August 9, 2025 • 22 mins
In the second half of the show, we discuss the importance of speaking truth to power. We delve into the recent DEI rollbacks from Google and highlight some of the creators that are pushing back against the normalization of these divisive undertakings.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Keep on riding with us as we continue to broadcast
the balance and defend the discourse from the Hip Hop
Weekly Studios. Welcome back to Civic Cipher. I am still
your host, Rams' Ja. He is still Rams's Jah. I
am still key Ward.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
You are still listening to Civic Cipher and we appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
And I guess continuing with the theme, you know, we're
going to talk about black creators choosing community over corporate
gatekeeping and corporate rollbacks and corporations that continually turn their
backs on their promises that they've made to ensure a
more diverse, equitable, and inclusive world for their employees and
(00:38):
for the world at large, because these are a lot
of global corporations. And again, talking about black creators choosing
community over corporate gatekeeping means that we have to talk
about some of those corporations. So be sure to stick
around because it is indeed the second half of the
conversation that we're having today, and it's a tough conversation,
but we do have to have it. But before we
(00:59):
get there, to time to be aba become a better
ally Baba. And today we're shouting out the Chicago Women
in Trades group. There's spent some time focused on what's
going on in Chicago, but I think folks around the
country can learn a little bit from this. This feels special,
so I want you to check out c w IT
(01:19):
dot org. That's Chicago Women in Trade CWIT dot org.
Their mission is to improve women's economic equity by increasing
their participation in high wage, blue collar occupations traditionally held
by men. They are a community working together to amplify
voices and advance the goals of tradeswomen's movements, and they
are welcoming and inclusive and embrace the gifts of diverse
(01:41):
voices and life experiences. They provide a platform for learning,
equipping women with the skills and support needed to overcome
obstacles and realize their career goals. They offer unparalleled preparation
and support for women who to succeed in well paying,
in demand construction jobs. They advocate for best practices and
legal actions to address discriminate against women and people of
color in the construction industry. They work to support the
(02:04):
construction workforce system to retain women in the construction trades.
These programs prepare individuals with the essential skills and knowledge
to enter a registered apprenticeship of their choosing. The training
provides a foundational understanding of various trades, covering basic technical skills,
safety training, and career readiness. Donations to Chicago Women in
Trades provides individuals with the training and resources to define
(02:25):
their careers in the trades. Funding is used to equip
and staff the training facility, advocate for women in the trades,
and provide technical assistance and resources to industry partners. Their
training programs are entirely free to qualified individuals looking to
become professionals in the construction industry. Again, if you want
to support that, CWIT dot org Chicago Women in Trades
(02:47):
and you know around here we are super girl power.
We love supporting women and anybody else that's on that,
then they.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
We're going to support them. How about that? All right?
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Black creators choosing community over corporate gatekeeping. We've told this story.
It's a part of our it's a part of our lives,
and we have to tell the story again. I'm gonna
let Q tell this story because this isn't something that
we celebrate and applaud from the sidelines. This is something
that we actually had to do. Indeed, that is the
origin story for this show. We are black creators Q
(03:24):
and myself, and once upon a time we had to
choose community over corporate gatekeeping. So Q the cliffs notes,
I suppose, or whatever version of the story you feel
is appropriate, but give a little bit of our background
to our listeners so that this doesn't feel like something
we're not familiar with.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
So Ram likes to throw me into the water. You
tell the story better than I do, whatsoever. And he's
now been telling himself for years that I tell this
story better than him, and once he says it out loud,
he deems it true.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
So here we are once upon a time, djaying.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Radio and club disc jockeys, radio end club MC for
ramses not myself. Was what we did full time, all
the time, whatever the most popular nightclub. We were the
residents there, the local NBA team, It was us you
(04:29):
heard when you came to the arena, the local hip
hop radio station. It was our voices and our music
that you heard when you turned it on, our mixes
and our ideas, our shows, our concepts, and we made
a pretty good living, fed our children, paid our bills,
and entertained our city. And it's interesting that for years
(04:49):
Ramses begged and pleaded with me to speak up, to
turn the microphone on at the club, on the radio
station and in the arena, and I told him for years,
absolutely not.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
I'm not gonna be able to do it.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
And I was holding faster that because that just was
not my ministry at the time.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
I do not enjoy the sound of my voice.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
And I was also incredibly nervous, so you know, mentally
equated to stage fright. But finally something happened and I
was compelled to say something. And in the summer of
twenty twenty, the world watched a police officer by the
name of Derek Chauvin kneel on the neck of and
(05:35):
snuff out the light and life from George Floyd, and
I was compelled to say something about that on the air.
That was the first time I voluntarily spoke on the radio.
Wasn't the first time I spoke, because eventually Ramses convinced
me to say yes. But the first time I spoke
by choice and because I needed and wanted to, was
(05:57):
in that moment, and we got our hands banked. We
got called to the principal's office and discouraged from having
those convers those type of conversations on.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Air metaphor, by the way, metaphor, it wasn't a real
principal's office, it was a program director.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
But anyway, go ahead.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Well, yeah, I wasn't talking about school, so I was.
I was hoping I didn't have to insult the listener
in such a granular level. But again, this is why
rams is better at telling the story. He tells you
I'm better at it, then he has to tell me
how to tell it. Called into the principal's office because
we were in trouble. Our job was to entertain, to
(06:38):
provide levity, to provide escape, and for there to be
a light place for people to come and hear their
favorite songs mixed in between their favorite advertisements. And we
were supposed to create a non polarized, non polarizing, non divisive,
welcoming space for people to not have to deal with
(07:00):
the more serious parts of their day. But this was
too serious to not bring up. So Ramseys tried to
build a bridge and create a middle ground. How do
we please all parties? How do we do our civic
duty while also doing our jobs? And once upon a time,
the almost always non partisan FCC and maybe they still
(07:25):
do but require for broadcasters to require or to set
aside some inventory for public service. And we thought that
non rated airtime would be a good time for us
to provide a voice for community leaders, to let the
community know what was going on outside. What are these
(07:46):
terms that they hear, like defund the police mean when
people are organizing and rallying and going to protest, what
are they looking to do to what end are they
showing up for? We thought those that were doing that
actual work could provide a more educated voice and educate
the masses, and on our platform that would reach a
little bit farther than the bullhorns that we took to
(08:08):
those protests. Some real good work could be done, even
if it was at a non raged hour where we
weren't getting optimum listenership. And all parties involved said that
was a good idea, And I think that the other
parties involved, not named Q and Ramses thought that that
idea would just blow over because people would, as they
(08:30):
typically do, move on and the issues outside will go
away and they would no longer be held to the
promise that they made. But if anybody actually knows Rams's job,
he is maniacal in his pursuits. If he makes you
a promise, he will die to keep it. If you
(08:51):
make him a promise, he will die making sure you
keep it. And following up with the promise that they
made us, rams was informed that our radio station, our
programming director, and everyone else who was in charge did
not want to do what they deemed a black show.
(09:16):
Intentional pause there because black people do not make up
a large part of the population in Phoenix, Arizona, So
there was a lot of thinking that they didn't do
before making that statement. Once again, if you know Ramsay's jah,
you know he was not the one or the two
(09:38):
to say that too. He was the right one and
the wrong one at the same time. Also, to take
community outreach and to assign it black was also interesting
because that's never what we said. Even though the station
that we were at was a hip hop station, were
(09:59):
all all the music being played was black music. It
was interesting that they assumed that position because they could
have said, we don't want you guys to do a
political show, we don't want you guys to do a
polarizing show, we don't want you guys to do a
divisive show. They chose the word black, and they chose
really the only word as I tell this story in hindsight,
(10:23):
that would have forced us to resign, because we probably
would have understood what they meant if they said it different,
But we probably could have lived with ourselves by continuing
to just go to work and do what we were doing.
They compelled us to make a decision that had to
be made because if you do not want black, you
do not want us full stop. At the end of
(10:46):
that meeting, Ram just resigned on our behalf and then
called me and told me that we quit, and he
made a decision that the promises that we made to
our community and the lives that we lived to that moment.
You know, both active members in NAACP as collegiates and
as adults. You know, the National Paneltic Council, five Beta
(11:09):
Sigma fraternities, the Black Student Union, etc. Was work that
we'd always done, but we did that work as community servants,
not as activists, and this decision forced us into the
activist space because our community was more important than our
bottom line. We did not have a plan B. We
did not know what was next. I had a newborn
(11:31):
baby and my brother had only ever worked in radio.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
So we made I had a job.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
We made that decision to stand on principle, to stand
for what we believed in, to be our parents' sons,
to be our children's fathers, and to be proud of ourselves.
When we looked through the mirror, we did not know
that it would work out to the tune of one
hundred and fifty one radio stations, partnership with the largest
audio media content provider on Earth, and our message being
(12:02):
heard by millions of people across the country and across
the world, as we've been on news broadcasts in every
hemisphere at this point. But we didn't know it would
work out. So it seems like in retrospect an easy
decision to make, but there was no plan B. We
did not know where we would land. We are just
(12:22):
grateful that it worked out this way. But this is
not something that we talk about in theory. This is
very very real practice, a very very real decision that
we made, and this career has put us in a
position to face decisions like that.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
Over and over again, for much larger sums of money.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
We've had to say no, well, well said, that's why
you tell the story so well.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Nonsense, But you know, We are not the only you know,
black creators that have chosen community over you know, corporate gatekeeping,
corporate greed.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
But we understand what it takes to go into that.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
So you know, there are independent you know, black filmmakers
and and maybe black filmmakers who just have the right voice.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
Ryan Coogler comes to mind.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
They're writers, there, podcasters that are thriving outside of you know,
traditional systems.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Uh you know is Ray that comes to mind.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
And these people build and sustain platforms that create real,
meaningful cultural impact without like gatekeeping platforms, or without the
funding that you would get from DEI initiatives. And when
you look at the people that have pulled funding from
(13:52):
DEI initiatives, people like Google and I'm gonna share kind
of this latest development with them, you start to understand
how important these people are too.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
Ensuring that.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
People are reminded continually that this is not normal, that
this reality is not normalized, This doesn't become the new norm.
There are people that speak out against it and say, hey,
this is wrong. We are better than this, we are
capable of more than this. This country, what is the
(14:28):
reason for all of this capitalism for all these years
and this American exceptionalism that we've exported around the world.
We've exported democracy. We defend democracy, you know, we install
democratic governments. What is the benefit of it? Of all
(14:49):
this hard? But everybody still works forty hours a week,
although there's machines that do the jobs and robots and
now AI doing jobs that used to take into visuals
a week to do. Now robot can do it in
a matter of minutes. Right, And Nope, when people don't
work less, don't make more money. All of the wealth
(15:12):
is concentrated. So what is the point of all of it?
If not to become a better country for the people,
if not to have universal healthy if not to have
a less burdensome go at life, not to be happier,
what is the point?
Speaker 3 (15:30):
Right?
Speaker 1 (15:31):
So when I say things like, you know, I believe
that this country can be better and that it's we
should not be normalizing this version of reality. And there
are other creators who are doing the same thing, black
creators that are doing the same thing. You know, this
needs to be mentioned, So I'll share again because I
keep saying it. This is from webpronews dot com, just
(15:54):
because I think that they've captured this brilliantly, and we're
talking about Google. The latest to benne and it's a
heartbreaking story, but bear with me. Google's recent decision to
remove more than fifty diversity, equity and inclusion or DEI
organizations from its list of funded nonprofits marks a significant
shift in the tech giants approach to social initiatives, aligning
with broader industry trends and political pressures under the current administration.
(16:18):
The move, uncovered by the Tech Transparency Project, involves dropping
groups whose missions emphasize terms like diversity, equity, inclusion, race activism,
and women, resulting in the exclusion of fifty eight entities
from Google's previous top funded list. This list comes amid
(16:38):
reports that the company is prioritizing artificial intelligence investments over
DEI efforts, as detailed in a recent CNBC article.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
Okay, real quick, while we're here.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
If Google is prioritizing artificial intelligence over DEI efforts, I
think that they've abandoned their corporate culture that suggested that,
you know, they put people first, and people were at
the center of what made Google grate and all that
sort of stuff.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Right.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Indeed, every company that has adopted this pasture, I think
that they have to abandon that. Your people don't make
you great if you don't stand by your people. They
literally dropped groups whose missions emphasized terms like I don't
even have to go through the rest of them. I
can just say women, that's half of all people. That's
actually more than half of all people. All right, I'll
(17:31):
continue with the article. Insider's familiar with Google's operations suggests
this pruning is part of a larger cost cutting strategy,
but it also reflects the influence of President Trump's anti
DEI stanch, which has encouraged corporations to reassess such programs.
For instance, the US Department of Agriculture's termination of over
one hundred and forty five DEI focused awards earlier this year,
(17:51):
saving up to one hundred and forty eight point six
million dollars, set a precedent that tech firms appear to
be following. According to a USDA press release, it cuts
at Google echo a pattern scene across Silicon Valley Valley,
where commitments made in the wake of the twenty twenty
George Floyd protests are being rolled back. Back then, Google
pledged sweeping DEI advancements, including a thirty percent increase in
(18:13):
leadership representation for underrepresented groups by twenty twenty five, a goal,
a goal the company has now quietly abandoned, as reported
by MSNBC in February. This retreat is not isolated. Meta
and other tech giants slash DEI budgets by up to
ninety in twenty twenty three, per ACNBC analyst analysis.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
Sorry from that year.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
I'd imagine it's been slashed more, because that was in
twenty twenty three. They slashed the budgets by ninety percent.
All right, let's continue. Industry analysts argue that such decisions
could hinder innovation by narrowing talent pools, contradicting research from
firms like Mackenzie that links diverse teams to better performance. Huh,
how about that. Yet, with economic pressures mounting, Google report
(18:56):
its slower growth in AD revenue last quarter, the company
may see d as expendable, a sentiment echoed in a
Forbes piece from late twenty twenty three. So this is
the reality that we're living in, and Google was you know,
I held Google to be a human company like Apple,
(19:19):
is a company for human beings. All people use this service,
and as a result, it's accountable to all people them
to abandon programs that provide equal access, because that's effectively
what diversity equity inclusion programs. That's the thrust of those
programs equal access to women again that make up half
(19:44):
of all people. And then when you break it down
by race and all the other things that let me
go back to this, so we can say it one
more time, dropping groups whose missions emphasize terms like diversity, equity, inclusion,
race activism, and women. So you end up with rather
more than half people half of the people. So again,
(20:09):
people that say that are these companies rather that say
that the people are their strength and they draw their
power from their people. I'm sure they're still going to
try to use that language. But the fact of the
matter is that, I mean, the proof's in the pudding
right here. I know that you know you sent this over,
So I just want to make sure that I set
aside a little bit of time just to get any
(20:30):
final thoughts from you before we wrap up. Q.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
This is just more hyper normalization of a dystopian reality.
They're presenting this as some type of fiscally responsible decision
for the fourth most successful company in the history of Earth.
Google's parent company is worth two point three seven trillion dollars.
This is somehow a cost cut that will save them
one hundred million That that number actually means very little.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
When you're net.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
Seven trillion, right, So it's not saving them enough money
to make sense. They're willing to just give up on
the rest of humans. We don't even have to break
it down by group. If you don't own a significant
significant amount of these companies, you don't matter. And like
every company is starting to get there now, well, we're
(21:23):
not gonna have options of other where, other places to eat,
other places to find information, other places to find clothes.
If every company does this, we're stuck supporting those who
are bringing about our demise. So again, we are living
during the hypernormalization of an already dystopian reality, and it
(21:45):
is a disgusting and scary reality for us. Well, stay
woke because you might find something that we haven't found yet.
But for now, our job is to let you know
about it and give you alternative ways of thinking about
it so that you can have alternative ways of discussing
it and make the changes in your immediate reality that
(22:08):
you're able to make. And so hopefully we've done that today,
and we appreciate you riding with us. Uh, you know, uh,
it's it's it's an honor to have been your host
Rams's job.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
He said that, like this is over. I hope it's not.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
No, no, no, no no, I'm just saying today for today's episode.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
I thought that was the farewells. No, no, no, no, nothing
like that. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
I go find a name qboard like, subscribe, share a comment,
give us a rating, give us five stars though, give
us all the stars we need to need it. And
you know, keep keep tagging in with us, man. I
am qboard on all social.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Media and follow us on at so at Civic Cipher
on all social media as well.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
All right, and until next week, y'all,
Keep on riding with us as we continue to broadcast
the balance and defend the discourse from the Hip Hop
Weekly Studios. Welcome back to Civic Cipher. I am still
your host, Rams' Ja. He is still Rams's Jah. I
am still key Ward.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
You are still listening to Civic Cipher and we appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
And I guess continuing with the theme, you know, we're
going to talk about black creators choosing community over corporate
gatekeeping and corporate rollbacks and corporations that continually turn their
backs on their promises that they've made to ensure a
more diverse, equitable, and inclusive world for their employees and
(00:38):
for the world at large, because these are a lot
of global corporations. And again, talking about black creators choosing
community over corporate gatekeeping means that we have to talk
about some of those corporations. So be sure to stick
around because it is indeed the second half of the
conversation that we're having today, and it's a tough conversation,
but we do have to have it. But before we
(00:59):
get there, to time to be aba become a better
ally Baba. And today we're shouting out the Chicago Women
in Trades group. There's spent some time focused on what's
going on in Chicago, but I think folks around the
country can learn a little bit from this. This feels special,
so I want you to check out c w IT
(01:19):
dot org. That's Chicago Women in Trade CWIT dot org.
Their mission is to improve women's economic equity by increasing
their participation in high wage, blue collar occupations traditionally held
by men. They are a community working together to amplify
voices and advance the goals of tradeswomen's movements, and they
are welcoming and inclusive and embrace the gifts of diverse
(01:41):
voices and life experiences. They provide a platform for learning,
equipping women with the skills and support needed to overcome
obstacles and realize their career goals. They offer unparalleled preparation
and support for women who to succeed in well paying,
in demand construction jobs. They advocate for best practices and
legal actions to address discriminate against women and people of
color in the construction industry. They work to support the
(02:04):
construction workforce system to retain women in the construction trades.
These programs prepare individuals with the essential skills and knowledge
to enter a registered apprenticeship of their choosing. The training
provides a foundational understanding of various trades, covering basic technical skills,
safety training, and career readiness. Donations to Chicago Women in
Trades provides individuals with the training and resources to define
(02:25):
their careers in the trades. Funding is used to equip
and staff the training facility, advocate for women in the trades,
and provide technical assistance and resources to industry partners. Their
training programs are entirely free to qualified individuals looking to
become professionals in the construction industry. Again, if you want
to support that, CWIT dot org Chicago Women in Trades
(02:47):
and you know around here we are super girl power.
We love supporting women and anybody else that's on that,
then they.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
We're going to support them. How about that? All right?
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Black creators choosing community over corporate gatekeeping. We've told this story.
It's a part of our it's a part of our lives,
and we have to tell the story again. I'm gonna
let Q tell this story because this isn't something that
we celebrate and applaud from the sidelines. This is something
that we actually had to do. Indeed, that is the
origin story for this show. We are black creators Q
(03:24):
and myself, and once upon a time we had to
choose community over corporate gatekeeping. So Q the cliffs notes,
I suppose, or whatever version of the story you feel
is appropriate, but give a little bit of our background
to our listeners so that this doesn't feel like something
we're not familiar with.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
So Ram likes to throw me into the water. You
tell the story better than I do, whatsoever. And he's
now been telling himself for years that I tell this
story better than him, and once he says it out loud,
he deems it true.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
So here we are once upon a time, djaying.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Radio and club disc jockeys, radio end club MC for
ramses not myself. Was what we did full time, all
the time, whatever the most popular nightclub. We were the
residents there, the local NBA team, It was us you
(04:29):
heard when you came to the arena, the local hip
hop radio station. It was our voices and our music
that you heard when you turned it on, our mixes
and our ideas, our shows, our concepts, and we made
a pretty good living, fed our children, paid our bills,
and entertained our city. And it's interesting that for years
(04:49):
Ramses begged and pleaded with me to speak up, to
turn the microphone on at the club, on the radio
station and in the arena, and I told him for years,
absolutely not.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
I'm not gonna be able to do it.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
And I was holding faster that because that just was
not my ministry at the time.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
I do not enjoy the sound of my voice.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
And I was also incredibly nervous, so you know, mentally
equated to stage fright. But finally something happened and I
was compelled to say something. And in the summer of
twenty twenty, the world watched a police officer by the
name of Derek Chauvin kneel on the neck of and
(05:35):
snuff out the light and life from George Floyd, and
I was compelled to say something about that on the air.
That was the first time I voluntarily spoke on the radio.
Wasn't the first time I spoke, because eventually Ramses convinced
me to say yes. But the first time I spoke
by choice and because I needed and wanted to, was
(05:57):
in that moment, and we got our hands banked. We
got called to the principal's office and discouraged from having
those convers those type of conversations on.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Air metaphor, by the way, metaphor, it wasn't a real
principal's office, it was a program director.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
But anyway, go ahead.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Well, yeah, I wasn't talking about school, so I was.
I was hoping I didn't have to insult the listener
in such a granular level. But again, this is why
rams is better at telling the story. He tells you
I'm better at it, then he has to tell me
how to tell it. Called into the principal's office because
we were in trouble. Our job was to entertain, to
(06:38):
provide levity, to provide escape, and for there to be
a light place for people to come and hear their
favorite songs mixed in between their favorite advertisements. And we
were supposed to create a non polarized, non polarizing, non divisive,
welcoming space for people to not have to deal with
(07:00):
the more serious parts of their day. But this was
too serious to not bring up. So Ramseys tried to
build a bridge and create a middle ground. How do
we please all parties? How do we do our civic
duty while also doing our jobs? And once upon a time,
the almost always non partisan FCC and maybe they still
(07:25):
do but require for broadcasters to require or to set
aside some inventory for public service. And we thought that
non rated airtime would be a good time for us
to provide a voice for community leaders, to let the
community know what was going on outside. What are these
(07:46):
terms that they hear, like defund the police mean when
people are organizing and rallying and going to protest, what
are they looking to do to what end are they
showing up for? We thought those that were doing that
actual work could provide a more educated voice and educate
the masses, and on our platform that would reach a
little bit farther than the bullhorns that we took to
(08:08):
those protests. Some real good work could be done, even
if it was at a non raged hour where we
weren't getting optimum listenership. And all parties involved said that
was a good idea, And I think that the other
parties involved, not named Q and Ramses thought that that
idea would just blow over because people would, as they
(08:30):
typically do, move on and the issues outside will go
away and they would no longer be held to the
promise that they made. But if anybody actually knows Rams's job,
he is maniacal in his pursuits. If he makes you
a promise, he will die to keep it. If you
(08:51):
make him a promise, he will die making sure you
keep it. And following up with the promise that they
made us, rams was informed that our radio station, our
programming director, and everyone else who was in charge did
not want to do what they deemed a black show.
(09:16):
Intentional pause there because black people do not make up
a large part of the population in Phoenix, Arizona, So
there was a lot of thinking that they didn't do
before making that statement. Once again, if you know Ramsay's jah,
you know he was not the one or the two
(09:38):
to say that too. He was the right one and
the wrong one at the same time. Also, to take
community outreach and to assign it black was also interesting
because that's never what we said. Even though the station
that we were at was a hip hop station, were
(09:59):
all all the music being played was black music. It
was interesting that they assumed that position because they could
have said, we don't want you guys to do a
political show, we don't want you guys to do a
polarizing show, we don't want you guys to do a
divisive show. They chose the word black, and they chose
really the only word as I tell this story in hindsight,
(10:23):
that would have forced us to resign, because we probably
would have understood what they meant if they said it different,
But we probably could have lived with ourselves by continuing
to just go to work and do what we were doing.
They compelled us to make a decision that had to
be made because if you do not want black, you
do not want us full stop. At the end of
(10:46):
that meeting, Ram just resigned on our behalf and then
called me and told me that we quit, and he
made a decision that the promises that we made to
our community and the lives that we lived to that moment.
You know, both active members in NAACP as collegiates and
as adults. You know, the National Paneltic Council, five Beta
(11:09):
Sigma fraternities, the Black Student Union, etc. Was work that
we'd always done, but we did that work as community servants,
not as activists, and this decision forced us into the
activist space because our community was more important than our
bottom line. We did not have a plan B. We
did not know what was next. I had a newborn
(11:31):
baby and my brother had only ever worked in radio.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
So we made I had a job.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
We made that decision to stand on principle, to stand
for what we believed in, to be our parents' sons,
to be our children's fathers, and to be proud of ourselves.
When we looked through the mirror, we did not know
that it would work out to the tune of one
hundred and fifty one radio stations, partnership with the largest
audio media content provider on Earth, and our message being
(12:02):
heard by millions of people across the country and across
the world, as we've been on news broadcasts in every
hemisphere at this point. But we didn't know it would
work out. So it seems like in retrospect an easy
decision to make, but there was no plan B. We
did not know where we would land. We are just
(12:22):
grateful that it worked out this way. But this is
not something that we talk about in theory. This is
very very real practice, a very very real decision that
we made, and this career has put us in a
position to face decisions like that.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
Over and over again, for much larger sums of money.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
We've had to say no, well, well said, that's why
you tell the story so well.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Nonsense, But you know, We are not the only you know,
black creators that have chosen community over you know, corporate gatekeeping,
corporate greed.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
But we understand what it takes to go into that.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
So you know, there are independent you know, black filmmakers
and and maybe black filmmakers who just have the right voice.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
Ryan Coogler comes to mind.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
They're writers, there, podcasters that are thriving outside of you know,
traditional systems.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Uh you know is Ray that comes to mind.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
And these people build and sustain platforms that create real,
meaningful cultural impact without like gatekeeping platforms, or without the
funding that you would get from DEI initiatives. And when
you look at the people that have pulled funding from
(13:52):
DEI initiatives, people like Google and I'm gonna share kind
of this latest development with them, you start to understand
how important these people are too.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
Ensuring that.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
People are reminded continually that this is not normal, that
this reality is not normalized, This doesn't become the new norm.
There are people that speak out against it and say, hey,
this is wrong. We are better than this, we are
capable of more than this. This country, what is the
(14:28):
reason for all of this capitalism for all these years
and this American exceptionalism that we've exported around the world.
We've exported democracy. We defend democracy, you know, we install
democratic governments. What is the benefit of it? Of all
(14:49):
this hard? But everybody still works forty hours a week,
although there's machines that do the jobs and robots and
now AI doing jobs that used to take into visuals
a week to do. Now robot can do it in
a matter of minutes. Right, And Nope, when people don't
work less, don't make more money. All of the wealth
(15:12):
is concentrated. So what is the point of all of it?
If not to become a better country for the people,
if not to have universal healthy if not to have
a less burdensome go at life, not to be happier,
what is the point?
Speaker 3 (15:30):
Right?
Speaker 1 (15:31):
So when I say things like, you know, I believe
that this country can be better and that it's we
should not be normalizing this version of reality. And there
are other creators who are doing the same thing, black
creators that are doing the same thing. You know, this
needs to be mentioned, So I'll share again because I
keep saying it. This is from webpronews dot com, just
(15:54):
because I think that they've captured this brilliantly, and we're
talking about Google. The latest to benne and it's a
heartbreaking story, but bear with me. Google's recent decision to
remove more than fifty diversity, equity and inclusion or DEI
organizations from its list of funded nonprofits marks a significant
shift in the tech giants approach to social initiatives, aligning
with broader industry trends and political pressures under the current administration.
(16:18):
The move, uncovered by the Tech Transparency Project, involves dropping
groups whose missions emphasize terms like diversity, equity, inclusion, race activism,
and women, resulting in the exclusion of fifty eight entities
from Google's previous top funded list. This list comes amid
(16:38):
reports that the company is prioritizing artificial intelligence investments over
DEI efforts, as detailed in a recent CNBC article.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
Okay, real quick, while we're here.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
If Google is prioritizing artificial intelligence over DEI efforts, I
think that they've abandoned their corporate culture that suggested that,
you know, they put people first, and people were at
the center of what made Google grate and all that
sort of stuff.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Right.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Indeed, every company that has adopted this pasture, I think
that they have to abandon that. Your people don't make
you great if you don't stand by your people. They
literally dropped groups whose missions emphasized terms like I don't
even have to go through the rest of them. I
can just say women, that's half of all people. That's
actually more than half of all people. All right, I'll
(17:31):
continue with the article. Insider's familiar with Google's operations suggests
this pruning is part of a larger cost cutting strategy,
but it also reflects the influence of President Trump's anti
DEI stanch, which has encouraged corporations to reassess such programs.
For instance, the US Department of Agriculture's termination of over
one hundred and forty five DEI focused awards earlier this year,
(17:51):
saving up to one hundred and forty eight point six
million dollars, set a precedent that tech firms appear to
be following. According to a USDA press release, it cuts
at Google echo a pattern scene across Silicon Valley Valley,
where commitments made in the wake of the twenty twenty
George Floyd protests are being rolled back. Back then, Google
pledged sweeping DEI advancements, including a thirty percent increase in
(18:13):
leadership representation for underrepresented groups by twenty twenty five, a goal,
a goal the company has now quietly abandoned, as reported
by MSNBC in February. This retreat is not isolated. Meta
and other tech giants slash DEI budgets by up to
ninety in twenty twenty three, per ACNBC analyst analysis.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
Sorry from that year.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
I'd imagine it's been slashed more, because that was in
twenty twenty three. They slashed the budgets by ninety percent.
All right, let's continue. Industry analysts argue that such decisions
could hinder innovation by narrowing talent pools, contradicting research from
firms like Mackenzie that links diverse teams to better performance. Huh,
how about that. Yet, with economic pressures mounting, Google report
(18:56):
its slower growth in AD revenue last quarter, the company
may see d as expendable, a sentiment echoed in a
Forbes piece from late twenty twenty three. So this is
the reality that we're living in, and Google was you know,
I held Google to be a human company like Apple,
(19:19):
is a company for human beings. All people use this service,
and as a result, it's accountable to all people them
to abandon programs that provide equal access, because that's effectively
what diversity equity inclusion programs. That's the thrust of those
programs equal access to women again that make up half
(19:44):
of all people. And then when you break it down
by race and all the other things that let me
go back to this, so we can say it one
more time, dropping groups whose missions emphasize terms like diversity, equity, inclusion,
race activism, and women. So you end up with rather
more than half people half of the people. So again,
(20:09):
people that say that are these companies rather that say
that the people are their strength and they draw their
power from their people. I'm sure they're still going to
try to use that language. But the fact of the
matter is that, I mean, the proof's in the pudding
right here. I know that you know you sent this over,
So I just want to make sure that I set
aside a little bit of time just to get any
(20:30):
final thoughts from you before we wrap up. Q.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
This is just more hyper normalization of a dystopian reality.
They're presenting this as some type of fiscally responsible decision
for the fourth most successful company in the history of Earth.
Google's parent company is worth two point three seven trillion dollars.
This is somehow a cost cut that will save them
one hundred million That that number actually means very little.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
When you're net.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
Seven trillion, right, So it's not saving them enough money
to make sense. They're willing to just give up on
the rest of humans. We don't even have to break
it down by group. If you don't own a significant
significant amount of these companies, you don't matter. And like
every company is starting to get there now, well, we're
(21:23):
not gonna have options of other where, other places to eat,
other places to find information, other places to find clothes.
If every company does this, we're stuck supporting those who
are bringing about our demise. So again, we are living
during the hypernormalization of an already dystopian reality, and it
(21:45):
is a disgusting and scary reality for us. Well, stay
woke because you might find something that we haven't found yet.
But for now, our job is to let you know
about it and give you alternative ways of thinking about
it so that you can have alternative ways of discussing
it and make the changes in your immediate reality that
(22:08):
you're able to make. And so hopefully we've done that today,
and we appreciate you riding with us. Uh, you know, uh,
it's it's it's an honor to have been your host
Rams's job.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
He said that, like this is over. I hope it's not.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
No, no, no, no no, I'm just saying today for today's episode.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
I thought that was the farewells. No, no, no, no, nothing
like that. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
I go find a name qboard like, subscribe, share a comment,
give us a rating, give us five stars though, give
us all the stars we need to need it. And
you know, keep keep tagging in with us, man. I
am qboard on all social.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Media and follow us on at so at Civic Cipher
on all social media as well.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
All right, and until next week, y'all,
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