September 13, 2025 • 27 mins
Can you believe it? We are 5 years old this week! In the first half of today’s program, we tall our origin story and discuss why we felt a show like this was important to create and distribute around the country. Our hope is that our story will encourage you in your own social justice endeavors!
Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/civiccipher?utm_source=search
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Broadcasting from the Hip Hop Weekly Studios. I'd like to
welcome you to another very special episode of Civic Cipher,
where our mission is to foster allyship empathy and understanding.
I'm your host, Ramsey's job.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
He is Ramsey's jaw. I am q Ward and my
glasses are foggy so I can't see right now, but
you are tuned in the Civic Cipher.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
And we need to just stick around. It's our birthday.
We're five years old today. We got a lot to
be a lot to be proud of fighting a good
fight over here, and we're going to share exactly how
that looks with you, our faithful listeners, a lot of
you are new listeners, and hopefully give you some encouragement
(00:43):
to keep on fighting a good fight. So first part
of the show, we are going to be talking about
kind of our origin story. Again. We have a lot
of people that have kind of joined us along this
journey and trying to make the country a better place,
the world a better place, and understanding where we came
from will certainly help provide context and hopefully encouragement to
(01:06):
folks that are impacting this country in this world in
their very own ways. So Yeah, we're definitely going to
be sharing how we started, and then for the latter
part of the show, we're going to be talking about
what we've done since we started. So it's sort of
a you know, how it started versus how it's going
type of approach. But we're going to be talking about
(01:28):
obviously the last five years, some things that we have
accomplished as a show, some things we've accomplished as a country,
some things we still have to accomplish, some setbacks of course,
and everything in between. But we're going to host this
show with a spirit of gratitude, with a spirit of encouragement,
(01:48):
and we're going to make sure that we do our
best to again share as many encouraging details with all
of our listeners and allies as possible. So, as always,
today we're going to start off with some Ebony excellence.
In today's Ebny excellence comes from the B I N
and we're talking about the NFL. So, the NFL season
(02:10):
is kicking off with a record number of black starting
quarterbacks hoping to lead their teams to a Super Bowl championship.
According to USA Today, sixteen black quarterbacks are slated to
start in Week one, the twenty twenty five NFL season,
the most in league history. The record breaking high comes
just two seasons after Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes
and Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts became the first pair
(02:33):
of black quarterbacks to face off in the Super Bowl.
Starting qbs for Week one of the twenty twenty five
season include Mahomes, Hertz, Bryce Young, Caleb Williams, cam Ward
c J. Stroud, Dak Prescott, Gino Smith, Jaden Daniels, Jordan Love,
Justin Fields, Kyler Murray, Lamar Jackson, Michael Poenix, Junior, Russell Wilson,
(02:55):
and Spencer Rattler. I got all those right, So just quickly,
you know, for folks that listen to our daily show,
the QR Code, you know, we we thought this was
a big deal and it just feels kind of special,
especially because the NFL has kind of been really a
(03:18):
sore spot at times for us, and we've been critical
of some of the things that they've done or failed
to do, and not that we're giving credit to the
entire NFL for this, it just feels like something worth
worth mentioning. This is definitely example of ebony excellence. Q
any thoughts here.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Yeah, I was going to tell you to pump your
brakes on crediting the NFL with this. They didn't do
anything again with sports, the rules, the playing field, all
of that is out for the public to see, and
if you're the best, you can only deny that for
so long. So I'm glad we've finally gotten to a
point where half of the starting quarterbacks are black. But
(03:56):
you know, I don't want to go too far to
give too much praise to the entity they did it intentionally.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Yeah, yeah, no, that's that's a fair point. That's what
I was kind of make sure I got in front
of that. But que man, we've been doing this for
five years. The whole time you trusted me, and I
(04:26):
don't think that there's a person in my life who's
trusted me more than you. So thank you for that.
And I hope I've honored your trust and I've honored
your presence this whole time as I as I feel
like I did in the beginning. Uh, you want to
kick off our our origin story sort of how it started.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
I don't know why your mind has told you that
I have this better version of our origin story.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
I like, I just like hearing it.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Also, but I've totally enough times I'd like to hear
it for a change, okay, so please by all means.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Yes, okay, you fair enough. It's our birthday. Here's your
birthday present. I got you, Doug. So this show originally
started in twenty twenty. For many years, Q and myself
we were radio personalities, hip hop radio personalities and DJs,
like DJs like you would think like two turntables, microphone,
(05:28):
nightclub or stadium or whatever type of DJs. And we
were having sort of the run of a lifetime, you know,
as individual radio personalities and as a tandem. Q and
I did a lot of work in our city, and
you know, we'd always be on you know, magazines, and
(05:51):
you know, I have a little bit more time there,
so I'd be on like billboards and TV and that
sort of stuff, and obviously Q was doing the same thing.
Q was the Phoenix Sun's DJ for a good long while,
among several other accomplishments. So this gives you an idea
of kind of where we were. So when twenty twenty
rolls around, we decide, okay, let's let's heed the gravity
(06:14):
of this moment. We can't just sit in our high castle,
and that's not in our spirit anyway, we would never
do that. But you know, it's if everyone's outside protesting
and standing up for the changes that we want to see,
and everyone is disgusted by what happened with George Floyd,
we're just as upset and just as disturbed, and we
(06:36):
want to see the change ourselves. So we get outside too,
and you know, we make our signs, we bring our children, right.
And I say this because it's really important to understand
what was happening on the ground there, because we'd go
home from these protests and on the news they would
refer to the protest as riots, you know, and we'd
(06:59):
be there. There wouldn't be a riot. There'd be like,
it wouldn't be a riot. And anything that did happen
that could be taken out of context was instigated by
the police. Now we saw this happen. I certainly saw
this happen with these two eyes. So I saw them.
They identified the police very early on. They tried to
blend in, but they can't. And so we knew who
(07:23):
these people were. We knew what they were up to.
We saw the earpieces and the you know, the shoes
that were not appropriate for you know, all this sort
of stuff, right, But once it got to the media,
a lot of would be allies, a lot of people
who would rather show up in support. We were worried that, hey,
(07:44):
this might we might lose the narrative here. And we're
listening to the leadership on the ground where we were,
there was a lot of black women leading the protests,
and there were thousands of people every day. You got
to bear in mind this was COVID, so everybody was
free to get out side, provided they had a mask
and wanted to. So it occurred to me that, you
(08:06):
know what, I can do more than just make a sign,
and and the leadership charged me with that. They're like, yo,
you're Rams's jaw. You can do more than show up
with a sign. You're like a special not a special person,
but like you're you have more of a reach than
most people do. And so and having that coming to
(08:28):
that realization and having that conversation with those folks, you know,
I ran the idea by the folks at the radio station.
I says, hey, you know, how do you feel about
giving these folks on the street a little bit of time.
We can do more than just put a black square
on Instagram. That feels a little thin. When we're actually
(08:50):
making money off of black culture. We can really stand
up for black people in this moment. There's this is
these are there's a black Lives Matter moment in this
nation's history. We can do more than again put a
blackscorre on Instagram. Best Buy can do that, and these
other companies can do that, but we're actually profiting. And
they said, yeah, sure, that's a great idea. Ramses. You know,
(09:10):
you put it together, and you know you set it up,
will knock it down. So that's all they needed to
say to me. Because I'm really good at making radio shows.
So I did, and I continue to protest and you know,
line up interviews and there's these great organizations on the
ground that were really trying to make some real changes
(09:30):
for all different communities. It's the Latino community and LGBTQIA
plus community, Jewish folks and Muslim folks and on and
on and on. Right, all these people were getting behind
black people because they know if black people get treated fairly,
then they're all going to get treated fairly. Right. And
(09:50):
after some back and forth with the folks that initially
promised radio show. The program director said, hey, you know,
I'm just you know, effectively what he said was on
second thought, you know, I really don't want to do
a black show. And I had already committed to I've
been trading on that promise. I had already committed to
(10:11):
bringing all these folks up and platforming them. And when
he said to me, I don't want to do a
black show, that broke my heart. I knew that man,
I kne him for years, and that was really just
the wrong thing to say to the wrong person at
the wrong time, and I knew what it meant. This
(10:34):
was a moment that happened to me, but it also
happened to me and Q because I sat with it
and then I decided that, okay, that's that's our time,
(10:56):
and I quit that station publicly on behalf of me
and Q. He found out well after the fact, but
he was very supportive of the decision, and at the
time we only had one show together. But you know,
Q was his own man. But I know who Q is.
Q is, that's my brother, and I know his family,
(11:19):
I know his babies, I know his mom. There's no
way that after hearing what I had gone through that
he'd want to be there. We were just going to
have to figure out the next phase of our lives.
And so in my resignation that I addressed to the city,
thanking the city for all the ratings and all the
support over the years, allowing me to raise my son
and bring my new son into the world, and you know,
(11:41):
all the fun, all the stages, all the billboards, all
the TV shows, all that stuff. I let the city
know that they deserved better, and I was going to
be better than that station, and I was going to
try to figure out how to empower the voices that
needed to be empowered. Did not have a name for
the show because it was just supposed to be a
PSA show for thirty minutes in the middle of the night,
(12:05):
you know, on Sunday mornings at four am or something.
That's what I thought it was going to be. I
never knew it was going to be on one hundred
and fifty one radio stations around the country. I had
no idea. You couldn't have told You couldn't have told
me that was going to happen. So, in writing my
resignation and having fueled by the supportive Q, I knew
(12:27):
that we could do something because our thing around here
is we can't do nothing right. And posting that resignation,
it ended up getting like sort of shared. It was
kind of like a mini viral moment, you know, it
got shared thousands of times, and people were really super
supportive of it. And given the political climate of the
(12:47):
country at the time, having the only black radio personalities
resign from the hip hop station in a major market,
that was crazy, you know what I mean. And everybody
wanted to get in on that store. And so we
had like reporters and we had people showing up and
trying to, you know, get the story in that sort
of thing. But critically, we had other radio people that
were saying, hey, look, I don't know what you were
(13:10):
trying to do over there. I don't know what they
were on, but would you please come do that over here?
And so in short order it might have been a
matter of maybe a week we had a home for
this show. The first terrestrial broadcast station was KKFR Power
ninety eight point three, and we started broadcasting, and the
(13:35):
next one we had was ninety eight three and Tucson.
So shout out to hot down there and Steve Earnhardt
and after that it was in you know, San Diego,
and then iHeart stepped in and you know, the rest
is history. Now, just before we actually ended up quitting,
(14:02):
there was a there was a brief moment in between
where the station had committed to us, the old station
that will remain nameless. They had committed to us that, hey,
we'll get you guys some time to do the show.
It's a good idea, blah blah blah. There was a
moment between that and us resigning, and in that moment,
Q reached out to me and he said, Hey, I
(14:27):
need to go to Miami to pick up a car.
It's a really nice car. I need to buy this car,
and would you help me drive it back across the country.
And again there was nothing going on. It's COVID, you know,
so I'm like, sure, I got time, let's go. And
we ended up flying to I think it was somewhere
(14:51):
in Florida and driving back across the United States and
the Deep South. And you know, Q's gonna jump in
and tell this part of the story because you know,
I don't want to take all the oxygen up here.
But in driving back across the country, we had a
very eye opening moment that really kind of helped us
(15:13):
launch this show with the first round of content, that
really helped shape this show into what it was ultimately
going to become. So talk to us about that that trip, Q.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
You know, the most interesting part about that trip is
that all of our fears about what could possibly happen
driving across the United States Deep South and the summer
(15:46):
of Covid, which is also the summer of George Floyd,
which is also the summer of Breonna Taylor, which is
also the summer of most of the world, having a
bit of a reckoning with racial injustice, specifically in this country,
kind of came true. My brother, if you guys haven't noticed,
(16:09):
chronicles every place that he visits, so every city he's
been to all across the world, stamously has been to
all fifty states in the continental US. He was obsessed
with the idea that we must stop and take pictures everywhere.
(16:30):
His brother, the voice that you hear speaking, was very
much against that. The temperature outside was figuratively and literally
too high for that, in my opinion, But we stopped
and got those pictures because, as you may have heard
me say before, my brother is maniacal and become really
single minded, and nothing can stop him. He's all the
(16:53):
way up. But we thought we might have made it
out of us safely hang out on the road in
the deepest dark. I don't think either of us have
ever witnessed. There's a part of the highway going through
Mississippi where the trees are so tall that they block
(17:16):
out moonlight and there are no street lights, so it's
headlights and dark. And most highways have groove pavement so
that if you veer off the road because you fell
asleep or because you're not paying attention, it will remind
(17:38):
you that that's happening and kind of help correct you
back to where you should be. And most states, in
most cities, those grooves are on the side of the road. Well,
in Mississippi they're in the middle of the lanes where
the paint goes, so that if you cross over a lane,
you also hear it. And for one second, if our
(18:04):
tires made contact with those grooves and made the noise
that you know you've probably heard before, if you've ever
you know, allowed your car to drift off the road
a bit, we thought nothing of it. We were grooving
the outcasts getting where we were going cruise control, laughing, talking,
(18:24):
and then the sound and the sight that you don't
want to hear really anywhere, even in the city where
you live, even in the middle of the daytime, but
what you definitely don't want to see or hear in
the middle of the night. Think three am and the
deep American South, where we've driven by miles of Confederate
(18:45):
flags and Trump signs, the lights and the sirens of
a state highway patrol officer and a state trooper to
separate law enforcement agencies, both pulled us over for a suspected.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Because what ended up happening had very little to do
with the noise they heard when my tire made contact
with the groove and the pavement but drifted very fast
to I guess us potentially trafficking drugs. After it was
very very clear that we were not intoxicated or inebriated
(19:32):
in any way, they couldn't possibly just say, Okay, that
was a blip and nothing to see here. They had
to get drug dogs, and prior to the drug dog arriving,
I was asked to step out of the car and man,
(19:56):
fear isn't enough because it's so much more than that.
In that moment, Mississippi, the Deep South, the United States
of America, three o'clock in the morning, George Floyd was
(20:20):
murdered on video in daylight, in front of people, and
no one did anything to stop it. Kewan Ramses are
on the side of the road in the middle of
the night. There is there are no witnesses, there's no
one that can see us. We can't even see the sky.
And state Highway patrol officers and state troopers and Mississippi
(20:47):
sound exactly like what your mind just told you. They
sound like. So stepping out of that car was nerve
wrecking until I was all the way on the car
and I had a moment to realize that both the
state trooper and the highway patrol officer were black. Now,
(21:11):
what we've learned and what we've kind of always known,
is that the color that matters the most to officers
is blue. But at least in that moment, I didn't
feel like I was going to die. And shortly thereafter,
as Ramses got on live so that people could see
something was happening and where we were. Ramses was then
(21:34):
asked to get out of the car and then his
phone died, which scared everyone that knew us in a
very very dramatic and drastic way. And there's no way
to tell this story in short form. But the dogs arrived,
and of course there were no drugs because we just
bought the car and Rams and I have never even
(21:56):
tried a drug, let alone sold one.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
But they break alcohol either. Yeah, but that kind of
has nothing to do with that part of itself. And
of course they couldn't just be wrong, so they had
to then explain to us how drug dogs can smell
drugs from however many miles away, for however long, and
(22:20):
maybe someone with a joint or something in their pocket
brushed up against the car eight hundred miles ago when
we bought it, and that's what the dog picked up on.
Important to point out before we move on, two very
different experiences from those officers. One of those officers was
(22:43):
a black man that was a law enforcement officer. The
other one was a law enforcement officer full stop. And
we're still here with you guys today, so we survived
that stop, but just an example of how so many don't.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
The The thing about that was Q was out of
the car and he knew who the officers were, and
I didn't. I didn't turn around. I made no sudden movements.
I was on high alert and I and I had
been wrapping my head around the forthcoming show because again
at the time, the station had promised this show. So
(23:23):
I'm like, oh my god, I'm that guy. Let me
not make any sudden movements. I have a mission. I
have to change this very thing I'm up against. And
so I just heard that voice. So what are y'all
doing on these parts? You know, like that that type
of voice, And why don't you go ahead and step
out of the car for me, buddy, you know, like
that type of like language. And I'm like, man, I
(23:47):
did I didn't do any I wasn't even driving a car.
I'm the passenger. Why do I have to get out
of the car. And like I said, like you said,
my phone's up, it's recording and it dies and I
got to get out of the car. Well, I'm getting
out of the car as it dies. So people saw
me getting out of the car, but I walked backwards,
facing forward, So I just backed up so that it
(24:10):
you know, it didn't look like I was going to
make any sudden movements. I did exactly what I was
told and nothing more. We stood on the highway for
two hours something like that. Well, they got the dogs
to sniff the car. It was a brand new car,
and I just I feel like they just didn't want
to see us in a Porsche in the middle of
the night and just let that go. It had to
(24:34):
be something, and obviously, as you mentioned, it was nothing
but that fear and that humiliation and that the word
I'm looking for is uh okay, Q's going to correct
me and please do. One of the things that I recognize,
(24:56):
and I think a lot of black men especially recognize,
is that if I was not a black man, if
I was a white woman, if I was any other
type of person, these people, these officers would not treat
me like this. They would not assume anything. It was
just like would have been just like you said, Oh,
we heard the strip, the rumble strip in the side
of the road. We just wanted to make sure you
(25:17):
weren't inebriated. Well you can see that we're clearly not inebriated. Sorry,
where we're from, the lanes are outside of the paint.
Here are the lanes inside of the paint. Our mistake.
We were just driving along we're headed to Louisiana, and
they're all right, well, you guys, have a good night.
You know. Uh, if we'd have been any other type
of people, but because we look like us, that that
(25:40):
prejudice creeps in and then you can hear that they're
on high alert. We both get taken out of the car,
but they get a drug dog. And as Q mentioned,
neither of us have ever even touched a drug in
our lives. We've never drank alcohol, we've never done nothing.
So that that assumption from those people and other people
(26:00):
society really shapes the experience for black folks in this country.
And we were able to take that story along with
the stories of our entire lives and really frame the
very show that you're listening to right now. The point
of this show was to empower allies and potential allies,
(26:20):
to let them know, to give them insight into what
life must be like for someone else, to give them
context so that they can push back against their racist
uncles at the thanksgiving table and to their employers and
coworkers at the water cooler at work, to challenge myths
that exist in the cultural zeitgeist. If you will, with
(26:43):
respect to marginalized people. We want to give those tools
and give the experiences firsthand to allies and would be allies.
And this is the plight of Civic Cipher and I
couldn't have a better teammate. Thanks you
Broadcasting from the Hip Hop Weekly Studios. I'd like to
welcome you to another very special episode of Civic Cipher,
where our mission is to foster allyship empathy and understanding.
I'm your host, Ramsey's job.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
He is Ramsey's jaw. I am q Ward and my
glasses are foggy so I can't see right now, but
you are tuned in the Civic Cipher.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
And we need to just stick around. It's our birthday.
We're five years old today. We got a lot to
be a lot to be proud of fighting a good
fight over here, and we're going to share exactly how
that looks with you, our faithful listeners, a lot of
you are new listeners, and hopefully give you some encouragement
(00:43):
to keep on fighting a good fight. So first part
of the show, we are going to be talking about
kind of our origin story. Again. We have a lot
of people that have kind of joined us along this
journey and trying to make the country a better place,
the world a better place, and understanding where we came
from will certainly help provide context and hopefully encouragement to
(01:06):
folks that are impacting this country in this world in
their very own ways. So Yeah, we're definitely going to
be sharing how we started, and then for the latter
part of the show, we're going to be talking about
what we've done since we started. So it's sort of
a you know, how it started versus how it's going
type of approach. But we're going to be talking about
(01:28):
obviously the last five years, some things that we have
accomplished as a show, some things we've accomplished as a country,
some things we still have to accomplish, some setbacks of course,
and everything in between. But we're going to host this
show with a spirit of gratitude, with a spirit of encouragement,
(01:48):
and we're going to make sure that we do our
best to again share as many encouraging details with all
of our listeners and allies as possible. So, as always,
today we're going to start off with some Ebony excellence.
In today's Ebny excellence comes from the B I N
and we're talking about the NFL. So, the NFL season
(02:10):
is kicking off with a record number of black starting
quarterbacks hoping to lead their teams to a Super Bowl championship.
According to USA Today, sixteen black quarterbacks are slated to
start in Week one, the twenty twenty five NFL season,
the most in league history. The record breaking high comes
just two seasons after Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes
and Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts became the first pair
(02:33):
of black quarterbacks to face off in the Super Bowl.
Starting qbs for Week one of the twenty twenty five
season include Mahomes, Hertz, Bryce Young, Caleb Williams, cam Ward
c J. Stroud, Dak Prescott, Gino Smith, Jaden Daniels, Jordan Love,
Justin Fields, Kyler Murray, Lamar Jackson, Michael Poenix, Junior, Russell Wilson,
(02:55):
and Spencer Rattler. I got all those right, So just quickly,
you know, for folks that listen to our daily show,
the QR Code, you know, we we thought this was
a big deal and it just feels kind of special,
especially because the NFL has kind of been really a
(03:18):
sore spot at times for us, and we've been critical
of some of the things that they've done or failed
to do, and not that we're giving credit to the
entire NFL for this, it just feels like something worth
worth mentioning. This is definitely example of ebony excellence. Q
any thoughts here.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Yeah, I was going to tell you to pump your
brakes on crediting the NFL with this. They didn't do
anything again with sports, the rules, the playing field, all
of that is out for the public to see, and
if you're the best, you can only deny that for
so long. So I'm glad we've finally gotten to a
point where half of the starting quarterbacks are black. But
(03:56):
you know, I don't want to go too far to
give too much praise to the entity they did it intentionally.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Yeah, yeah, no, that's that's a fair point. That's what
I was kind of make sure I got in front
of that. But que man, we've been doing this for
five years. The whole time you trusted me, and I
(04:26):
don't think that there's a person in my life who's
trusted me more than you. So thank you for that.
And I hope I've honored your trust and I've honored
your presence this whole time as I as I feel
like I did in the beginning. Uh, you want to
kick off our our origin story sort of how it started.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
I don't know why your mind has told you that
I have this better version of our origin story.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
I like, I just like hearing it.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Also, but I've totally enough times I'd like to hear
it for a change, okay, so please by all means.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Yes, okay, you fair enough. It's our birthday. Here's your
birthday present. I got you, Doug. So this show originally
started in twenty twenty. For many years, Q and myself
we were radio personalities, hip hop radio personalities and DJs,
like DJs like you would think like two turntables, microphone,
(05:28):
nightclub or stadium or whatever type of DJs. And we
were having sort of the run of a lifetime, you know,
as individual radio personalities and as a tandem. Q and
I did a lot of work in our city, and
you know, we'd always be on you know, magazines, and
(05:51):
you know, I have a little bit more time there,
so I'd be on like billboards and TV and that
sort of stuff, and obviously Q was doing the same thing.
Q was the Phoenix Sun's DJ for a good long while,
among several other accomplishments. So this gives you an idea
of kind of where we were. So when twenty twenty
rolls around, we decide, okay, let's let's heed the gravity
(06:14):
of this moment. We can't just sit in our high castle,
and that's not in our spirit anyway, we would never
do that. But you know, it's if everyone's outside protesting
and standing up for the changes that we want to see,
and everyone is disgusted by what happened with George Floyd,
we're just as upset and just as disturbed, and we
(06:36):
want to see the change ourselves. So we get outside too,
and you know, we make our signs, we bring our children, right.
And I say this because it's really important to understand
what was happening on the ground there, because we'd go
home from these protests and on the news they would
refer to the protest as riots, you know, and we'd
(06:59):
be there. There wouldn't be a riot. There'd be like,
it wouldn't be a riot. And anything that did happen
that could be taken out of context was instigated by
the police. Now we saw this happen. I certainly saw
this happen with these two eyes. So I saw them.
They identified the police very early on. They tried to
blend in, but they can't. And so we knew who
(07:23):
these people were. We knew what they were up to.
We saw the earpieces and the you know, the shoes
that were not appropriate for you know, all this sort
of stuff, right, But once it got to the media,
a lot of would be allies, a lot of people
who would rather show up in support. We were worried that, hey,
(07:44):
this might we might lose the narrative here. And we're
listening to the leadership on the ground where we were,
there was a lot of black women leading the protests,
and there were thousands of people every day. You got
to bear in mind this was COVID, so everybody was
free to get out side, provided they had a mask
and wanted to. So it occurred to me that, you
(08:06):
know what, I can do more than just make a sign,
and and the leadership charged me with that. They're like, yo,
you're Rams's jaw. You can do more than show up
with a sign. You're like a special not a special person,
but like you're you have more of a reach than
most people do. And so and having that coming to
(08:28):
that realization and having that conversation with those folks, you know,
I ran the idea by the folks at the radio station.
I says, hey, you know, how do you feel about
giving these folks on the street a little bit of time.
We can do more than just put a black square
on Instagram. That feels a little thin. When we're actually
(08:50):
making money off of black culture. We can really stand
up for black people in this moment. There's this is
these are there's a black Lives Matter moment in this
nation's history. We can do more than again put a
blackscorre on Instagram. Best Buy can do that, and these
other companies can do that, but we're actually profiting. And
they said, yeah, sure, that's a great idea. Ramses. You know,
(09:10):
you put it together, and you know you set it up,
will knock it down. So that's all they needed to
say to me. Because I'm really good at making radio shows.
So I did, and I continue to protest and you know,
line up interviews and there's these great organizations on the
ground that were really trying to make some real changes
(09:30):
for all different communities. It's the Latino community and LGBTQIA
plus community, Jewish folks and Muslim folks and on and
on and on. Right, all these people were getting behind
black people because they know if black people get treated fairly,
then they're all going to get treated fairly. Right. And
(09:50):
after some back and forth with the folks that initially
promised radio show. The program director said, hey, you know,
I'm just you know, effectively what he said was on
second thought, you know, I really don't want to do
a black show. And I had already committed to I've
been trading on that promise. I had already committed to
(10:11):
bringing all these folks up and platforming them. And when
he said to me, I don't want to do a
black show, that broke my heart. I knew that man,
I kne him for years, and that was really just
the wrong thing to say to the wrong person at
the wrong time, and I knew what it meant. This
(10:34):
was a moment that happened to me, but it also
happened to me and Q because I sat with it
and then I decided that, okay, that's that's our time,
(10:56):
and I quit that station publicly on behalf of me
and Q. He found out well after the fact, but
he was very supportive of the decision, and at the
time we only had one show together. But you know,
Q was his own man. But I know who Q is.
Q is, that's my brother, and I know his family,
(11:19):
I know his babies, I know his mom. There's no
way that after hearing what I had gone through that
he'd want to be there. We were just going to
have to figure out the next phase of our lives.
And so in my resignation that I addressed to the city,
thanking the city for all the ratings and all the
support over the years, allowing me to raise my son
and bring my new son into the world, and you know,
(11:41):
all the fun, all the stages, all the billboards, all
the TV shows, all that stuff. I let the city
know that they deserved better, and I was going to
be better than that station, and I was going to
try to figure out how to empower the voices that
needed to be empowered. Did not have a name for
the show because it was just supposed to be a
PSA show for thirty minutes in the middle of the night,
(12:05):
you know, on Sunday mornings at four am or something.
That's what I thought it was going to be. I
never knew it was going to be on one hundred
and fifty one radio stations around the country. I had
no idea. You couldn't have told You couldn't have told
me that was going to happen. So, in writing my
resignation and having fueled by the supportive Q, I knew
(12:27):
that we could do something because our thing around here
is we can't do nothing right. And posting that resignation,
it ended up getting like sort of shared. It was
kind of like a mini viral moment, you know, it
got shared thousands of times, and people were really super
supportive of it. And given the political climate of the
(12:47):
country at the time, having the only black radio personalities
resign from the hip hop station in a major market,
that was crazy, you know what I mean. And everybody
wanted to get in on that store. And so we
had like reporters and we had people showing up and
trying to, you know, get the story in that sort
of thing. But critically, we had other radio people that
were saying, hey, look, I don't know what you were
(13:10):
trying to do over there. I don't know what they
were on, but would you please come do that over here?
And so in short order it might have been a
matter of maybe a week we had a home for
this show. The first terrestrial broadcast station was KKFR Power
ninety eight point three, and we started broadcasting, and the
(13:35):
next one we had was ninety eight three and Tucson.
So shout out to hot down there and Steve Earnhardt
and after that it was in you know, San Diego,
and then iHeart stepped in and you know, the rest
is history. Now, just before we actually ended up quitting,
(14:02):
there was a there was a brief moment in between
where the station had committed to us, the old station
that will remain nameless. They had committed to us that, hey,
we'll get you guys some time to do the show.
It's a good idea, blah blah blah. There was a
moment between that and us resigning, and in that moment,
Q reached out to me and he said, Hey, I
(14:27):
need to go to Miami to pick up a car.
It's a really nice car. I need to buy this car,
and would you help me drive it back across the country.
And again there was nothing going on. It's COVID, you know,
so I'm like, sure, I got time, let's go. And
we ended up flying to I think it was somewhere
(14:51):
in Florida and driving back across the United States and
the Deep South. And you know, Q's gonna jump in
and tell this part of the story because you know,
I don't want to take all the oxygen up here.
But in driving back across the country, we had a
very eye opening moment that really kind of helped us
(15:13):
launch this show with the first round of content, that
really helped shape this show into what it was ultimately
going to become. So talk to us about that that trip, Q.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
You know, the most interesting part about that trip is
that all of our fears about what could possibly happen
driving across the United States Deep South and the summer
(15:46):
of Covid, which is also the summer of George Floyd,
which is also the summer of Breonna Taylor, which is
also the summer of most of the world, having a
bit of a reckoning with racial injustice, specifically in this country,
kind of came true. My brother, if you guys haven't noticed,
(16:09):
chronicles every place that he visits, so every city he's
been to all across the world, stamously has been to
all fifty states in the continental US. He was obsessed
with the idea that we must stop and take pictures everywhere.
(16:30):
His brother, the voice that you hear speaking, was very
much against that. The temperature outside was figuratively and literally
too high for that, in my opinion, But we stopped
and got those pictures because, as you may have heard
me say before, my brother is maniacal and become really
single minded, and nothing can stop him. He's all the
(16:53):
way up. But we thought we might have made it
out of us safely hang out on the road in
the deepest dark. I don't think either of us have
ever witnessed. There's a part of the highway going through
Mississippi where the trees are so tall that they block
(17:16):
out moonlight and there are no street lights, so it's
headlights and dark. And most highways have groove pavement so
that if you veer off the road because you fell
asleep or because you're not paying attention, it will remind
(17:38):
you that that's happening and kind of help correct you
back to where you should be. And most states, in
most cities, those grooves are on the side of the road. Well,
in Mississippi they're in the middle of the lanes where
the paint goes, so that if you cross over a lane,
you also hear it. And for one second, if our
(18:04):
tires made contact with those grooves and made the noise
that you know you've probably heard before, if you've ever
you know, allowed your car to drift off the road
a bit, we thought nothing of it. We were grooving
the outcasts getting where we were going cruise control, laughing, talking,
(18:24):
and then the sound and the sight that you don't
want to hear really anywhere, even in the city where
you live, even in the middle of the daytime, but
what you definitely don't want to see or hear in
the middle of the night. Think three am and the
deep American South, where we've driven by miles of Confederate
(18:45):
flags and Trump signs, the lights and the sirens of
a state highway patrol officer and a state trooper to
separate law enforcement agencies, both pulled us over for a suspected.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Because what ended up happening had very little to do
with the noise they heard when my tire made contact
with the groove and the pavement but drifted very fast
to I guess us potentially trafficking drugs. After it was
very very clear that we were not intoxicated or inebriated
(19:32):
in any way, they couldn't possibly just say, Okay, that
was a blip and nothing to see here. They had
to get drug dogs, and prior to the drug dog arriving,
I was asked to step out of the car and man,
(19:56):
fear isn't enough because it's so much more than that.
In that moment, Mississippi, the Deep South, the United States
of America, three o'clock in the morning, George Floyd was
(20:20):
murdered on video in daylight, in front of people, and
no one did anything to stop it. Kewan Ramses are
on the side of the road in the middle of
the night. There is there are no witnesses, there's no
one that can see us. We can't even see the sky.
And state Highway patrol officers and state troopers and Mississippi
(20:47):
sound exactly like what your mind just told you. They
sound like. So stepping out of that car was nerve
wrecking until I was all the way on the car
and I had a moment to realize that both the
state trooper and the highway patrol officer were black. Now,
(21:11):
what we've learned and what we've kind of always known,
is that the color that matters the most to officers
is blue. But at least in that moment, I didn't
feel like I was going to die. And shortly thereafter,
as Ramses got on live so that people could see
something was happening and where we were. Ramses was then
(21:34):
asked to get out of the car and then his
phone died, which scared everyone that knew us in a
very very dramatic and drastic way. And there's no way
to tell this story in short form. But the dogs arrived,
and of course there were no drugs because we just
bought the car and Rams and I have never even
(21:56):
tried a drug, let alone sold one.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
But they break alcohol either. Yeah, but that kind of
has nothing to do with that part of itself. And
of course they couldn't just be wrong, so they had
to then explain to us how drug dogs can smell
drugs from however many miles away, for however long, and
(22:20):
maybe someone with a joint or something in their pocket
brushed up against the car eight hundred miles ago when
we bought it, and that's what the dog picked up on.
Important to point out before we move on, two very
different experiences from those officers. One of those officers was
(22:43):
a black man that was a law enforcement officer. The
other one was a law enforcement officer full stop. And
we're still here with you guys today, so we survived
that stop, but just an example of how so many don't.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
The The thing about that was Q was out of
the car and he knew who the officers were, and
I didn't. I didn't turn around. I made no sudden movements.
I was on high alert and I and I had
been wrapping my head around the forthcoming show because again
at the time, the station had promised this show. So
(23:23):
I'm like, oh my god, I'm that guy. Let me
not make any sudden movements. I have a mission. I
have to change this very thing I'm up against. And
so I just heard that voice. So what are y'all
doing on these parts? You know, like that that type
of voice, And why don't you go ahead and step
out of the car for me, buddy, you know, like
that type of like language. And I'm like, man, I
(23:47):
did I didn't do any I wasn't even driving a car.
I'm the passenger. Why do I have to get out
of the car. And like I said, like you said,
my phone's up, it's recording and it dies and I
got to get out of the car. Well, I'm getting
out of the car as it dies. So people saw
me getting out of the car, but I walked backwards,
facing forward, So I just backed up so that it
(24:10):
you know, it didn't look like I was going to
make any sudden movements. I did exactly what I was
told and nothing more. We stood on the highway for
two hours something like that. Well, they got the dogs
to sniff the car. It was a brand new car,
and I just I feel like they just didn't want
to see us in a Porsche in the middle of
the night and just let that go. It had to
(24:34):
be something, and obviously, as you mentioned, it was nothing
but that fear and that humiliation and that the word
I'm looking for is uh okay, Q's going to correct
me and please do. One of the things that I recognize,
(24:56):
and I think a lot of black men especially recognize,
is that if I was not a black man, if
I was a white woman, if I was any other
type of person, these people, these officers would not treat
me like this. They would not assume anything. It was
just like would have been just like you said, Oh,
we heard the strip, the rumble strip in the side
of the road. We just wanted to make sure you
(25:17):
weren't inebriated. Well you can see that we're clearly not inebriated. Sorry,
where we're from, the lanes are outside of the paint.
Here are the lanes inside of the paint. Our mistake.
We were just driving along we're headed to Louisiana, and
they're all right, well, you guys, have a good night.
You know. Uh, if we'd have been any other type
of people, but because we look like us, that that
(25:40):
prejudice creeps in and then you can hear that they're
on high alert. We both get taken out of the car,
but they get a drug dog. And as Q mentioned,
neither of us have ever even touched a drug in
our lives. We've never drank alcohol, we've never done nothing.
So that that assumption from those people and other people
(26:00):
society really shapes the experience for black folks in this country.
And we were able to take that story along with
the stories of our entire lives and really frame the
very show that you're listening to right now. The point
of this show was to empower allies and potential allies,
(26:20):
to let them know, to give them insight into what
life must be like for someone else, to give them
context so that they can push back against their racist
uncles at the thanksgiving table and to their employers and
coworkers at the water cooler at work, to challenge myths
that exist in the cultural zeitgeist. If you will, with
(26:43):
respect to marginalized people. We want to give those tools
and give the experiences firsthand to allies and would be allies.
And this is the plight of Civic Cipher and I
couldn't have a better teammate. Thanks you
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Ruthie's Table 4
For more than 30 years The River Cafe in London, has been the home-from-home of artists, architects, designers, actors, collectors, writers, activists, and politicians. Michael Caine, Glenn Close, JJ Abrams, Steve McQueen, Victoria and David Beckham, and Lily Allen, are just some of the people who love to call The River Cafe home. On River Cafe Table 4, Rogers sits down with her customers—who have become friends—to talk about food memories. Table 4 explores how food impacts every aspect of our lives. “Foods is politics, food is cultural, food is how you express love, food is about your heritage, it defines who you and who you want to be,” says Rogers. Each week, Rogers invites her guest to reminisce about family suppers and first dates, what they cook, how they eat when performing, the restaurants they choose, and what food they seek when they need comfort. And to punctuate each episode of Table 4, guests such as Ralph Fiennes, Emily Blunt, and Alfonso Cuarón, read their favourite recipe from one of the best-selling River Cafe cookbooks. Table 4 itself, is situated near The River Cafe’s open kitchen, close to the bright pink wood-fired oven and next to the glossy yellow pass, where Ruthie oversees the restaurant. You are invited to take a seat at this intimate table and join the conversation. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to https://shoptherivercafe.co.uk/ Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/ Instagram: www.instagram.com/therivercafelondon/ Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.