of history that has opposed women voting. The right has
been the side of history that has opposed you know,
(28:19):
freeing the slaves. The right has been the side of
history that has opposed really all meaningful progress in terms
of how we regard each other as brothers and sisters.
In this country. The conservative facet of this country has
been the opposition, and they've been wrong one hundred percent
of the time. They've always been on the wrong side
(28:40):
of history when it comes to major issues like this,
always of the time. And I think you and I
would both argue that they're wrong. They're on the wrong
side of history in this moment too. But I think
now on the heels of George Floyd's death five years later,
(29:03):
there are more people that can see it, and we
might have on that side, people might have overcorrected because
you know, I've famously said on the show many times
that you know, these activists, you know, shooters are going
to shoot, right, So you know, if they're not protesting
(29:23):
for George Floyd, once Palestine comes up, they got a
new fight. And you know that's a powerful weapon. But
they pointed it effectively at themselves. They pointed it effectively
at the group that could do the most for them
because they weren't going to do everything for them. But
that group does exist now and that's not nothing. And
(29:44):
so if the legacy of George Floyd can be found anywhere.
I think that it's found in the in the hearts
of the people who no longer sit in the middle,
that no longer are the yeah, the white moderate, that
(30:06):
they are a little bit more aware, a little bit
more alert, they will move to make changes. And you know,
famously it's up to you and me to show them
how to apply that that energy, and to teach our
brothers and our sisters, certainly those who are younger than us,
(30:28):
you know, in terms of their tribes, because we're from
the oldest tribe, right, we have to show them what
to do with that aggression, that anger and whatever, and
how to channel that into some meaningful change. And so
you know, we've had our work cut out for us,
and we continue to have our work cut out for us.
And this is going to be a longer, more challenging
world than we anticipated. But you know, we didn't make
(30:51):
these moves to play the game on the easy mode.
So I'll say what I said at the beginning, Man,
I couldn't have a better team, made a better partner
to run this race with, you know, to have a
permanent traveling companion for when things get heavy and I'm
not able to see you know, the the sun rays
(31:12):
through the clouds. You know, you'll remind me, probably more
often I'm the one that reminds you of that. But
you know, you keep my feet on the ground, and
you keep me measured. And you know, for all of
our listeners that do that, for their communities and their tribes,
hopefully we set a good example. I don't have any
(31:34):
quit in me. I don't know how to do that,
you know, to the point that you made earlier, I
can't give up because I know that I know that
the people that came before me, my my literal forefathers.
You know, a lot of them lived short our lives
(31:58):
where they could not even it wasn't even realistic for
them to imagine the life that I lived. So they
were imprisoned and enslaved physically and mentally as well. And
for a lot of them, they died in agony and pain.
(32:22):
The last word they heard was the N word. For
many of them, they never fully lived. For all of them,
they never fully lived. But you know it took them
hundreds of years. They were born, lived and died in
a world that where their lives didn't matter at all.
They were property. So for me to quit now because
(32:48):
I'm upset would cause my literal forefathers to roll in
their grave. I owe them too much. And we've had
this conversation. I don't even feel the same way, Que,
But we've got to play the game on hard mode,
and there's case precedent that it's possible to do that
(33:08):
and progress as possible. And you know, we might not
see it, but we don't need to. The point is
we need to bear in mind that the sacrifices that
were made, including George Floyd's, should serve as the motivation
(33:29):
to continue to shape this country into the equitable country
that that it deserves to be. I'll leave that one
right there. Of course, George Floyd hit everyone differently, obviously,
(33:50):
for quing myself, it was a It mattered quite a bit.
This is why this one took a little longer. But
we appreciate you listening. It changed our lives and you
know here we are.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
So this is a quote and you'll recognize it. This
is my favorite human ever to quote. What is it
you wanted me to reconcile myself to. I was born
here almost sixty years ago. I'm not going to live
(34:26):
another sixty years. I know I've said this. You always
told me it takes time. It's taken my father's time,
my mother's time, my uncle's time, my brother's and my
sister's time, my nieces and my nephew's time. How much
(34:51):
time do you want for your progress? That is from
the late Jane Baldwin and for those who claim to
be allies of Boers, I just love for that question
to continue in your subconscious how much time do you
(35:17):
want for your progress?
Speaker 1 (35:22):
It feels like we're kind of in a in a
tough spot. Like I said, you know, and you know
I've said this before to you, but what do you
do when you can't do nothing but there's nothing you
can do? In terms of like the time argument, what
do you do when you can't do nothing but there's
nothing you can do? And the answer is you do
(35:43):
what you can. Now we'll leave it right there, and
of course, please share your thoughts using the red microphone
talk back feature. I mean I heart radio app, or
you can hit me on all social media at Rams's strap.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
I am Qward on all social media as well, and
talk to us. We love to from until we do Peece.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
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, be sure to
hit subscribe and download all of our episodes. I'm your
host ramses Job on all social media. Join us tomorrow as.
Speaker 2 (36:20):
We share our news with our voice
Speaker 1 (36:22):
From our perspective right here on the Black Information Network
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