June 23, 2025 • 30 mins
On Part 1 of today's podcast, Hosts Ramses Ja and Q Ward discuss Cuban Support for Trump and the Moral Conflict Within the Police and the Military
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Broadcasting from the Civic Cipher Studios. Welcome to the QR Code,
where we share perspective, seek understanding, and shape outcomes. I'm
your host, ramses Jah.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
He is your host. I just work here. The name
is Q.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Ward and that's my guy. That's my brother right there.
We want you to stick around because we have a
lot to talk about. We always have a lot to
talk about, but I think that this is going to
be one of our more educational episodes for the most part.
We have a few things we want to discuss that
have to do with how things look to us in
(00:36):
terms of politics. So we're going to be asking, I
think a really important question, would Jesus be a Republican?
You know, obviously Christianity is associated very closely with the right,
and we're going to examine that critically. We're also going
to ask ourselves why certain foods are associated with racism.
This is something that has come up recently in our world,
(00:57):
and a lot of people don't know the origins stories
of a lot of things like that, So we're gonna
get into the weeds there. Q's got a couple of
stories who wants to share. One of them is on capitalism,
and sports and the intersection of those two elements. And
then I think we're going to start off with something
that we feel we should share with you, and that's
(01:20):
kind of the origin story of this very show, sort
of the primordial ooze, what prompted this and hopefully give
you a little bit more insight if you're just coming
to the table in terms of who we are and
why we felt this was a pertinent and relevant addition
to your airwaves and to your downloads, depending on which
(01:43):
format you use to consume this content. So for longtime listeners,
this might be a reintroduction, but for folks just coming
to the table, this would be our introduction. But before
we actually start, it is time, as always for our
feel good feature, and today feel good feature comes from
ThoughtCo dot com. Black women are the most educated demographic
(02:06):
in America, and my hope is that this flies in
the face of those anti DEI folks, those didn't earn.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
It people and all that sort of stuff.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Anyway, here we go. American women have had to fight
for their right to an education. Well into the twentieth century,
women were discouraged from pursuing higher education as it was
a popular notion that too much education would make a
woman unfit for marriage. Women of color and poor women
also experienced other structural impediments to their education for much
of the nation's history that made it less likely for
them to pursue education. However, times have certainly changed. In fact,
(02:36):
since nineteen eighty one, more women than men have been
earning college degrees. Furthermore, these days women outnumber men on
many college campuses, making up fifty seven percent of college students.
As a college professor at a large Land Grant university,
folks notice that many more women than men are in
the classes. Things have also changed for women of color,
(02:58):
particularly for those those from historically underrepresented minorities. As legalized
discrimination has given way to more opportunities, women of color
have become more educated. While there is certainly room for improvement,
Black Latina and Native American women are continuing to make
their way onto college campuses in increasingly larger numbers. Indeed,
some studies show that Black women are the most educated
(03:20):
demographic in America. And I want to share a couple
of things with you, just to take it away with you,
because this does actually feel good. Black women earn more
college degrees than any other race gender group in the
United States, despite their education, black women earn less money
than white men and face pay inequality. So people that
are concerned about equality, the people that would don't like
(03:43):
the equity and DEI and want that to be equality,
they should also keep that same energy right here where
black women earn less money than white men and face
pay inequalities. And then finally, the quality of life for
black women is affected by low pay and health disparities.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
So food Tru thought, all right, C you are.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
My brother.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
I mean that that feels a little thin because it
feels like you're so much more than that.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
I guess I will start.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
I'm going to kind of fast forward through, you know,
you and I getting to know each other and really
get to the part where you know, the show comes
from and sort of the why. So Q and I
we met each other. You know, he moved to you know,
the city where I lived, and uh, he was you know,
a popular person, and he was kind of doing his
(04:39):
work thing and whatever, and I felt like, okay, well,
you know, in Phoenix there's not a lot of support.
You know, there's not a lot of eyes on younger
black folks that are trying to do something it's just
not that way. It's too small of a city, and
it's very conservative in their views, and so we're very clique.
(05:00):
I was at a position where I just had I
was on the radio. I was kind of doing my thing,
so everybody that I could help out, not just black men,
but latinas and Asian folks and people that weren't a
part of the sort of the makeup that I saw
kind of making everything work. If I was in a
position to prop someone up, I did. And Q was
no exception. So I was able to write a letter
(05:22):
for his company where he worked. It was like a
wine and spirits company, and just let them know, Hey,
this guy's out here doing a fantastic job on behalf
of the radio station. We love working with him, we
think he's great. We would only like to work with
him moving forward, and you know, thank you for your business.
Speaker 4 (05:39):
That sort of thing.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
And from that friendship formed, and we soon realized that
it was more than a friendship because Q had a
lot of talents that I felt needed It could be
developed if I took the time and just kind of
poured into him and helped him to realize that. I'm
sure you knew that you had a lot of talents too. Anyway,
we're going through the fast version of the story. But
(06:04):
you know, we got to a point where, you know,
Q became a DJ. We got to a point where
Q got on the radio and helped me with a show.
And then we got to the point where you know,
Q had his own ideas for shows because he was
a more tenured broadcaster, and you know, we develop programming
together well. Around the beginning parts of twenty twenty, we
(06:32):
ended up having to take a road trip. He had
he had bought a car, It's important to the story.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
It was a Porsche.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
Bought a car in Florida, and he asked, Hey, you
want to come on this this journey with me and
we can drive the car back together so that way
I don't have to drive by myself, excuse me. And
I'm like, okay, yeah, let's do it. We get to Florida,
and you got to understand kind of the the racial
(07:01):
reckoning that was taking place and about to take place
in the country.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
And.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
You know, two black men driving a fancy car back
to you know, across really the length of the United
States at that time was I mean, I don't think
that we really expected to run into any trouble on
that journey, but we did. But before we ran into trouble,
you know, Q kind of at that time started introducing
(07:33):
me to podcasts. You know, I was a long time
broadcaster and so I was just accustomed to radio. But
Q would listen to sports podcasts and all kinds of stuff,
and I began to see the appeal through through your
lens of podcasting. And then we had, you know, a
lot of conversations on the plane ride there. You know,
(07:55):
we stayed the night in a couple of places, so
we stayed up late talking about things. And you know,
again with the backdrop of what was going on in
the country, we recognized that there were a lot of
things that people didn't know about what it meant to
be black in America, what it meant to be from
the hip hop culture. You know, people had a lot
(08:18):
of prejudices and stereotypes. And at the time we were
in the Deep South, so we could see Confederate flags
and billboards and all this.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
Sort of stuff that was decidedly racist.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
I wouldn't even give anyone the benefit of the doubt
that they were intending to be very mean with a
lot of the signage that was out at the time,
and somehow or other, we felt like, hey, you know what,
if we ever did a show, maybe we could do
a show that really explained more in depth who we are,
(08:48):
why these things make sense to us, and the appeal
of the culture that we belonged to to us. You know,
if we can explain why it appeals to us, and
maybe people won't think that it's just another inferior culture,
those start to see the value through our lens, so
to speak, or something like that. I know you're going
to jump in here, Q and round it out. But
(09:09):
the short version of the story is that that ended
up becoming our kind of signature show, our widely syndicated
program called Civic Cipher, and it was just an idea
whose time had come. We were really focused on a
lot of the more traumatic things that we were experiencing
as a people, and the intersection of those traumas and politics.
(09:34):
It just felt like as broadcasters there was nothing else
really in that space, particularly on the type of stations
that were on, like hip hop stations and so forth
at the time, And if no one else is talking
about these things long form, no one else is giving
allies insight or potential allies insight into the goings on
in these communities. Then how could they be informed enough
to change the minds of their uncles and their watering
(09:57):
coolers at their workplace and so forth right their friends
group that might not subscribe to kind of a.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
Shared reality here.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
So Civic Cipher was born as sort of the first
step the necessity, But the QR Code was something that
we felt could be sort of an everyman show. People
that did not know that they could be allies, people
that were not thinking about an intern. There are people
just simply seeking understanding and we kind of arrived at
(10:32):
that conclusion after a traumatic event on the trip. So
I'll let you jump in here, Q and you know,
tell a little bit more of the story of popping
anything I might have left out.
Speaker 4 (10:44):
It was a very very sweet and romantic version of
the story. Bradis leaves out the part where he bullied
and manipulated me into DJing and broadcast like it was
some joint discovery where we q's got talent and let's
do it. No manipulated me into DJing. He left me
in the djo in a club live while the club
was packed. He had to go to the bathroom and
(11:05):
never came back. So, okay, I can't let this the
music go off, so let's figure it out. And then
after eight years of no, I don't want to talk
on the radio, has me come in for a show idea.
The show already had a producer and co host and
everything he tells me, it's an idea, like we're going
(11:26):
to do a rough draft. Noe, we're talking it's on
the radio two days later or the next day or
something crazy. And then George Floyd gave me my voice.
I'm passionate about what happened to George Floyd gave me
a reason to talk on the radio. That was just
not my brother bulling me into something that I told
him for eight years in a row, three times a week,
(11:49):
that I was not going to be able to do.
So one day we'll tell a more accurate version of
that story that doesn't sound so sweet and magical. Rams
is lead and manipulated me into this life. I choose
this path. It was, I mean, like Plymouth rock, but
(12:12):
you know, wanting to kind of share our ideas outside
of the traditional format of radio where we're just playing
music and talking for a few seconds before another commercial
or another song. Our life experiences kind of you know,
put us on this path to activism, social justice and
civic engagement. A run in with law enforcement in Mississippi
(12:35):
at three o'clock in the morning, where we'd done nothing wrong,
but they decided that we did and we're going to
try everything within their power to make that true. Getting
on Facebook Live as that happened, Ramses's phone dying and
scaring everyone that we know and love that was tuned
into the live thinking something really bad had happened to us,
And I guess the fact is that something really bad
(12:55):
could have happened. You know, Ram just said earlier that
we didn't expect anything. I absolutely did. I was very
aware that we were driving across the American South as
a rational reckoning was happening, and as ram just said,
Confederate flags and radio shows in radio stations saying very inflammatory,
directly racist things across FM radio stations that happened on
(13:18):
that same trip, So we knew we had something in
front of us. But as we listened to podcasts and
had conversations, we also understood that outside of the kind
of rigid, strict formatting your radio, there was a space
where we could have long, long form conversations and engage
with our audience in a different way. And even though
my brother did not yet see the significance or the
(13:41):
palpability of or the palability of podcasts and really saw
them as far inferior to our radio show, with enough
time and enough kind of audience engagement, we both learned that,
you know, podcasting was something that we could do as well.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
I of love that man, thank you for filling them
those gaps.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
So you know that brings us to.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
You know, one of the bigger questions that we knew
that we would discuss today. We had an interesting weekend.
We spent the weekend in Detroit, and uh, you know,
the question came up and we wanted to talk about
it today. Would Jesus be a Republican? Now? The crazy
(14:28):
thing is that there's a lot of folks who are
religious conservatives, right, they are evangelicals, they are who knows,
and they have co opted the idea and the figure
(14:49):
of Jesus and the Bible and God to.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
Their side their political side.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
And I I have not found how they are able
to justify that. And I see that they do, but
they often ignore the shortcuts that they have to take
or the intellectual dishonesty associated with the positions of the
party that they vote for.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Right.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
And at the same.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Time, I have to bear in mind that you know,
I'm the benefit of the doubt person, so Q will
probably correct me here. But these are often, if I
had to guess, well intentioned, well meaning folks, right. So,
like morally, it's tough to reconcile those two things.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
Now, Q, I see your face, and I'm gonna jump in.
I will say this that it was.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Christian people that enslaved us and our ancestors, you know,
of us meaning black people, not me and Q literally
of course. And they used the Bible to justify that.
They used Jesus to justify they used all that to
justify it. Right, So morality only exists insofar as you know,
(16:12):
their interpretation of the Bible for their purposes, you know, exists,
you know. But I'm sure there were people back then
that when they went home at night, they felt good
about themselves. They had found a justification for what it
is they were doing how they felt, and they they
(16:34):
picked out the parts of the Bible that worked right
in order to help them kind of stand on that
moral ground if you will. But if I think if
an alien came from another planet that had no idea
who Jesus was, or Republicans or Democrats, or black people
or white people, none of that stuff, right, it was
(16:55):
no significance to them. And an alien was to learn
about out Jesus Christianity. And you ask this alien, okay,
does Jesus belong to this political party or to that
political party? I would imagine that the alien would say, well, clearly,
this alien belongs to the Democratic political party, because this
(17:17):
is the party of X, Y and Z. And I'll
make the X Y and Z live and then queue
you jump in here. Okay, So I'm gonna read stuff
from the Bible. This isn't you know, This isn't journalistically
credible sources. This isn't you know I've done the research. No,
this is from the Bible, the actual Bible.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Heal the sick who are there, and tell them the
Kingdom of God has come near to you. Luke ten nine,
if among you one of your brothers should become poor
in any of your towns within your land that the
Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden
your heart or shut your hand against your poor Brotheronomy
(18:00):
fifteen and seven. Where there is no vision, the people perish,
But happy is he who keeps the law Proverbs twenty
nine to eighteen. No one can serve two masters, for
either he will hate the one and love the other,
or he will be devoted to the one and despise
(18:21):
the other. You cannot serve God and money Matthew six
twenty four.
Speaker 3 (18:26):
It's for the fiscal conservatives.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Do not oppress a foreigner. You yourselves know how it
feels to be foreigners because you were foreign in Egypt.
Exodus twenty three and nine. Big shout out to southern
California one time, and that's you know, that's me talking, Q.
I know that you know. And by the way, my
father was a minister. He's passed or was a minister.
(18:52):
Q's mother is a minister and we just saw her
over the weekend. So quo your thoughts, Oof.
Speaker 4 (19:05):
This is one of those things that for you and
I has always cut really really deep because of our
backgrounds and our upbringing, you know, the sons of pastors, ministers,
and spending six days a week in church as children,
and being very very studied on the book that way.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
But it then just cut deep with us.
Speaker 4 (19:25):
It should cut deep into the heart of American identity,
and you talk about politics and power. The Right does
appear to own Christianity and trying to break it down.
Is the disconnect is so obvious because Jesus was radically compassionate,
like seek out and help everyone that has less.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Than you and make a way for them and all
of this, and the Right.
Speaker 4 (19:48):
Is extremely the opposite of that, while claiming loudly to
follow Jesus right. So you know, there's the deliberate branding
that we saw the Right do. And I think they
took advantage of the They took advantage of their own language.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Right.
Speaker 4 (20:08):
The separation of church and state was once a thing,
so progressive liberal people separated church and state. So since
they separated, the church was just there for someone else
to own it. Okay, since you guys have separated yourselves
to separate church and state, will combine church and state
and use it as a marketing gimmick to persuade people
(20:30):
to vote for us. So proudly and mildly proclaiming Jesus
in the church while making decisions that are very obviously
anti Jesus. Well, they're the ones saying Jesus out louds,
so we're just going to go with them, right, and
then they use that power of religion because religion is
a faith based thing. It is not a purely science
(20:52):
or logic based thing, so you didn't have to use
statistics to justify those beliefs or those decisions. So if
you want to stoke fear about gay rights, abortions, or
a woman's autonomy, or immigration or racial equality, we're defending
Christian America against moral decay. Right, you positioned it that way,
and then a Christian feels compelled to follow you, so
(21:13):
it's less about scripture and becomes more about, you know,
maintaining control. Right, White Christian nationalisms just call themselves Christianity,
even though if they say out loud is about Jesus
or his teachings, right, they just defend whiteness and patriarchy
and power. So it's like, you know, the brown skinned
(21:36):
Jesus who flipped tables in the temple. They've replaced him
with a white man and somehow combined.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
Him with guns.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
So watch this.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
It's a really strange marriage happened, happening in front of us,
and the left is kind of silent about it, because again,
the left has really going to the idea of the
separation of church and state and being just Christians in action. Right,
if one person may be hungry over there, let's feed everyone,
an action like Jesus would have done. While the right
(22:13):
does the exact opposite. But when they speak out loud,
we're the Evangelicals, we're the Christians. We're saving America from
world decay and from all these groups that they've othered
and made the enemy of Christianity.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
So I want to make that part that you said live,
you know, when you said the right does the opposite.
The right says, if one of those people over there
isn't actually hungry and they might be taking advantage of this,
then let's look the whole program. Yeah, don't feed anybody
because they might one of those folks might take advantage.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Yeah, I get there.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
That feels very thin when it butts up against you know,
their religious identity or what it should be.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Right.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Gandhi famously said, I like your christ I don't like
your Christians.
Speaker 4 (22:57):
They are so unlike your christ it makes all the
sense in the world. Man, So you just love your neighbors.
The right says, build.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
That wall crazy. Ever, man, so dig this. There are
folks who, so let's say, a vote means your wish
of how the world you want to be, right, the
world you want to live in. We're in agreement that
(23:25):
all racists, all klu Klus clansmen's all Nazis, they all
vote one way because that's the world they want to
live in. Right, All Republicans are in line with those
folks voting that same way. And if that moral conundrum
isn't enough, what we're talking about now suggests that those
people all think that Jesus would also be in that line,
(23:47):
because Jesus wants that same world. And that's the part
that no one can say anything back to me that
is meaningful or justifies that at all, And it's just heartbreaking.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Now.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
I don't mean to just beat up on one group.
I don't really mean to beat up on any groups,
to be honest with you, but there's a lot that
we need to talk about. And as I mentioned, this
is going to be a show where we're, you know,
fleshing out some conversations that we had over the weekend.
So Cubans better do better.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
Now.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
I want to say a couple things before I get
into these weeds. First thing, I am part Cuban, Okay,
I'm in the studio here. I have the Cuban flag,
you know. On Puerto Rican Day parades, I'll put on
a Cuban shirt and go out and hang.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
Out with folks.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
But I'll be very honest, I don't live the life
of a Cuban person, right. I knew a little bit
of stuff from a long time ago from my grandma,
and that's really it. But I would not be here
if it weren't for Cuban people, Okay. And that gives
me a little bit of grounds to say a little bit.
So I'm going to say a little bit because I've
(25:03):
regarded Cuban people in my heart a certain way that
I think only you can only do that if you
have like a biological ties to the island.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
And you know, for Cuban people, the election which turned it,
and it's not just this past election, going back all
the way back. You know, the ice raids that were
happening under every administration. You know, these are things that
(25:38):
don't really hit Cubans who are largely based in you know,
Florida and you know the Southeast the same way that
it might hit other Latinos. However, they're all grouped inside
of the same group, right, even though they're different cultures,
they just kind of have a common language and were
conquered by Spain. I suppose there are common history at
(25:58):
least in that regard. So I'm going to share a
little bit from Cybercuba dot com before I get there.
This is just a little fun fact to help you
frame this conversation. So there are almost thirty eight and
a half million Mexican Americans, over five and a half
million Puerto Ricans, and two point six million Cuban Americans
(26:20):
in the mainland United States. Okay, so two point six
million Cubans, almost twice as much Puerto Ricans and thirty
eight and a half million Mexican Americans. Okay, Now I'll
read from Cybercuba dot com. According to electoral data and
surveys conducted after the twenty twenty four elections, Cuban Americans
(26:41):
voted fifty eight percent for Trump Will only forty percent
supported Harris. Now, there's some polls that suggested it was
a little higher, but this appears to be the most accurate,
So we're going with that, all right. In the recent
elections of the United States, Cuban American voters emerged as
the only Hispanic demographic group that showed majority support for
(27:03):
Donald Trump, while the rest of the Latino groups largely
supported Kamala Harris.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
This pattern has been.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
Observed before, but this figure highlights the persistence of a
political preference among Cuban Americans that distinguishes them from other
Latin American groups. As reported on social media by the
conservative platform Afpost, Mexicans and Puerto Ricans showed significant support
for the Democratic candidate. Among voters of Mexican descent, Harris
received sixty two percent of support compared to thirty three
(27:28):
percent for Trump, while Puerto Ricans leaned fifty nine percent
toward Harrison thirty seven percent for Trump. Other Hispanic groups,
including those from Central and South America, also largely aligned
with Harris. Cuban Americans represent a minority within the Hispanic
population of the United States, with two point six million individuals,
which accounts for less than one percent of the country's
(27:48):
total population. Okay, so not necessarily the numbers, although there's
an argument that a lot of the voter turnout rate
is slightly higher than Latinos in general. When it comes
to Cubans, they're just slightly higher when it comes to
Republicans relative to Democrats as well.
Speaker 3 (28:06):
But it's really the percentage here.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
And do you remember Q seeing all those concerts that
took place about you know, the Donald Trump, the Latinos
for Trump, all that sort of stuff. A lot of
that stuff took place in Miami, in Florida, and those
are Cuban people behind those efforts, right, yes, sir.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
And I think that.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
Because I, you know, I don't want to say to
Cuban people, you know, you better do better for my sake, Okay,
because again I don't live the life of a Cuban person.
I would not profess to you know. I just kind
of have a slight connection to the community. So I
pay attention when I see the word Cuban. I notice
when I see the flag out in the real world.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
Right.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
But I think that there is a disconnect, perhaps with
how Cubans regard themselves, even among Latino it might be
the case that Cuban people feel less Latino. Then let's
say Mexican people, they've distanced themselves from cubanness. They've kept
(29:16):
the name and the flag and parts of the culture
but you know the history and the roots of where
they come from. I think there might be a distancing
that has taken place there. And to be fair, some
people might not have loved you know, communism, socialism, whatever.
Might not have loved Castro or whatever the leadership look
like on the island.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
People have probably heard horror stories, etc.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
But in this land, their votes affect Latinos in ways
that maybe they have not considered. And I think that
just kind of the climate of the country compels me
to ask my Cuban brothers and sisters to pay attention
and maybe even do a little bit better.
Broadcasting from the Civic Cipher Studios. Welcome to the QR Code,
where we share perspective, seek understanding, and shape outcomes. I'm
your host, ramses Jah.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
He is your host. I just work here. The name
is Q.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Ward and that's my guy. That's my brother right there.
We want you to stick around because we have a
lot to talk about. We always have a lot to
talk about, but I think that this is going to
be one of our more educational episodes for the most part.
We have a few things we want to discuss that
have to do with how things look to us in
(00:36):
terms of politics. So we're going to be asking, I
think a really important question, would Jesus be a Republican?
You know, obviously Christianity is associated very closely with the right,
and we're going to examine that critically. We're also going
to ask ourselves why certain foods are associated with racism.
This is something that has come up recently in our world,
(00:57):
and a lot of people don't know the origins stories
of a lot of things like that, So we're gonna
get into the weeds there. Q's got a couple of
stories who wants to share. One of them is on capitalism,
and sports and the intersection of those two elements. And
then I think we're going to start off with something
that we feel we should share with you, and that's
(01:20):
kind of the origin story of this very show, sort
of the primordial ooze, what prompted this and hopefully give
you a little bit more insight if you're just coming
to the table in terms of who we are and
why we felt this was a pertinent and relevant addition
to your airwaves and to your downloads, depending on which
(01:43):
format you use to consume this content. So for longtime listeners,
this might be a reintroduction, but for folks just coming
to the table, this would be our introduction. But before
we actually start, it is time, as always for our
feel good feature, and today feel good feature comes from
ThoughtCo dot com. Black women are the most educated demographic
(02:06):
in America, and my hope is that this flies in
the face of those anti DEI folks, those didn't earn.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
It people and all that sort of stuff.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Anyway, here we go. American women have had to fight
for their right to an education. Well into the twentieth century,
women were discouraged from pursuing higher education as it was
a popular notion that too much education would make a
woman unfit for marriage. Women of color and poor women
also experienced other structural impediments to their education for much
of the nation's history that made it less likely for
them to pursue education. However, times have certainly changed. In fact,
(02:36):
since nineteen eighty one, more women than men have been
earning college degrees. Furthermore, these days women outnumber men on
many college campuses, making up fifty seven percent of college students.
As a college professor at a large Land Grant university,
folks notice that many more women than men are in
the classes. Things have also changed for women of color,
(02:58):
particularly for those those from historically underrepresented minorities. As legalized
discrimination has given way to more opportunities, women of color
have become more educated. While there is certainly room for improvement,
Black Latina and Native American women are continuing to make
their way onto college campuses in increasingly larger numbers. Indeed,
some studies show that Black women are the most educated
(03:20):
demographic in America. And I want to share a couple
of things with you, just to take it away with you,
because this does actually feel good. Black women earn more
college degrees than any other race gender group in the
United States, despite their education, black women earn less money
than white men and face pay inequality. So people that
are concerned about equality, the people that would don't like
(03:43):
the equity and DEI and want that to be equality,
they should also keep that same energy right here where
black women earn less money than white men and face
pay inequalities. And then finally, the quality of life for
black women is affected by low pay and health disparities.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
So food Tru thought, all right, C you are.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
My brother.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
I mean that that feels a little thin because it
feels like you're so much more than that.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
I guess I will start.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
I'm going to kind of fast forward through, you know,
you and I getting to know each other and really
get to the part where you know, the show comes
from and sort of the why. So Q and I
we met each other. You know, he moved to you know,
the city where I lived, and uh, he was you know,
a popular person, and he was kind of doing his
(04:39):
work thing and whatever, and I felt like, okay, well,
you know, in Phoenix there's not a lot of support.
You know, there's not a lot of eyes on younger
black folks that are trying to do something it's just
not that way. It's too small of a city, and
it's very conservative in their views, and so we're very clique.
(05:00):
I was at a position where I just had I
was on the radio. I was kind of doing my thing,
so everybody that I could help out, not just black men,
but latinas and Asian folks and people that weren't a
part of the sort of the makeup that I saw
kind of making everything work. If I was in a
position to prop someone up, I did. And Q was
no exception. So I was able to write a letter
(05:22):
for his company where he worked. It was like a
wine and spirits company, and just let them know, Hey,
this guy's out here doing a fantastic job on behalf
of the radio station. We love working with him, we
think he's great. We would only like to work with
him moving forward, and you know, thank you for your business.
Speaker 4 (05:39):
That sort of thing.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
And from that friendship formed, and we soon realized that
it was more than a friendship because Q had a
lot of talents that I felt needed It could be
developed if I took the time and just kind of
poured into him and helped him to realize that. I'm
sure you knew that you had a lot of talents too. Anyway,
we're going through the fast version of the story. But
(06:04):
you know, we got to a point where, you know,
Q became a DJ. We got to a point where
Q got on the radio and helped me with a show.
And then we got to the point where you know,
Q had his own ideas for shows because he was
a more tenured broadcaster, and you know, we develop programming
together well. Around the beginning parts of twenty twenty, we
(06:32):
ended up having to take a road trip. He had
he had bought a car, It's important to the story.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
It was a Porsche.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
Bought a car in Florida, and he asked, Hey, you
want to come on this this journey with me and
we can drive the car back together so that way
I don't have to drive by myself, excuse me. And
I'm like, okay, yeah, let's do it. We get to Florida,
and you got to understand kind of the the racial
(07:01):
reckoning that was taking place and about to take place
in the country.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
And.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
You know, two black men driving a fancy car back
to you know, across really the length of the United
States at that time was I mean, I don't think
that we really expected to run into any trouble on
that journey, but we did. But before we ran into trouble,
you know, Q kind of at that time started introducing
(07:33):
me to podcasts. You know, I was a long time
broadcaster and so I was just accustomed to radio. But
Q would listen to sports podcasts and all kinds of stuff,
and I began to see the appeal through through your
lens of podcasting. And then we had, you know, a
lot of conversations on the plane ride there. You know,
(07:55):
we stayed the night in a couple of places, so
we stayed up late talking about things. And you know,
again with the backdrop of what was going on in
the country, we recognized that there were a lot of
things that people didn't know about what it meant to
be black in America, what it meant to be from
the hip hop culture. You know, people had a lot
(08:18):
of prejudices and stereotypes. And at the time we were
in the Deep South, so we could see Confederate flags
and billboards and all this.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
Sort of stuff that was decidedly racist.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
I wouldn't even give anyone the benefit of the doubt
that they were intending to be very mean with a
lot of the signage that was out at the time,
and somehow or other, we felt like, hey, you know what,
if we ever did a show, maybe we could do
a show that really explained more in depth who we are,
(08:48):
why these things make sense to us, and the appeal
of the culture that we belonged to to us. You know,
if we can explain why it appeals to us, and
maybe people won't think that it's just another inferior culture,
those start to see the value through our lens, so
to speak, or something like that. I know you're going
to jump in here, Q and round it out. But
(09:09):
the short version of the story is that that ended
up becoming our kind of signature show, our widely syndicated
program called Civic Cipher, and it was just an idea
whose time had come. We were really focused on a
lot of the more traumatic things that we were experiencing
as a people, and the intersection of those traumas and politics.
(09:34):
It just felt like as broadcasters there was nothing else
really in that space, particularly on the type of stations
that were on, like hip hop stations and so forth
at the time, And if no one else is talking
about these things long form, no one else is giving
allies insight or potential allies insight into the goings on
in these communities. Then how could they be informed enough
to change the minds of their uncles and their watering
(09:57):
coolers at their workplace and so forth right their friends
group that might not subscribe to kind of a.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
Shared reality here.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
So Civic Cipher was born as sort of the first
step the necessity, But the QR Code was something that
we felt could be sort of an everyman show. People
that did not know that they could be allies, people
that were not thinking about an intern. There are people
just simply seeking understanding and we kind of arrived at
(10:32):
that conclusion after a traumatic event on the trip. So
I'll let you jump in here, Q and you know,
tell a little bit more of the story of popping
anything I might have left out.
Speaker 4 (10:44):
It was a very very sweet and romantic version of
the story. Bradis leaves out the part where he bullied
and manipulated me into DJing and broadcast like it was
some joint discovery where we q's got talent and let's
do it. No manipulated me into DJing. He left me
in the djo in a club live while the club
was packed. He had to go to the bathroom and
(11:05):
never came back. So, okay, I can't let this the
music go off, so let's figure it out. And then
after eight years of no, I don't want to talk
on the radio, has me come in for a show idea.
The show already had a producer and co host and
everything he tells me, it's an idea, like we're going
(11:26):
to do a rough draft. Noe, we're talking it's on
the radio two days later or the next day or
something crazy. And then George Floyd gave me my voice.
I'm passionate about what happened to George Floyd gave me
a reason to talk on the radio. That was just
not my brother bulling me into something that I told
him for eight years in a row, three times a week,
(11:49):
that I was not going to be able to do.
So one day we'll tell a more accurate version of
that story that doesn't sound so sweet and magical. Rams
is lead and manipulated me into this life. I choose
this path. It was, I mean, like Plymouth rock, but
(12:12):
you know, wanting to kind of share our ideas outside
of the traditional format of radio where we're just playing
music and talking for a few seconds before another commercial
or another song. Our life experiences kind of you know,
put us on this path to activism, social justice and
civic engagement. A run in with law enforcement in Mississippi
(12:35):
at three o'clock in the morning, where we'd done nothing wrong,
but they decided that we did and we're going to
try everything within their power to make that true. Getting
on Facebook Live as that happened, Ramses's phone dying and
scaring everyone that we know and love that was tuned
into the live thinking something really bad had happened to us,
And I guess the fact is that something really bad
(12:55):
could have happened. You know, Ram just said earlier that
we didn't expect anything. I absolutely did. I was very
aware that we were driving across the American South as
a rational reckoning was happening, and as ram just said,
Confederate flags and radio shows in radio stations saying very inflammatory,
directly racist things across FM radio stations that happened on
(13:18):
that same trip, So we knew we had something in
front of us. But as we listened to podcasts and
had conversations, we also understood that outside of the kind
of rigid, strict formatting your radio, there was a space
where we could have long, long form conversations and engage
with our audience in a different way. And even though
my brother did not yet see the significance or the
(13:41):
palpability of or the palability of podcasts and really saw
them as far inferior to our radio show, with enough
time and enough kind of audience engagement, we both learned that,
you know, podcasting was something that we could do as well.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
I of love that man, thank you for filling them
those gaps.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
So you know that brings us to.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
You know, one of the bigger questions that we knew
that we would discuss today. We had an interesting weekend.
We spent the weekend in Detroit, and uh, you know,
the question came up and we wanted to talk about
it today. Would Jesus be a Republican? Now? The crazy
(14:28):
thing is that there's a lot of folks who are
religious conservatives, right, they are evangelicals, they are who knows,
and they have co opted the idea and the figure
(14:49):
of Jesus and the Bible and God to.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
Their side their political side.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
And I I have not found how they are able
to justify that. And I see that they do, but
they often ignore the shortcuts that they have to take
or the intellectual dishonesty associated with the positions of the
party that they vote for.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Right.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
And at the same.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Time, I have to bear in mind that you know,
I'm the benefit of the doubt person, so Q will
probably correct me here. But these are often, if I
had to guess, well intentioned, well meaning folks, right. So,
like morally, it's tough to reconcile those two things.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
Now, Q, I see your face, and I'm gonna jump in.
I will say this that it was.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Christian people that enslaved us and our ancestors, you know,
of us meaning black people, not me and Q literally
of course. And they used the Bible to justify that.
They used Jesus to justify they used all that to
justify it. Right, So morality only exists insofar as you know,
(16:12):
their interpretation of the Bible for their purposes, you know, exists,
you know. But I'm sure there were people back then
that when they went home at night, they felt good
about themselves. They had found a justification for what it
is they were doing how they felt, and they they
(16:34):
picked out the parts of the Bible that worked right
in order to help them kind of stand on that
moral ground if you will. But if I think if
an alien came from another planet that had no idea
who Jesus was, or Republicans or Democrats, or black people
or white people, none of that stuff, right, it was
(16:55):
no significance to them. And an alien was to learn
about out Jesus Christianity. And you ask this alien, okay,
does Jesus belong to this political party or to that
political party? I would imagine that the alien would say, well, clearly,
this alien belongs to the Democratic political party, because this
(17:17):
is the party of X, Y and Z. And I'll
make the X Y and Z live and then queue
you jump in here. Okay, So I'm gonna read stuff
from the Bible. This isn't you know, This isn't journalistically
credible sources. This isn't you know I've done the research. No,
this is from the Bible, the actual Bible.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Heal the sick who are there, and tell them the
Kingdom of God has come near to you. Luke ten nine,
if among you one of your brothers should become poor
in any of your towns within your land that the
Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden
your heart or shut your hand against your poor Brotheronomy
(18:00):
fifteen and seven. Where there is no vision, the people perish,
But happy is he who keeps the law Proverbs twenty
nine to eighteen. No one can serve two masters, for
either he will hate the one and love the other,
or he will be devoted to the one and despise
(18:21):
the other. You cannot serve God and money Matthew six
twenty four.
Speaker 3 (18:26):
It's for the fiscal conservatives.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Do not oppress a foreigner. You yourselves know how it
feels to be foreigners because you were foreign in Egypt.
Exodus twenty three and nine. Big shout out to southern
California one time, and that's you know, that's me talking, Q.
I know that you know. And by the way, my
father was a minister. He's passed or was a minister.
(18:52):
Q's mother is a minister and we just saw her
over the weekend. So quo your thoughts, Oof.
Speaker 4 (19:05):
This is one of those things that for you and
I has always cut really really deep because of our
backgrounds and our upbringing, you know, the sons of pastors, ministers,
and spending six days a week in church as children,
and being very very studied on the book that way.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
But it then just cut deep with us.
Speaker 4 (19:25):
It should cut deep into the heart of American identity,
and you talk about politics and power. The Right does
appear to own Christianity and trying to break it down.
Is the disconnect is so obvious because Jesus was radically compassionate,
like seek out and help everyone that has less.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Than you and make a way for them and all
of this, and the Right.
Speaker 4 (19:48):
Is extremely the opposite of that, while claiming loudly to
follow Jesus right. So you know, there's the deliberate branding
that we saw the Right do. And I think they
took advantage of the They took advantage of their own language.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Right.
Speaker 4 (20:08):
The separation of church and state was once a thing,
so progressive liberal people separated church and state. So since
they separated, the church was just there for someone else
to own it. Okay, since you guys have separated yourselves
to separate church and state, will combine church and state
and use it as a marketing gimmick to persuade people
(20:30):
to vote for us. So proudly and mildly proclaiming Jesus
in the church while making decisions that are very obviously
anti Jesus. Well, they're the ones saying Jesus out louds,
so we're just going to go with them, right, and
then they use that power of religion because religion is
a faith based thing. It is not a purely science
(20:52):
or logic based thing, so you didn't have to use
statistics to justify those beliefs or those decisions. So if
you want to stoke fear about gay rights, abortions, or
a woman's autonomy, or immigration or racial equality, we're defending
Christian America against moral decay. Right, you positioned it that way,
and then a Christian feels compelled to follow you, so
(21:13):
it's less about scripture and becomes more about, you know,
maintaining control. Right, White Christian nationalisms just call themselves Christianity,
even though if they say out loud is about Jesus
or his teachings, right, they just defend whiteness and patriarchy
and power. So it's like, you know, the brown skinned
(21:36):
Jesus who flipped tables in the temple. They've replaced him
with a white man and somehow combined.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
Him with guns.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
So watch this.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
It's a really strange marriage happened, happening in front of us,
and the left is kind of silent about it, because again,
the left has really going to the idea of the
separation of church and state and being just Christians in action. Right,
if one person may be hungry over there, let's feed everyone,
an action like Jesus would have done. While the right
(22:13):
does the exact opposite. But when they speak out loud,
we're the Evangelicals, we're the Christians. We're saving America from
world decay and from all these groups that they've othered
and made the enemy of Christianity.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
So I want to make that part that you said live,
you know, when you said the right does the opposite.
The right says, if one of those people over there
isn't actually hungry and they might be taking advantage of this,
then let's look the whole program. Yeah, don't feed anybody
because they might one of those folks might take advantage.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Yeah, I get there.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
That feels very thin when it butts up against you know,
their religious identity or what it should be.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Right.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Gandhi famously said, I like your christ I don't like
your Christians.
Speaker 4 (22:57):
They are so unlike your christ it makes all the
sense in the world. Man, So you just love your neighbors.
The right says, build.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
That wall crazy. Ever, man, so dig this. There are
folks who, so let's say, a vote means your wish
of how the world you want to be, right, the
world you want to live in. We're in agreement that
(23:25):
all racists, all klu Klus clansmen's all Nazis, they all
vote one way because that's the world they want to
live in. Right, All Republicans are in line with those
folks voting that same way. And if that moral conundrum
isn't enough, what we're talking about now suggests that those
people all think that Jesus would also be in that line,
(23:47):
because Jesus wants that same world. And that's the part
that no one can say anything back to me that
is meaningful or justifies that at all, And it's just heartbreaking.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Now.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
I don't mean to just beat up on one group.
I don't really mean to beat up on any groups,
to be honest with you, but there's a lot that
we need to talk about. And as I mentioned, this
is going to be a show where we're, you know,
fleshing out some conversations that we had over the weekend.
So Cubans better do better.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
Now.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
I want to say a couple things before I get
into these weeds. First thing, I am part Cuban, Okay,
I'm in the studio here. I have the Cuban flag,
you know. On Puerto Rican Day parades, I'll put on
a Cuban shirt and go out and hang.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
Out with folks.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
But I'll be very honest, I don't live the life
of a Cuban person, right. I knew a little bit
of stuff from a long time ago from my grandma,
and that's really it. But I would not be here
if it weren't for Cuban people, Okay. And that gives
me a little bit of grounds to say a little bit.
So I'm going to say a little bit because I've
(25:03):
regarded Cuban people in my heart a certain way that
I think only you can only do that if you
have like a biological ties to the island.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
And you know, for Cuban people, the election which turned it,
and it's not just this past election, going back all
the way back. You know, the ice raids that were
happening under every administration. You know, these are things that
(25:38):
don't really hit Cubans who are largely based in you know,
Florida and you know the Southeast the same way that
it might hit other Latinos. However, they're all grouped inside
of the same group, right, even though they're different cultures,
they just kind of have a common language and were
conquered by Spain. I suppose there are common history at
(25:58):
least in that regard. So I'm going to share a
little bit from Cybercuba dot com before I get there.
This is just a little fun fact to help you
frame this conversation. So there are almost thirty eight and
a half million Mexican Americans, over five and a half
million Puerto Ricans, and two point six million Cuban Americans
(26:20):
in the mainland United States. Okay, so two point six
million Cubans, almost twice as much Puerto Ricans and thirty
eight and a half million Mexican Americans. Okay, Now I'll
read from Cybercuba dot com. According to electoral data and
surveys conducted after the twenty twenty four elections, Cuban Americans
(26:41):
voted fifty eight percent for Trump Will only forty percent
supported Harris. Now, there's some polls that suggested it was
a little higher, but this appears to be the most accurate,
So we're going with that, all right. In the recent
elections of the United States, Cuban American voters emerged as
the only Hispanic demographic group that showed majority support for
(27:03):
Donald Trump, while the rest of the Latino groups largely
supported Kamala Harris.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
This pattern has been.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
Observed before, but this figure highlights the persistence of a
political preference among Cuban Americans that distinguishes them from other
Latin American groups. As reported on social media by the
conservative platform Afpost, Mexicans and Puerto Ricans showed significant support
for the Democratic candidate. Among voters of Mexican descent, Harris
received sixty two percent of support compared to thirty three
(27:28):
percent for Trump, while Puerto Ricans leaned fifty nine percent
toward Harrison thirty seven percent for Trump. Other Hispanic groups,
including those from Central and South America, also largely aligned
with Harris. Cuban Americans represent a minority within the Hispanic
population of the United States, with two point six million individuals,
which accounts for less than one percent of the country's
(27:48):
total population. Okay, so not necessarily the numbers, although there's
an argument that a lot of the voter turnout rate
is slightly higher than Latinos in general. When it comes
to Cubans, they're just slightly higher when it comes to
Republicans relative to Democrats as well.
Speaker 3 (28:06):
But it's really the percentage here.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
And do you remember Q seeing all those concerts that
took place about you know, the Donald Trump, the Latinos
for Trump, all that sort of stuff. A lot of
that stuff took place in Miami, in Florida, and those
are Cuban people behind those efforts, right, yes, sir.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
And I think that.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
Because I, you know, I don't want to say to
Cuban people, you know, you better do better for my sake, Okay,
because again I don't live the life of a Cuban person.
I would not profess to you know. I just kind
of have a slight connection to the community. So I
pay attention when I see the word Cuban. I notice
when I see the flag out in the real world.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
Right.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
But I think that there is a disconnect, perhaps with
how Cubans regard themselves, even among Latino it might be
the case that Cuban people feel less Latino. Then let's
say Mexican people, they've distanced themselves from cubanness. They've kept
(29:16):
the name and the flag and parts of the culture
but you know the history and the roots of where
they come from. I think there might be a distancing
that has taken place there. And to be fair, some
people might not have loved you know, communism, socialism, whatever.
Might not have loved Castro or whatever the leadership look
like on the island.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
People have probably heard horror stories, etc.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
But in this land, their votes affect Latinos in ways
that maybe they have not considered. And I think that
just kind of the climate of the country compels me
to ask my Cuban brothers and sisters to pay attention
and maybe even do a little bit better.
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